Seat and julie roginsky. Thank you, both. A new hour of cnn, new central starts right now. All right. Breaking overnight, getting ward, the biden administration he is preparing for a possible iranian attack. Historic devastation. We just got a brand new Death Toll from Hurricane Helene now, One Hundred And Two people killed that number does appear to be rising. We are getting our first look at some of the areas hardest hit and brand new details on how the Vice President ial candidates are preparing for Tomorrow Nights debate. Im John Berman with Sara Sidner and kate baldwin. This is cnn new central Destruction And Devastation than people really are having a hard time putting words to this morning when you just take a look at these images from florida to Virginia Power systems, crippled roadways washed out, cell service, wiped out food, water, and fuel. Now, becoming hard to come by. Hurricane helene is left so much damage in its wake. And as janja said, just moments ago, we have a new
rafael was walking north on route 281 at approximately the same time. the forensic evidence proves that huffman s truck swerved off the road, onto the shoulder, and hit rafael, sending him flying 40 feet down the embankment, killing him instantly. there were no skid marks. prosecutors say huffman kept driving. but tiny pieces of glass, plastic and paint, along with the passenger side mirror, were left behind, identifying the make, model, and color of the truck. when he got home, he told his girlfriend that he had hit a deer and removed the broken headlight and replaced it with the headlight unit from his other truck.
although investigators could prove that robert huffman s red truck was the vehicle that killed rafael garcia, they still needed to prove to a jury that huffman was driving the vehicle. to do that, investigators had to tie huffman s whereabouts on the night of the fatal crash to rafael garcia s. rafael s friend said she dropped him off at home around 10:00 p.m., but rafael didn t go inside. instead, he started walking back towards highway 281, presumably headed to the country store a short distance away. patrons of a local bar indicated that huffman was there drinking that night and left the bar sometime between 10:30 and 11:00 p.m. a bar patron said that huffman got into his red pickup truck and headed south on route 281 towards his home.
shoes. for some reason, it s a common occurrence with motor vehicle and pedestrian accidents. police identified the victim as 17-year-old rafael garcia, a football player and standout student at southside high school in south-central texas. i was shocked. i thought it was just a dream, i was going to wake up from it, because honestly, you know, you just talked to the person the day before. he said, yeah, i ll be there at football practice, this and that. and then, all of a sudden, he s gone? rafael was one of six children raised by a single mother. his family was poor, and rafael worked weekends to help support his family. mike harrison was rafael s football coach. he broke the news of rafael s death to the rest of the team. one of the hardest jobs as a teacher and coach is to look at a group of young men that you ve grown close to and then tell them that one of their teammates is not going to be there anymore.
at home around 10:00 p.m., but the friend said rafael didn t go inside. instead, he started walking toward highway 281. he was known to walk down to what they refer to as the corner store, which is, they re kind of out in the country, so it s a ways down. he didn t have he didn t own a car. he didn t have his own car to drive, so he was usually walking out there. rafael was hit and killed on highway 281, just a quarter mile from his home. the only clues to the driver s identity were tiny bits of glass, plastic, and red paint, presumably from the vehicle s front headlight and turn signal. detective jose trevino worked in the auto industry before going into law enforcement. he was particularly interested in the passenger side mirror with a built-in heating element found near rafael s body.