Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Mom Stabbed 14 Times by Teen Daughter and Her Friend: Cops

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Starting point is 00:01:26 any questions on that? No, your honor. A teenage girl and her friend appear in court accused of murdering the girl's mother and police say the teen actually wrote about wanting to kill her mom. I have the details from the disturbing case out of Utah. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Andrea Mottram was a 47-year-old mom living in California, but police in Utah say her teenage daughter and one of her daughter's friends murdered her at a VRBO. Police had launched a search for 16-year-old Mihail Surescu, who goes by Bella, and her friend Abigail Flanagan, who goes by Jay, last month. The investigation started on March 23rd in Washington City, that's just north of the Arizona state line.

Starting point is 00:02:20 Washington City police say they got a call from cleaning staff at a vacation rental. In an affidavit, an officer wrote, Washington City police say they got a call from cleaning staff at a vacation rental. In an affidavit, an officer wrote, Officers arrived on scene and met with cleaning staff, who were employed by the VRBO. They indicated that they had arrived at the residence and found that the garage door was open. The cleaning staff indicated that they had entered the residence to clean and found that there were a lot of belongings left in the residence. They indicated that they went upstairs and found a person who was unresponsive. The officers said they went into the property to check it out and what they found was startling. The affidavit stated, officers located a female with 14 stab wounds who was deceased. On the

Starting point is 00:03:03 initial safety sweep, officers located two cell phones and a purse submerged in a toilet. During the initial safety sweep and subsequent search of the residence, officers did not see any signs of forced entry. It was later found that there were two juveniles who had stayed at the residence with the victim. Now, police determined that the victim was Andrea Mottram and that the two teens staying at the rental were the victim. Now, police determined that the victim was Andrea Mottram and that the two teens staying at the rental were Mottram's daughter, Mihaela Surescu, who went by Bella, as I told you, and Abigail Flanagan, who goes by Jay. The affidavit continued. Andrea, Bella, and Jay are believed to have been the sole occupants of the vacation rental property.

Starting point is 00:03:50 The phones found in the toilet are believed to have belonged to Andrea and Jay. The purse found in the toilet contained an ID belonging to Andrea. These items appear to have been placed in the toilet and attempted to be flushed in an effort to conceal evidence and or delay apprehension. Bella has been in a residential treatment facility for the past three years and is currently enrolled in a Washington County residential treatment facility. Jay has been in a residential treatment facility for at least a year and was recently taken out of the residential care facility by her parents. Police then spoke with Mottram's husband, whose name is Frank, and he was Bella's stepfather. The affidavit states, in speaking with Frank, he indicated that in November that they had located a diary that

Starting point is 00:04:30 had been written by Bella. He stated in the diary that she had indicated how much she hated her mother and wrote that she wanted to kill her. Frank also indicated that Bella will self-harm herself and will often cut herself with sharp objects. Frank indicated that Bella will self-harm herself and will often cut herself with sharp objects. Frank indicated that Bella has a history of violent behavior. As evidence technicians were working the scene where the victim was discovered, they located several knives in the residence. One in particular located in the sink had been washed off. However, there were trace amounts of blood found on the knife. I want to tell you about a free app that I've tried called Upside. It gives you cash back on things that you use each day, like gas, groceries, and takeout. You can transfer the cash back straight into your bank account. When I pump gas or go to Dunkin'

Starting point is 00:05:16 for a drink, I use Upside and I've even used it when I order pizza. Here's how it works. Download Upside, claim an offer, and pay as usual using a debit or credit card. Follow the steps and get paid. To find out how much you could earn, click the link in the description to download Upside or scan the QR code on your screen and use our promo code CrimeFix to get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's promo code CrimeFix for extra cash back. Police detailed evidence they said they found that they believe implicated Bella. Evidence technicians also located a pair of jeans slash pants in the downstairs master bedroom bathroom. The pants were crumpled up in a ball. When the pants were uncrumpled, technicians located several spots of what appeared to be blood on both legs and in several spots. On the left leg, there was what appeared to be blood on both legs and in several spots.

