Tag: Americas

WILDWOOD, Fla. (TCD) — Special agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are investigating an officer-involved shooting after a deputy allegedly shot and killed an elderly woman undergoing a mental episode.

According to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, on Monday, Jan. 22, at around 11:09 p.m., deputies received a call from the Rails End Mobile Home Park regarding a woman in distress. The complainant, later identified as 81-year-old Janet Sours, asked for rescue personnel to come to her home, stating, “People were dying over here” before hanging up.

Due to the fact that officials had limited information from the woman’s call, rescue personnel reportedly went to the scene and waited until deputies arrived. Once there, deputies made contact with Sours, investigated her claim, and tried to determine if it was real or if she was experiencing a possible mental episode.

Sours allegedly “pulled a knife from behind her back and lunged at the deputy, attempting to stab him.” In response, the deputy reportedly drew his firearm and shot Sours.

Rescue personnel performed lifesaving measures on Sours. She was later transported to the Ocala Regional Medical Center, where she died from her injuries at the hospital at around 12:48 a.m.

MORE:

• Media Release-Officer Involved Shooting-Wildwood – Sumter County Sheriff’s Office

TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.

Source

MUSKEGON, Mich. (TCD) — A mother will spend the rest of her life in prison for abusing and starving her 15-year-old son to death in what the judge called “systematic, consistent torture.”

Court records show Shanda Vander Ark received a life sentence for murder and 50 to 100 years for first-degree child abuse for killing her son, Timothy Ferguson. She was convicted of the charges in December.

Vander Ark was arrested in July 2022 after Norton Shores Police Department officers were called to her home for a death investigation. Officers found Ferguson deceased and said he “appeared to be extremely malnourished and there was evidence of abuse.” Vander Ark was arrested on a count of open murder.

According to WOOD-TV, Ferguson weighed only 69 pounds when he died. Judge Matthew Kacel compared the teen to “a Holocaust victim” because he looked so sickly. Vander Ark reportedly only let her son eat bread soaked in hot sauce or plain bread. She also made him drink hot sauce and forced him into an ice bath one day before he died.

The medical examiner determined Ferguson died from emaciation.

Prosecutors reportedly said Ferguson had “some sort of incapacity or mental incapacity.”

Vander Ark’s 21-year-old son, Paul Ferguson, has also been charged with child abuse. WOOD reports prosecutors argue Paul Ferguson “had some culpability” in his brother’s death.

Judge Kacel said at the sentencing, “I’ve been trying now for this entire case to wrap my mind around how somebody could do something so horrific, not only to another human being but to their own child.”

He told her, “You intentionally and systematically tortured this child. Let’s call it what it is: It’s torture. You tortured this child.”

MORE:

• State of Michigan v. Shanda Vander Ark
• ‘Systematic torture’: Woman gets life for death of son – WOOD
• Norton Shores Police arrest a 43 yr old female for open murder after responding to a suspicious death call, 7/8/2022 – Norton Shores Police Department
• Prosecutor: Brother ‘played a role’ in teen’s abuse, 7/15/2022 – WOOD
• Mother who allegedly gave disabled son ice baths and starved him charged with his murder, 7/11/2022 – TCD

TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.

Source

VENTURA, Calif. (TCD) — A 32-year-old woman will not face prison time after she was convicted last month of stabbing a man she was dating to death during a weed-induced psychosis that was caused by an “adverse reaction” to marijuana she and the victim had been smoking.

The Ventura County Star reports a judge ordered Bryn Spejcher to two years of probation for stabbing 26-year-old Chad O’Melia over 100 times and also turning the knife on herself and a dog. She must also fulfill 100 hours of community service and raise awareness about the condition, which is medically known as cannabis-induced psychotic disorder. The judge reportedly said the sentencing decision was largely in part due to expert testimony from doctors who confirmed Spejcher was suffering from the psychosis at the time of the attack.

