Shooting of Minneapolis nurse sparks dispute over events, evidence handling

Narratives over the Minneapolis shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti clashed over the weekend as President Donald Trump‘s administration accused him of violently resisting arrest, while his family remembered him as a “kind-hearted soul.”

Pretti, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ICU nurse, is the second person to be shot and killed in Minneapolis this month. Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem said the victim, who was armed, “violently resisted” arrest and that the federal agent fired his weapon “fearing for his life.”

Footage of the incident shows an agent disarmed Pretti shortly before he was killed. He entered into the initial scuffle with agents as he tried to assist another protester who had been pushed by law enforcement.

A federal judge soon blocked the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to the shooting on Sunday.

ANTI-ICE AGITATOR ALLEGEDLY BITES OFF FEDERAL OFFICER’S FINGER DURING MINNEAPOLIS ATTACK

The ruling came after the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension filed a lawsuit Saturday to prevent the destruction of evidence in the case.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, names DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and U.S. Border Control, as well as Attorney General Pam Bondi, as defendants.

In granting the temporary injunction, Judge Eric Tostrud wrote that federal officials and those acting on their behalf cannot destroy evidence taken from the scene of the south Minneapolis shooting or now in their exclusive custody, which state authorities say they were previously barred from inspecting.

BORDER PATROL-INVOLVED SHOOTING REPORTED IN MINNEAPOLIS

A hearing on the order has been scheduled for Monday.

Pretti’s parents, Michael and Susan Pretti, said Saturday that they are “heartbroken but also very angry,” and condemned the version of events presented by law enforcement as “sickening lies.”

“Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital,” the couple wrote.

GUN RIGHTS GROUPS CLASH AFTER MAN DHS SAYS WAS ARMED FATALLY SHOT BY CBP IN MINNEAPOLIS

“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed,” they continued.

Meanwhile, Trump highlighted that Pretti was armed and carrying two extra magazines at the time of the shooting. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller went further than other members of the administration, calling Pretti a “would-be assassin” who “tried to murder federal law enforcement,” adding that he is a “domestic terrorist.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison had demanded a “a full, impartial, and transparent investigation” into the shooting.

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Ellison said he shares “intense grief and anger” over Pretti’s death and condemned ICE’s presence in Minnesota as an “illegal and unconstitutional occupation.”

Historic winter storm charges across US, unleashing crippling snow and ice as outages soar

Fellow elected official torches school board member nabbed after anti-ICE church invasion

A Minnesota State Representative sounded off on the state’s public schools after a member of the St. Paul Board of Education and prominent Black Lives Matter activist was arrested for storming a local church last week to confront a pastor who is also an ICE agent. 

“Most of the school boards in the Twin Cities metro area, Ramsey and Hennepin County in particular, have become nothing other than activist boards,” State Rep. Elliott Engen, R-Lino Lakes, told Fox News Digital. “They’re no longer about serving the school, making sure that the budget is balanced, kids are served that the education gap is closed, because we have the largest in the nation.”

Chauntyll Allen was one of three people taken into federal custody Thursday after an aggressive anti-ICE mob, many members of which filmed the incident, stormed Cities Church in Saint Paul on Sunday, Jan. 18. Allen is the clerk of the education board, which is an elected position. She has held office since 2020. 

She was charged with conspiracy to deprive others of their constitutional rights. 

So they really have made a, a very blatant, obvious and charged, decision to engage in political activism,” Engen said. 

MINNEAPOLIS PASTOR CALLS ON FAITHFUL TO BE ‘LIGHT IN THE DARK’ AFTER ANTI-ICE AGITATORS STORM CHURCH

“It’s LGBTQ [and] that sort of thing, and activism through the [Minnesota Department of Education],” he continued. “So much so that, you know, even in our state curriculum standards now, we have comprehensive sex education, which is mandated from third and 12th grade. You have ethnic studies, which is the equivalent of [critical race theory], which is mandated in K-3 and above. You have queer theory and queer studies, which are now being mandated in high school. It is a constant push towards more ideological persuasions and activism.” 

He described Allen as an activist who has been engaged in Twin Cities politics for quite some time. Asked what should happen now that Allen has been arrested, Engen answered bluntly. 

 “Convicted, prosecuted, taken off the school board, never allowed within 500 yards of a school again,” he said. “That’d be what sane societies do.”

However, he’s not confident that will happen. 

“But instead, Minnesota’s probably going to — under the current administration, under the current governance and leadership — prop her up as some hero, somebody to emulate, when in reality these people only know destruction,” he said.

Engen later added that he is sick of adults making school boards about themselves and their political activism, instead of serving students. 

After the incident, Allen doubled down on the mob invasion in an interview with TMZ earlier this week, saying it “needed to be done to get the message across.” 

DON LEMON RESPONDS TO TRUMP DOJ’S THREAT, STANDS BY COVERAGE OF ANTI-ICE PROTEST AT MINNESOTA CHURCH

She said she and the dozens of other agitators, who wreaked havoc inside the place of worship while former CNN host Don Lemon and others filmed the event, found out that a pastor at the church was an ICE agent through a lawsuit filed by the ACLU.

“For us that’s just like, the lowest bar,” she said in the interview. “It’s like, you know, you have these people in our community just terrorizing. Terrorizing our children and our women and our different immigrant communities. They’re arresting U.S. citizens and doing all this illegal stuff and all the way down to even the most graphic murder of Renee Good. And then we have the head of this whole operation standing in a pulpit preaching to a congregation every Sunday morning, and so that was really just not OK with us.”

