September 9, 2022 • 40 mins
Raymond "RJ" McLeod, Jr. is arrested in El Salvador on murder charges.
The ex-Marine had been on the run for six years after the brutal death of 30-year-old Krystal Mitchell. The young mom was found beaten and strangled in a San Diego condominium in June 2016. The pair had been dating just a few weeks when they took a vacation trip.
By the time police arrived at the apartment when Mitchell and McLeod were staying with his friends, McLeod had fled in Krystal’s car, which was found at the San Diego airport. McLeod then rented a car at the airport and drove into Mexico. From there he traveled to Belize, and on into El Salvador. McLeod was reportedly working as a teacher.
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
- Josephine Wentzel - Victim's Mother, Founder, "Angels of Justice", Author: "THE CHASE: In Hot Pursuit of My Daughter’s Killer", AngelsofJustice.org, Victim Advocate: The Cold Case Foundation, Twitter: @ANGELSOFJUSTIC2,
- Matthew Mangino - Attorney, Former District Attorney (Lawrence County), Former Parole Board Member, Author: "The Executioner's Toll: The Crimes, Arrests, Trials, Appeals, Last Meals, Final Words and Executions of 46 Persons in the United States", MattMangino.com, Twitter: @MatthewTMangino
- Dr. Michael Bourke - Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, Former Chief of the United States Marshals Service’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, MichaelBourkePHD.com
- Frankie Sanchez - Regional Chief of US Marshal Task Force, Los Angeles
- Dr. Kendall Crowns – Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), Lecturer: University of Texas Austin and Texas Christian University Medical School
- Dave Mack - Crime Online Investigative Reporter
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Crime Stories with Nancy Greece got him. I'm talking about
a guy that does not deserve to be called a
US marine, but he insists on saying that none other
than r J. McLeod, a killer who has dragged law
(00:30):
enforcement halfway around the world to find him. I Nancy Grace,
this is Crime Stories, Thank you for being with us
here at Fox Nation and Serious X one eleven. But
more important than that POC technical legal term r J.
McLeod is someone else, her name Crystal Mitchell. Take a
(00:56):
listen to this. Crystal was a visitor in San Diego.
She loved San Diego and she came here frequently from Phoenix.
And her last word about San Diego was, Mom, I'm
going to move there. She didn't know she was going
to be killed here, and so I have so many
(01:16):
memories of her coming to San Diego. I have a
lot of things hanging in my house and cuts and
stuff because she loves Santigo. She was a lovely mother.
She was beautiful even side out, she was beautiful. And
she was a single mom, unsuspecting of this man who
she was a property manager. And this man came by
(01:36):
to get an apartment and that's how they mapped, he
came across as a doting dad and that's one thing
she said was he loves his son. He absolutely loves
his son. And that was a quality that every single
mom out there will look for, is a man who
loves his child. You are hearing the voice of mother
(01:57):
and hero Josephine Wentzel, who has dedicated the last years
she's been alive on this earth to finding her daughter,
Crystal's killer. R Jake McConnell. Just thinking about that for
a moment. What if you were tasked with finding a killer, Well,
(02:20):
where do you start? What do you do? And a
killer who has traveled around the world and knows how
to elude police? I mean and see Grace. This is
crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at
Fox Nation. In series eleven. R J. McLeod a man
we have all searched for. He has been at the
(02:41):
top of the FBI most wanted, a cold blooded killer,
but it took one of his victim's mother to bring
him to justice. And this is the story of r. J.
McCleod going down thanks to Crystal's mother, Josephine, And what
(03:03):
a story it is. I want you to take a
listen now to our friends at KUSI. Around one pm
on June tenth, twenty sixteen, when San Diego Police Department
receives a nine one one call, they arrived to the
apartment to find the lifeless body of Crystal Mitchell. The
(03:26):
coroner determines that she died by strangulation and that this
was a homicide. This strangulation was so violent that there
were three separate fractures to her voice box and nine
one one call brought police to an apartment in Allied Garden,
(03:47):
San Diego, where Crystal's body was found. There were clear
signs of a struggle and Crystal had numerous injuries. There
was blunt force strung Mama, including to her face and
torso McLeod had brutally strangled Crystal to death, choking the
(04:10):
very life out of her. There were multiple fractures to
her neck area. Joining me a renowned chief medical examiner,
doctor Kindall Crowns, the chief medical Examiner of Tarrant County,
that's Fort Worth. He is also lecturing University Texas Austin
and Texas Christian University Med School. Doctor Crowns, thank you
(04:31):
for being with us. What does that tell you? The
cod cause of death is manual strangulation versus, for instance,
a ligature strangulation or asphyxiation of some other type. But
three separate fractures to Crystal's voice box number one, What
is a voice box? Sure, that's not the medical term.
(04:52):
So the voice box is the area where your vocal
corrigal sense is made up by your ty cartilage. And
cyrod carlage is like this kind of large shield of
carlag and a structure that sits over the vocal court
of regions. And what I'm hearing with that is because
she is a young woman, usually there's the cyrod carnolage
(05:17):
hasn't become bony yet or ossified, so it's very pliable
in a young woman, and that usually doesn't fracture in
a annual strangulation. So to me, that sounds like an
incredible amount of force is being put on her neck
by the perpetrator's hands. So he's obviously got a very
good grip strength and he put a lot of force
(05:39):
into that to cause that much damage. Interesting to doctor
Michael the clinical forensic psychologist, former chief of the US
Marshal Service Behavioral Analysis Unit. You can find him at
Michael PhD dot com. Doctor Burt, thank you for being
with us. What does it tell you about R. J.
McCleod that he not only stringle her, but striangled her
(06:02):
so forcefully and so violently to cause three fractures in
Crystal's voice box. Well, Nancy, you know, some of these
perpetrators are gonna cause that much damage because they're out
of control, or because this is sort of a heat
of passion kind of a thing. In McLeod's case, this
is a very cold and calculating man. He's he's had
(06:25):
the discipline instilled from the US Marine Corps. He knows
what he's doing, and he's committed acts of violence against
vulnerable people in his past. So this man is committing
this type of damage, in this extent of this damage
because he enjoys it. A cloud is a sadist, He
(06:48):
is somewhat psychopathic. He doesn't have a you know, a
great degree of empathy for other people, and he enjoyed
the power and the rush that he got from hurting
other people. Yeah, I've heard about people like that. I
(07:08):
think I've encountered defendants like that that enjoy the act
of inflicting pain on others. As you said, sadist so
much that they do it over and over again, and
that is exactly what r J. McLeod did. This was
by far not his first female victim. He prayed on
(07:29):
people that were weaker and less cunning than himself over
and over and over, culminating in the murder of Crystal.
But when you say doctor Roy out of control, I'm
not so sure that I think he was out of
control as much as enjoying the sensation of strangling her dead,
(07:52):
seeing her life leave her body, because I believe that
there was another pole, possibly in the apartment where they
were at the time, and they didn't hear a thing. Guys,
take a listen to our cut too. This is Ginger
Jeffrey's KUSI. We believe that they came into San Diego
that night. They had spent some time socializing and catching
(08:15):
up with RJ's friends. Then after the hosts had gone
to bed, they went out to a local bar, had
a couple more drinks to enjoy their stay in San Diego.
When they returned back to the condominium, we believed shortly
after that there's some kind of altercation between Crystal and RJ.
