More than a year has passed since the tragic stabbing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf during a high school track meet in Frisco. Now, the accused, 18-year-old Karmelo Anthony, is set to face trial as jury selection for his murder case begins this Monday.

Karmelo Anthony stands accused of first-degree murder in connection with Metcalf’s untimely death. As the judicial process moves forward, jury selection will offer insight into the strategies both prosecutors and defense attorneys intend to employ in this highly publicized case. Central to the proceedings is the contentious debate over whether Anthony’s actions were in self-defense.

As the trial approaches, legal analyst and Texas defense attorney Jeremy Rosenthal spoke with Fox News Digital, highlighting one of the primary challenges: finding impartial jurors amid widespread public scrutiny. “This case, in particular, is fraught with issues such as misinformation, rumors, and even doxing,” Rosenthal explained.

The arrest of Karmelo Anthony for the stabbing incident that claimed the life of track star Austin Metcalf has captured significant media attention, compounded by its complex narrative and the polarized opinions surrounding it.

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

Rosenthal noted that publicity surrounding the case became so intense that one of the judges previously involved in the proceedings required FBI involvement after receiving threats.

“There’s particular concern about have people already heard of this case, have they already formed opinions,” he said.

While Rosenthal believes a jury can ultimately be seated in Collin County, he said the process may take time.

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

“Collin County is a bigger place. I think we have close to a million residents, so I do think we’ll be able to seat a jury, but it is going to take a little bit of work,” he said.

Rosenthal said the defense’s anticipated self-defense argument could ultimately become the defining issue of the case.

“Self-defense is a really intricate defense that you have to sort of set up,” Rosenthal said.

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

Under Texas law, self-defense is what attorneys call a “confession and avoidance” defense, meaning a defendant admits to the conduct but argues it was legally justified under the circumstances.

“The crux of the issue is that you cannot provoke the harm and then retreat behind self-defense,” Rosenthal said.

According to Rosenthal, one of the key legal questions could be whether evidence shows Anthony provoked or escalated the confrontation before the fatal encounter, a factor that could significantly affect how a self-defense claim is evaluated by the court and jury.

“Did Karmelo Anthony initially provoke the harm? Did he initially elevate the tenseness or the threat in the situation?” Rosenthal said. “Or did the victim provoke it?”

Rosenthal said jurors are likely to hear competing accounts about who said what, where individuals were standing and whether anyone escalated the confrontation before the stabbing occurred.

He added that the jury could ultimately be asked to consider not only murder, but potentially a lesser offense such as manslaughter depending on how the evidence develops and what instructions are given by the court.

Accused killer Karmelo Anthony walks out of jail after posting bond. (KDFW)

Anthony was indicted by a Collin County grand jury after prosecutors presented evidence related to the fatal confrontation that unfolded during a track meet in Frisco 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.”

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

Jeff Metcalf stands with his son Austin Metcalf, a junior at Memorial High School in Frisco, who was stabbed in the chest at a track meet, allegedly by 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony from Frisco Centennial High School. (Jeff Metcalf/Courtesy Jeff Metcalf)

According to the arrest report, the confrontation occurred inside a Memorial High School team tent during the track meet.

Investigators allege Anthony warned Metcalf, “Touch me and see what happens,” before reaching into a bag and pulling out a knife.

A witness told police Anthony stabbed Metcalf during the encounter. Metcalf later died from his injuries.

According to police records, Anthony told responding officers he acted in self-defense. Investigators also reported that Anthony made a spontaneous statement after being detained, telling officers, “I’m not alleged, I did it.”

Anthony’s attorney, Mike Howard, has maintained that the full circumstances surrounding the confrontation have yet to be heard 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.

Austin’s father, Jeff Metcalf, has remained outspoken throughout the case and previously welcomed news of the indictment.

