Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Mom of 4, Uber Driver Begs For Her Life, MURDERED
Episode Date: February 22, 2022Christine Spicuzza’s body is found in a wooded area after being reported missing by her fiancée. The 38-year-old mother of four went missing while working as an Uber driver. Spicuzza was reported m...issing on February 11, and her body found the next day. Dash cam video shows Calvin Crew, her fare, can be seen pulling a gun on her 10 minutes into the ride and ignoring her pleas for her life before grabbing the dash cam and shutting it off. Crew has been arrested and charged with criminal homicide, robbery, and tampering with evidence. Joining Nancy Grace Today: James Shelnutt - 27 years Atlanta Metro Area Major Case Detective, Former S.W.A.T. officer, Attorney, The Shelnutt Law Firm, P.C., www.ShelnuttLawFirm.com, Twitter: @ShelnuttLawFirm Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, (Atlanta GA) www.angelaarnoldmd.com, Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital Justin Boardman - Former Special Victim's Unit Detective, West Valley City (Utah), Author: "I Was Wrong: An Investigator's Battle-cry for Change Within the Special Victims Unit", JustinBoardman.com, Twitter: @boardman_train Katherine Maloney, M.D. - Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Erie County Medical Examiners Office, (Buffalo NY), www.nickelcityforensics.com Alyssa Raymond - Anchor/Reporter, WPXI Channel 11, Twitter: @AlyssaRaymond, Instagram: @RandomRaymond Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Every day we used Rideshare.
We use it all the time.
All across America, that's the way to go.
Very often we hear about attacks by the driver on an individual, usually a female.
We don't hear very often about an Uber driver or a Lyft driver that goes missing.
I'm Nancy Grace.
This is Crime Stories. Thank you
for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. First of all, take a listen to our friends
in Cut 1 KDKA. Pitcairn police say Christy Spacuzza was driving as an Uber driver Thursday
night when family says she went radio silent. Police say this morning they found
Spacoose's car on 4th St in Pit
Karen Pit Karen police say her purse
was still in the car and an Uber
camera inside was missing.
It's horrible that one of us has gone
missing and we have no protection and
now we're worried are we going to be next?
We talked to two local Uber drivers who say they're horrified by what happened and believe more safety measures need to be in place to keep drivers safe. It scares me because we have no protection. An investigation into what happened to Spacusa is ongoing, but until the case is solved, these drivers say they'll be driving with extra caution. Police have not
released any information on a suspect or suspects, but they are asking anyone that knows anything to
call the county tip line. Police say callers can remain anonymous. Again, I'm Nancy Grace. This is
Crime Stories. Thanks for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. With me, an all-star
panel to make sense of what we know right now. First of all, 27 years in Metro, major case, former SWAT, now lawyer, James Shelnut at the Shelnut Law Firm.
Dr. Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrist, joining us out of the Atlanta jurisdiction at AngelaArnoldMD.com.
Justin Boardman, former Special Victims Unit detective, author of I Was Wrong.
You can find him at Justin Boardman dot com.
Catherine Maloney, Dr. Catherine Maloney, deputy chief medical examiner, Erie County Medical Examiner's Office.
But first, straight out to Alyssa Raymond, anchor reporter, WPXI Channel 11.
Alyssa, thank you so much for joining us.
This goes down in Monroeville, Pennsylvania.
Let's just start right there.
Where's Monroeville?
If you think about the city of Pittsburgh, Monroeville is on the east side of the city.
It's about a 15, 20-minute drive from there.
And all of these areas that we're going to be talking about today are to
known as boroughs or townships. That's the thing in Western Pennsylvania, where a lot of these
places have their own police departments, their own governments, and their own school districts.
How big is it? How big is Monroeville?
Monroeville is pretty sizable. They have a big business district. It's definitely a lot bigger than
Pitt, Karen, which is where this all originated. Well, let me ask you this. Pittsburgh is how far
away from Philadelphia? We're talking four plus hours. Yeah, because we were looking at the
distance between the Warhol Museum and Philly. And even by train, where you don't have any traffic lights,
it's four to five hours by train to get there.
And you go through a lot of land, open land surrounding that area.
Would you refer to it as cosmopolitan?
Would you refer to it as rural?
