Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 04.01.24

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

Mom beats 8-year-old girl to death. CSI's preparing to solve murders in space! 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. Michigan cops respond to reports of injured child. At the girl's home, they find the unresponsive eight-year-old has bruising, swelling to the head and neck so severe her face is, quote, unrecognizable. She's pronounced dead at the hospital. Mom, Chelsea Duprion, says the girl fell downstairs, but medical staff says those injuries are more consistent with abuse and were caused at least a day earlier. Nancy, we're learning the little girl's name was Lila Cassell. When cops began to question mom, Chelsea Duprion, she eventually told police a ghost or spirit

caused her to attack the girl when she began, quote, acting crazy. When first responders arrived, Lila was not breathing, and prosecutors have said photos of her condition were horrific. Duprion is currently held without bond. Chelsea Duprion, 30, charged with child abuse and felony murder. You ever wonder how you'd prove a crime in space? Georgia crime scene investigator Zach Kowalski teams up with researchers at universities to study blood patterns in low gravity as space tourism continues to expand. Using a syringe, he simulates blood spray while aboard a parabolic aircraft, and it creates brief periods of weightlessness. He finds that blood spatter

patterns much smaller than in normal gravity conditions. Hear me, now even in space you cannot get away with murder. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. We begin in New York as a woman stands accused of beating her five-year-old daughter to death nearly three months ago and concealing the body, which has still not been located.

With more, here's Sydney Sumner with Crime Online. 29-year-old Latasha Mott of Syracuse has now been arraigned on charges of manslaughter and disposing of a corpse in connection to the death of her daughter, Nefertiti Harris. Prosecutors all that on January 6, as Nefertiti was taking a shower, Mott killed her by striking her with a belt several times. They added that Mott then concealed the

body. According to our friends with the Syracuse Post-Standard, police conducted a search in nearby fields and woodlands, utilizing a drone. The newspaper says that Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick stated that relatives who were concerned about Nefertiti's whereabouts contacted police, marking the beginning of the investigation. Fitzpatrick says that when Mott was questioned by police, she admitted to killing the child and concealing the body in a wooded area. Mott entered a not guilty plea at her arraignment. Her lawyer, Don Kelly, said his client is being held on a million-dollar bond or $500,000 cash. Kelly said that he received the case on the day of the arraignment,

and it is too soon to provide any further details on the case. While searching a suspect's house and car, police in rural Pennsylvania investigating the death of a pregnant Amish woman have found six firearms, a variety of ammunition, and a pair of tennis shoes that might match tread marks found at the crime scene. Once again, Crime Online, Sidney Sumner. According to search warrant documents now made public, 23-year-old Rebecca Beiler was shot in the head and sustained multiple sharp force wounds to her neck during the attack at her home on the 26th of February. After a preliminary hearing on March 15th, truck driver Sean Christopher Cranston was

charged with two counts of homicide and additional offenses. The case was then sent to county court for trial. A state trooper stated in a recently made public search warrant affidavit that Rebecca Beiler's two-year-old daughter and three-year-old son were present during the murder, and the boy informed detectives that his mother had been slain by a man wearing sneakers. Around lunchtime on February 26th, Andy Beiler, Rebecca Beiler's husband, and a woman who had been driving him and another man to look at roofing jobs returned to the Beiler residence and found her dead in the living room. The children were found unharmed. Trooper Shea Sedler said at a preliminary hearing that red and black Nike sneakers were discovered inside a tent at Cranston's Corey, Pennsylvania home, hidden beneath a mattress. Sedler said that the pattern on the bottom of the shoes was similar to ones he photographed inside Rebecca Beiler's

home. Cranston, who has been behind bars without bail since his arrest on March 2nd, provided police with his DNA and fingerprints. Gary Allen Kern, the public defender for Cranston, who has been behind bars without bail since his arrest on March 2nd, provided police with his DNA and fingerprints. Gary Allen Kern, the public defender for Cranston, said at the preliminary hearing that the prosecution had failed to provide a motive or a murder weapon. Detectives say that tire treads from Cranston's Jeep appear to match tire imprints found at the crime scene that were taken from muddy terrain. In the hours following Rebecca Beiler's death, police say a camera on a shop across the street from Cranston's residence captured someone matching his description taking goods to the camper and lighting a fire. Investigators stated that they intend to gather burn pile remnants found outside Cranston's home.

The 52-year-old Cranston is charged with two counts of homicide in addition to trespassing and burglary. Thanks, John. Mary Johnson of Tulalip, Washington, sees her family Tuesday and makes plans to meet up with a friend Wednesday. She walks to her friends down Fire Trail Road, sending a text she's almost there, but she never shows up. Two weeks go by before she's reported missing.

Her husband, Eric Johnson, makes the report, hires a lawyer, then changes his phone number and moves to California, according to her family. Cops find that after Mary's text messages, her phone pinged off cell towers 30 minutes north, then shut off. No trace of Mary Johnson, call Tulalip, Washington, Tribal PD, 360-716-4608. For the latest crime and justice news, go to CrimeOnline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace.

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