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Mistrial Declared in Murder of Miami Football Star Bryan Pata | Crime House 24/7
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Hi, it's Vanessa. If you're drawn to true crime stories about disappearances, there's a new Crime House original you should check out. It's called the Final Hours, hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Sarah's an advocate for missing and murdered victims whose own sister disappeared in 2001. And Courtney is a true crime storyteller who's seen firsthand how crime can change a family forever. Together, they bring lived experience to every case, examining the moments just before a person disappears. The routines, the timelines, the small details that often get overlooked because every disappearance has a moment where everything still feels normal until it doesn't. Listen to and follow the final hours on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday. Foreign. This is Crime House. 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. A person who was questioned in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie is speaking out for the first time and in Miami, a judge has declared a mistrial nearly 20 years after the killing of college football star Brian Paa. 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. We're starting with a quick update on a case we've been following closely, the disappearance of 84 year old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of today's show co host Savannah Guthrie. On Monday, March 2nd, 37 year old Luke Daly spoke publicly for the first time since being detained and released in connection with the case. In an interview with True Crime Arizona host Brianna Whitney Daly denied any involvement in Nancy's disappearance. He said he has nothing to do with the case and does not resemble the masked figure captured on doorbell camera footage. Daly and his 77 year old mother were detained on February 13th after a SWAT team executed search warrants at their Tucson home, located about two miles from Nancy's residence. Both were held for several hours and released without charges. Daly's attorney, Chris Scheppe, has said his client has no link to Guthrie. Daly told Whitney he believes he was targeted because of online speculation about his appearance and that life in Tucson has been difficult since the raid in Nancy has been taken from her Tucson home in the early morning hours of February 1st. The search has now stretched past one month. On Monday, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings visited their mother's home and left flowers at a growing memorial. The family's $1 million reward and the FBI's $100,000 reward both remain active. No arrests have been made. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told NBC News on Monday that investigators are, in his words, deputy definitely closer to identifying a suspect or suspects. We will continue to follow this case. Now to our lead story. On Monday, March 2, a Miami Dade county judge declared a mistrial in the second degree murder trial of Rashan Jones, the former University of Miami football player accused of fatally shooting his Hurricane's teammate Brian Pata nearly 20 years ago. The six member jury deliberated for approximately six hours over two days Thursday and then again on Monday after a three day break before telling Judge Christina Miranda they remained deadlocked and could not reach a unanimous verdict. With no path forward, Miranda declared a mistrial and dismissed the jury. This is a case that has haunted the Miami football community for almost two decades. On November 7, 2006, 22 year old Brian Pata was shot and killed outside his apartment in the Kendall area of southwest Miami Dade County. He had just returned home from football practice. Pato was a star defensive lineman for the Hurricanes, 6 foot 4, 280 pounds and widely projected to be selected in the 2007 NFL Draft. He'd been with the program for four years and was in the prime of his college career. His death sent shockwaves through the University of Miami and the broader college football world, but despite the high profile nature of the crime, the case went cold. No arrest was made for 15 years. Then in August 2021, authorities arrested Rashawn Jones, now 40 years old, of Lake City, Florida. Jones had been a teammate of Pata's on the Hurricanes. He was charged with second degree murder. Prosecutors alleged that Jones killed Pata out of jealousy, that as Pata's star continued to rise, Jones's own career was stalling. Jones had been suspended from playing after testing positive for marijuana and prosecutors argued his resentment toward Pata test deepened as he watched his teammate thrive over the course of a three week trial. The prosecution laid out what they acknowledged was a largely circumstantial case. Among their key pieces of evidence cell phone records that placed Jones's phone near Pata's apartment on the night of the murder, including a connection to a cell tower located close to the apartment complex. Jones was also absent from a mandatory team meeting held after