And that's when it killed her and more. When we
got into the scene, crystals body was found on the
(08:37):
bed in the guest room at a kind of minium
where they've been staying with some friends of RJS. There
were some blood in the scene and some items of
furniture they've been moved around. It's pretty obvious there was
some kind of struggle in the room. McLeod then took
Crystal's car to the San Diego airport, rented a different
car and drove into Mexico. Officials issue a warrant for
(09:01):
his arrest. The charge murder. Oh yeah, this guy, there's
no way he's going to be able to claim in
voluntary intoxication. Let me remind everyone, and isn't this true?
James shell Nutt twenty seven years Metro major case as
a detective, former SWAT, now a lawyer at the shell
Nutt Law Firm. Voluntary use of drugs or alcohol is
(09:25):
never a defense under the law unless you're a commenttose.
If you're commentose, you can't strangle anybody. But the fact
that he may have been somewhat intoxicated or at least
under the influence, that's not going to help him at all. No,
it's not gonna help him at all. You can't just
go get yourself drunk and then have a free pass
(09:45):
to attack people, to murder people, to do whatever you
want to do. It's not legally a defense and it's
not going to fly in front of a jury. Oh no,
no way. In fact, it makes me dislike him even
more if that can even be in matter. So he's
out drunk, acting the fool, and he's got this gorgeous
young date with him, and I don't quite understand how
(10:09):
a night out turns deadly. I don't know how that flip.
But when you're r. J. McLeod, it doesn't take much
to flick your switch time stories with Nancy Grace. Guys. Immediately,
(10:40):
this guy goes on the run, which will be lie
any claim of mental defect, temporary insanity, deluded under intoxication.
No listen, listen to how well thought out his escape
plan was. He goes on the run. Take a listen
(11:00):
to ginger Jeffries described as five foot eleven weighing two
hundred and twenty five to two hundred and forty five pounds.
Raymond McLeod, a former marine, was dating Crystal Mitchell on
June tenth, twenty sixteen, San Diego police found the victim
not breathing at an apartment complex in Allied Gardens. She
(11:24):
was pronounced dead at the scene by medics. He's believed
to be on the run in Central America or Mexico.
His last reported location was in Guatemala about a year ago,
but he has also been spotted in Belize and in Mexico.
McLeod has been able to hide until now, but we're
(11:44):
not going to let this coward run from justice and
get away with murder. Make no mistake, We are on
a hunt for justice and we need your help now.
Apparently this guy was a wolf in sheep's clothing, although
I always thought he looked like he was jacked up
(12:04):
on steroids. That said, there's no way Crystal could have
known what she was dealing with. Take a listen to
Ginger Jeffries. When the crime happened, McLeod was still married
to his third wife. However, the couple was estranged after
a domestic violence incident in Riverside County in April of
(12:27):
twenty sixteen, that's just two months before the murder. McLeod
was on bond when he moved to Scottsdale and met
Crystal They had only been dating a matter of weeks,
and her mom tells me her friends did not approve
her friend, didn't like him at all when she met him.
McLeod had prior violence against two of his previous wives.
(12:52):
He had attending twenty sixteen Blanky case in Riverside for
strangling one of his wifes. A roommate interrupted the woman
being strangled. That set the scene for what would be
a deadly trip to San Diego, California. You know, I
(13:13):
don't get it how the prosecutor can say that with
a straight face, because he should have been prosecuted for
strangling the last wife. But no, nothing happened, and he's
out walking free, and bam he runs into Crystal, totally unsuspecting.
(13:35):
Joining me right now is a special guest, the woman
along with the US Marshal Service, who's also joining us,
The woman who has led the crusade to find killer R.
Jake McLeod. No matter where it took her, no matter
how long and how hard she had to look, no
matter how many times she had to go on air
(13:57):
and beg for help, no matter what she had to do,
she never quit with us. Is Crystel's mother, Josephine wants Josephine,
thank you for being with us, thank you for bringing
me back at such a special occasion. It's kind of
hard listening to all the details again, which brings a
(14:17):
lot of anger and makes it even more of a
celebratory thing that I've done, catching him and getting him
off the street and putting him in prison so he
doesn't hurt somebody else. I'd like to see him try
to do that somebody in prison. You know, every picture
Josephine that I've ever seen of him, he looks like
(14:42):
a poser. You know. I think of my husband or
my father as being the perfect man, unassuming, smart, active, physical,
in great shape, but not a show off. This guy,
(15:02):
every time I see him, he's got a gym behind him,
He's got on a torn out tank top, bulging his
arm muscles with like a fake tan, with a cigar
or with a gun, somehow propping up his toxic masculinity.
It's like he has so much to prove. I don't
(15:26):
get it. But what did she think about him? How
did someone like Crystal get tangled up with this poc
other men? She came out of a relationship and she's
been out of a relationship for about five months and
the guy was pursuing her. And you know, here comes
(15:47):
this big marine and you know, crystal sister was a marine,
and so I don't know that I would call him big.
It's hopped up on steroids. Those muscles aren't real. No,
r well big? What is that? Hold on? What about that?
Doctor Kendall Crowns. Have you seen this guy? I mean,
this guy is what, um what five to seven maybe?
(16:08):
And he is just about five to seven wide across
the chest with all of his fake muscles, fake muscles,
fake ten, fake cover story, fake everything. He was even
still married when he met Crystal. What does steroids do
to you? And I am not going down the garden path.
The rabbit hole of steroids made me do it? That
(16:30):
ain't happening. That's the same thing as drugs and alcohol.
You take steroids, you go crazy and kill somebody that's
on you. The steroids didn't do it. But how does
that work, doctor Kendall Crowns. How does he get on
his fake muscles? Well, the steroids help he put on
muscle mass. So if he gets bigger muscles quicker from
using a steroids because of the effectless steroids muscles at
(16:55):
his neck. He looks like an ox, like I'm about
to put a plow on him. How does it work?
How does that work? Crowns like? It said that it
increases your ability to put it on muscle mask the
exact effects the steroids have. I'm a muscleture. I can't
really tell you right off him, but I know it
(17:15):
accentuates the ability to put on muncles. So the more
he lifts, the more to the clicker he's going to
put it on. Unlike a person who's not using steroids,
where it could take years to develop muscle masks, he
can do it in a matter of months. So on
the downside, he's also getting liver injury and his testicles
are shrinking, and he's also going to have matta wait
(17:38):
a minute, right there. I do not care about his
liver damage. But that said, Uh, you know, Josephine Wentzel,
your Crystal's mother, did you ever see this guy before
she started going out with him? Never? Because I'm telling you,
if I caught my husband, David Lanche and the gym
this much, I say, no, you got that much time
(17:58):
for Jim Deane and him three four hours a day?
You go to work. You can go work, makes some
money for this child, for the children's college. One. Why
is a grown man in the gym five six seven
hours a day to where he looks like that. If
he has that much time on his hand, he can
be cutting your grass. He does not need to be
(18:19):
in there building up his neck muscles. Okay, so you
didn't see him before she started dating him, Josephine, I
did not. This was not a you know, Nancy, this
I mean everybody's reporting boyfriend and girlfriend. It was dating.
They were dating. It wasn't an intimate boyfriend and girlfriend.
She already knew him. She was the apartment complex manager.
(18:39):
He went there to apply for at least on an
apartment while he's out on bond for trying to kill
his a strange wife. Josephine, I don't think that any
of the men on our panel are going to understand this. Sorry, man,
I know you claimed to be just as smart as women. Josephine,
if you've seen this picture of him with a cigar,
I've seen a picture of the camp. Yes, I have,
(19:02):
and those are the pictures I have gotten from. He's
got a gun in his left hand and he's having
like a big fat Cuban cigarless like maybe a one Julietta.
It's just I want to just tear his little head off.
