question. of course. tell us if you're from vallejo or vallejo. you can see yourself on our o'malley joe. there you go. send us a message or comment on instagram or tiktok. yeah, see you back here next time. i'm ana garcia right now on true crime news. an emotional new police video of madeleine soto's mom talking about the man accused of killing her daughter. >> does your role in her life lead this to happen? i'll be honest, yes. >> i know why did she let her 13

year old daughter sleep in the same bed as her ex-boyfriend? >> the shocking discovery on his phone. and now she's got some explaining to do. then an update on the gabby petito case. newly released body cam video. after her disappearance as her killer boyfriend brian laundrie was ducking detectives, did his parents stonewall police? >> well, brian is here. brian is here. >> plus, a beautiful and successful mother murdered. >> she wasn't just a daughter. she was my best friend. >> her mother, a former detective on the hunt for her killer. >> i decided to take matters into my own hands. >> following the clues wherever they lead your daily source for true crime starts right now. welcome to true crime news. let's get right to our top story. we start with newly released interrogation video from a case that we brought you

last week. sheriffs investigating the homicide of 13 year old madelyn soto released extraordinary footage of their interview with her mom, jen, and it's renewed questions about what jen knew. it is early morning in kissimmee, florida, and homicide detectives have been grilling jennifer soto for over an hour. >> should he be charged with murder? yes, please. does your role in her life lead this to happen? i'll be honest, yes. >> i know. >> two days earlier, jennifer's ex-boyfriend stephen stearns was arrested for possessing over 700 homemade images of her missing daughter, madeleine. the material was found on a cloud drive linked to his phone. sheriffs also believe he is responsible for 13 year old madeleine's murder, her cause of death, strangulation. >> i don't know why she noé

everyone already knows that's not possible. >> 911. what's the location of your emergency? i'm reporting a missing child just days earlier. >> police received a call from jennifer herself saying her daughter was missing. but before long, they learned madeleine had been sharing a bed unsupervised with stearns in her own mother's home for years. >> that's the day you found out he was a predator? yeah >> but when investigators shared graphic evidence with jen in the hopes that she will turn on stearns, she unexpectedly calls stearns father and tells him to hire stephen, a lawyer. >> and after you found out he was a predator, did you not say he needed a lawyer and sheriff's wonder? >> are they talking to a grieving mother or an accessory in the rape and murder of a 13 year old child? >> they showed you a picture of

it, and you still protected him. so how am i supposed to not think that the thought process in your mind is until she's found? stephen can't be charged with murder. >> i knew that that was true. right? that's evidence. that's for real. that's happening. but i kept thinking. no, he didn't kill her. not that he didn't kill her, but she's still missing. she's still out there. she was taken. i was in shock. >> no, it's not shock. that is your natural instinct to protect stephen. >> it's not the first time detectives witnessed jen going into what she calls shock. when confronted with the possible truth about stearns and her daughter. when first shown evidence of stephen allegedly sexually assaulting maddie, sex crimes detectives note that jen didn't recognize anything in the picture, as if she was in denial. and then there is this odd statement she gave detectives. i was very vigilant for the first few years of how

he would interact with her and what he would do, and i would question if anything was weird, but nothing ever was truly here. >> i've never seen any signs. i tried watching her like a hawk. i thought i was doing a good job, but i wasn't. i was oblivious to everything. four years minimum. >> that's just how far back the clown goes. >> after two hours of questioning, jennifer soto eventually comes around helping police zero in on the region where stearns likely left madeleine's body. the teen was found on the side of a road in a remote region of saint cloud, florida. >> jennifer then admits, i don't care about him. i want him to go to jail. i want the worst thing possible to happen to him in jail. i know what happens to predators in jail. like i'm ready for that. like, please, i don't give a about him. i'm not protecting him. he treated her like like he treats you. >> djuse bystrom.

>> detectives have not filed criminal charges against jen soto. stearns faces the death penalty for homicide in a trial slated to begin next month. in our true crime news poll. we want to know what you think. should jennifer soto face criminal charges in connection with her daughter's death? weigh in on true crime news.com. where you can also watch the full police interrogation. we have an update on the gabby petito stor. you may remember she went on a cross-country adventure with her boyfriend brian laundrie, documenting it all on social media. then she went missing and was found dead. murdered by laundrie. now, three years later, newly released body cam video by police shows how his parents reacted during the investigation. in the video, brian's parents are seen refusing to cooperate with officers looking for gabby petito after she went missing. >> you don't want to talk to us.

