The eagerly anticipated murder trial regarding the death of Tupac Shakur has revealed significant hurdles for prosecutors as it unfolds nearly three decades after the fact. Among these challenges are the deaths of several crucial witnesses, a lack of cooperation from others, and a prosecution strategy that hinges significantly on the words of the accused himself.

Now at 63, Duane “Keffe D” Davis stands accused of supplying the firearm used in the infamous 1996 drive-by shooting in Las Vegas that claimed the life of Shakur and injured Marion “Suge” Knight, the founder of Death Row Records. Although Davis is not charged with pulling the trigger, he is at the center of a trial expected to span four to five weeks, which kicked off on Monday.

Prosecutors allege that three men besides Davis were in the car during the attack; however, all three, including Davis’ nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, have since passed away. This complication arises while Anderson himself had been targeted and assaulted by Knight’s group earlier that night, adding another layer to this complex case.

Davis’ legal defense is firm in its denial of his involvement. His lawyer, Michael Sanft, has cast doubt on the prosecution’s narrative, suggesting that the story being advanced by the state might well be a fabrication invented by Davis himself.

Former FBI Special Agent Wade Lee testified that Davis sat down with investigators in 1998 after a drug-trafficking bust and began cooperating with authorities.

Davis sat down for multiple interviews with investigators, then spoke out on a BET documentary and detailed the night of the slaying in his memoir, prosecutors said.

Davis is a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, which was a rival of the Mob Piru Bloods, a gang affiliated with Knight, who is serving a 28-year prison sentence for another Compton dispute that turned deadly.

The two groups had a bloody rivalry, highlighted by a brawl in the summer of 1996 that preceded Anderson’s beating at the MGM Grand casino on Sept. 7, 1996, shortly before Shakur was gunned down in what prosecutors allege was retaliation.

Knight, who is on the witness list, has said in prior interviews he does not intend to cooperate with prosecutors. James “Mob James” McDonald, a former Mob Piru associate, told the court to “treat me as a hostile witness” when he took the stand and later told Davis directly, “I don’t want to send you to prison.”

“At the time, again, the gang culture, they had that same culture as the La Cosa Nostra, which was, you know, ‘we don’t talk to the cops,’” said Chris Swecker, a former assistant director of the FBI.

He also has a background in gang investigations and helped implement the National Gang Intelligence Center.

“You would think a victim would say, ‘Hey, that’s who shot me.’ Not the case in that culture,” Swecker added. “And so that’s partly why … nobody was charged originally with the crime.”

Davis’ own words are now central to the state’s case against him.

“The need to brag and the need to get street cred sort of overrode caution,” Swecker said. “And now he sits in that defendant’s chair.”

Prosecutors opened Monday by describing Shakur’s killing as revenge for the beating of Anderson, Davis’ nephew, inside the MGM Grand after a Mike Tyson fight on Sept. 7, 1996. They argue Davis obtained a gun, helped hunt down Shakur and handed the weapon into the back seat before someone opened fire.

“Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors.

Defense attorney Michael Sanft countered that Davis exaggerated and made up stories for attention and book sales.

“What they are telling you, they’re representing it to be a fact when it really is fiction,” he told jurors in his own opening statement. “And it’s up to you to determine what the facts are in this case.”

He also said that police never tried corroborating Davis’ claims when other suspected parties were still alive and attacked the investigation as incomplete.

Former LAPD Detective Daryn Dupree testified Wednesday that Davis once denied involvement in the murder of Christopher Wallace, better known as the rapper Notorious B.I.G., by saying, “we did the other one,” which Dupree testified he understood as a reference to Shakur.

Dupree also described Davis’ claim that Sean “Diddy” Combs was supposed to provide money for Shakur’s murder.

Combs is currently in prison after being convicted of federal prostitution charges. He has not been charged in the deaths of Shakur or Wallace. He was a close associate of Wallace, who was killed in Los Angeles six months after Shakur, and whose Bad Boy Records was a rival of Knight’s Death Row Records.

