Latest news with #JoshuaTree
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Washington Post
After their teens died, this couple made a phone booth for anyone coping with loss
Colin Campbell was driving with his wife, Gail Lerner, and their two teens along Highway 62 near Morongo Valley, California, when a drunk driver going 90 miles an hour struck their car. Ruby, 17, and Hart, 14, who were seated in the back, were killed in the crash. The family was on their way to their new home in the town of Joshua Tree that evening in June 2019.
Daily Mail
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Cher's son Elijah Blue Allman is released from hospital after overdose
Cher 's troubled son Elijah Blue Allman has been discharged from the hospital following his drug overdose one week ago. Allman, 48, whom the 79-year-old music icon shared with the late Gregg Allman, was released from a Southern California facility and is recovering at home, according to TMZ. reached out to Cher's reps for comment, but did not immediately hear back. The legendary performer's younger of two children 'was rushed to the hospital in Joshua Tree, California, after overdosing earlier Saturday morning,' TMZ reported on June 14. A San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department spokesman told 'On Saturday, June 14, 2025, at about 1:25 p.m., deputies from our Morongo Basin Station responded to a residence in the 2300 block of Cambria Avenue, in Landers, for a male subject acting erratically. 'When deputies arrived, Elijah Allman, 48, was being evaluated by emergency medical personnel. Deputies located drugs inside the home and Allman was transported to the hospital. The investigation is ongoing.' It is unknown what drugs Allman was using, with an insider adding last week that he is 'very lucky to have survived.' It was said last week that Cher, full name Cherilyn Sarkisian, is focused on 'doing everything she can to get him the help he needs' and only concerned for her son's well-being. In 2014 Allman revealed he began using drugs, like weed and ecstasy, at just 11-years-old and detailed some close calls. 'I [was] just looking to escape all the things in my past and, that's when you turn to those kind of drugs, you know heroin and opiates,' he told ET at the time. He added, '[Heroin] kind of saved me … If I didn't have that at that point, I don't know what I would have done …You may jump off a bridge. If you can only just go through that time period and live through it and then get help.' Allman also recalled 'some moments of really feeling at the edge of mortality.' 'I always kind of kept it a little bit safe but you never can do that,' he explained. 'Even though you think that in your mind, of course the wrong things can happen. 'The wrong combination of things can happen and you can just slip into the abyss. I knew it was wrong and I knew that I was very unsatisfied with life at that point.' In early 2024 a judge threw out Cher's bid to have Elijah placed in a conservatorship controlled by her. She had petitioned LA Superior Court to appoint her as Elijah's temporary conservator, arguing that his drug addiction, plus mental and physical health issues, made him unable to manage the $120,000 a year he gets from a trust fund set up for him by his late father, rock star Gregg Allman. Cher said she feared he would spend his $10,000 a month payouts on drugs, putting his life in jeopardy. Judge Jessica Uzcategui refused to appoint Cher as conservator, saying that the star's attorneys had not given Elijah enough notice of the court action and refused to share confidential information with him about his case. After the brief hearing, when asked how he felt about the result, Elijah just smiled and shook his head. Cher's attorney, Gabrielle Vidal, asked the judge to waive the usual five-day notice required to inform a person of a proposed conservatorship, arguing that 'absent a (conservatorship) order today' distribution of money to Elijah from his trust fund could put him 'in a life or death position.'
