Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - 'Mother you don't want to mess with': Ex-cop seeks help in finding daughter's killer

Episode Date: April 6, 2018

Josephine Funes Wentzal is "a mother you don't want to mess with," according to the San Diego prosecutor who is investigating the strangulation murder of 30-year-old Krystal Mitchell. Wentzal, a former homicide investigator is leading the way in searching for Raymond McLeod, an ex-Marine who allegedly fled to Central America after killing Mitchell. Nancy Grace help's Wentzel get the word out to the world about the fugitve McLeod in this episode, along with Seattle lawyer Anne Bremner, private investigator Vincent Hill, York psychologist Caryn Stark, juvenile Judge Ashley Willcott, and Crime Stories co-host Alan Duke. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on Sirius XM Triumph, Channel 132. This case may close, but what has happened to our family will never close. A gorgeous young woman strangled dead while on vacation. Right here in the U.S., vacation in San Diego. Her mother now begging for your help. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories and joining me right now is Josephine Funes-Wentzel, the mother of a gorgeous young girl. Her daughter murdered, crystal strangled dead. She wants answers. And I believe that you have those answers.

Joining me right now, Josephine Funes-Wentzel, the mother of Crystal. Ms. Wentzel, thank you for being with us. Thank you for inviting me on. I appreciate your effort. Your daughter was found dead on vacation in San Diego. We have learned that this guy, Raymond McLeod, is the killer. But he's not in jail. He's not even in the county jail awaiting trial. Let me take you back to the moment that you learned something had gone horribly wrong. Josephine, what happened? Well, you know, she had sent her children to us in Washington State for the summer while she was working in Phoenix.

She worked as a property manager. And as you see, she's a beautiful woman. And so she attracts a lot. And so this man came to rent a place there and he started stalking her unbeknownst to her. He was stalking her as a victim already because he kept going in there and going in there and staring at her in her office. And so I remember her calling me and saying, Mom, you know, this guy that's moving in here, he comes to my office and he keeps staring at me. And, you know, and so it's just kind of like, well, you know, Crystal. Oh, wait a minute.

Wait a minute. Josephine, you just gave chills running down my arm. I mean, also with me, high-profile lawyer out of Seattle, my colleague and friend, Ann Bremner, Vincent Hill, private investigator, renowned New York psychologist, Karen Stark, and joining us, Judge Ashley Wilcott, and of course, Alan Duke and Jackie Howard. Ann Bremner right there. How scary is that to be sitting at your job, sitting in your office, and you have some creepy dude? It reminds me, Ann Bremner, I went home to my hometown of Macon, and I drove the children by the apartment I lived in in Law School, and they went, Mom, you live behind a gas station?

I'm like, yes, I did. It mom, you live behind a gas station? I'm like, yes, I did. It's a very high end gas station. Hello. But you never know who's living around you, who these people are. And this freaky dude comes and stares at Crystal every day as she's sitting there trying to rent apartments. Oh, it's just beyond scary. And I'm so thrilled to be on with all of you and Nancy with you, my good friend and colleague. And I think the best place, I think, for her mom to be is here with you to get the word out about her daughter and the fact that he's not even prosecuted now. And it's just an amazingly scary, scary thing

that she went through. And the first person she called was her mom, who I saw nobody should mess with because she's been working really hard on this case. Man, you're not kidding. Back to Crystal's mom, Josephine Funes-Wentzel. So, Josephine, she calls you and says, Mom, this guy keeps staring at me in the office. What happened then? Well, you know, I just kind of like, I mean, she gets stared at all the time. You know, she looks like a movie star. And so, and she has that bubbly personality. She has a big smile on her face. I mean, she's just beautiful inside out.

And so it was kind of like, well, you know, I mean, you're a beautiful girl. People are going to stare at you. I mean, I didn't know the extent. Okay. This is something I'm discovering after the fact, after I investigated his background and find out that he's had domestic violence, after I investigated his background and find out that he's had domestic violence. He was out on a $50,000 bond for trying to kill his estranged wife, and his parents gave him $10,000 to flee and then retain an attorney and refuse to cooperate. Oh, my stars.