What is it about that picture that's so irritating? If
(19:23):
they arrogance? Yeah, that's it. You said it all in
one word. You also said how he managed to woo
Crystal with her having no idea who he really is.
She was on apartment complex manager, correct, Yes, that's correct,
(19:44):
and he put in an application to live there, right,
yes he did. And now we're on the application did
it say I'm on my third marriage and oh yeah,
I just strangled her a couple of weeks ago. Why
how could that not pop up on Crystal radar since
she was the one looking at the applications? Because apartment
apartment complexes only look for felons for somebody that's been tried,
(20:10):
because they should. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not showing anything
about arrest. What about that shell not twenty seven years
metro major case detective arrest. Don't show up? There's about
to be a conviction. Oh yeah, I wouldn't want to
hurt R. J. McCloud's feelings by what a wrongful arrest
showing up on his rap sheet and now crystals. Did
(20:31):
you think she would have gone out with him if
she had seen domestic assack? Arrest? On that right, here's
luck is lucky that he's even walking the streets. He
should have been convicted, he should have been put in prison,
and he should have been serving time for strangling and
nearly killing. But this other lay, it is just this
insanity that this guy sell up the street. No officiive
(20:53):
anybody on the panel. And multiple marriages, I'm not knocking it.
I'm not the church lady. I really don't care. But
first marriage, you think, okay, that was a starter marriage. Okay,
second marriage is still up in the air. You don't
really know what happened. How do I know that you
didn't get married young and you didn't realize what you
were doing. But when you makes me think of Drew Peterson, Well,
(21:15):
you're getting on your fourth, fifth, sixth wife. Except Elizabeth Taylor,
God rest her soul, because none that was her fault.
When you start getting on, it starts to be you're
the only common denominator in all that, So it's your fault.
These women were not connecting the dots of all of
(21:38):
his relationships, of all of his domestic assaults. In fact,
he was quite a con man, a smooth operator. They
had no reason to suspect him. Take a listen to
our friend Josephine Wentzel and our cut nine. Everything was
right about him. He was stable, he was a US Marine.
Crystal's sister was a US Marine. There was nothing to
(22:01):
alert her that he was a terrible person. And so
when she came out here, and I remember that night
when I got that phone call, I mean, this is
you know. I've been on the side where I had
to give the message to Pearance sometimes I didn't want
to get the message that their child has been murdered.
And I'm on this side, and I've received that message
(22:24):
that night. Josephine, Crystal's mother, who never gave up. She
was like a hound from hell on this guy, about
three inches up his tailpipe at all times, trying to
bring her daughter's killer to justice. Joseph Ayne, we have
talked about this once before, but for those just joining us,
(22:47):
what happened when you realize something had gone horribly wrong
with Crystal. I tried to reach her. She wasn't responding
to me. I knew and my gut something was wrong.
With her, because that wasn't her to just ignore me,
especially because I had her children. So my husband had
textuents that you have to call your mother right now.
(23:11):
And I found out later from Detective Dobs that when
they had found her, her phone was there and it
kept going off and they kept seeing her parents, and
so he said, you know, at some point, he says,
let's get ahold of the parents right away. They're trying
to reach her and they're panicking. And then you got
the call. Yes, I got the call. What happened. Detective
(23:31):
Dobs had called and said that she was in a
mark And I don't remember all the details. I just
remember covering my ears and dropping to the floor and
just my having my heart ripped out. My soul was
stabbed so deep, and it was the most horrible feeling
(23:53):
in the whole entire world. Most people cannot relate to
the feeling because Nancy, it's a parents' worst and you
don't go there. Nobody wants to go there. I had
to go there. I had no choice. He put me there,
He put my whole entire family there. He put my husband,
Crystal's children there, he put my son, my daughters. He
(24:14):
really did a number in our family, Jessa Fain, You
stated that in the past it had been you making
me the call to parents. What did you mean by that,
to tell them about their loved one being dead? Why you?
When I was a police officer, and I remember one
case specifically where I went to a door and the
(24:36):
mom collapsed and she started freaking out because she's all
a police card. And I lied to her and I said,
just go to the hospital. Are they still alive? Just
go to the hospital. I didn't want to say. I
was just so afraid of the mom actually having a
heart attack on me. Oh, Joseph saying, I gotta tell him.
By the time I got cases, the family already knew
(24:59):
that son or the daughter, or the mom or the
dad had been murdered. But even then, when I would
go to talk to them to work up the case
for trial, so I could understand every nuance of the
victim and their family and their personality and what happened,
I remember it like it was yesterday, because it's so
painful for them to talk about it and relive, and
(25:22):
it could trigger nightmares, and it all just comes right
back when you have to talk about it. Sometimes as
a matter of fact. Guys, I want you to hear
what Josephine has said before. Listen. The children were staying
with us in vacation when that happened, and that morning
I woke up and I knew there was something wrong.
I felt there was something wrong, and I wasn't sure
(25:45):
what it was. And when we reached out and tried
to speak with her, she never responded, and then it
was that call that night. But I'm just appealing to
the public. I mean, we have America's best behind me.
We have one of the greatest teams there is. But
sometimes Bess is not good enough. Sometimes we just need more.
And I'm appealing to the public help us bring peace.
(26:08):
As you see, this is the children that have to
sleep at night, and I just want to bring peace.
I know that finding him is not going to bring
my daughter back, but it's going to save the life
of your daughter, your granddaughter, your mother. This shouldn't happen.
There's so many victims to murder, and it continues on.
(26:30):
It doesn't end. This case may close, but what has
happened to our family would never close. The pain of
knowing he slipped through the fingers of law enforcement and
was somewhere in the world, joseph Ain had quit, had
left her job after many years as police officer. She
(26:51):
comes back and dedicates her life to bring this guy
in and listen to this point that she makes. Listen,
this man is brutal. I've done some background checks on him.
He started out with so many domestic violence. Why domestic
violences a misdemeanor in Arizona, I don't know, but it is.
(27:12):
And this was an awful thing that happened. If he
was processed properly, probably he wouldn't be out there. Josephine,
how does it strike you that because of a processing error,
there was no warrant on him and he was free
to meet Crystal and then murder her. Anger, total anger.
(27:35):
And you know, Nancy, I haven't addressed that issue yet.
Now that he's behind in bars, I intend to address
that issue. Why are the police officers, Nancy, here's a question.
Why are police officers being prosecuted for murder in the
line of duty? And yet these these lawyers, these bondsmen,
(27:57):
these judges get away with allowing these people to continue
to murder. If they took at least a little bit
of time to look into his background. Just a little,
they would have realized that he was not a good
candidate to be released. Gone out are five thousand dollars
cash because it's a fifty thousand dollars bond. Instead, he
(28:19):
is out on the run. Take a listen to Summer
Stephen San Diego DIA's office. McLeod is a former marine
who may have access to weapons. He's thirty four years old,
five foot eleven inches tall, and has multiple very recognizable
tattoos on his arms and chest and body. He goes
(28:41):
by the nicknames RJ, but maybe using the name Matt
or Matteo to attempt to hide his identity. It's very
likely he's tried to change his appearance, grown a beard,
he may have put on weight. Joining me right now,
Special guest, Frankie Sanchez, Chief Inspector US Marshall's Task Force
out of LA Chief Inspector Sanchez, thank you for being
(29:04):
with us so at the get go. We hear word
that he has been in Belize that he is beyond belize.
I want you to take a listen, Frankie Sanchez to
our cut twenty. You know this guy Stave German, US
Marshal Service, our trail that we have followed him. So far,
(29:25):
we've confirmed that he left San Diego and went into Mexico,
and then we've also confirmed that he was in Belize.
