title: Bone (comics)

text: The new Rat Creature king in "Bone: Legacy", who replaces Kingdok following the latter's death. Like Kingdok, he hates the two Stupid Rat Creatures. After the duo steal a dead squirrel from him, he becomes obsessed with revenge. Agak and his army are starving, and are convinced that they can cure their hunger by eating the Bones.


title: Bone (comics)

text: The unseen dark lord who serves as the source of all conflict in the series. He is an evil, formless "nightmare" trapped inside a mountain, and appears in the form of a locust swarm to his henchmen and followers. He is powerless on his own, and relies on possessing others in order to accomplish his goals. He is even capable of reviving the dead, seen primarily with Briar. He is killed when Fone Bone and Thorn, bearing a piece of the Locust themselves in their souls, touched the Crown of Horns.


title: Bone (comics)

text: The benevolent queen of the dragons, considered to be the creator of the valley. She kept the world in balance by putting her tail into her mouth so that her body forms a circle, and perpetually spinning, until she was possessed by the Lord of the Locusts, turning her irrational and violent. The other dragons were forced to turn her to stone to seal the Lord of the Locusts. Her awakening was said to be the end of the world, but when the Lord of the Locusts was destroyed, an aged Mim returned to her function followed by all of the other Dragons besides the Great Red Dragon.


title: Bone (comics)

text: A mysterious clan of hooded warriors, who respect dragons as the supreme rulers of the land. Distrusted by the townsfolk (who came up with the derogatory term "stick-eater") but trusted by Lucius, though often they do not trust him in return. They are loyal to the royal family even after Grandma Ben and Thorn went into exile and immediately recognizes Rose's authority upon her return to the capital. For much of the series, they serve as a channel of communication between the capital, Lucius, Grandma Ben, and Thorn.


title: Bone (comics)

text: The leader of the Venu and most powerful soldier. He is distinguished with a fur vest with bronze tokens. In the series, two appear. The first is the current one who has a feeling that the world is ending. The second one is retired in the city of Atheia and is the headmaster that appears in "Rose".


title: Bone (comics)

text: The ruthless leader of the Vedu. He is missing an arm and has a large scar down the length of his face, injuries he claims to have obtained while fighting dragons. He wears a large earring on one ear, and his beard in two separate parts each wrapped in a piece of cloth. He does not respect the monarchy of Aethia claiming that the throne is dead, even when Rose and Thorn return. He is killed by Briar in front of his own people, effectively ending his rule.


title: Bone (comics)

text: A separatist group of Veni Yan who are led by Tarsil. Although they wear similar hoods to the Veni Yan they are distinguishable by the eye on their hoods. The Vedu do not worship, or even respect, dragons, claiming that they have all gone into hiding or are uncaring enough to ignore their people. They have kept order in Aethia for much of the time that Rose and Thorn were in exile, and claim that things are better that way. However, some people disagree and continue to set out dragon shrines, which are forcibly removed by the Vedu.


title: Bone (comics)

text: "Bone" had only six issues published when it was selected for "Palmer's Picks" by Tom Palmer, Jr., who commented that "Smith's artwork is deceptively simple. He doesn't use much flash, yet he is a master of conveying gesture and body language for both humorous and dramatic effect". He also noted that "the series has only recently begun, yet it has been met with enormous amounts of critical praise from people ranging from Will Eisner to Peter David". Michael Arner from PopMatters.com was initially not impressed with the black and white artwork, and at first disappointed at the ending, hoping for a more conclusive dénouement. However, he ultimately praised the depth of the characterizations and Smith's ability to mix humor and adventure as perfect.


title: Bone (comics)

text: Bob's Comics Review described the work as "Tolkienesque" in its compulsive progression from a simple comic tale to a sprawling epic. Although critical of the earlier issues, the writer came to enjoy the range of writing "from slapstick (the cow race is a classic), to the scary yet hilarious rat creatures, to intimations of high fantasy". Smith's sense of timing was praised as well as the creator's use of the silent panel and "repeated scene with variations of movement or perspective". In 2004, "Time" critic Andrew Arnold called "Bone" "the best all-ages graphic novel yet published". In 2011, "IGN" ranked "Bone" 60th in the Top 100 comic book heroes.


title: Bone (comics)

text: In 2010, a Minnesota parent sought to have "Bone" banned from all elementary school libraries in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District, citing references in the work to smoking, drinking, and gambling. After a hearing, a school district committee voted 10 to 1 to keep the books on the shelves. Other challenges and controversies that cite racism and political viewpoint as main problems have led to "Bone's" placement on the 2013 ALA Banned Books List. Smith remarked himself that ""Bone" was not originally created with children in mind, so I never worried about the fact that children might read them". This being said, the comics are regarded by critics as applicable to any age group.


title: Bone (comics)

text: "Bone" has received numerous awards and nominations, among them ten Eisner Awards and eleven Harvey Awards.


title: Bone (comics)

text: Numerous attempts have been made to adapt the books, all of which have failed to come to fruition. In the late 1990s, an attempt was made by Nickelodeon Movies to produce a film adaptation of "Bone". Jeff Smith said in a 2003 interview that Nickelodeon wanted the Bone cousins to be voiced by child actors, and wanted the film's soundtrack to include pop songs by the likes of NSYNC; Smith was critical of this proposal.


title: Bone (comics)

text: In March 2008, Warner Bros. Pictures bought the film rights to the series. Smith's website confirmed on March 13 that he had made a deal with Warner Bros. to adapt the "Bone" saga into a film series. Further information was given in July 2011, citing that "two scripts have already been written and rejected—a third is currently in the works and will most likely yield three separate, computer-animated, 3-D films". In January 2012, Patrick Sean Smith, the creator of TV series "Greek", was hired to write an adaptation, and that P. J. Hogan was attached to direct the feature, to be produced by Lin Pictures and Animal Logic. In November 2016, Mark Osborne had been hired to direct the animated adaptation for Warner Animation Group. Osborne, along with Adam Kline, were set to write the film, which would have been the first in a planned trilogy.


title: Bone (comics)

text: In October 2019, the project was picked up by Netflix for an animated series after Warner's turnaround of the project. However, in April 2022, production on the series was canceled during a reorganization of Netflix Animation.


title: Bone (comics)

text: In 1996, the toy manufacturer Resaurus released Series One of a Bone action figure line, featuring: Fone Bone with Rat Cub, Thorn, Smiley Bone, and Rat Creature. Five years later, a second line was released with Gran'ma Ben, Phoney Bone, The Hooded One, and a deluxe boxed set of Kingdok. Two exclusive figures were released through the toy and comic magazine "Previews": Hooded One (glow in the dark), and Phoney Bone as Ahab. Most recently, in 2007, "Dark Horse Comics Presents" released a statue of Fone Bone, which is limited to 750 pieces and to be sold through "Wizard" magazine.


title: Bone (comics)

text: In 2005, video game studio Telltale Games developed an episodic adventure game series based on the comic. While five episodes were planned, only two were ultimately released. The first episode, "", was released on September 15, 2005, and the second, "", on April 12, 2006. Both were available in downloaded or boxed form on Telltale's website for Windows-based PCs. The games were also available via Steam, but were delisted following Telltale's closure.


title: Bone (comics)

text: "Bone: Legacy" is a sequel trilogy of novels following the adventures of new Bones in their quest in the Valley. The first installment, "Part I: Quest for the Spark", was released on February 1, 2011. The second installment, "Part II: Quest for the Spark", was released on February 1, 2012. The third and final installment to the trilogy, "Part III: Quest for the Spark", was released on February 1, 2013.


title: Bill Engvall

text: William Ray Engvall Jr. (born July 27, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Engvall has released a number of stand-up comedy albums through Warner Records and the defunct BNA Records. His most commercially successful album is his 1996 debut "Here's Your Sign", certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album derives its name from Engvall's signature routine "here's your sign", wherein he offers "signs" to people whom he deems lacking in intellect. He has toured as a comedian both by himself and as a member of Blue Collar Comedy Tour, which included Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, and Ron White. Engvall's television roles include "Delta", "The Jeff Foxworthy Show", "The Bill Engvall Show", and "Lingo".


title: Bill Engvall

text: William Ray Engvall Jr. was born in Galveston, Texas on July 27, 1957. His father, William Ray Engvall Sr., was a U.S. Navy doctor, who then went into private practice. Engvall spent most of his childhood living first in Galveston, then in Winslow, Arizona, then moving back to near Dallas, Texas during middle school. Following graduation from Richardson High School in Richardson, Texas, where he chose trombone when the teacher gave him the choice of either that or the tuba which led him into the jazz marching band, Engvall attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, intending to earn a bachelor's degree and become a teacher. While at Southwestern he was a member of Xi Chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order. Engvall left college without graduating and worked a series of jobs, including tour guide at Inner Space Caverns, and disc jockey in a Dallas, Texas nightclub. It was while working as the club DJ that he first ventured into stand-up comedy at amateur and open mic nights around Dallas.


title: Bill Engvall

text: In 1990, Bill Engvall moved to Southern California to dedicate full-time to comedy. Early notoriety came from hosting the cable show "A Pair of Jokers" with Rosie O'Donnell and an appearance on "The Golden Palace" where he played Blanche's son Matthew, a stockbroker turned aspiring comic. Other early appearances included hosting A&E Networks "An Evening at The Improv" as well as stand-up routines on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and the "Late Show with David Letterman.