Spejcher and O’Melia started dating a few weeks prior to the stabbing. She went to his residence on the night of May 27, 2018, and they took hits out of a bong. She had the bad reaction to the marijuana, then started stabbing him. Law enforcement officials arrived at O’Melia’s house in the early hours of May 28, where they found “Mr. O’Melia in a pool of blood and Spejcher screaming hysterically with a knife still in her hands.”

Officers tried to stop her, but she “plunged the knife into her own neck.”

Police ultimately deployed a Taser and used a baton to get the serrated bread knife out of her hands.

The Los Angeles Times reports after Spejcher smoked, she started “hearing and seeing things that weren’t there.” She reportedly was convinced she was dead, so she stabbed O’Melia as a way to resuscitate herself.

She said, “I wish I could go back in time and prevent this tragedy from happening.”

According to the Ventura County Star, O’Melia’s father said after the verdict, “He just gave everyone in the state of California who smokes marijuana a license to kill someone.”

MORE:

• No prison time for Bryn Spejcher, convicted in cannabis-induced killing – Ventura County Star
• Woman gets probation for fatal stabbing during weed-induced psychosis – Los Angeles Times
• California woman convicted of fatally stabbing boyfriend during weed-induced psychosis, 12/4/2023 – TCD

TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.

Source

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. (TCD) — A 37-year-old man was arrested last week after his newborn child was found dead under some bushes in a popular wilderness area.

According to KIRO-TV, Jordan Sorensen allegedly kidnapped the child Friday, Jan. 19, which led to Port Townsend Police conducting an “extensive manhunt.” Officials eventually located the child, who was less than 1 month old, deceased at Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park. Port Townsend Police were searching for Sorensen regarding charges of kidnapping, criminal mistreatment, and reckless endangerment because he could not give the child the “basic necessities of life.”

Jail records show Sorensen is being held on charges of unlawful disposal of human remains and removal/concealment of a dead body.

KIRO reports the child was born Dec. 25. The Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) reportedly learned the next day that the baby and his mother tested positive for fentanyl. Officials gave Sorensen temporary custody of the child but reportedly said Sorensen needed to submit a clean urine test in order to spend time with the baby alone.

DCYF went to his home Jan. 1, but Sorensen was not there. Three days later, DCYF agents took him to a doctor to get a urine test. He was supposed to take one on Jan. 11 but did not reply to text messages.

According to KIRO, on Tuesday, Jan. 16, the child’s mother contacted DCYF and said there were “big problems” because Sorensen took the child and was hiding from Child Protective Services.

Court documents cited by KIRO say Sorensen told police he fell asleep with the child on his lap, but when he woke up, the baby “was face down between him and the chair with blood coming from his face.” That’s reportedly when the child died.

He then allegedly put the child in his car seat. The infant was later found “upright in his car seat, tucked into a cove of wild rose bushes and trees.”

The boy reportedly had dried blood around his nose and mouth.

KIRO reports Sorensen said he “did not intentionally do this and that he loved the child.”

Jefferson County Prosecutor James Kennedy told KCPQ-TV Sorensen has not been charged with manslaughter or murder because officials are still waiting for results from the post-mortem exam.

He said, “Depending on how the case turns out, if there was no intentional, reckless or grossly negligent action that resulted in the death of another, I’m going to have very little in which I can charge an individual with.”

Kennedy added, “I have a lot of concerns about how the suspect ended up with the child in the first place.”

MORE:

• Father of infant found dead in Port Townsend park said he ‘did not intentionally do this’ – KIRO
• Jefferson County Jail inmate information
• Port Townsend father accused of hiding infant’s dead body in bushes: docs – KCPQ

TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.

Source

BRYANT, Ark. (TCD) — A 33-year-old teacher who once appeared on “Good Morning America” recently pleaded guilty to having sex with a minor multiple times, including on a field trip out of state.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas Jonathan Ross announced Monday, Jan. 22, that former Bryant High School teacher Heather Hare pleaded guilty to transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of unlawful sexual activity. Hare was indicted on Aug. 1, 2023. She was also indicted on one count of interstate/foreign travel for prostitution/sexual activity by coercion, but the charge was dismissed as part of Hare’s plea deal.

