The US stories everyone was talking about in 2023
From Damar Hamlin to the Gilgo Beach arrest.
This year was full of first-of-its-kind stories that got Americans talking.
From Damar Hamlin's remarkable recovery to the captivating search for the missing Titanic submersible to the shocking arrest in the Gilgo Beach murders, here's a look back at the most talked about stories of 2023.
Damar Hamlin
On Jan. 2, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed during a televised "Monday Night Football" game in Cincinnati.
The 24-year-old was quickly surrounded by medical personnel who performed CPR and restarted his heart on the field.
The NFL player was put on a ventilator and spent nine days in the hospital.
The incident appeared to significantly raise awareness of lifesaving CPR. In the four days after Hamlin’s collapse, the American Heart Association said it saw a 620% increase in pageviews to its Hands-Only CPR content pages.
And as Hamlin recovered, he became an advocate for bystander CPR training. At the end of January he partnered with the American Heart Association for the "Damar Hamlin 3 for Heart Challenge," to teach people how to perform hands-only CPR.
Nashville school shooting
Three children -- all 9 years old -- and three adults were killed in a mass shooting at The Covenant School, a small, private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 27.
The suspect, 28-year-old Audrey Hale -- armed with two assault-style rifles, a handgun and "significant ammunition” -- allegedly shot through a locked door on the side of the school to gain entry, according to police.
Hale was shot dead by authorities about 14 minutes after the initial 911 call came in, according to police.
Hale was a former student at The Covenant School. Journals and maps were found in Hale's vehicle and home revealed the attack was planned over a period of months and that "Hale considered the actions of other mass murderers,” police said, but a motive was never released.
Bud Light boycott
A Bud Light product endorsement from Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, sparked backlash among many conservatives in April, inciting a boycott against Bud Light that hammered sales.
The consumer protest grew even larger after the initial response from the company was perceived as conciliatory by some LGBTQ advocates, prompting a wave of frustration on the left.
Enduring for months, the boycott imposed steep losses for the company’s U.S.-based business and triggered hundreds of layoffs.
Ultimately, Bud Light lost its spot as the nation’s most popular beer. Angry ex-customers helped propel the ascent of a rival: Modelo Especial.
Wildfire smoke engulfs major cities
Fumes from wildfires in Canada engulfed the skies over much of the East Coast in June, turning the air a hazy orange and prompting serious air quality alerts in over a dozen states.
On June 7, New York City recorded the worst air quality rating of any major city in the world, with the air quality index climbing over 400. AQI ranges from 0 to 500, and levels under 100 are generally considered safe.
The dangerous smoke delayed flights, closed schools and postponed MLB games.
The missing Titanic submersible
A submersible carrying five people vanished while on a tour of the Titanic wreckage off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, sparking a desperate, dayslong search that captivated the nation.
The 21-foot deep-sea vessel Titan, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, lost contact about an hour and 45 minutes after submerging on June 18 with a 96-hour oxygen supply. Among the five people onboard was OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
On June 22, officials said they determined that the deep-sea vessel had imploded underwater, killing all five people on board.
The Coast Guard determined the Titan suffered a "catastrophic implosion." The Titan was found in pieces by a remotely operated vehicle on a smooth section of ocean floor more than 2 miles beneath the surface.
Gilgo Beach arrest
On July 13, a 59-year-old New York City architect who lived with his wife and children on Long Island was arrested in the mysterious Gilgo Beach murders that had haunted New York for over a decade.
Rex Heuermann was charged with the murders of three sex workers, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, whose bodies were found on Long Island in 2010. He has pleaded not guilty.
Heuermann’s DNA allegedly linked him to the crimes, prosecutors said.
Heuermann allegedly used a burner phone "to conduct thousands of searches related to sex workers, sadistic, torture-related pornography and child pornography," court records said.
Other searches were "related to active and known serial killers," and the disappearances of the Gilgo Beach victims. One search, according to court records, was, "Why hasn't the Long Island serial killer been caught."
Heuermann is also the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007, though he has not been charged in that case.
Maui wildfires
A large portion of West Maui, Hawaii, was obliterated when wildfires ignited on Aug. 8, killing nearly 100 people.
Factors such as high winds, a landscape parched by drought and fire hydrants that ran dry exacerbated the quick spread of the wildfires and the inability of firefighters to put them out.
Lahaina, the island’s historic district and the location of the former Kingdom of Hawaii, was at the center of the destruction. The town's historic banyan tree was singed in the blaze.
Displaced West Maui residents are still living in hotels elsewhere on the island -- in many instances adjacent to paying guests.
The environmental cleanup and rebuilding process on Maui will take years, experts told ABC News.
A battle over water rights is also brewing as Native Hawaiians fight to protect their ancestral lands.
Convicted murderer escapes from Pennsylvania prison
On Aug. 31, convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante escaped from a Pennsylvania prison, leading authorities on a massive two-week manhunt until he was captured.
Cavalcante broke out of the Chester County Prison just days after being sentenced to life without parole in the fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend.
Cavalcante escaped by first scaling a wall in an exercise yard to gain access to the roof, according to a criminal complaint obtained by ABC News. He then pushed his way through razor wire, ran across the prison roof, scaled more razor wire and jumped down to a less secure area to make his getaway, officials said.
Hundreds of officers joined the manhunt, during which Cavalcante was spotted multiple times.
Cavalcante allegedly stole a gun from a home while he was on the run.
On Sept. 13, Cavalcante was captured in South Coventry Township, about 30 miles from Chester County Prison.
Cavalcante is facing new charges in connection with the escape.
Maine mass shooting
Eighteen people were killed and 13 others were injured in a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, on Oct. 25. The shootings unfolded in two locations: a bowling alley where a children's league was taking place and a local bar.
In the wake of the massacre, grieving and shocked residents of Lewiston and neighboring towns were forced to shelter inside as authorities launched a massive manhunt for the suspect, Robert Card.
Card evaded capture for two days before he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Oct. 27.
Card, a 40-year-old Army Reservist who had no combat deployments, had a well-documented series of warning signs that his psychological state was on a sharp decline in the months leading up to the shootings.
His immediate family members raised concerns to police in May that Card had begun to exhibit paranoid delusions and claimed people were saying "derogatory" things about him while out in public and that he was growing increasingly "angry and paranoid" through the spring.
Card was institutionalized for two weeks in July for psychological treatment and evaluation during a stay at West Point in New York, after it became clear to his fellow soldiers that his mental state was deteriorating. He was released after 14 days. The Army said it then directed Card’s commander that he "should not have a weapon, handle ammunition, and not participate in live fire activity."
In mid-September, Card's training supervisor wrote a worried letter to local law enforcement requesting a welfare check on Card, who he refers to as one of his senior firearms instructors, noting that Card had been "hearing voices" and it had "only gotten worse."
ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik, Julia Jacobo and Max Zahn contributed to this report.
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