Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Teen cuts off aunt’s boyfriend’s head in grisly murder, leaves severed head as 'gift'

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Teen cuts off aunt’s boyfriend’s head in grisly murder, leaves severed head as 'gift' · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: When we say the word Christmas, it evokes Christmas cards
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: with happy families on the front firesides, Christmas trees, maybe
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Hanukkah for you, but all good things, all good things
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: at Christmas. That is not true for everyone. Why does
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Christmas resentment turn to you anger? And why does that
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: anger boil over into Christmas violence? You know, I could
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: ask why all day long, But as a trial lawyer,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: I'm trained to look at evidence. I mean, see Grace,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: this is crime Stories. Thank you for being with us
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: here on Fox Nation and Serious XM one eleven. First
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: of all, take a listen to this. Eighteen year old
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Alexis Valdez had been living with his aunt and her
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: boyfriend for about six months. He moved into the basement
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: apartment with the understanding that he would go to school,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: work and help pay the bills, but that didn't happen.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: In fact, Valdez quit his job, which led to tension
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: in the household. Neighbors say you could hear the arguments
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: from inside the home. Eventually, Valdez was told he would
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: have to move out. We are talking about Alexis Valdez,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: a teen boy or man under the law. That's a
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: man eighteen years old with me an all star panel
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: to break it down and put it back together again.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: First of all, Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon and Starvin,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: you hit series on the True Crime Network, Poisonous Liaisons.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Also with me, Doctor Bethany Marshall, psycho allens to the
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Stars and you can find her at doctor Bethany Marshall
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: dot com. Daryl Cohen, former felony prosecutor turned defense attorney,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: practices all over the country, but now joining me from
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the Atlanta jurisdiction. A special guest joining me from Chicago.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: It's Romana, who sang assistant metro editor with the Chicago
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Sun Times. And two very special guests joining me, Sylvester
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Diaz and Selena Diaz. First of all, straight out to you, Romana,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: who's sang with the Chicago Sun Times. Tell me about
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: where this happens. Chicago is a very big town. Happened
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: on the northwest side of the city, and could you
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: describe that. I know this was an apartment, but yes,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: it's a residential area. I believe this happened in a
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: basement apartment on the northwest side of the city. I'm
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: just thinking about the family dynamics here. You've got a
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: young man, teen Alexis Valdaz moving in with his aunt
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: and her longtime love, her boyfriend, Sylvester. So let me
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: go to Selena Diaz and Sylvester Diaz, that is mister
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: diaz son. First to you, Selena, tell me about your
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: dad and his relationship with the aunt in this scenario.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: He did speak about her here and there, not very often. Um,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I wasn't too excited of the new idea that he
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: had a girlfriend. But about you, Sylvester, my story is
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: kind of different. You know. I actually I was actually
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: in the apartment at one point and I actually in
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: connor with her, and you know, it was just nothing
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: was right in that situation when my dad brought me
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: down there, I'm trying to take him. What you're saying
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: with me is Sylvester Diaz, her Nanda's son, also named Sylvester.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: You're telling me you were in the apartment just before
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: tensions boiled over and you felt, quote, nothing was right.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: What was that feeling you got? You know, like he
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: didn't really speak to me about anything that was happening
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: in his personal life because me and my little sister,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: we you know, my older brother took care of us,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: so we lived with him, and we really didn't see
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: my father as much. You know, my once my mother
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: passed away. So the day I did go into the apartment,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: you know, it didn't it didn't seem right. You know,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: I had a couple of young age kids drinking. I
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: didn't I wasn't the one drinking, but I seen kids
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: drinking in there. Hold on just a moment right there.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: I want to follow up on what you're telling me
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: because it's really important, Sylvester. Yes, you know, um, I
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: want to go to doctor Bethany Marshall uh renounced likeychall
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: alas joiningson Beverly Hills. Bethany, you and I have touched
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: on this before. Two things that Sylvester is telling us.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: One when he went into the apartment that his dad
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: shared with his sweetheart, uh, the young nephew had moved
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: in Alexis Valdez and me imediately. When he got there,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: he said something wasn't right. It was just a feeling.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: And I've asked him he can't really put his finger
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: on that feeling or identify it. But you know when
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: there's tension, Like if my husband and I are having
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: an argument of some sort, it could be serious, it
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: could be over dinner that night, and Lucier John David
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: walks in, they go, what's going on? Right? They know
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: something's different and you may not know what it is,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: but you know, and you should not discount that feeling, Nancy.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Those feelings are so important. Whether it's the energy Sylvester
