Southwest
Arizona warns all Americans in danger from Dem DAs as suspect in extradition battle called 'next Ted Bundy'
Critics of the lenient bail policies and woke Democratic prosecutors warn Raad Almansoori, a New York City murder suspect, shows signs of a budding serial killer.
And they don’t want to risk letting him loose for the second time in just a few months.
He is accused of brutally killing a woman in a SoHo hotel, strangling her and crushing her skull with an iron before surveillance video appeared to show him stepping out onto the streets wearing her leggings. He soon arrived in Phoenix, Arizona, where he allegedly stabbed a woman, stole her car and made his way to a suburban McDonald’s, where prosecutors say he stabbed another woman before police arrested him in Scottsdale.
But months before any of that, according to court documents from a dropped case in Florida, he was accused of abducting a female co-worker, sexually assaulting her, choking her and threatening to kill her. Prosecutors dropped most of the charges, and he went free in September with $2,500 and just a grand theft auto case pending.
ARIZONA PROSECUTOR FIRES BACK AT NYC DA BRAGG, DEFENDS DECISION TO REFUSE EXTRADITION FOR VIOLENT SUSPECT
Raad Almansoori, who police say is wearing Denisse Oleas-Arancibia’s leggings after she was killed (NYPD)
After his arrest in Scottsdale, he allegedly told police to “Google the SoHo 54 hotel,” the building where the NYPD alleges he murdered Denisse Oleas-Arancibia. According to authorities, he also claimed to have hurt three more women in Florida.
With Almansoori now being held in a jail in Maricopa County, Arizona, local District Attorney Rachel Mitchell has argued that her Manhattan counterpart Alvin Bragg’s progressive policies and New York laws allowing the release of violent suspects on low or no bail have created a dangerous environment not just in the Big Apple, but around the entire country.
“It was just a couple of weeks ago that some of the illegal immigrants that were in New York City who beat up on police officers were let go,” Mitchell said. “They were flipping the camera off as they walked out of jail, and guess where they ended up?
“Four of them ended up in Maricopa County, and they had to be taken into custody here. I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want this individual getting out and able to victimize more people.”
‘MANIAC’ WHO BRUTALLY MURDERED WOMAN WITH IRON IN NYC HOTEL ARRESTED IN ARIZONA: POLICE
Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, who was killed two weeks ago in a New York City hotel (Fox 5)
This is not the first custody battle involving Almonsoori, who has now been accused of viciously attacking women in at least three states. While he was being held without bail on grand theft auto charges in Sumter County, Florida, in April 2023, he was served with a warrant on more serious charges, including sexual battery and assault, in nearby Orlando, according to a spokesperson for Republican States Attorney Bill Galdson of the 5th Judicial Circuit.
The victim in that case, Leah Palian, says Orlando-based prosecutors from the 9th Judicial Circuit ignored warnings that the murder suspect was a “potential serial killer.”
She faulted prosecutors on Facebook for “callously” reducing the charges against him and told Fox News Digital he reminded her of Ted Bundy, the infamous serial killer who preyed on young women around the country in the 1970s, and Richard Ramirez, the “Night Stalker.”
“I think the Night Stalker, he actually has so much in common. They even kind of look alike to an extent,” she said.
The suspect sought for strangling and bludgeoning a woman found dead in a SoHo hotel has been nabbed in Arizona after he allegedly stabbed two women there, a police source said Tuesday. NYPD detectives want to question Raad Almansoori about the Feb. 8 murder of Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, who was found strangled and struck in the head with an iron inside the SoHo 54 hotel on Watts St. near Sixth Avenue. (Surprise Police Dept./New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
She said the news of Oleas-Arancibia’s murder rattled her because she already suspected he could someday kill someone after her harrowing encounter.
“I saw that statement they put out, and they said they didn’t have enough evidence,” she told Fox News Digital. “To that, I would like to say I don’t think that this is a case of evidence or lack thereof, I think it’s a case of evidence.”
