Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Decades After She Was Identified, the Killing of Eulalia Chavez Remains Unsolved | Crime Alert 6AM 02.03.26
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Crime Alert. I'm John Lemley At this hour. A decade's
- 0:04Speaker 1: old mystery remains unsolved in the Heartland, investigators or renewing
- 0:10Speaker 1: calls for public assistance. In one of Illinois's most haunting
- 0:14Speaker 1: cold cases, the body of Eulalia Lali Chavez, was discovered
- 0:19Speaker 1: almost forty years ago in a remote cornfield near Lebanon, Illinois.
- 0:24Speaker 1: On September sixth, nineteen eighty six, a farmer found her
- 0:28Speaker 1: nude body off Oak Grove School Road, strangled and brutally mutilated.
- 0:33Speaker 1: Authorities later learned she had been strangled with her own clothing,
- 0:38Speaker 1: and evidence at the scene suggested signs of extreme violence.
- 0:42Speaker 1: Her killer cut her pelvic area and attempted to remove
- 0:46Speaker 1: her reproductive organs, but no suspect was ever identified. For
- 0:51Speaker 1: more than three decades, the case went cold. In two
- 0:54Speaker 1: thousand and seven, the victim was finally identified as twenty
- 0:58Speaker 1: seven year old Chavez, runaway from pala Alto, California, who
- 1:03Speaker 1: had vanished in the mid nineteen seventies while hitchhiking and
- 1:07Speaker 1: following music concerts across the country. Despite technological advances in
- 1:12Speaker 1: forensic science, including DNA analysis and composite imaging, law enforcement
- 1:18Speaker 1: has not charged a suspect. The FBI's Violent Criminal Apprehension
- 1:24Speaker 1: Program has issued a ViCAP alert seeking information about Chops
- 1:29Speaker 1: and anyone connected to her in the months before her death.
- 1:33Speaker 1: Authorities are urging anyone with details, no matter how small,
- 1:37Speaker 1: to come forward.
- 1:38Speaker 2: Thanks John for the latest crime injustice news. Go to
- 1:41Speaker 2: crime online dot com and please join us for our
- 1:44Speaker 2: daily podcast crime Stories. More crime and justice news after
- 1:47Speaker 2: this Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news.
- 1:55Speaker 2: Crime Online John Limley.
- 1:56Speaker 1: Federal authorities have launched a civil rights investorgation into a
- 2:00Speaker 1: controversial fatal shooting in Minnesota. The US Department of Justice
- 2:05Speaker 1: has announced a federal civil rights probe into the death
- 2:09Speaker 1: of Alex Pretti, a thirty seven year old Minneapolis resident
- 2:13Speaker 1: and intensive care nurse who was shot and killed by
- 2:16Speaker 1: federal immigration officers during a protest earlier this year. The
- 2:21Speaker 1: FBI is now leading the inquiry after taking over from
- 2:25Speaker 1: the Department of Homeland Security. Pretti was shot on January
- 2:29Speaker 1: twenty fourth while documenting a federal border patrol operation as
- 2:33Speaker 1: part of an immigration enforcement initiative. Video footage reviewed by
- 2:38Speaker 1: officials showed pretty holding only a cell phone when officers
- 2:42Speaker 1: tackled him and later being shot after a firearm for
- 2:46Speaker 1: which he held a legal permit was removed from his waistband.
- 2:51Speaker 1: Early claims by federal officials that Pretty had attacked officers
- 2:55Speaker 1: were contradicted by those videos, which show he did not
- 2:59Speaker 1: reach for the weapons. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said
- 3:03Speaker 1: investigators are examining all aspects of the encounter, including events
- 3:08Speaker 1: leading up to the shooting. The decision to open a
- 3:11Speaker 1: civil rights probe stands in contrast to the Justice Department's
- 3:15Speaker 1: earlier handling of another recent Minneapolis law enforcement shooting. The
- 3:20Speaker 1: case has sparked public outcry and renewed scrutiny of federal
- 3:24Speaker 1: use of force in protest policing. In Louisiana, authorities have
- 3:29Speaker 1: arrested two teenagers in connection with a weekend shooting that
- 3:33Speaker 1: injured multiple people during a community parade. Law enforcement officials
- 3:38Speaker 1: save the suspects. Both juveniles were taken into custody following
- 3:42Speaker 1: the chaotic incident that left at least one child among
- 3:46Speaker 1: the wounded. According to local prosecutors, the shooting occurred in
- 3:50Speaker 1: a residential area where families had gathered to watch a
- 3:53Speaker 1: festive procession. Police have not yet released the names of
- 3:57Speaker 1: those arrested due to their age. In Investigators report that
- 4:01Speaker 1: several of the victims were struck by gunfire, and at
- 4:04Speaker 1: least one child was hospitalized with non life threatening injuries.
- 4:09Speaker 1: Authorities have charged the suspects with multiple counts related to
- 4:13Speaker 1: aggravated assault and unlawful discharge of a firearm. Officials are
- 4:19Speaker 1: urging anyone with information about the incident to contact local
- 4:22Speaker 1: law enforcement as the investigation continues. And finally, also from Louisiana,
- 4:29Speaker 1: all eight inmates who escaped from a parish jail last
- 4:32Speaker 1: week have now been captured. Authorities confirmed that the group
- 4:36Speaker 1: broke out of the facility under unclear circumstances, prompting an
- 4:41Speaker 1: immediate manhunt that extended across multiple parishes. Local, state, and
- 4:46Speaker 1: federal law enforcement agencies worked around the clock to track
- 4:50Speaker 1: down the fugitives. Over the course of the search, officers
- 4:53Speaker 1: apprehended all escapees without any reported injuries to residents or
- 4:58Speaker 1: responding personnel. Well. Those captured are now back in custody,
- 5:03Speaker 1: and parish officials say they will face additional charges related
- 5:06Speaker 1: to the escape itself, along with any outstanding warrants they
- 5:11Speaker 1: may have had prior to fleeing. The Sheriff's Department announced
- 5:15Speaker 1: a review of the facility's security measures to prevent similar
- 5:19Speaker 1: incidents in the future.
- 5:21Speaker 2: Thanks John for the latest crime in justice needs. Go
- 5:24Speaker 2: to crime online dot com and please join us for
- 5:27Speaker 2: our daily podcast, Crime Stories, where we do our best
- 5:31Speaker 2: to find missing people, especially children, and solve unsolved homicides.
- 5:35Speaker 2: With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace.