- 4 months ago
These shocking crimes flew under the radar... Join us as we examine heinous acts that should have made headlines but somehow didn't! From daring prison escapes to calculated cultural theft, these recent crimes demonstrate how even the most disturbing events can slip through the cracks of public awareness. Which of these shocking incidents surprised you the most?
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00:00Her team is documenting the theft and destruction of Ukraine's cultural heritage.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're uncovering recent crimes so shocking,
00:09you'll wonder how you miss them.
00:11All five suspects were denied bail after making an initial court appearance.
00:15If they are found guilty, they could face up to 15 years to life in prison, Christine.
00:21John Nye Prison Escape, United States.
00:24Multi-law enforcement agencies from county and state are seen setting up operations
00:29after getting a call from highway patrol after a man drove away
00:32and ran into the woods in Pamlico County early Tuesday morning.
00:35I freaked out because this has never happened.
00:38This is why we live out in the country like this.
00:40In January 2025, accused attempted murderer John Matthew Nye
00:44vanished from North Carolina's Craven County Jail in a jailbreak straight out of a movie.
00:49Nye, with the help of his two cellmates, slipped through a ceiling vent,
00:52crawled into a utility shaft, and escaped via the roof,
00:55leaving a stuffed mattress behind to fool guards.
00:58What was the biggest challenge for today?
01:00Yeah, so today we've been out here searching.
01:02We've had folks on the ground, drones in the air, helicopters in the air,
01:07fixed aircraft in the air, just, you know,
01:10searching for the suspect in the car chase this morning.
01:14Authorities didn't notice for hours, giving Nye a crucial head start.
01:18A $7,000 reward and multi-agency manhunt followed,
01:22ending 16 days later when he was found hiding at his fiancee's home in Pamlico County.
01:27For most of the country, though, the story barely made a blip.
01:31It was the Pamlico County Sheriff's Office who took Nye into custody.
01:35Pamlico County Sheriff Chris Davis even took a selfie with Nye,
01:40posting it to his social media, as you can see here.
01:43He clarified during today's press conference that the long conversation he had with Nye
01:48was Nye wanting everyone to know that he was safe.
01:51Grenoble attack, France.
01:53The investigation will be launched and justice will be done.
01:58All resources will be mobilized to find the perpetrator or perpetrators,
02:03as the case may be, of these acts.
02:06What felt like a scene from a war zone erupted in Grenoble's Olympic Village in February of 2025.
02:12A man entered a packed bar at around 8.15 p.m.,
02:15armed with a weapon he never fired, and lobbed a hand grenade inside.
02:19The attack happened on Wednesday at 8 p.m. in Grenoble's Olympic Village neighborhood,
02:24built when the city hosted the 1968 Winter Olympics.
02:28Windows exploded outward, glass rained down, and 15 people were wounded,
02:33six having sustained critical injuries.
02:35Locals were left bleeding and terrified.
02:37We can rule out a purely terrorist attack, as there is nothing to suggest that this is linked to terrorism.
02:44Otherwise, as it was an act of extreme violence,
02:47it could be linked to a settling of scores in one way or another.
02:51But for the moment, it's far too early to say what the motives were.
02:55Authorities insisted it wasn't terrorism,
02:57with Grenoble mayor Eric Piol calling it a, quote,
03:00Criminal act of extraordinary violence.
03:02The bizarre choice of weapon and the abrupt disappearance of the perpetrator
03:06left residents disturbed, unsettled, and bearing more questions than answers about the motive behind the attack.
03:12Grenoble has grown wearily used to stories of violence in the last few years.
03:17Drug trafficking orchestrated by criminal gangs is on the rise.
03:20According to France's Interior Ministry, roughly 50 shootings took place last year,
03:25and more than half were linked to drug trafficking.
03:27Jafar Express Hijacking, Pakistan
03:29Militants from the Balochistan Liberation Army ambushed the Jafar Express
03:53en route from Queta to Peshawar on March 11, 2025.
