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August 20, 2025 10 mins

After neighbors complained of a foul odor coming from an apartment,  Wisconsin police make a chilling discovery

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

Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm Nicole Parton. A woman from Wisconsin has been accused
of living in her apartment with the body of her
dead ten month old daughter, which was reportedly found decomposing
in a cardboard box. According to court documents, When questioned
by police, she claimed I had no control over how
she died, and the mother suggested that she was forced

(00:25):
to hurt her children and hide the body. Shanna Brothers,
twenty eight, now faces charges for concealing the corpse of
a child following the unsettling discovery made by officers last
week in her Milwaukee residence. According to the arrest Affidavid
police stated they were alerted by a caller who detected
a foul odor coming from inside the apartment. Someone said

(00:49):
it resembled that of a dead person. Initially, Brothers explained
away the smell as old food in her home. However,
when officers informed her they had been told that she
she mentioned her baby was missing. She responded, yeah, people
lose kids. I lost a child, suggesting she was under stress.

(01:09):
Upon being asked for permission to search the house, Brothers complied,
inside she spoke of a man involved in a domestic
violence relationship, who she claimed had killed her child and
was forcing her to hide the body, and pointed to
a locked bedroom. Officers detected a strong smell of decomp
coming from that locked room. Upon forcing the door open,

(01:32):
they found the room mostly empty except for a large
cardboard box in the middle of the floor, surrounded by
hundreds of dead flies. Inside the box, an officer discovered
the body of a baby in the advanced state of decay.
An autopsy later indicated the baby had a skull fracture
consistent with blunt force trauma. Brothers allegedly informed officers that

(01:56):
her boyfriend was responsible for the child's death and had
threatened her her against reporting the incident. She indicated that
he through the baby, although police could not find any
evidence of a man living at the apartment. The apartment
was notably devoid of any furniture, with only an air
mattress and a television in one room, while the child's
body was found in a box in the other. The

(02:18):
complaint noted that the infant was so decomposed the baby
was unrecognizable, with body fluids seeping from the box. Taken
into custody, Brother's accounts became increasingly bizarre. During her interrogation,
she reportedly claimed I was told I wasn't in trouble
and insisted I had no control over how she died.

(02:39):
She described being raped and forced to harm her child,
alleging that multiple people were entering her apartment to assault
her and steal from her. I'm going to be exonerated,
Brothers asserted, believing that her situation might appear incriminating but
would ultimately lead to her release. Throughout the police interviews,
she frequently covered her mouth as if trying to suppress

(03:01):
her words, and at one point she expressed regret, saying God,
oh God, we effed up today, followed by making barking sounds.
Brothers also spoke directly to the detectives, asserting, you guys
already know I did not kill my child right, and
indicated that her statements could help her plead insanity. Currently,

(03:21):
Brothers is being held on a fifty thousand dollars bond
as she awaits a mental health evaluation, with the results
expected next month. Were Crime and Justice News after.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
This What happened to Martha Nolan o Slatterer, the thirty
three year old Irish fashion designer found dead with possible
drug evidence left behind on her boyfriend's boat.

Speaker 4 (03:48):
Was it a designer drug overdose? Did it have to
do with her partners in a sunglass venture and what
about her ex with crime online Sidney Sumner, Dave Mack,
Jackie Howard and Holden Zapple. I'm Drew Nelson.

Speaker 5 (04:00):
The night of her death, Martha was a board of Ripple,
a fifty foot cabin cruiser, at the Montak Yacht Club
to meet with an East by East investor, Christopher Dernan.
Nolan told boyfriend Nick Darubio she planned to uber home
and arrived before one am. Dernan, who owns Dernin Group Insurance,
screamed for help completely nude, throwing items at other boats,

(04:23):
including a tube of sunscreen.

Speaker 6 (04:25):
Dernin, who owns a workers comp insurance company, is well
known at the Montak Yacht Company for guitar plane, usually
mooring twenty two year old Ripple next to second vessel
Hell in a bucket. Durnan invested at least two hundred
thousand dollars in Martha Nolan's latest fashion brand, East by East.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Photos taken after Martha was found dead show a wide
powdery substance scattered across the seat on a vessel. The
Suffolk County Police Department has not determined cause of death.

Speaker 6 (04:53):
Homicide detectives are still questioning people close to Martha.

Speaker 5 (04:56):
Martha Nolan had just finalized an uncontested divorce from Sam
Ryan in April. The couple was married in Utah in
twenty twenty, but it appears Nolan had already moved on.
Nolan was currently dating thirty four year old Nicholas d'arrubio. Darubio,
a sales exec, spent last Christmas with Nolan's family and
a proposal was a strong possibility in the near future.