WATCH: Retired LAPD detective Moses Castillo says Tupac Shakur murder trial may hinge on Keffe D’s ghostwriter

Then on Thursday, prosecutors played hours of Davis’ 2008 police interview.

On the recording, Davis said he was inside the Cadillac, initially had the gun and passed it toward the back seat. He identified Anderson as the man who ultimately opened fire on Shakur and Knight.

On Monday, jurors were shown surveillance video from MGM showing the initial fistfight involving Knight’s entourage and Davis’ nephew, Anderson.

Thomas Kern, a former Las Vegas crime scene analyst who now works for Customs and Border Protection, testified Tuesday that he was present at Shakur’s autopsy. The forensic pathologist determined his death to be a homicide caused by multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and abodmen.

By Friday more than a dozen witnesses had testified, including photographer Leonard Jefferson, who took one of the last known photographs of Shakur alive.

Also on the witness list is Yusef Jah, a ghostwriter who worked with Davis on his book, “Compton Street Legend: Notorious Keffe D’s Street-Level Accounts of Tupac and Biggie Murders, Death Row Origins, Suge Knight, Puffy Combs, and Crooked Cops.”

Inelegant descents.

An AirAsia flight experienced a rather unpleasant episode that required thorough disinfection and cleaning. Reports allege that a female traveler relieved herself while seated during the journey from Malaysia to China. The incident sparked a lively debate among passengers on Chinese social media.

According to VN Express International, flight AK1516 left Kota Kinabalu airport at approximately 10:30 p.m. on August 18, with plans to land in Shanghai around 3 a.m. the next day.

As the aircraft prepared to land, about 40 minutes from its destination, a pervasive odor spread through the cabin, as reported by Asia One. The intensity of the smell was such that it roused many passengers from their slumber.

Witnesses on the flight, including one identified by the surname Zhao, pinpointed the source of the smell to a woman in her 40s positioned between two boys, as detailed by local news sources.

“It was just before 2 a.m. and we were all asleep,” he recalled. “She hurried toward the toilet carrying a bag.”

Passengers initially assumed she was going to vomit but the “strange smell” indicated was not the case.

That’s when they noticed fecal matter splattered on the aisle rug and on the woman’s seat. When confronted by angry passengers, she said was feeling unwell.

However, they found this explanation bizarre given that the lavatory was less than 15 feet away and had not yet been shuttered for landing.

A crew member wiped the area with tissues and sprayed air freshener, but it did nothing to mask the scent.

As a result, passengers were forced to sit in the smell for an excruciating 40 minutes, which was exacerbated by the fact that they’d switched off the air conditioning for landing.

In a statement, AirAsia reps said they flagged the malodorous situation to the Captain and ground crews, who boarded and disinfected the area after the passengers had deplaned.

Crew members operating the return flight were also made aware of the condition of the cabin.

AirAsia China general manager Frank Tang Ting praised the crew members for their “professionalism, composure and rapid response” to the revolting ordeal, claiming that they “remained focused on ensuring passenger safety” despite the less-than-ideal circumstances.

“Passenger safety and well-being are our top priority,” he added. “We appreciate the passengers’ understanding in the face of this unexpected situation.”

The 2026 college football season has introduced a new name to watch as it celebrates an unexpected heavyweight contender, who has overcome significant odds to reach the college football stage.

David Jones, affectionately dubbed ‘Big Dave’, has made a move to Mississippi Valley State as a senior transfer, preparing to bulk up the Delta Devils’ defensive line. Standing at an imposing 6 feet, Jones tips the scales at 425 pounds, a weight confirmed on the team’s official website.

His formidable prowess on the field has sparked comparisons to NFL legend William ‘Refrigerator’ Perry, especially after he ran in three touchdowns as a goal-line back during his stint at a previous school.

