Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 01.19.24

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

Teen dies from burns after friend pours gas on a fire. Angry detainee takes a bite out of a cop car.  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Alert, I'm Nancy Grace. Breaking crime news now. A group of high school and college friends have a backyard party, complete with a bonfire and a metal barrel. Sebastian Lindsay decides the fire's too small and starts pouring gas over the barrel. Friends scream for him to stop. Then Madison Lewis's hair and clothes catch on fire.

The teens rush her to the hospital. She's treated for burns covering 90% of her body. Nancy, because there was alcohol at the party, underage attendees were scared to call 911 and transported Lewis to the hospital themselves. She was then airlifted to Parkland Hospital just outside of Dallas, where she was

treated for severe burns. Texas law provides immunity for minors under the influence who call 911 for help. Lewis, 17, dies of her injuries after three excruciating weeks in the hospital. Lindsay, 23, now facing manslaughter charges. North Carolina police arrest a 32-year-old woman for assault and load her into the cruiser, carefully avoiding her attempts to bite them. While the officers finish taking statements, the suspect digs into the seats with her teeth. The woman gnaws on the seats for the entire ride to the Boone PD, leaving a hole so large the entire back seat now has to be replaced. In addition to assault charges, she now faces property damage charges. Next time, maybe cops can take a bite out of crime.

More Crime and Justice news after this. Now with the latest Crime and Justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. Law enforcement officials in Virginia have revealed that a part-time fisherman who died in 2017 is connected to three unsolved cold case homicides in the state during the 1980s, two of which were part of a string of couple slayings known as the Colonial Parkway Murders. For more, we turn to Sydney Sumner with Crime Online. Although Alan W. Wilmer Sr. was named as the suspect by Virginia State Police, they did not provide any information regarding his connection to the 1987

and 1989 homicides or the circumstances surrounding his arrest. If Wilmer were still alive, investigators say he would face charges. Following Wilmer's death, investigators say they lawfully acquired his DNA. Wilmer's DNA was not included in any law enforcement databases because he had never been convicted of a crime. Of the three victims, two had experienced sexual assault. Three couples were killed in the so-called Colonial Parkway murders. The bodies of a fourth couple were never found, although they are presumed dead. The murders took place between 1986 and 1989 in southeast Virginia, on or along a picturesque roadway that links Yorktown-Williamsburg and Jamestown. The bodies of 20-year-old David Knobling and 14-year-old

Robin Edwards, who had been shot, were discovered in 1987 in the vicinity of the James River South Bank in Isle of Wight County. Wilmer was also named as a suspect in the Hampton, Virginia murder of 29-year-old Teresa Lynn Spa Howell in 1989. There is no connection between her death by strangulation and the Colonial Parkway murders. Howell's body was discovered at a building site approximately 11 miles from the locations of Nobling and Edwards' bodies almost two years prior. Howell was last seen in front of a well-known nightclub. Wilmer died almost seven years ago at the age of 63. According to Geller, detectives are aggressively following leads regarding the other murders and haven't ruled anything out, including possible connections to Wilmer. Although the other cases

are still ongoing, Geller stated there is currently no physical or forensic evidence connecting the double homicide to the others. After being extradited from Scotland, Nicholas Rossi, a U.S. fugitive suspected of staging his own death and leaving the country to evade rape allegations, is currently being held in a Utah jail, this according to jail documents. Once again, Crime Online's Sydney Sumner. Local prosecutors accused Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Aliverdian, of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, in 2008.

Because of a backlog of DNA test kits at the Utah State Crime Lab, he was not identified as a suspect until about 10 years later. In Salt Lake County, where prosecutors claim Rossi raped a 26-year-old ex-girlfriend in 2008 following an altercation, Rossi is charged with the second felony of rape. He is the subject of numerous further complaints alleging fraud, domestic abuse, and sexual abuse in Rhode Island and Ohio. The 36-year-old, who has escaped arrest under at least 10 identities, was booked into the Davis County Jail after arriving on U.S. soil. The jail is located in northern Utah and is home to a large number of federal inmates. The Utah County Attorney's Office states that Rossi will probably be moved to Utah County in the next few days, where he'll face felony rape charges in court. Thanks, John.

Brandi Brown is rushed to Detroit Sinai Grace Hospital after a car crash. She gets treatment over several hours and is released August 1. Waiting at home is Brown's mother and daughter, but 25-year-old Brandy doesn't come home. She's last seen near the 7 Mile and Forest Street area on Detroit's West Side. Brown's family says it's totally unlike her to go any length of time without contacting them. Brown has now been missing over seven and a half years. If you know or think you know anything about Brandy Brown's disappearance, please, please call Sergeant Shannon Jones, Detroit PD, 313-596-2260.

For the latest crime and justice news, go to CrimeOnline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an iHeart Podcast.