Investigators believe prison employee backed out as getaway driver
DANNEMORA, N.Y. — Investigators believe a female prison employee had agreed to be the getaway driver in last weekend’s escape by two killers but never showed up, a person close to the case told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The manhunt, meanwhile, dragged into a sixth day with a renewed burst of activity by searchers in the woods close to the prison after bloodhounds were said to have picked up the convicts’ scent. And Gov. Andrew Cuomo said investigators are also “talking to several people who may have facilitated the escape.”
The person close to the investigation said authorities believe Joyce Mitchell — an instructor at the prison tailor shop, where the two convicts worked — had befriended the men and was supposed to pick them up Saturday morning, but didn’t.
The person said that was one reason the manhunt was focused so close to the prison. The person was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Colorado theater shooter’s former girlfriend asked him to see therapist
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — Months before James Holmes opened fire in a Colorado movie theater, his ex-girlfriend said she urged him talk to his therapist after he mentioned having thoughts about killing people, but his thoughts “seemed very philosophical” and not a concrete threat.
Gargi Datta also testified Thursday that during their relationship, Holmes showed no interest in guns, including when they visited an outdoor store that sold weapons, and that she did not know about his meticulous plans for the July 20, 2012 attack or the arsenal he assembled.
Datta and Holmes were graduate students at the University of Colorado when they began dating during their first semester in the fall of 2011. By February 2012, she did not want anything more than a casual relationship, and the two remained “friends with benefits” until Holmes told her in early April he could not continue the relationship as friends after telling her that he loved her. After that, Datta said, she did not communicate with Holmes and only saw him in the classroom.
District Attorney George Brauchler has said Holmes’ breakup with Datta was a catalyst to the shooting at a suburban Denver movie theater. He said Datta was Holmes’ first romantic relationship.
Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the attack that killed 12 people and injured 70. Prosecutors contend Holmes was sane, and they are seeking the death penalty.
New US military hub in Iraq could be model for helping defeat Islamic State
NAPLES, Italy — The Pentagon’s top general said Thursday the U.S. military’s reach could extend even further into Iraq if the anti-Islamic State campaign gains momentum, and he held out the possibility of eventually recommending to President Barack Obama that U.S. troops take on the riskier role of calling in airstrikes.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the White House’s announcement Wednesday that up to 450 more U.S. troops would be sent to Iraq to invigorate its flagging campaign against the Islamic State is a natural extension of U.S. assistance. He said the support hub the troops will set up will not produce instant results but may serve as a model to be replicated elsewhere in Iraq, possibly requiring even more U.S. troops.
“The campaign is built on establishing these lily pads, if you will, that allow us to continue to encourage the Iraqi security forces (to move) forward, and as they go forward there may be a point where” additional such U.S. hubs are called for to enable the Iraqis to succeed, he told reporters traveling with him to Naples, where he spoke to American troops and conferred with their commanders.
“Sure, we’re looking all the time at whether there might be additional sites necessary. It’s another one of the options that we’re considering.” He added: “It’s very practical, looking at geographic locations, road networks, airfields, places where we can actually establish these hubs.”
Dempsey said he has not recommended putting U.S. troops closer to the battlefield to call in airstrikes — a step that critics of the current U.S. approach say is overdue, even though it raises the risk of American casualties. But he pointedly held out the possibility that it may become necessary.
By wire sources
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