A newly obtained court document may shed light on why a woman has not been charged after her son was found dead in a freezer and her boyfriend shot to death.

The awful event unfolded on Jan. 16 when security was called out to a home on the Barona Indian Reservation.

According to a Jan.21 search warrant affidavit obtained by NBC 7 Thursday, the first Barona security officer to arrive saw a man — 32-year-old Julio Ricardo Moggiotti — outside with “an ax in his hand and was using it on the ground.” The officer asked if the woman inside the house was OK, and Moggiotti said yes.

Moggiotti went back inside, and a few seconds later, the officer heard one gunshot. Moggiotti appeared for a moment, holding his stomach and saying he had been shot. He then turned back inside, and his girlfriend, 32-year-old Elaina Welch, emerged from the home with a shotgun, the affidavit says.

Welch told the security officer, “He’s in the house. I shot him. I’m so scared,” according to the document. She asked to be taken somewhere else and believed she shot Moggiotti in the hand.

Saying she was 3-months pregnant with Moggiotti’s baby, Welch told the officer “she had recently been beaten by Julio and he had been forcing her to stay against her will.” However, Moggiotti’s mother told investigators Welch had used a bat to hit her boyfriend.

According to the document, Welch told investigators Moggiotti had been acting weird lately and was taking medicine for psychological issues, saying things that did not make sense.

“Elaina said Julio made her beat her own child,” the affidavit says. She said Moggiotti killed her 3-year-old son Roland, taped him up, put him in the freezer and zip-tied the freezer.

On Jan. 16, Welch claimed she unplugged the house phone so Moggiotti could not hear 911 dispatchers try to call her back after she reported Roland’s death. 

After Moggiotti was found dead in the house, Welch was taken into custody. When deputies obtained a search warrant for the property, they found Roland's body buried under frozen food in the freezer. 

However, Welch was released from jail days later with no explanation from the district attorney’s office. A spokesperson just said the case is still under investigation. There is no word on if Welch is cleared or if she will face charges in the future.

Another search warrant obtained by NBC 7 details items found in the house during a search by deputies shortly after the alleged crime was reported. Among the 54 pieces of potential evidence seized by investigators were a Mossberg shotgun and shells, a .22 caliber rifle, a  box of ammuniton, a knife, marijuana, prescription medicines, $600 cash, pepper spray, a knife and an ax.

Leonard Nimoy, the actor who brought Mr. Spock to life in the original "Star Trek" series — and several later films — died in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 27 at the age of 83.

It's no surprise that Mr. Nimoy, beyond his cosmic turn as the contemplative Vulcan, was also a tireless advocate who stood for several issues, often serving as the congenial and persuasive ambassador for equal rights and the important role of the arts.

Meaning this: Fans across the world will want to remember the man and the thespian, either through repeated viewings of favorite episodes like "Amok Time," widely held to be one of Spock's most intense turns, or by donating to charities Mr. Nimoy supported.

Those fans living in Southern California, though, have some unique opportunities to remember the man: A few locations around LA have ties to either Mr. Nimoy or "Star Trek" or both.

The show famously used many outdoor locations in and around Los Angeles, from Griffith Park to the Vasquez Rocks near Santa Clarita, but you can go to the source of where all of those interiors were filmed, on the Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood.

While the sets are gone, including the Enterprise's bridge, you can stroll the very place where Gene Roddenberry hatched what would go on to be, for Mr. Nimoy, his co-stars, and sci-fi fans everywhere, a life-changer of a television series.

How to visit the lot? On a Paramount Pictures Studio Tour, of course.

If you want to see what the crew of the Enterprise wore on the bridge, you're in luck: The Hollywood Museum is not far from the Melrose Avenue movie studio, and it boasts an exhibit called "The Best of Science Fiction." Look for costumes from "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," including uniforms worn by Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk, in the display.

And Griffith Observatory, a heavens-looking landmark not too far from some of the Griffith Park locations used in the first "Star Trek" series, offers an important and lasting tribute to the actor: It's the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater, where "lectures, presentations, and demonstrations" about all things space abound.

The space is a gift to all fans who seek deeper knowledge about what's beyond, as well as the tenets that Mr. Spock represented, tenets also represented by the actor who brought Mr. Spock to lively, look-within life. 

Leonard Nimoy is now, and has always been, a friend to many.

Uber says a database containing the names and drivers' license numbers of 50,000 of its drivers was breached in May.