>> despite officers pleas to help provide any information that might shed light on the case, laundrie's parents, christopher and roberta, remain tight lipped. laundrie committed suicide and penned a handwritten note admitting to murdering petito. when we come back, a stunning single mom murdered and her mother, a former cop, hunts down her killer. >> i decided to take matters into my own hands. >> do you have a coffee? smile. drinking coffee causes yellow teeth for thousands of people. just like you. and whitening toothpaste just doesn't make those stains go away. introducing power swabs. the first teeth whitening system that lifts coffee stains off your teeth in less than five minutes. >> i've smoked. i've drank coffee. i drink red wine and using power swabs, it's made a difference. people ask me, what do you do to whiten your teeth? and i'm really proud to tell them that i use power swabs. >> the secret is a tooth detergent and whitening agent

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♪ no one lays a finger on your butterfinger. now we turn to our next story. krystal mitchell seemed to have it all beauty, brains, and two adorable children. and when she met her mr. right, it felt like she had found the missing piece that she'd been looking for in her life. how could such a perfect fairy tale end in such a horrible tragedy? >> she wasn't just a daughter. she was my best friend. >> you know? it's just i don't have that person anymore. >> when? then? 30 year old krystal mitchell turned up murdered in san diego, california, it was a stunning twist. her own mother, a former detective forced to use her law enforcement background to hunt down her daughter's killer. >> i decided to take matters into my own hands. it would take

six years, but josephine would uncover vital new clues, helping homicide investigators zero in on the man wanted for krystal's murder, no matter how far he fled. >> so you welcome her help? >> absolutely. >> the divorced mom was raising two young children on her own, living her life on her terms, and to know her was to love her. >> she always just had a way with people and cheering them up and encouraging them with her personality. >> smart and successful, to working as a property manager in phoenix, arizona, while preparing to become a licensed broker. >> she was a go getter, but she had her own mind and her own idea of what what things should be like. >> that also applied to all those male admirers who pursued the brainy beauty her entire life. >> she's used to people gawking

at her and looking at her because she was a beautiful woman. >> then one guy gawking at krystal at a property she managed caught her attention. >> she was so like, hey, you know, this guy? i came to the apartment complex and, you know, he seems pretty nice. >> a 32 year old insurance salesman named raymond mccloud, commonly known as rj, was just crystal's type, a buff, rugged looking bodybuilder and former marine recruiter. >> she told me that she was physically attracted to this guy like krystal, rj said he was divorced with a child about the same age as her kids. she thought that, you know, he may be looking for something more stable. >> krystal's best friend, diana oliveras, says that rj also had a spotless record, something crystal insisted on. she told me, hey, you know, i'm good. >> he he passed two background checks. so this guy is clean and, you know, he he has a good

job. >> and the two began dating. it was a new romance, right? krystal fell hard. >> there was nothing he could do wrong. >> but there was something wrong with another man formerly in crystal's life. just days before her death. josephine says krystal told her that a man she had previously dated appeared to be turning into a major threat, showing signs of possessiveness, including showing up outside her door unannounced and peering through her windows. >> and she says, mom, you know there's a big snake that's chasing me around. >> krystal was apparently so alarmed about the threat from the ex that she hoped her new boyfriend, rj, would come to her rescue. coming up, josephine gets the call every parent dreads, and i heard my husband saying, yes, this is her dad. >> i knew and i just started screaming. >> and she's determined to bring the person responsible to

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plexaderm trial.com. >> raymond macleod also known as rj, failed to impress crystal mitchell's family and friends, but crystal was smitten and now a romantic getaway is about to take a deadly turn. just days before crystal mitchell turned up murdered, she had mysteriously confided something very troubling to her new boyfriend, rj, and her mom. >> well, she was telling me she had an ex that was bothering her. >> crystal was afraid of the former boyfriend she had left behind just months before, telling her mom that new boyfriend, rj also feared for her safety, and she says, you know, he loaned her a gun to protect herself. she felt safe. >> yes, yes. >> she felt safe. >> then, to further ease her worries, rj came up with a surprise that would get her out of phoenix for a few days. a romantic getaway to san diego, crystal's favorite vacation spot. but friends and family

couldn't have imagined they'd never see crystal again. >> the last thing that she said to me was, hey, we're about an hour away from san diego. can i call you back? and i'd say yes. i never heard back from her. >> crystal's friend diana, as well as crystal's family, became deeply concerned when she hadn't responded to their phone calls and text messages for nearly two days. >> i just started feeling sick to my stomach. i felt like i wanted to faint. >> then stepdad michael got a call from homicide detective sergeant matt dobbs of the san diego police department, and i heard my husband saying, yes, this is her dad. >> i knew, and i just started screaming. >> their beautiful daughter, crystal, had been found in a san diego apartment, strangled to death. and that was not what you were expecting. what a terrible message. yeah, even more

terrible. sergeant dobbs says they believed they knew who killed her, but he was nowhere to be found. so did he become suspect number one? >> yes. he was immediately a person of interest in the case. and then very quickly, as the investigation unfolded, he became the prime suspect. >> and he was crystal's buff new boyfriend. raymond mccloud, who, despite his large size, had completely disappeared. >> it appears that he took miss mitchell's car, which was later recovered at the san diego international airport, and we later learned that mr. mccloud rented a car from the airport and drove into mexico. >> josephine believes the buff bodybuilder may have been taking steroids that sometimes can trigger violent behavior, and that he had beat her to death. murder charges were filed against rj and the u.s. marshals office issued a wanted bulletin, but days turned into months with no leads on his whereabouts. josephine's patience ran out.

