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Speaker 1: Crime Alert, hourly update, Breaking crime news Now. I'm Jennifer Gould,

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Speaker 1: a Florida cheerleader's lifeless body lay stuffed under a cruise

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Speaker 1: ship bed while her younger brother slept just feet away,

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Speaker 1: unaware that his own sixteen year old step brother had

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Speaker 1: allegedly strangled her in a bar hold and hidden her

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Speaker 1: under a pile of life vests. The high seas Wore

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Speaker 1: reached a fever pitch Tuesday, as homicide charges were finally

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Speaker 1: confirmed against the miner for the brutal November seventh, twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty five slang of eighteen year old Anna Kepner aboard

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Speaker 1: the Carnival Horizon. In a development that has triggered a

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Speaker 1: wave of grief and outrage, the teen suspect walked out

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Speaker 1: of a Miami federal court on pre trial release, even

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Speaker 1: as autopsy results reveal a killing so savage the victim

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Speaker 1: was left left with deep visible bruising on her neck.

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Speaker 1: Here's reporters confronting the teen and his attorney outside the courthouse.

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Speaker 2: Can you tell us the stat of his release terms?

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Speaker 3: Is it being remanded anywhere?

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Speaker 2: Can federal prosecutors detain a juvenile?

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Speaker 1: The details of Anna's final moments in international waters are

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Speaker 1: nothing short of a nightmare. The Titusville High School senior,

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Speaker 1: who was set to join the Navy after graduation, was

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Speaker 1: found wrapped in a blanket by a housekeeper after missing

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Speaker 1: a family breakfast. A medical examiner confirmed she was murdered

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Speaker 1: via mechanical asphyxia, fighting for her life as she was

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Speaker 1: silenced in the state room she shared with her accused

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Speaker 1: killer chillingly, The younger brother in the adjacent room reported

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Speaker 1: hearing the sounds of a struggle, yelling, and chairs being thrown.

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Speaker 1: Grieving parents, Chris and Chantelle Kepner, blasted the courts uote

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Speaker 1: unquote disturbing decision to let the suspect walk free until

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Speaker 1: a public trial is set. The family remains in agony,

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Speaker 1: stating it is quote unquote devastating that the individual responsible

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Speaker 1: has not yet been held fully accountable. The FBI and

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Speaker 1: US Attorney's Office seized exclusive jurisdiction over the high Seas

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Speaker 1: horror because it occurred in international waters, yet the case

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Speaker 1: remains strictly under sealed to protect juvenile privacy because the

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Speaker 1: sixteen year old is being charged as a minor. The

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Speaker 1: federal indictment and specific evidence remains shielded from public view,

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Speaker 1: leaving the community in the dark while the family awaits

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Speaker 1: the next closed door hearing in the Quest for Justice.

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Speaker 1: More Crime and Justice news.

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Speaker 4: After this, the trial of Corey Ritchins took a dramatic

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Speaker 4: turn when the housekeeper, Carmen Loeber, took the witness stand

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Speaker 4: and revealed shocking details about Corey's alleged request for drugs

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Speaker 4: prior to her husband, Eric's death. Following the lunch break,

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Speaker 4: Labarre admitted to having spoken with investigators about the case

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Speaker 4: without any form of immunity, driven by a sense of

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Speaker 4: guilt regarding her potential involvement in Eric's death. When I

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Speaker 4: learned that Eric had died from an overdose, it struck

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Speaker 4: me hard. If that's indeed what happened, I felt compelled

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Speaker 4: to own up to my part of that, she said.

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Speaker 4: During her testimony. Under questioning from the prosecution, the woman

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Speaker 4: recounted that Corey had solicited her for drugs on four

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Speaker 4: different occasions, even giving her money to buy fitanael. She

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Speaker 4: mentioned that Corey later came back seeking something quote even stronger,

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Speaker 4: specifically requesting the Michael Jackson stuff, referring to a potent

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Speaker 4: form of drugs. The housekeeper detailed how she procured those

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Speaker 4: stronger substances from her regular dealer. After Eric's death, she

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Speaker 4: confronted Corey, asking her directly if the appeals were intended

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Speaker 4: for Eric. Corey reassured her no, they were not for him.

