Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Teen Planned to Murder Ex-Girlfriend and Her Mom After Raping 14-Year-Old Girl: Police

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Matthew Austin, 18, faces a list of charges in Norman, Oklahoma after police said his friend reported he planned to murder his ex-girlfriend and her mother after buying supplies at a Home Dep...ot. Norman Police stopped Austin on the street near the home of his ex. Police in neighboring Moore said he raped a 14-year-old girl over the summer after lying about his age. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the body camera footage and talks with a Norman Police official about the case in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Sarah Schettler https://www.facebook.com/normanokpdCRIME 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/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 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. All right, I just want to patch it up and make sure you don't have any weapons on you, okay? Police officers in Norman, Oklahoma, stop a man they say was on his way to carry out a plan to murder his ex-girlfriend and her mom. I just don't get how this works. I can. We'll explain it all to you. Just hang tight for a minute, OK, so we can figure out what's going on. I'll tell you all about the allegations made against Matthew Austin and about the charge he faces in a totally
Starting point is 00:00:36 separate case. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. This case is just really disturbing. I want to tell you about that right off the top. Matthew Austin is in jail in Norman, Oklahoma, and he faces a number of charges, including two counts of planning to cause death and one count of rape. Police stopped Austin on July 18th. He was walking down a street and he didn't seem too happy about being stopped. Police say they stopped him after receiving a call from someone who said that Austin was actually talking about killing his ex-girlfriend and her mother, and he had plans to do it. I'll tell you more on what police say Austin was planning in just a moment, but first, here's a look at the body camera footage. Austin, right? Yeah. All right. I just want to patch it up and make sure I don't have any weapons on me, okay?
Starting point is 00:01:26 Where am I going? You're not under arrest right now. He said he's just going to pat you down. Yeah, I know. I'm getting put in handcuffs. Right? For now, yes. How?
Starting point is 00:01:42 Well, at least you're going to be in handcuffs for now. Now, at one point during this interaction, police appear to ask Austin whether or not was walking down the street near his ex-girlfriend's house. He was very close. An affidavit says a friend of Austin's called police after he said he was going to kill the ex. Part of it reads, one witness stated that the defendant was at his house talking about how his ex-girlfriend was messing with his life. The witness stated that the defendant went to the Home Depot and bought painter's masks and black latex gloves. The witness said that Austin tried on the mask and the gloves and asked, how do I look? The affidavit says the witness claimed that Austin picked up an airsoft gun
Starting point is 00:02:45 and asked whether he should actually buy a real gun. The affidavit continues. The witness stated that the defendant then talked about going to his ex-girlfriend's house and killing her and her mom. The affidavit says the witness, who is a friend of Austin's, as I mentioned, told him that he could not kill the young woman and her mom and that he would get caught. That witness stated that the defendant then said he would stab them so no one would scream. Now, what the witness told police sounds terrifying. It's horrifying. So the witness was concerned enough to take this seriously. The witness stated that the defendant told him his plan was to put on the mask and
Starting point is 00:03:26 gloves, knock on the door, and whoever answered, he would then decide what to do. The witness called police, leading to the encounter with officers on the street. I don't understand how I can just get put in handcuffs by just an allegation. I'll explain it to you. Oh, hold on. I'm going to put my seat down. Can I pause this? Yeah. It should be that button.
Starting point is 00:04:12 Is he double locked? Yeah. I just don't get how this works. I can... We'll explain it all to you. Just hang tight for a minute, okay, so we can figure out what's going on. Now, that affidavit says that Matthew Austin said that he was guilty of making these threats as he was in the back of the police car on the way to the jail.
Starting point is 00:04:31 What's also really disturbing about this case, Matthew Austin is accused of raping a 14-year-old girl earlier that month after meeting her at church. Police in the neighboring jurisdiction of Moore wrote in an affidavit that the victim stated she was 14 years old to Matthew, who advised that he was 16 years old. The victim stated, according to the affidavit, that Matthew visited her residence and forced himself on her and raped her. The affidavit says Matthew advised everything would be fine and not to tell anyone due to their age and it needed to be a secret. It continues. The victim confronted Matthew about his social media, stating that he was 18 years old in text messages. Matthew advised the victim that it was a typo, showing to be 18.