I did not know he had that kind of a violent history. I mean, what's the deal? I mean, Vincent Hill, you're the private investigator. Wouldn't that show up on his record? I mean, I guess there's no way you can turn down someone just because they have a record to live in an apartment. Well, Nancy, unfortunately, a lot of times when charges are pending, they don't show up on your record. So I'm sure as most departments do, they do background checks. But since those charges were pending, they probably didn't show up on his record when she did that background search. Oh, man.

Oh, that hurts me. So, Josephine, your daughter's calling saying this guy who has been coming to the office over and over is now renting there. Then what happens? Well, and then, you know, I mean, it was like I said, it was no big deal for me because she works in a place where there's people in and out. So I didn't know the extent of it. And then she had called me. She goes, oh, yeah, that guy came in here and started talking to me. And he has a son

that he just dotes on he loves his son mom he absolutely loves his son and he's a former marine just like my sister leanna and you know he's he's really nice guy mom he's a really nice guy because this is his ml okay and we have discovered this guy is beyond sex in his mind. He takes pleasure in torturing women, torturing them. He would find a date and take them to another part of the country and leave them stranded and brag to his friends how he left the beautiful woman stranded. And what I noticed about him and even in tracking him and the women he's coming upon,

are the women look similar. They have long, dark hair. And they're beautiful and they're tan skin. And those are the women he goes after. And I am looking at your daughter, and she's gorgeous. She looks like a model. She's got beautiful brown eyes, flawless skin. It looks like she's carved out of marble and long brunette hair.

So, yes, she looks exactly as you're describing. Okay, so he would brag about torturing people? Yes, he's a very sick man. And, you know, he had a domestic violence in Phoenix, Arizona. For those of you just joining us, a gorgeous young mother, Crystal, goes missing. She is discovered strangled dead while on vacation. She was in San Diego. The guy we believe murdered her, Raymond McCloyd, a 34-year-old U.S. Marine veteran, apparently takes the car to the airport, rents a new car, and drives away, never to be prosecuted.

So, Josephine, you know he's basically stalking your daughter. Does she fall for him? Does she get sucked in by his lies? Well, here's what he did. Krista was raised around guns because of my previous law enforcement background. So, you know, she was dealing with, she had been dating, you know, meeting people differently. And she, there was somebody that she was dating and this person was trying to get back with her. She had broke up a long time ago and, and she didn't want anything to do with this person.

And so this man came across as the hero. He says, Hey, I collect a lot of guns. Would you like a gun to protect yourself? And she's like, Oh, sure. And he gained her confidence. And he became the big brother, a doting dad with protecting, you know, I'm going to protect you from the bad guys. And that's what he did to her. And he charmed her into his life. And I know my daughter, this is not something that would have been a long-term relationship. For her, it was probably like, hey, I'm going to check this out, this guy. I'm going to see what he thought about.

And that's all it was. And that night that he killed her, or that morning, I know my daughter, she was trying to get away from him. When she saw what he was about, she said, no way, because there was an altercation at the place where they went to that he had gotten involved. He had punched somebody there at a bar, a club or someplace. Oh, no. Oh, no. I cannot even imagine. Hold on. Ashley Wilcott joining me, founder of ChildCrimeWatch.com, juvenile judge and practicing lawyer. Ashley, can you imagine if your husband, you're out and you get in, say you get into a fuss with somebody at the movie line and your husband turns around and punches him in the mouth?

No. I would be mortified. Not only mortified, to me me it's a red flag walk away walk away walk away because that kind of anger management going unchecked is is scary and a risk well apparently that is exactly what crystal tried to do for those of you just joining us. This beautiful, young, dedicated mom, just 30 years old, is murdered, strangled dead on a vacation to San Diego. Her killer gets a rental car and drives away into the sunset, and I am not having it. Listen to her mother, who's joining us right now, as she begs for your help to bring her daughter's killer to justice. Listen. You know, I've been on the side where I had to get the message to parents.

Sometimes I didn't want to get the message that the child has been murdered. And I'm on this side. And I received that message that night night and it's been the hardest thing but I'm just appealing to the public I mean we have America's best behind me we have one of the greatest team there is but sometimes best is not good enough sometimes we just need more and and I'm appealing to the public, both in Central America, San Diego, anywhere, please help us bring peace. As you see, it's the children that have to sleep at night. And I just want to bring peace.