Panicked churchgoers can be seen in the viral videos fleeing the church as the activists scream at and taunt others.

Allen said her mother is a pastor, and justified the event by saying that in the Bible, Jesus flipped tables. 

The school board member, who has served since January 2020, is described as a “youth advocate and educator” on her biography page. That page also lists her as a member of the board’s African American Program Work Group and Equity Committee.

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Allen took to the streets during the George Floyd riots in the summer of 2020.

Lemon snagged an interview with the pastor during the chaos, in which he also attempted to lecture the man on Christianity. The pastor asked him to leave.

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“The district has been made aware of this incident and is following all applicable policies and procedures,” a spokesperson for the district told Fox News Digital. “Saint Paul Public Schools does not comment on pending legal matters.”

The directors of the Saint Paul Board of Education did not return requests for comment. 

Allen did not return multiple requests for comment. 

Heiress emptied family trusts for husband who later walked away from marriage: memoir

Belle Burden was born into a life of wealth and luxury, but after a painful divorce brought on by her husband’s affair, she learned just how quickly that security could be taken away.

In her new memoir, “Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage,” Burden writes in detail about the prenup her lawyer advised against, how her former husband threatened to only give her the bare minimum in child support after giving up custody of their children and how she managed to navigate the painful ordeal while adjusting to her new normal.

As the daughter of Carter Burden, a descendant of the Vanderbilts who built his own broadcasting company, and Amanda Burden, an urban planner who was the daughter of socialite Babe Paley, Belle was independently wealthy when she met Henry Davis, the man she would marry.

NEW YORK HEIRESS BELLE BURDEN’S EX-HUSBAND GAVE UP CUSTODY OF CHILDREN AFTER AFFAIR TORE FAMILY APART: MEMOIR

Davis, who Burden refers to in her book as “James,” wasn’t in a similar position. He was a lawyer at the time, as was Burden, and his family did have money when he was growing up, but, she wrote, “At some point in the 1970s, his father had a breakdown, was laid off, and stopped working.”

His parents used savings to cover costs, and when he was in law school, they divorced, and he learned there was no money left.  Burden said there was one part of the story she never heard fully about his father abandoning the family for a time, “maybe after an affair,” before coming back for a number of years before his mother filed for divorce.

While she could never figure out the details, she said the matter of his father and the family’s financial struggles stuck with him.

“He told me how much he wanted to be a husband and father,” Burden said. “He told me how much he wanted an honorable life.”

Three months after their first kiss, he proposed, and, during their engagement, they rented an apartment together and split costs equally. A few months before their 1999 wedding, Burden’s mother reminded her she needed to get a prenup written up, something both she and her brother had contractually agreed to in their early 20s.

“All of my assets were in trust, entirely protected in case of divorce, whether we had a prenup or not. I didn’t think I needed it. But I had committed to having one,” she wrote.

In the original draft her family lawyer sent, she and James would each keep the assets they brought into the marriage but would split everything earned during the course of the marriage in case of divorce. She recalled James being “upset” by the idea, telling her it made him feel “like an outsider, a threat,” and she felt guilty for asking him to sign it.

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Just weeks before the wedding, the pressure to sign the prenup increased, and James suggested to her that they tweak the agreement so that anything earned during the marriage would not be split if they divorced, but that anything in both of their names would. With him at her side, she called her lawyer, Tom.

“Tom told me it was a bad idea; it was standard to share in what was earned during a marriage, both by James and by me,” she wrote. She insisted on doing it James’ way, and finally Tom agreed. She never told her family about the change to the standard prenuptial agreement, worried they would “intervene.”

In 2001, they bought a four-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, something that was “much bigger” than she thought they needed, but that James loved. She emptied one of her two trusts to purchase it and listed James as a joint owner, “even though he had not contributed to the purchase.” She said she was happy to do it.

A few years later, she used her second trust to purchase a summer home in Martha’s Vineyard. James had gone to look at it alone, and he’d loved it, so she wired him the funds from the trust, emptying it completely, and, as with the apartment, she made sure James was listed as a joint owner of the property. 

In 2002, they welcomed their first child, with their second and third coming in 2004 and 2007. Burden wrote that James was excited about each and involved with her pregnancies, but after their second child was born, he was promoted to president at his investment firm and began pulling away from daily parenting duties.

“We had made an unspoken bargain: he would work all the time and I would take care of the kids all the time,” she explained. “I resented this sometimes, usually when I was stressed, when one of the kids was sick, or when they were melting down over something. But most of the time, I liked his fervent commitment to his work.”

As her children got older, she began taking on some pro bono immigration cases but never went back to paid work. She did receive a job offer in 2012, but James dismissed it immediately when she brought it up, telling her she needed to be available for the kids. At first, she recalled being upset that he didn’t even discuss it with her, but the feeling passed quickly, believing he was right, that the family “needed to prioritize James’ career.” She turned down the offer.

Burden said, as the years went by, she and James discussed getting rid of their prenup “since it was no longer fair” to her. She’d used her trusts to purchase their homes, and his career had flourished while she gave hers up to raise their children.

In July 2019, they had a meeting scheduled with their lawyer to do just that, but James suggested just before the meeting that they “table” the prenup issue and focus on their wills, telling her that he wanted to leave everything to her directly instead of in trusts for their three children. 

