A Southern California school plants a 'Moon Tree' grown with seeds flown in space

LAKE FOREST, Calif. (AP) — To cheers and applause from kids wearing spacesuits and star-studded T-shirts, a tree was planted in California that is out of this world.

The so-called “Moon Tree” — grown with seeds that were flown around the moon — was wheeled out in a wagon accompanied by several students carrying shovels to help dig its new home at Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School in Lake Forest.

The school, which has roughly 500 students in grades K-12, was among those selected to receive a seedling for a giant sequoia that was grown with seeds flown on NASA’s Artemis I Mission in 2022.

“It's kind of crazy,” said Emily Aguesse, a sixth grader who participated in Monday's ceremony welcoming the tree. “I've always wanted to go to space but this motivates it even more.”

It's the second time that NASA has flown seeds into space and brought them back for planting. An astronaut for the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 who was a former U.S. Forest Service smokejumper carried seeds that later were grown into the first generation of Moon Trees, which were planted in states spanning from Alabama to Washington.

While many of those seedlings were distributed to national monuments, this latest batch has been given to schools and museums to promote science and conservation education and help bring space down to Earth, said Paul Propster, chief story architect for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"It’s just kind of cool and fun to connect the next generation of explorers," Propster said.

It isn't known whether space travel has an effect on how plants grow and scientists continue to study the topic, he said.

In 2022, NASA and the Forest Service flew nearly 2,000 seeds from five species of trees aboard the unmanned Orion spacecraft, which went into lunar orbit and spent about four weeks traveling in space.

Once back on Earth, the seeds were grown into young sycamores, sweetgums, Douglas firs, loblolly pines and giant sequoias that could be shared with the public through an application process.

Nearly 150 seedlings were distributed earlier in the year, and another batch is expected this fall, NASA officials said.

Santiago — a science and technology-focused magnet school — planted its tree in a space-themed outdoor garden decorated with colorful stones painted by students. The school's parent and teacher association will have community volunteers care for the Moon Tree, which is expected to grow in girth and stature for decades amid a grove of eucalyptus that shades the campus in Southern California.

Colorful ropes were laid in circles on the ground to show students how big the tree could grow 50 years from now — and 500.

“This tree will grow with the kids," said Liz Gibson, who has three children at the school and chaired the NASA Moon Tree ceremony.

Students from Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School students perform at a ceremony to plant a small Giant Sequoia tree from NASA's Artemis I Mission's tree seeds that traveled around the moon twice, after the school was honored in the spring of 2024 to become NASA Moon Tree Stewards in Lake Forest, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School students arrived dressed with space themed clothing at a ceremony to plant a small Giant Sequoia tree from NASA's Artemis I Mission's tree seeds that traveled around the moon twice, after the school was honored in the spring of 2024 to become NASA Moon Tree Stewards in Lake Forest, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Santiago parent volunteer Stacie Aguesse, left, delivers a small Giant Sequoia tree from NASA's Artemis I Mission's tree seeds that traveled around the moon twice, as NASA scientists, JPL engineers, US Forest Service representatives, and teachers join Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School students at a ceremony to plant it after the school was honored in the spring of 2024 to become NASA Moon Tree Stewards in Lake Forest, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Student Emily Aguesse, 11, helps to clear a hole to plant a small Giant Sequoia tree from NASA's Artemis I Mission's tree seeds that traveled around the moon twice is delivered at the Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School grounds, after it was honored in the spring of 2024 to become NASA Moon Tree Stewards in Lake Forest, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Santiago parent volunteer Stacie Aguesse, right, helps students plant a small Giant Sequoia tree from NASA's Artemis I Mission's tree seeds that traveled around the moon twice, as NASA scientists, JPL engineers, US Forest Service representatives, and teachers join Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School students at a ceremony to plant it after the school was honored in the spring of 2024 to become NASA Moon Tree Stewards in Lake Forest, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Students at Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School participate at a ceremony to plant a small Giant Sequoia tree from NASA's Artemis I Mission's tree seeds that traveled around the moon twice, after the school was honored in the spring of 2024 to become NASA Moon Tree Stewards in Lake Forest, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School students wearing space themed clothing attend a ceremony to plant a small Giant Sequoia tree from NASA's Artemis I Mission's tree seeds that traveled around the moon twice, after the school was honored in the spring of 2024 to become NASA Moon Tree Stewards in Lake Forest, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Students at Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School participate at a ceremony to plant a small Giant Sequoia tree from NASA's Artemis I Mission's tree seeds that traveled around the moon twice, after the school was honored in the spring of 2024 to become NASA Moon Tree Stewards in Lake Forest, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

A small Giant Sequoia tree from NASA's Artemis I Mission's tree seeds that traveled around the moon twice is delivered at the Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School grounds, after it was honored in the spring of 2024 to become NASA Moon Tree Stewards in Lake Forest, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Eight women and six men have been selected so far to a jury in the trial of a man charged in the Indiana killings of two teenage girls during a winter hike in 2017.

Jury selection opened Monday in the case against Richard Allen, which has long haunted the girls' hometown of Delphi and spurred endless online speculation.

Allen, 52, is charged with two counts of murder and two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping in the killings of 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German. If convicted, he could face up to 130 years in prison. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

Jury selection is expected to continue Tuesday at a location in Fort Wayne, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from where the killings occurred.

Once the 12 members and four alternates are selected, they will be taken to Delphi, a town of about 3,000 residents, sequestered during trial and banned from using cellphones or watching news broadcasts.

If jury selection is completed on Wednesday, jury instructions and opening statements could take place Friday morning. The trial is expected to last a month.

