Aug. 26, 2025

"GRANDMA'S MURDER TRIAL BEGINS: Donna Adelson Faces Justice While Young Dolph's Middleman Walks Free"

Show Notes
Transcript

Reid Carter covers Day 1 of Donna Adelson's murder trial where the 75-year-old grandmother faces life for allegedly orchestrating her ex-son-in-law's execution over custody rights. Opening statements reveal she called the hitmen "two thugs" in wiretapped calls while prosecutors say she was the puppet master. Plus, shocking acquittal as Hernandez Govan walks free in Young Dolph's murder despite being accused of arranging the $100,000 hit. And a California horror story: parents charged with murdering 3-month-old baby Emmanuel after claiming he was kidnapped, with sheriff revealing "major inconsistencies" in mother's story. From grandmothers ordering hits to parents killing infants, Tuesday's trials prove family can be deadlier than strangers.

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Caalarogu Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Red Carter. Tuesday August

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twenty sixth, twenty twenty five. Today on Celebrity Trials, Donna

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Addlson's murder trial is underway and grandma's defense is exactly

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what you'd expect. Blame the dead son in law for

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his own murder. Then another killer walks free in the

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Young Dolph case, Hernandez Govan, accused of being the middleman

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in the cookie shop execution, just got acquitted because apparently

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arranging murder for hire isn't illegal if the jury likes you.

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And the most heartbreaking story of the day, Baby Emmanuel Harrow,

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three months old, is missing and his parents are charged

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with murder. They claimed he was kidnapped. The sheriff says

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they're lying. All that and more on today's Celebrity Trials.

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Let's start in tallahe where seventy five year old grandmother

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Donna Addelson is finally facing justice for allegedly orchestrating the

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murder of FSU law professor Dan Markel eleven years ago.

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Trial began Friday with jury selection twelve jurors and three

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alternates chosen from a pool that's been hearing about this

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case for over a decade. Finding impartial jurors in Tallahassee

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for the Addleson family murder conspiracy is like finding virgins

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in Vegas. But they managed yesterday. Opening statements laid out

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the state's case, and it's exactly what we've been saying

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for years. Donna Addelson was the puppet master. Assistant State

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Attorney Sarah Dugan didn't mince words. This defendant, Donna Addelson

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is the person who put everything into motion. She's the

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reason Dan Markell was murdered. Here's the state's theory, backed

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by years of evidence. Donna couldn't stand that her grandchildren

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lived four hundred and fifty miles away in Tallahassee. When

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the court wouldn't let her daughter Wendy move the kids

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to Miami, Donna an allegedly decided murder was the solution.

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The prosecution played wire tapped calls where Donna refers to

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the actual killers as two thugs, not those murderers who

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killed Dan, not the men who destroyed our family. Two thugs,

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like they were random criminals who just happened to shoot

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her ex son in law in broad daylight. But here's

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the smoking gun. Charlie Adelson, her son who's already serving

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life for this murder, was recorded on a wire tap

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saying his mother was involved in ways you can't even imagine,

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ways you can't even imagine from her own son's mouth.

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The state also revealed that immediately after Dan's murder, Donna

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started researching grand jury proceedings and what happens when someone

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is arrested for murder. Not who killed Dan Markel, not

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how to help find Dan's killers. She was researching what

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happens when you get caught. Defense attorney Robert Morris tried

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the only play he had blame the victim. He actually

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stood up and told the jury that Dan Markell was

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every difficult to deal with and made the divorce unnecessarily hard.

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Oh I'm sorry. Was he difficult? Was he making divorce hard? Well?

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Then clearly he deserved two bullets to the head in

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his own garage. Morris argued that Donna had nothing to

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do with the murder plot, that it was all Charlie

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acting alone. Right, the devoted son who'd never made a

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major decision without mommy, suddenly decides to orchestrate a murder

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for hire all by himself. The defense also claims Donna

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was fleeing to Vietnam not because she was guilty, but

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because she was despondent over Charlie's conviction. One way ticket,

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non extradition country, but sure, just a grieving mother needing

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a vacation. Here's what really happened and what the evidence

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will show. Donna Addelson couldn't control the custody situation through

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legal means, so she chose murder. She got her son,

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Charlie involved, Charlie got his girlfriend Catherine Magbanua involved, we

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got the Latin Kings involved, and Dan Markel ended up dead.

