“It just exploded into something I didn’t mean to happen,” Erika Lee, a Springfield resident of four years, told NBC News.

Lee, a 35-year-old hardware store worker, said she had no actual firsthand knowledge when she took to a local Facebook group to pen a post about a missing pet. She wrote that her neighbor, Kimberly Newton, told her that “her daughter’s friend had lost her cat.”

“One day, she came home from work, as soon as she stepped out of her car, looked towards a neighbor’s house, where Haitians live, and saw her cat hanging from a branch, like they’d do a deer for butchering and they were carving it up to eat,” read the since-deleted post, per screenshots shared online. “I’ve been told they are doing this to dogs, they have been doing it at Snyder Park with the ducks and geese.”

According to NewsGuard, a media watchdog that monitors for misinformation on the web, Lee’s post was likely the first to tout the unfounded pet-eating claims.

“I’m not sure I’m the most credible source because I don’t actually know the person who lost the cat,” Newton, Lee’s neighbor, told the outlet in response to questions about the rumor she passed along.

She told NewsGuard the cat’s owner was actually “an acquaintance of a friend” — and that friend was the person who told her the rumor, which they in turn had heard from a separate source.

“I don’t have any proof,” she added.

Other posts parroting the pet-eating claims have since popped up online, including one from Ohio senator and Republican VP candidate JD Vance.

On Sept. 9, he shared a post on X that read: “Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio. Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border czar?”

Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio.

Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country. Where is our border czar? pic.twitter.com/rf0EDIeI5i

— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 9, 2024

The following day, former President Donald Trump brought up the fourth-hand gossip during his first presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, which was broadcast to 67 million people.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs — the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” Trump said Tuesday. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”

Here's Trump getting fact-checked on the Springfield/immigrants eating pets hoax and just desperately responding "they said it on TV" pic.twitter.com/nHBOBJuDqP

— jordan (@JordanUhl) September 11, 2024

Officials in the Ohio city have pushed back on the pet-eating rumors in the days since, with City Manager Bryan Heck emphasizing “there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

But the fallout has still been severe. On Thursday, Springfield City Hall was evacuated due to bomb threats and several schools in the area were forced to close following similar threats on Friday.

Lee told NBC News she never imagined her Facebook post would spiral so out of control. She added that she doesn’t harbor any ill will toward the Haitian community and lamented the fact that her post had become fodder for conspiracy theories.

“I’m not a racist,” she said, adding that her daughter is half Black and she herself is mixed race and a member of the LGBTQ community. “Everybody seems to be turning it into that, and that was not my intent.”

Lee said she has since pulled her daughter from school and now fears for her family’s safety given the mania surrounding the claims. She added that she’s also worried for the Haitian community, who she had no intention of villainizing.

“I feel for the Haitian community,” she said. “If I was in the Haitians’ position, I’d be terrified, too, worried that somebody’s going to come after me because they think I’m hurting something that they love and that, again, that’s not what I was trying to do.”

Blanchard is scheduled to walk free from the Missouri’s Chillicothe Correctional Center on Dec. 28, and she already has big plans lined up.

She previously told TMZ that she purchased tickets for a Kansas City Chiefs game on New Year’s Eve, where she hopes to meet Taylor Swift, who’s famously dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

Blanchard, who was originally set for a 2026 release from prison, will be freed after serving 85% of her sentence as required by state law. She was also given time served for the year she spent in Greene County Jail before she entered her guilty plea.

In 2016, Blanchard was ordered to spend 10 years in prison for the second-degree murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, who managed to fool doctors and everyone else around her into believing her daughter was ill.

By the time she was 8 years old, Blanchard was allegedly suffering from leukemia, muscular dystrophy, hearing and vision impairments as well as seizures. She relied on a wheelchair to get from place to place and a feeding tube for nutrition and medicine she didn’t really need.

The deception continued for most of her childhood, with DeeDee collecting thousands in gifts and donations given out of sympathy for Blanchard’s alleged health issues, People reported. They also received a house from Habitat for Humanity, went backstage at Miranda Lambert concerts via the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and enjoyed paid trips to Disney World.

In interviews from behind bars, Blanchard said she became more defiant in her teen years, and eventually joined a dating website, on which she met Nicholas Godejohn. The duo maintained a secret online relationship for more than two years before meeting in person and telling Dee Dee, who rejected the romance.

