The Face of America in Year 2015

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Father stabs three sons to death

Reuters / September 9, 2015

A father repeatedly stabbed his three young sons to death with a knife in the back seat of their car outside a South Los Angeles elementary school Wednesday before turning the blade on himself, police say.

The father, in his 30s, was found in his car bleeding from stab wounds to the chest, his dead sons in the back and a knife in the passenger seat. The boys, ages 8 to 12, were pronounced dead at the scene.

The father is the only suspect in the killings, police said.

He was taken to a hospital in critical condition and will be arrested if he survives his wounds, Los Angeles Police Officer Matthew Ludwig said.

"These are horrific incidents," police Chief Charlie Beck said. "These are incidents that have scarred not only a community but the first responders that have to handle them. It is a sad day in LA."

John Sorrentino, whose furniture store is next to the crime scene, said he was the one who first spotted the bloody scene and called 911.

"I saw this man behind the steering wheel covered in blood," he said. "I got a little bit closer, and I saw a young child in the back seat and his eyes were half open and he was covered in blood.

Sorrentino said he then saw another motionless boy bent over a seat, and in the back, a leg of the third boy lying upright. That's when he ran inside his store and called 911.

Beck said the boys' mother is deceased and that their stepmother was safe and being interviewed by detectives.

It was unclear whether the boys lived with their father.

The deaths come as homicides are on the rise in Los Angeles. In August, 39 killings drove a year-to-date uptick in murders in the nation's second-largest city. The 39 killings in August are compared with 22 the previous month and 19 last August.

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Girl, 2, dies after being raped by mother's boyfriend'

KFOR / September 8, 2015

A two-year-old girl in Oklahoma City has died after she was allegedly raped by her mother's 22-year-old boyfriend.

Shaleah Cudjo was pronounced dead shortly after she was taken to the hospital following a welfare check at about 10.13am on September 3, when police received a call saying the girl was not breathing.

EMSA officials immediately rendered aid to two-year-old Shaleah Cudjo and transported her to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Medical staff found that the toddler had lost a large amount of blood after sustaining internal injuries and other injuries that displayed evidence of sexual assault.

Justin Lawson, 22, was arrested on complaints of first-degree murder and rape shortly after the incident.

Investigators later learned the suspect, Justin Lawson, 22, had been home with Shaleah and left the home shortly after police were called.

Shaleah's mother, Keah Cudjo, told police that her boyfriend, Lawson, told her that the girl was sick and not doing well.

'They told me by the time I got here, she was already dead and there was nothing I could do. She had lost too much blood.'

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Newborn baby given formula mixed with vodka instead of water

WISN / September 9, 2015

A baby was raced to hospital after her mother accidentally mixed her formula with vodka instead of water.

The one-month-old girl had a blood alcohol level of almost 0.294 - almost four times the 0.08 driving limit - when she was admitted to the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

Her mother, from Kenosha, Wisconsin, said after she gave the girl her bottle on Monday night, her hands and toes became red and her legs started shaking.

The 20-year-old mother told police that a man staying with her had emptied out a bottle of water on the kitchen counter and replaced it with the strong liquor without telling her.

After she realized what had happened, the man is alleged to have pushed, choked and hit her with the bottle.

Police were called and man - later identified as Brian Jones, 22 - was arrested.

He was charged with strangulation and battery, disorderly conduct and resisting an officer and could face ten years in jail if convicted.

The baby was placed in intensive care.

According to the police report, she drank around two ounces of vodka mixed with baby formula.

Her mom told officers she and Jones were at home when he asked if the child had been fed. He then became furious when the mom told him she had used the bottle that unbeknownst to her was filled with vodka.

Jones is said to have yelled at the woman, telling her he had planned to take the alcohol out with him, before throwing the bottle at her and grabbing her by the neck.

When officers arrived, Jones swore at them and came towards them with clenched fists.

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Woman chained mentally disabled adults to basement boiler to collect social security checks

New York Daily News / September 9, 2015

A woman who chained mentally disabled adults to a boiler in her squalid basement so she could steal $212,000 in social security checks has pleaded guilty to avoid a death sentence.

Linda Weston, 55, admitted to 196 counts including murder, kidnapping, hate crimes and sex trafficking over 10 years, with two of her victims dying.

In exchange for pleading guilty, prosecutors will recommend Weston - a convicted killer in the 1980s - is handed a life jail term plus 80 years when she is sentenced in November.

Weston is accused of using 'cunning, trickery, force and coercion' to persuade mentally disabled men and women to choose her as her caretaker.

This allowed her to illegally claim around $212,000 in disability checks while her victims were kept locked in her basement in Philadelphia.