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
A Scary Encounter Inspired Her to Become a Rattlesnake Wrangler. Now, She's Dedicated Her Life to Saving Them (Exclusive)
Danielle Wall has made a name for herself in Joshua Tree as a local rattlesnake wrangler. After encountering one on the road in 2018, she taught herself about the species and how to handle them While California's animal control laws require captured rattlesnakes to be euthanized, Wall sends them away from properties without harming them. She does not charge for her services at all Wall supplements her reptile management volunteer work with paid gigs handling animals on TV and film sets, and she's also gained a following of over 116,000 on social mediaIt was August 2018. Danielle Wall was in college at the time and trying to make ends meet. She worked jobs at a wedding venue and took tutoring gigs to pull in some cash. She was driving to her home in Joshua Tree, Calif., after yet another long day when something in the middle of the road made her suddenly swerve her Honda Civic. Sprawled out in the center of the street was a rattlesnake, something Wall had never seen in her two years living out in the desert. She didn't know much about snakes, but she knew she didn't want to crush it. Wall maneuvered her car directly over the reptile so the tires would pass by it on either side, but when she looked back, the rattlesnake wasn't moving. "I pulled over, and I was like, 'Oh God, did I kill it?' Because it was just laying there, not moving, not doing anything," she recalls to PEOPLE almost seven years later. But looking at it from outside of her car, she realized it was alive. With no cell service or any experience with snakes, Wall was scared. Terrified, in fact, but not paralyzingly so. Her empathy for the living creature took over. She broke off a stick from a nearby bush and returned to the road to poke the snake. After a jab, the rattlesnake took off, slithering away from the road and out of danger. "That's the grand story," says Wall, now 31. The next chapter of her life unfolded from there, the moment she simply poked a rattlesnake on the road. She's since dedicated herself to safely removing rattlesnakes from dangerous places, where they may be threatened or where they may pose a threat to others. In most scenarios, Wall explains, the latter only occurs after the former. "People think they're aggressive, but on paper, they have the same behavioral defenses as feral kittens. And a feral kitten's not going to attack a human or bite a human for no reason," she tells PEOPLE. "But if you trap it, the feral kitten's going to try to run past you before jumping on you. And the snakes are all the same ... Most bites are completely preventable." Of course, Wall didn't know that back in 2018. But when she got home after her first rattlesnake encounter in the round, she decided to familiarize herself with the species and find out how others handle such encounters. Her search yielded chilling information, findings that didn't sit right with Wall at all. California animal control's typical protocol was — and still is, legally — to euthanize found and caught rattlesnakes. The violence of it all got to her. A born nature-lover, Wall was appalled to learn that people were killing wildlife out of fear. Wall wasn't just going to sit with the horror. She felt compelled to fix the problem. "I was like, 'How hard could it be? I'll teach myself or reach out, see if anyone will teach me,'" the SoCal resident recalls. "I found no resources. And then the few people I did reach out to that answered were like, 'No,'" says Wall. "One guy said, 'Sit down, little girl, you're going to get hurt.'" Rejection after rejection, Wall resolved to just put herself out there. She educated herself on reptile husbandry and rattlesnake anatomy, reading research published by the likes of Loma Linda Medical University's herpetology department. And she watched local Facebook groups, waiting for a post by someone looking for help with a rattlesnake. Her interest was piqued by one woman's post about a snake on her property. In her caption, she specified, "I don't want it killed." The replies completely dismissed the woman's wishes. "Out of the 30 comments saying, 'Kill it,' I'm the one comment saying, 'I've moved one off the road before. I've got a stick and a bucket. Can I come try?'" Wall remembers. The woman agreed, and Wall was able to successfully, safely send off a second snake. It wasn't just how easy it was for her to catch and release the snake. It was seeing how happy and calm the woman was as Wall helped her out. "That was the pivot of, 'I can f------ do this,'" says Wall. "And then it built up from there." At first, she expected it to be a "little bit of a side thing," Wall explains, especially since she doesn't charge for her rattlesnake wrangling service at all. It's donation-based, and she was lucky enough to nab a tire sponsor after she once caught a snake for a man who owns a tire company. He gave her a $2,000 set of tires to help her drive the lengths of Joshua Tree. The new tires came at the perfect time, too, because it didn't take long before Wall's phone was constantly blowing up with requests for her to wrangle on various properties across the desert. COVID hit during year three of her business, and with so many people staying home — and plenty of city folk heading out to quieter Joshua Tree residences — they started to notice more and more snakes. "The population was getting higher. The building rates were exponential, just so many houses being built. So a lot of territory for the snakes was demolished," she explains to PEOPLE. That's not to say there were never any roaming snakes to start with, though. Snakes are all over the desert, hiding in plain sight, especially in Joshua Tree National Park, where people