Crime Stories with Nancy Grace iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

Mercedes Vega is seen on video at 9:15pm leaving her apartment complex in Tempe, Arizona. On the video Vega is seen walking with her face looking down as if she was on Facetime. Mercedes Vegas is texting multiple people on the night of April 16. And looking at those messages as a whole, she is either going to meet friends for Sushi, meet other friends at "Dave&Busters", or , as she indicates in another text, go to work. In one of her text messages Mercedes Vega says, "I just feel weird, like maybe I shouldn't go anywhere." 

In the early morning hours of April 17, the Harquahala Fire Department responds to a report of a burning car on the “north hand shoulder” of the I-10 highway, west of Tonopah, Arizona. Firefighters find a 2018 Chevrolet Malibu on fire. Once the fire is put out, a deceased human body is found in the rear passenger seat.   At 1:15 a.m.  Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies are called to a scene to assist the Arizona Department of Public Safety on a death investigation.  Investigators are able to talk to the man who called law enforcement about the car on fire. Robert Miller tells officials he saw a person walking around the outside of the vehicle.  

Using fingerprints, investigators are able to identify the woman found inside the burning Malibu as 22-year-old Mercedes Vega. The 2018 Chevrolet Malibu in which her body was found, does not belong to Vega. The car has a Salvage Title vehicle registered to State Farm Insurance and the burning car is 60 miles from Vega's Tempe, Arizona apartment. Mercedes' 2019, White, Dodge Charger is found illegally parked near First Street and Farmer Avenue, 1.5 miles south of where she lives. According to her mother, the car is parked while running with the keys in the ignition so it would be stolen or towed.  The MCSO has video surveillance of Vega's Charger from the time it is left parked on the road until the time it is recovered by police. Vega didn't park it where it was found. 

Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s report states the cause of death was “conflagration, blunt force and ballistic injuries," and the Manner of Death is Homicide.  The death report also states she has blunt force trauma and gunshot injuries that contributes to her death, and an odor of bleach on within the larynx.  The report notes the presence of gloves and bleach found in front of the car and lighter fluid in the backseat. 

 

JOINING NANCY TODAY: 


Tom and Erika Pillsbury - Mercedes Vega's parents,  FB: Justice for Mercedes Marianna Vega 
Sarah Ford - Legal Director, South Carolina Victim Assistance Network, Former prosecutor focusing on crimes against women and children, Host of Stepping Toward Justice podcast, Twitter: @Sarahafordfordesq , (803) 682-2245
Robin Dreeke - Behavior Expert & Retired FBI Special Agent / Chief of the FBI Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program, Author: "Sizing People Up: A Veteran FBI Agents Manual for Behavior Prediction", peopleformula.com, Twitter: @rdreeke 
Dr. Michelle DuPre- (Columbia, SC) Forensic Pathologist, Medical Examiner and Detective: Lexington County Sheriff's Department, Author: “Money, Mischief, and Murder…the Murdaugh Saga. The rest of the story” available now on Amazon. “Homicide Investigation Field Guide" & "Investigating Child Abuse Field Guide", Forensic Consultant, DMichelleDupreMD.com
Bianca Buono - Reporter, 12 News in Pheonix, AZ Twitter: @BiancaBuono, 12news.com  
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Man tries to shoot pastor during live-streamed services. This neighbor really must've really needed a cup of sugar!

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Ashlin Couch, former roommate of the Idaho students killed, is speaking out. Couch transferred her lease at 1122 King Road to Xana Kernodle just six months before Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves were slain in the home.

Couch remembers getting an alert from the University and immediately reaching out to friends still in Moscow. Couch’s last text to Mogen before learning of her death was “Are you OK?” Couch followed up in a group chat with friends, “Has anyone heard from Maddie?” Couch says the thought that the murders could have happened earlier is unsettling, commenting that ‘you never know how long someone is watching your house.’

We also learn a friend of an officer working on the Bryan Kohberger murder investigation says Kohberger was very careful in the days before his arrest. The source says the cop followed Kohberger in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, and observed him wearing plastic gloves while picking up groceries at a local Giant store. The cop also said that Kohberger’s cellphone pings matched the movements of the victims for weeks before the murders.

