Owain Rhys Davies, recognized for his performances in “Twin Peaks: The Return” and “The OA,” has tragically passed away at the age of 44.

His brother shared the heartbreaking announcement on Instagram on Sunday, expressing, “With deep sorrow, my father and I inform you of my brother Owain’s passing.”

Rhodri Davies conveyed that the family still grapples with unanswered questions surrounding his death. Nevertheless, they have come to understand that Owain’s passing was sudden, natural, and peaceful.

In a heartfelt tribute, his brother commended Owain’s warmth, camaraderie, and selflessness, noting the overwhelming number of messages they’ve received, which reflect the profound impact he had on many lives.

He further mentioned, “Owain was blessed with more than just his biological family. He forged remarkable, familial connections with numerous close friends, colleagues, and loved ones.”

“I am incredibly proud that, while he was my brother, he was also a brother to so many others. We know that this loss will be felt by a great many people, and we take comfort in knowing how loved he was.”

Rhodri promised to share more information about his brother’s passing and funeral arrangements in due time before asking for privacy to “come to terms with this devastating loss.”

Born on Feb. 20, 1982, in Cardiff, Wales, Owain was best known for his roles as Agent Wilson in “Twin Peaks: The Return,” a revival of the 1990s series, and “The OA,” which starred Jason Isaac and Brit Marling.

He also worked in Disney’s “Alice Through The Looking Glass,” “The Indian Doctor,” “My Dead Ex,” “A Serial Killer’s Guide to Life” and many more.

Owain also found great success working in London’s West End, with roles in “Mamma Mia!,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “By Jeeves” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at London’s The Royal National Theatre.

He recently finished filming his final two projects, “Jeff the Killer” and “La Fantasia,” which are in post-production.

In some of his most recent Instagram posts, Owain gushed about his work on the critically acclaimed play, “The Opera Singer.”

He is survived by his brother, Rhodri, and his father, Conway. His mother had passed away in May 2021.

The initial day of jury selection for the trial of a Texas teenager accused of fatally stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a high school track meet began amidst a flurry of protest activity outside the courthouse. Demonstrators representing both sides gathered, raising concerns about their potential influence on the jury’s impartiality.

Eighteen-year-old Karmelo Anthony faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with Metcalf’s death. The case has ignited widespread attention, both locally and nationally, as it touches on sensitive issues regarding race and the right to self-defense.

On Monday, as jury candidates arrived at the courthouse, a vocal assembly of supporters for both the defense and prosecution formed just outside the designated perimeter. Their presence underscored the deep divisions and high emotions surrounding this legal battle.

The charged atmosphere around the courthouse underscores the complexity and heightened sensitivity of the case, as community members and observers alike await the start of the trial proceedings.

Karmelo Anthony, suspect in the stabbing death of Texas track star Austin Metcalf, walks out of Collin County Jail on April 14, 2025. (KDFW)

 Positioned on opposite sides of the street, video footage shows the groups chanting, playing instruments and carrying signs both in favor and against Anthony – with the crowd of counter-demonstrators also carrying a large sign with Metcalf’s photo. 

“We declare, we decree, Karmelo is free,” supporters of Anthony can be heard saying outside the courthouse. 

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The presence of supporters from both sides presents a unique challenge for the attorneys seeking a fair trial in a case that has been marred by public perception and media attention, according to Texas defense attorney Larry Taylor.

Austin Metcalf, 17, was stabbed to death at a Texas track meet. (Jeff Metcalf)

“It goes to reinforce potential negative biases, as well as potentially even create some new ones,” Taylor told News Media. “And so to walk by individuals who are angry or shouting, it could get into the mindset of a potential juror.” 

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As jury selection remains underway, Taylor noted that any indication that a potential juror has been impacted by the demonstrators could be grounds for removal. 

“If I see someone potentially nodding their head to the rhythm of a chant, it can be taken as something that they either agree with or have some kind of feeling toward,” Taylor said. “And that could potentially have that juror struck.”