03:57They smashed tracks with IEDs inside a tunnel to halt the train,
04:01then stormed aboard with rocket launchers and automatic weapons.
04:04Hundreds of passengers were held hostage as the attackers issued a 48-hour deadline
04:08to free political prisoners, threatening executions.
04:26The Pakistan Armed Forces subsequently launched Operation Green Bolan, deploying elite commandos
04:34who took the lives of 33 insurgents, rescued about 354 hostages, and suffered substantial casualties.
04:42Over 30 dead, including civilians and security personnel, with dozens more injured.
04:47Despite the dramatic nature of the hijacking, it went largely overlooked by Western media.
04:52The incident has taken place in an extremely remote area.
04:56There's very limited mobile phone service, so that's why even families are having a lot of difficulty
05:01reaching those who are still being held on this train.
05:05Prison attacks, France.
05:06Since last Sunday, cars have been torched in prison car parks,
05:10and in one facility, 15 bullet holes were discovered in a door.
05:15A group calling itself French Prisoners' Rights, or DDPF, has claimed on Telegram to be linked to the attack,
05:22saying it was defending human rights in prison.
05:26In spring 2025, a chilling wave of coordinated violence hit France's correctional system.
05:32Between April and May, massed assailants torched at least two dozen vehicles,
05:36including those belonging to prison staff, and unleashed fire,
05:39most notably raking the gate of Toulon-la-Farlède prison.
05:42Luckily, we didn't have any prison staff in a car or on foot behind the door,
05:47because considering how the bullets pierced through,
05:49it could have been more serious than what it was.
05:54The attacks began over the weekend.
05:56At least seven facilities have been targeted,
05:59including the National Training Center for Prison Staff.
06:02The graffiti DDPF, Defense of the Rights of French Prisoners,
06:06appeared at numerous sites, linked to a telegram group of the same name
06:09that explicitly targeted the French prison system.
06:11Basically, they have a big drug problem here,
06:14and the first thing is they've got to try and tackle that better.
06:16But the problem is that people who are actually the real drug barons who run all these groups,
06:21most of them are based abroad in North Africa, in the Middle East, even Thailand, places like that.
06:28And so getting hold of them is very, very difficult.
06:31Initially blamed either on cartels retaliating against a harsh crackdown or anarchist agitators,
06:36investigators seized on both leads.
06:38But the anti-prison DDPF movement emerged front and center.
06:4221 suspects were charged in early May, but questions still linger as to the mysterious movement.
06:48For the first time in decades, France is taking extremely serious measures against drug trafficking.
06:53So drug traffickers are afraid.
06:55They want the state to back down.
06:56But at some sites, anarchist slogans were found, suggesting other motives.
07:03French police said all leads remain open.
07:06Istanbul alcohol poisonings, Turkey.
07:08Istanbul and Ankara were swept up in a deadly wave of methanol-tainted bootleg alcohol cases
07:35at the very outset of 2025.
07:38Within a single 72-hour span, at least 30 people died,
07:42and hospitals were flooded with hundreds more, many in critical condition.
07:45By early March, the death toll had climbed to over 160, with 230 people hospitalized and dozens fighting for their lives.
08:08There is no chance to understand the smell of alcohol and smell of alcohol.
08:15There is no chance to understand the smell of alcohol and smell of alcohol.
08:16There is no chance to understand this.
08:17The only path to the laboratory will be done.
08:19Authorities launched a sweeping crackdown, seizing 102 tons of illicit methanol and ethanol,
08:25revoking 64 business licenses, and arresting over 560 suspects, charging many with intentional homicide.
08:32The Istanbul Governor's Office minced no words in lambasting the alcohol producers,
08:37calling them, quote,
08:38no different from the terrorists who kill people.
08:41Drens Museum Heist, Netherlands.
09:01Police say the museum in the city of Assen was hit with heavy explosions at around 3.45 a.m.,
09:08shattering windows and damaging surrounding buildings.
