ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at Noon - December 23, 2025

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

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Now at noon, Christmas week, warm-up meteorologist Cruz Medina first alerting you to higher temperatures as we approach Christmas. And a Wake County woman taken by immigration officials is now free. We're hearing from Fatima about her release after weeks in federal custody. And as you are doing your last minute holiday shopping tips on how to make sure your Christmas is a safe one. And we're live here at the Durham Rescue Mission. where hundreds of families will receive toys, clothes, and food will bring you all the information coming up here live in just a few minutes. Right now, live coverage from your local newsleader, today's top stories you need to know,

and your first alert forecast. Here's what's happening where you live. This is ABC 11, I Witness News. Welcome on this Tuesday, December 23rd, just two days, two days. Cruz until Christmas it is coming fast and you know for all of those kids just hoping for white Christmas not at all no it's no it's more like shorts weather as we warm up nearly to 70 degrees as we go into tomorrow and that's going to linger through Christmas Day as well so let's take a look at your forecast here and you

can see for Christmas Eve Christmas Day obviously very warm these highs are going to be anywhere from 15 to 20 degrees above average and rain chances are very low so as we go into early Thursday there could be a few sprinkles in the morning Outside of that, it's going to be dry and that southwest wind is going to keep us warm as we go throughout the Christmas Day holiday. Let's take a live look outside though right now because it's a bit chilly out there. This is Roxborough and you can see lots of clouds around, but there's some sun starting to peek through the clouds and that's because we're going to get clearing in the next few hours. Roxborough is at 55. It is obviously pretty windy there. Raleigh at 54 and 52 down in Fayetteville. So those tipters are going to continue to climb this afternoon. Our winds are out of the southwest right now.

We're catching gusts up to 25 miles per hour. It'll stay pretty breezy through the rest of the day as well. But I'd say we're reaching our peak gusts within the next two hours. Here's how today plays out after these clouds clear. We'll get some mid to late afternoon sunshine. Tipters hop up into the low 60s today. We spend most of this evening in the 50s despite a clear sky. And then as we go into tonight, those tipters will cool down,

but just not as much as what we saw this morning. So tipters will start out in the upper 40s to around 50 degrees tomorrow. We have a mostly clear sky in the morning, and we're going to see more of that sunshine into tomorrow morning and afternoon as well. So I bumped up the tipter. We're now going with 70 for a forecast for tomorrow in Raleigh. As we go into Christmas Day, obviously it's going to stay pretty warm. We'll see the cloud cover increase a bit, though, as we go into the holiday. We'll track that out and also our next rain chances coming up in your seven-day forecast.

Diane. All right, what a gift. 70 degrees. Thank you, Cruz. Well, we begin with an update on a story. We first broke on eyewitness news at 10 a.m. A Wake County woman arrested last month after her job at her job by immigration agents is now free after weeks in custody. Michael Project following this latest development in Raleigh.

Hi there, Michael. Diane, good afternoon. 23-0. Fatima Velasquez, Antonio was detained while working in Raleigh last month by immigration officials and taken to a holding facility in Jorda where she had remained until last night when she was finally released her family sharing with. with us this picture of her this morning as she now prepares to return back to North Carolina. Velazquez Antonio came to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor from Honduras, which was 14 years old and had a work authorization as her asylum case was pending. According to our news gathering partners at the news and observers, she had two traffic violations

but no other legal issues. Her family grateful for her return, stressing there's still more work to do as she continues on the path towards gaining U.S. citizenship. Now coming up this afternoon, we will speak with Congresswoman Deborah Ross, who has spoken publicly about this case. In Raleigh, I'm Michael Perchick, ABC 11, eyewitness news. All right, thank you, Michael. And new at noon, a Maryland man arrested in charge with defrauding a Wake County resident out of $93,000. The victim discovered numerous unknown bank accounts and credit cards on their credit report. Further investigation showed the victim

also had numerous companies in their name in the state of Maryland, all with outstanding bank accounts, credit cards, and loans over an 18-month period. On Monday, the way county sheriff's office arrested 45 year old wisdom banks bay in maryland who is now facing more than a dozen charges including identity theft and fraud as you do your last minute shopping police are warning people to be aware of their surroundings to make sure your holidays stay a safe one here are some tips from the fayetteville police department they say lock take hide always lock your vehicle take your keys and valuables with you and hide shopping bags and gifts in the trunk or out of plain sites Park smart, park in well-lit areas. And stay alert, avoid distractions from your phone while walking to and from your car. Have your vehicle keys and hand and ready. And shop in pairs. There is safety in numbers, if possible, shop with a friend or family member.