I know that finding him is not going to bring my daughter back, but it's going to save the life of your daughter, your granddaughter, your mother. This shouldn't happen. There's so many victims to murder, and it continues on. It doesn't end. This case may close, but what has happened to our family will never close. And it's our faith that's taken us through so far, but we really appeal to you guys to please help.

Help us bring justice for Crystal and for her son and her daughter who needs to know that it's safe to sleep at night. You know, Josephine, hearing your words just, it brings tears to my eyes because I can remember, and you're going to laugh at this, my other guests have heard this before, Karen Stark, a New York psychologist, I know you've heard this story. I had the twins in A Baby's or Us, and I was looking for organic suntan lotion, okay, to protect them way down on the bottom shelf. And I had Lucy beside me and John David, they were both playing and they were wearing those little rubber Crocs, okay. And I was down there

digging around. And when I finally stood up, I picked up Lucy, I turned around and there was no John David. And I immediately thought of Adam Walsh, John Walsh's son that was abducted when he was in a store with his mom. He was one aisle away and he was killed. Honey, I started screaming and crying. I picked Lucy up like a football under my arm and took off running, screaming. They did a lockdown. Well, we found him. Of course, he had snuck away on his little croc silently. And I'll never forget that moment. And I cannot imagine if one of them had met the fate that Crystal did and there was no justice.

And hearing you beg for the public's help is just breaking my heart. I want to find this 34-year-old U.S. Marine veteran, Raymond McLeod, who I believe killed this mother of two, Crystal Mitchell, just 30 years old while they were on vacation. So when did you learn, Josephine, that something horrible had happened? I woke up that morning and something was wrong. I was feeling something was wrong with me. I didn't know what was wrong.

It wasn't anybody specific. I just thought it was me. Wait, I want to hear this. I want to hear this because I have long said that, for instance, when my fiance was murdered, I called my job at the library to tell them I was running late from an exam, and they said, call Keith's family. I knew right then that Keith was dead. I don't know how I knew, but I knew.

Now, you're saying you woke up and you knew something was wrong. Tell me that feeling. It was a vacant feeling. I couldn't put my finger on it. It felt like I was just vacant. I called a friend and I said, I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know what I'm feeling. It's weird.

I just feel like something vacant inside. And I had no idea what it was I just thought it was me you know and so later on that day I had texted her saying hey how's it going how are you doing no response and like it wasn't uncommon you know she could have just been at the beach or something so uh later that evening i knew something was wrong it was a gut feeling it was just a gut feeling i got very sick i started shaking i was just trembling i called a friend and i'm like diana diana have you heard from crystal have you heard from crystal because the last picture she showed me because she was on the way there, you know, driving, and I said, well, what does this guy even look like? Well, those pictures that you see circulating all over the place were the pictures she sent me.

And so when the police told me, I was able to just send them the pictures right away. But that night, you know, my husband had texted her and said, please, your mom's really worried. Please call her. And about that time, the detective saw that text and called. And when I saw 619, Nancy, I knew. I just covered my ears and I started screaming, no, no, no. And if I didn't have those grandkids there, I would have been in the car and I would have

been flying down to San Diego from Vancouver, Washington. And I just wanted to take her body out of that morgue. Because mind you, I've been in that job. I've been on the other side of this role that I'm in

now. And it's a painful thing. So I know the scene. You don't have to describe what happened. You don't have to tell me what a murder scene looked like. I know. When I saw cones on the newspaper in the parking lot, I knew it was a struggle. Because that was my job. If you know where he's at, if you know anything about him, if you know someone that knows him, if you have family in Central America, alert the world. Get this man off the street so he doesn't strike again. With me is the mother of a just beautiful, beautiful on the inside and the outside. A loving and dedicated mother of two, 30-year-old Crystal, murdered on her vacation to San Diego.

Her mother, Josephine Funes-Winsel, is with us, sharing her story. She's not just sharing. She's enduring the pain of reliving these moments. To ask for your help in finding Crystal's killer, Raymond McLeod, who gets a rental car at the airport and disappears into the sunset. But he is somewhere. He is within the long arm of the law and God help us, we will help find him. I'm listening as her mother describes getting a phone call from a 619

area code. And she says at that moment, she knew. Josephine, you said you knew when you saw that area code. What went through your mind and your body? I remember it was before people had cell phones and I was told to call Keith's family, and I knew. And I had to find a quarter, and I had to use a pay phone, and I can still remember. You know how a moth looks batting around a light? My hand was just flittering around. I couldn't dial the numbers. I knew, I knew that my life was going to be changed forever.

