Crime Wire Weekly 10/30/26 | Bon Jovi Scams, Boosie Badazz’s Son is Busted, Diaper Tantrum’s

0:16 Hey everyone, welcome back to CrimeWire Weekly. A few of this week's headlines for you today. We're not going to tell you a whole lot of them, but we're going to talk about a Louisiana woman who has lost $ 10, 000 to a Bon Jovi impersonator in a scam that's pretty wild. Boozy badass son has also been arrested for robbery in the state of Louisiana. We're going to tell you about that story. A New Jersey school teacher has been busted for prostitution, which she denies. And we're going to let you be the judge on that when we bring her story to you. And a killer is sentenced in the case of Faith Hedgepeth. All of that, plus a lot more coming today. So welcome to the show.

0:59 Who are you? I'm Jim Chapman. And I'm Kelly Jennings, and I'm really happy to be here. We're going to start off in Louisiana today, and a Louisiana woman has lost more than $ 10, 000 after a scammer used AI to pose as rock star Jon Bon Jovi in a months-long online romance scam. And we brought you one similar story a while back. I can't remember exactly who we were talking about in that story, but... Another scam story. I think it was Tom Cruise or somebody like that. And it was a lot more money. It was like $ 250, 000 or something that woman had lost. In this case, it was Jon Bon Jovi and Leslie Pickett is the lady's name. She was a fan of the singer since she was 14. And she began talking with the imposter in late 2024 after commenting on an unverified Instagram account claiming to be Bon Jovi. Moments later, Pickett said she received a response from the account that appeared to belong to the rock star himself. Quote, he gave very thoughtful answers to my questions, so I genuinely thought it was him. And I wasn't too knowledgeable about those check marks. I had doubts, but hey, a girl can dream.

2:16 The messages came several times during the day and night and included AI-made videos that responded directly to her requests, such as specific facial gestures, I guess she would say smile or something like that, even a live video call. The impersonator claimed the musician and his wife had quietly filed for divorce. There's no way that would have been quiet in real life. But we're keeping it a secret to protect his image. After seven months, the request for money started, presented his payments to the star's management for meet and greets. and rotted through cryptocurrency and apps like Venmo, PayPal, and Cash App. The small payments grew into larger ones until she had lost more than $ 10, 000 and had fallen so far into debt that her home faced foreclosure. Quote, my heart was shattered. I was still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but there was nothing but ill intent. That's what hurts the most. Now, her case is featured in the National Geographic documentary, quote, Super Scam Me, in which journalist Marina Vanzeller, Mariana Vanzeller, actually, and she is an awesome journalist, y'all. Been on Joe Rogan three or four times. Amazing, amazing lady who goes out there, does all kinds of stuff outside of just scams.

3:37 She'll go to, like, check out cocaine, where they... manufacture cocaine and like meet with cartels. It's pretty good stuff. She called the romance scams, the fastest growing form of financial crime in the country and said, AI videos sent by fake celebrities now look more convincing than the deep fakes of the past. Okay. Off the top of that, you kind of want to roll your eyes and be like, come on lady. But a part of me feels really sorry for her. I feel sorry for her, but I mean, But it wasn't like at first when I had heard this story, I thought I'm like, why would you send money to Bon Jovi? He's rich. He doesn't need your money. But then if it was under the guise of her thinking that she was going to get a meet and greet or leveling up, you know, I'm trying to say, I mean, people pay two thousand, three thousand dollars for Taylor Swift tickets. I think that's crazy, but I wouldn't do it. But I'm not that big of a fan.

4:29 But. I guess. Yeah, but they're getting something for that. Yeah. This lady was totally scammed by Bon Jovi taking his time to talk to her. And ask her for money. You know what would be really cool, though, would be if Bon Jovi somehow was able to, like, be the hero of her dreams and maybe just send her 10 grand in some way and be like, you know what? That wasn't really me, but I'm a good guy. You know how much good press you would get for that? And that would be really cool. But obviously, that's easy for me to say. It's not my money. But I just, my heart kind of feels sorry for her. How old was she? Do we know? No, it doesn't say her age. I'm sure she was a bit older. She was 14, right, whenever he was big in the 80s? Yeah, I was 14 when he was big in the 80s. So clearly she's very elderly. 52, Kelly. This was only in the 90s.

5:12 I don't know. You're right. A girl can dream. She wanted to believe it more than it was probably believable, and that got her caught up. But I feel sorry for her. I do. Yeah, and, you know, look, y'all, with AI the way it is now, you can't. Don't fall for anything where anybody's asking you for money. We cover stuff on this show all the time about that, but no one is going to claim to be Tom Cruise or Bon Jovi or you name it, rock star. film star, whatever, and ask you for money. It's not going to happen. They got plenty. But wasn't it under the guise, though, that we could do a meet and greet in the future? It's going to cost this. It started out that way. But they're not going to personally ask you for it.

5:53 First of all, they're not going to personally talk to you. Right. Let's be honest. None of them are going to talk to you. One time, Toby Keith, even after he was dead, tried to friend me and message me. And I was like, look at this guy. He is coming to me from the grave. This is amazing. I thought it was great. Thanks, Toby. All right, let's move on. We're going to be right here in Louisiana. And although I would say Boosie is somewhat of a hometown hero in a strange way, because we love him and his songs at our LSU football games, but his kiddos have gotten themselves in a bit of a bind. This past Wednesday night in right here, Denham Springs, Louisiana, around 7 o'clock p.m., deputies with the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office were sent to a Denham Springs residence on a battery complaint. When they got there, they found someone who said they had been battered, and then they said that they were robbed. By the next day, investigators had made two arrests. One was identified as a juvenile who was taken to the Florida Parish's Juvenile Detention Center. The other was 18-year-old Ivy Rae Hatch of Denham Springs, the son of Baton Rouge rapper Boosie Badass. So Hatch was booked into the Livingston Parish Detention Center on four charges and These included armed robbery, aggravated second degree battery, possession of a firearm with drugs, and possession of drug paraphernalia. A judge set his bond at $ 275, 000. And on here it said $ 275, 500. I forgot the last 500. And Hatch posted it and walked out the same day. So he's like out here, you know, allegedly doing some wild stuff, but he's right out. The sheriff's office has not said what

7:32 was taken, how badly the victim was hurt, or what role each person is accused of playing. Sheriff Jason Ard said only that the victim reported being battered and robbed, that the investigation led to these arrests, and more arrests are expected. And I guess, you know, I would assume Boosie bailed him out. That's a lot. That's a pretty high bail, $ 275, 000, even though you pay only 12% of that or whatever it is. That's That's still a good bit of money for a young kid to have. But, you know, why when your dad is boozy, you would feel like you got to rob somebody is, I'll never understand. Maybe it was for street cred.

