CBS News
Key witness in Holly Bobo murder trial says his testimony was a lie, court documents show
As the star witness in the Holly Bobo murder trial, Jason Autry spoke in a calm, deliberative manner as an attentive jury listened to him recreate the day the kidnapped Tennessee nursing student was wrapped in a blanket, placed in the back of a pickup truck, driven to a river and shot to death by his friend.
Autry wore a white jail uniform and made a point of putting on eyeglasses as he looked at rural maps during his hourslong testimony in the killing of Bobo, a 20-year-old woman who disappeared from her home in 2011. Bobo’s remains were found more than three years after a massive search of woods, fields and farms.
Kenneth Cummings/The Jackson Sun via AP
A convicted felon facing serious charges in the case, Autry gave graphic testimony against his friend Zachary Adams, including details about drug use and Bobo’s kidnapping, rape and slaying. Autry told the jury he served as a lookout as Adams shot Bobo under a bridge near a river.
“It sounded like, boom, boom, boom, underneath that bridge. It was just one shot but it echoed,” Autry testified. “Birds went everywhere, all up under that bridge. Then just dead silence for just a second.”
Praised by the trial judge who called his testimony credible, Autry’s story helped seal the fate of Adams, who was convicted at the 2017 trial and sentenced to life in prison plus 50 years. More than six years later, court records show Autry’s taking it all back and recanting his testimony, saying he made up the story to avoid spending life in prison.
Autry’s reversal was revealed in two petitions, obtained by CBS affiliate WREG-TV, seeking post-conviction relief filed by Adams’ lawyer in Hardin County, where the trial took place. Adams, 39, wants his conviction thrown out based on Autry’s latest statements about the case that grabbed national headlines and frightened residents of Bobo’s quiet west Tennessee hometown of Parsons, about 120 miles east of Memphis.
Attorneys say Autry’s truthful testimony also provides the necessary alibi for Adams, WREG reported.
“The record will ultimately acquit Mr. Adams based on Mr. Jason Autry’s complete and total recantation,” one of the petitions says.
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, Pool, File
After Bobo disappeared, authorities and volunteers launched an intense search. Missing person flyers bearing her face were distributed in many states and national news outlets breathlessly focused on the case. Bobo’s remains were eventually found in some woods by ginseng hunters in September 2014.
Investigators found no DNA evidence connecting Adams to Bobo. Instead, they relied on testimony from friends and jail inmates, who said Adams spoke of harming Bobo after she died. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said that the investigation was the most exhaustive and expensive in the agency’s history. Witnesses painted a disturbing picture of drug life in rural West Tennessee and the trial featured high emotions: Bobo’s mother collapsed on the witness stand.
Adams’ ex-girlfriend Rebecca Earp also took the stand during the trial, CBS affiliate WTVF reported at the time. Earp said Adams saw a news report about Bobo and remarked, “They’ll never be able to find her.”
Earp said Adams threatened to “tie me up just like he did Holly Bobo, and nobody would ever see me again.”
Like Adams, Autry was charged with kidnapping, rape and murder, but he received leniency for his testimony. Autry eventually pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit murder and facilitation of especially aggravated kidnapping, and he was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was released in 2020, but he was arrested about two months later and charged with federal weapons violations after a deputy saw him in a rural field with a rifle. Autry, 49, is scheduled to be sentenced in April following his guilty plea in the weapons case.
Tennessee’s Court of Criminal Appeals denied the initial appeal of Adams’ conviction in 2022. The most recent petitions discussing Autry’s decision to recant his testimony were filed in Hardin County Circuit Court on Jan. 22, based on what Adams’ lawyer refers to as new evidence. The filings seek a hearing and for Adams’ conviction to be set aside.
Autry met with Dr. Katie Spirko, a forensic and clinical neuropsychologist, and told her that he was recanting his trial testimony. Autry said he made the story up after his lawyer told him he was “95% certain of a conviction” of charges against Autry in the Bobo case, according to one of the petitions.
The petition says Autry concocted the entire story in his jail cell while reviewing discovery evidence. He admitted his testimony was false and that he used extensive cell phone data to create a story, the petition says.
“He said he just recreated his day and ‘added Holly to it,'” the filing says. “He acknowledged it was all to get him out of jail at the express guidance of his attorney.”
