Crime Alert 06.12.24

Laralee Spear, 15, in her freshman year at DeLand High School, is over the moon after learning she has made the Junior Varsity cheer squad. Many other hobbies keep her busy--piano lessons, church choir practice, and volunteering with the Keyettes, a school service organization. Spear’s daily routine is to walk home from her bus stop on the corner of Deerfoot Rd and South Spring Garden. The ½ mile walk usually takes about 10 minutes. Laralee always meets her mother at home by 3:30 p.m., even if she stops to watch the neighbor’s horses. When Laralee is half an hour late, Barbara Spear calls 911 in a panic, reporting her daughter missing. Just 16 minutes after Barbara Spear was reported missing, Volusia County Sheriff investigators are on the ground searching for the teen. Air One, the Sheriff’s helicopter, is already in the air, and scanning the neighborhood for Laralee. At 5:35 p.m., the pilot spots a body, behind an abandoned home. A quarter mile from the Spear home, officers on the ground find Laralee Spear lying crumpled on a concrete slab behind the burned-out home, shot to death. Laralee Spear is found lying in a pool of her blood, shot in the back of the head three times. Spear’s hands had been tied together and much of her clothing was missing or torn away. Spear has bruising across her body, leading investigators to believe she was beaten. It appears Spear’s attacker attempted to assault her sexually, and the teen fought back in her final moments. Remnants of Spear’s clothing are found scattered along Deerfoot Road in the days after her death. Detectives believe Laralee only made it about 200 yards from the bus stop when she was attacked and abducted. They estimate Laralee was dead within 25 minutes of getting off the bus.  Officers from the Ormond Beach Police Department join Volusia County Sheriffs to canvass Spear’s neighborhood for a week. Over 1,000 tips are collected in the month following Laralee’s murder, and police learn a group of people were hanging out and shooting guns at the burned-down home where the body is found. Neighbors also report seeing a dark-colored truck near the crime scene. Who killed Laralee?  Joining Nancy Grace Today:  Virginia Bussell - Laralee’s sister Sheriff Mike Chitwood - Volusia County Sheriff; X: @VolusiaSheriff  Detective Cordell Lemay - Major case/homicide Volusia County Sheriff’s Office,  Sheryl McCollum - Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder, Host of "Zone 7;" X: @149zone7 Alexis Tereszcuk –(CA) CrimeOnline.com Investigative Reporter, Writer/Fact Checker, Lead Stories; X: @swimmie2009 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Roommate kills man over purported stolen objects. Bass Pro Shop customer decides the aquarium is the perfect place for a swim.  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emotions are running high for the loved ones of Rachel Morin after police locate and arrest Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez. The suspect in Rachel Morin's brutal murder is found casually sitting in a Tulsa, Oklahoma bar. During the arrest, Hernandez initially lies to authorities about his true identity and denies any knowledge of the attack on a 9-year-old little girl in Los Angeles and the murder of Morin.  The Morin family and investigators strongly believe that the two known crimes are not the only ones Victor Hernandez committed while in the U.S. The attack on a little girl and her mother in L.A. came just two months after Hernandez allegedly murdered a woman in his native El Salvador. Rachel Morin’s body was found nearly five months later, and another 10 months passed before Hernandez’s arrest. More than a year of Hernandez’s time in the U.S. is still unaccounted for. While there is a sense of closure, Morin’s sister, Rebekah, says it also feels like "day one all over again." Matt McMahon, the father of Morin’s eldest daughter, says the Ma and Pa trail feels like it ‘belongs to Rachel again,’ and is even more grateful for the arrest as their daughter, Faye, is now expecting her own little girl later this year. McMahon describes the news as bittersweet, knowing how excited Rachel Morin would be to learn she was going to be a grandmother.  Joining Nancy Grace today: Patty Morin - Rachel Morin’s Mother Randolph Rice - Morin Family Attorney - Rice, Murtha & Psoras, LLCPH Website: https://RiceLawMd.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” Chris McDonough – Director At the Cold Case Foundation, Former Homicide Detective; Host of YouTube channel: “The Interview Room” Vincent Hill – Anchor/Reporter for FOX 45 in Baltimore, Former Police Officer and Private Investigator; Author: “Playbook to A Murder;” X & IG: @VincentHillTV See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Newly-wed teacher sexually abuses student for a year. Amish family robbed of their horse and buggy! For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chelsea Grimm attends Pace University in New York to study psychology. She graduates with a master's degree in social work. Putting her degree to good use, she works for the New York City Department of Education as a  social worker. Chelsea Grimm makes a change, heading to the West Coast, and settling in Ocean Beach, California.  