Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Daughter Hid Under Tarp Before Killing Her Mom: Cops

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

Lauren Spors, 29, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the October 2025 death of her mom, Carrie Zettl. Spors has a history of mental illness, drug use and becoming violent. On October 12, 2025, Zettl called Milwaukee Police because someone was banging on her door in the middle of the night. Police found Spors under a tarp in her mom's yard. Hours later, Carrie Zettl was dead. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the disturbing case and body-worn camera in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Stay Informed, Stay Safe – Check Public Records with TruthFinder now at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Lauren, it's Officer Woppert with the Milwaukee Police Department. Lauren. It looks like the officer is talking to a tarp, but there's actually a woman hiding underneath it. You're not any trouble. I just want to talk to you. Her name is Lauren Spores, and just hours later, she'd be accused of murdering her mother. So there is someone under that tarp out there, right there, by chance. Do you have a daughter? Yeah.

I go through the horrific. case out of Milwaukee and why it was entirely preventable. Welcome to crime fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Lauren Spores is charged with first degree intentional homicide in the death of her mom in October of 2025. Police in Milwaukee say Spores, a 29-year-old woman, beat her mom to death with a rock. Spores wasn't living with her mom. She was mentally ill and had used drugs. She also had a history of becoming violent. Let's go back to the very beginning. It's October 12. It's October 12. 2025 at 3.29 a.m. Officer Adam Wopert is on his way to a call. His lights and sirens activated. This is an emergency. Carrie Zettle called Milwaukee Police because someone was

banging on her door. It's the middle of the night. Officer Woppert arrives and other officers they're already there. Okay. Okay. 9220. You can slow down. I fear that there's any signs of entry. No, there's no broken windows. A vase man. I was tripped over a fence in the backyard. Eh, we've gotten tangled up, but... Huh?

This is a petty-fire. I mean, my mom's house, do you knock on the door? Ma'am, now did you knock on the door, on your mom's door? Huh? No, I'm saying, did you did it before we came here? Were you the one knocking on the door? Now, this is definitely a really strange thing. really strange situation. These officers, they've arrived at Carrie Zettles' house, and they find her

daughter, Lauren Spores, in the yard under a tarp. It may not get any more strange than this. Just answer her a question. Well, let you sleep. So there is someone under that tarp out there, right there, by chance. Do you have a daughter? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that. She's not visible with me. Okay. So that's, she says that, this. This is her mom's house, so... No, she's not supposed to be here. Okay. Why would she...

We're still talking to her? I'll come around to the back. Yeah, I'll come to the back and talk to you. I can talk to mom. I'll talk to mom right here. She's her daughter? Is she her her daughter? Yeah.

She's talking to herself? The police, I was had, I was, um... She doesn't have a place to live. She doesn't have a place to live. She can't live with me because she's too violent. She tried breaking in. Did she try to break the windows? So I didn't actually see any damage on any of the windows when we walked around the house. Yeah. Yeah, we just saw her laying in the front yard under the tarp. You just ask her about what her name?

Lawrence Forrest. So the police, Monday, was it? Wednesday? She got kicked out of two motels because she has nowhere else to go. And the county can't find her a place. We're trying to get her into a group home, into a family living situation where someone can take care of her. So I don't know if you guys can take her. I didn't. I thought she was in the... So anyways, Wednesday.

Wednesday? Was it Wednesday? What's today? Saturday? Sunday. Sunday. Wednesday, I put her in a hotel room. She got kicked out of the one. And I put her in another one, but in Oak Creek on 20th and Ryan. Okay.

And she, I left her, and I'll be back in the morning. I came back at 8 in the morning with her coffee. And she was gone. There's a history between Carrie's up. Zetal and her daughter, Lauren Spores. It's not that Zettle doesn't love Lauren, but Lauren Spores has a track record of being dangerous and violent. Listen to this. But at least I know she's okay now. I've been waiting for her to call me and obviously she's... So I don't know that she like... I mean, there was like too loud like she was taking a rock and trying to maybe a bath or something to the windows or to the like my... like this one here. Yeah, we didn't see any damage on any of the windows. Yeah, okay.

Okay. So it must have been... Maybe she was taking her fist and just pounding. No, it was loud. It was loud. Oh, it was, yeah, it scared me, woke me up. Okay. And I started yelling no, because the first thing I thought of,

oh, she's gonna break in again. She busted my windows out a couple years ago, Christmas Day. What a day to do it. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, if you guys could take her, so she's got somewhere, she can't, with me though I can't have her in this house she's not coming in here okay if she is as you can see very I don't know you guys have you ever um it's been a while have do you remember her

and me calling the police all the time on her I've never I mean there's a record of it I don't know you guys don't remember yeah who's out here let me sit there is anybody here remember that no I don't myself okay there's records of Yeah. She has not lived with me since last August. And they found her a group home to live in. And she broke all the rules, so she got evicted. And she hasn't, she's been homeless since July. And she's just been running and doing drugs. She was found in Waukesha. She stayed a couple weeks there. And then I picked her up from Chicago. She was in Chicago. So she's, so then I took her and she's been staying in a hotel for three weeks.