The ride-sharing service says it has notified the drivers and hasn't received any reports of the information being misused. Uber says it will offer a one-year membership in Experian's ProtectMyID Alert identity theft protection service to the drivers involved.

The company said Friday the breach affects drivers in multiple states, but involves only a "small percentage" of its current and former drivers.

Uber says it discovered a potential breach in September. It announced the events in a statement posted on its blog and described them as a one-time occurrence. The San Francisco company says it has changed the access protocols for its database to prevent similar breaches.

Uber is the latest company to report a data breach in recent months. Others include retailer Home Depot, health insurer Anthem and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The problems can be costly as well as damaging to consumers' perception of a company.

Uber is privately-held and valued at $40 billion. It lets passengers summon cars through an app in more than 250 cities worldwide, but faces multiples legal and regulatory challenges as it expands in the United States and abroad. The company has been criticized over the thoroughness of the background checks it does on drivers and other safety issues as well as its method of raising prices when demand goes up.

Earlier this month Uber introduced new safety features for riders in India, include a "panic button" on its app that would let riders notify police in an emergency and a "safety net" that would let riders share trip details with others. The features were rolled out after a highly-publicized case where a passenger said she was raped by an Uber driver.

You know that spring is on the way in Brooklyn when The Soup Bowl becomes Uncle Louie G's Italian ices.

In mid-March, the sign comes down for the hole-in-a-wall take-out place with a devoted following and a daily selection of some 18 soups, and Uncle Louie G takes its place. The seasonal switch on Seventh Avenue keeps the storefront in the black throughout the year.

A similar change takes place at the Brooklyn Porridge Co. and the Vendome macaron bar, two other Brooklyn spots that turn into Uncle Louie G's Italian ice shops when a frozen treat no longer feels like a cruel joke.

"Today, the way the economy is, it’s a great concept," Uncle Louie G’s Dino Russo said. “This way you earn 12 months out of year."

Richard Gussoff approached Russo five years ago with his plan to offer soup in the Seventh Avenue shop, which until then had closed in November for the winter. Gussoff had sold three restaurants in Manhattan’s theater district not long before — a decision prompted by proposed monthly rent increases of up to $5,000 — and had noticed the shuttered space.

“Soup was always my forte in my restaurants,” he said.

J.P. Eggers, an associate professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, compared the phenomenon to pop-up stores, increasingly popular in high-traffic areas where rents are high. A seasonal shop in a vacation location has little value once visitors go home, but real estate costs remain high for a store in a place like Brooklyn, he noted.

“The idea of leaving it with either no business because it’s closed or with a business that is just not going to make any money at that time of day or in that season just doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “It’s far too valuable a property to do that.”

Uncle Louie G, which also sells ice cream, was started about 20 years by Russo’s brother and sister-in-law. Russo and three friends took it over in 2009 and expanded the company so that today there are nearly 60 outlets throughout the metropolitan New York area and as far as Florida, Oklahoma, California and even Malaysia. The individual stores are owned by license-holders who pay $15,000 and agree to buy ices and ice cream from Uncle Louie G.

Russo was skeptical when Gussoff first came to him, doubtful that he would be able to sell enough soup to afford the space. Each man jotted down a number for the monthly rent on a napkin, and each wrote the same -- $2,000. The Soup Bowl opened.

“I’m not a spiritual person, but if something was meant to be, that was a good sign,” Gussoff said. “They’re happy because I’m paying the rent. It works because in the winter, you don’t really want ice cream except for a few kids, and in the summer you don’t want soup.”

The owners of the Brooklyn Porridge Co., Emily Hannon and Karyn Seltzer, similarly approached Uncle Louie G after spotting an empty store on Union Street. The two had worked together at a corporate restaurant, were fast friends and wanted to offer something to customers with dietary restrictions.

“We started researching porridge, and the whole idea of porridge and discovered it exists in every culture,” Hannon said. “It’s an ancient comfort food.”

Their porridge, gluten- and dairy-free, is made from steel cut oats, grits, amaranth millet or brown rice and is served with savory or sweet toppings, everything from braised red cabbage to wildflower honey.

Hannon and Seltzer hope to keep their restaurant open year-round by finding another location and adding summer items to the menu. They are looking for other ways to expand: making the restaurant replicable and franchising and selling their sauces, compotes and sweet and savory granolas online.

