Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / NYC Mom Survives Horrific Arizona Mountain Attack During Birthday Hiking Trip | Crime Alert 08.26.26

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NYC Mom Survives Horrific Arizona Mountain Attack During Birthday Hiking Trip | Crime Alert 08.26.26 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert, hourly update, breaking crime news now.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Sydney Silvani. What was supposed to be a celebratory
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  Speaker 2: birthday hiking trip turned into a horrifying fight for survival
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  Speaker 2: for a New York City mother of two. Alexis Rowan, 27,
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  Speaker 2: was hiking on the remote Havasupai Indian Reservation in northern
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  Speaker 2: Arizona on Wednesday, August 19th, just one day after her
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  Speaker 2: 27th birthday. After falling behind her hiking companion, Rowan approached
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  Speaker 2: a local villager to ask for directions to a gift shop.
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  Speaker 2: She had no idea the stranger was 29-year-old Taylor Nardo Paya,
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  Speaker 2: a tribal member with a violent past. Before she could react,
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  Speaker 2: Paya ambushed her from behind, launching an unprovoked attack that
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  Speaker 2: left her neck slashed and her hand stabbed. Desperate to
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  Speaker 2: return home to her children, Rowan instinctively fought for her life.
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  Speaker 1: And I was like, oh my God, my neck, like,
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  Speaker 1: I can't die like this. Like, this is not the way.
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  Speaker 1: And I was like, I have my kids.
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  Speaker 2: To go home to. Rowan fought back as Paya dragged
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  Speaker 2: her by the hair across the ground. Bleeding from a
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  Speaker 2: deep neck wound, Rowan screamed with everything she had left.
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  Speaker 2: Her cries alerted a woman inside a nearby residence who
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  Speaker 2: opened her front door. That sudden interruption startled Paya, forcing
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  Speaker 2: him to release Rowan and flee. Graphic photos show the
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  Speaker 2: reality of the attack, a deep slash on her neck
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  Speaker 2: requiring 10 stitches alongside three stitches on her hand. Recalling
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  Speaker 2: the moment she realized she was in danger, Alexis described
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  Speaker 2: her initial encounter.
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  Speaker 1: Didn't think anything of it. It was the first person
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  Speaker 1: that I've seen in the village. And I said, hey,
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  Speaker 1: excuse me, like, is that the gift shop? I kept walking,
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  Speaker 1: went to go in. And that's when he just came
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  Speaker 1: up from behind. And as soon as I felt my neck,
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  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, my God, like I'm going to die.
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  Speaker 2: The intervention of the homeowner who opened her door saved
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  Speaker 2: Rowan's life. Doorbell camera footage captured the struggle. And while
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  Speaker 2: the audio was missing, authorities confirmed Rowan's screams were key
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  Speaker 2: to driving the attacker away. Alexis's mother, Tricia Rowan, expressed
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  Speaker 2: gratitude for the bystander, calling her an angel sent from heaven.
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  Speaker 2: I'm just so grateful for the woman that opened the
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  Speaker 2: door that heard her screams.
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  Speaker 1: It's something you can never unhear.
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  Speaker 2: Tricia Rowan praised her daughter's determination to survive and make
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  Speaker 2: it home to her children. She's a fighter. She fought,
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  Speaker 2: she made sure she's coming home to her babies. And
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  Speaker 2: she's my baby, so.
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  Speaker 1: I'm so glad she made it.
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  Speaker 2: Alexis noted her gut instinct warned her of danger, adding
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  Speaker 2: another victim might not have been prepared to survive. Tribal
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  Speaker 2: police located Paya the following day by pinging Rowan's stolen phone.
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  Speaker 2: Federal agents took Paya into custody, transporting him on a
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  Speaker 2: golf cart before perp-walking him to a helicopter. Paya faces
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  Speaker 2: federal charges of assault with a deadly weapon. Records reveal
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  Speaker 2: Paya pleaded guilty in 2016 to robbing and assaulting another woman,
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  Speaker 2: serving five years in prison. Rowan's distraught mother now wants
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  Speaker 2: the dangerous perpetrator locked up indefinitely. More crime and justice
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  Speaker 2: news after this. A Milwaukee road rage dispute over a
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  Speaker 2: minor traffic incident ended in a fatal shooting, with an
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  Speaker 2: 18-year-old claiming a bad day led her to commit murder.
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  Speaker 2: Mariah Ruiz was charged Monday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court
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  Speaker 2: with first-degree reckless homicide by use of a dangerous weapon
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  Speaker 2: in the August 17 shooting death of 44-year-old Minerva Hernandez-Lopez.
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  Speaker 2: Investigators say Ruiz cut off the victim while driving to
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  Speaker 2: a grocery store with a teenage friend. A verbal altercation
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  Speaker 2: erupted after Hernandez-Lopez allegedly gestured at Ruiz and told her,
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  Speaker 2: little girl, you need to drive. Ruiz admitted threatening to
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  Speaker 2: call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement before pulling out a gun.
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  Speaker 2: Surveillance video recorded Hernandez-Lopez's tan GMC backing into Ruiz's front
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  Speaker 2: bumper before Ruiz fired five rounds into the car. The
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  Speaker 2: Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed Hernandez-Lopez died from a
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  Speaker 2: gunshot wound to the neck. Despite her friend pleading with
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  Speaker 2: her not to shoot, Ruiz pulled the trigger, later surrendering
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  Speaker 2: to police and penning an apology letter claiming a fight
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  Speaker 2: with her mother ruined her day. Ruiz faces 65 years
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  Speaker 2: in prison and remains held on a $ 100, 000 cash bond
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  Speaker 2: ahead of her Friday preliminary hearing. A former television news
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  Speaker 2: anchor in Kansas pleaded guilty to murder after fatally stabbing
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  Speaker 2: her elderly mother during a mental health crisis. 48-year-old Angeline
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  Speaker 2: Angie Mock admitted Friday to first-degree murder for the Halloween
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  Speaker 2: 2025 slaying of her 80-year-old mother, Anita Avers. Wichita police
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  Speaker 2: officers responding to a 7.50 a.m. call at the home
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  Speaker 2: Mock shared with her mother and stepfather found Mock outside
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  Speaker 2: with cuts on her hands and Avers suffering from multiple
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  Speaker 2: stab wounds, later dying at the hospital. Court documents state
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  Speaker 2: Mock told police officers she killed her mother to save herself.
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  Speaker 2: claiming she believed her mother was the devil. Family members
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  Speaker 2: noted Mock had been diagnosed with mental illness, suffering from
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  Speaker 2: delusions and depression. Mock previously worked as a news anchor
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  Speaker 2: and reporter for Fox 2 in St. Louis and KOKH
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  Speaker 2: in Oklahoma City. Mock held other reporting stints in Minnesota, Montana,
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  Speaker 2: and Nebraska. Under her plea deal, Mock faces life in
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  Speaker 2: prison with parole eligibility after 25 years, with sentencing scheduled
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  Speaker 2: for October 5th. For more crime and justice news, be
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  Speaker 2: sure to join us for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
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  Speaker 2: on Fox One, YouTube, Sirius XM, and now streaming on Tubi.
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  Speaker 2: With this Crime Alert, I'm Sydney Silvani.