So I, you know, I had some money there. And but now she's not, you know, they're kicking her out in these motels. Yeah. Because she's, she calls the, she calls 911 and says they're pedophiles and, you know, she hallucinates that everybody's a pedophile too. Mm-hmm. So. Yeah. So, yeah, we'll go and try and find her and make contact with her and see if we can help her out tonight.

Yeah. That poor baby, hey? And I'm afraid of her. Can I'm afraid of her? Yeah. You can't force her to get some help? We can, what we can do is, like my partner said, we can go catch up there and see if she's willing to get some help. Like, voluntarily.

You know, this is a terrifying case. A daughter accused of murdering her mom. I thought I'd look up Lauren Spores on truthfinder.com to see what I could find. TruthFinder, of course, is one of law and crimes partners, and we use the site to track down people and do a lot of research. Lauren Spores shows up on TruthFinder, along with the homicide charge she faces and her past of violating the domestic abuse restraining order that her mom obtained. You can use TruthFinder, too. Type in a name to find addresses, criminal history, and much more. With a subscription, you get unlimited, confidential searches to check on new neighbors, vet people that you meet online, or find someone.

to reconnect with. Stay informed. Stay safe. Check public records with TruthFinder now at truthfinder.com slash LC crime fix. So Lauren Spores's mother told the officers that her daughter has a history of using drugs. And you'll notice the audio dropped out in spots. That's likely because mental health information was being discussed. They haven't found her a place to live. It's really hard because she was evicted and the way she is. You know, people don't want that. Yeah. I don't. I mean, I'm afraid of my own daughter. daughter and she's you know I hate to say it she's a slob and she's a how can I say it she's belligerent to me always like thinks I'm a man calls me a pedophile pushes me

threatens to kill me so I am afraid of her I mean I and a restraining order I've done that and that really didn't do any good and I don't you know I want to be able to help her you know what I mean I don't want to cut her out totally which I've done and it didn't do anything I think it made her worse so I let her come back in the house

and took like three February March April May June July it took five months and I couldn't take it anymore so I told her I said you're not ever gonna you have to you can't live

here. You just can't. So I don't know why on earth she would do that, though, like make those noises and not like knock on the window and be like, hey, mom. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. Because as soon as, yeah, we discovered, she said, yeah, that's my mom's house. Like, she knew right away. Yeah. Yeah. But why would she do that? I mean, it was like, boom. Yeah. Boom. And I'm like, I got up and I started yelling, no, because I, the only thing I could think of was my windows broke. Yep. Which, yeah, we double-checked everything.

Yeah. Everything's intact. I wonder if she went, because this is, is it this one? This one is, Plexiglass. She busted this one out. So when I put the window back in, the guy, I put a Plexiglass thing in there.

So it doesn't break. Yeah. And the back door, too, has Plexiglass. So I don't know if she was trying to do that. I mean, that could very well be. Yeah. Trying to break the Plexiglass. Yeah.

Oh my gosh. Yeah, we're going to get out of here and go try and make contact with her see where she went. So if she comes back, should I call you guys or? Yeah, and try to talk to her. Yeah. We'll see if we can, she's willing to go get help voluntarily. Yeah. Yeah, she was.

Well, now find out where she was. Obviously, when we try to make contact with her here, she wanted them to do with us. force help yeah is that what for us sake yeah this we can do a strive for now yeah yeah well I'm hoping she does because I don't know mm-hmm and you I hope what am I gonna do and and and for all we know I mean hypothetically make contact with her she says she doesn't want help and she she doesn't come back tonight yeah I mean there's you never know what if did she have warm clothes on? She had a blanket, a tarp, and long sleeves. Did she have shoes on? Because when we got kicked out of that hotel, I packed everything up and I did not put her shoes back in there

because I'm like, yeah, I couldn't tell if she had shoes on when she was running. I'm like, we're probably not, we probably have to move from here or, you know, I just didn't put all her stuff in there. Yeah. And I had her, I had her one. washed her clothes and I brought those, you know, those are still in the trunk of my car. And yeah, so as long as it's not freezing, we don't know where in the heck she's going to go. Yeah, it looks like she's got a couple of worm layers on at least. And then the tarp, which will help keep the dew off as well. Yeah, okay.

So, yeah, we're going to get out of here and go try and find her, okay? All right, thank you so much. Oh, yeah, not a problem. Oh, you guys got your back. Yeah, we were right down the street. Oh, thank you so much. Oh, yeah. Not a problem.

Okay. Have good night. Yeah. If you get a call from an unknown number, it's going to be us. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yep.

So at that point, Lauren Spores was gone. She left with her tarp. But it wouldn't be too much later that Officer Wopard and others would find Lauren Spores under her tarp again. Hey, Lauren. It's Officer Wopperd with the Milwaukee Police Department. Lauren. Lauren, you want to talk? You're not any trouble. I just want to talk to you. Come on, Lauren. I just want to have a little chat with you.

