Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 05.10.24

Episode Date: May 10, 2024

New York park employee plants cameras in women's restroom. Couple's macho photoshoot terrifies pre-school parents.  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. John Towers, an employee at a public park in Putnam County, New York, carefully cleans the restrooms. In the women's restroom, however, he also plants 10 spy cams. Some of the cameras appear to be ballpoint pens, battery packs, and buttons. Towers takes roughly 800 explicit photos of women and girls using that restroom. Nancy, in addition to the 800 photos and videos recorded inside the restroom, police found Towers uploaded nearly 6,000 similar files to the internet exploitation of a child and possession of child porn.

Estrella Pereira and Miguel Ruiz head to a Florida shopping center for bodybuilding photos. And they take with them, of course, a loaded assault rifle. Pereira and Ruiz take turns posing with the rifle, taking aim at a building in the shopping center. A parent picking up their child from daycare there in the center sees them with the gun and calls 911. Pereira, 50, and Ruiz, 57, insist they were just taking photos. But guess what? They're both charged with aggravated assault and carrying a gun on school property. More crime and justice news after this.

Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. Police in Illinois say that a 22-year-old male has been taken into custody in connection with the shooting death of a Chicago police officer who was killed while off duty and on his way home from work. We turn to Sydney Sumner with Crime Online for more. The Chicago Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force have apprehended Xavier L. Tate Jr. in connection with the murder of 30-year-old officer Luis Huesca, this according to a post by Chicago

Police on X, formerly known as Twitter. In a statement released by the News Affairs Division of the Chicago Police Department, the investigation into Tate's case is still ongoing. On April 26, a Cook County judge issued an arrest warrant charging Tate with the murder of Huesca. The officer was shot numerous times just before 3 a.m. on April 21st on the city's southwest side. He was later pronounced dead at an area hospital. Superintendent Larry Snelling stated that although Huesca was wearing his uniform, he was wearing something over it, a normal practice for officers who are not on duty. Officials say that Huesca, a six-year police department veteran, was discovered outdoors

suffering from gunshot wounds. Although police have not established whether the shooting was part of a carjacking, the officer's vehicle was taken. A day after the murder, Chicago police released their first community alert, citing surveillance footage showing a man they believed to be Tate shopping at two convenience stores and going into a shadowy alley. A source briefed on the investigation reported that an individual was in the vicinity at the time of the shooting and later changed clothing. On April 29th, hundreds of people gathered along Chicago streets for Weska's funeral procession. Weska was laid to rest in Chicago following a church service. A Pennsylvania nurse has received a life sentence after entering a guilty plea to three counts of murder and other offenses.

This after giving multiple patients doses of insulin that were either fatal or potentially fatal. Once again, Crime Online's Sydney Sumner. At a hearing in Butler, approximately 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, 41-year-old Heather Presti was sentenced to three consecutive life terms and an additional consecutive term of 380 to 760 years in prison. Prosecutors claim that Presti was involved in the deaths of at least 17 patients in five different health care facilities spread across four counties between 2020 and 2023. The victims were said to range in age between 43 and 104 years old. Authorities claim that Presti's behavior was routinely questioned by co-workers, who indicated that she frequently made disparaging remarks about her patients and displayed contempt for them. Presti entered a guilty plea to three charges of first-degree

murder and 19 counts of attempted murder, sparing her the possibility of receiving a death sentence. She was first accused of killing two and injuring three residents at a nursing home in May 2023. Scores of additional charges against her were brought about after subsequent investigations. Back in February, Presti argued with her lawyers during a contentious hearing while making it known that she wished to enter a guilty plea. Presti spoke very little as she entered her pleas, giving one-word answers to the majority of the questions. When asked by one of her attorneys why she was entering a guilty plea, Presti responded by saying, quote, because I am guilty. Shortly after the first charges were brought against Presti in 2023, her nursing license was suspended. Thanks, John. Betty Alexander lives alone,

Sullivan, Missouri, after her husband passes away. Her adult children and grandchildren visit a lot. Betty's son, John, says she's not picking up the phone. That's unusual. Her adult children and grandchildren visit a lot. Betty's son John says she's not picking up the phone. That's unusual. Her daughter Tonya can't get through to mom and heads to the apartment. Inside, a meal is on the table and it appears to have been there for some time. Tonya finds her mom's glasses on the arm of her recliner. That's odd as Betty only takes them off to go to sleep. Betty has gotten pharmacy deliveries, but daughter Tanya can only find one of the two boxes at the apartment. She talks to neighbors who say they last saw Betty three days ago. Betty Alexander does not drive, so she must have left on foot or been picked up. Her purse was also left behind.

Sullivan PD searches the area and issues a silver alert, but no sign of Betty. Betty Alexander, now missing five years. If you have info on Betty Alexander, call Sullivan, Missouri PD, 573-468-8001. 573-468-8001. 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.