That tip actually came in anonymously from a female who
met him dancing at a nightclub, got kind of a
creepy feeling about him and probably saved her own life
by not going with him. That is the type of
monster that we're dealing with here. He will repeat this
(29:48):
action if he hasn't already. Time stories with Nancy Grace.
How many times has a creepy feeling saved somebody's life?
(30:11):
And it saved that woman the night she met R. J.
McLeod in a bar. Back to Chief Inspector of the
US Marshal's Task Force, Frankie Sanchez again, it's a real
honor to have you on, Frankie. Little known fact. My
first investigator that I worked with very very closely at
(30:32):
the District Attorney's office, Matt McPherson. I went on to
become the US Marshal for the Northern District of Georgia,
and I got to know a lot of the US
Marshals that way. Robert McMichael's and I just have the
most respect for you guys. You know, when you are
(30:52):
on the list of the US Marshal Europe the creek
without a paddle. So what do you do? You get
word that he's in Mexico, he's in the laze, how
do you go about finding him? You know, Nancy, you
you can't let the border stop you. M It's just
it's one of those things, one of those cases that
(31:13):
you just chase it until you get to the end.
Thank God, we have good relationships with agencies and other countries.
We're very fortunate our agency is to be able to
have those partnerships with these outside agencies in other countries.
So where did the trail lead the US Marshals? So
initially McLeod had fled into Mexico. How did he get
(31:34):
to Mexico? Just drive across the border? Correct? Yes, he
drove across the border. How does that happen when he's
got this huge string of domestic violence and then he
strangled somebody dad his second triangulation victim. How do you
just hop in your car and drive across the border
and nobody checks. I couldn't tell you, Nancy, I couldn't
tell you. How do you think they do it? I mean,
I think I think the stopbound traffic going into Mexico.
(31:57):
I mean, obviously everybody is not id going into Mexico
and coming into the United States obviously different. Again, I'm
not a customers Border inspection officer, but I'm pretty sure
that's how it works. So from Mexico, where do you
think he went? So from Mexico he went into Beliefe.
That's when the marshals were That's when the marshals became
involved in the case. He was sometime in December of
(32:18):
twenty and sixteen when we were asked to assist in
the in the location capture of Raymond McCloud. So you
get in on the act after he is already left
Mexico and he is in Belize. You know, there's not
a lot of places you can hide in Belize. It's
not that big. It's like a rock jutting out of
the ocean. How can you hide in Belize? You know,
(32:40):
that's that's a great question. I actually was down there
physically working with DSS and local authorities running down some
of the tips, and I was blown away with how
small the country is. So I don't know he made
his way into the expat areas, and at that time,
you know, nobody knew who he was. Josephine. You know,
once we had found out Hen down there at that
(33:01):
point that from Joseph he had got on boarding and
get these social media blasts. But she had did Facebook,
and that's when the ties started to flow in way
to go, Josephine, tell me about your Facebook blasts. Well,
I decided it was time for me to get involved,
and I went online. I tried to figure out how
I could get the word out, because you can be
on the top fifteen, top ten, top one, number one
(33:24):
wanted in the world, but if nobody knows, it's useless.
So I realized I needed to put his face out there.
Now that you know he became top fifteen, it was
my work to get the word out, and boy it
is you get the word out. And back to Belize.
I mean, Frankie, the only thing I can remember. Dived
all before I had the twins, all over all over
(33:45):
the world, and Belize was just a spot to dive,
and there wasn't a whole lot else in Malaise. I
remember there were goats walking up the street. And when
I found out that he had been in Blaise. I thought, Wow,
they couldn't find him in Belize. That's like saying, hey,
I couldn't find him in the backyard. So how did
(34:07):
he elude law enforcement? Did he leave Belize very quickly?
I mean, how did he lure in his victims? You know,
the guy was smooth, he was slick. He knew what
he was doing. I can't tell you exactly how he
evaded law enforcement down there, but you know I can
tell you he was in the expat areas. I mean,
he hung out a lot in the northern part of
but eventually made his way down at the southern part
(34:28):
of Belize. Well, here's the good news. Take a listen
to our friends at KUSI. We do have some breaking
news to bring you right now. Raymond R. J. McLeod,
one of the US Marshall's Top fifteen most wanted fugitives,
is now in custody in Al Salvador. McLeod was charged
with a murder of thirty year old Crystal Mitchell on
June tenth of twenty sixteen. Detectives from the San Diego
(34:52):
Police Department say there were signs of a struggle and
determined Mitchell was last seen alive with her boyfriend Ryan McLeod.
On Monday, August twenty ninth, US Marshalls accompanied a team
of El Salvadorian police to the town of San Sanato
and conducted surveillance on the school and questioned. They determined
the individual inside the school was, in fact, mister McLeod,
(35:14):
going by the name of Jack Donovan. I will be
satisfied when he is convicted for brutally murdering my daughter
and that he is sentenced to life in prison. How
was he hiding out? Take those to our friends at
CBS eight. I remember he told me he's from Canada. Also,
(35:35):
his name was Jack, just Jack. Josuay Castro took this
photo of his English teacher in San sanat El Salvador,
at a school called Direct English, where he studied English
for more than two years between two seventeen and twenty nineteen.
Little did he know his teacher was a fugitive Raymond
(35:59):
mc cloud wanted for murder too. Franky Sanchez chiefs back
to US Marshal's task force. How did you catch him
all the way in El Salvador and why would he
choose El Salvador. Do you think I couldn't tell you?
Why he chose El Salvador. Um. I think I think
the further stout he got, the less noticeable he would be.
People would not maybe not know his story, who he was,
(36:20):
that he was wanted. Um, but I can tell you that,
you know, on the on the twentieth of August, the
Marshal Service had received the tip from a tipster and
the the you know, again, we received numerous numeorous tips
throughout the years. Um, this is just one of those
tips that we had to look into and and and
we did and the information was fruitful, you know. Josephine
(36:42):
went soul is joining me. Josephine, tell me how it
went down that you found out R. J. McLeod had
been arrested. Well, Nancy, as you know, for six years,
I've been you know, sharing information with the US Marshals.
Of course, you know, because of legal reasons, they can't
(37:02):
really you know, share everything with me. But we worked
together on my tips, and I just want to make
that very clear. When pictures come in, of course, you know,
we share it together because is this what do you think?
You know, I'm the mom examining him. I can see him,
you know, it's him a mile away. So when I
(37:24):
had seen a picture that a Sores had you know,
contacted the marshals. Of course, later it was determined that
they had, you know, that person had seen of stuff
that I was posting around. I wasn't too sure, and
I wasn't hopeful. After six years, it was more like, okay,
(37:47):
I Frankie Sanchez and Francisco Barajas had me work to
a point where it's like, don't put your hopes up high,
don't you know, don't get excited when we find something
like this. And so it just so happened that I'm work.
I was working on two cases of two missing women,
and I was assisting some families. So I didn't really
put a lot into it because I knew that the
(38:08):
US Marshals were on it, and I knew that something
was going to come off it. I just wasn't sure.
And so when I got word of it, I basically
was in shock and disbelieve. And I kept saying to
the Marshal Francisco Barras, that you know, are you sure
(38:31):
did you check his tattoo? Did you touch him? Are
you sure isn't him? Is it really him? You know?
I just wasn't too sure. Nancy I just didn't want
to get my hopes up high, but I was. I
think I was in shock too. Will there be justice?
Taking a SNAr cut twenty five KUSI. Raymond McLeod stood
before a judge for the first time Friday after being
(38:51):
captured in El Salvador. The judge ordered news cameras not
to show his face in court during his arraignment, but
pictures of this former marine had been plastered everywhere for years.
