EXCLUSIVE: A man accused of fatally striking a pedestrian with his truck in New Jersey last Friday is reportedly residing in the United States unlawfully, according to information obtained by Fox News Digital.

The Department of Homeland Security has identified the individual as Wilson “Adrian” Morocho-Necta, a 33-year-old from Ecuador. Morocho-Necta allegedly entered the U.S. in 2019 through the southern border. Following a judge’s final order of removal, he was deported to Mexico.

Authorities believe he reentered the United States illegally at an undetermined location and time.

Morocho-Necta is currently wanted by law enforcement, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actively seeking to locate him. A photograph released by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office identifies him as the suspect in the tragic incident that took place on March 19, 2026, in Morristown, New Jersey.

Now, he is a fugitive from the law, and ICE is trying to track him down. 

As part of New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive, often referred to as a “sanctuary” policy for illegal aliens, local police do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The directive is “designed to strengthen trust between New Jersey’s law enforcement officers and the state’s diverse immigrant communities, thereby ensuring that victims and witnesses feel safe reporting crimes.”

In this handout provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, foreign nationals were arrested during a targeted enforcement operation. (DHS)

Morocho-Necta was charged with leaving an accident resulting in death and endangering an injured victim by leaving the crash. The victim has been identified as Justo Pilco-Tenesaca, 68, of Morristown. 

Pilco-Tenesaca was reportedly pinned under the truck, prompting 911 calls from bystanders while Morocho-Necta fled on foot. 

Pilco-Tenesaca was rushed to a nearby hospital after the crash but died from his injuries.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection police officers stand outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building during a protest Jan. 17, 2026, in Minneapolis.  (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Morocho-Necta was driving an HC Home Improvement & Construction truck. The owner of that company, Eric Couper, reportedly said he was “friggin’ mortified” over the crash.

“The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office is aware of the defendant’s immigration status,” said Meghan Knab, the office’s public information officer. “Morocho-Necta is currently at-large, and we are seeking public assistance in apprehending the fugitive. We will be communicating and cooperating consistent with applicable New Jersey state and federal laws regarding immigration.”

“Upon being taken into custody, the MCPO intends to file a motion seeking pre-trial detention consistent with the Criminal Justice Reform Act,” she continued.

The City of Morristown did not immediately return a request for comment.

Fox News Digital reached out to Couper. 

Sheridan Gorman’s family is challenging statements made by leaders in Chicago and Illinois, asserting that her death isn’t merely a “senseless tragedy” and calling for accountability in light of what they perceive as systemic issues.

Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old, lost her life on March 19 around 1:06 a.m. while she was with friends at a pier in the Rogers Park area of the city. Authorities allege that 25-year-old Jose Medina-Medina, an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela, fired a fatal shot at the Loyola University Chicago student.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Medina-Medina was detained by US Border Patrol on May 9, 2023, and was released into the United States under policies implemented by the Biden administration.

On Wednesday, the Gorman family issued a statement condemning remarks by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, emphasizing that her death “demands accountability.”

“Sheridan’s death should not be dismissed as a ‘senseless tragedy,’ nor should it be generalized within broader public safety discussions. Sheridan was our daughter, just 18, engaging in a completely normal activity—walking near her campus with friends. She should still be with us,” the Gorman family stated in response to Johnson’s recent comments.

“Calling this ‘senseless’ is not enough. There must be a clear and honest accounting of what went wrong,” the family added. “We will not allow Sheridan’s life to be reduced to a talking point or a generalization. We expect leadership that is willing to confront hard truths and ensure that what happened to her does not happen again.”

Gorman’s family also responded to Gov. Pritzker’s recent comments on the freshman college student’s death, writing that “calling this a tragedy is not enough.”

“Sheridan’s death cannot be reduced to a general “tragedy,” nor can it be explained away by broad references to failures somewhere else. Sheridan was a daughter, a sister, and a young woman whose life was taken in a way that should never have been possible,” the family said.

