The Face of America in Year 2015

[kscarbel2]

Woman, 25, murders her father AND daughter

WFTV 9 / August 3, 2015

A 25-year-old Lakeland, Florida mother murdered her own father and her daughter, hid their remains in a neighbor's shed, then made up a story about them running off to Georgia.

Cheyanne Jessie killed her 50-year-old father Mark Weekly and her six-year-old daughter Meredith, then waited more than a week before reporting them missing, detectives say.

The pair's remains were found in plastic boxes on a neighbor's property in Lakeland, Florida, late Saturday night, some 200 yards from Weekly's home.

Investigators say she killed Meredith because she was getting in the way of her relationship with a new boyfriend.

It is not clear why she would have killed her father as well.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Cheyanne Jessie killed Weekly and Meredith Jessie at Weekly’s home, then used a shovel to put them into two bins before driving the remains 200 yards to the landlord’s house, who was away, and put the bins in a shed.

Deputies serving a search warrant discover blood-stained floors and furniture with slash marks.

Judd said the house reeked of a foul odor, and Cheyanne Jessie claimed there had been a dead raccoon under her porch.

"Nothing is more horrific than the murder of a child, except when it’s done by a parent," Judd said.

Judd said a gun and knife were used in the killings, but they are waiting for the results of the autopsies to determine exactly how Weekly and Meredith Jessie died.

"This is the face and (these are) the eyes of a cold-blooded murderer that not only murdered them on the 18th of July, but left them in the residence for many days," Judd said.

Cheyanne Jessie is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of tampering with evidence.

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[kscarbel2]

Man murders his 10-year-old son, tosses into river

Associated Press / August 3, 2015

A Minnesota man admitted Monday that he killed his 10-year-old son, saying he beat the boy in a fit of rage, then wrapped the child with duct tape and threw him in a river because he feared he'd get in trouble.

Pierre Collins, who made public pleas for help after his son went missing in March, detailed the attack after pleading guilty to second-degree intentional murder. He was immediately sentenced to 40 years in prison, the maximum allowed.

Their son, Barway, was last seen alive March 18. Surveillance video on that day showed the boy bouncing out of a van as he got dropped off at school, saying: "There's my dad."

Collins long insisted he had nothing to do with his son's disappearance, and hundreds of volunteers helped authorities search for Barway for weeks.

The child’s body was found in the Mississippi River by volunteers on April 11, and Collins was arrested two days later.

A woman who helped in the searches, Victoria Peabody, told the judge Monday that she felt broken. She said she visited Collins many times during the searches and he continued to beg for help.

"I just feel so dirty, because I held his hand and prayed for him," Peabody told Hennepin County District Court Judge Tanya Bransford.

Several people wept openly during the hearing, including Barway's mother, Louise Karluah, who lives in Liberia and came to the U.S. for her son's funeral. Still, she said she has forgiven Collins.

"Killing a child is not right," she said after the hearing. "So I'm not feeling good right now. ... I've been praying for justice for Barway."

Surveillance video from his apartment complex on the day he went missing shows Barway walking toward the building's entrance, but then quickly turning and going another direction.

Under questioning from assistant public defender Shawn Webb, Collins said Barway was supposed to go into the apartment but Collins saw him outside playing and got angry.

Collins said he called his son over to him and started to hit him, then the boy fell to the ground and wasn't responding.

Collins said he thought he would get in trouble, so instead of seeking help for Barway, Collins put the boy in his car, wrapped duct tape around his arms and legs then put his son in the river.

"You knew that by doing this, your son was going to die," Webb said.

"Yes," Collins replied.

Authorities haven't said whether Barway was still alive when he was placed in the river.

Judge Bransford said Collins' sentence is longer than the standard for second-degree intentional murder because the victim was particularly vulnerable at age 10, Collins was in a position of authority, and hiding Barway's body was particularly cruel.

"It is hard to conceive — unimaginable — that a parent would kill their own child," the judge said. "Unfortunately, there's nothing that can ever be done that will bring back Barway Collins."

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[kscarbel2]

Mother beats 3-year-old daughter to death

Detroit News / August 4, 2015

A young girl was found dead outside her home on Monday morning.

Jettie Ray Adams, 3, of Trafford, Alabama, died as a result of severe internal injuries and was found in a pool of her own vomit when medical personnel arrived on the scene.

Her death has now been ruled a homicide, and the girl's mother, Misty Lynn Wright, and her mother's boyfriend, Johnathon Wayne Talley, have been arrested on charges of aggravated child abuse with severe injuries.

Those charges are expected to soon be upgraded to capital murder.

Behind bars: Jettie's mother Misty Lynn Wright (left) and her mother's boyfriend Johnathon Wayne Talley (right) have been arrested and charged with child abuse.

She was rushed to to Children's Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Chief Deputy Randy Christian says that after examination it was determined that the young girl's injuries were the result of repeated blows to her abdomen, chest and head.

'When the person that is trusted with protecting a child turns out to be the abuser of them, it is as sickening and as bad as it gets,' said Christian.

'That is what we have in this case. A special kind of sick, a special kind of evil.'

