Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 11.07.22

Episode Date: November 7, 2022

Harasser starts gigantic fire in ex-girlfriend's apartment. Tow-truck driver is an actual car thief. Trafficker drugs teen girls. Racist costume spurs stabbing. 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. Iha Mustafa uses a copy of his ex's key to enter her apartment, disable the fire alarms, and start multiple fires inside, engulfing the Baton Rouge complex in flames. That's right, Nancy. Thankfully, the girlfriend was not at home at the time of the fire.

But when Louisiana firefighters pinpointed the start of the fire to her apartment, she mentions that Mustafa had been harassing her after their recent breakup. A man matching Mustafa's description was seen on surveillance video entering and exiting the building just minutes before the fire began. There's about $4,000 in building damages. No one hurt. Mustafa now charged with 50 counts of arson. Oklahoma cops track a stolen phone to DeMarco Brown's home.

When questioned, Brown admits he often uses a tow truck to steal parked cars to resell or scrap. You have that right. A victim tells police that he left the cell phone in his car and tracked it to the home in hopes of locating the car. When police show up, Brown confesses he does not have a license or required paperwork to legally tow cars. He also falsified multiple bills of sale, dealer tags, and even scrap metal dealer receipts for the stolen cars. Brown now charged with Grand

Theft Auto. 45-year-old Quentin Smith facing a long list of charges after trafficking teen girls. Smith forces drugs on the girls, then transports them to homes in Louisiana and Mississippi. Smith provided narcotics like fentanyl and meth to these underage girls. When they became unaware of their surroundings, Smith would drive them to locations detectives describe as trap houses and take cash from adult men in exchange for sex with the young girls. Smith now charged with human trafficking, rape, and cruelty to juveniles. Michael Barrett goes to a Halloween

party as a KKK member. Another partygoer orders him to take off the racist costume. His reaction? He stabs the guy. This was a huge party, Nancy. A few hundred teens came to the field party and children as young as 14 were in attendance. The party dispersed as first responders arrived on the scene, and the victim is in stable condition after undergoing surgery for his wound. Barrett, a senior in high school, will likely be in jail instead of graduating with his classmates come spring. Barrett booked on first-degree assault. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley.

A former long-shot Idaho gubernatorial candidate has been convicted of kidnapping and killing a 12-year-old Colorado girl who went missing nearly 40 years ago. Our friends at Crime Online. Jurors found 71-year-old Steve Pankey guilty of felony murder, second-degree kidnapping, and false reporting in the disappearance and death of Jonelle Matthews in 1984. A judge then sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

It was Pankey's second trial in the case. Last year, jurors were unable to reach verdicts on the kidnapping and murder charges, and prosecutors decided to put him on trial again. Pankey was a neighbor of Janelle and her family when she vanished after being dropped off at her empty home by a family friend after performing at a Christmas concert in Greeley, Colorado, a city about 50 miles north of Denver. A long-term patient at Western Washington State Psychiatric Hospital has been arrested on suspicion of killing his 69-year-old roommate. Lakewood officers were

called to Western State Hospital after fire crews responded to a report of an unresponsive patient, noticing that the death looks suspicious. The victim's 51-year-old roommate was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. The victim, who had been a patient at the hospital since 1989, has not been publicly identified. The man had been found not guilty by reason of insanity on a first-degree murder charge. The victim's roommate had been at the hospital since 2014 on a first-degree assault charge. For nearly a half-century, the Lady of the Dunes held on to her secret. Now, the FBI has announced it has identified the woman discovered almost five decades ago amid the dunes of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

Today, over 48 years after her murder and discovery, we can finally say her name, Ruth Marie Terry. Terry had been the oldest unidentified homicide victim in Massachusetts. Terry's body was found July 26, 1974. The victim's hands were missing and her head was nearly severed from her body. The left side of her skull had been crushed. Her naked body was found lying on a beach blanket with her head resting on folded jeans. Former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid has been sentenced to three years in prison for driving drunk, speeding and hitting two parked cars last year, leaving a five-year-old with a serious brain injury. Our friends at Crime Online. Reed pleaded guilty in September to driving while intoxicated, causing serious bodily injury.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison, but prosecutors had agreed to ask for a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Reed sought probation. The injured girl's family had opposed the plea deal. Circuit Judge Charles H. McKenzie sentenced Reed, and he was set to be taken into custody. Seretta Copeland sprays Lysol on customers at a Boston grocery store, then tries to ignite the fumes with a lighter. Cops say, luckily, the 42-year-old did not cause serious harm to the victims or herself. She's booked on assault with a dangerous weapon. 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.