Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 06.22.23

Episode Date: June 22, 2023

'Friendly' neighbor brutally murders a woman with a hammer. Armed cupcake thief terrifies bakery workers.  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 of Breaking Crime News Now. Dennis Moriarty invites neighbor Valerie Oakum over for a drink. Once inside, Moriarty savagely beats Oakum with a hammer, leaving her for dead. Late that night, Moriarty's relative enters the home, finds Oakum lying on the floor gasping for air. She's rushed to the hospital, but dies. Nancy, neighbors say Moriara and Okum were good friends, the mother and grandmother helping Moriara with meals and chores after his wife passed away.

Others say Moriara was also very neighborly, always waving to people and sharing baked goods. When Moriara pleaded not guilty at his arraignment, Oakum's ex-husband shouted that he would, quote, see him in hell. Moriera, 69, charged with murder. Connecticut bakery employee Maureen Williams starts screaming as she's loading cupcakes into a van for delivery. Bakery owner Miriam Stevens comes outside to find an angry armed robber threatening Williams over the cupcakes. Williams shouts and claps to try to drive away the thief, but the black bear is undeterred, and both women retreat inside the bakery while he eats five dozen cupcakes. Stevens sneaks out to another car and lays on the horn, scaring the bear away.

Word is, the cupcake thief still on the lam. We hear he's hiding out with the Hamburglar. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. A botched drug deal was probably what began a shooting that occurred in downtown Denver while fans were celebrating the Nuggets' first NBA championship victory. Ten people were hurt in the violence, including one of two people detained in connection with the shooting. Chief Ron Thomas says that all of the injured, nine men and one woman, are likely to recover,

including five or six people police believe were spectators not participating in the drug deal. Thomas stated that 20 shots were fired at the scene about a mile from Ball Arena, the site of Monday night's Nuggets victory over the Miami Heat. The lone individual charged with murder in a shooting at a motorcycle rally in a mountain resort town in northern New Mexico will not face any further legal action. With more, here's Sydney Sumner with Crime Online. The violence left three men dead and five others injured. A prosecutor's filing states that the charges against 30-year-old Rio Rancho resident Jacob Castillo are being dropped due to the ongoing Red River shooting investigation.

The charges may be refiled by the prosecution. According to authorities, the three people who were killed belonged to a rival criminal biker gang, and the violence was the result of an earlier fight between the Bandidos and Water Dogs gangs in Albuquerque. The dead were named as 46-year-old Randy Sanchez of Albuquerque, 46-year-old Damien Breaux of Socorro, and 26-year-old Anthony Silva of Los Lunas. Overseas now into a horrifying rampage in England in which a knife-wielding attacker killed two college students in Nottingham before killing a middle-aged man, stealing his van and stabbing three other people. A 31-year-old man was arrested by police on suspicion of murder. Investigators believe the culprit acted alone, and according to the

Nottinghamshire Police, they are collaborating with counter-terrorism officers to attempt to determine a motive. One of the victims of the hit-and-run was a male who was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Two University of Nottingham students, both age 19, were among the fatalities. Back in this country now, as authorities in Massachusetts report that two children playing on a park slide have received burn-like injuries from acid. Once again, Crime Online's Sydney Sumner. A suspicious substance was reported to be on the playground equipment at Bliss Park in Longmeadow, according to a social media post by the local fire department. A report of two children with burns who had just left the park

prompted firefighters and emergency medical personnel to respond to a nearby home at around the same time. The mother of the injured children told our friends with the Western Mass News that her children's skin suffered only superficial blisters and swelling as a result of the acid, but it could have been much worse. Authorities discovered that someone broke into the park's swimming pool's chemical storage room and stole some ureic acid. Investigators say the acid was then spilled over three slides. The acid is a cleaning agent used to maintain the pH balance of a pool. Elizabeth Hernandez, mom of two, four months pregnant, boyfriend and father of the child Miguel Martinez, takes Hernandez to

an appointment at the Albuquerque, New Mexico Department of Human Services, but says she never calls him to pick her up. Martinez tells cops he went back to look for her, and his cell phone activity confirms that. Investigation shows Elizabeth did not sign in for the appointment that day. Elizabeth Hernandez now missing over five years. If you have info on Elizabeth's disappearance, please call Albuquerque PD 505-924-6095. For the latest crime and justice news, go to crimeonline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an iHeart Podcast.