How would you refer to Monroeville? I would not refer to it as rural
because it does have your shops and your car dealerships and there's not a lot of farmland
around there. I mean, is the population about 27,000? Yeah, yeah, it's sizable. 27,000? 27,000
around there, the last census, yes. Okay, a lot of people would consider that i guess
shell nut coming from atlanta metro major case would consider that's kind of the size of the
area where i grew up in unincorporated bibb county which was all rural when you compare that to a major city like New York, Atlanta, Chicago, L.A.
And the reason I ask is because that's how you start with a crime scene investigation.
Would you agree with that, James Shelnut?
Somebody goes missing, either they left on their own,
they've had some sort of an accident, or they were taken.
The fact that her purse is sitting in her car, and I am talking about the victim in this case, Christina Pazusa,
her purse is sitting in her car, she's on her job as an Uber driver, and there's no indication
that she left willingly. So that tells me that she was taken.
Now, when you're dealing with an area of 27,000 population,
how does that weigh in to your investigation, James Shelnut?
Well, it weighs in to the investigation that there may not be as many witnesses
as if it was in a major metropolitan area.
But it also, on the flip side of that,
possibly cuts down on the overall number of suspects that you have as well.
You know, there certainly is not going to be as many cameras
or as many eyes out there.
So that night, back to you, Alyssa Raymond, anchor reporter, WPXI.
Christina, was this her main job, a second job, a part-time job?
I know she has four children, right?
Yeah, she has four children, and they were really low on cash.
Her fiancé says that.
And she was just trying to make some money, extra money for her family.
And also, they were saying that she spent her last funds at the prior stop before this final Uber ride.
She did what? She spent her last what?
The last of her money at this stop prior to this final Uber ride.
They were so low on cash that she spent her final money right before this final Uber ride,
is what her fiance said.
Take a listen to our friends at KDKA in our cut to.
Police say Spacuzza's family last heard from her on Thursday night while she was driving for Uber.
They say her purse was in the car, but her Uber camera was missing.
Johnson says the company needs stronger safety protocols.
So if it's missing, how does that really help anyone?
So I think, but I just think there's safety precautions I'm sure they can take.
They're too smart that they should be able to protect their drivers better.
Johnson says she's a part-time Uber driver herself, but she says she'll never do it again.
We reached out to Uber.
A spokesperson says they are deeply committed to the safety of drivers and they have procedures in place.
They also said in a statement, our thoughts are with Christy's family and friends during this difficult time.
Uber's 24-7 public safety team has been assisting police in the investigation.
Back to Alyssa Raymond joining us WPXI Channel 11. Tell me about the night she goes missing.
What happened, Alyssa? It all started on Thursday, February 10th.
Her fiance says that she was picking up some extra Uber rides to get some extra cash for her family. And he said that she usually checked in with him every hour when she was out on these rides.
And the last time he heard from her was around 9 o'clock.
Again, that was Thursday, February 10th, as she
was leaving Steel City Vapors. Like I mentioned, he had said that they were very low on cash and
that's where she spent the last of her money. So how far away is that from where her car was found?
So if you're looking at Monroeville and Pitt, Karen, they're really close, about less than a
10 minute drive, I'd say, from those two locations.
I'm trying to take this all in.
Tell me about the discovery of the vehicle.
And I'm taking that this was a part-time job.
Alyssa Raymond joining us.
Tell me about the discovery of the vehicle.
Back to Thursday, February 10th, that's the last time we heard from her.
And we fast-forward to Friday, February 11th.
Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So Thursday, she's heard from around 8pm. Is that what you
said? 9pm. 9pm. Thank you. Last time he heard from her. Then when is she reported missing?
Friday, February 11th. And her fiance was very active on Facebook, posting updates saying this is so unlike her to
not hear from her. You know, he's just at a loss for words and he reported her missing.
He's the one that called 911, Alyssa? Yes. Yes. Okay. Right there, Angela Arnold,
the fact that he reported her missing, the fiance, Brandon Marteau, that says a lot to me.
And I'll tell you why. How many times have you and I talked about missing women, Dr. Angie?
And let's just talk about Suzanne Morphew. Barry Morphew, the husband, goes out of town on Mother's Day. He climbs to a work site out of town and he calls his daughters.
They call mom, can't find her.
Then they contact a neighbor to go check on her.
He's not the one doing any of the calling.
And so often we see that the husband, fiance, boyfriend, they're not calling 911.
