Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - SUSPECT IN BLUDGEON DEATH OF TEEN BOY AT HALLOWEEN PARTY ARRESTED AGAIN?

Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Does the name Preston Lord ring a bell? Well, it's a name I will never forget. This handsome young boy, Preston Lord, just 16, was beaten dead at a Halloween party. As it turns out, a group of teens terrorizing a sleepy little Arizona town called Gilbert Goons seemingly were behind the attack on this young boy. Well, in the last days, a bombshell development in the case.

Starting point is 00:00:48 I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. In the last days, a so-called Gilbert Goon suspect, Jacob Pennington, arrested again just hours after he was sentenced to just three years probation for assault linked to the gang terrorizing the little town, including the Phoenix suburbs. That's right. A suspected member of the Gilbert Goons gang arrested again just after being sentenced to straight probation, which is a crime in itself. Jacob Pennington, 20, arrested on suspicion of underage drinking the very same day he gets straight probation. The reign of terror these teens have enjoyed has gone on for two years at least. It includes armed robberies, dozens of assaults at parties and in parking lots, several of those assaults with brass knuckles, and it all culminated

Starting point is 00:01:56 in the deadly beating of teen boy Preston Lord. What happened the night of that fateful party? A group of teens getting together at a Halloween party. How could it go so wrong? 911 emergency. Hey, I'm at a party. What's going on? Take a deep breath. There's a bunch of people out here with guns and shit. I just jumped my friend and he's knocked out on the ground. Okay. He's been unconscious for like two minutes. We need people over here. Okay, I'm getting them started, okay?

Starting point is 00:02:35 Don't hang up. Just stay on the line with me. Thank you so much. You are hearing the 911 call from the night this young boy was beaten and kicked brutally until he dies. We've got an all-star panel, but first I want to go out to veteran criminal defense attorney, high-profile lawyer in inner-city Atlanta, Raymond Giudice at RayGLaw.com. Ray, as you know, you as a defense attorney, me as a prosecutor, the first thing I would like to do when I struck a jury is play the 911 call. Because witnesses can tell their version on the stand, but there's nothing like what happened at the moment. Agree, disagree? Totally agree.

Starting point is 00:03:20 It's how you're going to open up your opening statement to a jury. It also sets your timeline for the events that will occur both at the scene and post investigation. Well, you're right. And the first thing you want to do is set up the timeline. Speaking of the 911 call in front of a jury, I would play it straight out all the way through. Now, listen to more of that 911 call. Listen. Do you know the people that did this? Are they still there or have they left? I don't know if they left or they're still here. I got out of there as quick as possible so I didn't get hurt. I don't know the people that are here. We don't have any beef with them or anything. Do you know, did you see the people that assaulted them? Did you see them well enough to get any description or did you see the people that assaulted them? Did you see them well enough to get any description or did you not see it actually happen? They all had ski masks on and it was...

Starting point is 00:04:13 How many was it? A lot. Like four or five or more? Like 15. Okay. This is every parent's worst nightmare. Group or gang mentality. The first case I ever had like this, at that time we called it wilding.

Starting point is 00:04:34 When young people, or people in general, do things as part of a pack that they would never do on their own. Take a listen to more of that 911 call. He's not waking up. No, I know. I'm on the phone with 911. I know, I know. It's fine. We're getting him.

Starting point is 00:04:53 He has a pulse. He just had a pulse. Here, take your stuff. Take all the stuff. Oh, my. Please, please, please. Are you still there? I'm still here.

Starting point is 00:05:03 Okay. Did he say your friend has a pulse now? Yes. Okay, that's good. Oh, my God, dude. I'm so dead. Okay, do you hear that? They're here?

Starting point is 00:05:19 Yeah, they're here. You can hear the police arriving in the background, and you hear the callers and the teens gathered around what would soon be a dead body saying, I am so dead. They're worried about themselves being in trouble. And it's amazing to me. I'm about to go to Alexis Tereschuk, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. It's amazing to me that within hours, literally hours of this teen boy, just 16 years old. And you know, Alexis, this is the age of my John David and Lucy within hours of him being pronounced dead. People were already trying to get money. Listen to Nicole Parton, Crime Online. As Preston Lord lays unconscious

Starting point is 00:06:07 on the pavement, friends determine his heart has stopped. Other partygoers perform CPR until police arrive and take over. Lord is taken by ambulance to Chandler Regional Hospital, then transferred to Phoenix Children's in extremely critical condition with a severe brain injury. Preston Lord succumbs to his injuries. For those involved, Lord's death is fodder for social media. Some trying to figure out how to cash in on the reward money offered for information about what happened. The suspects discuss the fight over Snapchat with one of the messages reading, My mom wants in on the $10,000. These messages are some of the first real clues police begin to follow. I don't understand, Alexis Tereschuk.