Weston was arrested in 2011 after her landlord found four suffering adults locked in the accused's boiler room, with the authorities saying Weston, her daughter and three others of treating the victims like 'zoo animals'.

From 2001 until 2011, six disabled adults and four children were kept in the dark basement, often given drugs in their food and drink to sedate them and made to use a bucket for a toilet.

Two of the women were allowed outside, but only to bring in more money for the family as prostitutes.

Prosecutors claimed the victims were punished 'by slapping, punching, kicking, stabbing, burning and hitting them with closed hands, belts, sticks, bats and hammers or other objects, including the butt of a pistol'.

Prosecutors initially planned to seek the death penalty but scaled back after Weston agreed to admit to all of the charges.

The case came to light in October 2011 after a landlord discovered four malnourished victims locked in the 13-by-7ft pitch-black room in the basement of a Philadelphia apartment building. One of them was chained to a boiler.

Authorities soon began untangling a complicated web of relationships among victims and their alleged captors in an investigation that spanned several states, including Texas and Florida.

A 150-page grand jury indictment describes Weston as the ringleader of a 'family' that included her daughter and three men who prosecutors say helped control and subjugate the victims.

The victims' diminished mental capacity, coupled with the fact that Weston continually moved the family to elude law enforcement, meant that 'escape for these individuals seemed impossible,' U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said.

Weston forced two female victims into prostitution, including her niece, to earn more money for the family when they lived in Texas and Florida, authorities said.

Two other women died while living with Weston, leading to murder charges that make her eligible for the death penalty. Memeger said prosecutors are weighing whether to pursue it.

Maxine Lee, a disabled Philadelphia woman, died of meningitis and starvation while living with Weston in Virginia in 2008, authorities said.

Another woman identified in court papers as D.S. died in Philadelphia in 2005 after prosecutors said Weston fed her drug-laced food while keeping her captive in a laundry room. Weston staged the death to look like an overdose, authorities said.

Weston has already served time after a man she locked in her Philadelphia apartment died of starvation in 1981.

Others charged in the indictment Weston's daughter, Jean McIntosh, 33, of Philadelphia; Thomas Gregory Sr., 49, of Philadelphia; Eddie Wright, 52, of Killeen, Texas; and Nicklaus Woodard, 26, of West Palm Beach, Florida.

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Toddler dies after being left in 200 degree heat inside car

KFOR / August 13, 2015

PECOS, Texas – A 17-month-old child is dead after being left inside a hot car in Texas.

The mother admitted to investigators that she forgot to take the toddler out of the car in the heat of the day.

“Her, the infant that passed away, two other kids, and the father left the residence so she could take the father to work. When she dropped the father off and came back to the residence, her and the two other children got out of the car,” said Chief Clay McKinney, with the Pecos Police Department.

However, 17-month-old Avrian Villalobos was left inside the car.

Police say the child’s mother, 21-year-old Annabelle Millan, realized her mistake about an hour later.

When she found Avrian, he was unconscious and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

The police chief told KWES that when officers tested the car, it registered at 200 degrees.

So far, no charges have been filed in the case.

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Infant left in hot car dies

KRIS-TV / September 8, 2015

CORPUS CHRISTI - Medics rushed an infant to Spohn Memorial Hospital Tuesday afternoon after the 4-month old boy was found in a hot car outside a home on Presa Street.

The baby did not survive.

Corpus Christi police say the father of two small children left a 16-month old girl and a 4-month-old boy in the family car.

He reportedly came back out later to find the children. The youngest infant was unconscious.

Police detained both parents at the beginning of the investigation. No arrests have been announced.

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Georgia toddler dies after being left in car

ABC News / September 7, 2015

The death of a northwest Georgia infant is under investigation after he was left in a vehicle.

The 11-month-old boy's death occurred Saturday in Chickamauga, which is about 115 miles northwest of Atlanta, according to the Walker County Sheriff's Department.

11-month-old Jaxon Taylor died after his grandparents and aunt, Kyle and Meta Hendershot, left him in the car following a church service Saturday afternoon.

The boy's mother, who works at night as a hospital emergency room nurse, was asleep. When the mother woke, she asked about the child.

"At that point she runs toward the car finds the child strapped in the car seat and administers CPR. She brings the child back in the house the adults put him in cold water, trying to revive him, bring him back," said Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson.

The child was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

No charges have been filed, but the death is being investigated by the Walker County Sheriff's Office, the sheriff said.

This is the 19th case of an infant dying in a hot car in the United States this year.

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Aunt suffocates toddler to death with baby wipe

Associated Press / August 30, 2015

HASTINGS, Neb. — A 19-month-old is dead and her great-aunt has been arrested in her death after authorities say a baby wipe was found lodged in the toddler’s throat.

