Latest / Crime Alert Hourly Update / 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 Alert Hourly Update

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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 to go
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  Speaker 1: home to.
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  Speaker 2: Rowan fought back as Paya dragged her by the hair
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  Speaker 2: across the ground. Bleeding from a deep neck wound, Rowan
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  Speaker 2: screamed with everything she had left. Her cries alerted a
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  Speaker 2: woman inside a nearby residence who opened her front door.
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  Speaker 2: That sudden interruption startled Paya, forcing him to release Rowan
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  Speaker 2: and flee. Graphic photos show the reality of the attack,
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  Speaker 2: a deep slash on her neck requiring 10 stitches alongside
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  Speaker 2: three stitches on her hand. Recalling the moment she realized
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  Speaker 2: she was in danger, Alexis described 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. 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 1: She made sure she's coming home to her babies. And
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  Speaker 1: she's my baby, so 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
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  Speaker 2: front bumper before Ruiz fired five rounds into the car.
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  Speaker 2: The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed Hernandez Lopez died
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  Speaker 2: from a gunshot wound to the neck. Despite her friend
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  Speaker 2: pleading with her not to shoot, Ruiz pulled the trigger,
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  Speaker 2: later surrendering to police and penning an apology letter claiming
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  Speaker 2: a fight with her mother ruined her day. Ruiz faces
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  Speaker 2: 65 years in prison and remains held on a $ 100, 000
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  Speaker 2: cash bond ahead of her Friday preliminary hearing. A former
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  Speaker 2: television news anchor in Kansas pleaded guilty to murder after
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  Speaker 2: fatally stabbing her elderly mother during a mental health crisis.
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  Speaker 2: 48-year-old Angeline Angie Mock admitted Friday to first-degree murder for
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  Speaker 2: the Halloween 2025 slaying of her 80-year-old mother, Anita Avers.
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  Speaker 2: Wichita police officers responding to a 7.50 a.m. call at
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  Speaker 2: the home Mock shared with her mother and stepfather found
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  Speaker 2: Mock outside with cuts on her hands and Avers suffering
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  Speaker 2: from multiple stab wounds, later dying at the hospital. Court
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  Speaker 2: documents state Mock told police officers she killed her mother
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  Speaker 2: to save herself. claiming she believed her mother was the devil.
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  Speaker 2: Family members noted Mock had been diagnosed with mental illness,
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  Speaker 2: suffering from delusions and depression. Mock previously worked as a
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  Speaker 2: news anchor and reporter for Fox 2 in St. Louis
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  Speaker 2: and KOKH in Oklahoma City. Mock held other reporting stints
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  Speaker 2: in Minnesota, Montana, and Nebraska. Under her plea deal, Mock
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  Speaker 2: faces life in prison with parole eligibility after 25 years,
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  Speaker 2: with sentencing scheduled for October 5th. For more crime and
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  Speaker 2: justice news, be sure to join us for Crime Stories
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  Speaker 2: with Nancy Grace on Fox One, YouTube, Sirius XM, and
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  Speaker 2: now streaming on Tubi. With this Crime Alert, I'm Sydney Silvani.