Free Republic

The monster special needs student who pummeled his teacher after she took his Nintendo Switch has been sentenced to five years in a Florida state prison. Brendan Depa, who was 17 at the time of the beating, tackled teacher's aide Joan Naydich, 59, in February 2023 and unleashed dozens of punches to her body and head, leaving her seriously bruised and unconscious. Depa, who is 6'6' and 270 pounds, has become a legal adult since the brutal attack he perpetrated at Matanzas High School in Palm Coast, Florida, a moderately sized town near Daytona Beach. He pleaded no contest to...

Bombshell allegations by FBI Special Agent Steve Friend contained in a whistleblower complaint filed late Wednesday with the Department of Justice inspector general reveal a politicized Washington, DC, FBI field office cooking the books to exaggerate the threat of domestic terrorism, and ­using an “overzealous” January 6 ­investigation to harass conservative Americans and violate their constitutional rights. Friend, 37, a respected 12-year veteran of the FBI and a SWAT team member, was suspended Monday, stripped of his gun and badge, and escorted out of the FBI field office in Daytona Beach, Fla., after complaining to his supervisors about the violations....

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - A Volusia County woman suspected of killing her 79-year-old roommate allegedly doused herself in soda in an attempt to erase possible evidence on her body, according to an arrest affidavit. She poured diet Mountain Dew all over her body when police told her they were going to collect her DNA as part of the investigation, authorities said. Her DNA was later found on the handle of a bloody knife found lying next to the victim's body at the Daytona Beach home they shared, the affidavit stated. Nichole Maks, 35, was booked into the Volusia County jail...

A wall of water as much as 18 feet high rose out of a calm sea and crashed ashore, smashing hundreds of vehicles parked on the beach and causing 75 minor injuries, officials and witnesses said. An undersea landslide apparently caused the 27-mile-long rogue wave late Friday night, a federal seismologist said Saturday."I saw this huge wall of white water," said Roy Bennett of South Daytona Beach, who was walking on the beach with his wife. "I told my wife to run, and I ran behind her. If we hadn't run, we'd have been pinched in between cars or cars...

Florida man Andrew George is in jail for allegedly breaking into a home because he claimed a ghost was chasing him, Daytona Beach police say. George was booked last week for two counts of burglary. According to his arrest report, dispatchers were called to a Daytona Beach historic home for a shooting — but it turned out to be a burglary. When officers arrived, they found a man, later identified as George, laying on his back on the front steps of the home covered in blood and crying out in pain. His alleged accomplice, Natasha Kachuroi, was standing over him,...

Erosion along Daytona Beach, Florida, caused mainly by two hurricanes last fall, exposed a shipwreck last week that archeologists hope to learn more about, according to reports. FOX 35 in Orlando reported that researchers planned to examine the wreckage Monday, though it is not clear whether inclement weather deterred those plans. The wreck was exposed near Daytona Beach Shores because of beach erosion allegedly caused by hurricanes Ian and Nicole in 2022 and high tides. Aerial footage captured by the station’s SkyFox drone depicts wreckage in the shape of a hull, estimated to be 25 to 30 feet long. FOX...

It was a very unwelcome house call. A Florida man was attacked by an alligator after opening his front door Saturday night, according to a report. Daytona Beach resident Scott Hollingsworth told WESH that he heard a noise outside his home around 9:42 p.m., and when he stepped outside, “something grabbed me on the leg, started shaking violently.” He added that he didn’t turn on a light, so he didn’t get a good look at his assailant, but told the station that he initially thought it was a dog. “I stepped back into the house and closed the door,” Hollingsworth...

A Florida man was violently attacked by a 9-foot alligator Saturday at his home in Daytona Beach. Scott Hollingsworth told local media that he and his wife were watching television on Saturday night when he heard something banging against the door. “I jumped up and headed over and opened the door, stepped out while trying to reach the lights and barely got out the door and got my leg clamped on and [it] started shaking really violently,” he said. “It happened so quickly, wasn’t a whole lot [of time]. It was just total surprise and shock. We see alligators behind...

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. — Severe beach erosion from two late-season hurricanes has helped uncover what appears to be a wooden ship dating from the 1800s which had been buried under the sand on Florida’s East Coast for up to two centuries, impervious to cars that drove daily on the beach or sand castles built by generations of tourists. Beachgoers and lifeguards discovered the wooden structure, between 80 feet to 100 feet, poking out of the sand over Thanksgiving weekend in front of homes that collapsed into rubble on Daytona Beach Shores last month from Hurricane Nicole. “Whenever you find...

A man in Daytona Beach, Florida, went viral after sharing that he successfully waterproofed his store against Hurricane Ian with spray foam and Flex Seal. Eddie Kastrul, the owner of Midwest Motorcycle Sales & Rental, posted a video of his undamaged store on Facebook over the weekend. A woman named Cori Bosco (@eastcoastdiy) later re-posted Kastrul's video to TikTok, where it has gone viral with over 1 million views. You can watch the full video here. Hurricane Ian moved through Florida and the Carolinas last week, causing tens of billions of dollars in damage, reported Reuters. Bosco—a Daytona Beach resident...