An arrest affidavit says the toddler, Aliyana, was dropped off at the home of her 33-year-old aunt Azudany Serrano-Contreras on March 12.

EMS responded to the home in Hastings to the report of a child who couldn’t breathe.

The child was transported to the Children’s Hospital in Colorado where she died, KOLN reported.

A baby wipe was found in her throat.

Investigators said Contreras’ story kept changing about what she was doing when she claimed Aliyana swallowed the wipe.

KOLN reported that testimony from Contreras’ own children said she would cover Aliyana’s mouth to stop her from crying.

Eventually investigators said over the course of a few months it became clear Aliyana didn’t suffocate herself.

“Officers from our agency continued to investigate the case look in to the death to see what was going on, and have referred that investigative packet to the Adams County Attorney’s Office,” said Sgt. Brian Hessler, with the Hastings Police Department

A warrant was issued for Contreras on July 29, and a few weeks later she was arrested in Laredo, Texas.

Contreras is being held on a $1 million bond and faces multiple charges, including intentionally committing child abuse resulting in death.

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Baltimore County police investigate death of child left in car

The Baltimore Sun / August 31, 2015

Baltimore County police said Monday they are investigating the death of a toddler who was left by her foster mother in a car outside an Edgemere church earlier this month.

No one has been charged, police said.

Police found the 13-month-old girl around noon Aug. 21 outside Shiloh Baptist Church on Sycamore Avenue.

A woman who worked at the church had planned to take the girl, who was her foster child, to a daycare center next to the church, police said. She started talking to someone in the parking lot, and then walked into the church, leaving the girl in the car.

When the woman returned, she found the child in cardiac arrest and immediately called 911 and started CPR, police said.

The child was identified as Paris Bena Hall of Randallstown. She was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and pronounced dead later that day.

The length of time the girl was left in the car is still under investigation, said police spokeswoman Elise Armacost.

All sudden deaths of children are investigated by the department's homicide unit, police said.

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Father Kills and Sexually Assaultd Newborn Daughter

KTLA / September 2, 2015

A Newhall father who was alleged to have killed his 19-day-old daughter before hiding her body and claiming she had been kidnapped pleaded no contest on Wednesday, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.

Matthew Warner, 30, entered the plea on a first-degree murder charge, the DA’s office said in a news release.

Warner was accused of killing his daughter Ellorah Rose Warner on Jan. 23 while the baby’s mother was working, according to prosecutors. Initially, the DA’s office stated the girl had been drowned, but they later issued a correction saying she had died from blunt force trauma.

After the girl died, Warner led authorities to the newborn’s body, which had been wrapped in towels and bags, and was discovered in the cab of a pickup truck, the release stated.

In addition to murder, he had also been charged earlier for assault on a child causing death, torture, oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child 10 years or younger, and aggravated sexual assault of a child, according to the DA’s Office.

Warner is expected to be sentenced to 50-years-to-life in state prison when he appears in court at a hearing scheduled for Oct. 6, prosecutors said.

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Infant Dies After Being Left In Hot Car

News 9 / September 31, 2015

Del City, Oklahoma, police are investigating the death of an infant after the baby was left in a hot car.

The case is considered a homicide.

“When the officers arrived, they found the mother standing in the street with the child,” Del City police Maj. Jody Suit said.

It happened about 3 p.m. Saturday outside a home in the 4600 block of SE 19 Street.

The baby was already dead when help arrived.

Police are not sure yet how long the baby was left in the car, but they believe the mother was in charge of the child at the time.

The mother's friends identified the baby girl as Ashanti.

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Pontiac woman, 18, charged in baby’s ’14 scalding death

The Detroit News / August 14, 2015

An 18-year-old Pontiac, Michigan woman was charged Friday with intentionally scalding her infant cousin, just over a year after the baby died of severe burns.

Breeze Macha Henke was babysitting for 12-month-old Samaria Chambers on July 26, 2014, in a home in the 200 block of South Sanford when Oakland County sheriff’s investigators say she held the baby down in a tub of scalding water because she was angry the child’s diaper was soiled.

Henke initially told investigators she started to draw a bath for the child when she was distracted and a 3-year child entered the bathroom and turned up the hot water, according to investigators.

Samaria suffered second-degree burns on the lower half of her body and died of the burns and multiple infections on Aug. 9, 2014, at DMC Detroit Children’s Hospital. The Wayne County Medical Examiner ruled the baby’s death a homicide on Sept. 15, 2014.

A burn expert at Detroit Children’s Hospital said the baby’s burns were consistent with her being held down in the tub.

Henke was arrested Thursday in Pontiac by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Apprehension Team.

Detectives determined from testing that the bath water reached a temperature of 158 degrees within 10 seconds, and held that temperature for almost one minute. The baby was burned from the stomach down.

