Crime Wire Weekly 4/24/26 | Multiple Louisiana Mass Shootings Shock Bayou State, Boat Captain’s Random Attack

0:00 Hey everyone and welcome back. Got a jam packed show for you today. And before we get into it, before we get into the topics, I want to let everyone know we did record this actually yesterday. Did we though we did? Did we? Jim? We did, but we had a problem. We only recorded video. There was no audio, so we were miming everything for it was an interesting episode. Yeah, we were like, maybe they can just read our lips right right, make. It real tough, So we were re recording this today. Today is Friday, so we'll get this out of cent as possible. But to get into the topics, five people have been injured in one killed in the Mall of Louisiana shooting. We're going to talk all about that eight children killed in Louisiana during a domestic shooting. In shreport, we'll also be talking about BRPD receives a massive pay raise aimed at building numbers in the bat and Ridge Police Department. We're gonna discuss that snorkelboat captain has been stabbed in a random shooting. A bizarre story war.

1:08 He wasn't stabbed in a random shooting. I mean, I'm sorry, well, a random attack. I know what she said. He was stabbed in a random shooting. So many shootings above it, it's like everything seems like a shooting, but yes, a random attack. A Florida music teacher grooms a student in a bizarre way with the tattoo. In California, a fire captain kills his fiance and his son over a movie argument. Because that's logical, you. Know, it's drop of a hat. Now with all these things. A house cleaner was stabbed and sexually assaulted during an appointment with a homeowner. To give a quote. A man stores a mom's body so his mother he stores her body in a freezer to collect her pension.

1:56 Do you feel like we're on real in the real world right now when we're reading these topics. No, it's absolutely crazy. It's unbelievable. And when you try to look for you know, every now and then you talk about these crimes and it's like, I want to find something not so heavy. Good luck with that. Yeah, everything's heavy. Yeah, And you don't want to become jaded, and you don't want to be like, oh wow, eight kids shot and then move on, you know, because that's a bad place to. Be, very bad place to be. So we've got a few more as well that we'll be bringing your way. But we're going to go ahead, jump right into it. And you know, yesterday we recorded that episode. It didn't have any audio with it, so we're re recording that.

2:37 But in the meantime, a very tragic incident took place. So in some ways it's maybe good that we have to rerecord it because we can bring people this story is it's breaking sadly at the Mall of Louisiana, which is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Six people were shot with one being killed in a mass shooting. And I'm not gonna do the standard thing that I do, which is read, you know, an article covering the actual crime itself or what occurred. I'm going to go off my bullet points here. So there was a call to nine one one that was placed at one point two pm yesterday, So we're recording this on Friday. This was Thursday, this occurred, and that call said there was an active shooter at the Mall of Louisiana. Police then dispatched obviously multiple agencies to report to this. There was a huge police presence. They acted very quickly, super fast.

3:41 It was impressive. If you said impressively the video that what's the word amateur just people filming. They came ready, they came ready, and they found six people shot. All those were transported to the hospital. Tragically one died. Reports are saying that was a seventeen year old. Investigation ensued and it was through this investigation that it was determined the shooting all transpired over an argument of some sort that turned into a gunfight in the food court of all places, and innocent victims did get caught in the crossfire between these two factions that were fighting each other so quickly, within hours, five people were taken into custody. No word yet on what that argument was over.

4:33 And one of those individuals, incidentally, was a well, I don't know if he was a Livingston Paris resident, but they did catch him in the Watson area. He was a person of interest. They detained him. They did, upon detaining him, find him with some drugs and also they found him with possession of a firearm, which was an issue because this kid, and he was just harassed, did and charged with letting a firearm go off that he had in his possession at a stream of High school in Baton Ridge. Now in that case, he was put on an ankle monitor. He was then released to go home penning his trial. However, two days ago they allowed the ankle monitor to be removed and him go about his life until the trial and two days later. He is considered a suspect in the case originally, or at least a person of interest, but he was arrested for the other charges. He was not technically arrested in this particular incident, although he is considered a person of interest.

5:41 Kelly's gonna pick up here and just say a little bit about a two pm press conference. Everybody came out from the Senator in Louisiana, Rick Edmonds to the Governor of Louisiana and Jeff Landry, the sheriff of East Baton Ridge Parish sid Gotro and also the chief TJ. Moores of the bat and Ridge Police Department. Yeah, like to your point, like you said, there was a lot of leadership that was in the room at this press conference, everybody from the top down. It wasn't like it was just a small press conference with a sheriff and a you know, maybe a homicide detective sitting there and giving out a little bit information. So the point I guess if they were trying to make that they all were invested in, this was well made by who was behind the camera. Now what was found out was that although they had these five people, those people have since, like Jim said, not been so much put in the spotlight. But a seventeen year old has now come forward and turned himself in. And this was seventeen year old Markel Lee. Now he didn't turn himself in right afterwards, and from what I read in another report, he too came in with a lawyer in hand. But he has been officially charged with one count of first degree murder, five counts of attempted first degree murder, and illegal use of a firearm. Now to that note here, everyone's like, oh wow, he's seventeen years old. Yeah, And they also have said that he has a juvenile criminal record, which I don't think is very shocking for me personally.

7:09 In this instance, the victims have not all been named, but they have been released on multiple outlets that we've looked at. One victim, seventeen year old Martha Elizabeth Odom. Her autopsy report did come back and show that she was shot in the chest and did ultimately succumb to those injuries, and she was a senior, you know, a senior in high school that was just on her senior skip day and they came down, a little group of kids came down just to have some fun and go shopping. In this press conference, a lot of people came out, as you said, really preaching the violence in bat Urge has to stop. It appears they're drawing a line in the sand. And Jeff Landry, the governor. Governor Jeff Landry actually went off on judges in Louisian And of course, look, there's hundreds of good judges, I'm sure, but there are a few that have made questionable decisions.