Starting point is 00:06:05 On the left leg, there was what appeared to be a bloody imprint of a knife blade. The size of the pants are approximately a size 2 to a size 4. Based on the physical descriptions of Bella J and Andrea's physical attributes, I believe that the pants belonged to Bella. Police started looking for Bella and Jay and later found them, but they're not saying how or where, but they are charged with stealing a car. Mottram had actually rented a Hyundai in Las Vegas on March 20th. The same Hyundai was seen via automated license plate reader cameras, ALPRs, in Cedar City, Utah on 32325 at approximately 0045 hours, that's just before 1 a.m., as it was traveling northbound on I-15. It was later seen by an ALPR traveling southbound on I-15 in Las Vegas, Nevada

Starting point is 00:06:56 on 32325 at approximately 508 hours. The vehicle was last read by an ALPR in Paramount, California at approximately 0900 hours on 3-23-25. Now, on March 22nd, this is so sad, Mottram had posted a photo of herself on Facebook. That caption said, this is almost 48. Mottram would have turned 48 on March 23rd, the same day that police found her body. This week, Abigail Flanagan and Bella Surescu appeared in court. Flanagan went first and the judge ordered that their faces not be shown despite them being charged as adults with murder. All right, AF, you have been charged with some serious criminal offenses, including a first degree felony and two second degree felonies. Did you receive a copy of the charging document that contains the charges?

Starting point is 00:07:55 No, Your Honor. You haven't received a copy of it? Do you know if a copy was given to them? I assumed it had been. For the facility out there, can I email a copy of that to the same email address as we sent the link to? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Bella Cerescu and Abigail Flanagan are being kept in separate juvenile detention facilities, but Abigail is apparently a couple of hours away, which concerned her lawyer. And I'm not sure who makes the decision of where to house the individuals. I understand the concern

Starting point is 00:08:28 of why they're not housed together. I appreciate that. But there's got to be some solution to have my client closer than where she's being housed now. And maybe I can leave that up to the state to figure out if there's a way that we can put one of these juveniles maybe in the Cedar City Detention Center instead of Price. Price seems like a ways away. So just to facilitate communication with her attorney, I think would be important. Iron County would be strongly preferred. I'm not going to make an order to that effect right now because I don't know what policies governed where they ended up and I'm not I don't want to countermand some kind of policy that's out there that I don't know about. But I would guess that that happened if it possibly can.

Starting point is 00:09:15 I'm sorry, what's that? There is no longer a detention center in your city. Those youth. Okay, well, that may be the answer then. We can make arrangements for transport to and from here. That solves half the problem, but not the problem of me having to travel to price respectfully, which I mean, I will do, but.

Starting point is 00:09:40 I don't know how to fix that problem unless I. So I guess the question remains then, do you want your client here for the next hearing? Or do you... I guess it depends on what's happening. Yeah, I just need access. So I can figure out how to communicate between now and then. Let's do the next one by video.

Starting point is 00:10:02 Okay. And go from there. Next, Bella Cerescu appeared via video. Again, the judge ordered that her face not be shown. All right, this is an initial appearance on some charges that have been filed against you, very serious charges, including a first-degree felony and two second-degree felonies. Did you get a copy of the document that has the charges on it? No, Your Honor.

Starting point is 00:10:25 Okay, one will be sent to you. I've already emailed that to the same email address as we sent the link to you. Okay, that has been emailed to the juvenile facility. You should be receiving that. I just need to let you know of a couple of things. One, you have the right to remain silent. You don't have to speak about the case to anyone else,

Starting point is 00:10:44 except you should talk about it with your attorney. And we'll talk about that right now. You do have the right to an attorney. The court is going to appoint an attorney for you. The name of your attorney is Russell Petriga. The jail will give you information. The facility will give you information on how to contact Mr. Petriga. We will email that to the facility so you have that. We're going to set your case for another hearing on April 23rd at 1.30. Between now and then, a couple of things will happen. One, you'll get a copy of the information which contains the charges. You need to look over that. And you'll get information on how to contact your attorney,