Wanted by the US Marshals as a top fugitive, McLeod
had been on the run, accused of killing his girlfriend,
Crystal Mitchell at a residence in Allied Gardens to Dave
(39:12):
mc joining US Crimeoline dot Com investigative reporter Dave Matt
what happens now now they'll continue on with the prosecution. Nancy,
you know he has pleaded not guilty. With the judge
not allowing cameras in the courtroom, we're going to be
getting a lot of secondhand information coming out of the courtroom,
so we'll just have to go from there. The bottom
line is he is in custody. It is time for justice, finally, finally,
(39:37):
and we wait as justice enter Fols Nancy Grace crimestores,
signing off with a big, big thank you to the
US Marshall Service and to Joseph E. Winsl never gave up. Goodbye.
Crime Stories with Nancy Greece got him. I'm talking about
a guy that does not deserve to be called a
US marine, but he insists on saying that none other
than r J. McLeod, a killer who has dragged law
(00:30):
enforcement halfway around the world to find him. I Nancy Grace,
this is Crime Stories, Thank you for being with us
here at Fox Nation and Serious X one eleven. But
more important than that POC technical legal term r J.
McLeod is someone else, her name Crystal Mitchell. Take a
(00:56):
listen to this. Crystal was a visitor in San Diego.
She loved San Diego and she came here frequently from Phoenix.
And her last word about San Diego was, Mom, I'm
going to move there. She didn't know she was going
to be killed here, and so I have so many
(01:16):
memories of her coming to San Diego. I have a
lot of things hanging in my house and cuts and
stuff because she loves Santigo. She was a lovely mother.
She was beautiful even side out, she was beautiful. And
she was a single mom, unsuspecting of this man who
she was a property manager. And this man came by
(01:36):
to get an apartment and that's how they mapped, he
came across as a doting dad and that's one thing
she said was he loves his son. He absolutely loves
his son. And that was a quality that every single
mom out there will look for, is a man who
loves his child. You are hearing the voice of mother
(01:57):
and hero Josephine Wentzel, who has dedicated the last years
she's been alive on this earth to finding her daughter,
Crystal's killer. R Jake McConnell. Just thinking about that for
a moment. What if you were tasked with finding a killer, Well,
(02:20):
where do you start? What do you do? And a
killer who has traveled around the world and knows how
to elude police? I mean and see Grace. This is
crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at
Fox Nation. In series eleven. R J. McLeod a man
we have all searched for. He has been at the
(02:41):
top of the FBI most wanted, a cold blooded killer,
but it took one of his victim's mother to bring
him to justice. And this is the story of r. J.
McCleod going down thanks to Crystal's mother, Josephine, And what
(03:03):
a story it is. I want you to take a
listen now to our friends at KUSI. Around one pm
on June tenth, twenty sixteen, when San Diego Police Department
receives a nine one one call, they arrived to the
apartment to find the lifeless body of Crystal Mitchell. The
(03:26):
coroner determines that she died by strangulation and that this
was a homicide. This strangulation was so violent that there
were three separate fractures to her voice box and nine
one one call brought police to an apartment in Allied Garden,
(03:47):
San Diego, where Crystal's body was found. There were clear
signs of a struggle and Crystal had numerous injuries. There
was blunt force strung Mama, including to her face and
torso McLeod had brutally strangled Crystal to death, choking the
(04:10):
very life out of her. There were multiple fractures to
her neck area. Joining me a renowned chief medical examiner,
doctor Kindall Crowns, the chief medical Examiner of Tarrant County,
that's Fort Worth. He is also lecturing University Texas Austin
and Texas Christian University Med School. Doctor Crowns, thank you
(04:31):
for being with us. What does that tell you? The
cod cause of death is manual strangulation versus, for instance,
a ligature strangulation or asphyxiation of some other type. But
three separate fractures to Crystal's voice box number one, What
is a voice box? Sure, that's not the medical term.
(04:52):
So the voice box is the area where your vocal
corrigal sense is made up by your ty cartilage. And
cyrod carlage is like this kind of large shield of
carlag and a structure that sits over the vocal court
of regions. And what I'm hearing with that is because
she is a young woman, usually there's the cyrod carnolage
(05:17):
hasn't become bony yet or ossified, so it's very pliable
in a young woman, and that usually doesn't fracture in
a annual strangulation. So to me, that sounds like an
incredible amount of force is being put on her neck
by the perpetrator's hands. So he's obviously got a very
good grip strength and he put a lot of force
(05:39):
into that to cause that much damage. Interesting to doctor
Michael the clinical forensic psychologist, former chief of the US
Marshal Service Behavioral Analysis Unit. You can find him at
Michael PhD dot com. Doctor Burt, thank you for being
with us. What does it tell you about R. J.
McCleod that he not only stringle her, but striangled her
(06:02):
so forcefully and so violently to cause three fractures in
Crystal's voice box. Well, Nancy, you know, some of these
perpetrators are gonna cause that much damage because they're out
of control, or because this is sort of a heat
of passion kind of a thing. In McLeod's case, this
is a very cold and calculating man. He's he's had
(06:25):
the discipline instilled from the US Marine Corps. He knows
what he's doing, and he's committed acts of violence against
vulnerable people in his past. So this man is committing
this type of damage, in this extent of this damage
because he enjoys it. A cloud is a sadist, He
(06:48):
is somewhat psychopathic. He doesn't have a you know, a
great degree of empathy for other people, and he enjoyed
the power and the rush that he got from hurting
other people. Yeah, I've heard about people like that. I
(07:08):
think I've encountered defendants like that that enjoy the act
of inflicting pain on others. As you said, sadist so
much that they do it over and over again, and
that is exactly what r J. McLeod did. This was
by far not his first female victim. He prayed on
(07:29):
people that were weaker and less cunning than himself over
and over and over, culminating in the murder of Crystal.
But when you say doctor Roy out of control, I'm
not so sure that I think he was out of
control as much as enjoying the sensation of strangling her dead,
(07:52):
seeing her life leave her body, because I believe that
there was another pole, possibly in the apartment where they
were at the time, and they didn't hear a thing. Guys,
take a listen to our cut too. This is Ginger
Jeffrey's KUSI. We believe that they came into San Diego
that night. They had spent some time socializing and catching
(08:15):
up with RJ's friends. Then after the hosts had gone
to bed, they went out to a local bar, had
a couple more drinks to enjoy their stay in San Diego.
When they returned back to the condominium, we believed shortly
after that there's some kind of altercation between Crystal and RJ.
And that's when it killed her and more. When we
got into the scene, crystals body was found on the
(08:37):
bed in the guest room at a kind of minium
where they've been staying with some friends of RJS. There
were some blood in the scene and some items of
furniture they've been moved around. It's pretty obvious there was
some kind of struggle in the room. McLeod then took
Crystal's car to the San Diego airport, rented a different
car and drove into Mexico. Officials issue a warrant for
(09:01):
his arrest. The charge murder. Oh yeah, this guy, there's
no way he's going to be able to claim in
voluntary intoxication. Let me remind everyone, and isn't this true?
James shell Nutt twenty seven years Metro major case as
a detective, former SWAT, now a lawyer at the shell
Nutt Law Firm. Voluntary use of drugs or alcohol is
(09:25):
never a defense under the law unless you're a commenttose.
