MMA Fighter Subdues Drunk Dude Who Broke Into His Sister's House | Crime Alert 4PM 10.03.25

A Florida man defends his family after an intruder breaks into his sister’s home and finds himself face to face with a trained MMA fighter. Prosecutors ask a judge to impose at least 97 years in prison for a New Hampshire man who was 16 when he killed his sister-in-law and two young nephews. Drew Nelson reports. 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.
A Florida man defends his family after an intruder breaks
into his sister's home and finds himself face to face
with a trained MMA fighter. The confrontation happened early last
Saturday in Wilton Manors, north of Fort Lauderdale. Mixed martial
artist Henny Rojas was staying at his sister's home while

(00:21):
she and her husband were in Miami. His teenage nephew
woke him in a panic and yelled that a man
was in their living room. Rojas says he acted fast
as I.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Don't lie your guns. I've been looking for for a
NYE or nothing, only God and on my hands, that's it.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Rojas spoke to wfo R.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
I'm prepared, my first name. I don't, I don't, I
don't feel in pain, nothing.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
He says. He used his fighting skills to subdue the
intruder until police arrived. Officers later identified the man as
thirty one year old Austin Karasani. He told police he'd
been drinking at a local club end Quote was attempting
to go to his friend Paul's house, who resides in
the area. Instead, he entered the Rojas home by mistake.
Karasani was taken into custody with cuts and bruises covering

(01:03):
his face. A booking photo from the Broward County Sheriff's
office showed him black and blue.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
He's also invoking his silent yes. I'll go to grant
the photo order, sir. Your charge with home invasion.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Bond was set at twenty thousand dollars. Rojas says he
has no regrets about how he handled the situation, but.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
You family, because them on his southside a lot of
crazy people. He don't believe in God. He only looking
forward for damies.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
More crime and justice news after this, A New Hampshire
man who was sixteen when he killed his sister in
law and two young nephews was said to be sentenced today,
with prosecutors asking the judge to impose at least ninety
seven years in prison. Eric Sweeney, who is now nineteen,

(01:49):
pleaded guilty in August to three counts of second degree
murder for the twenty twenty two shooting deaths of Cassandra
Sweeney h twenty five and her son's Benjamin H four
and Mason twenty three months living with the family in Northfield,
where his older brother and Cassandra served as his guardians.
Cassandra worked knights as a nursing assistant so she could
care for her boys during the day. On the morning

(02:10):
of August third, twenty twenty two, she made the children
a snack and took videos of them laughing and waving
at their father. Four minutes after sending the last videos,
she and both boys were shot in the head. Little
Benjamin was found wearing his dinosaur costume. Prosecutors said the
gun used in the killings belonged to Sean Sweeney and
was stored in a locked safe under the couple's bed.

(02:30):
They asked the court for consecutive sentences thirty five years
to life for Cassandra's murder and forty years to life
for each child's death. Assistant Attorney General Bethany Durand wrote,
quote Benjamin and Mason embody the reason why crimes against
children deserved the harshest of penal sanctions. They did absolutely
nothing wrong. They were innocent and utterly blameless for what

(02:52):
the defendant did. When taken into custody, Eric Sweeney told
police he had been in the basement and heard quote
a man with a deep voice, yelling, and multiple pops.
He said he went upstairs and found his sister in
law and nephew's bleeding, before taking Cassandra's phone and keys
and driving off. His defense attorneys are asking for a
forty year minimum sentence, citing what they call the life

(03:12):
of quote immeasurable trauma. They said he was neglected and
abused as a child, raised by a mother who quote
dragged him through drug dens and a succession of abusive
father figures. They argued he loved those he killed and
quote will grapple with the consequences of his actions for
the rest of his days. In their memorandum, they asked
the court quote to grant Eric some measure of mercy.

(03:33):
Prosecutors say his actions destroyed a family and that the
young victims quote deserves separate consecutive sentences. Zale Grace Fryar,
aged three months, disappeared from Millersville, Tennessee, on May first
of twenty eleven. The remains of her mother, twenty eight
year old Shawna Marie Fryar, were discovered six days later
in the Cumberland River in Nashville, about forty miles away.

(03:53):
Her body showed signs of injury, and investigators belief she
was killed in Millersville before being dumped in the river.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Sawn.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Husband Michael Fryer, told police he left home around nine
pm to go to the store and return to find
both Shauna and Zale gone. Shawna's Honda Accord, phone, wallet,
and the baby's diaper bag were still inside the home.
He waited four days to report them missing, saying she
had disappeared several times before but always came back. Detectives
later called Michael the main suspect. Millersville police said quote

(04:22):
he was known to be a violent man with an
extensive criminal history, drug history, things of that nature. Investigators
say his written statements to police kept changing, and that
evidence showed Shawna had died before her body entered the water.
Michael was never charged and died in twenty eighteen. Family
members say Shauna adored her baby. Zaley's biological father, Thurman McMurray,

(04:44):
was in jail for assault when she vanished and was
ruled out as a suspect. Police and the FBI still
treat the case as an active missing person investigation. Sale
is biracial, black and white with black hair. And brown eyes.
She has a quarter sized brown birthmark on her right leg.
Today she would be fourteen. Anyone with information is asked
to call the Millersville Police Department at six one five

(05:05):
eight five nine twenty seven fifty eight. 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.