09:12Roughly 30 minutes later, police responded to reports of a burning vehicle nearby
09:17and believed the suspects in the heist could have been involved with the incident and switched out getaway cars.
09:23In the pre-dawn hours of January 25, 2025, thieves blasted into the Drens Museum in Assen, Netherlands.
09:30The assailants smashed through with a homemade explosive device and a sledgehammer
09:34to steal a 2,500-year-old golden helmet of Cotofaneshti and three Dacian gold bracelets,
09:40valued collectively at around 6 million euros.
09:43The well-preserved helmet is thought to have belonged to a Dacian king or noble
09:47and was discovered by a Romanian child in the 1920s, according to the museum.
09:53And three Dacian royal bracelets, also made from gold and dating back to 50 B.C.
09:58The artifacts, loaned from Romania, are cultural icons.
10:03Their theft sparked outrage in Bucharest and demands for accountability.
10:06This expert's saying it's simply unsellable.
10:09The whole world knows it, so they likely went for the gold to,
10:13I almost dare not utter the words, melt it.
10:16Art experts estimate the gold from the helmet is worth roughly $90,000,
10:21but the value of the piece, Romania says, is incalculable.
10:24Police swiftly arrested multiple suspects in North Holland,
10:29uncovering DNA, glass fragments, and tool purchases that tied them to the crime.
10:34Prosecutors believe the items remain intact, not melted,
10:37and remain optimistic about their recovery.
10:40For now, the treasures of ancient Dacia remain lost to time and to modern thieves.
10:45The new Syrian leadership is mainly Sunni Muslim,
11:02but Syria has many religious and ethnic minorities.
11:05The Alawites, historically linked to Shia Islam, share the same sect as the Assad family.
11:10Under Assad, many Alawites had privileged positions in government,
11:13though many were not a part of the regime.
11:15Because of this, Sunnis often linked Alawites to Assad's dictatorship.
11:19Syria's fragile post-Assad transition unraveled when waves of sectarian violence
11:23swept through the Alawite strongholds in the coastal provinces.
11:27Armed groups aligned with both the caretaker government
11:29and remnants of the ousted regime conducted door-to-door attacks,
11:32interrogating victims by sect and targeting Alawite civilians.
11:36Countless people died, many displaced amid emergency burials and overwhelmed hospitals.
11:41Footage released on the 10th of March showed refrigerated containers
11:44outside of a hospital in Tartus.
11:46The person who filmed it said hospital fridges were no longer sufficient for the body.
11:51A UN commission later flagged the attacks as likely war crimes,
11:55documenting torture, extrajudicial killings, and mass graves.
11:58Despite a fact-finding committee and promises of accountability
12:01from Syrian President Ahmed El-Shara, many still await justice,
12:06while a nation grapples with trust, division, and the urgent need to protect its people.
12:10We're afraid about losing security and having sectarianism.
12:19During the era of the criminal, we used to live in a classist way.
12:25We want to live in security. That's everything we want.
12:28The Decker killings, United States.
12:30For three weeks now, Travis Decker has evaded capture,
12:34despite an intense search going on in Chelan and Kittitas counties.
12:37We're still assisting Kittitas County Sheriff's Office as they're conducting their search
12:41on the northern end of their county that butts up the southern end around Blewett Pass 97.
12:46On May 30, 2025, three young sisters, Peyton, Evelyn, and Olivia,
12:51disappeared after a scheduled visitation with their father, Travis Caleb Decker.
12:56Three days later, their bodies were discovered near his abandoned truck at a remote campsite,
13:00tragically confirming the worst. Decker, a former Army infantryman with survival training,
13:06vanished and remains at large, sparking concerns over his already delicate mental health.
13:11The route that we did find him taking, or at least tracked, was not usual for individuals
13:15to go through the enchantments. And certainly taking that route led us to some additional questions.
13:20Beyond the initial crime scene at the Rock Island campground,
13:23authorities say they have found other items that could be Decker's,
13:28though they're not sharing specifics on what those items are or where exactly they were found.
