Law&Crime Sidebar - Man Accused of Woman’s Brutal NYC Murder Tried to Kill Before: Alleged Victim

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

Authorities in Arizona arrested Raad Almansoori, 26, after he allegedly committed a string of violent crimes, including a stabbing inside a McDonald’s and the murder of a woman inside a New York City hotel room. A surveillance photo of the suspect wearing the murder victim’s distinctive leggings helped aid in his capture. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber speaks with one of Almansoori’s alleged former victims, Leah Palian, about her efforts to alert police to this dangerous criminal. PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. The man accused of brutally killing a woman in a New York City hotel room has been arrested, but out in Arizona. And as a public fight ensues between DAs over extradition, we speak with one of the alleged victims of this suspect. She claims he assaulted her, but how is it he was free to then go? on a violent crime spree. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

Okay, we have an update for you on a story we covered a few days ago. We talked to you about how 38-year-old Denise Olias Arncibia was found dead in a New York City hotel room, believed to have been beaten with an iron found in the room, and also she was strangled. And we mentioned how there was this surveillance footage that captured the suspect, allegedly wearing Denise's leggings after bloody pants or her. were found in the hotel room? Well, the suspect has been identified as 26-year-old Raid Al-Mansori, currently in Arizona custody for what he allegedly did after this New York City attack.

You see, he has been arrested for carjacking and attempted stabbing of a woman in Phoenix and then pointed a gun at, pepper sprayed, and stabbed a McDonald's employee in Surprise Arizona. And what does Amundsori do when he's caught? He allegedly confessed. He allegedly admitted to the McDonnelly. Donald's attack, even conceding that he wanted to rape the woman in that incident, and he allegedly admitted to the Phoenix attack, and he allegedly told police to, quote, Google the Soho 54 Hotel, a reference to the killing of Denise. He is facing attempted murder, aggravated

assault, theft charges in Arizona. Now, this has actually resulted in a legal political quagmire an issue. You see, the Maricopa County attorney, Rachel Mitchell, has refused to extradite Alman Surrey to New York, citing her criticism of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. I know there's been discussion about New York wanting to extradite this individual, and I'm sure this is not aimed at the New York Police Department at all. I know they did a hard job and they did a good job, but we will not be agreeing to extradition. I've instructed my extradition attorneys not to agree to that. We're going to keep him here. These are mandatory prison sentences. And having observed the treatment of violent criminals in the New York area

by the Manhattan DA there, Alvin Bragg, I think it's safer to keep him here and keep him in custody so that he cannot be out doing this to individuals either in our state or county or anywhere in the United States. So in other words, she's worried that he may get released, seemingly referring to Alvin Bragg's controversial bail reform and criminal justice policies. But here was Alvin Bragg's response. County D. Hay Mitchell has, I don't know how to say it,

just got it wrong at every single term. She professes concern that a murder suspect in Manhattan would be released. I do not know what they do in there. Arizona. But I know that here in this county, New York County, we routinely seek and get remands, which means the person's in custody in our murder cases. Those are the facts. I've heard she also was on Fox and Friends this morning saying that four Manhattan suspects were picked up by ice in her county. This is demonstrably been proven to be false now for weeks. So to repeat a baseless falsehood on national TV is beyond the pale. And he also cited some

crime statistics in New York to disprove what Mitchell had been suggesting. And Mitchell went on Dan Abrams Live on News Nation and further explained that Arizona, by law, gets priority, that they get to go first as the suspect is facing serious charges there, mandatory prison terms. She is insured he will not be granted bond. Now, I did a little bit of research into this on this issue of extradition, and I do wonder if it's really up to the Arizona governor to decide this, not necessarily the Maricopa County DA, but we'll wait and talk about that hopefully at another time.