8:12 I want to talk directly about our judicial system. You know, judges hold enormous power, but they are not social workers with a gavel. They are the final gatekeepers of public safety. And I'm talking about both at the state level and especially in the Middle District, at the federal level as well. People say, we cannot arrest our way out of this problem, and they are right, but we can sentence our way out of this problem. So let me be clear. Judges who continuously release violent offend us back on our streets, who fail to use the full authority of their office to protect the public.

9:00 Are going to be held accountable. When judges refuse to enforce boundaries or consequences. They're not rehabilitating anyone. What they're doing is abandoning young people until a tragedy like this becomes inevitable. And you know what, that's not justice, that's negligence that's masquerading around as mercy. The people in. Louisiana expect judges to uphold the law, to apply serious consequences for serious crimes, and to prioritize the safety of our citizens.

9:45 Above all else. If a judge chooses. To hand down weak sentences to known violent actors, if a judge decides to turn violent offenders loose with minimal restrictions, if a judge fail to treat gang driven violence without the gravity it deserves, I am going to call them out individually, publicly, clearly, and directly, and I mean even the federal judges as well, because when a judge fails to impose the appropriate consequences, that failures should not fall on the state. It should fall on the judges shoulders.

10:29 And when they fail to do their job, they put innocent people in danger. I'm asking the legislature for a full while the session is going on, for full and holistic review of our sentencing laws. I will support again reforms that ensure judges have built the authority and understand the obligation to keep dangerous individuals off of our street. We are no longer going to except complicity on our bench. Everyone including judges, will be accountable for public safety.

11:13 And we're not just. And while we're talking about accountability in action, I'm asking that in coordination with local, state, and federal partners, including all of our law enforcement components, the National Guard, atf FBI, USDJ, I am asking them to prepare for a targeted warrant sweep focused on the individuals and the neighborhoods that these individuals came out of, or anyone who's connected to this incident. And I'm hoping that in the coming days we will be executing warrants on every outstanding individual that is tied to this activity. No one is out there holding those judges accountable when they just continue to allow it will not surprise me as the people who are involved in this before it's all over, don't have an extremely lengthy reps sheet. We probably won't see all of the juvenile misconduct that occurred because we've hidden that from the general public.

12:20 It's a debate that we had in the legislature last year. In fact, people that go into commonplaces and decide to engage in that kind of violence, we should put them away for life. I'm done with them. It doesn't matter how old they are. Somebody has failed. It's not the government's job to raise these people. It's common sense. Not to go into a public space with a gun and start shooting around blindedly. We got a great We got eighteen thousand acres that ain't gold, and if it's up to me, I'd send them all there for the rest of their lives. Judges are the say so in this and we the people, have no one else to mitigate this issue for us. The police can do the policing and the arresting, and then the prosecutor comes in and does the charging and puts the cases out there. But if a judge lets them walk, what are the rest of us supposed to do?

13:10 That's right? Who else is there? Well? And it's becoming a revolving door, and that, yes, that's not something you want. In the criminal justice system. There has to be consequences. Look, when you're raising kids, you got to have consequences. Everything you do has a consequence. Your kids need to know that same thing. In the criminal justice system. If there's no consequences or light consequences, you're not going to stop these people from doing what they're doing. So the state of Louisiana, or the leaders of the State of Louisiana, if any shout to the federal government and they're wanting to do something like occurred in Washington, d C. It sticks out to me where Washington, d C was crime ridden and it helped a lot.

13:57 It does help, it's not going to help the law long term issues because I think a lot of this comes down to the parents. It comes down to the way these kids are raised. It comes down to parents letting their kids run all over the place and not paying attention and not being in their business, and they got guns and everything else in their possession and their parents are just ignoring that fact. Well, you know that carries a lot of responsibility here. Yeah. Well, and I also when I was watching the press conference, I made the mistake of reading the comments that people but I mean they're voters, but that people were making in these comments, and I was seeing most. Of them probably aren't voters.

14:37 Well I guess old enough to be. Yeah, And I'm seeing comments like when Landry said, you know, we can't arrest our way out of this, but we can sentence our way out of this, and people were like, oh, that's not the right thing to do. You can't just throw people away. Well, I have news for everyone listening to this. Martha Elizabeth Odom seventeen years old. Her life was thrown away. Her life was thrown away, she lives no more. And so we have the fact that we have people that are almost If you are going to say that there is that that should not be handled at a maximum level. I don't care that this shooter was only seventeen years old. You murdered somebody, and you had choice, and you chose to do it, and you already had a criminal record as a juvenile. That tells me you don't learn. You are not a quick learner.

15:28 You are to me, you are actively going against anything that you are spiting and laughing in the face of any judge that you've gone before at this point, Right, That's all that tells me. Right, I mean, as a kid, I got my ass whooped whenever I acted up, and I was better for it because I was afraid of my mother. Me going before a judge was never even a thought, you hear me, like, like. Never even Yeah, And it's so your mother raised you to have consequences. It's still things you did. These kids don't have, right. I got a healthy respect for authority.

16:10 Yeah, there are very limited cases in the world where I understand. There's some parents out there do everything they can and they are trying as hard as they can, and these kids are just uncontrollable. And I get that, but that's not the majority of cases. That's a small percentage of the overall spectrum of this. So that being pro that's the long term deal that everybody needs to focus on, is getting control of that situation. But this right now is like an epidemic im batin rage, and the only thing that's going to solve that is something like a National Guard coming in there and just restoring order. All you're wanting to do is restore order, because right now, bullets are flying everywhere for those lessening outside of Louisiana.

16:56 And we live in Livingston Parish, which is literally two miles from Baton Ridge, and in Livingston Parish, I would I would say we are relatively safe. We don't have the issues related to murtyrs and things of that nature that Baton Ridge does. And it really speaks to the job that our Sheriff's office does in our city police departments do here in Livingston Parish because it is by sheer miracle that we don't have to deal with what they have to deal with there. We don't have the shortages they have there, like on brpd's case where they're one hundred and fifty. Office are short. So this is needed.

