Housefire Destroys Evidence After Disappearance of Mom of Two | Crime Alert 9AM 10.08.25

An Indiana mother of two vanishes after a fire destroys her home in Bainbridge, leaving her car and purse behind and her family begging for answers. A Missouri man convicted of killing a state trooper twenty years ago is set to die by lethal injection on Tuesday. 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,
an Indiana mother of two vanishes after a fire destroys
her home in Bainbridge, leaving her car and purse behind
and her family begging for answers. Authorities say forty six
year old Britney Guard was last seen on September thirtieth.
The next evening, firefighters were called to her home on
County Road six hundred North after smoke was reported about

(00:22):
seven forty pm. They put out the blaze but found
no sign of Guard. Fire investigators later said the fire
was quote suspicious in nature. Her family said she was
supposed to be at her daughter's volleyball game that night.
When she didn't show up, they knew something was wrong.
Her car's at home, her purse's at home. She's nowhere
to be found, and the house is on fire. It

(00:44):
makes no sense, her sister, Stephanie Bowen, telling WRTV she
and other relatives began searching the cornfields and wooded areas
near Garden's property. Who took her? How does someone just
go missing these days? Detectives from the Putnam County Sheriff's
Office working the case around the clock. They have used drones,
search teams and help from the Indiana Department of Natural

(01:06):
Resources to search a nearby pond. Still no trace of
Guard has been found. The tight knit Bainbridge community has
joined the search as well, posting flyers in stores, gas stations,
and even taping them to pizza boxes. Bowen pleads with
the neighbors just feel like there's something here, bigger that
we don't know. Anyone with information about Britney Guards whereabouts

(01:28):
is urged to contact Putnam County Emergency Operations Center at
seven sixty five six five three fifty one fifty five
extension zero. More crime and justice news after this. A
Missouri man convicted of killing a state trooper twenty years

(01:49):
ago is set to die by lethal injection on Tuesday,
as questions about jury bias, untested DNA, and a rare
judicial override remain unresolved. Colin Shockley, aged forty eight, was
sentenced to death in two thousand and nine for the
ambush killing of Missouri State Highway Patrol Sergeant Carl Dwayne
Graham Junior. The trooper was shot outside his home near

(02:11):
Van Buren on March twentieth of two thousand and five
at the time, he was investigating a fatal crash from
the year before that had left Shockley under scrutiny for
leaving the scene and causing the death. Investigator said Graham
was shot from behind with a rifle powerful enough to
pierce his vest and sever his spinal cord. After he fell,
the killer shot him twice more in the face and shoulder.

(02:32):
Shockley was arrested three days later and charged with both
murder and leaving the scene of a fatal crash. Prosecutors
say the motive was simple. Shockley killed Graham to stop
the accident investigation. A jury convicted him a first degree murder,
but deadlocked on the sentence. Carter County Circuit Judge David
Evans imposed death under a Missouri law that allows a
judge to decide punishment when a jury cannot. Only Missouri

(02:54):
and Indiana still permit that practice. Shockley has always said
he is innocent. Is a turn, and he said the
case was based only on circumstantial proof, no fingerprints, no DNA,
and no confession. They later discovered the jury Foreman had
written a novel about a man who murders a drunk
driver to avenge his wife's death. The jurors shared that
book with others during the trial. When the misconduct came

(03:16):
to light, Shockley's lawyer declined to question the jurors, a
decision later called inexplicable by Justice Sonia Sota Mayor. The
US Supreme Court refused to review the case in March,
leaving the conviction intact. Two justices dissented, warning that Shockley's
right to a fair trial may have been compromised. Justice
Sota Mayor wrote that quote the trial court did not

(03:38):
hear evidence regarding the four persons alleged bias and misconduct,
or its effect on other jurors. In June, the Missouri
Supreme Court issued a warrant setting the execution for the fourteenth.
His lawyers have asked for DNA testing on sixteen items
from the scene, including cigarette butts and fingerprints that were
never analyzed with modern tools. They say it is his
quote last chance to prove his innocence. The state has

(04:00):
opposed those requests. Shockley's legal team has asked Missouri Governor
Mike Keiho to commute his sentence to life without parole.
The FBI is searching for forty eight year old Jose
Guadalupe Lopez Nunio's He's accused of killing his girlfriend in Sacramento, Cali, California,
and dumping her body in the Sacramento River. Authority say
a fishermen found the woman's body on September fourth of

(04:22):
twenty seventeen. Investigators concluded that she had been intentionally killed.
On October sixteenth of twenty seventeen, the Sacramento County Sheriff's
Office obtained a no bail warrant charging Lopez Nunez with murder.
Eight days later, a federal warrant was issued in the
Eastern District of California after he was charged with unlawful
flight to avoid prosecution. The FBI believes Lopez Nunez flew

(04:44):
to Mexico. He may have fled to the states of
Jalisco or Zacatecas. He is Hispanic, five foot five, one
seventy five, black hair, and brown eyes. The FBI warrants
he should be considered armed and dangerous. A reward of
up to five thousand dollars is offered for information leading
to his arrest. Tips can be sent to any FBI
office or the nearest American embassy or consulate Contacts Tips

(05:06):
dot FBI dot gov or call eight hundred call FBI
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.