Starting point is 00:05:18 More police say when Matthew Austin was taken into custody for the threats against his ex-girlfriend, he told police that he actually believed the girl was 19. This case is a prime example, exhibit A really, of why it is so incredibly important to take steps to keep yourself and your kids safe. Truthfinder.com is a website that can help you with that. Truthfinder will help you research the people you meet each and every day. This is how it works. You just put in a person's name and you will get past criminal records, traffic tickets, addresses, and the names of potential relatives. And what's really great about Truthfinder, it will actually give you the
Starting point is 00:05:55 addresses of sex offenders who live in your neighborhood. If you want to try Truthfinder, and I think you should, I have a great deal for you. You can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just log on to www.truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix. Log on and start accessing information about almost anyone. I spoke with Norman Police Public Information Officer Sarah Shetler about the case and these disturbing allegations. This is one of those cases where an individual coming forward with information, even if they don't think that it is important, or maybe they think that that individual is not being serious about that information, coming forward with that information is really essential
Starting point is 00:06:38 and was essential to this case and potentially even preventing a larger crime. I also spoke with Sarah Shuttler about how Norman police actually found out about the threats that Matthew Austin was allegedly making against his ex-girlfriend and her mother. As I told you earlier, a friend of his reported it, and that was very important. So that initial call came in from friends of the suspect who had spoken with him and had heard these potential threats really voiced out and shown out in a multitude of ways. And so they reported to our officers that their friend had told them that he was frustrated with what the ex-girlfriend had done to him and their status in their relationship and that he felt like it was negatively
Starting point is 00:07:25 impacting his life. And so that's when he started to tell them, maybe this is something that I should do. Maybe I should, um, go and purchase these items and then, you know, kill them. Maybe I should take this to, um, the next level. And he kind of detailed that in a multitude of ways to that friend. And then ultimately went to, you know, a local store, purchased gloves and a mask. And the friend saw those things that he had purchased and he put them on and was showing them to them. And at that point, that's when they contacted local law enforcement. Our officers actually contacted this individual walking down the street in our jurisdiction with those items in a bag. And officers were able to stop him, you know, begin to communicate with him and ultimately potentially prevent any further action from occurring. Shetler talked about the importance
Starting point is 00:08:18 of people around Matthew Austin calling in to report their concerns. And they did exactly what they should have done in this scenario. A lot of the individuals involved are somewhat young, so 18 years old. And, you know, those individuals told other people around them that were important to them and they confirmed like, hey, this is concerning information. And even if it's false or just something that he has thought about or considered that you should absolutely report that so law enforcement can investigate that further. And as far as what that looks like for us, a lot of that stuff is still part of that ongoing investigation as officers try to determine exactly what his intention was at that moment when we did contact him. But there was definitely evidence that he had had and considered some of these things leading up to it, just based on what he had discussed with his peers. It's kind of a good reminder that all of us, when we hear somebody talking like this,
Starting point is 00:09:14 should take it seriously. At this point, Matthew Austin is charged with making these threats and with raping the 14-year-old girl. And these are all allegations. He's innocent until proven guilty. I asked how long police believe that Austin had been talking about harming his ex and her mom. I don't know that we have any indication on that timeline of how long that had been a part of it. He did detail to officers that there had been a lot of stress in his life of recent, and so it appeared to have been something that was more of a recent idea or something that had came to him based on what was occurring in his life in the present moment. At one point in the body camera footage, Matthew Austin, he sounds kind of inconvenienced, but calm. Sarah Shetler said Matthew Austin offered an
Starting point is 00:10:00 explanation for having the gloves and the mask. So our officers were, you know, very aware of what his, you know, posture was, how he was reacting at the scene. And of course, they were working to keep him as calm as possible based on this scenario as they work to try to investigate, you know, what his potential intentions were, where he was headed. He did tell our officers that, you know, he was just going to paint a portion of his home. And that was kind of his initial reasoning for having said items on him at the time. But I mean, he was very cooperative with law enforcement. And I think based on other cases that were occurring with him being contacted by law enforcement recently in regards to another case. Um, I think he was, that's where a lot of that frustration, um,
Starting point is 00:10:47 kind of came from, um, and was stemming from as he felt like law enforcement was very much present, um, and around him all the time. Um, and ultimately based on what we were able to determine and speaking with him and then getting the additional evidence, um, and information from those reporting parties. We were able to put together that this, you know, is serious. I mean, ultimately, he's going to be held accountable for the threats and things that
Starting point is 00:11:11 he had stated he would do. Matthew Austin has not yet entered a plea to the charges. He is due in court this week, and his bail has been set at $400,000. 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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