Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 03.26.24

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

Mom encourages 7-year-old daughter to steal a purse! Burglar does elaborate stretch before breaking into a bakery.  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. Kenya Butler and her two children had for supper at Georgia's Juicy Crab restaurant. Noticing unattended belongings one booth over, Butler points out a purse and urges her seven-year-old daughter to steal it. The little girl grabs the purse, hands it to mommy, and the group quickly leaves. They also skip out on a $500 bill. Nancy, the entire incident was caught on surveillance video, which helped lead authorities to their suspects. Butler is seen holding her toddler in her arms while pointing out the purse to her older daughter. The little girl questions her mother,

but Butler insists and the girl grabs the purse, hiding it under a jacket until they make it outside the restaurant. While the little daughter's not in trouble, Kenya Butler, 28, now charged with theft and contributing to delinquency of a minor. A bakery owner reviews surveillance footage after noticing items missing from the shop. The video shows a blonde woman dressed in black outside the shop doing a series of stretches and yoga poses before breaking in. The owner reports a pair of shoes, an iPad, cleaning products, and several croissants missing. Social media joked the woman wanted to quote work off the calories she's about to steal. the so-called bendable burglar now out on bail for theft and burglary. More crime and justice news after this.

Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. A judge has dismissed a prosecutor's request to add abduction charges against an Indiana man accused of killing two teenage girls. This while the judge has now accepted two more murder counts against the defendant. With more, here's Sydney Sumner with Crime Online. Richard Allen of Delphi has now been charged with additional counts including murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping. After being taken into custody in October of 2022, Allen was accused of killing 14-year-old Liberty German and 13-year-old Abigail Williams in 2017. In response to the initial murder allegations, he entered a not guilty plea.

When he submitted the revised charges in January, Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland stated that they, quote, more accurately align the charging information with the cause's discovery and probable cause affidavit. Apart from authorizing the fresh accusations, special judge Fran Gull decided that all subsequent proceedings in the case, aside from the May 13th jury selection, will take place in Carroll County. Gull is an Allen Superior Court judge in Fort Wayne, where several hearings have taken place. It was on February 13, 2017, that a relative of one of the teens left the two girls at a hiking trail near Delphi, which is roughly 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis. When they failed to appear at the meeting spot where

they had made arrangements to be picked up that evening, they were reported missing. The following day, their bodies were discovered close to the path in a rough, densely forested location. Delphi, a town of approximately 3,000 people where Ellen worked in a pharmacy, has been traumatized by the killings, and the case has drawn a lot of attention from both state and federal authorities. Gull issued a gag order in December 2022 prohibiting lawyers, police officers, court employees, the coroner, and relatives of the girls from discussing the matter with the public or the media in any way. Citing increasing public scrutiny and media attention, prosecutors had requested the order. It was after a Carroll County judge resigned that Gull was appointed as a special judge to supervise the case. Now to Washington State as a man from Portland suburbs

has been convicted of the 1980 cold case murder of a 19-year-old college student. Once again, Crime Online, Sydney Sumner. According to a press release issued by the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office, 60-year-old Robert Plimpton was found guilty of first-degree murder and the death of Barbara Mae Tucker by Multnomah County Circuit Judge Amy Baggio. As to the judge's ruling, Plimpton was not found guilty of any crime related to rape or sexual abuse because the prosecution was unable to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the incidents occurred while she was still alive. A medical examiner's finding revealed that Tucker had been beaten and sexually assaulted.

Using DNA technology, a Parabon Nanolabs genealogist, determined in 2021 that Plimpton was most likely connected to DNA in the case. Prosecutors claim that Gresham Police Department detectives discovered Plimpton residing in Troutdale. They began monitoring the suspect and gathered a chewing gum fragment he had spit onto the ground. Following the discovery by the Oregon State Police Crime Lab that the gum's DNA profile matched that of swabs collected from Tucker's remains, Plimpton was taken into custody. On January 15, 1980, Tucker was scheduled to attend a night class at Mount Hood Community College in Gresham. Witnesses reported seeing her bolting from a wooded area on campus, followed by a man who escorted her back to the school. The following day, a student discovered Tucker's body next to a school parking lot. Plimpton

claimed to be innocent and to not fit the description of the man who was observed dragging the woman into the bushes. Sentencing is set to take place in June. Thanks, John. Caroline Meister visits the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in rural Carmel Valley, California for meditation. At 10 a.m., she leaves the center to hike, heading up Wind Cave Trail to loop back to the center. She leaves her belongings behind, only taking water and snacks. When she doesn't return by 11 30 p.m., Caroline's reported missing. After an extensive foot and helicopter search, Caroline has not been found. She was last seen one week ago wearing teal boots and carrying

a blue bag. Hikers are asked to keep an eye out for her. If you know or think you know anything about Caroline Meister's disappearance, contact Monterey County, California Sheriff's 831-755-5111. For the latest crime and justice news, go to CrimeOnline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an iHeart Podcast.