Witness report: My wife and I had just stepped out of our condo when we observed lights hovering in the sky, in a V shape formation. The lights were glowing and would turn off and on, reappearing elsewhere in the sky. I managed to obtain video and a still shot of the objects using my cell phone. Attached is a video of what we observed along with a still shot. According to social media, news outlets were reporting that these objects were being seen all over Florida for the past 1-2 hours, prior to my wife and I seeing them....

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Daytona Beach police have arrested a suspect in the horrific deaths of a married couple killed last weekend. Jean R. Macean, 32, was arrested Thursday at approximately 11 a.m. in Orlando where he lives. “I’m pleased to announce that we have arrested the man responsible for the murders of Brenda Aultman and Terry Aultman,” Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young wrote on Twitter. RELATED: ‘Vicious and gruesome’: Married couple found with throats slashed were riding bikes in Daytona Beach At a news conference Thursday night, Young said Macean arrived to Daytona Beach by bus on Saturday...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Two people are dead following a weekend in a residential area of Daytona Beach, according to the Daytona Beach Police Department. The victims were found Sunday morning in the 700 block of North Wild Olive Avenue with multiple stab wounds and lacerations. Authorities confirmed the identity of the pair as Terry and Brenda Aultman. The couple was found on the side of the road, just a couple blocks off Main Street, and very close to where all the bike week events are happening now in Daytona Beach. Police say at first, they thought it was a...

Othal Wallace, the man wanted for shooting Daytona Beach police officer Jason Raynor in the head Wednesday evening, was taken into custody at a property just outside of Atlanta around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, police said. The property is in a wooded area and is affiliated with an organization called the 'Not F**king Around Coalition' (NFAC), a Black Nationalist paramilitary organization, Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said. Wallace was found hiding in a treehouse with multiple flashbangs, rifle plates, body armor, two rifles, two handguns, and several boxes of ammunition, the chief said. A large arsenal of weapons was also...

The man who shot a Daytona Beach, Florida, police officer in the head Wednesday night has been arrested.Daytona Beach Police shared the news on Twitter Saturday morning, writing, "Othal Wallace has been captured!"At a press conference at 5:30 a.m. Saturday, Chief Jakari Young said police found Wallace in a property located in a wooded area, in Atlanta.In the area next to the main house were a trailer and a treehouse. Wallace was hiding in the treehouse with flash bangs, Young said."Rifle plates, body armor, two rifles, two handguns and several boxes of ammunition were also in the treehouse," he said....

(Lansing, MI.) A source close to Governor Whitmer of Michigan has confirmed the Governor is privately blaming Florida for the Covid outbreak in her state. “I simply can't believe Florida would open up and grant their citizens the freedom to move about without masks or social distancing, leaving those decisions to the people. That is irresponsible leadership”. “Michigan had hundred of thousands, possibly millions of spring breakers who went to Florida to participate in spring break activities in Daytona Beach, Miami, Destin, Pensacola Beach and other locations without the Florida state government demanding masks and social distancing. We had things...

The exact opposite of social distancing took place in Daytona Beach on Saturday. The Volusia County Sheriff's Office released new chopper video overnight of a massive crowd in the city, holding up traffic on a major roadway.

When police found Carlos Cruz-Echevarria dead near his home last Veterans Day, he was lying face down in a ditch, shot multiple times in the head. Beside him was a truck stuck in the mud. Later, the 60-year-old army veteran’s car was found several miles away, torched. It seemed like a random, senseless killing: authorities thought Cruz-Echevarria had been robbed and left for dead after stopping to help a stranger on a Daytona Beach roadside. But a year-long investigation has revealed that it was anything but random.

"We need your help in the last 10 days," Clinton told a crowd of some 900 at the John H. Dickerson Community Center on the city's south side. "Lock her up!" one protester screamed as Clinton and more than a dozen other vehicles carrying campaign staffers, news media and others rolled by. Clinton's opponent, Trump, had visited the city on Aug. 3, drawing a crowd of more than 8,000 at the Ocean Center.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016: Live stream coverage of the Donald J. Trump for President town hall event in Daytona Beach, FL at the Ocean Center. Coverage begins at 3:00 PM ET. Daytona Beach, FL Watch the LIVE STREAM of the event below beginning at 3:00 PM ET: Daytona Beach, FL at the Ocean Center Wednesday, August 3, 2016: Live stream of the Donald J. Trump for President rally in Jacksonville, FL at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. Coverage begins at 7:00 PM ET. Jacksonville, FL Watch the LIVE STREAM of the event below beginning at 7:00 PM ET: Jacksonville Veterans Memorial...