I said you want to go to a hotel, it's your pay for it. Yeah, you want to go to hotel tonight? All we got to do is call your mom and she said she's willing to get you hotel room for the night. That way you're not out here sleeping on the curb. Lauren, it sounds like a pretty good deal. Yeah, all you gotta do is Okay, call your mom and she said she'll get you a hotel. I don't have her phone. No, I, we have her phone number. Okay, you guys call her.

Okay. Yeah, I just want to make sure that you're... I'm gonna call mom real quick. Officer Wopert walks to his cruiser to call Lauren's mom. Hello? Hey, this is Officer Wopert. We found Lauren. Okay.

Hey, yes, she's on 20th and Ramsey. She's laying under a tarp and we told her. we told her that you'd be willing to get her a hotel room, like if she was actually willing to go and get one. And then I told her, let me call your mom real quick. So I just want to touch base with you and see what you want to do with that. To give her one tonight? Yeah, if you want to do that.

I don't know. I really, it's, I kind of don't want to. I mean, I don't know if we go back to the same place. Oh, God, I guess, but what is she going to do then? You know, I mean, she won't go back in. She refused. It was kind of a struggle just to get her to acknowledge even, like, getting a hotel room. I was talking on the tarp and just trying to have a quick little chat with her,

and she didn't acknowledge anything until a hotel was brought up. The officers and Carrie Zettle discussed the possibility of Lauren going to a specific hotel, but that's unlikely. Yeah, it's expensive. I mean, she has hardly any money left for that situation now. So I don't know. What's the hell? It won't go somewhere just for a night, or a couple nights, till like Monday.

We can, I'll ask her and see. If she could stay there until, you know, even the morning, you know. I don't know. Just see if she'll go in. Oh, my God. Can I talk to her? Or no? I mean, yeah, I'll step out.

So I'm on my squad right now. I'll step out real quick and just keep you on speaker phone. Okay. Just chat with her. Yeah. Officer Woprick gets out of the cruiser and walks toward the tarp. Hey, Lauren. Hey, I've got your mom on the phone on speaker.

She wants to talk to you, okay? Here, I'm going to hold the phone, okay? Yeah. Laura? Hi, honey. Hey, ma'am. Sorry. I'm worried about you, Laura.

I'll say, thank you. Why didn't you call me? Oh, we got it. Would it let you in? Yeah. What about... They followed it under ourselves. They're further under ourselves.

Where did you stay before? Mm-hmm. Yeah. ...took you in somewhere, right? Mm. You find, try to go to one of those places. Oh. You know, at least till, you know, just till morning or, you know what they mean?

Mm-hmm. You just want to go home to each other. Go warm them. She's asking go where? No, I can't. I mean, Lauren, if you're willing or if you want to go, we can even take you. You're just going to stay here. You don't want to go anywhere for the night?

No. Lauren Spores remains under her tarp with officers standing by as her mom prepares to pick her up. Eventually, she crawls out from under the cover. Where are you going? She's waiting. Just wait for your mom. She's coming in. Give her a couple minutes.

Say what? Can I give her the car please? Your mom is coming in. Okay? Just give us a couple more minutes. Just give her a couple more minutes. Just pick your... Don't forget your thing.

Yeah. Carrie Zettle picking up her daughter, would end in tragedy later that day, around 2 p.m. Zettel called police and said that her daughter was becoming violent. Local news outlets cited records stating that Lauren beat her mom to death with a rock. There had been passed calls involving Lauren, where she tried to get into her mom's house. Where are you coming from? Okay. You walked over here? Okay. What hotel? Where's down the street? Can you lift up your glasses real quick? If you don't mind? Yeah.

You've been doing any drugs? No. You sure? Yes. The deadlet of people's. I don't have to test you, but I'm looking at your pupils. They're a little. They're always little.

Okay. So where, you're coming from a motel here to get what? See my mother. See my mother in forever. Who's your mother here? You said Loretta. Come here. No, no, no.

I'm not going to. Why is her window boarded up? Why is my mother's window born up? I've never been here. I've never been here. You don't have to show me anything. I believe you. I'm not going to hurt you.

No, you're not. But if you were invited here, you should probably be should be here. I was by my mother. There isn't a date on this body-worn camera footage. It's before the homicide, but no one answers the door at the house. Go ahead and knock on the front door. I've been homeless. Court records show a history going back to 2018 of domestic abuse restraining orders being obtained against Lauren's spores.

The person who obtained that is not named in online records, but it was likely Lauren's mom. In November of 2025, Lauren Spores was found incompetent to stand trial in the case where she's charged with murdering her mom. That means mental health professionals determined after examining Lauren that she couldn't understand the proceedings or help with her own defense because of her mental illness. A new competency report was recently filed with the court, but the contents have not been disclosed publicly. Spores will be back in court at the end of the month where that report will be discussed. And that's it. For this episode of Crime Fix, I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me.

I'll see you back here next time.