CHICAGO – The Latest on the beating of a white man in Chicago that was broadcast live on Facebook (all times local):
9:10 a.m.
Police say the parents of a young man whose beating was broadcast live on Facebook received text messages while he was missing from someone claiming to be holding him captive.
The victim's parents reported their 18-year-old son missing on Monday in Streamwood, a Chicago suburb.
The parents said they hadn't heard from their son since New Year's Eve, when he said he was going to sleepover at a friend's house. His mother told police she feared her son hadn't taken medication for a mental health disorder.
Streamwood police say the parents later "began receiving text messages from persons claiming to be holding him captive." While investigating the messages, police discovered the Facebook video. Chicago police later reported the man had been located.
Police said the investigation is ongoing and haven't said who may have sent the messages.
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12 a.m.
Two men and two women accused in the brutal beating of a mentally disabled man that was streamed on Facebook Live are scheduled to make their first court appearances Friday.
Eighteen-year-olds Brittany Covington, Tesfaye Cooper and Jordan Hill, and 24-year-old Tanishia Covington each face hate crime, kidnapping and battery charges in connection with the attack. All four suspects are black and the victim is white.
Authorities say the hate crime charges resulted from both the suspects' use of racial slurs and their references to the victim's disability.
Video of the incident was captured on a cellphone by one of the alleged assailants and viewed by millions on social media.
The uproar over the beating has intensified the glare on Chicago after a year of violent crime and protests against Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the police department.
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