Abuse, exploitation, and death inside America's guardianship industry
  THE BIG STORY
Beyond Britney: Our extensive investigation found that the guardianship industry places vulnerable people at risk of abuse, theft, and even death.  (Ben Kothe/BuzzFeed News) Designed to be a last resort used for people truly incapacitated by severe mental or physical disability, America's guardianship system has grown into a vast, lucrative, and poorly regulated industry that has subsumed more than a million people. Many of the people affected insist they are capable of making their own decisions, and guardianships place them at risk of abuse, theft, and even death.
BuzzFeed News reviewed over 200 guardianship (also known as conservatorship) cases across 32 states. In addition, our reporters analyzed hundreds of thousands of court documents, obtained confidential mental health filings and financial records, held hundreds of interviews, gathered exclusive data from extensive public records requests, and conducted a comprehensive analysis of guardianship laws in all 50 states.
Taken together, the investigation reveals a malfunctioning system wielding vast and frightening power in the dark.
People under guardianship can lose their right to vote, marry, start a family, decide where they live, consent to medical treatment, spend their money, seek employment, or own property. Judges can place people under guardianship — sometimes without their even being notified — in hearings that may last just a few minutes. Some guardians have siphoned away the entire savings of the people under their care, permanently cut them off from their loved ones, and physically and emotionally abused them.
"The amount of abuse is crazy," said Ron Denman, a former state prosecutor and Florida lawyer who has contested dozens of guardianships over the past decade. "You're going against a rigged system."
STAYING ON TOP OF THIS
Robert Durst, who said he "killed them all" in HBO's The Jinx, has been found guilty of murder
The multimillionaire real estate heir who seemed to confess to three murders in an HBO documentary was found guilty on Friday of killing his longtime friend Susan Berman in December 2000.
Prosecutors effectively tried Durst for three murders: Berman, his wife Kathie Durst, and his former neighbor, Morris Black, who died in September 2001. The jury found that Berman was killed because she was a witness to a crime: providing an alibi for Durst in the disappearance of his wife.
With this verdict, jurors signaled that they believed Durst, now 78, had also killed Kathie Durst in 1982, and murdered Berman because he believed she was about to implicate him in the earlier crime.
Jurors deliberated for just over seven and a half hours before reaching a verdict. Judge Mark E. Windham thanked the jurors for their service, saying it had been the "most extraordinary trial" he had ever participated in or even seen. SNAPSHOTS
Investigators believe they've found Gabby Petito's remains at a Wyoming campground. An FBI spokesperson said while they cannot confirm "100%" pending a full forensic test, the body was "consistent with the descriptions of" Petito.
Thousands of Haitians lack food, water, and medicine at a bleak US–Mexico border camp. "We walked through multiple countries and a jungle for two months to get here, for a better life," said one migrant. "And it may all be for nothing? They're sending us to die."
Tons of cops and a few protesters showed up for a pro–Jan. 6 defendant rally. In the end, rally attendees were vastly outnumbered by police, media, a few dozen counterprotesters, and curious onlookers.
ANCIENT FORESTS UNDER THREAT
Wildfires in California have reached some of the world's oldest and largest trees  (Noah Berger/AP) California's giant sequoias, some of which are hundreds of years old, face a new existential threat as large, ruinous forest fires burn through the Western US, destroying thousands of acres at a time.
The Windy fire has reached at least four groves of giant sequoias and has so far burned more than 6,800 acres in the forest. Officials have also been keeping their sights on the KNP Complex fire, which threatens the home of the world's largest tree, General Sherman.
Forest officials said they were set to protect major historical trees by digging fire lines, using sprinklers, and clearing out brush. However, firefighters fear these protections might not be enough to stop the steady pace of the blaze, which has covered more than 11,300 acres in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks as of Friday afternoon.
WE WERE ON A BREAK
Jennifer Aniston opened up about the "brutal" and "melancholic" reality of filming the Friends reunion, days after addressing the latest rumors that she was dating David Schwimmer  "So no one told you life was gonna be this way." (BCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images) In a guest appearance on the podcast Literally! With Rob Lowe, Jennifer revealed that the reunion was a lot more difficult than she and her Friends costars — David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, and Matt LeBlanc — had anticipated.
"In your mind, you think, 'Oh, this will be really fun to time travel,'" Aniston explained. "It turns out … it's kind of hard to time travel."
"We have all gone down different roads," she went on. "Some easy and some not so easy, for each of us."
The reunion prompted strong feelings for fans as well as actors. After the episode aired, rumors that Jen and David had begun dating resurfaced — only to be quickly quashed by both actors.
"That was bizarre," Aniston told Entertainment Tonight. "I could not believe that, actually. Like, really? That's my brother."
"But I understand it, though," she added. "It just shows you how hopeful people are for fantasies, for dreams to come true." We all go down our own roads in the end. Choose yours with care, Alexa 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Alexa Lee and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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