Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 03.11.24

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

Freshman found dead in his dorm at Campbellsville University. You might want to skip your dollar store trip this week.  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Alert, I'm Nancy Grace. Breaking crime news now. Josiah Kilman's roommate finds him unresponsive in their dorm room at Kentucky's Campbellsville University. Kilman, a freshman on the wrestling team, is rushed to the hospital. Doctors determine he's been strangled dead. Campus police look for another wrestler, Charles Escalera, in connection with Kilman's death. Nancy, while the motive for the killing is still unclear,

we're now learning that Escalera was hospitalized briefly after displaying bizarre behavior in the cafeteria days before the murder. Other students describe Escalera as secluded, saying he rarely spent time with his teammates. Kilman had just started his studies in theology and is remembered by friends and family for his bright smile, Christian faith, and athleticism. Charles Escalera, 21, found hiding in a barn, arrested for murder. If you have a favorite family dollar in the Southeast, you may want to skip your stop this week. After stores across the Southeast get products obviously damaged by rats, FDA inspectors

head to the chain's warehouse, West Memphis, Arkansas. They find urine, nesting, living and dead rodents throughout the warehouse. Fumigation reveals over 1,200 rats were living in the facility. Family Dollar pleads guilty to holding food, drugs, and medical devices in unsanitary conditions and pays a whopping $41 million fine. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. According to authorities in Minnesota, there doesn't seem to be any connection between the man who shot and killed a Super 8 hotel worker and a guest in a small Carlton County town. With more, here's Sydney Sumner with Crime Online. Police in the small central Minnesota town of Cloquet say that 32-year-old Nicholas

Elliott Lennius of Ramsey doesn't seem to have known either of the victims he killed on January 9th. Lennius committed suicide during the incident that resulted in the town issuing an active shooter alert. A toxicology report revealed that Lennius had methamphetamine in his system, which investigators say may have left him impaired during the attacks. When police arrived at the scene, they discovered 22-year-old Shelby Trettle, a hotel employee, shot next to the front desk. Another victim, 35-year-old Deer River resident Patrick Rowers, was shot while inside a car that was parked in the front desk. Another victim, 35-year-old Deer River resident Patrick Rowers, was shot while inside a car that was parked in the hotel lot. Rowers and Lennius were both staying at the hotel. That evening, authorities had alerted the public about an active shooter

and advised everyone near Big Lake Road and Highway 33 to take cover indoors. Lennius spoke with a co-worker and mentioned dealing with monsters, this according to information gathered by police during witness interviews. After searching four of Lennius' electronic devices, police believe he had no connection to the victims. Cloquet is located about 20 miles west of Duluth and is home to some 12,000 people. Liberty University is facing the biggest ever fine of $14 million from the U.S. Department of Education for violating a federal rule requiring campus crime reports.

Once again, Crime Online's Sydney Sumner. The settlement was revealed by the U.S. Department of Education officials and follows a protracted investigation that uncovered multiple infractions of the Federal Clery Act, which mandates that universities keep a record of all crimes on campus and alert the public to potentially dangerous situations. A 100-plus page report outlining the department's findings explains how the Christian University in Lynchburg, Virginia showed, quote, serious, persistent, and systemic violations between 2016 and 2023. According to the report, the college neglected to notify the campus about criminal activity or dangerous conditions, including gas leaks, discouraged students from reporting crimes,

and failed to keep an accurate or comprehensive list of crimes. It also failed to appropriately respond to incidences of sexual violence. For this report, federal investigators contacted over 100 people, including parents, students, and both current and past faculty members at the university. The settlement calls for Liberty to invest $2 million in campus safety upgrades during the duration of a two-year federal monitoring period that ends in April 2026, this in addition to the $14 million punishment. The university claims that the settlement funds are on top of the over $10 million it has already invested in, quote, significant advancements in campus safety since 2022. The $14 million fine leveled against Liberty is the largest Clery Act settlement to date.

Michigan State University was fined $4.5 million in 2019 for Clery Act violations, while the University of California, Berkeley, received a $2.35 million punishment in 2020. Thanks, John. Ashley Linden and her husband lose their rental home in Plant City, Florida because of a change in owners. They book a room in a Tampa hotel while looking for a new place. The couple gets in an argument one evening. Ashley storms out with only the clothes on her back, leaving behind

her room key, cell phone, and ID. When she doesn't come back that night, her husband calls his mother-in-law he's on his way to work, hoping she has seen or heard from Ashley. When Lyndon finishes his shift, still no word from Ashley. A missing persons report is filed two days later. Cops tell the family there was a sighting of Ashley at a 7-Eleven, and then they close her missing person case. When the family shows the clerk the photos, they don't recognize Ashley. Eight months later, Ellie allows the family to refile a missing persons report, and they learned police saw Ashley asleep in the back seat during a Tampa traffic stop six months ago, but no one called them because she was not missing at that time.

Ashley Linden, now missing nearly two years. If you have info on Ashley Linden, please call Hillborough County, Florida, Sheriffs, 813-247-8200. For the latest crime and justice news, go to crimeonline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.