March 5th, 2025 - Security!

In Alabama, a woman was charged with reckless murder after a head-on collision killed a two-year-old child.
In Wisconsin, a man faces first-degree murder charges for the death of his wife over the weekend.
Also in Alabama, a young man was charged with murder regarding the shooting death of his neighbor.
In Maryland, an armed security guard was charged with murder after shooting a man inside of the building he was hired to protect.
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome back to Sword and Scale Daily, a
daily show covering all things true crime, five days a week.
It's Wednesday, March fifth. I'm your host, Ryan Williams. Alrighty, guys,
So I saw a couple comments wishing my family well
and I realized they didn't give an update after the weekend,

(00:22):
and I'll tell you why. I got sick, and I'm
still sick, not feeling great, but I just want to
assure everyone. My wife is all good. So doctor said
it was probably a food allergy. We've been together going
on seventeen years this month, and I've always been aware
of her food allergies, so if that is the case,

(00:42):
it's probably something got tainted and it led to this
weird allergic reaction. But she's all good. They gave her
some medication to take throughout this week, so after that
everything should be good. But in the meantime, I'm sick
as hell, so bear with me and thanks. Thanks for
all the well wishes and pray much appreciated. Let's jump
into today's episode. In Alabama, a woman was charged with

(01:06):
reckless murder after a head on collision killed a two
year old child. In Wisconsin, a man faced his first
degree murder charges for the death of his wife over
the weekend. Also in Alabama, a young man was charged
with murder regarding the shooting death of his neighbor, and
in Maryland, an armed security guard was charged with murder
after shooting a man inside the building he was hired

(01:28):
to protect. All of this coming at you right now
peer on sword and Scale daily. On Tuesday, February twenty fifth,
at round nine ten pm, deputies in Escambia County, Alabama,
were dispatched to an area on US thirty one near

(01:49):
the thirty eight mile marker for a reported car crash.
When deputies arrived on the scene, they found that two
vehicles had been involved in the accident, one being a
twenty fifteen Cadillac SRX and the other a twenty seventeen
Chrysler Pacific a minivan. The occupants of both vehicles had
sustained injuries. However, a two year old who was in
the Cadillac SUV seemed to have suffered the most critical

(02:11):
injuries in the crash. The toddler, as well as the
driver of the Cadillac, later identified as thirty one year
old as Sarah James, were transported to Sacred Heart Hospital
in Pensacola, Florida. The five occupants of the Chrysler minivan
were also transported to a hospital to be checked out.
At that time, troopers with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency's
Highway Patrol Division responded to this scene to investigate what

(02:34):
caused this horrible head on collision, and during their investigation,
they learned that alcohol may have been a factor in
the crash and had testing run on the driver of
the Cadillac, that being Sarah Janes. Now, at the time
of this writing, it's not known what her blood alcohol
content was, but it was enough for investigators to arrest
Sarah for DUI after she was discharged from Sacred Heart Hospital. Initially,

(02:58):
she was booked into the Escambia Casey Jail in Florida,
but on Saturday, March first, news broke that the two
year old who was in Sarah's suv had died as
a result of the injuries the child sustained in the crash.
It was also announced at that time that Sarah James
was being charged with reckless murder in connection to the
child's death. Sarah James has since been transferred to the

(03:18):
Escambia County jail in Alabama. Details of her bond amount,
as well as a potential first court appearance, are not
known at the time of this writing. Will continue keeping
an eye on this story and bring you an update
if more details become available. On Sunday, March second, just

(03:39):
before one pm, officers with the New Richmond Police Department
in Wisconsin received a call from an individual who wanted
to request a welfare check for their loved one. The
information that dispatch had received from the caller was that
this individual had been speaking with sixty eight year old
Mary Laxo earlier in the day. During that conversation, they

(03:59):
learned that mary husband, seventy year old Gordon Laso, had
threatened her. The caller indicated that they had real fears
that Mary was in trouble and needed police to see
if she was okay. Officers were then dispatched to the
Laxo home on the thirteen hundred block of Bluff Border
Road and arrived at around one forty five pm, shortly
after they were first contacted. Upon their arrival, officers established

(04:22):
contact with Gordon and explained that they were there to
check on Mary, but according to a later released report,
Gordon told the responding officers that Mary wasn't at the
home and that she hadn't been answering or returning his calls.
Now it's not exactly known at the time of this
writing what information officers had received, but they were brought
to a rural area in Polk County. When they arrived

(04:43):
in that area, they discovered the body of a woman
who was visibly deceased. The victim was quickly identified as
Mary Laxo. Her body was then transported to the Ramsey
County Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy to be completed.
At the time of this writing, her cause of death
is unknown. However, we do know that her manner of
death has been ruled a homicide. As such, Gordon Laxa

