Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Crime Alert 01.15.25 | Woman Escapes Kidnapping Attempt by Former Housekeeper

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Crime Alert 01.15.25 | Woman Escapes Kidnapping Attempt by Former Housekeeper · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert I Nancy Grays Breaking crime news Now. Eric Quinn,
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  Speaker 1: a do gooder mother of two from California, attacked in
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  Speaker 1: Winchester after responding to an unsolicited text. The message, climbing
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  Speaker 1: to be from an elderly woman named Connie, offers items
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  Speaker 1: for a children's toy drive. Erin's organizing Aaron's drive to
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  Speaker 1: the address knocks. Then another text orders her to wait
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  Speaker 1: in her car, but before she can, an assailant opens
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  Speaker 1: the unlocked car door and slips into the back seat Nancy.
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  Speaker 2: The attacker puts a taser to Aaron's head and pulls
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  Speaker 2: the trigger several times. She then instructs Erin to drive,
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  Speaker 2: threatening her family if she does not cooperate. Aaron blares
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  Speaker 2: her horn and she passes several construction workers, and the
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  Speaker 2: attacker tases her again, causing Aaron to crash into two
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  Speaker 2: parked cars. Erin takes the chance to fight back and
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  Speaker 2: pulls a wig off the attacker, revealing her former housekeeper,
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  Speaker 2: Olga Mendez. Erin has no idea why Mendez would attack her,
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  Speaker 2: their relationship ended on good terms. Mendez escapes the scene,
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  Speaker 2: but is arrested ten days later.
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  Speaker 1: Forty four year old Mendez jailed accused of kidnap and
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  Speaker 1: assault with a deadly weapon. A four hundred thousand dollars
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  Speaker 1: Rolls Royce ghost speeding on a California highway reveals a
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  Speaker 1: bizarre passenger. The driver clutching a baby spider monkey wrapped
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  Speaker 1: in his jacket. California Highway patrol stops Ali Muhammad, twenty
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  Speaker 1: seven and bust him for dui in cannabis possession for
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  Speaker 1: sale in his jacket. The month's old monkey, dressed in
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  Speaker 1: a pink polka dot onesie primates are illegal as pets
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  Speaker 1: in California, leading to a third criminal charge. The monkey,
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  Speaker 1: named Marcel, spends the night eating mashed bananas before being
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  Speaker 1: checked out at the Oakland Zoo. Mohammed watches as his
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  Speaker 1: supercar towed away monkey and Rolls Royce All Gone. More
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  Speaker 1: crime and justice news after this, Now with the latest
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  Speaker 1: I'm justice breaking these primal lines. John Limley, a.
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  Speaker 3: Man is in custody following a string of violent stabbings
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  Speaker 3: in Denver over the weekend that left two people dead
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  Speaker 3: and two others injured. Denver police made the arrest Sunday night,
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  Speaker 3: shortly after a stabbing near the Sixteenth Street Mall a
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  Speaker 3: bustling downtown shopping and dining district. The victim in that
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  Speaker 3: attack was rushed to the hospital but did not survive.
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  Speaker 3: Authorities now believed the same individual is connected to three
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  Speaker 3: other stabbings that occurred Saturday evening in the same area.
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  Speaker 3: One of those attacks claimed the life of a woman,
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  Speaker 3: while two other victims sustained injuries. Police have not yet
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  Speaker 3: disclosed the suspect's identity. Investigators say there appears to be
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  Speaker 3: no connection between the suspect and the victims, and a
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  Speaker 3: motive for the attacks remains unclear. Prior to the arrest,
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  Speaker 3: police released a surveillance video of a person dressed in
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  Speaker 3: black and sought the public's assistance in identifying them. That
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  Speaker 3: image played a critical role in advancing the investigation. A
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  Speaker 3: historic review by the US Department of Justice has concluded
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  Speaker 3: that there is no longer a legal avenue to prosecute
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  Speaker 3: individuals involved in the nineteen twenty one Tulsa race massacre.
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  Speaker 3: More than a century after one of the deadliest racial
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  Speaker 3: attacks in American history. We turned as Sidney Sumner of
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  Speaker 3: Crime Online for details.
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  Speaker 2: The DOJ's investigation, detailed in a report exceeding one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and twenty pages offered a comprehensive account of the massacre,
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  Speaker 2: which decimated Tulsa's thriving black community of Greenwood. The attack,
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  Speaker 2: carried out by a white mob, claimed as many as
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  Speaker 2: three hundred lives and left approximately twelve hundred homes, businesses, schools,
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  Speaker 2: and churches in ruins. Federal investigators examined archival materials, including
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  Speaker 2: reports filed in nineteen twenty one by an agent from
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  Speaker 2: the precursor to the FBI, yet they found no evidence
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  Speaker 2: that federal prosecutors at the time acted on those findings.
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  Speaker 2: The report also scrutinized the roles of the Tulsa Police Department,
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  Speaker 2: local sheriff, Oklahoma National Guard, and then Mayor T. D. Evans,
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  Speaker 2: concluding that these entities either failed to prevent the violence
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  Speaker 2: or actively contributed to it. The survivors of the massacre,
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  Speaker 2: including Viola Fletcher and Lesie Bennington Randall, both one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and ten years old, have been at the forefront of
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  Speaker 2: efforts to seek justice. Their attorney, de Mario Solomon Simmons
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  Speaker 2: has previously hailed the Justice Department's decision to investigate as
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  Speaker 2: a significant moment. However, he has not yet commented on
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  Speaker 2: the final report. While the DOJ's findings bring new clarity
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  Speaker 2: to the events of nineteen twenty one, legal and financial
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  Speaker 2: restitution remains elusive. In June, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed
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  Speaker 2: a lawsuit filed by survivors, ruling their claims fell outside
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  Speaker 2: the scope of state public nuisance laws. This decision has
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  Speaker 2: further dampened hopes for financial reparations, even as advocates point
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  Speaker 2: to the estimated thirty two point two million dollars in
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  Speaker 2: damages the attack would equate to today.
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  Speaker 3: Historian Victor Lucerson, who has chronicled the Greenwood District's legacy,
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  Speaker 3: says that while the DOJ's investigation cannot un do the past,
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  Speaker 3: creating an official record of these events is a critical
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  Speaker 3: step toward acknowledgment and understanding.
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  Speaker 1: Brandon Terrell Bankhead attends his great grandfather's funeral Saint Louis.
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  Speaker 1: The nineteen year old spends the day at Life Center
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  Speaker 1: International Church with family and friends. After the service, witnesses
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  Speaker 1: see him leave. He gets into a black four door
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  Speaker 1: car with tinted windows and black rims with friends. That
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  Speaker 1: day is the last day anyone sees him. Not long after,
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  Speaker 1: his mom gets an alarming anonymous phone call. The voice
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  Speaker 1: on the line claims Brandon's being held in a vacant
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  Speaker 1: Walnut Park home trapped in a closet. Despite the disturbing tip,
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  Speaker 1: searches reveal nothing. He never services. Brandon African American, five
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  Speaker 1: to two, one hundred and thirty pounds, last wearing a
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  Speaker 1: red hoodie, a multi colored burbery shirt, black pants, and
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  Speaker 1: blue and white shoes. He has a mohawk style fade haircut,
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  Speaker 1: both ears pierced. Anyone with info please contacts Saint Louis
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  Speaker 1: p D. Three one four two three one one two
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  Speaker 1: one two. For the latest crime injustice 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, I'm Nancy Grace.