Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Father Kidnaps, Kills Tot After Breakup with Girlfriend | Crime Alert 03.19.25

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

Father forces his ex-girlfriend to watch while he strangles their 2-year-old daughter after kidnapping her from daycare. Woman goes berserk over cold pizza pick up! 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. It's life behind bars for a Texas man who killed his two-year-old daughter during a police chase, all while FaceTiming the live video to the girl's mother. Deontre Flanagan, 26, picks his daughter up from daycare, then confronts the mother, Kirsten Watson, at work. He accuses her of talking to another man, strikes her, takes her phone, and flees with the daughter, Zavaya. Nancy, that's when Flanagan FaceTimed Watson with Zavaya sitting in his lap. Flanagan's hand is around her throat, keeping the little girl from breathing. Flanagan repeatedly shouts, this is what you made me do,

while Watson begs him to stop. The chase ends when Flanagan crashes into two cars. When cops move in, they find Flanagan used a blunt object to hit Zavia in the head and smash Zavia's head against a blunt object. The little girl is rushed to a hospital, but pronounced dead upon arrival. Watson called police several times in the days leading up to the murder, worried Flanagan would become violent after their breakup. A jury convicts Flanagan of capital murder. Watson vows to keep Zavia's memory alive. Ricky Holley wants a late night snack and decides on Domino's pizza. Ready to dig in, Holley goes into a rage when she discovers the pizza is uncut and cold. She gets in the car and drives to the closest St. Petersburg, Florida Domino's to berate employees. When they refuse to replace the pizza,

she throws the pizza at them and rips their phone off the wall. Well, police are called. Ricky Holly, 22, spends the night in jail for criminal mischief. Bet she won't find Domino's on the commissary menu. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. We begin in Georgia as a Fulton County judge has ruled that statements made by Robert Aaron Long, accused of killing four women at Atlanta area spas in 2021 2021 can be used at trial. Chief Judge Ural Glanville denied the defense's effort to suppress statements Long gave police after his arrest. Prosecutors say the 25-year-old Long

carried out two deadly attacks on March 16, 2021, first at Young's Asian Massage in Cherokee County, where he killed four people, and then in Atlanta, where he killed four more at two separate spas. Long pleaded guilty in Cherokee County and is serving life without parole. But in Fulton County, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty and a hate crimes enhancement. His defense argued Long was denied legal counsel when questioned after his arrest, violating his

Sixth Amendment rights. But prosecutors countered that Long spoke voluntarily and had not requested an attorney. Long faces charges including murder, aggravated assault, and domestic terrorism. A trial date has not yet been set. A Canadian man has been sentenced to 25 years in U.S. federal prison for damaging energy facilities in the Dakotas. As Crime Online's Sydney Sumner tells us, the court deemed his actions as acts of terrorism. Cameron Smith, a 50-year-old Canadian from the Toronto area who had been residing in Astoria, Oregon, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for attacks on energy facilities in the Dakotas. These incidents resulted in $1.7 million in damages. Smith pleaded guilty to charges of

destroying energy facilities stemming from two incidents, one near Carpenter, South Dakota in 2022 and another near Ray, North Dakota in 2023. U.S. District Judge Daniel Treanor imposed two consecutive 12.5-year terms, significantly exceeding federal sentencing guidelines that recommend 3.5 to 4.25 years per count. Prosecutor David Hagler justified the harsher sentence, stating Smith's actions met the definition of terrorism by attempting to intimidate or coerce a civilian population. Defense attorney Douglas Passon argued against the extended sentence, portraying Smith as an individual deeply concerned about climate change who deliberately chose remote locations to avoid harming anyone. Smith expressed that his frustration after years of lawful advocacy led to these actions and cited his autism and Crohn's disease in his plea for leniency. He described the sentence as tantamount to a life sentence,

doubting his survival in prison due to his medical conditions. However, Judge Traynor was unswayed, emphasizing that Smith ignored U.S. laws and engaged in terrorist conduct by attacking critical infrastructure on two separate occasions, months apart, and traveling great distances to do so. Smith plans to appeal the sentence, arguing it is unjust given his medical and mental conditions and disproportionate compared to similar crimes. Thanks, John. Ashley Morris Mullis, mother of three, last seen at a family reunion, Royerton, Indiana. Days after, her parents find her home locked and empty. Notes left on her door go unanswered. Dad reports her missing two weeks later. Ashley, 27, claims Daniel York Sr., a married man she's seeing, is the father of her newborn. She lives in a home owned by York and his wife, Sheila. After Ashley disappears, her baby

girl remains with the Yorks. Two years later, Daniel dies. Sheila moves to Florida with Ashley's daughter. Sheila later adopts her, claiming no living relatives exist. Ten years after Ashley's disappearance, Sheila York arrested for kidnapping and obstruction. Investigators say she falsifies adoption records and lies about family ties. Ashley, 5'6", brown hair, brown eyes, tattoo of Ashton, upper left arm, butterfly, right leg. If you know or think you know anything about the disappearance of Ashley Mullis, please contact Delaware County Sheriff's 765-747-7781. For the latest crime and justice news, go to crimeonline.com and please join us for our daily podcast, Crime Stories, where we do our best to find missing people, especially children, and solve unsolved homicides. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace.

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