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Florida Man Shoots Wife and Her Lover in Parking Lot...Then Vanishes | Crime House 24/7
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Hi listeners, it's Vanessa Richardson. Real quick, before today's episode, I want to tell you about another show from Crime House that I know you'll love. America's Most Infamous Crimes. Hosted by Katie Ring. Each week Katie takes on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. Serial killers who terrorized cities, unsolved mysteries that keep detectives up at night, and investigations that change the way we think about justice. Listen to and follow America's Most infamous crimes Tuesday through Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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This is Crime House.
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Good morning everyone. We have multiple breaking true crime cases this morning that you need to know about. And we're starting with the biggest one. Surveillance cameras caught the whole thing. A husband opening fire on his wife and another man in a Florida library parking lot. And right now, that husband is nowhere to be found. But before we get there, today, show host Savannah Guthrie gives her first formal interview since her mother Nancy was taken from her Tucson home. And she has has a lot to say. This is crime house 24 7, your non stop source for the biggest crime cases developing right now. Make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Vanessa Richardson and we have quite a lineup for you today. Here's what you need to know.
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Nearly eight weeks have passed since 84 year old Nancy Guthrie was reported missing from her home in the Catalina Foothills area of Tucson, Arizona on February 1st and still no significant breakthroughs have been announced, but this week her daughter, Today show host Savannah Guthrie, sat down for her first formal interview since her mother's disappearance. Thursday's interview with NBC's Today show was the first of a two part interview with Savannah Guthrie conducted by former co host Hoda Kotb. It's Savannah's first sit down interview since her mother's disappearance and it is emotional. Savannah said the family is in agony, telling Kotb, quote, I wake up every night in the middle of the night every night and in the darkness I imagine her terror and it is unthinkable. End quote. She also directly addressed the online speculation that circulated early in the investigation, speculation that a family member may have been involved, calling it unbearable and cruel. The Pima County Sheriff's Office has since confirmed the Guthrie family has been cleared. Savannah also weighed in on the theory that her mother may have been targeted because of her own public profile, saying, if it is me, I'm so sorry. The investigation remains active, led by the Pima County Sheriff's Department and the FBI. Savannah and her siblings are also renewing their plea to the Tucson community, asking anyone with photos, texts or memories from the nights of January 31st and Febr to come forward. No detail, they say, is too small now to Vero Beach, Florida, where police are actively searching for a man they say shot and killed his wife and another man in broad daylight in a library parking lot before disappearing without a trace. As of this recording, the suspect, 64 year old Jesse Scott Ellis, has not been found. Here's what happened. Just after 7am on Tuesday morning, March 24, Verro Beach Police responded to reports of gunshots in the parking lot of the Indian River county main Library on 21st Street. When officers arrived, they found two adults dead from multiple gunshot wounds in and around a vehicle. The victims were identified as 49 year old Stacy Ellis Mason and 56 year old Danny Uli. Both were employees of Indian River County. Uli was the Assistant Director of Public Works. Mason was a traffic analyst technician. According to Vero Beach Police Chief David Curry, who detailed the case at a press conference on Wednesday, surveillance video captured exactly how the shooting unfolded. Uli arrived first driving a Ford Ranger pickup truck into the lot. Mason arrived separately in a Volkswagen suv. She walked around to the passenger side of Uli's truck and got in. At that point, police say Ellis, who had parked his own truck on a nearby street, approached the driver's side of the Ford Ranger on foot and opened fire with what investigators described as an AR style long gun, striking Both victims inside the vehicle. Curry said Uli was shot first. Ellis then moved around the truck and fired additional rounds as Mason either fell or was pulled from the vehicle. The library, Curry said, was not a random meeting spot. He told reporters, quote, the library was a location where they had met before. They met again there yesterday morning and Ellis was aware of that, end quote. Police say Ellis and Mason had been married for 13 years and had children together in recent weeks. The couple had reportedly been discussing separation or divorce and were