“We are not interested in political arguments or in watching responsibility shift from one place to another. If there were failures — as the Governor himself has acknowledged — then every one of them must be identified, examined, and addressed directly. The location of those failures matters less than the willingness to confront them honestly.”

“Our daughter is not a policy debate. She is a life that was taken, and that demands accountability,” they added.

Pritzker on Tuesday shifted blame to the Trump administration during an event, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“This has been a terrible tragedy, and I know that the Gorman family has suffered mightily… There have been real failures. Those failures, of course, extend beyond the borders of Illinois. That’s their national failures, a failure to have comprehensive immigration reform, a failure of the president to follow his own edict to go after the worst of the worst,” Pritzker said. 

Johnson on Tuesday also addressed Gorman’s death, saying that her life was taken due to “senseless violence,” but called out President Trump as well.

“There’s no words that one could express that could properly console a family that lost their baby. And my condolences to the Gorman family,” Johnson said. “You know what the bigger threat to our public safety, it’s illegal weapons that are being trafficked from bordering states that voted for Donald Trump. This president refuses to be held accountable. And he points the finger at everything and everyone else versus doing some real self-reflection on what his responsibility is.”

“We know that this president has not taken this situation in this challenge in our country seriously, because my question would be, isn’t it time for the president of the United States of America in Congress to actually act and pass comprehensive immigration reform?” Johnson continued.

“There’s no words that one could express that could properly console a family that lost their baby. And my condolences to the Gorman family,” Johnson said. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, White House Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said President Donald Trump’s immigration policies have kept Americans safe.

“In record time, President Trump has totally secured the border, ended Biden’s border crisis, and deported countless dangerous criminal illegal aliens. Those are real solutions that keep the American people safe. Meanwhile, slobs like Pritzker have constantly defended dangerous criminal illegal aliens and attempted to obstruct the important work of the Trump Administration. Pritzker’s policies make the American people less safe,” Jackson said.

Homes in Yorktown Heights, New York, Gorman’s hometown, were lit up in green on Tuesday night to honor the slain Chicago college student. according to CBS News.

An arrest report obtained by obtained by Fox News Digital shows that Medina-Medina was seen on security video in his apartment building’s lobby waiting for an elevator while unmasked after the alleged shooting. A building engineer told police that he knew the suspect, who had a “very distinct limp and gait.” 

Police said Medina-Medina was wearing a black mask and black clothing as he walked away from the shooting, noting that he had a “distinct limp and slow gait.” He was seen walking from the location of the shooting to Pratt Boulevard at 1:12 a.m. Just a few minutes later, the individual was seen walking northbound through the east alley of Sheridan Road before he entered the back of his apartment complex.

Images of the suspect were sent to a police database, and US Customs and Border Protection identified the suspect as Medina-Medina. He was arrested at his apartment in Rogers Park, according to the arrest report.

Medina-Medina told officials in 2023 that he was living at Leone Beach Park fieldhouse in Rogers Park in 2023, which was being used as a city-sponsored shelter for migrants. The shelter closed in 2024, according to South Side Weekly.

According to the latest population estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau, metro areas in the United States experienced significant growth declines last year, especially in communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. These reductions were largely attributed to a decrease in immigrant populations. Additionally, counties situated along Florida’s Gulf Coast saw population losses, which were exacerbated by a series of hurricanes.

The report highlighted that most metro areas and counties witnessed slower population increases last year. The Census Bureau pointed to a reduction in international migration as the main factor, contrasting with the previous year when a surge of immigrants helped urban centers bounce back from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In terms of numbers, the average growth rate for metro areas declined from 1.1% in 2024 to just 0.6% in 2025.

Covering the period through July 2025, these figures coincide with the early months of President Donald Trump’s second term, marked by intensified immigration restrictions. With an aging population and declining birth rates over the past two decades, immigration has become a crucial driver of growth for many U.S. communities.

Kenneth Johnson, a senior demographer at the University of New Hampshire, noted, “With minimal natural increase, migration dictates whether an area expands or contracts, particularly in major metropolitan cores that experience ongoing domestic out-migration and rely heavily on immigration.”