On June 9, 2015, Blanchard waited until her mother had fallen asleep to invite Godejohn over. She hid in a nearby room and listened as he attacked her.

Days after the slaying, the pair wrote about DeeDee’s death on social media, including one post reading, “That b—h is dead.” Authorities found her body that same day, June 14. She had been stabbed 17 times.

Godejohn was convicted of first-degree murder for carrying out the slaying, and received a life sentence.

Chief Scott Schubert with the bureau’s Criminal Justice Information Services headquarters told NBC News that the national online database was formed in May in response to a rise in swatting incidents. The collaborative effort — supported by hundreds of police departments and law enforcement agencies nationwide — will provide the bureau with “a common operating picture of what’s going on across the country.”

Schubert added, “We’re taking every step to monitor this national problem and help however we can.”

It marks the first time a central agency has tracked swatting incidents.

Swatting is a form of cyber harassment that typically involves a caller alerting law enforcement to an active shooter situation or some other sort of immediate danger that does not actually exist. The goal is to illicit a large police response which often includes the arrival of a SWAT team.

Though often described as a prank call, the results can be potentially devastating.

In 2021, Tennessee man Mark Herring died of a heart attack after a horde of heavily armored law enforcement officers descended on his home. Authorities were responding to a report that Herring killed a woman on the property. He was targeted in the swatting attack over his refusal to sell his @Tennesee Twitter handle, police said.

And years earlier, in 2017, Andrew Finch was fatally shot by a Wichita police officer, who believed Finch had shot his father and was holding his mother and younger brother hostage. Tyler Barriss, an online gaming enthusiast, made the prank call, but mistakenly gave police Finch’s address thinking it belonged to a person he had feuded with over a $1 or $2 Call of Duty wager.

Celebrities like Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Tom Cruise have also been victims of swatting.

The TV personality died peacefully Thursday night at his home in suburban Chicago, according to a statement from his family.

“Jerry’s ability to connect with people was at the heart of his success in everything he tried, whether that was politics, broadcasting or just joking with people on the street who wanted a photo or a word,” Jene Galvin, a lifelong friend and spokesman for the family, told the network.

“He’s irreplaceable and his loss hurts immensely, but memories of his intellect, heart and humor will live on.”

Comedian Loni Love echoed the sentiment, praising Springer’s way with people as “unique and authentic,” while television personality Maury Povich remembered him as “joyful, smart and, in his own way, a unique showman.”

A family spokesperson told TMZ Springer had been battling a “brief illness” for a few months and things took a turn for the worst earlier this week. Sources told the outlet it was pancreatic cancer.

Springer was born Feb. 13, 1944, in a London underground railway station that was being used as a bomb shelter. His parents, Richard and Margot, were German Jews who fled to England during the Holocaust and then landed in the Queens borough of New York City when Springer was just 5 years old.

Springer would go on to host the raucous talk show “The Jerry Springer Show” for 27 years, and there was never a dull moment during its 4,000-episode run.

While it started out as a platform for Springer’s musings on politics and other topical matters, it quickly transformed into an afternoon side show for outlandish and rowdy guests with no qualms about airing their dirty laundry before a live studio audience and viewers at home. Their bouts would often devolve into chaos and even nudity, with family and friends hurling obscenities at each other and brawling onstage while people in the crowd cheered and chanted Jerry’s name.

The wild episodes boasted titles like “Stripper Sex Turned Me Straight,” “Stop Pimpin’ My Twin Sister,” and “Hooking Up With My Therapist.”

“The Jerry Springer Show” was a ratings juggernaut at its peak. In 1998, its viewership even beat “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

Springer called it “escapist entertainment,” while critics saw the lurid drama as an attack on America’s social values and morals.

Before he shot to fame on TV, Springer was a politician and journalist. He studied political science at Tulane University and got a law degree from Northwestern University.

In 1968, he worked as an aide in Robert F. Kennedy’s ill-fated presidential campaign. Just two years later, Springer, then a lawyer in Cincinnati, launched an unsuccessful run for congress. He nabbed a seat on the city council in 1971 but suddenly resigned in 1974, citing “very personal family considerations.” He was also in the midst of a probe involving prostitution at the time.

