Mob Targets Man Accused of Killing Dozens of Cats. But They Attack the Wrong Man | Crime Alert 9AM 04.30.25

A mob in California surrounds and attacks a home they believe belongs to an accused serial cat killer, only to find out, they got the wrong house. A man in California is found guilty of stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death inside her home: a murder partly captured on a voicemail she left while screaming for help. Drew Nelson reports.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Alart hourly update, breaking crime news Now.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm Drew Nelson. Amab in California surrounds and attacks a
home they believe belongs to an accused serial cat killer,
only to find out they got the wrong house. Yesday,
the unruly crown gathered Sunday night in Santa Ana. People

(00:25):
came to more than dozens of cats allegedly killed in
recent weeks, but the peaceful vigil turned violent after words
spread that the home across the street from the suspects
belonged to a family member. The crowd broke windows, tore
down a fence, and pepper sprayed the man who lived
inside here he is in kt TV.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
They're peaceful, protesting wasn't so peaceful. They're scaring kids here.
They're scaring the whole family. Their kids. Seven kiss in
this house, two little babies, one with is autistic.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Santa Ana police arrived after more than an hour. By
then the damage was done. The man who live there
told reporters he is not related to the suspect, Alejandro
Oliveras Acosta, but his roommate is. He says he hasn't
seen or heard from him since the arrest. Police asked
the public to allow the courts to handle the case. Acosta,
aged forty five, was arrested the previous Wednesday on felony

(01:17):
animal cruelty charges. Police say he lured cats with food
and killed them. Some victims said he injected their cats
with some sort of poison. Others claimed to find their
pets hanged from trees. Allegedly, when he was arrested, there
were dozens of dead cats at his house. Santa Ana.
Officers say Acosta confessed their best estimate as to the

(01:38):
number of cats killed is quote a lot. He posted
twenty thousand dollars bail the day after his arrest and
has not yet been formally charged. Police say they are
still investigating the damage from the vigil. No arrests have
been made. More crime and justice news after this, A

(02:01):
man in California is found guilty of stabbing his ex
girlfriend to death inside her home, a murder partially captured
on voicemails she left while screaming for help. On Tuesday,
a jury in Orange County convicted thirty nine year old
Craig Charin a first degree murder. He killed twenty five
year old Laura Sardinia on September second of twenty twenty,

(02:22):
in her Huntington Beach apartment. Sardinia had just changed the
locks that morning. She had taken out a restraining order
and told him to move out. At one fifteen pm,
she was on a three way call with her best
friend and her mother when she suddenly said, quote, oh
my god, he's here. Her friend hung up to call
nine one one. Sardinia then called back and left a voicemail.

(02:42):
In it, she can be heard screaming, quote, he's going
to kill me, and quote get away from me. Prosecutor
Janet Madera told jurors quote, if you listen to it carefully,
you hear a woman narrating her own murder. Charon stabbed
her multiple times with several knives. He drove a blade
into her head with such force that the blade bent.
He stabbed her in the chest and slashed her face.

(03:04):
Police found her body in the bathroom. Charon was still
at the scene, bleeding from his chest and neck. Prosecutors
say he stabbed himself to make it look like she
attacked him. Charon testified she had a knife and that
he acted in self defense. His attorney, Michael Gwisti, said
the case came in quote the heat of passion. He
conceded that Charon had a history of violence, but said

(03:25):
he was quote unquote non murderous. The jury apparently did
not believe him. They returned the guilty verdict less than
a day after deliberations began. In court, prosecutors laid out
a pattern of abuse. Sardinia had been trying to escape him.
She told him, quote, you terrify me because you won't leave.
In one phone recording, she said, quote you keep hitting me.

(03:45):
He replied, quote, massage my calves or end this relationship.
Three other women testified that Charon had abused them too.
All had filed restraining orders. Charon faces twenty six years
to life. Sentencing is set for July twenty fifth. Angela
Abraderus was last seen April second of nineteen ninety six
at the apartment she shared with her boyfriend in Dallas, Texas.

(04:07):
She was twenty seven. Her clothes, keys, packed bags for
a planned trip, and car were left behind. Laundry was
still in the washer and piled on the bed. Her
dog was alone in the apartment. Angela had been trying
to leave Dallas and start over. She told her mother
she wanted to come back to Michigan and return to school.
A controlling boyfriend had taken control of her bank accounts

(04:28):
and one of her cars. He said the assets were
jointly owned. Police did not call him a suspect, even
though he emptied her savings account and their shared checking account.
Angela had served in the army and met her ex
husband while stationed at Fort Hood. They got married in
nineteen ninety and divorced in ninety five. She was close
to her mother and sister in Michigan. She was estranged

(04:49):
from her father, who lived in Hong Kong. In the
months after she vanished, cadaver dogs were brought to a
nearby pond. Both dogs alerted to the same spot. If
authorities found anything, they never said what. Angela had brown
eyes and dyed brown hair. She was Asian, somewhere between
five seven and five nine, between one hundred and fifteen
and one hundred and thirty pounds. She had a scar

(05:09):
on one hip, a butterfly tattoo on her right hip,
and breast implants. She would be fifty seven today. Her
case remains open. Foul play is suspected. Anyone with information
contact Dallas Belie at two one four six seven, one,
forty two, forty three. For the latest crime and justice news,
follow crime alerts hourly update on your favorite podcast app

(05:31):
with this crime alert. I'm Drew Nelson.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
How could a beautiful, young first grade teacher be stabbed
twenty times, including in the back, allegedly die of suicide? Yes,
that was the medical examiner's official ruling after a closed
door meeting. He first named it a homicide. Why what
Happened to Ellen Greenberg? A huge American miscarriage of justice.

(06:04):
For an in depth look at the facts, see What
Happened to Ellen on Amazon. All proceeds to the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children.