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Everyone else in this conspiracy has already convicted Luis Rivera

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nineteen years after cooperating, Sigfredo Garcia life for being the triggerman,

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Catherine Magbanua life for being the go between, Charlie Adelson

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life without parole for financing it. Now it's Grandma's turn.

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The state has phone records showing constant communication between Donna

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and Charlie around the murder. They have financial records showing

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large cash movements. They have Charlie's own words saying mom

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was involved in ways you can't even imagine, but most damning,

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they have Donna's actions after Charlie's conviction, discussing suicide, creating trusts,

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making sure grandchildren are taken care of, then trying to

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flee to Vietnam. Those aren't the actions of an innocent grandmother.

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Those are the actions of someone who knows the walls

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are closing in. Dan Markell's parents haven't seen their grandchildren

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in seven years. Seven years because Donna Addilson allegedly couldn't

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handle being a long distance grandmother. Two boys lost their

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father and their paternal grandparents. The trial continues this week

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with witness testimony. The state says they'll prove Donna was

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the mastermind who set everything in motion because she wanted

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her grandchildren closer. Well, congratulations, Donna, your grandchildren are definitely closer.

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Now they can visit you in prison for the rest

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of your life. Now for an update that's going to

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make your blood boil. Remember the Young Dolph murder we

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covered last week, the rapper gunned down in a Memphis

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cookie shop in broad daylight. Well, Hernandez Govan just walked free.

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Let me refresh your memory. Young Dolph was murdered November seventeenth,

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twenty twenty one, at Mikitah's homemade butter cookies, twenty two

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shots through the window in broad daylight while he was

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buying cookies. We already have convictions. Justin Johnson life in prison,

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convicted last month. Cornelius Smith, awaiting sentencing after confessing. Both

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admitted they were hired to kill Dolph for one hundred

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thousand dollars. Smith testified that Anthony big Juk Mims Jogatti's

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brother ordered the hit. Smith only got eight hundred dollars

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of the promised forty thousand dollars. He murdered a man

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for less than a month's rent. Hernandez Govan was supposed

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to be the middleman, the go between who helped arrange

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the murder. The prosecution said he facilitated communication between big

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Jok and the shooters. Yesterday, a Memphis jury acquitted him

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not guilty on all counts. His defense attorney, William Massey,

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said there was no proof Govin was involved. No proof

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despite testimony from the actual shooters, despite phone records, despite

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the fact that everyone else involved is either dead or

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in prison. Here's what happened. The jury didn't like the

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state's witnesses. Cornelius Smith, who confessed to the murder, was

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an credible enough. A man who admitted shooting Young Dolph

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through a window wasn't believable when he said Govan helped

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arrange it. This is the problem with conspiracy cases. You

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need conspirators to testify, and conspirators, by definition, are criminals.

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So defense attorneys get to stand up and say, you're

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going to believe a murderer. Yes, when the murderer is

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confessing and implicating his co conspirators, yes, you believe him.

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But this Memphis jury decided that Hernandez Govan, who everyone

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agrees was connected to the killers, who everyone agrees was

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in communication with them, somehow had nothing to do with

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the murder. So let's recap the Young Dolph murder case.

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The shooters convicted, The money man Big Jook dead shot

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outside a restaurant. The alleged middleman, Govan, walks free. Young

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Dolph's family has to watch another person connected to his

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murder walk out of court, a freeman. His children have

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to grow up knowing that not everyone who helped kill

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their father will pay for it. This is justice in America.

