Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Arizona Bride-to-Be Survives Brutal Stabbing by Fiancé Claiming Divine Prophet Mission | Crime Alert 11.02.26

Transcript

Arizona Bride-to-Be Survives Brutal Stabbing by Fiancé Claiming Divine Prophet Mission | Crime Alert 11.02.26 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert, hourly update, breaking.
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  Speaker 2: Crime news now. I'm Sydney Silvani. An Arizona woman is
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  Speaker 2: recovering after her fiancé allegedly stabbed her in the neck
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  Speaker 2: just one month before their wedding. Zachary Velasquez faces aggravated
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  Speaker 2: assault charges following the violent attack, according to a Glendale
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  Speaker 2: Police Department probable cause statement. The victim, identified in an
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  Speaker 2: online fundraiser as Emily Biles, revealed to Fox 10 that
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  Speaker 2: the horrific bloodshed erupted weeks before their impending wedding. Speaking
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  Speaker 2: directly with Fox 10, Biles described the chilling disbelief of
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  Speaker 2: being targeted by the man she loved.
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  Speaker 3: Completely mortified that someone that says he loves me and
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  Speaker 3: would protect me would just like literally try to murder me.
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  Speaker 2: Biles revealed to Fox 10 that Velasquez had also threatened
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  Speaker 2: her children. She credits her 11-year-old daughter's bravery with saving
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  Speaker 2: their lives after the young girl called 911 upon hearing screams,
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  Speaker 2: telling Fox 10.
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  Speaker 3: She's very, very brave and I couldn't imagine what she's
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  Speaker 3: going through.
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  Speaker 2: Glendale officers forced entry into the bedroom, discovering Biles covered
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  Speaker 2: in blood with a severed vertebral artery requiring emergency surgery.
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  Speaker 2: In an online update, Biles stated, I was stabbed multiple times,
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  Speaker 2: my artery was cut, and I was severely beaten. She
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  Speaker 2: told police Velasquez was using methamphetamine and claimed he was
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  Speaker 2: a prophet sent by God to kill her to save her,
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  Speaker 2: insisting he heard her thoughts, criticizing him. Velasquez claimed self-defense,
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  Speaker 2: admitting only to punching and choking her. He has not
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  Speaker 2: entered a plea. Biles says their blood-soaked home remains unlivable
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  Speaker 2: as she recovers from facial stitches with her daughter staying
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  Speaker 2: safely out of town. In Florida, disturbing allegations surround an
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  Speaker 2: Osceola County photographer accused of leaving four children home alone
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  Speaker 2: without supervision while traveling to Las Vegas for work. 50-year-old
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  Speaker 2: Irene Miller was arrested on felony child neglect charges after
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  Speaker 2: one of her children called 911 on October 21, reporting
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  Speaker 2: a dumbbell had fallen onto the head of her 9-year-old child.
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  Speaker 2: According to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, Miller left her
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  Speaker 2: four children, aged 9 to 14, unattended. Miller claims she
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  Speaker 2: hired a sitter for before and after school, acknowledging no
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  Speaker 2: one stayed overnight. Deputies arrested Miller at the airport upon
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  Speaker 2: her return on October 23, releasing body camera footage. Her husband,
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  Speaker 2: Mark Miller, has taken custody of the children and launched
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  Speaker 2: an online fundraiser as their sole caregiver. However, court records
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  Speaker 2: show Mark faces battery charges for allegedly striking Irene outside
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  Speaker 2: their children's school in August. Marcus pleaded not guilty while
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  Speaker 2: Irene filed for divorce in September, having advertised holiday family
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  Speaker 2: photography packages on Facebook just two days before departing for Nevada.
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  Speaker 2: More crime and justice news after this. A major DNA
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  Speaker 2: breakthrough has solved the 52-year-old cold case murder of a
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  Speaker 2: Utah police chief's teenage daughter, and investigators believe infamous serial
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  Speaker 2: killer Ted Bundy could be tied to even more unresolved killings.
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  Speaker 2: 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith, daughter of former Midvale Police Chief
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  Speaker 2: Louis Smith, was found dead by hunters in a wooded
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  Speaker 2: area on October 27, 1974. For more than five decades,
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  Speaker 2: detectives suspected Bundy but lacked physical evidence connecting him to
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  Speaker 2: the crime. That changed when DNA from the October 1974
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  Speaker 2: murder of 17-year-old Laura Ann Amy was linked to Bundy,
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  Speaker 2: allowing forensic scientists with the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services
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  Speaker 2: to test preserved evidence from Smith's autopsy. The profiles matched.
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  Speaker 2: Detective Ben Pender, a 35-year veteran with the Salt Lake
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  Speaker 2: County Sheriff's Office Unsolved Homicide Unit, spoke to Fox News
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  Speaker 2: Digital about the possibility of additional Bundy victims.
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  Speaker 1: There may be more victims out there that we're not
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  Speaker 1: even aware of, and I think there's always been that speculation.
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  Speaker 2: Pender told Fox News Digital that investigators intend to carefully
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  Speaker 2: safeguard the physical evidence to assist other agencies with unsolved cases.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to hold on to this evidence, and we're
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  Speaker 1: going to utilize it in cases that we believe may
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  Speaker 1: be connected to see if we can't resolve not only
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  Speaker 1: our case, but anybody else who may have a case
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  Speaker 1: with money.
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  Speaker 2: Authorities officially closed Melissa Ann Smith's homicide case on Tuesday,
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  Speaker 2: exactly 52 years to the day after her body was recovered.
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  Speaker 2: Detective Pender emphasized to Fox News Digital the vital role
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  Speaker 2: that evidence preservation played across half a century.
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  Speaker 1: It's extremely important in all of these cases to preserve
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  Speaker 1: the evidence. We In all homicide cases, we maintain that
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  Speaker 1: evidence forever. We don't ever get rid of that, and
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  Speaker 1: we don't get rid of it for this very reason.
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  Speaker 2: While forensic advances offer hope, Pender cautioned that DNA cannot
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  Speaker 2: resolve every cold case due to degradation or mixed samples.
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  Speaker 2: His unit handles 34 unsolved homicides and 14 missing persons cases.
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  Speaker 2: None are believed to be tied to Bundy except for
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  Speaker 2: missing victim Nancy Wilcox, whom Bundy confessed to murdering, though
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  Speaker 2: her body has never been found. Ted Bundy confessed to
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  Speaker 2: dozens of murders before his 1989 execution in Florida's electric chair,
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  Speaker 2: but as Pender explained to Fox News Digital, investigators must
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  Speaker 2: remain meticulous.
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  Speaker 1: It's still important that we connect them the right way
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  Speaker 1: and that we don't just, you know, throw everything on
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  Speaker 1: to Ted Bundy that we're not quite sure of It's important, again,
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  Speaker 1: that the right person is identified in these cases.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks to persistent evidence preservation, Melissa Ann Smith's family finally
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  Speaker 2: has the definitive truth. For more crime and justice news,
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  Speaker 2: be sure to join us for Crime Stories with Nancy
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  Speaker 2: Grace on Fox 1, YouTube, Sirius XM, and now streaming
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  Speaker 2: on Tubi. With this Crime Alert, I'm Sydney Silvani.