A "Double Doink" like you've never seen before, the Legoland Discovery Center in Plymouth Meeting is celebrating Treyvon Hester's historic block that led to Cody Parkey's missed field goal that helped the Eagles beat the Bears with Lego figurines.
Smoke poured from a KFC/Taco Bell location in Delaware as firefighters doused the flames Thursday morning.
The fire began at the fast food joint at 1925 Lancaster Ave. in Wilmington a little after 9 a.m.
New Castle County dispatchers said the fire spread to two alarms as heavy smoke poured from the restaurant.
There were no initial reports of injuries.
The fire department asked people to avoid the area. Roads in the area, including parts of Lancaster, Union, 2nd and Lincoln streets were closed as firefighters battled the flames.
Once the flames are out, the fire marshal will search for a cause of the blaze.
On the night she died, murdered Temple University film major Jenna Burleigh wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words 'Positive Vibes Only' on the front.
The shirt, which was shown as evidence on Thursday in the trial of the 22-year-old's accused killer, Josh Hupperterz, brought Burleigh's mother to tears inside Philadelphia's Criminal Justice Center.
Testimony by crime scene investiagtors consumed the morning hours as Hupperterz's trial stretched into a fourth day. Hupperterz, 29, is accused of killing Burleigh in North Philadelphia and then hiding her body in a plastic storage tote at his grandparent's rural Pennsylvania home.
From the stand in a city courtroom, investigators recounted how they found blood splatters all over Hupperterz's N. 16th Street apartment including in the kitchen where prosecutors contend the young woman's life was ended.
The roommate of accused killer Josh Hupperterz is expected to share his side of what happened that August 2017 morning on Thursday afternoon.
On Wednesday, Hupperterz’s cousin testified that he unknowingly helped transport Burleigh’s body out of the city in a blue tote bag.
"I said, 'Dang, this is heavy,'" Erick Carlson recalled saying that day at his cousin's apartment near Temple University.
Inside, it turned out, was the body of the Burleigh, authorities said.
Carlson has not been charged with a crime. The 30-year-old steel mill worker from Philadelphia said he found Hupperterz cleaning up blood in his North Philadelphia apartment on that afternoon in August.
Hupperterz told Carlson that he had cut his hand on a broken beer bottle and needed help taking some books to his mom's house in Jenkintown.
Hupperterz seemed "normal," Carlson said in court.
On that particular day in 2017, Carlson visited Hupperterz to buy marijuana. The two smoked as Hupperterz cleaned up blood, Carlson said in court.
Later, Hupperterz and Carlson moved the blue tote container to Carlson's car, according to video showed in court.
The blue tote was also on display Wednesday morning when the prosecutors introduced it into evidence.
The two had been friends for a long time, according to Carlson. They first met as children when Carlson's uncle married Hupperterz's mother. The marriage only lasted six years, but the friendship remained.
After dropping off the bag in Jenkintown, Hupperterz allegedly transferred Burleigh's remains to a large bin and used the ride-sharing app Lyft to order a car. The driver of that car also testified Wednesday, saying that Hupperterz offered to pay him $200 in cash and asked that the app, which uses GPS to track a ride, be turned off.
The driver testified that the bin "felt like bricks."
Hupperterz appeared to be tired in the backseat, taking a nap en route to his grandparent's home in Pennsylvania's Wayne County near Scranton, the driver said.
A juror was dismissed Wednesday after recognizing the Lyft driver. He will be replaced by an alternate.
During the first day of testimony, Hupperterz claimed innocence. He said his roommate killed Burleigh in an attempt to quiet her screams during a knife attack.
Defense attorney David Nenner told a jury that Burleigh, 22, sliced Hupperterz, 29, in the hand with a knife while she resisted anal intercourse. The two had met a short time earlier at a bar near Temple's campus.
The argument spilled into the kitchen of Hupperterz's apartment where, according to Nenner, Burleigh stabbed Hupperterz. Nenner said Huppertertz's roommate ran into the kitchen after hearing screams, attacked Burleigh and ultimately strangled her to death.
Hupperterz pleaded not guilty to murder and using an instrument of a crime. He pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence for moving Burleigh's body to his grandparent's house.
Hupperterz's grandfather allegedly found Burleigh's body one day after a Philadelphia police detective and FBI agent visited the property.