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: felt when he walked into that basement apartment, or a
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: series of stories or even omissions leading usually leading up
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: to meeting the aunt, it sounds like there was a
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: great deal of secrecy around this household, and in fact
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: secrets were taking place. If there was underage drinking there,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: That lays me to my next thing to Bethany what
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: you just said, Yes, under age drinking. You put three
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: people together, and you know, when you've got three people
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: living in a basement apartment. I'm getting the sense that
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: it wasn't a big apartment. You have three people in there,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: and suddenly Alexis Valdez quits working. Look, if they were
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: making tons of money, they wouldn't be living in a
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: basement apartment. I've lived in an apartment like that before.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I know. So you've got the three of them in
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: this apartment, then suddenly he quits working, and then you
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: throw in teen drinking. The only team living there was
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Alexis Valdez. That's the pouring gas on the flame, Bethany. Absolutely,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: because we know teenagers, their prefrontal cortex isn't fully formed.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: That's the breaking system in the brain. So whatever they
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: feel and think is going to come boiling over. And
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: when somebody drinks, that's already greases the wheels of negative emotions. Nancy.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: One more layer is that this aunt and nephew had
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: known each other, probably since the nephew's birth. They had
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: their own dynamics, their own way of being together. Maybe
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: the aunt was being codependent with a nephew or coddling him,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: or quite the opposite, and maybe she was strict an authoritarian.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: But you add an outside person coming into a pre
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: existing dynamic that is ripe for conflict because it's the
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: person who's outside the primary household who usually sees pretty
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: accurately what's going on. So that person's going to speak up,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: that person's going to be authoritative, and that person also
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: is going to get punished for seeing things clearly Crime
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about Christmas
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: tensions and anger boiling over into violence. This is unlike
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: any I have ever seen before, and as it unfolds,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: the grizzly crime scene left behind is the one I
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: will not forget. Take a listen again to Jackie Howard
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: with Crime Online. Eighteen year old Alexis Valdez had been
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: living with his aunt and her boyfriend for about six months.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: He moved into the basement apartment with the understanding that
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: he would go to school, work and help pay the bills,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: but that didn't happen. In fact, Valdez quit his job,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: which led to tension in the household. Neighbors say you
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: could hear the arguments from inside the home. Eventually, Valdez
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: was told he would have to move out. So you see,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: trouble is a brewing. And in the great words of
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin, who I have quoted many many times, fish
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: and house guests start to stink after three days, and
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: here they're going on six months straight. Back out to Romana,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: who's saying Assistant metro editor with the Chicago Sun Times. Romana, again,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. So here we are
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: in this resident chu area with these three people living
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: down stairs, and then suddenly the next thing we know,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Romana is this Take a listen to Mike Krauser News Radio.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: The details of the alleged crime read like a horror story.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: According to prosecutors, eighteen year old Alexis Valdez hid a
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: hammer behind the door to the basement apartment where he
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: lived with his aunt and her boyfriend, forty one year
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: old Silvestri Diez Hernandez. Assistant State's Attorney kings Lee Sawyers
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: says Valdez and Diez Hernandez went out for a while.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: When they came back, it occurred, and as the victim
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: went into the house, the defendant took the hammer, hit
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: the victim in the head several times, and then dismembered
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: and decapitated his body. Valdez, according to the prosecutor, left
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: parts of the dismembered body as a present for his aunt,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: who was out at the time. He called nine to
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: one one and reported a dead body and was asked
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: if he tried CPR, and was said to be laughing
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: as he told the operator the body was decapitated. Straight
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: to Romana Hussang, assistant Metro editor Chicago Times. What can
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: you tell me about what happened? I will tell you
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: first of all, I wanted to first of all express
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: my condolences to mister Diaz's to um kid children, two
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: adult children. I'm sorry to relieve this again. But what
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: happened was that Alexis m. Valdez was drinking at home
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: while his aunt and her boyfriend who were out at
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: a party. So mister Diaz came home. Diaz came home
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: and he realized the beer was out, so they went out.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: So he and mister Valdez went out to go get
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: some more beer, and before they had left, mister Valdez
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: had hidden a hammer in the house, and so when
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: they returned, he mister Valdez allowed mister Diaz to go
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: inside the house, and so when he went inside the house,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: that's when he grabbed the hammer, according to prosecutors, and
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: began attacking mister Diaz too. Selena Diaz, this is the
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: daughter of Sylvester Diaz. When did you learn your father