They're not out looking.
But here we have the fiance, Brandon Marto, actively trying to find her, posting, calling her,
and finally reporting her missing the next day. And even when I say the next day, typically that
would be too long of a lapse to report someone missing.
But she is asked her from at 9 p.m., and then he reports her the next day.
So, Dr. Angie, what are you learning from that fact?
What I'm learning is, first of all, it sounds like she very much sticks to a routine. And as soon as that routine was broken, it sounds like her fiancé put it out there to everyone that he possibly could to try to find her.
Imagine how frantic he must have been. Because, I mean, Nancy, if you can't get in touch with somebody on the phone and you're accustomed to hearing from them every hour.
What do you do?
Where do you go looking for him?
So he put it out on social media.
I'm sure the man was frantic, right?
But she had broken her habit.
And I'll bet he knew.
I'll bet he was frantic because he knew that something had happened to her.
You know, that's interesting that you said that to you, Justin Boardman.
I want to talk about routine evidence, not evidence that is routine.
I'm talking about evidence of routine.
Her routine was that when she was out Ubering, she would call in every hour.
And when she missed that first hour mark at 10 p.m., he probably shrugged it off.
But then as it got further and further on, he became more and more concerned because she,
as Dr. Angela Arnold has just said, has broken with her longstanding routine.
Absolutely. That certainly throws up a bunch of red flags for your partner.
A lot of us have these type of routines.
They also help keep us safe.
She was checking in every hour and then all of a sudden not.
All of a sudden not.
You know, Alyssa Raymond joining us, WPXI.
Alyssa, when did the fiance actually report her missing?
I'm not sure of the exact time on Friday, February 11th, but I do know that even more red flags went
off when he tried to call her again around 4 a.m. and noticed that her phone went to voicemail
directly and knew it was turned off. So I think that's when he really got concerned. And then I don't
know the precise time he reported her missing to police, but the Facebook post was around
7 o'clock. 7 a.m.? 7 p.m. As many people suspect, there is an emergency button in most
rideshare vehicles. Take a listen to our friends at KDKA. The entire incident seems to
span less than a few short miles. It's horrible that one of us has gone missing and we have no
protection and now we're worried are we going to be next? Uber tells me it's working alongside law
enforcement willing to release data like GPS locations, trip information, and billing
information for any of the passengers in Spacusa's backseat that night. If there was a barrier between
me and them so that they can't reach us, it wouldn't even be a concern. That person would
have never gotten to Christy's camera. They would have never gotten to Christy. Today, Uber tells me that its drivers
have access to an emergency button that automatically dispatches a call to 911 operators.
They also have the share my ride feature, which allows their friends and family to follow along
with their trips throughout the duration of their shift. We don't know yet if she utilized any of
these safety features that night. Allegheny County
detectives continue to ask for tips and they want to remind the public that you can call and remain
anonymous. So let me understand, how does that work? Do you, James Shelnut, how do you understand
that to work? Can Uber keep track with wherever the vehicle is. So here's what happens.
The Uber drivers have an app on their phone, Nancy.
And Uber will actually dispatch them via that app.
And those drivers generally have to follow the specific directions that are given to them by Uber on that GPS app.
Uber can then monitor where that driver is at based off of that GPS app. Uber can then monitor where that driver is at based off of that GPS app.
Well, I know it has to work like that because, Justin Boardman, when I get an Uber or Lyft or
whatever I'm getting, you can see the driver coming toward you and communicate with the driver.
So if we can do that, I'm sure that Uber or Lyft or whoever the
ride share company is, can see where the vehicle is. Ultimately, her car is found. Take a listen
to our friends at WPIX-TV. This is the stretch of Rose Crest Drive in Monroeville. It's a hilly,
winding road that runs between woods on both sides. Detectives say Christy never came home last Thursday night
after she was working as an Uber driver and gave rides to several people.
Two days later, police found her car on 4th Street in Pitcairn.
Christy's fiancé, who was actively giving updates on social media about her disappearance,
said her dash cam was removed and her purse was left in her car.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
To Alyssa Raymond, WPXI, the way that stretch of the road was described as being very curvy and very hilly.
Have you seen that stretch of road? I'm very familiar with those back roads around the Monroeville area as being very hilly.
And when you talk about the distance could not see them.
You know, that's actually a great thought.
And I hadn't thought about that.