If you're commentose, you can't strangle anybody. But the fact
that he may have been somewhat intoxicated or at least
under the influence, that's not going to help him at all. No,
it's not gonna help him at all. You can't just
go get yourself drunk and then have a free pass
(09:45):
to attack people, to murder people, to do whatever you
want to do. It's not legally a defense and it's
not going to fly in front of a jury. Oh no,
no way. In fact, it makes me dislike him even
more if that can even be in matter. So he's
out drunk, acting the fool, and he's got this gorgeous
young date with him, and I don't quite understand how
(10:09):
a night out turns deadly. I don't know how that flip.
But when you're r. J. McLeod, it doesn't take much
to flick your switch time stories with Nancy Grace. Guys. Immediately,
(10:40):
this guy goes on the run, which will be lie
any claim of mental defect, temporary insanity, deluded under intoxication.
No listen, listen to how well thought out his escape
plan was. He goes on the run. Take a listen
(11:00):
to ginger Jeffries described as five foot eleven weighing two
hundred and twenty five to two hundred and forty five pounds.
Raymond McLeod, a former marine, was dating Crystal Mitchell on
June tenth, twenty sixteen, San Diego police found the victim
not breathing at an apartment complex in Allied Gardens. She
(11:24):
was pronounced dead at the scene by medics. He's believed
to be on the run in Central America or Mexico.
His last reported location was in Guatemala about a year ago,
but he has also been spotted in Belize and in Mexico.
McLeod has been able to hide until now, but we're
(11:44):
not going to let this coward run from justice and
get away with murder. Make no mistake, We are on
a hunt for justice and we need your help now.
Apparently this guy was a wolf in sheep's clothing, although
I always thought he looked like he was jacked up
(12:04):
on steroids. That said, there's no way Crystal could have
known what she was dealing with. Take a listen to
Ginger Jeffries. When the crime happened, McLeod was still married
to his third wife. However, the couple was estranged after
a domestic violence incident in Riverside County in April of
(12:27):
twenty sixteen, that's just two months before the murder. McLeod
was on bond when he moved to Scottsdale and met
Crystal They had only been dating a matter of weeks,
and her mom tells me her friends did not approve
her friend, didn't like him at all when she met him.
McLeod had prior violence against two of his previous wives.
(12:52):
He had attending twenty sixteen Blanky case in Riverside for
strangling one of his wifes. A roommate interrupted the woman
being strangled. That set the scene for what would be
a deadly trip to San Diego, California. You know, I
(13:13):
don't get it how the prosecutor can say that with
a straight face, because he should have been prosecuted for
strangling the last wife. But no, nothing happened, and he's
out walking free, and bam he runs into Crystal, totally unsuspecting.
(13:35):
Joining me right now is a special guest, the woman
along with the US Marshal Service, who's also joining us,
The woman who has led the crusade to find killer R.
Jake McLeod. No matter where it took her, no matter
how long and how hard she had to look, no
matter how many times she had to go on air
(13:57):
and beg for help, no matter what she had to do,
she never quit with us. Is Crystel's mother, Josephine wants Josephine,
thank you for being with us, thank you for bringing
me back at such a special occasion. It's kind of
hard listening to all the details again, which brings a
(14:17):
lot of anger and makes it even more of a
celebratory thing that I've done, catching him and getting him
off the street and putting him in prison so he
doesn't hurt somebody else. I'd like to see him try
to do that somebody in prison. You know, every picture
Josephine that I've ever seen of him, he looks like
(14:42):
a poser. You know. I think of my husband or
my father as being the perfect man, unassuming, smart, active, physical,
in great shape, but not a show off. This guy,
(15:02):
every time I see him, he's got a gym behind him,
He's got on a torn out tank top, bulging his
arm muscles with like a fake tan, with a cigar
or with a gun, somehow propping up his toxic masculinity.
It's like he has so much to prove. I don't
(15:26):
get it. But what did she think about him? How
did someone like Crystal get tangled up with this poc
other men? She came out of a relationship and she's
been out of a relationship for about five months and
the guy was pursuing her. And you know, here comes
(15:47):
this big marine and you know, crystal sister was a marine,
and so I don't know that I would call him big.
It's hopped up on steroids. Those muscles aren't real. No,
r well big? What is that? Hold on? What about that?
Doctor Kendall Crowns. Have you seen this guy? I mean,
this guy is what, um what five to seven maybe?
(16:08):
And he is just about five to seven wide across
the chest with all of his fake muscles, fake muscles,
fake ten, fake cover story, fake everything. He was even
still married when he met Crystal. What does steroids do
to you? And I am not going down the garden path.
The rabbit hole of steroids made me do it? That
(16:30):
ain't happening. That's the same thing as drugs and alcohol.
You take steroids, you go crazy and kill somebody that's
on you. The steroids didn't do it. But how does
that work, doctor Kendall Crowns. How does he get on
his fake muscles? Well, the steroids help he put on
muscle mass. So if he gets bigger muscles quicker from
using a steroids because of the effectless steroids muscles at
(16:55):
his neck. He looks like an ox, like I'm about
to put a plow on him. How does it work?
How does that work? Crowns like? It said that it
increases your ability to put it on muscle mask the
exact effects the steroids have. I'm a muscleture. I can't
really tell you right off him, but I know it
(17:15):
accentuates the ability to put on muncles. So the more
he lifts, the more to the clicker he's going to
put it on. Unlike a person who's not using steroids,
where it could take years to develop muscle masks, he
can do it in a matter of months. So on
the downside, he's also getting liver injury and his testicles
are shrinking, and he's also going to have matta wait
(17:38):
a minute, right there. I do not care about his
liver damage. But that said, Uh, you know, Josephine Wentzel,
your Crystal's mother, did you ever see this guy before
she started going out with him? Never? Because I'm telling you,
if I caught my husband, David Lanche and the gym
this much, I say, no, you got that much time
(17:58):
for Jim Deane and him three four hours a day?
You go to work. You can go work, makes some
money for this child, for the children's college. One. Why
is a grown man in the gym five six seven
hours a day to where he looks like that. If
he has that much time on his hand, he can
be cutting your grass. He does not need to be
(18:19):
in there building up his neck muscles. Okay, so you
didn't see him before she started dating him, Josephine, I
did not. This was not a you know, Nancy, this
I mean everybody's reporting boyfriend and girlfriend. It was dating.
They were dating. It wasn't an intimate boyfriend and girlfriend.
She already knew him. She was the apartment complex manager.
(18:39):
He went there to apply for at least on an
apartment while he's out on bond for trying to kill
his a strange wife. Josephine, I don't think that any
of the men on our panel are going to understand this. Sorry, man,
I know you claimed to be just as smart as women. Josephine,
if you've seen this picture of him with a cigar,
I've seen a picture of the camp. Yes, I have,
(19:02):
and those are the pictures I have gotten from. He's
got a gun in his left hand and he's having
like a big fat Cuban cigarless like maybe a one Julietta.
It's just I want to just tear his little head off.
What is it about that picture that's so irritating? If
(19:23):
they arrogance? Yeah, that's it. You said it all in
one word. You also said how he managed to woo
Crystal with her having no idea who he really is.
She was on apartment complex manager, correct, Yes, that's correct,
(19:44):
and he put in an application to live there, right,
yes he did. And now we're on the application did
it say I'm on my third marriage and oh yeah,
I just strangled her a couple of weeks ago. Why
how could that not pop up on Crystal radar since
she was the one looking at the applications? Because apartment
apartment complexes only look for felons for somebody that's been tried,
(20:10):
because they should. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not showing anything
about arrest. What about that shell not twenty seven years
metro major case detective arrest. Don't show up? There's about
to be a conviction. Oh yeah, I wouldn't want to
hurt R. J. McCloud's feelings by what a wrongful arrest
showing up on his rap sheet and now crystals. Did
(20:31):
you think she would have gone out with him if
she had seen domestic assack? Arrest? On that right, here's
luck is lucky that he's even walking the streets. He
should have been convicted, he should have been put in prison,
and he should have been serving time for strangling and
nearly killing. But this other lay, it is just this
insanity that this guy sell up the street. No officiive
(20:53):
anybody on the panel. And multiple marriages, I'm not knocking it.