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: had been attacked? Um? So it was the day of Christmas.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: I had my fathers and my mom's kind of best
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: friends when they were younger, and my cousin who walked
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: into my room and told me that he had passed.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: They didn't technically tell me how, and that's when I
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: found out. I found out Christmas morning when I'm like
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: ten ten o'clock, Selena, two things to tell you. My
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: dad and he and I were like two soul mates.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: He passed away right before Thanksgiving. And now as Thanksgiving
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: approaches every year that I mean, I'm trying to plan
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: a wonderful Thanksgiving for my children and my family. But
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: on my mind, as today gets closer and closer, I
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: think about my dad. And I also remember when you
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: said they first told you that he had passed and
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: didn't tell you how. When my fiance was murdered, I
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: found out that he had passed from a sister, But
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: I didn't know for about an hour that he had
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: actually been murdered. And in my mind, I was playing
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: out all these scenarios. Was he in a car crash?
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: What happened? I just assumed it had been a car crash.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: When you were first told by your family friends that
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: your dad had passed, what did you think had happened?
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: I wasn't too for sure. I was quite young. I
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: didn't really think too much about it. M I didn't
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: have I didn't have any ideas because I didn't know how, who, where,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: when why. It was not until maybe a couple of
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: days later that that my family kind of told me
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: about it. Um. Because I was so young, they didn't
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: want to tell me quite everything and how it happened
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: and all the details. Sylvester who is Sylvester G has
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: his namesake? When did you learn your dad had passed away? Okay? So? Um,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: So I was calling my dad. So I spoke to
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: him the day prior, and you know, I went out
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: and I got him a gift and everything. So I
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: spoke to him day prior and I told him that
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: I got him something. So I called him in the
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: morning a couple of times, and I realized he wasn't answering.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: So I waited a couple hours, and you know, like
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: my you know, I'm the oldest. So my my, my
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: cousin called me and he told me, he's like, hey, dude, like,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: I don't want you to worry too much, but you know,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: something might have happened, but we're going to figure it
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: out and I'm gonna pick you up. You know, I
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: haven't I haven't talked to this in a couple of years,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: so you know, I knew something was up. So he
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: picked me up and you know, I spoke with the
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: detectives and they told me they'd had two Hispanic bodies
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: in the morgue and they wanted to make sure that,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: you know, they identified my father. You know, I I
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: thought about, like this, can't you know, this can't be right,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: you know, like but I know when once he was
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: wasn't picking up the phone. Something wasn't right. So, you know,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: I was with my father when he had when he
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: got some mom tattoos, so I was able to identify
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: two of the tattoos on his body. And that's when
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: they confirmed it. And it was nine in the morning
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: on Christmas Day when I found out with with my
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: my cousin and you know, Sylvester. So the first time
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: you realized that your dad may have been may have
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: passed away, it's when they said there are two bodies
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: at the morgue and we want to see if it's
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: your dad. That's how you found out. Yeah, yeah, And
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: my cousin sent me some links that he had seen
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: on like on internet, and I recognized the basement, I
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: recognized the basement from the from the last time that
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: I've been there, and you know I put I put
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: the pieces together, and you know I figured it out,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: you know to Daryl Cohen joining me, former felony prosecutor
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: and intercity Atlanta now defense attorney joining me out of Atlanta,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Daryl Cohen, how many times have you heard a Victimus
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: family say they knew their loved one had passed before
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: they were told they had figured it out. They they
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: knew something horrible had happened, Like right now, say when
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: I would call you, Darryl, if you don't pick the
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: phone up, I don't think anything if Ferris has happened.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: But in these case is so many times I've heard
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: the person say, this time when they didn't pick up,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: I knew something had happened. Nancy, it's not what people say.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it's the tone of voice, it's the emotion. And
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: you know, there was an old radio show called The
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Shadowy and it reminds me of who knows what evil
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: lurks in the hearts of man and woman. Yes, it's
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: not what I'm about to tell you, but you hear
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: it in my voice. You hear the emotion. You hear
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: every fiber of my body telling you that I can't
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: tell you what I'm about to tell you, but choice
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: I do not have. So I make that and I
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: finally tell you so, Yeah, I agree with you a
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: thousand percent. I've seen it over and over and over
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: where victims' families know before they're told. How did Christmas
