88-Year-Old Woman Forgives Man Who Bit Off Her Finger To Steal Her Jewelry | Crime Alert 9AM 12.05.25

A violent robbery in Washington has an elderly victim speaking out nearly two months after losing part of her finger as police continue to hunt for the suspect. An execution is scheduled in Georgia for a convicted killer nearly twenty-two years after the deaths of two young real estate agents inside a model home. Drew Nelson reports.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Alart hourly update, breaking crime news Now, I'm Drew Nelson.
A violent robbery in Washington State has an elderly victim
speaking out nearly two months after losing part of her
finger as police continue to hunt for the suspect. The
victim is eighty eight year old Emma Cotton. She is
still healing in her Seattle home, and her family is
now offering a reward alongside crime stoppers seeking answers, please

(00:22):
released images of the men they believe attacked her in
the Rainier Beach neighborhood. Cotton was cleaning the deck at
her son's home in broad daylight in mid October. A
man came up behind her. He grabbed her. He beat
her for about twenty minutes. She fought back.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
I feel like I'm surrounded by angel and they gonna
protect me like they did.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Cotton tells Komo. The attacker demanded her jewelry. Cotton gave
him her wedding rings. He then demanded another ring from
her right index finger.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
That's when I start a scratching his face with this hand,
and he just kept fighting it until he got the
rain Oh it didn't matter, he could have them. My
life was more important.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
The man then fled, Cotton called nine one one. Police
describe the suspect as a man in its thirties. Surveillance
images show him walking near the ninety nine hundred block
of sixty fourth Avenue South. No one has been arrested.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
I said, why did you have to bite my fang
off a eighty some of ye old woman? Would you
like that to happen to your grandmother? Your mother?

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Cotton remains firm in her faith, crediting God for giving
her the strength to survive the attack. She has also
chosen to forgive the man who nearly killed her.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
I forgave him. I just want him to clean his
life up and do some community work.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Friends and community leaders describe Cotton as a longtime church
leader and volunteer in South Seattle. She continues to work
with her church and cook for others despite her injuries.
She says the attack will not stop her from helping people.
Cotton is preparing to receive a prosthetic finger in the
coming weeks. She is also recovering from fractured ribs and
a head injury. Anyone who knows the suspect is urged

(01:53):
to contact the Seattle Police Department's Violent Crimes Tip Line
at two O six two three three five thousand. More
crime justice news after this. An execution is scheduled in
Georgia for a convicted killer nearly twenty two years after
the deaths of two young real estate agents inside a

(02:14):
model home. The inmate is Stacey Ian Humphries. He scheduled
to be put to death seven pm on December seventeenth
at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. The
Cobb County Superior Court signed the death warrant this week.
His final appeals have been denied at every level, including
the United States Supreme Court. Humphreys was convicted of the
November third, two thousand and three murders of Cynthia Williams

(02:36):
and Lorie Brown in Powder Springs, west of Atlanta. Williams
was thirty three, Brown was twenty one. Both women were
working as real estate agents in the sales office of
a model home at the Oak Wind subdivision. Investigators say,
while on parole for a prior felony theft conviction, Humphries
entered the office around midday that day. He used a
stolen handgun to force Williams to undress and give up

(02:58):
her atm Pen Bank to check her balance. He tied
her underwear tightly around her neck and choked her. He
forced her onto her hands and knees. He placed a
bag of balloons between the gun and her body to
muffle the sound. He shot her in the back and
through the head. Brown entered the office during or shortly
after the attack on Williams. Prosecutor Say Humphries attacked her
as well. She was also forced to undress and give

(03:20):
up her pin. She was made to kneel with her
head facing the floor. He shot her once through the head.
Both women were robbed of their driver's licenses and bank cards.
More than three thousand dollars was later withdrawn from their accounts.
A builder working in the basement office heard the chime
of the security system, went upstairs and found Brown's body.
Police arrived and found Williams as well. Humphreys fled Georgia

(03:42):
days after skipping a scheduled meeting with his parole officer.
He was captured on November eighth, two thousand and three,
in Wisconsin after a police chase. Officers recovered a Ruger
nine millimeter handgun from his rental vehicle. Blood on the
gun matched Williams blood in his truck match Brown. In
September two thousand and seven, a glenny found Humphries guilty
of two counts of malice murder, along with felony murder,

(04:04):
aggravated assault, kidnapping, and armed robbery. On September thirtieth, the
jury unanimously recommended death. He was formerly sentenced to death.
The next day after the verdict, the Cobb County District
Attorney said Humphries took away all their humanity. Brown's father
said a terrible crime should end with a harsh penalty.
William's sister said the verdict brought some relief. Humphrey spent

(04:25):
more than two decades on death row as his appeals
moved through state and federal courts. The Georgia Supreme Court
upheld the Senates in twenty ten. The Eleventh Circuit Court
of Appeals rejected his federal appeal on June eleventh of
twenty twenty four. On October fourteenth, this year, the United
States Supreme Court denied his final petition. Three justices dissented
in that opinion. They wrote that one juror quote misleadingly

(04:47):
omitted critical details about a prior violent crime and later
quote bullied the other jurors into voting for death. The
majority allowed the Senates to stand. Humphries will become the
first person executed in Georgia in twenty and the fifty
fifth inmate put to death by lethal injection in the state.
His clemency hearing before the Georgia Board of Pardons and
Paroles is scheduled for the sixteenth, one day before the execution.

(05:11):
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I'm Drew Nelson.