But, yeah, it's possible.
You know, some of these people, they're not just mean.
They're also cunning and smart, and they think about this. And I don't know the extent of this
person's criminal history, or even if they have one, but yeah, they often think about this,
and I think that's a great point. It's quite a possibility. And then a turn in the case,
and remember all this time while everyone is searching for Christina Spicuzza, her four children are
waiting on mom to come home. I mean, think about it, Dr. Angela Arnold. Every single day,
I pick up the children from school. Every day. My husband would be glad to, but I don't want him to. I want to.
Now, think about it, Dr. Angie.
If I didn't have arranged for David
to pick them up,
and then he gets a call at 5 o'clock
that the children have been waiting
all this time and I never showed up.
You know, Nancy,
this is the kind of trauma
this will affect these children
for the rest of their lives. Because they're
always going to question. They're going to question what they did the last time they saw
their mother. They're going to forever question where she was. And that fear of not knowing
where she has been is going to live inside of them. I mean, right there, Justin Boardman,
everyone should know something is wrong.
If I am not there on time, front and center,
everybody knows something's way wrong.
This woman goes overnight without checking in.
The fiance hears from her at 9 p.m.
that everything goes radio silent.
That is evidence right there.
Don't you agree?
I do agree that that is evidence right there that something horrible has happened,
that the pattern that was well established has just stopped.
You know, that would be a time possibly,
although, you know, he did have four of the small children.
So he was probably pretty well grounded in the house
to go out, then to go out and look
and start searching or even to get on the app
if she was sharing her rides with him
to go out and take a look.
Now explain that app, if you don't mind.
Well, from what I've learned is that they had part of the app for Uber is that they
can share their location with a loved one for extra security and comfort that somebody at home, more likely than not her fiance,
would know where she was at all times and where she was driving at all times.
And I would guess they would probably have done that because from what it sounds like
is the fiance was worried enough that he's the one who purchased the camera for
the vehicle. He's the one that probably installed it to make sure that she was safe. So I'm only
assuming that they were shared location within the app. Yeah. Yeah. As everyone is frantically
looking for, searching for Christina, her children, Andrea, Drew, Scotty, and Tori looking for mommy, the case takes a turn.
Take a listen to WPXI-TV.
We just worked to confirm the identity of the body found in Morova was, in fact, Christina Spacuzza, the missing Uber driver.
Now, as you said earlier, we did go over to her fiance's house.
When we arrived, he was standing go over to her fiance's house. When we arrived,
he was standing outside next to a neighbor's house. We spoke very briefly and he said right
now he's just asking for privacy at this time. Now, I want to walk everyone through what we do
know in this case is there are a lot of moving parts right now. So earlier this afternoon at
approximately 12 p.m., Allegheny County police confirmed that a woman's body was found on a hillside on Rosecrest Drive in Monroeville.
Now, on Thursday, social media postings from the family as well as her fiance began to circulate that a female Uber driver with a Virginia license plate driving a silver Nissan Sentra was missing.
Today, police located that car, fitting the description with that Uber sticker, and now medical examiners have confirmed that it is, in fact, Christina Spicuzza.
Straight out to special guest joining us, Dr. Catherine Maloney,
Deputy Chief Medical Examiner of Erie County.
You can find her at nickelcityforensics.com.
Dr. Maloney, thank you again for being with us.
Dr. Maloney, the body out in the elements for this many days, how will that affect determining the
cause of death? So it really depends on what the weather was like. And at least I'm actually not
too far from Pennsylvania and it has been very cold, a very cold winter indeed. So there is a
possibility that her body may have been frozen. There's a possibility there may have been snow on her body as well.
If her body was frozen, sometimes you have to wait up to 72 hours before you can actually perform an autopsy.
But the good thing about, I guess, a body freezing is that then that stops the decomposition process.
So it's easier to evaluate for things like injuries.
You know, Dr. Maloney, I'm so glad that you can be calm, cool, and collected right now
because to you, Dr. Angie Arnold, psychiatrist joining us out of Atlanta,
all I can think, have you ever been so excited that somebody's coming to see you? Maybe one
of your children are coming home or that you keep going to the door or the window looking out.
I mean, I remember when I was a little girl, I would sit at the front window waiting for
my mom to get home and just looking.
And Nancy, I think that's a very familiar feeling to a lot of people.