Prosecutors said they plan to call about 50 witnesses during the trial, while Allen’s defense attorneys expect to call about 120 witnesses.

Allen, a pharmacy technician who had lived and worked in Delphi, was arrested in October 2022, nearly six years after the girls known as Abby and Libby were killed.

A relative had dropped the eighth graders off at a hiking trail just outside Delphi on Feb. 13, 2017, but the two failed to show up at the agreed pickup site later that day. They were reported missing that evening and their bodies were found the following day in a rugged, wooded area near the trail.

Within days, police released files found on Libby's cellphone — two grainy photos and audio of a man saying “down the hill” — that they believed represented the killer.

But no arrest followed.

In July 2017, investigators released a sketch of the suspect, and another in April 2019. They also released a brief video showing the suspect walking on an abandoned railroad bridge.

After years of failing to find a suspect, investigators said they went back and reviewed “prior tips.”

Allen had been interviewed in 2017. He told the officer that he had been walking on the trail the day the girls went missing and that he saw three “females” at another bridge but did not speak to them. He said he did not notice anyone else because he was distracted by a stock ticker on his phone, according to an arrest affidavit.

Police interviewed Allen again on Oct. 13, 2022, when he reasserted he had seen three “juvenile girls” during his walk in 2017. Investigators searched Allen's home and seized a .40-caliber pistol. Testing determined an unspent bullet found between the teen’s bodies “had been cycled through” Allen's gun.

According to the affidavit, Allen said he'd never been where the bullet was found, did not know the property owner, and “had no explanation as to why a round cycled through his firearm would be at that location.”

The case has seen repeated delays after evidence was leaked, Allen’s public defenders withdrew and were later reinstated by the Indiana Supreme Court. The Delphi killings remain the subject of rampant speculation and theories by true-crime enthusiasts.

Allen County Superior Court Judge Fran Gull, who is overseeing the case, issued a gag order at prosecutors’ request in December 2022, two months after Allen’s arrest. It bars attorneys, law enforcement officials, court personnel, the coroner and the girls’ relatives from commenting on the case, including on social media.

Gull has banned cameras from the courtroom during Allen’s trial.

In August this year, she ruled prosecutors can present evidence of dozens of incriminating statements they say Allen made in conversations with correctional officers, inmates, law enforcement and relatives. That evidence includes a recording of a telephone call between Allen and his wife in which, prosecutors say, he confesses to the killings.

The judge's ruling was “a real blow to the defense,” said Hal Johnston, an adjunct criminal law professor at Indiana University who is not involved in the case.

“The incriminating statements are going to be extremely persuasive because that’s what the jury wants to hear," Johnston said.

Allen's attorneys had hoped to present evidence the girls were killed in a ritual sacrifice by members of a pagan Norse religion and white nationalist group, but Gull ruled against that, saying the defense furnished no “admissible evidence" of such a connection.

She also blocked Allen's attorneys from arguing the killings may have been committed by others, including the late owner of the property where the teens' bodies were found.

Prosecutors have not disclosed how Abby and Libby were killed. But a court filing by Allen’s attorneys in support of their ritual sacrifice theory states their throats had been cut.

A sign announcing the town of Delphi, Ind., along Indiana State Road 25 is shown Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument on the grounds of the Carrol County Court House is shown in Delphi, Ind., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Historic buildings on Main Street form part of the downtown area in Delphi, Ind., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

The Carrol County Court House is shown in Delphi, Ind., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument on the grounds of the Carrol County Court House is shown in Delphi, Ind., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

The Carroll County Court House is shown in Delphi, Ind., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

The Carroll County Court House is shown in Delphi, Ind., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Signage for a restaurant located among some of the historic buildings on Main Street in the downtown area in Delphi, Ind., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

A Delphi Police Department vehicle drives under the Monon High Bridge Tail in Delphi, Ind., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

FILE - Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter announces during a news conference in Delphi, Ind., Oct. 31, 2022, the arrest of Richard Allen for the murders of two teenage girls killed in 2017. Allen's trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

FILE - Officers escort Richard Allen out of the Carroll County courthouse following a hearing, Nov. 22, 2022, in Delphi, Ind. Allen, of Delphi, is scheduled to go on trail Oct. 14, 2024 for the slayings of two teenage girls, Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, who were killed while hiking in 2017 near their small community in northern Indiana hometown. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

FILE - This image provided by Indiana State Police shows Richard Matthew Allen. Allen is scheduled to go on trail Oct. 14, 2024 for the slayings of two teenage girls, Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, who were killed while hiking in 2017 near their small community in northern Indiana hometown. (Indiana State Police via AP)

FILE - This photo released by the Indiana State Police, Feb. 13, 2017, shows a man walking along the trail system in Delphi, Ind., that authorities say is a suspect in the killings of two teenage girls. (Indiana State Police via AP, File)

The Monon High Bridge at the end of the Monon High Bridge Trail is shown in Delphi, Ind., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Decorated stones bearing the names of Abigail Williams and Liberty German, who were killed in February 2017, are placed at a memorial along the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Ind., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Decorated stones bearing the names of Abigail Williams and Liberty German, who were killed in February 2017, are placed at a memorial along the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Ind., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

FILE - Grandparents of victim Libby German, Becky Patty, left, and her husband Mike Patty, speak during a news conference for the latest updates on the investigation of the double homicide of Liberty German and Abigail Williams on Thursday, March 9, 2017, at Carroll County Courthouse in Delphi, Ind. (J. Kyle Keener/The Pharos-Tribune via AP, File)

A semi-truck crosses a railroad crossing on the edge of town in Delphi, Ind., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)