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SQUATTER-NIGHTMARE-TURNS-MURDER: Woman Bludgeoned DEAD, Stuffed in Duffle · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. How does a tennis star
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Speaker 1: a beautiful mother end up dead stuffed in a Duffel bag?
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Speaker 1: I mean you see, Grace. This is crime Stories. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for being with us here at crime Stories and
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Speaker 1: on Serious xem one eleven. First of all, take a
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Speaker 1: listen to this.
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Speaker 2: Michael Medvedev takes a closer look at the Duffel bag
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Speaker 2: he discovered in a closet. He notices the bag is
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Speaker 2: an odd shape and moving a coat out of the way,
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Speaker 2: Medvedev sees a foot. He calls the fire department and
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Speaker 2: they arrive about the same time as police. They determine
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Speaker 2: the dead body in the bag is Nadya Vitel. The
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Speaker 2: medical examiner wants to save as much evidence as possible,
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Speaker 2: so they leave the body in the Duffel bag for
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Speaker 2: transport to the medical examiner's office. Removing the bag reveals
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Speaker 2: a large bloodstain.
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Speaker 1: You're hearing our friends at crimeonline dot com. We take
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Speaker 1: a close look at a Duffel bag inside of a
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Speaker 1: closet and realize something is horribly wrong. Again, this is
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Speaker 1: crime Stories. Thanks for being with us. How did a
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Speaker 1: tennis star end up stuffed in a duffel bag with
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Speaker 1: me an all star panel to make sense of what
1:27
Speaker 1: we know right now, joining me, investigative reporter from CBS
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Speaker 1: twenty one, Hallie Jacobs, Hollie, it's hard to believe that
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Speaker 1: this has happened to this really glamorous tennis star mom
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Speaker 1: and nobody knew a thing. Where did this happen? Was
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Speaker 1: in a private home? Was it in the suburbs rural
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Speaker 1: area of what?
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Speaker 3: So?
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Speaker 4: It actually took place in Manhattan, New York City, and
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Speaker 4: it was in her apartment building, So a big apartment building.
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Speaker 4: Picture that and around the nineteenth floor.
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Speaker 1: You know, that's even more of a conundrum for me
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Speaker 1: to Banora via Alona, high profile criminal defense attorney in
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Speaker 1: this jurisdiction, former prosecutor at Vialona Law dot Com. You'd think,
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Speaker 1: Whitney Banana, that someone on the other side of that
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Speaker 1: wall heard something. I mean, the woman, I'm not sure
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Speaker 1: she's been dismembered or just folded up contorted into a
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Speaker 1: duffel bag. I mean, it's kind of hard to look
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Speaker 1: at her with that beautiful smile, and no she ends
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Speaker 1: up contorted in a duffel bag. But nobody on the
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Speaker 1: other side of that wall heard a thing exactly, Nancy.
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Speaker 3: This is so disturbing because you have to think she
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Speaker 3: was actually killed, she was actually beaten.
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Speaker 1: So I'm waiting to see what the autopsy results are.
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Speaker 3: But you know that her manner death was as a
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Speaker 3: result of a homicide. It was as a result of
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Speaker 3: back answer of another So no nine to one one call.
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Speaker 3: Nobody heard anything, nothing from the neighbors, No one saw
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Speaker 3: anything like a body wasn't discovered for days, Nancy, what
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Speaker 3: are we doing?
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Speaker 5: This is New York.
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Speaker 1: City, the city that never sleeps well. Put a joining
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Speaker 1: me is IRV Brandt, guys former US Marshall, author of
3:12
Speaker 1: Flying Solo, Top of the World on Amazon. You can
3:15
Speaker 1: find them at Irvbrandt dot com. He's reading a series
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Speaker 1: of books. Hey, IRV, you have investigated and solved so
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Speaker 1: many cases literally around the world, having worked with DOJ
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Speaker 1: and many many other capacities. IRV, this woman did everything right.
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Speaker 1: She ate correctly, she exercised, she was devoted to her son.
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Speaker 1: You know those people that never smoke and then suddenly
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Speaker 1: they die of lung cancer. It's like this, IRV. She
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Speaker 1: did everything right. I mean, this is one of the
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Speaker 1: most physically active victims I've ever seen, and yet crime
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Speaker 1: managed to cut her life short. Is that like rub
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Speaker 1: you wrong in some way? IRV.
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Speaker 6: Of course she does, Nancy.
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Speaker 5: I mean, it's why every police officer gets into the
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Speaker 5: field that they work. Bad things happen to good people sometimes.
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Speaker 1: You know what, I don't like the way you put that.
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Speaker 1: You're kind of like laid back about it. Bad things
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Speaker 1: happen to good people. Well, you know what, not on
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Speaker 1: my watch, But that is what happened to Nadia Vittel. Guys,
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Speaker 1: I want you to take a listen to what her
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Speaker 1: son says.
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Speaker 7: She got on a plane and flew from one of
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Speaker 7: the biggest cities in the world buy herself with some
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Speaker 7: money and a few tennis rackets to Stillwater, Oklahoma. She
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Speaker 7: played tennis there, she studied it. It took her three
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Speaker 7: years to finally figure out what the Greek letters on
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Speaker 7: some of the houses.
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Speaker 6: Now it all made.
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Speaker 5: No sense to her.
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Speaker 1: Hallie Jacobs joining me CBS twenty one News. Hallie, tell
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Speaker 1: me about this woman. I mean, she flies one of
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Speaker 1: the biggest cities in the world alone with money and
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Speaker 1: a couple of tennis rackets to steal Water, Oklahoma to
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Speaker 1: play college tennis.
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Speaker 4: Right yes, yes she does. And you know, it's really
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Speaker 4: great to see exactly what she does with it. She
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Speaker 4: makes a terrific career out of it. She really helps
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Speaker 4: her son, you know, her son. When he was speaking,
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Speaker 4: he was talking about how much she supported him and
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Speaker 4: his streams and it was just a really incredible to see.
