"GUTHRIE RANSOM NOTE, BOUNTY HUNTER'S STEPSON KILLS SON & CAMPSITE KILLER GETS 100 YEARS"

0:03 Callaroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm read Carter. Thursday, February fourth, twenty twenty six. Quick update on a story we brought you yesterday. The search for Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy has taken a disturbing turn. A ransom note demanding millions in bitcoin was sent to multiple news outlets overnight. Pima County Sheriff reviewing it now. Nancy Guthrie, eighty four years old, believed taken from her Tucson home against her will. The sheriff says she could die without her medication. FBI involved Savannah asking for prayers. We'll get into the details in a moment, then dog The bounty hunter's family in crisis.

0:48 His step son, Gregory Zecha, arrested yesterday in Florida charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child with a firearm. The child was his own thirteen year old son, Anthony July nineteenth, twenty twenty five, watching a UFC fight at a friend's apartment in Naples, drinking for hours, smoking marijuana, practicing his quick draw with a loaded gun in front of his kid, then fired a single shot that killed him. Blood alcohol nearly twice the legal limit six month investigation faces life in prison and justice for Dustin Kersom. Darren Abbey, the man who killed a camper at a remote Montana campsite with an axe and a screwdriver, then tried to claim self defense, was sentenced to one hundred years in prison, no parole for eighty years. Eight of Kersom's loved ones gave victim impact statements when the judge handed down the sentence.

1:42 Abby's response, I'll be appealing your crooked ass court system. I'm read Carter today, a ransom note, a reality star's family tragedy, and a campsite killer who will die in prison. This is Celebrity Trials. Quick update on the Nancy Guthrie disappearance. Yesterday we told you about Savannah Guthrie's eighty four year old mother. Nancy reported missing from her Tucson, Arizona home on Sunday. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nano said investigators believe she was taken against her will. Signs of forced entry at the home nighttime, kidnapping, Her cell phone, wallet and car all left behind. She didn't wander off. She doesn't have mental health issues, but she has limited mobility and takes medication that could be fatal if she doesn't receive it. Overnight, this story escalated, multiple news outlets received a ransom note referencing Nancy Guthrie, KGUN and Tucson TMZ others. The note demands several million dollars in bitcoin by today Thursday, threatens to kill Nancy if payment isn't received by Monday. The note also references two specific pieces of evidence allegedly from the crime scene, which the news outlets could not independently verify.

3:04 The Pima County Sheriff's Department released a statement, we are aware of reports circulating about possible ransom note or notes regarding the investigation into Nancy Guthrie. We are taking all tips and leads very seriously. Here's where it gets complicated. Before the ransom note surfaced, investigators told the Associated Press they did not believe this was a kidnapping for ransom plot. Didn't think it was a robbery or home invasion either. The motive was a mystery. Now a ransom note appears. Is it real? Is it someone trying to exploit a high profile disappearance. The sheriff isn't saying what we know. Nancy Guthrie was dropped off at her home around nine thirty pm Saturday, reported missing about eleven am Sunday when she didn't show up for church. Someone from her church called a family member, who went to the home and called nine to one point one. FBI is providing investigative support, analyzing cell phone data and cell tower information, police reviewing surveillance video from nearby homes and license plate cameras. Savannah Guthrie released her first public statement Monday night, called her mother a woman of deep conviction, a good and faithful servant.

4:17 Asked supporters to raise your prayers with us and believe with us that she will be lifted by them in this very moment. Bring her home. Nancy Guthrie's home is in the affluent Catalina Foothills area on the northern edge of Tucson. She lives alone, and she's been missing now for five days. The sheriff put it bluntly. If she's alive right now, her meds are vital. I can't stress that enough. It's been better than twenty four hours, and the family tells us if she doesn't have those meds, it can become fatal. That was Tuesday. It's now Thursday. The clock is ticking. We'll keep following this. Anyone with information.

4:57 Pima County Sheriff's Department. Gregory Zecha, thirty nine years old, son of Francy Chapman, stepson of Dwayne Dog, the bounty hunter. Chapman, member of Dog's bounty hunting team, former police officer. Father yesterday arrested by the Collier County Sheriff's Office in Naples, Florida, charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child with a firearm and using a firearm while under the influence the child. He's accused of killing his own thirteen year old son, Anthony.