13:34His disappearance has sparked a sprawling manhunt. National Guard helicopters,
13:38U.S. Marshals, and hundreds of tips have been deployed,
13:41including searches across rugged backcountry in Washington and Idaho.
13:45A $20,000 reward is posted for any information leading to his capture.
13:49Authorities have interviewed Decker's family to try and get leads on where he might be.
13:54And this week, new photos were released showing what Decker may look like if he changed his
13:59appearance, all in an effort to help drive more tips to find Decker.
14:04The killing of Sam Nordquist, United States.
14:07Chilling new details in the murder of Sam Nordquist, a 24-year-old transgender man from Minnesota,
14:13allegedly tortured by these five people in upstate New York.
14:17The facts and the circumstances of this crime are beyond depraved.
14:23No human being should have to endure what Sam endured.
14:26Sam Nordquist was discovered lifeless in upstate New York after enduring a prolonged period of
14:31abuse that essentially amounted to torture, according to authorities.
14:35Reported missing on February 9, 2025, his remains were found after a welfare check prompted a search
14:41of the Hopewell area.
14:42This is one of the most horrific crimes I have ever investigated.
14:45His family said Nordquist traveled from Minnesota to New York in September of 2024,
14:50hoping to connect with an online girlfriend, Precious Arzuwaga.
14:53His family feared for his safety and lost touch with him early this year.
14:58I had a bad feeling off the start that it wasn't going to end well.
15:02Five individuals were initially charged with second-degree murder.
15:06Weeks later, two more were added.
15:08Prosecutors upgraded the charges to first-degree murder, citing the disturbing nature and duration
15:14of the abuse.
15:15The case sent shockwaves through LGBTQIA plus communities, with advocates demanding thorough
15:20scrutiny into whether anti-trans hatred played a role.
15:23Vigils were held, and the call for justice remains loud and unrelenting.
15:27Rest in power, Sam Nordquist.
15:30We seek justice and face this enormous grief together.
15:35As of tonight, the district attorney and state police say there's no evidence of a hate crime.
15:40Writing in a statement on Sunday, Sam and his assailants were known to each other, identified
15:44as LGBTQ+, and at least one of the defendants lived with Sam in the time period leading up
15:50to the instant offense.
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16:07Russia's art theft and looting.
16:09Ukraine.
16:10Experts saying Russian forces, they are systematically stealing art and cultural artifacts from Ukraine
16:16on a scale not seen in Europe since the Nazi plunder of World War II, as they're putting it.
16:21The theft includes jewelry dating to the 4th century BC, ancient coins, thousands of paintings
16:26from museums, and private collections as well.
16:29Since early 2022, occupying Russian forces have orchestrated a massive cultural theft,
16:35looting tens of thousands of Ukrainian heritage pieces, from ancient Scythian gold and museum
16:40archives to modern masterpieces.
16:42In Mariupol alone, over 2,000 works vanished.
16:46In Kurson, nearly 15,000 items were swiftly trucked off to Crimea under the guise of safekeeping.
16:52Now at the moment, there's an expert team at the Smithsonian that's trying to document
16:56all of this in great detail, and that will be a foundation for any possible war crimes
17:02investigations in the future.
17:03But of course, it's against the laws of war, against the international law to steal
17:07cultural treasures.
17:09The plundering is systematic.
17:11Russian specialists directed soldiers to seize prized artifacts.
17:14Many now embedded in Russian institutions or sold abroad.
17:18Experts condemn it as nothing less than cultural war, a deliberate campaign to erase Ukraine's
17:23identity and rewrite history itself.
17:26Attempts at restitution are underway, but these wounds cut deep.
17:30UNESCO said it had verified damage to 248 cultural monuments in Ukraine, including 107 religious sites and 12 libraries.
17:40The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to NBC News requests for comment.
17:45Which crime on our list shocked you the most?
17:47Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
17:50Russian President Vladimir Putin was basically saying Ukraine was not a legitimate nation,
17:55that it doesn't really exist separately as a cultural or national identity.
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