The seasonal store has allowed them to test their ideas without making a large investment, they said.

“It’s been a warm, friendly way to start something, to start a business,” Hannon said.

Vendome on Smith Street is the brainchild of Taryn Garcia, who had studied film and landed at the Food Network after moving from Colorado to New York.

“I wasn’t totally in love working in production, and I just thought, “God, they’re having so much more fun in the kitchen,” she said.

She ended up in Paris studying pastry art and while there noticed the long lines at some of the shops selling macarons, the meringue-based French confections. She knew then she would make them when she returned to the United States.

She and her partner, Adriana Troli, sell their macarons at Saks Fifth Avenue and later this year will open a permanent shop at 1 Brooklyn Bridge Park, the former Jehovah’s Witnesses’ printing plant that has been turned into condominiums.

In the meantime, Garcia found the Uncle Louie G space advertised on Craigslist as a pop-up store for just over $3,000 a month.

“We looked at the cost to see: How are we going to make money? Will we break even? Is this going to be a loss?” Garcia said. “We decided to go for it.”

In the new store, they will offer not only macarons, but also coffee, some breakfast and lunch foods and maybe even wine and Champagne.

Gussoff said he was not sure what he would do once Uncle Louie G returns next month. His soups are widely popular — his lobster bisque sold out the first day, thanks to the staff of nearby New York Methodist Hospital — but he said he knew business would drop off by 90 percent once the temperatures rise.

Still, his customers return each year, he said.

“There are people that come to us, and they say we're the only thing they like about winter,” he said.
 

Any "Star Trek" devotee will tell you that numbers and facts and statistics are a pretty big part of one of the most famous fandoms on earth.

How many times, for instance, does Captain Kirk call Dr. McCoy "Bones" during the series? How many times was "Beam me up, Scotty" said? How many times was the Vulcan nerve pinch employed to best an adversary? And how many handprints from the original cast members are in the cement in the forecourt of the TCL Chinese Theatre?

Answer: Seven, the largest number of handprints within one group. Many a fan of the beloved sci-fi series will visit those handprints on the evening of Friday, Feb. 27, when the landmark Hollywood movie palace dims its forecourt lights in honor of Leonard Nimoy, who passed away on Feb. 27 at the age of 83.

It's the ninth time in its long history that the venue, which opened in 1927, will give such an honor. The time? The dimming occurs at 7 p.m.

The last time the TCL Chinese Theatre gave this specific and rare honor was in August, when it paid tribute to actor Robin Williams.

Beyond Mr. Nimoy's handprints, fans will certainly know the long legacy of "Star Trek" and the Hollywood Boulevard landmark. Five "Star Trek" films had their premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre "in addition to the JJ Abrams' reboot in 2009."

Mr. Nimoy served as an executive producer on that film. 

The actor also lived in the neighborhood, as a young man, and once told TCL Chinese Theatre historian Levi Tinker that he never dared to dream he'd "be immortalized" at the landmark.

Want to gather at 7 p.m. Friday? All fans are welcome — be sure to don your Starfleet uniform, if you have one.

A Wesleyan University student who remains hospitalized nearly a week after overdosing on MDMA, or "Molly," is slowly recovering, according to a statement from family members.

"It is difficult to put into words how deeply grateful we are for the generous outpouring of love and support that we have received over the last few days," the student's family said in a statement Friday. "We are profoundly grateful to the teams at Hartford Hospital that went above and beyond to save our child's life. Thankfully, against all odds, our child will survive this terrible ordeal."

The student, who has not been publicly identified, was critically injured after overdosing last weekend and remains at Hartford Hospital.

"We would also like to express our deepest gratitude to the Wesleyan community — the administrators, faculty, and students — for their concern and support. And we are thankful as well for the expert work of the Middletown Police Department," the family added.

Ten of the student's peers also received medical treatment. After being rushed to Middlesex Hospital on Sunday, two were airlifted to Hartford Hospital and two more were transferred by ambulance, officials said.

Only one student is still in the hospital.

Four of their peers were arrested on drug charges earlier this week, accused of selling the MDMA that sickened them.

Eric Lonergan, 21; Andrew Olson, 20; Zachary Kramer, 21; and Rama Agha Al Nakib, 20, were immediately suspended from the school.

Olson is the founder and co-president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at Wesleyan. According to the warrants for their arrest, Kramer, Lonergan and Nabik are known as drug dealers among their peers.

