Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Adoptive Parents Sentenced on Horrific "Slave Labor" Abuse | Crime Alert Recap Saturday 03.22.25

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Adoptive Parents Sentenced on Horrific "Slave Labor" Abuse | Crime Alert Recap Saturday 03.22.25 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert hourly update, Breaking crime News Now Crime Alert.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Jackie Howard, and.
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  Speaker 2: With these children, where we're going through is frankly horrifying
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  Speaker 2: and despicable. There's no other way to describe it.
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  Speaker 1: Conall County Assistant Prosecutor Deborah Russnik describes to KGn STV
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  Speaker 1: the treatment of three of five adopted black children aged
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  Speaker 1: five to sixteen by their adoptive white parents. Forced to
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  Speaker 1: work during hard labor, The oldest girl and her teenage
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  Speaker 1: brother were locked in a shed when they were rescued.
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  Speaker 1: Now those parents, gene K Whitefeather sixty three and Donald
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  Speaker 1: Lance sixty five, will spend years locked up themselves in prison.
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  Speaker 1: White Feather was sentenced to two hundred and fifteen years.
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  Speaker 1: Her husband received one hundred and sixty years. This case
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  Speaker 1: began when law enforcement followed up on a call for
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  Speaker 1: a welfare check. Conall County Sheriff's deputies went to the
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  Speaker 1: Sissamville home after a neighbor reported seeing Lance lock a
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  Speaker 1: girl and her teenage brother in a shed and leave.
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  Speaker 1: Deputy H. K. Berdett called out to the in the shed,
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  Speaker 1: and one of them replied, ma'am, I'm unable to open
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  Speaker 1: the door from the inside. A crowbar had to be
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  Speaker 1: used to get them out. Later, the deputy testified in
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  Speaker 1: court about opening the door.
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  Speaker 2: I was repulsed, for the lack of a better term.
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  Speaker 2: As soon as the door was opened, the heat from
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  Speaker 2: inside hit us. The smell was it made my eyes water.
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  Speaker 1: Conditions inside the shed were unimaginable.
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  Speaker 2: There was a table in one chair, no running water,
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  Speaker 2: no circulating air, no beds. Very The toilet for the
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  Speaker 2: children was it looked like a hospital pan or like
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  Speaker 2: a camping toilet.
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  Speaker 1: The children said they slept on the concrete floor and
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  Speaker 1: had been locked in for at least twelve hours before
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  Speaker 1: they were found and indictman alleged the children were forced
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  Speaker 1: labor because.
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  Speaker 3: Of their race.
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  Speaker 1: The parents were charged with human trafficking, child neglect, forced labor,
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  Speaker 1: and other crimes. Coming up after this some of our
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  Speaker 1: top stories this week.
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  Speaker 4: I'm Jennifer Gould. Milwaukee's historic Concordia neighborhood is buzzing over
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  Speaker 4: the arrest of a real estate broker accused of turning
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  Speaker 4: his home into a center of human trafficking, enslavement, and
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  Speaker 4: sexual assault. Here's the court commissioner addressing the defendant.
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  Speaker 2: Given that there are potential penalties and excess at one
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  Speaker 2: hundred years. Hubbled at what is alleged in this complaint,
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  Speaker 2: I do you find that more significant cash fail is appropriate.
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  Speaker 4: The criminal complaint details harrowing accounts from two women who
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  Speaker 4: claim they were held captive by Austin Cronister and subjected
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  Speaker 4: to physical and sexual violence over several years at the
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  Speaker 4: so called House Saint Pierre. Documents state Cronister and forced
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  Speaker 4: a rigid system of control, compelling the victims to sign
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  Speaker 4: contracts outlining strict rules of obedience and sex upon demand.
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  Speaker 4: The victims were allegedly required to wear callers as a
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  Speaker 4: symbol of their subjugation, and assigned slave numbers. Both women
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  Speaker 4: reported being branded, also with identical tattoos. One victim described
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  Speaker 4: a pattern of physical abuse, indicating beatings, including choking and kicking,
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  Speaker 4: whenever she failed to comply with Cronister's demands or household tasks.
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  Speaker 4: She also alleged that her finances and personal documents, including
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  Speaker 4: her birth certificate and social Security card, were controlled by
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  Speaker 4: a third party. A particularly disturbing allegation detailed an incident
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  Speaker 4: where Cronister allegedly rendered her unconscious during a non consensual
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  Speaker 4: sexual encounter. She escaped in twenty twenty after more than
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  Speaker 4: three years. The second victim reported a similar experience, including
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  Speaker 4: a violent assault in twenty twenty three when she tried
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  Speaker 4: to leave the residents. She told police that the thirty
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  Speaker 4: eight year old beat her on conn and then sexually
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  Speaker 4: assaulted her. The complaint also alleges that Cronister hosted BDSM
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  Speaker 4: parties at the house, with one victim describing a sex
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  Speaker 4: dungeon in the basement. Christian Saint Pierre, a Milwaukee defense
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  Speaker 4: attorney and co owner of the property, is named in
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  Speaker 4: the complaint as well, but has not been charged. Victims
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  Speaker 4: alleged she played a role in their captivity by monitoring
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  Speaker 4: their activities, controlling their mail, and storing their personal documents.
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  Speaker 4: They also claim she required residents to adopt Saint Pierre
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  Speaker 4: as their surname, and that she herself wore a caller.
