Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Crime Alert 01.03.25 | USPS Worker Shot Dead at Houston Mail Facility

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Crime Alert 01.03.25 | USPS Worker Shot Dead at Houston Mail Facility · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert I Nancy Grace Breaking Crimes now ten PM.
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  Speaker 1: Texas cock speed to a USPS facility after reports shots
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  Speaker 1: fired in the building. They find contractor Kevin Hines dead
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  Speaker 1: shot execution style on the back of the head. Employees
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  Speaker 1: who witness the shooting say coworker Derrick Lott Junior was
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  Speaker 1: behind the gun. Lott tries to blend in with dozens
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  Speaker 1: of evacuating employees when he's cuffed. Lot refuses to admit
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  Speaker 1: why he killed Hines Nancy.
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  Speaker 2: Many details of the shooting are unclear, including what led
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  Speaker 2: up to it and where in the building it occurred. Reportedly,
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  Speaker 2: Lot Junior was not scheduled to be working at the
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  Speaker 2: time of the attack. The facility was shut down into
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  Speaker 2: the morning after the shooting, in work resumed that afternoon.
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  Speaker 2: Kevin Hines leaves behind a beloved son who says he
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  Speaker 2: felt it when his dad passed away. Marquise Hines says
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  Speaker 2: his father always pushed him to be better and he
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  Speaker 2: will continue living by his dad's example.
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  Speaker 1: Derrick Lott Junior, twenty four, now charged with murder. A
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  Speaker 1: Florida Hilton employee caused police to report an SUV stolen
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  Speaker 1: from the valet, but not just any suv. It's a
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  Speaker 1: Rolls Royce police spot. Is stolen suv a few miles away,
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  Speaker 1: but the thief, not willing to give up his prize,
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  Speaker 1: takes off. Six miles from the Hilton, he crashes the
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  Speaker 1: four hundred thousand dollars car into a checker's restaurant. Malik
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  Speaker 1: Patterson tries to flee on foot, but cannot outrun the
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  Speaker 1: canine unit. Patterson twenty one, charged with grand theft and
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  Speaker 1: resisting without violence, now facing thirty years behind bars for
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  Speaker 1: a very short lived joy ride. But oh he went
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  Speaker 1: in style. More crime and justice news after this. Now
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  Speaker 1: with the latest crime and justice breaking news crimal lines.
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  Speaker 3: John Lemley, a Connecticut man, is facing charges in a
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  Speaker 3: shocking drive by shooting that claimed the lives of a
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  Speaker 3: twenty year old mother and her four month old baby.
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  Speaker 3: Twenty three year old Lance Morales appeared in Hartford court,
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  Speaker 3: where bail was set at five million dollars. If convicted,
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  Speaker 3: he could face life without parole. Police alleged Morales opened
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  Speaker 3: fire on Jessica Mercato and her son, Messiah Diaz on
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  Speaker 3: November nineteenth in Hartford. A third passenger was injured, while
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  Speaker 3: a fourth escaped harm. According to an arrest warrant, the
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  Speaker 3: attack followed a dispute over four hundred dollars. Mercato reportedly
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  Speaker 3: owed Morales for renting his SUV. Morales, arrested in Puerto
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  Speaker 3: Rico after the shooting, was extradited back to Connecticut over
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  Speaker 3: the weekend. Witness accounts cited in the warrant claimed Mercato
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  Speaker 3: pleaded for her child's safety before Morales allegedly replied, I
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  Speaker 3: don't care and began shooting. Authorities believe the firearm used
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  Speaker 3: was fully automatic. Court records show Morales has a prior
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  Speaker 3: attempted assault conviction and additional pending cases. His attorney said
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  Speaker 3: he cannot afford bail. Morales's due back in court January eighth.
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  Speaker 3: In a chilling conclusion to a decade's old mystery, authorities
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  Speaker 3: have confirm that James Vanest, a man recently killed during
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  Speaker 3: a federal arrest attempt, was responsible for the brutal nineteen
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  Speaker 3: eighty one murder of eighteen year old Deborah Lee Miller
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  Speaker 3: in Mansfield, Ohio. For more, we turned to Sidney Sumner
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  Speaker 3: of Crime Online.
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  Speaker 2: Deborah Lee Miller, a young waitress, was found beaten to
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  Speaker 2: death with an ovengrate in her apartment. On April twenty ninth,
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  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty one, Mansfield Police Chief Jason Bamman announced that
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  Speaker 2: advances in DNA technology reopened the cold case. In twenty
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  Speaker 2: twenty one, leading to a breakthrough. Investigators uncovered a definitive
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  Speaker 2: DNA link connecting Vanest van Miller's twenty six year old
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  Speaker 2: upstairs neighbor to the crime scene. James Vanest, questioned but
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  Speaker 2: never named, a suspect in the original investigation, had a
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  Speaker 2: shadowy history. Allegations of police misconduct in the nineteen eighties
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  Speaker 2: cast doubt on the integrity of several local homicide investigations,
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  Speaker 2: including Miller's. A special inquiry later cleared officers of wrongdoing,
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  Speaker 2: but raised troubling questions about the handling of her CAUs
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  Speaker 2: By twenty twenty four, prosecutors were preparing charges against him
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  Speaker 2: for Miller's murder. However, Vaness evaded accountability after fleeing Ohio
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  Speaker 2: amid mounting legal troubles. He was indicted on federal firearms charges.
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  Speaker 2: Authorities tracked into a motel in North Campton in November.
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  Speaker 2: A standoff ensued, during which Vanest allegedly opened fire injuring
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  Speaker 2: one swat officer before being fatally shot. Detective Terry Butler,
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  Speaker 2: who pursued the case with personal ties. His great uncle
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  Speaker 2: was one of the first officers at the scene in
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  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty one, said the outcome underscores law enforcement's commitment
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  Speaker 2: to justice no matter how much time has passed.
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  Speaker 3: Chief Bamman declared the case closed, expressing hope that this
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  Speaker 3: resolution provides long awaited solace to Miller's family.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks John and Kip makes deliveries nationwide for r XO.
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  Speaker 1: Kip does not have a permanent address, but has her
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  Speaker 1: mail delivered to Decayterur, Alabama, OC taber ten. She makes
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  Speaker 1: a delivery Corinth, the Mississippi. A week later, she asked
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  Speaker 1: for few days off, says she's not feeling well. October twenty,
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  Speaker 1: she's scheduled to make a pickup in Scottsburg, Indiana. It
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  Speaker 1: appears she checked into a hotel there, but she doesn't
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  Speaker 1: show for the pickup and doesn't answer calls or texts.
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  Speaker 1: None of her family members can reach her, and drives
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  Speaker 1: at twenty eighteen for Transit with a white RXO decal
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  Speaker 1: on the driver and passenger side doors. Michigan license plate
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  Speaker 1: eight Q Queen d Delta B Brother nine one and
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  Speaker 1: Kip five eight strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes. If you
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  Speaker 1: have info on Ann, Kip or the van, please call Decatur,
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  Speaker 1: Alabama PD two five six three four one four six
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  Speaker 1: one four. For the latest crime insice news, go to
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  Speaker 1: crime online dot com and please join us for our
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  Speaker 1: daily podcast, Crime Stories, where we do our best to
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  Speaker 1: find missing people, especially children, and solve unsolved homicides. With
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  Speaker 1: this crime alert, Imancy Grace