Miami Gardens Police Chief Stephen Johnson was arrested for soliciting a prostitute in Dania Beach Friday, officials said.

Mayor Oliver Gilbert confirmed the arrest and said Johnson was fired immediately.

Jail records showed Johnson, 53, was being held on $300 bond. It was unknown if he has an attorney.

According to a Broward Sheriff's Office arrest report, deputies were conducting an undercover operation targeting solicitation of prostitution at a Dania Beach hotel when Johnson was arrested.

Authorities had placed an escort ad on backpage.com and two detectives were posing as prostitutes at the hotel, the affidavit said.

Johnson had called the number on the ad and arranged to pay $100 for 30 minutes with two prostitutes, the report said.

When Johnson arrived at the hotel room, he was let in and handed over the $100, the report said. He had two condoms in his pocket when he was arrested, the report said.

A news release from the department said Assistant Chief Antonio Brooklen will serve as interim chief.

"We remain committed to excellence and integrity on every level," the department said in the release. "We will not allow Mr. Johnson's bad judgment to reflect negatively on the hardworking officers of the City of Miami Gardens and the residents they serve on a daily basis."

The department came under fire earlier this month following the officer-involved shooting of 25-year-old Lavall Hall.

Johnson said Hall attacked two officers with a broom handle and was shot twice with a Taser before he was fatally shot by an officer.

Hall's family has been critical of police in the wake of the shooting, holding a vigil and protest and demanding more answers in the shooting.

Johnson was named Miami Gardens' Police chief in May 2014 after a long career with the North Miami Police Department. He also served as North Miami's city manager from 2011 to 2014.

The investigation into allegations a local bus driver forced a special needs student to urinate on a school bus and then touched the student inappropriately cannot be substantiated, according to San Diego Police.

Lt. Scott Wahl, spokesperson for the San Diego Police Department, confirmed Friday the investigation into the incident is over. Wahl also said no arrest has been made.

The allegations stem from a local family who is going to trial over a lawsuit they filed against the San Diego Unified School District. According to court documents, a special needs student on his way home from Riley Elementary School was forced to expose himself and urinate on the bus in January 2012.

The claim says the bus driver took photos and video of the child’s exposed penis with his phone and then touched the boy, who was eight years old at the time, in a sexual manner.

The school district, in an answer to the complaint, denied all charges made by the family. A spokeswoman for the school district told NBC 7 she could not comment on ongoing litigation.

Click here to read more about the lawsuit in the original story.

A family member of the boy reported the incident to the San Diego Police Department a week after it happened, according to a district spokeswoman.

SDPD has not released the full police report, citing exemptions in the California Public Records Act, but the agency confirmed it received a report and has provided some details related to it and the incident.

According to that information obtained from SDPD, a police officer “responded to a call regarding a bus driver who grabbed the victim as the victim urinated inside the school bus” on Feb. 6, 2012 around 5:35 pm.

In details of the report provided by police, the answer “none” was given, when asked to provide a “general description of any injuries, property, or weapons involved.”
 

Federal workers, including two from the San Diego area, have illegally purchased more than $2.4 million worth of gasoline since 2010 by using taxpayer-funded government gas cards for their personal vehicles, according to federal investigators.

A review of federal audits by NBC 7 Investigates found about 260 cases of gas theft by government workers nationwide in the past five years. Taxpayers are forced to foot the bill when government employees fill up for their own personal use.

The U.S. General Services Administration, which oversees a federal government fleet of 150,000 automobiles, has distributed 590,385 gasoline purchase cards to federal employees. Investigators with the GSA track purchases through a database that alerts them to suspicious gas purchases made on the same day.

In the San Diego area, two members of the military were caught and prosecuted for stealing more than $5,000 between them. A lance corporal stationed at Camp Pendleton faced a special court martial in July 2013 for making $2,201 worth of purchases in unleaded plus and super unleaded gasoline. Investigators say the individual purchased gas fraudulently at gas stations in West Virginia and Newport News, Virginia.

In another case, a Navy engineer technician from El Centro was convicted in federal court with a misdemeanor count for stealing government funds. He was sentenced to paying $3,169 in restitution and 6-months probation in 2012.

Bob Erickson, acting inspector general of the GSA, is tasked with overseeing the $514 million federal gas program.