5:41 July nineteenth, twenty twenty five, Saturday evening, Naples, Florida, Zeca and Anthony are at a friend's apartment UFC fight on television Father Son Night. Except Zecha had been drinking for hours before they got there. Started at a local bar, drank for several hours, bought more alcohol on the way to the friend's place, then at the apartment, continued drinking and added marijuana to the mix. By the time deputies would arrive later that evening, Zecha reeked of alcohol and weed was in plain view while watching the fights. Zecha had a gun and he couldn't keep his hands off it. According to the arrest warrant, Zeka repeatedly handled the firearm in his thirteen year old son's presence, practicing drawing it from his waistband, dry firing, playing cowboy in front of his kid, while hammered. Initially, the firearm had been made safe, magazine removed, live round cleared from the chamber, standard procedure if you're going to handle a weapon, except Zecha was drunk and high and showing off. At some point, the magazine was reinserted, a round was chambered, the gun was live again, and Gregory Zeka blood alcohol at approximately zero point one point one six, nearly one and a half times the legal limit to drive a car in Florida, discharged a single shot. That shot struck Anthony, thirteen years old, fatal.

7:04 By the time Collier County deputies arrived around eight pm, Anthony was dead. Officers detected the odor of alcohol on Zecha and observed marijuana in the vicinity. An investigation was opened immediately. Detectives obtained two search warrants for Zeca's medical records and a blood draw. A toxicology expert independently tested both samples estimated Zeka's blood alcohol concentration was approximately zero point one point one six at the time of the shooting, nearly twice the legal limit to drive, and he was handling a loaded firearm in front of his child. In the days after the shooting, Zecha was placed on a psychiatric hold heavily sedated. Family representatives told TMZ at the time that the hold was because Zecha was stricken by grief and not because he feels guilty of a crime in relation to the shooting. Family was worried he might try to harm himself. Dog the bounty hunter and his wife Francy, released a statement, we are grieving as a family over this incomprehensible tragic accident and would ask for continued prayers as we grieve the loss of our beloved grandson Anthony. They called it an accident, an incomprehensible tragedy, and for six months no charges were filed. Investigation ongoing, witnesses interviewed, forensic testing completed, subpoenas served, search warrants executed.

8:28 Then yesterday, arrest warrant obtained. Gregory Zecha taken into custody, aggravated manslaughter of a child with a firearm, using a firearm while under the influence. If convicted of the manslaughter charge, he faces life in prison. Sheriff Kevin Rambosk didn't mince words. This was a heartbreaking and preventable tragedy. Our detectives conducted an exhaustive and thorough investigation, examining every element of what happened through witness statements, forensic testing, subpoenas, search warrants, and more. Preventable. That's the word that matters. Preventable. Here's what makes this worse. Zecha knew guns. He was a former police officer. He worked on Dog's bounty hunting team alongside Dog and Dog's daughter Lisa. This wasn't some novice who didn't understand firearms.

9:17 This was a man trained in law enforcement, trained in weapon handling, who knew the rules. Don't drink and handle firearms, don't use drugs and handle firearms, don't practice your quick draw with a loaded weapon in front of a child, and yet drunk high playing with a gun in front of his thirteen year old son. Zeka had even taught Anthony how to shoot back in twenty twenty one, when Anthony was nine, Zeka took him to Franktown Firearms Shooting Center in Colorado. Posted it on Instagram, getting some range time in with our buddies. Proud father teaching his son responsible gun use. Four years later, that same father killed that same son because he couldn't put the gun down while he was wasted. Dog the Bounty Hunter's family has been plagued by tragedy. Dwayne Chapman seventy three, has thirteen children with six different women. Lost his fifth wife, Beth Smith, to throat cancer in twenty nineteen, married Franci Frayne in twenty twenty one after they bonded over both being widowed.