8:13 I know, but imagine how much cred you could have if you were walking around Denham looking like, and I don't mean it like this, but like looking like money instead of looking like a thug. Like you have that, you have that like, ability to say my dad's boosie you know like even if it's a lie that you're living this high life wouldn't you wouldn't you rather have the credibility of being like cool like that rather than a thug like but. That's a lot of crud for those guys i guess i don't know i don't know i don't know. If you were the one that was allegedly battered reach out to us we'd like to know what happened. All right, let's go to the next story. We're going to go to New Jersey and a New Jersey middle school teacher was arrested for being the alleged muscle in a wild hooker caper. This was in Atlantic City at a casino hotel. But since the fired educator claims it was since then, the the fired now fired educator claims.

9:08 claims it was an epic misunderstanding and that she was there strictly to party. Amanda Crafts, who is 35 and a computer teacher at Middle Township Middle School, and Veda Engel, who is 23, allegedly bamboozled an unsuspecting John on October 9th, pinning down the new man while transferring $ 1, 250. 00. out of his Apple Pay account to which they accessed using his cell phone's facial recognition feature. The alleged scheme unfolded at the hotel bar of Caesars Atlantic City, where the unidentified victim met with Engel and Crafts, both of Cape May County. There, he exchanged phone numbers with Engel, who later called the man and invited him to a hotel room at Harrah's Resort.

10:00 Crafts now, because as I was going through this story, I'm thinking, okay, this guy says they held him down. Naked, right? He was naked. He said they held him down. And I'm thinking, wow, this is a full grown man, right? And these two ladies are handing him down. He's And the article does say Crafts, who weighs 180 pounds, continued to pin the man down as Engel held up his iPhone to his face. and used facial recognition to open the phone. Hell, that's a talent in and of itself. I can't open it half the time just holding it up, much less somebody else holding it. Engle then opened the Apple Pay feature and made four separate transfers to her account, totaling $ 1, 250. But lawyers for crafts, a single mother of four, said she had no part in the theft and did not hold the man down at all, and that she was completely unaware of that Engel was allegedly engaging in prostitution.

11:00 I've never been to jail, Crafts told the, huh? I just said, mm-hmm. I've never been to jail, Crafts told the jail. I've never been to jail, Crafts told the judge, rather. I've never been arrested before. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Crafts' attorney claimed she met Engel and the unidentified John at Caesars the same night, and they were going to a hotel room at Harris to keep that party going. unaware that there may be any plans to exchange cash for sex. Amanda Crafts is highly intelligent and wouldn't participate in anything like that. She was in the room, wanted to leave, and didn't realize it was a prostitution thing. She is mortified. The John called the cops to the room only after he had prematurely ejaculated and Engle ended the session, upset because he paid for an hour of dirty deeds that ended well before his time was up. Crass was there strictly to party and not participate in prostitution or a scam. Maybe the prostitute took advantage of him, but my client had nothing to do with it. Engel had a previous charge for prostitution, however, from December of 2025 after she was accused of offering sex in exchange for $ 1, 000 to an undercover New Jersey state police detective at another hotel casino. She was ordered to pay a summons for that charge. Crass and Engel were held at the county jail for six days and

12:30 were released on October 15th. And she had served as a computer teacher at that middle school since 2016, but the school has announced that she is no longer employed by the district. Okay. So I'm sorry, but you just thought you were going up to a room with a man and a woman you didn't know that you just met and And then they start having sex, and you think, hey, I'll just hang out. I'll just hang out here. There's obviously nothing nefarious going on. I'll just hang out in this room. And what? I don't know that. She said she was just going to hang out. Well, what are you doing there? I thought she said she was trying to leave. Yeah, but what? What? So how did things get up there, have the meet and greet for a moment before things turned sexual? And then what? He prematurely finished in the first 12 seconds.

13:18 She was like, oh, never mind. I don't want to be here. I'm leaving now. Don't buy it. I do not buy that as far. Yeah, I certainly think she's lying. Yeah, she's lying. Come on. Now, you know, anyway, I'm just going to leave it at that. But I don't believe that. That doesn't pass the sniff test for me. So I'll be interested to see what else. And then when the man called the police, like, I'm curious what happened there. They went and found him down. And I know you don't know, but I'm just saying. So he calls the police and said they stole my money, and I expected an hour and only got 10 minutes? Yeah. He told. Like, what a doofus. All right.

13:58 Let's go to Durham County, where a Durham County jury on Friday convicted Miguel Enrique Salguero Olivares of first degree murder, first degree rape, first degree sexual offense and first degree burglary in the 2012 killing of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student Faith Hedgepeth, ending a 14 year cold case. Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory sentenced the 33-year-old to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder, the mandatory sentence after prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, plus consecutive terms of 64 to 89 months for burglary and 240 to 348 months for each for the rape and sexual offense counts. He must also register as a sex offender for life. Salguero Olivares is appealing. Hedgepeth, a 19-year-old sophomore biology major And she was also a Halawa Saponi, tribal citizen from Hollister, North Carolina, who held Gates Millennium and Alston Pleasants scholarships and aspired to become a pediatrician. So like this chick's pretty smart here. Was found beaten to death in her off-campus apartment at Hawthorne at the View Complex early on September 7th of 2012.

