Cops Shoot Man With Knife Inside Burning Home While Pregnant Woman Dies in Fire | Crime Alert 1PM 09.05.25

Police shoot and kill a knife-wielding man inside a burning home in near Atlanta, then find a pregnant woman dead upstairs and rescue three others trapped inside. A Dallas, Texas woman is under arrest for murder after police say she left her 15-month-old son in a hot car while she went to work, then stopped at McDonald’s with his body in the back seat before driving to the hospital. Drew Nelson reports.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Alert, hourly update, Breaking crime news Now. I'm Drew Nelson.
Police shoot and kill a knife wielding man inside a
burning home in Locust Grove, Georgia, near Atlanta, then find
a pregnant woman dead upstairs and rescue three others trapped inside.
The chaos broke out around three forty am Thursday on
Cadence Street when police and firefighters responded to reports of

(00:21):
a house fire with people trapped. Officers forced their way
in through the back door. Inside, they found twenty nine
year old Stefan Lee holding a large knife. Locus Grove
Police Chief Derek Austen said officers gave commands for Lee
to drop the weapon. When he refused, they used a
taser and a non lethal shotgun. Both failed to subdue him.

(00:42):
Lee then rushed the officers and they opened fire. He
died at the scene. While clearing the home, officers found
a second floor bedroom engulfed in flames. Inside was the
body of twenty six year old Jaslyn Phillips. Her family
told our TV news partners at Fox five Atlanta she
was pregnant. In another upstairs room, two women and a
child had locked themselves in. Officers got them out safely.

(01:05):
None of them were hurt. Neighbors spoke to Fox five.
I definitely a little sorrow for the ladies. I'm very
very unfortunate for her, So sorry, Sisles to me is
just sinceless a lot of little mystics is going on
this kids involved. My heart definitely go out to the
family if the children had to see that. The cause

(01:25):
of the fire is under investigation. Police suspect arson, but
have not confirmed it. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is
now handling the case. Once their review is complete, the
Henry County District Attorney will decide if any charges will
be filed. The relationship between Lee and Phillips has not
been confirmed. More crime and justice news after this. A Dallas,

(01:53):
Texas woman is under arrest for murder after police say
she left her fifteen month old son in a hot
car while she went to work, then dropted at McDonald's
with his body in the back seat before driving to
the hospital. The police identified the mother as twenty seven
year old Vanessa Eskivell. She is charged with first degree
murder and is being held at the Collin County Jail

(02:14):
on a quarter million dollars bond. Detective said Eskivell intentionally
left her fifteen month old child for over two hours
and a vehicle she knew did not have working air
conditioning with an outside temperature of at least ninety five degrees.
The case began on August sixteenth, when Eskivell walked into
Medical City Plano with her son in her arms. Staff

(02:35):
told officers the child was already dead. His core temperature
was measured at more than one hundred six degrees. Eskivelle
told police she had been with him all day, driving
around in a car with broken air conditioning. She claimed
the boy fell ill while she was with him, but
investigators learned a different story. Record showed Eskivell worked a
shift at the hand in Stone Massage and Facial Spa

(02:57):
in Frisco from about one forty five to four fifteen
that day. Surveillance and witness accounts confirmed she had left
the boy in the car while she saw clients. Police
believe he sat in the car for nearly three hours
in the heat. The arrest affidavit states that Eskivel stopped
at a McDonald's in North Dallas and ordered food before
going to the hospital. Officers also said she was wearing

(03:19):
her SPA uniform when she arrived at the er, despite
claiming she had not been to work today. After her
son's death, Eskivell called the SPA on a recorded line.
In the call, she admitted responsibility. She told a coworker
she was quote between a rock and a hard place
because she could not find childcare. She said quote the
incident was her fault and that she expected to be arrested.

(03:41):
She asked the coworker not to leak the conversation. An
autopsy confirmed the boy's death was the result of prolonged
exposure to heat. His name has not been released. Eskuvell
now faces the possibility of five years to life in
prison if she is convicted. A father of two from Sonora, California,
is still missing nine years after walking away from his
home and never being seen again. Troy Robert Galloway, aged

(04:04):
thirty four, left his house on January thirteenth of twenty sixteen.
That night, it was very cold, and police said he
was only wearing a white shirt with blue trim jeans,
gray shoes, and his wedding ring. He did not take
his jacket. His cell phone was turned off within thirty
minutes and has never been used again. His bank accounts
have also remained untouched. There was one possible sighting in

(04:25):
his hometown of Santa Cruz shortly after he vanished. Apart
from that, no one has heard from him. His family
said he cared deeply for his children, even while struggling
with mental illness. His mother believes he may have suffered
an episode or lost his memory. Galloway served in the
US Marine Corps from twenty to twenty three before being discharged.
He was six feet tall one hundred seventy pounds, white,

(04:47):
with thick, curly brown hair and brown eyes. He wore glasses.
He had several tattoos, including a large cross with the
words Proverbs eighteen twenty four and the initials J D
H on his right shoulder, a Japanese silk before eternity
on his left forearm, and a devil pulling a naked
angel on his back. He would be forty three years
old today. Tipsters can call Twalomee County Sheriff's Office at

(05:11):
two oh nine five three three fifty eight fifteen for
the latest crime and justice news. Follow Crime Alert hourly
update on your favorite podcast app with this crime alert.
I'm Drew Nelson