Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 07.24.24

Episode Date: July 24, 2024

Mom beats 4-year-old to death because he wet the bed. Pickles the piglet is one hard-to-catch suspect! 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 Acie Grace. Breaking crime news now. Militia Sass Frass, 26, calls 911 about her 4-year-old boy, claiming the toddler is suffering a headache and she finds him unresponsive and cold to the touch. EMTs find the child with extensive injuries all over his body and a serious injury to his face. The boy is rushed to the hospital where he dies. Cause of death, blunt force trauma to the head that occurred six to eight hours before mommy calls 911. Cops find text between mommy, Melissa Sassafras, and her boyfriend discussing beating

the boy for wetting the bed. Nancy, investigators say that some of the injuries appear to have been caused by a belt or a cord. The boy also had a scar around his neck indicating he may have been strangled and blisters on his hands that appeared to be from bindings. Sassafras' boyfriend and the boy's father, Javante Harris, has also been charged with second-degree murder and cruelty to children. Malicious Sassafras found guilty of felony murder, first-degree cruelty to children. Militia Saffras found guilty of felony murder. First degree cruelty to children, two counts ag battery. Now sentenced to life plus 20. Says Bostepole, California PD, release hilarious body cam footage of a foot chase. The suspect, a pig named Pickles. Cops get a call about a piglet running in and out of the street. several officers sent to catch the piggy. They quickly realized they underestimated the pig's speed and strength. Pickles darts across the parking lot, down a street, and even hides under a car before police corner him in a backyard and finally catch him.

Pickles' owner apologized profusely for the pig's behavior. Cops decide to decline charging charging pickles with resisting arrest. They also claim they'll never eat bacon again. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. We begin in Michigan, where a jury has acquitted a man of first-degree premeditated murder in the killing of a Detroit synagogue leader, but could not reach a verdict on a separate murder charge. As Sydney Sumner of Crime Online tells us, this now leads to a potential retrial in this high-profile case.

After five days of deliberations, which restarted last week due to a juror's dismissal and the inclusion of an alternate, Michael Jackson-Belanos was acquitted of fatally stabbing Samantha Wall at her home last October. Jackson-Belanos, who testified in his own defense, denied involvement but admitted to touching Wall's body when he found it outside during the night. Wall's death sparked initial speculation of anti-Semitic motives linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict, though police found no evidence to support this. While acquitted of first-degree murder, Jackson-Belanos was convicted of lying to police. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on charges of felony murder, defined in Michigan as murder committed during another crime

and home invasion. This leaves the door open for a retrial. Prosecutor Kim Worthy vowed to, quote, press on for justice for Wall's family, with further steps to be discussed at a July 25th hearing. 40-year-old Samantha Wall was discovered with multiple stab wounds outside her home near downtown Detroit shortly after returning from a wedding. Investigators believe she was attacked inside but managed to get outside before collapsing. The trial hinged largely on circumstantial evidence. Police noted blood spots on Jackson Bolanos' jacket and video footage of him in the area, though no evidence placed him inside Wall's home.

Jackson Bolanos claimed he was in the neighborhood searching for unlocked cars and denied breaking into Wall's home and attacking her. Defense attorney Brown argued that the attack, concentrated around Wall's home and attacking her. Defense Attorney Brown argued that the attack, concentrated around Wall's head and neck, suggested a crime of passion, likely committed by someone she knew, asserting that Jackson Bolanos was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Earlier in the investigation, a former boyfriend was arrested after making a distressed 911 call

claiming he might have killed Wall, but later attributed his statements to a bad reaction to medication. He was not charged. Samantha Wall was the president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue and active in politics, working for U.S. Representative Elisa Slotkin and State Attorney General Dana Nessel. Thanks, John. Donna Cloud, 19, moves in with her dad, Splendora, Texas. It's a northeast suburb of Houston. Their relationship is strained. They argue often. One night, she doesn't come home. Dad reports her missing, telling police his daughter left on a blind date with a guy she met online. Cops later learn that's a lie, and Donna's father actually told her to leave after their last argument. Two men pick up Donna from the dad's home.

One says he drops Donna off safely at a hotel that evening. Donna's active online two days after her disappearance. But her phone pings for the last time in Houston's Westchase neighborhood. That's the southwest side of the city. Donna Cloud, 5'1", 110 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes. She's got a tattoo of a diamond on her right ring finger and the word faith tattooed on her right forearm. If you have info on Donna Cloud, now missing eight years, call Montgomery County, Texas Sheriffiffs, 936-760-5800. For the latest crime and justice news, go to CrimeOnline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an iHeart Podcast.