15:16 Roommate Karina Rosario, who had been driven home from a club by Hedgepeth around 2 a.m. and later left the apartment, returned to find her partially nude body. An autopsy determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. She also suffered extensive skull fractures, facial cuts, and severe beating to the arms and legs. A blood covered rum bottle was identified as the weapon. The case remained unsolved. For roughly nine years, investigators used genetic genealogy and DNA from the crime scene, including Hedgepeth's body, the rum bottle, a note on a fast food bag, and a wine bottle bearing a fingerprint and a palm print to identify Salguero Olivares. He was arrested on September 16th of 21 after a DUI stop. yielding a matching DNA sample. Prosecutors said the forensic evidence was screaming his name, with a state crime lab scientist testifying that DNA from Hedgepeth's body was 170 septillion times more likely to be a mixture of her DNA and Oliveris's than hers and an unknown person.

16:19 Yeah, so basically, it's definitely his. It's him. It's another way of saying it. Right. There's no dispute. DNA on the rum bottle was described as even more conclusive. So I don't even know what number goes after septillion. I don't know. There was no known prior connection between the two either, which to me screams volumes that they didn't even know each other. The trial began in late September of 26 in Durham County Superior Court. The state called roughly two dozen witnesses, including forensic experts, investigators, and Rosario. The defense rested without calling witnesses or having Solgario Olivares testify, arguing investigators showed tunnel vision and suggesting possible consensual acts or contact days earlier. So jurors deliberated about six hours over two days before returning guilty verdicts on all counts on October 23rd. As the verdict was read, Olivares was heard saying, it's not fair, end quote.

17:15 Yeah. In closing arguments, special prosecutor Lisa Coltrane described the brutality. He beat her until her skull cracked like an egg. Prosecutor Angela LaMarca told jurors the evidence pointed unmistakably to the defendant and spoke of the family's incurable agony. What a great way to say that, incurable agony. Prosecutors theorized that Olivares may have been rebuffed earlier that night and returned after Rosario left, though they said the DNA alone established the guilt. Hedgepeth's mother, Connie Hedgepeth, said that the verdict was for the verdict that we've been waiting a long time. I'm just glad that we have the closure that we need and noted that she had chosen to forgive years earlier. That's a big, a big move there.

18:00 Like what a woman. Father Ronald Hedgepeth counted the weight as more than 5,158 days. Judge Gregory, whose own son had been a UNC student near Hedgepeth's age, hugged the parents, and praised the family's grace. The conviction brings long-sought resolution to a case that drew national attention as both a campus homicide and a missing and murdered indigenous person investigation. The sentences will run consecutively. Pre-trial delays related to evidence issues had been the thing that pushed the case from the 2021 arrest to the trial now in 2026. I mean, another case that we're covering that was like a cold case.

18:41 Yeah. And finally got solved. It goes all the way back to, what, 2012? Yeah, I mean, golly. When this occurred. And obviously there were delays in there and things like that. But the DNA was a big winner in this. You know, how many did you say? Septillion. Septillion. Septillion. Is that 700 something? Yeah, it's way up there. And so obviously he did it. Of course, they brought up the fact that this guy had no, you know, there's no other reason why they could have known each other, that he could have left DNA somewhere. In a prior meeting, all of it pointed to him. He did it. I mean, I think it's great. Her family says they've, forgiven him a long time ago there's no way i would do that yeah i ain't never forgiven.

19:32 You but also like the whole tunnel vision argument and then that they possibly had some type of consensual contact days earlier how does that explain crushing a woman's head like that like he. Did even if they had like i know well i think what they're trying to say there is to explain the dna Oh, okay. Not necessarily, you know, as a claim. For he killed her. Right. Absolutely. And you know what? Thank God for the advancements in science. Thank God that you may at this moment be able to get away with something, but you will never outlive technology. And I love it. So that genealogy came into play. Yeah, that's right. All right. Let's go into Lustful Lawbreaker. Oops.

20:17 All right. We're going to go to Minnesota and sometimes I come across these y'all and I'm like, Hey, I can kind of relate to that. And then some of them like, I can't relate to this at all. This is definitely one of those cases. Wait, which one? That you can't relate to? Yes. Okay. Cannot relate. Yeah. This, to me, makes, you know, it's not eternal. Okay. Say that. A young Minnesota man who enjoyed wearing diapers and wanted to be given a binky. Oh. Yeah, he wanted to be given a binky. Oh, my. He was charged with assaulting and strangling his girlfriend as he forcibly sought to put a pull-up diaper on her. That according to court records. Investigators yesterday filed a criminal complaint charging Xander Holmberg, who is only 18. So this ain't like, I mean, this kid is pretty young to be doing this.

21:18 Not young enough, obviously. With felony and misdemeanor domestic assault offenses in connection with this bizarre mid-June attack in the victim's home. The victim told police that Holmberg was interested in acting and being treated like a baby. Okay. And had threatened to force her to wear a diaper. It's not funny. I mean, I'm laughing, but I'm not. It's creepy. She made it clear to Holmberg that she did not want to wear diapers or pull-ups. Now, anytime you've got to tell your boyfriend you don't want to wear diapers or pull-ups, you probably got the wrong man. Yeah. So at that point, investigators allege that Holmberg attacked the victim after the couple engaged in consensual sex in the woman's residence. While in bed, Holmberg grabbed a pull-up and attempted to force the diaper on the victim while pinning her down. Could you just picture that in your mind?

22:10 I would be so creeped out. Like, what are you doing? Yeah. Holmberg grabbed and held victim one down by the throat, covered her mouth, and had her in a chokehold to keep her quiet. The victim said she began having a panic attack during the incident and could not breathe with Holmberg choking her. She told police that while he was doing this, she thought she was going to die. Victim one stated it left bruises and several injuries to her thigh, neck, and jaw. Holmberg has been charged with domestic assault by strangulation and punishable by 90 days in jail. And I mean, if you're watching this on the Patreon, you can see he looks like a young, you know, any young 18 year old kid. And he's got a diaper fetish, I guess.