Immigrant losses

Three metro areas along the U.S-Mexico border stretching from Arizona to Texas had the steepest drops in population growth rates in 2025, according to the Census Bureau.

The growth rate in Laredo, Texas, dropped from 3.2% to 0.2%. It went from 3.3% to 1.4% in Yuma, Arizona, and declined from 1.2% into negative territory at -0.7% in El Centro, California. All three experienced growth in 2024 because of an influx of thousands of immigrants.

“That pattern suggests a sharper rise-and-fall effect in border regions, where international migration plays a more central role in year-to-year population change,” said Helen You, interim director of the Texas Demographic Center.

As in 2024, the top destinations for immigrants in pure numbers in 2025 were counties that are home to Houston, Miami and Los Angeles. But the drop in immigrant numbers in those counties was stark. Nine out of 10 U.S. counties had lower levels of immigration in 2025 compared to 2024, according to the Census Bureau.

H

urricane migration

Two destructive hurricanes, Helene and Milton, tore through Gulf Coast counties in Florida in fall 2024, leaving behind tens of billions of dollars in damage. The storms also caused residents to leave, according to the population estimates.

Pinellas County, which is home to St. Petersburg, lost almost 12,000 residents, the second most in the U.S., trailing only Los Angeles County, which has been losing residents all decade. Pinellas County relies on migration for growth because deaths outpace births more than in any county in the U.S.

Taylor County, a tiny community ravaged by the hurricanes in Florida’s Big Bend area, had the steepest growth rate decline among U.S. counties last year, with a -2.2% drop.

But the hurricane migration wasn’t limited to Florida. In the Blue Ridge Mountains, the county that is home to Asheville, North Carolina, had more than 2,000 residents leaving in the months after the remnants of Hurricane Helene destroyed homes and cut off power and communications to mountain towns.

Growth leaders

The New York metro area slid from growing by the most people in 2024 to ranking No. 13 in 2025 because of the drop in immigrants.

Instead, two perennial growth powerhouses this decade, the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth metro areas, were at the top of the list, followed by the Atlanta, Phoenix and Charlotte, North Carolina, metro areas.

Several midsize metros in Florida and South Carolina had the largest growth rates. Ocala, Florida, located 80 miles (129 km) northwest of Orlando and known for its horse farms, led the nation at 3.4%. It was followed by: metro Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which has become a retirement haven; Spartanburg, South Carolina; Lakeland, Florida, located between the much larger metros of Tampa and Orlando; and Punta Gorda, Florida, about 35 miles (56.3 km) north of Fort Myers.

Sunbelt exurban growth

The far-out suburbs were top destinations among those who had moved from somewhere else in the United States.

They were led by Collin County, Texas, outside Dallas; Montgomery County, Texas, outside Houston; Pinal County, Arizona, outside Phoenix; and Pasco and Polk counties outside Tampa.

The rapid growth of far-flung exurbs is an after-effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Census Bureau. Rising housing costs drove people farther from cities, and remote work allowed many to do their jobs from home at least part of the week.

Where the babies are

Even though New York had more people moving out than moving in, births allowed the metro area to gain more than 32,000 residents. The New York metro area led the nation in natural increase, or births outpacing deaths, followed by the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston metros.

The metros where deaths outpaced births in the greatest numbers were Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and several Florida communities with large senior populations — the Sarasota, Daytona Beach and Tampa metro areas.

The two Texas metro areas topped the charts in natural increase because of their age structure and the fact that they have gained more people than anywhere in the U.S., You said.

“Decades of domestic and international in-migration have produced relatively young populations, with a large share of residents in childbearing ages, alongside comparatively smaller proportions of senior populations,” she said.

___

Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social.

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles jury has ruled that Meta and YouTube are liable for millions in damages to a 20-year-old woman, finding that these platforms are crafted to captivate young users without considering their mental health.

