Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Four Idaho College Students Brutally Stabbed to Death — One Year Later

Episode Date: November 13, 2023

The lives of four University of Idaho students were taken at the hands of a brutal killer, alleged to be Bryan Kohberger, on November 13, 2022. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy looks at the tragic case one year later and breaks down other trending true-crime stories in the premiere episode of “Crime Fix.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Exactly one year ago today, four University of Idaho students were found stabbed to death in a house off campus. The brutal crime stunned the small college town of Moscow, Idaho, and the world. Students Maddie Mogan, Kaylee Gonsalves, Ethan Chapin, and Zanna Kernodle were found stabbed to death in their beds. Crime knows no boundaries, and these murders have shaken us to our very core. Six weeks later, police announced the arrest of Brian Koberger, a 28-year-old PhD student studying criminology at Washington State University just 10 miles away. Police say DNA on a knife sheath found next to Mogan's body links Koberger to the crimes.

Koberger faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted. A trial date has not yet been set. One year later, there are still so many questions. And no one has more questions than the families of Kaylee, Maddie, Ethan, and Zanna. News Nation's Brian Enten spoke with Kaylee's parents on Banfield. I've only been up to Kaylee's room. I mean, it's right up there, right at the top of the stairs. I've only been up there twice. And neither time was for any amount of time.

It was like in and out, Whoops, oops, in out. That's all we have. Students at the University of Idaho want to focus on healing. They're leading a vigil Monday night on campus. And we'll have that for you on the next Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy, and this is Crime Fix. In California, another gruesome murder case where a man faces charges after a torso is found in a dumpster and the man's wife and in-laws are missing. Sam Haskell, the fourth, is being held on a $2 million bond on suspicion of murder.

Police got a call last week that body parts were in a bag outside of Haskell's house. By the time they got there, though, those bags were gone. Then a homeless man found a torso in a bag in a dumpster. Police are looking for Haskell's wife, May Haskell. They fear the torso in the dumpster could be hers. They're also looking for a white Volkswagen Tiguan and a white Nissan Pathfinder similar to these. Anyone with information can call Los Angeles police. Another case involving body parts, but this time they're not human.

Police actually think someone is torturing animals and sacrificing them. Authorities in Suffolk County, New York are trying to find the person responsible for cutting the heads off of chickens, a dove and a rooster and dumping them in cemeteries. It's believed to be part of some sort of ritualistic sacrifice. The chief of police calls the killings barbaric. People walking in the area have found bags containing the animals' remains as well as candles and food on multiple occasions at different cemeteries over the last few weeks. The police chief says the person doing this is torturing animals, and the Suffolk SPCA is offering a $2,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest. West of Suffolk County, in the Big Apple, the FBI reportedly seized the mayor's cell phones and tablet as part of a public corruption investigation.

CNN says the feds are looking into Mayor Eric Adams' campaign fundraising and whether money from overseas was funneled into his run for mayor of the nation's largest city. Adams is a former police officer. He said he has nothing to hide and would continue to cooperate with the probe. Another case involving a politician, but in this one, a man is accused of threatening to shoot a congresswoman in the head. Sean Patrick Cirillo is accused of using his phone to threaten Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene. Greene praised law enforcement for their quick response to the threat on her life. In Las Vegas, police are searching for a group

of teens who beat a high school student who later died, and the entire beating was caught on camera. Jonathan Lewis's father told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that his son was taken off life support last Friday and passed away. He said his son was standing up for a smaller friend on November 1st when a group attacked him outside of Rancho High School. A GoFundMe page set up to help pay for Lewis's medical bills has already raised more than $51,000. An attorney in Tennessee is in big trouble for allegedly deleting child pornography from her client's phone.

A grand jury in Hendersonville returned an indictment against Jocelyn Mims on several charges that she destroyed evidence. Mims started working for the client, who faces several felony charges in 2021. Mims faces charges of tampering with evidence, false reports to an officer and intentionally failing to report child sex abuse. And it turns out this isn't Mims' first run in with police. She was disbarred in 2008 after police say she had an affair with a client and conspired with him and his mother to smuggle drugs into a jail. She pleaded guilty and had her license reinstated in May of 2017. Another child porn arrest, this one in New Jersey, and the suspect is a teacher's aide. 47-year-old Ryan Johnson is facing five total charges after he allegedly shared sexually explicit images with two minors on Snapchat over

the summer. Johnson was a teacher's aide at Cumberland Regional High School in Cumberland County during the last school year. However, he did not work at the school when the alleged crimes occurred. Johnson also allegedly viewed an image depicting child pornography also through the Snapchat app. And this one is pretty unbelievable. A woman in Kentucky who just days ago posted photos of herself and her two children in Halloween costumes is now accused of killing both of them. 32-year-old Tiffany Lucas is charged with murder

and is being held on a $2 million bond. According to the Bullitt County Sheriff's Office outside of Louisville, a neighbor found Lucas in their driveway, then went into the home to find the two boys who were just six and nine years old with gunshot wounds. A deputy told Law and Crime's Sidebar podcast the injuries the children had were not survivable. So far, a motive is not known, but Lucas is the only suspect. We move now to Texas, where another mom is accused of murdering her own children. Authorities in Amarillo say Angel Lynn Varner killed her baby during the night one week ago, threw his body on the floor, and went back to sleep.

When the 20-year-old mother woke up, she started a GoFundMe to raise money for the seven-month-old's funeral and cremation. After an autopsy showed baby Jackson died from blunt force trauma, police interviewed Varner, who admitted she had been violent with the baby multiple times that night. GoFundMe removed the fundraiser from its platform, and Varner is now charged with murder. Another parent accused of terrorizing his own family, this man is Mohamed Mondel. Police in Indiana say the 45-year-old father shot his wife seven times in front of their two young children. According to the probable cause affidavit, Mondel and his wife Stacy were on their way to a JCPenney store to take family photos last week when an argument started in the car. The couple's two-month-old and one-year-old

were in the back seat. That's when police say Mondell shot his wife, then called 911 to report himself. At first, he said it was an accident, then changed his story. Get this, he's claiming it's self-defense. Mohamed Mondell is being held at the Dearborn County Law Enforcement Center

and has a court appearance scheduled for later this week. Another suspect who likely can't claim self-defense is an 18-year-old in Sebastian, Florida. Police were called to an apartment complex after reports of a disturbance between brothers over a PlayStation. When officers got there, they determined there hadn't been a crime. But while they were still in the parking lot, they actually heard gunshots. A man came running out of the apartment, saying one brother had shot the other. Police were able to find the alleged shooter, Jalen Joseph, in the woods near the apartment. He still had the gun on him, according to police.

Joseph is charged with attempted murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted juvenile delinquent, and resisting arrest. And that's your Crime Fix for today. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Anjanette Levy. We will see you next time.