17:41 When you're short to this amount and your city is literally being taken over by a bunch of thugs, something has to break. And I can tell you the citizens of East Baton Ridge Parish, the citizens surrounding that, because guess what, I don't live there, but my wife works there and all my kids go to school at LSU, and I'm gonna tell you right now, I get nervous every time they cross that rub. I don't like it, and nobody else does either. Of that are good law abiding citizens that live in this area, and I think it's high time something like this is done because the Hugga thug programs ain't working.

18:21 They're not gonna ever work. They're not working. Here's how about this. A thought to ponder before we move on to the next story is that had that shooter been handled as a juvenile when that record was going, he may not have been in the position to be able to acquire a weapon and be free walking around that mall to murder people just a few hours ago. We're gonna stay right here in Louisiana and we're gonna go to Shreveport, where, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States in more than two years, eight children were fatally shot early Sunday morning in a domestic violence incident that spanned two homes in the Cedar Grove neighborhoods south of downtown Shreveport. Suspect thirty one year old Shamar Elkins, a US Army National Guard veteran who served from twenty thirteen to twenty twenty, killed seven of his own children and one relative before fleeing the scene.

19:11 He was later killed by police following a pursuit into neighboring Bosier Parish. Two adult women, including the mother of seven of the victims, were critically wounded, but are expected to survive. And I have to say real fast that my heart and my thoughts and my immediate prayers are with this woman, because I don't know how you go forward when you are told all seven of your children have been murdered. The shootings began before sunrise on April nineteenth, and what authorities described as an execution style domestic dispute. Elkins first shot a woman at one residence before driving to a second home where the children were gathered. Seven children were killed inside of the house. One child was found dead on the roof after apparently attempting to run, and another child jumped from the roof and survived with injuries.

20:03 The victims, identified by the Caddo Parish Coroner's office were three year old Jayla Elkins, five year old Sheila Elkins, six year old Calea Pew, seven year old Leila Pew, ten year old Marcaden Pew, eleven year old Sariah Snow, six year old Kadarian Snow, and five year old Braylen Snow. The victims included five girls and three boys. Seven were Elkins children, the eighth was his nephew. Family members described the babies as happy kids with friendly sweet and friendly and sweet. Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordolon confirmed that ten people were struck by gunfire in the incident, which police characterized as entirely a domestic incident. So Elkins and his wife were reportedly in the midst of a separation, and they were scheduled to appear in court the following day. Elkins, who did have a prior twenty nineteen firearms conviction, fled the scene Carjacktavis, and then he was pursued by officers before he was shot and killed by police behind a home in Bojer City. Now Shreveport officials expressed shock and grief, and police Chief Wayne Smith said, I just don't know what to say. My heart has just taken Aback. Mayor Tom Arsenal called it maybe the worst tragic situation we've ever had. The incident marks the deadliest mass shooting in the US since eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb in January of twenty twenty four, and as investigators continue to piece together the timeline, the Shreveport community and the state of Louisiana are left grappling with the unimaginable

21:34 loss of eight young lives. And what authorities say was a domestic argument. Yeah, and you know, two stories back to back that you can make no sense of in your mind. In this case, this guy killed seven of his own kids and another child that was totally innocent. Domestics very dangerous situations to be with. If you talk to police officers, nine out of ten times, they'll tell you the worst call that they go on and the one whether radar is up the most is domestics. So much emotion is involved in domestic calls. I can't make sense of this.

22:19 There's not even you know, much outside of praying for these families that I can even comment and say. It makes absolutely no sense to me. It's like, you know, calculus. And two things. Two things. He already had a prior gun conviction, just like in the shooting at the mall, the guy that's a subject of interest right now already had a gun issue. Okay, this is this is not rocket science that you know. I'm not saying that they could have prevented necessarily him going and doing a mass casualty incident like this, But the proof is that he's already got a conviction and then but that only matters if you follow the law exactly.

23:04 Obviously doesn't care about the law exactly, So the fact that he shouldn't have a gun doesn't mean it doesn't play a rolecause he don't care. And this might be just on more of a personal note here, but it frustrates me and incidents like this whenever they bring up their military experience and they try to somehow work that into mattering, because when you go to shoot your children, I think that you've kind of There's lots, there's plenty of honorable, great military servicemen and women and they would never do anything like this, And I don't know why, but it irks me when they tie that in as if it was somehow related.

23:45 Well, I think that there's two schools of thought there that maybe they're trying to get at one. They're showing he had experience with guns, he knew his way around a firearm. If you're in the national war, are you not a shoot? You're trying to do all they saying that might have been one thing they were leading to, or they could have been leading up to. Maybe there was some PTSD issues going on with this guy, uh that caused us. Obviously, I don't consider that any kind of excuse, but you never know what the media. Yeah, they could have said who worked at Walmart. It's probably worth mentioning because it shows that he was trained. I guess to that point, I could, but he was also has a prior conviction, so we could have We've mentioned that he he used guns before too, So I get what you're saying there, but I don't know. I just don't like that. It seems to kind of shed light on on something that not you know that there's good people that I don't know. I don't I want that to reflect to reflect on that, but you know, good luck in hell man, because this is unacceptable and there's nothing you can ever say that would excuse that that behavior.

24:50 Right, all right, let's get back to and we're of course going to stay in Louisiana, uh, because I brought you this story just two stories ago about the five people being injured and one killed in the Louisiana shooting and some things that Baton Rouge is trying to do to curb this problem. So they're trying to make improvements, and one of those things that passed just I believe a couple of days. As a matter of fact, I believed the day before. It was Wednesday when it was passed through the Metro Council, and that was a major pay raise for the Baton Ridge Police Department. The Metro Council actually approved the largest pay raise in the history of not only the department, but it also This pay raise is so significant it makes them one of the highest paid, or rather the highest paid police department in the state of Louisiana outside of the Louisiana State Police.

25:48 So under the approved plan, starting salaries for police officers will increase from approximately forty thousand to forty one thousand a year, which is I couldn't believe they got paid only forty thousand a year to police freaking Baton Rage. But it's looking good now it's going up to fifty eight thousand a year annually, and after their first year of service they could earn up to sixty five thousand a year. Now, all sworn personnel will receive at least a fifteen percent raise, many receiving more. Non sworn employees will see a three and a half percent increase In Baton Ridge Police Chief TJ. Morse will receive a five point nine percent raise. The department wide increase averages nearly forty percent. Quote, this is a vote for the citizens of East Baton Ridge because that's important and our city needs protection. That from Coach Edwards, the mayor of Baton Ridge.