regularly hike and hang out without noticing any vipers. In fact, Wall nods to their widespread presence to illustrate just how mild these creatures really are. "There's no such thing as an aggressive rattlesnake towards people, because if they were aggressive, no one could live in Joshua Tree. It'd be like the movie Zombieland, but snakes," she says. "If the snakes actually decided to say, 'F--- people,' they could run everyone out of this desert." Wall continues, "They're plentiful out here, but they're so peaceful and they don't ambush us. It's nothing like that. People just think, 'Oh, well, I don't see them. So, they're not there.'" During lockdown, her phone started ringing nonstop. She was constantly dropping everything to go visit properties and remove visiting reptiles. It got to the point where she could no longer keep up with her busy lifestyle, balancing school and full-time paid work. She dropped out of college and pointed all her efforts toward snake wrangling. In place of a steady income, she picks up odd jobs on the side, usually cleaning houses. She used to offer classes on rattlesnakes, charging people $150 to attend a session, but wrangling got in the way of that, too. "I'd book an hour-and-a-half class, then 10 minutes in, I'd get a snake call. I send my assistant, and then two minutes later, I get another call," she says. "It got to the point where the anxiety I was getting trying to schedule classes to make money was making it so I couldn't go save the snakes, which is my whole purpose." Legally, she's not able to officially turn her work into a business, but even if she could charge for rattlesnake wrangling, Wall says she wouldn't. She looked at non-profit options, but the California Department of Fish and Wildlife doesn't grant third-party permits. She's come to terms with the unsteady income, but even with acceptance, Wall admits that times do get tough. "I struggle financially, big time. People have no idea. They have no f------ clue, and maybe I should be a bit more transparent about it," she tells PEOPLE. "I've had my electricity cut off because I'm more worried about making sure there's gas in my car to go and get snakes instead of paying my own bills." In place of money, however, Wall soon gained something else: notoriety. "You post one picture of a small tattooed chick holding a rattlesnake," she chuckles, admitting, "It got a lot of attention, and I didn't anticipate that." Wall's Instagram page, @High_Desert_Dani, has over 116,000 followers. The attention has paid off in a literal sense, too. She works in the entertainment business every so often, with sets hiring her to handle snakes featured in film and television. "I can charge upwards of a thousand dollars a day. So, if I get two or three really good set gigs over the year, it'll help me make my bills," Wall explains. "But I'm still in the red every year on terms of upkeep on just the snake stuff." It's an uphill battle, but it's worth it to the California native. She wants to see the state's animal control laws evolve toward a more humane approach. Other parts of the country don't require the vipers to be killed when caught. Elsewhere, there are wildlife facilities that offer rattlesnake relocation training classes and seminars. "There's other states that are already doing this, and that's how California should be. It shouldn't be that it is just me," she says. Wall admits that she gets anxiety doing publicity for herself, whether she's speaking to the press, appearing on a screen or posting for her substantial social media audience. She pushes on because she knows more attention will help her change her state's Fish and Game official protocol for handling rattlesnakes. "When I did some research, that's how a lot of other states ended up getting laws changed: Publicity," she notes. "Enough of the community was in an uproar over the killing. They were able to push for each individual county and eventually the state to uphold those laws." Sometimes her means of advocacy is misread. People challenge her motives. "I get people online that are like, 'You do this for the fame and money,'" says Wall. "And I love that people do question me, because there are people that claim to do good and they're evil. So I always say, 'Please question me.' I love to be able to prove that I'm doing this for the right reasons over and over and over." She can sense when someone is in the rattlesnake wrangling business for the wrong reasons. Those people usually wave the bright red flag of a competitive attitude. "People are like, 'Well, Danielle, you must not want more snake wranglers coming out and taking your job.' I'm like, 'What do you mean f------ taking my job?'" Wall says. "There's always snakes to save. I could use 10 helpers that I could trust, and I would be so grateful." In Wall's experience, men can be particularly competitive with her, though the snake wrangling is generally a male-dominated field. Wall has had her fair share of sexist remarks since that first "Sit down, little girl." But she's also learned that snake biting is a male-focused area, too. While she was researching the reptiles, she learned that hospital data largely shows snake bites on men 75% to 80% of the time. "There's a guy at Loma Linda [University] that does the presentations and lectures and seminars on snakes, and he's like, 'The two main reasons for rattlesnake bites are testosterone and booze,'" Wall explains. "And he is a middle-aged man, and he has no shame of being like, 'Men are dumb sometimes.' Because that's how it is in the bite world." Not unlike the rattlesnakes that lash out, Wall calls men the "number one" thing that scares her. But having grown up with brothers, it's not that she's intimidated, nor that she hates men in general. "It's more so the fact that these other male snake wranglers have to be better