22:55 And I've heard of that. I have too, but there's a perversion. And that is weird. That is one weird fetish right there. And I know a lot of them are weird, but. The diaper thing, I don't know, man. There's a perversion to this, though, that's taking it to the next level. Like, if you want to walk around in a diaper and suck on a binky, like... Good job, fella, I guess. But when you start wanting to force another person to wear what you're fetishing, which means that you're liking seeing your love interest in a diaper, that becomes very pedophilic to me. I think it does when you want to wear it. Me? No, not you. I mean, like the person with the fetish, not Kelly. I don't wear diapers. You don't wear diapers, Kelly? Sorry. I think there's a problem even if you– because there's a– with these fetishes, it's sexual gratification. So he gets actually turned on by wearing a diaper, even if somebody else didn't wear it. Apparently, he likes it when they wear them too, which is even freakier. But the fact that he would get turned on by that just himself is– I don't know. I mean, I try not to judge people, but that's a freaking weird fetish.

24:03 Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You can wear your diaper, but you can't force other people to wear your diaper. Or talk to you like you're a baby. Who would want to? Oh, put your binky in you. Jim, here's your little, here's your patsy. Let's go podcast. I'd be like. What the hell? Why are you talking to me like that? Why are you sticking a binky in my mouth? You're like choking. Get the pinky out of my mouth. You need the pinky. You're like forcing it. Yeah. But you look at what's even more dis, I guess, concerning for the rest of us, I guess, is also that if you're looking at the photos that have been released of this guy online, he's in the gym. He's like flexing and he's like looking like just a workout bro, a young workout bro type thing. That one's like Joe Dirk to me. Does he not? No.

24:46 That's a young Joe Dirt. Yeah. I guess a modern Dirt. A modern Dirt. Oh, my God. Lice a garden. Dig it. But, like, he's next to this other guy. Scooter do, scooter don'ts. I can't think of it. I can't help it, you know, with or without the scooter stick whenever he's at the fireworks stand. But, like, he's over here with this other guy that I. You don't have any snakes? You don't have any whistle. What is it? I don't know. Whistling Dixies. Anyway. But either way, there's this other guy that's, like, rocked up. You can only see his arm next to him. These two guys are, like. bro, you know, like bromance and in the gym. And then he goes home and wants to wear a diaper. That's creepy as hell to me. All right. Now I have to return my Christmas gift for you. It was a great little binky. But.

25:27 Let's go to Lauderhill, Florida. A Lauderhill police officer has been charged with using the identity of a man he found dead during a welfare check and then living in the man's home for years while renovating it. Brian Lewis or Luis Seguros, 35, was arrested Tuesday, October the 20th by the Broward County Sheriff's Office following a joint investigation with the Broward County Property Appraiser's Office. He faces five felony charges, official misconduct, criminal use of a deceased person's identification, criminal use of personal identification information, offense against a computer user, and unlawful use of a two-way communication device. So on July 11th of 22, Skiros responded as a backup police officer to a welfare check at a blue two-story home in Lauder Hill, which was north of Miami. A neighbor reported not seeing the resident, who was 71-year-old Dennis West, for about two weeks. Officers found West's decomposed body face-up near a door. There were no signs of forced entry or foul play. The medical examiner later determined that he died of natural causes, specifically cardiovascular disease. The home was then boarded up after this discovery. Well, investigators say that's when Seguros began what the Broward Sheriff's Office described as a complex scheme to take control of the individual's home.

26:48 He reportedly told the medical examiner's office that he was West's friend and that West had no living family. And these are claims that authorities now say are false. That's not even true. There was no known indication from body camera footage or other evidence that Segura knew West before the call. He allegedly offered to handle funeral arrangements and later arranged for West's body to be cremated. And West did have living relatives and legal heirs at the time. According to a 21-page arrest affidavit, Seguros took possession of the property around August 1st of 2022, which was weeks after the death, and lived there while making extensive repairs. He claimed that, and this is all in sworn statements, the home was hazardous and that he acted to prevent squatters and criminal activity.

27:32 I kind of am. Like, what are you doing? You are a criminal, sir. So Seguros allegedly paid property taxes and utilities in West's name and used the deceased man's identification and personal information to make it appear that West was still alive. In August of 2024, a building permit application to replace windows and doors, which were valued at about $ 8, 000, listed West as the owner, including his driver's license details, and carried a signature attributed to West. The phone number listed belonged to Seguros, and a notary letter said that the signature and stamp were not hers. I'm assuming that's the family member that was trying to get this done. Well, it was the notary.

28:16 Yeah, it was not the notary's. So he's also accused of using his work-issued computer to search law enforcement databases for West's information at least seven times between July of 22 and January of 23. Skiros later told investigators he invested at least $ 214, 000 of his own money in renovations and that the work increased the home's value to roughly $ 500, 000. The situation surfaced after West's heirs and a real estate company moved to sell the property. Skiros returned the keys but sought reimbursement for the renovations, filing a claim with the Broward County Property Appraiser's Office, asserting that he had controlled the home since August of 22 and was pursuing related civil action. Skiros was placed on administrative leave, initially with pay and then later without, by the Lauderhill Police Department, which hired him in March of 21. He was released from jail on a $ 25, 000 bond.

29:16 Yeah. And I'll give this guy credit. He's got balls, the size of solid rock boulders boulders. Yeah. How do you, okay. First of all, what a piece of shit to handle the cremation for this guy. And you're not even a relative and you're making all this up and you actually handled the burial arrangements for this guy. I'm confused as to, I guess none of the family was notified. Maybe he was, you know, I don't know the situation with this man, but. Maybe he was estranged from his family or something. Yeah, but if the responding officer then decided to take it upon himself to take over the property, maybe he was the one who was supposed to make notification of next of kin and didn't do it.

29:58 Right, but you would have thought sometime between the time that he died and two weeks from then, somebody would have, this is years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there had to be some sort of family dynamic there where nobody missed this guy for that length of time. And then they figured out, oh, he died. Yeah, or. Because this was years. Or they might have been in a battle in the courts that we're not aware of saying, wait, no, we own this property. This is my uncle's. And they're like, no, this guy has control of the property. And so they had to like, because it was so bizarre, you know, that they were trying to figure it out. I would have thought they would have said that. They didn't mention that in the article. Yeah. Any sort of dispute going on. Yeah. And this guy is spending his own money. I mean, he spent.