But on Tuesday, prosecutors rebuked Nenner's version of events. Assistant District Attorney Jason Grenell said Hupperterz, after having oral, vaginal and anal intercourse with Burleigh, took “her down to the ground and strangled her, naked, on the kitchen floor.”
Grenell said Hupperterz punched the film student 38 times, broke a cereal bowl over her head, stabbed her repeatedly after wrestling a knife from her, then strangled her, so severely he broke her larynx.
“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. You stare at the phone waiting for the call,” Grenell said. “The Burleighs would never have that. They would never hear from their daughter again.”
Hupperterz turned down a plea offer in December from the Philadelphia District Attorney's office, which had offered 30-to-60 years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea. Hupperterz could face up to life in prison if convicted at trial which is expected to last for up to two weeks.
Initial accounts by investigators of Burleigh's death alleged a grisly murder and cover-up that are eerily similar to circumstances surrounding Hupperterz's father's murder 24 years earlier.
The body of Octavio Hupperterz was found wrapped in a trash bag outside of a business in the Wyndmoor section of Springfield Township, Montgomery County, in 1993. Josh Hupperterz was 4 at the time.
Octavio died from a bullet to the back of the head, his hands tied behind his back and shoved into a garbage bag when he was found.
Sources had told NBC10 in 2017 that investigators believed the elder Hupperterz, who lived in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, was killed at another location and his body dumped in Montgomery County.
A man surrendered Thursday to face charges related to the death of a man walking his dog in South Philadelphia, five days after an argument allegedly occurred because of an unleashed animal.
Matthew Oropeza turned himself, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office said, and is expected to be charged with involuntary manslaughter, simple assault, reckless endangerment and terroristic threats in relation to the Saturday night incident at Gold Star Park in South Philadelphia.
Drew Justice, 38, and his fiancée were walking their dog at the park along Wharton Street around 9:15 p.m. Saturday when Justice began arguing with another man after telling him to put his dog on a leash, witnesses said.
"He was scared," Anthony Barosso of South Philadelphia said. "It was a pit bull opposed to two little puppies."
The argument escalated and the other man punched Justice, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head on the ground. Police responded to the dog park after receiving a report of a person screaming.
"I heard the screaming," Justice's neighbor Julie Abruzzese told NBC10. "But it was already done. He was laying on the ground."
Justice was taken to Jefferson Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Witnesses said several people tried to resuscitate Justice though they believe he died instantly.
"Him and his fiancée were ready to get married," Abruzzese said. "It's heartbreaking."
It is not yet known if Oropeza has an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
Residents told NBC10 there's been recent tension at the popular park due to a mix of dogs and children.
"They're going to tell you their dog's friendly," Abruzzese said. "You don't know at that moment if a dog's going to turn. I've always said that one day they're going to bite these children. But here it turned out somebody got killed over a leash."
Correction: The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office intially gave the wrong first name for the suspect. His name has been updated.
A New Jersey high school wrestler who was forced to cut off his dreadlocks before a match to avoid forfeiting was asked to cover his hair before another match this week — the result of an "unrelenting fixation" on the boy’s hair by wrestling officials, his attorney claims.
Buena Regional High School junior Andrew Johnson, 16, and his team were supposed to compete in a wrestling meet on Wednesday, attorney Dominic Speziali said in a letter sent to the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, which is investigating the December incident.
A day before the meet, a referee contacted Buena’s athletic director and said Johnson would have to wear a covering over his now cut hair if he planned to participate in the meet, Speziali said.
After some back and forth between the Buena school district, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, the New Jersey Wrestling Officials Association and the National Federation of State High School Associations, the meet was “abruptly canceled, without explanation and to the dismay of Andrew, and conceivably his teammates, who, like all wrestlers, must prepare and sacrifice in the lead up to every match,” according to Speziali.
The cancellation came two days after a NJSIAA wrestling official allegedly sent out an email with photos of hairstyles that would require coverings during matches, including a photo of "a young black man with a short twist out (a similar hairstyle to that of Andrew’s after his hair was cut),” Speziali wrote in the letter.
“The motivation behind the NJSIAA’s email reinterpreting the applicable rules isn’t clear, but it does not appear to be based on any known, or even alleged, safety issues that have recently come to the fore,” Speziali wrote.
Speziali claimed the email’s “questionable timing” was an attempt to “garner support” for Alan Maloney, the referee who told Johnson he'd have to cut his hair.