Asked why it took a year to bring charges against Henke, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said the case crossed jurisdictional lines because the baby died in Wayne County, and was complicated by the lack of an adult witness other than the suspect. As a result, detectives had to rely on forensics to determine burns suffered by the child occurred deliberately or by accident.

“It’s a sad reminder that some people don’t have the patience, or I guess the love, to interact with children, especially children of this age,” Bouchard said Friday. “It’s incredible sad and tragic.”

Henke was arraigned Friday on charges of homicide/manslaughter, a 15-year felony, and second-degree child abuse, a 10-year felony. Judge Cynthia Walker of 50th District Court set Henke’s bond at $250,000.

Henke, who is being held in the Oakland County Jail, is scheduled to appear at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 25 in 50th District Court.

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Man murders 7-month old infant

WBNS / September 2, 2015

A man is in jail in connection with the death of a baby and neighbors say it's something they feared would happen.

The Ross County Prosecutor charged 37-year-old Daniel Gilbert following the death of a 7-month-old baby at a home in Waverly last Sunday.

Gilbert is the mother’s boyfriend.

Neighbors say they’ve called authorities before, worried for the safety of the six children who lived in the home.

Ross County Sheriff’s deputies went to their home on August 30th for a report on an unresponsive infant.

Authorities determined the small child died from blunt force trauma to the back of the head.

Deputies arrested Gilbert and charged him with child endangerment, saying he knew about the injuries and did nothing. He is being held at the Ross County Jail under a $50,000 bond.

Three other children living in the home were removed as a precaution.

Children’s services and local law enforcement have been called to the home before.

Neighbors say they’ve seen toddlers out in the middle of the road and trucks would have to stop.

The Ross County Prosecutor said 3 children have since been removed from the home. A judge set Gilbert’s bond at $50,000. He is expected to be back in court on Friday.

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Missouri Infant Murdered

KCTV5 / September 1, 2015

ST. JOSEPH, MO - A St. Joseph man and a mother have been charged in connection with Thursday's death of an 12-month-old infant inside a drug house.

The boy's mother, 28-year-old Sasha Joann Lizar is charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

Roy Kenneth Miller Jr., 59, is charged with felony abuse of a child resulting in death.

Neighbors didn't even know the child was staying in the boarded up mobile home near South 36th and Monterey streets until they heard screams for help last Monday and tried to save the baby.

John Miller, who is not related to the suspect, said he was doing yard work when he heard Lizar's screams for help.

"She was screaming for help. She was holding something and I looked over and she kind of turned to me and she's holding that little boy," John Miller said. "The mom was hysterical. I've never seen her or her son before."

Miller says his military training kicked in and he began CPR.

"His heart would race and then stop so I'd do a chest compression," Miller recalled. "He wasn't breathing. Every so often he'd gasp for air."

Court records state that Miller assaulted the baby by violently shaking him, causing substantial brain trauma resulting in his death.

Police said Miller had care custody and control of the child at the time of the injury.

Police said Lizar would bring her baby to the trailer to use methamphetamine and others there were also using drugs around the child.

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Arizona Mother Drowns Baby

Daily News / September 9, 2015

A Phoenix mother allowed her 1-year-old baby to drown and blamed the death on her 3-year-old toddler daughter.

Brenda Ramirez, 21, was arrested on child abuse charges for the death of her baby Melani and charged with two counts of felony child abuse.

After discovering the baby in the bathtub, the mother reportedly sent a text message to a friend which read, “Dude i think [toddler daughter] drowned Melani.”

Ramirez followed up with a second text which said, “Shes not breathing,” followed by four crying emoticons.

The friend then thought to call 911 to try and get help for the baby. Ramirez reportedly deleted the texts from her phone and could not explain to the police why she had done so.

During questioning, the police report indicates that the mother of the drowning victim said, “This sucks, but oh well, you have to move on.”

When asked what she meant, Ramirez reportedly said that she was not referring to her dead baby but was talking about money. Exactly what “money” she was referencing remains unclear.

Brenda Ramirez initially blamed the death on her 3-year-old daughter, stating that the toddler must have pushed the baby under water. She first told police that the bathtub only had three inches of water in it when she walked away. When she returned about two minutes later, the tub had significantly more water in it.

She claimed that she left the baby and the toddler alone to get some pajamas and then she came back. It was this point she saw her older daughter holding Melani under the water.

First responders attempted CPR, but Melani was declared dead at a local hospital shortly after she was placed in the ambulance. The toddler girl has been removed from the home and placed in the custody of the state. When investigators asked why her clothing was not wet from getting the children out of the tub or trying to rescue the baby, Ramirez did not have an answer.