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Speaker 4: So it's sad to see exactly what's happened to her. Now, guys,
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Speaker 4: I want.
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Speaker 1: To find out more about this tennis star mom who
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Speaker 1: ends up folded up in a Duffel bag and stuffed
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Speaker 1: in a closet. Did you hear what was said at
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Speaker 1: the very beginning when they removed the Duffel bag there
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Speaker 1: was a big bloodstain left. That is what has happened
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Speaker 1: to this devoted mother. She devoted herself to two things,
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Speaker 1: tennis and her son working, working her fingers to the
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Speaker 1: bone to support her son and make everything wonderful for him.
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Speaker 1: That's who she is, correction, that's who she was. Listen
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Speaker 1: to more from her son Michael.
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Speaker 7: Mama grew up an only child in Moscow with Anya
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Speaker 7: and Ghiera, her parents.
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Speaker 6: She grew up playing tennis from the day she was born.
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Speaker 6: She never sang, never performed.
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Speaker 7: She was the furthest someone can get from being theatrical.
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Speaker 6: I remember she showed me a gold medal, and she
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Speaker 6: had earned in high school back in Russia, a student
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Speaker 6: medal of.
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Speaker 7: Honor for being top in her class. That medal, for
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Speaker 7: some reason, has always stuck with me. It made me
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Speaker 7: feel proud to be your son, and I wanted to
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Speaker 7: earn my own got gold medals to live out to her.
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Speaker 1: Doctor Gary Brocato, clinical psychologist and author of The New Evil,
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Speaker 1: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent crime. Boy, do we
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Speaker 1: need a shrink? Did you hear what her son said?
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Speaker 1: This woman goes all by herself as a teen girl
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Speaker 1: with a couple of tennis rackets and flies across the
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Speaker 1: world to become a tennis star at college in Oklahoma.
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Speaker 1: She works her fingers to the bone to become a star,
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Speaker 1: and then spends that success to an incredible sports related
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Speaker 1: PR career, all the while devoted to bringing up her son, Michael.
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Speaker 1: Did you hear what he said about the gold medal?
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Speaker 1: How she showed him the gold medal. That was something
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Speaker 1: she wanted to share. She was proud of it, so
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Speaker 1: proud she showed it to her son. That just breaks
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Speaker 1: my heart. Doctor Ricardo.
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Speaker 6: Absolutely.
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Speaker 8: You know, it's interesting. You know sometimes when we think
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Speaker 8: about cases like this, we really see the division between
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Speaker 8: people who come from good backgrounds, who are people who
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Speaker 8: have people who love them and care about them, and
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Speaker 8: people who've had a rough road in life who feel
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Speaker 8: a kind of entitlement to take from the world. And
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Speaker 8: you get both of them, I think kind of exemplified
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Speaker 8: in this case.
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Speaker 1: I'm just just thinking about her and the significance of
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Speaker 1: showing that metal. You know, everyone tries to look good
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Speaker 1: in the eyes of their children, right you want them
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Speaker 1: to love you and be proud of you. But I'm
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Speaker 1: just thinking about the poignant moment that Nadia takes out
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Speaker 1: her gold medal that she wants and I think they
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Speaker 1: said in high school to show him and now this
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Speaker 1: is just there's something so poignant about that, Doctor Gary Briccado,
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Speaker 1: What is it?
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Speaker 8: Well, because I think a metal is an emblem of
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Speaker 8: what you get when you've worked really hard towards something
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Speaker 8: and you're disciplined and you know you have a goal
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Speaker 8: in mind. It's the complete opposite by the kind of
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Speaker 8: life that we would envision in the kind of people
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Speaker 8: who would have done something like this to this woman,
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Speaker 8: and then you think to yourself, how sad it is that, randomly,
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Speaker 8: because of someone just in the wrong place at the
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Speaker 8: wrong time, all of those things that you did sort
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Speaker 8: of came to an abrupt end unfairly.
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Speaker 1: Well, I disagree with you, doctor Gary Bricado, no offense,
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Speaker 1: because I'm certainly no strength. But I hardly think that
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Speaker 1: being in her own mother's apartment is being in the
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Speaker 1: wrong place. She was in the right place. Somebody else
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Speaker 1: was in the wrong place. It's so rare that I
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Speaker 1: actually get to disagree with you. Let me just enjoy
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Speaker 1: the moment, just for one moment.
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Speaker 5: I think that's important.
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Speaker 1: Her brandt another thing, and I'm getting to the Duffel
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Speaker 1: bag and all that. But in our line of business crime,
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Speaker 1: do you ever just get weary with really wonderful people
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Speaker 1: becoming crime victims. It's not like this woman was out
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Speaker 1: selling crack on the corner. She's not the mastermind of
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Speaker 1: a criminal enterprise. She's not a bad person that is
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Speaker 1: mean to people, That is a bully that takes advantage
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Speaker 1: of other people and praise upon people weaker than her
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Speaker 1: or less talented than her. That's not who. She's a hardworking,
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Speaker 1: loving mom. Now why the hey does somebody like her?
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Speaker 1: Why does she have to end up in a duffel
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Speaker 1: back that ever bothers.
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Speaker 5: You bothers me a lot, Nancy. And these are the
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Speaker 5: type of cases. They're just tragic and they're hard to investigate.
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Speaker 5: It wears on you for years and years and years
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Speaker 5: of conducting investigations, going to crime scenes, talking to the
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Speaker 5: victims family. These type of cases where the person you
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Speaker 5: know was doing the right thing, like you said, was
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Speaker 5: in the right place, wasn't in the wrong place at
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Speaker 5: the wrong time. They were in the right place there
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Speaker 5: where they were supposed to be doing the things that
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Speaker 5: they were supposed to do, and then this happens anyway,
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Speaker 5: It cares at your soul, Nancy. It's hard. It's hard
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Speaker 5: even for an investigator who's been doing it for years
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Speaker 5: and years and years. It's hard to do. It's hard
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Speaker 5: to conduct an interview with the victims family without yourself
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Speaker 5: getting choked up and getting emotional when you know that
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Speaker 5: you can't because you have to be a professional at
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Speaker 5: all times, and you can't go off and let yourself
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Speaker 5: be full of rage and you know, let your emotions
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Speaker 5: take over. But absolutely it's hard.