For example, she said, after he allegedly stole her car, he then used his own ID at a pawn shop to sell the bicycle off of her bike rack.
RAGING WOMAN KICKS PUPPIES, LEAVES TEXAS TOURIST BLOODIED IN NYC PET STORE RAMPAGE CAUGHT ON VIDEO
Almansoori allegedly stole her phone, strangled her and claimed she “made the devil come out” before sexually assaulting her, according to court documents, which include graphic depictions. She escaped by asking him to let her use a public restroom, which she locked herself inside while calling 911 for help.
“The one thing that I knew that was holding him in there and was keeping me safe was that he had a bail that he could not afford, but once they dropped it, it was just devastating,” Palian said.
“The one thing that I knew that was holding him in there and was keeping me safe was that he had a bail that he could not afford, but once they dropped it, it was just devastating.”
Court records show 9th Circuit prosecutors dropped all but the car theft charges against Almansoori in June. Ninth Judicial Circuit State’s Attorney Andrew Bain’s office told Fox News Digital Thursday it could not discuss the active case in detail but that investigators had insufficient evidence to support the sex assault charges despite graphic testimony from the victim.
Asked about the feud between Mitchell and Bragg, Palian said she just wants to see Almansoori locked up for as long as possible.
“I actually do not know about other state’s judicial systems. I just know about my state and how it failed me,” she said. “I want whatever is going to keep this man behind bars and is going to keep him off the streets and keep women safe.”
DOORMAN SAVES WOMAN FROM BROAD DAYLIGHT ROBBERY AS ONLOOKERS DO NOTHING AND SUSPECTS RUN AWAY LAUGHING
Bain’s office on Wednesday filed to have Almansoori’s September bond revoked.
“We are disheartened to hear about the tragic events in New York and Arizona, and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their loved ones and all the communities impacted,” a spokesperson said.
“I am so livid, to be honest, about them putting out that statement that says we did the best we could basically, when there’s a literal charge in my case that they dropped that I could provide you a plethora of evidence for,” Palian countered.
Mitchell, the Arizona prosecutor, said she is done leaving things to chance.
“I want whatever is going to keep this man behind bars and is going to keep him off the streets and keep women safe.”
District Attorney Alvin Bragg explains an evidence video during a press conference Feb. 8, 2024, in New York, where he announced charges for migrants involved in a Times Square brawl with police. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
“Even though there is a homicide in New York, we can guarantee that he is going to stay in custody here,” she told “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning. “Let me be very clear, my heart goes out to the next of kin of the victim in New York, [and] I’m not casting aspersions on the NYPD either … but we have a case here, and we have him in custody.”
John Kelly, a criminal profiler who has interviewed serial killers, agreed with the Florida victim that Almansoori shares traits with a budding serial killer.
This photo provided by the Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff’s Office shows Raad Almansoori, who is a suspect in the bludgeoning death of a woman in a New York City hotel. He was charged Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, in attacks on two women in Arizona’s largest county. (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
“You’ve got a live one here, with a few things going on, disassociation being one of them,” he told Fox News Digital. “It looks like he was on his way, was getting started, so it’s a good thing they got him.”
Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD inspector, also warned that Almansoori shared telltale characteristics with other killers and has shown himself to be a danger to the public.
“Arizona can hold him and tell all these other jurisdictions to pound sand while they adjudicate their own case,” he said. “If they convict him and lock him up, Bragg may not see this guy until he’s out of office.”
“Arizona can hold him and tell all these other jurisdictions to pound sand while they adjudicate their own case. If they convict him and lock him up, Bragg may not see this guy until Bragg is out of office.”
Bragg’s office pushed back at Mitchell’s remarks in a statement this week.
“It is deeply disturbing that DA Mitchell is playing political games in a murder investigation,” spokeswoman Emily Tuttle told The Arizona Republic. “In Manhattan, we are serious about New Yorkers’ safety, which is why murders are down 24% and shootings are down 38% since DA Bragg took office.”