Arizona police stated that Brenda Ramirez “changed her story” multiple times after the death of Melani. The law enforcement officials also noted that the mother said she “felt guilty” about what had happened.

A representative from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said that Ramirez had been granted bond and released from jail on Tuesday.

Ramirez also claimed that the drowning death of the baby would not have happened if Miguel Contreras had not been arrested several hours earlier. The Arizona father had been spotted standing on a ladder attempting to get into an apartment bedroom window while holding two guns, ABC 15 Arizona reports.

The couple had gotten into a physical altercation, and Ramirez reportedly locked the father of her children out of the home. He was arrested and booked on disorderly conduct charges.

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Toledo Mother Murders 6-Month-Old Baby

NBC24 / August 13, 2015

Toledo mother Ariana Cannon has been charged with murder in connection to the death of her six-month-old son. The judge set her bond at $1 million.

Officers from the Toledo Police Department responded to Toledo Hospital on a report of an injured child on Sunday, Aug. 9.

The infant, Carsyn Cannon, succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday, Aug. 11.

After police investigated the incident, a search warrant was executed and the infant's mother, Ariana Cannon, 20, was taken into custody on Wednesday.

She has been charged with aggravated murder after investigators consulted with the Lucas County Prosecutor's Office and the Lucas County Coroner's Office.

Investigators say Carsyn died from a fractured skull.

The baby also had a fractured leg.

The injuries were not believed to be caused by an accident.

Cannon is expected to be arraigned Thursday morning in Toledo Municipal Court.

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Toddler dismembered, thrown into park pond

Associated Press / September 10, 2015

Chicago police have released a sketch of a toddler whose dismembered remains were found in a park lagoon and appealed for public's help in identifying the child.

The black-and-white drawing shows an African American or bi-racial child between the ages of two and three with large wide eyes and a chubby face.

'We still don't know what happened,' Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters during a Thursday afternoon press conference, 'We're going to need help from the public. And people should be outraged.'

The child's remains were discovered over the weekend in the Garfield Park lagoon after someone reported seeing a foot floating in the water.

Further searches of the murky water turned up the child's head, hands and other foot.

Authorities are draining the lagoon using water pumps to aid the search for the rest of the body and more evidence.

'I don’t have the words strong enough to describe how reprehensible this incident is,' Chicago Police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said. 'The fact that somebody could do this to a child is frankly unimaginable.

'There’s somebody out there that knows what happened to this child. Do the right thing, turn yourselves in. We are going to find you.'

More than 100 divers and law enforcement officials are helping with the case, which has been described by Chicago PD's top brass as a '24/7' investigation.

Forensic sketch artist Timothy McPhillips of the Cook County Sheriff's Office said he made the drawing after examining X-rays, coroner photographs and the remains themselves.

There are no piercings, so the child could have been male, but authorities aren't sure because the torso has not been recovered, McCarthy said.

There are no reports of any missing children in Chicago that match the case, he added.

The child's DNA is being analyzed to see if there's a familial match with anyone whose DNA is stored various law enforcement databases.

Also unclear is whether the child was murdered, because the dismemberment occurred after the death, according to the medical examiner.

McCarthy said detectives would not stop until they solved what he called a 'heinous, senseless crime.'

The search began at around 4.40pm Saturday after someone reported seeing what turned out to be a left foot floating in the lagoon. Officers later found a decomposed right foot and a hand about 25 yards away.

Police said Sunday night that officers had recovered additional body parts, including a head and another hand, from the park and categorized the case as a death investigation.

Investigators estimated the remains had been submerged in the lagoon for a week or two.

Police also recovered a 20-pound weight and several plastic bags near the remains, but they have not said whether those items had been used to dump the child’s body parts.

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Mother of two children, 9 and 10, guilty of manslaughter

Associated Press / September 12, 2015

A mother has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of her two children in a Preble County, Ohio house fire earlier this year.

Chastity Hall, 35, left her 10-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son alone in the home before they perished in the early morning fire on February 20.

The remains of Malea, 10, and Malachi Bradburn, 9, were found later in the home near West Alexandria, near the Indiana line.

The Dayton Daily News reports Preble County Judge David Abruzzo found the 36-year-old Hall guilty Friday of two counts each of involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.

She faces up to 14 years in prison.

The 36-year-old Hall had pleaded not guilty. She did not testify during the bench trial.

Hall is free on bond until sentencing. The state will issue its sentencing recommendation in the coming weeks.

The fire broke out around 3:45am at their home in the 3400 block of East U.S. 35 while Hall was out drinking at a VFW.

She reportedly had tried to find a babysitter but couldn't.

Hall returned home around 6:45am and reportedly began screaming 'Where are my babies?' when she saw her driveway full of fire trucks.

The siblings were found dead in the basement around 10:45am.