"I think it's opportunistic. It's human greed," Erickson said of the thefts. "There is a variety of motives. Sometimes it's a well put together scheme to defraud the U.S. Sometimes it's just someone who decides they're not getting paid enough and wants to get a bonus using the government credit card."

GSA investigators have prosecuted more than 260 gas theft cases since 2010, recovering $2.4 million nationwide.

"When we catch them red-handed, it's 'I knew this was coming. I've been waiting for this day,'" said Special Agent Eric Radwick. "Most of them, they know what they're doing is wrong."

The FLEET cards require workers to enter the odometer from their government cars and their government tag numbers to prevent theft.

But cases reviewed by NBC 7 Investigates show workers can and do falsify the information.

Radwick says his team goes undercover and reviews a federal database looking for similar gas purchases on the same day to catch the crooks.

"It is a crime. You're stealing from the federal government. The government is paying for the fuel and they're not getting it, so you're stealing the fuel from the federal government."

Metrolink's use of so-called "push" trains, with the locomotive in the back and passengers in the lead car, is again being questioned in the wake of the Oxnard derailment that injured 30.

The three lead cars in the five-car train left the tracks and toppled onto their sides. The final passenger car and the locomotive also derailed, but remained upright over the rail bed.

"There's absolutely no question push trains are more vulnerable to derailing," said Edward Pfiester, Jr., an attorney who has represented riders in previous Metrolink derailments.

At the front of a push train is a cab car, which carries passengers and has a front compartment for the engineer to control the locomotive remotely. A cab car weighs a third less than a locomotive, a difference of as much as 55 tons.

Because a rail car's weight and wheel flanges are what keep it on the track, a lighter rail car in front is more likely to have its wheels leave the rails in a collision, Pfiester said.

Metrolink disagrees, citing a 2006 report to Congress by the Federal Rail Administration.

"They determined the difference was statistically insignificant," said Metrolink spokesman Jeff Lustgarten.

Looking at crossing collisions from 1996 to 2005, the study reported that for "push" trains, 1.38 percent resulted in derailment, twice the .69 percent rate it computed for "pull" trains.

"The analysis tended to favor conventional locomotive-led service for resistance to derailment on the raw numbers," stated the report. However, as Metrolink's Lustgarten said, the report went on to conclude: "no statistically significant difference exists among the derailment histories for the modes of operation."

But in terms of fatalities, the federal report drew a distinction.

"The accident record did show a higher fatality rate for occupants of car-led trains than occupants of conventional locomotive-led trains in commuter service," the report stated.

Metrolink and other commuter rail operators use push-pull because it simplifies preparing the train for the return leg of the run — the train does not need to be turned around, but simply runs in reverse.

The FRA report was requested by then Congressman Jerry Lewis in response to the horrific 2005 incident in Glendale that claimed 11 lives. A Metrolink push train derailed after colliding with a Jeep whose disturbed driver had deliberately parked it on the tracks.

The derailed train then struck a freight train and a second passing Metrolink train on nearby tracks.

In the four previous years, there had been two other derailments of Metrolink push trains, resulting in fatalities in Burbank and in Placentia.

"The mass of a cab car, even if beefed up, is not the same as a locomotive," railroad safety expert William Keppen told the Los Angeles Times. "You just don't get the same level of protection, and the number of cars that were to derail would probably be fewer."

The FRA report did not recommend limiting use of the push configuration.

"FRA recommends continued emphasis on progressive improvement of passenger rail safety as a whole, rather than abandonment of push-pull service," concluded the report, signed by then-Administrator Joseph Boardman. The agency's position has not changed.

At the time the report was issued in 2006, one-third of all commuter train miles were traveled in push mode, one-third in pull mode, and the other third covered by another configuration in which the lead car is a passenger cabin with locomotive.

The 2006 report discussed different strategies to increase push operation safety, including keeping passengers out of the lead cab car when feasible, and also leading with a so-called "cabbage car" -- a locomotive with engine removed, making it a cab car with room for baggage.

Amtrak, among other rail operators, has used cabbage cars on push trains for some of its routes.

Pfiester is convinced it would have made a difference in Oxnard, where the Metrolink struck an abandoned Ford pickup truck with trailer.

"Had there been a cabbage car, it would have knocked the truck out of the way," Pfiester said.

Another advantage of the cabbage car is that, unlike a locomotive, it carries no fuel that could catch fire in front of passengers in a collision.

