Tag Archives: Van Alstyne News

Two Men Arrested for 2019 Murder of Howe Man

By Mary Jane Farmer with help from a press release from Grayson County District Attorney’s Office.

Hussein Mahmoud Azab

Hussein Mahmoud Azab

Grayson County District Attorney Brett Smith held a press conference early Monday morning to announce that two Denton County men are in the Grayson County Jail for their roles in the 2019 murder of Howe’s Cory Lee Wain Petty, age 19 at the time of his passing.

According to previous media reports from KTEN, KXII, and the Herald Democrat, police got a call about a burglary in progress early that Tuesday, Aug. 27, but when they arrived they found Mr. Petty  lying inside his home in the 700 block of North Collins Freeway. He had been assaulted, media reported, saying he had been badly beaten. No suspects were located.

An ambulance transported Mr. Petty to a nearby hospital. He reportedly passed away the following Saturday.

The investigation has continued during the passing years. Howe Police, with the assistance of the Texas Rangers, brought it to a conclusion and obtained sealed indictments against both suspects.

Kenny Nana Nietcho

This past weekend, they, with the help of The Colony PD, arrested 23-year-old Hussein Mahmoud Azab, in The Colony, and Kenny Nana Nietcho, 26, in Frisco. These arrests came less than 48 hours after law enforcement obtained the sealed indictments, Smith said.

Azab was indicted and jailed on three charges: Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Robbery, and Conspiracy to Commit Burglary of a Habitation. His bail is set at a total of $2,500,000, payable in surety bonds. He remains in Grayson County Jail.

Nietcho was indicted for Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Robbery and Conspiracy to Commit Burglary of a Habitation. Since his incarceration, two other warrants, issued in Collin County, have also been served on this suspect. Those are for Evading Arrest of Detention with a Previous Conviction and Failure to Identify as a Fugitive from Justice by refusing to give (proper) identity. Bail on the two Grayson County charges total $1,500,000 and at the time of this writing, no bail had been set on the two Collin County charges. He, also, remains incarcerated. UPDATE: Bail has been set for the two Collin County charges at a total of $6,000.

Mr. Petty’s obituary defines him as a son, a grandson, a great-grandson, a brother, and a father. Neighbors reportedly said he was a very caring and loving man.

Smith stated, “These arrests and indictments are the culmination of a three-year investigation. We commend the hard work of the Howe Police Department and the Texas Rangers for helping to secure the indictments and for promptly arresting these suspects.”

 

One Indictment and Police Arrests for August

By Mary Jane Farmer, Scene In Town, for the Van Alstyne News

Note:  Names are not used until or unless a suspect is indicted for the offense.

Indictment

On Aug. 31, the Grayson County Grand Jury indicted Van Alstyne resident Scott Nelson Bass on a charge of accident involving serious bodily injury. The vehicle crash happened on Jan. 27, 2022, according to the published indictment list.

Assault arrests

Arrest — About 10 p.m. Aug. 5, someone called police to a domestic disturbance on West Van Alstyne Parkway. There, police found a woman with cuts on her face, reported Van Alstyne Police Lt. Steven Hayslip. They determined that the husband and wife had been arguing and that she got into her vehicle. The suspect had broken the car window and that glass caused the facial injuries. Police sent for the Van Alstyne paramedics, but the victim’s injuries were not severe enough to cause her to be transported for treatment.

Police jailed the suspect on a charge of assault causing bodily injury/family violence.

Grayson County Jail records show that the suspect posted bail of $3,000 in surety bonds, which have conditions on them, and the Van Alstyne man was released on Aug. 6

Arrest — About 9 a.m. on Aug. 6, police were called to a disturbance in progress at a fast-food restaurant on the U.S. Highway 75 service road. There, Hayslip said, they found that a man had assaulted his mother. Her injuries were not severe enough to require medical help, and police jailed the suspect on a charge of assault causing bodily injury/family violence.

The following day, the suspect posted bail in surety bonds, with conditions set, for his release.

Arrest — The third arrest was on Aug. 16 a home on Columbia College. Hayslip said there the suspect assaulted his wife with his fists, but her injuries did not require medical attention.

Again, police jailed the suspect on a charge of assault causing bodily injury/family violence. Bail set at the jail was $2,500, which the suspect paid in surety bonds, with conditions set. The suspect posted that for his release later on Aug. 16.

According to jail records, this was this suspect’s 3rd arrest on assault charges.

Arrest — Police were called to a home occupied by siblings and others on Aug. 30. At this location, they learned that the brother and sister had been arguing when she obtained a kitchen knife and stabbed him twice in the leg. The victim declined medical treatment.

Police jailed the suspect on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon/family violence. As of Tuesday, Sept. 3, she remains in jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.

Other Arrests

Aug. 14 — Police jailed a Dallas man on charges of possession of marijuana and of unlawfully carrying a weapon. After being jailed on both charges, the suspect posted $4,000 bail in surety bonds and was released later the same day.

Hayslip said this came from a traffic stop on U.S. Highway 75 after officers saw a vehicle traveling with an expired registration.

Even though gun laws have changed to allow carrying a weapon, there are some restrictions in place which makes it illegal to carry a gun. One of those restrictions is that a person committing another crime of a certain level of severity (misdemeanor or felony) — in this instance, the possession of marijuana — cannot carry a weapon, Hayslip explained.