Starting point is 00:06:54 Within hours after this boy is pronounced dead, people are trying to get thousands of dollars. How is that? So the police offered a reward, a $10,000 reward for any information about this case, because as the kids said on the 911 call, they were in a mask. So at first people were thinking, oh, we don't know the identity of who these people are that beat this little boy to death because they had masks on. So there was a $10,000 reward offered for information leading to an arrest. However, these kids that are all talking are the ones that were involved in the beating. And they're so callous. They're

Starting point is 00:07:29 saying, oh, my mom wants it on the money because they were involved in it. So if the mom turns in another kid, they'll get the money. But all of these kids were involved and they were on top of him, punching him, hitting him. In fact, so he goes knocked to the ground and these guys were on top of him, dry humping him. So simulating like sex or raping this, this body that was on the ground now, which all these other kids, you know, there were hundreds of kids at this party were watching this happen. They're desperately calling 911. They're trying to get it stopped. They're scared because they'd seen guns. And it really, it started because apparently one of the guys grabbed a gold necklace off a girl there, just ripped it off her and stole it. So Preston tried

Starting point is 00:08:10 to get it back. He wasn't fighting with these guys. He wasn't saying bad things to them. He just tried to get his friend's necklace back, like being a standup gentleman for his friend. And that's when they unleashed on him. Guys, the day Preston Lord, this teen boy, dies. Apparently, another kid, a rich brat with a silver spoon in his mouth, dad, his multimillionaire dad, Travis Renner, goes to work, according to sources, and I'd love to hear from Mr. Renner if he would join us, trying to cover up his son's involvement. Take a listen to Crime Online's Dave Mack. The day Preston Lord passes away, Talon Renner's millionaire father, Travis Renner, goes to work trying to cover up the teen's involvement.

Starting point is 00:09:01 Renner and his business partner allegedly hand out NDAs and push a story that despite Talon Renner having thrown the first punch, Talon Vigil was truly to blame for Lord's death. Renner tells the school his son is being bullied and whisks Talon away to his $800,000 golf club cabin in Show Low, Arizona for a week while Talon's hands heal from the fight. Meanwhile, Talon Renner brags to friends on Snapchat, I got in a fight, a big group fight, and I accidentally killed a kid. I guess I'm just too strong.

Starting point is 00:09:32 Joining me right now, board-certified forensic pathologist, former medical examiner in Vegas, never a lack of business there, Dr. Jan Gorniak. Dr. Gorniak, I'm going to circle back to you about the injury sustained by the boy, the dead boy. But what do you believe they're talking about after seeing so many dead bodies in the morgue?

Starting point is 00:09:57 When we say that we have been told, informed, the father kept his son away for about a week till his, quote, injuries healed. What are they talking about? So obviously when you have any blunt injuries, that means your body hit something or something hit your body. So in this case of this young thug, he actually has injuries on his hands because his hands hit something. Unfortunately, this young man's head. So he's going to have contusions or bruises on his hands. So it's going to probably take, depending if he has any other cuts on his hand, it's going to take some time for them to heal. And Dr. Gorniak, you have studied the case. What can you tell us about the victim's injuries? I understand he was beaten and kicked dead.

Starting point is 00:10:47 He laid there on the ground while all of these, I guess, friends, frenemies beat him dead. But what is the actual cause of death in a case like this? In a case like this, it sounds like his injuries are blunt force injuries of the head. He got hit so hard with obviously fists. I'm not sure when they're beating him while he's down. Does that mean also any kicks? I'm not sure. But he has extensive head trauma.

