Dateline NBC - An amusement park murder. An aspiring beauty queen's murder. Plus, a detective's documentary.

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

In Georgia, a breakthrough in a 19-year-old amusement park murder. In Philadelphia, the murder of aspiring pageant queen Kada Scott leads to questions for police and prosecutors. Plus, a police precinct in Canada using documentaries to solve cold cases -- including a baby's mysterious death.Find out more about the cases covered each week here: www.datelinetruecrimeweekly.comWatch the Ontario Provincial Police documentary “The Grand River Baby: Unsolved” here: https://youtu.be/7k8CYPOORdw Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Good morning. It's the start of another workday here at Dateline. Okay. Why don't we get started? Our producers are catching up on breaking crime news. They got DNA from him, right? Witnesses are hard to find. It's been so many years. That pretty much says this is the guy. Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly.

I'm Andrea Canning. It's October 23rd, and here's what's on our docket. In Philadelphia, tough questions for the police and police. prosecutors after a 23-year-old woman is found dead in the woods. Could her death have been prevented? Fear could have been the driving factor. In Dateline Roundup, a surprising development in the case of a former Major League Baseball pitcher and convicted killer, Dan Serafini. A verdict in the retrial of Paul Zumott, the hookah lounge owner accused of strangling his girlfriend and setting their house on fire. And a sentencing for Nicholas Rossi, the man who faked his own death to escape justice. His two victims told the judge that they were still afraid of him. Plus, how one police department is turning to an unusual tool to crack cold cases, making documentaries. It's a good way to get the message out to the public. But before all that, we're off to Coffee County, Georgia for the latest in a murder case that went cold for years, involving a mother of three, her husband, and their live-in nanny.

At a press conference on May 23rd, Special Agent Jason Seacriss from the Georgia Biorgio. Bureau of Investigation announced a breakthrough in a case that had been hanging over the small city of Douglas, Georgia for nearly two decades. Sometimes slow, steady effort is rewarded with justice that arise like a thunderbolt. In 2006, 39-year-old Doris Worrell was shot and killed at a local amusement park owned by the Worrell family. Her husband, John, was the one who found her body. He called 911, then fell to the ground in tears. But 19 years later, Agent Sechrist announced John was in custody, accused of masterminding his wife's murder.

And he said the key to John's arrest was testimony from a woman who lived with the family as a young teenager, taken care of their children, and later became John's lover. John Worrell has pleaded not guilty, and since his arrest, his defense team has filed several motions challenging the case against him. Dateline producer Dorothy Newell is here to get us up to speed on the nearly 20. year investigation and what lies ahead. Dorothy, thanks for coming on the podcast. Happy to be here. Okay, so Dorothy, to start, what can you tell us about the relationship between Doris and John Worrell? So they met in college. Doris was just one of those lovely, generous people. She was a good teacher, a devout Christian, and he was, by all accounts, a really fun guy. After they got married, they settled in his hometown. She quit her job as an elementary school teacher to be a stay-at-home mom with her three kids. And he took over management of a small amusement park called John Sports Park. And what do we know about this amusement park? Very interesting where Doris was killed. So it was kind of the center of this community. It had a big arcade, a driving range, batting cages, and a go-cart track.

It had a really big roller skating rink inside. It was the place to be for kids in the area. How was Doris killed? She had gone into the park that morning in September of 2006 to just clean up a bit. And somebody came in and shot her. Do investigators know why she would be shot in these early, you know, moments of this case? There was a couple theories, one that it was a random robbery gone wrong. Another possibility is that John had chased some people out of the park the week before, and apparently they were angry.

So one of the leading theories early on is that she was shot in retaliation. Okay, but those theories go nowhere, and a new theory emerges. Well, they're just hearing a lot about John and his relationship with a girl who's living with them. And her name was Paula Yarberry. She came into the home when she was about 14 years old. She was essentially a homeless, undocumented immigrant from Venezuela. The church found out about her, and so Doris and John offered to take care of her. So they brought her into their home as one of their kids almost.

So she lived with them for quite a while. She started helping out in the family by taking care of the kids, which is how she's sort of become known as the nanny. Investigators allege that Paula and John started having an in, inappropriate relationship sometime in the following years. Are they saying this was possibly a motive for John to murder Doris? Yes. The one thing that they will say and that they have said is that John wanted out of the marriage. And he was afraid that if he divorced Doris, he would lose custody of the kids.