than me," she says. "If that's your goal, you're in it for the wrong reasons. Because I didn't get into this to be the best, I got into it to have a purpose in life." That really is how it boils down. Rattlesnakes came into Wall's life when she needed something bigger to guide her, something that she could do and feel good doing. Somehow, the timing has always made sense; in addition to her advocacy motive, these reptiles continue to pull her out of her lowest lows. One December saw Wall deeply depressed. She was going through a "pretty gnarly" breakup, and snakes rarely come out in the winter months. Without wrangling requests on her phone, she really couldn't bring herself up and out of bed. Over the course of months, she lost weight and fell further into that dark place. On the other side of winter, the sun warmed up the desert again. Snakes started to come out of hiding, and Wall's sense of happiness returned with the snake calls. "It was a very pivotal moment of just figuring out what makes me happy, why I do what I do, why I am the way I am," she recalls to PEOPLE, with an emotional catch to her voice. "I didn't realize how much the snakes actually gave me the purpose to get up ... I saved snakes and they saved me." Read the original article on People
The Sun
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Disturbing moment Cher's son Elijah Blue Allman stands in ‘zombie-like' state in 104F heat after ‘heroin overdose'
SHOCKING video shows the son of pop megastar Cher standing in a "zombie-like" state, high on drugs before he was rushed to hospital. Other disturbing footage obtained by The Sun shows Elijah Blue Allman carrying drugs wrapped in tin foil into an AirBnb before the suspected heroin overdose. 8 8 8 Witnesses say troubled Elijah, 48, Cher's youngest son, was badly sunburned and had swollen hands and feet as he stood motionless in the searing 104 degree heat in Joshua Tree, California. A video, caught on a Ring security camera earlier that day, appears to show a dishevelled Elijah unsteady on his feet as he carries his drug haul in from the car. He was dressed scruffily in blue shorts and a dirty white t-shirt, and was unshaven, with unkempt hair. The Sun can reveal the house is owned by his close pal and former Matthew Perry girlfriend, Kayti Edwards. Elijah went on a binge in the AirBnb and took a cocktail of heroin and fentanyl, a potent opioid drug, before paramedics were alerted, a close source told The Sun. Cops searched the property after he was taken to hospital and in photos seen by The Sun, heroin and white fentanyl powder are seen sprawled across a side-table next to rolled up paper. The powder appeared to have been 'chopped up' and snorted on the back of an iPhone. Cops subsequently stuck a "danger" notice to the front window of the AirBnB warning of the presence of fentanyl. While news reports claim Elijah was taken to hospital for a suspected overdose, friends have described the incident more as a drug-induced episode. They say Elijah, who has a history of substance abuse, desperately needs help. Cher's son Elijah Blue Allman, 48, rushed to hospital after overdose as singer says she is 'doing everything she can' Kayti, 48, told pals she was at the property on Saturday afternoon to check on Elijah after his behaviour had spiralled out of control in the days before. And on arrival she found him standing 'statue still' in the front yard in a 'foggy, zombie-like' state. A friend said: 'Kayti found him just standing there, unresponsive in her front yard, getting badly sunburned. 'He was blinking his eyes rapidly, but didn't acknowledge her at all. 'His hands and feet were also swollen, with scabs turning black, an affect of the drugs, that was what most concerned Kayti.' Paramedics were called and arrived on scene with police officers from San Bernardino Police Department - as is standard with drug call outs. The officers later executed a search warrant at the property and left a warning notice stating they had found fentanyl at the property. The pal said: 'Even the paramedics couldn't get through to Elijah when they arrived, he was just stood there staring into space for around ten minutes. 'Kayti had to convince him to snap out of it and to get on the stretcher and get some medical help.' 8 8 8 They added: 'Elijah had been staying at Kayti's AirBnb for over a week by that point, he arrived on June 6. 'They're old friends and he reached out and told her he needed to get out of LA and needed a place to stay. 'She met with him and took him out for dinner with her family and he stayed at a house she rents out, but she grew more and more worried about his odd behaviour. 'She'd known he had issues with drugs in the past but thought he was finally clean, but it quickly became apparent that wasn't the case, it's all very sad.' Pal Kayti, the granddaughter of screen legend Julie Andrews, had already lost her ex Matthew Perry to a drug overdose in October, 2023, and feared the same would happen to Elijah. The friend said: 'He's had drug problems for years and Kayti had supported him in the past as he tried to get clean. 'She was really worried about him when she saw what state he was in.' In a statement given to The Sun, pal Kayti said: 'Elijah and I have been close since we were teens. 