The FRA report listed some drawbacks of cabbage cars, including limited supply. Their weight is also a double-edged sword — potentially helpful in a push mode collision, but in pull mode, more likely to cause a train to "buckle."

Apart from collisions, the added weight slows acceleration and increases braking distance, the report noted.

Metrolink's Lustgarten declined to speculate on alternative scenarios in Oxnard, but dismissed the idea of adding cabbage cars.

"We really don't think it's necessary," he said.

Lustgarten emphasized that Metrolink has committed hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to safety upgrades, and since 2010 has already replaced two-thirds of its passenger cars and all of its cab cars with new generation models designed to be more crash-resistant.

The cars, built by South Korea's Hyundai Rotem, include stronger passenger compartments shielded by crush zones to absorb the energy of impacts.

Inside passenger seats have higher backs and work tables are "frangible" to absorb impact.

Metrolink believes the new cars helped prevent more serious injuries in Oxnard.

Next week, Metrolink will begin testing "positive train control" on its San Bernardino line. PTC is intended to intervene in cases where the engineer may becomes incapacitated, or when an error has resulted in two trains approaching on the same track.

But the issue of pull mode safety improvements could resurface in another federal report in the aftermath of the Oxnard derailment.

The National Transportation Safety Board chose to send a team to investigate the accident. NTSB reports seek not only to determine the cause, but also to determine where safety may be improved.

A lawsuit filed against the maker of a popular dog food has triggered concerns among California pet owners.

Frank Lucido of Discovery Bay, a community in Northern California’s Eastern Contra Costa County, said his 8-year-old bulldog, Dozier, died three weeks after Lucido switched his pet’s diet to Purina’s Beneful dog food.

On Feb. 5, Lucido sued Nestle Purina PetCare Company in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, alleging the dog food contains propylene glycol, which the suit said is an animal toxin used in automobile antifreeze; and mycotoxins, a group of toxins produced by fungus that occurs in grains.

Lucido also said his 11-year-old Labrador, Remo, and 4-year-old German Shepherd, Nella, are still recovering from kidney failure, lethargy and diarrhea.

"We have a dog that is still on a touch-and-go situation right now, and a decision might have to be made and I’m kind of dreading that right now," Lucido added.

The suit seeks unspecified damages, and a guarantee that Purina’s products are “safe for dogs.”

"I feel very strongly there’s a definite situation with this dog food," Lucido said Thursday in an interview with NBC. "The doctor said the dog had been poisoned. The dogs are part of the family. It’s been real rough."

Lucido alleges that in the past four years, there have been more than 3,000 complaints online about dogs becoming ill or dying after eating Beneful, having shown "consistent symptoms" including stomach and related internal bleeding, liver malfunction or failure, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, weight loss, seizures and kidney failure. The complaints about Beneful report symptoms that are consistent with mycotoxin poisoning, according to the suit.

Since he filed the suit, one of Lucido’s attorneys, Michael Ram of San Francisco, said at least 1,000 people have come forward complaining of similar situations. The suit is seeking class-action status.

In response to a request by the NBC4 I-Team, Nestle Purina issued a written statement:

"First and foremost, there are no quality issues with Beneful. Beneful is a high quality, nutritious food enjoyed by millions of dogs every day. In fact, in 2014, nearly 1.5 billion Beneful meals were served to millions of happy, healthy dogs who enjoy and thrive on this food," the statement read.

"Recently, a class action lawsuit was filed against Beneful in Northern California. We believe the lawsuit is baseless, and we intend to vigorously defend ourselves and our brand. Beneful had two previous class action suits filed in recent years with similar baseless allegations, and both were dismissed by the courts. Class action suits are common in business these days. They are not indicative of a product issue. Beneful is backed by Purina’s strict quality controls and comprehensive food safety program," it continued.

"Like other pet foods, Beneful is occasionally the subject of social media-driven misinformation. Online postings often contain false, unsupported and misleading allegations that cause undue concern and confusion for our Beneful customers. Bottom line: Consumers can continue to feed Beneful with total confidence. At Purina we’re passionate about pets. We encourage anyone with a comment or question about Purina to contact us directly at the toll-free number on every package. For answers to FAQs about Beneful, go to: https://www.beneful.com/frequently-asked-questions."

The I-Team contacted Dr. Julio Lopez, a veterinarian at Studio City Animal Hospital, who said he’s seen no cases of Beneful-related health risks to dogs he’s examined.