Demonstrators showed support for Karmelo Anthony outside the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas, on the first day of jury selection in his trial on June 1, 2026. (Derek Shook for News Media)

Before the trial was set to be underway, a Texas judge issued a gag order in the case – effectively barring anyone involved in the trial from speaking to the media. Cameras, livestreams and video recordings are also banned from inside the courtroom, and demonstrators must stay outside of a specific perimeter surrounding the courthouse.

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“[The judge] doesn’t want people coming up there in large numbers who feel that the case isn’t necessarily going their way, and they have some kind of reaction to that,” Taylor said. “You don’t want witnesses to be pointed out or to be harassed or threatened.” 

According to Taylor, the judge presiding over Anthony’s case must walk a fine line between protecting the demonstrators’ freedom of speech and the defendant’s right to a fair trial.

Demonstrators show support for Austin Metcalf outside the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas, on the first day of jury selection in Karmelo Anthony’s trial on June 1, 2026. (Derek Shook for News Media)

“You have the battle of the First Amendment versus the sanctity of the Seventh [Amendment],” Taylor told News Media. “Having access to the courts that is uninhibited and fair. So you have the judge weighing these constitutional rights and saying, ‘Okay, you have a right to protest, you have a right to be vocal, but I am going to set a distance away from my court so that I will have a fair and impartial jury.” 

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The possibility of allowing outside influences to impact the outcome of the trial could be monumental, as Taylor insists the judge must prioritize shielding the jurors from any potential biases. 

“If things go crazy, and demonstrators are threatening witnesses as they’re walking in, and people seem rattled, then the case just doesn’t flow,” Taylor said. “You’re setting yourself up for an appeal or a mistrial, and having to do this all over again.”

Anthony was indicted on the first-degree murder charge by a Collin County grand jury stemming from the alleged stabbing at a Frisco track meet on April 2, 2025.

“For weeks, my team has been presenting evidence to the grand jury,” Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said after the indictment. “Today, I summarized that evidence, and I asked the Grand Jury to return a first-degree murder indictment against Karmelo Anthony — which they did.”

Karmelo Anthony, 17, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Texas track star Austin Metcalf. (FOX 4)

“With that indictment, the case now moves formally into the court system,” Willis added.

Anthony is accused of fatally stabbing Metcalf inside a Memorial High School team tent during the sporting event, with investigators alleging Anthony told Metcalf, “Touch me and see what happens,” before retrieving a knife from his bag. 

The alleged stabbing was due to a confrontation between the two teenagers, according to police.

Immediately after the incident, authorities said Anthony told responding officers he acted in self-defense, telling officers, “I’m not alleged, I did it.”

Mike Howard, Anthony’s attorney, has insisted that the details surrounding what lead up to the confrontation have not been disclosed to the public, and will be released in court.

“We expect that when the full story is heard, the prosecution will not be able to rule out the reasonable doubt that Karmelo Anthony may have acted in self-defense,” Howard said following the indictment.

As the court prepares to hear opening statements in the case, Taylor said the presence of the demonstrators outside the courthouse could bring a sense of peace and support for both families.

“Both families in essence have lost sons,” Taylor said. “Karmelo Anthony will never be the same – he could potentially be imprisoned. And so seeing supporters of your child gives hope to the family that actually lost their son. Seeing people out there in support of their son gives them a hope that justice will fall their way.” 

News Media reached out to Anthony’s attorney and the Collin County District Attorney’s office for comment. 

In a race against time, researchers are developing three new vaccines targeting a rare Ebola strain that is wreaking havoc in Central Africa. This urgent initiative aims to halt what could become the deadliest outbreak of the virus to date.

Scientists caution that the Bundibugyo strain, responsible for the current crisis, has the potential to exceed the devastation of the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak, which claimed over 11,000 lives.

The current situation is dire, with over 1,000 suspected Ebola cases and more than 250 fatalities reported. The majority of these cases are concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with some incidents also surfacing in neighboring Uganda.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a stark warning, suggesting that the actual scope of the outbreak may be far more extensive than reported, prompting global health officials to remain on high alert.

Although suspected cases have recently emerged in countries like Brazil, Italy, and Austria following the outbreak’s onset in the DRC last month, all tests conducted thus far have fortunately returned negative results.