26:48 He said that following the approval, and the city officials described the raise as the biggest across the board rais in the history of the department, as in critical for both recruitment and retention. The department is currently short about one hundred and fifty officers, as I told you earlier, from its allocated six hundred and ninety six positions. Chief Morris has reported that interests in joining the force has quote gone through the roof since the proposal was announced. Now, the pay hike, as I told you, is expected to make the Baton Rage Police Department the highest paid police department in Louisiana, and officials plan for the increase to take effect around mid May, with the first adjusted paychecks arriving in June. The raises will cost roughly seven point five million for the remainder this year and about twelve and a half million in additional dollars for the full fiscal year. So let's talk about this for a second.

27:51 What do you think this is going to do to help with the situation in battery. Well, I can tell you one way that that's actually going to help that I don't think a lot of people are taking into consideration. And that's actually with our younger people that are coming up to go into law enforcement. And in my experience, a majority of police officers do not go to college and then become police officers. A lot of your police officers who want to do it for a career graduate from high school and maybe get like a community college to your degree, and then go into law enforcement. And my point in telling you this is that recruitment of young people into law enforcement. And this is a young man's game. By the way, when you're running the streets and you're you know, doing swat and all that, that's not the old man's game. That's the young man's game. And you can ask any cop out there that they don't want to be chasing and tackling people. The young guys do it. Well, we've had huge issues in recruitment and I saw that in education because I taught criminal justice, we did firearms and all that.

28:46 And the issue here was that number one, pay is terrible, and when also the Department of education only wants to push what they call high wage, high demand jobs. And so my argument for different agencies and different groups is that you're never going to get a lot of recruitment into law enforcement specifically because there's high demand, but you don't have a high wage to back it up. And thus the schools aren't promoting that as a career path, only nursing and things like that. I don't mean to bring it into school, but I think that it's going to be big in more ways than one, because if they're getting paid and there's high demand, then it's going to be a great thing for the community, all right. So another thing with that is not only will it help recruiting these new officers as you bring up, but it's also going to help attract from other departments officers that are already trained, already experienced. They're going to be looking at this, I promise you, especially from these smaller city departments, and they're going to say, wait a minute, I can get a BRPD and I can make you know, fifteen thousand more dollars than i'm making here. That's significant.

29:57 And so brpd's police in general ought to be getting better. It should be getting better and that Actually the Mayor Baton Rouge was in this studio a couple of weeks ago and said, you know, with that raise comes higher expectations. And just like anything else in life, you get a raise at your job and you're a baker, you better start making some really good cakes when you're getting paid that kind of money. Amen. And so I think that everything is going to improve. I know we've brought a lot of bad news by way of Louisiana today so far. Hate to do that, but I do see a little bit of a silver lining occurring. Yeah, well they're getting the message. May have been a little slow to get it, but kudos to whoever got all this put in place. Better pay, better candidates, better policing.

30:47 Yep. So that's awesome. All right, Let's go to Hawaii. Okay. A peaceful three hour snorkeling tour off the Big Islands Kona Coast turn into a nightmare Thursday afternoon when a twenty one year old Kansas Taurists allegedly grabbed a ten inch fillet knife from the boat's galley and repeatedly stabbed the captain without warning or provocation. Avery Nissan of Overland Park Kansas, was charged with second degree attempted murder, first degree assault, and second degree assault in the bizarre attack aboard a fifty foot catamaran operated by Hawaii Nautical. The victim, sixty two year old Stanley Lerbiki, a boating veteran with thirty five years of experience, suffered a deep stab wound to his lower abdomen, along with multiple cuts to his heads, his head, and hands. He was hospitalized in stable condition after receiving blood transfusions. The incident occurred as the private charter carrying Nissan, his mother, and a sibling was just thirty minutes from returning to the harbor when Nissan stayed aboard the boat during a snorkeling portion where his family had entered the water. Witnesses told police he suddenly entered the galley, took the filet knife, and attacked Lerbiki from behind.

31:58 Now you want to talk about some real manshit gym, check this out. The captain, after being stabbed by the sky, fought off the attack. Other passengers and crew members rushed to help restrain Nissan. In the chaos, the bad guy jumped overboard, and despite his serious injuries, the captain turned the boat around, jumped in the water and rescued his attacker before safely piloting the vessel back to harbor. That's crazy, He rescued his. Attacker after being stabbed with a ten inch knife. Wow, and go ahead, I don't want to cut y'all. Oh sorry so. Lerbiki later described the unprovoked attack to local media as the random, wildest and craziest thing you'll ever hear of, and the owner of Hawaii Nautical praised the captain and crew as heroes for the quick actions that prevented further harm. Nissen was taken into custody at the scene by Hawaii County Police officers who responded to nine one one calls, and he remains on bail, which was one point five million dollars and authorities say, no motive has been established.

33:03 And I'm gonna tell you attacked me with a ten inch fiel aid and if I'm gonna leave you in the water, and I'm gonna go back to the shore and take care of my business. And you know, this guy, this wasn't just a flesh wound as they say. This just wasn't just a poke. This dude lost half his blood half his wood by the time he got to shore, so he was damn near dead. Yet he still took the time to rescue someone who just tried to kill him for no reason. Random. Look, they don't know why this kid did this. Some of the most badass men, and I mean this that I had ever met. Our boat captains. They're tough, they're gritty, they're no, I'm serious, they're like tough, gritty people and they know what the hell that they're doing.

