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Federal agents located and recovered 15 industrial drones capable of dispersing large amounts of liquid chemicals after they were stolen from a New Jersey company, according to officials.

Fifteen Ceres Air C31 industrial spray drones were stolen from CAC International, a logistics and shipping company in Harrison, New Jersey, on March 24, according to The High Side Substack, with one expert warning the theft could become a “nightmare scenario.”

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Homeland Security Investigations Newark said on Wednesday that the drones were recovered in Dover, New Jersey, over a month after they were stolen.

The New Jersey State Police said in an earlier statement to Fox News that the drones were recovered at Prudent Corporation, a trucking company that has a warehouse at the location.

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“On April 27th, the New Jersey State Police Cargo Theft Unit recovered 15 stolen agricultural drones and spray systems. These drones are labeled as agricultural drones due to their specified function as registered crop dusters. The theft occurred on March 24th at CAC International, a logistics and shipping company located in Harrison, NJ. The drones were recovered at Prudent Corporation located in Dover, NJ. This is an active, ongoing investigation that Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Patrol are assisting with. No additional information is available,” the New Jersey State Police wrote.

Former FBI agent Steve Lazarus said the drones could be a danger to the public.

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“Even common chemicals, used improperly, can be a public safety danger. Throw in the Internet recipes for biological and chemical weapons that anyone with a Tor browser has access to, and this is a potential nightmare scenario,” Lazarus said in an interview with The High Side.

“These aren’t hobby drones with cameras. They’re industrial sprayers designed to carry and disperse significant amounts of liquid quickly and with precision.”

This is a developing story.

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A California judge has rejected claims from convicted killer Scott Peterson’s Los Angeles Innocence Project defense team that witnesses saw his wife alive after her 2002 disappearance on Christmas Eve.

Judge Elizabeth Hill of the San Mateo Superior Court found the testimony and purported evidence that her disappearance was linked to a nearby burglary inadmissible.

Peterson was convicted after a five-month trial in 2004 of the murder of his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son, Conner.

SCOTT PETERSON PROSECUTORS LAY OUT ‘OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE’ AGAINST KILLER’S NEW APPEAL IN 337-PAGE FILING

While Peterson has for years suggested the suspects in a burglary at the house across the street from where he lived with his wife in 2002 could have killed her, prosecutors said that the break-in happened after she had already vanished.

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He initially received a death sentence, which was later reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2021.

He has a separate petition pending before the California Supreme Court to have his conviction overturned due to alleged juror misconduct, and his Innocence Project legal team said it would appeal the judge’s decision Tuesday.

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The court had previously rejected Peterson’s requests for new DNA testing in the case on almost all of the evidence, aside from a piece of duct tape found on his wife’s pants.

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Laci Peterson was pregnant at the time she vanished. Her remains were later recovered in the San Francisco Bay. So were their son’s, at a separate location.

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Police arrested her husband in 2003 near the Mexico border after he bleached his hair blond and departed Northern California with his brother’s passport and $10,000. He had a new goatee and just purchased a used Mercedes in cash, using the name “Jacqueline,” which he told the seller was “a boy-named-Sue type thing.”

At trial, a woman he was having an affair with named Amber Frey testified that he told her his wife was dead a month before she went missing.

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In recorded calls, he told her he didn’t want to be a father and was considering a vasectomy.  

And his alibi, which was that he was fishing when his wife disappeared, placed him in the same body of water where her remains were later found.

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Prosecutors have written in court filings that a police K-9 picked up her scent at a boat ramp in Berkeley, Calif.. They said her hair had been found on a pair of needle-nose pliers recovered from the vessel.

The autopsy also suggested her remains had been weighted to the sea floor before she broke apart and washed ashore — and prosecutors included evidence that Peterson made multiple homemade anchors out of concrete and rebar.

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A federal grand jury handed down indictments for two individuals connected to the assault on Turning Point USA reporter Savanah Hernandez at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest in Minneapolis earlier this month, Fox News Digital has learned.

The suspects were indicted on Tuesday, sources told Fox News Digital, though their names have yet to be released. The sources said the indictment is expected to be unsealed later Wednesday.

This is a developing news story; check back for updates.

Fox News Digital’s Kelley Kramer contributed to this report.

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A Pennsylvania mother of three was shot and killed in what family members describe as a final act of courage — stepping in to protect another woman moments before a gunman opened fire outside a bar.

Jessica Hilliard, 34, was killed early Sunday outside Niki’s Quick Six in Parks Township, Armstrong County, Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 (WTAE) reported.