Hailing from Augusta, Georgia, Jones showcased his talents as an offensive guard and defensive tackle for Hephzibah High School. His senior year in 2021 was particularly distinguished, as he earned recognition as a First Team All-Region player.

Yet, the journey wasn’t smooth sailing. In the wake of COVID-19, with collegiate rosters packed and slots scarce, Jones found himself competing in a club program against junior college teams, determined to carve out a path to his next opportunity.

When scholarship opportunities fell through with coaches retiring, he went back home and was working a 9-to-5 job with UPS. Yet still he refused to let his dream die. 

‘Every Sunday, [we] emailed every coach starting from Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,’ Jones told HBCU Gameday. ‘All the way from D1 to D3… and we did that every day consistently.’

His film included clips of him being used on offense as a running back. 

‘I put little gems in my highlight tape to see if my coach actually even watch it,’ Jones said. ‘Like I put some of my running plays in the middle of the highlight.’

In the end, Livingstone College assistant coach Mark Williams noticed, and the big man landed in North Carolina. 

‘At the end of his film, man, he had like two or three clips of him running the ball,’ Williams said. ‘Some coaches… might look at that and see, ‘Man, this joker 6-2, 6-3, 360 pounds — why is he running the ball like Refrigerator Perry?’ But you never know when you may need to use that skill set.’

Jones eventually scored three rushing touchdowns last year. They generated attention on social media, and he’s now made the move to a Division 1 (I-AA) program in Mississippi Valley State, leaving Livingstone behind.

‘This will be my third school I’m going to,’ he told HBCU Gameday. ‘All I know is, okay, Dave, you gotta go bet on yourself.

‘I’m just trying to really go feed my family. Football, really a business right now.’

While Jones was listed at 350 pounds at Livingstone, his new school now lists him at 425 pounds, and shared a promotional photo of him in his new uniform holding a sledgehammer. 

The SWAC team begins their season on Thursday against Nicholls State. They will play at Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears, in Week 3 in the Chicago Football Classic against Lincoln. 

Desmond Watson was previously the heaviest player in college football at the University of Florida, weighing 449 pounds at his Pro Day before becoming the heaviest player in NFL history when he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But after being put on a conditioning plan and being forced to practice alone, he was eventually released without ever playing a game. 

‘The door is not closed on him, but if you don’t practice, you’re probably not going to make this team,’ Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said at the time. 

‘We’ll see where we are in a couple weeks and we’ll circle back and we’ll go from there. We’re in the last week of camp. If you’re not practicing, you’re not going to play. He’s been working hard, we had a good talk, and we’ll circle back and see where he’s at.’

Watson himself said during last year’s camp: ‘I feel like my name is etched in history, of course, as being the official heaviest player in the NFL or whatnot.

‘It’s a good story, but at the same time I don’t want that to be my narrative. I want to be known as a football player – and a good football player at that.’

After he was released, Watson’s agent told AP: ‘He’s still working. Job’s not finished.’

But after being signed then released by the DC Defenders of the XFL, he has remained without a team and not appeared on a NFL roster this training camp.  

ELSENBORN, Belgium — A new peril has emerged amidst the wildfires scorching Europe this summer: the perilous remnants of past wars. Hidden beneath the charred earth lie rusty bombs and mines from World War I and II, posing a significant risk to the brave crews battling the relentless flames.

The intense heat has already triggered some explosives, sending blasts echoing through France, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. In one incident, a bomb-disposal team rushed to a forest in Limburg province, close to a historic 1944 battle site, as flames threatened the area.

Raging fires, exacerbated by climate change, are signalling the end of Europe’s long-standing “climatic luck,” according to Sarah Njeri, a peace and conflict expert at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. Historically, stable temperatures and regular rainfall kept these buried wartime relics dormant.

“Climate change is now unearthing and reactivating what was once stable,” Njeri explained. Wildfires not only ignite old munitions but also strip away the natural cover that hides them, making detection even more challenging.