Still, there are particular fears around Bundibugyo strain – which kills up to 50 per cent of those it infects – because it has no vaccine, but three are in development as scientists look to stop a catastrophic spread.

The International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), which is hoping to create one of the vaccines, warned that the outbreak is threatening to be the worst ever, even beyond the infamous spread more than a decade ago.

Dr Mark Feinberg, head of IAVI, said: ‘I think this is clearly threatening to be as severe an outbreak as that, if not even worse, and development of a vaccine, and other countermeasures, is clearly a priority.’ 

Red Cross workers walk in a formation as they disinfect Rwampara general hospital before handling the body of a person who died of Ebola in Rwampara outside Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 21, 2026

Red Cross workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) carry a coffin with the dead body of an Ebola victim in Mongbwalu, Djugu Territory, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 24, 2026

Scientists at the University of Oxford and Moderna – which manufactured a COVID-19 vaccine – are also rushing to create a vaccine.

Oxford Uni have warned that it may take two-to-three months before their vaccine for the new Bundibugyo strain can be tested on humans, meaning it is unlikely patients in Africa will get the drug within the next six months.

Currently just one of the six Ebola strains has a vaccine. It was developed for the most common species, known as Zaire, which was behind the 2014 to 2016 outbreak.

IAVI are working on a modified version of the Zaire vaccine to combat the Bundibugyo species, which gave nearly 100 per cent protection when tested on monkeys.

But Dr Feinberg says it could take up to nine months for the vaccine to be ready for clinical trials. By that point, the virus could have claimed thousands more lives.

Moderna will use the same technology used during the COVID pandemic to rapidly create a vaccine.

The pharmaceutical company’s chief executive Stephane Bancel said: ‘We will move with urgency and scientific rigor to support the response and help bring a potential vaccine closer to the communities that need it most.’

All three vaccines will aim to teach the immune system to detect Bundibugyo, but they will use different methods to do so.

IAVI’s vaccine uses a harmless virus that has been modified to carry the Ebola protein, which the immune system will then attack while learning to recognise Ebola at the same time.

The Moderna vaccine and the Oxford vaccine deliver genetic instructions into the body. This instructs cells to make the Ebola protein, which the immune system then also identifies as foreign and attacks.

In all cases, the goal of the vaccine is to prepare the immune system so it can respond faster and more effectively if a person is exposed to Ebola.

Because the vaccines use different technologies, they may provide different levels of protection or require different numbers of doses. Clinical trials are needed to find out how well each vaccine works.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrives in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 30, 2026

A health worker in a protective gown and mask checks locals’ temperature as a preventive measure against Ebola in Kanyaruchinya, near Goma, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, 27 May 2026

Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi), which is providing funding the early stages of vaccine research, said: ‘With Bundibugyo virus spreading rapidly and no licensed vaccines, every day counts in the race against this deadly disease.’

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the WHO, said: ‘A Bundibugyo vaccine could help to control this epidemic and strengthen preparedness for future outbreaks.’

Humanitarian aid charity Doctors Without Borders has warned that the Ebola outbreak is ‘deeply alarming’.

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The charity’s deputy director Dr Alan Gonzales said on Saturday that ‘so many cases’ of the virus had never before been recorded so quickly.

He continued: ‘Two weeks after the declaration of the Ebola disease outbreak in Ituri Province, the situation is deeply alarming.

‘Never before has an Ebola outbreak recorded so many cases so soon after its declaration.

He said that his teams were ‘witnessing a response that has not yet caught up to the rapid spread of the epidemic’ and warned that ‘the reality today is that nobody knows the true scale and severity of this outbreak.’

He added: ‘New suspected cases are being reported daily, yet hundreds of samples remain untested.’

Gonzales’s comments came after Dr Ghebreyesus visited Bunia – the eastern DRC city where most cases and deaths have occurred.

Dr Ghebreyesus said that, while there is no vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain yet, there is hope that the virus could be treated with good medical care.

The WHO also announced that four nurses treated for Ebola in Bunia had recovered and been discharged from hospital.

Ghebreyesus also called on countries that have imposed travel bans on patients from infected regions to reconsider, adding: ‘These measures make the response harder, and they discourage transparency and trust that saves lives.’