Less than a year later, she discovered he was having an affair.

It was in 2020, when the family was spending the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown in their Martha’s Vineyard home, that she received a voicemail from a man who claimed his wife was having an affair with James. When she confronted James, he admitted everything, and the next morning, he told her he wanted a divorce.

He left the home without saying goodbye to the children. Her son, who was 17 at the time, was staying on Long Island with friends, but their daughters, who were 15 and 12, were sleeping when he left.

In a phone conversation later that day, she said he told her, “I thought I was happy, but I’m not. I thought I wanted our life, but I don’t” and “I feel like a switch has flipped. I’m done.” 

She also recalled him telling her, “You can have the house and the apartment. You can have custody of the kids. I don’t want it. I don’t want any of it.”

James continued paying the family’s bills, and he maintained that he didn’t want any official custody of the children, believing they were old enough to decide when they wanted to see him.

NEW YORK HEIRESS BELLE BURDEN RECOUNTS THE VOICEMAIL THAT TORCHED HER HUSBAND’S DOUBLE LIFE: MEMOIR

It wasn’t until January 2021, when, as part of the divorce proceedings, Burden received documents detailing James’ earnings over the years, that she realized just how much wealth her soon-to-be ex-husband had accrued over the years. She also realized how their altered prenup, the one she wanted against her lawyer’s advice, put her at a disadvantage.

She wrote, “Now James could claim his ownership stake in both properties. He could walk away with his assets. He could become a partner at a hedge fund, where his wealth would increase exponentially, unencumbered by me.”

Her lawyer began preparing a counterclaim. She knew she didn’t have much of a shot with the prenup designed the way it was, but she and her lawyer both felt she had to try. Her stepmother, Susan, warned her that James might get “angry” over the counterclaim, and Burden admitted that “it would be easier, safer” to let the divorce play out and to trust James “would be fair to me in the end.”

Still, she questioned why she should trust him and admitted to feeling “an almost nihilistic desire to set flame to the remaining structures of my former life, to the very safety I clung to, to the fiction that I could depend on anyone other than myself for protection, to the idea that being quiet was the only way to be good.”

Six months later, a judge dismissed the counterclaim and enforced the prenup, then set a trial date to resolve the issue of child support and their joint property. James, Burden wrote, hadn’t brought up her counterclaim in the months after she initially filed it, but after it was dismissed, he was “inflamed by it.”

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“He said he would give me only the minimum child support required by law,” she claimed. “He said I would have to face the consequences of the prenup, of my failed counterclaim.”

Soon after, James’ lawyer wrote her a letter, assuming that she’d want to buy James out of his interest in their two homes. She couldn’t afford that, so she began coming to terms with the idea that she’d have to sell both. It was then, she recalled, that things became “very dark.”

She grappled with the idea of her children losing the homes they’d known all their lives and with losing what her family had left to her, as well as her own financial security.

“There was no reason for it, given James’s resources, given his desire to shed, given his refusal to make a home for the kids,” she wrote. “It felt like he was playing a game, or running a deal, one he was going to win at all costs, by a wide margin, regardless of the impact on me and our children.”

In the end, an hour before their trial was to begin, Burden and James reached a settlement on their own. He negotiated the terms, and she said that she “had to be calm, deferential, grateful,” and that if she got her lawyer involved or “pushed him,” he would withdraw the offer altogether.

He gave up his interest in the two properties they owned and agreed to child support and to pay the children’s medical expenses and school tuition. Meanwhile, he’d keep all the money he’d earned throughout their marriage.

“I don’t know what finally made him decide to settle,” Burden admitted. “I have several guesses, but I will never know for sure. Maybe he always planned to resolve it before trial, to give me the house and the apartment. But only after he brought me to my knees.”

She said when she signed the agreement, she tried to let everything go and that she’s been mostly successful. These days, she doesn’t think about the money or the details of the split, but there are some things about the divorce that chill her.

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“It is the possibility that there was a timetable, a clock I didn’t hear ticking,” she wrote. “It is his willingness to make me afraid when I was already devastated, already on the floor.

“It is what he made clear within weeks of leaving, that he believed my contributions to his career, to our family, over twenty years, amounted to nothing.”

America’s most expensive home is back on the market with a huge price cut

A Bel Air mega-mansion with nightclub-level amenities, museum-style car storage — and a seller willing to accept cryptocurrency — is back on the market at just under $100 million, following a dramatic price cut from its original $139 million listing.

Called “La Fin,” the $99.9 million property became Realtor.com’s most expensive listing in America for the week ending on Jan. 22. It first came to market in 2022, and the reported seller — former emergency room director Joe Englanoff — enlisted seven agents to help market it.

“A reset like this doesn’t signal weakness, it signals recalibration. Ultra-luxury is no longer aspirational pricing; it’s precision pricing. In Los Angeles especially, buyers at this level are disciplined, global and value-driven. When pricing realigns with today’s realities such as interest rates, liquidity and opportunity cost, serious conversations restart,” Douglas Elliman’s Cory Weiss told Fox News Digital.

“High agent turnover usually reflects a mismatch between strategy and expectations, not a lack of interest in the asset itself,” he continued. “This property has lived through multiple market cycles, from ultra-low rates to geopolitical uncertainty and shifting tax dynamics.”