And let's talk about ATM safety, conduct ATM transactions during daylight hours and in well-lit populated areas. If you still have some holiday shopping to do, several local malls are extending their hours. The streets at South Point Mall in Durham open. at 10 in the morning and closes at 9 tonight. On Christmas Eve, South Point opened for last-minute shoppers from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. In Raleigh, Crabtree Valley Mall is open until 10 tonight. Christmas Eve, the mall will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. And in Fayetteville, the Cross Creek Mall, it's open until 9 tonight.

Christmas Eve hours are from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. ABC 11 together is highlighting good deeds in the community. And right now, the Durham Rescue Mission is hosting their annual Christmas dinner. And our Jimmy's Price, she is there live. And James, this is a really a labor of love. So many volunteers coming together for the community. That's right. Hundreds of volunteers coming together to make this happen.

Those volunteers start dark and early. It really does, though, take weeks of preparation just to get to this point where we saw this morning, where folks were working on the turkeys and working on the hams, all of it for this moment right here. hundreds of families receiving those toys here. You can see just behind me here. The kids already have their bags full of goodies. You see them in the yellow and blue bags. They are toys for girls and boys. They also have some fun balloons as well. Again, this is a labor of love. Organizers, volunteers, really just coming together. Telling me, though, the need right now is great in our community. They say the need is greater this year, and they're just grateful that they could help. It warms my heart knowing that people think of us as a place to come where if I need help, I can go there. They will help me. I also had volunteers out here in the rain, in the dark, opening cans of vegetables and working hard to help their neighbor.

And just my heart's overflowing right now. It's so happy. It makes me feel so good to see so many people coming out to volunteer here and then it's so fun. I took a half day off today to help the kids and bring the kids. all right back out here live you can see all of those bikes roads and roads of bikes kids will go home with these bikes they'll go home with electronics games all the toys that you can think of they're also going home with clothes and groceries and again this is all an effort to just make sure kids in our community will have a very merry christmas diane there and i know those volunteers are getting so much out of it also thank you Now at noon, the economy expanded more than economists expected. The U.S. Commerce Department says the economy grew by 4.3% in the third quarter, which is a jump from the 3.8% in the previous quarter. Analysts say a boost in consumer spending heading into the holidays help propel the economic surge.

We now turn to a new trove of Epstein files released by the Justice Department this morning, including never-before-seen investigative materials and an email mentioning President Trump and Epstein's private plane. ABC's Reno Moore has more. Overnight, a new batch of Epstein files released by the Department of Justice, including this email sent the day after Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in 2019 on charges of sex trafficking minors, an unidentified person at the New York FBI field office already in pursuit of potential collaborators writing, when you get a chance, can you give me an update on the status of the 10 co-conspirators? In a July memo, the DOJ stated flatly, there was not enough

evidence to warrant prosecuting any uncharged third parties. Gieland Maxwell is the only person to ever be charged as an Epstein co-conspirator. She's serving a 20-year prison sentence convicted of sex trafficking minors. Other emails show prosecutors pressing repeatedly to interview former Prince Andrew, who sent a written statement and never sat down with investigators. And at least one email referencing Donald Trump sent from a federal prosecutor to unknown recipients, flagging that flight records from the 90s reflect that, Donald Trump traveled on Epstein's private jet many more times than previously has been reported

or that we were aware, including during the period we would expect to charge in a Maxwell case. Those documents later became public during Maxwell's 2021 trial. Trump and Epstein had a decades-long friendship, but Trump says they had a falling out in the early 2000s after he says Epstein stole Mar-A-Lago employees. The Justice Department saying in a statement that some of the latest documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election, adding, to be clear, the claims are unfounded and false.

Now, the DOJ did not specify which documents it's referring to, but that statement will likely raise further questions about whether the department is politicizing the release of these files. Rina Roy, ABC News, New York. Happening now, flags across the state lowered to half staff in honor of former Governor Jim Hunt. Governor Stein ordering them to remain lowered through sunset Friday. That's the day funeral services will be held for Hunt at First Presbyterian Church in Wilson.

