Eric Church’s journey from North Carolina to country music stardom is nothing short of inspiring, marked by hits and a loyal fanbase that keeps growing. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
Month: June 2026
Eric Church’s journey from North Carolina to country music stardom is nothing short of inspiring, marked by hits and a loyal fanbase that keeps growing. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
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From 1993 until 2010, an unseen killer terrorized women in the Gilgo Beach area of Long Island.
In 2023, authorities arrested Rex Heuermann after finding substantial evidence — from his car to DNA to electronic contact with multiple victims — linking him to some of the crimes.
He has been definitively linked to eight of the murder victims.
Now, he has been sentenced — and he’s never getting out.
There are real debates as to how many Gilgo Beach victims died by his hand
In November of 1993, Sandra Costilla went missing from New York. Her remains were found later that month.
She was, as far as investigators can tell, the first of many.
Off and on, often with years between the killings, women vanished or were found — in part or on whole — in the general vicinity of Gilgo Beach on Long Island.
It was not until July of 2023 that Heuermann was charged with seven of the murders.
These were not the only women who died horribly in this area. They were just the ones that investigators had successfully linked to Heuermann.
Heuermann was a Manhattan architectural consultant and a resident of Massapequa Park.
Investigators determined that, in addition to other evidence, these horrific killings had taken place when his wife and children were traveling out of state.
Multiple pieces of evidence led authorities to Heuermann, including DNA evidence from a discarded pizza crust and also hair fiber analysis.
In April of 2026, Heuermann pleaded guilty to the seven murders for which he had been charged.
He also admitted to another killing, that of Karen Vergata, though he had not been charged in her death.
Life without the possibility of parole
On Wednesday, June 17, TMZ reports that the court sentenced Heuermann to life in prison, without the possibility of parole.
The judge is said to have accurately referred to him as “a disgusting and despicable man” during the hearing.
In that same session, the judge also reportedly called Heuermann a “coward.”
Seventeen years of stalking and lethally strangling women, some of whom he’d had previous electronic contact with, is not the behavior of a courageous or righteous individual.
Heuermann also used his computer to search for things like child sex-abuse material (CSAM) and photos of the family members of his victims. If anything, the judge was being nice.
Our culture sometimes mythologizes serial killers, due in no small part to a long history of police dragging their heels or simply missing evidence.
Serial killers are not geniuses, or artists, or misunderstood victims. Most serial killers are at or below average intelligence.
Heuermann chose to end the lives of at least eight women. Serial killers have varying conscious motives and backgrounds, but the vast majority have a hatred of women at the core of what drives them to kill.
Someone who does things like this cannot be among us. He needs to be incarcerated for the public good.
Perhaps, in time, police can find evidence linking him to more victims. It won’t bring them back, but it may give more families a sense of closure.
Or, if they do not find more evidence, it may show investigators that there are more killers to be found.
Gilgo Beach Killer Rex Heuermann Sentenced to Life Without Parole After Confessing to 8 … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
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Back in May of 2025, Emilie Kiser’s 3-year-old son, Trigg, lost his life six days after he fell into her in-ground pool and drowned.
Now, more than a year after that heartbreaking loss, Kiser is opening up about one of the most difficult parts of her grief journey.
The social media influencer appeared on Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast this week, marking her first interview since Trigg’s passing 13 months ago.
During the emotional conversation, Kiser spoke candidly about her decision to forgive her husband, Brady Kiser, who was home with the couple’s children when the tragedy occurred.
According to Emilie, reaching that point required her to confront a painful realization.
“This could have just as easily been me in Brady’s position,” she said.
At the time of the incident, Emilie was not at home. Brady was caring for both Trigg and the couple’s newborn son, Teddy.
Kiser acknowledged that her empathy for her husband did not erase the reality of what happened.
Brady was taking care of our newborn child. When I left for dinner that night, he was de-thawing my breast milk, trying to get Teddy settled, a 5-week-old baby,” Emilie explained.
“That doesn’t excuse anything. It doesn’t excuse what happened. It doesn’t excuse any of the series of events after that,” she continued.