(05:07):
was arrested and charged with first degree intentional homicide, domestic
strangulation and suffocation, and hiding a corpse. He's since been
booked into the Saint Croix County Jail, where he remains
held on a one million dollar bond. We'll continue following
this story and bring you an update when more information
has been released. On Monday, March third, at around six pm,

(05:32):
officers with the Huntsville Police Department in Alabama were dispatched
to an apartment complex on the two hundred block of
Martin Road after receiving reports of a shooting. When responding
officers arrived on the scene, they were brought to an
apartment where a man was lying dead in his doorway.
The victim was later identified as fifty three year old
Demetrius Jones. Investigators with the Major Crimes Unit then responded

(05:54):
to the scene to begin their death investigation. When they arrived,
they started speaking with potent witnesses to the alleged murder,
and it seems that those they spoke with knew who
the alleged shooter was. In fact, they pointed to an
apartment right in that very complex. According to these witnesses,
they'd known that Demitrius had a very long and ongoing

(06:15):
dispute with another resident of the apartments, that being twenty
two year old Byron Peterson. Investigators learned that on that
particular evening, Byron allegedly went to Demitrius's apartment where the
two had gotten into an argument. That heated conversation allegedly
escalated to the point where Byron is alleged to have
brandished a firearm and then shot Dmitrius to death in

(06:36):
the doorway of his home. Investigators soon located Byron's apartment
and attained him while they continued their investigation. A search
of Byron's apartment uncovered a handgun, which was collected for
evidence and further forensic testing. Ultimately, Byron Peterson was arrested
and charged with homicide murder of a non family member
with a gun. He remains in custody at the time

(06:58):
of its writing. However, his bond amount is unknown and
a date for an initial court appearance has not been revealed.
We're going to continue following this story and bring you
an update when more details have been released. On Saturday,
March first, at around eight twenty five pm, officers with

(07:19):
the Prince George's County Police in Maryland were dispatched to
a McDonald's restaurant on the twenty three hundred block of
University Boulevard in Hyattsville for reported shooting. When responding officers
arrive on the scene, they found a man dead inside
the establishment from what appeared to be a gunshot wound
to the chest. The victim, later identified as forty five
year old Ricardo Clements Junior, was a regular at the

(07:42):
fast food restaurant, but investigators who responded to the scene
soon learned that a series of strange events had unfolded
earlier that evening. When investigators spoke with the employees and
witnesses of the scene, they learned that Ricardo had often
been asked to leave the premises, mainly due to his
disruptive behaviors in the fact that he loiter around the restaurant.

(08:03):
On this night, it was no different, except when employees
asked him to leave the building, he became combative and
started telling a female employee that he was going to
expose himself to her. The employee then went and spoke
with the restaurant's armed security guard, fifty four year old
Murjuana Sheika Froncois, and asked him for help. In surveillance
footage from inside the establishment, mister Francois was observed going

(08:26):
up to Ricardo and had asked him to leave the building.
After a few minutes of back and forth and Ricardo
outright refusing to leave, mister Francois pepper sprayed Ricardo. As
you might imagine, this didn't make the situation any better.
Ricardo just walked to the middle of the restaurant and
then lay down on the floor. Mister Francois was then
seen walking off camera and then returning a few moments

(08:49):
later with his baton in hands. By the time that
he arrived back and frame, Ricardo had returned to the
table and seat where he had been. Pepper sprayed when
mister Francois returned. Tried to get it from his seat,
but mister Francois pushed him back into the seat using
his baton. This occurred a few more times before Ricardo
tried to grab the baton out of mister Francois's hands.

(09:10):
This then led to a physical altercation between the two.
At some point during the exchange, Ricardo landed a solid
shot to the back of mister Francois's head, which caused
him to drop the baton. As soon as this happened,
mister Francois drew his firearm an allegedly fireder shot at Ricardo,
which struck him in the chest. When investigators tried speaking

(09:31):
with mister Francois, he declined answering any questions outside of
the presence of his attorney. A look into the firearm
he allegedly used and the shooting did in fact belong
to him, and he did have a valid permit to
carry the firearm on his person, but because Ricardo Clemens
Junior wasn't armed at the time that he was shot
and killed, the decision was made to arrest mister Francois

(09:51):
and charged him with second degree murder. He's since been
booked into the Maryland Department of Corrections, where he remains
held without bond. After the Prince George's County State Attorney,
Aisha brave Boy stated the following quote. At this time,
we have no evidence that the decedent in this case
was armed and was a true threat in terms of
the life of the security guard. We are still, of

(10:13):
course investigating everything, but when someone's life is lost, when
someone's life is taken, it should be taken seriously, and
that's what this process is for. If new deedsail surrounding
this case are released, we'll be sure to bring you
an update. Thanks so much for tuning in for today's
episode of Sword and Scale Daily. I'm your host, Ryan Williams,

(10:34):
and we'll see you back here tomorrow.