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La Fin, located at 1200 Bel Air Road, has 12 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms and sits on more than two acres of land with panoramic views of Los Angeles. Located in one of the country’s most exclusive exclaves, the property also has separate residences for staff and guests.

A few standout amenities include a 44-foot chandelier made of 55,000 crystals; an automated six-car vehicle elevator display; a 6,000-square-foot entertainment level with a wine cellar, vodka tasting room and cigar lounge; an infinity pool with a rising 23-foot LED screen; and rooftop deck with spa and fireplace features.

Some elements go beyond lifestyle and into investment-grade excess, like the custom Italian furnishings, Calacatta gold marble, commercial-grade catering facilities and fingerprint and “command center” security.

“Amenities that win are the ones that integrate into daily life. Wellness facilities, seamless indoor-outdoor flow, smart security and turnkey functionality. What’s losing relevance are novelty features that photograph well but rarely get used. Buyers are asking, ‘Will this improve my life?’ not, ‘Will this impress my guests?’” Weiss said.

“Today’s buyer is less trophy-driven and more thesis-driven. They’re high-profile global entrepreneurs, private equity principals, family offices, often buying with generational thinking,” he added. “Five years ago, size and spectacle sold. Today, buyers want privacy, security, flexibility and a clear lifestyle narrative — not just bragging rights.”

For an estate of this magnitude, Weiss said storytelling plays a major role in marketing a one-of-a-kind property that’s been on the market for several years.

“Storytelling is everything, but it has to evolve,” he argued. “After years on [the] market, the story can’t be about excess. It has to be about purpose — why this home exists, who it’s truly built for and how it fits into a buyer’s life today.”

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The nearly $40 million price cut reflects changing buyer behavior and illustrates some of the tension between aspirational pricing and market reality.

“It shows there is a ceiling, but it’s fluid. The market will support extraordinary pricing when the asset, timing and buyer align. What’s changed is patience,” Weiss explained. “The ultra-luxury market is still there, but it now rewards realism, restraint and long-term thinking over hype.”

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DAVID MARCUS: Fatal standoff shows deadly strategy of targeting federal agents

The highly organized groups of agitators in Minneapolis, coordinated online to harass federal immigration agents (or anyone in an SUV it seems), have begun to employ tactics that any Israeli would recognize from decades of terrorism in their country.

The basic idea employed by both the Minnesota leftists and Hamas, is to be as menacing as possible to authorities, including through acts of violence, and then, when the authorities strike back, to claim victimhood and martyrdom.

The tragic and needless death of Alex Pretti on Friday morning, was a terrible example of this phenomenon, one that, sadly and unconscionably, is being not just tolerated by Minnesota officials, but shamelessly encouraged.

The video of the shooting is vague, and it will take time and testimony to piece together the chain of events that led to Pretti’s death. But there are a few facts that seem clear, and they all point to an organized effort to antagonize and provoke law enforcement.

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Pretti left home Friday with a gun and extra ammunition and a plan to impede federal agents, which is exactly what he seemed to be doing when he allegedly intervened in the arrest of a suspect.

It is reasonable to assume that Pretti brought the gun and extra clips in anticipation of a potential confrontation with law enforcement. Can we know that for sure? No. Is it more likely than not? Absolutely.

The key point here is that no matter how much one may cherish the Second Amendment, nobody has a right to carry a gun while committing a felony, because to do so obviously puts everyone involved in harm’s way.

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Pretti’s defenders are disingenuously arguing that he was merely enjoying his rights as a gun owner while protesting, which would be perfectly fine, except there was no protest. Instead, he was involved in direct, illegal action to interfere with the feds.

This is why reports, from all sides, say that the crowd of hundreds did not gather until the shooting, which is exactly what happened in the case of Renee Good, who was also breaking the law with a deadly weapon, in that case, her SUV.

The tactic here is clear as day: organize hordes of people to harass federal agents all day, then cross the line into breaking the law in order to create a flash point, even if that means people have to die.

NOEM SAYS MINNEAPOLIS SUSPECT COMMITTED ‘DOMESTIC TERRORISM,’ ACCUSES WALZ, FREY OF INCITING VIOLENCE

This is straight out of the Palestinian playbook: cause just enough harm to provoke a reaction, then claim the reaction is disproportionate and evil, as in, “We just sent a suicide bomber, you used missiles, no fair!”

Let’s be clear, if you choose to fight with federal agents while they attempt to arrest a criminal and you bring a gun to that fight, you stand a very, very good chance of getting shot. 

But this was more than just a bad decision by Pretti. These types of actions have been cynically sanctioned by local elected officials such as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Gov. Tim Walz, and state Attorney General Keith Ellison.

MINNESOTA AGITATORS STALK, PELT BORDER PATROL AGENTS WITH FOOD AND SPIT AT GAS STATIONS, DHS SAYS

To date, none of them have firmly told citizens to stop organizing to impede federal agents. It’s hard not to come to the conclusion that the deaths are good politics for them in their one battle after another against President Donald Trump.

Frey, and Walz and Democrats in general will hide behind the well-worn phrase, “peaceful protest,” but will never say exactly what peaceful protest includes.

Does peaceful protest include storming churches? Does it include using your car to hinder investigations? Does it include carrying a gun while committing a felony? They won’t address any of this, and the only reason why, not that makes any sense, is that they like the results.

