Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 05.03.24

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

Pre-school teacher threatens to shoot up school.  The 'cardboard box burglar' caught on his third heist! 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. Preschool teacher Shanika Cowart gets in an argument with another teacher and threatens to shoot her and others at the school. Cowart claims to have a gun on her person and access to more. Nashville cops are called. They find Cowart has one gun in her purse and a second in her car. Nancy, Cowart allegedly made threats, including, When I start shooting, you better run. It's unclear what started the argument that led to the threats.

School safety officers took Cowart into custody, and the school was put on lockdown until Nashville police arrived. Students were allowed to leave after police recovered the two guns from Cowart, and she was removed from the scene. Shanika Cowart, 29, now charged with assault, threat of mass violence, two counts of carrying a weapon on school property. A Florida business owner calls police when a panic alarm is set off inside his shop. Cops review surveillance footage and see a white male pull up to a dumpster behind the business and pull out a cardboard box. The man puts the box over his head to conceal his face, then proceeds to break into the business, stealing

several security cameras and a speaker, among other items. In the following months, two more similar burglaries occur, but there's no box over the guy's head in the last one. Alan Gaudreau is identified as the so-called box burglar, and now he, of course, is facing several theft charges. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. An eyewitness who tried to step in and stop George Floyd's murder has been awarded a $150,000 payment by the Minneapolis City Council.

Sidney Sumner with Crime Online tells us more about the case and the witness who claims that former officer Derek Chauvin in his 2021 murder trial, said he was beaten by police on May 25, 2020, while attempting to prevent Floyd's death. Our friends with the Star Tribune say that the settlement was accepted by the city council without deliberation. According to the lawsuit, Chauvin seized a canister of chemical spray and shook it toward Williams and other onlookers who were concerned for Floyd's well-being. Williams can be heard in a video shown at Chauvin's trial telling Chauvin to get off Floyd and calling the officer a bum. The lawsuit also states that former Minneapolis officer Toe Tao approached Williams and put his hand on his chest. During Chauvin's trial, Williams told the jury that Floyd had been subjected to a, quote, blood choke by the cop, a maneuver that limited the flow of blood. Williams claimed in his lawsuit that Chauvin's actions caused him to worry for his safety and to experience pain, suffering, humiliation, embarrassment, and medical costs. It was on May 25, 2020, that Floyd, a black man,

died after Chauvin, a white man, spent nine and a half minutes kneeling on his neck outside a convenience store where Floyd had attempted to pass off a fake $20 bill. Floyd could be heard saying, I can't breathe and fading cries captured in bystander video. Floyd's death sparked protests around the globe and compelled a national conversation about racism and police brutality. Chauvin received a 22 and a half year sentence after being found guilty of state murder in connection with Floyd's death. In addition, he entered a guilty plea to a different federal charge of infringing upon Floyd's civil rights. Tao and two other former Minneapolis cops are all serving shorter sentences.

Now to New York, as Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction has been overturned by the state's highest court. Once again, Crime Online's Sydney Sumner. The decision has stunned and disappointed women who had been celebrating historic victories during the Me Too movement, and it has left those who had testified in the case preparing for a retrial against the former movie tycoon. According to the court, the trial judge was deemed to have improperly admitted testimony against Weinstein on the basis of unrelated claims. Due to his 2022 Los Angeles rape conviction, the 72-year-old Weinstein will remain behind bars. However, the decision in New York reopens a sad chapter in America's grappling with high-profile sexual misconduct, a period that started in 2017 with a barrage of accusations against Harvey

Weinstein. Advocates for Me Too pointed out that the decision was based on procedural legalities rather than an absolution of Weinstein's actions, claiming the initial trial permanently altered public perceptions of sexual assault. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has announced that Weinstein will face a new trial, and at least one of his original accusers has promised through her attorney that she is willing to testify again. The New York Court of Appeals, which reversed Weinstein's 23-year sentence in a 4-3 ruling, stating that, quote, the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts and allowed inquiries into Weinstein's bad behavior had he testified. Both actions were described as highly prejudicial and an abuse of judicial

discretion. Judge Madeline Singas delivered a scathing dissent in which she said that the Court of Appeals was carrying out a, quote, disturbing trend of overturning juries' guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence. Thanks, John. Concerned co-workers ask for a welfare check when Christine Holloway doesn't show up to work. Connecticut cops find her at home beaten dead. Her one-year-old daughter Vanessa Morales missing. Police issue an amber alert looking for Holloway's boyfriend and Vanessa's father Jose Morales. When cops find Morales his daughter's not with him and he denies knowing anything about her whereabouts. Morales is arrested and charged with Christine's murder but he has not been charged

with Vanessa's disappearance. Prosecutors are working on a plea deal that would require Morales is arrested and charged with Christine's murder, but he has not been charged with Vanessa's disappearance. Prosecutors are working on a plea deal that would require Morales to divulge what happened to baby Vanessa. The little girl would now be over five years old. If you have info on baby Vanessa Morales, call Esonia, Connecticut PD 203-735-1885. For the latest crime and justice news, go to CrimeOnline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an iHeart Podcast.