Starting point is 00:11:31 and you need to contact your attorney before the next hearing. Do you have any questions on that? No, Your Honor. Okay. Do you have any other questions for me? No. Okay. Thank you. You are currently being held on a no bail warrant. The court's just simply going to leave that hold in place for now. That's one of the things that you can talk to your attorney about. So to discuss this case, which has some really disturbing allegations in

Starting point is 00:12:05 it, I want to bring in Sky Lazaro. She is a defense attorney in Utah. And Sky, thanks for coming on. This case is really horrifying to me because you have Bella Surescu, who was adopted by her mother, Andrea Mottram, and she was in some type of facility for a while and then apparently is accused of killing her along with her friend and then taking off and then wrote about it, apparently, according to prosecutors in a diary. So there is a lot going on with this case. There really is. And this is a really tragic case. We have a lot of these youth facilities in and around southern Utah and also up here in the Salt Lake area. And, you know, it's really unfortunate, the situation. You get a case like this, Skye, and, you know, she is charged as an adult. But the judge wouldn't allow Bella and her friend Jay to be shown on camera.

Starting point is 00:13:09 I found that to be very interesting. They're in a youth detention. They're both in youth or juvenile detention facilities because of their age, but they are charged as adults. So explain that to me. In Utah, apparently because of the offense and their ages, they can be charged as adults. That's correct. I think these individuals are 16 and 17 years old. In Utah, if you're charged with murder, they can charge you or they do charge you as an adult based on their age. That being said, because they're still technically minors, even though

Starting point is 00:13:46 they're charged in adult court, there's a protection for their likeness or showing them on TV. So Skye, is it really within the judge's discretion to not show them on camera or is that kind of baked in? Is it kind of just a rule that even though they're charged as adults because they're juveniles, we don't show them on TV? I think it's pretty standard to not show them on TV, even though they're charged in adult court, which typically if someone's charged in an adult court, you know, it's an open proceeding to the public and press would be allowed. Although even in cases where we have adults charged, you know, the judge has discretion to either allow cameras in the courtroom or not. In this case, I think out of probably standard for juveniles not to be shown, had they been in juvenile court, those are closed proceedings. And I think that carries over where you have juveniles that are charged, even in adult court. So if this case lands in your lap as a defense attorney, I mean, she was already Bella was already in some type of facility for some time.

Starting point is 00:14:58 So that to me raises some questions about her mental health. So what's your one of your first moves as her attorney? Absolutely. I think anytime you have something like this where someone's been in some type of facility, we know some things about the case. We don't know a lot. It's still pretty early on. So all we have is what's in the charging documents essentially. But really, as a defense attorney, you probably want to dig in to all of her history. It may not be a defense to the charge that kind of falls on what evidence is produced, but it certainly is a mitigating factor

Starting point is 00:15:37 along the way in terms of what kind of struggles the individuals have had, mental health diagnoses, treatment, those types of things. And it appears that both Bella and Jay had been in some sort, they had both been in, you know, these residential treatment facilities. Jay had also been in one of these treatment facilities. you know we're still kind of working out some details seeing if i don't know maybe they met in one of these facilities that type of thing um but somehow you know they all end up in this vacation rental so you know does andrea go out to utah because she's living in california go out to Utah because she's living in California, go out to Utah to see her daughter?

Starting point is 00:16:28 And, you know, something unfolds, something horrific in this vacation rental. I mean, the police are saying that Andrea was stabbed 14 times. You know, that's that poor woman. And she had just posted on Facebook the day before her 48th birthday. And she was found on what would have been her 48th birthday. multiple stab wounds. You know, generally speaking, these are crimes of, you know, passion. There's some deep-seated issues, I think, going on, you know, with the alleged victim or with the, you know, with her daughter. I think there's a lot probably still to be investigated or found. Maybe the state knows, maybe they don't, you know, about some of the past history. I know there was some things written in the journal that, you know, kind of speak to her, you know, desire to kill her mom. That being said, teenagers deal with a lot and sometimes say a lot that may or may not have any real truth to it.