10:20 Francie lost her husband, Bob Frayn, to cancer in twenty eighteen. They built a new family together. Now that family is shattered, Anthony is dead, Gregory is in jail facing life, and there's another family tragedy. Nobody's talking about. Dog's youngest son. Police officer Gary Chapman was involved in a high speed chase last year that resulted in the death of seventeen year old Tristan Hollis. Dog's attorney, Joseph Lesniak said the case remains a devastating family tragedy. Added, we believe Greg loved his son deeply and that this was a tragic accident, one that has left many lives permanently checkered, especially Anthony's and Greg's. Nobody doubts Gregory loved his son. That's not the question. The question is whether love excuses recklessness, whether grief excuses negligence, whether calling something an accident makes it any less criminal. Here's the legal reality. Aggravated manslaughter of a child with a firearm in Florida is a first degree felony life sentence, no exception for accidents, no exception for grief, no exception for being a reality star's step son.

11:33 Zecha wasn't cleaning a gun that accidentally discharged. He wasn't carrying concealed and had a tragic malfunction. He was drunk and high, repeatedly drawing a firearm from his waistband and dry firing it in his kid's presence, practicing his quick draw like it was a game, and at some point the magazine went back in around was chambered, and he pulled the trigger and his son died. This case underscores what Sheriff Rambosk called the devastating tragedy that can result from mixing firearms, alcohol and drugs. Every responsible gun owner in America knows the rules. Don't drink and shoot, don't handle firearms while impaired, don't treat a weapon like a toy.

12:14 These aren't suggestions. These are the rules that keep people alive. Gregory Zecha broke every one of them, and his thirteen year old son paid the price. Anthony Zecha was thirteen years old. His step grandfather is a reality television star. His father took him to the shooting range, took him to watch UFC fights. Anthony once told a story about feeling the Holy Spirit while visiting his grandmother in the hospital. Said he felt a gush of cold wind and knew it was something divine. He should be fourteen now, should be in eighth grade, should be learning to drive in a couple years, should be planning for high school. Should be alive. Instead, his father killed him because he couldn't put down the gun while he was drunk. Make it make sense, We'll be right back. With the sentencing of Montana's campsite killer. Darren Abbey gets one hundred years for the axe murder of Dustin Curson. His response to the judge unprintable. Welcome back to celebrity trials. I'm reed Carter.

13:26 October twenty twenty four. Moose Creek area near Big Sky, Montana, base of the Gallatin Mountains. Remote, no established campground, limited cell service, the kind of place you go to get away from everything. Dustin Kerson, thirty five years old, went camping there on October tenth. Self employed contractor built homes in the Gallatin Valley near Bozeman. Father of two young children, had plans to meet a friend the next day. He never showed up. His girlfriend went looking for him, found him dead in his tent. Extensive injuries to his skull and body, so brutal that the first person to call nine to one one reported it as a possible bear attack.

14:07 Makes sense. Southwestern Montana Grizzly Bear Territory, remote campsite. Man found dead with massive wounds, but investigators found no evidence of bears, no tracks, no scat, no fur nothing. This wasn't nature. This was murder. Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer confirmed it publicly. We do know that someone was out there who killed someone in a very heinous way. So if you're out in the woods. I need you to be paying attention. You need to remain vigilant. Autopsy revealed Caersom died from multiple chop wounds inflicted by an unknown weapon. Homicide, no arrests. Initially no suspect, A murdered man in a remote campsite, and the killer was still out there. Investigators processed the crime scene, found beer cans, shot glasses, sent them to the monte A crime lab. DNA testing tied the evidence to a pair of twins, Darren Abby and his brother, Dustin Abbey. Dustin Abbey was incarcerated at the time, couldn't have been at the camp site. That left Darren Darren Christopher Abbey, forty one years old at the time, already in trouble. Butte police detained him on a probation violation while the murder investigation proceeded. Then Abby confessed told investigators he killed Cursum, but claimed self defense. Said Cursom threatened him at gunpoint, said fear and adrenaline took over.

15:37 Here's what Abby admitted doing. Hit Cersom on the head with a piece of firewood, stabbed him in the neck with a screwdriver, hit him in the face with the blunt side of an axe, firewood, screwdriver, axe, three different weapons on a man allegedly pointing a gun at him. That's not self defense, that's overkill, that's rage. After killing Cojersom, Abbey didn't call police, didn't report the incident. Instead, he cleaned up, took numerous items that had his fingerprints on them, two coolers, a point four to four magnum pistol and holster, a shotgun, shotgun ammunition, washed the axe and screwdriver in the creek. Then he posed for photos with the stolen firearms.