Talley has been arrested for possession of both methamphetamine and cocaine over the past 10 years, as well as public intoxication, resisting arrest, theft and trespassing to name just a few.

His cocaine and theft arrest in 2004 landed him in prison for 10 years, though it is not certain how much of that sentence he actually served.

Investigators are calling Jette's death one of the worst they have ever seen.

'I really don't know how someone is capable of abusing a fragile and innocent child in any manner, but to continue to the point of injury and death is beyond anyone's comprehension,'' said Christian.

'Those responsible have been identified and arrested and our job now is to ensure they will not see the light of day again and they will never harm another child.'

He then added; God' bless, love and hug this poor little girl. She was never given a chance to learn that her life was not supposed to be this way, that it wasn't her fault, that this isn't how children are supposed to grow up.

'It gives a little more meaning to say she is in a much better place now.'

.

[kscarbel2]

Texas father impregnates underage daughter and sexually abuses other children 10 years

Houston News / August 4, 2015

A North Texas man has been sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole after being found guilty of sexually abusing several children and impregnating his underage daughter.

Danny Richard Minor, 40, of The Colony, was convicted Thursday on five counts of child sex abuse.

Prosecutors said that, from 2002 to 2009 while living in Plano, north of Dallas, Minor molested two of his own children as well as an unrelated child.

[six years ago], one of the victims came forward about the abuse in 2009, however the investigation was stalled due to 'conflicting statements', according to the Collin County District Attorney's Office.

Minor then left Plano and moved 20 miles west to The Colony. However the abuse continued at the new home.

Then, in June 2014, a second child came forward. The statement given by the child matched up with the information given by the first child in 2009.

Minor was arrested and a search warrant was obtained for his DNA.

'A paternity test confirmed that Minor is the biological father of his daughter's child,' Collin County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Bill Dobiyanski said.

On Thursday he was found guilty of three counts of Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Young Child and two counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child.

The continuous sexual abuse charged involve children under 14 years of age

On Friday, the jury sentenced Minor to life confinement without the possibility of parole on each count of continuous sexual abuse of a young child and life confinement on each count of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

[david wild]

Heard Obama wants to nominate them all for mother and father of the year, his kinda folks

[kscarbel2]

Newborn baby abandoned in South Los Angeles

ABC News / August 4, 2015

A newborn baby, with his umbilical cord still attached, was found in a stroller near a church in South Los Angeles Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Alex Diaz spotted the stroller near Vermont Avenue and Dana Street at about 10:30 p.m. Monday, but thought it was empty and had been discarded.

While on a walk with his two young boys at about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Diaz took a closer look, saw the baby and notified police.

"When I got up close to the stroller and the blanket was clean, it was just like, 'Oh, I hope nobody did this, I hope I'm not about to find a baby in here,' and sure enough that's what happened," Diaz said. "It was burning hot. He was sweating. His pajamas were soaked in sweat. It was horrible. I don't know how somebody can do something like that, not even animals do that."

The boy, who is believed to be a day-old, was transported by paramedics to a local hospital in good condition.

Detectives were searching for witnesses and hoping to collect surveillance footage from nearby businesses. The newborn had been abandoned across the street from St. Agnes Catholic Church.

"That's what saddens me about the whole situation that the child was left across the street under a mattress in a stroller, and they could've easily just rang the doorbell and left the child there," Father David Matz said.

LAPD Officer Drake Madison noted that under the county's "Safe Surrender" law, which was initiated in 2001, a parent or guardian is allowed to surrender an infant that is no more than three days old, without repercussions, as long as the baby shows no sign of abuse.

[kscarbel2]

Man executes family of 8 in Texas

Associated Press / August 9, 2015

A family of six children and two parents were restrained and fatally shot in the head at a Houston home by a man with a violent criminal history who had previously been in a relationship with the mother, authorities said Sunday.

David Conley, 48, was charged with capital murder in the deaths. Conley, who is being held in Harris County Jail, didn't appear at a court hearing Sunday where an arrest affidavit was read. The judge denied him bond.

The dead were identified as parents Dewayne Jackson, 50, his wife Valerie Jackson, 40, and children Nathaniel, 13, Dewayne, 10, Honesty, 11, Caleb, 9, Trinity, and Jonah, 6. Nathaniel was believed to be Conley's son from the relationship with Valerie Jackson.

"We do not — cannot — fully comprehend the motivation of an individual that would take the lives of so many innocent people. Especially the lives of the youngest," Harris County Chief Deputy Tim Cannon said. "The killer's motives appear to be related to a dispute with Valerie, who was a former domestic partner."

Conley told police that he discovered on Saturday morning that the locks had been changed at the home after he had moved out. He entered the home through an unlocked window, according to the affidavit.

Officials with the Harris County Sheriff's Office later responded to a request to do a welfare check at the house and got no response at the door. They saw through a window a male on the floor with a gunshot wound. Police then heard gunshots coming from the front of the house. A standoff ensued between officers and Conley. He later gave himself up to authorities and was arrested.

Court records show Conley's criminal history dates back to at least 1988, with the most recent incident last month, when was charged with assault of a family member. In court documents, authorities say the suspect had been arrested for allegedly assaulting the woman he was living with at the home where the bodies were found. Documents say he was in a dating relationship with the woman. It was not immediately clear if the woman in the previous incidents was Valerie Jackson.

