Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 03.12.24

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

Man shoots girlfriend's toddler over accusations of infidelity. Teacher supplies students with swords for duels.  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. Sergio Colin Gomez accuses his pregnant girlfriend of cheating. After she puts her three-year-old son Ivan to bed, they talk things through and settle in for a movie. An hour later, Colin Gomez starts accusing again. Afraid, mommy locks herself in the three-year-old son's bedroom. Colin Gomez breaks down the door, entering the room with a gun. When she tries to take the gun away, he shoots little Ivan in the head. Nancy, Ivan's mother immediately called 911, but there was nothing first responders could do for the little boy. California cops found

Colin Gomez pacing on a sidewalk outside the apartment complex, and while he resisted arrest, officers were able to subdue and cuff him. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement, quote, we will sadly but steadfastly do our job to make sure this person will never harm another. Sergio Colin Gomez, 24, charged with murder. An Albuquerque chemistry teacher tells the principal she's bringing swords to school to discuss the properties of metal. But everything goes wrong. The teacher allegedly encourages students to fight in pairs with the samurai swords until a 16-year-old is badly cut.

Instead of calling for help, she asks students to delete videos of the swords. Eventually, a student runs for help and the school nurse calls 911. The victim undergoes multiple surgeries but will never regain full use of her hand. While the teacher has not been criminally charged, the family is now suing the teacher, the principal, and the school district. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. We begin in Wisconsin as a police chief says that the total reward in the case of a three-year-old boy who disappeared last month has now increased to $25,000. With more, here's Sydney Sumner with Crime Online.

Two Rivers Police Chief Ben Minert announced in a news release that the Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, Crimestoppers' reward for information resulting in Elijah Vu's whereabouts and return or in the arrest and conviction of those responsible for his disappearance has increased to a maximum of $10,000. Minert added that there's an FBI reward of up to $15,000 in this case, in addition to the Crimestoppers' reward. Prosecutors say that the boy's mother had

sent him to stay in a Two Rivers home where he was last seen on February 20. Elijah has not been found despite many searches by the police and local citizens. His mother, 31-year-old Wisconsin Dells resident Katrina Bauer, is accused of two misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing an officer and one felony count of party to a crime involving child neglect in Manitowoc County. She is being jailed under a $15,000 cash bond. 39-year-old Jesse Vong of Two Rivers, the man with whom Elijah was sent to stay, is accused of one felony count of party to a crime child neglect. He is behind bars for a $20,000 cash bond. According to Manitowoc County District Attorney Jacqueline LeBray, Elijah was sent by Bauer to live with Fong for disciplinary reasons. At the time of Elijah's disappearance, Bauer was not in Two Rivers, which is roughly 30 miles

southeast of Green Bay. A criminal complaint states that Bauer informed police that she had left Elijah with Fong on February 12th because she wanted him to train her son to be a man. She planned to pick him up on February 23rd. On February 20th, Vong reported Elijah missing to the police, stating that he had taken a nap that morning and had taken the boy into the bedroom with him. However, the boy was gone when he awakened roughly three hours later. This also detailed in the criminal complaint. One final detail in that complaint, Vong admitted to authorities that he was seeing Bauer

and had been attempting to assist with her son's bad behavior. A Philadelphia man has had his conviction overturned and is now free from prison. All of this several years after a crucial witness recanted his testimony given during trial for a pool room killing over 50 years ago. Once again, Crime Online, Sydney Sumner. 77-year-old William Franklin was originally found guilty of killing Joseph Hollis in a brewery town pool room in 1976, mostly on the basis of the testimony of a jailhouse informant who defense lawyers claimed was involved in other criminal cases. Franklin is now a free man. Our friends with the Philadelphia Inquirer previously reported that the informant claimed in an affidavit in a video statement made

prior to his death in 2020 that detectives had not only threatened him with a life sentence, but also offered him lenient treatment and the opportunity to have liaisons with multiple women, either at police headquarters or in hotel rooms. Franklin's first-degree murder conviction was overturned by Common Pleas Court Judge Tracy Brandeis-Román last week. This according to the newspaper. She stated that her court is, quote, not fond of the notion that Philadelphia authorities have closed cases through intimidation and similar covert incentives. On the day of his release, after serving some 44 years behind bars, Franklin was greeted with applause from his family and supporters as he left Kern-Fromhold Correctional Facility. He told our friends with WCAU-TV that

he felt, quote, fine, lovely, and grateful to be here, but added that there's more work to be done because we have a lot of brothers and sisters behind those walls. Franklin, who was granted bail by the judge, is now under house arrest until the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office decides whether to appeal the ruling or retry him. Thanks, John. Nicole Bauman seems to have a good time at her oldest daughter's 20th birthday party, but two days later, she disappears from the family's Mount Dora, Florida home. Nicole makes sure their two younger children are settled in for the night, then gets ready for bed herself, saying goodnight to her daughter around 1130,

then going to sleep next to her husband. He wakes up the next morning, and Nicole's gone. Her car's still in the driveway, her person's cell phone left behind. It doesn't appear she changed out of her nightgown or put on shoes. Nicole's husband, Brett Baldwin, moved the family away just after Nicole disappeared, but he's not considered a POI. Nicole Baldwin now missing four months. If you have info on Nicole Baldwin, call Mount Dora, Florida PD, 352-735-7130. For the latest crime and justice news, go to CrimeOnline.com.

With this Crime Alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an iHeart Podcast.