title: Bill Engvall

text: A career breakthrough happened in 1992 when Engvall was named Best Male Standup at the American Comedy Awards. His first role as a series regular came soon after when he was cast in the ABC series "Delta", starring Delta Burke. However, the show only lasted one season and Engvall returned to making the rounds of comedy clubs and the occasional television appearance until 1996 when he was cast with fellow comic and best friend Jeff Foxworthy in the NBC version of "The Jeff Foxworthy Show". Signed by Warner Records in 1996, Engvall released the first of a series of successful comedy albums, "Here's Your Sign", based on his signature joke. The album was certified Platinum and peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Country album chart. Excerpts from this album were remixed into a musical track titled "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)", featuring a chorus sung by country music artist Travis Tritt. "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)" charted at number 29 on "Billboard" Hot Country Songs and number 43 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in 1997. Engvall released two more albums by the end of the 1990s: "Dorkfish" in 1998 and "Here's Your Christmas Album" in 1999. The latter featured narrations by Engvall, as well as songs he co-wrote sung by session musicians. One of these original compositions, "Here's Your Sign Christmas", also made the country charts in both 1998 and 1999.


title: Bill Engvall

text: In 2000, Engvall exited Warner Records for BNA Records, citing managerial changes at Warner. His only BNA album, "Now That's Awesome", came out that same year. Like most of the albums before it, this included two tracks that interpolated stand-up lines from the album with a musical track. The title track featured guest vocals from T. Graham Brown, Tracy Byrd, and Neal McCoy, while "Shoulda Shut Up" featured Julie Reeves.


title: Bill Engvall

text: Engvall moved back to Warner for all subsequent albums. "Cheap Drunk: An Autobiography" in 2002, "Here's Your Sign Reloaded" in 2003, "15° Off Cool" in 2007, and "Aged and Confused" in 2009.


title: Bill Engvall

text: In 2000, Jeff Foxworthy and Engvall launched the first of six Blue Collar Comedy Tours. The tours also featured Ron White and Larry the Cable Guy and were largely responsible for their breakout success. Each of the six years of the tour was very successful and spawned three films, a satellite radio show, and a television series titled "Blue Collar TV" on The WB Network.


title: Bill Engvall

text: In 2007, Engvall starred in his own sitcom where he played himself as a family counselor. The show lasted three seasons.


title: Bill Engvall

text: On June 6, 2011, Engvall took over as host of "Lingo" on Game Show Network. According to an interview in "American Profile" magazine, Engvall said that he jumped at the chance to host the show, citing the fun that his friend Foxworthy had hosting "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" Engvall had been a fan of "Lingo" when it aired a few years previously before ending in 2007, admitting that his wife always beat him to the answers. When asked if there were any plans to have buddies Foxworthy or Larry the Cable Guy appear on "Lingo", he replied, "You never know! I would love to have them on the show because it would be a blast. I would really dig that."


title: Bill Engvall

text: In 2013, Engvall was announced as a contestant on the 17th season of "Dancing with the Stars" paired with professional dancer Emma Slater. In the first week, he danced the Foxtrot and received a score of 18. The second week was Latin week and he saw some higher scores from the judges receiving a 21 for his Jive. And the third week of competition, Bill saw his highest score of 24 with a Paso Doble to the Lone Ranger theme song. Throughout the rest of the show, the judges usually placed Engvall and Slater at the bottom of the leaderboard, but an enormous fan base kept them in the competition, resulting in higher-scoring contestants, e.g. Christina Milian, Snooki, Brant Daugherty, Elizabeth Berkley, and Leah Remini being voted out instead.


title: Bill Engvall

text: On November 18, Engvall and Slater made it to the finals, along with Amber Riley, Jack Osbourne and Corbin Bleu. The two finished in fourth place.


title: Bill Engvall

text: Engvall's most well-known routine is "here's your sign". In this routine, he offers "signs" to people whom he considers lacking in intellect. These jokes typically take the form of another person asking Engvall a "stupid question", to which Engvall typically responds with a sarcastic response before telling the person "here's your sign". Other jokes in Engvall's routine include anecdotes about his life as a father and husband, typically in the form of self-deprecation.


title: Bill Engvall

text: Bill and Gail Engvall (born August 5, 1960) have been married since December 18, 1982. They have a daughter named Emily (born June 9, 1986), a 2008 graduate from the University of Puget Sound, as well as a son, Travis (born June 25, 1991), a 2015 graduate from Northern Arizona University; both of whom are often mentioned during his routines. Engvall resides in Utah when not on tour and maintains a blog for the Los Angeles Angels on the website of Fox Sports West. Engvall is an ordained minister. He graduated with a degree in Christian Studies from Grand Canyon University in 2021.


title: Grant Achatz

text: Grant Achatz ( ) (born April 25, 1974) is an American chef and restaurateur often recognized for his contributions to molecular gastronomy or progressive cuisine. His Chicago restaurant Alinea has won numerous accolades and Achatz himself has won numerous awards from prominent culinary institutions and publications, including the "Food and Wine"'s "best new chefs" award in 1998, "Rising Star Chef of the Year Award" for 1999, "Best Chef in the United States" for 1998 and a 2003 "Who's Who Inductee" from the James Beard Foundation.


title: Grant Achatz

text: Achatz's early culinary career included time spent working in his parents' restaurants in St. Clair, Michigan as a teenager, followed by enrollment in The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Following graduation in 1994, Achatz landed a position at Charlie Trotter's. After a time, he found a position at Thomas Keller's highly acclaimed restaurant, The French Laundry, in Yountville, California. Achatz spent four years at The French Laundry, rising to the position of sous chef.


title: Grant Achatz

text: In 2001, Achatz moved to the Chicago area to become the Executive Chef at Trio in Evanston, Illinois, which at the time of his arrival had a four-star rating from the Mobil Travel Guide. Over the next three years, with Achatz at the helm, Trio's reputation soared and in 2004 the restaurant was rewarded with a fifth star from Mobil, becoming one of just 13 restaurants so honored at the time.


title: Grant Achatz

text: In 2005, Achatz went out on his own, opening Alinea in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood with Nick Kokonas. The restaurant is located up the block from the famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company and is housed in a modest gray brick building which bears no external markings beyond its street number. Inside, the restaurant has no bar, no lobby and seats just 64 guests. Achatz serves diners a small-course tasting menu, consisting of approximately 18 courses. After less than two years of operation, the Mobil Travel Guide bestowed its Five Star Award on Alinea, making Alinea one of just 16 restaurants nationwide to rate five stars for 2007.


title: Grant Achatz

text: In October 2006, "Gourmet" magazine named Alinea the best restaurant in America in its feature on "America's Top 50 Restaurants".


title: Grant Achatz

text: In 2007, "Restaurant" magazine added Alinea to its list of the 50 best restaurants in the world at number 36, the highest new entry of the year. In 2008, that publication moved Alinea up its list 15 spots, to number 21 in the world. In 2009 Alinea moved up to number 10 in the world and advanced to number 7 for 2010, when it was also the highest ranked North American restaurant honored. Alinea maintained its top North American Ranking for 2011, while moving up one position overall to 6th best restaurant in the world. In 2012, Alinea came down one spot on the list. Per Se gained the 6th place, thus making Alinea the 2nd best restaurant in the U.S. and 7th overall.


title: Grant Achatz

text: In November 2009, Achatz and his Alinea team designed the menu for Ikarus, a restaurant in Salzburg, Austria which brings in a top chef from a different restaurant each month to design the menu for that month and train the staff.


title: Grant Achatz

text: Alinea was awarded three stars in the 2011 Michelin Guide for Chicago. It was repeated in 2012 when Alinea was the only restaurant to receive three stars in the 2012 Michelin Guide for Chicago.


title: Grant Achatz

text: Achatz's other restaurants include Next, a restaurant that uses a unique ticketing system in Chicago, and Aviary, a bar. Roister Chicago, a casual West Loop concept helmed by Chef Andrew Brochu, The Office, a speakeasy cocktail bar located under The Aviary bar, and The Aviary/ Office NYC located in the Mandarin Oriental, New York.


title: Grant Achatz

text: Reservations for Achatz's restaurant, Next, are so sought after, that tickets could be found on Craigslist for up to $500 per person. In February 2012, Achatz held a Dutch auction for tickets to Next's elBulli-inspired menu, raising over $275,000 for charity in just two days. Auction prices ranged from $4,000 to $5,000 for parties of two.


title: Grant Achatz

text: Achatz has also served as a coach for the biennial culinary competition in Lyon, France, Bocuse d'Or.


title: Grant Achatz

text: In 2016 Achatz and partner Nick Kokonas closed Alinea for a complete renovation and overhaul of the food, space, and experience.


title: Grant Achatz

text: In 2016 Achatz and his team launched two consecutive multi-week pop-up experiences in Madrid, Spain, and Miami, Florida, over the course of Alinea's closure.


title: Grant Achatz

text: On May 27, 2016, Achatz appeared on season two of the Netflix series "Chef's Table". In 2018, Achatz appeared as a judge on the Netflix series "The Final Table".


title: Grant Achatz

text: In October 2008, Grant Achatz and co-author Nick Kokonas published "Alinea", a hardcover coffee table book featuring more than 100 of the restaurant's recipes. The book's narrative follows life in the kitchen for Achatz and his crew, and includes more than 400 behind-the-scenes photographs by Lara Kastner.


title: Grant Achatz

text: In June 2009, Achatz and Kokonas sold "Life, On the Line", their dual-voiced recount of their collaboration on Alinea and Achatz's battle with cancer to Gotham Books. The book was released on March 3, 2011.


title: Grant Achatz

text: Kokonas and Achatz have also released two digital cookbooks from Next Restaurant, one on the Apple iBook platform, and one in a more universal PDF format. As in the style of the Alinea cookbook, both books provide the exact recipes used during the Paris 1906 and Tour of Thailand menus, without making adjustments for the average home cook. While the Paris 1906 book was released for purchase via iTunes, Tour of Thailand was released on a pay-what-you-want model on Next's ticketing site.


title: Grant Achatz

text: Grant was featured in a 2014 Dan Waldschmidt's book "Edgy Conversations: How Ordinary People Can Achieve Outrageous Success", a book about preventing suicide with sense with stories about famous people that had disasters. Almost at the end of the book, he told the story about Grant's tongue cancer in July 2007 and the success of his restaurant in that time.