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: animos boil over into murder? That is what we are
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: talking about. Now. Take a listen to Mike Krauser News Radio.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: The details of the alleged crime read like a horror story.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: According to prosecutors, eighteen year old Alexis Valdez hid a
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: hammer behind the door to the basement apartment where he
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: lived with his aunt and her boyfriend, forty one year
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: old Silvestri Diez Hernandez. Assistant State's Attorney kings Lee Sawyers
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: says Valdez and Diez Hernandez went out for a while
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: and when they came back, it occurred, and as the
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: victim went into the house, the defendant took the hammer,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: hit the victim in the head several times, and then
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: dismembered and decapitated his body. Valdez, according to the prosecutor,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: left parts of the dismembered body as a present for
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: his aunt, who was out at the time. He called
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: nine to one one and reported a dead body and
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: was asked if he tried CPR, and was said to
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: be laughing as he told the operator the body was
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: decapitating it when he told the nine dispatcher the body
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: was decapitated. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace too, Selena Diaz.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: The loss of your father by a blow to the
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: head with a hammer, it's bad enough. When did you
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: learn what had really happened to your dad? Well, Um,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: I kind of find out through the internet. Um. My
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: family told me only certain stories, certain stories, certain parts
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: of the incident. Um due to how graphic they actually was. Um,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: they didn't quite tell me everything to kind of make
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: sure I don't I don't kind of upset myself by
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: crying and being too upset. Um, So they told me
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: just a little bit of it, and I was just
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: questioning in and questioning it and questioning it. And then
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: I decided to read some of the news stories and
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: that's just when I found out, like the whole truth
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: of it. Sylvestor, when did you find out exactly what
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: happened to your dad? It happened the same day that
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: I had to go to the police station to identify
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: the body with my cousin. You know, they didn't give
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: me too much details, but did it tell me that
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: my father wasn't wasn't going to be able to be buried? Sylvester,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: When you think about your dad, for the longest time
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: after my dad passed away, I would think about being
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: with him at the moment he died, waiting with his
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: body until it was taken away, and walking with it
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: until it was put in a vehicle. For the longest time,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: that is what was in my head. Now the happy
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: memories are trickling in. When you think about your dad, now,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: do you think about this horrific event that took his
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: life or has that been replaced with happy memories? You
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: know what? Like, um, it's a little bit of both,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: because like, you know, I lost my mother the year before,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: and you know, we lost our father, and you know,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: like we think about this every single day, you know,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: of our life. But this, this can't, this can't hold
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: us back from you know, achieving our goals. You know,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: we got to make somebody proud. And I feel like,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: you know, this is something that will never be erased
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: from somebody's mind and just the fact of how things went.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: You know, you don't really hear too much about these
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: kind of stories, and that's and you know, it's just
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: it's just crazy. It's mind blowing. And I understand because sometimes,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Daryl Cohen, I'm hearing what Sylvester and Selena are saying.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: You know, sometimes I would dread an opening statement because
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: it was going to be grizzly and awful. And I
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: try to break the jury in when we had the
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: jury panel so they would know what they were getting
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: into before you get the Pettit or the Petit jury,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: the jury of twelve. But when he says, you don't
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: hear about this a lot, you don't because at Christmas time,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: people want to hear about the holidays. They want to
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: hear about the Nativity scene, they want to hear about shopping.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: They don't want to hear this. But it's the truth. Nancy.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: I am recalling the times when we had those grizzly cases,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: and I had a very difficult time in relating that
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: to a jury initially because I got into the heads
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: of the victim's family. And when you do that, you
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: not only sympathize, you empathize. It was very difficult. So
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: I had to get a lory about what happened, rather
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: than emotionally being involved in it, because as you and
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: I both know, if you're involved or something emotionally, you
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: don't see it. As you've pointed out earlier, correctly, I
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: look at it as if it's a football game and
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: you have to be on the fifty yard line, but
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: not on the field. You have to be uptop. I
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: was never able to do that, Daryl, and still can't.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: I would be too involved with the victims and their
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: families and have never been able to disassociate from that.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: To Romana Hussain, Assistant MATEO editor of Chicago, sometimes tell
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: me when police arrived, what they observed. Valdez was sitting
