Brian Flores has officially signed a contract extension with the Vikings. That means if he does not receive an offer to be a head coach during this NFL hiring cycle, Flores will return as Minnesota’s defensive coordinator.

As of Wednesday evening, Flores has interviewed with the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers, though neither has made a decision on how they plan to fill their vacancies.

If Flores stays, it would be a major boost for the Vikings.

In a statement, head coach Kevin O’Connell lauded Flores for his ability to connect with his players while maximizing their skill sets.

“The identity of our defense is a reflection of his leadership and preparation,” O’Connell said. “On a personal level, I’ve really valued the relationship we’ve built over the last three years, and that shared trust, alignment and high standard will continue to be critical to our success.”

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By MICHAEL BIESECKER and RYAN J. FOLEY

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Cuban migrant held in solitary confinement at an immigration detention facility in Texas died after guards held him down and he stopped breathing, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday that ruled the death a homicide.

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Geraldo Lunas Campos died Jan. 3 following an altercation with guards. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the 55-year-old father of four was attempting suicide and the staff at Camp East Montana tried to save him.

But a witness told The Associated Press last week that Lunas Campos was handcuffed as at least five guards held him down and one put an arm around his neck and squeezed until he was unconscious.

The autopsy report by the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office found Lunas Campos’ body showed signs of a struggle, including abrasions on his chest and knees. He also had hemorrhages on his neck. The deputy medical examiner, Dr. Adam Gonzalez. determined the cause of death was asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.

The report said witnesses saw Lunas Campos “become unresponsive while being physically restrained by law enforcement.” It did not elaborate on what happened during the struggle but cited evidence of injuries to his neck, head and torso associated with physical restraint. The report also noted the presence of petechial hemorrhages — tiny blood spots from burst capillaries that can be associated with intense strain or injury — in the eyelids and skin of the neck.

Dr. Victor Weedn, a forensic pathologist who reviewed the autopsy report for AP, said the presence of petechiae in the eyes “tend to support” the conclusion that asphyxia caused the death. Those injuries suggest pressure on the body and are often associated with such deaths, he said.

He said the contusions on Lunas Campos’ body may reflect physical restraint and the neck injuries were consistent with a hand or knee on the neck.

The autopsy also found the presence of prescription antidepressant and antihistamine medications, adding that Lunas Campos had a history of bipolar disorder and anxiety. It made no mention of him attempting suicide.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately comment on the autopsy report.

ICE’s initial account of the death, which included no mention of an altercation with guards, said Lunas Campos had become disruptive and staff moved him to a segregated area.

“While in segregation, staff observed him in distress and contacted on-site medical personnel for assistance,” the agency said in its Jan. 9 statement. “Medical staff responded, initiated lifesaving measures, and requested emergency medical services.”

Lunas Campos was pronounced dead after paramedics arrived.

Last Thursday, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Lunas Campos had attempted suicide and guards tried to help him.

“Campos violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life,” she said. “During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness.”

Camp Montana East is a sprawling tent facility in the desert on the grounds of Fort Bliss, an Army base. The AP reported in August that the $1.2 billion facility, expected to become the largest detention facility in the U.S., was being built and operated by a private contractor headquartered in a single-family home in Richmond, Virginia. The company, Acquisition Logistics LLC, had no prior experience running a corrections facility.

It was not immediately clear whether the guards present when Lunas Campos died were government employees or those of the private contractor.

Lunas Campos was among the first detainees sent to Camp Montana East, arriving in September after ICE arrested him in Rochester, New York, where he lived for more than two decades. He was legally admitted to the U.S. in 1996, part of a wave of Cuban immigrants seeking to reach Florida by boat.

ICE said he was picked up in July as part of a planned immigration enforcement operation due to criminal convictions that made him eligible for removal.

New York court records show Lunas Campos was convicted in 2003 of sexual contact with a person under 11, a felony for which he was sentenced to one year in jail and placed on the state’s sex offender registry.

Foley reported from Iowa City.

A 24-year-old man pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of first-degree murder for killing his pregnant sister and dismembering her body in his Lakeville townhome in 2024.

Jack Joseph Ball entered the guilty pleas on the same day a court trial was to begin before a Dakota County judge in the killings of 30-year-old Bethany Ann Israel of Bloomington and her unborn child, who was four months along.

Ball has asserted a defense of mental illness. Minnesota law states that a person is not criminally responsible if a mental illness made the person unable to understand what they were doing or know that it was wrong at the time the offense was committed. A court trial on Ball’s defense of mental illness is still scheduled for May 21.

If convicted, Ball faces a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. He remains in custody at the Dakota County jail.

Police were called to the home on Encina Path near 170th Street and Pilot Knob Road just before 11 p.m. on May 23, 2024. They saw dismembered body parts believed to be those of Israel and found a saw, hatchet and large knives, all of which were covered in blood.

Jack Joseph Ball (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)

Soon after police arrived, a resident in Rosemount reported seeing a man on their home security camera and he placed what appeared to be a body part on their front step.

