Crime Alert 02.27.24

A 12-year-old boy climbs out of a window in a home, running to neighbors begging for food and water. The boy is the son of Ruby Franke, a popular blogger, known for the YouTube channel "8 Passengers."  The home belonged to Franke's business partner Jodi Hildebrandt.    Neighbors called police. Officers said the boy looked emaciated and malnourished.  Cops also noted that the boy had “deep lacerations from being tied up with rope” and duct tape around his wrists and ankles.. After searching Hildebrandt’s home, police found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter in a similar condition.  Both children were taken to a hospital.    Franke's parenting channel "8 Passengers," which at one time boasted over 2 million followers,  doled out parenting advice,  and in her video, she admits to withholding food as a form of punishment.   Both women have been charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Donna Kelly – Former Utah Senior Deputy District Attorney and Attorney for Crime Victims Legal Clinic; Helped form the Utah County Sex Crimes Task Force Dr. Dana Anderson – Forensic Psychologist and Consultant, Court-appointed expert witness, X: @psychologydrcom/TikTok: @psychologydr Jason Jensen – Private Investigator (Jensen Private Investigations), Cold Case Expert (Salt Lake City, UT), and Co-founder: “Cold Case Coalition;” Investigations; Twitter: @JasonJPI, Facebook/Instagram: “Jensen Investigations”  Dr. Free N. Hess – Pediatrician/Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Child Safety Expert & Consultant, Founder of www.PediMom.com Emily Ashcraft- Reporter for KSL.com in Utah; Twitter: @emilyjaneen3  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Months after Rachel Morin's body is found along a trail the Ma & Pa Trail, her killer is still still on the run. DNA found at the crime scene matched to a home invasion in Los Angeles, but investigators have not been able to match the profile.  A  video of the man  believed to be the suspect, was made public. That video came from the home invasion scene in LA.  Morin’s family is turning to all options in trying to bring this killer to justice. The family has created a flyer using still images from the doorbell camera footage of the suspect.  10,000 flyers have been sent out  to homes and schools near the LA crime scene. Morin family attorney, Randolph Rice, says the reason is that the suspect could have been in high school as early as two years ago. They are hoping a teacher or classmate will recognize the suspect. Joining Nancy Grace Today:  Patty Morin – Rachel Morin’s Mother Randolph Rice – Morin Family Attorney - Rice, Murtha & Psoras, LLC Tim Pappa  -   Fmr. FBI BAU Profiler and Supervisory Special Agent, Founder and Behavioral Content Creator for “Storytellers”, http://www.youtube.com/@storytellers.design, X: @storytellerscc, walked the trail and examined Rachel Morin’s crime scene    Caryn L. Stark - Psychologist, renowned TV and Radio trauma expert and consultant, www.carynstark.com, Instagram: carynpsych, FB: Caryn Stark Private Practice Alexis Tereszcuk  -  CrimeOnline.com Investigative Reporter, Writer/Fact Checker, Lead Stories dot Com, Twitter: @swimmie2009  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Doctor found guilty of tampering with IV bags. Meth user calls 911 because she was sold a bad batch.  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

According to court documents, the elaborate plan to kill Veronica Butler and Jillian Kelly began with a simple lie, the day before the murders.  Tad Cullum, the boyfriend of grandmother Tiffany Adams,  had asked the owner of the property he rented for cattle grazing, if he could do some work in the pasture, with his skid steer.  Picture a heavy-duty front-end loader, with lift arms that can attach to various tools, especially ones for digging. Cullum reportedly said he wanted to cut down a tree, remove a stump, and bury some concrete. The intent was that if the hole was discovered, it was explainable.  If the land owner was asked about the disturbed dirt and track marks,  he could honestly answer that some dirt work had been done and concrete had been buried. The landowner just didn’t know there were bodies underneath. News reports also say there was hay placed near and on the digging site to draw Cullum’s cattle to the spot, to trample the earth, further disguising the dig.    The OSBI, the FBI, and the Texas County Sheriff’s Department followed cell phone pings to find a horrific scene, a 10-foot-deep hole, 8 1/2 miles from the mom's abandoned car,  in a pasture on leased farmland and near a bridge. Whether the two moms were buried alive.... not yet revealed.       