She said New York’s murder rate is less than half of Phoenix’s and called the refusal to extradite Almansoori “a slap in the face.”
Rachel Mitchell, a Republican prosecutor from Arizona, listens during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., Sept. 27, 2018. (Andrew Harnik/Pool via Bloomberg)
According to NYPD crime data from 2000 to 2022, Big Apple murders reached a record low in 2017 at 292 and climbed every year until reaching 488 in 2021. Bragg took office in 2022, when there were 438 murders, up more than 100 from the pre-pandemic total of 319 in 2019.
Robberies, meanwhile, remained near record lows from 2017 to 2021 and spiked by thousands in 2022. The bellwether crime afflicted 17,411 individual victims that year.
Murders are rare in general and typically involve gang or domestic violence, Mauro said.
“That’s a real crime when people are coming into your neighborhood to steal from you,” he said. “Those are the things that people feel and lead to quality-of-life declines.”
Mayor Eric Adams, left, and District Attorney Alvin Bragg, right, listen during a press conference Feb. 8, 2024, in New York, where they announced several charges for migrants involved in a Times Square brawl with police. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
In response to a request for comment, Bragg’s office pointed to a Thursday news briefing in which Bragg defended crime stats under his term in office and accused Mitchell of “grandstanding” and playing “political games.”
“I do not know what they do in Arizona, but here in this county, New York County, we routinely seek and get remands, which means the person’s in custody, in our murder cases,” he said.
He also said the four migrants arrested in Maricopa were not suspects in the NYPD assault case. He added that seven suspects in that crime are now being held in city jails after his office secured a superseding indictment.
“I have never in my career seen a situation where law enforcement officials have refused to extradite someone because they had zero confidence in the ability [or] commitment of the requesting agency to prosecute,” David Gelman, a former New Jersey prosecutor, told Fox News Digital. “It’s really unprecedented.”
Gelman wrote a Feb. 13 op-ed about the issue for Fox News Digital, arguing that Democratic bail reforms allow “extremely dangerous” suspects to roam free.
“This is why blue states and liberal-leaning jurisdictions have the problems they have,” he said Thursday.
Bragg took office with a controversial “Day 1” memo in which he called on prosecutors in his office to seek non-prison punishments for some crimes and to release more suspects from jail until their trials. He has since retreated on some issues.
“In Bragg’s defense, he outlined exactly what he wasn’t going to do — basically his job — before he was elected,” said Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “It was all on his website for all to see, but that doesn’t matter.”
“In Bragg’s defense, he outlined exactly what he wasn’t going to do – basically his job – before he was elected.”
Elections have consequences, he added.
“The fact that we are even talking about this goes to show you how nutty things have gotten in the New York state criminal justice system,” Giacalone added. “Was it political and grandstanding? Yes, but is she wrong? That’s the question.”
Fox News’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
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Southwest
Man arrested on misdemeanor DUI charges outside Nancy Guthrie’s home after sobriety test
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TUCSON, Ariz. — A 34-year-old man was arrested late Thursday night outside the Arizona home where Nancy Guthrie went missing earlier this month, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department told Fox News Digital.
Shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday, deputies arrested 34-year-old Antonio De Jesus Pena-Campos in front of Guthrie’s home on misdemeanor DUI charges, the department said.
The arrest is not related to the Guthrie investigation, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department added.
Pima County sheriff’s deputies stopped a blue Chevrolet Equinox compact SUV near Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home late Thursday night. A man was later taken into custody after what appeared to be field sobriety testing. (Fox News)
Footage shows Pima County sheriff’s deputies shining a flashlight into the driver’s side of what appeared to be a blue Chevrolet Equinox compact SUV parked near the home where Guthrie was last seen Feb. 1.
Moments later, deputies spoke with Pena-Campos near a white canopy tent set up along the roadside as a deputy shined a flashlight toward the man’s face.