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Speaker 4: He passed away from a brain aneurysm. The fourth day

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Speaker 4: of the trial began with the defense's final cross examination

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Speaker 4: of lead crime scene investigator Chelsea Gibson. Gibson disclosed that

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Speaker 4: her team returned to the rich AND's residence on November

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Speaker 4: seventh under a search warrant to retrieve a letter found

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Speaker 4: at the foot of Eric's side of the bed. She

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Speaker 4: confirmed that the letter was not present during the initial

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Speaker 4: crime scene investigation and in previous searches. Next to testify

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Speaker 4: was toxicology doctor Brienna Peterson, who confirmed that a lethal

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Speaker 4: dose of fentanil is around three nanograms per millileter, and

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Speaker 4: Eric's toxicology report showed he had fifteen nanograms in his system. Additionally,

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Speaker 4: she indicated that fentanyl, the illicit drug, was also detected

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Speaker 4: in Eric's gastro example, doctor Peterson testified that Eric's body

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Speaker 4: contained nineteen hundred milligrams of alcohol, noting that while fourteen

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Speaker 4: thousand milligrams typically equates to the alcohol in a standard drink.

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Speaker 4: It was uncertain if the alcohol found was from consumption

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Speaker 4: or the result of decomposition. Detective Frank Root later testified

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Speaker 4: about retrieving two phones from Robert Grossman, Corey Richan's boyfriend,

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Speaker 4: which were both inoperative at the time. Grossman claimed he

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Speaker 4: had accidentally broken them. However, Route later managed to get

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Speaker 4: the phones functioning. Brian Holden of the Utah State Crime

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Speaker 4: Lab testified regarding the testing of numerous items for fentanyl,

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Speaker 4: stating that he did not find any traces of fentanyl

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Speaker 4: in the submitted evidence from the home. When the defense

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Speaker 4: inquired about an empty hydrocodone pel bottle, Holden replied that

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Speaker 4: no such bottle had been submitted for his examination. The

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Speaker 4: housekeeper's testimony was powerful when she talked about Corey asking

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Speaker 4: for those when they.

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Speaker 5: Had first told me that when they first mentioned that Eric,

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Speaker 5: I already knew Eric had passed away. But when they

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Speaker 5: told when they had mentioned that it was from an overdose,

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Speaker 5: that hit hard only for the fact that if that's

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Speaker 5: what happened, I needed to just step up and take

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Speaker 5: accountability of my part in this. Still happened and what

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Speaker 5: I was asked for.

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Speaker 2: I'm Drew Nelson. A child rapist in California walks out

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Speaker 2: of prison on the state's elderly parole program and walks

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Speaker 2: right into another set of handcuffs. Sixty four year old

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Speaker 2: David Allen Funston was scheduled for release after decades behind bars,

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Speaker 2: but Plaster County investigators were waiting. With a no bail

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Speaker 2: warrant tied to a separate child sex assault case from

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Speaker 2: nineteen ninety six, authorities immediately transferred him from state custody

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Speaker 2: to the county jail. The elderly parole law requires the

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Speaker 2: convict to be over fifty after serving at least twenty years.

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Speaker 2: The parole decision sparked outrage across the Sacramento region. Sheriff

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Speaker 2: Jim Cooper publicly blasted the release.

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Speaker 3: What the hell is going on in California?

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Speaker 5: In California, it's a battle after battle.

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Speaker 3: Would it come to our children?

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Speaker 2: Funston had been sentenced in nineteen ninety nine to three

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Speaker 2: life terms plus additional time for kidnapping and sexually assaulting

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Speaker 2: multiple children, all under the age of seven. He became

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Speaker 2: eligible for release under California's Elderly Parole program after serving

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Speaker 2: more than twenty years. Plasser County District Attorney Morgan Geyer

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Speaker 2: shared his incredulity that Funston could walk free. Speaking to KTXL,

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Speaker 2: no one ever would imagine that at sixty four years old,

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Speaker 2: he would be released after being granted parole for the

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Speaker 2: crimes he committed. That earlier case involved an alleged loot

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Speaker 2: act against a child under the age of fourteen. At

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Speaker 2: the time, prosecutors dropped it because the life sentences were

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Speaker 2: expected to keep him locked away permanently, but once parole

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Speaker 2: became a reality, they moved quickly.