33:51 And isn't it like boat Isn't. It like you've had different boat captains of me. B Yeah, maybe I had looked like Captain ab from Jael. Look, we were out they're like sixty five years old. Uh huh. We were out on the water in Florida with this boat captain her. No, No, wasn't Brad Pitt. Look is this old boat captain And he was thin and all of that, but you know, real real dark and leathery. And we went out there to go fishing and I got to hit on my line and I had a big fish, and so he jumps down and he's like listen, and he got in my face and he was not very nice, but he was a damn good captain. He was like, this is a fish of a lifetime. Do not lose this fish if you cannot reel it, pass it. And I was like, yes, sir. Anyway, I fought that bad boy in and it was a massive mahi massive And he even took a picture of it, smiled and put it on his website. That's how good of a fish it was. But he was this kind of guy that, you know, even though I guess he knows the seriousness. You don't leave someone in the water.

34:53 I mean, they're gonna die if you leave him out there. So well, I mean, you just stay at me. That's why he's yeah, yeah, I want to take a boat with that dude. Yeah. Same, He'll definitely protect you. Hell y'all. All right, let's go to Miami, Florida and who I've seen a lot of grooming stories when it comes to teachers and students, but this I've never come across. A South Florida high school music teacher is facing felony charges after a teenage student accused him of repeated inappropriate touching, kissing, and professing his love, including lifting his shirt during a piano lesson to reveal a tattoo of two hearts, and then telling her one represented her and the other represented him.

35:39 Rudolph In Fante, who is fifty three, a music and fine arts teacher at Miami Senior High School, was arrested following an investigation by police. According to the warrant, the alleged misconduct began around August of twenty twenty five during a private piano lesson and continued for months until the student finally reported him to school authorities. The victim told investigators and Fonte touched her butt on at least three separate occasions, telling her the contact was quote out of love and endearment. On one occasion, he allegedly pulled her onto his lap and kissed her between the breast. He also had prolonged uncomfortable hugs with her and maye wee a manic comments such as if I was only thirty years younger now, that's disgusting, and he also said I can't wait to be with you. The most disturbing allegation involved the tattoo. During one piano lesson, he lifts his shirt shows the student two hearts linked inked on his rib cage rather and he told her one heart represented her and the other represented him. Miami Date officials said, and Fante had been placed on administrative leave and is in the process of being terminated. Yeah, I would imagine that process is already ever in the district safeties as top priority. But man, these teachers are freaking everywhere lately.

37:06 I don't know if there's something about people where like if he didn't have other victims, did he just like hone in on this when it become obsessed or something like how do you get there? How does that even happen? Were you with me you were a teacher? Yeah, And I didn't even let him, Like if a kid came to make up a test, I left the door open, like there was you know what I mean, Like I had procedures in place that I was not gonna mess with. You know. I didn't even when we went on trips and stuff like that, I didn't have students ride in the car with me if it was just me as the adult, because you know, I don't want there to ever be a question of any type of behavior, misconduct or anything like that. I mean, maybe you think that's a bit much, but you've never taught, then if you think that's too much. You've never taught, and you don't know the weirdness that goes on. So that's just it said. The tattoo was the most disturbing to me. The most disturbing was that he would think it appropriate to kiss between the child's breasts and that that would be okay totally. That's predatory. I can't wait to be together. That sounds almost like a threat to me.

38:13 Wow. So and he knew it was wrong because he said if only I was thirty years younger. So he can't even pretend like he thought in any realm that it was okay, right, gross, All right, let's go to California. A former California fire captain was sentenced to multiple life terms without the possibility of parole Friday, after he pled guilty to the brutal August twenty twenty five murders of his fiance and her young son, killings that stemmed from a heated argument over the betrayal of a firefighter in the Christian movie Fireproof. Jim, I fall asleep during movies all the time. I don't think I've ever been awake long enough to get into this type of argument, Like, have you ever gotten that heated over a movie.

38:56 I mean, no, not over a movie, a movie documentary. I've got I know it really happened. Yeah, yeah, this is I've never got heated enough to kill somebody. No that I'm aware of that, you remember, huh? All right, So Darren McFarlane forty seven, a longtime cal Fire captain with the Emmador Eldorado unit, was sentenced and Superior Court to two consecutive terms of life without parole, plus an additional life term fifty years to life and fifteen years for the first degree murders of Marissa Herzog twenty nine and her son Josiah Now. The deadly confrontation unfolded on the evening of August twenty first of twenty twenty five inside the family's Cameron Park home. Now McFarlane, Herzog and her two children, Josiah, a nine year old, and her daughter Sara Fina. They were watching the two thousand and eight film Fireproof, starring Kirk Cameron as a firefighter struggling to save his marriage. Prosecutor said that McFarlane became enraged at how the unseen firefighter was depicted as selfish and flawed. The argument escalated when Herzog tried to nine one one now. McFarlane decided at that point that he would attack her strangle her before then shooting her multiple times. He then turned the gun on Josiah, who was also fatally shot. The nine year old daughter survived after begging for her life and was hiding during the rampage.

40:17 McFarlane fled the scene, but was arrested days later in Mono County. He was charged with two counts of murder and other felonies. Court records show he pled guilty as part of a resolution that spared the surviving daughter from testifying. The DA's office described the killings as brutal and said the sentence censure as MacFarlane will never walk free. Family members of the victims spoke in court about the unimaginable loss, calling Marissa and Josiah loving kind souls whose lives were cut short in a moment of rage. McFarlane had no prior criminal record that would have flagged him as a threat, according to authorities, and he had been in a relationship with Herzog for several years and lived with her and her children. Yeah, I've never seen that movie. I think you've seen it.

41:01 Oh, I love that movie. It's a great one. I used it. So the whole motto of that movie, if you don't know, is you never leave your partner in a fire. And it's kind of a metaphor. So in firefighting, when you go in to certain types of fires, you know you have a partner in accountability. No matter what happens, you remain true and accountable to that partner because your life depends on it. And so that's the metaphor for the movie is you never leave your partner in a fire, no matter how bad it gets. So you're watching a movie that's about the antithesis of what you're about to do, and you get mad about a fictional characters representation and then you turn and go postal. Yeah again another story. You just can't make sense out of a totally tragic A firefighter at that, someone who is supposed to be protecting lives, not taking lives, obviously, and you can't make sense of that.

