Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Doctor Charged With Child Sex Abuse Material Found Dead In Burned Home Days After Arrest | Crime Alert 6AM 12.31.25
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Crime alert.
- 0:01Speaker 2: I'm a c Grace and Alaska doctor previously named to
- 0:04Speaker 2: the state's medical board found dead in his burned down
- 0:08Speaker 2: home just days after his arrest.
- 0:11Speaker 1: On child sex abuse materials.
- 0:14Speaker 2: Authorities first believe Ryan McDonald, forty six, is missing after
- 0:18Speaker 2: discovering other residents escape the fire.
- 0:21Speaker 1: Upon further investigation, his remains found in the home. Straight
- 0:25Speaker 1: out to Drew Nelson for more Nancy.
- 0:28Speaker 3: The fire destroyed the family home of Ryan McDonough on
- 0:31Speaker 3: West Discovery Loop in Wasilla, just one day after he
- 0:34Speaker 3: was released from jail on a fifty thousand dollars cash
- 0:37Speaker 3: bond posted by his wife. Alaska State troopers now say
- 0:41Speaker 3: preliminary identification confirms the charred body found in the house
- 0:45Speaker 3: is McDonough's. The state medical Examiner is still working to
- 0:49Speaker 3: determine his cause of death. Investigators say the origin and
- 0:53Speaker 3: cause of the fire also remain under investigation. Fire crews
- 0:57Speaker 3: arrived to find the home fully engulfed. Authorities confirmed McDonough
- 1:01Speaker 3: was the only person inside at the time, as the
- 1:04Speaker 3: other residents escaped unharmed. The discovery comes just days after
- 1:08Speaker 3: McDonough pleaded not guilty to the child sex abuse material
- 1:12Speaker 3: charges during an initial court appearance. He had been arrested
- 1:15Speaker 3: as part of a joint local, state, and federal investigation.
- 1:19Speaker 3: Court records show the alleged material was uncovered after tips
- 1:23Speaker 3: were sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
- 1:27Speaker 3: Neighbors described the shock rippling through the Wassilla community, some
- 1:31Speaker 3: of them declining to speak to reporters. Others say they
- 1:34Speaker 3: were disturbed by the allegations tied to a man they
- 1:37Speaker 3: believed lived a quiet life in the neighborhood. Was Silla
- 1:40Speaker 3: resident Damon Blankenship speaking to Ktuu.
- 1:43Speaker 4: Angry seems so predominant in our world today, so many
- 1:47Speaker 4: of them. Well, I don't think we have even scratched
- 1:50Speaker 4: the surface.
- 1:51Speaker 3: Blankenship says the case makes him angry and rather unsettled.
- 1:55Speaker 4: It's been an issue for a long long time. We
- 1:57Speaker 4: need to spend a lot more money putting these people
- 1:59Speaker 4: in jail as far as I'm concerned.
- 2:02Speaker 3: McDonough worked as an interventional cardiologist at Matsu Regional Medical
- 2:06Speaker 3: Center and Matsu Medical Group. Hospital officials say he was
- 2:10Speaker 3: terminated the same day the charges became public. A spokesperson
- 2:14Speaker 3: called the situation shocking and said the decision was immediate
- 2:17Speaker 3: to fire him. In August, McDonough had been appointed to
- 2:20Speaker 3: the Alaska State Medical Board by Governor Mike Dunlevy. He
- 2:24Speaker 3: resigned from the board in November. A spokesperson for the
- 2:27Speaker 3: governor said the administration was unaware of any criminal investigation
- 2:31Speaker 3: at the time he was appointed. He learned of the
- 2:34Speaker 3: charges when they were made public.
- 2:36Speaker 1: Thanks Drew more crime and Justice news after this.
- 2:44Speaker 3: A Long Island, New York seventh grader is being praised
- 2:47Speaker 3: for his quick thinking after escaping a burglary in progress
- 2:50Speaker 3: and calling police while a stranger was inside his home.
- 2:54Speaker 3: The break in happened midday Tuesday in Medford. Twelve year
- 2:57Speaker 3: old Tristan Taylor was home alone inside his family's house
- 3:01Speaker 3: on Eagle Avenue when he heard a sudden crash from
- 3:03Speaker 3: the kitchen. Moments later, he realized someone was inside and
- 3:07Speaker 3: moving through the house. Here he is speaking with WCBS
- 3:10Speaker 3: reporter Carolyn Gussoff Eric glassbreakings.
- 3:13Speaker 1: Myself about to get out of the house the quickest
- 3:17Speaker 1: way possible, and that was how the window.
- 3:20Speaker 3: Tristan climbed out of a ground floor window and ran
- 3:23Speaker 3: to safety. He hid behind the garage and called nine
- 3:26Speaker 3: to one one while the intruder continued rummaging through the house.
- 3:29Speaker 3: He stayed on the line as officers rushed to the scene.