Pennsylvania State Police confirmed to WTAE that the situation spiraled shortly after 1 a.m., when a verbal altercation broke out in the parking lot.

It escalated when a woman ran into the bar claiming she had been attacked, prompting several people, including Hilliard, to rush outside.

5 POLICE OFFICERS SHOT, 3 DEAD IN PENNSYLVANIA, FBI INVESTIGATING

Hilliard was among those trying to intervene when she was shot multiple times in the chest, according to the report.

The suspected gunman, identified by WTAE as 36-year-old David Dunmire, allegedly pulled out a gun and fired multiple rounds into a crowd while running away, striking four people.

COUPLE KILLED AT ARKANSAS’ DEVIL’S DEN STATE PARK ‘DIED HEROES PROTECTING THEIR LITTLE GIRLS,’ FAMILY SAYS

Three others were wounded in the gunfire, including a 24-year-old woman who was listed in critical condition. Two men were reported to be in stable condition, WTAE said, citing police.

Family members told the outlet that Hilliard wasn’t involved in the dispute but stepped in because she believed someone was in danger.

PREGNANT TEEN DIES SAVING BABY AFTER PONCHATOULA ROAD RAGE SHOOTING INCIDENT

“Our sister died a hero,” one of her sisters said, according to the outlet.

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A GoFundMe created for Hilliard’s family reinforces that account, saying she was killed “while trying to stop a man from hurting a woman,” and describing her final moments as an act of “courage and selflessness.”

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The fundraiser says Hilliard, who leaves behind two daughters and a son, was “protective, strong, and deeply loved,” adding that “she was the kind of person who stepped in when someone needed help.”

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Her death has left what the family describes as “an unimaginable hole” as loved ones now work to support her children and cover funeral expenses.

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WTAE reported the suspect was taken into custody at the scene and faces multiple charges, including criminal homicide.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to Pennsylvania State Police and local law enforcement for additional information.

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California authorities have announced an arrest in a 35-year-old cold case in which a mother mysteriously vanished from her home, leaving behind her young child and all of her belongings. 

James Lawhead Jr., 64, was arrested in Bullhead City, Ariz., on Friday and faces charges stemming from the 1991 kidnapping and murder of Cindy Wanner, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office. 

“This is one of the most notorious and heinous cold cases we have here in Placer County. We’ve never given up pursuing justice for Cindy and her family, we hope this is a small step in the healing process,” Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo said in a statement.

Wagner was 35 years old when she disappeared from her home in Granite Bay, Calif., on Nov. 25, 1991. She left her 11-month-old alone in a highchair, along with her car, shoes and coat.

PARTY PREP TALE FALLS APART AS HUSBAND CHARGED IN WIFE’S DECADES-OLD COLD CASE MURDER

Three weeks later, her body was found in a remote area near Foreshill roughly 40 miles from her home. 

Authorities determined Wagner had been strangled.

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The search for Wagner’s killer ran cold, until authorities submitted a final piece of evidence to the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office for DNA testing to name Lawhead as a suspect, officials said. 

Lawhead, who was 30 at the time of Wagner’s alleged murder, had been released from prison in 1991 after serving 11 years behind bars for sex crimes involving a child.

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Authorities noted that he had seemingly vanished, pointing to a staggering lack of documentation involving his whereabouts that had not been updated since 2005. 

The revelation led authorities to determine Lawhead had likely assumed a new identity and, by working with local law enforcement agencies in areas where he was believed to have been living, investigators used facial recognition to find a match.

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Detectives subsequently uncovered that Lawhead had been living in Bullhead City, Ariz., under the name Vincent Reynolds. 

He was subsequently taken into custody with assistance from the Bullhead City Police Department and booked into an Arizona jail, according to authorities. He is expected to be extradited to Placer County to face charges.

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The investigation also led to the arrest of Lawhead’s 71-year-old sister, Terry Lawhead Steele, authorities added.

Steele was arrested in South Carolina on Saturday on an accessory charge.

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“Although Steele had spoken with law enforcement several times over the years, including with our detectives just weeks ago, and claimed she had not heard from her brother in more than 20 years, investigators discovered James Lawhead had been living in a home she owned,” authorities said. “Evidence also showed the two had remained in communication.” 

Authorities are now investigating whether Lawhead is responsible for similar crimes in the area, according to police.

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It is not yet clear whether Lawhead has retained an attorney. 

“This arrest is a powerful reminder that time does not erase responsibility, and it does not diminish our commitment,” Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire said. “Cold cases are not forgotten cases — they remain urgent, they remain personal, and they remain a promise we intend to keep. 

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.