Prominent California Farmer Pleads Not Guilty To Fatally Shooting Estranged Wife | Crime Alert 6AM 01.07.2026

When Linda Brown misses the first day of school after winter break, loved ones know something is wrong. Linda would never let her students down. Linda is a beloved special education teacher at Robert Healy Elementary School in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago, happily married to Antwon Brown. Chicago PD is desperately searching for the missing school teacher. The special educator was last seen by her husband on Friday evening and by neighbors Saturday morning. Linda misses a weekly appointment that day, and isn’t answering her phone. Concern turns to fear when Linda hasn’t returned home on Sunday. Though Antwon last saw Linda Friday night, neighbors say they spotted her Saturday morning near their home.Linda’s purse, with her wallet and phone, is missing from the home, and her phone rings when called. Family members and friends retrace the teacher’s last known steps, but don’t find any leads.  Her sister’s husband, Lorenzo, tells “Crime Stories” staff that Linda’s vehicle has been located at 35th and Lake Park. Security footage also shows her walking across a pedestrian bridge alone on January 3, at around 3 a.m., according to the husband.  Linda is 5 feet tall, 130 pounds, with brown hair and eyes, last seen wearing a long, puffy black coat with shiny Ugg-style boots. Authorities are searching the area where her blue Honda Civic, plate number CX57470, was located on Wednesday afternoon. Anyone with information on Linda Brown should contact Chicago PD SVU detectives at 312-747-8380. Joining Nancy Grace today: Matthew Mangino - Attorney, Former District Attorney (Lawrence County, PA); Author: "The Executioner's Toll: The Crimes, Arrests, Trials, Appeals, Last Meals, Final Words and Executions of 46 Persons in the United States" Dr. Janie Lacy - Licensed Psychotherapist and CEO of Life Counseling Solutions, Author of "How To Heal From A Toxic Relationship: A Guide To Reclaiming Your Mental Health and Happiness," and Host of “The Resilient Professional” Podcast on YouTube; Instagram & Facebook: @JanieLacy Brian Fitzgibbons - Director of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security (leads a team of investigators specializing in locating missing persons), and Former Marine and Iraq War Veteran; Instagram: @uspa_nationwide_security Rhonda Dequier- Founder of Missing In America Network Leslie Moreno - Reporter at FOX 32 Chicago; Instagram: LeslieMorenoTV Sydney Sumner - Investigative Reporter, "Crime Stories"    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fatal Festivities: A negligent neighbor is facing manslaughter charges after accidentally gunning down a granny while testing out a new Glock he got for Christmas.  A man stabs his ex-GF dead in her apartment, files a bogus missing report -then, bolts to India...before cops close in. Plus, an arrest that wasn't par for the course! Jennifer Gould reports.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nick Reiner appears in court to enter a plea to the killings of his parents. While Reiner already had an opportunity to do so in December, defense attorney Alan Jackson asked to delay the arraignment for a true chance to speak with his client, whom he had only had about half an hour before his initial appearance. Just ahead of his arraignment, Nick Reiner is moved off of suicide watch at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility. Reiner no longer has to wear a padded smock and is now allowed a yellow shirt with his blue uniform pants. Reiner isn’t completely off the hook, still held alone in High Observation Housing until a judge orders he can move elsewhere. Even if Reiner is released from HOH, he will still be closely monitored and have a cell to himself. Experts say Nick Reiner trading a suicide smock for a standard uniform is a tactical victory for the District Attorney, preventing Reiner’s attorneys from arguing he’s too catatonic to participate in his own defense. The court will soon determine if this perceived stability is a result of medication or a genuine return to legal competence. Prosecutors will pounce on Reiner’s statements about cycles of homelessness and rehabilitation, painting him as someone who has long operated outside conventional stability, then use Being Charlie against him—the film demonstrating Reiner’s high level of self-awareness and creative agency. The outcome of the Reiner trial may set a new standard in California law: how mental disability is weighed against special allegations. Joining Nancy Grace: Heather Michaels - Reiner Family Friend and Neighbor, Investigative Reporter, Producer and Social Justice Advocate; Instagram: HeatherMichaelsTV, Facebook: HeatherSMichaels Chris Melcher - Celebrity Lawyer