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: in the front yard with his iPad and he just said,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: aren't you going to arrest me? And they were like,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: why would we arrest you? Or you know, aren't you
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: going to ask me? He's asking who's going to ask
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: them any questions? And then he said police said that
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: he said that, um, quote, I just killed a man.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: He's in the basement, and so that's how you know,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: That's how the story was unveiled and apparently he was.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Mister um Balduz was holding an iPad when police had arrived,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: and after you know, he had said what he said
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: that admitting that he had killed his aunt's boyfriend, he
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: took the iPad and smashed it and police ended up
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: arresting him. To justice. Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics, jacksonvill State University.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: You know what, we see dismemberment cases on movies very
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: rarely on TV, but we hear about them very very rarely.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: This is incredibly uncommon and it's not an easy physical
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: feat to do. For instance, if you watch Dexter, remember Dexter,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: who was always dismembering bodies. That's not real. That is
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: extremely rare and very hard to do. Joe Scott, Yeah,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: it is, Nancy, It's very difficult. I spent many many years,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: in addition to being an investigator, is working in the
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: morgue as well. Was present for over seven thousand autopsies.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: And for us, from a clinical perspective, we have methodologies
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: that we employed, We have methods that we use and
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: the right tools to use. And we've talked about this before, Nancy,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: but the fact that he went into such detail with
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: you know, the only way I can say it. With
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: this dismemberment dissection, it wasn't simply a decapitation. There were
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: other elements involved. It really gives you a clue as
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: to kind of the inner workings of his mind, and
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: that he was still able to go out in the
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: yard as has been reported, seated in a chair holding
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: an iPad. And this is why this ghastly thing has
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: taken place. Nancy. I have actually been present in the
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: morgue when we were doing very simple procedures, and I
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: had very strong, bold men that were down in the
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: morgue and got weak kneed, threw a passed out, all
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: these sorts of things just at the first sight of blood.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: This environment. We've talked about this apartment and how small
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: it is, it's a cramped space, Nancy. This would have
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: been a blood bath in this environment. It's a very
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: tiny area. And the work that he did while he
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: was there, this grizzly work, would have been portrayed. You know,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: you would have seen this when you walk in. I
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: cannot imagine the reaction that the local police had when
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: they walked in. They probably thought they were walking through
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: the gates of hell. Now I've been on many many
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: crime scenes, literally thousands of real crime scenes not on TV.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: I've never seen anything like this Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: How did Christmas anger and tension boil over and end
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: up not only in a brutal murderer, but a decapitation
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: for a present to his aunt. Take a listen to
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: crimline dot COM's Jackie Howard. On Christmas Day, Alexis Faldez
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: and Sylvester Diez Hernandez leave to go to a near
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: my drug store, which turns out to be closed for
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: the holiday. When they return, Diez Hernandez enters the home first.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: As Valdez comes in, he grabs a hammer he is
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: stashed by the front door earlier in the day. In
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: a surprise attack, he hits Diez Hernandez in the head.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: The forty one year old falls to the floor, where
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Valdez hits him at least ten more times. Valdez then
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: covers the windows and plays loud music to mask crime.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm learning so much? There is no
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: way in h doble l that this guy could claim
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: insanity or even delusion because the planning. Did you hear
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: this to you? Let me ask you. Romana who's saying
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: with Chicago Sun Times, do I have this right? He
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: stashed the hammer by the door when he and his
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: uncle left to go to the pharmacy, leaving it there
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: so he could grab it when he comes back. Then
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: he plays loud music to mask the crime so neighbors
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: or the upstairs neighbors can't hear what's going on. Then
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: he calls nine one one, starts laughing, says there's been
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: a decapitation, and is sitting there thumbing through on his
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: iPad when the cops arrive and says, I just killed
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: a man. All of that shows he was of sound mind.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Drive those fat It's wrong in any way, Romana, No,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: you have the facts correct, use these allegations, or I
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: should say, this is what was laid out when Um
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: at his Bondchord hearing in twenty thirteen, prosecutors laid out
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: what exactly happened, and they mentioned that he hid the
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: hammer right by the door right before they went out
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: to go get some beer. And when they came back,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: he you know, allowed mister Diaz to go first so
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: he could attack him. And you know, from what we
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: understand it like when he started playing the loud music Um,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: that's when the decapitation happened, and he cut cut off
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: mister Diaz's head, ears, nose, and left those body parts