I think that that's something that people can definitely relate to.
Yeah. When I'm hearing Dr. Catherine Maloney describe finding Christina's body and maybe
it's a good thing if it's frozen and she's absolutely, of course, she's right. Of course,
she's right. She's always right. But I keep thinking about the fiance. Did you hear what was said earlier? When we arrived there,
he was standing outside, standing out the yard, waiting. Just waiting. Waiting for somebody to
come tell him that she's okay. Just waiting for something. Probably had his phone in his hand and
another phone in the other hand, the house phone and the cell phone or two cell phones. Just waiting,
waiting for the news that she was
okay. And that's not what happened. That's just all I can think about when I'm hearing Dr. Maloney
describe how it's a good thing her body may have frozen. But you know, but Nancy, that's Dr. Maloney's
job. Well, I know that. I'm not saying she's wrong. I'm saying all this time he's standing in the yard waiting for her to show up.
The children are inside probably coming in and out, looking out the window, waiting for mom.
And the whole time she's frozen on the side of a hill.
But Nancy, no one ever, no one ever wants to go there right off the bat.
Do they?
No.
That's never anyone's first thought.
People have to live in a healthy state of denial when these kinds of things are going on to allow them to still have hope.
So her body is found.
Alyssa Raymond, WPXI, where is her body found exactly?
Her body is found on Rosecrest Drive in Monroeville, and that is a rural area of Monroeville.
They were saying that it was back in the woods about 50 feet away from the road.
And it was over some it was on the other side of shrubs as well as a little creek.
And then it was in back in the woods about 50 feet off of the road.
And she was laying face down with her COVID mask still on.
You know, to you, James Shelnut, 27 years Metro major case, also detective, former SWAT, now lawyer.
I don't understand why it took so long.
It took like two days to find the car.
Why?
If everybody's got to ride share information and Uber can track where the car is,
what took so long?
Well, Uber can track where the cell phone is.
The app is on the cell phone, and I don't know that the cell phone was with her.
That's a good point.
And if it was with her, if it was turned on or turned off, you know, unless you have a particular app downloaded on your phone,
and there are some out there, then when a phone loses power through its battery or it's turned off,
then it's unable to be tracked unless it has one of those apps on there.
So I don't know that the phone was with her or not with her or if it was still in the car.
Well, you're right.
Take a listen to Megan Schiller, KDKA.
We now know that Christy Spacuzza died from a single gunshot wound.
Detectives have not yet made any arrests or named any suspects,
but they are describing this investigation as open and active.
Someone killed a Turtle Creek mother of four,
and now Christy Spacuzza's home looks like a memorial.
I just couldn't sleep that something so tragic could happen to a person that was in my home, in my neighborhood.
Spacuzza last talked to family members on Thursday night.
Family Please for Help on social media said she texted when leaving this
vape shop along William Penn Highway in Monroeville, saying she planned to make a few trips as an Uber
driver. She never returned home that night, and her family reported her missing on Friday.
On Saturday morning, police found her car along 4th Street and Pitcairn. Her purse was still
inside, but she was missing missing along with her Uber camera.
Then just a few hours later, police discovered her body a short distance away in a wooded area
along Rose Crest Drive in Monroeville. So whoever did this thing knew enough to take the Uber camera
out of the car. Now that is extremely cunning, very cunning indeed. How safe or dangerous is it
to take a ride share? They're taken every minute in our country. But this is not the first time
tragedy has struck in an Uber. Take a listen or a Lyft or one of the many, many ride shares there are out there.
Take a listen to our cut 15.
We don't know who's getting in our cars at all.
We don't know their criminal record.
We don't know anything.
Lori Retsch has been driving for Uber for seven years.
We love doing this job.
She's completed more than 12,000 rides.
Genuinely come out here daily and work very hard.
A former yellow cab driver,
she was once proud to work for Uber, but now says more must be done to protect workers like her from this. Getting trips that say Z or Zorro or potato chip, you know, it makes it very
uncomfortable. Fake profile names and piggyback rides when customers use friends accounts are two of the scariest things for Uber drivers because they don't know who they're
picking up. They're behind us, so we don't know what they're going to do. On multiple occasions,
Lori says she's been harassed or physically attacked. We need protection out here, you know,
and riders should have the show ID. I'm thinking about how defenseless she was.