MOB VIOLENCE IN MINNESOTA ISN’T FREE SPEECH — IT’S GROUNDS FOR THE INSURRECTION ACT

After the death of Good, conservatives pleaded with Democrats to tell their followers to stand down from illegally impeding agents. We warned, very specifically, that it would cause more death. But Frey and Walz just didn’t care.

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Sadly, we were right. 

One lesson that Israel has learned in fighting an enemy that wants to or is willing to die, is that the reaction to Israelis defending themselves is widespread moral outrage and condemnation. The other lesson is that they have to do it anyway.

This is the conundrum that the Trump administration finds itself in today. They could throw in the towel and leave the Twin Cities to their own devices, but doing so would be the end of federal law.

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No, the administration must hold firm, in the face of public outrage, in the face of midterm worries, and in the face of the shameless harassment of their agents.

It is up to Minnesotans if they wish to create more martyrs to their cause, and sadly, given the support for lawlessness seen from Frey and Walz, we can expect more, sooner rather than later.

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World’s largest medieval cargo ship emerges from underwater grave off coast

Danish archaeologists recently unveiled a major historical breakthrough. They found the remains of the world’s largest cog ship in the waters off Copenhagen after some 600 years.

The announcement, made by the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde in late December, noted the ship was found in the Øresund, a strait between Denmark and Sweden.

Divers found the cog — a type of medieval cargo ship — during seabed surveys ahead of construction on Copenhagen’s Lynetteholm development.

WISCONSIN DIVERS REVEAL MYSTERIOUS UNDERWATER PARKING LOT OF ANCIENT CANOES PRESERVED FOR MILLENNIA

“From the very first dive, the maritime archaeologists sensed they had uncovered something extraordinary,” the Viking Ship Museum said in a statement. 

“And as they removed centuries of sand and silt, the outline of a remarkable find emerged. Not just any wreck, but the largest cog ever discovered — a ship that represents one of the most advanced vessel types of its time and the backbone of medieval trade.”

The ship, named Svælget 2, was built in 1410.

It measures roughly 92 feet long, 30 feet wide and 20 feet high, with an estimated cargo capacity of around 330 tons.

Researchers dated the ship by conducting tree-ring analysis, which showed it was built with timber from Pomerania, in modern-day Poland, and the Netherlands.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND ANCIENT HARBOR SWALLOWED BY THE SEA NEAR CLEOPATRA’S TEMPLE

The ship “represents the largest example of its type ever discovered anywhere in the world,” the museum said. 

“The cog was an efficient ship type that could be sailed by a remarkably small crew, even when heavily loaded.”

“[The cog] was the super ship of the Middle Ages. … It transformed trade patterns. Where long-distance trade had previously been limited to luxury goods, everyday commodities could now be shipped across great distances.”

The ship survived the centuries thanks to the sand that protected it from the elements. Archaeologists were especially surprised to discover the ship still had its rigging, or the system of ropes, cables and fittings that supported its mast. 

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Divers also recovered numerous personal objects, including dishes, shoes, combs and rosary beads that the sailors used every day.

Remarkably, archaeologists found the ship’s brick-built galley, where the crew cooked meals over an open hearth — a rare luxury during life at sea.

No trace of cargo has been found, but the museum said barrels of salt, bundles of cloth and lumber were likely possibilities.

“Despite the missing cargo, there is no doubt that Svælget 2 was a merchant ship,” the museum added. “Archaeologists have found no signs of military use.”

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It’s unknown how common cogs were of this size in Northern Europe at this time.

“We don’t know this with great certainty,” Otto Uldum, maritime archaeologist and the excavation leader, told Fox News Digital.

“To find a cog lost at sea in this state of preservation is very rare.”

“There is a marked tendency that cogs were built increasingly larger through the use of this technology, [like from] 1200 to 1400,” said Uldum.

“Given the rarity of cogs dated this late, we think that most cogs entering the Baltic from the North Sea were around [82 feet] long, and that Svælget 2 marks an upper limit.”

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Uldum was particularly struck by the recovery of the ship’s stern castle — the first archaeological proof that such raised structures, long depicted in medieval illustrations, actually existed.

He also described the cog’s preservation as “very rare,” adding comparable finds in the Netherlands were excavated in sheltered, reclaimed seabed areas rather than open waters.

“To find a cog lost at sea in this state of preservation is very rare — and the fact that it was underway on the high seas when it was lost puts it in the company of only a handful of other wrecks,” said Uldum.

The archaeologist said he hopes that further analysis of the ship’s artifacts, including the mammal and fish bones, will shed light on what the men ate on board.

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The combs, shoes and cooking materials show that “the ship was very well-equipped, and that the sailors were living in relative comfort,” Uldum added.

Famous families fractured: Celebrities who cut ties with their parents

Celebrities are not immune to experiencing complicated family dynamics.

Brooklyn Beckham recently broke his silence on the rumored feud between him and his parents, David and Victoria Beckham, on his Instagram stories, confirming they are estranged from one another.

Some stars separated themselves from their parents early in life, while others were estranged for some time before finding a way to reconcile.

Here are more celebrities who are – or were – estranged from their parents.

BEN STILLER REFLECTS ON THE ‘DARK UNDERSIDE’ OF HOLLYWOOD FAME

Brooklyn Beckham

Brooklyn Beckham finally addressed rumors of a feud between him and his famous parents, David and Victoria Beckham, which have been swirling since his wedding to Nicola Peltz Beckham in April 2022.