A now-viral video tweeted by a reporter in December showed an official cutting Johnson’s dreadlocks after Maloney, who is white, told Johnson, who is black, that he would have to get a haircut or forfeit the match.
Johnson participated in a tournament on Saturday "without wearing a hair covering and without any referee raising an issue about his hair,” Speziali noted in his letter.
“Andrew, his family, and, I would venture to say, the entire Buena wrestling team all desire to return to how things were before Alan Maloney’s actions set this chaotic atmosphere in motion,” Speziali wrote in his letter.
“Yet it appears, for reasons that the Division can hopefully soon unmask, that certain officials have a desire to unnecessarily escalate and prolong this ordeal due [to] an unrelenting fixation on the hair of a 16-year-old young man that asked for absolutely none of this,” Speziali added.
In a statement released on Wednesday, NJSIAA maintained it “shares the public’s desire for a speedy resolution to this important matter, [but] also is strongly committed to taking as much time as necessary to ensure that all aspects of the situation have been assessed.”
“As we previously noted, the referee in question [Alan Maloney] will not be assigned to matches until this matter has been thoroughly reviewed,” NJSIAA said. “This will help to avoid disruption of events for student athletes.”
News 4 has reached out to NJSIAA for comment on Speziali's letter.
Trash is piling up at national parks across the county as the partial government shutdown continues. On Thursday, a group of people, including Democratic lawmakers, gathered to take trash out of Valley Forge National Park.
Five American Airlines crew members were hospitalized after becoming overcome with fumes on a plane at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Thursday, officials said.
The two pilots and three flight attendants were on Flight 1897 from Philadelphia when they complained of an odor just before landing, airline officials said.
The plane, which was also carrying 137 passengers, landed safely around 11 a.m. and taxied to the gate.
Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue officials said the five crew members were taken to Broward Health Medical Center from the airport. No passengers requested medical attention.
Footage showed multiple fire trucks and ambulances at one of the airport's terminals.
The aircraft was being evaluated by American's maintenance team, officials said.
Check back with NBC 6 for updates.
Philadelphia and its surrounding counties always have something going on. Whether it’s the Philly Home Show, XFINITY Live! Winterfest, ice skating, or a motorcycle show, this area is full of fun every weekend. We’ve found the top (and affordable) choices of what to do this weekend, January 11 to 13, in Philly and down the shore.
What: Philly Home Show
Check out the hundreds of home exhibitors and see what’s new in home décor. Guest speakers like Clint Harp from Fixer Upper will also be in attendance.
Where: Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch Street, Philadelphia
When: Friday through Jan. 20 (select days)
Cost: $13
What: Winterfest Live! At XFINITY Live!
This craft beer celebration hosts 75 breweries, along with music, games and giveaways.
Where: XFINITY Live!, 1100 Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia
When: Saturday from 2 to 6 p.m.
Cost: $45
What: Center City Restaurant Week
Indulge in a three-course dinner at a fixed rate at more than 80 restaurants.
Where: Various restaurants in Philadelphia
When: Sunday through Jan. 25
Cost: $35
What: Atlantic City Motorcycle Show
New, custom, discounted and vintage motorcycles are all on display and for sale. Prizes, games, kids’ activities, food and more will be at this event.
Where: Showboat Convention Center and Hotel 801 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ
When: Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Cost: Free
What: Winter at Dilworth Park
In the shadow of City Hall, families can enjoy ice skating, the Wintergarden, shopping and plenty of snacks and hot chocolate outside at Dilworth Park. Look for the light show projected onto City Hall at night, too!
Where: Dilworth Park, 1 S. 15th Street, Philadelphia
When: through Feb. 24
Cost: Free to explore
What: Blue Cross RiverRink Winterfest
When the weather gets chilly, head to rink for some ice skating, fire pits, food, drinks, an arcade and more.
Where: Blue Cross RiverRink Winterfest, 101 S. Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia
When: through March 3: Monday through Thursday from from 1 to 11 p.m.; Friday from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m.; Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.; and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Cost: Free for general admission, $4 skating admission, $10 skate rentals
The man police accuse of being involved in a multi-state police chase that caused multiple injuries to officers and civilians remained on the loose Thursday afternoon.
Dejuan Robinson, 20, is wanted by police in Delaware for questioning related to multiple homicides there. But he escaped police in South Philadelphia on Wednesday after a prolonged chase, authorities said.
Meghan Stone-Kirts and her family were among those who didn't escape the mayhem that Robinson allegedly caused.
