Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Estranged Son Calls Mom Accused of Killing Son-in-Law Controlling | Crime Alert Recap Saturday 08.30.25

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Estranged Son Calls Mom Accused of Killing Son-in-Law Controlling | Crime Alert Recap Saturday 08.30.25 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert I Nancy Grace Breaking Crimes now. One of
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  Speaker 1: the alleged masterminds of the contract killing a Florida State
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  Speaker 1: University law professor, Dan Markel, is facing a jury. Jury
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  Speaker 1: selection for Donna Adelson, accused of planning their murder of
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  Speaker 1: her son in law, is complete. Opening statements done now.
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  Speaker 2: The evidence prosecutors depicted her as the matriarch mastermind behind
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  Speaker 2: the brutal murder of the Florida State University law professor,
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  Speaker 2: while her defense team portrayed her as a kind and
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  Speaker 2: loving person. During their opening statements, the attorneys engaged in
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  Speaker 2: extensive questioning and cross examination of several witnesses, including two
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  Speaker 2: significant members of the Adelson family, Wendy and Robert. This
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  Speaker 2: marked the first time Robert, the woman's son, has provided
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  Speaker 2: testimony in the murder case. Having been estranged from his
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  Speaker 2: family for several years. Robert disclosed that his last communication
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  Speaker 2: with his mother was in twenty sixteen. Dan was fatally
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  Speaker 2: shot at close range in twenty fourteen while in the
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  Speaker 2: middle of a legal battle with his wife, Wendy Adelson,
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  Speaker 2: over her desire to relocate with their two young sons
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  Speaker 2: in Miami, where her parents lived as seventy five, Donna
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  Speaker 2: Face's first degree murder charges, conspiracy, and solicitation in the
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  Speaker 2: case that has garnered significant media attention in Tallahassee and
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  Speaker 2: the US and resulted in the convictions of four others,
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  Speaker 2: including her son, Charlie Adelson. Later in the afternoon, Wendy
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  Speaker 2: Adelson took the stand once more, reiterating to the courtroom
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  Speaker 2: that she had no involvement in the murder for hire
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  Speaker 2: of her ex husband. However, during cross examination, Donna Adelson's
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  Speaker 2: attorneys contended that Wendy may have had a deeper connection
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  Speaker 2: to the murder than she disclosed. Assistant State Attorney Georgia
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  Speaker 2: Kappelman continued to question Wendy, guiding the jury through the
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  Speaker 2: timeline of events. I hired assassins at his Tallahassee residence.
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  Speaker 1: Isn't it true that when you were interviewed by law enforcement?
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  Speaker 3: She said initially, was Danny's parents were going to think
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  Speaker 3: that you're the one who.
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  Speaker 4: Did it, right. I did say that.
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  Speaker 2: Throughout Wendy's testimony, Donna, her mother, listened closely as the
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  Speaker 2: proceedings unfolded. Wendy's account remained consistent with her previous testimonies.
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  Speaker 2: In earlier trials. On the morning of the murder, Wendy
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  Speaker 2: was awaiting a TV repairman, the same television that Charlie
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  Speaker 2: had joked about being less expensive than hiring a hit man.
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  Speaker 2: Wendy acknowledged her brother's tasteless joke, but Capelman pressed her further, saying,
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  Speaker 2: but someone did hire a hit man. Yes, that happened,
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  Speaker 2: Wendy confirmed. Continuing her cross examination, Capelman posed a direct question,
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  Speaker 2: were you in any way involved in the plot to
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  Speaker 2: kill your ex husband? No, Wendy replied, did you perhaps
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  Speaker 2: know what was going to happen but not the specifics?
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  Speaker 2: I did not know what was going to happen. I
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  Speaker 2: did not know anything about it, Wendy asserted. The trial
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  Speaker 2: continues against the mother in law, Donna Adelson the more
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  Speaker 2: Time and Justice News after this.
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  Speaker 4: I'm Drew Nelson. A man puts on a murdered woman's
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  Speaker 4: clothes and wig and forces the victim's boyfriend to wear
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  Speaker 4: her clothes too and help dump her body in the
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  Speaker 4: Florida Woods. That's according to police testimony heard in court Monday.
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  Speaker 4: Our TV news partners at Fox thirteen Tampa. We're in
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  Speaker 4: the Hillsboro County court room for the bond hearing of
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  Speaker 4: Arnaldo Sintron, aged forty two, who was arrested alongside his girlfriend,
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  Speaker 4: thirty seven year old he Sells Santiago Bonilla. Both are
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  Speaker 4: charged in the brutal stabbing death of Sindrone's girlfriend's cousin,
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  Speaker 4: forty two year old heel Hira Valsbonia, better known as Joy.
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  Speaker 5: But given the nature and circumstances the offense, the vision
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  Speaker 5: from law enforcement, the planning involved in this particular case,
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  Speaker 5: in the overall risk of physical harm, and my concerns
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  Speaker 5: about appearance, court taking a account her ties to the community,
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  Speaker 5: I'm going.