The origin of the fire has not been determined. According to the Associated Press, there was an earlier report by a fire official that Malachi had been setting fires.

The fire official reportedly noted this when he went to the home to inspect an electrical issue.

However, Hall's ex-boyfriend, Arcadio 'Eric' Escobar, 33, who was not the childrens' father, also admitted being on the property the night of the fire.

He eventually pleaded guilty to felony trespassing but he was never linked to the fire.

He told police he had gone to the house the night of the fire, but had left when he found the front door locked.

The children were reportedly asleep when Hall left the premises.

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Father murders wife and children, kills self

Associated Press / September 12, 2015

A Minnesota father used a shotgun to kill his wife and three children before turning the gun on himself.

Brian Short killed his wife, Karen, and their three teenage children in their Greenwood home late Monday or early Tuesday.

"All evidence indicates Brian Short killed his family members in their bedrooms before turning the gun on himself," the department said in a news release.

Officers found the dead family members Thursday during a welfare check at their home.

A co-worker of Brian Short told police they hadn't been heard from in days. The children hadn't reported to school since it resumed on Tuesday.

Police found Karen Short, 48, and the three children — Cole, 17, Madison, 15, and Brooklyn, 14 — dead in their bedrooms. Brian Short, 45, was found dead in the home's eight-car garage.

The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Saturday that all five died from shotgun wounds to the head and that only Brian Short's wound was self-inflicted.

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Man murders three brothers, kills self

ABC News / September 13, 2015

Three brothers were shot to death by a man who then killed himself in a rural area of Louisiana outside Baton Rouge early Sunday.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office said the men were found dead in a driveway after an argument broke out at about 12:30 a.m.

Sheriff's office spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks said the men were watching football and listening to music at a neighbor's house when they got into an argument over the music.

The shooter was identified as Rodney Chemin, 60, and the three brothers as Joseph Allen, 57; Perry Allen, 55 and Mark Allen, 51. The four men were found dead outside Chemin's house.

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Missouri mother keeps kids in crate underground

Associated Press / September 13, 2015

A 24-year-old mother is in custody Saturday after her two young children were found barefoot, dirty and living in a wooden shipping crate in an underground cave on the eastern edge of Kansas City, Missouri.

Brittany Mugrauer was charged Friday night with two counts of felony child endangerment.

Jackson County detectives discovered the 4- and 6-year-old children Thursday in the 8-by-10-foot crate furnished with vehicle bench seats, two small blankets, trash and thin wires.

According to the probable cause statement, the crate was missing one side and surrounded by car parts and vehicles in various states of disrepair.

The investigators, who went to the cave to serve a search warrant related to a possible stolen car operation, noted that the children did not appear frightened by them or the fact that they were alone.

The 4-year-old child was using hands to eat a dirty, dry cup of ramen noodles, a detective wrote. When asked why they weren't wearing any shoes, the children responded that they didn't have any. The older child told officers he should be in first grade but did not go to school.

The extensive network of caves is the product of massive limestone mining in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Years after the mining operations ceased, companies started finding ways to use the millions of square feet of abandoned underground space. The caves house hundreds of businesses, many of which specialize in storage or warehousing because they are protected from extreme weather and have year-round temperatures of around 70 degrees.

The officers were down there investigating a possible chop shop, where stolen vehicles are dismantled so that the parts can be sold or used to repair other stolen vehicles.

Many of the caves feature paved roads, utilities and developed business space, while others, such as the one where the children were found, consist of dirt floors and uncontrolled entrances.

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Why hasn’t this murderer been executed ???

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Mother Who Killed Son By Injecting Hand Sanitizer Into His Feeding Tube Gets 40 Years

Associated Press / September 17, 2015

A Louisiana mother who confessed to putting hand sanitizer and perfume in her toddler's feeding tube - ultimately killing him - has been sentenced to 40 years behind bars.

Erika Wigstrom, 22, was handed the maximum sentence after she pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2014 death of 17-month-old Lucas Ruiz, Plaquemines Parish District Attorney Charles Ballay said on Tuesday. She does not have the possibility of probation.

Her toddler son had Down's syndrome and a heart condition, which left him needing surgery and a feeding tube.

Prosecutors say Wigstrom first tried to kill Lucas in October 2012 by injecting perfume into his feeding tube while he was in the hospital for heart surgery, but he survived.

In January 2014, she put hand sanitizer in his feeding tube and he died of alcohol poisoning. He had a blood-alcohol level of .280 - which is more than three times the state's legal driving limit - when he passed away, according to reports.

Lucas' dad, Cesar Ruiz, told authorities that he also fed the baby rum - but police found he was giving false information, and he was given the reduced charge of criminal mischief.