Her husband and her 3-year-old son are in hospitals in Philadelphia recovering from serious injuries that occurred when they crashed on Interstate 95 as part of the chase.
Stone-Kirts recalled to NBC10 in an interview how the car allegedly driven by Robinson sped by her, clipping off a rear-view mirror. Then police cars came up from behind. The next thing she remembers, her car slammed into the side of the highway.
"I remember seeing a black car coming up on the side and taking out my driver’s side mirror. Then five minutes later, a nightmare started. Five, six police cars were hitting us from every direction," the mother said. "We got pinned in. I ended up kicking in a passenger side window, just to get everybody out."
Stone-Kirts said the family was traveling from Baltimore to New York City for a birthday celebration when their car was hit.
Her son, David Tillman, is in critical condition at Children's Hospital with multiple skull fractures, a brain bleed and a spinal injury.
"I’m torn between places. I want to be home with my daughter. I want to be here with my son. And I also want to be able to comfort my husband and know what’s going on. I can’t even get answers right now because he collapsed in the hospital here and he’s next door," Stone-Kirts said of her husband, who is also in a Philadelphia hospital. "It’s beyond a nightmare it’s like hell right now on earth."
A three-year-old is fighting for his life after the car he was traveling in was caught in the middle of a high-speed police chase that started in Delaware and ended in South Philadelphia. The crash happened along Interstate 95.
A new lawsuit filed by all females alleges gender discrimination in the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. NBC10's Cydney Long explains.
As the government shutdown looms from Washington, people in our area are being impacted. Some residents are concerned about when they'll get their next paycheck, or even how they'll get food if the shutdown continues.
The birds are preparing to take on the New Orleans Saints on Sunday with Nick Foles leading the pack. Now, days ahead of the big game, the underdogs say others can keep doubting them.
Three high-speed, highway police chases, including one that left civilians and cops seriously hurt, have police in Delaware and Pennsylvania examining protocol surrounding the pursuits.
Thursday brought cold temperatures and blustering winds to our region, but the weekend could bring some snow. NBC10 meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz has all the details you need to plan your weekend.
With several National Parks closed because of the Governemnt Shutdown, local volunteers are now trying to pick up the slack to keep them clean.
Two former female employees and one current female staffer at the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office in New Jersey have filed a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination and retaliation after they complained about pay disparities between men and women in the office.
Former Assistant Prosecutor Diane Ruberton, former Investigators Lt. Heather McManus and Assistant Prosecutor Donna Fetzer allege the prosecutor, Damon G. Tyner, demoted various high-ranking women in the office, blocked promotions for women, and paid them less than their male counterparts.
The suit also claims that since he was appointed prosecutor in March 2017, Tyner and "the men who serve under him" created a "toxic" culture in the prosecutor's office.
"Among other things, this culture favored men over women, turned a blind eye to instances and reports of sexual harassment and gender discrimination, and permitted retaliation against anyone who dared question this culture and/or the perceived unlawful activities" of Tyner, the suit says.
In response to the filing, Tyner issued a statement saying, "It is apparent that the plaintiffs are living in an alternative universe. The very same conduct they accuse me and the members of my administration of committing was actually carried out by them and others during their brief, ineffective period of leadership of the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office."
According to the lawsuit, Tyner demoted Ruberton from her post as first assistant prosecutor and replaced her with a less qualified man in March 2017. In June of the following year, Tyner fired her after she filed a 23-page memo to a judge investigating gender discrimination in the prosecutor's office.
That investigation was never properly completed and was "not free from bias and taint," the lawsuit says.
Ruberton's firing caused Fetzer and McManus to be "intimidated and fearful of termination from their own jobs," the lawsuit says, discouraging them from talking to the judge about alleged workplace discrimination.
Other women were also discouraged from participating in the judge's investigation because interviews with the judge were often done with Tyner's "knowledge and participation," the prosecutor at one point personally interrupting an interview with one employee, the suit says.
According to the lawsuit, Tyner blocked McManus, then Atlantic County Lieutenant of Investigators, from rising to the rank of captain by eliminating the position when it became open.
However, after McManus was forced to retire and denied retirement credentials for expressing concern over Ruberton's firing, Tyner went ahead and hired a man to fill the captain's post, the lawsuit says.
Other alleged bad behavior includes covering up a sexual harassment complaint made by a female attorney against a male prosecutor in May of last year.