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  Speaker 4: To set substantial bail in these cases.
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  Speaker 5: I do find that there she does pose a risk
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  Speaker 5: of physical harm to the community, as well as a
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  Speaker 5: risk of harm and intimidation to witnesses.
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  Speaker 4: In this case, Bania's boyfriend, Elga Davis the Second, told
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  Speaker 4: deputies he saw Centron stab Joy in the neck and
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  Speaker 4: her Riverview home after a fight about money and chores.
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  Speaker 4: He said in court that Centron kept stabbing.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sitting there and the next thing I hear like
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  Speaker 2: someone get hid in the throat, and I did me that.
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  Speaker 6: That sound and then I try to go run over
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  Speaker 6: there and like and then I see her on.
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  Speaker 4: F Davis and Centron then forced him to help clean
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  Speaker 4: up the blood and move the body. He said he's
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  Speaker 4: ell helped to calling Joy evil and saying quote, she
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  Speaker 4: deserved this. Put on to find the word.
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  Speaker 1: Stuffed, folded, pushed, how was she fits into the box?
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  Speaker 4: We stuffed her. They took the box with Joy's remains
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  Speaker 4: to her car. Davis said Sentrone and Hezel threatened to
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  Speaker 4: kill him and Joy's teenage son if he didn't help.
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  Speaker 4: At one point, Sintrone dressed in one of Joy's wigs
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  Speaker 4: and dresses. Davis said Sentron also forced him to wear
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  Speaker 4: her clothes while they drove around to dump the evidence.
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  Speaker 4: They met up with another man known only as Tarzan
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  Speaker 4: and dumped Joy's body in a mangrove area of the
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  Speaker 4: Whedon Island Preserve near the Gandy Bridge. Davis said he
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  Speaker 4: later called his parents, then turned himself into deputies and
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  Speaker 4: led them to the body. Sentrone faces charges of second
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  Speaker 4: degree murder, moving a body in unapproved conditions, tampering with
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  Speaker 4: a witness, and tampering with evidence. He's being held without bond.
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  Speaker 4: His Hell is charged with accessory after the fact and
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  Speaker 4: is being held on two hundred thousand dollars bond. The
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  Speaker 4: investigation continues. I'm Jennifer Gould.
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  Speaker 3: The quiet charm of Unison, Michigan was shattered by an
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  Speaker 3: unsettling disappearance that has left investigators with a chilling mystery
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  Speaker 3: and a family clinging to hope. Starla Goings, a sixty
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  Speaker 3: five year old mom and beloved bank teller, vanished from
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  Speaker 3: her home back on August fifteenth, just days after a
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  Speaker 3: crucial legal development in her divorce case. The unsettling detail
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  Speaker 3: of her abandoned car, found on a lonely stretch of road,
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  Speaker 3: has sent chalk waves through the community and ignited a
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  Speaker 3: desperate multi agency search. Here's Alger County Sheriff Todd Brock.
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  Speaker 4: That's our focus.
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  Speaker 6: Will exhaust every lead we have and do anything we
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  Speaker 6: possibly can to bring her home safely to her family.
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  Speaker 3: Goings, described by her daughter as quote unquote bubbly and
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  Speaker 3: quote unquote easy to love, was last seen by her
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  Speaker 3: estranged husband, Stephen Goings, around midnight after the couple attended
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  Speaker 3: the Upstate Fair. For a woman known to be in
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  Speaker 3: constant contact with her family, her sudden silence was a
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  Speaker 3: blaring red flag. A welfare check on August seventheenth confirmed
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  Speaker 3: their worst fears, Starla was gone. The Alger County Sheriff's
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  Speaker 3: Office immediately launched a full scale missing person investigation, but
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  Speaker 3: a key piece of the puzzle quickly emerged. Deputies found
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  Speaker 3: Starla's vehicle on August seventeenth, abandoned at the intersection of
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  Speaker 3: sixteen Mile Lake Road and M ninety four, just a
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  Speaker 3: few miles from her house. The discovery offered few clues
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  Speaker 3: to her whereabouts, sparking a methodical but frenzied search. K
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  Speaker 3: nine units, aerial drones and ground teams from the Michigan
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  Speaker 3: State Police, Marquette County Sheriff's Office, Michigan Department of Natural Resources,
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  Speaker 3: and the US Forest Service are now combing the rugged terrain,
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  Speaker 3: following every possible lead. The case has been further complicated
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  Speaker 3: by court records. It was revealed that Starla had filed
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  Speaker 3: for divorce from her husband in May, and just four
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  Speaker 3: days before her disappearance, a stipulated in order to release
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  Speaker 3: real estate sale proceeds was signed. While authorities have not
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  Speaker 3: officially suggested foul play, these details have raised questions about
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  Speaker 3: the nature of her disappearance. With no suspects named, and
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  Speaker 3: no sign of the five foot four, one hundred and
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  Speaker 3: sixty pound woman with short white hair and tattoos. A
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  Speaker 3: community is left with one lingering question, what happened to
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  Speaker 3: Starla Goings. The Alger County Sheriffs is asking residents to
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  Speaker 3: please check game or outdoor cameras around the area where
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  Speaker 3: her orange twenty nineteen Volkswagon tig One SUV was found
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  Speaker 3: between four pm on Friday, August fifteenth and eight pm
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  Speaker 3: on Sunday, August seventeenth, to see if anything looks out
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  Speaker 3: of place. Her family is pleading with the public for help,
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  Speaker 3: urging anyone with information to contact the Alger County Sheriff's
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  Speaker 3: Office at nine zero six three eight seven seventy thirty.