“I am pleased that we are moving forward,” Metcalf told Fox News Digital after the indictment. “With the first-degree murder indictment, it now goes into the court system. I fully believe that justice will be served for Austin Metcalf. I look forward to the forthcoming trial. But it will never bring my son back.”

The case has generated significant public attention since the stabbing, with supporters of both families weighing in online and advocacy groups becoming involved.

Karmelo Anthony has been moved to an undisclosed location after someone mailed him a copy of Austin Metcalf’s obituary, according to the Next Generation Action Network. (Next Generation Action Network)

Dominique Alexander, founder of the Next Generation Action Network and a spokesman for Anthony’s family, has repeatedly argued that the case should not be tried in the court of public opinion.

“This case involves multiple minors and sensitive details that I cannot and will not speak about publicly,” Alexander said after the indictment. “That is why, from the beginning, I have refused to let this be tried in the court of public opinion.”

Anthony’s legal team has similarly rejected efforts to frame the case through a racial lens.

“The factual and legal issues involved in this case are not about race,” Howard previously told Fox News Digital. “The law applies to every person, regardless of their race, equally. We have faith in the people of Collin County to apply the law blindly.”

File photo of Austin Metcalf, a junior at Memorial High School in Frisco, who was stabbed in the chest allegedly by 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony, a student-athlete from Frisco Centennial High School. (Courtesy Jeff Metcalf)

Looking ahead, Rosenthal said some of the most consequential moments in the case may come once jurors are finally seated.

He noted that jury selection could take several days and that opening statements are often among the most important moments of any criminal trial because they provide jurors with their first opportunity to hear each side’s theory of the case.

Unlike some high-profile murder prosecutions that center on allegations of long-term planning or premeditation, Rosenthal said this case is expected to focus heavily on the events immediately surrounding the fatal confrontation.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of localized focus on the people who were there and on the hours that really surrounded that one incident,” Rosenthal said.

“Everything really in the immediacy of those few hours is going to be crucial.”

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For Ohio-based parenting vlogger Myka Stauffer, building a large family was her ultimate dream.

The 38-year-old YouTuber, along with her husband James Stauffer, 40, had spent eight years sharing their everyday life with the world through her popular channel, which amassed over half a million subscribers.

With four children of their own and a fifth child adopted from China, the Stauffers seemed well on their way to achieving the “one big happy family” vision Myka cherished.

However, the narrative took a turn when she released a video explaining the absence of their adopted son, Huxley, from their online presence.

In the video, Myka, appearing emotional alongside her husband, both dressed in matching white T-shirts, confessed they had decided to find a new home for Huxley due to his behavioral challenges, just three years after bringing him into their family.

The backlash was fierce, with the Delaware County Sheriff’s Department receiving such a swarm of complaints from enraged fans that they launched an investigation into the wellbeing of the Stauffer’s adopted son.

Nearly six years later, Myka has practically vanished from the internet. 

Apart from her Instagram archive of curated family photos sans Huxley, and her husband’s car detailing YouTube channel, the daily vlogger hasn’t posted on social media since 2020 and has kept comments on her Instagram limited.

Ohio-based YouTube vloggers Myka and James Stauffer faced backlash in May 2020 when they revealed in a viral video they had ‘rehomed’ their adopted autistic son, Huxley

After the 2025 HBO Max documentary An Update On Our Family brought renewed attention to Huxley’s rehoming, many former fans were left wondering where Myka and her young children are today.

But according to sources who exclusively spoke to the Daily Mail, the Stauffers are intent on maintaining a low profile.

‘It was an impossible situation. I don’t think anyone did everything perfectly right,’ said Michael Tobin, an Ohio-based videographer and a family friend of the Stauffers.

It was 2012 when Myka Bellisari, then a full-time nurse, began posting videos about weight loss and life as a single mother on YouTube.

She had welcomed her first daughter, Nakova, with her former partner Joshua Colliver in 2011. 