DRC Health Minister Roger Kamba said the country aims to contain and end the outbreak within ‘four to six months’ in the ‘best case scenario’.

Symptoms of the Bundibugyo strain are similar to other Ebola variants including a flu-like fever, headache, muscle pain, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Health workers are sprayed with disinfectant after coming into contact with the body of a person suspected of having died from Ebola in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 25, 2026

In many cases, this progresses to internal bleeding, organ failure and death.

Patients can carry the virus for up to 21 days before symptoms begin, which is when experts believe they become infectious.

A successful vaccine would likely protect patients from severe illness and death as well as limit the spread of the virus, but there is no guarantee it will be effective.

The present epidemic is one of the fastest spreading since the 2014 outbreak which was linked to more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths across West Africa.

There has been widespread disarray in affected nations in recent weeks, with locals protesting against the way the outbreak is being handled.

Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital in the DRC has come under attack from people seeking to bury the bodies of friends and family members who have died from Ebola, according to the hospital’s medical director, Dr Richard Lokodu.

But as burials are highly contagious, they are being conducted by medical teams in the area.

Some factions in the region are rebelling in the belief that Ebola is a hoax, and confronting Red Cross volunteers.

In recent days there has also been riots in the town of Nanyuki in Kenya after the US announced it would quarantine its citizens with Ebola there. 

Protestors have lit massive bonfires and taken part in demonstrations against the decision, with some holding signs saying ‘Say no to Ebola in Nanyuki’.

Meanwhile others in local communities have taken to villages with megaphones to encourage residents to follow official health guidance.

All flights to and from Bunia have been grounded, but experts believe the virus may have already spread to other nearby nations, such as South Sudan.

In previous Ebola outbreaks the virus has killed more than half of those infected, many of whom died due to internal bleeding and organ failure.

British health officials have also activated a Returning Workers Scheme – where healthcare workers returning from Ebola outbreak regions are monitored for signs of the disease once back in the UK.

However, experts have warned that the UK is unprepared for the Ebola outbreak, and argue that the population may be at risk.

Dr Derek Sloan, an expert in infectious diseases at St Andrew’s University, said the recent outbreak shows we must remain ‘vigilant’ and ‘preserve funding’.

‘This outbreak, along with the recent Hantavirus cases on a cruise ship and meningitis infections in the UK shows how important it is that we stay vigilant and use effective public health tools to protect our populations,’ Dr Sloan, also a spokesman for UK-Med and Healthy World, Secure Britain, said.

‘Infectious disease outbreaks such as these in our interconnected world cannot be dismissed as someone else’s problem.

‘These examples show how important it is to maintain this expertise and underline the need to preserve funding for global health and international aid.’

Authorities in Aurora, Illinois, are reaching out to the public for assistance in locating a woman who has been reported missing. The police are particularly concerned about her well-being due to her vulnerability and medical needs.

The missing individual, identified as 32-year-old Shafia S. Murad, was last spotted in the vicinity of the Chicago Premium Outlet Mall on Thursday at approximately 1:30 p.m. Her family describes her as a vulnerable adult who requires medication and may be experiencing confusion or disorientation.

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In hopes of piecing together her whereabouts, Murad’s family is urging anyone who was present at the outlet mall on that day to examine any dashcam or security camera footage they might have. This could provide crucial clues to aid the search efforts.

Investigators suspect that Murad may have intended to make her way to Chicago after leaving the mall area. With time being of the essence, the community’s vigilance could be instrumental in ensuring her safe return.

Investigators believe she may have been trying to travel to Chicago after leaving the outlet mall area.

Murad is about 5 feet tall and weighs about 105 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes.

Murad was last seen wearing a light green jacket, blue jeans, and brown shoes, and her hair appeared disheveled.

Loved ones are also asking anyone who was in the area to review security camera footage.

“She doesn’t have food, she doesn’t have her wallet, she doesn’t have her ID, no location, we don’t know where she is and I just want to know where she is because it has been a living nightmare,” Sofia Murad, the missing woman’s sister, said.

The family is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone with information leading to Shafia being found.

Aurora Police Investigations asked anyone with information to contact them at 630-256-5500 or tips@aurora.il.us.