Starting point is 00:17:50 But in a case like this, this is really sad. And clearly this girl was out here in one of these residential facilities for a reason. You don't land there by, you know, just chance. I'm kind of wondering how your parents live in California, but you are in a residential treatment facility in Utah. You know, you're a criminal defense attorney. So you see people with mental health issues. Do you have any insight on how that happens? Maybe parents do research and they figure, oh, this is a good place to send my child. I do. And I've actually been involved in a number of cases that involved individuals who have come from other states, especially juveniles to these facilities. So I don't think like they have the resources or the ability to help them send their kids here to Utah to stay in these residential facilities. So we see that quite often, actually, where a lot of these kids who

Starting point is 00:19:07 come here are from different parts of the country. You know, I want to talk about the diary. You touched on that. And I mentioned it, you know, earlier in the show. But her stepfather, Frank, you know, and they just refer to him by Frank in the affidavit. They don't use his last name, but it was Andrea's husband. He said that he found a diary last November and that Bella talked about how much she hated her mom and wrote that she wanted to kill her. And that, you know, Bella engaged in self-harm and will cut herself with sharp objects. And she has a history of violent behavior. I mean, these are all things that are, oh my gosh, you know, these are really concerning things and may show why she was in this

Starting point is 00:19:59 facility. I think it absolutely probably speaks to why she was in the facility. All of those, you know, self-harm, ideolations, all those types of things are pretty indicative of somebody with either pretty troubled past or, you know, some mental and beyond what we would see from just a normal teenager who's maybe lashing out and those types of things. Unfortunately for her, when you're the defendant, you know, those diaries are probably coming in even over objection from the defense, unless they can find some sort of way to make them, you know, not relevant or more prejudicial than they are relevant. But, you know, not relevant or more prejudicial than they are relevant. But, you know, in this case where you have her talking about hating her mother, you know, wanting to harm her mother, and then unfortunately that happening, that's going to be, I think, a problem for the defense to overcome.

Starting point is 00:21:02 And it could go to some type of premeditation as well. Possibly this not just being some spur of the moment type crime. I think that's absolutely right. And that's the difference between, you know, maybe, you know, a lesser charge and who knows how this case ultimately plays out with her mental health and how that will factor in as the case moves forward. But I certainly think that that's a key piece of evidence that the state's going to focus on. And the defense is going to have to find a way to try to mitigate in terms of when you're talking about intent, which is an element of the crime and things along those lines. And also, Skye, you know, the police say that Jay and or Bella attempted to destroy evidence. They were flushing a wallet and cell phones and a toilet and, you know, the financial transaction records from the victim's wallet.

Starting point is 00:22:02 They took this rental vehicle, obviously without consent. So there was, it seems like there was this attempt to cover this up, potentially, according to police. It didn't really go very well. Flushing toilets down, you know, cell phones down a toilet is not really going to work. No, and anytime you see obstruction type behavior after a crime, you know, that also tends to make the state, you know, point to that as maybe some sort of consciousness of guilt or something along

Starting point is 00:22:37 those lines or knowing that what they did was wrong. It's not a situation where, you know, there was some sort of, you know, altercation between the two. And you can say it was self-defense if you call right away. Not that you can't still make that argument if it's applicable. But, you know, things like this really complicate cases for defendants because then you have additional, you know, the potential for additional charges. And it just, it really just, it looks terrible when you have this sort of behavior after the fact. And also maybe, you know, it can point to a disregard for, you know, the crime or the victim as well. Yeah, definitely. Well, it's a horrible case, and we'll keep an eye on it. Skyla Zaro, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Yeah, thanks for having me. And again, those teens will be back in court on April 23rd. And just to

Starting point is 00:23:38 tell you a little bit about the victim in this case, she described herself on Facebook as a hospice social worker and a Romanian living in California. And she said that she was a mother in three special ways. Her family is raising money for her funeral expenses on GoFundMe. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Mom Stabbed 14 Times by Teen Daughter and Her Friend: Cops

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Mom Stabbed 14 Times by Teen Daughter and Her Friend: Cops

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