Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 03.31.23

Episode Date: March 31, 2023

Attempted kidnapper fought off by middle school students. Carjacking victim dies while speaking with police.  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. A group of Maryland middle school students waiting for the bus when 30-year-old Jamal Germany grabs a student from behind, dragging the child toward his apartment. The other students fight him off and tell the bus driver what happened. Crime Online's John Limley. Nancy, many neighbors and parents commented on the incident. One parent of a high school student reporting that Germany was lurking around their stop as well. Neighbors report Germany frequently threatened them and even tried to kick down their doors. The middle school plans to place an attendant at the bus stop for security.

Germany now charged with kidnap. Roy Kreidler offers Chandler McLeod a ride to the Hustlers Club, a Vegas strip joint. But Cridler stops at Play It Again Sam's strip club instead. McLeod gets angry, shoves the driver out of the car. He hits his head on the pavement. McLeod then takes off. Cridler calls police as he's giving a statement. He collapses and dies.

Cridler was standing in the parking lot speaking with officers when his head started to hurt and he said he needed to sit down. The 62-year-old passed out and was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. Cops later find Cridler's car burned and the inside coated in urine and feces. When McLeod is later arrested during a traffic stop, he admits to stealing the car and then trying to destroy any DNA left inside. Chandler McLeod now booked on murder. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. A northeastern Montana sheriff's deputy shot a jail inmate who had taken a hostage at a hospital in Glasgow. The incident happened just after 2.30 p.m. Wednesday at Deaconess Hospital.

The inmate was flown to a hospital in Billings for treatment. Officials have not released the inmate's name, said why the inmate was at the hospital, or how extensive their injuries are. The Montana Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting. The Sheriff's Office did not say who was taken hostage or how. A hospital employee and a detention officer were also involved in the incident. No one else was injured. A Missouri man has been found not guilty in the deaths of five people who were also involved in the incident. No one else was injured. A Missouri man has been found not guilty in the deaths of five people who were shot at an apartment complex in 2019. Sidney Sumner is with Crime Online. A jury deliberated less than two hours Wednesday

before acquitting 33-year-old Anthony Watkins of five counts of first-degree murder and five weapons charges. Prosecutors said Watkins and another man, Terrence Wesley, were seeking missing drugs before they killed five men in a partially boarded-up apartment known for drug deals on July 6, 2019. But Watkins' attorney said Wesley was behind the killings and tried to implicate Watkins in an effort to get leniency. Wesley reached a plea deal in July in exchange for his cooperation and testimony during the trial. He pleaded guilty to five counts of second-degree murder and weapons offenses and is now awaiting sentencing.

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said in a statement that prosecutors struggled with witness availability during the trial. A 19-year-old from Maine who the FBI says built homemade explosives and plotted to attack a mosque in the name of the Islamic State group will plead guilty to providing material support to terrorists. Xavier Pelkey of Waterville faces a maximum of 15 years in prison under a plea agreement in which a second charge will be dropped. The change of plea hearing is set for next week in U.S. District Court. Law enforcement officials said Pelkey was in communication with two juveniles, one in Canada, the other in Illinois,

about conducting a mass shooting at a Shiite mosque in the Chicago area and possibly other houses of worship. All three alleged plotters believed in a radical form of Sunni Islam that views the Shiite branch of Islam as non-believers. After nearly four decades, a cold case killing in eastern Missouri has been solved thanks to DNA evidence. Once again, Crime Online's Sydney Sumner. Authorities in Lincoln County announced Wednesday that a DNA match identified the victim as 50-year-old Jack Lingenekert, a real estate agent from the St. Louis county town of Florissant. Lingenekert was reported missing in 1982.

The body was found dressed in a pinstripe suit and tie in 1984. The victim had been shot in the back of the head. Officials with the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said during a news conference Wednesday that forensic genetic genealogy led to the identity of the victim. The technology identifies DNA through comparison to genetic profiles and genealogy databases. Authorities say detectives are working to determine who killed Langen Eckert, whose body was found on a farm June 11, 1984. Florida cops respond to a 911 hang-up and find a very disturbing scene. A woman and her entire home covered in spatter from pizza sauce. Her husband, Artelio Alfonso, insists the couple

was just having an argument, but the woman with pizza sauce in her hair tells police Alfonso slapped her with a slice of pizza. With the evidence in her favor, cops arrest Alfonso on battery by pizza. For the latest crime and justice news, go to CrimeOnline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an iHeart Podcast.