Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
Dad Admits "Missing" Infant Son Strangled & Dumped in River | Crime Alert 03.20.26
20 Mar 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Crime alert, hourly update, breaking crime news now. I'm Sydney Sumner. An Oregon father allegedly admitted on Sunday to killing his 11-month-old son after falsely reporting him missing. Jared Stoller, 27, called Sutherland police, claiming he woke up and his baby was missing from a room at the Relax Inn.
Stoller said his son had been sleeping in a car seat in the room, which had a window pushed in. However, once at the police station, Stoller admitted to lying about the suspected kidnapping. He then confessed to killing his infant son days earlier and dumping his body in the South Umpqua River.
Chapter 2: What happened in the case of the Oregon father who killed his infant son?
While Stoller initially told police that his son died during co-sleeping, he later confessed to manually strangling his son. Stoller also agreed to take police to the river, where they eventually located the infant's body. An autopsy is pending. Stoller is charged with first-degree murder and second-degree abuse of a corpse. He's due in court later today.
The suspect in the murder of an 87-year-old Alaska man on Saturday was found dead in the woods not far away a day later. Matthew Thomas Becker, 61, was the ex-son-in-law of the man he killed, Romaine Clark. Anchorage police believe he gunned Clark down minutes after trying to kill his ex-wife as she tried to open her Anchorage hair salon.
The ex-wife told police that Becker had been living in Arizona since they divorced, and she was unaware he had come back to Alaska.
She told police she thought someone had tampered with the lock to her business Saturday morning because she couldn't fit the key inside. Then she saw Becker in a car. He got out and started shooting at her, then jumped back in and sped away as she fled.
The woman contacted police and said she was concerned about her elderly father who lived with her. Police say Becker apparently went directly to the home after failing to kill his ex-wife.
Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case said, "...based on preliminary evidence, it appears the suspect went to the rear of the residence, fired a couple of rounds through a plate glass window, striking and killing the victim, and then fleeing the scene." Friends who had planned an outing with the older man found Clark's body minutes before police arrived on the scene.
Case said officers were hailed by friends who were waiting to meet up with the victim, who went inside the residence because he hadn't come out yet. They discovered the body and then they notified us. Police launched a manhunt for Becker, warning the public he was armed and dangerous. His body was found just before 10.30 a.m. on Sunday. The medical examiner will determine his cause of death.
Becker's brother said the divorcee owned a comedy club in Bisbee, Arizona, and had recently been diagnosed with cancer. More crime and justice news after this. A 92-year-old millionaire developer was found dead and decomposing in a swanky beach home in California's Hermosa Beach last week, and a suspect was arrested after a seven-hour standoff.
Hermosa Beach police said they were asked to conduct a welfare check shortly after noon on Saturday, after a landlord at the home reported that they hadn't heard from a tenant there in several days. Police said upon arrival, officers observed evidence suggesting a possible deceased person inside.
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Chapter 3: What were the circumstances surrounding the murder of the 87-year-old man in Alaska?
The most serious charges include torture, conspiracy to commit torture, child endangerment, injury to a child, assault with a deadly weapon, and criminal threats.
The sheriff's office said, Among the acts referenced are repeated physical abuse including strangulation, punching, and slapping, withholding adequate nutrition, causing the child to become malnourished, forcing the child to perform strenuous physical exercise to the point of exhaustion under threat of assault, restraining and dragging the child with a dog leash, and subjecting the child to sustained verbal abuse and threats of injury.
Investigators say more charges are possible as they sift through evidence. For the latest crime and justice breaking news, be sure to follow the Crime Alert hourly update on your favorite podcast app. With this Crime Alert, I'm Sydney Sumner.