- 3:32Speaker 5: He's had to be braving and called them that I
- 3:35Speaker 5: was on the phone with them waiting for them to
- 3:37Speaker 5: get here.
- 3:37Speaker 3: So the county police arrived in less than three minutes.
- 3:40Speaker 3: Officers caught the suspect inside the house and took him
- 3:43Speaker 3: into custody without incident. Family members said Tristan state calm
- 3:47Speaker 3: throughout the whole ordeal. His grandmother praised his instincts and
- 3:51Speaker 3: composure as our little hero. But we were very proud
- 3:54Speaker 3: that he was able to keep his composure and you know,
- 3:57Speaker 3: call the police as quickly as he did, you know,
- 3:59Speaker 3: basically without really you know, thinking about it. He just
- 4:02Speaker 3: automatically called nine to one one. Neighbors like Mike Campanella
- 4:05Speaker 3: say the boy did exactly what he was taught. I
- 4:08Speaker 3: would hope that, you know, my son would have done
- 4:10Speaker 3: the same thing.
- 4:11Speaker 4: When someone's breaking.
- 4:12Speaker 3: Into the house, no precaution is to get out and
- 4:15Speaker 3: then call the police. Police identified the suspect as a
- 4:18Speaker 3: fifty three year old Christian Garcia. He pleaded not guilty
- 4:22Speaker 3: to charges of burglary and possession of burglar tools. Our
- 4:25Speaker 3: partners at the New York Post likened quick thinking Tristan
- 4:29Speaker 3: to Kevin McAllister from home alone, though unlike the movie,
- 4:32Speaker 3: no one was injured. A holiday drive through the Sierra
- 4:36Speaker 3: nearly turns deadly when an SUV spins out on icy
- 4:39Speaker 3: Highway fifty and dangles over a steep drop. That is
- 4:42Speaker 3: until a heroic US Air Force staff Stargan steps in.
- 4:47Speaker 3: The crash happened on Christmas morning along historic Highway fifty
- 4:50Speaker 3: as a major winter storm moved through northern California. Cal
- 4:54Speaker 3: trens reported multiple spinouts in the area as drivers faced snow,
- 4:58Speaker 3: ice and nearly no t One of those spinouts left
- 5:02Speaker 3: an suv teetering hundreds of feet above a slope held
- 5:05Speaker 3: in place by a single tree. Staff Sergeant Ruben Tala's
- 5:09Speaker 3: stationed at Travis Air Force Base, was driving through the
- 5:12Speaker 3: area when his family saw the vehicle loose control. He
- 5:15Speaker 3: tells CACRA he pulled over and ran toward the suv
- 5:19Speaker 3: without hesitation.
- 5:20Speaker 5: And I saw the car spin out, like I thought
- 5:22Speaker 5: about my wife and my daughter. But if there's a
- 5:24Speaker 5: family on that car, somebody has to help.
- 5:27Speaker 3: Dash and cell phone videos shows Tala gripping the vehicle
- 5:31Speaker 3: as it hangs over the edge. Other drivers stopped to help.
- 5:34Speaker 3: As the situation grows more perilous.
- 5:37Speaker 5: I yelled at them, hey, do you have any rope?
- 5:39Speaker 5: I need some rope, And one guy ran back on
- 5:41Speaker 5: this track and give me a rope. Then the other
- 5:43Speaker 5: three guys they were holding my hands try to keep
- 5:46Speaker 5: the car not moving.
- 5:47Speaker 3: The driver and passenger remain trapped inside the suv as
- 5:51Speaker 3: it swayed.
- 5:52Speaker 5: So the driver is really thankful, he's really thankful on me,
- 5:55Speaker 5: and I think his wife is still in the state
- 5:57Speaker 5: of shock that time. She was holding her.
- 5:59Speaker 3: To Once the rope was secured and the vehicle stabilized,
- 6:03Speaker 3: the couple was pulled to safety one by one. Miraculously,
- 6:07Speaker 3: nobody was hurt. One thing stuck with Sergeant Tala after
- 6:10Speaker 3: the rescue. One of the dogs in the vehicle was
- 6:13Speaker 3: named Luna, which is the same name as his young daughter.
- 6:16Speaker 3: Cacra reports. First responders arrived shortly after the rescue was complete.
- 6:21Speaker 3: Despite the praise, Tala brushes off the title of hero.
- 6:25Speaker 5: I'm just doing my part without somebody else. That's how
- 6:28Speaker 5: we're training our coors.
- 6:30Speaker 1: Thanks Drew for the latest crime in justice. To use,
- 6:32Speaker 1: go to crimeonline dot com and please join us for
- 6:36Speaker 1: our daily podcast, Crime Stories, where we do our best
- 6:39Speaker 1: to find missing people, especially children, and help solve unsolved homicides.
- 6:45Speaker 1: With this crime alert, I'm Eezy, Grace,