When you saw 619, what went through your mind and your body? How did you know Crystal was gone? Because of all the feelings. And I just, I knew, I just, I knew before I got the call, I just, I just started trembling. I was sick to my stomach. I want to throw up, you know, I liken it to being punched in your stomach so hard that state for days. It's just, no. I don't even remember the first six months after her death. I don't even remember anything. I don't even remember who showed up on my side. I don't remember anything.

It was so traumatic for me. You know, Josephine, I thought it was just me. Because for huge chunks of time, after Keith's murder and right before his murder, I can't remember. I can't. I only have one blurry memory of going to his grave at the funeral. Yes. I only have fragmented memories of the funeral itself and them big chunks of time events that happened. I have no memory of. And when you're describing this, I didn't feel like I got

punched in the stomach. I felt just, just sick. The smell of food, the sight of food just made me sick. I couldn't stand it. In fact, I lost down to 89 pounds because I could not stand the smell of food, sound, music, clocks, everything. I understand. I really can't describe it, Josephine. Here's the thing, Nancy, and I just wanted to touch it real quick because he was out on bond for that. But get this. He assaulted his first wife. He violated a restraining order, hurt her and their children and their child, one son. And it was a misdemeanor. And all he had to do was watch a DVD to get off of it. A video. He had to watch a video. I'm so embarrassed for the justice system.

Karen Stark, New York psychologist, renowned mental health worker. Karen, this feeling, two things. First, this feeling before you're told that we get, not just Josephine and myself, but a lot of people, hundreds of people that I know of. That's true. You know before you're told. What is that? And number two, why do you lose memory of the events surrounding a traumatic event? Well, the feeling that you get, no one really understands it scientifically, but I think about it as synchronicity, the kind of connection that you have with another person,

that somehow there's that absence, as she was explaining, as Josephine was explaining, this feeling of something is missing, like an emptiness. And you hear that story so many times, Nancy, not just for the two of you. I had it before I got the phone call that my father had died. It's just like we have a sense that nobody knows about. And I know this all sounds very ESP, non-scientific, but I do believe that it's about a connection that all of a sudden is severed. What about the memory loss that Josephine has?

The memory loss, that is very common when you are talking about a traumatic event. It's as though your brain shuts down. It's on overload. There's something that's happening that you just can't process. And so, in fact, literally, there are parts of your brain that the messages are not computing. You're not being able to deal with the unthinkable that's just occurred, the way it happened to you with Keith. And it will stay with you, the memory of that, for the rest of your life, the fact that you just went on autopilot and were not able to really process this huge, horrific event that had happened to you. With me is Karen Stark, renowned New York psychologist, Josephine Funes-Wentzel, Crystal's mother, Ann Bremner, Vincent Hill, Ashley Wilcott,

Alan Duke, and Jackie Howard. We are seeking justice in the murder of 30-year-old, mother of two, Crystal. Just loving, dedicated, beautiful on the outside and the inside. Josephine, her mother, begging that her killer be brought to justice. I'm looking at him right now, Raymond McCloy, 34 years old. And in the photos I'm seeing of him, it's such a turnoff, Josephine. He's got his shirt off.

He's totally buff, like he spends a lot of time working out in the gym. He's completely buff. He's tan. He's still got the Marine haircut. I know they're not proud today because he's a Marine vet. And he's covered in tattoos, full arm sleeves, covered in tattoos, you know, looking like he's about to appear in a Steven Seagal movie. That's what I'm looking at.

And he murdered your daughter. You got that call, and what did police tell you, and what did you do, Josephine? Well, I was watching. I was going in and out of the room. I still had my hands over my ears, and I was still screaming, no, no, no, no. Let's go get her. Let's go get her. I know she's okay.

She's okay. I know she's okay. And that's all I kept saying. And I looked at my husband who was on the phone and he was looking downward somber and I knew, and I just wanted to leave. And I was screaming. I totally forgot the kids were with us. So of course, you know, they run down. What is wrong with Nana? Nana, what's wrong? And, you know, they run down. What is wrong with Nana? Nana, what's wrong? And, you know, they were ripped off.