30:41 $ 200, 000. But if you've got a $ 500, 000 house and you invest $ 200, 000 in it, You're still coming out way ahead. I guess that's the way he was looking at it. What a piece of shit. He really messed up when he was like, oh, I just wanted to prevent squatters. What? So you just became a renovation dude? Build a fence, bro. That's all you got to do. Contact people that do this. And if you couldn't find those people, then there's a proper way through the court system to handle that. Right. And I've never met a cop that when someone died, unfortunately, like this, then took over the funeral arrangements. And cremated him. Yeah. I mean, maybe he wanted to be cremated. Maybe he didn't. Wild. All right, let's go to Arizona. And do you watch The Bachelor?

31:23 I do not. You do not? That is nowhere near my wheelhouse of. What I watch. Okay. Do you? I've seen a few episodes. My wife watches it pretty religiously. I know a lot of people that watch it. I don't actually think I've ever watched The Bachelor in my life, like any of it. Are you serious? I'm dead serious. I've never seen it. There you go, Kelly. Not a Bachelor fan. Sorry. All right. Well, let's go to Arizona. And for years, Clayton Eckerd, who is a former lead of The Bachelor, said a woman was lying to him about carrying his children. On Friday, October 23rd, a judge in Arizona finally closed that chapter, at least in criminal court. The woman, Laura Owens, who is 35, reportedly ran two fraudulent pregnancy schemes against this guy. In one, she told Eckert she was pregnant with his twins after an encounter at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona.

32:19 She took him to court to actually establish paternity. Then she said she had miscarried and dropped the claim, but a judge in that civil case looked at evidence and found something else. Falsified sonograms, altered medical records, and lies told under oath. The judge ordered Owens to pay Eckerd's legal fees and referred the matter to prosecutors. Investigators say Owens went to very extreme lengths even faking an ultrasound image, faking a pregnancy video, and using forged medical records and other women's identities to prop up her claim. She did it, prosecutors say, to more than one man. Owens was first charged with 14 felonies. In August, she pleaded guilty to four, two counts of fraudulent schemes, a count of perjury, and a count of taking the identity of another. Prosecutors asked for five years and five months in prison. The judge gave her 30 days in jail and seven years of probation with a deferred 12-month sentence hanging over her should she violate probation. Eckerd gave a victim impact statement saying Owens had carried out these tactics for at least 10 years.

33:32 And that she was sorry she got caught, not sorry for what she did. And, man, when you look at this girl's booking photo, she's got crazy eyes as well. What do you think the goal was here? Like, what is the purpose? I don't understand what she had to gain from it. She's trying to, I guess, maybe get money out of the guy. She says she's pregnant and she's going to need, you know, support, something like that. Maybe she was in love. This guy was a star of The Bachelor. Yeah, but I wonder if she was going to say, well, if you pay me X amount of dollars, then I won't go to the media with it or something. But if you weren't really pregnant, then you had to know that this would not end well unless you're just batshit. But she did this to multiple men, too.

34:13 Yeah, apparently in the investigation he had done, these private investigators figured that out. Not a fan of that. That's kind of creepy. All right. Let's go to Ohio. And this has some twists and turns. So this is a case that I'm going to tell you about two deaths, but they are one day apart. And a jury is being asked to decide, was it grief or was it murder? So on May 1st of 2025, 18-year-old Ryan Hinton was fatally shot by Cincinnati police during a chase. The officer said that the teenager pointed a gun at him. Prosecutors later reviewed that shooting and called it legally justified. The officer was not charged. The very next day, Ryan's father, Rodney Hinton Jr., sat with family and they watched the police body camera footage of his son's death. So hours later, after that, Hinton drove his car into an intersection where Hamilton County Deputy Larry Henderson Jr.

35:15 was directing traffic for a college graduation. Henderson, who was a longtime sheriff's deputy who had retired months earlier, but he was still working off-duty assignments, was killed whenever the father ran him over. At trial, the case turned on Hinton's state of mind. His lawyer said that Hinton was trying to kill himself, that he was in a psychotic episode, and that he had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and other mental illnesses. Prosecutors said something different, that Hinton was distraught and grieving, yes, but he understood right from wrong and that he chose to aim his car at that deputy. On Friday, October 23rd, the jury sided with the prosecution. Hinton was convicted of murder along with reckless homicide and felonious assault. He faces 15 years to life in prison with sentencing scheduled for November the 16th, and his lawyer does say that he will appeal.

36:06 Yeah, I mean, horrible case, and I don't even know what to say about it outside of Apparently, this father thought his son was wrongly killed and wanted revenge for it. And I don't believe the defense story at all that he was trying to kill himself. I don't either. I mean, clearly, they're doing their job, which is to come up with bullshit. If you did want revenge, why did you go kill a random retired old man that's working an extra shift doing traffic duty? Like, you just picked somebody. I think you saw that cop and said, yeah, well, we're going to get even, eye for an eye, and you ran that man over. It seems very obvious what happened. And ultimately, Hinton Jr. has lost his son, and now he's lost his own life in the process.

36:51 Well, and the jury agreed because he got convicted of it. So let's go to the true crime time machine. All right. And we're going to start this one going back 125 years ago this week. And that is when the United States executed the man who killed its president. And the whole thing, from a gunshot to the death chamber, took less than two months. Wow. So, boy, have we come a long way since then on delays and trials. On September 6th of 1901, President William McKinley was greeting the public. This was at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.

37:33 A young man approached him with a handkerchief wrapped around his hand. Underneath it was a revolver. He fired twice. McKinley got struck in the abdomen, and he died eight days later on September 14th. The shooter was Leon Kozlowski, who was a 28-year-old factory worker and self-described anarchist. There was no long investigation, no years of appeals. He was tried in late September, convicted, and sentenced to death. And on October 29th, 1901, this happened. Actual day, well, this Thursday, this will air to the general public on Friday. But that Thursday, 125 years ago, he was put to death by electrocution. This was at Auburn Prison in New York.