Patta's murder, which prosecutors highlighted as significant. And they pointed to alleged comments Jo in the locker room about having a.38 on me, which prosecutors argued was a reference to a.38 caliber revolver, not his jersey number. The prosecution also relied on the account of Paul Connor, a former University of Miami English professor who lived in the same apartment complex. In a 2022 deposition video shown to jurors, Connor had told investigators that about 15 to 20 seconds after hearing a loud bang, he saw a man walking toward the apartment complex gate and made eye contact with investigators say seven months after the shooting, Connor picked Jones's photo out of a lineup with 90% certainty. However, Connor was initially presumed deceased before being located alive in Louisville, Kentucky. The judge determined Connor had significant memory issues and was unable to meaningfully testify in person. His previous statements were presented to jurors, but the defense challenged their reliability and wanted a chance to cross examine Connor in person. The defense attacked the case from multiple angles. Attorneys Sarah Alvarez and Christian Maroney argued there was no direct physical evidence linking Jones to the crime. They highlighted what they described as investigative shortcomings, including the quick dismissal of other potential suspects. Among those ruled out was an unidentified person whose fingerprints were found on the hood of Pata's car. The defense also raised the possibility of alternative suspects, including claims involving a hitman and a Haitian gang. Defense attorney attorneys argued that investigators were under intense pressure to solve a high profile cold case and ultimately arrested the wrong man. Jones had reportedly been offered a plea deal that would have required him to plead guilty in exchange for a 15 year prison sentence. He rejected it. When the mistrial was announced Monday, Jones embraced his defense attorneys. Defense attorney Sarah Alvarez said, quote, Mr. Jones continues to be presumed innocent and we will be back to fight this again at the next trial. Pata's mother Janette was visibly distraught, placing her hands over her face as the judge addressed the jury. After the hearing, Pata's brother Edwin spoke to reporters. He called the outcome disappointing and frustrating, especially for their mother and the family members who came to support them. The Pata family said they were told prosecutors planned to seek a new trial. Under Florida law that must happen within 90 days of the mistrial. And as that case resets in Miami, investigators in Oklahoma are piecing together what happened inside a home where a young mother was found dead and her 13 year old son was later taken into custody. Across the state line In Texas, a 13 year old boy is being held in a Texas juvenile detention center tonight as the primary suspect in the shooting death of his own mother in the small town of Colbert oak, Oklahoma on March 2nd. The Bryant County Sheriff's Office identified the victim as 31 year old mother Mallory Clayton in a statement posted to its Facebook page. Because the suspect is a minor, he was not named, but local media, including Oklahoma station KXII, identified the boy as Clayton's son and reported he's been booked on suspicion of first degree murder. On the evening of February 27th, deputies with the Bryant County Sheriff's Office were called to a home in the 500 block of Sims in Colbert. At approximately 6:45pm an individual had arrived at the residence and found Clayton not moving. When deputies arrived and assessed the scene, they confirmed she was deceased. Investigators determined she'd sustained an apparent gunshot wound consistent with homicide, and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation was called in to assist with the probe. During the investigation, OSBI special agents identified the 13 year old as a person of interest. They quickly determined that the boy was no longer at the scene and appeared to be missing. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol issued an emergency missing Person alert that same night. As investigators tracked incoming information, they determined the boy had traveled south of the Oklahoma Texas border. Multiple Texas law enforcement agencies immediately joined the search, including the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Denison Police Department and the Grayson County Sheriff's Office. Grayson county borders Bryant county directly along the state line. Authorities have not said how the boy got to Texas. On the morning of February 28th, at approximately 6:30am Grayson county deputies located the 13 year old and took him into custody without incident. He was transported to a juvenile detention facility in Texas, where he remains as of this recording. Authorities have said there are no other suspects at large. OSBI has said it will provide a full update to the Bryan County District Attorney's Office, which will determine the official charges going forward. Because the suspect is a juvenile, the proceedings are expected to be handled through the juvenile justice system unless prosecutors seek to have the case transferred to adult court. Bryan County Sheriff Joey W. Tucker addressed the case in an emotional statement on March 2, calling Clayton's death heartbreaking. He said a young mother's life was taken and that no family, no friends and no community should ever have to endure something like this. He urged the community to come together as investigators in Oklahoma continue working to understand what happened inside that home. A terrifying scene unfolded on one of the busiest highways in the country when a car crash turned into a deadly stabbing rampage.
