Crime Alert 05.17.24

On the way to Bridgerton City Park in southern New Jersey, Noema Alavez Perez takes her children, Dulce Maria Alavez, 5, and her 3-year-old brother to get ice cream. Once at the park, the children play on the swings as Noema is in her car about 30 yards away helping her sister with homework on the phone. Seeing her son crying by the swings, Perez walks toward him to find out what is going on and finds someone has thrown his ice cream on the ground, noticing Dulce is not on the swings with her brother. No longer concerned about her sons' ice cream, Noema Perez begins scanning the park for Dulce. Noema Alavez Perez was about 30 yards away from her children playing on swings in the park, and when she couldn't find Dulce for a few minutes, she thought her daughter was hiding, trying to be funny. Dulce has never run off before, but Perez doesn't see her anywhere in the park. Asking everyone standing near the basketball court if they have seen Dulce Maria Alavez, she hears several stories of the 5-year-old running behind houses with two different men and another child.  Living every parent's biggest nightmare, Perez calls 911 to report her daughter missing in the park. JOINING NANCY TODAY: Noema Alavez - Mother of Dulce Alavez   Brenda Trinadad - Family friend and advocate for Dulce Alavez Kathleen Murphy – North Carolina Family Attorney  Dr. Chloe Carmichael – Clinical Psychologist, Women’s Health Magazine Advisory Board;’ Author: ‘Nervous Energy: Harness The Power of Your Anxiety;’ X: @DrChloe  Irv Brandt – (Retired) US Marshals Service International Investigations Branch, Author: “GOING SOLO: The Gospel of Luke,” and “SOLO JOURNEY: Buddha Knights;” X: @JackSoloAuthor Claudia Vargas -  Investigative Reporter at NBC10 Philadelphia; Documentary “Somebody Knows Something: The Disappearance of Dulce” is now steaming on Peacock; X: @ByClaudiaVargas   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scorned student kills professor who gave him a bad grade. Senior on senior battery over water usage!  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Boston PD Officer John O’Keefe, 46, finds love with financial analyst Karen Read, 44, who lectures at Bently University while also working for Fidelity Investments. Read moves into O’Keefe’s home during their two-year relationship, but it’s not always smooth sailing for the couple. O’Keefe’s niece and nephew hear loud arguments between Read and their uncle with increasing frequency. Friends who join the couple on a trip to Aruba report a blow-out fight between Read and O’Keefe during the vacation. On a snowy January evening, John O’Keefe and girlfriend, Karen Read have dinner in downtown Canton. Around 10:45 the couple walks down the street to Waterfall Bar and Grille to meet up with friends. The group has several rounds at the bar until its midnight closing. As the group shuffles outside, Brian and Nicole Albert invite the group back to their home, where their son is celebrating his 23rd birthday with friends. John O’Keefe and Karen Read plan to join them. With a cocktail glass still in his hand, O’Keefe gets into Read’s car with her. On the way to Brian Albert’s after party, Karen Read and John O’Keefe are locked in an intense argument. The couple sits in Read’s car outside the Albert’s home fighting, and they decide to part ways for the evening. Karen Read lets John O’Keefe out of the car, and heads back to their house, expecting her boyfriend to find his own way home.  Just before 5 AM, Karen Read wakes up and quickly realizes boyfriend, John O’Keefe isn’t in their home or answering his phone.  Read paces down a hallway while she speaks with Jennifer McCabe and O’Keefe’s friend Kerry Roberts. O’Keefe’s niece overhears Read ask, ‘What if I did something? What if a snowplow hit him?’ Read tells Roberts, ‘I don't remember anything from last night, we drank so much I don't remember anything.’ How did John O'Keefe die?  JOINING NANCY GRACE TODAY   Tim Jansen - Criminal defense Lawyer and Former Federal Prosecutor; Legal Analyst for Tallahassee Democrat’s Newspaper, www.jansenlawoffice.com  Dr. Bethany Marshall – Psychoanalyst (Beverly Hills); X: @DrBethanyLive/ Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall; Appearing in “Paris in Love” on Peacock; BOOK: “Deal Breaker: When to work on a relationship and when to walk away”  Sheryl McCollum – Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder; Host of Podcast, “Zone 7 “ 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.