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Speaker 3: We felt obligated to look into our case. When we

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Speaker 3: realized that we were within the statute of limitations and

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Speaker 3: could still potentially file, we did what we needed to

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Speaker 3: do in the background to make sure legally we were sufficient.

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Speaker 2: Victims also speaking out, including one survivor, Amelia, who tells

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Speaker 2: the TV station she was a young child at the

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Speaker 2: time of the crimes he committed against her.

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Speaker 3: I don't think that he should be out for you,

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Speaker 3: because he's a pedophile, for one, and that's a danger.

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Speaker 5: Just then.

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Speaker 2: Investigators say the original crime stretched across several Sacramento area

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Speaker 2: communities including North Highlands, Foothill Farms and Roseville. Authorities say

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Speaker 2: the victims were extremely young, seven girls and one boy,

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Speaker 2: and were approached in neighborhoods and residential areas. Detectives say

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Speaker 2: Funston used familiar tactics to gain trust, offering children toys

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Speaker 2: and candy before abducting them. In one case, a child

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Speaker 2: was taken far from home and later left about fifteen

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Speaker 2: miles away in a rural area. Funston now remains behind

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Speaker 2: bars awaiting arraignment on the newly filed charge. He is

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Speaker 2: now expected to appear early next week in Plaster County

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Speaker 2: Superior Court where a judge will formerly read the new charge.

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Speaker 1: I'm Jennifer Gould. A devoted fifty seven year old father

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Speaker 1: who spent decades serving his community as a temple cook,

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Speaker 1: was hunted down and butchered in a heart stopping case

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Speaker 1: of mistaken identity, leaving behind six month old triplets. This

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Speaker 1: fellow church member and friend, Rosslyn Khur, spoke to ABC ten.

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Speaker 5: His family is in shock. Everyone is concerned. They are

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Speaker 5: looking for justice.

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Speaker 1: Avtar Sing a beloved fixture at the Gurdwara Gourna nak

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Speaker 1: Parkash temple in Tracy, California, was ambushed in broad daylight

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Speaker 1: by three masked predators. Chilling surveillance footage captured the moment

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Speaker 1: the trio pounced on Singh at two point thirty pm,

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Speaker 1: overpowering the resisting father before bundling him into a white

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Speaker 1: suv and just vanishing. The horror of the abduction was

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Speaker 1: compounded by a gut wrenching scene at the family's home

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Speaker 1: on the temple grounds. Singh's wife returned from work at

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Speaker 1: nine PM to a haunting silence, discovering her premature triplets,

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Speaker 1: who had only recently returned home from a grueling hospital stay.

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Speaker 1: They were left completely alone. The discovery triggered a frantic

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Speaker 1: search that ended in tragedy. Nearly one hundred miles away,

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Speaker 1: on February twentieth, Napa County deputies stumbled upon Singh's body

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Speaker 1: dumped in a rugged ravine near Highway one twenty eight

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Speaker 1: and Lake Barisa. San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Wiro confirmed

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Speaker 1: at the news conference that this was not a random

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Speaker 1: act and that Singh was an entirely innocent victim.

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Speaker 3: From our investigations so far, it appears that the person

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Speaker 3: that was taken is unrelated to the person that they

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Speaker 3: were actually trying to find there and take.

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Speaker 1: Investigators believe the killers were actually hunting someone else and

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Speaker 1: fumbled the hit, snatching and slaying the wrong man. Singh

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Speaker 1: had served as the temple's head cook and handyman for

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Speaker 1: twenty three years, known for his humility and quiet dedication.

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Speaker 1: As of now, all three killers remain on the run

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Speaker 1: and unidentified. Authorities have not released the cause of death,

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Speaker 1: but the me has completed an autopsy. As part of

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Speaker 1: the ongoing homicide investigation, A gofund me has been launched

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Speaker 1: to support the widowed mom and the triplets, who will

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Speaker 1: now grow up without the father who celebrated their miracle

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Speaker 1: birth just months ago. Anyone with information is urged to

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Speaker 1: please contact the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office at two

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Speaker 1: zero nine four six eight forty four hundred for the

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Speaker 1: latest crime and justice news. Followed the Crime Alert hourly

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

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Speaker 1: I'm Jennifer Gould.