This landmark decision by the California jury, announced on Wednesday, could have a significant impact on thousands of pending lawsuits that similarly accuse social media companies of intentional harm.

Identified by her initials, KGM, the plaintiff shared during the trial that her social media addiction began in childhood, worsening her mental health issues. Following over 40 hours of jury deliberation, the majority sided with her, granting $3 million in damages.

The jury further suggested an additional $3 million in punitive damages, concluding that the companies acted maliciously, oppressively, or fraudulently in their impact on young users. The judge will make the final decision on the exact amount awarded.

This marks the second unfavorable verdict for Meta this week, as another jury in New Mexico found that the company endangers children’s mental health and safety, contravening state regulations.

Meta, the parent of Instagram and Facebook, and Google-owned YouTube issued statements disagreeing with the verdict and vowed to explore their legal options, which include appeals.

Google spokesperson Jose Castañeda said the verdict misrepresents YouTube “which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site.” A Meta spokesperson said teen mental health is “profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app.”

Peter Ormerod, an associate professor of law at Villanova University, called the verdict “a momentous development” but noted it’s just “one step in a much longer saga” and that he doesn’t expect to see large changes to the platforms immediately.

“I don’t think it is an unequivocal victory and I think there’s a long way to go before you see something akin to the master settlement that this is often analogized to in the tobacco and opioid litigation,” he said. To get to that kind of significant change in the platforms’ operation, Ormerod said Meta and YouTube would likely have to lose their legal arguments on appeal and additional bellwether trials, or test cases, like this one would have to go against them.

Both Meta and YouTube were negligent, jury says, but Meta bears more responsibility

The jury determined that Meta and YouTube were negligent in the design or operation of their respective platforms, and that the negligence was a substantial factor in causing harm to the plaintiff.

They also determined each company knew their platforms could be dangerous when used by a minor, and agreed that they failed to adequately warn of that danger, further contributing to the plaintiff’s harm.

Only nine of the 12 jurors had to agree on each claim against each defendant. Two jurors consistently disagreed with the other 10 on whether the companies should be held liable, but a majority of the jury agreed on all seven claims against each company.

The jurors also decided Meta held more responsibility for harm to KGM, or Kaley, as her lawyers called her during the trial. The jury said Meta shouldered 70% of the responsibility while YouTube bore the remaining 30%. That division was reflected in the breakdown of the $3 million in punitive damages, with the jury deciding on $2.1 million from Meta and $900,000 from YouTube.

Meta and YouTube were the two remaining defendants in the case. TikTok and Snap settled before the trial began.

One juror, who did not feel comfortable sharing her full name, said to reporters outside the courtroom that Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony, and how he “changed it back and forth,” did not “sit well” with the jury.

She also said they landed on the $6 million in damages even though some jurors were advocating for a higher amount because they were concerned about giving the sole plaintiff a larger lump sum all at once. But the jury still wanted the companies to understand they felt their practices were not acceptable.

“We wanted them to feel it,” she said.

The plaintiff was on social media all day from the age of 6

Jurors listened to about a month of lawyers’ arguments, testimony and evidence, and they heard from Kaley, as well as Meta leaders Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri. YouTube’s CEO, Neal Mohan, was not called to testify.

Kaley said she began using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9. She told the jury she was on social media “all day long” as a child.

Lawyers representing Kaley, led by Mark Lanier, were tasked with proving that the respective defendants’ negligence was a substantial factor in causing Kaley’s harm. They pointed to specific design features they said are designed to “hook” young users, like the “infinite” nature of feeds that allowed for an endless supply of content, autoplay features, and notifications.

The jurors were told not to take into account the content of the posts and videos Kaley viewed because tech companies are shielded from legal responsibility for posted content, based on Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.

Social media identified as substantial factor in causing harm

Meta argued that Kaley’s mental health struggles were not connected to her social media use and pointed to her turbulent home life. Meta also said “not one of her therapists identified social media as the cause” of her mental health issues. But the plaintiffs did not have to prove that social media caused Kaley’s struggles – only that it was a “substantial factor” in causing her harm.