But putting all that to this side, Alman Sori appears to be a career criminal across the country. He has previous arrests for kidnapping and sexual assault in Texas and in Florida. And that brings me right now to our guest, Leah Palian, who says that she was assaulted in Florida by Alman Sori just a year ago. Leah, thanks so much for coming here on Sidebar. I know this must be incredibly difficult to talk. about and also must be difficult for you in light of what has been going on.

So first of all, thank you for coming on. Really appreciate you taking the time. Absolutely. Thank you for hearing my story. Yeah. And I want to be very clear. I'm not going to get into the details of what happened specifically. I don't want you to have to relive that in any way, but I do want to talk about the

circumstances leading up and what happens. So if you can explain to all of us who might not know, how did you first meet him? My understanding is you met him at a restaurant. You guys worked together? Yes. We work together at the same restaurant in Orlando. He actually introduced himself to me as Noah, so I know him as Noah. It turns out that's his middle name.

And we were working the same position. He was actually the one to train me. And I read that you thought he was odd. What did you mean by that? He was just very socially reserved, very quiet, a little quirky. He just didn't know how to interact with people very well. Do you know, like, his background, like where he was from, his family anything like that yeah so slowly like as we started working together these long shifts

he would open up to me about you know his background and his past he told me he was from phoenix arizona he had a horrible relationship with his family that's what made him leave um that his family was super abusive his mom would beat him um and tell him like awful things like she wish she would have had an abortion things like that just really traumatizing stuff and then that is how he ended up in florida he was kind of like fleeing them What was your impression of him when he was saying this? What did you think of him? I was, like, appalled.

Honestly, I felt so bad for him. I kind of contributed his weird behavior or like socially reserved behavior to all of this trauma he went through. And then his like hardships he was currently going through, like the fact that he didn't have a car and was biking to work. And that leads me into the night of what happened, right? So my understanding is he was he was traveling, commuting to work on this bike. It was a very long distance.

And at one point, was it either he suggested or you suggested, you know, I could give you a ride and then how did he end up staying at your place that night? Because he did stay and I think it had to do with the fact that he had to, you felt bad for him, right? Yeah. So I actually offered to give him a ride home the one night that we were closing together. It was super late. It was like 2 a.m. And biking to where he lived would have been like a two hour plus bike ride. And then I'm pretty sure he had to open again the next morning.

morning. So I just felt like really, really bad for him. And I was like, hey, we're closing the same shift. I'll just give you a ride. It's fine. So that turned into like a thing that happened a few times whenever we would close together. And on the night of the attack, he had asked me we were closing together. And he said, hey, I need a ride home. Is that okay? And then also my car is done in the shop. Would you be able to take me the next morning? And so I said to him, yeah, that's fine. You know, I thought this would be the end of me having to give him rides. And when, uh, when I was done, never, he asked that, I said to him and was like, hey, I'll let you have a ride, but how about you spend the night on my couch? Because it's a lot of driving back and forth late at night, and then a lot of driving back and forth early in the morning. And so that's how he ended up being in my apartment. Were you concerned? I mean, he wasn't necessarily a stranger. I mean, you knew him, you worked with him, but were you ever concerned a little you're saying, hmm, maybe is this a good idea of him staying there? Or do we, do you have no, no red flags whatsoever that this might be an issue? In retrospect, there were,

probably red flags, but me being like super tired working the shift and just like wanting to avoid like a hardship the next day. I was like, oh, this is the easiest option. You know, I didn't ever have like a feeling that my life was going to be in danger that night. I was like, oh, this is just a minor inconvenience for me. And when you went back to your place, my understanding is he had he kind of did a 180 when he started drinking. Yeah. So that night, it was a long shift. I was super tired um i kind of wanted to unwind had a glass of wine he also had half a glass of wine and he just became belligerent it was like he was black out drunk he started berating me he was telling me how i'm a whore and how my father doesn't love me it was just like a lot of stuff that i felt