In addition, the court filing accuses Tyner of mortgage fraud and of nepotism when he fired two Agents of the Prosecutor so he could hire his brother for the job, paying him $50,000 compared to the $30,000 agents are normally paid.
Tyner also created a paid internship position with a starting salary of $50,000 so he could give it to the son of a prominent donor to his election campaigns, as well as gave a pay raise to a relative of his wife's boss, the court filing says.
Fetzer is still working in the office, but was demoted as deputy first assistant prosecutor and received a consequent pay cut of more than $22,000, the lawsuit says. She "lives in fear that her employment will be ended by Tyner."
In addition to compensatory damages for financial losses, the plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages for "emotional stress, anxiety, shame, embarrassment, humiliation, powerlessness and indignity."
A disaster at sea on the other side of the country has left people grieving at the Jersey Shore after the disaster claimed the lives of two men who used to work in our region. Now, those who knew the men are remembering them.
The man that police identified as the primary suspect in, and as justification for, carrying out a two-state pursuit that left a child seriously hurt and several cops hospitalized may not have been in the car authorities were chasing.
Uncertainty about the occupants of a black Acura that caused chaos along Interstate 95 came a day after police followed the sedan nearly 30 miles from Wilmington, Delaware, to South Philadelphia. In its wake were two crashes and a huge manhunt.
Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy said Thursday that his department can't be certain Dejuan Robinson — the man identified as the suspect in Wednesday's chase — was ever involved.
"Whether he was in the car, I cannot confirm because we did not apprehend him," Tracy said at a news conference highlighting Wilmington's reduction in crime during 2018.
Tracy said his officers had "intelligence" that Robinson, who is a person of interest in several Delaware homicides, was in the luxury sedan they pulled over at 12th and Northeast streets shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday. The driver sped off prompting police to follow.
"I can't tell you if [officers] could tell through tinted windows how many people were in the vehicle," Tracy said.
"We don't know if it was him or someone just as dangerous."
The chase upended a Philadelphia neighborhood and shut down a busy stretch of Interstate 95.
After speeding up the highway and crossing into Pennsylvania, the Acura, with Wilmington officers and Pennsylvania state troopers in tow, clipped a car near Philadelphia International Airport causing a chain reaction crash. A Wilmington police cruiser flipped over. Five officers were injured. A 3-year-old boy in the clipped car suffered a fractured skull, his mother said Thursday.
The suspects escaped the crash unscathed and continued driving to the Broad Street exit, police believe. They drove a couple more blocks before crashing into the side of a SEPTA bus at Broad Street and Oregon Avenue in South Philadelphia. Two men bailed from the car after the crash, according to witnesses, and ran down nearby side streets. Philadelphia police then carried out a manhunt — searching streets and alleys with long guns and scouring dumpsters and parking garages around Methodist Hospital.
After hours of searching, police never found the men.
Robinson is currently on probation for weapons violations. A scan of his Facebook page on Wednesday showed no posts from that day. The profile was taken down a short time later. He's also evaded police before. In 2015, he escaped Wilmington police's custody.
Two other men were captured at a different point in the chase, Tracy said. They are still being questioned and have not been charged.
Tracy defended police's choice to pursue the car, but added that he wants to review the decision-making process and policies covering pursuits.
"Someone that just led us on a high-speed chase, caused crashes on I-95, crashed into a bus and then even witnesses said that [they] were jumping out of the vehicle as it was hitting the bus, this is a desperate individual," Tracy said.
"I'm not sitting here excusing this, but I have to go back and review what happened."
Police say a New Jersey man fought off an unwanted house visitor by using the suspect’s own gun — ultimately killing him.
Police responded to a report of shots fire at a Bound Brook home around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The intruder allegedly arrived at the residence brandishing a semi-automatic handgun and a fight erupted with the man who lives at the home.
The two allegedly scuffled near the patio area of the home, which connects the living space with the carriage house.
Police say that during the altercation the resident was able to get control of the gun and fired — hitting 29-year-old Terrence Coulanges, of Old Bridge, who died later at an area trauma center.
Neighbors were stunned to find out of the violence on such an unlikely street.
“It’s kind of crazy,” neighbor John Cappello said, adding that “a lot of state troopers live around here.”
“If you want to take a chance and break into someone’s house, you never know whose house you are breaking into,” Cappello said.
Police say the two men did know each other. However, authorities are trying to piece together why the man who was killed showed up to the residence and why he had a gun.