41:53 Like the no, I mean his own child, I. Mean his own kid kills his own kid. I mean it's his fiance's kid, but yeah, but I mean his kid, touche. Yeah, I mean a child in general doesn't even like how he looks like Farley from Super Troopers. But I mean, how you get you'll sacrifice your family for a fictional character's role and you're mad that he looks selfish, and then you are selfish. Maybe what you saw, buddy was a mirror reflecting yourself, and that's what sets you off because you sound like you are selfish. Well, he got a life sentence for it, and good for him. Yeah, and you know that took place in California, and in California you should never know. It seems like a lot of people commit murders and don't get life sentences.

42:44 Unfortunately in California, say glad to see that they came to their senses at least with this guy and realized he don't need to be walking amongst the free. So let's go to another story and look, we have a we have a fan crazy Queen of Cleaning Lady who is a major TikTok star. So if she's listening, she'll go follow her on TikTok. Miss Samantha really loves the show and she does. I don't know what her process is, but I'd be interested in knowing what her process is when placing bids because We're gonna go to Ohio, Canton, Ohio. Actually, Kelleen, do you know what's in Canton, Ohio? I do know now because of our previous recording that failed.

43:28 But yeah, the Football Hall of Fame. The NFL Football Hall of Fame, and y'all yesterday. She had no idea. I did, like an idiot. You weren't an idiot. But I'm sure a lot of people don't name. But I don't know. Man. People are probably like what she wouldn't know when I was home with the Pro Football Hall of Fame. When I think Canton, I think Kenton, Mississippi. Yeah, no, different one. This is Ohio. And I'm gonna tell you a story about a twenty three year old Canton man who has been arrested for multi both felony charges after he met a cleaning lady at his house and decides it's a good idea to stab her with a screwdriver in the eye and then repeatedly sexually assault her, all of this taking place this meeting through a messaging app.

44:18 So what happened was the victim in this case? She gets a message from Ezekiel Jackson, who is twenty three years old and Ezekiel Jackson basically says, Hey, I need to get my house clean. Can you come over and clean my house? The victim, She says, well, I need to get an estimate together, and rather than him sending pictures, which is what I would assume occurs in most of those cases, she does end up going to his house to give this estimate. She goes in there and he just flat out hits her in the face with a screwdriver that caused a facial fry sure and a severe injury to her left eye. He then forces her into the bedroom and he sexually assaults her from ten o'clock in the morning to five o'clock in the afternoon. Imagine that absolute over and over again. Uh. But here's where it gets really crazy. And actually this lady shout out to her for being quick on her feet as far as thinking concerns. She convinces him to drive her to the hospital, and this guy basically says, I'm not going to drive to the hospital because you're gonna tell on me, and she says, no, no, no, I got a whole story.

45:38 I won't tell on you. What I'm going to tell them is that we're in a relationship. And you kind of follow me around while I clean houses, and my injuries on my face. I had fell while I was cleaning, and that's what causes. Hands fell on the screwdriver and it went in my well. This moron Iszigil Jackson. Thank god. He's like, you know what, that may work, thinking maybe I can get out all this trouble, and so he does. He takes her to the hospital and as soon as she sees two officers, she does what she should have done, which was, hey, this dude tried to kill me and sexually assaulted me throughout an eight hour period today, and he gets orested and goes to jail. Good.

46:21 I think that is wonderful way to take action. Of kudos to this victim that you may be victimized, but you do not have to remain that way. She thought through it, and everything she did worked because it saved her life. Yeah, that's really amazing. Well thought that story. It was smart. She didn't panic, and I mean I'm sure she was completely panic during the time, but to be able to have the wherewithal to convince him a it's all gonna be okay. You just need to bring me to the hospital. It is pretty good stuff. And that story had me thinking about what could we suggest maybe to people that are in careers like that, like our realtors and people that go into houses and gaming houses. Yeah, and I actually think I thought it might have thought of something that you should have mandatory check ins every so often with whomever it is. Though it's non negotiable, it's a mandatory check in. And even to that point, when you do the mandatory check in, there should be a code word that you use if there's a problem. So even if you're saying everything's okay, you if you say yep, everything's copaesthetic and copaesetic is the word that I have a problem that alerts the other person or I'm aoka. It could be whatever that would not alert the person. But you've gotta you've got to think outside of the box, find ways to help yourself, you know, And maybe that could be it. Mandatory check ins every so often and have a codeword.

47:45 I think I think those are great. I think, uh, first of all, I think you should ever go to do that by yourself if you especially if you're female. I think that if any way possible, you can only do estimates with someone else. There I know a lot of realtors do that. They won't show houses just by themselves. Look, I'm a big preparit of arm in yourself anywhere you go. I know that varies from state to state and what you can do and what the laws are, but that's something that if it's allowed in your state, do it. I would. I would recommend that because not everybody has good intentions. So lastly, you know, I would kind of make a like in this situation it was a cleaning lady.

48:29 I don't know that I would do in person estimates unless I absolutely had to, and that may have been her case. Maybe there was some special thing where pictures wouldn't work. But usually you can base something off of square footage pretty good. But I'm not the expert. Crazy cleaning lady, confirm that we need. You, Samantha. Give us your expertise here. All right, let's go to We're going to go across the pond. We're going to go to Poorth Cole, Wales. Where's Wales over across the pond? But where is in England? Okay, I was excised. I thought it was a trick. You know, I'm not good at job. I looked like you weren't sure about that.

49:10 Well, maybe I'm not because you've got me double guests in must I always assume I'm wrong? Okay? Well. Christopher Phillips, sixty years old, pled guilty Thursday April sixteenth, twenty twenty six at the Cardiff Crown Court to preventing the lawful and decent burial of his mother into two counts of fraud after authorities say he kept her body in a chest freezer inside the family home for approximately three years while continuing to withdraw her pension payments. Sylvia Phillips, which she was a retired company secretary, was eighty nine years old when she died sometime in twenty twenty three at the home that she shared with her son on Poplar Crescent in the seaside town of Porthcall, South Wales.