But we know that John was not at the park at the time of the shooting. So they start to think, well, if he wasn't there, then he got someone to do it, possibly. This really came to fruition two years after the murder. They charged two men with the shooting? Yep. So we know that one man who was a park employee and another man were arrested in charge with conspiracy to kill Doris. But investigators decided there wasn't enough evidence at that time to convict either man. So the charges were dropped. What happened to John then? Was he arrested? Okay. So this is where the story gets crazy. So Doris is murdered in September of 2006. By May of 2007, police arrest Paula. As I mentioned, she was a undocumented

immigrant. And they deport her to Venezuela. So she's gone. So what happens with John? So John then in August of 2008, he packs up the kids and moves to Costa Rica. Paula then moves from Venezuela to Costa Rica. And they proceed to raise the children as husband and wife. For whatever reason they break up down to Costa Rica. And John moves back to the United States. He goes to Missouri with his three children. Meanwhile, Paul is still in

Costa Rica. And within the last couple of years, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation decides to go down to Costa Rica and talk to her and see if they can get her to give them some information, and she does. And that resulted in them coming back up to the United States and arresting

John in Missouri. For murder? For murder, yep. So you don't even know exactly what Paula said, right? It's not been made public yet. John denied having a relationship with Paula when he was in Costa Rica and since his arrest has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. His defense has filed several motions, but the big one was asking for a change of venue for his upcoming trial. First of all, it's a really small area. So they're making the point that with all the publicity that has been burning around this case, it's fairly hard to find anybody who doesn't have an opinion according to the defense about. John's guilt. There's been all kinds of social media, as you can imagine. So this motion for a change of venue, it singles out one TikTok account in particular. It's from a former park employee who's been pointing the finger at John even before his arrest. We need answers. It is not fair. Justice for Doris. We know who's guilty now. I'm old enough to realize this. So Dorothy, during the press conference, Doris's sister made an emotional plea to John and Doris's

three children. She said that she hadn't seen them in 19 years. Do we know where the kids are now? So we do know that all three of his children were his bond hearing, where his oldest daughter spoke on his behalf and the other two just sort of sat quietly. We think that Doris's, two of Doris's children have moved back to Georgia and one of them is in Canada. It's tough. And I know the family's really upset that they have not seen these kids, the children of their beloved dora so they have not seen them in that long. All right, thank you so much for bringing us details on this case, Dorothy. We'll keep watching and have you back on to tell us when we get more details on a possible trial. My pleasure, Andrea. Good to talk to you.

Coming up, in Philadelphia, the TikTok video at the center of a death investigation. October 4th started as a routine Saturday for 23-year-old Kada Scott. The Penn State graduate got dinner with friends before she borrowed her mom's car and left for an overnight shift at an assisted living facility in Philadelphia. But Kata never made it home the next morning. Kada's family filed a missing person's report and soon a desperate search began. If we got a drive from a thousand billion trillion miles to come find you, we're going to find you. Nobody's giving up. Police canines, helicopters, and drones scoured the area around Kada's workplace.

This past weekend, Kada's body was found buried in a shallow grave, and what began as a search to bring her home has become a painful search for answers. Her community wants to know why the man now accused of kidnapping her was walking free and whether the justice system failed to protect Kata. Here to tell us more is Brian Sheehan, a general assignment reporter for NBC10, our station in Philadelphia, Thank you. Thanks for having me, Andrew. So, Brian, you've been covering this from day one. First of all, tell us what you've learned about Kada. So those who knew Kada described her as charismatic and kind with an infectious smile. We also learned she loved fashion and designed clothing. She recently started participating in pageants as well and had interest in competing in the Miss USA pageants.