To Alyssa Raymond joining us, WPXI, Christina Spicuzza was out, a mother of four, at night driving an Uber job.
Did she have a weapon? Do we know?
There is no indication that she had a weapon on her.
And where was her cell phone, Alyssa? Her cell phone, we know, was always plugged
into the car from her cell phone in the charger because her fiance had said that because of the
navigation technology and tracking people and you just, you know how quickly your battery dies.
Her fiance says she always had it plugged in because it died so easily. So it was not found in her car when her
car was found in Pitcairn, but someone did find her cell phone along some railroad tracks.
Wow. This is one cunning killer, Alyssa Raymond, because the killer takes not only the camera out of the Uber, but takes her cell phone and then discards it along railroad tracks.
That's why the car couldn't be tracked.
Again, it's not the first time a ride share or delivery person has been attacked.
Take a listen to our cut 6A KXAS.
Does the name Ryan Muncy ring a bell?
Wife and mother of three small children,
Ryan Graham Muncy was working her Uber Eats delivery job Saturday night when she was murdered,
found in the breezeway of the Northern Cross Apartments in Haltom City.
I believe she was delivering food to somebody in that building.
The 31-year-old did not make it to the customer's door before she was killed.
A motive isn't being made public. And more on Ryan, our cut 5A. This is Sergeant Eric Peters
speaking. We got a call of a person that was lying in a breezeway that had obvious signs of trauma.
Eric Peters is a sergeant with the Haltom City Police Department.
On Saturday night,
emergency responders pronounced Ryan
dead at this complex where she made
a delivery over the last couple of
days the detectives have been working
nonstop to try to identify a suspect.
Right now police will only say she
suffered obvious signs of trauma.
Well, the detectives are kind of
holding that close to the vest for
investigative purposes so they don't want the actual cause of death out there yet.
So they're using that as an investigative tool at this point.
And ironically, exactly one month before Ryan Muncy, a mother of three, was murdered delivering Uber Eats. Another delivery driver shot dead.
And this was in Dallas.
Take a listen to our cut 7A KXAS.
Almost exactly a month before Munzee's murder.
So my first thing was shock.
And then my first thought was, oh, my God, the community.
What a loss.
Another delivery driver was shot dead, this time in West Dallas.
Timothy Paul Allen was an independent contractor delivering packages for Amazon in his personal car, according to family.
Dallas police were called to the 2400 block of Leith Street on December 23rd and found Allen shot and killed in his car.
Police say he had made a delivery to the nearby Hamptons at Lake West Apartments before being murdered.
A motive is not yet known.
His killer is also on the loose.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
These drivers, Dr. Angela Arnold, are really so defenseless.
I've got stacks and stacks of examples here of Uber drivers, Lyft drivers, pizza delivery, Uber Eats delivery,
DoorDash. They're so defenseless. Very often a ploy is used to lure someone to a fake address, then they are robbed and or shot and or raped. As a matter of fact,
take a listen to Richard Nye at WTHR 13, Arquette 11A.
Two witnesses say they saw 17-year-old Jalen Billups shoot a Domino's pizza delivery driver
just after 11 p.m. on August 31st. Court records say that Billups ordered pizza with a false name
to an unoccupied address on 16th Street in Lafayette. When Josh Ungersma arrived with
the delivery, Billups and her boyfriend allegedly tried tofayette. When Josh Ungersma arrived with the delivery,
Billups and her boyfriend allegedly tried to rob him.
Investigators believe Ungersma shot and killed 19-year-old Alberto Van Meter with a revolver.
Then Billups shot and killed Ungersma with a 9mm handgun.
The teen faces multiple felony charges, including three counts of murder and armed robbery.
The charges hold Billups responsible for Ungersma killing her boyfriend.
Billups made her initial court appearance by video and told the magistrate her family plans to hire an attorney.
A female attacker gunning down unarmed delivery people.
I mean, Dr. Angela Arnold, it's like you're putting your life on the line to take
one of these jobs. But you are. That's what's so horrible. People think that they can make a little
extra money doing something like this. And that means they need a little extra money.
And every time they go out, they have to be worried about if they're being ambushed,
if someone is going to rob them or kill them. I can't imagine a scarier thing to have to go out and do at night.
To Dr. Catherine Maloney, joining us, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner in Erie County.