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Speaker 9: Nancy.
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Speaker 1: Prime stories with Nancy Grace, a beautiful tennis star, a
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Speaker 1: mother folded up, contorted, smashed into a Duffel bag. Why
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Speaker 1: what more do we know about Nania Vittel and her
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Speaker 1: movements the day she was murdered? Listen?
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Speaker 10: Nadia Vitael learned to play tennis growing up as an
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Speaker 10: only child. She went on to become a tennis star
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Speaker 10: in college and after graduation, became a skilled sports marketing
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Speaker 10: specialist traveling the world. Vittel recently returned to New York
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Speaker 10: from Spain to prepare her late mother's apartment for a
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Speaker 10: friend to have a place to stay in the city.
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Speaker 1: Now, I know what doctor Gary Bricato was saying earlier
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Speaker 1: about being in the wrong place at the wrong time,
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Speaker 1: and I called him on it. But that's where she was.
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Speaker 1: Let's focus in on the day that she goes missing.
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Speaker 1: I believe the day she was murdered. Why was she
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Speaker 1: there at that moment? Listen.
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Speaker 2: Naja Vittel spends a couple of days moving personal items
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Speaker 2: into an apartment in Manhattan's kIPS Bay, and she's captured
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Speaker 2: on security cameras going in and out several times. On
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Speaker 2: March tenth, Vitel spends two days on Long Island, then
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Speaker 2: on March twelfth, heads back to the Kiffs Bay apartment.
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Speaker 2: Vittel's son, Michael Medvedev, talked with her that Tuesday, but
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Speaker 2: after the twelfth she has an answering calls or returning texts.
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Speaker 2: After two days of no contact, Medvedev called police to
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Speaker 2: do a welfare check on his mother. Waiting for the police,
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Speaker 2: Medvedev convinces the building super to let him into the apartment.
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Speaker 2: Walking through the apartment, nothing seems amiss, except his mother's
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Speaker 2: not in the apartment. As they're walking out, Medvedev notices
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Speaker 2: an unfamiliar Duffel bag in the closet.
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Speaker 1: Back too, Hallie Jacobs joining us reporter CBS twenty one News,
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Speaker 1: Halle again, thank you for being with us. So did
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Speaker 1: the son know for sure his mother was at her
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Speaker 1: mother's apartment? Is that why he went there? Did he
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Speaker 1: know she had been there?
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Speaker 4: Yes, I mean she was supposed to be there for
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Speaker 4: the past couple of days getting the apartment ready. Now
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Speaker 4: it had been vacant for months, So she went in
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Speaker 4: there expecting to be the only person there, and now
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Speaker 4: he finds her, possibly in a Duffel bag. And he
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Speaker 4: didn't even know what he was seeing at first. I
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Speaker 4: mean the superintendent of the building said that he pointed
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Speaker 4: to the closet and he believed that there was a
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Speaker 4: body in the bag, and all the clothes in the
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Speaker 4: closet were down, so you couldn't even really see the bag.
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Speaker 4: You can only see it partially a bit, and the
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Speaker 4: son just knew that it needed to be So.
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Speaker 1: Let me understand, Halle Jacobs. The clothes have been torn
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Speaker 1: down off the clothes racks and they were on top
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Speaker 1: of the duffel.
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Speaker 4: Yes, so the Duffel bag was only being shown partially.
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Speaker 1: Oh my stars, Doctor Gary Briccado, I need to shrink
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Speaker 1: now more than ever a Bricado clinical psychologist and author,
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Speaker 1: to think that your own son is the one to
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Speaker 1: find your body. I mean, how much more anguish can
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Speaker 1: you heat on someone? Number One, you lose your mother,
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Speaker 1: and then you find out she's murdered, then you find
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Speaker 1: out she's stuffed in a Duffel bag, and then you're
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Speaker 1: the one that finds your dead mom.
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Speaker 8: There's no question from people I've worked with who have
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Speaker 8: discovered bodies or have been at crime scenes that it
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Speaker 8: leads to years of personal psychological anguish. Emotional anguish. Sometimes
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Speaker 8: for the perpetrator of the crime, it's part of the
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Speaker 8: hall to create a situation where somebody is going to
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Speaker 8: chance upon a loved one. I think in this case,
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Speaker 8: it was more a reflection of the kind of chaos
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Speaker 8: and impulsivity of the scene, and it just happened to
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Speaker 8: be that there wasn't very much care taken about how
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Speaker 8: the individual was going to be found by anybody.
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Speaker 1: You know another thing about that. Let me go to you,
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Speaker 1: Bernardo vi Alona, high profile lawyer in this jurisdiction at
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Speaker 1: Violona Law dot com. Bernardo, you've dealt with a lot
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Speaker 1: of crime victims, as have I, and speaking as a
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Speaker 1: crime victim, I have relived and dreamed a million times
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Speaker 1: the last time I saw my fiance before he was murdered,
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Speaker 1: and I can only imagine what it would be like
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Speaker 1: to find his murdered body. Victims' families don't get over
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Speaker 1: that for the rest of their lives, and the a
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Speaker 1: holes who murdered her, I'm sure they're like animals. They
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Speaker 1: have no concern for the family of the victim, the victim,
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Speaker 1: whoever finds the victim. I mean, how do you do it?
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Speaker 1: As a defense lawyer and former prosecutor. How do you
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Speaker 1: represent people that have no regard for anybody else but themselves.
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Speaker 1: Number one, don't be alone in a room with them. Okay,
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Speaker 1: let's start with that. Go ahead, and.