UPS Driver shoots co-worker and childhood friend dead. Woman lives in grocery store sign for a year! For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alec Baldwin announces a new family reality show that will air on TLC. The video teaser offers a glimpse into the Baldwin family, with seven young children and a marriage with a 25-year age gap between the couple. The announcement is just in time for the July start of Baldwin's manslaughter trial. Baldwin’s attorneys have planned their defense around convicted armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed not testifying against Alec Baldwin at trial. If the defense can prevent Gutierrez-Reed from testifying, Baldwin's team can use her own words and conviction to lay the blame for the shooting squarely on her shoulders. Baldwin's team also claims that anything Gutierrez-Reed would offer is already available in her previous statements, and giving her immunity from prosecution and the freedom to claim whatever she wants could be highly prejudicial to their case. Meanwhile, Alec Baldwin is facing a second lawsuit involving the movie "Rust". Baldwin is accused of assault and battery, infliction of emotional distress, and the lawsuit accuses an even larger group of crew members of negligence. The lawsuit filed by Halyna Hutchins’ parents and sister, as well as the script supervisor on the movie, Mamie Mitchell, who was standing next to Halyna Hutchins when she was shot.  Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, already found guilty of involuntary manslaughter as the armorer on the movie set, is also named in this lawsuit. Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents Hutchins' parents and sister in a civil suit against Baldwin, claims the new reality show is a calculated public relations move to influence the jury pool in New Mexico, making Baldwin out to be a compassionate family man. Joining Nancy Grace Today:  Darryl Cohen – Former Assistant District Attorney (Fulton County, Georgia) Former Assistant State Attorney (Florida), and Defense Attorney: Cohen, Cooper, Estep, & Allen, LLC; Facebook: “Darryl B Cohen;” X: @DarrylBCohen Dr. John Delatorre –  Licensed Psychologist and Mediator (specializing in forensic psychology); Psychological Consultant to Project Absentis: a nonprofit organization that searches for missing persons; X, IG, and TikTok – @drjohndelatorre Johonniuss Chemweno – Film and TV Safety Expert – CEO, VIP StarNetwork; X: @johonniuss_j Paul Szych – Former Police Commander; Author: “StopHimFromKillingThem” on Amazon Kindle; X: @WorkplaceThreat;  Screen Actors Guild-Eligible Actor Kayla Brantley  -  Reporter-At-Large for DailyMail.com, X: @_KaylaBrantley, Instagram: @KaylaBrantley   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Man pretends to be roadside assistance, sex assaults waiting victim. Woman tries to steal a car during a test drive! For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Geoffrey Hauptman kisses his wife goodbye as he leaves for work. Moments later, he calls Betsy Hauptman telling her to lock the doors and check on the children because someone’s passed out in the front yard. As he calls 911, Betsy Hauptman goes from room to room, locating 5 of 6 children. Timothy is missing. Betsy Hauptman meets her husband at the front door, hysterically explaining she can’t find Timothy. With tears in his eyes, Geoffrey Hauptman shakes his head at his wife, and she screams. The body in the front yard is Timothy, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Security cameras show Timothy sitting in the family car in the driveway for two hours the night before, frantically scrolling on his cellphone. Sumter, South Carolina PD, collected Timothy’s phone and his school Chromebook. Just before his death, Timothy changed the passcode on his phone, so detectives focused on the task of unlocking it. Betsy Hauptman tells Detective Kelsey Wade that Timothy mainly communicated over Snapchat, and Wade issues a subpoena for the teen’s account. Eleven weeks go by with no answers, despite Hauptman calling twice a week. Wade finally informs Hauptman investigators that they are submitting a second Snapchat subpoena, along with a subpoena for Timothy’s Cash App activity. A month later, Sumter PD unearthed dozens of suicide notes addressed to family and friends. They also find an extensive call and text record with an unsaved phone number with a New York area code. The texts included links to a second Snapchat account Timothy used. Messages on that account reveal Timothy sent a stranger $35 a day to prevent them from posting an explicit photo of him online. One of Timothy’s last messages begged the stranger to stop, reading, “Please, I’m just a child.” Joining Nancy Grace Today:  Betsy Hauptman  - Timothy Barnett's Mother Joe Cunningham - Victim's Family Lawyer  Titania Jordan – BARK CMO Chief Marketing Officer/Chief Parenting Office Detective Rich Wistocki: Child Crime Expert, President of BeSure Consulting (30 years), 23-year SWAT team member; Formed the Will County Illinois States Attorney’s High Technology Crimes Unit that made over 90 sexual predator arrests in its first 3 ½ years.  Ashley Jones - Reporter and Anchor WIS News 10 in South Carolina See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Missouri homeowner facing eviction kills court employee delivering the news, and cop responding to the first shooting. This perp isn't the average trespasser!  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seraya Aung Harmon's mother, Samara Harmon, joins us on today's "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace." Samara Harmon and Aaron Aung welcome a daughter, Seraya in early May 2022. While the parents split shortly after Seraya’s birth, they share custody of the happy toddler with a big personality. When Seraya is about 18 months old, Aung proposes to his new girlfriend, Nadia Cole. On June 3, Samara Harmon drives to the exchange location to pick up daughter Seraya from her father, Aaron Aung. When Aung doesn’t arrive 30 minutes later, he starts to worry. Aung isn’t answering her calls or texts. Harmon reaches out to Aung’s parents, who inform her that Aung planned to take Seraya camping at Flathead Lake, Montana for the week. Harmon discovers Aung’s fiancé is also unaccounted for, and immediately reports her daughter missing. Aaron Aung’s fiancé, Nadia Cole, sets out to join her family for a planned trip to Italy, to celebrate her recent graduation from Washington State University. Aung stays behind to pick up his daughter Seraya from Pullman for their week together. The Cole family makes it to their gate at Seattle’s SeaTac airport, and Nadia leaves her luggage with them while she runs to the restroom. She never returns. Just after 3 p.m., surveillance video shows Cole hastily leaving the airport,  getting on a light rail train to downtown Seattle, and appearing distressed.   JOINING NANCY TODAY:  Samara Harmon - Seraya's Mom Tara Malek – Bosie, ID, Attorney & Co-owner of Smith + Malek; Former State and Federal Prosecutor; X: @smith_malek Dr. Angela Arnold – Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA. Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital Jason Jensen – Private Investigator (Jensen Private Investigations), Cold Case Expert (Salt Lake City, UT), and Co-founder: “Cold Case Coalition;” Investigations; X: @JasonJPI, Facebook/Instagram: “Jensen Investigations” 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.

Girl escapes attempted bus stop kidnapping. Customer commits assault by chocolate egg.  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.