Dr. Maloney, she, and I'm talking about Christina Spicusa, died of one bullet wound.
How long would she have lived after the shot before she died?
The gunshot wound was apparently to her head.
So it entered in the back of the left side of the head and then exited out her right cheek.
I imagine her death would have been relatively rapid because of the injuries to the brain.
I can only hope so.
I don't want to think of her lying face down in the dirt and being shot.
If that's where the primary crime scene was,
the body could have been dragged there,
making it a secondary or even tertiary crime scene.
That we'll find out as the investigation goes on.
Meanwhile, the news hits the fiance and the family like a ton of bricks. Take a listen to
our cut A1WPXI. Addressing the murder of his fiance, Christy Spacuzza, in a statement to
Channel 11, Brandon Marto wrote, I would like to thank the entire community for the nonstop
outpouring of prayers, condolences, and donations. My entire family and I would not be able to get
through this difficult time without support from the family, friends, and wonderful neighbors. Spacuzza, a mother of four,
was found shot to death along Rose Crest Drive in Monroeville Saturday afternoon. Hours earlier,
her car found in nearby Pitcairn, her purse still in it, the dash camera missing. Mardo says since
then he's been contacted by numerous female Uber drivers expressing their condolences and concerns.
Quote, we together agree there are insufficient safety measures in place for the drivers and this needs to change.
Adding, I don't want to see this happen to someone else's sister, daughter or wife.
Uber needs to protect its drivers more.
And it starts here with Christy. Then using good old-fashioned gumshoe detective work, police come up with an idea.
Take a listen to our friends at KDKA and our Cut 6.
It is an unusual case with many twists and turns, but detectives believe that they have their guy.
They used technology and data like
cell phone tracking and rider information from Uber, and they say that that led them directly
to the suspect and to a key piece of evidence. A 22-year-old man's in jail after police say he
ended his Uber ride with a gun pressed to his driver's head. It is unusual. Thankfully, it doesn't happen that often.
More times than not, there is a relationship between the actor and the victim. But detectives
say 22-year-old Calvin Crew didn't know his Uber driver, 38-year-old Christy Spacuzza,
a mother of four from Turtle Creek. And police say when his attempts to steal her money didn't work, he robbed her of her life. An Amazon driver driving down in a van had a little bit of
elevation to it, just driving down that roadway, saw the body off to the side. It was approximately
40 feet, I believe, off the roadway. Her body spotted by an Amazon delivery person lying there on the side of a hill, just thrown out
off the side of the road in the freezing weather.
And then I want to hear what you think about that, Shelnut, about the way they tracked
down the dash cam.
Yeah, tracking down the dash cam can be done one of two ways.
It depends on what type of dash cam is in this vehicle.
I don't know if that dash cam was a dash cam that was uploaded to a cloud server
or if it was self-contained.
If it's a cloud server, it would be relatively simple to contact the company
that's hosting this data and
get it. But if it is a dash cam that is self-contained, that's an issue in and of itself.
We learn more about what happened in the last moments of Christina Spacuzza's life.
Listen to our cut 11 WTAE TV.
According to police, in the moments before Christina Spacuzza was killed, she was pleading for her life.
And they say they know this because the dash cam inside her Uber was recording and they watched it all play out.
Police say the tracking of Calvin Crew began before he got into Christina Spacuzza's Uber here along Britain Avenue in Pitcairn at 9 14 Thursday,
February 10th. Police say the Uber was ordered by crew's girlfriend Tanya Mullen at 8 53 p.m.
And from the second crew stepped inside for the ride to Dersham Street in Penn Hills, police say phones were keeping record and Spacuzza's dash cam was recording. During that ride, investigators
say Spacuzza begged for her life. They say the images on her camera show Crew holding a gun to
her head while she told him, come on, I have a family. I'm begging you. I have four kids.
Please take that off me before they say Crew removed the camera. She says, first of all, you've got to be joking.
And he says, it's a gun.
She says, come on, I have a family.
His response, I got a family too.
Now drive.
Dr. Angela Arnold, she is begging for her life in the video, begging for her life, and he still murders her.
So he is a cold-blooded killer, isn't he, Nancy?
He has no feeling.
Nancy, he is a sociopath at best.
I just don't even understand how you can put a gun to a human being's head or anywhere and kill a human being.
And this woman is completely defenseless.