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: on his aunt's bed. Um. According to my colleague stephanous Posito,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: who was at the Bondchord hearing this, mister Valdez had
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: also pulled out mister Diaz's eyes with his bare hands,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: and from what I understand, prosecutors said that he also
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: had cut his left arms. But he left certain body
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: parts on his aunt's bed too, you know, as as
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: what he said quote a present unquote and the aunt
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: wasn't at home, but I believe mister Valdez had told
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: authorities that he would have killed his aunt too if
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: she was home at the time, GRANMAA. Who's saying why?
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: What was his motivation? It was? It was the anger,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: you know, according to prosecutors, the anger, the tension that
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: was going on, and the fact that his aunt and
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: boyfriend and her boyfriend had wanted mister Valdez's Valdez out
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: of the apartment. That probably just started, you know, started
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: the tension from brewing over that they wanted him out
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: of the basement apartment. To psychoans, doctor Bethany Marshall Bethany,
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: I hardly even know where to start. You have the
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: planned attack, a brutal attack, the overkill of beating this
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: victim just forty one years old, the father of these
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: two awesome children, beating him over and over and over.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Then the decay happitation in leaving body parts for the
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: aunt to discover that took him and Methane and Nancy.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: We read in the wires that it was because they
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: wanted him to get a job. I think that is
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: obviously just the tip of the iceberg. This young man
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: is so disturbed, obviously not insane from a legal perspective,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: so that he can't stand trial. But I would say,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: at the very least, you have a young man who
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: has sociopathic tendencies, maybe impulse control problems. At a very
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: pathological level. This may have been what we call katasim homicide,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: where there is a compulsion to kill that waxes and
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: waynes over time, because think about it, he had to
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: get the hammer, he had to plan ahead in terms
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: of how he was going to dismember the body. He
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: plucked out the eyes. So there was this extreme pathological
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: rage towards the aunt and the aunt's boyfriend, and then
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: what we call context dependent thinking. He's not thinking beyond
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: who woo, slow down? What context? What context dependent thinking
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: is when you're only involved in that particular moment. You're
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: not thinking that you're going to be arrested or spend
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: the rest of your life in jail, or that you know, hey,
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: it's not so bad to get a job and help
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: support the household. The alternative as being behind prison bars.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: That's big picture thinking. People who are homicidal are only
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: lost in their own rage and their own inner workings.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: They leaving the aunt, the presence which were they knows,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: the lips, parts of the victim's body. What does that mean? Well,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: my first thought, Nancy, is it's primitive. And my field,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: when we use the word primitive, it's like it comes
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: from the deepest part of the brain that's earliest in
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: our evolutionary biological heritage. My neighbor has cats, and the
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: cats are constantly leaving lizards, mice, all kinds of things
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: on my doorstep as a present. That's primitive. That's animal like.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: It's not even what human beings do in the civilized world.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: So that tells me that maybe he was, you know,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: on the brink of a psychotic episode, again not legally insane.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Maybe there was drug use, meth amphetamine, We've seen bath salts,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: you know, street drugs that have synthetic elements to them
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: cause this kind of behavior. So hopefully he's going to
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: have a full psychiatric exam so we can figure out
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: what the genesis is of this, this mutilation and blood bath.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: I just don't understand why he didn't just go get
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: a job or move out. I know, So why didn't
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Scott Peterson just divorced Lacy exactly? Why why didn't Casey
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: Anthony per child for adoption. There's this sense that if
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: you're on this planet, my life is going to be miserable,
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: so I have to eradicate you. I'm not just going
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: to move down the block or get a job at
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: McDonald's or something like that. I'm going to wipe you
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: off the face of the planet. That's the thinking. Why Christmas,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Doctor Bethany, what is it about the holidays that makes
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: resentments and angers boil over? The reason is that at Christmas,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: people who are not well psychologically, they have very childlike
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: fantasies that on this holiday everybody is going to treat
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: them as being special and they are going to make
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: up the disillusion disillusionment. It's like, let's say, I'm thinking
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: my parents were terrible. They didn't give me the gifts
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: I wanted when I was six years old, my mother
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: didn't nobody treated me as being special. So on this holiday,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: I'm going to course everybody around me to to make
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: me feel special and childlike and joy us. And when
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: they don't there, it's going to be hell to pay.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: So it's profound this idealization of a holiday and then
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: really bitter disillusionment. To Selena Diaz, this is Sylvester Diaz' daughter.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: How has this affected your life now? It's been hard? Um?