38:24 And back in those days, I bet that electrocuting was very interesting. 1901, they didn't exactly understand current. Like they do now. Let's just say that. It remains one of the swiftest trips from assassination to execution in American history. A president shot in September. His killer tried and executed by October, by the end of October. McKinley was the third American president to be assassinated after Lincoln and Garfield. And his death actually put Theodore Roosevelt in the White House, who some people say was the greatest. One of the greatest presidents. I have a fun fact for you. Did you know that on average, across the United States, that someone on death row will, the time between their sentencing and their actual execution is between 18 and 23 years before they are executed?

39:19 I would say that wouldn't surprise me one bit. Not at all. And then this guy was done in 60 days, right? I mean, two months. Yep. Wow. Impressive. All right. So let's go. We're going to go to Kansas City. So a Kansas City man has been charged with second-degree murder after authorities say he fatally shot his girlfriend while she visited him at Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence, Missouri. This was on October the 22nd. So James Lawson, 39 years old, which this is weird because I actually know a James Lawson. Yeah. Around the same age. It's probably the same one. It is not. Okay. But he had been admitted as a patient, and he uses a wheelchair, okay? And he's also charged with armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm. Because Jessica Cyrus was found dead from a single gunshot wound to the chest in Lawson's hospital room after police responded around 9.30 in the morning on Thursday. Investigators believe the shooting occurred shortly after 1.30 a.m. So that's a pretty long gap there between the response. So hospital surveillance video captured Lawson entering the room around 1.37 a.m. and shutting the door.

40:27 Moments later, the door reopened, showing him in his wheelchair facing Cyrus, who appeared to be struggling to breathe and bending forward. Court records described him frantically messing with his pants and hip area while holding a dark object in his right hand. An overnight nurse reported that Lawson repeatedly left and returned to the unit. She heard a loud noise resembling someone falling and an unusual female vocalization that she could not pinpoint the times. Earlier checks showed that Cyrus had been in the room. She was on her side appearing asleep with no visible blood or injuries. So Lawson left the hospital and was located at a nearby strip mall. When arrested, he had a holster on his hip and ammunition in his wheelchair. He initially told officers that his memory was fuzzy due to a medical condition and medications administered through an IV. He later said, and this is just a direct quote, the cameras say it all, end quote. As a convicted felon with prior convictions that include robbery, assault, and escaping custody, Lawson is prohibited from possessing a firearm. He directed police to the location of the gun, and Jackson County Prosecutor Melissa Johnson announced the charges.

41:35 A judge set Lawson's bond at $ 250, 000 cash only. Cash only bond. So you better come with some rubber band banks. You got to pay more than 12% on that. Yeah. CenterPoint Medical Center also issued a statement expressing deep sadness over the death of a hospital visitor. Officials said law enforcement promptly responded, took an individual into custody, and that the hospital is cooperating fully with the investigation. The safety and privacy of our patients, visitors, and colleagues remain our highest priority, the hospital said, declining further comment out of respect for the ongoing case and the privacy of those involved. The case remains under investigation by the police. No additional details about the relationship between Lawson and Cyrus or a possible motive have been released.

42:17 Yeah, well, it's, and I don't know if you said it, but she's, so she was visiting him. Yeah. And that was his girlfriend. Yeah. Um, And the crazy thing to me is he shoots her in there and nobody hears it. Yeah. Like, hospitals are pretty echoey. Yeah. I wonder if he had some kind of silencer. I mean, it's possible he had some sort of, you know, suppressor on there. But, I mean, still, you can hear it. It's not like the movies. Yeah. You know, you can still hear when the gun fires. And if it was that early in the morning, you'd think it'd be more quiet on the units. Yeah, which would. contribute to being able to hear it.

42:59 I don't know. I mean, maybe there was a lot going on. Actually, that early in the morning, sometimes emergency rooms and stuff, that's when they're worst. It is the 30th, if you're listening to this on the regular feed, the 30th of October. Tomorrow is Halloween. I know here in South Louisiana, the Baton Rouge area, we're going to get a lot of rain, they're saying. So our Halloween may get rained at, which sucks because it's on a Saturday and that's like the perfect day for Halloween for kids. And there's a lot of people that have young kids and Saturdays are great for that. Normally they're on Wednesdays. Yeah, it's falling on school nights and it's been such a bummer because you're like wanting to have fun, but not rush your kids. But then they have school in the morning and I hated that.

43:43 Yeah. Well, the first time it's on Saturday in a long time and At least here, it's supposed to pour rain. That's about right. In keeping with the holiday spirit, I came up with a little game we're going to play with KJ here. I call it Trick or Treat Trivia. And the rules are pretty simple, Kelly. I'm going to give you 10 Halloween-related true crime statements. If the statement I give you is false, you respond with trick. And if the statement is true, you respond with treat. Okay. And... So I don't really have a prize for you if you win. A binky. You just get bragging rights. If you can get six out of these, I'll be surprised. Six out of ten. Oh, God.

44:26 They're going to be hard. No, you might get them all right. Okay. So we'll start off. In 1974, a Texas dad poisoned his own son's Halloween candy to collect life insurance. I would say treat. Treat, and that is true. Ronald Clark O'Brien laced pixie sticks with cyanide, gave poison sticks to his five children, including his own two. Only his eight-year-old son, Timothy, ate his and died. The others never ate theirs. Fun fact, I did a whole episode on that. If you would like to go listen to that on Unspeakable, I think it's called The Candyman.

45:06 Okay. I think that is what it's called. I don't know. I don't know. I can't remember. All right. O'Brien was executed on Halloween. Treat. False. Trick. He was executed March 31st, 1984, not October 31st, no matter how often the story gets retold that way. Oh, you tricked me because I've heard that a bunch, that he was executed on Halloween. It's not true. Really? Not true. Wow. I still got one. Next question. No child has ever been killed by a stranger tampering with Halloween candy. By a stranger? Yeah. You know how people say, don't check your Halloween candy?