title: Grant Achatz

text: On July 23, 2007, Achatz announced that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma of the mouth, which spread to his lymph nodes. Initially, Achatz was told that only radical surgery was indicated, which would remove part of his mandibular anatomy and large swaths of neck tissue. Later, University of Chicago physicians prescribed a course of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. This led to full remission, albeit with some side effects including a transitory loss of his sense of taste, which eventually returned. On December 18, 2007, Achatz announced that he was cancer-free. He credited an aggressive protocol of chemotherapy and radiation therapy administered at the University of Chicago Medical Center for driving his cancer into full remission. The treatment regimen, administered under the direction of Drs. Everett E. Vokes, Blair and Haraf at University of Chicago, did not require radical invasive surgery on Achatz' tongue.


title: Black Pumas

text: Black Pumas is an American psychedelic soul band based in Austin, Texas, led by singer/songwriter Eric Burton and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada. The group received its first Grammy Award nomination in 2020 for Best New Artist.


title: Black Pumas

text: In 2017, singer and songwriter Eric Burton made his way from California to Texas. Born in the San Fernando Valley, he grew up singing in church and then got heavily involved in musical theater. He started busking at the Santa Monica Pier, where he brought in a few hundred dollars a day and developed his performance skills. Burton traveled through the Western states, studying music at New Mexico State University before deciding to settle down and busk in Austin, Texas.


title: Black Pumas

text: In the meantime, Grammy Award-winning guitarist and producer Adrian Quesada was looking to collaborate with someone new. Through a mutual friend, Quesada connected with Burton. Quesada felt that Burton's vocals were a match for the retro-funk- and R&B-flavored tracks Quesada had been working on and the two joined forces in 2018 as Black Pumas.


title: Black Pumas

text: Quesada was a member of Latin funk band Grupo Fantasma when it won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album for the 2010 album "El Existential", and when it was previously nominated for the same award in 2008 for "Sonidos Gold."


title: Black Pumas

text: Working out their material both in the studio and on-stage during a weekly residency at Austin's C-Boys Heart & Soul Bar, they signed a deal with ATO Records and released a pair of singles, "Black Moon Rising" and "Fire".


title: Black Pumas

text: The duo released their debut album, "Black Pumas", on June 21, 2019. They performed at South by Southwest in 2019 and won a best new band trophy at the 2019 Austin Music Awards. On November 20, 2019, they were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.


title: Black Pumas

text: The album received acclaim from "Rolling Stone", who praised "the tireless, charismatic energy of singer Eric Burton", and Pitchfork, who wrote "The duo's flair for drama is so stirring, they can seem acutely cinematic", as well as NPR, "The Fader", "The Guardian", "Billboard", "Essence" and "Headliner Magazine", among others.


title: Black Pumas

text: Black Pumas made their network TV debut on "CBS This Morning" and performed "Colors" on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" along with a taping on season 45 of "Austin City Limits". The band's single "Colors" later reached number one on AAA radio. The single has been streamed over 100 million times across all platforms. Meanwhile, the official live video of “Colors” has been viewed over 57 million times on YouTube.


title: Black Pumas

text: In 2020, the band performed on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon", "Late Night with Seth Meyers" and "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" who premiered their live cover of Tracy Chapman’s "Fast Car".


title: Black Pumas

text: The band has sold out multiple tours across North America and Europe. In their hometown of Austin, Texas, Black Pumas became the first band to sell out four consecutive shows at Stubbs, one of the city's live venues, and on May 7, 2020, mayor Steve Adler proclaimed the date as Black Pumas Day.


title: Black Pumas

text: On November 24, 2020, "Colors" received Grammy Award nominations for Record of the Year and Best American Roots Performance, while their self-titled album received a nomination for Album of the Year, at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.


title: Black Pumas

text: In January 2021, then President-elect Joe Biden invited the Black Pumas to perform during his " Celebrating America" primetime special during the President's Inauguration activities. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band performed virtually.


title: Black Pumas

text: In September 2021, Black Pumas were awarded Duo/Group of the year at the 20th Annual Americana Honors & Awards. On November 23rd, 2021, Black Pumas received two Grammy Award nominations at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. Nominated twice in the Rock category. This brings their total Grammy nominations up to six. Their “Know You Better (Live From Capitol Studio A)” performance was nominated for Best Rock Performance and their album “Capitol Cuts - Live From Studio A” was nominated for Best Rock Album.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: "Heroes" was the first multi-platform "Sonic" game, produced for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Windows. Sonic Team USA's Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka led the game's 20-month development. The team wanted "Sonic Heroes" to appeal beyond "Sonic" series fans and so designed a game that did not depend on the continuation of its predecessors. The team revived elements seen since the Genesis "Sonic" games, such as special stages and the Chaotix characters. Sega released "Sonic Heroes" in Japan and South Korea in December 2003 and worldwide in early 2004.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: Reviewers were polarized. They praised the focus on fast gameplay and similarities to the series' original 2D entries, a choice that some considered an improvement from the "Sonic Adventure" games. Reviewers also highlighted its graphic design and detailed environments and textures. However, they felt the game did not address the problems of previous "Sonic" games, such as poor camera and voice acting. It was commercially successful, with 3.41 million copies sold by 2007.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: "Sonic Heroes" is a 3D platformer. While the preceding "Sonic Adventure" games for the Dreamcast featured elements of action-adventure and exploration, "Sonic Heroes" focuses on linear platforming and action, similar to the "" games for the Sega Genesis. The story is also simpler than those of the "Sonic Adventure" games. In it, series antagonist Doctor Eggman threatens to use a weapon to destroy the world and sends out legions of robots. Four groups of three characters from the franchise's history separately team up to put a stop to Eggman's plans. The player navigates using one of the teams, who serve as the player characters. The teams include Team Sonic, which consists of series regulars Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, and Knuckles the Echidna; Team Dark, which includes Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat from "Sonic Adventure 2", and new character E-123 Omega (considered a spiritual successor to E-102 Gamma from "Sonic Adventure"); Team Rose, which has Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit from "Sonic Advance 2", and Big the Cat from "Sonic Adventure"; and Team Chaotix, consisting of Espio the Chameleon, Charmy Bee, and Vector the Crocodile from "Knuckles' Chaotix". Each team has its own campaign, called a story. Each also represents a different difficulty. Amy's team, for example, is designed for beginners, while Shadow's is aimed at more experienced players.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: The game begins with a tutorial followed by fourteen normal levels and seven boss fights. Gameplay is generally similar in each story: the player must race through levels to advance the story and collect rings for protection and lives. Level themes vary from beaches to casinos. When the player reaches the end of a level, they are graded based on their performance; an "A" rank is highest, while an "E" is lowest. Enemy robots are scattered around levels and must be defeated by jumping on them or other means of attack. The level designs differ slightly between each story. Espio, Charmy, and Vector's levels are distinguished from the other teams' because they are mission-based, requiring players to fulfill a specific objective, like collecting items, to clear a level.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: Teams contain three character types: Speed (such as Sonic), Flight (such as Tails), and Power (such as Knuckles), which the player toggles between. Speed characters can perform attacks that allow them to lock onto enemies and objects, dash across lines of rings, and can form whirlwinds to climb up poles. Flight characters can temporarily fly and attack airborne enemies, while Power characters can break through objects and glide on gusts of air. By acquiring certain items or enemies, characters can level up, becoming more efficient when fighting enemies.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: By collecting keys hidden within levels and reaching the end of a level without getting hit, players can enter special stages. In special stages, players dash across a tube, collecting spheres containing boost power while avoiding obstacles. There are two types of special stages: Bonus Challenge and Emerald Challenge. Bonus Challenges are optional and award the player with extra lives. Emerald Challenges task the player with catching a Chaos Emerald before it disappears. If players collect all seven Emeralds and clear each story, an additional Last Story is unlocked. The Last Story reveals the plot was orchestrated by Metal Sonic, Eggman's top enforcer and a robotic copy of Sonic, in an effort to destroy his namesake. Outside the main game, players can unlock promotional trailers to view and music to listen to. The game also features a split screen multiplayer mode, in which two players can race or battle. Challenges in the multiplayer mode include kart racing and collecting as many rings as possible.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: "Sonic Heroes" was developed by the 19-member Sonic Team USA in San Francisco to commemorate the "Sonic" series' 12th anniversary. Development was led by producer Yuji Naka and director/lead designer Takashi Iizuka,<ref name="w/thecreators"></ref> and lasted 20 months. The majority of the development team had worked on previous "Sonic" games. Iizuka did not want to make a sequel to "Sonic Adventure 2" (2001), as he worried it would only appeal to "Sonic" fans. Interested in returning to gameplay similar to the Genesis games, Sonic Team decided to design "Sonic Heroes" so casual players not familiar with "Sonic" could adapt. Iizuka said the development period of "Sonic Heroes" was the most stressful of his career because of deadlines and Sega management. A fellow designer became ill, so he worked relentlessly, lost 22 pounds, and suffered from insomnia.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: "Sonic Heroes" was the first multi-platform "Sonic" game: it was developed for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 (PS2), and Xbox. Unlike the "Sonic Adventure" games, made using proprietary software, Sonic Team partnered with Criterion Software to use the RenderWare game engine so the game could be programmed and ported with ease to each platform. Though Sonic Team was able to transfer some textures and models from the "Sonic Adventure" games into "Sonic Heroes", most of their work started from scratch. Sonic Team found challenges in working with the Xbox and PS2, platforms with which they had little experience. The content in all versions is the same, but the PS2 version runs at 30 frames per second (FPS) in contrast to the other versions running at 60 FPS. Sega's Noah Musler explained that running the PS2 version at 60 FPS would have caused performance problems. Iizuka also noted the system is less powerful than the GameCube and Xbox. Iizuka and Naka decided against including console-exclusive content so players could have the same experience regardless of console.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: Sonic Team was interested in making "Sonic Heroes"s narrative feature characters teaming up to overcome evil, rather than "Sonic Adventure"s approach of individual character stories. This led to the conception of the "team action" concept. Iizuka stated Sonic Team had a considerable amount of freedom in designing the game due to its new scope. The Chao-raising system—a staple of the "Sonic Adventure" games—was removed because Sonic Team feared it would disrupt the pace. To improve replay value, the grading system was made more difficult. The special stages from the 2D games were revived to "refresh players' minds" and change the pace. Player reactions to previous games influenced the design; for example, the team did not include modes like Big's fishing from "Sonic Adventure" and Tails' shooting from "Sonic Adventure 2" after both were criticized.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: The Chaotix, who had appeared in the 1995 spinoff game "Knuckles' Chaotix", were revived for "Sonic Heroes" because Sonic Team thought they were unique and had never used them. Iizuka said he did not consider the Chaotix in "Sonic Heroes" the same team from "Knuckles' Chaotix", claiming to have created new characters using the same designs from 1995. The game marks the debut of E-123 Omega in the "Sonic" series. Sonic Team wanted to include as many teams as possible, but time constraints and a desire to keep the gameplay balanced prevented this. The game features several computer animated cutscenes produced by Vision Scape Interactive. Jun Senoue composed the majority of the soundtrack. His band Crush 40 performed the main theme, "Sonic Heroes", and the final boss theme, "What I'm Made Of". The theme songs for each team were performed by Ted Poley, Tony Harnell, Kay Hanley, Julien-K, and Gunnar Nelson. Iizuka said that the intention was for the music "to return to the roots of the "Sonic" experience" and be exciting and fast-paced.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: Naka believed that "Sonic Heroes", a "Sonic"-themed McDonald's Happy Meal toy line, and the anime series "Sonic X" would expose the franchise to a new generation. Sega released "Sonic Heroes" in Japan on December 30, 2003, two weeks later than intended, to ensure there were "no compromises" in the final product. The GameCube version was released in North America on January 6, 2004, followed by the Xbox and PS2 versions on January 27. The European version was released on February 2, 2004. A Windows version was released in North America on November 22, 2004, followed by Europe on November 26 and Japan on December 9. The game was rereleased through the "Sonic PC Collection" for Windows on October 2, 2009, and the PS2 Classics line for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) on February 22, 2012.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: "Sonic Heroes" received generally "mixed or average" reviews, according to the review aggregator Metacritic. Some reviewers felt the game was better than the previous 3D "Sonic" games but still below the quality of the 2D games. The PS2 version's reviews were considerably worse than others; reviewers noted clipping, graphic faults, and its lower frame rate.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: The aesthetics and sound were generally well received. "IGN" lauded detailed, varied, and realistic character models, and wrote that the textures were detailed and crisp. They also praised the realistic shading and lighting effects. Although "GameSpot" thought the graphics were not much of an improvement from previous games—comparing them to "a glorified Dreamcast game"—they still praised its steady frame rate, art design, and vibrant colors. "Eurogamer" disliked the shiny models, but was still pleased by the imaginative aesthetics. In regards to the soundtrack, "Game Revolution" found it upbeat and catchy, offering particular praise for the music of Bingo Highway. Although they called the music laughable and not an improvement from previous games, "IGN" thought the rest of the sound was high quality, and praised its "perfectly implemented" sound effects running in Dolby Pro Logic II.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: Multiple reviewers found the gameplay similar to that of the Genesis "Sonic" games. "GameSpot" found "Sonic Heroes" the closest Sonic Team ever got to recreating the classic 2D "Sonic" gameplay in 3D. They praised the game for stripping away the shooting and hunting elements from the "Sonic Adventure" games, and called it "a purer, more action-packed Sonic experience" than previous games. "IGN" considered "Sonic Heroes" a major improvement from "Sonic Adventure", writing ""Sonic Heroes" does an absolutely sensational job of re-creating the intensely fast and unpredictable looping, corkscrewing stages from the classic games in 3D". "1UP.com" and "GameSpy" agreed that the game was a step in the right direction for the series. Reviewers called the casino level, Bingo Highway, a highlight.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: Reviewers were generally divided over the team-based gameplay. "GameSpy" argued it was well-balanced and thought it greatly increased the replay value. "IGN" offered similar praise, praising its easy-to-learn, strategic controls. "Game Revolution" wrote the system added diversity. However, "IGN" also thought it was not as ambitious as expected and did not change the overall experience. "GameSpot" agreed the controls were easy, but considered the large number of teams unnecessary: "no one cares about these peripheral characters... People play "Sonic" games to play as Sonic the Hedgehog". "1UP" found the concept was more repetitive than innovative. "Eurogamer" considered the gameplay original but "boring and obvious" and thought that the controls were clunky and unorthodox. While "Eurogamer" argued "Sonic Heroes" was not difficult, "Game Revolution" described it as hard to a fault, exclaiming they "[died] all the time."