16:18 Prosecutors showed those photos to the jury Darren Abbey smiling with dustin Chersom's guns, trophies, smart enough to wash the murder weapons, stupid enough to take selfies with the stolen property. Trial lasted six days November twenty twenty five. Gallatin County Prosecutors argued deliberate homicide and evidence tampering. Abby used excessive force and tried to hide what he'd done. The prosecutor told the jury Abby aimed for Chersom's head and the blows were spot on, accurate, hard and powerful. Defense argued self defense. Attorney told jurors Abby faced a gun that fear and adrenaline drove. His response criticized the Gallatin County Sheriff's investigation, asking jurors, when can we the people trust law enforcement. Jury deliberated three hours, found Abby guilty of deliberate homicide and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. The verdict came on November tenth, what would have been Dustin Chersom's thirty seventh birthday. Yesterday, sentencing day, Gallatin County courtroom packed with Kearsom's family and friends. Two hour hearing. Eight of Kearsom's loved ones delivered victim impact statements. His mother, Janet Wire, told the court Dustin was a wonderful person loved helping others, which would make anyone happy. His girlfriend described finding his body, seeing firsthand what happened to him

17:50 was my undoing. My heart was broken, my sense of safety evaporated. My world changed in that horrifying moment. Jersom's sister referen the video of Abby shown during the trial, said Abby showed more joy in that minute and a half of video than she has been able to feel since the coroner knocked on her door. A lack of remorse that sickened the family. One by one, family members asked for the maximum sentence. His girlfriend said it plainly, keeping him in prison for the rest of his life is the only option to protect others and to honor the life that he stole. Two men spoke on Abbey's behalf, described him as a friend and co worker. Then Abby addressed the court ask for leniency. I ask for you to see the truth, and I ask for your leniency in this matter. Judge Peter Omen didn't see truth, didn't see a reason for leniency. One hundred years at Montana State Prison, no parole eligibility for eighty years. At forty two years old, Abbey would be one hundred and twenty two before he could even be considered for release. He will die in prison. Abby's response to the sentence, well, I'll be appealing your crooked ass court system respectful to the end. Here's the pattern with Abby. Kill a man with three different weapons, steal his property, pose for photos with the stolen guns, wash the murder weapons in a creek, claim self defense, get convicted by a jury in three hours,

19:23 ask the judge for leniency, then curse at the court when you don't get it self defense doesn't require three weapons, doesn't require chop wounds to the skull, doesn't require washing evidence in a creek and stealing the victim's firearms. Self defense requires reasonable force in response to an imminent threat. What Abby did was slaughter a man in his tent and then try to cover it up. The remote location made this case harder to investigate. No cell service, no witnesses, no surveillance cameras, just DNA on beer cans and shotglasses, a confession and stolen guns in selfies. The Gallatin County Sheriff's Office had to build this case from almost nothing, and they did. Dustin Kirson was thirty five years old, father of two, self employed contractor who built homes in the Gallatin Valley. His sister, Jillian Price, said he had no known enemies. He was a loving father and skilled tradesman who fell in love with building after taking a construction class in high school. A fundraising campaign was set up to support his children after his death. He went camping in the mountains of Montana, pitched his tent near Moose Creek. Should have met his friend the next day, should have driven home to his kids. Should have built more houses should be alive. Instead, a man with three weapons and zero remorse killed him in his tent, and now that man will die in prison. One hundred years not enough, but it's what the law allows. Rest in peace, Dustin.

20:54 Someone has to say your name's celebrity trials for Thursday, February fourth, twenty twenty six. Ransom note surfaces in the Nancy Guthrie disappearance demands millions in bitcoin. Savannah Guthrie's eighty four year old mother missing since Saturday night. Sheriff says she could die without her medication. FBI involved investigation ongoing dog The bounty Hunter's step son, Gregory Zecha, arrested for aggravated manslaughter fatally shot his thirteen year old son Anthony while drunk and high practicing his quick draw during a UFC watch party, faces life in prison. And Darren Abbey sentenced to one hundred years for the axe murder of camper Dustin Cuersom at a remote Montana campsite no parole for eighty years, told the judge he'd be appealing the crooked ass court system. I'm reed Carter tomorrow. Updates on the Guthrie case and whatever else breaks this is celebrity trials