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Crime House 24/7
First Watch: Seattle’s Backyard Attacker, Sorority House Stalker, & a Naked Intruder
00:21:43
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- [00:03]
Katie Ring
Hi Crime House Community. It's Katie looking for another Crime House original podcast to add to your rotation. You will love Clues with Morgan Abshur and Kaylin Moore. Every Wednesday, Morgan and Kaylin dig into the world's most notorious crimes, clue by clue. From serial killers to shocking murders. They follow the trail of clues, break down the evidence and debate the theories. It's like hanging out with your smart and true crime obsessed friends. Listen to clues on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.
- [00:45]
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This is Crime House.
- [00:48]
Katie Ring
In today's episode we're breaking down three cases about home intruders who went to dangerous lengths. First, a Seattle man is still on the loose after robbing an 88 year old woman in her own backyard. Then a repeat offender broke into a sorority house and did some extremely disturbing things. Lastly, a naked man is stopped mid attack by a war veteran who's since been hailed a hero. The 88 year old great grandmother says this robbery suspect seen in these photos from Seattle police bit of her finger to steal her jewelry. There is no questioning. Emma Cotton is resilient. She has a very positive outlook on life despite going through something so traumatic. What gave you the strength to fight back? God, I wasn't just going to let him stand out there and just beat on me.
- [01:44]
Hi, welcome to Crime House Daily. I'm your host Katie Ring. Here we follow the cases making headlines now where justice is still unfolding. Follow us wherever you're listening and if you want ad free episodes, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. This episode discusses active criminal cases and breaking news. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide, guilt or innocence. So everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Foreign.
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- [03:19]
For our first case today we're looking at a recent crime against emma Cotton, an 88 year old woman who was robbed on her back porch in Seattle. The thief beat her mercilessly and even bit off Emma's finger to steal her diamond ring. Fortunately, she survived, but the assailant is nowhere to be found. Let's get into it. 88 year old Emma Cotton has dedicated decades of her life in service to her Seattle community. For years she's been the president of the senior ministry at Mount Zion Baptist Church in the city's Cherry Hill neighborhood. Emma raised her three boys, Marvin, Ricky and Wes in the church, but they weren't the only ones who viewed her as a motherly figure. Almost everybody called Emma Mama. Cotton church was Emma's second home, but her actual home was located just 10 miles away in the neighborhood of Rainier Beach. Rainier beach has a reputation for not being the safest neighborhood, though in 2023 a report indicated that it had the highest rate of gun violence in Seattle's south district. Emma was aware that her neighborhood could be dangerous. But even though she lived alone, she'd been there a long time and knew how to look out for herself while she was out and about. Unfortunately, she had no idea the lengths someone would go to terrorize her in her own home. On October 13, 2025, Emma was out on her back porch getting some chores done when all of a sudden she felt someone breathing behind her. And when she turned around, a man dressed in all black started hitting her and then dragged her from the porch to the garage. Emma fought back against her attacker as much as she could, scratching and kicking with all of her might. But nothing could stop the man from trying to remove Emma's diamond ring from her finger. However, he struggled to get it off. So thinking fast, Emma told the man he could have it if he just let her take it off for him. But that wasn't good enough for the crazed attacker and he did something unthinkable. He bit Emma's finger off. Then he fled, taking both the finger and the ring. The thought of actually biting someone's finger off gives me the heebie jeebies in the aftermath of the attack. Someone called 911 and the paramedics rushed to the scene just in the nick of time. She was rushed to the hospital where she was kept in the intensive care unit for three days. In addition to her missing finger, Emma suffered fractured toes, fractured ribs, and serious head wounds. Her sons rushed to her bedside, and even though they were completely distraught to see her in that state, they were just glad she was alive. Emma felt the same way. When she spoke with police, she told them she thought for sure the man was going to kill her. Unfortunately, because he'd been wearing a hood, she never got a good look at his face. Emma had no idea who had done this to her. Thankfully, Emma was able to pull through and make it out of the icu. And in the time since, she's already forgiven her attacker, Emma told her sons, quote, maybe he had some problems we don't know about. I don't want him around to do this to anybody else, but I do forgive him. However, Emma's sons didn't exactly feel the same way. They wanted swift justice. Her son Wes said, we want this injustice to be righted, and nothing will bring us more peace than to know that it won't happen again. Seattle's a great city, and this is an unfortunate stainless steel one we'd like to remove as soon as we can. Similarly, members of Emma's community have spoken out against this senseless act of violence. Eddie Rye Jr. A longtime civil rights leader in Seattle and a close personal friend of Emma's, was shocked that this had happened to her. He said, it's really, really tragic because she really is a person who is well loved, highly respected, and highly regarded by a lot of people in the city. Over a month after the attack, Seattle police are still looking hard for the suspect, but the longer the search goes on, the less likely it seems they'll be able to catch him. They've released surveillance images of the man wearing a black hoodie, pants and backpack, and gray sneakers. Anyone with information on the suspect is urged to contact Seattle PD's violent crime tip line at 206-233-5000. As for Emma, she's out of the hospital and recovering in a rehab facility, and her sons hope she'll be able to return home and get back to her life as much as she can. We'll be sure to keep you updated on this case as it develops. Our next case brings us down the coast to Berkeley, California, where a group of sorority women were terrorized in the middle of the night by a masked figure. In the early morning hours of November 1, 2025, a man broke into a sorority house multiple times and carried out a string of disturbing acts. Fortunately, authorities were able to quickly track him down but when they realized who he was, they discovered he had a long history of bizarre and violent behavior. So what exactly happened on that chilling November morning? Let's dive in.