Hare, who taught family consumer science classes, reportedly met the minor victim when he was a senior, and she began one-on-one counseling sessions with him. The attorney’s office said Hare provided her personal phone number and primarily spoke with him via Instagram and Snapchat.

Hare reportedly told the high school senior she “had a dream of them having sex.” According to the attorney’s office, Hare gave the minor victim her home address, and they had sex around 20 to 30 times during the 2021-2022 school year. Prosecutors said they engaged in sexual acts in Hare’s Conway home, in her car, and even in her classroom and the Bryant High School parking lots.

According to the attorney’s office, Hare pleaded guilty to having sexual relations with the male victim while chaperoning an April 2022 field trip to Washington, D.C., as part of the classes she taught. The victim was reportedly the only male on the field trip, which included four students.

Ross said in a statement, “This former teacher took advantage of her position of trust and the vulnerability of a minor, using her role to entice and lure this minor into engaging in unlawful sexual activity.”

Hare will be sentenced at a later date and faces a minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in prison, as well as a minimum of five years of supervised release.

Hare’s appearance video on “Good Morning America” has since been removed from their website.

MORE:

• Former Bryant High School Teacher Pleads Guilty To Transportation Of A Minor To Engage In Illegal Sexual Activity – U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas

TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.

Source

BALTIMORE (TCD) — Police arrested a man this week on suspicion of fatally stabbing his girlfriend’s young child.

On Tuesday, Jan. 23, at around 9:20 p.m., officers with the Baltimore Police Department responded to a report of a possible stabbing at a home in the 2000 block of Deering Avenue. Police found 6-year-old Seron O’Neal at the scene suffering from numerous stab wounds to the back, and he was transported to a local hospital, where he later died.

Baltimore Police Detective Freddie Talbert told WBAL-TV it was a “horrendous incident.”

Talbert continued, “Seron’s mother was rendering aid. Officers did join in to assist her, at which point they transported him to an area hospital, where, despite lifesaving measures, he was sadly pronounced deceased.”

Investigators determined 32-year-old Alan Geslicki, the boyfriend of the victim’s mother, allegedly stabbed the child to death. Police conducted a vehicle stop on Geslicki and arrested him following a short foot pursuit that ended in the 100 block of South Carrolton Avenue.

Geslicki was booked into the Baltimore Central Booking Intake Facility on a charge of first-degree murder.

MORE:

• Southern District Homicide Arrest – Baltimore Police Department 
• Police: Mother’s boyfriend arrested in 6-year-old’s fatal stabbing in south Baltimore – WBAL

TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.

Source

PHOENIX (TCD) — A 48-year-old mother will spend 37 years in prison for the abuse and death of her 16-month-old daughter, who weighed only a few pounds when she died in 2013.

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced Jan. 23 that a judge sentenced Denise Snow-Ingram for the malnourishment, medical neglect, abuse, and death of her toddler, identified by the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) as Miriam Ingram. A jury convicted her in November 2023 of second-degree murder and child abuse.

According to the DCS, on July 10, 2013, Snow-Ingram called 911 and told authorities she found her daughter unresponsive. The fire department responded to her home and transported the victim to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where she later died. The toddler suffered from severe malnourishment and rickets, a disease caused by a vitamin D deficiency.

According to prosecutors, seven physicians testified in court and said rickets is often caused by a “lack of exposure to sunlight and an inadequate diet.”

Mitchell said the child had been fed only “oatmeal, watered-down apple juice, and some fruit while being offered no source of protein or calcium after breastfeeding was stopped.”

Prosecutors argued that Snow-Ingram “intentionally fed her daughter an inadequate diet” and failed to seek medical care for the child.

Snow-Ingram will serve 20 years for the second-degree murder charge and 17 years for child abuse with the sentences to be served concurrently.

Mitchel said in a statement, “The defendant allowed her daughter to physically waste away because of her neglect and mistreatment. No child should be treated this way.”

The victim’s father, identified by the DCS as Ernest Ingram, was sentenced in 2022 for manslaughter and child abuse in connection with the case.

