Lawyers representing Luigi Mangione are requesting that the death penalty be halted in his federal murder trial, citing a purported "conflict of interest" involving Attorney General Pam Bondi, as detailed in a recent court submission.

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Austin police respond to a home in Del Valle after receiving a 911 call about a 7-year-old girl is discovered starved and locked inside a bedroom closet. Six other children are also found in the home, but police say it appears they are physically healthy. According to reports, the child was soiled and barricaded in a closet with heavy boxes blocking the door.

An arrest affidavit reveals Virginia Marie Gonzales is accused of locking the 7-year-old girl in a closet for “weeks at a time.” The affidavit further states the girl’s grandmother told police that the child had trouble controlling her bladder and often ate things she shouldn’t. This allegedly led to her siblings being instructed to keep her locked in the closet.

The 7-year-old was hospitalized and is now recovering. During the investigation, detectives learn about another child, Ava, who has been missing for years. Virginia Marie Gonzales, Ava ‘s mother, was arrested on a charge of serious injury to a child in connection with the 7-year-old’s case. According to police, the missing now 9-year-old child was last seen when she was just 2 years old and in the custody of her mother, Virginia Marie Gonzales.

Now Gonzales has rejected a plea offer related to her arrest. The State offered Gonzales a 40-year prison sentence in exchange for her guilty plea. She and her attorney Gabe Hernandez rejected the offer calling it “utterly absurd.” Gonzales is still in custody. Trial is set to begin Jan. 26, 2026.

Joining Nancy Grace today,

• LeAnne Marie, friend of mom, Virginia Gonzales
• Bronwyn Blake- Adjunct Professor, University of Texas School of Law; Chief Legal Officer, Texas Advocacy Project; Founder: Teen Justice Initiative, advocating for teen victims of dating violence. Website: texasadvocacyproject.org; Facebook and Instagram: @TexasAdvocacyProject
• Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, AngelaArnoldMD.com, Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital
• Daryl Parker - Fmr. Lieutenant in the Fannin County Sheriff's Office / Private Investigator at Blackfish Intelligence; Former Marine, Former Texas police officer; has worked with the Innocence Project of Texas for the last ten years; website: wwww.blackfishintel.com; instagram: @blackfishintel, FB – blackfishintelligence
• Virginia Bagby - Director of the ChildHelp National Child Abuse Hotline, website: ChildHelp.org; Facebook and Instagram: @ChildHelp
• Dr Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), NEW Podcast "Mayhem in the Morgue" launching soon, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University)
• Christina Aguayo- Investigative Reporter, website: www.ChristinaAguayoNews.Com, Facebook: @ChristinaAguayoNews, Instagram: @Christina.AguayoNews

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Breaking crime news as it happens throughout the day! Follow "Crime Alert Hourly Update" now on your favorite podcast app: https://link.chtbl.com/Crime_Alert

Here's some of our top stories this week:

Sources claim Nick Reiner was diagnosed with Schizophrenia before parents were murdered and the recent medication change "made him erratic and dangerous"

A scathing lawsuit is calling out a hospital - accusing them of gross negligence after a granny's skull chunk it tossed out - in a bone blunder. They offered a $25 gas card to make up for the error.

The individual suspected of last week's mass shooting at Brown University has been discovered deceased in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, following a six-day multi-state manhunt.

The arrest of sixty-eight-year-old Joe Campbell, a once-celebrated children’s pastor now accused of first-degree rape and lewd acts involving a child under sixteen, marks what survivors say is a long-overdue reckoning more than forty years in the making.

Stay informed, stay safe, and stay ahead with "Crime Alert Hourly Update.”

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