The couple were living in Indianapolis and engaged to be married, as an old Blogspot post from May 2012 resurfaced by the Daily Mail revealed. They had set a wedding date for the following year.

However, it seems they broke up shortly after their engagement, with Myka meeting her current husband James on the dating site OKCupid in 2012.

Today, Colliver lives in Georgia and works as a physician assistant. He did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.

Myka and James were married in 2013, the same year they welcomed their first child together, daughter Jaka. The couple went on to welcome biological sons Radley in 2015 and Onyx in 2019.

They also launched a joint YouTube channel called The Stauffer Life, where Myka would share daily vlogs about their family routine, homeschooling, and cooking and cleaning videos. She ultimately quit nursing, telling her YouTube viewers that James’s job as an engineer paid ‘at least three times’ what she was making.

Tobin, who first met the couple around seven years ago when he was hired to film promotional content for the Stauffers, said Myka and James were just like any other ‘regular’ couple.

He and his wife, who also have children, soon became ‘best friends’ with the Stauffers and their kids ‘got along pretty well’.

‘That family [vlogging] niche is very interesting because you never know what you’ll get on screen versus behind the scenes, but it was pretty close to what you saw on screen,’ he told the Daily Mail.

‘They were very hard-working and business-oriented but they also were chill, funny, and just kind of regular.’

By 2020, Myka had racked up a whopping 700,000 subscribers on her personal YouTube channel and 300,000 subscribers on their family channel. 

Their popularity was due in part to clickbait titles promising intimate details within each video, with videos about Myka’s fertility journey and pregnancy announcements performing especially well.

Channon Rose, a fellow lifestyle and parenting YouTuber with 968,000 subscribers, first connected with Myka in August 2018 when the two shared their mutual love for each other’s content over Instagram DM.

Nearly eight years later, Rose – who appeared in the HBO documentary An Update On Our Family – still describes Myka as ‘one of the kindest people’ she has ever met.

‘Everything I knew about Myka, from actually knowing her as a person and not a public figure, was that she was one of the kindest people to me,’ Rose, 40, told the Daily Mail.

The Stauffers shared daily content about their four biological children and adopted son Huxley on Myka’s YouTube and their joint family channel, called The Stauffer Life 

The couple adopted two-year-old Huxley from China in 2017. It wasn’t until later that he would be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder level three

Myka, a full-time single mom and nurse, met James in 2012 on the dating site OKCupid. She previously welcomed her daughter Nakova with her ex-fiancé in 2011

In July 2016, Myka and James shared another surprising announcement with their subscribers – that they were in the process of adopting a little boy from China.

As fans of the YouTuber were well aware, Myka had long expressed her desire to expand their family through adoption. Her husband was initially hesitant, she said, but he ultimately agreed.

The couple said they were adopting through the now-closed agency World Association for Children and Parents, or WACAP, and suggested the adoption process was quicker than adopting a child within the United States.

Myka said they looked through hundreds of photos of children who were available for adoption, but none of them ‘spoke’ to her like the photo of the child they would later rename Huxley.

The adoption agency had informed the Stauffers that Huxley had a ‘brain tumor’, Myka wrote in a 2019 essay for Parade, but it wasn’t until later that they would learn about Huxley’s autism diagnosis.

Indeed, Myka’s popularity on the platform skyrocketed as she posted viral content about their son’s adoption. The Stauffers posted nearly 30 videos throughout their adoption journey, culminating in a YouTube video titled: ‘Huxley’s EMOTIONAL Adoption VIDEO!! GOTCHA DAY China Adoption.’

The video, which documented the family’s trip to China to meet the two-year-old, received a whopping 5.5 million views on YouTube before it was permanently deleted. Intimate moments such as Huxley’s first Christmas with their family, bonding with his new siblings and family days out were also shared online.

It seemed Myka’s rising popularity had paid off, too, as she landed partnerships with brands such as Glossier, Mattel and Fabletics, and posted sponsored Instagram content for Tide, Canada Dry and Walmart.