45:48 But I would say that that is a treat because people have killed their own people. But I don't recall ever hearing a story in my lifetime where the candy actually killed somebody. It is a treat. Sociologist Joe Best, who has tracked these reports since the 1950s, found no substantiated report of a child killed or seriously injured by a contaminated treat picked up trick-or-treating, though you still need to check them. Yes. Always check your candy because you never know what somebody might do to it in today's times. Well, at any time. I was being told that in the 70s. Yeah. Or 80s. All right. In 1970, a Detroit boy died because a stranger dusted his Halloween candy with heroin.

46:36 Trick. Trick. That's false. And this one is one that fools everybody. Five-year-old Kevin Tostin found and ate heroin his uncle had stashed. The family sprinkled the drug on his candy afterward to protect the uncle. I don't know how that, that's some kind of reasoning there. All right. Next one. The 1982 Tylenol poisonings gave us tamper-proof packaging. Treat. True. Seven people died from the cyanide-laced capsules. That's September. And the panic is why seals, blister packs, and tamper-evident bottles exist today. Next one, Detroit's Devil's Night peaked in 1984 with 810 fires reported across a three-day Halloween period.

47:28 And I'll explain to you what that is after. You're just going to be totally guessing at this. Well, I don't ever recall hearing that mass amount of fires. And I teach 911 dispatch, and I feel like that would have been in our book. So I would say that that's a, how many did you say? 800 and something over three days? 810. I would say that that's a trick. It's a treat. It's true. The night before Halloween had escalated from pranks to mass arson in 1984 set the record. 810 fires in three days. Wow. Well, they need to add that to our book because that seems pretty important. Yeah. Okay. Next one. The original Candyman killer was not O'Brien. It was a Houston serial killer.

48:13 Treat. True. Dean Corll. Uh-huh. Who murdered at least 28 boys and young men in the early 1970s, got the nickname because his family owned a candy company. I knew that, actually. Are you impressed yet? I've gotten five right. I actually did a story on Bloody Angola with him. Oh, did you? I did. In 1988, a box of fruit snacks was recalled after lab tests found strychnine in the candy. Trick. All right. Trick, sort of. A New Jersey lab first said strychnine, but the FDA tested it twice and it was cornstarch. Still, 9,400 cases were destroyed and the product was discontinued anyway. Yeah.

49:01 What is strychnine? Do we know? Yeah, that's like a very serious poisoning that was developed for the military. Yeah, why would that be anywhere near. A food manufacturer? I mean, people have it now. Well, if you're wanting to kill people. Oh, okay. I wasn't going there. I thought they meant like... It's poison. Yeah. Basically, strychnine is poison. yeah tasteless and odorless and all that okay uh the 2016 creepy clown panic led to actual arrest in several states treat True. People in clown costumes menacing folks and making threats got arrested all over the country that fall. How did you know that?

49:42 Or you just guessed? No, I knew that because I was following it and I saw that they put statements out. Different police departments had even put statements out saying, guys, it's not funny and it's going to escalate into something else if people don't. Are you scared of creepy clowns? I don't like clowns in general. So you're scared of creepy clowns? I'm not scared. I will square up to a clown. But I don't like a clown. All right. I want someone dressed as a clown to show up at KJ's house at 2 o'clock in the morning looking through her window. Bro. See if she runs or squares up. Okay. Why 2 o'clock in the morning? Because it's scary. Okay. Then it's not the clown that's scary. It's the time of day. And why are you looking in my windows? It's scary. You can be dressed up as a dadgum giraffe, but why are you looking in my windows?

50:24 Yeah. Don't really do that, people. Please don't. All right. A California college student was murdered on October 30th, 1966. And her body was found the next morning on Halloween. I'll say that that's a treat. It is a treat. Uh, sure. Cherry Joe Bates, who was 18 of Riverside at Riverside city college, uh, was the person who was found the poor young lady still unsolved in any Zodiac connection to that is disputed. Never proven. Um, So they thought it was a Zodiac killing. They thought it could possibly be, but it's never been proven.

51:05 It was just a theory. On that note, you saw, I don't mean to go off task here, but you saw that Bundy was now credited with another death. Yes, I did see that. Yeah. Yeah. So I got five, six, seven, eight right. Credited with another death. That's a weird way to put it. That's a weird way to put it, but whatever. Y'all, I want you, I just want, please share with the masses. I got eight right and Jim didn't think I could do it. Share with the masses. Eight. I knew you could do it. Eight. I never said you couldn't do it. And I won nothing. Nothing. Nothing. I'm glad I didn't put no money on that one. Did you not want me to do my last one? Or you do want me to do my last one? No, I did. Why would... Go ahead. Oh, okay. I didn't know if you wanted to end with... No. That was kind of fun. All right. So, this is... If you cannot stand a freaking sex offender, which I know myself and Jim... Get all up in our emotions about sex offenders. Check this one out. So this guy's already in prison, okay? Florida inmate Thomas Kendall Jr. He is already serving a 25-year sentence for child molestation and possession of child sexual abuse material. He has now been accused of using a contraband cell phone inside the prison cell to communicate with a minor and collect thousands of sexual abuse images. These guys know no bounds, Jim.

52:13 None. None. So investigators with the Martin County Sheriff's Office discovered the illegal phone after an Internet Crimes Against Children tip. Authorities said the device contained thousands of child sexual abuse images, including several AI generated photos depicting the victim from Kendall's original case. Reports also indicate he had been communicating with a minor on social media. The phone was not well hidden in his cell at Martin Correctional Institute or institution. Martin County Sheriff John, is it Budenseek or Budenseek? I don't know. Budenseek called the case a stark reminder of ongoing risks. A prison cell does not necessarily stop someone's intent on sexually exploiting children from finding new victims. Our responsibility to protect children does not end when someone goes to prison. We will remain vigilant, follow every credible lead, and pursue those who continue to prey on children, regardless of where they are. There is no place, including behind prison walls, where these crimes will be ignored or tolerated.

