Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 04.09.2024

Episode Date: April 9, 2024

Mother stabs 4-year-old son to death. Walmart shoplifter claims it was 'just a game!' For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Alert, I'm Nancy Grace. Breaking crime news now. Janet Garcia and her son Ariel, four years old, stay with a friend a few days. The friend comes home in the afternoon and finds the blood on the floor and the Garcia's gone. Washington State Police searched for the mom and taught the next day cops find a body. Four-year-old Ariel. Nancy Garcia told Ariel's grandmother that she had put the boy up for adoption and checked herself into rehab.

Police found Garcia at a rehab facility in Ridgefield wearing clothes with droplets of blood on them. Garcia told them Ariel fell off a bed and hit his head, after which she took him to a hospital, but left because the wait was too long. Ariel's body was discovered on the side of I-5 with 41 stab wounds. Janet Garcia, 27, arrested on suspicion of murder. Walmart shopper Amber McCann is asked about shoplifting. Florida cops describe a suspect who walks out of a store with a full cart without paying. McCann cuts them off and says, yes, she did it. It was all a game.

Cops point out it's still theft. She counters, it's really, really fun. The cop gets the last word, stating, going to jail is fun. Amber McCann, 30, now booked on grand theft. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. Authorities in a northern Illinois city have announced that a 22-year-old man has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder following a crazed stabbing and beating spree

that claimed the lives of four people in just a matter of minutes. For more, we turn to Sydney Sumner with Crime Online. Following the incident in Rockford, Illinois, Christian Soto is further charged with seven counts of attempted murder and house invasion with a dangerous weapon. There were seven people injured in the attack. According to jail and court records, Soto is being held without bond after making a brief appearance in court. At a press conference, Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara, who was visibly upset and found it difficult to hold back his tears, named the dead as 63-year-old Ramona Schupbach, 23-year-old Jacob Schupbach, 49-year-old Jay Larson, and Jenna Newcomb, who was 15. Officials say three patients were

admitted to an area hospital. Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd reported that the other four were treated and then released. Little information about Soto has been made public by the authorities. Redd said Soto carried out the attacks on his own and that the authorities were unsure of his motivation. Redd did reveal that Soto and Jacob Schupbach were childhood friends. According to Jay Hanley, the state's attorney for Winnebago County, Soto admitted to investigators that the two had been smoking marijuana at Schupbach's house prior to the attack. Hanley says the fatal rampage took place in a neighborhood of ranch-style homes early in the afternoon hours. Redd added that Soto's arrest happened in less than 20 minutes from the time of

the first 911 call. Just days before the attacks, a teenage worker inside a Rockford Walmart was fatally stabbed. A suspect has been arrested in connection with that homicide. Rockford is a city of about 150,000 residents located some 90 miles northwest of Chicago. Now to Minnesota, where a teenager has received a four-year sentence for his involvement in a St. Paul killing that caused Minneapolis police to carry out a search warrant, one that led to a mere lock being fatally shot by a police officer. Crime Online's Sidney Sumner here again to tell us more about this case, which has brought attention to the use of no-knock warrants. 18-year-old Faisal Jama Ali of Minneapolis previously entered a guilty

plea to being an accomplice after the fact in the murder of 38-year-old Otis Elder of St. Paul during a marijuana deal on January 10, 2022. Ali was then sentenced as laid out in his plea agreement. Makai Camden Speed, Ali's 17-year-old cousin, shot Elder. After entering a guilty plea to aiding and abetting second-degree unintended murder during an armed robbery, Speed was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison in July of last year. On February 2, 2022, police executed search warrants at Speed's apartment building in downtown Minneapolis. 22-year-old Amir Locke, who was not mentioned in the warrants, was asleep on a couch in Speed's brother's girlfriend's separate unit when a SWAT team stormed in looking for Speed.

Locke was killed by a Minneapolis police officer when the victim came out from under a blanket with a gun that his family claimed he was licensed to carry. Because Locke had pointed his gun at the officer, the prosecution decided not to press charges against the officer who shot him. According to Locke's family, body camera footage shows that he was startled awake. Since the incident, Locke's relatives have waged a campaign to ban no-knock warrants. Locke was killed while three former Minneapolis police officers were being tried in federal court in St. Paul on civil rights charges related to the death of George Floyd. The Floyd case centered attention on the use of force by police and

provoked a racial reckoning. Thanks, John. Kenneth Reed heads home after spending time with nearby relative, but his truck breaks down. He takes off walking, trying to thumb a ride, but he never makes it home. Mississippi cops find Reed's truck abandoned and search dogs follow his scent about a mile. The trail goes dead, meaning Reed likely got in another car. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation put out a silver alert for Reed, but it turned up nothing. Family members say Reed has a medical condition that could impair his judgment. Reed, missing since February, last seen wearing a green t-shirt and black sweatpants. His family is offering a $7,000 reward for info leading to his discovery.

If you know anything about Kenneth Reed, contact Noxup Peay County Sheriff's 662-726-5332. For the latest crime and justice news, go to crimeonline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.