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Speaker 1: Crime Alert. I'm Nancy Grace, breaking crimes now. Brandy Elliott

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Speaker 1: spends a week at her Tennessee home alone with her

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Speaker 1: seven year old daughter Piper. Her husband, John is in

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Speaker 1: the hospital. Elliott draws Piper a bath, hoping for alone

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Speaker 1: time for herself, but Piper asked Mommy to stay and

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Speaker 1: help her instead. Brandy Elliott holds Piper under the water

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Speaker 1: for minutes. When Piper stops struggling, Elliott calls nine one

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Speaker 1: one to start CPR, but the seven year old little

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Speaker 1: girl is dead.

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Speaker 2: Nancy Elliott and Piper had just been to visit John Elliott,

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Speaker 2: a disabled veteran, after he was moved from critical care.

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Speaker 2: Piper plastered her father's room with coloring book pages and

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Speaker 2: well wishes. Just a few hours later, Piper was killed.

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Speaker 2: Brandy Elliott claims to have previous issues with mental health,

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Speaker 2: but her attorneys do not want her to undergo an

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Speaker 2: evaluation at this time.

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Speaker 1: Brandy Elliott thirty three, now charged with murder. Matthew Pancake

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Speaker 1: breaks into multiple Ohio businesses like a shoe store, a restaurant,

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Speaker 1: a pet store, and every time he's always wearing leper print.

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Speaker 1: One ZPJS cops Hot on his trail, had to take

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Speaker 1: a brief pause to wrangle bunnies, birds, puppies and a

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Speaker 1: ferret running loose in the parking lot. Officers finally find

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Speaker 1: pancakes sleeping on a bench nearby. A brief search reveals

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Speaker 1: four gerbils hidden in pancakes pajama pockets. None of the

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Speaker 1: animals are hurt, but pancakes taken to the hospital to

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Speaker 1: get several bites and scratches looked at. Matthew Pancake thirty one,

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Speaker 1: now charged with breaking and entering in vandalism? What about

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Speaker 1: ferret kidnap? More crime and justice news after this Now

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Speaker 1: with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Onlines

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Speaker 1: John Lemley.

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Speaker 3: A seventy six year old Connecticut woman, has been found

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Speaker 3: dead at her Burlington home, just hours before she was

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Speaker 3: scheduled to be sentenced for the killing of her husband.

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Speaker 3: We turned to Sydney Sumner of Crime Online for more.

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Speaker 2: Connecticut State Police are investigating Linda Kassuda Biggatzi's quote untimely death,

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Speaker 2: which occurred after officers were called to her residence for

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Speaker 2: a welfare check. Kasuda Bagatsi had reached a plea deal

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Speaker 2: and was expected to be sentenced to thirteen years in

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Speaker 2: prison for the twenty seventeen death of her eighty four

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Speaker 2: year old husband, doctor par Luigi Bigatzi, a professor at

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Speaker 2: Yukon Health. In March, she pleaded guilty to manslaughter and larceny,

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Speaker 2: having initially been charged with murder. She was free on

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Speaker 2: more than one point five million dollars bail. In writings

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Speaker 2: founded her home Kasuda, Bagatzi claimed she killed her husband

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Speaker 2: with a hammer and self defense during a dispute over

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Speaker 2: home repairs. Police discovered doctor Bigotzi's body in the couple's

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Speaker 2: basement in February twenty eighteen, wrapped in plastic showing advanced decomposition.

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Speaker 2: The medical examiner determined the cause of death was blunt

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Speaker 2: trauma to the head. Investigators believed doctor Bagotzi died in

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Speaker 2: July twenty seventeen, and his paid The checks continued to

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Speaker 2: be deposited into a joint account until his body was found.

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Speaker 3: An internal investigation at Yukon resulted in disciplinary action against

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Speaker 3: a medical official who failed to monitor doctor Bigatzi's work

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Speaker 3: during that period. Now to Texas, where a former US

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Speaker 3: Army employee has been sentenced after stealing nearly one hundred

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Speaker 3: nine million dollars to fund a lavish lifestyle. Once again

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Speaker 3: crime online Sidney Sumner.

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Speaker 2: Fifty seven year old Janet Yamanaka Melo was sentenced to

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Speaker 2: fifteen years in federal prison after admitting to embezzling nearly

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Speaker 2: one hundred and nine million dollars from a youth development

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Speaker 2: program for children of military families. Mello, a former financial

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Speaker 2: manager at Fort sam Houston and San Antonio, used the

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Speaker 2: stolen funds to support a lavish lifestyle, purchasing luxury items

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Speaker 2: including multiple mansions, a fleet of high end vehicles, and

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Speaker 2: designer accessories. US District Judge Xavier Rodriguez handed down the

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Speaker 2: sentence after Mello pleaded guilty in March to multiple counts

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Speaker 2: of mail fraud and filing false tax returns. The court

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Speaker 2: heard that Melo had created a fictitious organization named Child

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Speaker 2: Health and Youth Lifelong Development to siphon grant money from

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Speaker 2: the military program, submitting over forty fraudulent applications over six years.

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Speaker 2: US Attorney Jamie Esparza for the Western District of Texas

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Speaker 2: described Melo's actions as a profound betrayal of trust, highlighting

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Speaker 2: her exploitation of her position and expertise. Melo's extravagant spending

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Speaker 2: included a single day purchase of nine hundred and twenty

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Speaker 2: three thousand dollars in jewelry in twenty twenty two, in

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Speaker 2: the acquisition of eighty two vehicles, including a Maserati Mercedes

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Speaker 2: in a vintage nineteen fifty four corvette. Melo's defense attorney,

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Speaker 2: Albert Flores, stated that his client is remorseful and intends

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Speaker 2: for the items bought with the stolen funds to be

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Speaker 2: sold to repay the government. He also mentioned that the

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Speaker 2: defense does not plan to appeal the sentence.

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Speaker 3: This case has drawn close attention due to the scale

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Speaker 3: of the theft and the breach of trust involved, with

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Speaker 3: prosecutors noting that Mela all of his actions were facilitated

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Speaker 3: by her deep knowledge of the grant system and the

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Speaker 3: trust she had built within her workplace.

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Speaker 1: Thanks John Jacqueline Jackie Rays thirty, moves to Boyt In Beach,

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Speaker 1: Florida to get to know her bio dad, Denzil Dixon.

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Speaker 1: She quickly becomes close with her aunt Joy Dixon, then

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Speaker 1: moves in with her. Two months later, Denzel passes away

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Speaker 1: from a terminal illness. Jackie doesn't take it well and

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Speaker 1: begins to lash out at the ant. They argue often,

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Speaker 1: especially over Jackie's unemployment, as the aunt Joy struggles to

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Speaker 1: keep up with the bills. After one argument, Jackie storms

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Speaker 1: out of the house with a purse and laptop. Joy

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Speaker 1: assumes she's taking the night to Blue Off Steam, but

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Speaker 1: Jackie never comes back. Police believe Jackie is still in

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Speaker 1: the area, but have not been able to confirm she's safe.

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Speaker 1: Jackie Rays missing two years, five eight, one hundred and

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Speaker 1: ten pounds, brown eyes, brown curly hair. Anyone with info

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Speaker 1: on j Jackie Reyes called Paul Beach, Florida Sheriffs five

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Speaker 1: six one six eight eight three seven four zero. For

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Speaker 1: the latest crime injustice news, go to crimeonline dot com

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Speaker 1: and join us on our daily podcast, Crime Stories with

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Speaker 1: this crime alert. I'm Missy Grace.