preparing to sell their home. Investigators also say they believe Mason and Uli had been in a romantic relationship for at least several weeks to a month before the shooting. Uli was also married. Chief Curry described it plainly, quote, this was a targeted marital issue that went terribly, terribly wrong. End quote. He called it a crime of passion. And police have said they do not believe Ellis poses a threat to the general public, though Curry acknowledged that any encounter with him, particularly for law enforcement, could still be dangerous. After the shooting, surveillance and witness accounts indicate Ellis drove his gray Ford F150 to South beach park, left the vehicle and walked into the Atlantic Ocean fully clothed. A woman on the beach called fire Rescue after seeing a tall man wade into the water. Rescue crews reached him by boat around 8:30am approximately 900 yards offshore. He declined help and gave a false name. At that point, responders did not know he was the suspect in the double homicide and he was not detained. Police have not confirmed whether that man was definitively Ellis, but he remains the prime suspect and is considered to be at large. Search efforts have included both boats, beach vehicles and ocean searches along the barrier island. Law enforcement recovered multiple firearms from Ellis's home when search warrants were executed, along with digital evidence, including cell phones, which are undergoing forensic analysis. Search warrants were also executed on the vehicles belonging to Ellis, Mason and Uli. Curry said there is a significant amount of evidence still being processed. Ellis is described as a local electrician. Police have released his name and photo. If you have any information on his whereabouts, contact the Vero Beach Police Department. As that search continues in Florida, we turn now to Washington State where a woman's body pulled from a river is telling a story her family says they tried to warn people about for weeks. In Skagit county, Washington, a 42 year old man has been charged with second degree murder in the death of his girlfriend, a 37 year old woman whose body was pulled from the Skagit river earlier this month, weeks after she vanished in January. And the details that have emerged about the alleged abuse she endured before she disappeared are deeply disturbing. Christa Joy Hunt, 37, was last seen around January 25 after she and Juan Manuel Delgado Jr. Were in a truck together near the Lone Star restaurant in Concrete, Washington, a small rural town in the Cascades. The truck reportedly ran out of gas. Hunt got out and walked away. She was never seen alive again. She was reported missing on February 1st. A search followed, and on March 12th, deputies conducting a boat search of the Skagit river found human remains near milepost 90 east of Concrete. Those remains were confirmed to be Krista Hunt's. The Skagit County Sheriff's Office submitted charging paperwork on March 19, and Delgado has since been charged with second degree murder. Her he's being held on $1 million bail. In the weeks before Hunt disappeared, her mother, Pamela Hunt, spoke to Seattle based King TV and described what her daughter had told her about the violence she was allegedly subjected to. Pamela said Christa had a broken leg and that Delgado had allegedly boot stomped her leg and her chest. She also said her daughter told her that at one point Delgado set a timer and told her he was going to hit her every 15 minutes. She, Pamela Hunt, took her daughter to the hospital before she disappeared. She wrote in a GoFundMe post that Christa arrived covered in bruises both new and old, had been strangled, had two black eyes and a broken leg, and that doctors warned she might not survive another strangulation. Pamela has also pushed back on Delgado being referred to as Hunt's boyfriend, writing on social media, quote, he was a moment in her life. He subjected her to relentless cruelty and nothing else. End quote. The physical evidence gathered after Hunt's death appears to corroborate the severity of the violence she experienced. Investigators reportedly found clumps of hair and blood inside Delgado's truck. The coroner found she'd suffered a broken neck, broken jaw and broken ribs. Investigators have not formally determined a cause of death, but those findings paint a grim picture. Delgado's account of events has shifted. He initially told investigators he had no idea where Hunt was. He reportedly told a friend she'd been hit by a car. He was already in custody on unrelated charges when the murder charge was filed against him. Two days after Hunt was reported missing, Delgado reportedly shot himself at a bar in concrete. He survived. For those who knew Krista Hunt, this case has been devastating on multiple levels. Her mother's public statements make clear that she had been trying to get her daughter away from this relationship for some time and that Christa had been reaching out for help in the final weeks of her life. The case now moves toward prosecution. Delgado is charged with second degree murder and remains in custody in Skagit County. These days I'm really focused on quality over quantity. I'm raising my standards, especially when it comes to my closet. If it's not well made and versatile, I just don't bother. Other that's why I love Quince. Their fabrics feel elevated, the cuts are thoughtful and the pricing is surprisingly reasonable. They make wardrobe staples in 100% European linen, silk and organic cotton poplin. Their cotton cashmere sweaters are light, soft and perfect for layering this season and their spring colors gorgeous. Everything is designed to make getting dressed effortless. 