and Partner at Walzer Melcher & Yoda with Deep Experience in Complex Family Law Litigation Dr. Bethany Marshall -  Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker," and featured in hit show "Paris in Love" on Peacock; Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, X: @DrBethanyLive Rob Shuter - Host: Naughty But Nice Podcast, Author of Newly-released Novel, “It Started With A Whisper;" and Former Publicist of Sean Combs; IG: @naughtygossip  Dr. Thomas Coyne - Chief Medical Examiner, District 2 Medical Examiner's Office, State of Florida; Forensic Pathologist, Neuropathologist, Toxicologist; X: @DrTMCoyne Alexis Tereszcuk - Investigative Reporter, 'Crime Stories' Sydney Sumner - Investigative Reporter, ‘Crime Stories’  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prominent California Farmer Pleads Not Guilty To Fatally Shooting Estranged Wife | Crime Alert 6AM 01.07.2026See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Private investigator Steve Fischer tells Nancy Grace that a chainsaw was found in the home rented by D4vd, and the chainsaw was still unwrapped. PI Steve Fischer claims he also found a "burn cage" inside the home rented for Burke by his manager. Employed by the property owner to determine what took place in his house, Fischer uncovered items still in their original packaging that were unused. The incinerator is illegal in Los Angeles, delivered to the residence under a fake name, and claims to reach a temperature of 1,600 degrees. The LA police department Chief Jim McDonnell is remaining silent about the Burke investigation, saying public statements could "potentially jeopardize the case." The LAPD obtained a court order to keep the medical examiner's full autopsy findings sealed to maintain the integrity of the investigation. David Michael Burke will likely be indicted in connection with the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Joining Nancy Grace today: Danny Rubin (Los Angeles) - Criminal Defense Lawyer and Founder of Rubin Law, PC  Caryn Stark - Forensic Psychologist, Renowned TV and Radio Trauma Expert and Consultant; Instagram: carynpsych, FB: Caryn Stark Private Practice Steve Fischer - Missing Persons Private Investigator, Search & Rescue Specialist, & Owner of Search Investigations (he has been hired by the owner of the Hollywood Hills property where D4vd had been staying to look into this case); Facebook: SearchInvestigations, X: @SF_Investigates Brian Fitzgibbons - Director of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security, Leads a team of Investigators Specializing in Locating Missing Persons; Instagram: @uspa_nationwide_security;  Former Marine and Iraq War Veteran   Joseph Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author of "Blood Beneath My Feet," Host of "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;" Instagram @JoScottForensic Melissa McCarty - Investigative Journalist, Author of “The Confident Voice: Speak with Calm, Clarity and Connection" and "The Making of a Crime Reporter;" Instagram: MelissaMcCarty1 Dave Mack - Investigative Reporter, 'Crime Stories'  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anna Maciejewska arrives in the United States from her homeland to continue her education at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, holding two bachelor's degrees from Warsaw University for mathematics and computer science, specializing in actuarial mathematics. Anna began working in finance at ING and later at Voya Financial in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Anna Maciejewska meets Allen Gould during a ski trip and really hits it off. After dating for two years, the couple gets married twice in 90 days. First, a civil ceremony in the US, followed by a Catholic Mass with all of Anna Maciejewska's family and friends in Warsaw. Co-workers are concerned that Anna Maciejewska has not been communicating with anyone, and when Anna doesn't show up for work on April 10, a coworker calls the State Police and asks them to do a welfare check on her. An officer is dispatched to the residence, and once at the home, he attempts to get an answer at the front door, and failing that, he walks around the house, looking in windows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Police in the metropolitan Atlanta area have arrested a 15-year-old boy for the murder of an Uber drive found dead on a Lawrenceville street on Thursday. The Texas Department of Public Safety has issued an AMBER Alert for a 14-year-old girl believed to be with a 41-year-old man. Three women have been charged in connection with the death of a 6-year-old North Carolina girl who weighed just 27 pounds at death earlier this month. Police in Oregon are searching for an “armed and dangerous” man in connection with an early morning murder on Wednesday. A Ohio dentist and his wife were found shot to death in their home this week, with two small children found unharmed. Sydney Sumner reports.