The petition notes that Autry’s testimony was critical in securing a conviction against Adams. Judge C. Creed McGinley, who presided over the trial, said at Autry’s sentencing that his testimony “was some of the most credible, persuasive testimony I’ve ever heard given in a courtroom.”
Generally, it’s unusual for a cooperating witness to recant testimony years after a trial. It is unclear whether Autry’s decision will affect Adams’ criminal conviction, but it’s the first significant development in the case since Adams lost his appeal.
It’s also unclear why Autry would recant his testimony now. A computer drive with Autry’s statements was filed with the court, but it’s not publicly available. A hearing to determine if the exhibit will be sealed is scheduled for April 17.
Douglas Bates IV, Adams’ post-conviction lawyer, declined comment through an assistant at his law firm.
Adams’ post-conviction relief petitions also argue that Adams should have been allowed to testify by his lawyers and they failed to rebut Autry’s story, the petitions say.
CBS News
Rex Heuermann, alleged Long Island serial killer, due in court as prosecutors promise major development
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. – Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann is due back in court on Long Island Tuesday morning, and prosecutors are promising a major development in the case.
The hearing is set to begin after 9:30 a.m. A press conference is expected at the Suffolk County DA’s office shortly after. We will bring that news conference to you live on CBS News New York.
The judge has previously indicated he wanted to set a trial date at today’s hearing.
Heuermann’s last court appearance was back in October.
Heuermann accused of killing 6 women, so far
Heuermann, 61, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of six women between 1993 and 2011. The remains of 11 people were discovered around Gilgo Beach during that period, and investigators believe Heuermann may be linked to other killings. The Suffolk County DA has said there could be future indictments.
Four of the victims had their bodies disposed of near Gilgo Beach. Two others were murdered as far back as 2003 and 1993. Each of them had been involved in sex work.
Prosecutors allege Heuermann is linked to the murders through DNA, burner phone data, a description of his truck, internet searches and what they call a blueprint for how to get away with murder.
Attorneys wrangle over DNA, volume of evidence
A key point of contention in the new DNA evidence is called SNP, which prosecutors say links the hairs of victims to Heuermann. The defense has called an outside lab’s methods of genetic testing unproven and “magic.”
Another hurdle for prosecutors is the sheer volume of evidence. The DA says they’re struggling to keep up with the costs of processing the 120 terabytes of data and 400 electronic devices seized.
Heuermann’s attorney says his client is looking forward to his day in court and will be pursuing a change of venue, claiming the jury pool in Suffolk has been “poisoned.”
Heuermann remains in isolation in jail.
CBS News
Osiel Cárdenas Guillén — notorious drug lord nicknamed “Friend Killer” — returned to Mexico after U.S. prison sentence
Notorious drug lord Osiel Cárdenas Guillén has been returned to Mexico after serving a U.S. sentence and was quickly re-arrested and sent to a maximum security prison to face Mexican charges.
There had been nervousness about the impending return of Cárdenas Guillén, who once led the feared Gulf cartel in northeastern Mexico before he was arrested and extradited to the United States in 2007.
The U.S. Homeland Security Department confirmed in its social media accounts Monday that Cárdenas Guillén had been returned after serving 14 years in U.S. custody, most of his 25-year U.S. prison sentence. He is a Mexican citizen, so presumably he was deported.
“The successful removal of Osiel Cardenas, a notorious international fugitive, underscores our unwavering commitment to public safety and justice,” said Enforcement and Removal Operations Chicago Field Office Director Samuel Olson in a statement.
A Mexican federal official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said Cárdenas Guillén had immediately been taken into custody in Mexico on drug, organized crime and money-laundering charges.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Handout via REUTERS
The official said Cárdenas Guillén was being held at the country’s top maximum-security Altiplano prison just west of Mexico City.
Homeland Security Investigations posted photos of a paunchy, balding, bespectacled Cárdenas Guillén being escorted by two officers in helmets and flak vests, and the being walked over a border bridge.
The image contrasts with the drug lord’s fearsome reputation for violence in Mexico.
Nicknamed “El Mata Amigos” (“Friend Killer”), he recruited former Mexican special forces soldiers to form his personal guard. The former head of the Gulf cartel was known for his brutality. He created the most bloodthirsty gang of hitmen Mexico has ever known, the Zetas, which routinely slaughtered migrants and innocent people.