Joining Nancy Grace Today:


Mark Tate - Trial Lawyer / Legal Analyst - Tate Law Group- TateLawGroup.com
Caryn L. Stark – Psychologist, Renowned TV and Radio Trauma Expert and Consultant; Instagram: carynpsych/FB: Caryn Stark Private Practice
Chris McDonough – Director At the Cold Case Foundation, Former Homicide Detective, coldcasefoundation.org,  Host of YouTube channel: “The Interview Room” 
Joe Scott Morgan – Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, “Blood Beneath My Feet,” and Host: “Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;” Twitter/X: @JoScottForensic
Dave Mack- CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter  
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Man tries to hire help to murder his ex-wife and her boyfriend. Nervous driver found smuggling a HUGE load of cocaine. 

For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.com
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Corey Micciolo did not meet his father until he was 5-years-old. Soon thereafter Corey landed in the middle of a custody battle. From the first time he was left alone with his father, Corey came home with bruises, busted lips, and more. His mother complained but nobody listened. Only now are people paying attention because of an awful video showing 6-year-old Corey Micciolo being forced to run on a treadmill and falling off, over and over. Each time he falls off the treadmill, his father puts him back on and turns the speed up, allegedly.  Christiopher Gregor is on trial facing murder charges for allegedly killing his own son in what the media calls the Treadmill Abuse Trial. On this episode of Body Bags, Joseph Scott Morgan will explain what really happened to Corey Micciolo and why 6-year-olds don't drop over dead, and Dave Mack will fill in the rest of the story of how Corey was given to a father that never bonded with him while his mother begged for anyone to listen.

 

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00:38.98 Introduction, talk about weapons

05:17.90 Discussion of exorcise as punishment

10:01.23 Talk about making 6-year-old run on treadmill

16:01.12 Discussion of bruises and injuries

21:06.32 Talk about Corey's health is fine, except for bruises

26:20.26 Talk about Corey tells doctor about football and treadmill

32:41.40 Discussion of children don't die of natural causes at 6

37:27.82 Discussion of injury to abdomen

39:12:19 Conclusion Final Diagnosis, Blunt Force impact, laceration of heart
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Carlee Russell calls 911, telling the operator that she sees a toddler walking down the side of an Alabama freeway. 

When police arrive, there's no toddler and  Russell is gone. Her car, however, is still parked along the highway. The door is open and the car is running. Forty-nine hours later, Russell returns home, telling investigators in a brief interview that she was abducted by a man with orange hair and a woman.  

As the investigation continued, police find some “really strange” internet searches in the hours before she vanished, such as the cutoff age for an AMBER Alert.  

Now Russell admits via a statement from her lawyer that there was no toddler or abduction. 

In a Jefferson County, Ala., circuit court  Russell ordered to pay nearly $18,000 in restitution and  sentenced to 12 months of supervised probation, community service and evidence of continued mental health counseling.   Judge David Carpenter suspended Russell's two six-month sentences, saying jail time would be a "waste of government resources."  

Joining Nancy Grace today:


James Shelnutt – Attorney – The Shelnutt Law Firm, P.C.; 27-year Atlanta Metro Area Major Case Detective and Former S.W.A.T. Officer; Twitter: @ShelnuttLawFirm
Caryn Stark – Psychologist- Trauma and Crime Expert; Twitter: @carnpsych
Sheryl McCollum – Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder; Host of new podcast, “Zone 7;” Twitter: @ColdCaseTips
Lee Reiber – Mobile Device Forensic Expert, COO: Oxygen Forensics, Inc., Author: “Mobile Forensic Investigations: A Guide to Evidence Collection, Analysis, and Presentation”
Mike Hadsell – President and Founder of Peace River K9 Search and Rescue; Twitter: @K9River
Savannah Sapp – Multimedia Journalist and Reporter for WAFF48 in Alabama; Twitter: @Savannah Sapp/Instagram:@savannahsapp.tv/Facebook:SavannahSappWAFF48

 
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