Starting point is 00:11:14 So therefore, he also has some bleeding within his brain. So blood on your brain causes some swelling of your brain, which isn't compatible with life. And we heard that he was unconscious at the scene, you know, right after the injuries occurred. So it sounds like he was hit so hard. Plus, his head probably hit concrete. So that in combination really caused some devastating injuries. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The Gilbert Goons gang suspect, Jacob Pennington, arrested again. And this is just hours after he gets straight probation for an assault linked to the gang that terrorizes a sleepy little Arizona town,

Starting point is 00:12:15 the suburbs. Now, remember, he was not charged in relation to Preston's death. The gang is suspected in Preston's death. This month alone, Pennington shows up in court on two different occasions for two different alleged crimes. One on June 10 for an assault. Three days later, he shows up in court June 13, and that's when he sent us to three years probation for an assault. Then later that day, he's busted again for underage drinking. He was in a car that was pulled over for a traffic violation, 10.45 p.m. After this last arrest, Maricopa County Attorney's Office files a petition to revoke his probation sentence. Finally, he's going to jail. Is this really happening? But what about Preston Lord? Ray Giudice, I'd like you to address this. It's

Starting point is 00:13:12 reminding me a little bit. I know that you followed very closely the case of high-profile lawyer out of South Carolina, Alex Murdoch. He was ultimately convicted in the double murder of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul. Immediately, he tried to change the narrative. What does that mean? That's the now talk of getting someone to change their story. Because right at the get-go, we've been told, and again, I welcome the-millionaire dad to come on and clear all this up but apparently Renner's millionaire dad Tristan Renner goes to work trying to cover up his son's alleged involvement Renner and his business partner yeah go ahead and rope in your buddy in this allegedly hand out NDAs that's a non-disclosure agreement, and push a story that the son, the millionaire son, Talon Renner,

Starting point is 00:14:10 having thrown the first punch, that the victim is truly to blame. Okay, I don't understand that. Now claiming that his millionaire son has been bullied. That's completely bass-ackwards. I mean, can't you go to jail for witness tampering, Ray? Well, Phoenix, Arizona is a big town, Nancy, but they're going to have to import lawyers from all over the country for all the extra defendants, including parents and business associations,

Starting point is 00:14:40 potentially for the quote-unquote changing the narrative slash cover-up but what you're clearly trying to set up is a self-defense accident case that perhaps a fight broke out between two young men over a disagreement and the young man fell and as the doctor said get his head on the back of the back of the head on the concrete and i my son may have struck him but there's a causation issue as to which blows cause the fatality again shaping the narrative shaping their opening statement for trial but again there's going to be a lot this is the lawyer employment act of 2024 for metro phoenix the lawyer employment act of 2024 for Metro Phoenix. The Lawyer Employment Act of 2024. Hold on. Is that Gorniak? Yes, it is. Gorniak. Dr. Gorniak, hold on before I lose my train of thought here. No worries. Because

Starting point is 00:15:32 I'm scared right now. Did you hear what Raymond Giudice just said? And he completely said it with a straight face. Okay, this kid was beaten. He was dead on the ground, still being beaten, still being punched until he dies. He dies. Why am I angry? Because my son and my daughter are the same age as this boy. They go to parties and you heard Judice just spin it. He's spinning it. You don't like what he says? I don't. But that's what's going to happen in court. And district attorney, you darn well better be ready. Did you hear what he says? Changing the narrative. What does that mean? Lying. That's what changing the narrative means that now the victim fell. The victim did not fall. He was punched. And we know according to witnesses who threw the first punch, he fell. And now we're going to have a causation issue. My rear end. Gournier, you started this.

Starting point is 00:16:45 All right. Now, Judice picked it up and ran with it. Then he fell and just died. He fell and died. You know, I've fallen a lot, a lot. Running, chasing the children, being a cheerleader, this, that. I never just died because I fell. But this is the spin out.

Starting point is 00:17:05 This is a new recitation. History is being rewritten by Gorniak. And you know, Gorniak, I always agree with you. And Giudice. That's what's going to happen at trial, Ray. That's what's going to happen at trial. What you just did. A tipster notifies police that Talon Renner admitted to a friend that he threw

Starting point is 00:17:25 the first punch. Owen Hines told a friend he only kicked him in the stomach. Nearly all the witnesses point out Tristan Billy and Dominic Turner as aggressors due to their distinct costumes that night. Turner wore all black while Billy donned a white suit. Using the suspect's digital media, investigators find Taylor Sherman, who admits to taking a video of Preston as he is unconscious on the ground and sending it out on Snapchat. Talon Vigil also sent a message reading, I hit a kid and this kid fell, hit his head. Then they kicked his head in the ground. Then I got word he died. So IDK.