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Speaker 3: Nancy, just to put everything in perspective, I used to
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Speaker 3: be a homicide prosecutor for ten years, so I was
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Speaker 3: used to dealing with these homicide investigations, dealing with these
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Speaker 3: family members, dealing with these witnesses. And you're right, this
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Speaker 3: son will never forget that moment and will constantly question
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Speaker 3: themselves what if I accompanied her, what if I was
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Speaker 3: with her? What if I called the day before or
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Speaker 3: even two days prior, could I have stopped this from happening.
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Speaker 3: So when it comes exactly representing individuals that are accused
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Speaker 3: of committing a homicide.
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Speaker 1: Look, stick to the facts, stick to the law.
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Speaker 3: Am I providing effective assistance of counsel to these people
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Speaker 3: and advocating for them for in their best interest. But
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Speaker 3: it is very difficult prosecutor side and also the defense side,
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Speaker 3: because we're still human and we also still feel for
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Speaker 3: these victims who have lost their lives at the hands
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Speaker 3: of another person.
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Speaker 1: Man that son to find his own mother. Okay, you
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Speaker 1: know what, I can talk about that all day, but
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Speaker 1: I want to get down to the facts. Listen to
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Speaker 1: Dave Matt Crime Online. The investigation into the death of
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Speaker 1: Naja Vitel starts with her injuries. Betel suffered blunt forced
18:36
Speaker 1: trauma to the head, multiple facial fractures, of brain bleed,
18:39
Speaker 1: and two broken ribs. From there, investigators move on to
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Speaker 1: the surveillance cameras in the building her body is found
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Speaker 1: on Thursday, March fourteenth. Investigators found surveillance video showing Ftel
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Speaker 1: bringing her personal items into the building on the tenth.
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Speaker 1: Vitel leaves the building just after eleven am on March tenth. Okay,
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Speaker 1: let me understand how this happens. Investigators find surveills video
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Speaker 1: showing her bringing items into the home. Remember, her mother
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Speaker 1: had passed away, and so she was cleaning out the
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Speaker 1: apartment and bringing other things into the apartment. In New York,
19:13
Speaker 1: apartments kind of run in the family. If they're rent controlled,
19:17
Speaker 1: the next person to live in the apartment can only
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Speaker 1: be a family member or else it goes on the market.
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Speaker 1: That's the way it works. So let's hear more. What
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Speaker 1: else was happening while this beautiful young mom. Nadia is
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Speaker 1: moving things in and out of her mom's apartment. Listen
19:39
Speaker 1: to Rachel Bonia Crime Online.
19:41
Speaker 11: At the same time, Bettel is bringing items into the apartment.
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Speaker 11: Haley Tahna and Kensley Austin are seen trying to enter
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Speaker 11: the building around two pm on the tenth. One hour
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Speaker 11: later to Hanna and Austin are on camera in the
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Speaker 11: building and seen on elevator surveillance camera entering Nadia Hottel's apartment. Okay,
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Speaker 11: a minute, who are they? Who are they, Hallie Jacobs,
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Speaker 11: you're joining us CBS twenty one. Who were they in
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Speaker 11: relation to her son Michael or to her Nadia? They're nobody.
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Speaker 1: They're squatters. Isn't that true?
20:17
Speaker 6: That is correct?
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Speaker 4: Sources say they were squatters.
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Speaker 1: Hallie Jacobs, What do you mean by squatters?
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Speaker 4: So they were staying there when they weren't supposed to
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Speaker 4: be there. They went into the apartment, were staying there
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Speaker 4: for who knows how long at this point, and apparently
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Speaker 4: they were away while Nadia was moving into the apartment herself,
20:35
Speaker 4: and then they came back and we know what happens.
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Speaker 1: So Nadia had no idea that squatters were living there.
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Speaker 1: She thought she was just moving things in and out
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Speaker 1: of the apartment.
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Speaker 4: No idea right exactly, And apparently the superintendent says that
20:48
Speaker 4: he had no idea that anybody was living in that
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Speaker 4: apartment as well.
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Speaker 1: So squatters sneaking around trying to live in her mom's apartment.
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Speaker 1: We see him on video going in the apartment. What
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Speaker 1: happens next? Joining me right now a renowned medical examiner,
21:08
Speaker 1: doctor Kendall Crowns, the chief medical examiner and Tarrett County.
21:12
Speaker 1: That's Fort Worth lecturer at University Texas Christian University Medical School.
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Speaker 1: Doctor Kendall Crowns, thank you for being with us fort Worth.
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Speaker 1: Never lack of business there for you anyway. Sad to
21:25
Speaker 1: report dot. The Crowns explain to me what happened to
21:29
Speaker 1: this woman.
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Speaker 12: So from the reports, it appears that she had had
21:32
Speaker 12: blunt force injuries predominantly of the face and head. So
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Speaker 12: they probably based on the facial fractures the bleeding of
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Speaker 12: the brain, they probably used a hard object to hit
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Speaker 12: her in the head with multiple times which resulted in injuries,
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Speaker 12: the facial fractures, and then the hemorrhage of the brain.
21:51
Speaker 12: Once the brain starts hemorrhaging or it gets contusions, you
21:55
Speaker 12: pretty much will die quite rapidly after that, you know, Doctor.
21:59
Speaker 1: Kendall Crowns, have you ever heard of the Farmer's Almanac? Okay,
22:03
Speaker 1: have you ever read one?
22:04
Speaker 3: No?
22:04
Speaker 1: I didn't think so, or you would know exactly how
22:07
Speaker 1: much you sound like you're just reading the Farmer's at
22:09
Speaker 1: Almanac and the crop report for next year. We are
22:13
Speaker 1: talking about a mother who is bludgeon debt. Her son
22:17
Speaker 1: finds her shoved into a duffel bag, and Hallie Jacobs
22:22
Speaker 1: joining us CBS twenty one. Didn't he see a foot?
22:26
Speaker 1: Was a foot protruding? As far as I'm aware, he
22:29
Speaker 1: just saw the duffel bag. I've heard reports that he
22:33
Speaker 1: actually sees a foot. I don't know if he realized
22:37
Speaker 1: that was his mother's foot. But Doctor Kendall Crowns, could
22:41
Speaker 1: we just slow it down a little bit. I'm just
22:45
Speaker 1: a JD. You're the MD. There's so much to take in,
22:49
Speaker 1: doctor Kendall crown So let me just start at the beginning.
