Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Children's Author Abuses Three Adopted Children | Crime Alert 6AM 04.14.25

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Children's Author Abuses Three Adopted Children | Crime Alert 6AM 04.14.25 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert I Nancy Grace breaking crime News now. Jennifer
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  Speaker 1: and John Wolfthall, adoptive parents to three young children, rushed
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  Speaker 1: their eight year old daughter to the hospital unconscious in
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  Speaker 1: organ failure and injured. The eight year old extremely malnourished.
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  Speaker 1: Doctors don't think the swollen bruise on the back of
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  Speaker 1: her head and severe cuts are related to a fall.
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  Speaker 1: On a visit to the home, police officers find their
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  Speaker 1: two older children, nine and eleven, also showing signs of
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  Speaker 1: neglect and abuse.
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  Speaker 2: Nancy Jennifer Wolfthall is a children's author, but her book
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  Speaker 2: A Real Friend has now been ripped from shelves. The
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  Speaker 2: wolf Thals adopted their children in twenty fourteen and did
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  Speaker 2: not regularly feed or bathe them, spanked them to the
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  Speaker 2: point of drawing blood, and douse them in bed with
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  Speaker 2: cold water, leaving them to sleep in wet bedding. The
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  Speaker 2: little girl was diagnosed with pneumonia in a staph infection,
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  Speaker 2: but is said to be doing better after weeks of
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  Speaker 2: round the clock care.
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  Speaker 1: Jennifer and John wolfthaal convict that have aggravated child abuse
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  Speaker 1: and neglect resulting in great bodily harm. Sent us to
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  Speaker 1: twelve and ten years in prison, respectively. In a plea deal,
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  Speaker 1: prosecutor struck to avoid re traumatizing the children at trial.
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  Speaker 1: This dealer thought he had the perfect cover for his
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  Speaker 1: cocaine business. Alvin Lewis works as a drug counselor at
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  Speaker 1: a New York rehab all while distributing cocaine under the table.
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  Speaker 1: After multiple reports from the public, cops sent under covers
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  Speaker 1: to visit Lewis, who happily collects their money. Lewis shot
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  Speaker 1: when he's pulled over and arrested. A few hours later.
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  Speaker 1: Searches off his home and car revealed a large number
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  Speaker 1: of prepackaged baggies of crack. Alvin Lewis, fifty four, charged
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  Speaker 1: with delivery and seal up a controlled substance. More crime
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  Speaker 1: and justice news after this Now with the latest crime
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  Speaker 1: and justice breaking news.
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  Speaker 3: Crime Onlines. John Limley, the man who shot and killed
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  Speaker 3: a Kentucky Sheriff's deputy during a routine traffic stop, will
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  Speaker 3: spend the rest of his life life behind bars. Forty
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  Speaker 3: seven year old Stephen Shingshang pleaded guilty in a Scott
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  Speaker 3: County courtroom to multiple charges, including the twenty twenty three
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  Speaker 3: murder of Deputy Caleb Conley. He was sentenced to life
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  Speaker 3: in prison without parole plus seventy years, though that time
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  Speaker 3: will run Concurrently, authorities say Shingshang fled after the shooting,
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  Speaker 3: committing a string of crimes across Scott and Fayette Counties.
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  Speaker 3: In total, he admitted to fourteen felonies. Kentucky Attorney General
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  Speaker 3: Russell Coleman has declared that the outcome is justice served.
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  Speaker 3: Deputy Conley served four years with the Sheriff's Department and
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  Speaker 3: was an eight year US Army veteran. At sentencing, his
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  Speaker 3: family delivered emotional victim impact statements. Coleman says this case
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  Speaker 3: sends a clear message those who take the life of
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  Speaker 3: a Kentucky law enforcement officer will face the toughest penalties
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  Speaker 3: allowed by law. A troubling case has emerged out of
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  Speaker 3: Washington State involving a young woman connected to the fatal
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  Speaker 3: shooting of a US Border Patrol agent. As Crime Online
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  Speaker 3: Sidney Sumner tells us, the story has expanded nationally, linking
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  Speaker 3: to multiple homicide investigations.
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  Speaker 2: Twenty one year old Teresa Youngblood has been ordered held
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  Speaker 2: without bail facing federal firearms charges tied to the death
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  Speaker 2: of Border patrol agent David Mayland, who was shot on
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  Speaker 2: January twentieth during a traffic stop in Vermont. Young Blood
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  Speaker 2: allegedly open fire, resulting in a shootout, then also claimed
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  Speaker 2: the life of her companion, Felix Backholt. Authorities revealed that
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  Speaker 2: the weapon used in the Vermont incident was linked to
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  Speaker 2: prior killings in Pennsylvania, where Richard and Rita Zoshko were
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  Speaker 2: murdered in their home on December thirty one, twenty twenty two.
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  Speaker 2: Both young Blood and the alleged gun buyer have ties
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  Speaker 2: to a person detained in the Zoshko case, which is
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  Speaker 2: also a person of interest in a homicide in California,
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  Speaker 2: complicating matters. Jack Lesoda, another individual implicated in these events,
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  Speaker 2: faces separate charges of obstructing law enforcement. He was arrested
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  Speaker 2: a short distance from the Zoshcode crime scene as authority
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  Speaker 2: son the murder weapon. Lesoda has a checkered history, including
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  Speaker 2: a bizarre incident in twenty twenty two where he was
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  Speaker 2: falsely reported dead after a boating accident, only to re
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  Speaker 2: emerge later in connection with criminal activities. Additionally, a federal
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  Speaker 2: alert has been issued regarding a woman named Michelle Jocklin
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  Speaker 2: Zoshko reportedly involved in purchasing firearms associated with the Vermont shooting.
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  Speaker 2: She shares a home address in Pennsylvania with the Zashkos.
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  Speaker 2: From twenty sixteen.
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  Speaker 3: A preliminary hearing for young Blood is scheduled for February seventh.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks John, despite a medical condition that leads to memory loss.
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  Speaker 1: Valerie Smiley, forty one, is a wonderful mom to four
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  Speaker 1: children and runs her own business in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Friday afternoon,
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  Speaker 1: she leaves home in a red Ford expedition to run errands,
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  Speaker 1: but oddly isn't home by dinner time. Family checked like
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  Speaker 1: three sixteen. It looks like Valeries all the way in Decatur,
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  Speaker 1: an hour north. She's reported missing, and over the next
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  Speaker 1: two days her phone pings Fayeville and Union City, Georgia,
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  Speaker 1: before cutting off entirely. No one has any explanation for
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  Speaker 1: why she would have gone there. Police still searching for
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  Speaker 1: Valeries SUV with Tennessee license plate zero seven nine B
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  Speaker 1: brother F Frank Q, Queen D Dog and a TSU
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  Speaker 1: mom sticker on the back window. Valerie Smiley African American,
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  Speaker 1: five five two hundred pounds long, black curly hair, Her
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  Speaker 1: name tattooed on her outer right CAF wearing Pastelle yellow
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  Speaker 1: polo shirt denim shorts. If you have info on Valerie Smiley,
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  Speaker 1: called Chattanooga, TENNESSEEPD four two three six nine eight two
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  Speaker 1: five two five. For the latest crime and justice news,
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  Speaker 1: go to crimeonline dot com and please join us for
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  Speaker 1: our daily podcast, Crime Stories, where we do our very
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  Speaker 1: best along with you to find missing people, especially children,
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  Speaker 1: and of unsolved homicides. With this Prime Alert, I'm Nancy
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  Speaker 1: Grace