Starting point is 00:17:58 You are hearing Sidney Sumner from CrimeOnline.com. And what stands out to me is that a tipster notifies police that the millionaire juvenile, Talon Renner, admits he throws the first punch. And then it's a free-for-all with this little boy being kicked and beaten dead. Seven young men, including the high school football star Talon Renner, age 17, which is important, why is he in juvenile court, have been charged in the brutal murder of teen boy Preston Lord. We are also learning that group violence by teens in the Phoenix area is growing. And now there's a huge wave of public, of citizens demanding justice, that there is not two-tier justice, one for the rich man and one for the poor man. But that's what it seems to be shaping up as after local law enforcement give town renters parents special valet parking for their Tesla at the courthouse. Then they had to backtrack and apologize.

Starting point is 00:19:14 Ouch, that's Tesla. Let me bring back in Dr. Jan Gorniak, a renowned medical examiner and high profile lawyer in the Atlanta jurisdiction, Raymond Giudice. Dr. Gorniak, you were clarifying your analysis. What were you saying? Well, listening to Mr. Raymond about possibly saying that it was the fall and not the punch that caused his death in our forensic world we use the but for the but for the punch he wouldn't have fallen and hit his head I've had cases where someone swung and missed and fell and ended up dying and that still ruled a homicide so I understand what yours the defense it might come in and try to say, but from where I sit, that's still a homicide.

Starting point is 00:20:08 Just because, I mean, but for a punch, he wouldn't have just fallen and hit his head. It wasn't like he tripped and fell down the stairs. Something contacted his head to cause him to fall. So that's why no matter what they come in and say, this would still be ruled a homicide from the medical examiner standpoint. OK, you're right, Dr. Gorniak. But somebody like Raymond Giudice is going to take that thread and run with it till your whole sweater is nothing but a pile of yarn. It's going to be all over. It's like a pack of cats tore it up. Because you're absolutely correct.

Starting point is 00:20:48 This boy would not be on the ground dying if that first punch had not been thrown. There's your but four. He's going to argue at trial. Yeah, he threw the first punch, but he didn't kill him. Well, this is what I would say as a prosecutor. They're all going in the same pot to stew. Nobody's getting a plea. Everybody is going to trial for murder because I want you, jury, to think what it would be like lying on the floor, the ground, the pavement, looking up at all these faces in

Starting point is 00:21:28 Halloween masks. This bizarre scenario when you're taking a blow to the head, a kick to the kidney, so vicious, you end up dying and the last thing you see is this gang of animals over you dressed in these Halloween outfits kicking and beating you dead. Oh hell no. Nobody is getting a plea. All right. Go ahead, Ray. Well, I agree with the doctor. She's an expert. But the argument that I made, which I believe we will have expert testimony to, will at least allow, number one, a lesser included charge of involuntary manslaughter to a jury. OK, that's number one. And you know how critical that is. It allows a jury to find for

Starting point is 00:22:26 a lesser included charge. It allows the defense to argue that in closing. And I'll bet you dimes and dollars, Nancy, one of these young men's going to take a plea. And now you know how it works. They're not taking a plea unless I offer a plea. You can't take a plea that hasn't been offered. They'll take a plea. You wait and see. Someone's going to offer it. Now, I know you. You might not offer it. And I agree with you. I understand how you would play it.

Starting point is 00:22:51 But I guarantee you, close to trial, somebody's going to roll. Someone's going to come up and be a state's witness so they can get that murder conviction that you want. Preston Lord died a horrible death, a deadly beating at a teen Halloween party. In the last days, an alleged member of the so-called Gilbert Goons gang arrested again just after getting a straight probation sentence on another incident. He has never been named as the killer in Preston Lord's case. I would not be happy with just one. And I don't want the rich kid to be the scapegoat. They're all part of this.

Starting point is 00:23:39 And you know what's so great about it? They were taking videos. These jackasses, technical legal phrase, they're taking videos. Bringing in Julie Lewis, digital forensic expert, president, CEO of Digital Mountain Inc. Julie, if anything could make me happy about this scenario, It's the advent of a cell phone. They're all taking videos. And how do you think a jury is going to react to a gang attack on a single victim already down unarmed? Not good.

Starting point is 00:24:16 Not good. Those smartphones have a ton of digital evidence. In this case, they're using Snapchat as their messaging app for pictures and messages. And there's a lot of other things like Instagram, social media online that can be looked at. We do that all the time. We do open source intelligence investigations. With kids, they have no filter. These messages also, you have to get them quickly because a lot of these are ephemeral applications like Snapchat. If you do a snap, it'll disappear by default immediately unless the user changes it to holding a message for 24 hours or not at all. Julie.