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new investigation into the case of Samuel Haskell IV, the son of former Hollywood agent Samuel Haskell Sr. He was accused of murdering his wife and in-laws in November 2023. Now, new entities claim they are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the estate. The "money claims" in news reports relate to the financial situation of the household, specifically that Haskell's wife was the primary financial provider and paid the majority of the family's expenses, including a $7,000 monthly mortgage, while he was allegedly unemployed or underemployed. Key details regarding the financial aspects and the case suggest that the victim, Mei Li Haskell, worked multiple jobs and was the main earner for the family, supporting her husband, their three children, and her parents, who lived with them. The case never went to trial. Samuel Haskell Jr. died by suicide in his jail cell in July 2025, days before his preliminary hearing was set to begin. The origins of the case stem from a group of day laborers hired by Sam Haskell IV to remove three bags of what they are told are rocks from his garage. The men described the bags as "soft and soggy," with each weighing about 50 pounds. A block away from Haskell's house, the workers opened up the bags and said they saw body parts. The men returned the bag to Haskell and returned his money. Haskell played it off, telling the workers that what they actually saw were Halloween props. The men drove immediately to the police. The men try to report what they have seen to the police, but they are turned away. The men went to the Highway Patrol station first but were told to go to the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPD Topanga Station tells the men to go back outside and call 911 from the courtyard. In the meantime, the police receive another call about human remains. A homeless man, digging through the dumpster looking for recyclables, finds human remains. Inside the dumpster, the LAPD found a torso in a bag. The investigation provided detectives with enough information to lead them to Samuel Haskell IV's residence. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Elle Benami - -Friend and Neighbor of Mei & Samuel Haskell; IG: @ellebenami Troy Slaten – Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney, Slaten Lawyers, APC; X @TroySlaten Dr. Gary Brucato – Clinical Psychologist and Author: “The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime” Chris McDonough – Director At the Cold Case Foundation, Former Homicide Detective; Host of YouTube channel: “The Interview Room”  Dr. Michelle Dupre – Forensic Pathologist and Former Medical Examiner, Author: “Homicide Investigation Field Guide” & “Investigating Child Abuse Field Guide," and Retired Police Detective with Lexington County Sheriff’s Department Dr. Trace Sargent- Search, Rescue & Recovery Expert, (Ph.D. in Psychology with a focus on victimology – criminal profiling – predator behaviors – crime scene analysis); Podcast: “The Seeker’s Quest;” Facebook: The Seeker’s Quest Alexis Tereszcuk – "Crime Stories" Investigative Reporter; X: @swimmie2009   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Part one of a two part episode covering dismemberment. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack talk about the Black Dahlia case that is back in the headlines again, as well as Ed Gein, and other dismemberment killers we have covered. Imagine opening your garbage can to bring it back up the driveway empty, but it is too heavy, open the door and see a foot! One of the many cases covered in this episode of Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan.     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Breaking crime news as it happens throughout the day! Follow "Crime Alert Hourly Update" now on your favorite podcast app: https://link.chtbl.com/Crime_Alert Here's some of our top stories this week: Convicted killer Bryan Kohberger may have crossed paths with one of the University of Idaho Four Victims' surviving roommates just three days before his brutal stabbing spree. A mom is forced to watch as cemetery workers dig up her son in a double-booking burial nightmare. The horrific incident the result of a clerical error the court says.  A well-known farmer from California, Michael Abatti, has been extradited to Arizona and has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of his estranged wife. Academy Award winner Will Smith accused of Sexual Harassment and "deliberate grooming" by an artist hired to play violin on Smith's "Based on a True Story: 2025 Tour".     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.