Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 02.09.24

Episode Date: February 9, 2024

Child escapes kidnap attempt on walk to bus stop. 'Why are you in?' 'Battery...by chocolate egg.' 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. An Arizona girl leaves her family's apartment to walk to the bus stop. She crosses paths with Joseph Ruiz as she leaves her apartment complex but thinks nothing of it. She goes on her way. As she walks down the street, a silver sedan pops a U-turn, comes to a stop next to her, and Ruiz tries to force her into the car. The girl outruns Ruiz and screams, so he takes off. Nancy Ruiz's mother says her son

was behaving oddly the day of the attempted kidnapping. Ruiz shares an apartment with her at the complex, despite a previous aggravated assault charge against him for stabbing her in the neck. She said Ruiz once confessed that he tried to kiss his underage cousin. The girl reported the attack to her bus driver, who alerted the school and the authorities. Neighbor Joseph Ruiz, 37, now charged with attempted kidnapping. John Mejas is next in line at a Florida convenience store, but doesn't answer when the employee, Edward Riordan, calls him up. Mayhaus instead waits for the other cashier to open and checks out with them. Riordan brushes the whole thing off as odd, but Mayhaus escalates it, chucking a chocolate egg at Riordan's forehead.

Riordan tells him to leave the store. Mayhaus jumps behind the counter and starts punching Riordan. Cops are called. Mayhaus, 27, now charged with battery by Chocolate Egg. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. A Florida man attempting to rob a bank chose to kidnap two hostages

rather than give himself up to police. The suspect then placed one of the hostages into a headlock and put a knife to her throat. At this point, a sheriff's sniper brought the situation to an end. With more, here's Sydney Sumner with Crime Online. The 36-year-old attempted robber, who said he had a bomb, was struck by the deputy's bullet and died at the scene. However, the other hostage, a woman he attempted to use as a shield, escaped unharmed, as did others at the bank just outside Fort Myers. It was around midday on Tuesday that the Lee County Sheriff's Office responded to the robbery attempt with a robotic dog, drones, a battering ram, and a SWAT team. The suburban area is lined

with chain restaurants, hotels, an outdoor mall, and office buildings. The robbery attempt, hostage situation, and sniper fire brought the area to a terrifying halt around lunchtime. The SWAT team had encircled the bank. However, the sheriff would not disclose from where the sniper fired. A negotiator converses with the man in the video, which is posted on the sheriff's Facebook page just before a shot is fired. Several deputies are seen in the Facebook video posted by the Sheriff's Office standing with their rifles drawn near the bank entrance. A deputy is seen in another video being raised on a platform outside the bank alongside an armored front loader. Sterling Ramon Avalache was named as the suspect killed by the sniper. The claim he made about having a bomb was not immediately verified by authorities.

As per standard departmental procedure, the deputy was put on administrative leave while an inquiry is conducted. According to a couple's attorneys, a medical examiner has determined that their infant's death, which occurred during delivery and left the baby decapitated, is a homicide. Once again, Crime Online, Sidney Sumner. The doctor who delivered the infant in July, as well as the hospital, have been sued by the parents of Trayvon Taylor Jr. Both the doctor and the medical facility deny any wrongdoing. An office statement given by attorneys at a news conference stated that the Clayton County Medical Examiner's Office determined that the baby's fractured neck was the direct cause of death and that human action was to blame.

The boy's parents, Jessica Ross and Trayvon Isaiah Taylor Sr., claim that Dr. Tracy St. Julian neglected to act promptly to get help when the infant became trapped during birth and postponed a surgical procedure. Rather, they claim the doctor applied too much force to both the baby's head and neck to remove the infant during delivery. In a September court filing, one of the doctor's lawyers, Scott Bailey, claimed that St. Julian delivered the baby by using, quote, every maneuver a reasonable obstetrician would have employed after its shoulder became caught. The baby's head and neck damage happened after death, according to Bailey's filing, during an attempt to deliver the fetus via cesarean section and preserve Ross's life. Bailey accused attorneys

representing Ross and Taylor Sr. of making public comments that were, quote, saliciously false. Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, Georgia, the facility where the baby was delivered, has also stated that the infant died in utero. Thanks, John. Tabitha Tudor is just 13, walks from home to her bus stop in Nashville, but Tabitha doesn't get to school. Her middle school tells Tudor's mom Tabitha did not get on the bus that morning. Mom immediately reports the daughter missing. Cops search the neighborhood for Tabitha. Canines pick up her scent. The dogs track her along her route and lead investigators to an alleyway. Police then get a tip. A neighbor saw Tabitha get into a red car in the alleyway. Five months later, Heaven Ross is taken on her walk to school, Northport, Alabama.

Cops believe Heaven's disappearance is connected to Tabitha's. Police find a note with two sets of initials and believe TDT refers to Tabitha Danielle Tudors. They have not learned the identity of the other set, MTL, and the note has provided no leads. Tabitha Tudors now missing over 20 years. If you have info or think you do on Tabitha Tudors, contact Nashville Metro PD, 615-862-7803. Repeat 615-862-7803. For the latest crime and justice news, go to crimeonline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy

Grace. This is an iHeart Podcast.