22:53
Speaker 1: Let me get my mind off of the mom's foot
22:55
Speaker 1: sticking out of the duffel bag. According to some reports,
22:58
Speaker 1: I've got that not what do you suffered? Blood forced
23:01
Speaker 1: trauma to the head, multiple facial fractures, a brain bleed,
23:08
Speaker 1: two broken ribs, that's a lot. Then somehow she's contorted
23:16
Speaker 1: to fit into a Duffel bag. Let's start with bleeding
23:22
Speaker 1: to the brain. How does that happen and what is
23:26
Speaker 1: the result?
23:26
Speaker 6: So how that happens is when you have blunt trauma
23:30
Speaker 6: to the head.
23:30
Speaker 12: Your brain has small vessels that come out of the
23:34
Speaker 12: top of it that attached to the dua which is
23:37
Speaker 12: aligning on top of the brain. When you get hit,
23:40
Speaker 12: these vessels tear and they rupture and that starts causing
23:44
Speaker 12: bleeding of the brain parencoma. That then results swelling of
23:48
Speaker 12: the brain that compromises the brain's ability to do with job.
23:51
Speaker 1: Bleeding to the brain in itself can cause death.
23:55
Speaker 12: How So, blood is occupies the space. Your skull is
23:59
Speaker 12: only so big in the brain doesn't have much room
24:03
Speaker 12: in there. So once blood starts filling that space, you
24:06
Speaker 12: can compress the brain and that can result in brain
24:10
Speaker 12: the brain malfunctioning. Also the brain the blood itself is
24:14
Speaker 12: an irritant to the brain, which results in an inflammatory
24:17
Speaker 12: response that can also cause disruption of function of the brain.
24:21
Speaker 12: So there's a number of ways the blood can affect
24:24
Speaker 12: your brain's function.
24:25
Speaker 1: So we've got brain blade, two broken rims. Let's talk
24:29
Speaker 1: about multiple facial fractures. What does that mean? The orbital bones,
24:35
Speaker 1: the jaw.
24:36
Speaker 12: What the facial fractures that's basically the front of your face.
24:40
Speaker 12: It can be orbital bones, nose, the cheekbones are also
24:44
Speaker 12: known as the zygomatic arches, the upper jaw, maxillary all
24:49
Speaker 12: that is considered facial bones. So any strikes to these
24:53
Speaker 12: areas cause fractures the facial bones. Usually a fist isn't
24:58
Speaker 12: going to be able to break like your her cheeks
25:01
Speaker 12: so well, unless you're very strong. So often we see
25:04
Speaker 12: injuries like that they've used some sort of object to
25:07
Speaker 12: beat the person with.
25:08
Speaker 1: That was my very next question. Could these injuries have
25:11
Speaker 1: been affected by fists alone or do you think an object,
25:15
Speaker 1: a blunt object was used.
25:17
Speaker 12: I would guess more likely than not an object. But
25:20
Speaker 12: if they get her down and then they're pounding on
25:23
Speaker 12: her face directly on the ground, they can get more
25:25
Speaker 12: forced that way. So again it just depends on how
25:28
Speaker 12: our body was, but usually with facial fractures, you're dealing
25:31
Speaker 12: more with an object.
25:33
Speaker 1: Joining me is doctor Kendall, Crown's chief medical examiner in
25:37
Speaker 1: Fort work. That's Teran County again. Doctor, thank you for
25:40
Speaker 1: being with us. So I believe we've established that she
25:43
Speaker 1: was beaten with an object. Most likely she has bleeding
25:48
Speaker 1: to the brain. She has multiple fractures to the delicate
25:52
Speaker 1: bones in her face. She has two broken ribs. Now,
25:57
Speaker 1: I believe that broken ribs are caused by direct punches
26:01
Speaker 1: or kicks.
26:02
Speaker 6: What do you think that would be a safe assessment.
26:05
Speaker 12: Usually broken ribs are from direct punches to the chest
26:08
Speaker 12: or kicks for that matter, But that's occasionally you can
26:12
Speaker 12: get them from falling onto an object like a desk
26:14
Speaker 12: or something of those natures. But in a blunt force
26:17
Speaker 12: injury situation, it's someone punching you in the chest or
26:20
Speaker 12: kicking you.
26:21
Speaker 1: I'm thinking she was already down and they were kicking her,
26:25
Speaker 1: kicking her mercilessly, I might add, because she happens to
26:29
Speaker 1: walk in on them while they're squatting in her mother's
26:33
Speaker 1: home unbeknownst to her. What would have been her actual
26:38
Speaker 1: cood When we say blunt force trauma? What does she
26:42
Speaker 1: bleed to death? Does she have a heart attack? Does
26:47
Speaker 1: the blow itself costs her brain to stop working?
26:50
Speaker 6: What do we know so it can be a number
26:52
Speaker 6: of things.
26:53
Speaker 12: The fractures of the ribs can cause difficulty breathing, but
26:58
Speaker 12: mainly the blunt trauma to the it's going to cause
27:00
Speaker 12: the bleeding of the brain, which causes swelling of the brain,
27:03
Speaker 12: which causes the brain to no longer function properly because
27:06
Speaker 12: it starts pushing on the structures that control your breathing
27:09
Speaker 12: and respiratory or your resptory rate and your heart rate.
27:13
Speaker 12: So it's the damage to the brain and the bleeding
27:15
Speaker 12: of the brain that's causing death.
27:17
Speaker 1: Another surefire clue out to Hallie Jacobs CBS twenty one
27:23
Speaker 1: is the puppy. She had a little dog that her
27:27
Speaker 1: son describes as her best friend, her man, the only
27:31
Speaker 1: man she needed. This puppy gave her all the love
27:35
Speaker 1: she needed to get through difficult things. And more importantly,
27:40
Speaker 1: her dog had urinated all over the floor because it
27:46
Speaker 1: was unaccompanied. Was the dog left in the apartment?