Hunt was North Carolina's longest serving governor. He passed away last week at the age of 88. Another U.S. strike on a boat in foreign waters. What we're learning here at noon. Plus, the plain carrying a pediatric patient goes down in Texas. The heroic actions that save lives. And we are tracking the holiday rush to live look at I-40 at Harrison Avenue in Wake County. Not a lot of traffic on the road just yet, but it is moving smoothly for you on this Tuesday.

Watch Lauren Johnson tonight on ABC 11 eyewitness news. Welcome back. I'm Diane Wilson in the Breaking News Center with new charges against a Duke University hospital nurse. Charge was sexually assaulting two patients while they were incapacitated. We're just learning that nurse is now charged with a third offense. We first brought you this story last week when Jomeil Dugato was first charged. Warrant show the alleged assaults happened in May and in December. This is a second time in the past month. The hospital employee in the triangle has been accused of sexually assaulting patients.

The other worked at UNC Recs Hospital in Raleigh. We now turn to the deadly plane crash to medical plane flying, a pediatric patient going down in Texas, but thanks to some good Samaritans, a heroic father and son. There were some survivors. ABC's Joe Benitez has a story. Trematic new video capturing a frantic search for survivors after a Mexican Navy medical plane crashed near Galveston, Texas. Good Samaritan Skydecker treading water among the wreckage begging for help. Somebody get in here and help me pull this stuff out of the way.

To get to the screams inside. I was just trying to do everything I could do. I don't think really anything is going through to my mind other than just trying to help. The Coast Guard says eight people were on board the Beecher aircraft when it went down Monday afternoon in dense fog. Decker was outboating with his son and friend when they heard about the plane crash and picked up some first responders. They headed to the site. It looked like there's no way there would be any survivors in there. Decker says seats were blocking the exit, but he managed to get to a woman to pull her out.

The survivor was rushed ashore. Mexican officials say the aircraft was transporting a child burn patient to Shriners in Galveston. The Mexican Navy says five people did not survive. Two are alive and one is still missing. The fall was so dense out there. Visibility is probably 30 yards. I can't imagine trying to land a plane in this. It's extremely unfortunate.

Gio Benita's ABC News, New York. In other news, the U.S. military says it conducted another deadly strike on a vessel allegedly trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean. U.S. Southern Command said at least one person was killed on Monday. The strike was at the direction of defense. Secretary Pete Hedgeseth, military leader said the target was a low-profile vessel operated by a terrorist organization in international waters. No U.S. service members were harmed in the strike. Danger's weather impacting parts of the country where travel is treacherous this holiday

week. And a sad update to a missing swimmer off California's coast, but authorities think may have happened to her. A tragic update to a story we first brought you yesterday morning, authority suspending the search for a missing swimmer in California. Police say 55-year-old Erica Fox was reported missing Sunday when she didn't make it back to shore. Witnesses told police they saw a shark attack in the area and believe the shark could be involved in the disappearance. Crews searched for more than 15 hours, but we're not able to locate Fox. Now to the dangerous weather putting millions of people at risk. The most serious conditions are in northern and southern California. Preparations for days worth of heavy rain

well underway in recently burned areas around Los Angeles. The weather is also affecting other parts of the country with so many holiday travelers on the move. Melissa Adon reports from Altadena, California. Across Southern California, people are preparing for this wet winter storm. Here in Altadena, you can see these K-rills that have been placed along this street here. That is kind of acting as a flood barrier, trying to help also prevent any rocks or mudslides from getting into the main road. Right here where we are, this is one of the properties here in Altadena that suffered damage from those devastating January wildfires. Right now,

homeowners are just trying to do what they can. For instance, this is a sorbent boom. It tries to repel some of that water protecting the property. This is what's so near and dear for so many people that live out here. Also, if you notice those sandbags, tarps, that's another safety measure put in place because here in California, what we are anticipating is flashed. flooding, possible rocks and mudslides. This as the state is mobilizing resources all across sending out crews to make sure they're ready to respond in a moment's notice and making sure that people have sandbags and materials that they need in place as we approach this winter storm. Melissa Adon, ABC News, Altadena, California. And this is a very busy travel time for a lot of

people here in the triangle or are they going to be facing problems if they're hitting the roadway? I'd say locally no, but like she was just saying, if you're heading out west, that could be quite the mess. I mean, think about airports like LAX. That's going to cause a ripple effect across the country. So let's check out that travel forecast. If you were staying in the southeast, all good to go. Now, if you're traveling up to parts of the northeast today or even New England, that's where the weather could be a bit tricky up there with a winter storm on the way. There's a bit of freezing rain, even some snow.