8 'Although the whole thing that happened was really scary for me it could have been a lot worsened I am glad he's in a safe spot getting better.' Pals fears Elijah's troubling condition may have been down to the heroin he took being laced with Xylazine - a powerful veterinary tranquilliser which can slow breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure to dangerously low levels. Xylazine has become increasingly popular on the US drug scene, as has Fentanyl which he also took. Fentanyl is the potent opioid drug which has infuriated President Trump who sparked a trade war with China, Mexico and Canada, accusing them of doing very little to stem the flow of the drug in the US. Last night Elijah was still being treated in hospital, but it's understood he has been transferred to a private facility in Pasadena. His famous mum Cher is said to be focused on getting him the help he needs and rallying around him, according to a source. A spokesperson for San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said: "Deputies from our Morongo Basin Station responded to a residence in Landers for a male subject acting erratically. 'When deputies arrived, Elijah Allman, 48, was being evaluated by emergency medical personnel.' 'Deputies located drugs inside the home and Allman was transported to the hospital. The investigation is ongoing." Elijah's drug history is well known. His hospitalisation comes a year and a half after his hitmaker mum Cher was denied her request to be granted a conservatorship over her son. Cher was concerned that funds given to Elijah from his trust would be 'immediately spent on drugs,' according to legal documents. A judge ruled there was 'insufficient evidence' and denied the request without prejudice. In response to the petition, Elijah acknowledged his struggles 'with addiction' and admitted he 'spent money in ways that have not always been the most responsible.' But he said he was under a doctor's care and had been attending AA meetings at the time. "I recently passed a drug test and am willing to submit to future drug tests," he added in the documents. "I am clean and sober from illicit substances for over 90 days now and am fully capable of and committed to managing the money I receive quarterly from the trust left by my late father.' Elijah's dad is Greg Allman, a frontman and co-founder of the Allman Brothers Band and a trailblazer of Southern Rock. He died in 2017 from liver cancer complications at his home in Savannah, Georgia. Cher's other son Chaz Bono was the product of the singer's relationship with Sonny Bono.
Daily Mail
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Cher's somber son Chaz Bono seen for first time since brother Elijah Blue Allman's overdose
Cher 's somber son Chaz Bono was seen for the first time since brother Elijah Blue Allman's overdose as he stepped out in California on Tuesday. The legendary performer's youngest child, 48, whom she shared with the late Gregg Allman, 'was rushed to the hospital in Joshua Tree, California, after overdosing earlier Saturday morning.' Chaz, 56, put on a brave face and wore a poignant 'Strong' shirt as he waved at snappers- three days after the devastating family event. This comes after harrowing new details emerged in Allman's overdose in Southern California over the weekend. A San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department spokesman told 'On Saturday, June 14, 2025, at about 1:25 p.m., deputies from our Morongo Basin Station responded to a residence in the 2300 block of Cambria Avenue, in Landers, for a male subject acting erratically. 'When deputies arrived, Elijah Allman, 48, was being evaluated by emergency medical personnel. Deputies located drugs inside the home and Allman was transported to the hospital. The investigation is ongoing.' A source added that Allman remains hospitalized and his 'current condition is unclear.' has contacted representatives for Cher for comment and has yet to hear back. It is unknown what drugs Allman was using - with an insider adding 'Allman is 'very lucky to have survived. At this time, his mother is focused on 'doing everything she can to get him the help he needs' and only concerned for her son's well-being. Back in 2014, Allman revealed he began using drugs, like weed and ecstasy, at just 11 and detailed some close calls when it came to overdosing. 'I [was] just looking to escape all the things in my past and, that's when you turn to those kind of drugs, you know heroin and opiates,' he told ET. '[Heroin] kind of saved me … If I didn't have that at that point, I don't know what I would have done …You may jump off a bridge. If you can only just go through that time period and live through it and then get help.' Allman also revealed he had 'some close calls and some moments of really feeling at the edge of mortality.' 'I always kind of kept it a little bit safe but you never can do that,' he explained. 'Even though you think that in your mind, of course the wrong things can happen. The wrong combination of things can happen and you can just slip into the abyss. I knew it was wrong and I knew that I was very unsatisfied with life at that point.' The Oscar winner filed for a temporary sole conservatorship over Elijah's finances in 2023, arguing he suffered from 'severe mental health and substance abuse issues.' 'Any funds distributed to Elijah will immediately be spent on drugs, leaving Elijah with no assets to provide for himself, and putting Elijah's life at risk,' the court documents read. Cher withdrew the request in September 2024, nine months after he had filed court documents stating he was sober and had been attending AA-type meetings. Allman's father, Gregg, suffered from substance abuse issues which doctors believe lead to his death from liver cancer in 2012. Chaz, 56, put on a brave face and wore a poignant 'Strong' shirt as he waved at snappers- three days after the devastating family event His late uncle Duane Allman also struggled with drugs before being killed in a motorcycle accident in 1971. Allman's reported overdose comes after he was seen looking very sunburned, sweaty and disoriented outside the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles in May. He is currently going through a divorce from his estranged wife, Marieangela King. She has cited 'irreconcilable differences' and requested he pay $6,000 per month in temporary spousal support.