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  Speaker 4: Milwaukee Police Department officers executed a search warrant at the residents,
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  Speaker 4: seizing evidence, including contracts and items related to the alleged
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  Speaker 4: BDSM activities. Cronister was arrested and remains in custody at
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  Speaker 4: the Milwaukee County Jail. He faces charges of human trafficking,
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  Speaker 4: false imprisonment, and two counts of second degree sexual assault
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  Speaker 4: with domestic assessments. If convicted on all charges, he would
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  Speaker 4: face a maximum sentence of one hundred and eleven years
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  Speaker 4: in prison.
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  Speaker 3: I'm Drew Nelson. An eleven year old boy is found
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  Speaker 3: stab to death at a California motel and his mother
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  Speaker 3: is arrested after admitting to the crime.
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  Speaker 1: We're not quite sure what mom's reason was to stab
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  Speaker 1: and kill her son. You know, Fortunately, you know she's
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  Speaker 1: getting the medical treatment that she needs.
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  Speaker 3: Santa Annam Police spokesperson Natalie Garcia says on Wednesday morning,
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  Speaker 3: police responded to a nine to one one call at
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  Speaker 3: a laking to end. The caller, who was the mother
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  Speaker 3: in this case, told police that she had killed her son.
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  Speaker 3: Officers arrived around nine thirty am and immediately took her
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  Speaker 3: into custody. Inside the room, police found the boy lying
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  Speaker 3: dead on a bed. He had several stab wounds. Investigators
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  Speaker 3: located a knife at the scene that they believe was
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  Speaker 3: the murder weapon. The mother, identified as forty eight year
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  Speaker 3: old Saretha rama Raju, was calm and cooperative when police arrived.
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  Speaker 3: Rama Raju was taken to a hospital where she was
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  Speaker 3: reported to be in stable condition in custody. According to
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  Speaker 3: officer Garcia, Ramiraju is facing charges including murder, child endangerment, torture,
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  Speaker 3: and aggravated mayhem. The motive remains unclear. Guests at the
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  Speaker 3: hotel reported hearing banging noises and a brief yell earlier
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  Speaker 3: that morning. Alyssa Witherral is a witness.
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  Speaker 2: After the scream, it kind of got a little quieter.
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  Speaker 2: There were still some wrestling around, but it did get quieter,
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  Speaker 2: so we just thought they went to bed or the
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  Speaker 2: kids calmed down.
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  Speaker 3: KABC reports the name of the eleven year old victim
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  Speaker 3: has not been released by authorities. He lived in Irvine
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  Speaker 3: with his mother, and the two had been staying on
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  Speaker 3: and off at that Lakitta Inn in Santa Anna during
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  Speaker 3: the weeks before his death. An impromptum memorial has appeared
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  Speaker 3: outside the hotel, including candles, flowers, a little red balloon,
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  Speaker 3: and a teddy bear placed near a small cross. The
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  Speaker 3: investigation is ongoing. Police are seeking additional information and witnesses.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Nicole Parton, a grandmother in Georgia, was reportedly murdered
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  Speaker 2: by an unknown assailant who fallowed her from a local
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  Speaker 2: Dollar General to her home, ultimately choking her to death
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  Speaker 2: by applying his full weight on her neck while she
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  Speaker 2: lay on the ground. Family members and police have described
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  Speaker 2: the crime as quote horrific and mind blowing. The suspect,
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  Speaker 2: twenty one year old Hector Reevas, is accused of killing
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  Speaker 2: fifty two year old Camellia Williams sometime between eleven pm
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  Speaker 2: on March twelve and one am on March thirteen, As
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  Speaker 2: detailed in an arrest warrant obtained by an Atlanta affiliate
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  Speaker 2: of ABC. WSB, Authorities in Cobb County alleged that Revas
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  Speaker 2: strangled Williams before abandoning her body in a yard near
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  Speaker 2: her residence in Marietta, where it was discovered the following
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  Speaker 2: Thursday morning, leaving her family in disbelief. Camellia's brother, in
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  Speaker 2: an interview with WSB, spoke about the devastation of losing
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  Speaker 2: his sister, except.
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  Speaker 1: That's halt to believe that this truly happening.
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  Speaker 2: Absorder right now. According to the victim's brother and other
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  Speaker 2: family members, Camillia, a native of Louisiana, contacted a relative
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  Speaker 2: the night before her death, expressing concern that a man
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  Speaker 2: believed to be Revus, was following her. She didn't know him,
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  Speaker 2: stated Tony Williams, her brother. The night prior, while at
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  Speaker 2: the dollar store, she informed one of my nieces, a
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  Speaker 2: man was telling me followed me home, she believed. Law
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  Speaker 2: enforcement has indicated that the suspect has yet to provide
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  Speaker 2: a motive, but has confessed to the crime. He reportedly
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  Speaker 2: detailed the incident to investigators, stating he used his knees
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  Speaker 2: during the attack after struggling to apply a chokehold. I
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  Speaker 2: can't fathom what would drive someone to commit such an
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  Speaker 2: act of violence, said Danielle Williams, Camilla's niece, when speaking
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  Speaker 2: to local NBC affiliate WXIA. What he did was truly horrific.
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  Speaker 2: It's mind blowing, she said. Some of us is currently
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  Speaker 2: in custody facing charges of felony murder. He has been
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  Speaker 2: denied bail and is awaiting the next court appearance for
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  Speaker 2: the latest crime Injustice news. Follow Crime Alert hourly update
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  Speaker 2: on your favorite podcasting app with this crime Alert. I'm
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  Speaker 2: Nicole Partner