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On the afternoon of March 1, what began as a car crash on one of the busiest highways near Washington, D.C. escalated into a mass stabbing that left a woman and her dog dead and three other women hospitalized with serious injuries. The attack brought the Capitol Beltway to a standstill for nearly six hours. Virginia State Police were called to Interstate 495 southbound near Exit 52 in Annandale, Virginia in Fairfax county at approximately 1:17pm for a reported road rage incident. Authorities say a crash had just occurred on the Beltway involving at least two vehicles. After the collision, a man exited one of the vehicles and began stabbing people on the highway and multiple 911 callers reported the attack in real time. On police dispatch audio, someone can be heard saying they were getting multiple calls about a man stabbing several people. Police identified the suspect on Monday as 32 year old Jared Yamato of McLean, Virginia. When a Virginia State Trooper arrived on scene, Yamato confronted the officer while still carrying the knife. The trooper shot Yamato in self defense. Yamato was transported to a hospital where he later died from his injuries. The trooper was not injured and has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, which is standard procedure. A witness who was driving home with his family told CNN he saw a scuffle that he now believes was a stabbing, followed by the trooper pulling up and firing at least two to three shots. The woman killed in the attack was identified as 39 year old Michelle Adams. Her dog was also stabbed to death. The three surviving victims were identified as 36 year old Dana Bunnell, 37 year old Mary C. Flood and 40 year old Heather Miller. All three were hospitalized with serious injuries. Witnesses described a terrifying and chaotic scene. One driver told CNN he saw two damaged cars and people covered in blood. He initially assumed the injuries were from the crash until he spotted a man holding a knife and medevac helicopters were seen landing directly on the Beltway to airlift victims. The southbound lanes of I495 were shut down for hours as first responders worked the scene, creating massive traffic delays across Northern Virginia that lasted into the evening. Authorities have emphasized the attack is not believed to be terrorism related. The crash that preceded the stabbing remains under investigation and now to breaking news out of Georgia where a father has just been found guilty in connection with his son's deadly school shooting. On Tuesday, March 3, a Barrow county jury found 55 year old Colin Gray guilty on all counts in connection with the September 2024 mass shooting at Appalachi High School in Winder, Georgia. The jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning a unanimous verdict. Gray was convicted of two counts of second degree murder in the deaths of 14 year old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of teachers 39 year old Richard Aspinwall and 53 year old Christina E. Along with multiple counts of cruelty to children and reckless conduct. A sentencing date has not been set. Prosecutors argued Gray gave his then 14 year old son Colt Gray an AR15 style rifle as a Christmas present and allowed him unsecured access to the weapon and ammunition. Despite being aware of the boy's deteriorating mental health and a prior FBI visit to their home over online threats linked to school shootings on September 4, 2024, Colt Gray allegedly brought that rifle to Appalachia High School and opened fire, killing two students and two teachers and wounding nine others in an attack that lasted 2:41 seconds, Gray took the stand in his own defense, breaking down as he told jurors he never saw this coming. He called his son a good kid, but acknowledged firearms were stored unsecured in a closet. The prosecution countered that Gray was the only person who had all the information needed to prevent the tragedy and chose not to act on it. Gray was handcuffed and taken from the courtroom. His son, Colt, now 16, has pleaded not guilty and awaits a separate trial. If you're drawn to true crime stories about disappearances, there's a new Crime House show for you to check out. It's the new Crime House original series, the Final Hours, hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Sarah is an advocate for missing and murdered victims whose own sister disappeared in 2001, and Courtney is a true crime storyteller and investigator who witnessed firsthand how crime