This year’s fire season has been exacerbated by January’s heavy rains, which promoted lush vegetation that quickly turned into tinder as summer’s heat arrived. Paired with drought, low humidity, and strong winds, these conditions have created a perfect storm for wildfires, as highlighted in a recent study by the World Weather Attribution group.

Flames chewed up old battlefields and set off buried explosives

As they advanced, the flames moved over territory that has long been known to hold unexploded weapons, a lethal legacy that lingered long after the guns fell silent.

In a forest in tinder-dry France, a massive wildfire outside the southwestern city of Bordeaux uncovered a cache of what is believed to be World War II-era ammunition.

In the eastern Belgian province of Liege, Gov. Hervé Jamar said “a few sporadic detonations” were recently heard and that emergency services were adapting to account for munitions buried in a fire area. He said no fire crews were in danger, but local media published photos of a firefighter handling a rusted bomb.

During World War II, booby traps, bombs and mines were sprinkled throughout the province’s dense peat-bog forest known as the High Fens. In the first four years after Germany’s surrender in 1945, the munitions killed six civilians, said Bernard Collard, a local historian who runs the Truschbaum Museum near Belgium’s border with Germany that houses a collection of found objects from the war.

“When you go into a forest like this, you are not sure where the explosives are,” he said. He remembers his father detonating a found bomb in a quarry.

The fire in the High Fens, which stretches across the border with Germany, is smoldering atop a much-bloodied battlefield where Nazis fought Allied troops. The Battle of the Bulge was fought in and around the High Fens.

The fire is even closer to the sites of two lesser-known skirmishes along Elsenborn Ridge and in the Hurtgen Forest, which lasted 88 days and killed about 33,000 American and 28,000 German troops.

Every year, Belgium responds to thousands of calls about explosives

Collard is authorized to scan with a metal detector the former battlefields, now forests, pastures and farmland. He has found mortar shells, machine guns, helmets, cigarette cases, and once, a human skeleton.

“You never know what you might come across, and you shouldn’t take it lightly,” Collard said while standing in a field that was once a blood-soaked site. Nearby, blueberry bushes cover old foxholes, trenches and deep craters from artillery fire.

He frequently works with the Belgian demining squad. “It’s part of our history. We live with it,” Collard said.

Unexploded ordnance is even more dangerous around wildfires because heat can trigger the explosives, said Jonas Tepe, a spokesperson for North Rhine-Westphalia, just across the border in Germany.

The Belgian Ministry of Defense said it receives requests from the region about every week to assist in disarming explosives, yet it does not consider the area a “hot spot” compared to elsewhere in Belgium. Such requests are even more common in the west, where farmers in towns such as Ypres – infamous for harrowing trench warfare in World War I – call the annual tilling of the soil ” the iron harvest ” because it turns up so many war remnants.

Every year across the nation, Belgium’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Destruction Service responds to more than 3,000 calls and disposes of 200 to 250 tons of munitions left over from both world wars.

Flames are not the only threat

Drought has also helped to lay the past bare by shrinking rivers and lakes to reveal old weapons.

In Slovakia, the Danube River fell and exposed two naval mines that police pulled out of the water and buried in a trench for a controlled demolition. Authorities in Hungary closed Budapest’s Margaret Bridge after a bomb dating from World War II emerged at its base in receding water.

As the Rhine dried up, German authorities also found a WWII-era bomb.

Christina Greene, a researcher at the University of Arizona who, with Njeri, wrote an article on Europe’s wildfires and unexploded ordnance risk, said “the legacy of war keeps creeping up” because of climate change.

“It’s reliving the legacies of war and conflict in a way that we haven’t had to deal with in a while in certain places.”

___ Associated Press writers Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands; Sylvain Plazy in Brussels; Angela Charlton in Paris; Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin; and Stanislav Hodina in Prague contributed to this report.