Ruiz was found guilty of that charge in August. Ruiz, who spent more than a year in jail before his family posted his bond, was ordered to pay $850 in fines and fees following his release.

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If the Massachusetts State Police truly intend to give this child justice, they will summarily execute the mother and boyfriend, sending a strong and clear message to others like them in these United States of America

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Mother, boyfriend charged in murder of toddler found on Boston Harbor beach

Associated Press / September 18, 2015

A mother was arrested and her boyfriend was charged with murder in the death of a little girl whose body was found inside a trash bag on a Boston Harbor island this summer and who became known as Baby Doe, a prosecutor said Friday after a months long campaign to learn the girl's identity.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said that he authorized the murder charge for the boyfriend, Michael McCarthy, and that the mother, Rachelle Bond, was under arrest for accessory to murder after the fact.

The murdered toddler has been identified as two-year-old Bella Neveah Amoroso Bond, the daughter of 40-year-old Rachelle Bond of the Boston neighborhood Mattapan.

The mother and her boyfriend, 35-year-old Michael McCarthy, have been arrested in connection with the Bella's death. McCarthy is not the girl's biological father.

McCarthy faces a murder charge while Bond faces a charge of accessory after the fact of murder. They are expected to be arraigned on Monday.

Rachelle Bond told investigators her boyfriend Michael McCarthy punched the girl in the stomach until she died, claiming the man thought the two-year-old was 'possessed by demons'. Officials say after she was killed, her body was placed in a refrigerator for around a month before it was dumped into the sea.

'There is confidence that what he did to her stomach area resulted in her loss of life,' officials say.

'The men and women who investigated this case have given her her name back. Now we will give her justice,' Massachusetts State Police Col Richard McKeon said.

DeLeo said Bond and McCarthy, who are in custody, are blaming each other for Bella's death. He also added that McCarthy has drug issues.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker says Bond had other children who were older.

Earlier, an official said police searched a Dorchester apartment on Thursday and they have been in contact with family members.

The girl's 44-year-old aunt has confirmed Baby Doe was her niece. Tamera Bond said the last time she saw Bella was nine months ago, in January.

Bella's grandmother, who did not want to be identified, said that she didn't know her granddaughter existed - she hadn't spoke to her daughter Bond in 14 years.

A tip-off from neighbors brought the nearly three-month long search to determine the girl's identity to an end on Thursday.

Siomy Torres, who had lived in the Maxwell Street building on the Dorchester-Mattapan line since June 2014, said state police showed up at her home and started questioning her about her neighbor's daughter.

'They told me they were looking for the little girl, and asked me if I'd seen her,' Torres said.

She said state police showed her the composite picture of Baby Doe and she recognized it.

'I haven't seen her in months. I usually hear her because her room is against the backside of my apartment. I usually hear her crying or running around the house and I haven't heard that,' Torres said. 'I used to see her every day. Running around.'

A DCF spokeswoman said it had contact with Bella twice between August and December 2012 and June and September 2013 on allegations of neglect.

'Since June, the Department has been working closely with law enforcement on exploring dozens of leads in hopes to identify the little girl found on Deer Island,' DCF spokeswoman Rhonda Mann said.

'Now that we know her name, the story is no less tragic. DCF has not had an open case with this family for over two years, but did have brief involvement with Baby Bella as an infant.

Authorities were able to match Bella's identity with the clothes she was found wearing when her body was found on Deer Island in Winthrop on June 25. She was wrapped in a zebra-print blanket and was wearing black-and-white polka-dot leggings.

A spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office said the investigation remains 'very active.'

Bella was named Baby Doe by investigators and was estimated to be four years old. Based on photos on social media, however, Bella was just shy of three years old when she died.

She was believed to have had brown eyes, brown hair, weighed about 30 pounds and stood at about three-and-a-half-feet tall.

Her body was found in June by a woman walking a dog.

Bella's case has since sparked a massive social media campaign to try and find out what happened to her. A computer-generated image of her brought about an estimated 60million views in two weeks and a search spanned across at least 36 states. A tip line also brought in hundreds of leads, with investigators ruling out more than 200 [missing] girls.

Police had originally believed she had washed ashore when her body was discovered. However, in July they announced they believed she was already dead when she was left on the rocks, wrapped in a zebra print blanket, as her body was not waterlogged enough to have been in the ocean for an extended period of time.

Authorities had also said that they believed it was likely she lived in the area and that whoever disposed of her body picked the site because of convenience and proximity.

An analysis of pollen samples of items recovered from the trash bag have also led authorities to believe that Baby Doe spent time in several of the New England states, and not solely the Greater Boston area as it was originally believed.