I'm not the church lady. I really don't care. But
first marriage, you think, okay, that was a starter marriage. Okay,
second marriage is still up in the air. You don't
really know what happened. How do I know that you
didn't get married young and you didn't realize what you
were doing. But when you makes me think of Drew Peterson, Well,
(21:15):
you're getting on your fourth, fifth, sixth wife. Except Elizabeth Taylor,
God rest her soul, because none that was her fault.
When you start getting on, it starts to be you're
the only common denominator in all that, So it's your fault.
These women were not connecting the dots of all of
(21:38):
his relationships, of all of his domestic assaults. In fact,
he was quite a con man, a smooth operator. They
had no reason to suspect him. Take a listen to
our friend Josephine Wentzel and our cut nine. Everything was
right about him. He was stable, he was a US Marine.
Crystal's sister was a US Marine. There was nothing to
(22:01):
alert her that he was a terrible person. And so
when she came out here, and I remember that night
when I got that phone call, I mean, this is
you know. I've been on the side where I had
to give the message to Pearance sometimes I didn't want
to get the message that their child has been murdered.
And I'm on this side, and I've received that message
(22:24):
that night. Josephine, Crystal's mother, who never gave up. She
was like a hound from hell on this guy, about
three inches up his tailpipe at all times, trying to
bring her daughter's killer to justice. Joseph Ayne, we have
talked about this once before, but for those just joining us,
(22:47):
what happened when you realize something had gone horribly wrong
with Crystal. I tried to reach her. She wasn't responding
to me. I knew and my gut something was wrong.
With her, because that wasn't her to just ignore me,
especially because I had her children. So my husband had
textuents that you have to call your mother right now.
(23:11):
And I found out later from Detective Dobs that when
they had found her, her phone was there and it
kept going off and they kept seeing her parents, and
so he said, you know, at some point, he says,
let's get ahold of the parents right away. They're trying
to reach her and they're panicking. And then you got
the call. Yes, I got the call. What happened. Detective
(23:31):
Dobs had called and said that she was in a
mark And I don't remember all the details. I just
remember covering my ears and dropping to the floor and
just my having my heart ripped out. My soul was
stabbed so deep, and it was the most horrible feeling
(23:53):
in the whole entire world. Most people cannot relate to
the feeling because Nancy, it's a parents' worst and you
don't go there. Nobody wants to go there. I had
to go there. I had no choice. He put me there,
He put my whole entire family there. He put my husband,
Crystal's children there, he put my son, my daughters. He
(24:14):
really did a number in our family, Jessa Fain, You
stated that in the past it had been you making
me the call to parents. What did you mean by that,
to tell them about their loved one being dead? Why you?
When I was a police officer, and I remember one
case specifically where I went to a door and the
(24:36):
mom collapsed and she started freaking out because she's all
a police card. And I lied to her and I said,
just go to the hospital. Are they still alive? Just
go to the hospital. I didn't want to say. I
was just so afraid of the mom actually having a
heart attack on me. Oh, Joseph saying, I gotta tell him.
By the time I got cases, the family already knew
(24:59):
that son or the daughter, or the mom or the
dad had been murdered. But even then, when I would
go to talk to them to work up the case
for trial, so I could understand every nuance of the
victim and their family and their personality and what happened,
I remember it like it was yesterday, because it's so
painful for them to talk about it and relive, and
(25:22):
it could trigger nightmares, and it all just comes right
back when you have to talk about it. Sometimes as
a matter of fact. Guys, I want you to hear
what Josephine has said before. Listen. The children were staying
with us in vacation when that happened, and that morning
I woke up and I knew there was something wrong.
I felt there was something wrong, and I wasn't sure
(25:45):
what it was. And when we reached out and tried
to speak with her, she never responded, and then it
was that call that night. But I'm just appealing to
the public. I mean, we have America's best behind me.
We have one of the greatest teams there is. But
sometimes Bess is not good enough. Sometimes we just need more.
And I'm appealing to the public help us bring peace.
(26:08):
As you see, this is the children that have to
sleep at night, and I just want to bring peace.
I know that finding him is not going to bring
my daughter back, but it's going to save the life
of your daughter, your granddaughter, your mother. This shouldn't happen.
There's so many victims to murder, and it continues on.
(26:30):
It doesn't end. This case may close, but what has
happened to our family would never close. The pain of
knowing he slipped through the fingers of law enforcement and
was somewhere in the world, joseph Ain had quit, had
left her job after many years as police officer. She
(26:51):
comes back and dedicates her life to bring this guy
in and listen to this point that she makes. Listen,
this man is brutal. I've done some background checks on him.
He started out with so many domestic violence. Why domestic
violences a misdemeanor in Arizona, I don't know, but it is.
(27:12):
And this was an awful thing that happened. If he
was processed properly, probably he wouldn't be out there. Josephine,
how does it strike you that because of a processing error,
there was no warrant on him and he was free
to meet Crystal and then murder her. Anger, total anger.
(27:35):
And you know, Nancy, I haven't addressed that issue yet.
Now that he's behind in bars, I intend to address
that issue. Why are the police officers, Nancy, here's a question.
Why are police officers being prosecuted for murder in the
line of duty? And yet these these lawyers, these bondsmen,
(27:57):
these judges get away with allowing these people to continue
to murder. If they took at least a little bit
of time to look into his background. Just a little,
they would have realized that he was not a good
candidate to be released. Gone out are five thousand dollars
cash because it's a fifty thousand dollars bond. Instead, he
(28:19):
is out on the run. Take a listen to Summer
Stephen San Diego DIA's office. McLeod is a former marine
who may have access to weapons. He's thirty four years old,
five foot eleven inches tall, and has multiple very recognizable
tattoos on his arms and chest and body. He goes
(28:41):
by the nicknames RJ, but maybe using the name Matt
or Matteo to attempt to hide his identity. It's very
likely he's tried to change his appearance, grown a beard,
he may have put on weight. Joining me right now,
Special guest, Frankie Sanchez, Chief Inspector US Marshall's Task Force
out of LA Chief Inspector Sanchez, thank you for being
(29:04):
with us so at the get go. We hear word
that he has been in Belize that he is beyond belize.
I want you to take a listen, Frankie Sanchez to
our cut twenty. You know this guy Stave German, US
Marshal Service, our trail that we have followed him. So far,
(29:25):
we've confirmed that he left San Diego and went into Mexico,
and then we've also confirmed that he was in Belize.
That tip actually came in anonymously from a female who
met him dancing at a nightclub, got kind of a
creepy feeling about him and probably saved her own life
by not going with him. That is the type of
monster that we're dealing with here. He will repeat this
(29:48):
action if he hasn't already. Time stories with Nancy Grace.
How many times has a creepy feeling saved somebody's life?
(30:11):
And it saved that woman the night she met R. J.
McLeod in a bar. Back to Chief Inspector of the
US Marshal's Task Force, Frankie Sanchez again, it's a real
honor to have you on, Frankie. Little known fact. My
first investigator that I worked with very very closely at
(30:32):
the District Attorney's office, Matt McPherson. I went on to
become the US Marshal for the Northern District of Georgia,
and I got to know a lot of the US
Marshals that way. Robert McMichael's and I just have the
most respect for you guys. You know, when you are
(30:52):
on the list of the US Marshal Europe the creek
without a paddle. So what do you do? You get
word that he's in Mexico, he's in the laze, how
do you go about finding him? You know, Nancy, you
you can't let the border stop you. M It's just
it's one of those things, one of those cases that
(31:13):
you just chase it until you get to the end.