My sister happened to be there visiting, and she took them off to another room. And it's a feeling like no other. It's a feeling like no other. I've had a lot of losses in my life, but, you know, for family members and war, but it's just something about losing a child, but there's even something else. You get put in a different category when it's murder, because with murder, nobody understands that pain. I felt the same thing. At first, I couldn't believe Keith was dead. I couldn't believe it. I thought there must be some accident. If I could get to him, I could somehow affect it, and I could save him, and it was going to be okay, and it wasn't true.

And I had, nobody was at home, at our family home, and I saw cars parked at our church, and I went in, and my pastor got on the phone, and I was sitting across his desk, and I saw cars parked at our church and I went in and my pastor got on the phone and I was sitting across his desk and I saw I read upside down when he wrote Bernstein Funeral Home and then I knew and it really didn't sink in you had Josephine you had Crystal's children with you could you are they still with you where are her are her children? The other tragic event to this is the children's father is a disabled war vet. He's a young man who ran over 90. He's not capable of taking care of them

because of his state of mind. This whole thing about him being a Marine, it's really turned off, and I really wish they'd not put him out there as a Marine, you know, because we are a Gold Star. We are a Gold Star family. I agree. My father's a military vet, too. And my family fought in the wars.

So did mine, Josephine. You know what's interesting, Josephine? With me, Josephine Funes-Winsel. This is Crystal's mom. You were so preoccupied with the fact your daughter was worried about an ex who was bothering her. You became concerned when McLeod loaned her a gun and amidst all this going on he surprises crystal with a trip to san diego to visit friends and it was those friends who find crystal dead in a bedroom inside their home with an obvious sign of struggle, and McLeod disappeared.

To Ashley Wilcott, juvenile judge, founder of ChildCrimeWatch.com, it's like she knew, the mom, Josephine, knew ahead of time, but there was nothing she could do to stop it. And now her children are left behind without a mom. I think she did know ahead of time because listen, my heart goes out to you as her mother and we have to, our instincts are right. Our feelings are right.

I believe it's not scientific, but the feeling that you get when something happens to your child, because no mother should lose their child. It's the same feeling that the victims have before something happens to them. She tried to get away from this beast. He's a predator. He's a murderer. She tried to get away.

I think she absolutely knew. And I think that she couldn't escape his clutches. Well, what about this, Ashley? I'm trying to figure out why I have such a horrible vibe about Raymond McLeod. I would flip out if my husband stripped off his shirt at a gym and

started taking selfies of himself. That's the feeling. I said he looked like he worked out at the gym. He's taking selfies of his buff self in the gym. He's a steroid user. You know what? If you have time Taking selfies of his buff self in the gym. Steroids. Steroids. He's a steroid user. You know what?

If you have time to do that, you need to be working to bring home money for the family. I mean, it looks like it's just a horrible vibe off this guy. He looks like a creep, too, doesn't he, Nancy, in the picture? He does. He does. And Crystal just could not see it. Ann Bremner, what about this? What about his history? How did this happen? I mean, if you look at his history,

he had already gotten away with so much. He had been charged twice with domestic violence, one that occurred just three months before Crystal Mitchell was murdered. He pled not guilty to assaulting second wife in Riverside, California, and got off on bond. I mean, when Josephine first posted a wanted poster with McLeod's picture on Facebook, she got a flood of messages from past girlfriends. And how is this guy even walking free? You know, it's amazing.

I'd be interested to see all the different sentences he had. I mean, we've heard about it from Josephine. It sounds terrible. He has to watch some DVD. I mean, these are very serious crimes, you know, for which he's been prosecuted. And if he thinks he's going to be able to get away by being in a different jurisdiction and dealing with extradition issues, it doesn't matter where you are. As you know, Nancy, if there's a treaty, he comes back. If there isn't a treaty through comedy of nations, it's C-O-M-I-T-Y,