>> i decided to take matters into my own hands. >> josephine was once a cop on the island of guam, where her military family was stationed. she says that she would wake at 330 in the morning to start her own searches, and she made some shocking discoveries about rj. among them, rj had a rap sheet for two domestic violence cases, though crystal had looked into rj's background. her mom says they were only credit checks, not criminal background checks. >> do you know anything about him? >> rj was arrested for domestic violence only three months before crystal's murder, charged with assaulting his second wife in riverside, california. he pleaded not guilty and was released on $50,000 bail in the meantime, josephine issued her own wanted poster of rj on facebook. >> and then it just went viral. >> u.s. marshals also took on the manhunt. they believe that mcleod fled through mexico to

central america after mitchell's death. his last reported locations were in belize and then guatemala, and josephine's poster paid off with many tips. >> one guy said, oh, i met him at the bar and we had a drink. a gal called me up. she says, i'm a bar owner here at the beach, and this man was at my bar. >> and thankfully, josephine just never gave up. tracking those stories because six years after her daughter's murder, her tips helped nab the violent bodybuilder. u.s. marshals finally tracked him down in el salvador after receiving a tip that mcleod was teaching english at a school there. mcleod was extradited back to san diego. joining me now is crystal's mother, josephine. josephine, it is so good to see you again. so much has happened. yes. you're a little bit closer to justice that day that rj mcleod was arrested. and i saw you on

television saying i got him. >> yes, i got him, and he's not going to get away again. >> i was cheering for you. >> oh, what was that like when you got that call? >> it was a mixed emotion because, you know, you work so hard and you're chasing somebody so hard, you expect it to go out in a big bang. like, you know, he's running through the jungle and somebody shoots him in the back or something. i mean, you kind of expect something big like that, right? because the chase has been so long and so hard, but they just simply walked in there and arrested him. i couldn't believe it was over. but the great thing was, when he was caught, i got this phone call from the marshal. the embassy guy was on there, and even i could hear the el salvador police and they were screaming on the phone, you did it, mama. you did it! it's you. it's all you. your work. and you did it. >> okay, so let's talk about the kids. how are they doing? you are raising crystal's two children. how are they doing? >> i think it's affecting them

now. i mean, when they were little, they were five and six. they couldn't really understand that their mom is dead and gone. they're realizing the loss of their mom and, you know, i we do our best. this was why it was so important for me to catch him. it was for them. and i wanted them to know that no one was going to get away with murdering their mother. not if nana could know, but what would justice look like for you? that he goes to jail forever? >> now i want to talk about something more hopeful. your angels of justice. yes. tell me about that. >> so in 2017, while i was trying to figure out the system, i realized that people needed help. so i came up with the name angels of justice, and i put it out there to families. and i teach families how to keep their cases alive. i'm an advocate, a liaison between the police and families. and recently i was involved in a case in honduras. i was asked there were three women murdered by an american

citizen who fled, and they had contacted me and asked me for help. so i was able to help them navigate through the system. what to do, what not to do. >> you're such a good woman, josephine. >> i'm a grieving mom. i'm sorry about you. >> thank you. >> thank you for having me here. >> up next on true crime news, a former reality tv star sta ed and murdered. we have the lates. >> do you have a coffee? smile. drinking coffee causes yellow teeth for thousands of people. just like you. and whitening toothpaste just doesn't make those stains go away. introducing power swabs. the first teeth whitening system that lifts coffee stains off your teeth in less than five minutes. >> i've smoked. i've drank coffee. i drink red wine and using power swabs. it's made a difference. people ask me, what do you do to whiten your teeth? and i'm really proud to tell them that i use power swabs.

>> the secret is a tooth detergent and whitening agent developed by doctor martin gettinger. power swabs remove stains on natural teeth, veneers, bonding caps and crowns. the best part is you just swab your teeth for five minutes and you'll have whiter teeth. >> when i use these whitening strips, i noticed when i would drink i would get this crazy sensitivity. it would go right to my brain and i'm like, i hate this. with power swabs, there was zero sensitivity. >> try it now and

>> a flash mob robbery inside a los angeles convenience store. one of several similar incidents. dozens of people, mostly minors. not just shoplifting, but destroying the store. as employees stand there helplessly. the vandals causing thousands of dollars in damage. now the lapd wants the public's

help in identifying the suspects and bringing them to justice. we leave you now with this reality tv personality. eduardo sol was stabbed to death by a man in palm springs, california. eduardo is best known for his seven seasons on extreme makeover home edition. they've arrested and charged richard gonzalez. eduardo sol was 58. that's it for today's true crime news. i'm anna garcia. see you ne time, everyone. c me - what happened when he came home that night? - roxy's car was there, but she wasn't there. - all that stuff that she would be taking if she was gonna be gone for a long time, that stuff was, it was still there. - he was cheating on her and she found out about it. roxy sent her a kind of a scathing text. - it just really threw up a lot of red flags for me.