We mentioned that Kada was working on the night she disappeared. Give us a sense of the timeline of her last movements. So we know from her coworkers that Kada arrived at her place of work around 10 o'clock on October 4th. She appeared to be acting herself, but not long after she arrived that night, she banished. She never returned to work. Police found the car that she was driving in the employee parking lot at her work, her keys, her phone, her iPad, and her Apple Watch were nowhere to be found. The police investigation seemed to stall. for a few days, and then at a press conference, they asked the community for help. What's troubling about this case is, number one, you have a 23-year-old young lady who has

completely disappeared. We have no cell phone activity or social media activity, and she's not reached out to family or friends. Yeah, this was really the first time most people became aware of Cata Scott and her story. It's also the first time that we found out that she reported someone was harassing her on her phone in the days leading up to her disappearance. It definitely gave this case an added layer of urgency since it seemed like she may not have disappeared on her own. On October 15th, there was a big break in the case, an arrest. Who was it? And what's the connection to Kata?

Yeah, authorities announced 21-year-old Kian King turned himself into police. He was charged with kidnapping Kada. We learned that Kada and Kian King knew each other in some capacity. But the nature of their relationship was unclear then, and it remains unclear now, at least to the public. After announcing King's arrest tips started flooding in about where to start looking for clues, in particular, an abandoned middle school. So shortly after that news conference, things started developing very rapidly. Police said someone watching that day gave them a tip to check a vacant middle school. So sources told me that once Cruz arrived at that vacant middle school, they found Kada's phone case and a card with her name on it.

But they did not find Kada. Brian, a few days later, another tip led them to the woods behind the school. Yeah, so police described that tip as very specific. It was go back, she's there, look again. Wow. And as an officer is patrolling the area, the officer realizes that a, particular piece of ground is softer. And that is when they ultimately make the discovery that Kada had been buried in a shallow

grave. That is so sad. So, Brian, while investigators were still looking for Kada, a stunning piece of information was revealed. A viral video circulating on social media is giving us a new look at the man accused of kidnapping, 23-year-old Kada Scott. So earlier this year, King was actually charged in another kidnapping. The alleged victim in that case actually recorded a man.

She identified as King, hopping a fence in her backyard, coming up to her window, and peering inside of her home. Go away, b***. Don't come over here. So the woman eventually stops recording and goes outside, and that is when it's alleged King, shoves her into his car, kidnaps her, even bites her. That woman was able to get out of King's vehicle at some point, get to safety, call police. and eventually charges were filed in that case. So what happened? How was he free to allegedly kill Kata? So months after that incident, the charges were withdrawn when the woman and an eyewitness did not show up to court.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner says fear could have been the driving factor of why she did not show up that day since King was out on bail. That victim is more likely to walk in the door of the courthouse and testify if that victim knows that the defendant can't walk out right behind. After King's arrest last week, charges were refiled against King in that earlier alleged kidnapping, and he was hit with additional charges in Cate's case, including conspiracy. That suggests he did not act alone, although nobody else has yet been identified in connection to the case. King is scheduled to appear before a judge next month, and that is when he could enter a plea. You can't help but just feel so horrible for this family.

How are they handling this? After Cato's body was located, they did release his statement, and they said Cato was deeply loved and told everyone that her light, kindness, and beautiful spirit will forever remain in their hearts. And this is also a case that has really affected the city of Philadelphia. everyone is paying attention to this case and has been affected by it in some way or another. Thank you so much, Brian, for sharing with us what you've learned. And thank you for shining a light on Kada and her story.

And we have a quick update for you. After I taped that conversation with Brian, the medical examiner in Philadelphia ruled Kada Scott's death, a homicide, and Kian King was charged with her murder. Up next, it's time for date. Roundup, a courtroom win for the former Major League Baseball pitcher and convicted killer Dan Serafini, a second verdict for accused killer Paul Zumott, and Nicholas Rossi learns his fate. Plus, how police are using documentaries to solve cold cases.

Welcome back. Joining me for this week's roundup is Dateline producer Brittany Tom. Thanks for joining us, Brittany. Oh, thanks, Andrea. So first up, we're off to Santa Clara, California, for an update on a story we first talked about a few weeks ago. And this is the trial of Huka bar owner Bulos Paul Zumat. Brittany, this is the second time Zumat has stood trial for the murder of his girlfriend. Give us a quick recap. Back in October of 2009, Paul Zumont said he had found his house up in flames.