27:51
Speaker 4: Hallie, Yes, so source of say that the dog was
27:54
Speaker 4: left in the apartment. We don't really know exactly for
27:57
Speaker 4: how long, but until her body was found, isn't it true?
28:00
Speaker 1: Hallie Jacob said. There was also there were also many
28:04
Speaker 1: signs of a struggle inside the apartment.
28:07
Speaker 4: From what officials can say on what they saw, I
28:10
Speaker 4: would guess, so somebody was talking about how officials say
28:14
Speaker 4: that her head might have been smacked against a wall
28:17
Speaker 4: as well, So definitely signs of a struggle, I would say.
28:20
Speaker 1: So the fire department is called and they open the
28:24
Speaker 1: duffel bag and they find this mom two, Doctor Kendall crowns,
28:29
Speaker 1: how difficult is it to contort a body to stuff
28:34
Speaker 1: into a duffel bag?
28:35
Speaker 12: So, depending on the size of the individual, if you
28:40
Speaker 12: push them into the duffel bag before rigamortis sets iner
28:43
Speaker 12: the body stiffening, it's actually not all that hard to
28:46
Speaker 12: shove them into a bag and then bend their body
28:49
Speaker 12: into a ball and then close it on.
28:51
Speaker 1: How about if rigamortis has already set in.
28:54
Speaker 12: What about that once rigor sets in, it actually becomes
28:58
Speaker 12: more difficult because the body is stiffened, and then it's
29:01
Speaker 12: harder to contort them into a small object. But you
29:05
Speaker 12: can break the rigor if you force the extremity or
29:08
Speaker 12: whatever is stiffened up. That once the rigger is broken,
29:11
Speaker 12: then the body becomes flashed again or floppy, and then
29:14
Speaker 12: you can force them into a small object.
29:17
Speaker 1: How do we know who did this? Well, here's a
29:20
Speaker 1: good clue. Two people begin immediately using her bank and
29:25
Speaker 1: credit cards. Okay, take a listen to Dave matt Crime online.
29:29
Speaker 2: NYPD Police Chief Joseph Kenney says, Holly Tahata and Kensley Austin,
29:34
Speaker 2: we're squatting in naughty of Vittel's apartment. When Vittel returned
29:37
Speaker 2: to the apartment in March twelfth, she confronted the squatters,
29:40
Speaker 2: who proceeded to allegedly beat her to death and cram
29:42
Speaker 2: her body into a double bag. Tehata and Alston allegedly
29:46
Speaker 2: through Vittel's personal effects and more in the trash, then
29:49
Speaker 2: left the building in her Lexes as UV. Using Vittel's
29:52
Speaker 2: bank cards, Tehata and Alston charged their way to Pennsylvania.
30:10
Speaker 1: Prime Stories with Nancy Grace Hollie Jacobs joining US CBS
30:15
Speaker 1: twenty one. So let me understand immediately, these two idiots
30:21
Speaker 1: start using her credit cards and bank cards.
30:23
Speaker 4: Absolutely, they're taking They took her Lexus. We have the
30:27
Speaker 4: security cam footage of them inside the Lexus driving all
30:31
Speaker 4: the way down to Pennsylvania and most likely using her
30:34
Speaker 4: bank of cards and accounts to fund their way to
30:37
Speaker 4: that area.
30:38
Speaker 1: As you know, joining us V. Brandt, who has literally
30:41
Speaker 1: traveled around the world hunting down wrongdoers. RV. Brant, what
30:47
Speaker 1: about these two. They're not even smart enough to cover
30:51
Speaker 1: their tracks. They're actually light canceling Gretel and the bred crumbs.
30:55
Speaker 1: They're leaving a trail a mile wide by stealing her
31:01
Speaker 1: car and using all her credit cards. Okay, so number one,
31:06
Speaker 1: they're squatters who are living in the grandmother Nadia's mom's
31:13
Speaker 1: apartment in a beautiful building in downtown Manhattan. They're squatting
31:21
Speaker 1: number one of their thiefs. They're very secretive. The super
31:25
Speaker 1: in the building didn't even know they were living there,
31:28
Speaker 1: So they're living the life of Riley in somebody else's apartment.
31:31
Speaker 1: Then when Nadia comes home to clear out the apartment,
31:36
Speaker 1: they ensue, a struggle ensues, and they beat her dead.
31:41
Speaker 1: Did you hear doctor Kendall Crown's explaining everything that was
31:46
Speaker 1: done to this woman, the severe beating and likely kicking
31:51
Speaker 1: to the ribs that killed her, blunt force trauma to
31:54
Speaker 1: her head, fracturing all the delicate bones in her face.
32:01
Speaker 1: Then that's not enough. They have to steal her car
32:04
Speaker 1: and use her credit cards. I mean, we don't allow
32:09
Speaker 1: the twins to say the S word, which is stupid.
32:12
Speaker 1: But how much more stupid could they be?
32:16
Speaker 5: And so they couldn't have been any more stupid. They
32:19
Speaker 5: gave it no thought whatsoever. They when they committed the murder,
32:26
Speaker 5: they won. They didn't have to murder this woman. This
32:32
Speaker 5: woman couldn't have stopped them from leaving, but they did
32:36
Speaker 5: it anyway, and they did it in a manner that
32:39
Speaker 5: just showed just a fit of rage. Doctor Crown's the
32:46
Speaker 5: way he explained it. The injuries. I've come across this
32:50
Speaker 5: beatings of people being beat to death before, and I
32:54
Speaker 5: can tell you what happened. She was beat the knocked
32:58
Speaker 5: to the ground. Then they say she wasn't punched. They
33:02
Speaker 5: stomped her, They somped her face, they stomped her chest,
33:07
Speaker 5: and they stuffed her into a closet, knowing damn well
33:12
Speaker 5: that they're on when they left, they're on video. They
33:15
Speaker 5: were swatting in this building. They know there's cameras in
33:18
Speaker 5: this building, and they know that they're going to be
33:21
Speaker 5: seen leaving the apartment.