title: Sonic Heroes

text: The game was criticized for not addressing the problems of prior "Sonic" games. "1UP" wrote the problems with the camera and "hit-or-miss lock-on attacks that leave you plunging to your doom" that plagued the "Sonic Adventure" games were still present in "Sonic Heroes" and hurt the experience greatly. "GameSpot" said although the camera worked well most of the time, coordination between camera position and character movement caused problems, such that pushing forward may not move the character in the same direction the camera is facing. They also wrote that the game suffered from problems with the collision detection and noted all the shortcomings were present in the "Sonic Adventure" games. "IGN" agreed the camera had not been improved. The voice acting was especially derided; "IGN" joked players should "turn down the volume during cut-scenes", and "GameSpy" compared the voice work to the likes of Playskool.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: The editors of "GameSpot" ultimately named "Sonic Heroes" the best GameCube game of January 2004, and called it "the fastest and most authentic 3D "Sonic" experience we've seen yet."


title: Sonic Heroes

text: "Sonic Heroes" was a major commercial success. By October 2004, the game had sold over one million copies in Europe. The PlayStation 2 version received a "Double Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association, indicating sales of at least 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom. According to Sega's financial reports, "Sonic Heroes" sold 1.42 million units from its release to March 2004 (850,000 in the U.S., 420,000 in Europe, and 150,000 in Japan), 1.57 million units from March 2004 to March 2005, and 420,000 units in the U.S. from March 2006 to March 2007, for total sales of at least 3.41 million. By the end of 2004, it had been branded as part of the Player's Choice line on the GameCube, the Greatest Hits line on the PS2, and the Platinum Hits line on the Xbox.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: After "Sonic Heroes", Sonic Team USA was renamed Sega Studios USA. Their next project was "Shadow the Hedgehog" (2005), a spinoff starring Shadow set shortly after the events of "Sonic Heroes". In 2008, after working on a few more games, the division was merged with Sonic Team in Japan. In 2017 series retrospective, "USgamer" ranked "Sonic Heroes" among the franchise's bottom half of games. They wrote that the system of switching between characters was unwieldy and annoying, but still interesting because it made the game feel like a puzzle video game. They also praised the design of E-123 Omega.