Starting point is 00:25:03 Yes. That was my next question because all the time my twins are going, wow, I got so-and-so Snapchat. I'm like, show me. They go, it's gone. I don't know if they're just telling me that. Yeah. Or if it really is gone.

Starting point is 00:25:14 Can they retrieve a Snapchat? Can it be retrieved by LA law enforcement? So law enforcement has access to be able to see more on the phones than we can on the commercial side um it's called a physical image and in that they may be those those databases could be decrypted okay you've already lost me is that a yes or a no yeah can it depend you're saying yes i can retrieve a snapchat i'm going to give you a lawyer answer. It depends. Listen, I'm a lawyer. I can try a murder case doing what you're doing. They didn't teach me that in criminal law.

Starting point is 00:25:51 So I just need a black and white. Is there a chance I can get those snaps back? It's possible. So it's similar to having a camera in your office that's randomly taking screenshots. There are parts of the phone that store things in something called memory. And so it depends. Okay. You know what? I'm going to have to work with you as I've told many a witness because you're not helping me right now. All right. I got to narrow this thing down and get an answer that when I say a jury will understand, I mean that I will understand. And quick question,

Starting point is 00:26:20 Alexis Tereshchuk, and I want Julie Lewis to hear this. It's not just the snaps, Alexis. These jackasses bragged. They sent texts back and forth. There are not just snaps which can disappear, but there are texts. Yes. Text messages where the kids are saying, I hit the kid. He hit his head. The other kids jumped on the ground. I think he died. Another one, Talon Renner says, I got in a fight with a kid. I hit him. I think he died. I didn't even know my own strength. Another kid writes, bro, that kid died. They know it. And they're saying, also, one of them said, do not delete the video because you can use that and you can get $10,000. This is the $10,000 the FBI announced as a reward. They said, you can use that and you can get $10,000. This is the $10,000 the FBI

Starting point is 00:27:06 announced as a reward. They said you can use that and you can get the money. So they're all admitting they knew that there was video of this murder. Bragging? Did I just hear Alexis Tereszczyk say bragging and deleting evidence? Did I hear that? Was somebody bragging? And did someone ask for everyone to delete or not delete evidence? They were bragging to each other. They were messaging each other, not just pictures on Snapchat, messaging each other. And then another kid wrote to the kid that had the video, who had taken video at the fight and said, dude, don't delete that video because you can get $10,000 because the police had offered a reward for it.

Starting point is 00:27:52 So they're saying your video could be given as evidence and then you could win, not win, but you can get the reward money. So they are clearly stating there is video of the murder and that they should not delete it because it can be used to help them get money. No. Oh, this is going to help our friend go to jail. This is going to take the bad guys out. But you're going to get money. You're going to cash in on this. You know what? The jury is going to have a bad taste in their mouth about all of these guys.

Starting point is 00:28:20 That is why defendants very often will seek a severance. In other words, they want to be tried separately from each other. But if it's not a death penalty case and there are no interlocking statements where one defendant brings, blames the other defendant, if the state doesn't use those, these guys are going to be tried together. Why is that significant? Because let's just pretend Alexis and I rob a bank and I blame Alexis because of course it's going to be her fault. If we're tried together, she won't be

Starting point is 00:28:53 able to cross examine me on me blaming her because I'm certainly not going to take the stand. No way that denies her under the sixth amendment of her right to confront the state's witnesses. Even though I'm a defendant in a bank robbery, I'm still a state's witness. So if the state chooses not to use those interlocking confessions, then they can be tried together. And what I advise to the state, not that they care what I think, but don't use the statements. You don't need them. You've got video people. Try them all together.

Starting point is 00:29:30 Again, stew in the same pot. I want to address to Julie Lewis, digital forensics expert, CEO of Digital Mountain. What about what Alexis just told us that a lot of these communications were not a picture, which is normally what Snapchat is, but a written message. How about those? Please give me a yes. No, do not go into digital land. Just tell me, can I get those messages back? goes go ahead well i just want to educate a little bit so snaps can be snaps video and pictures and then there's chats which are also on snapchat um and it's snapchat is meant to delete things fairly quickly so snaps are usually a default and and the chats are within 24 hours but don't forget about the native message on the phone as well so there's all these different messaging apps uh that teenagers use and you gotta look at them all because there could be more evidence there and the photos and pictures and all sorts of stuff that are your treasure