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  Speaker 6: I'm Sidney Sumner. In a lengthy jailhouse interview, the father
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  Speaker 6: of seven month old Emmanuel Harrow denied prosecutor's contention that
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  Speaker 6: the boy suffered long term abuse before his presumed death,
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  Speaker 6: and said his wife, who reported the infant missing, was innocent.
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  Speaker 6: Jake Harrow, thirty two, told a Southern California News Group
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  Speaker 6: reporter that he has been completely cooperative with investigators, although
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  Speaker 6: he declined to say whether he led them to the
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  Speaker 6: Moreno Valley Badlands over the weekend, where he was seen
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  Speaker 6: in a jailhouse jumpsuit as crews searched the area. Harrow
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  Speaker 6: and forty one year old Rebecca Harrow were charged this
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  Speaker 6: week with killing little Emmanuel and filing a false police report.
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  Speaker 6: Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin said that investigators believed
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  Speaker 6: that Emmanuel was severely abused over a period of time.
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  Speaker 6: Hestron added both parents would have been aware of that abuse.
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  Speaker 6: Harrow insisted that allegation was not true at all, but
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  Speaker 6: declined to say what role he may have played in
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  Speaker 6: the little boy's disappearance. Prosecutors and investigators said that there
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  Speaker 6: has been some level of cooperation from the parents, but
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  Speaker 6: declined to provide details. Rebecca Harrow reported her son missing
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  Speaker 6: on August fourteenth, claiming that someone she did not see
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  Speaker 6: knocked her unconscious while she was changing Emmanuel's diaper and
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  Speaker 6: took the boy. In dramatic and emotional interviews after the
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  Speaker 6: reported disappearance, she begged for help finding her son, but
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  Speaker 6: investigators soon found inconsistencies in her stories, and a week later,
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  Speaker 6: the parents were arrested. Formal murder charges were filed this week.
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  Speaker 6: In his jailhouse interview, Jake Harrow also denied prosecutor's version
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  Speaker 6: of his previous conviction for child abuse. He claimed that
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  Speaker 6: he accidentally dropped his newborn daughter on a sink divider
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  Speaker 6: while bathing her. She didn't look injured, he said, although
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  Speaker 6: she is now left blind with three percent brain function
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  Speaker 6: from her severe injuries, which included fresh and healing rib fractures,
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  Speaker 6: a fractured skull, and a leg fracture. And his then
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  Speaker 6: wife pleaded guilty and he was sentenced to one hundred
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  Speaker 6: and eighty days in a work release program with a
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  Speaker 6: suspended prison sentence, and was ordered to attend a child
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  Speaker 6: abuse or treatment program. Haro said, somehow they magically convinced
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  Speaker 6: me to take this plea deal. I was sick of court.
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  Speaker 6: The judge knows I didn't do it. They just railroaded me.
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  Speaker 6: I was the fall guy. District Attorney Hestern said that
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  Speaker 6: there was no plea deal. Instead, Haro threw himself on
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  Speaker 6: the mercy of the court and pled guilty in open
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  Speaker 6: court to avoid trial. The judge then gave him a
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  Speaker 6: big break with the sentence over prosecutor's strenuous objections. The
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  Speaker 6: DA called it an outrageous error in judgment for this judge,
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  Speaker 6: commenting mister Harrow should have been in prison at the
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  Speaker 6: time that this crime happened. Haro declined to provide any
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  Speaker 6: details about the current case, citing advice from his lawyer.
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  Speaker 6: Harro said, I want to talk about it, but I can't.
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  Speaker 6: I was told don't do no press. Rebecca Harrow, too
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  Speaker 6: appears to be ignoring legal advice, speaking to a reporter
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  Speaker 6: from jail over the weekend and sticking solidly to her
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  Speaker 6: kidnapping story. Rebecca's husband says she is innocent. The media
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  Speaker 6: is killing her. She is a beautiful woman. She loves
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  Speaker 6: her children. The Riverside Sheriff's Department has declined to comment
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  Speaker 6: about Harrow's interview, saying the investigation is very active and
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  Speaker 6: will be for quite some time. For the latest crime
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: and justice news, be sure to follow the Crime Alert
• 12:25
  Speaker 6: hourly update on your favorite podcast app with this Crime Alert.
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  Speaker 6: I'm Sydney Sumner.