In a lengthy post on Instagram stories, Brooklyn confirmed he is estranged from his parents, adding, “I do not want to reconcile with my family.” In the post, he claimed he had “no choice” but to address the situation publicly, accusing his parents of planting stories and speaking to the press.

“I’m not being controlled, I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life. For my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family,” Brooklyn wrote. “For my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family [with] performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships. … Recently, I have seen with my own eyes the lengths that they’ll go through to place countless lies in the media, mostly at the expense of innocent people, to preserve their own facade.”

He went on to accuse his parents of attempting to bribe him into “signing away the rights to” his name, and treating him differently afterward. The post also alleges that Victoria “hijacked” his first dance with Nicola and that she purposefully didn’t make Nicola a wedding dress and only informed the bride shortly before the wedding, leaving her scrambling to find a new dress.

“I have been controlled by my parents for most of my life. I grew up with overwhelming anxiety. For the first time in my life, since stepping away from my family, that anxiety has disappeared. I wake up every morning grateful for the life I chose, and have found peace and relief,” he wrote. 

Brooklyn’s lengthy statement concluded, “My wife and I do not want a life shaped by image, press, or manipulation. All we want peace, privacy and happiness for us and our future family.”

Anthony Hopkins

In his recent memoir, “We Did OK, Kid,” Anthony Hopkins opened up about his estrangement from his daughter Abigail, who he shares with his ex-wife, Petronella Barker. Abigail is now 57.

The Academy Award-winning actor wrote that he was still a heavy drinker when he got married in 1967, and that his “alcoholism doomed the relationship from the start,” calling the marriage a “disaster.”

He described one night when the two were arguing, writing that although he “had never been physically violent,” there was a moment during the verbal fight where he “became afraid for both myself and her.” He described that as the moment he knew he had to leave, after which he went to say goodbye to 14-month-old Abigail.

“I looked down at her and whispered goodbye,” he writes. “Then I walked back to the hall, picked up my suitcases, and left the house…”Aside from sending financial support, I didn’t have contact with Petronella and Abigail for a few years after that. It is the saddest fact of my life, and my greatest regret, and yet I feel absolutely sure that it would have been much worse for everyone if I’d stayed.”

Hopkins later added that “Abigail never seemed able to forgive me for leaving the family,” and while he “can’t blame her for that,” he adds that “it broke my heart.” In a 2006 interview with The Telegraph, Abigail gave her side of the story, saying “we were never close,” and called their relationship “sporadic.”

ANTHONY HOPKINS MARKS 50 YEARS SOBER AFTER NEAR-FATAL DRUNKEN DRIVING BLACKOUT CHANGED HIS LIFE

Eric Roberts

Eric Roberts opened up about his past struggles with drug addiction, and how that left him estranged from his sister, Julia Roberts, and his daughter, Emma Roberts, in his 2024 memoir, “Runaway Train.”

He wrote that he was addicted to cocaine by 1985, after moving to New York at the age of 17 to be an actor. When Julia then moved to New York to start her career, Eric was quoted saying, “If it wasn’t for me, there would be no Julia Roberts,” a statement he apologizes for making in the book.

He admits that while he” wouldn’t be surprised” to hear if his sisters, Julia and Lisa, “suffered from PTSD” due to his actions, his main concern is his relationship with his daughter, writing “Of course, the biggest consequence of my drug use was losing Emma,” He lost custody of her when she was an infant, as he was addicted to cocaine during the custody battle with his ex-wife, Kim Cunningham, in 1992.

“I imagine I will remain as Julia’s brother and Emma Roberts’ dad for the rest of my life,” he wrote. “I’d like to make good on that, to move aside proudly and with grace. That’s part of the reason for writing the book.”

Ben Dreyfuss

In a now deleted post on X, Richard Dreyfuss’ son, Ben, shared that he and his two siblings are no longer in contact with their father.

“Everyone assumes my siblings and I are wealthy from our dad and we’re all a bit too uncomfortable to make it clear, but we have no money from my dad,” Ben began, according to USA Today. “My dad has no money. If he did, we wouldn’t get it since we’ve been estranged ever since some complicated family drama to do with MeToo.”

Ben explained that the tension in their family began when he shared a social media post in support of his brother Harry, on his dad’s then-Twitter account, after Harry came forward with allegations that actor Kevin Spacey had groped him. He said, “That tweet prompted someone to MeToo my dad,” and that “he blames us for that.”

After deleting the post, Ben shared why he decided to take it down in a Substack post, and also shared that he last communicated with his dad in an email exchange two years ago, adding, “I’ve sent plenty since, but he hasn’t replied.”

Ireland Baldwin

Ireland Baldwin has always had a complicated relationship with her father, famous actor, Alec Baldwin. He famously left her a disparaging voicemail that leaked publicly when she was 11, revealing tensions in their relationship.

More recently, Ireland posted a blog on Substack, in which she detailed her “lonely childhood,” adding she “grew up without two parents in my home and no siblings to turn to.”

In the emotional blog post, she shared how she managed to distance herself from “narcissistic” family members.

“I had a lonely childhood at times, which is why I grew up feeling like I needed to win over certain people in my own family,” she added. “For whatever reason, their validation and praise was meaningful to me. Nothing was more freeing than finally realizing how poisonous these people are. So, I inch into my thirties with an understanding that this is how you break these cycles. My daughter doesn’t have to know these people, and I can protect her from them. I can do my very best to construct my own idea of a family, piece by piece. And show how a real family treats one another.”