Springer regained his council seat in 1975 and then served as Cincinnati mayor from 1977 to 1978.

In 2000 and 2004, he mulled runs for the U.S. Senate and considered a bid for Ohio governor as recently as 2017.

Springer also had an expansive career in broadcast television and news before starring on his eponymous talk show, which launched in 1991. After its wrap in 2018, Springer hosted “Judge Jerry” for three seasons and continued to offer fans his point of view through a podcast.

He also served as judge for the second and third seasons of “America’s Got Talent.”

“Jeez, this sucks RIP Jerry Springer,” said television personality Piers Morgan, who was also a judge on the reality show. “TV icon & such an intelligent, warm, funny man.”

“Loved working with him (on America’s Got Talent), loved hanging out with him (we lived in same hotel for 2 years), loved arguing with him (he loved his politics), loved everything about him. Gutting,” he added.

Steve Wilkos, who became famous himself as the security guard on “The Jerry Springer Show,” said in a statement, “Other than my father, Jerry was the most influential man in my life. Everything I have today, I owe to Jerry. He was the smartest, most generous, kindest person I’ve ever known.”

Springer’s most recent television appearance was on the “Masked Singer” in October 2022, where he performed as “The Beetle,” crooning a Frank Sinatra tune.

He’s survived by his daughter Katie Springer, whom he shares with ex-wife Micki Velton, and his sister Evelyn.

With News Wire Services

“Let me be very clear: What happened with Polanski was never a big problem for me. I didn’t even know it was illegal, that someone could be arrested for it. I was fine, I’m still fine,” Geimer told Emmanuelle Seigner in an interview with France’s Le Point magazine. “The fact that we’ve made this thing up weighs on me terribly. To have to constantly repeat that it wasn’t a big deal, it’s a terrible burden.”

Polanski was arrested in 1977 for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. He was accused at the time of plying a young Geimer with drugs and alcohol before he raped and sodomized her at Jack Nicholson’s Los Angeles-area home.

Polanski accepted a plea bargain and spent just 42 days in jail.

The following year, Polanski fled the United States — despite his parole status — after his legal team learned he would be hit with additional charges, which they believed would result in jail time. He has spent most of his time since living in France where he’s protected from extradition.

In 2009, he was briefly detained in Switzerland while traveling to the Zurich Film Festival. However, a Swiss court rejected an extradition request from the United States and the director was ultimately released.

“The extradition attempt, the fact that Roman was arrested like that, it was so unfair and so in opposition to justice,” Geimer told Seigner.

“From my side, nobody wanted him to go to jail, but he did and it was enough. … Anyone who thinks that he deserves to be in prison is wrong. It isn’t the case today and it wasn’t the case yesterday.”

Geimer and Seigner reflected on how things were different, specifically in the entertainment industry, back in the 1970s, when “sex was recreational, sometimes transactional.”

“I became a model at 14 years old,” Geimer said. “All the girls, the models, slept with the photographers and I was no exception. But sex was something normal, a natural aspect of life. There wasn’t all this drama, all this darkness surrounding sex.”

Geimer also discussed the futility of the #MeToo movement, and blasted high-profile attorney Gloria Allred, saying she “just diminishes women to exploit their pain. I’m sorry but that is no defense.”

“I don’t see what’s so feminist about claiming victimhood,” she added. “Today, women’s pain is valued, and there’s a whole industry that exploits suffering.”

In a 2018 interview with IndieWire, Geimer acknowledged that her encounter with Polasnki was “rape,” but also emphasized that he wrote her a letter after the release of her 2014 memoir, taking responsibility for his behavior.

She is one of five other women that have accused Polanski of underage sexual abuse.

Geimer’s interview with Seigner was initially published in France’s Le Point magazine and was later translated by IndieWire.

Legend revealed at a private concert on Friday that his cookbook author wife gave birth earlier in the day, People reported, two years after Teigen was forced to undergo a life-saving abortion.

“What a blessed day,” Legend said, according to People.

The newborn’s age and name were not immediately revealed.

Despite a lack of sleep and long hours at the hospital, Legend reportedly said he was still “energized” — a feeling that seemed to permeate his performance for the night.