Court documents said Conley pushed the woman's head against a refrigerator multiple times after she tried to stop him from disciplining her son with a belt. The case was still pending.

In 2013, he was charged with aggravated assault for threatening the same woman with a knife. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine months in the county jail.

In 2000, he was arrested for retaliation, accused of putting a knife to his then-girlfriend, threatening to kill her, her baby and himself. That came after she filed an assault charge against him for cutting her with a knife and punching her in the face. He was sentenced to five years in prison for retaliation.

[kscarbel2]

Father beats 4-month-old son to death

Associated Press / August 11, 2015

As police searched for a man seen driving down a Kentucky highway beating an infant in a car seat, Daniel Cox pulled up to Kimberly Chrystie's home, handed her their 4-month-old son and sped away, police say.

Jayceon Chrystie was black and blue and unresponsive; he had no pulse and his eye was swollen shut.

The baby died two days later, and Cox has been charged with his murder.

Cox, who did not live with his son, had asked the baby's mother, Kimberly Chrystie, if he could take the boy out for a visit Thursday, according to court records. They were gone for two hours.

Just before 7 p.m., a family called 911 to say they saw a man in a gold Mercury Grand Marquis repeatedly hitting a child in a car seat as he drove along a highway in Radcliff, about 45 miles south of Louisville, according to court records.

Dena Stevenson told WLKY-TV that she and her family drove behind the Grand Marquis for miles, and it looked like the man was beating the child in the head and the chest.

Fifteen minutes later, Cox arrived at the infant's mother's home. She frantically called police.

"He dropped my child off almost two hours later, beat up all black and blue," she wrote in a request for a protective order she filed against Cox Friday. "I called 911 as soon as I seen my son."

Jayceon was not breathing and had no pulse, court documents show. Police wrote that Jayceon's left eye was swollen shut, his right cheek was swollen and he had "major bruising on his back and buttocks." His injuries were "consistent with a child being assaulted and abused," police wrote in the arrest warrant."

As emergency medics tried to resuscitate the baby, officers tracked Cox to Louisville, said Radcliff Police Capt. Willie Wells. He was arrested on an assault charge.

The baby, taken to a hospital in Louisville, was removed from life support Saturday night. Cox was charged with murder.

Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Robert Fraction said on Sunday that Jayceon died of an "inflicted traumatic injury to the head."

A judge set Cox's bond at $500,000 Monday, appointed a public defender for him and ordered him to return to court on Friday.

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[kscarbel2]

12-year-olds stab friend to death......19 times

ABC News / August 10, 2015

Two Wisconsin teenagers will go to trial in adult court, a judge ruled today, in a case charging them with stabbing their friend 19 times to please a fictional character named Slender Man.

Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, now both 13, were 12 years old at the time of the crime.

If the girls are convicted in the adult court system, they could each face up to 65 years in prison.

Morgan and Anissa were arrested on May, 31, 2014, after allegedly stabbing their then-12-year-old friend Payton Leutner 19 times and leaving her in the woods in their hometown of Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Payton was rushed to the hospital with life threatening injuries and survived.

Prosecutors have said that both Morgan and Anissa were obsessed with the fictional character Slender Man, who is often depicted in fan fiction stories online as a horror figure who stalks children.

In court in February, disturbing drawings depicting Slender Man and dismembered Barbie dolls recovered from Morgan’s bedroom were shown.

When asked to describe "Slender Man," Morgan told the detective during an interrogation that he was "a tall, faceless man who preys on children," according to an audio recording of the interrogation made public.

"He watches you," she added. "I've never seen him. He's everywhere."

Authorities said Morgan repeatedly told detectives it was "necessary" to kill Payton to become "proxies" of Slender Man and live with him in his mansion in the woods. They believed his mansion was in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin, authorities said. Morgan told police their plan to kill their friend began as early as December 2013, authorities said.

[kscarbel2]

Mother throws 3-week-old infant out 4th floor window to its death

Daily News / August 9, 2015

A 19-day-old boy was found dead in the courtyard of a Queens building Friday morning after its mother threw the infant from a fourth-floor window.

The mother, Rashida Chowdhury, told police that an evil spirit had taken over her baby’s body.

The infant, identified as Rizwan Ahmad, was found by a neighbor at 85-55 115th street in Richmond Hill around 4:10 a.m.

Chowdhury, age 21, confessed to throwing tiny Rizwan Ahmad out the window of her Richmond Hill Apartment in a crazed bid to save him from an evil spirit.

The child, who authorities pronounced dead at the scene, had just been born on July 18.

Neighbor Mazol Ilyayeva, 20, said that she heard a loud noise in the middle of the night and then discovered the boy’s lifeless body dressed in a white and blue onesie.

“I heard a little thud like a book thrown through the window and for some reason something told me to go downstairs,” said Ilyayeva, a mother who also lives on the fourth floor.

“That’s when I saw the baby laying there with blood all over,” she said. “It was like seeing a dead puppy lying on the street, just dead carelessly. I didn’t have the power to scream. I just called 911.”