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now to North Wales, where an 18 year old was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to murdering his 45 year old mother, Angela Shelis, a case that a judge described as extremely unusual and one of the most premeditated killings the court had seen. Tristan Roberts didn't act on impulse in the weeks leading up to the murder. On October 24, 2025, he'd been posting misogynistic threats on Discord, a messaging platform popular with gamers under usernames like Tonight's the Night with a profile picture of the fictional TV serial killer Dexter. He'd written online that his mother, quote, going to just vanish off the earth, end quote. And that it was time. He'd also consulted an AI chatbot deep seek for advice on what weapon to use for a killing, eventually tricking the system into responding by claiming he was writing a book about serial killers. The AI suggested a hammer would be better for a quote, non experienced killer. He purchased one. He recorded everything on a voice recorder. On the night of October 23, Roberts began attacking his mother inside their home on Coniston Drive in Prestatin, hitting her with a hammer and strangling her. According to prosecutors, a recording captured Shelis, herself a teaching assistant, begging her son to let her go and call for help for over two hours. Roberts then persuaded her to leave the house under the pretense of getting her medical assistance, making her wear a balaclava as they walked together in the early hours of the morning. Surveillance footage captured them leaving at 3:19am Only Roberts came back. They walked to a nearby nature reserve where Roberts took a lump hammer from his backpack and delivered at least four heavy blows to her head. Her body was found by walkers later that morning. After returning home, Roberts logged onto Discord and posted that he'd, quote, just had the craziest day, end quote. He then sent messages pretending to be his mother to his brother Ethan, who'd been trying to reach her. When Ethan alerted their grandparents, Roberts barricaded himself inside the house until police arrived, sentencing him to life with a minimum term of 22 years and 6 months. At Mold Crown Court, Judge Reese Rowlands said Roberts appeared to have reveled in the control he exerted over his mother. In a victim impact statement, Ethan Roberts said, quote, all my mum ever did was love Tristan, end quote. Angela Shellis's sister Sarah Gunther, told the court she had fought tirelessly to get Tristan help and that Angela's love for her children was unbreakable. And from Wales we head back stateside to Michigan where the man convicted of murdering 13 year old Naziah Harris was found dead in prison Thursday. We covered his sentencing hearing in a recent episode and this morning there's been a major development. 43 year old Jarvis Butts, the man convicted of murdering 13 year old Naziah Harris, has been found dead in prison. Jarvis Butts, 43, was discovered dead Thursday morning, March 26 at the Charles E. Geller Reception and Guidance center in Jackson, Michigan, the facility where he'd been processed. Following his sentencing, the Michigan Department of Corrections confirmed his death and said corrections staff attempted life saving measures that were unsuccessful. The Michigan State Police have been called to investigate and the death is currently being reported as a suicide. Butts was sentenced just two weeks ago on March 12 to 35 to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty to second degree murder in Naziah's death along with five concurrent terms of 10 to 15 years for the sexual assault of five other children ranging in age from 4 to 13. His earliest possible release date had been set for September 26, 2059. Naziah Harris was 13 years old when she was last seen getting off a school bus in Detroit on January 9, 2024. Her body has never been recovered. As part of his plea agreement, Butts was required to provide information about the location of her body. Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy said after sentencing, quote, the disclosure of the location of her body was crucial, end quote. A source told local outlets that Butts admitted to disposing of Naziah's body in the Rouge river near Seven Mile and Berg in Detro. Naziah's family has endured extraordinary loss throughout this case. Her father, Mervyn Jennings, became ill and died while searching for his daughter this morning. A family friend noted that Butt's death means there are questions about the case that may now never be answered.
