Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 03.21.24

Episode Date: March 21, 2024

Two women caught in a 'Weekend at Bernie's' stunt. Man slinks away in embarrassment after trying and failing to set flags on fire.  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. Karen Kasbaum and Lorene Ferralo thought they could pull off a weekend at Bernie's Plot. When they find their 80-year-old roommate, Douglas Lehman, dead in his room, the two women prop Douglas up in the backseat of their car and take him to the bank. There, they withdraw $900 from his bank account. The two women then make a stop at the hospital where they dump his body and drive off. Nancy, medical personnel had no idea who Lehman was until one of the women called hours later and identified him. Police were immediately dispatched to Lehman's home where they made contact with Kasbaum and Ferallo. The women said that bank tellers previously allowed them to withdraw money from Lehman's

account as long as he was in the vehicle, so they thought they would stop by on their way to the hospital. After admitting to the stunt, both Karen Kasbaum and Lauren Ferallo charged with abuse of a corpse and theft. Surveillance video catches the moment a New York City man tries and fails to set a U.S. and Israeli flag on fire. What is wrong with him? A man in a black hoodie and face mask crossing the street, climbing onto a table to get the flags. He pulls out a can of hairspray and a lighter and tries to ignite the aerosol multiple times, but high winds blow out the flame and push the flags out of reach. The attempted arsonist looks around nervously, puts away his tools, and slinks back down the street.

As he should. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. One of the final four individuals accused of participating in an international scheme of murder for hire that resulted in the kidnapping and death of a Vermont man in 2018 has now entered a guilty plea. We turn to Sydney Sumner with Crime Online. Along with major suspect Sarat Gumrukcha of Los Angeles, Burke Arate of Las Vegas was scheduled to go on trial this past September. Arate entered a new plea to allegations of wire fraud and planning the

kidnapping and murder of a third man, 49-year-old Gregory Davis of Danville, Vermont. Prosecutors claim that Davis had been threatening to report to the FBI details of Gumrukça's deception in a multi-million dollar oil deal that Gumrakça and his brother had entered into with Davis in 2015. Gumrakça is a native of Turkey who emigrated to the United States in 2013. According to Davis's wife, on January 6, 2018, a man in a mask came to the couple's Danville home and informed Davis that he had an arrest warrant out for him due to allegations of racketeering. She claimed that the two of them departed together. The next day, Davis' handcuffed body was discovered on the side of a snow-covered Vermont country road. Investigators spent more than four years trying to link the four suspects

after the victim's death. The individual who had knocked on the door was identified as Jerry Banks from Colorado. They also learned that Banks had a friendship with Erin Lee Etheridge from Las Vegas and that Etheridge had a friendship with Arate. They allege that Arate worked for Gumrukcha. In 2022, Etheridge entered a guilty plea for his involvement in planning Davis' abduction and murder. Banks entered a guilty plea last year to conspiring to commit kidnapping and murder for pay. Both men are awaiting their sentences. The movie set Armorer found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Alec Baldwin's deadly shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western movie Rust has now been scheduled for sentencing next month. This, according to court documents. Once again, Crime Online's Sydney Sumner.

It was earlier this month that a jury found Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty in the October 2021 shooting that occurred at a rehearsal outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico. A grand jury indicted Baldwin in January, and he has entered a not guilty plea to an involuntary manslaughter charge. His trial is scheduled for July. Judge Mary Marlowe-Summer of Santa Fe has scheduled a two-hour sentencing hearing for Gutierrez-Reed to be held on the morning of April 15. Marlo Sommer is tasked with supervising Baldwin's trial as well. A felony conviction for involuntary manslaughter carries a maximum 18-month jail sentence as well as a $5,000 fine. According to a statement issued by defense attorney Jason Bowles, Gutierrez-Reed intends to appeal the conviction. Director Joel Souza was injured and cinematographer Helena Hutchins killed when the gun fired as Baldwin was pointing the revolver at her. Baldwin has

claimed that while he did pull back the gun's hammer, he did not touch the trigger. During her two-week trial, Gutierrez-Reed was accused by the prosecution of inadvertently carrying live ammunition onto the Russ set, despite it being specifically forbidden. They allege she did not adhere to fundamental firearm safety procedures. Dave Halls, the associate director of Rust and the safety coordinator, entered a plea of not guilty last year to negligent firearm handling and served out his six-month unsupervised probation. Gutierrez-Reed is being held at the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Facility pending her sentencing. Thanks, John. Ebony Spears tells her parents she's feeling paranoid and anxious and asks them to meet her. She spends the night at her parents' Wilmington, North Carolina home.

Next day, feeling better, she heads to her home, promising to come back for dinner that night. But then she calls to cancel. Ebony starts acting strangely again, telling Wilmington cops someone's following her. She uses the phone at the police station, but whoever she calls doesn't pick up. She leaves the police station on her own. Neighbors report having a brief conversation with her. Ebony tells them she's making a quick run to the store, but she never comes back. Ebony Spears, 30, now missing eight years. If you have info on

missing Ebony Spears, contact Wilmington, North Carolina PD, 910-343-3600. For the latest crime and justice news, go to CrimeOnline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an iHeart Podcast.