Speaker 4 (05:19):
While separating from their last fashion venture, Out East Sunglasses,
business partners, Martha Nolan and Dylan Grace, were slapped with
a lawsuit leedging they essentially destroyed the company. Nolan, once
the CMO for out East, was accused of changing the
owner's passwords to lock them out of the business's bank
account while she drained thirty four thousand dollars from it.
The owners also accused Nolan and Grace of stealing their

(05:41):
entire inventory. The duo denied all of the allegations, and
the case was settled outside of court. Two months later,
Martha Nolan's family has traveled to New York to bring
the thirty three year old Fashion Easta's body home. Law
enforcement has told them a final post mortem report will
take at least three months. The heartbroken family hoping a
second look may provide answers on a more expedited timeline.

Speaker 5 (06:03):
Martha Nolan's mother, Elma, is shocked when detectives question if
there is truth to claims that her daughter had brain cancer.
Alma Nolan says Martha was perfectly healthy and she spoke
with her daughter on a daily basis. There's no way
she could have hidden such a serious diagnosis. Officers did
not reveal where they heard that Martha was battling cancer.

(06:24):
Her family left wondering why anyone would say that.

Speaker 7 (06:27):
Though Martha was dating Nick to Rubio at the time
of her death, she was still in the process of
divorcing ex Sam Ryan. The couple married in Utah in
twenty twenty, but were still working through an uncontested divorce.
The last filings in the case made in April. Ryan's
attorney filed notice of Martha's death with the court to
halt the final divorce judgment.

Speaker 5 (06:46):
Since indicating that Nolan's autopsy did not reveal any signs
of a violent death. Police have largely remained mum on
the investigation. Retired NYPD Sergeant Joseph Jackalone warns against ruling
out foul play too early in an investigation, commenting every
death should be treated as a homicide until the scene

(07:06):
investigation is concluded. Officers have conferred with the medical examiner
and received back all necessary reports. Jack Alone says that
should be standard procedure in every investigation. Though her cause
of death is still undetermined, Martha Nolan has been laid
to rest in her hometown. Family and friends gathered at
the Cathedral of the Assumption to remember Martha and say

(07:29):
their final goodbyes before she was buried at Saint Mary's Cemetery.
Martha loved the life she built for herself in the
Big Apple, but frequently posted about the beautiful countryside on
her visits home to Carlow, the tiny Irish town about
fifty miles from Dublin where Martha grew up.

Speaker 4 (07:46):
A Washington teenager confronts her parents in court after surviving
a violent assault outside her high school in what authorities
say was an attempted honor killing. Fatima Ali stood before
a Thurston County judge and addressed her father Istana and
her mother, Zara Ali as they were sentenced for the
October twenty twenty four attack. Can you call yourself father?

Speaker 3 (08:09):
You trying to kill me?

Speaker 7 (08:12):
My dad tried to kill me with his own hands.

Speaker 5 (08:15):
Do you have no luck for me?

Speaker 4 (08:17):
Asan was sentenced to twenty months in prison, Zara received
just under one year. The judges also issued a ten
year no contact order between Issana and his daughter. The
attack happened in a school parking lot near Timberline High
School in Lacey. Fatima was seventeen. Her parents had tracked
her down after she ran away. Asan punched her boyfriend
Isaiah in the face, then put Fatima in a chokehole.

(08:40):
Witnesses said she passed out students and parents, kicking and
punching his song until he let go. Outside court, Fatima
spoke to Komo.

Speaker 5 (08:48):
I never got the help I needed until this really happened.
I had to really get fresh, get choked for me
to get help.

Speaker 4 (08:57):
I didn't want that, but that's the only way I
got help. Prosecutors were barred from mentioning claims about an
arranged marriage or honor based violence. During the trial from
the bench, Judge Christine Schaller said Fatima would have likely
died if no one stepped in. The Daily Mail reports,
the jury saw video of the chokehold and heard witness
accounts that Fatima lost consciousness multiple times. When witness describing

(09:19):
her lips turning purple and her eyes rolling back, she
said she feared that she would die and remembered going
black four times during the attack. Prosecutors did not prove
attempted murder. The jury convicted a Song of assault, unlawful imprisonment,
and misdemeanor assault, but acquitted the attempted murder charge. Zara
was found guilty of violating in no contact order and

(09:40):
honor killing is when a family member murders are relative,
usually a woman or girl, for bringing what they believe
is shame or dishonour to the family. 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.
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Nancy Grace

Nancy Grace

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