53:11 Budenseek added that while he believes in rehabilitation and second chances, this man is not one of those cases. He is victimizing and continuing to victimize our youth while he sits in our prison. He also urged greater investment in cell phone jamming technology, noting that some inmates continue committing crimes from inside prison because of the access to contraband devices. Kendall, who is 44, was sentenced in September of 24 after. An investigation that took place in 2023. Authorities alleged he took photos of himself sexually abusing a relative and paid someone in another country $ 40 to sexually abuse a young girl during a live video chat. I mean, it's just sick. The FBI separately charged him with producing child pornography. He is expected to serve federal time after completing his state sentence.

53:59 The Florida Department of Corrections stated it maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy regarding the use of contraband cell phones, They conduct routine inspections and they work with the office of the inspector general to try to handle up on all of this. In this case, the department said it has coordinated with the sheriff's office, which is leading the investigation. New charges stemming from prison cell activity are expected. And that's one guy, in my opinion, you don't ever want getting out of jail. Never. That guy is in jail and can't stop with the child porn. That's how sick his brain is. He can't even stop it. When he's in jail. He can't do without it.

54:40 That's castration level right there that I think that this is somebody. But something else that you need to know is that where did he get the cell phone from? Everyone's going to ask that. Where did you get it from? It's from dirty guards, guys. They'll pay them off. sometimes these prison employees and not everybody so shout out to our great correctional officers out there and our jail officials and everybody that's doing the job and doing it well to keep these you know criminals at bay but there are factions just like any other job of people that get these jobs and they are no better than the criminals that they are supposed to be watching over you can bet that cell phone came in and i can bet that they're now that this has gone out over the news and everywhere there's going to be a pretty hard look at some of these employees To see how that phone got in. And that dude right there, they don't like chemos in jail.

55:24 No. And they find out you had that in jail. You had those pictures. There's going to be a little justice sent your way from your cellmates and people. He's probably already in protective custody. That's why he's in the cell. Yeah. And I do want to mention that I watched a phenomenal podcast that Sean Ryan did, I think, two or three days ago. And it had Chris Hansen. was his guest, and it was really phenomenal, about a two-hour episode, which is short for Sean Ryan. He's usually four or five hours, but it was great. It really gave a whole look at Chris Hansen and how that show had started out as To Catch a Predator, and now with what he's doing now, how that all came full circle and the experiences he's had dealing with these pedophiles. He made a good point on that show of you know, he mentioned that he has never once seen child pornography.

56:27 And he said, you know, a lot of people are surprised at that because it's the last 20 years all I've done is he's bused with child porn and all those sorts of things. But he said, I don't ever want to see it. And so I intentionally avoid it. And he said, you know, you've got these officers that that's what they do. And every day of their life is look at just this horrific thing that you can never get out of your head. And it reminded me, you know, and there's police officers that are street cops that work wrecks and the things that they see when they, they're working these wrecks that you can never unsee. And it's just horrific stuff. And you almost become desynthesized, but I don't know if child pornography is something you can ever be desynthesized for desensitized. Yeah.

57:15 So something about that is I've read a lot of books on not a lot of books. I don't want to overdo it, but I've read a lot of content and some books on the emotional toll that law enforcement takes and that most of us maybe will have one or two traumatic things that may happen. in our lifetime that these cops are seeing multiple times a month, if not a year, that are out on the road doing these things. And so it's like, at what point does this, do you not just disassociate from what you're seeing and being desensitized from it? Can you? No, you have to. Yeah, you have to. But at one point, does that just take such an emotional toll on you that you need a break from what you're seeing and what you're doing?

57:59 I would say yes. I would imagine absolutely. And I think that's why you see such a high rated divorce with law enforcement, especially and, and things of that nature is what you're dealing with every day out there on the streets. And, you know, those guys become masters of compartmentalization. They have to compartmentalize everything, everything. And you talk to these detectives out there and I spent a lot of years with Woody Everton and he, he would, Tell me, you know, it's not something you think about every day. You really don't. You go off job and you go home, but it's back there. It just gets compartmentalized to the point that eventually it's almost like you have a breaking point where you've got to get away from it.

58:43 You know, and then another thing, too, that people don't take into account that's very important is that, you know, let's say you're on the job and you're dealing with this very high stress event, whether it's guns drawn or whether it is trying to save a child and you're desperately given CPR or something like that. And then your shift ends and you go home and you're expected to just turn it off, you know, and just go into this environment. And that's why the divorce rates, to your point, are high. You know, you go in the house and maybe your wife is fussing at you about, oh, we didn't do this. or we got to do that. And you're thinking, bro, I just was trying to keep a kid alive, you know. Yeah, this is. This is nothing. What you're making. It is a major. It probably is a major thing that you're you're arguing about. Yeah. Compared to what you've seen, it's hard. I would imagine it is hard for like. unless it's another cop you're married to for that person to really be able to relate.

59:34 And so what's big in their life, which may be a huge thing and big, you've seen so many horrific things that day. You're like, Oh, I mean, you're complaining about the clothes being on. Right. And so, and in relation, it doesn't make any sense, but obviously to your wife, who's at home, I'm always, you know, I'm saying man and woman, but you know, whoever your spouse is at home, there's things that need to be handled at home too, but you have to have a decompression time. You know, you've got to have an outlet. So you know, but thank you. Thank, I want to, I do want to say thank you to all the officers out there and, and to the spouses too, that, that put on the fight for us and do this day in and day out and, um, and protect us and are always out locally protecting our children while they're trick or treating and making their rounds and keeping everybody safe. I really do appreciate y'all.

1:00:16 All right. Uh, any final thoughts? Uh, that was my final thought. So thank you for loving it. You're welcome. Uh, and I want to say go Tigers. Uh, So I can mess with all the fans out there because I love to trigger fans from other teams. If you follow me on Facebook, you'll know what I mean. And until next time, I'm Jim Chapman. And I'm Kelly Jennings. And we're your host of Crime. Wire. Weekly. Over time.