like was him projecting so anyways um he was too incoherent to really kick out that night and i said i was like okay you know what i'm just going to go to bed he's going to be on the couch next morning when he sobers up and can understand what I'm saying, I'm going to tell him that, you know, I'm not taking you to get your car, friends don't treat friends that way, like your behavior was horrendous. And so that is basically what happens. And whenever I began telling him that the next morning, he started to get like really frantic and worked up. And obviously, you know, again, I don't want to go into the details of the attack with you. But my understanding is you had sent a text message to a friend and that kind of set him off right yeah so he the next morning he used my face

to unlock my phone and started going through my messages and the night before i was talking with my friend and we were kind of like making fun of his behavior like this is so weird this is horrendous behavior and he saw that he also saw like messages with other men and he blocked them and all of these things combined like really started to trigger him and and it was like a 180 and he was acting different. I mean, did it seem to you that he had these feelings towards you? I mean, did you ever suspect that before why he was acting this way? I mean, I don't know. I felt like he could have had them because he would go out of his way for me at work. He would be like helping me with the heavy lifting. And so it's just like, oh, he's a nice coworker. But in

retrospect, looking back, yeah, that probably is what that was. And you mentioned, you've said it in print interviews before about what he did and what happened between the two of you. And what happened between the two of you and how you were assaulted by him. You felt like you were going to die that night? Absolutely. Well, it was actually the next morning, but yeah. I'm sorry, the next morning, yeah. And what was the look in his eye?

Like, if you can explain what that was like, like, what was he saying or doing that you thought, this is really, I'm in danger? Yeah, so as he was coming over, he said, scream and I'll kill you. He has just, like, black eyes. Like, it was just like a blank look. there was no like the best way I can describe it is there was no consciousness like no soul behind those eyes and he says I hate that I have to do this I hate that I have to kill you and then whenever he let up I said Noah what the fuck was that and he goes you made the devil come out of my body

wow wow what did you say to that or you're just in shock sitting there yeah I was in shock I was like shaking I was trying to like I was playing through every option basically of how to like get out of the apartment and not die in my apartment. But yeah, it was traumatizing for sure. You were able to get him out of the apartment, right? You were able to convince him to ride together to pick up his car, which was at the mechanic. How did that walk us through that ride and what that was like? Yeah. So he refused to let me drive my own car. He grabbed my keys and he was like, I'll drive. He was watching me like a hawk the whole way. I was able to get my phone back and turn it on as we were leaving the apartment and once you saw I had my phone turned on he was just like watching me so intensely

like I couldn't even call 911 um we get in the car he puts on a song on like the stereo and it's this song i forget what it is but it was like a song hyper fixating on getting away with murder and he was like really focused on that I kept trying to change the conversation and be like like just lighten it whatsoever and be like oh is this the way you bike to work you know whenever you bike like and he would bring that song back into the conversation. He'd be like, no, I don't listen to this song whenever I bike to work. This is just a song I put on especially for today. And so it was like really a stressful car ride. It was like contemplating like, you know, jumping out. But he was just like watching me so intensely like there was really nothing I could do besides like beg for him to let me

use the restroom. And eventually he did for whatever reason. And you go to this. It was like a gas station to go to the restroom there. And what happened when you did that? So I run inside. Thank God. it was like a one-person bathroom. I closed the door, I locked the door, and I try to call 911. I can't get a signal to call, but I can get a signal to text. So I'm texting all my friends. I'm dropping my location. I'm like, hey, can you guys like, please call 911. My coworker just tried to murder me. And so 911 is able to call me and get a hold of me. While I'm on the phone with 911, he comes up to the door and is banging on the bathroom door. Like I guess when he realized I was taking too long, the operator actually heard it. And on the phone, she's like, is that,

the man and i'm like yes like please hurry i'm so scared like he's going to kill me in here um so so that a couple minutes go by like the begging had stopped and then i hear keys jingling and apparently he had gone and gotten the manager of the 7-11 told them that his friend was in there and not responsive and they unlocked the door and i'm screaming at them i'm like no like don't unlock this door he just tried to murder me um i'm on the phone with 9-1-1 so whenever he heard i was on the the phone with 911, that's whenever he took off in my car. Oh, my gosh. That is such a crazy story.