The Stauffers apparently used some of the money earned from Myka’s YouTube career to fund Huxley’s adoption from China.

In a video from January 2017, she asked fans to donate $5 to ‘unlock a puzzle piece’ that would one day go into Huxley’s baby book so he could see ‘all the people who helped to generously bring him home’.

In another sponsored video posted in May that year, Myka said she was using the money raised from YouTube ads to go towards Huxley’s adoption, writing in the description: ‘All Profits are going towards bringing our SON home from China!’

The Stauffers also helped raise money for Huxley’s adoption through a GoFundMe page. 

In a Delaware County Sheriff’s Office investigation report obtained by the Daily Mail, the Stauffers claimed they raised just $800 from the fundraiser, and the total cost of Huxley’s adoption was $42,000.

As her content took off, fans began to notice a shift in Myka’s otherwise relatable lifestyle. In a 2018 video, Myka was seen wearing an 18-karat gold Cartier Love bracelet that cost more than $6,000 at the time.

It was in that same video that Myka told fans they were downgrading Huxley’s speech therapy sessions due to high costs.

But in October that year, the couple purchased a four-bedroom, five-bathroom home in a suburb of Columbus for $670,000. The 4,824sqft home featured multiple fireplaces, a finished basement and a three-car garage.

While it seemed that Myka’s YouTube career had taken off, she soon informed her followers of a personal setback. Their adopted son Huxley did not have a brain tumor at all; rather, he had suffered a stroke in utero and had autism and sensory processing disorder.

He was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder level three, the most severe form of autism, which created challenges with his communication. But in a YouTube video posted before his adoption, Myka told viewers ‘my child is not returnable’ and that they ‘would love’ the youngster ‘no matter what state’ he came to them in – making what happened later even more shocking.

Throughout 2019, Myka shared updates on Huxley’s autism diagnosis and ongoing treatment plan. She gushed over being the mother of a child on the autism spectrum for parenting sites like Bump and Mom. She posted clips about his food anxiety and his progress with speech, and even filmed some of Huxley’s nonverbal meltdowns.

The couple also revealed that Huxley had trouble breaking his thumb-sucking habit, though they later faced backlash for a since-deleted video that showed Huxley wearing a thumb guard. Eagle-eyed viewers also shared their concerns when they discovered a deleted clip of Huxley wearing what appeared to be duct tape on his thumb.

The Stauffers expanded their family once again in June 2019 with the birth of their son Onyx, but fans soon began to notice a shift in Myka’s content – namely, that Huxley was no longer being featured on the YouTube channel.

In May 2020, the Stauffers finally answered questions about Huxley’s whereabouts in a now infamous YouTube video, titled An Update On Our Family, in which they revealed they were ‘rehoming’ Huxley.

‘With international adoption, sometimes there are unknowns and things that are not transparent on files,’ James said. ‘Once Huxley came home, there was a lot more special needs that we weren’t aware of, and that we were not told.’

Myka added that a private adoption agency had helped place Huxley with his ‘forever family’, and that his ‘new mommy has medical, professional training’ with children on the autism spectrum.

Myka and James were married in 2013, the same year they welcomed their first child together, daughter Jaka (left)

Pictured, from left: Jaka, Huxley, Radley and Nakova are seen with their mom Myka 

Myka later told fans that Huxley had suffered a stroke in utero and he was diagnosed with autism and sensory processing disorder

While the YouTuber stressed that the family loved Huxley, she explained they weren’t able to give him the appropriate care that he needed.

‘There’s not an ounce of our body that doesn’t love Huxley with all of our being,’ she said, as her eyes welled up with tears. The influencer said ‘the last couple months have been the hardest thing [she] could have ever imagined’.

‘Do I feel like a failure as a mom? Like, 500 percent,’ she admitted. The couple ended their emotional video with a plea for fans to have ‘grace’ with them during this difficult time.