title: Sonic Heroes

text: "Sonic Heroes" marked the debut of recurring "Sonic" character E-123 Omega, and reintroduced the obscure Chaotix. Its concept of switching between characters as necessary was reused in Sonic Team's "Sonic Forces" (2017) and Sumo Digital's "Team Sonic Racing" (2019); Sumo Digital cited it as inspiration for their game. The Seaside Hill level reappears in the 20th anniversary game "Sonic Generations" for PS3, Xbox 360, and Windows, while the Nintendo 3DS version includes the special stages and the Egg Emperor boss fight. Seaside Hill has also appeared in "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games" (2009), "Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing" (2010), and its 2012 sequel.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Jane Nartare Beaumont (born 10 September 1956), Arnna Kathleen Beaumont (born 11 November 1958) and Grant Ellis Beaumont (born 12 July 1961), collectively known as the Beaumont children, were three Australian siblings who disappeared from Glenelg Beach near Adelaide, South Australia, on 26 January 1966 (Australia Day) in a suspected abduction and murder. At the time of their disappearance they were aged nine, seven and four years, respectively.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Police investigations revealed that, on the day of their disappearance, several witnesses had seen the children on and near Glenelg Beach in the company of a tall man with fairish to light-brown hair and a thin face with a sun-tanned complexion and medium build, aged in his mid-thirties. Confirmed sightings of the three children occurred at the Colley Reserve and at Wenzel's cake shop on Moseley Street, Glenelg. Despite numerous searches, neither the children nor their suspected companion were located.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: The case received extensive police and media attention in Australia and across the globe, quickly attracting numerous suspects, hoaxes and theories. The disappearance is widely credited with causing a change in Australian lifestyles, since parents began to believe that their children could no longer be presumed to be safe when unsupervised in public. The regular and widespread attention given to the case, its significance in Australian criminal history and the fact that the mystery of the children's disappearance has never been explained has led to the story being of continuous public interest more than half a century on. , a $1 million reward has been offered for information related to the cold case by the South Australian government.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Jane, Arnna and Grant Beaumont lived with their parents, Grant "Jim" Beaumont, a former serviceman and driver for Suburban Taxis, and Nancy Beaumont (née Ellis), who had married in December 1955. Their house was at 109 Harding Street, Somerton Park, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, not far from Glenelg Beach, a popular spot that the children and many others at the height of the surf music era often visited. On 25 January, in the midst of a summer heatwave, Jim dropped the children off at Glenelg Beach before heading off on a three-day sales trip to Snowtown.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: On the morning of 26 January 1966, the children asked their mother to visit Glenelg Beach again. As it was too hot to walk, they took a five-minute, three-kilometre bus journey from their home to the beach. They caught the bus at 8:45 am and were expected to return home on the 12:00 noon bus. Nancy became worried, however, when the children did not return on either the 12:00 or 2:00 pm buses, and when Jim returned home early from his trip around 3:00 pm, he immediately drove to the crowded beach. Unable to locate the children, he returned and together they searched the streets and visited friends' houses. Around 5:30 pm, they went to the Glenelg Police Station to report the disappearance.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Police quickly organised a search of Glenelg Beach and adjacent areas, based on the assumption that the children were nearby and had simply lost track of time. The search then expanded to the sand-hills, ocean, and nearby buildings, with the airport, rail lines, and interstate roads being monitored as well, based on a fear of accident or kidnap. Within 24 hours, the entire nation was aware of the case. Within three days, on 29 January, the Adelaide "Sunday Mail" led with a headline of "Sex crime now feared", highlighting the rapidly evolving fear that they had been abducted and murdered by a sex offender; despite this, the initial official reward was only A£250.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: The Patawalonga Boat Haven was drained on 29 January after a woman told police that she had spoken with three children, who were similar in description to the Beaumont children, near the haven at 7:00 pm on 26 January. Police cadets and members of the emergency operations group searched the area, but nothing was found.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Police investigating the case found several witnesses who had seen the children in Colley Reserve, near Glenelg Beach, in the company of a tall man with fair to light brown hair and a thin face, and in his mid-thirties. He had a sun-tanned complexion and a thin-to-athletic build and was wearing swim trunks. The children were playing with him, and appeared to be relaxed and enjoying themselves. The man also approached one of the witnesses, asking if anyone had been near the children's belongings as their money was "missing". The man then went off to change while the children waited for him. The group were then seen walking away together from the beach some time later, which the police estimated to be around 12:15 pm.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: The Beaumont parents described their children, particularly Jane, as shy. For them to be playing so confidently with a stranger seemed out of character. Investigators theorised that the children had perhaps met the man during a previous visit or visits and had grown to trust him. A chance remark at home, which seemed insignificant at the time, supports this theory. Arnna had told her mother that Jane had "got a boyfriend down the beach". Nancy thought she meant a playmate and took no further notice until after the disappearance.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: A shopkeeper at nearby Wenzel's Bakery also reported Jane had bought pasties and a meat pie with a £1 note. Police viewed this as further evidence that the children had been with another person, for two reasons: the shopkeeper knew the children well from previous visits and reported that they had never purchased a meat pie before, and the children's mother had given them only six shillings and six pence, enough for their bus fare and lunch, and not £1. Police believed the money had been given to them by somebody else.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: According to an initial statement, the Beaumont children were seen walking alone at about 3:00 pm, away from the beach along Jetty Road, in the general direction of their home. The witness, a postman, knew the children well, and his statement was regarded as reliable. He said the children were "holding hands and laughing" in the main street. Police could not determine why the reliable children, already one hour late, were strolling alone and seemingly unconcerned. This was the last confirmed sighting of the children. The postman contacted police two days after his initial statement and said that he thought he saw them in the morning, not the afternoon as he had previously said.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: A local resident, Miss Daphne Gregory, reportedly sighted the children at 3:00 pm with a man who "carried an airlines bag, similar to one owned by Jane Beaumont." Several months later, a woman reported that on the night of the disappearance, a man, accompanied by two girls and a boy, entered a neighbouring house that she had believed empty. Later, the woman said she had seen the boy walking alone along a lane where he was pursued and roughly caught by the man. The next morning the house appeared to be deserted again, and she saw neither the man nor the children again. Police could not establish why she had failed to provide this information earlier. Other reported sightings of the children continued for about a year after their disappearance.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: The Beaumont case attracted international attention. On 8 November 1966, Gerard Croiset, a Dutch psychic, was brought to Australia to assist in the search, causing a media frenzy. Croiset's efforts proved unsuccessful, with his story changing day-to-day and offering no clues. He identified a spot at a warehouse near the children's home in which he believed their bodies had been buried, inside the remains of an old brick kiln. The property owners, who were reluctant to excavate based only on a psychic's claim, soon bowed to public pressure after publicity helped raise $40,000 to have the building demolished. No remains, nor any evidence linking to any of the Beaumont family was found. In 1996, the building identified by Croiset was undergoing partial demolition and the owners allowed for a full search of the site. Once again, no trace was found of the children.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: About two years after the disappearance, the Beaumont parents received two letters: one was supposedly written by Jane, and another by a man who said he was keeping the children. The envelopes showed a postmark of Dandenong, Victoria. The brief notes described a relatively pleasant existence and referred to "The Man" who was keeping them. Police believed at the time that the letters could quite likely have been authentic after comparing them with others written by Jane. The letter from "The Man" said that he had appointed himself "guardian" of the children and was willing to hand them back to their parents. In the letter a meeting place was nominated.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: The Beaumont parents, followed by a detective, drove to the designated place but nobody appeared. It was some time later that a third letter arrived, also purported to be from Jane, stating that the man had realised a disguised detective was present and that he decided to keep the children because the Beaumonts had betrayed his trust. There were no further letters. In 1992, new forensic examinations of the letters showed they were a hoax. Fingerprint technology had improved and the author was identified as a 41-year-old man who had been a teenager at the time and had written the letters as a joke. Because of the time that had elapsed, he was not charged with any offence.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: In November of 2013, excavation was initiated in the back of a North Plympton factory that had previously belonged to one possible suspect in the case, Harry Phipps (see below). Further excavation at a slightly different location on the site was undertaken in February of 2018, but nothing relevant was found. The excavations were based on two men reporting that as boys they had been paid to dig a hole in that area at around that time, and also based on geophysical testing which had identified anomalous disturbed soil. Animal bones were found, but nothing was found in relation to the Beaumont children.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Bevan Spencer von Einem (born 1946) was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1984 for murdering 15-year-old Richard Kelvin, son of Adelaide newsreader Rob Kelvin. Police and prosecutors publicly stated that they believed von Einem had accomplices and was possibly involved in additional murders. About this same time, police came to suspect von Einem of possible involvement in the Beaumont case. No accomplices were ever charged. Von Einem has refused to co-operate with investigators about his possible connection with other murders.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: During the investigation into von Einem, police heard from an informant identified only as "Mr B". He related an alleged conversation in which von Einem boasted of having taken three children from a beach several years earlier, and said he had taken them home to conduct "experiments". Von Einem had said that he performed "brilliant surgery" on each of them, and had "connected them up". One of the children had supposedly died during the procedure and so he had killed the other two and dumped all the bodies in bushland south of Adelaide. Police had not previously considered von Einem in connection with the Beaumont children, but he somewhat resembled the descriptions and identikits from 1966.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: According to Adelaide police detective Bob O'Brien, Mr B gave important information during the investigation into the Kelvin murder, and was regarded as a generally reliable source. However, police reception of the alleged confession was mixed. There were enough plausible details to warrant further research, yet other details relayed by Mr B did not fit with known facts and were regarded with skepticism by police. , von Einem had not been ruled out as a suspect.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: While von Einem was known to have frequented Glenelg Beach to "perv" on the changing rooms, and was described as preoccupied with children, what argues against his involvement in the Beaumont case is that he was younger than the suspect seen with the children in 1966 (the suspect was reported to be in his mid- to late thirties, whereas von Einem was 20 or 21 at the time). Another important distinction is that he was convicted of murdering a 15-year-old boy and suspected of killing males in their teens and twenties; victims older than the Beaumont children or Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon. Such disparities amongst victims of a serial killer are not unheard of, but unusual.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: The reference to surgical experimentation von Einem had purportedly made to Mr B also corresponded to the coroner's reports on several of the murdered youths. Von Einem also told the witness that he had taken two girls from the Adelaide Oval during a football match, as Ratcliffe and Gordon had been; he said he had killed them but did not elaborate.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: The cases of the Beaumont children and of the Adelaide Oval abductions remain officially open. However, von Einem matched the police sketches of the suspect in both the Beaumont and Oval cases and, in 1989, he was identified as a suspect in a confidential police report. In August 2007, it was reported that police were examining archival footage from the original Beaumont search, shot by Channel Seven, that shows a young man resembling von Einem among onlookers. The report said that police were calling for information to establish the man's identity.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Arthur Stanley Brown (1912–2002) was charged in 1998 with the murders of sisters Judith and Susan Mackay in Townsville, Queensland. They had disappeared on their way to school on 26 August 1970 and their bodies were found several days later in a dry creek bed. Both girls had been strangled. Brown's July 2000 trial was delayed after his lawyer applied for a section 613 verdict (unfit to be tried) from the jury. He was never retried as he was found to have dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Brown died in 2002.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Along with von Einem, Brown is considered to be the most likely suspect for the Beaumont abduction as he bore a striking similarity to an identikit picture of the suspect for both the Beaumont and Oval cases. A search for a connection to the Beaumonts was unsuccessful as no employment records existed that could shed light on Brown's movements at the time. Some of the records were believed lost in the 1974 Brisbane flood. It is also possible that Brown, who had unrestricted access to government buildings, may have destroyed his own files.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Although there is no proof that he had ever visited Adelaide, a witness recalled having a conversation with Brown in which he mentioned having seen the Adelaide Festival Centre nearing completion, which would place him in the city shortly before the Oval abduction on 25 August 1973. However, no evidence has ever been found to connect Brown with Adelaide in 1966. Brown was 53 at the time of the Beaumont disappearance, which does not match the description of the suspect seen with the children, who was reported as being in his thirties.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: James O'Neill (born 1947), who in 1975 was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a nine-year-old boy in Tasmania, is reported to have previously told a Kimberley station owner and several other acquaintances that he was responsible for the Beaumont disappearances. In 2006, O'Neill lost an injunction in the High Court of Australia to stop the broadcast of an ABC documentary, "The Fishermen", which attempted to link him to the Beaumont case.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Former Victorian detective Gordon Davie spent three years speaking to O'Neill to win his confidence before filming him for the documentary. Davie said that although there was no evidence to link O'Neill to the Beaumont case, he was persuaded that O'Neill was to blame. "I asked him about the Beaumonts and he said: 'I couldn't have done it. I was in Melbourne at that time.' That is not a denial." Later asked again if he had murdered the children, O'Neill replied, "Look, on legal advice I am not going to say where I was or when I was there." Although O'Neill claims never to have visited Adelaide, his work in the opal industry at the time required that he frequently visit Coober Pedy, which would have required him to pass through Adelaide. Davie also suspected O'Neill was involved in the Adelaide Oval abductions. The South Australia Police have interviewed O'Neill and discounted him as a suspect in the Beaumont case.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Derek Percy (1948–2013), a convicted child killer and Victoria's then-longest-serving prisoner, was suggested in a 2007 article in Melbourne's "The Age" as a suspect in the Beaumont case. "The Age" alleged that evidence gathered by cold-case investigators indicated that Percy was a likely suspect for a number of unsolved child murders, including the Beaumont children. His insanity plea in the 1969 murder of Yvonne Tuohy was at least partly based on his suffering a psychological condition that could prevent him remembering details of his actions. He was supposed to have indicated that he believed he might have killed the Beaumont children, as he was in the area at the time, but he had no recollection of actually doing so. On 30 August 2007, Victoria Police successfully applied for permission to question Percy in relation to the Beaumont case.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: In 1966, Percy was aged 17 and therefore seems too young to have been the man seen with the children by several witnesses. It is also unknown whether Percy would have had a car at that time, while the Beaumont suspect is presumed by commentators to have had access to one for facilitating a quick getaway and also for disposing of the children's bodies later. Percy was in prison from 1969 until his death in 2013, which means that he could not have been the suspect in the Adelaide Oval abductions, whom many investigators believe to be connected to the Beaumont disappearance.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Allan Maxwell McIntyre (died 2017)—who had himself been investigated by police and cleared of involvement in the Beaumont case—gave a secondhand account to the Adelaide "Advertiser" that a man he had known in 1966, who by 2015 was being sought in Southeast Asia in connection with child abuse incidents there, had come to his home with the children's bodies in the boot of his car. McIntyre's children said that they and their father initially mistook Arnna's body for that of a boy because of her short haircut.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: The man in question was later identified as businessman Alan Anthony Munro (aged 75 in 2017), a former Scoutmaster who had pleaded guilty to ten child sex offences dating back to 1962. For these crimes, he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment, with a non-parole period of five years and five months, making him eligible for release in 2022.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: In June 2017, Adelaide detectives were given a copy of a child's diary, written in 1966, which allegedly placed Munro in the vicinity of Glenelg Beach at the time of the Beaumont disappearance. He was convicted of abusing several children, including one of McIntyre's sons, who was a contributor to the diary. Munro had been previously investigated by police but no evidence had been found that he was involved in the Beaumont case.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Harry Phipps (died 2004), a local factory owner and then-member of Adelaide's social elite, came to attention as a possible suspect after the publication of the book "The Satin Man: Uncovering the Mystery of the Missing Beaumont Children" in 2013. The book did not name the identity of the Satin Man, but Phipps's estranged son, Haydn, named him soon after the book's publication.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: Phipps bore a substantial likeness to the identikit of the man seen talking to the Beaumont children at Glenelg Beach. He was wealthy and known to be in the habit of giving out £1 notes, was later alleged to have paedophile tendencies, and lived only 300 metres away from the beach on the corner of Augusta Street and Sussex Street. Haydn, who was aged 15 at the time of the disappearance, came forward to researchers in 2007 with the claim that he had seen the children in his father's yard that day. Two other persons, youths at the time, said that they had been paid by Phipps to dig a 2 × 1 × 2-metre hole in his factory yard that weekend, for unstated reasons.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: In November 2013, a one-metre-squared section of a factory in North Plympton, which had been owned by Phipps, was excavated. A ground-penetrating radar found "one small anomaly, which can indicate movement or objects within the soil", but the dig found no additional evidence and investigations into the site were closed. On 22 January 2018, Adelaide detectives announced that they would return to the factory site and conduct further excavations, after a private investigation sponsored by Channel Seven Adelaide. The excavation, on 2 February 2018, took nine hours. Animal bones and general rubbish were found, but nothing related to the Beaumont case.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: In 1973, two children, Joanne Ratcliffe (11) and Kirste Gordon (4), disappeared from the Adelaide Oval during a football match, and they are presumed to have been abducted and murdered. Ratcliffe's parents and Gordon's grandmother had allowed the girls to leave their group to go to the toilet. They were seen several times in the ninety minutes after leaving the Oval, apparently distressed and in the company of an unknown man, but they vanished after the last reported sighting. The police sketch of the suspect resembles that of the man last seen with the Beaumont children, but it is not a satisfactory identikit image. Detectives believe the cases may be linked.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: In 1979, the badly mutilated body of a young man was found in Adelaide, later identified as Neil Muir (25). In 1982, the similarly mutilated body of Mark Langley (18) was found. Before his death, he had been subjected to "surgery"—his abdomen had been sliced open, and part of his bowel had been removed. Over the next few months more bodies were found. The dismembered skeletal remains of Peter Stogneff (14) were found almost a year after his disappearance and Alan Barnes (18) was found mutilated in a similar manner to Langley. A fifth victim, Richard Kelvin (15), was found in 1983, once again with the same mutilations. Von Einem was convicted of Kelvin's murder in 1984 and was charged with the murders of Barnes and Langley in 1989. However, the prosecution was forced to enter a "nolle prosequi" (unwilling to pursue) when crucial evidence was deemed inadmissible. These crimes have been known collectively as the Family Murders; police believe that a core group of four people and up to eight associates were involved. Testimony given during von Einem's trial alleged he was involved in both the Beaumont and Oval abductions.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: The Beaumont case resulted in one of the largest police investigations in Australian criminal history and remains one of Australia's most infamous cold cases, even after many decades. In January 2018, the Premier of South Australia, Jay Weatherill, said that South Australia Police had "never given up on the case" and that they "have a policy that no murder investigation ends up in a closed file". The State Government also continues to maintain a $1 million reward for information relating to the children's disappearance.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: The kidnapping is also viewed by many social commentators as a significant event in the evolution of Australian society, with a large number of people changing the way they supervised their children daily. At the time, it was never publicly suggested that the children should not have been allowed to travel unsupervised, or that their parents were in any way negligent, simply because contemporary Australian society took it for granted that this was safe and acceptable. However, this case alongside similar child-related crimes (such as the 1960 Graeme Thorne kidnapping and the 1965 Wanda Beach murders) "marked an end of innocence in [post-war] Australian life".