In another sequence, Pena-Campos walks in a straight line in what appears to be part of a field sobriety test. In subsequent footage, he is placed in the back of a sheriff’s pickup truck.
The man was detained as investigators continue searching for Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, who was reported missing Feb. 1 after authorities said she was taken during a home invasion. Investigators have said her pacemaker last synced with her iPhone around 2:30 a.m. that morning.
Her family has since offered a $1 million reward for information leading to her safe return as authorities continue to pursue leads.
NANCY GUTHRIE’S NEIGHBOR SAW SUSPICIOUS MAN WALKING NEARBY 2 WEEKS BEFORE SUSPECTED ABDUCTION
A deputy shines a flashlight toward a man’s face during what appears to be field sobriety testing outside Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home late Thursday night. The man was later taken into custody. (Fox News)
The development comes after a Catalina Foothills resident’s street-facing Ring camera captured 12 vehicles passing by between midnight and 6 a.m. on Feb. 1, the morning Guthrie is believed to have been abducted.
Some of the activity occurred around the 2:30 a.m. mark, roughly when authorities said the 84-year-old’s pacemaker last synced with her iPhone.
A man walks in a straight line under the direction of deputies during what appears to be field sobriety testing outside Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home late Thursday night. (Fox News)
Homeowners Elias and Danielle Stratigouleas told Fox News Digital that police had not canvassed their neighborhood in the 25 days since Guthrie was allegedly taken from her bed in what authorities have described as a home invasion kidnapping.
The couple said they alerted both the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department to the footage. It was not immediately clear whether the video would prove useful to investigators or whether any of the vehicles had traveled on Guthrie’s street.
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Pima County sheriff’s deputies speak with a man near a white canopy tent set up along the roadside outside Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home late Thursday night. (Fox News)
The Stratigouleas home sits on a back road that leads out of Guthrie’s neighborhood and avoids major intersections. The property is approximately 2½ miles — or about a seven-minute drive — from the crime scene, according to Google Maps.
One of the videos was recorded at approximately 2:36 a.m., roughly eight minutes after Guthrie’s pacemaker last synced with her iPhone, based on the sheriff’s timeline.
Fox News’ Michael Ruiz and Olivia Palombo contributed to this report.
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Southwest
Trump introduces Cornyn, Paxton but stays mum on endorsement in heated GOP primary
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The Texas Senate primary for Republicans is a bloodbath, and President Donald Trump isn’t wading in.
Trump, who appeared in Corpus Christi, Texas, to tout his energy agenda Friday, had the opportunity to stake his claim in the contentious race and endorse a candidate.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is the longtime incumbent fending off seven challengers.
But the real race is between Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas.
President Donald Trump stops to speak to the media as he departs from Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House Feb. 27, 2026, in Washington, D.C. ( Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
All three were in attendance at Trump’s rally, reminiscent of the made-for-TV spectacles that dominated his successful 2024 election campaign. Yet Trump didn’t endorse any of them as Election Day in the primary fast approaches.
Trump acknowledged all three — he paired Cornyn and Paxton and mentioned Hunt later in his remarks. He noted that they were all engaged in an “interesting election.”
“They’re in a little race together,” Trump said of Cornyn and Paxton. “You know that, right? A little bit of a race. It’s going to be an interesting one, right? They’re both great people, too.”
HUNT FILES POLICE REPORT AGAINST CORNYN CAMPAIGN STAFFER OVER ALLEGED FAMILY ‘DOXXING’ INCIDENT
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and John Cornyn, R-Texas (Getty Images)
Cornyn is running for a fifth term in the Senate and fighting for his political life in a nasty primary election that Trump has time and again refused to weigh in on. He’s got the full weight of Senate Republican leadership behind him, too.
Paxton, who has faced headwinds with scandals over the years, has strongly aligned himself with the president and built a coalition of conservative backers in the House, including Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who brought him to Trump’s State of the Union earlier this week.