Starting point is 00:30:34 trove what is a native message that's what's the messaging app on the phone that comes pre-installed that's not a third-party app okay so you mean like it's not Snap. So the phone itself may contain evidence. Okay. Let's see our defense attorney expert, Raymond Giudice. So, you know, all that stuff you were saying, let me get in my notes. I think I threw them away. All your theory about, oh, he just fell and just died because he fell. And what did you say? Oh,

Starting point is 00:31:06 I've got to find, there's going to be a quote causation issue, a causation issue translation. The defense is going to claim that the beating inflicted by these seven people is not why the guy died. This little boy died because he fell. All right. That's where he's going. But what about the videos? What about the text messages? What about the messages via Snap? And as Julie said, the messages native to the phone that don't just disappear on a third party app. You think you might be in a little hot water now? It's the timeline. You're going to start with those 911 recordings and you're going to move as our legal or technical expert just stated. All of these emails and text messages and photos will have a timestamp and a good prosecutor is going to surgically, one after

Starting point is 00:31:59 another, set out the timeframe. Quite frankly, the prosecution team's biggest problem may be having too many texts and statements coming from who knows who. But again, sometimes, Nancy, when there's not a severance and you've got seven co-defendants with high-priced legal counsel, confusion, I hate to use it, but that's part of the defense strategy. It wasn't me who punched him that caused the death causation. It's co-defendant Johnson who kicked him in the stomach that caused the death. And that's what you're going to see at trial. One quick thing, one quick thing. I think they're all going to be treated as adults and tried in, as you call it, big boy court. However, the option of taking a defendant, a co-defendant, and treating him as a juvenile is a very enticing situation for a plea bargain.

Starting point is 00:32:56 Keep that in mind. That's interesting because I've never been enticed ever to allow a killer to plead out in juvie. I'm not happy about the situation, but I did try a 13-year-old for murder in adult court. Did I like it? No. Was it my duty? Yes. Did he get convicted? Yes. Because he jumped into a pawn shop, stole a handful of dope ropes, gold chain,

Starting point is 00:33:21 shot three people, killing one, and leaving the other one in a wheelchair in a colostomy bag for the rest of his life. Hell no, he's not being treated as a juvenile. That said, I've never heard of too much evidence for the state, but thank you for floating another defense theory. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace It's called one of America's best places to raise children, but the brutal, deadly beating of a 16-year-old boy, Preston Lord,

Starting point is 00:34:00 highlights a disturbing issue, teen violence in Arizona suburbs. These kids have been given everything, fed with a silver spoon, and this is what happens? This perp, 20-year-old Jacob Pennington, confessed to police he was part of the Gilbert Goons, claiming the name originated from a Snapchat group. Now, this is according to police documents. The group has been officially designated as a gang. What took so long? Now, the police chief explains the Gilbert Goons are a, quote, hybrid gang because they rely on social media. And there is no real code of conduct that you find in a lot of gangs. But I do know this. The Gilbert goons have been involved

Starting point is 00:34:55 in at least 95 assaults in 18 separate attacks, most in Gilbert. Now, that's what I learned according to the Arizona Republic. Gilbert, Arizona, it's a very wealthy Phoenix suburb, and it was once touted as the second safest city in the whole country. But it's been all over the news because of these teen delinquents allegedly terrorizing the community as far back as 2022. Videos of teen attacks and claims made by victims about this gang's reign of terror now in the hands of police. The woman who made the initial 911 call tried to get help for the teen boy victim. Listen to her 911 call. Can we please get an officer at the corner of 197th Place and V-Day Palmas? There has got to be at least 250 kids here. They're walking the streets. We're not used to this. I'm not used to this in my neighborhood from being here 25 years. There's too many cars.

Starting point is 00:36:01 These kids are going to hit each other. Someone's going to get hurt. Someone's going to get killed. Gina Pignatello, the neighbor who called 911. Gina, tell me what happened. We live at the entrance of the subdivision, and there were dozens upon dozens upon dozens of cars parked back to back every side of the street coming in and out of the subdivision, teenagers, large groups of teenagers walking everywhere. In a normally quiet neighborhood, it was kind of shocking to walk out and see this kind of mass crowd forming and coming in and out of the subdivision. My husband and I immediately said, we might want to call the police.