The girl's biological father, Joseph Amoroso, says Bella was conceived in a tent at Occupy Boston. Amoroso left Bond, his ex-girlfriend, after learning that she had been arrested for prostitution. He has been living in Florida for two years and returned to Massachusetts in August. The father, who never met his daughter, is now criticizing neighbors and anyone that knew his daughter for failing to step in a protect her.

A man who had previously lived with the couple - and who helped lead police to McCarthy and Bond - said they were very harsh with the child Deakin told the judge. He said that on multiple occasions he saw McCarthy lock Bella in a closet for more than 30 minutes while she screamed to be let out.

The friend also claimed that both Bond and McCarthy had claimed the girl was a 'demon,' and that McCarthy 'had become very interested in the occult and purported to see demons, purported to see ghosts, and purported to be able to exorcise demons, and exorcise ghosts.' A search of the home turned up books on demonology and the occult according to Deakin.

That friend also told authorities that Bond told him what happened in a conversation last week after saying she had stopped doing drugs, and after claiming for months that Bella had been taken away by the Department of Children and Families.

When the friend told Bond that given the fact that she was off drugs she may be able to get Bella back, she allegedly responded by telling him; 'Michael McCarthy killed her, and I’m accessory after the fact because I helped him get rid of the body.'

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[kscarbel2]

Father convicted of hurling child off cliff gets life term

Associated Press / September 18, 2015

She would be a young woman now, but instead Lauren Sarene Key is forever the 4-year-old child who never returned from a visit to the coast with her father.

Nearly 15 years after the girl plunged to her death from a 120-foot seaside cliff, her father was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for her murder.

Jurors found Cameron Brown, 53, a former airline baggage handler, guilty of hurling her from Inspiration Point in Rancho Palos Verdes in November 2000 amid an ugly custody battle with her mother.

Sarah Key-Marer told the court that the bitter dispute had begun to steal the joy from her beautiful daughter.

"We watched her sparkle fade in the last months of her life," Key-Marer said as Brown stared stoically straight ahead. "Her smiles diminished more quickly every time she witnessed the conflict. ... The funny, happy girl we all knew was fading."

Brown and Key-Marer had a short-lived romance that soured when she got pregnant.

Brown wanted Key-Marer to get an abortion, and he even tried to get her deported to her British homeland, Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum said.

Initially, Brown wasn't involved in Lauren's life, but he eventually sought custody that would help trim hefty child support.

A witness came forward at the third trial who testified that Brown said it would be "nice to get rid of Lauren" to avoid $1,000-a-month payments, Hum said.

The girl was reluctant to leave school to join her father for his scheduled visit the day of her death, a teacher testified.

Her step-brother, Josh Marer, said in court Friday for the first time that he vividly recalls playing Lauren's favorite board game the night before her death. She became upset, kicked the pieces and ran into her room crying.

"'I think I'm going to die tomorrow,'" she said when he asked what was wrong.

Brown's first-degree murder conviction in May came about a dozen years after he was arrested and followed two previous trials when jurors decided the death was a crime, but couldn't agree if it was murder or manslaughter.

Hum, who prosecuted each trial, became choked up reading a letter from one of Key-Marer's relatives. He said he felt fortunate not to have known such a loss in his life and he praised Key-Marer's family for their strength, dignity and faith.

Then he addressed Brown, who was handcuffed and wearing orange jail garb.

"She was 4 years old," Hum shouted, noting Lauren would now be 19. "Justice will never bring back this little 4-year-old girl, this 19-year-old woman. But justice is all we have in this courtroom. Now after 15 long years it's time for justice to be served."

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[kscarbel2]

If your husband is cheating, you have the right to murder two toddler children? Why hasn’t this murderer been summarily executed?

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Wisconsin mother charged with drugging, killing son, daughter

Reuters / September 17, 2015

A Wisconsin woman was charged with murder on Thursday for drugging and suffocating her 1-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter before trying to kill herself over a failing marriage, a criminal complaint said.

Lucia Hernandez-Alvarez, 34, is charged with first-degree homicide and other felonies after police found her two children dead in their Kenosha home on Saturday, said the complaint filed in Kenosha County Circuit Court.

The complaint said Hernandez-Alvarez fed Tylenol to her children, Alicia and Javier, and then suffocated her son with a plastic grocery bag and her daughter with a jacket.

Hernandez-Alvarez took pills, drank alcohol and cut herself while her husband was out but survived, the complaint said. Her husband told authorities that after he found his children dead, she told him, "Now we won't disturb you. Now you're free. You don't have to feel bad for us," the complaint said.

She wrote several messages in blood on a wall including "Mi Amor Javier," and told investigators she believed her husband had cheated on her and was not in love with her anymore, the complaint said.

Hernandez-Alvarez is being held on a $5 million bond. She could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

No lawyer was listed for the defendant.

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