Thank God, we have good relationships with agencies and other countries.
We're very fortunate our agency is to be able to
have those partnerships with these outside agencies in other countries.
So where did the trail lead the US Marshals? So
initially McLeod had fled into Mexico. How did he get
(31:34):
to Mexico? Just drive across the border? Correct? Yes, he
drove across the border. How does that happen when he's
got this huge string of domestic violence and then he
strangled somebody dad his second triangulation victim. How do you
just hop in your car and drive across the border
and nobody checks. I couldn't tell you, Nancy, I couldn't
tell you. How do you think they do it? I mean,
I think I think the stopbound traffic going into Mexico.
(31:57):
I mean, obviously everybody is not id going into Mexico
and coming into the United States obviously different. Again, I'm
not a customers Border inspection officer, but I'm pretty sure
that's how it works. So from Mexico, where do you
think he went? So from Mexico he went into Beliefe.
That's when the marshals were That's when the marshals became
involved in the case. He was sometime in December of
(32:18):
twenty and sixteen when we were asked to assist in
the in the location capture of Raymond McCloud. So you
get in on the act after he is already left
Mexico and he is in Belize. You know, there's not
a lot of places you can hide in Belize. It's
not that big. It's like a rock jutting out of
the ocean. How can you hide in Belize? You know,
(32:40):
that's that's a great question. I actually was down there
physically working with DSS and local authorities running down some
of the tips, and I was blown away with how
small the country is. So I don't know he made
his way into the expat areas, and at that time,
you know, nobody knew who he was. Josephine. You know,
once we had found out Hen down there at that
(33:01):
point that from Joseph he had got on boarding and
get these social media blasts. But she had did Facebook,
and that's when the ties started to flow in way
to go, Josephine, tell me about your Facebook blasts. Well,
I decided it was time for me to get involved,
and I went online. I tried to figure out how
I could get the word out, because you can be
on the top fifteen, top ten, top one, number one
(33:24):
wanted in the world, but if nobody knows, it's useless.
So I realized I needed to put his face out there.
Now that you know he became top fifteen, it was
my work to get the word out, and boy it
is you get the word out. And back to Belize.
I mean, Frankie, the only thing I can remember. Dived
all before I had the twins, all over all over
(33:45):
the world, and Belize was just a spot to dive,
and there wasn't a whole lot else in Malaise. I
remember there were goats walking up the street. And when
I found out that he had been in Blaise. I thought, Wow,
they couldn't find him in Belize. That's like saying, hey,
I couldn't find him in the backyard. So how did
(34:07):
he elude law enforcement? Did he leave Belize very quickly?
I mean, how did he lure in his victims? You know,
the guy was smooth, he was slick. He knew what
he was doing. I can't tell you exactly how he
evaded law enforcement down there, but you know I can
tell you he was in the expat areas. I mean,
he hung out a lot in the northern part of
but eventually made his way down at the southern part
(34:28):
of Belize. Well, here's the good news. Take a listen
to our friends at KUSI. We do have some breaking
news to bring you right now. Raymond R. J. McLeod,
one of the US Marshall's Top fifteen most wanted fugitives,
is now in custody in Al Salvador. McLeod was charged
with a murder of thirty year old Crystal Mitchell on
June tenth of twenty sixteen. Detectives from the San Diego
(34:52):
Police Department say there were signs of a struggle and
determined Mitchell was last seen alive with her boyfriend Ryan McLeod.
On Monday, August twenty ninth, US Marshalls accompanied a team
of El Salvadorian police to the town of San Sanato
and conducted surveillance on the school and questioned. They determined
the individual inside the school was, in fact, mister McLeod,
(35:14):
going by the name of Jack Donovan. I will be
satisfied when he is convicted for brutally murdering my daughter
and that he is sentenced to life in prison. How
was he hiding out? Take those to our friends at
CBS eight. I remember he told me he's from Canada. Also,
(35:35):
his name was Jack, just Jack. Josuay Castro took this
photo of his English teacher in San sanat El Salvador,
at a school called Direct English, where he studied English
for more than two years between two seventeen and twenty nineteen.
Little did he know his teacher was a fugitive Raymond
(35:59):
mc cloud wanted for murder too. Franky Sanchez chiefs back
to US Marshal's task force. How did you catch him
all the way in El Salvador and why would he
choose El Salvador. Do you think I couldn't tell you?
Why he chose El Salvador. Um. I think I think
the further stout he got, the less noticeable he would be.
People would not maybe not know his story, who he was,
(36:20):
that he was wanted. Um, but I can tell you that,
you know, on the on the twentieth of August, the
Marshal Service had received the tip from a tipster and
the the you know, again, we received numerous numeorous tips
throughout the years. Um, this is just one of those
tips that we had to look into and and and
we did and the information was fruitful, you know. Josephine
(36:42):
went soul is joining me. Josephine, tell me how it
went down that you found out R. J. McLeod had
been arrested. Well, Nancy, as you know, for six years,
I've been you know, sharing information with the US Marshals.
Of course, you know, because of legal reasons, they can't
(37:02):
really you know, share everything with me. But we worked
together on my tips, and I just want to make
that very clear. When pictures come in, of course, you know,
we share it together because is this what do you think?
You know, I'm the mom examining him. I can see him,
you know, it's him a mile away. So when I
(37:24):
had seen a picture that a Sores had you know,
contacted the marshals. Of course, later it was determined that
they had, you know, that person had seen of stuff
that I was posting around. I wasn't too sure, and
I wasn't hopeful. After six years, it was more like, okay,
(37:47):
I Frankie Sanchez and Francisco Barajas had me work to
a point where it's like, don't put your hopes up high,
don't you know, don't get excited when we find something
like this. And so it just so happened that I'm work.
I was working on two cases of two missing women,
and I was assisting some families. So I didn't really
put a lot into it because I knew that the
(38:08):
US Marshals were on it, and I knew that something
was going to come off it. I just wasn't sure.
And so when I got word of it, I basically
was in shock and disbelieve. And I kept saying to
the Marshal Francisco Barras, that you know, are you sure
(38:31):
did you check his tattoo? Did you touch him? Are
you sure isn't him? Is it really him? You know?
I just wasn't too sure. Nancy I just didn't want
to get my hopes up high, but I was. I
think I was in shock too. Will there be justice?
Taking a SNAr cut twenty five KUSI. Raymond McLeod stood
before a judge for the first time Friday after being
(38:51):
captured in El Salvador. The judge ordered news cameras not
to show his face in court during his arraignment, but
pictures of this former marine had been plastered everywhere for years.
Wanted by the US Marshals as a top fugitive, McLeod
had been on the run, accused of killing his girlfriend,
Crystal Mitchell at a residence in Allied Gardens to Dave
(39:12):
mc joining US Crimeoline dot Com investigative reporter Dave Matt
what happens now now they'll continue on with the prosecution. Nancy,
you know he has pleaded not guilty. With the judge
not allowing cameras in the courtroom, we're going to be
getting a lot of secondhand information coming out of the courtroom,
so we'll just have to go from there. The bottom
line is he is in custody. It is time for justice, finally, finally,
(39:37):
and we wait as justice enter Fols Nancy Grace crimestores,
signing off with a big, big thank you to the
US Marshall Service and to Joseph E. Winsl never gave up. Goodbye.
Host
Nancy Grace
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