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I'm criminal psychologist Dr. Michelle Ward and on season nine of Mind of a Monster, we're bringing you the case of serial killer Michael Gargiulo.
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He either charms him because he needs him to do something or he stalks him because he's going to kill kill him.
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The repairman with Hollywood good looks who stalked and attacked his female neighbors in their own homes.
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The jury was shown the photos from her apartment and it was just covered in blood.
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Listen to Mind of a Monster, the Hollywood Ripper. Wherever you get your podcasts before you
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go, let me tell you what else is happening at Crime House Today on conspiracy theories, cults and crimes, we examine the disappearance of Hale Boggs and Nick Begat, two U.S. congressmen who boarded a small plane in Alaska in 1972 and never arrived at their destination. The flight path was known, the departure was confirmed. The search effort that followed covered vast stretches of remote terrain and airspace, and yet no trace of the aircraft was ever found. There's something uniquely unsettling about disappearances like this. Not vanishing from a single place, but from a journey with a defined beginning and a defined a route that should be traceable, a path that should leave evidence and instead there is a break, a point where the story simply stops. These are cases where investigators know where someone started, they know where they were going. But everything in between becomes a space filled with uncertainty. Here are five disappearances that happened between two known points. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 When Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 departed Kuala Lumpur in March 2014, it followed one of the most routine flight paths in commercial aviation. The aircraft was expected to travel north toward Beijing, passing through controlled airspace with constant communication and radar coverage. For the first portion of the flight, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Then the aircraft stopped responding. What followed was not an immediate disappearance, but something. Something far more disorienting. Military radar later indicated that the plane had changed direction, crossing back over land before heading out over open ocean. Satellite data suggested it continued flying for hours after contact was lost, following a path that could only be partially reconstructed through automated signals. This transformed the case from a single point of failure into a moving mystery. The plane did not simply vanish. It continued along an unknown route, leav behind fragments of data but no clear explanation. Search efforts expanded across the Indian Ocean, becoming one of the largest and most complex in history. Models were built, recalibrated, and challenged as new data emerged. And yet the central question remains unanswered. Somewhere between its departure and its intended destination, the flight diverged from everything expected of it. The journey didn't end in a known place. It dissolved into a trajectory that still cannot not be fully explained. Amelia Earhart Amelia Earhart's final flight in 1937 was not an impulsive journey, but a carefully planned leg of a global circumnavigation attempt. By the time she approached the Pacific, most of the route had already been completed. The remaining challenge was navigation across vast, featureless ocean towards small, isolated islands. Her next destination, Howland island, was barely visible, even under ideal conditions. Conditions. Earhart's radio transmissions in the final hours reflect a growing sense of urgency. She reported difficulty locating the island despite being in what she believed to be the correct area. Communication with the Coast Guard cutter assigned to guide her became increasingly strained with signals that were inconsistent and difficult to interpret. At one point, she indicated that she was running low on fuel. Then the transmissions stopped. What makes this case endure is not just the disappearance, but the precision of the unknown. The route was defined, the destination was fixed. The margin for error, however, was vast. A slight miscalculation in position or timing could place the aircraft hundreds of miles from where it was expected to be. Search efforts at the time covered extensive areas of ocean, but the limitations of technology and the scale of the environment meant that even a targeted search could miss its mark. The result is a disappearance that exists within a known corridor. A flight that came close enough to its destination to communicate, but never close enough to arrive. Frederick Valentich. Frederick Valentich's disappearance in 1978 stands out not just because of what happened, but because of how much of it was heard. As was it. It unfolded flying a small aircraft from Melbourne to King Island. Valentich was in regular communication with air traffic control as he moved along a straightforward route. Midway through the flight, he began reporting the presence of another aircraft. At first the description was uncertain. Lights above him, movement that didn't match standard flight patterns. As the conversation continued, his observations became more