And once inside, first responders discovered the body of his girlfriend, Jennifer. Christopher Skipsy. A medical examiner determined Jennifer hadn't died from the fire. She'd actually been strangled before he was even set. Investigators smelled gasoline at the scene and concluded the fire was set up to cover up Jennifer's murder. They learned Jennifer and Zumont's relationship was pretty tumultuous. There were various restraining orders and domestic violence reports. One friend even told investigators that Jennifer said she was afraid for her life. And another claimed he saw texts from Zumont to Jennifer saying, I hope you die. Paul Zumont was arrested, and his first trial was back in 2011.

A jury found him guilty of both arson and murder, sentenced him to 33 years, but he ended up getting a new trial. That's right. In 2020, a judge granted him a new trial based on claims the prosecution had misrepresented some of the evidence, and his defense hadn't done a good job challenging the prosecution. Okay, so after a two-month trial, Brittany, the jury finally got the case. What happened? Yeah, the jury deliberated for about two days before once finding again Paul Zumont guilty of murder and arson. And coincidentally, they delivered their verdict on the 16th anniversary of Jennifer's murder. That is incredible timing. Wow. So when will Zumat be sentenced?

His sentencing is scheduled for November 21st and he faces life in prison. Okay. We're staying in California for our next update in the case of former Major League Baseball pitcher. Dan Serafini. That case seemed like it was coming to an end over the summer, Brittany, but there have been a few surprises. First, just give us a reminder of what the case is about. Yeah. So back in July, Dan Serafini was convicted for the murder of his father-in-law, Gary Spore, and the attempted murder of his mother-in-law, Wendy Wood, at their home in 2021. His sentencing was scheduled for a few weeks later, only for it to be stopped in its tracks by a last-minute motion from his appellate lawyers. They actually requested a new trial. based on what? What were their arguments? They said Serafini had received ineffective assistance from his defense attorney at trial and called out what they said was juror misconduct, specifically the way the jurors had analyzed security camera video in the trial. The jury four-person explained their process in an interview with our affiliate, KCR. We looked at those videos over and over. We were taking

stills. We were creating side by side. We were really analyzing, like, could the person person in this video match who we knew was, you know, doing a Serapini. What they're implying is that those screenshots helped them during deliberations because they couldn't play the video evidence side by side for comparison. We expected the judge to rule on that motion regarding juror misconduct this week and then proceed to sentencing, but on Monday he pressed pause again, granting the defense more time to seek a new trial. Serafini's new sentencing date is now scheduled for February 20th, 2020.

Interesting twist. This case has divided the Spore family. Aaron Spore, Dan Serafini's estranged wife, still stands by him. But her sister, Adrian, says it's time Serafini goes to prison. In a letter to the court, Adrian claimed that the defense's tactics now are just an attempt to delay justice and that Dan Serafini has shown no remorse. So we'll certainly be watching to see when and if this sentencing will take place. And finally, we're back in Utah for an update in a case I know very well, the case of Nicholas Rossi, also known as Nicholas Alivertian. He is the man accused of faking his own death and fling to Scotland to evade sexual assault allegations. I asked him about those allegations in one of the most memorable interviews of my career. Did you sexually assault anyone? Did you kidnap anyone? Did you defraud anyone? What? No, no, no, no. And no. So, Brittany, let's just remind everyone what happened over the summer. Rossi had been extradited back to Utah and was convicted in two rape trials. That's right. In August, Rossi was found guilty by a Salt Lake City jury of raping his former fiancé. At the second trial, a few weeks later, he was convicted of raping an ex-girlfriend.

All right. And there is news this week. Rossi actually appeared in court for sentencing on the first case. His defense asked for time served. His two victims gave statements in court and told the judge that they were still afraid. of him and what he might do if he got out of prison. Then Rossi addressed the court. He said, quote, I am not guilty of this and went on to say, these women are lying. And in due course, we will lodge an appeal. The judge sentenced Rossi to no less than five years and up to life in prison. A parole board will ultimately decide how much time he serves. And he'll face sentencing on the second charge next month, Brittany. Thank you so much for bringing us round up this week. No problem. On the afternoon of May 17, 2022, a man and a woman were fishing on the marshy banks of the Grand River in Dunville, Ontario, when one of them spotted something unusual in the water.

