Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 04.15.24

Episode Date: April 15, 2024

Man arrested in connection with shooting that injured three. Angry customer smacks employee in the face with a bible on Easter Sunday.  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. Shots ring out at a Laurel, Delaware house party. A gunman fires over 50 bullets, injuring three victims. A 26-year-old woman is shot seven times. A 17-year-old boy hit twice. And an 18-year-old woman is treated on the scene for a bullet graze. Cops review surveillance

video and ID their suspect, Branson Daniels. Nancy, Laurel police were also looking for two more suspects in the shooting, finding a 17-year-old who was involved already incarcerated in Maryland. It's unclear what the motive behind the shooting was, but all three victims survived. Daniels is also wanted for an earlier vehicle pursuit in nearby Seaford. Cops track Daniels to a motel in Ocean City, Maryland. He's arrested for 14 counts of reckless endangerment, gun violations, with more charges pending. How about aggravated assault? Peter Owens heads to a Florida Walgreens on Easter Sunday, then gets in an argument with an employee, and a manager, Nicole Merck, steps in to break it up.

Merck asks Owens to leave the store, but instead, he smacks Merck in the face with a Bible. Cops are called, and despite his claim he didn't mean to hit the manager, Peter Owens, 35, charged with battery. By Bible. Well, I guess that's one way to get your attention with the gospel. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley.

We begin in Louisiana, where following a man's guilty plea to the murder of his three children in an arson fire last year, a fight has broken out in a New Orleans courtroom. For more, we turn to Sydney Sumner with Crime Online. According to various news sources in New Orleans, just moments after Joseph Washington pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, he was attacked by a woman who was related to the children. Before deputies in the courtroom could restore order, more relatives joined in the onslaught. There was one reported arrest. Following the prosecutor's decision to drop their pursuit of the death penalty in this case, Washington entered a plea that will guarantee him a life sentence in prison. In what police chief Ann Kirkpatrick described as a horrific act of domestic violence,

Washington set fire to his ex-wife's home in October. Police reported that the fire killed a three-year-old boy, a five-year-old girl, and an eight-year-old boy. Authorities say that the mother of the children had contacted 911, claiming that the children's father was going to set the house on fire. Reports of fire at the residence came in within minutes of the mother's initial call. The fire occurred while the mother was away from the home. Victims' families are urging prosecutors to reject an offer made by a convicted murderer, a man released early from a Texas prison over three decades ago and who is currently facing two new murder charges. Once again, Crime Online's Sydney

Sumner. Before his release, 63-year-old Raul Meza Jr. spent nearly 10 years behind bars for killing an eight-year-old girl. Meza was accused last year of two additional homicides that occurred in 2019 and that they believe may be related to Meza. The proposed deal would exchange a plea and return to prison for 50 years for avoiding going to trial and possibly facing the death penalty. At a pretrial hearing, Travis County prosecutors said they had only just received a plea offer from Meza's lawyer and had no time to analyze it. It was immediately unclear whether Meza was being given the option to enter a plea of guilty or something else entirely, such as no contest. Speaking to

reporters following the hearing, relatives of the victims pleaded with the prosecution to turn down the offer. Meza struck a plea deal that led to his initial 1982 conviction and 30-year prison term. After receiving credit for good conduct, he was freed early. Meza's attorney, Russ Hunt, said that the concurrent 50-year sentence offered for each murder accusation would essentially put him behind bars for life. Meza would be eligible for parole at age 93 in 30 years, this according to state law. When Meza was released from prison early in 1993, it created a stir throughout the state of Texas, and demonstrators met him almost everywhere he went. He was forced to leave six cities by picketers, some of whom threatened him with violence. Meza allegedly called Austin

police in May of last year, confessing to killing his 80-year-old roommate Jesse Fraga a few days earlier and linking himself to Gloria Lofton's 2019 sexual assault and murder. When Meza was taken into custody, authorities stated he had a backpack with zip ties, duct tape, a flashlight, and a.22 caliber handgun with additional bullets in it. Meza has been charged with capital murder in Lofton's killing, which could result in his being sentenced to death or life without the possibility of parole if he's convicted. Meer was indicted on a murder charge and Fraga's death, which could result in a life term. Thanks, John. Darian Hudson has a tough year in Stillwater, Oklahoma. She suffers a miscarriage, broke up with her partner, and her childhood dog passed away.

Darian and her family in Wichita discussed Darian moving close to home. The day that convo happened, Darian doesn't show up for work. At home, cops find her door open, the lights on, dishes in the sink, but no Darian. A month later, cops get an alert. A man tried to use Darian Hudson's credit card in Oklahoma City. He tells cops he found the card in a purse at a construction site in Stillwater around the same time Darian disappeared. Cops interview workers at the site who say they saw a woman matching Darian's description sitting alone near the site. She appeared blank and unresponsive and eventually left on foot. Cops do find a sweatshirt and Darian's wallet near the site. No further clues where she went.

Darian Hudson now missing over six years. If you have info on Darian Hudson, call Stillwater, Oklahoma PD, 405-372-4171. For the latest crime and justice news, go to crimeonline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an iHeart Podcast.