you know, good relations between nations, he comes back. So I'm so glad Josephine's on top of this and you are too, because the word needs to get out so he's identified picked up and extradited man you're not kidding Ann Bremner take a listen to the San Diego prosecutor McLeod had a disturbing history of violence against women with whom he'd had a relationship and a pattern of abuse that had been escalated. McCloud had prior violence against two of his previous wives. He had a pending 2016 felony case in Riverside for strangling one of his wives. A roommate interrupted the woman being strangled. That set the scene for what would be a deadly trip to San Diego, California. There were clear signs of a struggle, and Crystal had numerous injuries. There was blunt force trauma, including to her face and torso. McLeod had brutally

strangled Crystal to death, choking the very life out of her. There were multiple fractures to her neck area. McLeod then, like a coward, stole her car and ran to the border. But we're not going to let this coward run from justice and get away with murder. We need your help. Make no mistake, we are on a hunt for justice and we need your help. We're asking anyone with information to come forward so McLeod can be arrested, returned to San Diego and held accountable for this brutal crime. Anyone with information on the murder or Raymond McLeod's whereabouts is asked to submit a tip through stcrimestoppers.org.

There is an $11,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest in this case. Anonymous emails and text messages can be sent through stcrimestoppers.org as well, or you can use the Crimestoppers app. McLeod is a former Marine who may have access to weapons. He's 34 years old, 5 foot 11 inches tall, and has multiple very recognizable tattoos on his arms and chest and body.

He goes by the nicknames RJ, but may be using the name Matt or Matteo to attempt to hide his identity. It's very likely he's tried to change his appearance, grown a beard. He may have put on weight. There is a very real concern that McCloud's history of violence will continue to escalate, and he will strike again while he's on the run, most likely against an unsuspecting woman.

Back to Josephine Funes-Wentzel. This is Crystal's mother. And what is just a stab in my heart, Crystal's best friend, Diana Olivares, said that this guy, Raymond McLeod, had a, quote, spotless record, and that this guy, Raymond McCloy, had a, quote, spotless record. And that she said, Crystal said, hey, you know, I'm good. He passed two background checks. So this is, his background is clean and he has a good job.

And a child he dotes on. It was a child he dotes on. That was key. Because I told her, as a single mom, when you're looking for a potential partner, you want a man that loves children. And so that was key for her. What about this flood of messages from former girlfriends that you got when you put Raymond McLeod's picture on Facebook, Josephine? What happened? Oh, my gosh. I even got contacted by people that were in the Marines with him. And one guy from, I think it was South Carolina, and he said,

this guy is horrible and that none of the Marine buddies are even surprised that this happened. And they were really sorry, but they were not surprised that he was, I mean, I haven't confirmed all this. I'm sure, you know, the marshals would, but he's had, you know, AWOLs and UAs and dad has been bailing him out and bailing him out and bailing him out of all his troubles. He was a golden child. We're a wealthy family in Scottsdale. And that's what I'm up against. Well, we're joining forces with you, Josephine. I hope so.

I want to find this guy, and I want him. I don't want him just in jail. I want him under the jail for what he did to not just Crystal, but to her children and to you. Going through life, having your child murdered, having your mother murdered. For what? By a badass that had already been assaulting women for God only knows how long? Listen to Steve German, the commander of the Fugitive Task Force.

Listen. We are a multi-agency task force. And in this case, we are one badge. San Diego PD, the DA's office, and every other law enforcement agency in this county, in this country, are working on this case. We adopted the case, and our involvement in the case is certainly the manhunt portion of this case, so that's what I would like to address today. The United States Marshal Service has elevated this to our major case status, which is part of the $11,000 reward being offered for his capture.

It's also opened up a number of other investigative techniques that we have and are deploying. There is absolutely no resource that we have that we are not prepared to or already using. And today I stand here to deploy our most powerful asset, our most powerful tool in law enforcement that we have and that is the public's eye. That is what we need in this case at this time and it doesn't matter how small your tip is. Over the years I've seen the tiniest little scrap of information lead that that little breadcrumb leads down the trail and ultimately results in the capture. So I urge the public, share this on social media even if you don't know where he is. If you have a friend down in Central

America, if you have somebody that may know anything about this case, please share this. I also want to address that we believe he is in Central America. Could he be anywhere? Absolutely. Our trail that we have followed him so far, we've confirmed that he left San Diego and went into Mexico. And then we've also confirmed that he was in Belize. That tip actually came in anonymously from a female who met him dancing at a nightclub, got kind of a creepy feeling about him, and probably saved her own life by not going with him.