Upon closer look, they made a horrifying discovery. It was a child's body. The Ontario Provincial Police assigned Detective Inspector Sean Glassford to the case. My mind is going in different places. How do we start this investigation? How to, uh, how to, uh, Deliver the news to the community. The grieving Dunville community wanted answers, but with no missing children's reports in the area and no DNA matches, Detective Inspector Glassford struggled to provide them. So he and his team turned to a rather unusual investigative tool, one you don't normally associate with the police. They made a documentary.

There could be a number of different reasons why this child was placed in the water, and we want to know why. We've said it before, but we want to give this child our name back. Detective Inspector Glassford is here today to tell us what he learned making the film and how he hopes it can crack the case. And you may remember him from Josh's episode. Evil walked through the door about two murders in Toronto that used investigative genetic genealogy in those cases. And Josh took a train way up north, very far from California. Detective Inspector Glassford, thank you for joining us. Hello, Andrea, and thank you very much for this opportunity to talk about this important case. So this case, we should just, just to give a geographical perspective to people, this is about less than an hour from the Niagara Falls, New York border.

That's right. Yeah, it's the town of Dunville is a small community, approximately 6,000 people. I know, Detective, that this case has really haunted you. It's really bothered you that you haven't been able to identify this girl. You've had such a strong reaction to it. What about the community? Absolutely. The community came together within days and had a vigil with candles and there were songs and whatnot at the, just down by right near where the body was found. How old do you think the child was? What was your best guess?

The doctors that have examined her body believe that she's anywhere between 10 and a half months and three years of age. She may not have been born in Canada. that's another thing that we have to consider, too, is where did she come from? And you were able to narrow that down, right? Yeah, that's right. One half came from the South China area. The other came from North Africa, possibly Libya, Egypt. That's where her ancestry is.

We don't know her story. And that's one of the major thing we want to learn is what is her story? There's no report of this little girl. going missing. We've had lots of tips over the last couple of years. I think it's probably around 50, which we've all followed up on every one of them. Did anything seem credible or like give you hope that that maybe you would figure this out? Yeah, a couple were really good. We released a facial reconstruction that we did on what she would have looked like in life. And we had some some tips from the United States that from your missing person's databases that were very similar to the

description. So we followed that up. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out for us. Such a mystery. You keep hitting these roadblocks. And so you and your team decide to do something that is, to me, very unique. You made a documentary about the case. What inspired you to do that? We have a series of videos on YouTube. The Unsolved series. We've had some success with those. It's a good way to get the message out to the public. It shows us talking about it. It shows the facial reconstruction and talks about the reward, $50,000 for information. And so what's interesting is that you produced this video in-house and you have your own video production unit. Yeah, they're very, very talented people. They put out a professional grade product. It looks good. It's to the point and very effective. What has the reception been to your documentaries? Very good.

That's about 110,000 views for the baby case. That's incredible. Where does the Grand River baby case stand now? Still unsolved. Hopefully, this will renew an interest. We have a tip line that people can call if they have information, and that number is 1-844-67-9403. That number works in Canada, the United States. Thank you so much for joining us and sharing this story with us. And, you know, I hope that this not only helps with the case, but it inspires perhaps other police agencies to think about doing their own videos.

Well, thank you, Andrea, for agreeing to do this. It's so important to get the message out. And we all want to see this child get her name back. That's it for this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly. To get ad-free listening for all our podcasts, subscribe to Dateline Premium. And remember, if you have any questions for us about stories or about Dateline, you can reach us at our voicemail at 212-413-5252. Coming up this Friday on Dateline, Dennis has an all-new episode on the Florida grandmother convicted of masterminding a murder plot. Who in Dan Markell's life would hate him enough to hire a professional killer? Watch Deadly Mischief this Friday at 9-8 Central. Thanks for listening. Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Carson Cummins and Brittany Morris.

Our associate producer is Caroline Casey. Our senior producer is Liz Brown-Korloff. Production and fact-checking helped by Sarah Kadir and Keani Reed. Veronica Mazaka is our digital producer. Rick Kwan is our sound designer. Original music by Jesse McGinty. Paul Ryan is executive producer and Liz Gold is senior executive producer of Dateline. Josh, nice having you as a special guest on the story meeting.

I didn't realize it was light out at this hour.