Associate District Judge Clark Jett entered "not guilty" pleas on the behavior of Adams, Cullum, Cora, and Cole Twombly. Judge Jett also assigned pro bono attorneys for each of the four defendants and denied bail. According to the police affidavit the 4 suspects “  had “resources sufficient to organize and execute a complex murder and therefore, they also have the resources to flee if given the opportunity.”  The police documents also say Adams and Cullum own numerous firearms, and Cullum had a rifle, ammunition, body armor, and a “go-bag” prepared at his home.    Joining Nancy Grace Today: Squirrel - Founder of God's Misfits    Garrett Oates - Veronica Butler's Lawyer (during custody battle) Tom Smith - Former NYPD Detective, Co-Host of the GOLD SHIELDS Podcast; FB & Instagram: @thegoldshieldshow   Dr. Kendall Crowns – Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth) and Lecturer: University of Texas Austin and Texas Christian University Medical School Rachel Bernstein - Cult Expert - Therapist - Host of IndoctriNation Podcast   Lauren Conlin – Investigative Journalist, Host of The Outlier Podcast, and also Host of “Corruption: What Happened to Grant Solomon; X- @Conlin_Lauren/ Instagram- @LaurenEmilyConlin/YouTube- @LaurenConlin4   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elderly couple carjacked, husband killed. Florida boat captain falls off the deck, drunk! For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brazilian Au Pair, Juliana Peres Magalhaes and her charge leave the Banfields' Fairfax County, Virginia home but turn around when Peres Magalhaes realizes she forgot their bagged lunches. Arriving at the house, the au pair sees a car she doesn't recognize and a man she doesn't know entering the house. Confused, she calls her employer, Brendan Banfield, who tells her to stay in the car, that he will be right there. Banfield is at the house in minutes, and they enter the house together. The au pair takes her 4-year-old charge to the basement. Brendan Banfield goes upstairs to find his wife.  Banfield finds his wife, Christine, nude, and a man he doesn't know, holding a knife to her throat. Banfield tells the man to put the knife down, but he starts stabbing the 37-year-old mother. Brendan Banfield carries a gun as an IRS Special Agent, and he draws his service revolver shooting the man in the head. The intruder is wounded and down on the ground. Banfield calls for Peres Magalhaes telling her to get his personal gun, a Glock, out of the bathroom safe. At Banfield's direction, shoots Joseph Ryan in the heart as he is lying on the ground.    Police say it appeared that Christine Banfield had been posted on an adult fetish website., but investigators say they believe it was all a ruse. Someone else created the profile on the Adult Fetish website, pretending to be Christine Banfield.  In fact, investigators believe Ryan's murder was part of an elaborate plan to kill Christine Banfield so her husband, Brendan, and their Brazilian live-in Au Pair, could be together.  Investigators found pictures of Banfield and the au pair together in the Banfield bedroom, and Peres Magalhaes' clothes were found hanging in Banfield's closet, not her own.    Joining Nancy Grace: Amanda Rieman - Virginia Attorney, AC RIEMAN LAW; IG: @acriemanlaw  Barry Golden– Former Senior Inspector for the U.S. Marshals Service, Owner of Golden Consulting and Investigations Dr. Heidi Green – Clinical Psychologist, Trauma Specialist,  and Author: ‘The Path to Self-Love and World Domination; IG: @drheidigreen Dr. Jan Gorniak – Medical Examiner, Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner (Las Vegas, NV), Board Certified Forensic Pathologist Alexis Tereszcuk – CrimeOnline.com Investigative Reporter, Writer/Fact Checker for Lead Stories; X: @swimmie2009 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Man gropes passenger seated next to him throughout three-hour flight. Man pelts roommate with pizza! For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katherine Aguasvivas is on a road trip, from her home in Homestead Florida, which is south of Miami, to central Florida to visit friends. After going through Orlando, Aguasvivas calls her husband Miguel in a panic.  