YouTube focused more on the nature of the platform, arguing that it’s a video platform akin to television rather than a social media platform. The company also mentioned her declining YouTube use as she aged. According to their data, she spent about one minute a day on average watching YouTube Shorts since its inception. YouTube Shorts, which launched in 2020, delivers short-form, vertical videos with the “infinite scroll” feature that plaintiffs argued was addictive.

Lawyers representing both platforms also pointed to their safety features and guardrails for users to monitor and customize their use.

The California case could influence others

The Los Angeles case was filed by a single plaintiff against Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap. After the latter two settled, her lawyers argued that Meta and YouTube were addictive by design, and that they especially target young users.

“The reason why this case is consequential is not the individual case, but the way that it’s a bellwether test case that might guide the resolution of other lawsuits,” said Sarah Kreps, a professor and director of Cornell University’s Tech Policy Institute.

“There are thousands pending, and hundreds in California. So the concern if you’re a social media platform is, as this case goes, so might these others,” she said. “I think the reason why they would be concerned, and I’ve seen this analogy with the tobacco lawsuits, is that once you have this type of verdict in one case, it just opens the floodgates for so many more.”

Newly surfaced footage captures Bryan Kohberger entering a Washington state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office to replace his Pennsylvania license plates mere days after allegedly committing a chilling quadruple murder.

The video, first posted by YouTuber Christy’s Chaos, showed Kohberger walking into the DMV office in Pullman on November 18, 2022 and telling the woman behind the counter, ‘I definitely need to get my license plate changed.’

In the video, Kohberger engages in a casual conversation with a DMV employee while providing basic details about his vehicle and completing necessary paperwork. Their discussion touched on topics ranging from baseball and school to life in the Pacific Northwest and camping.

Kohberger successfully acquired two Washington state license plates, a move that prosecutors argue complicated law enforcement efforts to trace his white Hyundai Elantra during the manhunt for the individual responsible for the deaths of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.

The investigation quickly focused on the white sedan, which was spotted on surveillance footage near the residence of the four University of Idaho students in Moscow, Idaho. Authorities sought assistance from the public to locate the vehicle following the shocking murders on November 13, 2022.

Despite the urgency of the case, prosecutors initially downplayed Kohberger’s swift DMV visit, attributing it to his Pennsylvania license nearing expiration, as reported by TMZ.

Still, federal investigators tried to keep a close eye on the PhD criminology student as he and his dad drove the vehicle more than 2,500 miles back to his home state of Pennsylvania for the holidays. 

The pair were then later caught on police body camera footage on December 15, when Kohberger was twice pulled over by officers. 

It showed he then had Washington plates on the vehicle.

Bryan Kohberger was caught on surveillance footage casually chatting with a woman behind the counter of a DMV office in Pullman, Washington on November 18, 2022

Kohberger was ultimately able to obtain two Washington plates, which prosecutors have said made it more difficult for police to track down his white Hyundai Elantra 

With just three weeks to go before his trial was set to begin, Kohberger changed his plea, pleading guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary last year

Kohberger was finally arrested at his family home on December 30, 2022, after DNA on its clasp led police to the killer.

Prosecutors later revealed that cellphone data placed him in the vicinity of the home on King Road at least 23 times, mostly at night, between July 2022 and the murders on November 13, 2022.

Surviving roommates and friends had also told police about a string of unsettling incidents in the weeks before the fatal stabbings, including Goncalves seeing a man watching her from the trees around the home when she took her dog Murphy outside.

Kohberger may have even entered 1122 King Road prior to the night of the murders.

Digital forensics experts at Cellebrite, who analyzed Kohberger’s devices, also told the Daily Mail that he had searched for pornographic content, including non-consensual sex acts. 

They found search terms such as ‘sleeping’, ‘passed out’, ‘voyeur’, ‘forced’, ‘raped’ and ‘drugged’.

He also had a clear obsession with serial killers and home invasions, the review of his devices revealed.

