Over 300 law enforcement officials are following up on hundreds of leads as crews continue to search for missing six-year-old Maddox Ritch.
The boy got away from his father while they were at Rankin Lake Park in Gastonia last Saturday. Ian Ritch said his son got too far ahead of him and disappeared. He said the boy took off in the opposite direction of him and never stopped to wait for his father and friend.
"I feel guilty for letting him get so far ahead of me," Ian Ritch said. "It just makes me nervous about where he is right now."
Ian Ritch pleaded with the public to call the tip line at 704-869-1075.
During that same news conference Wednesday, Ian Ritch said he hasn't slept or eaten for days since his son's disappearance.
"It's torture," Ritch said of his son's disappearance. "Everyone looks at you like you're a monster, and I regretted it since the moment it happened."
Gastonia Police announced Wednesday night that officers are continuing to patrol Rankin Lake Park. Starting Thursday morning, the FBI dive team plan to search the lake and use different equipment than what had used in previous searches.
“You’ve seen the enormous amount of resources that we are devoting to locate this precious little boy,” Helton said. “But we are missing a very important piece of our investigation. There are people who were at the park on Saturday and for whatever reason haven't called us.
“There’s a sign-out sheet to rent boats at the park. We’ve obtained those lists and sadly not one single person who rented a boat that day has reached out to us. Now we have to waste precious time to track them all down. Please, call us if you were at the park Saturday."
Well, let's start with the basics. Sixty-six tons of ground beef from a Cargill plant in Colorado has been recalled over fears of E.Coli contamination. That meat was sold nationwide, including Sam's Club and Target stores in the Carolinas.
You'll want to check any mean you purchased from those stores for label with a "Use or Freeze by" date of July 11, 2018 with EST.86R, Line 3. If you have that on hand, throw it out. It's not worth the risk.
As of September 27, 17 people have gotten sick and one person has died from eating the tainted meat. If you get sick, the illness will likely last anywhere from two days to a week, but in some cases, it can be much more severe and long-lasting.
The trial against former UNC Charlotte football player Kevin Olsen, who's accused of beating and raping his ex-girlfriend at an off-campus apartment in Charlotte last February, continued Wednesday.
On day three, jurors heard from the nurse who examined the accuser after the alleged rape. She said the ex-girlfriend suffered from sexual scarring but could not say if it happened that night or as many as 12 hours before.
A crime scene tech also took the stand and told the court about pictures and swabs she took of Olsen at police headquarters.
Olsen is facing charges of second-degree forcible rape and second-degree forced sex. He and his attorney have maintained his innocence.
The state may wrap up case early as Friday.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has emphatically denied all accusations of sexual misconduct. On Thursday, he'll get a chance to make his case before the Senate Judiciary Committee as senators will hear from Kavanaugh and the first of his accusers, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, for the first time since she said he attempted to rape her when they were teenagers.
The hearing will be the first time the country sees and hears from the 51-year-old Ford beyond the grainy photo that has been flashed on television in the 10 days since she came forward with her contention. In testimony released in advance of the hearing, she said she was appearing only because she felt it was her duty, was frankly "terrified" and has been the target of vile harassment and even death threats.
"It is not my responsibility to determine whether Mr. Kavanaugh deserves to sit on the Supreme Court," she was to tell the senators. "My responsibility is to tell the truth."
In the hearing, Democrats plan to ask Kavanaugh if he'd be willing to undergo FBI questioning about the various claims — a request Republicans oppose— and press him about his drinking and behavior as a teenager.
Questions for Ford will be aimed at giving her a chance to explain herself. That includes describing why it took her so long to publicly discuss the alleged incident and how it's affected her life, the aide said.