Chelsea making plans to meet her parents at a wedding in Connecticut, but when she can't find an airline that will let her fly with her pet Bearded Dragon, Chelsea decides to make it a road trip, using the travel to take photos of forgotten soldiers and other special people at cemeteries across the country. On September 24, Chelsea Grimm leaves San Diego and heads for Connecticut.   Three days into her cross-country trip, Grimm arrives in Phoenix, Arizona, where she meets her sister and a friend. Grimm makes plans to meet the same friend for lunch the next day but cancels the plans.  On that same day, she stops at a motel in Seligman, about 160 miles north of Phoenix. The clerk says Grimm seems confused as she tries to book a room, exchanging Euros instead of US Currency. She mentions wanting to be "off-grid" and asks if there are any places in town that would exchange Euros.   From a motel in Seligman, Arizona, Chelsea Grimm calls her parents and tells them she isn't going to make it to Connecticut on time for the wedding, the trip is taking too long. She tells them she is going to camp out nearby for a couple of days and head back home to San Diego. The next day, September 28, Grimm leaves the motel and heads 40 miles east to a war memorial cemetery in Williams, Arizona. Williams police are alerted to a suspicious vehicle and when the officer checks, he finds Chelsea Grimm seated in her car, crying. She tells the officer she gets emotional taking photos for a lost soldier project and doesn't want to drive while crying.  The officer spends nearly 9 minutes with Grimm and asks if she has a hotel room for the night. She says she is going to camp and the officer directs her not to camp in the city, but she can sleep at Love's Truck Stop nearby, he tells her she won't be bothered there   Two days after talking to the police officer in Williams, Arizona, Grimm finds herself 19 miles west of Williams Ash Fork, Arizona. She is camping out in her Ford Focus SUV. A local woodcutter sees Grimm and talks to her for a few minutes, saying she isn't in distress or need of help. It is September 30. The woodcutter in Ash Fork, Arizona, is the last person to see Chelsea Grimm.  Grimm's parents report her missing on October 4. The next day, her 2019 White Ford Escape SUV is found abandoned on the side of the road with two flat tires in the middle of Forest Service Road 6 in the Kaibad National Forest, northeast of Ash Fork. Inside the vehicle, all of Chelsea Grimm's personal belongings such as her wallet, driver's license, clothes, sleeping bag, and her bearded dragon are gone. Police say there is no evidence of foul play  The area where Grimm's locked SUV is found is an area popular with hunters and loggers. An extensive search is conducted of a 3-mile radius around where her car is discovered. Her family believes that due to the intensity of the search, if Chelsea is in the area, she will be found. Hunters and loggers in the area also strongly believe she is not there. Chelsea Grimm's family hires a private investigator, Kelly Townsend, to help with the case. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Marc Klaas – Founder, KlaasKids Foundation; X: @PollyDad Andrew Stoltmann - Chicago Attorney and Adjunct law professor at Northwestern University, co-author of the book Waging War on Wall Street: My Battles Suing Banks and Brokerage Firms; X: @Stoltmann1971  Dr. Leslie Dobson - Clinical and Forensic Psychologist    Justin Yentes - Private Investigator for Grimm Family and Criminal Defense Investigator at Arizona Investigative Associates  Zara Barker - Reporter, Fox 5 San Diego; X @zarabarkertv   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sucker puncher poses for victim's photo. Suspect leads wild chase, then casually asks for a cigarette.  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The day Madeline Soto vanished, her mother, Jennifer, writes in a sworn statement that she saw her daughter getting ready for school that morning.  In a later interview, Jennifer Soto instead says she heard someone in the kitchen. She assumes it's Madeline, but that isn't the only change in the mother's story. Jennifer finally tells investigators she last saw her 13-year-old daughter the night before, when she sent Madeline to another bedroom with Stephan Sterns.  According to Mom, this is a common arrangement when she needs to get a good night's sleep.  Early in the investigation, Stephan Sterns was a person of interest. The day Madeline Soto is reported missing, investigators allegedly found 1,700 sexually explicit images on Sterns's cell phone. Investigators have also said they found images and video on Sterns’ phone showing he molested her for years.  Initially, Stephan Sterns tells investigators he drops the girl off near Hunter's Creek Middle School. However, around that same time, investigators say a license plate reader detected Sterns's car miles away from the school. Using data from license plate readers and surveillance video, investigators track Sterns's car as it travels east from Kissimmee toward St. Cloud and Old Hickory Tree Road, where Madeline Soto's body is found lying face down near bamboo trees covered in debris.  