Yet no connection has ever been found between him and any of his victims, and for more than two years Kohberger fought the charges.

The visit came just five days after Kohberger killed Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee’s shoulders), Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle 

Federal authorities tried to keep an eye on him as he traveled across the country with his father. He was then pulled over by police on December 15 

But with just three weeks to go before his trial was set to begin, Kohberger changed his plea, pleading guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary last year.

The bombshell plea hearing came after he struck a controversial deal with prosecutors to take the death penalty off the table.

As he then began his life in prison for the murders, autopsy findings laid bare the full horror of his attack for the first time, claiming that within just 15 minutes, Kohberger stabbed his victims more than 150 times in total.

Prosecutors said he had entered the house at 1122 King Road through the rear sliding door into the kitchen on the second floor and proceeded upstairs to where Goncalves and Mogen were sleeping together in Mogen’s bed after a night out.

Autopsy reports show that they both died from multiple sharp force injuries – but Goncalves also suffered asphyxial injuries and blunt force injuries to the head.

She was stabbed at least 38 times, including 24 stab and incised wounds to the scalp, face and neck, 11 to the chest and three to the upper extremities. She also suffered punctures to the skull, injuries to her teeth and tongue, perforations of the subclavian artery and vein, and internal bleeding into the chest cavities.

Prosecutors said Kohberger entered the house at 1122 King Road through the rear sliding door into the kitchen on the second floor and proceeded upstairs to where Goncalves and Mogen (pictured together) were sleeping together in Mogen’s bed after a night out 

Mogen sustained 28 stab wounds, including 13 stab and incised wounds to the scalp, face and neck, and 10 incised wounds to the upper extremities, and five stab wounds to the chest.

She suffered injuries to the lung and liver, perforations of the subclavian vein and artery, and blood vessels of the chest wall, an incision of the nasal septum and a perforated tongue.

As well as the stab wounds, Goncalves suffered injuries believed to have been caused by something other than Kohberger’s Ka-Bar knife.

Blunt force injuries, including scalp laceration, bleeding around the brain, nasal fracture, scrapes on the nose and cheeks, bruising around the eyes, and patterned bruises across the lower face were all noted in the autopsy.

Police reports have previously revealed that Goncalves’s face was ‘unrecognizable’ following the attack, with Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson saying investigators could not rule out the possibility that a second weapon was used on the 21-year-old.

While Mogen and Goncalves were attacked while they slept, Kernodle was awake on the floor below, using TikTok and having just received a DoorDash food order minutes before the intruder entered, prosecutors said.

She may have headed upstairs after hearing commotion and unfortunately interrupted Kohberger’s attack, causing him to drop the leather Ka-Bar knife sheath later found on Mogen’s bed.

Kernodle (right) was awake when she encountered Kohberger, who proceeded to stab her 67 times inside her bedroom before he turned his attention on Chapin, who was asleep on her bed 

Kernodle likely interrupted Kohberger’s attack, causing him to drop this brown leather Ka-Bar knife sheath on Mogen’s bed as he chased her

Kernodle was then stabbed 67 times inside her bedroom before Kohberger killed Chapin in his sleep, according to the autopsy report.

Her wounds included 25 incised wounds to the upper extremities, 23 stab and incised wounds to the scalp, face and neck, seven stab wounds to the chest and four to the abdomen, three incised and puncture wounds to the back, and five incised wounds to the lower extremities.

She also suffered punctures to the skull, perforations of the jugular vein, heart, lung and pulmonary blood vessels, hemorrhage into the chest cavities, wounds extending into the bones of the right hand, and scrapes and bruises to the face, torso and extremities.

Despite Chapin likely being the last victim, he had the fewest stab wounds, sustaining 17 in all: six incised wounds to the upper extremities; six stab and incised wounds to the lower extremities; four stab and incised wounds to the scalp, face and neck; and one stab wound to the upper chest; along with perforations of the jugular vein, subclavian vein and subclavian artery.