33:23
Speaker 9: Then they take the victim's car, which they know is
33:26
Speaker 9: going to be reported stolen, and use the victims credit
33:29
Speaker 9: cards which they know are also going to be reported stolen.
33:34
Speaker 5: There was no thought to this whatsoever. This was complete
33:39
Speaker 5: impulse by these individuals.
33:42
Speaker 1: And I'm looking at a shot of the inside, the
33:45
Speaker 1: inside of the closet, and I see this mom's blood
33:53
Speaker 1: everywhere and the outline of the Duffel bag. It's the
33:57
Speaker 1: reason I can see the outline is because it's ringed
34:00
Speaker 1: in blood. And when I think about these two depraved
34:06
Speaker 1: animals that set up the scenario for her son to
34:11
Speaker 1: find his mother dad stuffed in a Duffel bag. According
34:15
Speaker 1: to some reports, her foot visible. So who are these guys?
34:21
Speaker 1: Take a listen to Rachel Benia Crime online.
34:24
Speaker 11: Once Vittel's body is found on the fourteenth floor, her
34:27
Speaker 11: Lexus is reported stolen and the US Marshals are able
34:30
Speaker 11: to track to Hotten, Austin to Lower Paston Township, Pennsylvania. There,
34:34
Speaker 11: the couple are involved in a traffic accident. March thirteenth,
34:38
Speaker 11: Austin gives police a fake name, slowing the process of
34:41
Speaker 11: clearing the accident.
34:42
Speaker 1: So they steal the car. And then to top it
34:45
Speaker 1: all off, they're involved in a traffic accident for Notnavi Alona.
34:50
Speaker 1: What about these two, I certainly wouldn't put them on
34:53
Speaker 1: the stand. You think they couldn't even withstand direct examination,
34:58
Speaker 1: which let's cross examination. Absolutely not.
35:01
Speaker 3: I would not put them understand if they were my client,
35:03
Speaker 3: they're subject to so much crossing. First off, they can't
35:06
Speaker 3: they won't be able to keep their stories straight, as
35:08
Speaker 3: you can see all these stupid steps that they took
35:11
Speaker 3: after they committed this homicide, that they're not the smartest crayons,
35:15
Speaker 3: the sharpest crayons out of the box. So in terms
35:18
Speaker 3: of what's going to happen next, though, since they're arrested
35:21
Speaker 3: in Pennsylvania, they'll have to be extra dieted to New York.
35:24
Speaker 3: More than likely they're going to be charged with murder
35:27
Speaker 3: in the second degree, which carries a mandatory minimum of
35:29
Speaker 3: fifteen years to life maximum of twenty five years to life.
35:33
Speaker 3: I'll be curious to see what are their defenses. Is
35:36
Speaker 3: this woman going to alleged that the man forced her
35:39
Speaker 3: to do it. Is the man going to alleged it
35:41
Speaker 3: was the woman who actually did it?
35:43
Speaker 10: Who knows?
35:43
Speaker 3: They'll probably be pointing their fingers at each other. I'm
35:46
Speaker 3: curious to see whether they gave a statement to law
35:48
Speaker 3: enforcement about what happened.
35:49
Speaker 1: You know what, I can't wait as a prosecutor to
35:53
Speaker 1: somehow get these pictures in front of the jury, because
35:57
Speaker 1: when they come in front of the jury, they're going
35:59
Speaker 1: to be all dressed up and looking sweet and angelic,
36:02
Speaker 1: much like the Menendez brothers did after they murdered their
36:05
Speaker 1: mom and dad. In court, they looked like two college
36:09
Speaker 1: co eds that had just come out of algebra class
36:12
Speaker 1: heading across campus to do something philanthropic. BS. They're not
36:17
Speaker 1: gonna look like this in court. They're gonna be all
36:20
Speaker 1: fixed up, wearing a suit, wearing a nice dress, with
36:23
Speaker 1: a fleet of lawyers on either side of them. It's
36:26
Speaker 1: kind of hard to reconcile what they're gonna look at
36:29
Speaker 1: it like a trial to what happened to this mom Naudia.
36:36
Speaker 1: You know, it reminds me of Scott Peterson. I remember
36:39
Speaker 1: every day in trial, I'd wait for him to come in,
36:43
Speaker 1: and he would walk in from the left side of
36:45
Speaker 1: the judge's bench, all bowed up in cocky like football player,
36:50
Speaker 1: perfectly groomed like he just had a haircut, shave, and
36:56
Speaker 1: wearing a very expensive, nice looking suit. Some people thought
37:00
Speaker 1: he was attractive. I thought he looked like the devil,
37:02
Speaker 1: full of piss and vinegar, very confident. That's how he
37:07
Speaker 1: presented in front of the jury. Now that's how we
37:09
Speaker 1: look when you walk in the room. But when the
37:11
Speaker 1: jury came in, he looked all pitiful and sad and
37:16
Speaker 1: try to make contact eye contact with the jurors. I
37:19
Speaker 1: nearly vomited, but I managed to, you know, choke it down.
37:23
Speaker 1: That's what these two are going to do. And you
37:25
Speaker 1: know what's going to shake a jury into reality's when
37:31
Speaker 1: they see the autopsy photos. When they see the pictures
37:36
Speaker 1: of the victim, a woman along with her little puppy
37:40
Speaker 1: dog cleaning out her dad mom's apartment. Doctor Kendall crowns
37:46
Speaker 1: very often certain autopsy photos where the big y is
37:54
Speaker 1: cut into the victim. Or for instance, I had a
37:57
Speaker 1: case of dtor crowds where a woman was bludgeoned dead
38:02
Speaker 1: and in one you couldn't see it. She had very beautiful, thick,
38:07
Speaker 1: dark brunette hair and you couldn't see the blow on
38:14
Speaker 1: her head. The only way for the jury to see
38:17
Speaker 1: it was the subcutaneous tissue and the autopsy shot where
38:21
Speaker 1: her head the skin was cut and pulled back there
38:27
Speaker 1: underneath you could see the hemorrhage and the blood. I
38:31
Speaker 1: had to fight tooth and claw to get that in.