When police arrived on the scene they found a baby bassinet and other baby items inside the apartment, but occupants of the apartment initially denied knowing anything about a baby.

Officers also found a white sheet hanging outside of the bathroom window and the bathroom rug was covering the window.

State Assemblyman David Weprin, who showed up at the scene Friday, called the tragic incident a “criminal act by a family member.”

“I was told there was a matter of a few week-old baby, so that’s clearly not someone that could crawl out the window so, you know, there was somebody that threw him out the window, that pushed him out the window and that’s a criminal act,” he said.

“This a truly horrific and disturbing case of a mother accused of killing her helpless infant son,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. “He fell more than 40 feet to the pavement and died. The actions of the defendant are totally incomprehensible.”

The child was killed by “blunt impact of head and torso with skull fractures and lacerations of (the) liver, brain and spleen,” the medical examiner said late Friday.

[kscarbel2]

Ohio man suffocates 3-year-old to death

Reuters / August 13, 2015

An Ohio man was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for suffocating his 3-year-old stepsister while he babysat her and her 8-year-old sibling, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Brian K. Scales, 21, was sentenced on Wednesday in a Montgomery County court in Dayton, Ohio, after he was found competent to stand trial and changed his insanity plea to guilty for killing Tristan Carlton.

Carlton's body was found "in her bed, cold and stiff," by her mother, Inas Scales, the afternoon of Feb. 14, Montgomery County prosecutor spokesman Greg Flannagan said in a statement.

Scales, from the Dayton suburb of Trotwood, was charged with aggravated murder, endangering children and two counts of murder after Carlton's mother called 911 and an investigation into the child’s death determined she had been suffocated.

Inas Scales told her son she still loved him at his hearing but when he responded by saying his stepsister's death was "a mistake that happened," she replied, "You don't mistakenly murder somebody."

[other dog]

I saw on Fox News this morning that Connecticut has done away with the death penalty.

This story was one of the main points people were making as to why there should be a death penalty-http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/nyregion/07slay.html

This is a case where I believe the death sentence would have been appropiate, but he got life instead-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Appomattox_shootings

Ronald Scruggs was my wife Becky's sister's son.

This case ,http://murderpedia.org/male.W/w/williams-michael-wayne.htm and all the above cases, make me think some people should just be dragged to the highest tree on the courthouse lawn and hanged- if it's open and shut, no doubt about guilt, there should be no b.s, no appeals, just hang 'em from the highest tree. Leave the bodies swinging, Josie Wales said buzzards gotta eat too, then maybe people would think twice before they did something stupid.

Morris Keller's younger brother was my best friend all through elementary school.

[kscarbel2]

Denver man robbed and beaten in broad daylight at light rail station

ABC 7NEWS / August 14, 2015

Surveillance video shows the brutal beating and robbery of a victim in broad daylight at a light rail station.

Video shows the victim walking away from the Knox Station on West 12th Avenue and North Knox Court at around 2 p.m. on Aug. 6, when a man in an orange-colored t-shirt pulls something from his back pocket and starts beating the man on the head with it a couple of times before the victim falls to the ground.

A shirtless man walking behind them is seen walking around as the beating is taking place. At one point, as the victim is trying to escape, the shirtless man runs to block his path.

The man with the orange t-shirt is then seen beating the victim repeatedly a second time, using some sort of white stick that the victim was carrying before the beating took place.

Both the robber in the orange t-shirt and the shirtless man are then seen running away from the RTD Knox Station.

Denver Police say the victim was hospitalized because of the beating.

Video - http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/front-range/denver/brutal-beating-at-rtd-light-rail-station-leaves-1-injured-dpd-looking-for-2-robbers

[kscarbel2]

Abused child found in Raleigh recycle bin

ABC News / August 17, 2015

Two parents are charged with child abuse after police say a woman found a 9-year-old boy in her Raleigh, North Carolina recycling bin.

The woman told ABC11 the boy told her he was living in the woods in the park at the Green Road Community Center in North Raleigh with his homeless mother and stepfather.

Police said he was being repeatedly beaten by the stepfather and during one of those beatings (with a belt) Friday evening, he got away, ran through the woods into an adjacent neighborhood, and jumped inside the big blue recycle bin behind a townhome.

The next morning, Melissa White said she came out to put something in the recycle bin and found the boy inside, wet, dirty, injured, and hungry.

"He was scared half to death. He was like, 'Please don't let them take me back,'" said White.

"He said he couldn't take it no more," she said. "He said every day he was getting beat for making mistakes."

She brought him in, fed him, and called 911.

"It was like dried up blood all around his nose and then like over here - on the side of his head - he had lumps and a cut right here from where he was getting hit in the head," said White.

Jillian Randel Davis, 29, and Leroy Blake, 25, were both charged with intentional child abuse inflicting serious physical injury.

The boy is now in protective custody. Police officers allowed him to shower at their building and an officer bought him a new set of clothes before he was turned over to the NC Department of Health and Human Services.

"I hope that the children are safe and I hope that he is placed in a better home and, you know, he is able to live and enjoy life like a normal 9-year old should," said White.