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: The regular and widespread attention given to this case, its significance in Australian criminal history and the fact that the mystery of their disappearance has never been explained have led to the story being continually revisited by the media. New leads and clues are regularly reported by the media, and the case still regularly headlines print and broadcast media more than half a century on.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: At the time of the investigation, the Beaumont parents received widespread sympathy from the Australian public. They remained at their Somerton Park home; Nancy in particular held hope that the children would return, and stated in interviews that it would be "dreadful" if the children returned home and did not find their parents waiting for them. Over the years, as new leads and new theories emerged, the Beaumonts co-operated fully in exploring every possibility, whether it was claims that the children had been abducted by a religious cult and were living variously in New Zealand, Melbourne, or Tasmania, or some clue that suggested a possible burial site for the children. They were devastated in 1990 when newspapers published computer-generated photographs of how the children would have looked as adults. The pictures, published against their wishes, caused a huge wave of public sympathy from a community which is still sensitive to their pain.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: The couple later divorced and lived separately, having resolved to live their final years away from the public attention that followed them for decades. They sold their home and, while the case remains open, the South Australian Police remains informed of the couple's new addresses. The Beaumonts were reported to have accepted that the truth of their children's disappearances may never be discovered. Nancy died in Adelaide on 16 September 2019, in a nursing home, aged 92, whereas Jim, also aged in his 90s, continues to reside in Adelaide.


title: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

text: The case attracted widespread police and media attention in Australia and beyond. The fact that the case has never been explained has led to the story being continually revisited by the media, and by newer online sites, more than 50 years after the children's disappearance. Some examples include:


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: The 1997 NBA Finals was the concluding series of the 1997 NBA playoffs that determined the champion of the 1996–97 NBA season. The Western Conference champion Utah Jazz took on the defending NBA champion and Eastern Conference champion Chicago Bulls for the title, with the Bulls holding home court advantage. The series were played under a best-of-seven format, with the first 2 games in Chicago, the next 3 games in Salt Lake City, and the last 2 games in Chicago.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: The Bulls won the series 4 games to 2. For the fifth time in as many Finals appearances, Michael Jordan was named NBA Finals MVP.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: The Bulls and Jazz won a combined 133 regular season games, second most in Finals history. Until 2016, the 1997 NBA Finals was the last to feature teams that won a total of at least 130 regular season games.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: For the Chicago Bulls, the campaign was almost identical to their record-breaking 1995–96 season. They began the season 12–0, and by the All-Star break, were 42–6, putting them on pace to win 70 games for a second year in a row. But some late-season injuries and poor play denied them another 70-win season, and the Bulls settled for a 69–13 record, best in the league.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: In the playoffs, the Bulls swept the Washington Bullets in the first round, dispatched the Atlanta Hawks in five games in the second round, then defeated the Miami Heat in five games in the Eastern Conference Finals.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: The Jazz emerged as a force in the Western Conference during the 1990s, powered by its All-Star duo of point guard John Stockton and power forward Karl Malone. They advanced to the Western Conference Finals twice between 1992 and 1996, but lost on each occasion.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: However, a different story was written for the 1996–97 season. Powered by league MVP Karl Malone, along with the talented John Stockton, the Jazz finally asserted themselves atop the Western Conference, finishing with a franchise-record 64 wins.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: In the playoffs, Utah swept the Los Angeles Clippers in the opening round and eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers in five games in the second round. Then, with John Stockton's buzzer-beating, three-point shot in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals, eliminated the Houston Rockets to advance to their first NBA Finals in franchise history.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: The Finals were played using a 2–3–2 site format, where the first two and last two games are held at the team with home court advantage's (Chicago's) home court (United Center).