In a life-altering moment in 2022, Sophia Maddox answered a phone call that shattered her perception of her family’s history and launched her on a quest for truth about an infamous figure in American crime.

At the age of 22, Maddox was based in Los Angeles, chasing her dreams of becoming a filmmaker and actress while balancing a variety of odd jobs to cover her living expenses. Meanwhile, her father, Daniel Arguelles, was deep in his own journey of self-discovery, determined to uncover details about his biological father. Raised by his mother and stepfather, Arguelles had finally found a clue about his real dad’s identity, leading him to make an unexpected revelation to Maddox.

“He revealed he might have discovered his father’s identity, and warned that if true, it was extremely dark,” Maddox shared with News Media. “My dad hesitated, questioning if I was ready to hear it. He’s never been a person prone to darkness. So his warning meant it had to be something significantly dark. I asked him to just spill the beans.”

“‘Is it Ted Bundy?'” Maddox remembered wondering aloud during the conversation. “He replied, ‘No, think bigger. Think of a major movie and its renowned director.’ My mind flashed to ‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,’ and then it clicked. The name that echoed in both the film and reality: Charles Manson.”

Maddox immediately Googled Manson’s name. The resemblance, she said, was uncanny.

“I thought to myself, ‘That’s my dad,'” Maddox said. “It was a really devastating day.”

Maddox’s journey after learning that Manson was her grandfather is chronicled in the Hulu documentary “My Grandfather Charles Manson.” In it, she meets people who had direct connections to Manson, including some of his former followers, to better understand her family history.

“It was cathartic,” Maddox said. “I’m a filmmaker before I found out who my grandfather is. And my life got uprooted from this. I had something to say at that moment, and I couldn’t bottle it up.”

Arguelles submitted his DNA to Ancestry in 2015, hoping to identify his father and finally answer a question that had followed him for decades. He had long suspected the man who raised him was not his biological father and confronted his mother about his paternity when he was 21.

Years passed, and Arguelles had nearly given up when he matched with Michael Brunner. DNA testing confirmed they were half-brothers. Brunner is Manson’s son with Mary Brunner, one of Manson’s earliest followers, People magazine reported.

Maddox described herself and her father as “normal, working-class citizens.”

“We have no prior records or anything criminal,” Maddox said. “We grew up as artists. My dad showed me the movies he made and his modeling photos of him photographed by Richard Avedon. So of course, when you learn that someone like Manson is your grandfather, it’s normal to wonder, ‘Am I that too?’ People have asked me, ‘Were you afraid that you inherited evil, that you were evil?’ But my dad and I are very normal, hardworking people.”

Manson, who was convicted of orchestrating the 1969 murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others in Los Angeles, died in 2017. He was 83 and serving a life sentence.

A petty criminal who had been in and out of jail since childhood, the charismatic, guru-like Manson surrounded himself in the 1960s with runaways and other lost souls, The Associated Press reported. According to the outlet, he then sent his disciples to butcher some of the rich and famous in what prosecutors said was a bid to trigger a race war — an idea he got from a twisted reading of the Beatles song “Helter Skelter.”

Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Manson maintained that he was innocent and that society itself was guilty.

A horrified Arguelles resisted learning more about his biological father. Maddox wanted to dig deeper into her grandfather’s past. She said she was less interested in the mythology surrounding Manson and more interested in how he became the man America came to fear.

Manson was born in 1934 to teenage Kathleen Maddox. His biological father was absent, and his mother married William Manson, whose surname Charles took. After that marriage ended, his mother was sent to prison for her role in a robbery, and Manson went to live with relatives. By his teens, he was stealing, running away and bouncing through juvenile institutions.

He eventually was sent to the Indiana Boys School. Manson later said he was beaten and sexually assaulted while locked up as a juvenile. His troubles continued into adulthood, with repeated prison sentences for crimes including theft and forgery.