Starting point is 00:36:44 And as soon as we're saying that, we see the police actually come into the subdivision. Within another five to 10 minutes, we watched the police circle the block and leave. And you immediately started, teens just continued to fill the neighborhood. You could clearly see students or children walking with bottles, cans, appeared to be intoxicated. Some were yelling, you know. and then we started to see accidents. Yelling what, Gina? You know, they were yelling things like, oh, don't get drunk, kids, you know, just appearing intoxicated and holding what looked like hands up in the air,

Starting point is 00:37:22 you know, so you could see this was starting to get rowdy as in the streets. And then within a few minutes of that, you started, we started seeing accidents. So now they're jam packed in this neighborhood. Some are trying to get in and out of the subdivision, you can't even turn off the main road, and they start rear ending one another. They might hop out quickly look and then they're driving away from these accidents. We hear another accident down the road. And then within seconds, we start seeing groups of teens jumping over our back fence or coming out of our backyard, jumping into our front yard, running into cars. And I said, this is getting out of control. We've got to call 911. And that's, and we need the police back here.

Starting point is 00:38:05 And that's when I made my call. And when I made that call, I didn't know at the same time, the attack on Preston and the other young boys was taking place at that same exact time. With me is Gina Pignatello, who was speaking out. A boy is dead. Instead of graduating from high school and going on all these college tours, it's over for him. And it's not just him that's gone. His parents' hopes, their dreams, all their energy, all their love, all their money into their boy, Preston Lord.

Starting point is 00:38:48 When did you learn, Gina Pignatello, that a boy had been essentially stomped dead in your neighborhood? Yeah, my neighbors and I actually didn't learn the details until Monday. So this occurred Saturday evening. And we didn't learn the details until Monday. You know, we began kind of neighbor sharing text and the GoFundMe. Oh, my goodness, this poor young man is fighting for his life. And then within a few hours, we learned that, that he had died. Yeah, just we could have never, you know, imagined. The parents were in, it was their Super Bowl. Their son was coming into his own. All those years of love and nurturing, and now this? When you learned about what happened, Gina, what were you told? Did everybody know who did it? Pretty immediately, I like to call them the kind of parents of the East Valley, began sharing and setting up.

Starting point is 00:39:58 We've heard these names. We've seen these Snapchat messages. Groups started forming because we were getting no answers. But I can tell you within those first few days, that first week, the names we saw that were arrested were the same names we saw within those first few days. We heard about the families, like the renters, taking their son to hide him up in the mountains to hide injuries. These parents that began gathering all this information, much of what was in the police report, we were learning and had and we're getting videos

Starting point is 00:40:31 within that first week of this incident happening. Joining me now, esteemed forensic psychologist, Dr. Sherry Schwartz. She specializes in capital mitigation and victim advocacy. You can find her at panthermitigation.com. And she's the author. She literally wrote the book on criminal behavior and another book where law and psychology intersect. Dr. Sherry Schwartz, thank you for being with us. I was saying at the beginning, Dr. Sherry, and I'm sure you can say it much more eloquently than I can. People do things in a group they wouldn't normally do on their own.

Starting point is 00:41:11 Do I care? No. I care that this boy is dead and the millionaire defendant's father has been hiding him out in a million dollar golf cabin. There's such a thing as flight after a crime where you hide from law enforcement. That never looks good. I want to talk to you about the group mentality here and whether it actually relieves anyone of responsibility. Well, I work also, Nancy, on a lot of juvenile direct file cases. When I say direct file, basically what I mean is they're charged as an adult. And in my experience, no, it doesn't absolve them of legal responsibility. I think people can argue it doesn't absolve them of moral responsibility. I expect that some super lawyers

Starting point is 00:41:57 like Ray Giudice will come forth with arguments about juvenile brain and how their brain isn't fully developed. And this can account for some of the behavior. And there's group dynamics at work as well, such as mob mentality. There's always at least one or two leaders, the larger the group, the less informed the fringe members are, but they go along, they conform with the behavior. But still, at the end of the day, under the legal system, in my experience, this doesn't really much matter. They're going to be held accountable just the same as the person that started the brawl. Teens and young men, including goon suspects,

Starting point is 00:42:37 now charged with the murder of Preston Lord. Members of the community up in arms claiming these perps should have been taken off the streets a long time ago. We wait as justice unfolds. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.

Your Ad Here

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - SUSPECT IN BLUDGEON DEATH OF TEEN BOY AT HALLOWEEN PARTY ARRESTED AGAIN?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.