Both Davis and Blake remained at the Wake County Detention Center on Monday under $50,000 bonds.

[kscarbel2]

Ohio Mother Murders Her 3 Infant/Toddler Sons

Associated Press / August 18, 2015

A woman calmly called 911 to report her baby son wasn't breathing on Tuesday and then hours later confessed to killing him and her two other young sons over the past several months because her husband ignored their daughter, authorities said.

Brittany Pilkington was charged with three counts of murder and was jailed, said police in Bellefontaine, about 60 miles northwest of Columbus, Ohio.

Pilkington is accused in Tuesday's death of 3-month-old Noah and in the deaths of 4-year-old Gavin, who died in April, and 3-month-old Niall, who died in July 2014.

Police said officers went to the family's apartment on Tuesday morning after an emergency call from the mother saying Noah wasn't breathing. They said she calmly answered a dispatcher's questions while the baby's sleep apnea alarm beeped in the background. The baby was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Logan County prosecutor William Goslee interviewed Brittany Pilkington and said she confessed to killing each of her sons by placing a blanket over his head and suffocating him.

"In her mind," Goslee said, "she was protecting her daughter from being not as loved as the boys were by their father."

The daughter, 3-year-old Hailey, was taken into custody by a county child welfare agency.

Authorities already were investigating what happened to Niall and Gavin, whose causes of death haven't been determined. In each of those cases, their father, Joseph Pilkington, found them unresponsive when he got home from work.

"Our son's not breathing," Brittany Pilkington said meekly to a dispatcher when she called police on April 6 as her husband frantically gave Gavin chest compressions. "He's turning white."

Joseph and Brittany Pilkington were cooperative on Tuesday, police said. She eventually told detectives that she killed all three boys, police said.

"The tragic deaths of Niall, Gavin and Noah leave a pit in our stomachs today," police Chief Brandon K. Standley said in a statement. "Our condolences go out to the remaining family members who have supported this family through a very difficult 13 months."

Brittany Pilkington's uncle Joe Skaggs said Hailey and Noah had been with Logan County Children's Services after Gavin's death and were returned to their parents this month.

"Why would you give them back after a little boy just died and when you're in the middle of an investigation?" said Skaggs.

Goslee, the prosecutor, said Hailey and Noah were given back to their parents after a coroner determined Gavin's and Niall's deaths weren't suspicious.

The Pilkingtons' neighbor James Breaston was home, across the hall from the family, when Gavin died in April. He remembered consoling a distraught Joseph Pilkington but finding Brittany Pilkington unperturbed.

"He was crying, the tears were rolling, and she was just cold," Breaston told the Dispatch. "She just stared like nothing happened."

He said that when saw police arrive on Tuesday morning he thought, "Oh, there's another baby dead."

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Update:

Associated Press / September 10, 2015

The husband of a woman accused of suffocating her three sons has been charged with sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager and had been living in her house for years as her stepfather, according to an indictment made public Thursday.

The indictment in Logan County in western Ohio charged Joseph Pilkington with one count of sexual battery for an alleged assault in 2009 against Brittany Pilkington.

The indictment said Joseph Pilkington, 43, had lived in his future wife's house since she was 9 and held himself out as her father. Brittany Pilkington's mother has said she and Joseph Pilkington were in a romantic relationship and she was not bothered when he took up with her daughter instead.

Joseph Pilkington was arrested in Newark in central Ohio on Thursday and was being held in Licking County Jail pending a hearing to determine if he'll be transferred back to Logan County, which is likely. He didn't yet appear to have a lawyer related to the criminal charge. A message seeking comment was left with an attorney who represented him in a custody fight with the county.

Brittany Pilkington, 23, has been charged with three counts of aggravated murder in her sons' deaths and faces the possibility of a death sentence if convicted. She has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail on $1 million bond.

Logan County Prosecutor William Goslee said she killed the boys out of jealousy at the attention her husband was paying them. Goslee has called her husband a controlling person who left her isolated. A message was left with the prosecutor Thursday.

The Associated Press generally doesn't name people who say they are victims of sexual assault but is identifying Brittany Pilkington because her name and image were widely published following her arrest in the deaths of her three sons.

Joseph Pilkington assumed a dominant parental role in the girl's household and supported her by providing living expenses, food and shelter, according to Thursday's indictment.

He also presented himself as Brittany Pilkington's father when taking her to medical appointments as a child and at the school she attended, the indictment said.

'After raising her as one of his daughters for years, he had sexual intercourse with her when she was seventeen and got her pregnant,' according to the indictment.

Logan County Children's Services had temporary custody of the children in May after launching a neglect investigation a month earlier following the death of the couple's 4-year-old son, Gavin, in April and a baby brother, Niall, the previous July.

After a three-day custody hearing that ended Aug. 11, a judge ordered the children returned to the parents, ruling there wasn't concrete evidence the first two boys were killed. The judge has declined to comment.

The new baby, 3-month-old Noah, was found dead Aug. 18 in the couple's apartment in Bellefontaine.

Authorities say Brittany Pilkington confessed to the three killings the day Noah was found dead, saying she was jealous of the attention her husband paid to their sons at the expense of her and their daughter.