- [08:36]
Around 6am On November 1, 2025, the day after Halloween, a UC Berkeley student was startled awake by a sight more terrifying than any haunted house a man in a ski mask hovering over her. The student was a member of a sorority at the university and lived in the sorority house with 65 other sisters. The panic stricken student immediately called the police and fortunately, as soon as she started dialing 911, the man fled out of the back door. When officers arrived, they started talking to all of the sisters and no one had any idea how the man had gotten inside. However, one of the sorority members told police something shocking. Apparently she also spotted the man inside the house. She had caught him watching her while she was taking a shower. Investigators knew they were dealing with someone pretty depraved, but soon they made even more terrifying discoveries.
- [09:42]
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- [10:52]
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- [11:22]
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- [11:54]
Katie Ring
The morning after Halloween, a sorority sister woke up in a real life nightmare. A masked man was standing and staring at her and she called 911 and they got there immediately. Fortunately, no one was physically harmed and the suspect ran away immediately. But the incident was pretty psychologically damaging for the women who went through it, and a lot of their distress came from what was discovered after the man was already gone. Investigators pulled security footage from the house and realized that the man had not only loitered outside for a while before finally going in, but that he'd gone in and out of the house a total of six times between 3am and 6.35am I know in a house with that many girls on one of the biggest party nights of the year, making sure all of the doors are locked is probably extremely hard. But please, whether you are in college or or if you live in the safest neighborhood in the world, please always lock your doors right when you get inside of the house. I know sometimes in college it doesn't seem that serious, but after doing our five part series on the Idaho murders, I beg everyone to be extra cautious because there are so many creeps out there. And the suspect in this case was a next level creeper. He'd initially wedged his way through an open side door and left that door pretty propped open. And before he was caught looming over someone's bed, he had actually changed into different clothes, including the ski mask he'd also hidden in the shower room at some point watching multiple girls. This still wasn't the end of a bizarre string of revelations. The sorority sisters started looking around the house to see what else might be amiss, and that's when they noticed that the man had not only stolen slices of pizza on his way out, but But a few pairs of underwear. As soon as everyone was accounted for, the hunt was on. With the college town under threat, police were determined to catch this perverted burglar before he victimized another home. Because the suspect had stolen underwear and watched residents showering, the police department got the sex crimes unit on the case, and they had a crucial resource at their disposal. The city of berkeley is equipped with flock cameras, Also known as automatic license plate readers, or ALPRs. These cameras record what's called a vehicle fingerprint, which is a set of information including the license plate number, make, model, and color of the vehicle, along with any distinguishing characteristics. Sex crimes investigators pulled footage from the local ALPRs and notice a suspicious vehicle in the neighborhood around the time of the two burglaries. Not only that, but they also managed to get some footage of the driver. That's when a patrol officer on the case noticed something. The owner of that vehicle looked very familiar. He looked like a man he'd arrested back in september. He checked the records and realized he was right. The man was 45 year old Courtney Alford. Investigators kept digging and realized that alford had a lot more on his record than that september arrest. In fact, he had an open felony case in the county for allegations of sex crimes against children. In january and March of 2024, Alford was charged with two separate counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14. At the time of this recording, the case is still open, and alford was actually out on bail when he broke into the sorority house. At this point, sexual predators, especially child predators and men who are violent against women, should simply not be eligible for bail, because the number of women and children harmed while these predators are on bail makes me sick to my stomach. That wasn't the end of his rap sheet either. In fact, he'd committed offenses dating all the way back to 1998, including commercial burglary, grand theft, Evading a peace officer, and assault with a deadly weapon. Authorities knew they needed to get alferd in custody as quickly as possible. A warrant was put out for his arrest, and officers started searching for him. A few days later, they found his car parked in Castro Valley about 20 miles away. They waited in the area for alford to return to his vehicle, and when he did, they arrested him on the spot. When police interrogated him about the break in, Alford admitted that he was at the house that night, but he claimed that someone had invited him there. Sure, guy. Police already knew this was a lie, and they quickly charged alford with burglary peaking, invading privacy and unlawful entry. Despite the number of charges and his pre existing charges, Alford still had more trouble ahead. As a convicted felon in California, he wasn't allowed to own a firearm, but when police searched his home on November 5, they found a number of assault rifle parts, high capacity ammunition magazines, and almost 900 rounds of ammo. With the investigation still ongoing, the authorities haven't discussed the intended purpose of the weapon and ammo as of this recording, but Alferd was hit with additional charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Alford is currently being held in Santa Rita jail in Dublin, California with a bail of $275,000. Again, don't think he should be granted bail, but I digress. It's not clear yet how he'll plead, but before he deals with any of the circumstances with the break in, he's facing an arraignment for his earlier sex crime charges. We'll be sure to bring you all of the updates. As for the members of the sorority, they're understandably shaken up by the ordeal. Even those who weren't directly affected have said they feel extremely violated. Now the sorority house is beefing up its security to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.