Teigen, 37, and Legend, 44, are also parents to daughter Luna, 6, and son Miles, 4, whom they welcomed in April 2016 and May 2018, respectively.

In August 2020, Teigen, a former Sports Illustrated model, revealed she was pregnant by showing off her bump in Legend’s music video “Wild.”

Months later, Teigen said she miscarried after a “partial placenta abruption,” losing her pregnancy at 20 weeks.

She has since said underwent a life-saving abortion, a decision she said took more than a year for her to come to terms with.

“Let’s just call it what it was: It was an abortion,” Teigen said in September. “An abortion to save my life for a baby that had absolutely no chance. And to be honest, I never, ever put that together until, actually, a few months ago.”

Teigen’s revelation came shortly after she took to social media to announce she was again pregnant following a lengthy journey filled with IVF treatments.

“The last few years have been a blur of emotions to say the least, but joy has filled our home and hearts again,” she wrote alongside a mirror selfie of her growing baby bump. “1 billion shots later (in the leg lately, as [you] can see!) we have another on the way.”

El ganador del Grammy de 45 años se casó en secreto con Bianca Censori, diseñadora arquitectónica de su marca de moda, Yeezy, durante una ceremonia íntima en Beverly Hills, según TMZ. La pareja ha sido vista poniéndose cómoda en público en las últimas semanas y West lanzó el mes pasado “Censori Overload”, que parece ser un tributo a su nuevo amor.

“La Biblia dice que no puedo tener más sexo hasta el matrimonio”, rapea West en la canción.

Si bien no parece que el rapero solicitó un certificado de matrimonio oficial, fue fotografiado con un anillo de matrimonio cuando llegó al Waldorf Astoria en Beverly Hills a principios de esta semana.

Ninguno de los recién casados ha confirmado el matrimonio en las redes sociales. No está claro cuánto tiempo han estado saliendo, aunque Censori ha trabajado para Yeezy desde 2020, según su LinkedIn.

Las nupcias se producen solo dos meses después de que West finalizara su divorcio de la estrella Kim Kardashian después de siete años de matrimonio. La ex pareja comparte cuatro hijos juntos: North, 9; Santo, 7; Chicago, 4; y Psalm, 3.

Durante una entrevista vulnerable en el podcast “Angie Martinez IRL”. Kim admitió entre lágrimas que la paternidad compartida con Kanye ha sido una lucha después de todo el drama que rodeó su ruptura.

“La crianza compartida es difícil”, dijo el fundador de Skims. “Es realmente jodidamente difícil”.

Después de su separación, Kardashian se vinculó rápidamente con el comediante Pete Davidson, con quien salió durante nueve meses antes de que terminaran en agosto. West estaba notoriamente celoso de la pareja. Escribió una canción disidente sobre el ex actor de SNL y desató varios escándalos en las redes sociales.

-Traducción por José Luis Sánchez Pando/TCA

The 45-year-old Grammy winner secretly tied the knot with Bianca Censori, an architectural designer for his fashion brand, Yeezy, during an intimate ceremony in Beverly Hills, according to TMZ. The couple has been spotted getting cozy in public in recent weeks and West just last month released “Censori Overload,” which seems to be a tribute to his new love.

“The Bible said I can’t have any more sex ’til marriage,” West raps in the track.

While it does not appear the rapper filed for an official marriage certificate, he was photographed wearing a wedding band as he arrived at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills earlier this week.

Neither of the newlyweds has confirmed the marriage on social media. It’s not clear how long they have been dating, though Censori has worked for Yeezy since 2020, according to her LinkedIn.

The nuptials come just two months after West finalized his divorce from reality television star Kim Kardashian after seven years of marriage. The former couple shares four children together: North, 9; Saint, 7; Chicago, 4; and Psalm, 3.

During a vulnerable interview on the “Angie Martinez IRL” podcast. Kim tearfully admitted that co-parenting with Kanye has been a struggle after all the drama surrounding their breakup.

“Co-parenting is hard,” the Skims founder said. “It’s really f—ing hard.”

Following their split, Kardashian was quickly linked to comedian Pete Davidson, whom she dated for nine months before they called it quits in August. West was notoriously jealous of the couple. He penned a diss track about the former SNL actor and sparked several scandals on social media.