She tells him that she is in Winter Springs, and there is a green Acura running into her back bumper. He tells her not to stop, and keep driving, but neither of them calls 911. At 5:30 p.m., Aguasvivas stops for a traffic light at the intersection. What goes down next is caught on camera by a witness. A man dressed in all black gets out of the Acura approaches the driver's side of Aguasvivas' Dodge Durango and threatens her with a gun. He forces his way inside, climbing into the back seat, and forcing Katherine Aguasvivas to drive. The eyewitness calls 911. Joining Nancy Grace: Brian Foley –  Board-certified Criminal Defense Attorney, Former Chief Prosecutor in Harris County, (Houston) Texas; Author: “What Prosecutors Don’t Tell You;" Instagram @brianfoleylawpllc/ Youtube – @brianfoleylawyer/X @brianpllc Irv Brandt – Senior Inspector, US Marshals Service International Investigations Branch; Chief Inspector, DOJ Office of International Affairs, US Embassy Kingston, Jamaica; Author: “SOLO SHOT: CURSE OF THE BLUE STONE” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON IN JANUARY; ALSO “FLYING SOLO: Top of the World;” Twitter: @JackSoloAuthor Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski – Forensic Psychologist, Author: “Darksides;” FB: forensicsandmediapsychologist/TikTok: Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski Dr. Eric Eason – Board-certified Forensic Pathologist, Consultant; Instagram: @eric_a_eason, Facebook: Eric August Eason, LinkedIn: Eric Eason, MD   Jennifer Torres - Senior Reporter at GulfLive.com   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

FBI agent kidnapped by drug smugglers. Fake cop "equipped to deceive."  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A police affidavit says Tifany Adams allegedly gave statements indicating she was responsible for the deaths of Veronica Butler and Jillian Kelley.  Investigators now say they believe Butler and Jillian Kelley were lured to the location, arriving around  9:40 a.m. Besides the pools of blood, officers found Butler’s glasses on the ground near a broken hammer.  Police say they believe the women were forced into another vehicle. Much information has been released in the probable cause affidavit, but not the women's cause of death. The bodies were found in a cattle pasture, leased by Tad Bert Cullum, the boyfriend of grandmother Tifany Adams.  The location was narrowed down by cellphone data from three burner phones purchased by Adams. The phones first pinged at the location of Butler's abandoned car, the data then led police to the pasture property. Obvious signs of digging were discovered. A hole had been dug and filled back in. Inside the hole were the bodies of the missing women. The motive, according to investigators, is custody of Butler’s two children: a custody battle has gone on for more than five years. Father Wrangler Rickman, Tifany Adam’s son, had custody of the children, but Rickman was confirmed to be in a rehabilitation facility in Oklahoma City.   Veronica Butler’s custody arrangement allowed her supervised visitation with her children every Saturday. And reportedly, according to Butler’s attorney, she was likely to be granted unsupervised visitation during an upcoming hearing. The affidavit states that  “Adams vehemently opposed this and went to great lengths to plan and purchase items used in Butler and Kelley’s murders,” It continues... “Adams, Cullum, Cole and Cora were willing to kidnap and murder two victims to limit visitation for Butler.” Court documents allege that Adams and the other suspects tried to killer Butler once before in February.  Adams, her boyfriend, and the other couple drove to Butler’s home near Hugoton, Kansas, intending to kill her. A witness told investigators that the planned was to throw an anvil through Butler’s windshield while she was driving. They reasoned that it would look like an accident, but Butler did not leave her home. As state investigators pulled information from Adams’ phone, it showed web searches for “taser pain level, gun shops, prepaid cellular phones, and how to get someone out of their house."  That’s also according to the probable cause documents.  Adams reportedly purchased five stun guns before the women’s disappearances, according to the documents. She bought three prepaid, unregistered burner phones from a Walmart near her.  All the prepaid burners stopped transmitting the mornings the women went missing. Joining Nancy Grace Today:  Kelly Hyman- Trial & Civil Attorney, TV Legal Analyst, Podcast Host: "Once Upon a Crime In Hollywood", Twitter: @kellyhyman1, TikTok: @kelly.hyman, Instagram: @Kelly_Hyman1  Sheryl McCollum  – Forensics Expert & Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder; Host of Podcast: “Zone 7;” X: @149Zone7 Irv Brandt – Senior Inspector, US Marshals Service International Investigations Branch; Chief Inspector, DOJ Office of International Affairs, US Embassy Kingston, Jamaica; Author: “SOLO SHOT: CURSE OF THE BLUE STONE” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON IN JANUARY; ALSO “FLYING SOLO: Top of the World;” Twitter: @JackSoloAuthor Dr. Kendall Crowns – Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth) and Lecturer: University of Texas Austin and Texas Christian University Medical School Lauren Conlin – Investigative Journalist, Host of The Outlier Podcast, and also Host of “Corruption: What Happened to Grant Solomon; X- @Conlin_Lauren/ Instagram- @LaurenEmilyConlin/YouTube- @LaurenConlin4 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.