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: Had the Western Conference Finals between the Jazz and the Houston Rockets reached a game 7, the Finals would have started on Wednesday, June 4 and followed the similar Wednesday-Friday-Sunday rotation.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: Despite injuring his foot in the Eastern Conference Finals against Miami, Scottie Pippen helped the Bulls to an 84–82 victory over Utah on Sunday. He scored 27 points while Jordan scored 31. The Bulls trailed by one in the 4th, yet were able to grab an 81–79 lead after Pippen blocked Antoine Carr, then made his third 3-pointer with 1:11 remaining. However, John Stockton answered with a 3 of his own with 51.7 seconds left to give Utah an 82–81 lead. Michael Jordan made 1 of 2 free throws with 35.8 seconds left to tie it at 82. Then, Karl Malone was fouled by Rodman with 9.2 seconds left and had a chance to give Utah the lead. Scottie famously psyched him out, saying, "Just remember, the mailman doesn't deliver on Sundays, Karl", before he stepped up to the line. He missed them both. Jordan got the rebound and quickly called a time-out with 7.5 seconds left. With the game on the line, the Bulls put the ball in Jordan's hands. He dribbled out most of the waning seconds, then launched a 20-footer (game-winning shot) that went in at the buzzer to give Chicago a 1–0 series lead, after which he pumped his fist in triumph. The fist-pumping often draws comparisons to another famous Jordan reaction to a buzzer-beater, when he leaped into the air after hitting The Shot that eliminated the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 5 of the 1989 Eastern Conference quarterfinals.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: The Bulls simply dominated Game 2. After a hard-fought first quarter, the Bulls took control of the game with a 12–0 second-quarter run. Utah's 31 points in the first half was only one point above an NBA low. Karl Malone, who missed those two key free throws in Game 1, had another bad night, making only 6 of 20 field goals. Dennis Rodman nailed a late 3-pointer to put the Bulls up 97–85.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: Utah's fans welcomed their proud Western Conference champs with force. During the introductions of the Jazz's starting lineups, the Bulls players plugged their ears, due to the loud cheers and fireworks within the Delta Center. The Chicago Bulls started off the first three quarters with mediocre play, despite Scottie Pippen tying a then-Finals record with seven 3-pointers. Utah was led by Karl Malone, who scored 37 points and had 10 rebounds. Chicago attempted a 4th-quarter comeback, cutting a 24-point deficit down to 7, but Utah ultimately won its first game of the series. With the Bulls trailing by 18 points in the second quarter, Michael Jordan threw down an alley-oop slam which drew loud boos from the crowd. Dennis Rodman defended his poor performance in Game 3 with a vulgar remark denigrating Mormons and was fined a then record $50,000 for this remark and CKE Restaurants dropped his television commercials permanently. He apologized, claiming he was not aware that Mormon referred to a religion and intended his remark at obnoxious Jazz fans.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: Due to the extremely loud Jazz fans in Game 3, Bulls coach Phil Jackson wore a pair of ear plugs. A tight game with many lead changes throughout, the Jazz led by 5 after the first quarter, but trailed by 5 at halftime. The score was tied going into the fourth quarter. Late in the game, Michael Jordan made a fast break dunk to give the Bulls a 71–66 lead, but John Stockton made a momentum-shifting 3 at the top of the key to cut the deficit to 71–69. Jordan made a jumper to give the Bulls a 73–69 lead, but the Bulls would not score again. The Jazz pulled to within 1 when Stockton stole the ball from Jordan and made 2 free throws at the other end. On the next possession John Stockton grabbed a rebound from a Jordan miss and threw a full-court pass to Karl Malone for a layup with 44.5 seconds left that put Utah in front for good, 74–73. After Stockton made the assist, he jumped up into the air several times pumping his fist. After some Bulls misses, Karl Malone made two free throws with 17 seconds left to put the Jazz up by 3. On the next possession, Michael Jordan's potential game-tying 3 with less than 10 seconds left rattled out; Stockton grabbed the rebound and threw another full-court pass to Bryon Russell, who escaped the intentional foul and dunked with 5 seconds left in the game to seal it, drawing a huge roar from the crowd. The Jazz's 12–2 run tied the series at two games apiece. The Delta Center grew so loud that during the final moments of the game when Bryon Russell made the dunk that iced the game, Marv Albert was unable to be clearly heard. The 78–73 score was one of the lowest scores in NBA Finals history.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: Game 5, known by its misnomer as "The Flu Game", was one of Michael Jordan's most memorable games. At 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning, Jordan called his personal trainer to his hotel room at a Marriott, where he was lying curled up in the fetal position and sweating profusely. He hardly had the strength to sit up in bed and was diagnosed with a stomach virus or food poisoning, likely caused by a pizza ordered the night before. Jordan eventually claimed it was food poisoning in the 2020 docuseries "The Last Dance". The Bulls' athletic trainers told Jordan that there was no way he could play the next day. The Jazz were a perfect 10–0 at home in the postseason up until that point, and a third consecutive win would give them the series lead. The Bulls needed their leader for this critical game, and despite his sickness, Jordan got out of bed at 5:50 p.m. on Wednesday, just in time for the 7 o'clock tip-off at the Delta Center.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: Jordan was weak as he stepped on the court for Game 5. At first, he displayed little energy, and John Stockton, along with reigning MVP Karl Malone, led the Jazz to a 16-point lead (36–20) in the second quarter. But Jordan slowly began to make shots despite lacking his usual speed. He scored 17 points in the quarter as the Bulls ended the half with a large run cutting the Jazz lead to four (53–49). While Jordan was fatigued in the third and sitting on the bench, Utah was able to reclaim the lead and stretched it to 8 points (77–69). Jordan shot well again in the fourth quarter, scoring 15 points. With 46.4 seconds left and Chicago down 85–84, he was fouled and went to the free throw line. He made the first to tie the game, but missed the second. Toni Kukoč got the offensive rebound to Jordan, who dribbled back to allow the offense to set up. He passed the ball to Pippen, who was quickly double-teamed. Pippen then passed the ball back to a now-unguarded Jordan, who made a 3-point shot to give the Bulls an 88–85 lead with 25 seconds remaining in the game. A Greg Ostertag dunk brought the Jazz back within one point, but Luc Longley answered with a dunk of his own, and Chicago held on for a victory when John Stockton missed the first of two free throws in front of the stunned crowd. With only a few seconds remaining and the game's result safely in Chicago's favor, Jordan collapsed into Scottie Pippen's arms, creating an iconic image that has come to symbolize The Flu Game.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: Malone was the high-scorer for the Jazz with 19 points but shot poorly during the game, air-balling an off-balance shot on the possession prior to Jordan's 3-pointer. Malone finished the second half 1-for-6 from the field. Jordan played 44 minutes, finishing the game with 38 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 1 block.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: Michael Jordan hadn't fully recovered from his illness, but he was feeling much better and led the Bulls with 39 points. Chicago struggled in the first half, scoring just 37 points and making only 9 of 27 field goals. With the Bulls struggling in the third quarter, Jordan dunked after a steal, bringing the crowd to its feet and Jud Buechler buried a 3 to help give the Bulls the momentum. The Bulls trailed by 9 early in the fourth quarter, but went on a 10–0 run to take their first lead since the opening minutes when Steve Kerr hit a 3-pointer, but the Jazz regained the lead and the game remained one possession until the final score. In the final minutes, Jordan's fadeaway jumper extended the Bulls lead to 3, before Bryon Russell hit a 3-pointer with 1:44 left to tie the game at 86. The two teams failed to score on their next possessions. Shandon Anderson then missed a reverse layup. The Jazz argued that this was due to Pippen grabbing the rim before the shot, causing the basketball standard to shake. However, the officials ruled that the ball had no chance of going in. Dennis Rodman grabbed the rebound and called time-out with 28 seconds left in a tie game. The Jazz expected Jordan to take the final shot. Instead, Jordan drew a double-team, then passed to a wide-open Steve Kerr, who hit a 17-footer with 5 seconds left to send the United Center into a frenzy. The Jazz looked for a final shot to stay alive, but Scottie Pippen made a significant defensive play as he knocked away Bryon Russell's inbound pass intended for Shandon Anderson and rolled the ball over to Toni Kukoč, who dunked the final 2 points of the game before the roaring crowd to bring the Finals to an end, despite there being 0.6 seconds left in the game. Jordan finished with 39 points to go along with 11 rebounds and four assists, and he was named Finals MVP for the 5th time. This would also be the last United Center championship celebration until the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks beat the Tampa Bay Lightning to win the 2015 Stanley Cup.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: Marv Albert was the play-by-play announcer for his seventh straight NBA Finals for the "NBA on NBC". It was his third straight NBA Finals working with color analysts Matt Guokas and Bill Walton. This would be the last NBA Finals that Albert would announce in the 1990s because of a sex scandal that would force NBC Sports to fire him later in 1997.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: During these NBA Finals, NBC Sports' Hannah Storm became the first woman to serve as pre-game host of an NBA Finals. She would continue in this role for the next three NBA Finals.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: NBC Sports also used Ahmad Rashad (Bulls sideline) and Jim Gray (Jazz sideline) as the sideline reporters.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: This would be the only NBA Finals on NBC during the 1990s that would not include Bob Costas in any capacity. He had served as the pre-game host from 1991 to 1996. The next year, during the 1998 NBA Finals, Costas served as the play-by-play announcer, a role in which he would continue until after the 2000 NBA Finals.