can change a family forever. Together, they bring lived experience to every case, looking not only at what happened, but what led up to it. Each episode examines the moments just before a person disappears, the routines, the timelines, and the small details that often get overlooked because every disappearance has a moment where everything still feels normal. A text that doesn't raise concern, a routine that goes unchanged, a door that closes just like it always has. Until it doesn't. The final hours puts those moments under a microscope, because when it comes to justice, there's no such thing as overanalyzing. Listen to and follow the final hours on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen. New episodes every Monday. Before you go, let me tell you what else is happening at Crime House today on Clues, we're examining the disappearance of Susan Powell, a case that continues to haunt investigators not only because she was never found, but because of what she left behind. Some cases are solved by a witness, some by a confession, some by forensic breakthroughs years later. And some are shaped by something quieter a letter, a journal entry, a voicemail, a computer file, a timestamp that does not make sense. In certain investigations, the most powerful evidence is not a weapon or a body. It is documentation. It's the trail of thoughts, digital footprints, or recorded words that survive after someone vanishes. When a victim leaves something behind, intentionally or not, that artifact can reshape the entire direction of a case. It can expose. It can contradict a suspect's story. It can reveal fear that no one knew existed. Here are five investigations that hinged not on what was found at the crime scene, but on what was left behind. Number one, Lacey Peterson. The timeline that would not hold In December 2002, Lacey Peterson disappeared from her home in Modesto, California. She was eight months pregnant. Her husband, Scott Peterson, told police that he'd gone fishing alone on Christmas Eve while she walked the family dog. At first glance, there was no violent crime scene There was no obvious sign of forced entry. The case unfolded through interviews, media attention, and careful reconstruction of the day she vanished. What ultimately shifted the investigation was not a single dramatic piece of forensic evidence. It was the timeline. Phone records, marina receipts, boat purchases, witness statements. The sequence of Scott Peterson's movements began to tighten around him. His claim that he had spontaneously decided to go fishing was contradicted by evidence that he had purchased a boat in secret weeks earlier. Then there were the recorded phone calls between Scott and his mistress, Amber Fry. While Lacy was missing and national searches were underway, Scott told Amber he was traveling abroad and spending holidays in Europe. The calm tone of those calls, preserved and later played publicly, shaped perception and prosecution strategy. They exposed duplicity and undermined his narrative of shock and grief. In this case, what was left behind was not a suicide note or a diary entry. It was digital and documentary evidence, proof of planning and deception embedded in routine records. The timeline told a story long before the bodies were recovered. Number two, Drew Patterson. The recordings that undercut the narrative. When Kathleen Savio was found dead in her bathtub in 2004, the death was initially ruled accidental. Her ex husband, former police sergeant Drew Peterson, did not face immediate charges. Years later, after Patterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in 2007, scrutiny intensified. Investigators reopened Savio's death and began examining Peterson's behavior across multiple relationships. The turning point in the case came not from a crime scene discovery, but from recorded conversations. Undercover officers and cooperating witnesses recorded Peterson speaking about Savio's death. In those recordings, he made statements that prosecutors argued amounted to incriminating admissions. The recordings contradicted his public Persona and revealed inconsistencies in his explanations. The existence of those preserved words altered the trajectory of the investigation. They provided insight into his mindset and allowed prosecutors to introduce statements that would otherwise have been dismissed as hearsay. The case demonstrated the evidentiary power of documentation. Once a person's own words are captured and replayed, they become difficult to reinterpret. The recordings did not simply supplement the case, they reshaped it. Number 3 Elaine O' Hara the phone that preserved the truth In 2012, Irish child care worker Elaine O' Hara disappeared. Months later, items belonging to her were discovered in a reservoir in County Wicklow, including personal belongings and mobile phones. Digital forensics became central to the investigation. Text messages exchanged between o' Hara and architect Graham Dwi revealed a deeply troubling dynamic involving manipulation and explicit discussions of violence. Those messages, preserved in phone memory and backed up in