specific, but no corresponding aircraft was detected on radar. Controllers were unable to confirm what he was seeing, leaving Valentich to interpret the situation on his own. His tone shifted. The language moved from descriptive to concerned. In his final transmission, he described the object as hovering above him. Then a sudden sound, metallic scraping cut through the audio. Silence followed. No wreckage was ever recovered, despite search efforts in the area where contact was lost. The absence of physical evidence left the case suspended between explanation and speculation. What is known is contained entirely within the communication. A real time account of a flight that began normally and then diverged into something unverified and unresolved. The journey had a clear start and a clear destination. But the interruption, captured in fragments of audio, marks the point where the known path ends. Michael Rockefeller. Michael Rockefeller's disappearance in 1961 did not occur in the air, but it followed the same structural pattern. Movement between two known points, interrupted by an unknown outcome. After his boat capsized off the coast, Of New Guinea. Rockefeller and a companion clung to the wreckage as they assessed their situation. Eventually, Rockefeller made a decision. Believing that land was within reach, he chose to swim for shore. The direction was clear. The distance, while significant, was not considered impossible. His companion remained behind. Later rescued, While Rockefeller entered the water and began moving toward what should have been a reachable destination. He was seen leaving. The intended endpoint was known, but he was never seen again. Search efforts began quickly, involving both local and international resources. Coastlines were examined, examined. Villages were contacted. The surrounding environment, dense, remote, and largely unfamiliar to outsiders, complicated every aspect of the investigation. Over time, theories emerged. Some suggested he drowned before reaching land. Others proposed that he made it to shore, but encountered hostile conditions or groups. None have been definitively proven. What remains is the structure of the disappearance itself, A deliberate movement toward a known destination that, for reasons that cannot be fully confirmed, was never completed. Glenn Miller. In December 1944, bandleader Glenn Miller boarded a small military aircraft in England bound for Paris. The war in Europe was still ongoing, and flights across the English Channel were subject to both environmental and operational risks. Weather conditions were poor, and the aircraft he boarded was not equipped for advanced navigation. In those conditions, the departure was recorded. The destination was expected, but Miller never arrived. In the years that followed, several explanations were proposed. One widely discussed theory suggests that the aircraft may have encountered a formation of allied bombers returning from a mission, jettisoning unused bombs over the Channel. Another possibility is that the plane succumbed to icing conditions or mechanical failure. What makes the case persist is the absence of confirmation. No wreckage was definitively identified. No single explanation accounts for all variables. The flight existed within a defined route, but that route passed through an environment shaped by both natural and wartime factors. Conditions that introduced layers of uncertainty beyond a typical journey. Somewhere between departure and arrival, the aircraft was lost. And like the other cases on this list, the exact point where that loss occurred remains unknown. The what connects these disappearances is not just the absence of evidence, but the presence of a defined path that cannot be completed. Investigators know where the journey began. They know where it was supposed to end. But the space in between is often vast, complex, and difficult to fully reconstruct. Whether it's open ocean, remote terrain, or contested airspace, these environments create conditions where even significant events can leave limited trace. In many cases, fragments of information exist. Radar data, radio transmissions, witness accounts. But those fragments stop short of the moment that matters most. The result is a type of mystery that doesn't begin with a lack of information. It begins with a path that simply disappears. Hale Boggs and Nick Begich boarded a plane with a known route across Alaska, a journey that should have been routine, documented and traceable. Instead. Instead, it became one of the most enduring aviation mysteries in American history. For the full story behind their disappearance and the theories that followed, listen to today's episode of conspiracy theories, Cults and Crimes. Because sometimes the most unsettling question isn't where someone went, it's what happened along the way. You've been listening to Crime House 24 7, bringing you breaking crime news. I'm Vanessa. Richard Richardson will be back Monday morning with more developing stories. Stay safe and thanks for listening.
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Thanks for listening to today's episode. Not sure what to listen to next? Check out America's Most Infamous Crimes, hosted by Katie Ring. From serial killers to unsolved mysteries and game changing investigations, each week Katie takes on a notorious criminal case in American history. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous Crimes now. Wherever you listen to podcasts.