The 57-year-old native of the border city of Matamoros, Mexico, moved tons of cocaine and made millions of dollars through the Gulf cartel, based in the border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros.
After his arrest in the northeast border state of Tamaulipas, he was extradited in 2007 to the United States, where he was sentenced in 2010 to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay $50 million.
At that time, the Justice Department alleged that Cardenas Guillen threatened to kill a Texas sheriff’s deputy who was working as an undercover ICE agent because he refused to deliver almost 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.
CBS News
The Electoral College votes to confirm results for the 2024 presidential election today. Here’s what to know.
At state capitols across the U.S. Tuesday, the presidential electors will be gathering to cast their electoral votes, formalizing President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
It’s largely a ceremonial vote, the next step after the presidential election. When Americans cast their ballots on Election Day, they’re technically voting for a slate electors committed to supporting their choice for president and vice president.
How does the Electoral College work?
The rules governing the Electoral College are outlined by the 12th Amendment.
Presidential electors, according to the amendment, “shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify.”
The political parties choose the slate of electors ahead of the general election.
After Election Day, all the votes are counted and then certified by each state. According to the 2022 Electoral Count Reform Act, the deadline to certify the results is set at six days before the electors are scheduled to meet, traditionally on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December.
The Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 also requires that each state determine a state official — the governor unless specified otherwise — to be responsible for submitting the “certificate of ascertainment” that identifies the state’s electors and includes a security feature.
What were the 2024 Electoral College results?
Trump won 312 Electoral College votes to Harris’ 226. See state-by-state results here and below.
Nationally, Trump also won the popular vote, winning 77.2 million votes to Harris’ 75 million.
How many electoral votes does each state have?
The Electoral College consists of 538 electors, and a majority of 270 is needed to become president.
Each state’s electoral votes are equal to the number of representatives they have in the House, plus two senators.
While the number of Electoral College votes has remained at 538 since 1964, the number of votes per state changes to match congressional apportionment after the decennial census. Between the 2020 election and the 2024 election, Texas gained two Electoral College votes, while five other states — Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon — gained one electoral vote each. Six states lost an electoral vote: California, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The map below shows the changes by state between the 2020 election and the 2024 election.
Does each elector have to vote with the state election results?
Forty-eight states and Washington, D.C., are winner-take-all, so the winner of the popular vote in the state wins all of the state’s electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska allocate their electors based on the winner of the popular vote within each Congressional District and then two “at-large” electors are determined based on winner of the statewide popular vote.
The electors are supposed to vote in accordance with the outcome of the popular vote in their state. The Constitution does not require electors to vote with the winner of the popular vote, but most states have laws that nullify the votes of “faithless electors.” The Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that states can punish these “faithless electors.”
According to FairVote, there have been 90 “deviant” votes cast by electors for president since the founding of the Electoral College, although the majority of these were due to the death of a party’s nominee rather than a true deviation from the voters’ intent.
There have also been 75 faithless electors for vice president, for a total of 165 faithless electors throughout history, according to FairVote.
After the 2020 election, so-called “fake” Republican electors in seven battleground states won by President Biden met anyway and cast phony votes for Trump. State criminal charges have been filed against fake electors in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada. In charging Trump for attempting the overturn the election results, special counsel Jack Smith said these fake electors were part of a plan to overturn the election, orchestrated by pro-Trump attorneys with Trump’s support. Those charges have been dismissed since Trump’s victory in the 2024 election.
What’s next after the Electoral College certification?
After the results are signed and certified, they are sent to Harris, acting as the president of the Senate. The vote certificates must be received by the fourth Wednesday in December, which this year is Dec. 25. The archivist then transmits the sets of certificates to Congress on or before the new Congress meets on Jan. 3, 2025.
On Jan. 6, 2025, Congress meets in a joint session to count the Electoral College votes, overseen by Harris. After the votes are counted, the vice president announces the winner of the election.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will take the oath of office at the inauguration at noon on Jan. 20, 2025.
Worry rising in Minnesota’s undocumented workforce as second Trump term approaches
Critics’ picks: The 13 best things to do and see in the Twin Cities this week
Critics say dogs, cats at northern MN rescue suffered needlessly
Worry rising in Minnesota’s undocumented workforce as second Trump term approaches
Critics’ picks: The 13 best things to do and see in the Twin Cities this week