telecommunications records, allowed investigators to reconstruct not only the timeline of their interactions, but the psychological context of the relationship. The texts demonstrated intent. They contradicted claims of accidental harm. They revealed premeditation in language that was difficult to reinterpret once displayed in court. In this case, what was left behind was digital conversation words stored invisibly in devices people carry every day. Without those messages, the prosecution's narrative would have been far weaker. Technology had quietly recorded what one party may have believed would remain private. The phone did not simply support the case. It became the backbone of it. Number four, the Golden State Killer DNA preserved for decades between the 1970s and 1980s, a serial offender committed a series of burglaries, rapes, and murders across California. For years, the perpetrator evaded identification. He was known by several names. The East Area Rapist, the Original Night Stalker, and the Golden State Killer. What ultimately broke the case was not a new witness or confession. It was preserved biological evidence. Crime scene examples collected decades earlier were stored and later analyzed using advanced forensic genetic genealogy. Investigators uploaded DNA profiles to public genealogy databases, identified distant relatives, and constructed family trees to narrow potential suspects. The crucial element in this case was what had been left behind at crime scenes decades earlier. At the time of collection, the technology to identify the perpetrator did not exist. However, the decision to preserve evidence made resolution possible. Years later, the Golden State Killer case illustrates how evidence can wait. What appears insufficient at one moment may become decisive later. Sometimes what is left behind is not meant to be discovered immediately. It is discovered when science catches up. Number five. Chris Watts. The body camera footage that shifted the case. In August 2018, Shanann Watts and her two young daughters were reported missing in Colorado. Chris Watts appeared on television pleading for their return. His demeanor was composed. He spoke in measured tones. And however, law enforcement body camera footage recorded inside the Watts home began to tell a different story. Officers captured Watts shifting posture, his visible anxiety, and his inconsistent explanations as they searched the property. Later, during interrogation, investigators confronted him with evidence and observed behavioral changes that were preserved on video. The footage, along with surveillance video from a neighbor's camera, provided a visual timeline that contradicted Watts's early statements. When he eventually confessed, it was not solely because of a single piece of physical evidence. It was because his own behavior, recorded and replayed, undermined his narrative. In this case, what was left behind was digital surveillance and preserved reactions. The camera became a silent witness. The public later saw what investigators saw in real time. A story unraveling under its own contradictions. Why what is left behind matters? Physical evidence has always been central to criminal investigations. However, modern cases increasingly hinge on documentation written, recorded, stored, timestamped. A letter can reveal fear that was never voiced aloud. A journal can expose control or obsession. A voicemail can contradict a timeline. A search history can reveal intent. A preserved DNA sample can speak, leak decades later. In some investigations, the body is never found. The crime scene is incomplete. The suspect maintains innocence, but the record remains. What's left behind often strips away performance. It freezes a moment in time before a narrative can be polished. It captures intent before it can be denied. Investigators follow these traces not only because they're dramatic, but because they are durable words written in private files, stored quietly. Biological material preserved in evidence lockers. They wait. The disappearance of Susan Powell remains one of the most disturbing, unresolved cases in recent American history. She was never found. There was no traditional crime scene that offered immediate answers. But she left behind records, documentation, pieces of her life that would later shape how the investigation unfolded and how the public understood the dynamics inside her home. For the full examination of what Susan Powell left behind and how those details continue to reshape the case, listen to today's episode of Clues. Because sometimes the most powerful evidence is not what investigators discover. It's what someone never meant to leave behind at all. You've been listening to Crime House 24 7, bringing you breaking crime news. I'm Vanessa Richardson. We'll be back tomorrow morning with more developing stories. Stay safe, and thanks for listening. Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax. And let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Contacts. Oh, my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe.
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