"There is no scientific evidence that shows that the Beneful product is causing harm to pets," Lopez said. He added that propylene glycol and mycotoxins are both FDA-approved ingredients, and that pets are not alone in consuming them.

"The propylene glycol as well as the mycotoxins are things you and I can be ingesting with our food," he pointed out.

Lopez says common symptoms of many pet illnesses include vomiting, diarrhea and lethargy. If your dog is suffering from any of these, see your veterinarian, but don’t assume it’s the result of the food.

"If your dog has been on Beneful, there’s no reason to change it if there are no problems with your pet," he says. In fact, a sudden food switch could actually make a dog sick.

If your dog does show signs of illness, and you suspect food may be to blame, Lopez suggests the following:

• Document all symptoms, and report them to your vet.
• Report the symptoms to the dog food manufacturer and the Food & Drug Administration.
• Save a sample of the food you believe might have caused the problem; freeze it to preserve the ingredients, and save all packaging.

If you have a tip on this story — or anything else — the I-Team wants to hear from you. Give us a call at 818-520-TIPS or email nbc4iteam@nbcuni.com.

Police were searching Friday night for the driver of a white late model Toyota Tacoma believed to have struck and killed a pedestrian in North Hollywood, police said.

The victim was struck about 8:30 p.m. on Saticoy Street near Irvine Avenue, said Officer Jane Kim of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations Section.

Police were searching for a 2000 Tacoma that was last seen heading west on Saticoy, Kim said.

The vehicle had a small dent near the brake light on the rear left panel, she said.

No information about the victim was immediately available.

Some changes coming to the runways at LAX may bring delays for travelers and noise for neighbors over the next several years.

The federal government has mandated that every US airport increase the safety zones at the end of runways to bring an extra margin of safety for planes as they take off and land.

The improved runway safety areas will provide a buffer one in case a plane overshoots or veers off a runway.

Four Los Angeles International Airport runways will undergo construction over the next three years, but only one will be closed at a time, LAX officials said.

The process might be particularly challenging since the second busiest airport in the country has only four runways on 3,500 acres — similarly busy airports have four times as much space.

The $250 million project is expected to begin next Friday with completion expected by 2018.
 

An NYPD detective on his way to work in Queens, New York, was killed in a wrong-way crash on a Westchester highway early Friday that backed up traffic for hours, and the 46-year-old officer's wife was tragically stuck in the jam as she tried to take the couple's teenage daughter to school, officials and relatives say.

The officer, Paul Duncan, was headed south on the Sprain Brook Parkway near Greenburgh in a Honda Pilot at about 4 a.m. when a 2013 Honda Civic headed the wrong way crashed into the detective's SUV head-on. Duncan was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Civic, 20-year-old Efren Moreano of Yonkers, was taken to Westchester Medical Center and is in a coma, police say. It's not clear why Moreano was driving the wrong way.

Aerial footage from Chopper 4, which was first on the scene, showed one mangled vehicle on the highway and another stopped off the roadway.

Duncan's wife, Rechelle, said her husband normally leaves for work at the department's Internal Affairs Bureau in Queens around 8 a.m., but got an unusually early start Friday.

When she went to drive her daughter to school in the city shortly before 7 a.m., she encountered a police car blocking access to the Sprain Brook Parkway by her home. It took her two hours to get to the city, and she had no idea the traffic was related to a response to an accident that had claimed her husband's life.

"I don't even know how that's possible," a composed yet stunned Rechelle Duncan told NBC 4 New York.

She and her husband were high school sweethearts who had been married for more than 20 years. Rechelle Duncan said her husband was planning to retire from the NYPD this year.

"He was thoughtful, he was disciplined. He made really good dinners," Rechelle Duncan said of her husband. "He thought he was funny, a sharp dresser, a really good dad."

Now, she says, shes plans to focus on staying strong for her 13-year-old daughter.

Greenburgh Town Supervisor said after the crash that the state police and Department of Transportation should both look into ways to improve infrastructure on the highway. 

-Jonathan Dienst contributed to this report

A "thin, but very energetic" dog that is part of a suspected animal cruelty investigation is now missing from her owner's home, and authorities are trying to figure out if she's been stolen, officials said Friday.

The female pit bull mix had been the subject of Facebook posts for about a week after the owner's neighbor posted a photo that showed the dog looking to be underweight, describing the dog as "starving," according to the Riverside County Department of Animal Services.