That is the type of monster that we're dealing with here. He will repeat this action if he hasn't already. And that's why it's important for us to get him off the street. We also had a tip that showed him in Guatemala. And it's important to also note that these tips that we've received have been substantiated or passed on through social media. So social media obviously is a very important component of this investigation, and we encourage the public to turn that on mcleod let's use our power as a people against a monster like this there is an eleven thousand dollar reward and it

is climbing to alan duke alan there have been sightings of mLeod, Raymond McLeod, in Belize. So he can easily take boats in and out of the country without being spotted in Mexico, in the Honduras. What do we know? Oh, Guatemala. Tell me about the reward and if there is a tip line. It's San Diego Crime Stoppers is the tip line, and there is an $11,000 reward that's being offered actually by the U.S. Marshal Service, as Commander German just told us. There's also a website, and I understand, Ms. Wentzel, you've created a website for people to go to to submit tips. What is your website, Josephine?

I created a website to expose this man to. It's called angelsofjustice.com. Angelsofjustice.com. Guys, the tip lines are 619-531-2293. Repeat, 619-531-2293. Repeat, 619-531-2293. Or 619-531-2000. Repeat, 619-531-8477. Repeat, 888-580-8477. You know, Vincent Hill, you're the private investigator. We know that the U.S. Embassy in Belize has issued a bulletin to police and media to be on the lookout for Raymond McLeod. We believe he's staying near the coast in Belize

so he can take very easily boats in and out of the country. We also have had sightings in Mexico and Honduras. What do we do now, Vincent? How can we find this killer? Just turn up the pressure, Nancy. I mean, someone there is either likely in the same boat as Josephine. They've either lost a child due to domestic violence. They're a victim of domestic violence.

Nobody likes domestic violence. So wherever he is, we need to turn up that pressure and allow someone to come forward and say, here he is. Come get him. You know, I've been thinking about something you mentioned, Josephine. With me is Crystal's mom, Josephine Funes-Winsel. About her children, I can't even imagine telling the children, telling children their mom is gone and is in heaven with the angels. How did you tell them, Josephine?

Well, I just sat them down and just said, you know, something terrible has happened. And mom has been killed and so as psychologists know children that young they can't really process that they don't know how to process it it was just like a stare and then my grandson said Nana how was she killed?

Was she alone? Where was she? Did somebody try to help her? I mean, it was horrible. It was just a horrible thing to have to tell them. And then she said, how did mom die? I said, her heart stopped. I couldn't say she was murdered.

I didn't want to lie and say it was an accident. I just said her heart stopped, which brought up other things in him because later on he said, so when I'm 30, my heart will stop. You know, so later on I have to explain what happened. That someone killed their mother and uh he asked me nana why didn't mama fight back why didn't she fight back and i said well we don't know she probably did we don't know if she fell i don't know. She probably did. We don't know. Well, I don't know. What do you tell your child? What do you tell your small grandchild about their mother?

You know what? I have all the legal answers. I don't have the answers for that. Guys, I want you to hear Crystal's mother, Josephine Funes-Winsel, as she described her daughter Crystal. She was a lovely mother. She was beautiful inside, inside out. She was beautiful. And she was a single mom, unsuspecting of this man. There was nothing to alert her that he was a terrible person. For those of you listening now here on Sirius XM 132, I've given you the tip lines 619-531-2000, toll free, 888-580-8477.

Police have released images of Raymond McLeod. They show his chest, shoulder, and arm tattoos. They show what he looks like with a beard or clean shaven. He's about 5'11", at 245 pounds of pure muscle. He is known to go by the names of RJ, Matt, or Mateo. His name is Raymond Cloyd. He can be charming. He can be gregarious. He can be very engaging. Don't be fooled. He is a killer. And he robbed Josephine of her girl. And he robbed her little children of their mom. Listen to her mother. I know that finding him is not going to bring my daughter back.

But it's going to save the life of your daughter, your granddaughter, your mother. This shouldn't happen. There's so many victims to murder, and it continues on. It doesn't end. This case may close, but what has happened to our family will never close. And it's our faith that's taken us through so far. But we really appeal to you guys to please help. Help us bring justice for Crystal and for her son and her daughter. I want justice.

Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.