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: I UM, I grew up with oh my mom or
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: my dad. Um, the holidays kind of suck for me.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: I enjoy them as much as I can, being as
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: I have other families that make it so much better
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: than than what it could be. Um, it's just really hard.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's I can't even explain it. It's just
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: been so rough and it's been so so awful. And
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: then just as well, all the thing in the future
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: that I was a kid, I will I want kid
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: to do certain things with my dad. I will my
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: kids won't ever get to meet him. My husband won't
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: ever get to meet him. So it's just I don't
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: understand why. I mean, I think it was very unfair.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: You know, I mourned my fiance for so many years,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: over twenty years before I would let myself remarry and
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: find joy in my life. And to use Sylvester Diaz,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: it makes me. You know, when I see them in
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: the morning, I think, you know, this could be my
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: last day with them. I've got to make it the
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: most special, most wonderful, happy day for them. And losing
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: somebody as you were, you were eighteen when you lost
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: your dad, I think it changes the way you grow up,
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: It changes the way you see the world. Sylvester, Yeah,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: I agree. Um, you know it's been it's been hard
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: for both of us, but I have to be strong
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: for my sister. And you know, like you said, things
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: haven't been you know, the same ever since that happened.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: But you know, we live our day late day by
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: day by day, so not really much we can do.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: You know, things were hard at the beginning, for sure.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: You know, our lives were like completely turned around. Like
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: I would never wish that upon anybody, you know, like
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: you got two teenagers, no parents, you know who to
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: turn too, and you know, like, what are you're supposed
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: to do? You know, I have people that I know
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: who still have their parents, and you know, they go,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: they go, they go to them for guidance, and you know,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: like we we didn't have that. You know, I'm probub
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: to say that. You know what I mean, my sister,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: we're doing so much better. And you know we keep
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: street single day since that day, things that things. Things
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: will always be rough, but we push through it. That's
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: all we can't do. Two Selena and Sylvester. Selena, what
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: is your advice to other crime victims? To other people
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: that have lost their mom or dad to violent crime?
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: My best advice would be just to think about all
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: the good times, all the memories you have. Family is
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: a big thing for your support, friends that are always
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: there for you. Sylvester, what can you say to other
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: crime victims at this time of year? As Christmas is
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: approaching in you and Selena have this in the back
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: of your mind. What can you tell other people to
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: help them based on what you've learned? You know, my family,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: if my family has always been this them, but you know,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: through the hard times. You know, all I could say
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: is to you know, keep clothes. You know, you know,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: things happen overnight. And all I could really say is,
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: you know, enjoy the times that you have with your family,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: because what we've been through, it's only temporarily. You know,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: people come and people go, and I just you know,
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: I just want to say it to everybody. Just keep
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: your family close, and your friends, your loved ones, and
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: you know, all the bad times that people have with
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: each other, you got to make it right and you know,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: love love one another because soon, soon enough, somebody's going
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: to be gone to Ramana. Who's saying, where is Alexis
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: Valdez now? In twenty seventeen, mister Valdez was sentenced to
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: thirty three years in prison. Nancy Grace crime story, Sonnia,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: good Bye Friend,