Still, she said recognizing the ways circumstances could have unfolded differently helped her develop compassion for her husband during an unimaginable period of grief.
“But taking that accountability, along with all the other things I know I could have changed, gave me so much true, deep, real, raw empathy for him of, this could have been me.”
Kiser admitted there was a time when she wondered if her marriage would survive the devastating loss.
She said that even if their roles had been reversed, she would have hoped for forgiveness because she knows neither parent intended for the tragedy to happen.
“That’s exactly how I feel for Brady,” she said. “I really just have so much empathy and love for him.”
The influencer also praised her husband for the way he has handled the family’s grief.
“He is so strong,” she said, adding that she is “really proud of us” and the way they have navigated the loss together.
Our thoughts are with Emilie and Brady as they continue to navigate their healing journey together.
Emilie Kiser Opens Up About Forgiving Husband Following Drowning Death of Son was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
For some country stars, living with chronic illness is just one of the facts of life. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
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Accused murderer and confirmed folk hero Luigi Mangione appeared in court again this week.
His attorneys revealed that they intend to put forward an affirmative defense: Extreme Emotional Disturbance.
If successful, Luigi could potentially be convicted and get out in his early 30s.
But it’s possible that this is a gambit to put UnitedHealthCare on trial. If so, he might get out even sooner.
What is Extreme Emotional Disturbance?
On Wednesday, June 17, Luigi appeared in court alongside his attorneys.
There, his lawyers told the judge that he hopes to use an unusual but familiar defense at his trial: Extreme Emotional Disturbance.
Simply put, an EED defense is an affirmative defense, in which a defendant says that they committed an act during an altered state of consciousness.
This would mean that Luigi (allegedly) committed an act of voluntary manslaughter.
If the jury agrees with the defense’s case, this would mean a conviction — and a minimum sentence of five years. (The maximum sentence would be more like 25 years.)
Assuming that the judge permits this defense strategy, this would play out in court by effectively putting UnitedHealthCare on trial.
The core argument would be that the company’s egregious conduct prompted Luigi to have a psychological break.
In court, they would have to show that Luigi had a plausible yet extreme emotional reaction to denied healthcare claims alongside his lasting pain.
However, Luigi will also be facing murder charges in federal court — where the Extreme Emotional Disturbance defense is unavailable.
Nothing about his attorneys’ comments in court on Wednesday suggested what their planned defensive strategy would be in federal court.
What is the broader strategy here?
If successful, Extreme Emotional Disturbance arguments could get Luigi anywhere from 5 to 25 years behind bars. (That’s what First Degree Manslaughter will land you in New York.)
So why, some ask, would he try this defense first instead of simply saying that he’s been framed by a bloodthirsty police force under intense political pressure?
Is the prosecution’s case airtight in proving that he did the deed? That would be surprising, considering.
It is also possible that his team hopes that his affirmative defense will end, not with the jury siding with him, but with jury nullification.
Simply put, someone sitting there hearing how awful UnitedHealthCare is might just vote to acquit him, no matter what evidence is presented.
THE COURTROOM SKETCH ARTIST DREW THE MOMENT THEY REALIZED THEY FORGOT LUIGI
— 💚 24 / 7 Luigi Mangione Posts (@werlyloveluigi.bsky.social) June 16, 2026 at 10:52 PM
At this point, we should acknowledge that Extreme Emotional Disturbance defense strategies do have a partially ugly history.
Yes, they can apply to sympathetic situations, such as someone who sees a loved one being attacked and then kills the attacker. But EED has also been used in “gay panic” and “trans panic” defenses, as well as in racist and other bigoted ways.
Those instances are problematic because the victims of those crimes were innocent, the only “emotional disturbance” being the perpetrator’s bigotry.
Luigi isn’t accused of killing an innocent person, however, but a for-profit healthcare CEO. That’s arguably as far from an innocent person as you can get.
Tens of millions of Americans view Luigi favorably. Finding jurors who haven’t already formed a strong opinion on this young man will be an unenviable task.
Luigi Mangione Pursing ‘Extreme Emotional Disturbance’ Defense: What Does It … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip