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40 monkeys escape South Carolina research facility; police warn residents to secure doors and windows
Authorities in South Carolina have warned residents to lock their doors and windows after 40 monkeys escaped from a research facility Wednesday night.
The primates broke loose from a Alpha Genesis facility in Beaufort County and traps have been set up and thermal imaging cameras are being used in an effort to locate the fugitive monkeys, the Yemassee Police Department said in a statement.
“Residents are strongly advised to keep doors and windows secured to prevent these animals from entering homes,” police said. “If you spot any of the escaped animals, please contact 911 immediately and refrain from approaching them.”
UPDATE – As of 9:45PM, we can confirm that 40 primates have escaped from the Alpha Genesis facility located on Castle…
Posted by Yemassee Police Department on Wednesday, November 6, 2024
According to its website, Alpha Genesis breeds monkeys and provides “nonhuman primate products and bio-research services” across the globe. The company’s clinical trials reportedly include research on progressive brain disorders.
Authorities didn’t identify the breed of the escaped primates, but the company’s website says its staff of veterinary technicians and animal specialists work with cynomolgous, rhesus and capuchin monkeys.
The Yemassee Police Department said multiple officers were working with Alpha Genesis personnel to recapture the primates.
The Post and Courier newspaper reported last year that Alpha Genesis won a federal contract to oversee a colony of 3,500 rhesus monkeys on South Carolina’s Morgan Island, known as “Monkey Island.”
The newspaper reported that monkeys have escaped from Alpha Genesis before. Eight years ago, 19 primates escaped from the company’s facility but were recaptured about six hours later.
Last year in Pennsylvania, dozens of lab monkeys escaped after a truck carrying 100 of the animals crashed. All the primates were later accounted for.
When Huntington Beach, Calif., detectives searched Rodney Alcala‘s Seattle storage locker during the murder investigation of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe in 1979, they discovered a cache of photos, many of them young women in suggestive, and even pornographic poses.
In March 2010, after a third jury in 30 years handed Alcala a death sentence, Huntington Beach police released more than 100 of those photos hoping to identify the women and some children, and learn if Alcala claimed still more victims.
Most of those who have been identified are alive and well.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
Unidentified women in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
Unidentified women in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified child in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified child in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
Unidentified women in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified child in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
Huntington Beach Police Dept.
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
Unidentified people in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified person in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified child in image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
An unidentified woman in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
Serial Killer’s Secret Photos
Unidentified women in an image from Rodney Alcala’s photo cache.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed conceded the mayoral race to Daniel Lurie Thursday afternoon with a social media post that congratulated her competitor.
The mayor also thanked the city and its residents for “the opportunity to serve the City that raised me” in the post on X just after 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
There had been rumblings that Breed might concede the race earlier Thursday having come in behind Lurie in the last vote count released Wednesday morning.
“Today, I called Daniel Lurie and congratulated him on his victory in this election,” the post read. “Over the coming weeks, my staff and I will work to ensure a smooth transition as he takes on the honor of serving as Mayor of San Francisco. I know we are both committed to improving this City we love.”
Breed spoke at a press conference less than an hour after the social media post to answer questions from reporters about her decision, reiterating some of what she said in her social media post.
“The city is on the rise. The office is bigger than just one person, and I called Daniel Lurie earlier today to congratulate him,” the mayor said. “And made it very clear my team and I stand ready to support him during his transition. We will always do everything we can to ensure the success of the city and that there is a smooth transition, so that the important work that has been done and needs to continue in San Francisco moves forward.”
When asked if this was the hardest speech she’d ever given, Breed quickly dismissed that idea.
“No, it’s not. There’s been other harder speeches. I mean I had to make a hard decision to close the city down during a global pandemic. I had to deal with…the racial reckoning that happened after the tragic death of George Floyd. I had to go out in the middle of the night and tell people that Mayor Ed Lee had passed away. There are numerous occasions.”
Six years ago, incumbent London Breed became the first Black woman to serve as mayor of San Francisco after the death of Mayor Ed Lee in late 2017. The then president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors was automatically appointed as the city’s acting mayor early the morning after Lee’s death.
In June of 2018, Breed won the special election that was held to fill the office, defeating her main opponent, former state senator Mark Leno.
Breed faced a number of major challenges during her first term in office, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the city’s ongoing issues with drug abuse and homelessness, rising housing costs and a spike in retail crime that some chains cited as the reason behind closing stores in San Francisco.
While Breed has touted progress in reducing the number of homeless encampments and pushed programs to fill vacant business spaces downtown, the mayor’s struggles have led to 11 other candidates entering the race to challenge her for the job.
“Over the coming weeks, I plan to reflect on all the progress we’ve made. But today, I am proud that we have truly accomplished so much and my heart is filled with gratitude,” Breed’s message said in closing. “During my final two months as your Mayor, I will continue to lead this City as I have from Day One – as San Francisco’s biggest champion.”
Daniel Lurie has announced that he will speak to the media about the latest developments Friday morning.
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