00:00All right, here we go. I'm Jeanine Pirro, the United States Attorney. Welcome. Our community today is reeling as a result of one person's actions. Two families now are left to grieve for dreams that will never be realized.
00:21And as I speak right now, there is an individual who is being presented in court and charged with various crimes. 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, Illinois, is now charged by complaint after his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh with the following.
00:44Murder in the First Degree for the murder of 30-year-old Yaron Lashinsky, a foreign official and official guest of the United States.
00:56Mr. Lashinsky was here on official business for the state of Israel.
01:01The defendant, Rodriguez, is also charged with two counts of murder in the first degree for both Yaron Lashinsky along with 26-year-old Sarah Lynn Milgram of Kansas.
01:16In addition, there are several felony firearms charges for discharging a firearm in the middle of a violent crime and for causing the death of an individual through the use of that firearm.
01:35Now, this investigation is continuing. And as you can see, we have most of the stakeholders here today who will be given an opportunity to speak with you.
01:44But what I want to be clear about today, since this is the first time you're hearing from me, is that this is a horrific crime.
01:53And these crimes are not going to be tolerated by me and by this office.
01:58A young couple at the beginning of their life's journey, about to be engaged in another country, had their bodies removed in the cold of the night in a foreign city in a body bag.
02:14We are not going to tolerate that anymore.
02:17And I am not unaware, based upon my own background, of the repercussions of this kind of case.
02:24This is the kind of case that picks at old sores and old scars.
02:29Because these kinds of cases remind us of what has happened in the past that we can never and must never forget.
