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Speaker 1: Crime Alart hourly update breaking crime news Now. I'm Nicole Parton.

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Speaker 1: A retired sergeant of the Detroit Police Department who served

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Speaker 1: nearly three decades on the force, is now in custody

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Speaker 1: facing serious allegations of multiple sexual assaults and kidnappings that

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Speaker 1: occurred many years ago. Benjamin Martin Wagner, sixty eight, has

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Speaker 1: been charged with eight counts the first degree criminal sexual

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Speaker 1: conduct and five counts of kidnapping. Prosecutors alleged that between

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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine and two thousand and three, he abducted

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Speaker 1: and assaulted five women and girls in northwest Detroit. The victims,

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Speaker 1: aged between fifteen and twenty three, were reportedly targeted while

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Speaker 1: they were walking to school, returning from work, or heading

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Speaker 1: to visit friends. Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy highlighted the

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Speaker 1: disturbing nature of the case during a press conference, saying,

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Speaker 1: the troubling truth is that the individual we are charging

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Speaker 1: has lived a double life as a police officer and

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Speaker 1: a serial rapist.

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Speaker 2: And the commonalities were they were walking to school or

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Speaker 2: home from work, or simply go into a friend's house.

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Speaker 2: These happened in the early morning hours, mostly all on

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Speaker 2: the Detroit's northwest side. He utilized isolation and force. He

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Speaker 2: was armed with a handgun In each and every case,

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Speaker 2: he threatened their lives if they reported, and he did

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Speaker 2: not use a condom any of the assaults. We are

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Speaker 2: in our I think twenty fifth year I could be

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Speaker 2: wrong on that. In investigating these unsolved the sexual assault

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Speaker 2: caiss that were in the Detroit police warehouse that we

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Speaker 2: found in two thousand and nine, so this case is

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Speaker 2: part and parcel of all the work that's been done

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Speaker 2: in that case.

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Speaker 1: Were they noted, the similarities among the five incidents were striking.

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Speaker 1: These assaults occurred primarily in the morning hours of Detroit's

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Speaker 1: northwest side. The victims were isolated and threatened with force.

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Speaker 1: In every instance, he was armed with a handgun, and

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Speaker 1: he warned them against reporting the assaults. The charges emerged

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Speaker 1: following the testing of nearly eleven thousand sexual assault kits

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Speaker 1: collected between nineteen eighty four in two thousand and nine,

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Speaker 1: which had been discovered in a Detroit Police Department warehouse

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine. Wagner was part of the

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Speaker 1: Detroit Police Department from nineteen eighty nine until he retired

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Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen. During his tenure, he served in various roles,

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Speaker 1: including positions in the tenth and second Precincts, Investigative Operations,

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Speaker 1: tactical Services, and the Commercial Auto Theft Unit, earning multiple

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Speaker 1: awards and accolades. After retirement, Wagner relocated to Greenville, North Carolina,

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Speaker 1: where he was arrested on Tuesday. Authorities indicate that he

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Speaker 1: is scheduled to return to Detroit to face the charges

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Speaker 1: next week. Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison condemned the case

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Speaker 1: as disturbing. The actions of defendant Wagner do not reflect

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Speaker 1: the integrity, values or mission of the Detroit Police Department.

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Speaker 1: Prosecutor worthy as urging anyone who may have been a

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Speaker 1: victim of to reach out to the Detroit Police Sex

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Speaker 1: Crimes Unit. More crime and justice news after this and

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Speaker 1: now to Georgia. A twenty nine year old man has

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Speaker 1: been charged with the murder of his longtime friend, allegedly

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Speaker 1: shooting him in front of his wife after an inappropriate

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Speaker 1: encounter during a car ride. Brandon Dale Frick faces multiple charges,

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Speaker 1: including malice, murder, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and possession

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Speaker 1: of a firearm during the commission of a crime. This

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Speaker 1: in connection with the death of his friend, thirty five

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Speaker 1: year old Jacob Garrett Cothrine. The way Cross Police Department

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Speaker 1: responded to a shooting incident around eight twenty pm near

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Speaker 1: the intersection of Snellsville Street and Old Brunel Street. Upon arrival,

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Speaker 1: they found Cothrine suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was

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Speaker 1: pronounced dead at the scene. As police were responding, they

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Speaker 1: spotted Frick a short distance. He was armed and appeared

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Speaker 1: to be attempting to run, but was taken into custody.

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Speaker 1: He was subsequently transported to the Ware County Jail, where

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Speaker 1: he was charged with murder. Buffy Cothine, Jacob's wife, recounted

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Speaker 1: the tragic events to Jacksonville affiliate WTLV, stating that she

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Speaker 1: was driving when the shooting happened. She explained that the

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Speaker 1: couple had been giving Frick, whom Jacob regarded as a

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Speaker 1: childhood lifetime friend, a ride, when Frick inappropriately touched her arm,

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Speaker 1: prompting her to pull over on the street just outside

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Speaker 1: a church. According to Buffy, her husband confronted Frick, demanding

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Speaker 1: he'd get out of the car and refused to drive him.

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Speaker 1: He became disrespectful, she said. She vividly recalled the harrowing

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Speaker 1: moments that followed. Brandon pulled out a gun and shot

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Speaker 1: Jacob once. As my husband fell to the ground, Brandon

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Speaker 1: told him get up and take me home. Jacob raised

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Speaker 1: his hand and pleaded, no, Brandon, please stop. We don't

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Speaker 1: have to do this. When Brandon realized Jacob couldn't get up,

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Speaker 1: he shot him again and then casually walked away without

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Speaker 1: any signs of remorse. Buffy described her husband as a vibrant,

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Speaker 1: outgoing person who had worked diligently to turn his life around.

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Speaker 1: The couple, who married in twenty four had bonded over

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Speaker 1: their shared journey of recovery from addiction. Buffy noted that

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Speaker 1: Jacob had been out of prison for two years, during

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Speaker 1: which he had made significant improvements in his life, including

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Speaker 1: securing a job with Waycross Public Works, receiving multiple promotions,

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Speaker 1: and planning to pursue a college education. He brought me

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Speaker 1: love and stability, something I had never experienced, she said.

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Speaker 1: Frick is currently being held without bond as the investigation continues.

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Speaker 1: For the latest crime and justice news, follow Crime Alert

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Speaker 1: hourly update on your favorite podcasting app with this crime Alert.

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Speaker 1: I'm Nicole parton