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If you're the trigger man, you go to prison. If

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you're the one who arranged it all, maybe you walk

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free if the jury doesn't like the prosecution's witnesses. Hernandez

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Govan is out there right now, probably having breakfast somewhere,

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while Young Dolph's kids don't have a father, while his fiancee,

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Mia Jay raises their children alone. While Memphis lost a

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legend who gave back to his community. The system failed

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Young Dolph again. We'll be right back with the horrifying

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case of baby Emmanuel, a three month old whose parents

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claimed he was kidnapped but are now charged with his murder.

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We close today with every parent's nightmare turned into something

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even worse. Three month old Emmanuel Harrow is missing in Modesto, California.

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His parents, Martin Harrow and Jasmine Munos, told police someone

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kidnapped him from their apartment Friday afternoon. They said a

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stranger took their baby. Yesterday, both parents were charged with murder.

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Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirksey didn't hold back. We have

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major inconsistencies in the mother's story. The timeline doesn't match up,

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the evidence doesn't support kidnapping. Here's what the parents claimed. Friday,

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around two thirty PM, someone entered their apartment and took

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Ammanuel while they were somewhere else in the apartment. The

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story keeps changing. First mom was in the bathroom, then

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she was in another room, Then she heard something but

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didn't check immediately. The Sheriff's office spent the weekend searching

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K nine units, helicopters, dive teams, checking waterways, FBI involvement,

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Amber alert issued. The whole community mobilized to find this baby,

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but inst gaters noticed problems immediately. No signs of forced entry,

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No witnesses saw anyone enter or leave with a baby.

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Security cameras in the area showed nothing. The parents' stories

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didn't match each other. Their timeline kept shifting. Then came

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the forensic evidence. The sheriff won't specify what they found,

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but he said it was enough to arrest both parents

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for murder, not child endangerment, not neglect murder. They haven't

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found Emmanuel's body yet. Let that sink in. A three

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month old baby is missing, his parents are charged with

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killing him, and we don't even know where this infant's

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remains are. The parents are being held without bail. They

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haven't entered pleas yet. Their public defenders haven't commented. But

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here's what we know from similar cases. When parents claim

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kidnapping and there's no evidence of an intruder, when their

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stories don't match, when the timeline doesn't work, the child

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is usually already dead. Three months old. Immanual Harrow was

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three months old. He couldn't walk, he couldn't talk, he

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couldn't defend himself. He was completely dependent on the two

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people now charged with murdering him. The sheriff said, the

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investigation is ongoing. They're still searching for a Manuel, but

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charging the parents with murder means they believe this baby

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is dead and they believe the parents killed him. This

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is what we've become, parents murdering their infants and claiming kidnapping,

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using the entire community's resources, having hundreds of people search

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for a baby, they allegedly already killed. Every cop, every volunteer,

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every neighbor who searched for a manual did so believing

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they might save a baby's life. Instead, they were unknowingly

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helping parents cover up a murder. Martin Harrow and Jasmine

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Munos will face a judge later this week. They'll plead

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not guilty. Their lawyers will claim rush to judgment, but

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the sheriff says the evidence is clear. Major inconsistencies forensic evidence,

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and a missing baby who never left that apartment alive.

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Emmanuel Harrow should be learning to laugh right now, should

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be starting to recognize his parents' faces, should be beginning

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to grab toys. Instead, he's gone and the two people

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who were supposed to protect him are charged with ending

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his life before it ever really began. Three months old,

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murdered allegedly by the people who brought him into this

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world just to take him out of it. That's Celebrity

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Trials for Tuesday, August twenty sixth. Tomorrow updates from the

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cardib assault trial as her former security guard testifies about

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the alleged beating, plus the latest from Donna Addelson's trial

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as prosecution witnesses take the stand, and a programming note

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our Eight Days of OJ series begins one month from today,

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eight episodes examining how a double murder became entertainment and

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taught celebrities they could get away with anything. I'm reed Carter.

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Today we saw grandmother on trial for murder, a middleman

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walk free, and parents charged with killing their baby. Family.

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It's supposed to be everything. Instead, it's increasingly becoming the

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most dangerous relationship you can have until tomorrow,