By the time Manson was released from federal prison in 1967 at age 32, he had spent roughly half his life behind bars or in juvenile institutions.

In the film, Maddox examined previously unreleased records that shed light on Manson’s troubled childhood.

“I heard about my dad’s abuse as a child from a reform school and from his own parents,” she explained. “My dad’s was really bad, but that was the ’70s. Imagine what it was like back in the ’40s or ’50s. It was shocking how bad they treated boys in these reform schools. the juvenile justice expert we spoke to said that Manson’s experience at Indiana was not singular. Manson’s story was not exceptional. That’s how they learned their lessons in survival.”

GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE 

“I think the biggest shock for me was how Manson’s decision-making as an adult in his 30s can really stem from the survival mechanisms he learned from his childhood in these prisons,” she added.

Maddox said she was disturbed to learn that Manson, who had been institutionalized for offenses including running away and theft, was housed alongside older juveniles with violent records.

“I was shocked to read that he was imprisoned with kids who had murdered people,” Maddox said. “And he was there for running away from home, stealing a bike or stealing a car. But so many boys, older kids with violent records, were placed there. And what does a kid have to do to survive a place like that? It breaks my heart.”

Arguelles, born in 1959, learned that he was the result of a brief relationship between his mother, Darlene Arguelles, and Manson, who was using the alias “Charlie Dear” at the time, People magazine reported.

But as Maddox dug deeper into the family’s past, the search that initially brought father and daughter together began pulling them apart.

Maddox said she and her father had a falling out one week before production on the documentary began. Arguelles had previously sat for an interview and encouraged his daughter to make the film, but she said confronting his biological father’s past ultimately became too painful.

“I have a little more distance from Manson because I am the grandchild, but that’s his father,” Maddox said. “And he’s shared similar experiences in childhood as him. And my dad is a very sensitive person. [But] he was curious. He wanted answers. He wanted me to make this film. But then at the same time, it was all too much.”

“I don’t know if he’s seen the film,” Maddox said. “He hasn’t reached out. So I’m just sitting back and respecting his wishes until he reaches back out.”

“I still support Sophia and I’m very proud of her,” Arguelles told News Media. “I believe the falling out between us came from a difference of opinion on the overall narrative. That’s really all I can say at this point.”

The Manson Family slaughtered five of its victims on Aug. 9, 1969, at Tate’s home: the actress, who was 8½ months pregnant, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, Polish screenwriter Wojciech (Voityck) Frykowski and Steven Parent, a friend of the estate’s caretaker. Tate’s husband, “Rosemary’s Baby” director Roman Polanski, was out of the country at the time.

The next night, a wealthy grocer and his wife, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, were stabbed to death in their home across town.

After a trial that lasted nearly a year, Manson and three followers — Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten — were convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Another defendant, Charles “Tex” Watson, was convicted and sentenced to death later. Their sentences were commuted to life in prison after the California Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty in 1972.

Atkins died of cancer in prison in 2009 at age 61. Van Houten was released on parole in 2023. Krenwinkel and Watson are still behind bars.

Maddox said she reached out to the victims’ loved ones during filming.

“I’m in talks with two relatives at the moment,” Maddox said. “And I’ll just say every experience I’ve had with them has been very lovely. They were very kind to me. They understood why I am telling this story. … I’m not the only person looking for answers.”

Maddox said examining the forces that shaped Manson was never about absolving him of his crimes.

“My intention is never to apologize or justify for anybody’s actions,” she said. “I know what my grandfather did.”

Maddox said understanding Manson’s past wasn’t about excusing his crimes but about understanding what shaped him — and potentially preventing future violence.

In the film, Maddox also explained her decision to change her surname.

“My dad and I were always trying to find a last name that resonated with us,” she said. “I spent a year or two investigating my family and re-looked the name ‘Maddox.’ And when I Googled it, it meant ‘goodness.’ My blood name means goodness. I’m going to own it. That’s mine. I’m giving it new life.”