En un emotivo mensaje de video a sus fanáticos el jueves, la superestrella cantante reveló que tiene el síndrome de la persona rígida, una condición que causa “rigidez muscular progresiva y espasmos dolorosos" causados por factores ambientales que incluyen “movimientos repentinos, temperatura fría o ruidos fuertes inesperados”, según a la Medicina Johns Hopkins.

“Como saben, siempre he sido un libro abierto”, comenzó Dion en su video de Instagram.

“No estaba lista para decir nada antes, pero estoy lista ahora. He estado lidiando con problemas de salud durante mucho tiempo y ha sido muy difícil para mí enfrentar estos desafíos y hablar sobre todo lo que he estado pasando”.

La galardonada cantante agregó que ella y su equipo todavía están trabajando para comprender mejor la afección, “que afecta aproximadamente a una en un millón de personas”. Ella notó que la enfermedad está detrás de los espasmos severos con los que ha estado luchando regularmente ahora.

“Desafortunadamente, los espasmos afectan todos los aspectos de mi vida diaria”, continuó. “A veces me causa dificultades al caminar y no me permite usar mis cuerdas vocales para cantar de la forma en que estoy acostumbrado. Me duele decirte hoy, esto significa que no estaré listo para reiniciar mi gira en Europa en febrero”.

Dion dijo que también está trabajando con un terapeuta deportivo todos los días para desarrollar músculo en la espalda con la esperanza de que pueda volver a actuar en el futuro.

Su diagnóstico de salud se produce meses después de que pospusiera las fechas de su gira europea, anunciando en abril que tenía que reprogramar los espectáculos de Courage World Tour debido a problemas de salud. El jueves, dijo que es “muy frustrante", pero cree que está "en el camino de la recuperación”.

“Estoy recibiendo tratamiento de mis médicos, tomando medicamentos, pero todavía estoy experimentando algunos espasmos y me está tomando mucho más tiempo recuperarme de lo que esperaba”, dijo. “Necesito estar en plena forma cuando estoy en el escenario. Sinceramente, no puedo esperar, pero aún no he llegado".

-Traducción por José Luis Sánchez Pando/TCA

A trial scheduled for December will no longer take place after Sarasota County Circuit Judge Hunter Carroll signed off on the settlement.

“The Petito family lost their daughter and they were also denied the opportunity to confront her killer,” said Patrick Reilly, an attorney for the family. “No amount of money is sufficient to compensate the Petito family for the loss of their daughter, Gabby, at the hands of Brian Laundrie.”

Laundrie’s estate does not have anywhere near $3 million, but any money the family receives will go to the Gabby Petito Foundation, established to help locate missing people and curb domestic violence.

Petito’s parents, Joseph Petito and Nicole Schmidt, “wish to turn their personal tragedy into a positive,” Reilly said.

“It is their hope that Gabby’s foundation will bring these important issues into the forefront of the public eye to the benefit of all our communities,” Reilly said.

On July 2, 2021, the 22-year-old Petito departed her native Long Island for a cross-country vacation with her fiancé Laundrie. Her family grew concerned when Laundrie returned alone to his parents’ home in North Port, Fla., on Sept. 1.

Petito’s family reported her missing days later, launching a massive search effort that ended with her body being found Sept. 19 at a campground near Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming.

Petito’s cause of death was later ruled to be homicide by strangulation. In January, the FBI said Laundrie confessed in his notebook to killing Petito.

Laundrie and his parents quickly left together to go camping at Fort De Soto Park, south of St. Petersburg, after he returned from the road trip with Petito. But Laundrie never returned from the camping outing, and after months of speculation about his whereabouts, he was discovered dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on Oct. 20

The wrongful death lawsuit, filed in May, claimed Laundrie intentionally killed Petito during their summer travels. As a result, her parents “incurred funeral and burial expenses, and they have suffered a loss of care and comfort, and suffered a loss of probable future companionship, society and comfort,” the lawsuit said.

The family sought at least $30,000.

Petito’s family filed a separate negligence suit against Laundrie’s parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, in March, accusing them of failing to come forward during the search for their daughter despite knowing she was already dead. They further alleged the Laundries helped Brian conceal Gabby’s murder and were arranging for him to leave the country before his death.