Law enforcement found Bell in the backyard of a neighboring home. He had a self-inflicted knife wound across his throat and was hospitalized before being jailed.

Police searched the area and found several dismembered body parts believed to be those of Israel.

Investigators later found journals and other writings by Ball. He wrote that he was angry his sister was pregnant and “no longer innocent,” according to the complaint.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Israel’s cause of death was complex homicidal violence and confirmed she was 17 to 18 weeks pregnant.

The baby would have been the first child for Israel and her husband, Josh, who were married in 2021, according to her obituary. They planned to name the boy Levy.

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By JIM MUSTIAN

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — In two decades of kicking in doors for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Joseph Bongiovanni often took on the risks of being the “lead breacher,” meaning he was the first person into the room.

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On Wednesday, he felt a familiar uncertainty awaiting sentencing for using his DEA badge to protect childhood friends who became prolific drug traffickers in Buffalo, New York.

“I knew never what was on the other side of that door — that fear is what I feel today,” Bongiovanni, 61, told a federal judge, pounding the defense table as his face reddened with emotion. “I’ve always been innocent. I loved that job.”

U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo sentenced the disgraced lawman to five years in federal prison on a string of corruption counts. The punishment was significantly less than the 15 years prosecutors sought even after a jury acquitted Bongiovanni of the most serious charges he faced, including an allegation he pocketed $250,000 in bribes from the Mafia.

The judge said the sentence reflected the complexity of the mixed verdicts following two lengthy trials and the almost Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of Bongiovanni’s career, in which the lawman racked up enough front-page accolades to fill a trophy case.

Bongiovanni once hurtled into a burning apartment building to evacuate residents through billowing smoke. He locked up drug dealers, including the first ever prosecuted in the region for causing a fatal overdose.

“There are two completely polar opposite versions of the facts and polar opposite versions of the defendant,” Vilardo said, assuring prosecutors five years behind bars would pose a considerable hardship to someone who has never been to prison.

Defense attorney Parker MacKay noted the judge had acknowledged Bongiovanni as a “beacon” of the Buffalo community. The government’s request for a 15-year sentence, he added, was “completely unmoored to the nature of the convictions.”

“As Mr. Bongiovanni told the judge at sentencing, he is innocent, and we look forward to continuing to work with him to prove that,” MacKay told The Associated Press.

A jury in 2024 convicted Bongiovanni of four counts of obstruction of justice, counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and making false statements to law enforcement.

Prosecutors said Bongiovanni’s “little dark secret” caused immeasurable damage over 11 years. They likened him to Jose Irizarry, a disgraced former DEA agent serving a 12-year federal sentence after confessing to laundering money for Colombian drug cartels.

Bongiovanni upheld an oath not to the DEA, they argued, but to organized crime figures in the tight-knit Italian American community of his North Buffalo upbringing. During sentencing, Bongiovanni’s family dissolved into tears on the front row of the packed courtroom in downtown Buffalo.

Prosecutors said Bongiovanni’s corruption involved as much inaction as calculated coverup. They pointed to a turning point in 2008 when Bongiovanni could have acted on intelligence about traffickers he knew whose operation would evolve into a large-scale organization with links to California, Vancouver, and New York City.

Joseph Bongiovanni, center, leaves federal court with his wife, Lindsay Bongiovanni, right, after being sentenced to 5 years in prison on corruption charges, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/John Mustian)

He also was accused of authoring bogus DEA reports, stealing sensitive files, throwing off colleagues, outing confidential informants, covering for a sex-trafficking strip club and helping a high school English teacher keep his marijuana-growing side hustle. Prosecutors said he brazenly urged colleagues to spend less time investigating Italians and focus instead on Black and Hispanic people.

“His conduct shook the foundation of law enforcement — and this community — to its core,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi told the judge. “That’s what a betrayal is.”

The ex-agent’s downfall came amid a sex-trafficking prosecution that took sensational turns, including an implicated judge who killed himself after the FBI raided his home, law enforcement dragging a pond in search of an overdose victim and dead rats planted outside the home of a government witness who prosecutors allege was later killed by a fatal dose of fentanyl.

It also involved the Pharoah’s Gentlemen’s Club outside Buffalo. Bongiovanni was childhood friends with the strip club’s owner, Peter Gerace Jr., who authorities say has close ties to both the Buffalo Mafia and the violent Outlaws Motorcycle Club. A separate jury convicted Gerace of a sex trafficking conspiracy and of paying bribes to Bongiovanni.

The prosecution also cast a harsh light on the DEA after a string of corruption scandals prompted at least 17 agents brought up on federal charges over the past decade. Last month, prosecutors charged another former agent with conspiring to launder millions of dollars and obtain military-grade firearms and explosives for a Mexican drug cartel.

Frank Tarentino, the DEA’s northeast associate chief of operations, said Bongiovanni’s sentence “sends a powerful message that those who betray their badge will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”