Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 04.02.24

Episode Date: April 2, 2024

Man stages wife's fall down the stairs to cover up her murder. Florida cops find young children's parents passed out on the beach! 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. Eric Stills wakes up to find his wife's body at the bottom of the stairs in their California home. He tells 911 Susan must have fallen in the dark while he slept. As cops search the home, they find a clump of her hair and bloodstains on the curtains in their daughter's bedroom. Autopsy reveals she died of strangulation. The husband, Eric Stills, arrested. Nancy Stills' 911 call was oddly detached, the 58-year-old telling dispatchers, quote, We've got a patient here who's fallen off the stairs, and I don't have a pulse. Stills was a medical director at a fertility clinic co-founded by

Susan Stills. Tax messages between the couple reveal that their relationship became strained when Susan Stills posted a topless photo after losing a bet. Prosecutors claim that's why Stills killed his wife while their 12-year-old twin slept. Eric Stills, 58, now sentenced to 15 years on homicide. Florida cops find two unsupervised children, 5 and 7, swimming in a hotel pool. The children lead cops down to the beach where mommy and boyfriend are passed out. Police find an empty bottle of whiskey and beer cans around Alicia Langley and boyfriend Timothy Stevens. After quite the effort by cops

to wake the couple, they're asked, where are your children? Timothy Stevens scans the ocean. Cops bring out the cuffs, but Stevens makes a run for it, falling flat on his face just a few feet away. Alicia Langley and Timothy Stevens, 27, now charged with child neglect. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. An American woman who pretended to be a wealthy heiress is being extradited to Northern Ireland to stand trial for alleged scams in which she is charged with defrauding investors of more than $150,000. In the past, she was found guilty in a Los Angeles scam that was discussed on the Queen of Con podcast. We turn to Sydney Sumner with Crime Online for more.

Both British and American officials say that as a mortgage counselor in Northern Ireland from March 2008 to October 2010, 54-year-old Marion Smith is suspected of tricking five clients into making investments with her when she was employed there. According to the officials, she is accused of defrauding five individuals out of over £135,000, roughly US$172,000, money that she claimed would be invested but was really pocketed for herself. On February 23, a warrant for her arrest was signed and issued in Maine. She is to be arrested there and extradited to Northern Ireland, where she faces charges of four counts of theft and four counts of fraud by

abuse of position. In Bangor, an extradition hearing is scheduled for April 17. While employed by an independent mortgage solution, LTD, as an independent mortgage advisor, Smith is charged with defrauding the five individuals. A lawsuit submitted to the U.S. District Court of Maine said she was expected to, quote, safeguard the financial interests of her clients in that capacity. Rather, U.S. prosecutors claimed on behalf of British officials requesting her extradition that she had stolen her customers' money. In July of 2009, police in Northern Ireland were notified of Smith's theft and deception. By then, however, she had left the United Kingdom and returned to the United States. Smith was found guilty in Los Angeles of

scamming podcaster Jonathan Walton, who has stated that he once thought of her as his best friend years after she vanished from Northern Ireland in 2009. Smith received a five-year sentence after being found guilty of grand theft in California in January 2019. Prosecutors have stated in court that Smith might spend up to 10 years in prison for each of the allegations, as reported by our friends with The Guardian newspaper. The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been granted permission by the London High Court to reopen his appeal against being extradited to the U.S. on charges of espionage. Once again, Crime Online, Sydney Sumner. Unless the United States offered,

quote, satisfactory assurances regarding Assange's ability to rely on the First Amendment of the Constitution and his potential exposure to the death penalty, the court decided that Assange might pursue his appeal at a full hearing. It further stated that his nationality should not be a factor in any unfairness throughout the trial or punishment process. To, quote, decide that the assurances are satisfactory and to make a final decision on leave to appeal, a follow-up hearing is scheduled for May 20. For over 10 years, Assange has been resisting extradition. He spent the first seven of those years in self-exile at the Ecuadorian embassy in London and the last five at the highly secure Belmarsh prison outside of the British capital.

Prosecutors in the United States say that Assange assisted U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in stealing diplomatic cables and military papers that WikiLeaks published over 15 years ago, putting lives at danger. Assange faces 17 espionage accusations and one computer abuse allegation related to the secret material that WikiLeaks published. Thanks, John. Neighbors called Carroll County, Georgia, cops after hearing a gunshot from Jeremy Talbert's home. Inside, cops find Talbert shot himself. When they inform the family, cops discover Talbert has an ex-wife, Samantha, who hasn't been seen or heard of in nearly two weeks. The couple had a history of domestic violence,

but Samantha's truck was parked in Talbert's driveway. Samantha's daughter says she last spoke with mom Feb. 25. Cops find Samantha's phone was shut off not long after that call and no activity on bank accounts since. Samantha Talbert, 5'4", shoulder-length, blonde hair, missing nearly a month. If you have info on Samantha Talbert, call Carroll County, Georgia, Sheriff's, 770-830-5916. For the latest crime and justice news, go to CrimeOnline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace.

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