title: 1997 NBA Finals

text: Both teams would meet again in the Finals in 1998, the first time the same two teams met in the NBA Finals since 1989, when the Lakers and Pistons went up against each other. Only this time, the Jazz had home-court advantage. The Bulls won that series in 6 games, highlighted by Michael Jordan's last shot as a Bull in Game 6.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: Diffuse axonal injury (DAI) is a brain injury in which scattered lesions occur over a widespread area in white matter tracts as well as grey matter. DAI is one of the most common and devastating types of traumatic brain injury and is a major cause of unconsciousness and persistent vegetative state after severe head trauma. It occurs in about half of all cases of severe head trauma and may be the primary damage that occurs in concussion. The outcome is frequently coma, with over 90% of patients with severe DAI never regaining consciousness. Those who awaken from the coma often remain significantly impaired.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: DAI can occur across the spectrum of traumatic brain injury (TBI) severity, wherein the burden of injury increases from mild to severe. Concussion may be a milder type of diffuse axonal injury.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: DAI is the result of traumatic shearing forces that occur when the head is rapidly accelerated or decelerated, as may occur in car accidents, falls, and assaults. Vehicle accidents are the most frequent cause of DAI; it can also occur as the result of child abuse such as in shaken baby syndrome.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: Immediate disconnection of axons may be observed in severe brain injury, but the major damage of DAI is delayed secondary axon disconnections, slowly developed over an extended time course. Tracts of axons, which appear white due to myelination, are referred to as white matter. Lesions in both grey and white matter are found in postmortem brains in CT and MRI exams.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: Besides mechanical breakage of the axonal cytoskeleton, DAI pathology also includes secondary physiological changes, such as interrupted axonal transport, progressive swelling and degeneration. Recent studies have linked these changes to twisting and misalignment of broken axon microtubules, as well as tau protein and amyloid precursor protein (APP) deposition.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: Lesions typically are found in the white matter of brains injured by DAI; these lesions vary in size from about 1–15 mm and are distributed in a characteristic pattern. DAI most commonly affects white matter in areas including the brain stem, the corpus callosum, and the cerebral hemispheres.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: The lobes of the brain most likely to be injured are the frontal and temporal lobes. Other common locations for DAI include the white matter in the cerebral cortex, the superior cerebral peduncles, basal ganglia, thalamus, and deep hemispheric nuclei. These areas may be more easily damaged because of the difference in density between them and the other regions of the brain.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: DAI is characterized by axonal separation, in which the axon is torn at the site of stretch and the part distal to the tear degrades. While it was once thought that the main cause of axonal separation was tearing due to mechanical forces during the trauma event, it is now understood that axons are not typically torn upon impact; rather, secondary biochemical cascades, which occur in response to the primary injury (which occurs as the result of mechanical forces at the moment of trauma) and take place hours to days after the initial injury, are largely responsible for the damage to axons.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: Though the processes involved in secondary brain injury are still poorly understood, it is now accepted that stretching of axons during injury causes physical disruption to and proteolytic degradation of the cytoskeleton. It also opens sodium channels in the axolemma, which causes voltage-gated calcium channels to open and Ca to flow into the cell. The intracellular presence of Ca triggers several different pathways, including activating phospholipases and proteolytic enzymes damaging mitochondria and the cytoskeleton, and activating secondary messengers, which can lead to separation of the axon and death of the cell.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: Axons are normally elastic, but when rapidly stretched they become brittle, and the axonal cytoskeleton can be broken. Misalignment of cytoskeletal elements after stretch injury can lead to tearing of the axon and death of the neuron. Axonal transport continues up to the point of the break in the cytoskeleton, but no further, leading to a buildup of transport products and local swelling at that point. When this swelling becomes large enough, it can tear the axon at the site of the cytoskeleton break, causing it to draw back toward the cell body and form a bulb. This bulb is called a "retraction ball", the histological hallmark of diffuse axonal injury.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: When the axon is torn, Wallerian degeneration, in which the part of the axon distal to the break degrades, takes place within one to two days after injury. The axolemma disintegrates, myelin breaks down and begins to detach from the cell in an anterograde direction (from the body of the cell toward the end of the axon), and nearby cells begin phagocytic activity, engulfing the cellular debris.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: While sometimes only the cytoskeleton is disturbed, frequently disruption of the axolemma occurs as well, causing the influx of Ca ions into the cell and unleashing a variety of degradational processes. An increase in Ca and Na levels and a drop in K levels are found within the axon immediately after injury. Possible routes of Ca entry include sodium channels, pores formed in the membrane during stretch, and failure of ATP-dependent transporters due to mechanical blockage or lack of available metabolic energy. High levels of intracellular Ca, the major cause of post-injury cell damage, destroy mitochondria, and trigger phospholipases and proteolytic enzymes that damage Na+ channels and degrade or alter the cytoskeleton and the axoplasm. Excess Ca can also lead to damage to the blood–brain barrier and swelling of the brain.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: One of the proteins activated by the presence of calcium in the cell is calpain, a Ca-dependent non-lysosomal protease. About 15 minutes to half an hour after the onset of injury, a process called calpain-mediated spectrin proteolysis, or CMSP, begins to occur. Calpain breaks down a molecule called spectrin, which holds the membrane onto the cytoskeleton, causing the formation of blebs and the breakdown of the cytoskeleton and the membrane, and ultimately the death of the cell. Other molecules that can be degraded by calpains are microtubule subunits, microtubule-associated proteins, and neurofilaments.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: Generally occurring one to six hours into the process of post-stretch injury, the presence of calcium in the cell initiates the caspase cascade, a process in cell injury that usually leads to apoptosis, or "programmed cell death".


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: Mitochondria, dendrites, and parts of the cytoskeleton damaged in the injury have a limited ability to heal and regenerate, a process which occurs over two or more weeks. After the injury, astrocytes can shrink, causing parts of the brain to atrophy.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: DAI is difficult to detect since it does not show up well on CT scans or with other macroscopic imaging techniques, though it shows up microscopically. However, there are characteristics typical of DAI that may or may not show up on a CT scan. Diffuse injury has more microscopic injury than macroscopic injury and is difficult to detect with CT and MRI, but its presence can be inferred when small bleeds are visible in the corpus callosum or the cerebral cortex. MRI is more useful than CT for detecting characteristics of diffuse axonal injury in the subacute and chronic time frames. Newer studies such as Diffusion Tensor Imaging are able to demonstrate the degree of white matter fiber tract injury even when the standard MRI is negative. Since axonal damage in DAI is largely a result of secondary biochemical cascades, it has a delayed onset, so a person with DAI who initially appears well may deteriorate later. Thus injury is frequently more severe than is realized, and medical professionals should suspect DAI in any patients whose CT scans appear normal but who have symptoms like unconsciousness.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: MRI is more sensitive than CT scans, but is still liable to false negatives because DAI is identified by looking for signs of edema, which may not always be present.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: DAI is classified into grades based on severity of the injury. In Grade I, widespread axonal damage is present but no focal abnormalities are seen. In Grade II, damage found in Grade I is present in addition to focal abnormalities, especially in the corpus callosum. Grade III damage encompasses both Grades I and II plus rostral brain stem injury and often tears in the tissue.


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: DAI currently lacks specific treatment beyond that for any type of head injury, which includes stabilizing the patient and trying to limit increases in intracranial pressure (ICP).


title: Diffuse axonal injury

text: The idea of DAI first came about as a result of studies by Sabina Strich on lesions of the white matter of individuals who had sustained head trauma years before. Strich first proposed the idea in 1956, calling it "diffuse degeneration of white matter"; however, the more concise term "diffuse axonal injury" came to be preferred. Strich was researching the relationship between dementia and head trauma and asserted in 1956 that DAI played an integral role in the eventual development of dementia due to head trauma. The term DAI was introduced in the early 1980s.


title: McStay family murders

text: The McStay family murders occurred on or near February 4, 2010, after the family disappeared from their home in Fallbrook, California, United States; their bodies were found in the desert near Victorville, California, on November 13, 2013. Their disappearance was widely reported by the national news media.


title: McStay family murders

text: On November 7, 2014, police announced they had arrested Charles "Chase" Merritt, Joseph McStay's business partner, and intended to charge him with the murders. The trial began on January 7, 2019, in San Bernardino. On June 10, 2019, a jury found Merritt guilty of murdering the McStay family. He was sentenced to death on January 21, 2020.


title: McStay family murders

text: In 2010, Joseph McStay (age 40) and his wife Summer (age 43) lived in Fallbrook, California, with their sons Gianni (age 4) and Joseph Jr. (age 3). Joseph owned and operated Earth Inspired Products, a company that built decorative fountains, and Summer was a licensed real estate agent. Summer was born Virginia Lisa Aranda, and had also been known as Summer Martelli.


title: McStay family murders

text: On February 4, 2010, at 7:47 pm, a neighbor's surveillance system captured the bottom eighteen inches of a vehicle, thought at the time to be the McStay family's 1996 Isuzu Trooper. In the surveillance recording, the vehicle's occupants could not be seen. At 8:28  pm, a call was placed from Joseph's cell phone to his business associate, Charles "Chase" Merritt, which went to voicemail. Merritt later told police that he ignored the voicemail because he was watching a movie. Joseph's cellphone pinged a tower in Fallbrook.


title: McStay family murders

text: Over the next several days, relatives of the McStays unsuccessfully tried to contact the family. On February 13, Joseph's brother Michael traveled to the McStay residence and climbed in and gained entry to the home upon finding an open window in the back. Michael did not find any family at home, and their two dogs were in the backyard. On February 15, Michael phoned the San Diego County Sheriff's Department (SDSD) and reported that his brother and his family were missing. Officers arrived at the home and requested a search warrant, executed on February 19, 2010. Although a search of the house found no evidence of a struggle or foul play, there were indications of a hasty departure: a carton of eggs had been left on the counter, and two child-size bowls of popcorn sat on a sofa.


title: McStay family murders

text: During their investigation, the police learned that around 11:00 pm on February 8, the family's Trooper had been towed from a strip mall parking lot in San Ysidro, San Diego, near the Mexican border. It was believed to have been parked there between 5:30 and 7:00 that evening. The car's location from February 4 to February 8 remains unknown.