Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Beloved Granddad Dragged to Death by Carjacker, Karma Crushes Crook on Highway| Crime Alert 6AM 02.26.2026

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Beloved Granddad Dragged to Death by Carjacker, Karma Crushes Crook on Highway| Crime Alert 6AM 02.26.2026 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alart, hourly update, breaking crime news Now. I'm Jennifer Gould.
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  Speaker 1: Imagine saying goodbye to your grandkid at a bus stop,
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  Speaker 1: only to have a savage stranger yank you from your
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  Speaker 1: car and drag your body like roadkill for nearly half
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  Speaker 1: a mile. That is the gut wrenching fate that befell
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  Speaker 1: sixty seven year old Donald Russell, a devoted grandfather whose
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  Speaker 1: routine drop off in Toledo, Ohio erupted into a deadly nightmare,
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  Speaker 1: one that ended with his attacker smashed to smithereens on
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  Speaker 1: a roaring interstate. The horror kicked off at the Greyhound
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  Speaker 1: station on Emerald Avenue. Russell had just bid farewell to
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  Speaker 1: his granddaughter Annia fl when thirty eight year old Jesse
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  Speaker 1: Motes pounced. Modes, a father of three from West Virginia,
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  Speaker 1: allegedly assaulted the senior and hijacked his red Ford Fusion
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  Speaker 1: in a scene of pure carnage. Russell came entangled in
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  Speaker 1: his own seat belt and was dragged approximately half a
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  Speaker 1: mile to South Erie Street, his body grinding against the pavement.
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  Speaker 1: Granddaughter Anita Fell, spoke to KTBX three News, my grandpa
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  Speaker 1: was dragged out of the car by his feet. Somebody
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  Speaker 1: hijacked the car and was pulling him out of the
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  Speaker 1: car when I was just so scared. The brutal friction
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  Speaker 1: tore the clothes from his back and left him scraped
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  Speaker 1: raw with kidney failure and critical internal wounds. While Russell
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  Speaker 1: initially clung to life in a coma, Toledo Police confirmed
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  Speaker 1: he succumbed to the catastrophic injuries on February twenty third. Karma, however,
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  Speaker 1: did not miss its exit. Modes burreled onto northbound Eye
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  Speaker 1: seventy five, lost control, and wrecked the stolen car. In
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  Speaker 1: a frantic bid to escape on foot, the carjacker leaped
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  Speaker 1: over a cement barrier and sprinted directly into the path
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  Speaker 1: of a commercial semi truck. He was pronounced dead at
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  Speaker 1: the hospital shortly after. Authorities have not released a motive
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  Speaker 1: from motes sudden descent into violence, no word if he
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  Speaker 1: has any priors. The Toledo Police Department is continuing to
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  Speaker 1: review the case as autopsy results remain pending. The investigation continues,
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  Speaker 1: Police urge any one with information on the case to
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  Speaker 1: contact crime Stoppers at four one nine two FI five
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  Speaker 1: eleven eleven. More Crime in Justice News After this, the
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  Speaker 1: scales of justice have not just tipped in Riverside County, California,
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  Speaker 1: They've been obliterated. In a move described as a quote
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  Speaker 1: stab in the gut, Naomi Renee Volado, the twenty eight
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  Speaker 1: year old woman who mowed down a twenty one year
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  Speaker 1: old bicyclist while texting her boyfriend, was released from prison
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  Speaker 1: early by the judge sentencing her to nine years for
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  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty killing of Benjamin Montalvo and Corona, California.
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  Speaker 1: Valado walked free after serving less than a third of
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  Speaker 1: her time, leaving a grieving family trapped in a life
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  Speaker 1: sentence of agony. Ben's mom, Kelly Montalvo, spoke to ABC seven,
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  Speaker 1: why do they give a sentence if it's not going
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  Speaker 1: to be enforced. It's a huge slap in the face.
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  Speaker 1: This was not a tragic accident, it was a lethal
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  Speaker 1: pattern of negligence. Prosecutors revealed Volado was impaired and exchanged
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  Speaker 1: twenty four texts in the minutes surrounding the impact, catapulting
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  Speaker 1: the young man into the air before she fled to
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  Speaker 1: fix her windshield and cover her tracks. Even more sickening,
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  Speaker 1: this was her fifth at fault crash and her fourth
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  Speaker 1: hit and run. Hours after bailing out. Following the killing,
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  Speaker 1: she was caught on camera toasting in Las Vegas, captioned
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  Speaker 1: quote living our best life end quote, while the Montalvos
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  Speaker 1: were shopping for a casket. California Department of Corrections officials
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  Speaker 1: cite good merit credits for the early release, but Kelly
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  Speaker 1: Montalvo is not buying it, saying quote, there's no way
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  Speaker 1: this woman has been rehabilitated in just two and a
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  Speaker 1: half years end quote. Riverside County prosecutors also strongly opposed
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  Speaker 1: the release, labeling Volato a clear danger to the community
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  Speaker 1: as the killer returns to the streets she once treated
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  Speaker 1: as a personal texting zone. The Montalvo family continues to
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  Speaker 1: back SB nine oh seven in Sacramento to classify vehicular
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  Speaker 1: manslaughter as a violent felony, which would block these get
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  Speaker 1: out of jail early cards. And finally, talk about a
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  Speaker 1: wasted effort. Huber Heights, Ohio traffic stop turned into a
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  Speaker 1: real refuse to cooperate when a fleeing driver tried to
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  Speaker 1: trash his problems. After ditching his car and vanishing, the
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  Speaker 1: suspect decided to recycle a hiding spot by diving into
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  Speaker 1: a bin bin. There done that, he thought he was
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  Speaker 1: home free until a startled sanitation worker flipped the lid
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  Speaker 1: and found a hefty surprise staring right back at him.
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  Speaker 1: The worker, of course, alerted police and the suspect, now
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  Speaker 1: dubbed Oscar the Grinch popped his head out and bolted,
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  Speaker 1: literally running out of his shoes. Officers did not let
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  Speaker 1: him linger long. They picked up the trail and hauled
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  Speaker 1: him off to jail. It's safe to say his stinky
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  Speaker 1: getaway plan was officially now in the can, and now
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  Speaker 1: he is in a heap of trouble. For the latest
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  Speaker 1: crime and justice news, follow the Crime Alert hourly update
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  Speaker 1: on your favorite podcast. Act with this crime Alert. I'm
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  Speaker 1: Jennifer Gould.