And while the trio duke it out, money is being burned at a record pace. So far, a whopping $110 million has been spent on the Senate primaries, and $88 million of that has been dumped into the GOP contest, according to data from AdImpact.
CORNYN WARNS PAXTON WOULD BE ‘KISS OF DEATH’ FOR GOP AS BLOODY PRIMARY RACE RAMPS UP
Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, walks up the House steps for a vote on the budget resolution in the U.S. Capitol April 10, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Given the crowded field, it’s likely the race will head to a runoff, which will turn into a brutal sprint until late May. Paxton believes he could come out on top with at least 50% of the vote come March 3, while Cornyn is eying the long game.
The coveted Trump endorsement could put either over the top in ruby red Texas. And he may be close to picking his favorite.
Ahead of the event, Trump was asked if he had decided who to endorse.
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“Pretty much,” he told reporters.
But when asked if he would say who, he said, “No.”
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Southwest
Jasmine Crockett reveals Colbert hasn’t invited her on show since furor over Talarico interview
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Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, revealed Friday she’s still not been asked to appear on Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show,” days after the host claimed pressure from the Federal Communications Commission effectively censored an interview with her Senate primary political opponent, James Talarico.
Earlier this week, Colbert said CBS prevented the broadcast of Talarico’s appearance due to guidance from the FCC requiring shows to provide “equal time” to opposing candidates.
In response, the late-night host criticized the FCC and his own network. The Talarico interview was posted online, where it has garnered more than 8 million views on YouTube alone. The tumult and extra attention to the interview helped raise more than $2.5 million for Talarico’s campaign.
“No, I’ve not been invited on Colbert prior to his interview nor post his interview,” Crockett said on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” Friday.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett speaks to members of the media following a House Oversight and Accountability Committee deposition in New Albany, Ohio, on Wednesday, Feb. 18. (Dustin Franz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Crockett explained that while she has appeared on Colbert’s show twice before, she has not been invited since she launched her candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
“The only information that I got was after this debacle took place, I did receive a phone call from the parent company,” Crockett said.
She said that CBS representatives told her they did not tell Colbert he couldn’t air the Talarico segment. Instead, they said that if he had Talarico on, he had to offer the same time to Crockett.
COLBERT FUMES AT CBS, SAYS IT BARRED HIM FROM INTERVIEWING TEXAS DEM AMID FCC CRACKDOWN
Texas state Rep. James Talarico, left, and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, both Democrats and U.S. Senate candidates, participate in a debate during the 2026 Texas AFL-CIO COPE Convention in Georgetown, Texas, on Jan. 24. (Bob Daemmrich/The Texas Tribune/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“They just said, if you air it, just make sure that you offer the representative equal time. Now, obviously, I wasn’t engaged in that conversation, so I cannot confirm the veracity of any statements,” she said.
“But I can confirm that I had never been asked to go on as it relates to kind of talking about the Senate race,” Crockett added.
CBS released a statement denying it censored Colbert, insisting the show chose to share the interview on YouTube instead to avoid the equal-time requirement.
‘THE VIEW’ PANEL ERUPTS AS GUEST DEFENDS TRUMP AGAINST RACISM CLAIMS
Texas state Rep. James Talarico appears with Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” in New York on Feb. 16. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
However, during Monday night’s broadcast, Colbert insisted he and his guest were being censored, telling his audience, “[Talarico] was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast.”
The media attention and Colbert’s multiple segments this week about the controversy provided a boon to Talarico’s campaign. On Tuesday, Colbert crumpled up the CBS statement denying it had forced the comedian not to air the interview and put it into a dog waste bag before throwing it away.
On Wednesday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr dismissed the controversy as a “hoax,” stating that Talarico “took advantage of all of your sort of prior conceptions to run the hoax, apparently for the purpose of raising money and getting clicks. And the news media played right into it.”
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A spokesperson for Colbert’s show didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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