And back in the central portion of the country, that's another pretty quiet area, thankfully. I said out west, especially in California, that flash flooding event unfolds tonight for the Los Angeles area and surrounding areas of Southern California. That'll linger into tomorrow. There's actually a rare high risk for flash flooding. So like I said, that could impact travel not only there, but it could lead to a trickle effect across the country and you could get some cancellations or delays. So just make sure that you're watching your flights very closely if you're heading out today or tomorrow. Now back home, we're dealing with quiet conditions. Today is the start of a warm up temperatures will be in the low 60s for highs today. We go into the middle and upper 60s through the next two days. So some spots even hitting 70 degrees. I'll show you that forecast in just a moment. But we're also tracking a big cooldown that comes as we end out the holiday weekend and go into early next week. High temperatures could be in the 40s into next Monday. Now here's a live look at Durham. We're starting to see that clearing as the cloud deck that we've had around this morning starts to depart the region. Tipters are in the mid 50s right now. We are expecting to be in the 60s for this afternoon.

afternoon and that's good news for anybody going and tailgating the Panthers Canes home game today. So if you're going out to the Lenovo Center, tell getting that beforehand, Tipters will be in the low 60s. Enjoy that warmth because it's going to keep getting warmer and then obviously we're going to get that cool down later in the week. So first alert predictor shows plenty of sunshine for this afternoon. We keep a clear sky into this evening and overnight. We will wake up fairly mild tomorrow, but the sunshine lingers into the afternoon and tipters will push to near 70 for many of us here in Central North Carolina. Now going into Thursday,

this is where the cloud cover starts to increase again. Christmas morning, especially early in the morning, we could have a few sprinkles in our western counties. As we go into the mid morning hours, that chance shifts into our northern counties, but then should be out of here as we go into late morning and afternoon hours. So Christmas itself, very warm as well,

and then we'll see a backdoor cold front come in, and that cools us down a little bit as we go into Friday. So putting a bow on tomorrow's forecast. We start out mild. We're going to end mild. If you have any outdoor plans tomorrow, before Christmas Day itself, it's going to be a great day for outdoor plans. You might even break out the shorts with temperature's near 70 degrees and then enjoy that because, like I said, here comes that Arctic blast as we go into this weekend. Saturday and Sunday is still fairly mild in the 60s. That Arctic front arrives Sunday night and into Monday. So it's a dry front. We're not really expecting any rain, but it's certainly going to bring a big chill back to our region. So recapping, Tonight, we go down only into the upper 40s to run 50 degrees. That means we're starting off tomorrow mild and the afternoon looks even warmer with highs reaching the 70s from the triangle down into the sand hills.

Your first alert, ACUweather 7-day forecast shows the 50s as we go into Friday. So that's a brief cool down with a backdoor cold front. We'll talk more about what that is in the next half hour. Then we warm up again for this weekend only to cool down into the 40s as we go into early parts of next week. Diane. All righty. Thank you.

roller coaster of temperature for this Christmas week. Thanks Cruz. It's official Santa has come to North Carolina the last minute clearance he had to get first and the new holiday movie being shot right here in our state and the Grinch is locked up where he's serving time for his bad deeds this Christmas. Another Christmas movie being filmed at the Biltmore State in Asheville. Hallmark announcing Jonathan Frakes will reprise his role from a Biltmore Christmas, which was filmed in 2023. Production begins in January, and the movie will be released ahead of Christmas next year. The Grinch doing a stint in jail.

Police officers in Arizona posting this footage to Facebook reminding residents that jail doesn't close for the holidays. The department says Grinch's porch pirates and other criminals will end up in a jail cell and on the Nautilus this Christmas. New at noon, Santa's reindeer have permission to enter North Carolina. Reindeer are part of the Servid family that include elk, deer, moose, and caribou. State law requires permission by the state veterinarian to bring captive livestock into the state. Since Santa's reindeer are magical and pose no health threat to our native deer, they are welcome to move around the state.

Well, a lot more ahead on eyewitness news at noon, including the holiday travel rush. you need to know if you're one of the millions of people hitting the roads or taking a flight.