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[kscarbel2]

Alabama woman sentenced to death for children’s torture, murder

The New York Daily News / August 20, 2015

An Alabama woman who helped barbarically torture and murder her common-law-husband's two small children has been sentenced to death.

Heather Leavell-Keaton was sentenced to die by lethal injection Thursday, six months after the children's father, John DeBlase, was handed the same sentence.

Keaton was found guilty of poisoning the children, Natalie, 5, and Chase, 3, with anti-freeze in their meals but it was the choking that ultimately killed them, the court heard.

After enduring months of being burned with cigarettes and hot candle wax, the oldest child was duct-taped and stuffed inside of a suitcase for 12 hours in March 2010.

When she was finally released she was choked and her body dumped in a garbage bag in woods near Citronelle, Alabama.

Three months later, after detectives say Natalie's brother started crying and asking about her in public, creating a "liability," Chase was taped to a broom handle and left in the corner of the couple's bedroom overnight.

Eventually he too was choked to death and his body tossed in woods outside Vancleave, Mississippi in Dec. 2010. Their skeletal remains were found a few days later.

'We believe that Heather Keaton...is a domineering, manipulative, deceitful and morally unhinged woman,' Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich said prior to the ruling. 'Her actions are worthy of the death penalty.'

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[kscarbel2]

17-year-old drowns pregnant girlfriend's nephew

Associated Press / August 30, 2015

An East Texas teenager is accused of pushing his pregnant girlfriend's three-year-old nephew into a pond so the boy would drown to make room for the unborn child to live at their home.

Bobby Woods, 17, faces a charge of capital murder of a person under age six.

Woods told authorities that he wanted Mason Cuttler to die because his girlfriend was pregnant and he wanted to make room in the home for his unborn child.

Mason's dead body was found on August 18 in a pond near Lufkin, a day after he was reported missing while playing outside as his parents cleaned their home, investigators have said.

Woods' pregnant girlfriend is the aunt of the boy.

Woods was booked as an adult after his arrest Friday and remained in the Angelina County jail without bond Saturday.

Sheriff Greg Sanches said Woods was a member of one of three families living at the house.

Woods told sheriff's deputies he was aware of Mason's age and that the boy could not swim. He said he pushed the child into the pond, then turned his back and made no effort to rescue the boy as he cried for help.

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[kscarbel2]

19-year-old murders three family members in Tennessee

Associated Press / August 30, 2015

Police were called to a home in eastern Tennessee and found a grizzly sight - three people were killed and a child was injured during a shooting spree on Saturday.

Sullivan County sheriff's spokeswoman Leslie Earhart says the shooter, Robert Seth Denton, was wounded during the rampage and was taken into custody a short time later in a nearby driveway.

Two women with gunshot wounds were found in the kitchen when authorities arrived Saturday evening, he said. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

An adult male was found on the porch suffering from gunshot wounds, but he later died at a hospital.

A half-dozen children were in the home during the shooting spree and one girl was injured, Sheriff Wayne Anderson said.

Denton, who is related to the victims, walked up the driveway of the home with a long-gun and opened fire when he reached the house located near Bristol, Tennessee.

'From what I've seen and heard, he just took `em by surprise,' Anderson said.

'It just all happened real fast.'

The 19-year-old male has been charged with three counts of first degree murder, aggravated assault and felony reckless endangerment.

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Associated Press / August 31, 2015

Outfitted in camouflage and armed with a high-powered rifle and 100 rounds of ammunition, Robert Seth Denton fatally shot his mother, stepfather and grandmother while six children witnessed the carnage in the family's double-wide mobile home in eastern Tennessee, a sheriff said Monday.

The 19-year-old suspect then went outside, laid down his weapon and camouflage jacket and walked to a neighboring trailer, where he told his grandfather he needed to call 911, Sullivan County Sheriff Wayne Anderson said.

The grandfather, Curtis Rose, had been making repairs to the trailer, and the din of power tools drowned out the gunfire. Rose went next door and found the horrific scene. He called 911, put the children in a bathroom, grabbed a gun and went after his grandson, the sheriff said.

Climbing into a van, Rose caught up to the fleeing Denton at the end of a long driveway.

Rose fired once, wounding his grandson in the arm, Anderson said. Denton didn't go far before calling 911 to report he had been shot and to give his location, the sheriff said.

Denton was taken to a hospital for treatment and then taken to jail.

Denton was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated assault and felony reckless endangerment.

Denton made his initial court appearance Monday, and attorney Lynn Dougherty was appointed to represent him. Denton's bond was set at $1 million and his next court appearance was set for Sept. 8. Dougherty did not immediately return a call Monday evening seeking comment.

Authorities were still trying to piece together what caused the teenage suspect to allegedly turn on family members. Most of the children in the trailer lost parents.

"We have gained a lot of information that he has hated his mother for most of his life," Anderson said. "He had made statements ... over the years that he wanted to kill her." He didn't offer details about the cause of the enmity. The information was based on police interviews with relatives and others who know Denton, the sheriff said.

Killed were Denton's mother, Toshya Millhorn, 39; his stepfather, James Millhorn, 36; and his grandmother, Lena Rose, 57.