49:50 Instead of reporting her death, prosecutors alleged Phillips placed her body in a chest freezer and failed to notify local or national authorities, allowing him to ac access her bank accounts and collect her pension and benefits. The grim discovery came on February seventeenth of twenty twenty six. After get this, her primary care physician was the one who raised concerns about her welfare. Police officers responded to the home and that's where they found her body stuffed inside of the freezer, and at an earlier hearing in March, Judge Vanessa Francis postponed please, telling Phillips there was quote more everyone needs to know and understand about this case end quote, and that it would not be just to proceed without full clarity on the accusations. On April sixteenth, before Judge Tracy Clark, Phillips, who was wearing a green jumper and glasses, admitted to all charges. His defense attorney requested a psychiatric evaluation, which the court granted, and sentencing is now scheduled for June the second Now. Neighbors described him as appearing pleasant and normal the entire time, but they rarely saw Sylvia in her later years and they just believed that she was a vulnerable adult. Some reports suggests Phillips use the funds to support his bachelor lifestyle, but no cause of death for Sylvia has been publicly released, pending further investigation, and South Wales Police in the court have not released additional statements beyond confirming the charges, and the.

51:14 Police and It makes you want to say, what the heck is wrong with people? Obviously this isn't just in the United States. We just went all the way across the pond. Yeah, and people are acting like fools. You know, did it say if she died of natural causes? Now they haven't said. I would assume that she did. It sounds like she did because it wasn't a murder charge that he was charged with, right, So apparently I guess somehow they ascertained that she died of old age. Yeah, and he decided he didn't want to give up that check. It's just absolutely sick and of all the people to disrespect like that, you're a mother, right.

51:55 So this is interesting to me because I'm guessing that she had some type of ailment or some type of medication or something that you know, the doctor and her knew each other well that the doctor would raise a concern and say, goll ye I hadn't. Speak of. In a long time to the now. And it makes you just think that when you love somebody, whether it's your spouse or your parent or whomever it's, you're inclined when they pass away to almost do ridiculous things in terms of honoring them like you want to spend all your money, right, get them the best flowers and the best casket in at least I do. And sometimes you have to calm yourself down and go hang on a second. Me, spending all the money doesn't indicate how much I love this person, right, And there's only so much that you can do when you're grieving. But what does this say about his own mother that he was willing to just stuff her in a freezer? Her money meant more to him than proper burial and celebration of life. Yeah, I agree, that's morbid.

52:54 It is okay, So let's go to another story that is I guess a lighter it's not a murder or death per se. And We're gonna go to California and I'm gonna tell you about three guys. Wait, is this a new segment that we're doing. Uh, it's gonna be called you can't make this up because you can't make this up. And I'm gonna tell you about three guys that really, I mean, they really just screwed the page on this one, and they came up with a fraud scheme I ain't never heard of. So I'm gonna tell you their first names, because their last names are jacked up and I'm not even gonna try to pronounce them there. Let's put it this way. They're about twenty six letters, and they're every syllable in the alphabet. So we're gonna say ALPHI, we're gonna say Ruben, and we're gonna say they, and these are the three guys.

53:43 And they pleaded no contest to insurance frauds. So what were they doing? You may ask yourself, Well, I don't know. I probably can't make it up. Apparently these guys had some money, and uh, they had some expensive calls. As a matter of fact, they had a twenty ten Rolls Royce and I guess they decided that they were tired of that car and they wanted some insurance money from it. So rather than going and wrecking it somewhere like most people would do it, they figured that would be too obvious. So they decide that they're going to dress up in bear suits and put on claws, actual bear claws with like razors on the end.

54:25 Picture picture like Nightmare on Elm Street. So they put on the nightmar on Elm Street gloves in full costume. They go into the vehicle and they just tear the shit out of the interior of this thing to the point, yeah, where it's practically worthless. And so for their trouble, they actually got paid by this insurance company fifty plus thousand dollars. And so then the police determined, wait a minute, this is all a scam. And the way they determined that was they did it with several cars. So these geniuses decided that, okay, this bear thing works. So we've got another car here, and we're going to attack it with a bear costume. And they put on the full fuck the full costume. When they're doing this.

55:16 You see, you're like digging like a dog in the couch with the costume. So they put on these costumes and they do this, and what are the chances of you having three vehicles and all three vehicles getting attacked by bear and the bear getting inside the vehicle and tearing up the interior. Well that's what they did. So that's where the brain cells stopped with these three Obviously, insurance companies are going to say, wait a minute, three bears attacking three different luxury cars is not going to happen in real life. The chances of zero they get caught and they are now in jail, and they all have restitution of over fifty thousand dollars each to pay when they get out.

55:57 All right, So I'm gonna quiz you on something like. That the last two stories for Kelly says that the last two stories I didn't even read. You did great. I just I like that lit. It's like you knew it already. Yeah I did. I knew it all right. I'm a quiz you on something. If you were going to go online and you were going to buy a realistic bear costume adult grizzly movie quality fake for handmade, how much did that costume cost? Twenty five hundred dollars higher, Well, tell me, don't leave us in suspense. I think people want. To sit there for thousand, one hundred and ninety four dollars for a bear costume. Yeah, yeah, Well I'm not paying.

56:41 I'm not paying. I'm not paying five grand to commit fraud, you know what I'm saying, Like, I'd rather leave food in there, little real. Well, if you pay five to get fifty five, well you know that seems like a good investment, But you're dumb and you do it three times. First of all, I shouldn't be doing it once, don't. Get me wrong, round upon three times. If you get a with the ones, consider yourself lucky and move on. Yeah, go goat the second time or something. Yeah, I mean, at least you know it's crazy and you just can't make sense. You can't make that shit up. You can't make that shit up. But let me talk about something different now. And this is going to be our foolish felons section, all right, And you refuse to do it, I want him to go. So foolish, all right?