Aug. 14 — A Howe man went to jail following a 5:18 a.m. pursuit on U.S. 75. Hayslip said police were called because of a reckless driver on northbound U.S. 75 at FM 121 (Van Alstyne Parkway). The reporting party said the vehicle was going all over the road and had almost hit several vehicles. The caller gave the police a good description of the offending vehicle, and police spotted it quickly. They, too, saw it moving from lane to lane and barely missing one or more vehicles. They activated lights and sirens, but the vehicle’s driver did not pull over.

Instead, it continued to speed, then left the highway at Haning Street in Howe and pulled into a retail store’s parking lot. There, officers made the arrest.

The Howe resident had bail set on the two offenses at a total of $11,500, which he obtained in surety bonds for his Aug. 15 release.

Aug. 17 — A Van Alstyne woman remained incarcerated several days before making bail on a charge of violation of protective order. Police were dispatched to a business on the U.S. 75 west-side front road, where the person listed as protected under the order talked with the officers. They then contacted the suspect and jailed her on the charge.

Jail records show that the suspect was arrested earlier this year, on July 11, on a charge of assault causing bodily injury. It was the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office that made that arrest and the report has not been provided. She remained in Grayson County Jail then until Aug. 9, when she posted $3,000 in surety bonds with conditions set.

Aug. 24 — A traffic stop made about 10:13 p.m. led to the arrest of a Howe man on a drug charge. Hayslip said the suspect did stop for the lights and siren from the patrol car behind him. The officers learned that driver had no liability insurance, as required by law. Following protocol, the police completed an inventory inside the vehicle and discovered about two grams of heroin. The suspect went to jail on a charge of possession of controlled substance, Penalty 1, between 1-4 grams.

This suspect went free on personal recognizance.

Van Alstyne Police made numerous other arrests during August, often made from traffic stops and consisting of driving while intoxicated and illegal possession of weapons among other charges, and warrants issued in Grayson or other counties.

 

Van Alstyne celebrates its law enforcement with National Night Out

Laney Linkugel sits in the back of a Van Alstyne patrol car, with Van Alstyne Police Officer Nathan Wilson at the wheel. It was all in fun.

Story and photos by Mary Jane Farmer. Click here to view more photos

The Van Alstyne community proved its support of Van Alstyne police, all the while having a great time at Tuesday night’s National Night Out. With the census still posted on city limit signs as 3,000 residents — and that’ll definitely increase in 2020, when the census is taken again — at least one-third of the Van Alstyne residents were in one place at the same time — The Van Alstyne Community Center for the yearly National Night Out.

It’s the National Association of Town Watch that created National Night Out in 1981, and Van Alstyne has hosted a city-wide gathering since, at least, 1996, maybe even before that. The purposes are to build community and promote police-community camaraderie to make safer and more caring places to live. With the expected population upsurge coming to Van Alstyne in the next few years, this type of event could become even more vital in reaching those goals.

Kennedy, waiting for a train — ride.

Kennedy Brock, a 4-year-old well-spoken Van Alstyne resident whose mother is a dispatcher for the police and fire departments, was one of those 1,000 attendees. She was there earlier than most, because her mother, and many other dispatchers plus police officers, firefighters, and generally kind people were the ones who set the grounds up with tables, chairs, and such.

Kennedy will be going to Samford Elementary when she gets into Pre-K next year, and she said she’s really ready for that. She scoped it all out as the bounce houses were being inflated and the Rotary Club members began grilling their hot dogs. But it was the kids train, made of metal barrels decades ago and drawn by a tractor, that Kennedy declared would be her first thing to do. She even picked out the barrel  she would ride in, a pink one, and wanted her friend to sit across from her. And when her ride is over, she said, she would “get out and let another kid get in.” And she was definitely going for a hot dog.

Many vendors had games for kids to play.

And the firefighters who took turns pulling the kids train stayed at it for the whole two hours.

The bounce houses were also a definite favorite. Shoes off, kids waited until their turn to go through tunnels, climb a rope up one side and slide down the other, then get into the more well-used version of bounce houses. Bouncing all along the way, except for the rope climbing, which wasn’t all that easy even though that inflatable bounce house had steps and was on a slant. But each kid made it. And most jumped, rather than just sat down, onto the slide. Once through, most would run to the end of the line and do it all again.

Popcorn supplied by Texas Star Bank

The free food included the Rotary Club’s hot dogs and chips, Golden Chick’s special fried chicken, popcorn from Texas Star Bank, and snacks and free water all around.

Vendors included medical facilities, CASA, realtors, churches, safety agencies, scouts, the city’s public library, government agencies — the whole range of people interested in providing the public with health and safety information. There were officers there from Howe PD, Grayson County College PD, and Sheriff Tom Watt and deputies from the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office, along with some who have gone through the voluntary Sheriff’s Academy classes.

Van Alstyne Police Chief Tim Barnes said he was really gratified with the turn-out and the show of support. Barnes leads a team of officers that includes MaryAnn Jones, Jeffrey Rabb, Jonathan McInnis, Azhar Ulhaq, Jonathan Hoffman, Nathan Wilson, and Sgt. Sonia Henriques. He also has dispatchers April Culley, Shannon Haines, Amanda Brock (Kennedy’s mother), Kayla Sweet, and Rebecca Williams working with him.

When it was all over but the clean-up, which had everyone kicking in again to help with, Kennedy said it was well worth her time. As the 4-year-old sat and practiced writing the letters in her name, she declared without hesitation that the kids train was her very favorite thing, even over the hot dog! (No offense, Rotary Club.)And she even got to ride in the Mule that pulled the train, because she knew the driver, she said with a smile.