Heather Graham

Actress Heather Graham has been vocal about how her desire to pursue a career in Hollywood caused a rift in her relationship with her parents.

When speaking with The Wall Street Journal in August 2024, her father “regularly told me that the entertainment industry was evil” and admitted that when her first movie, “License to Drive” was released in 1988 when she was 18 years old, “living at home became more difficult” and she realized that in order to be successful she had to move out.

She then moved to West Hollywood with a friend from high school who was working as a model, saying “living with her was freeing.” She later dropped out of college and found greater success as an actress, which caused her to re-think her relationship with her parents.

“I stopped talking to my parents when I was 25, and I’m estranged from them now,” Graham admitted. “My friends are proud of me, and I’m proud of myself. I have really good friends.”

IRELAND BALDWIN CALLS HILARIA ‘BAT S— CRAZY’ BUT CREDITS HER WITH SAVING DAD ALEC’S LIFE

Macaulay Culkin

Macaulay Culkin was one of the most sought-after child stars in the 1990s, but behind the scenes, he was in the middle of a custody battle between his father, Kit Culkin and his mom, Patricia Brentrup.

During an appearance on the “Today Show” in April 2025, the “Home Alone” star said that at the time “I wanted nothing to do with my f—ing father,” calling him “the worst.”

“I haven’t spoken to him in, what would it be, about 30-something years?” he said. “He deserves it, too. He’s a man who — he had seven kids, and now he has four grandkids, and none of them want anything to do with him.”

The “My Girl” star added that most people would feel as if they messed up when their entire family cuts ties with them, but that he has “more than an inkling that” his father doesn’t feel that way. In his opinion, his father probably feels “Like we’re wrong and he’s right. He’s one of those narcissistic, crazy people.”

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston has spoken out a few times about her complicated relationship with her mom, who she says “was very critical” of her.

“She was critical. She was very critical of me. Because she was a model, she was gorgeous, stunning. I wasn’t. I never was,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in January 2015. “I honestly still don’t think of myself in that sort of light, which is fine. She was also very unforgiving. She would hold grudges that I just found so petty.”

The two were estranged for many years, with the estrangement reportedly starting in the late 1990s after her mother, Nancy Dow published her memoir, “From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir.” The two first reconnected in 2005 following Aniston’s divorce from actor Brad Pitt, and reconciled again in 2016, shortly before Dow’s death.

“It’s important,” she told Allure in December 2022 about forgiving her mom. “It’s toxic to have that resentment, that anger. I learned that by watching my mom never let go of it. I remember saying, ‘Thank you for showing me what never to be.’ So that’s what I mean about taking the darker things that happen in our lives, the not-so-happy moments, and trying to find places to honor them because of what they have given to us.”

Brooke Hogan

Brooke Hogan revealed in an Instagram post in March that she cut contact with both of her parents for different reasons. In a separate social media post, her mother, Linda Hogan, said she hadn’t seen her daughter in seven years.

“I have been EXTREMELY verbally and mentally abused since childhood,” Brooke wrote on Instagram. “Sadly, it would frequently turn physical. And sometimes it’s not by the person you would assume, abuse comes in all shapes and sizes. This vicious pattern has robbed me of any sense of self-esteem or confidence I’ve been trained to pretend to have.”

She concluded her lengthy statement by saying she loves both of her parents and has empathy for them and their struggles, adding, “My heart hurts every day, and not a day passes it does not affect me.”

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When her father, Hulk Hogan, died in July, Brooke wrote a lengthy tribute on Instagram saying they “had a connection deeper than words, one that spanned lifetimes,” and that she felt lucky that she “knew the real version of him. Not just the one the world viewed through a carefully curated lens.”

In September, Brooke responded to having been left out of her father’s will, telling TMZ, “It’s what I asked for, I stand by it with no regrets.”

Christina Ricci

Christina Ricci shared details about her dark childhood while appearing on the documentary “Child Star.”

“My father was a failed cult leader, and so he had all that same sort of, like, really crazy narcissism that goes along with someone wanting to run a cult,” she said. “He was very physically violent. There was never any peace in my house.”

As a child star, she considered going to set to work as a place of “refuge” and “emotional safety.”

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Her parents divorced when she was 13, and she hasn’t spoken to her father since she was a teenager.

Kate Hudson

Kate Hudson and her brother, Oliver Hudson, have had an estranged relationship with their biological father for a majority of their lives.

The two have been open in the past about their lack of a relationship with their biological father, musician Bill Hudson, with Kate explaining in April 2024 that things were “warming up” between her and Bill, but that she had “no expectation of that with my father.”

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After her mom, Goldie Hawn, and Bill divorced, her mom began a relationship with actor Kurt Russell, who Kate and Oliver look to as their father figure.

“But I also love that we also talk about how sometimes, you know, estrangement is real, the family complexity is real and it’s okay if you create your own family, that blood doesn’t always have to be thicker than water, but if you could make the blood connect, then that’s a great thing but it doesn’t have to be everything,” Kate said on the “Today Show” in 2021.

DAN GAINOR: The ICE ‘outrage’ photo that sent journalists into hysterics — for nothing

A picture is worth a thousand words, as the old saying goes. There’s just no guarantee those words are truthful. In the case of a photo of a 5-year-old boy in Minnesota, the major media embraced shock and “awwww” instead of the truth.