‘We are still struggling,’ Myka said. ‘We are going to be heartbroken for a very long time.’

Unsurprisingly, many critics accused the couple of adopting Huxley as a stunt to gain viewers and money from monetized adoption content. 

Myka was dropped by Kate Hudson’s sportswear company Fabletics, as well as her partnerships with PlaytexBaby, Mattel and Suave.

As the Stauffers’ decision to ‘rehome’ their adopted child sent shockwaves across the internet, the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office was forced to launch an investigation after receiving complaints from angry viewers.

In the redacted incident report obtained by the Daily Mail, officer Susanna Leonard wrote that she conducted a ‘wellbeing check’ on Huxley at his new residence after unnamed tipsters had sent reports that contained ‘allegations of abuse’.

Leonard confirmed she met with Huxley and his new ‘adoptive family’ on June 9, 2020, and Huxley ‘appeared to be very happy and well taken care of’.

As part of the investigation, Leonard also met with the Stauffer family on June 4. They provided specific details about Huxley’s behavior, according to the report, which included claims of his ‘severe aggression towards the other kids’.

The Stauffers described the alleged incidents as ‘a very traumatic experience’ for their kids, and shared their concerns that his aggressive behavior would worsen as he got older.

The family also claimed they hired ‘medical professionals’ and therapists to analyze Huxley’s behavior, as they described his ‘self-injuries’ from ‘sucking his thumb so raw that he would have blisters’.

According to the report, the Stauffers said they ‘couldn’t take care of him any more’ and that Huxley’s rehoming ‘had to happen’.

The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office ultimately closed the case against the Stauffers on June 18, 2020, after determining there were no signs of physical abuse against any of the children.

Tobin confirmed as much to the Daily Mail, as he recalled how he and his wife visited the Stauffers at their home ‘multiple times a week’ before they rehomed Huxley.

‘Every time we came over – and I mean, we all hung out multiple times a week – [Huxley] always had full-time therapists there and people trying to help,’ he said.

As for their decision to place Huxley with a new adoptive family, Tobin described the emotional toll it took on his friends.

‘It tore Myka apart, specifically. I know James was in a really dark place, but he wasn’t talking about it,’ Tobin said, adding: ‘I don’t envy anyone in that situation.’

Myka made her final social media post on June 24, where she finally addressed the ‘uproar’ that followed their rehoming video and apologized for ‘letting down’ her fans.

‘This decision has caused so many people heartbreak and I’m sorry for letting down so many women that looked up to me as a mother,’ Myka wrote.

She said she took ‘full responsibility’ for ‘all of the hurt’ her actions had caused, and apologized for ‘not being able to tell more of my story from the beginning’.

She admitted she was in over her head when she adopted Huxley, calling herself ‘naive’ about adopting and not ‘fully equipped’ to deal with the challenge.

Myka said her desire to help a child made her act rashly, admitting: ‘I wanted to help so bad I was willing to bring home any child that needed me. For this, I was naive, foolish, and arrogant,’ she wrote.

‘I wish so bad I would have been more prepared and done more. I wish the decision to disrupt never had to be made.’

Myka also ‘debunked’ rumors she adopted Huxley ‘to gain wealth’, explaining: ‘While we did receive a small portion of money from videos featuring Huxley and his journey, every penny and much more went back into his care.

‘Getting Huxley the care and services he needed was very expensive and we made sure he got every service and resource we could possibly find,’ she said.

Myka confirmed she and her husband ‘are not under any type of investigation’ and maintained it was ‘the right decision’ to place Huxley in someone else’s care.

Myka made her final social media post in June 2020, where she finally addressed the ‘uproar’ caused by their rehoming video and apologized for ‘letting down’ her fans

‘I can’t say I wish this never happened because I’m still so glad Huxley is here and getting all of the help he needs. I also know that even though he is happier in his new home and doing better, he still experienced trauma and I’m sorry, no adoptee deserves any more trauma,’ she said.