Investigators obtain surveillance video from the morning Madeline Soto is reported missing a trash compactor where a tread from Stephan Sterns's car is found as well as items belonging to Madeline Soto, like her black backpack. Sterns is caught on video throwing these objects in the trash compactor.  Minutes later, Sterns is caught on surveillance video at 7:36 a.m. driving away from the Kissimmee, Florida neighborhood with a female in the front passenger seat.   Investigators believe the female seen at 7:36 a.m. in the surveillance video in the front passenger seat of Stephan Sterns's vehicle is Madeline Soto's dead body propped up and buckled into the seat to appear as a living person, but closer inspection of the video shows her head leaning toward her shoulder with her mouth open.  Sterns is caught on surveillance video again at 8:19 am when he is seen entering the front security gate of the neighborhood with a female, in the same position as the surveillance video. Stephan Sterns's car is seen on surveillance footage again, this time turning into the parking garage of Holiday Inn Club Vacations in Orlando. He drives to the top level of the parking garage and gets out of his car around 9:42 a.m. A man matching Sterns's description is seen allegedly opening the trunk, walking around to the passenger seat, opening the door, and carrying what appears to be a "limp female body" to the trunk of the vehicle. At 9:44 a.m. the vehicle is seen on surveillance video leaving the parking garage and driving away. The Florida State Attorney's office release more than 900 pages of information showing how investigators, using surveillance videos and license plate readers tracked Stephan Sterns leaving an apartment complex in Kissimmee on the morning of February 26, and driving to an area of St. Cloud where Madeline Soto's body is found four days later. It remains unclear as to how Madeline Soto died. The Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office announced that it filed 60 counts against Sterns, including: Eight counts of Sexual Battery on a Child Under 12 Five counts of Sexual Battery with a Child, 12-18 Seven counts of Lewd or Lascivious Molestation 40 counts of Unlawful Possession of Materials Depicting Sexual Performance by a Child, 10 or More Stephan Sterns will face the death penalty if convicted of the murder of Madeline Soto.  JOINING NANCY GRACE TODAY:  Terasina Niles - Madeline's Aunt    Jarrett Ferentino – Pennsylvania Attorney/Homicide Prosecutor,; Facebook & Instagram: Jarrett Ferentino; Host: “True Crime Boss” Podcast Dr. Jorey Krawczyn – Police Psychologist, Adjunct Faculty with Saint Leo University; Research Consultant with Blue Wall Institute, Author: Operation S.O.S. – Practical Recommendations to Help “Stop Officer Suicide”  Joe Scott Morgan – Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, “Blood Beneath My Feet,” and Host: “Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;” X: @JoScottForensic Shannon Butler - Investigative Reporter at WFTV-9 Florida See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Son sets father's house on fire, killing stepmom and three pets, because he wants their land. A Texas couple is unsure of who to call when they cross paths with a Kangaroo! For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The man suspected in the bludgeoning death of Rachel Morin is no longer on the run. Harford Sheriff Jeff Gahler announced the arrest of Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, an undocumented migrant from El Salvador. Police say the 23-year-old is suspected of a murder in his home country and the rape and assault of a 9-year-old California girl and her mother.  Morin's body was found along the Ma & Pa Trail 10 months ago. DNA found at the crime scene matched a home invasion in Los Angeles, leading to the suspect's arrest in Oklahoma.  Joining Nancy Grace Today:  Matthew Mangino – Attorney, Former District Attorney (Lawrence County); Author: “The Executioner’s Toll: The Crimes, Arrests, Trials, Appeals, Last Meals, Final Words and Executions of 46 Persons in the United States” Caryn L. Stark – Psychologist, Renowned TV and Radio Trauma Expert and Consultant; Instagram: carynpsych/FB: Caryn Stark Private Practice Chris McDonough – Director at the Cold Case Foundation, Former Homicide Detective; Host of YouTube channel: “The Interview Room” Dr. Kendall Crowns – Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth) and Lecturer: University of Texas Austin and Texas Christian University Medical School Alexis Tereszcuk - CrimeOnline.com Investigative Reporter, Writer/Fact Checker at Lead Stories; X:@swimmie2009    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Teens burn down wrong home attempting to exact revenge on thief. Perp nearly avoids cops with this hiding spot.  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.