The boy, named Liam Ramos, and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, were approached by ICE agents. The father reportedly ran, leaving the boy alone with authorities. The father was quickly captured, but a photo of an officer with his hand resting lightly on the boy’s backpack sent the media into a predictable nationwide panic.

The press dug deep to find words of alarm — “upsetting,” “firestorm,” “controversy,” “outrage,” “haunting.” Each network tried to outdo the other with one goal in mind, and it wasn’t journalism. The goal was to help Democrats succeed in shaping the illegal immigration narrative, holding on to the millions of potential new voters they let into the country under Biden and keeping ICE from sending them back. No one is more on board with that agenda than so-called neutral journalists.

MEDIA RUNS WILD WITH ‘EGREGIOUS LIE’ ICE TARGETED 5-YEAR-OLD IN MINNESOTA, DHS SAYS CHILD WAS ABANDONED

Here’s what we really know. The father “is an Ecuadorean citizen who was in the United States illegally and was released into the country by the Biden administration,” as reported by Fox News. DHS officials say they approached the father and he ran, leaving them with the boy. 

They quickly captured the father, who asked that they not be separated. Police reportedly even bought the boy a meal. Father and son are together in a facility in Dilley, Texas. Hardly the crisis of 2026. But there’s the photo of the boy standing there with a winter hat and wearing a Spider-Man backpack.

Major news outlets ran with the claim that the agents used the child as “bait” to capture his dad.

CBS — the network the left claims is pro-Trump — went with “bait.” So did AP, The Washington Post and PBS. (The Post later added a correction.) All of these are allegedly objective news outlets. They went with “bait,” citing a quote from a school official who clearly opposes ICE.

WHITE HOUSE, DHS PUSH BACK ON CLAIMS ICE TARGETED 5-YEAR-OLD IN MINNESOTA, SAY CHILD WAS ‘ABANDONED’

ABC anchor David Muir called the incident a “growing outrage.” Reporter Matt Rivers followed that up by referring to “the haunting images sparking a firestorm.” “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King focused her hyperbole on the child. “Now to the newest controversy over the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. It involves a 5-year-old boy. His name is Liam Ramos. Look at his face.” That’s not journalism. That’s activism.

She added while speaking on set, “Nicole, I was watching this story yesterday. It’s very upsetting. Both sides are very, very disturbing.” That could also be said about King, a Democrat donor and supporter who is rumored to be on her way out at CBS.

The other major media were almost as extreme. The New York Times claimed to speak for an entire city with this headline: “Detention of 5-Year-Old by Federal Agents Incenses Minneapolis.” The paper claimed, “The image prompted outrage in the Twin Cities area.” Leftists don’t want immigration enforcement. They are already at 10 billion on the outrage dial. This didn’t upset them — it was just an excuse.

DHS RELEASES IMAGE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ACCUSED OF ABANDONING HIS 5-YEAR-OLD SON WHILE FLEEING ICE

The Post was just as bad, if not worse, running this piece: “The Abhorrent Power of the Photograph of a 5-Year-Old Held by ICE.” The paper grasped that this is what journalism does best now — find an iconic photo and use it to push an agenda. The link to the story on X repeats the “bait” claim.

The Post’s art and architecture critic, Philip Kennicott, understood the potential the photo has to aid the left’s agenda. “This is an image of universal moral urgency, akin to a small number of photographs that once upon a time had the power to change our behavior, away from cruelty or indifference and in the direction of basic decency.” He cited the 1972 “Napalm Girl” photo as a comparison — an absurd and offensive stretch.

PBS, which is still around (for now), quoted the family’s lawyer, Marc Prokosch, being honest about the left’s motivation: “We’re looking at our legal options to see if we can free them either through some legal mechanisms or moral pressure.” The left doesn’t care about the law. They want to override it with manufactured moral outrage.

WASHINGTON POST CALLS MN CHURCH PROTEST AN ‘ASSAULT ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY,’ DON LEMON AN ‘INTERNET PROVOCATEUR’

If you read the PBS article, it’s interrupted by a begging pop-up ad urging its mostly left-leaning readers to donate: “Your generous monthly contribution — or whatever you can give — will help secure our future.”

Then came the equally ridiculous left-wing outlets like MS Now (formerly MSNBC) and Mother Jones. MS Now went with: “The photo of 5-year-old Liam Ramos being detained by ICE is a shameful look for America.” You can picture the outlet’s fans shouting “Shame! Shame!” like a scene from

Mother Jones went fully off the deep end: “They Want to Tell You a Kid With a Spider-Man Backpack Is Evil.” Literally, no one said that — except Mother Jones.

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The whole controversy makes one wonder if journalists ever watch cop shows. If a parent gets arrested, officers can’t just abandon a child on the street. You think there’s outrage now? Imagine if they had. As Vice President JD Vance said, “Are they supposed to let a 5-year-old child freeze to death?”

Nearly every one of these immigration stories is one-sided, like nearly every major media controversy today. Nowhere do journalists interview former Biden administration officials about their open-border policies that brought these illegal immigrants into the U.S. and resulted in numerous American deaths. Every story is spun to depict Trump officials and ICE as evil for daring to enforce laws that Democrats and the press oppose — the same laws Democrats once enforced themselves.

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White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the press is working “hand in glove with Democrats to spread malicious lies about ICE operations.” You’ve got that right. But as the editor says in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

That might as well be the motto of today’s news media.

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