Authorities found Rose and Toshya Millhorn inside the home with gunshot wounds, the sheriff's office said. Both died at the scene. James Millhorn was found near the front door with gunshot wounds, and he died later at a hospital.

The children, ages 2 to 12, were in another room but witnessed the shootings, authorities said. Investigators have interviewed two of the children.

"These kids, they saw everything that went on," Anderson said, his voice shaking with emotion. "They've got to live with that for the rest of their lives, all six of them. It was the worst horrific scene that I've seen."

Five of the children are children or stepchildren of Toshya and James Millhorn, and they are staying with family members, authorities said. The other child was visiting.

One youngster, a 7-year-old girl, was injured when a fragment struck her hip, Anderson said. The suspect did not turn the gun on her, he said.

The sheriff has described the assault as a surprise attack. Denton parked his vehicle away from the residence and made the long walk up the hilly driveway to the home, Anderson said. Denton apparently entered the trailer through a back door.

A neighbor, Darrell Grey, said he heard a barrage of 10 to 12 gunshots and screams. The rampage lasted less than a minute, he said.

"We heard somebody, they said, 'Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,'" he said.

Authorities said Monday they don't know why the suspect spared his grandfather.

"Why he didn't shoot his grandfather and went out there and told him is beyond me," the sheriff said.

Investigators had not uncovered any prior local criminal record for Denton, the sheriff said.

Authorities said the suspect had served a short stint in the Army, but didn't provide any details about his work history outside the military.

As a child, Denton had lived in the trailer where the shootings occurred, but most recently lived in a Bristol apartment, the sheriff's office said.

No charges are pending against Curtis Rose for opening fire on his grandson, the sheriff said.

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[kscarbel2]

Mother murders her infant child

Associated Press / August 30, 2015

A mother of two faces murder charges after she killed her baby and lived with the infant’s lifeless body in her apartment for three months.

Christina Colantonio, 28, was charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of her daughter at her apartment in Batavia, about 45 miles from Buffalo, New York

Investigators believe Colantonio killed the newborn shortly after she gave birth.

Police launched an investigation into the tot's death after a friend of Colantiono called 911 and said that she had found a baby's body. Officers arrived at a home on 208 Liberty Street last Thursday and found the dead baby.

Batavia Police Detective Sergeant Todd Crossett said the baby's corpse had been kept there for three months.

Colantonio, who has two other children, lived alone in the apartment where the baby was found.

She was arraigned Saturday at Batavia City Court and ordered to be held without bail.

Genesee County District Attorney Lawrence Friedman said investigators 'had enough evidence to come to a conclusion it was intentionally caused.'

[kscarbel2]

Boy, 17, charged with raping a family friend, 9

Associated Press / August 29, 2015

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with raping a nine-year-old family friend.

Jonathan Fleming was arrested at the Maryland State Fairgrounds.

An investigation by the Crimes Against Children Unit states that Fleming has been sexually abusing the girl since she was about three years old.

The girl told police that Fleming has forced her several times a year to engage in sex acts, including intercourse.

Fleming has been charged with second degree rape, second degree sexual offense, perverted practice, fourth degree sexual assault and second degree assault, and is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center on $500,000 bond.

Police have said additional charges are possible.

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[Dirtymilkman]

F#ckin white trash. That poor 3 year old that drowned......thats just heartless. Eye for an eye I say.

[kscarbel2]

Mother drowns her twin toddler boys in bathtub

Associated Press / August 31, 2015

A 22-year-mother has been arrested for drowning her 2-year-old twin sons in a bathtub on Sunday, police said.

Mireya Alejandra Lopez was arrested on two counts of homicide and one count of attempted homicide after her sons were found unresponsive in the family's home.

Lopez told officers that she intentionally drowned both of her twin boys in the bathtub, said Sgt. Brandon Busse of the Avondale, Arizona Police Department.

"Mireya also stated to investigators that she also attempted to drown another child in the home but she was stopped by family ...," said Busse.

Officers were called to a home near 115th Avenue and Yuma Street shortly before noon about reports of an ill person, Busse said.

The boys' grandmother called 911 about noon.

When first-responders arrived at the home, they found the two boys lying unconscious on a bed, Busse said.

Police and firefighters administered CPR and both children were taken to hospital, where they died.

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[kscarbel2]

Michigan woman murders newborn

Reuters / August 31, 2015

A Michigan woman pleaded not guilty on Monday at her arraignment on charges of first degree murder in the death of her newborn son, who was found sealed in a plastic bag and stored in a tote near her desk in March.

Kimberly Pappas, 26, of Wyandotte, was found competent to stand trial in July on charges of felony murder, premeditated murder and first-degree child abuse in the death of the newborn, the prosecutor's office said.

In court on Monday, Pappas stood quietly, while a plea of not guilty was entered by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Morrow.

There is no provision for bond when a defendant is charged with first degree murder, said Maria Miller, spokesperson for the prosecutor's office, in an email.

Prosecutors said Pappas gave birth to a full-term infant in the bathroom at her workplace in Redford, Michigan, on March 31. An employee alerted the Redford Fire Department, which attempted to resuscitate the child, who was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

The next hearing in the case was set for Oct. 5 at 9 a.m.