And then he's eventually caught. And this is the part that I want to talk to you about. So he's caught. They charge him with sexual battery, aggravated assault, and grand theft auto. And all the charges are dropped except the grand theft auto charge. And there's this statement that the, and I'm curious what you think about this, because there was a statement from the office, prosecutor's office, handling. the case they told the daily news there was insufficient evidence to prove the sexual battery

and aggravated assault charges beyond a reasonable doubt what do you make of that it actually makes my blood boil a little bit because not only did they let this happen but then for them to double down and instead of take responsibility for what happened to put out this blanket statement I can actually say that for example the stolen bike charge yeah I had my bike in my car and whenever I got my car back, he had pawned the bike. That was another charge that they had added on, and they dropped that one as well, despite there being ample evidence.

He had provided an ID at the pawn shop. The detective actually went with me to retrieve the bike. There was so much paperwork. Like, there was so much evidence to move forward with this charge, and they dropped that as well. So in my opinion, this isn't in case of evidence or lack thereof. It's a case of negligence, and I am so disappointed

in the state for not only allowing this to happen, but then doubling down on their stance. What explanation did they ever give you about why they weren't pursuing the charges? Basically the same thing that it was the lack of evidence. They told me in the interview with the state attorney's office, they were like, this could be like a he said, she said situation. However, when they conducted the original investigation,

I had asked the police officers about that. I said, hey, you know, this happened in my apartment. Like, I want to make sure that this man is off the streets. Like, is this going to, you know, become a case? And they told me, they said, yes, there is enough evidence to move forward. We can use the 911 call. We can use the gas station surveillance video. Obviously, he stole your car.

You know, that contributes to the story. You have the text to your friends saying, hey, call 911. Like, there was a lot of things that they could have pieced together. And that's what the officers reassured me of. So it was like so heartbreaking whenever I got to the state attorney's office and they basically told me like we don't we're not going to try enough to pursue this case did you have markings on you bruises unfortunately like there was no markings on my body but they also told me because i asked them about that too and they told me that that can be common with like the way that he strangled me that it wouldn't bruise outright so i'm going to read you something uh this is from jason gunn a spokesman for the office of the state attorney in central florida says in this case we thoroughly vetted the investigation conducted an extensive interview with the victim in person and comb through all available evidence i want to ask you about that interview that you had with authorities when they were interviewing you did you get the sense that they weren't believing your

story anything like that absolutely the second i got in the state attorney's office i could tell that they weren't taking me seriously um they were pretty much disregarding all of my concerns and whenever i felt that energy i actually said to them verbatim in the interview i said if you let this man walk with a slap on the wrist he will become the next ted bundy he got such a rush from the things that he was doing i guarantee you he's going to want to keep going and you giving him a slap on the wrist is just going to enable him to do that and even with me saying that and everything else that was there they still dropped all the charges even the pond bike charge with ample evidence tough case tough case i think it's pretty clear from watching sidebar and

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claim now with Morgan and Morgan, go to for the people.com slash LC sidebar or click the link in the description and pinned in the comments. And since everything with Alman Surrey has come out now, you haven't heard from the state attorney's office or law enforcement about this? Not at all. And it is wild to me because the way I originally heard about this, the new attacks, is that the original detective the one that was very helpful in conducting the investigation who went to the pawn shop with me she called me and she said hey before any of the media gets the hold of you i want you to hear this from me but the state attorney who i'm currently working with um their office not a word hasn't said one thing to me and and like that detective did not need to do that that was not part of her job description