County animal officers went to the Fetlock Way home on Tuesday to investigate the dog's health, photographed her and recorded video of her, noting the dog was "thin, but also very energetic and even a bit hyper."

Officers decided her health was not concerning enough to seize the animal under state guidelines, but they did discuss the pup's health with the owner, officials said. An animal control officer gave the owner a violation notice that the dog be taken to a vet for examination within 48 hours.

"The dog is hyper and energetic — not lethargic, but the dog is thin," Riverside County Animal Services spokesman John Welsh said. "We cannot just seize a dog on the spot for being thin. We have to give the dog owner a reasonable amount of time to get dog examined by a vet; we gave her 48 hours."

Two days later, on Thursday, animal control officers with a search warrant for the dog noticed the dog was not in the yard. The owner had earlier told police her dog had been taken, officials said.

The dog was "presumably taken from its yard" between the time the notice was given and the deadline, officials said.

"If this dog was truly stolen from its yard, the person or persons who did this have now impeded our investigation," Animal Services Director Robert Miller said. "We were just about to seize this animal, if it had not been seen properly by a veterinarian, and now we have lost the chain of custody. This is a serious issue."

Riverside County Animal Services has responded to the same property about a dozen times over the last three years, officials said. Four dogs have been impounded from the property, and 15 citations have been issued to the owner for reasons including leash law and kennel violations.

"Someone has acted in the spirit of helping this dog, but when someone thinks with their heart instead of their head, they are doing more harm than good," Miller said. "The person who has this dog now needs to do the right thing. Return the dog, or let us know where the dog is located so we can re-establish a chain of custody."

Miller said that the dog can be surrendered to Riverside County Animal Services without punishment. The person can use one of the night-drop compartments at the county’s main shelter at 6851 Van Buren Blvd., within the city of Jurupa Valley, or provide a location for the dog.

Tom Brokaw, who anchored the NBC Nightly News for more than two decades, expressed confidence in the program and counseled restraint in speculating over the Brian Williams controversy. 

Williams is serving a six-month suspension in the wake of an internal review of acknowledged misstatements about his experiences in the early days of the Iraq war.

The Nightly News team "goes out and covers the news better than anyone else I know in broadcast journalism," said Brokaw, who brought the show to the top of the nightly news ratings during his nearly 23-year tenure as the show's anchor and managing editor.

Regarding Williams, Brokaw said "there's been far too much speculation, so just let the process play out and we'll see how it turns out."

Brokaw made the comments in an interview with NBC4's Whit Johnson about his upcoming TV special on great world leaders.

Featuring interviews with Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev and George H.W. Bush, Brokaw's special, "The Men Who Changed the World," airs on the American Heroes Channel Saturday, Feb. 28, at 10 p.m.

A mudslide-damaged stretch of Pacific Coast Highway closed for almost three months reopened Friday, freeing up drivers heading to and from Los Angeles along its northern coast.

The last part of the highway that remained closed was between Sycamore Cove and Yerba Buena Road, reopened about 3 p.m., Caltrans officials said. Nine miles of PCH were swamped with mud and rocks in late November storm.

Six miles between Las Posas Road and Sycamore Cove reopened on Feb. 3, but the three miles from Sycamore to Yerba Buena remained blocked.

City News Service contributed to this report.

The missing pearl-covered $150,000 gown worn by  Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o at the Academy Awards has been returned to  the West Hollywood hotel from which it was taken, apparently by the thief who  stole it, authorities said.

Nicole Nishida of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said investigators were in possession of a dress similar to the one worn by Nyong'o.

The white dress believed to be the same one was found abandoned under a sink in a bathroom at the London West Hollywood hotel, the same hotel where the actress had been staying when it was stolen on Wednesday, Nishida said.

The person who had returned the dress had taken it to the downtown Los Angeles garment district and found out that the pearls were fake, Nishida said.

The $150,000 dress, a white Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein gown decorated with 6,000 pearls, was a showstopper on the red carpet before Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony.

Nyong'o won the Oscar for best supporting actress in 2014 for her portrayal of an abused slave in that year's best-picture winner, "12 Years a Slave."

She also appeared in the Liam Neeson thriller "Non-Stop" and will be seen in the highly anticipated "Stars Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens."

Kate Larsen contributed to this report.