38:35
Speaker 1: Not for the upsetting nature of the photo. I hated
38:38
Speaker 1: looking at it, but to show all the bleeding, the
38:43
Speaker 1: subdural bleeding that she endured because of a blow to
38:50
Speaker 1: the head. So those pictures very likely won't make it
38:53
Speaker 1: to this jury. But the pictures of her body covered
38:57
Speaker 1: in bruises, probably cracked teeth, the beating in the face,
39:03
Speaker 1: the kicking to the ribs, they're gonna see all that,
39:05
Speaker 1: and they're gonna look over at the two defendants sitting
39:08
Speaker 1: there like two angels with halos over their head. That's
39:10
Speaker 1: a sharp dichotomy, wouldn't you agree, doctor Crowns.
39:13
Speaker 12: Pad cases where the defense attorneys subject to the pictures
39:16
Speaker 12: being put in, and there was one judge in Chicago
39:19
Speaker 12: he said that murder is ugly, and that is what
39:22
Speaker 12: the jury is going to see, so they just have
39:24
Speaker 12: to get over it.
39:25
Speaker 1: Well, okay, spoken like a true medical examiner. The jury
39:29
Speaker 1: will quote have to just get over it. Okay, Doctor
39:33
Speaker 1: Kendall Crowns, why did I ask you an emotional question.
39:36
Speaker 1: That's my fault, not your fault. That's totally my fault.
39:40
Speaker 1: IRV Brant, What about these two, because the jury is
39:44
Speaker 1: going to hear about flight. Why steal a car and
39:48
Speaker 1: flee to another jurisdiction if you're not guilty, I mean, IRV.
39:51
Speaker 1: When you see a state treeper pull up behind you
39:53
Speaker 1: on the interstate, do you gun it at ninety mpahs
39:57
Speaker 1: to get away?
39:58
Speaker 3: No?
39:58
Speaker 1: You might hit the brake. But that's about it. Why
40:01
Speaker 1: were they on the run? Why do criminals run? It
40:05
Speaker 1: only makes similar worse.
40:06
Speaker 5: It's true, Nancy, but these individuals weren't thinking about that.
40:11
Speaker 5: They were completely living in the moment. They know they
40:15
Speaker 5: have just committed a heinous crime and that they were
40:19
Speaker 5: in a lot of trouble, and they were going completely
40:23
Speaker 5: by instinct. They were just fleeing. They fled in the
40:28
Speaker 5: victim's vehicle. That's the worst possible choice to do. Steal
40:34
Speaker 5: someone else's vehicle, take the subway, take a train. Fleeing
40:39
Speaker 5: in the victim's vehicle is just absurd, and using the
40:44
Speaker 5: victim's credit cards is absurd. They have no defense in
40:50
Speaker 5: this case.
40:51
Speaker 1: Well, I got to tell you this. You have tried
40:52
Speaker 1: down a lot of defendants all over the world. They
40:54
Speaker 1: made it very hard to find themselves for you to
40:57
Speaker 1: find them. Not so with these two. Okay, here's my
41:01
Speaker 1: next concern, and I'll close with this wonderful thought, Hallie Jacobs.
41:06
Speaker 1: This is going to the Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. He'll
41:08
Speaker 1: probably let him out on bond. Are at leased on unrecognissance?
41:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean as of right now, they're just being
41:15
Speaker 4: held in Dolphin County Prison and you know, depending extradition
41:19
Speaker 4: to New York on murder charges. So we'll just kind
41:21
Speaker 4: of have to wait and see. But hopefully, you know,
41:24
Speaker 4: justice has served and.
41:25
Speaker 1: The reality is, to our special guest, doctor Gary Ricato,
41:30
Speaker 1: clinical psychologist, the son can't even begin to heal until
41:35
Speaker 1: the trial process is over, and these two haven't even
41:38
Speaker 1: been extra diized yet.
41:39
Speaker 8: Absolutely, and you know, our hearts definitely go out to him.
41:44
Speaker 8: One thing, Nancy, I definitely wanted to have an opportunity
41:47
Speaker 8: to say, is that I think with this case, based
41:51
Speaker 8: on smilar cases that I've looked at, I wouldn't be
41:55
Speaker 8: surprised given how incredibly impulsive and chaotic the scene was
42:00
Speaker 8: learned that the offenders were hopped up on some kind
42:02
Speaker 8: of drug and that shouldn't be shocking when you envision
42:06
Speaker 8: people making bone headed moves like this, getting in a
42:09
Speaker 8: traffic accident and so forth, because that can add to
42:12
Speaker 8: the ferocity of what we're seeing. And the other thing
42:16
Speaker 8: I think that people are going to hear about in
42:18
Speaker 8: the courtroom is a kind of a sympathy story about
42:22
Speaker 8: probably two people that came from messed up backgrounds, didn't
42:26
Speaker 8: really have a sense of home, and as a consequence,
42:28
Speaker 8: felt a kind of entitlement to take what they wanted
42:31
Speaker 8: from the world that wouldn't give them anything, and instead
42:35
Speaker 8: what you wind up with is parasitic behavior.
42:37
Speaker 1: Doctor Gary Priccado, I agree with everything that you just said,
42:40
Speaker 1: but let me counter this. You think I care, You
42:44
Speaker 1: think I care about their imaginary bad childhood or whether
42:51
Speaker 1: they or as you said, hopped up on math you know,
42:54
Speaker 1: don't care, doesn't matter. Under the law voluntary usage drugs
42:58
Speaker 1: for alcohol, it is not a defense. So to Hay
43:02
Speaker 1: with that, they are going down. I don't know if
43:05
Speaker 1: Alvin Braggs is the man to do it, but these
43:09
Speaker 1: two are headed for hard jail time. We wait as
43:13
Speaker 1: justice unfolds. Goodbye, friend,