she just did that out of the kindness of her heart so it just it just shows how um how how little care the state attorney's office has put into this well that's what i wanted to ask you about your reaction to what's happening because my understanding is alman surrey he pays his bail he gets out of jail he stays in florida for several months flies to new york on january 26th and we know what he's alleged about allegedly did in soho then he goes on this alleged crime spree out in arizona he gets arrested what was your reaction to hearing about this this guy that you you say attacked you now in the national news going on an alleged crime spree killing someone in new york city what's your reaction to this it was heartbreaking whenever i got that phone call

and she told me the news i was in a state of shock all over again i actually have chill bumps right now but i had chill bumps whenever she told me and i was just like screaming on the phone over and over i was like i told them this would happen i told them he could do this and she was like i know you did like i'm so sorry that you're having to go through this. Like, I'm so sorry that they drop the charges. And it's just, it's appalling to me because, like, not only have they failed me in my case, but they failed now these other women who he was allowed to hurt. And it's just, it's absolutely heartbreaking. It's really devastating to know that this was possible. And my understanding is on the night of the alleged New York murder, Alman's story contacted you? Yes, that's what I've

since realized since he contacted me here what did he say to you he had called me off of a an unknown number it was around 8 p.m um it was a face time audio call and so i was like oh well this isn't you know like a telemarketer or a scammer it's someone i know that i just don't have their number saved so i picked up the phone call and i was like hello and he goes hi and i was like hello who is this and he was like noah and i was like noah who and he goes al mansori and my heart heart just dropped. I was like back in a state of shock. I was like trembling. I've already had many sleepless nights since he's gotten released from jail, like fearful that he's going to track me down and, you know, come to finish the job. But so that I'm like shaking. And all I could think to say was

why are you calling me? And he goes, I just wanted to see how you feel about everything that went down between us. And I'm still in a state of shock. I'm like, you mean when you tried to end my life, like you legally cannot be calling me. Because there was an order of protection put in place. Yeah, there's while the stolen bike charge is pending there's a no contact order.

And so he just goes, okay, just like that. And I said, do not contact me again and I hung up the phone. Before I like blocked the number, he ended up texting me two more times and it was something along the lines of like, why did you treat me so miserably? No man deserves

to be treated like this. And it's just like the lack of remorse and the lack of like understanding what he did it was shocking so then i forward that to the state attorney's office that night um they get back to me the next day the witness coordinator and he's like you know i'll get this to the appropriate places and we'll let you know what happens well i'm waiting and i'm waiting and i'm waiting and a week goes by and i message them back and i'm like hey you know it's been seven days like this man's still in the loose and he has no problem you know breaking a no contact order like could you give me an update and it took them another day to get back to me before they even like handled this it was just it's the lack of care

along every step of the way in this process has been like appalling that is that is I can't even imagine that I can't even imagine what you're going through and feeling in light of this because this is this is horrifying this is horrible to think about and I mean thank goodness um for that investigator who reached out to you to at least give you a heads up about this but you're seeing now he's in the news. And I mentioned this before. There's a big public battle between New York and Arizona about extraditing him. Arizona doesn't want to extradite him or the DA there doesn't want to extradite him to New York because she's worried that he's going to be released. I just was curious what your opinion is as this is playing out on a national stage about what to do with Alman Sori.

And I'm curious your opinion about it. Yeah, absolutely. So I do not know the inner workings of other state's legal system so i can't really come on you know what is best as i don't know all i do know is how the state of florida failed me and then subsequently the other women after me and i am in full support of whatever keeps this man off of the streets i know that he if he gets released he absolutely will do this again he has shown that he's capable of it and so i support whatever keeps him behind bars Leah Palian, thank you so much for coming on, sharing the story with us. It is incredibly disheartening, and I'm just, I know this is an important story for you to tell, and I'm happy that you came on to tell it.

I think it's important for people to know, and I'm just wishing you the best of luck moving forward because this is, I know this is a difficult time, and I know it can't be easy, but really, again, thank you so much for being so generous and coming on. Absolutely, thank you. All right, everybody, that is all we have for you right now here on this episode of Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. As always, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. Spotify.