Prosecutors say Pappas’s actions after delivering her baby at work constitute murder.

Pappas initially told police that she'd miscarried and put her baby boy's body in a bag. But medical examiners have determined that the boy died of asphyxiation.

The details of the case are graphic.

Prosecutors allege Pappas, a temporary employee at CEVA Logistics in Redford Township, gave birth in the bathroom at work March 31. Pappas then put the baby in a plastic bag, which she placed inside her desk drawer before continuing to work.

"She said no one helped her with the delivery; she did it on her own," said Detective Sgt. Kevin Crittenden of the Redford Township Police. "An employee was in the room with her for a short time and said she didn't notice anything unusual."

Co-workers discovered blood in the restroom and called 911. Responders tried to revive the newborn.

“The baby was still warm when rescue personnel found him,” but by then it was too late. The boy was pronounced dead at an area hospital shortly before noon.

Although Pappas at first told police that she'd miscarried, she later admitted that she'd felt the baby moving right up to when she delivered him. The full-term infant lived approximately 30 minutes before he died of asphyxiation, a Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office report said.

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[kscarbel2]

Parents starve 3-year old daughter to death

Philly News / September 6, 2015

One professional after the next - police officers, social workers, a doctor - yesterday testified that the abuse and neglect five West Oak Lane siblings endured at the hands of their parents was the worst they had ever seen.

So bad were conditions inside the "hell hole" of a house on Sommers Road, that one of the children, Nathalyz Rivera, 3, died of starvation on Sept. 9, 2013.

The 3-year-old’s skin-and-bones remains weighed just 11 pounds.

Her two brothers and two sisters - who were between the ages of 2 and 9 - were covered in bite marks from bed bugs and fleas, their hair was infested with lice, they were dirty, didn't know their last name and didn't know how to brush their teeth, Dr. Maria McColgan testified during the sentencing hearing for Carlos Rivera, 32, and Carmen Ramirez, 29.

"These children suffered from every form of neglect that I know of," said McColgan, director of the Child Protection Program at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.

Nathalyz was born with a genetic disorder that left her partially blind and unable to walk, talk or hold objects.

After she died, Rivera wrapped her remains in a filthy urine-soaked blanket and took her to Albert Einstein Medical Center, Assistant District Attorney Gwenn Cujdik said.

"This case is not just neglect, it rises to the level of torture and abuse," said Cujdik, who with co-council Richard Sax, sought sentences of 60 to 120 years for both parents.

"This is exceptional, this is rare. This is the worst of the worst," she said.

Clearly shaken by the testimony, Common Pleas Judge Sandy L.V. Byrd wondered how Ramirez and Rivera could allow their daughter to starve to death in such a wealthy nation and live in squalor so deplorable that Rivera slept outside in his car and Ramirez lived elsewhere with a boyfriend.

"You turned your back on them and subjected them to terrible neglect," said Byrd, who sentenced both parents to 30 to 60 years in state prison on convictions of third-degree murder and related counts.

Byrd said he gave both defendants consideration for having pleaded guilty in June, thus sparing their children from having to testify against them. He said he also took into account that both had been sexually abused as children - Ramirez by her great grandfather while living in Puerto Rico and an uncle, and Rivera by an aunt.

But Cornish attempted to win sympathy for Ramirez by alleging that Rivera had abused her - kicking her in the stomach while she was pregnant and pimping her out to other men for money. Hoof painted Rivera as a father who never left his children, feeding them pizza regularly, while Ramirez walked away to be with another man.

"Yes, he may have been a bad parent, but he did provide to the best of his ability. He did not abandon his children. Ms. Ramirez did," Hoof said.

[kscarbel2]

Sons attempt to kill parents

CNN / September 6, 2015

Two Atlanta-area brothers are behind bars and charged with multiple felonies after police said they attempted to kill their own parents over the weekend.

Yvonne Ervin called 911 Saturday morning and reported that she and husband Zachary were being attacked in their own home.

The perpetrators were their own children: 17-year-old Cameron and 22-year-old Christopher.

When police arrived at the Ervin family home in suburban Snellville northeast of Atlanta, "Zachary came out of the garage and collapsed," said Gwinnett County Police Sgt. Rich Long. "He had a lot of head and body injuries from blunt force trauma and stab wounds on his back." Zachary Ervin was hospitalized in critical condition. Long said he is expected to survive.

Yvonne Ervin "also had blunt force trauma but not as severe as the father," said Long. She also is expected to survive.

Police said the sons, both of whom lived at home with them, were at the house when officers arrived, and the two were immediately arrested.

As brutal as the attack on the parents was, that wasn't the full extent of it, according to police. The sons also plotted to burn the home down, and had "introduced natural gas into the house," Long said.

Christopher and Cameron Ervin have each been charged with two counts of felony aggravated assault and two felony counts of first degree arson, according to Long.

Under Georgia state law, 17-year-olds are considered adults in criminal cases, so both will be tried as adults, said Long, who added that investigators still don't know of any motive.

"There is no official motive at this point, but there has to be something more to this. I'm sure they didn't just wake up and decide to kill their parents yesterday," Long said.

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