Looking back, Rose said she believed the backlash the Stauffers received for their decision to rehome Huxley was ‘completely blown out of proportion’ and ‘misconstrued’ by the public.

‘I don’t think she would ever intentionally try to harm her kids,’ she told the Daily Mail. 

‘I really think that everything that happened got completely blown out of proportion and misconstrued. I feel horrible for her because she’s a really good person, and she really didn’t deserve that public backlash.’

These days, it appears that Myka has entirely gone off the grid.

Her husband James continues to post on YouTube under his channel The Stauffer Garage, where he posts car flipping, cleaning and detailing videos to his 1.3 million subscribers. The couple did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.

While Tobin revealed that he has grown apart from the Stauffers after his family moved away one year ago, he suggested that Myka still has a hand in her husband’s social media career – even though she’s now taken a backseat.

‘She was always a good supporter of his strategy and stuff, so I think they’re still doing that,’ he told the Daily Mail.

As for Huxley, who is now ten years old, fans believe they have found the child living happily and out of the spotlight. 

A social media account belonging to an ‘accessible education teacher’ named Lauren Flynn appeared to show photos of Huxley, who has since been given the Chinese name Yue Lin, thriving with his new siblings who similarly have special needs.

In a recent interview, former First Lady Jill Biden expressed her surprise over the 2024 presidential election results, where then-Vice President Kamala Harris was defeated by Donald Trump. Despite the outcome, Biden maintains her belief that Harris, a Californian, “would be a good president.”

Speaking with CBS News’ Rita Braver on “Sunday Morning,” Jill Biden shared her expectations prior to the election, coinciding with the upcoming release of her memoir, “View from the East Wing.” She candidly remarked, “I was certain she was going to win.”

Braver, sounding intrigued, asked, “You were?”

Jill Biden elaborated, reflecting on the enthusiasm and large gatherings that surrounded Harris’s campaign. “The excitement for her and the crowds, and I mean, how people rallied around her, I truly felt she was going to win,” Biden explained. “I was shocked she didn’t win, because I think she would be a good president.”

Recalling the night of the election, the former first lady recounted, “I went to bed and I just, I couldn’t believe that she had lost.”

Harris, considered a top contender for the 2028 Democratic nomination, became the party’s first nominee in 20 years to lose the popular vote, while Trump received 326 Electoral College votes, the most by any GOP nominee since George H.W. Bush in 1988.

The Illinois General Assembly concluded its spring session on Monday without advancing legislation that could facilitate the construction of a new stadium for the Chicago Bears.

In an effort to keep the Bears within the state, the Illinois Senate introduced a bill that could enable certain localities to negotiate agreements with the team.

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This proposed legislation is designed to empower municipalities with populations exceeding 70,000 to establish their own stadium authorities, potentially benefiting both Arlington Heights and Chicago. The bill would permit the Bears to privately fund a stadium, which would be municipally owned. Consequently, as a public facility, the property would be exempt from taxes.

On Monday, the Bears released a statement saying, “We will complete our assessment of both Arlington Heights and Hammond, sticking to the late spring or early summer timeline we previously outlined. We will share an update once a decision has been made.”

SEE ALSO: Illinois lawmakers pass $59B budget with new taxes on social media companies, crypto, fantasy sports

The Bears said in a statement Monday, “”We will finalize our evaluation of both Arlington Heights and Hammond, and remain on the late spring/early summer timeline that we have previously communicated. We will provide an update when we have a decision to share.”

Illinois state leaders said time is of the essence as Hammond, Indiana is also pushing to give the Bears a new home.

“I believe the importance of tonight is to send the message to the business community, and to the Bears and to the NFL, That we’re serious, we want you as a customer, the state wants to be part of its future,” state Senator Seth Lewis, (R, 24th District) said.

The proposal would not impact any development surrounding a stadium, on which the Bears would still pay property taxes.