He has no feelings, does he?
Because Nancy, she tells him that she is the mother of four children.
He didn't need to kill her, did he?
Did you notice, Alyssa Raymond, that he's not the one that called for the Uber?
Didn't he have his girlfriend do it?
Yes.
In the criminal complaint, it says that Crew's girlfriend was the one that called the Uber for him.
And she wasn't even at the house with him.
This was her address, but crew was living there. She wasn't there, but she still requested the Uber for him to pick him up and
pick Karen and take him to Penn Hills, which would be about a 20 minute drive. Well, as far as I'm
concerned, she can be charged too with felony murder. Take a listen to our cut 12 WTAE. Police say they found the dash cam with
the SD card inside near a fence along Dersham Road at what was to be the end of this trip.
But they say Spacuzza's cell phone was still tracking. And according to investigators,
it was at the spot in Monroeville where her body was found an hour after the trip began.
Police say Spacuzza's phone was later found beneath the Westinghouse Bridge
near the railroad tracks.
And on it, investigators say several banking and online money transfer apps were open.
And according to the complaint, at some point during that night,
Crew's girlfriend, Mullen, who they say ordered the Uber,
text him,
quote, I am not going to jail if we get caught. Police say that interaction is also now under investigation. I can't speculate to what was in her mind or her thought process during those
messages, but what I can tell you is that the detectives are going through all the data from all the phones
and trying to make those connections in consultation with the district attorney's office.
Quote, I'm not going to jail if we get caught.
I'm not going to jail if we get caught.
That is what the girlfriend, Mullen, texts who we believe to be the Trigger Man crew.
You know what that tells me? That tells me, Justin Boardman, that she is on the hook for felony
murder. The felony being trying to rob Christina Spacuzza through her money transfer apps or to rob her of whatever money she had on her.
That was the plan.
And a death occurred.
She may not have meant for Spacuzza to be killed, but she was part of the underlying felony.
What do you make of somebody like her, Boardman?
You know, I absolutely, it makes me sick.
She certainly is on the hook for the murder.
You darn right.
She is on the hook.
Catherine Maloney, I've got to ask you a question, Dr. Maloney.
When you perform these autopsies, it would kill me to try cases and even report on cases when children were involved.
But then when I see a mom of four,
I mean, how do you get that out of your head when you go home, Dr. Maloney?
Well, usually, you know, forensic pathologists,
we have pretty good coping mechanisms.
Otherwise, we can't do the job.
So you think about your own kids and, you know, exercise, eat chocolate,
you know, kind of whatever it takes to get your head in the right space.
I hear you.
What about it, Shelnut?
I mean, I want her to go down.
Tonya Mullen, both down with the death penalty.
Four children, Shelnut.
Yeah, look, put them under the jail.
You know, unfortunately, the justice system can't give them what they deserve, but they can get the maximum penalty that the justice system can give them.
I'm going to tell you something, Nancy.
She's saying, I'm not going to go to jail if we get caught for this.
You have to be you have to be doing something to get caught for.
She knew she was doing something wrong.
She's as guilty as he is.
Totally. He already had a firearms violation already to Alyssa Raymond. What about her,
Tanya Mullen? Well, I wanted to add that it was her gun that was used in this case,
according to this criminal complaint. What's wrong with these people?
So what are her charges?
At this time, no charges have been filed.
What are we waiting on, Christmas?
Seriously, why hasn't she been charged?
She's not even in custody, Alyssa?
To my knowledge, not at this time.
It hasn't been announced.
I'm not going to jail if we get caught. Her words, and she is still out walking free.
What about him?
The devil, Calvin Crew.
Alyssa.
Yes, he's in the Allegheny County Jail facing criminal homicide charges, robbery, robbery of a motor vehicle, tampering with evidence. Because when we talk about the gun, back to the gun,
we know that Mullen had purchased it. And she did tell police that when they brought her into the police department on Monday for questioning. And she granted them access to her home to find
the gun box, which was also missing. And she did not know where it went.
Oh, wow. Where could it be? All right. I'm sure
if you asked her or her soon to be criminal defense attorney, they would say that she is
not guilty and had nothing to do with this. Neither have been tried or found guilty yet.
We wait as justice unfolds. And as we wait, let's just keep those four little children and that fiance
who's planning a wedding. Let's keep them in mind. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend.
You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.