57:23 That is great, No, it is not. I love it. So foolish, all right. A Mississippi man working as a contract delivery driver for Amazon has been arrested after allegedly firing multiple shots toward a family home in Livingston Parish following a confrontation over him speeding on a gravel road. The incident occurred in February on Horse Bluff Road in Springfield, according to the Sheriff's Office. Sean Gridinich, the homeowner, told investigators that he and his family were outside the residence around four pm when an Amazon delivery van sped past them at almost forty miles an hour, so Gridenich said he confronted the driver just a few houses down while the man was making a delivery, and that's when the driver told him, quote, you don't know who you're talking to. I'm not the average mailman. I got that tool with me. He was referring to his gun. So, after Gridinich returned home and his wife called nine one one, the van then drove past their house again and that's when things escalated. He stopped at the stop sign, hung a gun out of the window and shot at their house three times. Gridinich said he saw the gun come out of the window. He was always down the road, but he did shoot at us. Now, luckily no one was injured. But Gridinich went to go chase and pursue the Amazon driver, but nine one one smartly advised him not to do that. And obviously he's not scared to shoot his gun. And Gridinich said for about two weeks his wife was scared that he was going to come back. Now, detectives were able to identify the driver's thirty five year old Jared Tillman of Jackson, Mississippi, and LPSO obtained warrants

58:56 for his arrest you Jackson, His so Kate help fit. It's the song Jackson? Was this event? Hender Jackson? All right, sorry, let's get back to the seriousness. So all right. On April fifteenth, Tillman was taken into custody with assistance from the US Marshall Service, and he was booked into the Madison County Detention Center. Now he is expected to be extra guided back to Louisiana and he's going to be put in our local LP detention center during our investigation. According to the sheriff, the complainant said that when he told the driver to slow down, that's when the driver produced the firearm and began firing rounds in the direction of the complainant before fleeing the area. Now, the investigation remains ongoing. Specific charges have not been publicly detailed at the time that I am covering this case, and the Amazon company issued a statement confirming that Tillman was not a direct employee for them, but he worked as an independent delivery service partner, which is like a small business that contracts that's contracted out to make those deliveries.

59:56 And so Gridinich expressed disbelief, saying that you know, it's just kind of mind blowing that an Amazon driver would shoot at you. Yeah, it really is mind blowing. And look I get along with I have two different Amazon drivers. One is a female, one is a male, and they are both cool and I talk to them all the time and I could never imagine them shooting at me. As a matter of fact, next time I see them, we're going to have this conversation. I'm not asking if they knew that, dude. But you know, these contract companies that are contracted by Amazon, obviously they're so freaking busy. They can never hire enough employees to have enough drivers to supply getting your packages to you in one day, which a lot of times when I order it's one day later I end up with.

1:00:43 It blows my mind, Yeah, how quick it is. So in those cases, obviously they have to hire these contract companies. And when you hire those you do some sort of due diligence. I mean, I'm sure they check their criminal record and stuff like that, but they don't have a record. You don't really know who you're dealing with. It's not like they're sitting down with Human Resources and Amazon talking about, you know, their family and what they do in their spare time. So you are going to have situations like this where maybe you deal with someone that's not living with a full deck and they decide they're going to shoot at you for yelling at them for speeding. Yeah, so foolish.

1:01:23 Yeah, what are your thoughts on it? Well, I think you didn't say a whole lot. Yeah, well, I mean it's just ludicrous. It's absolutely ridiculous, and then it makes you wonder if they're willing to shoot at you. My mind actually went to I wonder if these are the same ones stealing my packages that don't arrive at my house. You know, I'm I'm not saying they are, but you know, you're paying good money to have stuff delivered to you, and then. You've never had a package stone never, never that I can recall. I don't think I've ever had a package store. I've had missed deliveries which ended up a really kind of neat thing because I just posted a picture online when I couldn't find the package, and I knew the window in the picture wasn't my house and I couldn't figure out what it was, so just having to post it on Facebook and say, does anybody know where this is?

1:02:07 Because I can't I can't find this package. And it ended up being the church that my next door neighbor is the pastor at, and so he said, oh, my gosh, I know that window, and he brought it the package home to me. Oh, you're very lucky, very because that that is like a needle in haystack. I know, I don't know what package. Was it something valuable? It was I'd ordered some stuff at actually through the school that was for the school. It was a for a cart that I kept for students where I would fill it with like ponytails and deodorant stuff like that. And it was like a six hundred pack of ponytails. Man, somebody would have been mad if they. That's why they'd start shooting.

1:02:48 At That's that's like when you when you get those storage units. I would I would be the person that bought the storage units with like newspaper in it, yeah, you know, or all paint cans rat with like half paints in them. Yeah, it would be. And then the person next to me would get a Maserati in their storage in it, or a bear suit or a bear suit. Hey, apparently I can sell that for five grand or so. Now you know, you've been educated fully in a full circle here. All right? Any final thoughts. Yeah, I keep your head on a down swivel. That would be my final thoughts for today. You never know what's going on, and you need to be aware of your surroundings.

1:03:29 Okay, Well, I also have a final thought okay, minus a little more of a pleading towards keep these victims in your thoughts, in your prayers throughout these shootings that I discussed today, we were very Louising and eccentric. Today we covered I believe, five crimes right here in Louisiana. Two of them all of them are horrific in one way or another, but two of them extremely horrific. Hopefully that is going to get better. And thoughts and prayers to all the victims and the families of the victims, and all the people that do and love these people involved in the shootings one percent. And you can guarantee that as far as citizens doing their due diligence when we go to vote or to make decisions or of who's going to be in power and what type of policy you like, these cases right here will absolutely be supported by me and by Jim and by the people we care.

1:04:23 That's right. All of these people and that's right. And just to wrap that up, that's why it's so important that you vote. That's why it's so important you know the feelings of the people you're voting for. Don't just make it a popularity contest. Just because somebody has a name that everybody's heard of, that doesn't mean their policies line up with your policies or what you would do in a situation. And especially in the judges, how many crimes do we cover where Look, some judges are great, yeah, and I would vote for them tim Ways from Sunday, But there are some out there that their decisions calling to question whether it lines up with your personal beliefs. So just make your voice heard. It's important.

1:05:04 A little ounce of research can go along with That's right. Until next time, I'm Jim Chapman and I'm Kelly Jenny and were your host of Crime Weekly.