- [17:56]
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- [20:03]
Katie Ring
Now down to Studio City, California, where on November 7, 2025, George Caros, a 79 year old Vietnam War veteran, was home when he heard his female tenant screaming for help. George went outside to see a naked man chasing after the tenant. He called the police and tried to get him to leave, but the man attacked George, who did something he never thought he'd have to do again, and both of their lives have been altered forever. So what led to George making that fateful decision? Let's begin. George Carco served in the 173rd Infantry Airborne Brigade during the Vietnam War and won two bronze medals in addition to four other combat medals. He lived and worked in Los Angeles for many years after eventually retiring in the suburb of Studio City in the San Fernando Valley. George was taking care of his wife Lily almost full time as she dealt with late stage Parkinson's disease. The couple lived in a duplex and George rented out the other side to a younger woman. They developed a friendly relationship as neighbors and George even felt pretty protective over her. And on the morning of November 7, just after 7am, George those protective instincts kicked in. It started when a man parked his car on the street, took off all of his clothes, started to roam the neighborhood and began running through the streets screaming and tearing out lawn signs. His demeanor was extremely erratic, to say the least. Soon he approached George's duplex and broke into his tenant's unit. She immediately started screaming before running outside and the man chased after her, but fortunately George was home and heard the commotion. He quickly grabbed his gun, called 911 and then darted outside. Once outside, George told the intruder that he was armed and the police were on their way. But before he could say anything else, the man lunged at him and body slammed him to the ground. The man not only weighed a lot more than George, but he wrapped his arms and legs around him to the point that the veteran could barely move as George begged the man to let him go and leave them alone. He also fought to reach his gun. Once he got a hold of it, the man still wouldn't let up. So George fired twice. Once into the man's chest and once in his head. It was the first time George had used his gun in 28 years. When the police arrived, the man was dead. The tenant was unharmed and George was rushed to the hospital. He his hip and both his legs were broken and he needed emergency surgery, but he was going to be okay. As he recovered at the Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills, George received an outpouring of support for his quick thinking. Police officers and veterans came to visit him and he was heralded as a hero by many news outlets. His wife Lily said, quote, george was doing what he needed to do to protect his property and the people he loves. That's what kind of man he is. Admits it all though. George has stayed incredibly modest. He said, I don't consider myself a hero. I was fortunate enough to do the right thing. I'm just thankful that I am alive. With his new medical issues along with Lily's Parkinson's diagnosis, George will probably require full time live in care. So his son set up a GoFundMe to help pay for his recovery and thus far they've raised about 65, 000 of their $100,000 goal. Good news though is that George is now out of the hospital, but it will likely take months before he can walk again. As for the assailant, authorities haven't released any information about him, but as always, tune in for future episodes of Crime House Daily for any updates about this case.
- [23:51]
What did you think of today's cases? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments. See you next time if you haven't already. Follow us wherever you're listening Rimehouse Daily and make sure to follow us on social media rimehouse247 for real time updates. Because the pursuit of justice never stops.
- [24:15]
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- [24:45]
Katie Ring
Looking for your next crime house? Listen, don't miss Clues with Morgan Abshur and Kaylin Moore. Every Wednesday, Morgan and Kaylin take you deep into the world of the most notorious crimes ever. Clue by clue. It's like hanging out with your smart, true crime obsessed friends. Listen to Clues on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts.