News Anchor Dies In Plunge Over Falls

A Georgia morning news anchor plunged approximately 160 feet to her death Thursday after being swept over the top of Rainbow Falls just a day before her 25th birthday, according to authorities.

Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney confirmed Saturday that Taylor Terrell, 24, died in the accident.

Terrell, of Conyers, Ga., anchored 41NBC News at Daybreak and 41Today in Macon, Ga. According to 13WMAZ Special Projects Producer Erica Carr, Terrell was an "avid hiker" and had taken Friday off from work.

"(Friday) was her 25th birthday," Carr said. "She was a beloved morning anchor (and) a sweet, beautiful girl. Everybody is devastated here."

On Friday morning, Terrell's parents informed the television station that their daughter was in an accident and did not survive, according to News Director Brandon Long. Terrell had been working with 41NBC since August of 2013. She started as a reporter before she was promoted to an anchor position.

“Taylor was a hard worker with a bright smile. She rose through the ranks from intern to reporter, to weekend anchor, to morning anchor and was eager to prepare for her next chapter,” according to a statement issued by her news station. “This is a devastating loss for us here at 41NBC and most definitely for her family.”

Terrell had been wading in the creek with a friend at the top of Rainbow Falls when she lost her footing on some rocks covered in algae, according to spokeswoman Cathy Dowd with the United States Forest Service. She was then swept over Rainbow Falls by the swift current.

The incident took place just after 4 p.m. Thursday, according to firefighters at the Lake Toxaway Fire Department. Her body had been recovered by 8:30 p.m.

The U.S. Forest Service investigated the fatality with the assistance of the Transylvania County Sheriff's Office. Terrell's death was considered to be "accidental," Dowd said Friday.

Her death marked the first fatality at Rainbow Falls in 2016, according to Dowd. In the past 10 years, there have been seven deaths in the Pisgah National Ranger District.

In Transylvania County there have been seven waterfall deaths since Jan. 1, according to county authorities.

Rainbow Falls is located in the Gorges State Park, about 55 miles from Asheville near Lake Toxaway and the small town of Sapphire. It is one of several waterfalls in Transylvania County that is a popular attraction for locals and visitors.

Officials urge people visiting waterfalls to remember these attractions can be dangerous, and in some cases deadly.

"The best way to enjoy a waterfall is from a safe distance," Dowd said in a press release.

Via:http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/07/24/news-anchor-dies-plunge-over-falls-gorges-state-park/87511612/

Man Kills Himself Trying To Blow Up Coworker's Home

A man killed himself with a car bomb after detonating another bomb at the home of a former coworker in western Nevada on Wednesday, a neighbor told The Daily Beast.

Two explosions rocked the small, mostly Mormon town of Panaca, Nevada on Wednesday evening in a bizarre attack that police said only injured a boy on a nearby bicycle. The blasts were powerful enough to send some debris a mile away.

Richard Katschke, a retired schoolteacher and coach, is a neighbor of the Cluff family, whose house was targeted by the bizarre bombings. The Cluffs lived in that house with their three daughters, Katschke said, adding that they had recently finished putting on an addition to allow one of their mothers to move in.

Katschke said he and his wife were reading scripture and getting ready for evening prayer when the blast shook their world.

“Out here in rural Nevada we’re used to sonic booms,” he said. “But this was magnitudes above that.”
The first blast came from a car parked out front. Then, another bomb exploded in the back of the house, Katschke said. Joshua Cluff and one of the daughters were not home, he added. Attempts to reach the couple were unsuccessful. A relative declined to comment to The Daily Beast, other than to say the blast did not occur at her house.

One close family friend told Katschke that Tiffany had seen the man, who had worked with her husband at a local hospital, in her backyard, planting the bomb. Another person said the man had knocked on the front door twice, giving them a heads up.

“He told her that if you want to live, you need to get out now,” Katschke said. “He was bent on destruction but not on killing anyone.”

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said in a press release that there was one fatality and one non-life threatening injury. The fatality is believed to be the man who set off the bombs. At a press conference Thursday, officials said the small police department would be trying to reconstruct what kinds of explosives were used.

The blast caused significant damage to the newly finished home, and blew out the windows in the house across the street.

Katschke said that the dead suspect used to work as a nurse alongside Joshua Cluff. (The suspect has not been named by police.)  He was a nice man in his 50s, and Katschke said the man had really gone the extra mile for his mother before she died.

Police said Thursday that there is a related investigation ongoing in another state, and that the bomber was a "disgruntled former employee" of Grover C. Dills Hospital.

“He was fired from his job or released from his job at the hospital,” Katschke said. “He had since moved away. He moved away, so he came back just to do this.”

Via: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/14/man-kills-himself-with-a-bomb-after-trying-to-blow-up-ex-coworker-s-home.html

Yelp executive plunges to her death in the Grand Canyon

A Florida Yelp executive accidentally plunged to her death after stepping out of the way for a man on a popular hiking trail in the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Collen Burns, 35, was at Ooh Aah Point on the South Kaibab Trail with friends to watch the sunrise on Friday when she tripped and lost her footing while making room for another hiker to walk by.

“She was stepping out of the way for another gentleman to kind of squeeze in, and unfortunately, Colleen kind of got tripped up on her own feet and fell backwards, fell into the canyon,” Burns’ heartbroken friend Jessica Roman told WESH.

“That was the longest, strangest, craziest two seconds of my life.”

Burns’ body was found 400 feet below where she’d been standing.

Earlier on Friday, Burns posted a foreboding photo on her Instagram account of her looking out at the canyon along with the caption: “That view tho.”

Via: http://nypost.com/2016/07/12/yelp-executive-plunges-to-her-death-i
n-the-grand-canyon/

Tourist at Machu Picchu falls to his death while jumping for photo near edge of Peruvian ruin

A tourist at the Peruvian ruin Machu Picchu plummeted to his death while jumping up in the air for a photo at the popular tourist attraction.

Oliver Paps, a 51-year-old from Germany, fell 650 feet into a ravine at the Andean archaeological site on Wednesday, police told AFP.

An official witness told the outlet that Paps said, "I'm going to jump in the air — take a photo for me as a memory," before another Machu Picchu visitor photographed him as he fell into the abyss.

He had crossed over a barrier meant to keep visitors safely away from the edge of the mountainous tourist attraction, Machu Picchu's director Fernando Astete said.

Pap’s body was recovered from the ravine where he landed, and will likely be taken back to Germany.

His fall came one day after South Korean tourist Kim Jongim, 28, died after falling into an abyss at the Gocta waterfall in northern Peru, according to the country's Canal N.

Via: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/tourist-machu-picchu-falls-death-jumping-photo-article-1.2696580?utm_content=buffer6b20c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDailyNewsTw