Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Florida Husband Indicted for First-Degree Murder in Wife's Disappearance and Elaborate Overseas Cover-Up | Crime Alert 10.30.26

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Florida Husband Indicted for First-Degree Murder in Wife's Disappearance and Elaborate Overseas Cover-Up | Crime Alert 10.30.26 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert, hourly update, breaking crime news now. I'm Sydney Silvani.
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  Speaker 1: A chilling missing persons investigation in Central Florida takes a
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  Speaker 1: dark and calculated turn as a husband is indicted for
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  Speaker 1: first-degree murder, accused of orchestrating an international web of deception
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  Speaker 1: to conceal his wife's death. Volusia County authorities have charged
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  Speaker 1: Epifanio IX Ramos Gaminde in the disappearance of Maria Gaminde.
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  Speaker 1: a mother of three who has not been seen or
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  Speaker 1: heard from since late 2023. Even though her body has
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  Speaker 1: not been found, a grand jury returned the murder indictment
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  Speaker 1: following an exhaustive, globe-spanning probe by local and federal detectives.
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  Speaker 1: Maria's family officially reported her missing in January 2024 after
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  Speaker 1: suddenly losing contact. Investigators confirmed that Maria's last known authentic
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  Speaker 1: appearance was on December 16, 2023, when biometric fingerprint scans
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  Speaker 1: recorded her entering Disney World's Magic Kingdom with her children.
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  Speaker 1: Just four days later, Gaminde sent a text message inquiring
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  Speaker 1: about Maria's whereabouts, after which all genuine communication ceased. Gaminde
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  Speaker 1: claimed to investigators that the couple had marital issues and
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  Speaker 1: insisted his wife had abandoned the family for either the
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  Speaker 1: Philippines or Japan. However, by July 2024, relatives grew suspicious
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  Speaker 1: when they began receiving strange emails, text messages, and alerts
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  Speaker 1: about overseas credit card activity purportedly from Maria. Volusia County
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  Speaker 1: Sheriff Mike Chitwood explained that family members alerted detectives that
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  Speaker 1: the communication style and spending patterns felt completely fabricated. Digging deeper,
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  Speaker 1: investigators discovered Gaminde had two prior domestic violence arrests. The
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  Speaker 1: investigation expanded overseas with assistance from the FBI. A Volusia
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  Speaker 1: County detective and prosecutor traveled to the Philippines to interview
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  Speaker 1: Gaminde's niece. Sheriff Chitwood said the niece cooperated fully and
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  Speaker 1: provided critical evidence revealing that Gaminde had emailed her Maria's
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  Speaker 1: driver's license and credit cards with instructions on how to
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  Speaker 1: use them to simulate activity. Digital evidence confirmed the plot
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  Speaker 1: was designed to make it seem Maria was alive and
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  Speaker 1: intentionally evading loved ones. Chitwood emphasized that there is no
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  Speaker 1: financial trail or legitimate evidence showing Maria is alive. On Tuesday,
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  Speaker 1: forensic teams searched the couple's DeBerry property after a neighbor
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  Speaker 1: reported Gaminde doing extensive work behind the residence around the
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  Speaker 1: time Maria disappeared. Crews focused on a slab of fresh
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  Speaker 1: concrete in the backyard. State Attorney R.J. Lariza confirmed prosecutors
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  Speaker 1: possessed total confidence to move forward with the first-degree murder
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  Speaker 1: prosecution even without recovering Maria's body. Gaminde, initially detained on
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  Speaker 1: driving charges, is held without bond at the Volusia County
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  Speaker 1: Branch Jail with an ICE detainer. Sheriff Chitwood noted that
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  Speaker 1: every interview Gaminde provided was a lie and confirmed that
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  Speaker 1: the couple's three sons, who had been alienated from their
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  Speaker 1: maternal relatives, have finally been reunited with Maria's family. More
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  Speaker 1: crime and justice news after this. In Southern California, a
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  Speaker 1: horrific act of domestic violence leaves a 28-year-old man dead
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  Speaker 1: inside an Anaheim bedroom and a husband facing decades in
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  Speaker 1: state prison. The Orange County District Attorney's Office announced that
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  Speaker 1: 34-year-old Ismael Pineda-Lopez has been charged with murder in connection
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  Speaker 1: with the fatal stabbing of Nicholas Garcia. The violence erupted
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  Speaker 1: on Saturday, October 24, when Pineda-Lopez returned home early from
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  Speaker 1: work to his residence in the 700 block of North
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  Speaker 1: Pine Street. Prosecutors state that upon entering his master bedroom,
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  Speaker 1: Pineda Lopez discovered Garcia clad only in his underwear in
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  Speaker 1: bed alongside Pineda Lopez's wife and the couple's two young children,
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  Speaker 1: a two-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son. Armed with a
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  Speaker 1: pocket knife, Pineda Lopez allegedly attacked Garcia, stabbing him multiple times.
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  Speaker 1: Anaheim police officers responded to an emergency call and encountered
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  Speaker 1: a bloodied Pineda Lopez at the scene. Inside the bedroom,
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  Speaker 1: officers located Garcia's lifeless body. Neither Pineda Lopez's wife nor
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  Speaker 1: the toddler sustained physical injuries, but officials expressed deep sorrow
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  Speaker 1: over the severe emotional trauma inflicted on the young family.
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  Speaker 1: Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer condemned the brutality, stating
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  Speaker 1: that violence is never the answer and calling it heartbreaking
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  Speaker 1: that two young children had to witness their father commit
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  Speaker 1: such an atrocity. Pineda Lopez was arraigned Tuesday facing one
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  Speaker 1: count of murder and a deadly weapon enhancement with a
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  Speaker 1: potential sentence of 26 years to life, with senior deputy
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  Speaker 1: district attorney Mark Burney prosecuting. In New York City, a
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  Speaker 1: tragic discovery in a shallow grave near a Queens beach
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  Speaker 1: has led to murder charges against the ex-boyfriend of a
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  Speaker 1: missing mother. The New York Police Department confirmed the arrest
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  Speaker 1: of 26-year-old Rogelio Lozano Garita in the killing of 35-year-old
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  Speaker 1: Serafina Pereira. Pereira had been missing since October 19 after
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  Speaker 1: leaving her residence. Exactly one week later, following an intensive
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  Speaker 1: search that led officers with flashlights through marshland near Rockaway
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  Speaker 1: Community Park, police uncovered Pereira's buried body near the shoreline.
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  Speaker 1: NYPD tactical teams accompanied by hostage negotiators arrested Lozano Garita
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  Speaker 1: on Monday evening. Authorities confirmed that Lozano Garita is the
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  Speaker 1: father of two of Pereira's children. Pereira's loved ones expressed
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  Speaker 1: profound grief online, recalling her devotion to the children, including
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  Speaker 1: proud social media celebrations of her fifth-grader's academic achievements. Family
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  Speaker 1: members have organized a candlelight vigil to honor her memory
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  Speaker 1: and support her children. Lozano Garita faces charges including murder,
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  Speaker 1: criminal possession of a weapon, concealment of a human corpse,
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  Speaker 1: and tampering with physical evidence as detectives work to determine
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  Speaker 1: a motive. Online court records were not immediately available, and
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  Speaker 1: it remains unclear if Lozano Garita has retained legal representation.
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  Speaker 1: For more crime and justice news, be sure to join
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  Speaker 1: us for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on Fox 1, YouTube,
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  Speaker 1: Sirius XM, and now streaming on Tubi. With this crime alert,
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  Speaker 1: I'm Sydney Silvani.