NORTHUMBERLAND, England (AP) — Former England rugby international Tom Voyce is missing and feared dead after his car was recovered from a flood-swollen river, police said Tuesday.
Northumbria Police believe the 43-year-old Voyce attempted to drive across a section of the River Aln near Alnwick, a town about 30 miles north of Newcastle, when his car was caught in the current.
"Officers have since recovered his car, but sadly Tom is yet to be found,” police said in statement on X. “It is believed in his attempts to escape he has been swept away and tragically died.”
Police received a report Sunday morning that Voyce had not returned to his home from the previous evening, when he was out with friends.
Police said it had carried out extensive enquiries.
Voyce, who played wing and fullback, won nine caps for England from 2001 to 2006. He played for Wasps from 2003 to 2009, winning European and domestic titles. He also played for Bath and Gloucester, making 220 Premiership appearances before retiring in May 2013.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Tom Voyce at this extremely challenging time,” England Rugby posted on X.
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Members of a search and rescue team arrive at River Aln near Alnwick, north of Newcastle, England where former England rugby player Tom Voyce, who is missing, apparently attempted to drive across a section of the river, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)
Members of a search and rescue team conduct a search operation at Abberwick Ford on the River Aln near Alnwick, north of Newcastle, England for former England rugby player Tom Voyce who is missing, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)
FILE - England's Tom Voyce completes a try despite a tackle from Argentina's Luccio Lopez Fleming during Churchill Cup Final rugby action in Edmonton, June 26, 2005. (John Ulan/The Canadian Press via AP, file)
FILE - Tom Voyce of Wasps, center, is tackled by Perpignan's Gavin Hume, right, as Perpignan's David Marty looks on, left, during their European Rugby Cup match in Perpignan, southwestern France, Oct. 28 2006. (AP Photo/Remy Gabalda, file)
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Two men were freed Wednesday after their convictions were overturned in a 2009 double homicide whose investigation was overseen by a discredited white Kansas City, Kansas, police detective.
Forty-year-old Dominique Moore said he was “thankful and blessed” after his release from a state prison in El Dorado. And cheers from a crowd of relatives greeted Cedric Warren, 34, as he walked out of jail in the county where he was convicted nearly 15 years ago in the drug house shooting that killed Charles Ford and Larry Ledoux.
The men's life sentences had carried no chance of parole for 25 years.
“I really want to cry, but I can’t. That’s how overwhelmed I am," Warren's father, Cedric Toney, said after a vehicle carrying his son pulled away from the jail. Warren himself was too overcome to talk to a throng of reporters who awaited his release.
Toney alleged misconduct from Roger Golubski, who died last week in an apparent suicide just before the start of his criminal trial over allegations that he sexually assaulted Black women.
But that had nothing to do with Wyandotte County Judge Aaron Roberts’ decision to toss Warren’s convictions on Monday and Moore’s on Wednesday. Roberts found that prosecutors failed to turn over information about the severe mental health issues of a key witness. The witness had schizophrenia, and offered a shifting account of what happened, the defense wrote in court filings.
Not aired in court was Toney's claim that before Golubski supervised the investigation that led to his son’s arrest, the former detective stalked Toney's daughter and his son’s mother. He said he suspected his son’s first stop would be their graves; both died while he was incarcerated.
The allegation of misconduct is similar to one raised in the case of Lamonte McIntyre, who served 23 years behind bars for a double homicide before he was freed. McIntyre’s mother has said Golubski pressured her for sexual favors.
Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree could have retried Warren and Moore but announced Wednesday that he wouldn't, paving the way for their release.
He said Golubski’s involvement had nothing to do with the decision and said it wasn't an exoneration. Instead, he said another trial wouldn't be “just or fair” because a wrong was done by his predecessors who withheld the key evidence.
Since taking office in 2017, Dupree said his office has increased training on fairness and is nearly done digitizing thousands of old cases. That is a key step in a $1.7 million effort to look for potential misconduct in the cases involving Golubski and others.
“It’s not about getting the conviction. It’s about getting a just outcome and doing what is right,” Dupree said.
Brittany Robinson, Warren’s cousin, said the family always maintained hope, convinced he was innocent.
“On his momma’s death bed she said, ‘Don’t quit fighting until my baby come home,'" Robinson said, calling Golubski corrupt. She added: “I feel sorry for all the families that fell victim to him. Hopefully they will get their day to celebrate just like us.”
Moore, too, said he was innocent as he drove home from prison with his attorneys, eagerly awaiting barbecue after 15 years of prison food.
“I am just thankful that the court has seen the wrong that has happened in my case," he said.
Prosecutors say that, for years, Golubski preyed on female residents in poor neighborhoods, demanding sexual favors and sometimes threatening to harm or jail their relatives if they refused.
In addition to two sets of federal charges, one lawsuit involving McIntyre and his mother has been settled, and two other lawsuits are pending.
One of Warren's attorneys, Cheryl Pilate, said she and other attorneys continue looking into cases Golubski worked.
“It is absolutely not the last one," she said of Warren and Moore's case. "Roger Golubski was a very powerful figure who was involved in more cases than I can even court.”
In this photo provided by Bob Hoffman, Dominique Moore, 40, poses with one of his attorneys, Courtney Stout, after he was released from prison when a judge overturned his conviction in a double homicide case, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in El Dorado, Kan. (Bob Hoffman via AP)
In this image taken from video, Cedric Warren, right, 34, walks out of the Wyandotte County Courthouse in Kansas City, Kan, accompanied by his father, Cedric Toney, after his conviction was overturned in a 2009 double homicide Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Heather Hollingsworth)
In this undated photo released by family, Cedric Warren folds his hands as a teenager. (Cedric Toney via AP)