DCS launched an investigation into Snow-Ingram in 2012 after they received a report of possible neglect. She reportedly arrived at a hospital with seizures on March 16, 2012, and gave birth to Miriam Ingram when she was 37 weeks pregnant.

Snow-Ingram reportedly never received prenatal care and gave birth to her other six children at home. The DCS said Snow-Ingram never brought her children to see a doctor, and she failed to obtain birth certificates. Officials were concerned her newborn baby would not receive necessary follow-up care, according to the DCS. The investigation was completed and ultimately the DCS determined Snow-Ingram’s children were safe.

MORE:

• Mother Sentenced to 37 Years for Child Abuse and 2nd Degree Murder – Maricopa County Attorney’s Office
• Mother Found Guilty of Second-Degree Murder, 11/9/2023 – Maricopa County Attorney’s Office
• Arizona mother found guilty of starving daughter to death 10 years ago, 11/10/2023 – TCD
• News Release, 7/10/2013 – Arizona Department of Child Safety

TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.

Source

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (TCD) — A man was captured and extradited back to the United States nearly 33 years after he allegedly stabbed and killed his wife, then fled the country.

Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis announced in a press conference Monday, Jan. 22, that Jose Lazaro Cruz was captured in Costa Rica and brought back to Virginia to face charges for allegedly killing his wife, Ana Jurado.

Davis said this “wasn’t a typical cold case” because investigators identified Cruz as the suspect from the start and worked for years to apprehend him.

“He was on the lam,” Davis said. “He avoided accountability for something he did nearly 33 years ago.”

According to Lt. Eli Cory, on April 30, 1991, Fairfax County Police Department officers responded to Cofer Road in West Falls Church and found 24-year-old Jurado in the street suffering from stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses reportedly told police they heard screaming and identified the suspect as Cruz.

That night, Cruz, who was also 24 years old at the time, reportedly drove to the U.S.-Canada border and attempted to cross over, but border patrol stopped him because he allegedly used a fake ID. A border agent also reportedly noticed a fresh cut on his hand.

After being denied entry to Canada, he reportedly took a bus to Houston and crossed the border illegally into Mexico. Cory said investigators traced Cruz to El Salvador, but they couldn’t bring him back because El Salvador did not have an extradition agreement in place at the time.

A break in the case occurred in July 2022 when Cruz traveled to Costa Rica. He was detained and officials began the extradition process. He returned and was booked into the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center on Jan. 18.

Cory said in the press conference that Cruz “started a new life” in El Salvador. He reportedly worked as a truck driver, got remarried, and fathered several children.

Davis, the chief, said, “We will never forget. We have never forgotten. We’ve never forgotten the family. We’ve never forgotten the seriousness of this senseless crime, and we never stopped.”

MORE:

• Chief Kevin Davis Announces Arrest in 1991 Murder Case – Fairfax County Police Department

TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.

Source

BEAUFORT COUNTY, N.C. (TCD) — A 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of a 19-year-old female was found in the trunk of an abandoned car.

According to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), on Wednesday, Jan. 17, a tow truck company was called to move a car that had been left in the parking lot of a private business on U.S. Highway 264 East. The driver towed the vehicle to the facility, where an employee opened the trunk and discovered the body of the victim, who they believe is Amarriah Smith.

Investigators allege the suspect, Jordan Thomas, left his vehicle containing Smith’s body in the parking lot, then stole another truck. Officials located the truck at Eastern Carolina University Health Beaufort Hospital, where they also found Thomas. The SBI said he was initially arrested on charges of larceny of a motor vehicle and concealing the death of a person.

He was charged with murder on Monday, Jan. 22.

The SBI said detectives believe Smith was killed at a different location, then placed in the car. Officials reportedly found evidence at Thomas’ residence, but said it was “unclear at this time if the murder happened there or at another location and the manner in which the victim was murdered.”

Smith was a student at Elizabeth City State University, and investigators said she and Thomas knew each other prior to her death.

MORE:

• Joint Death Investigation, Edenton Man Charged – SBI
• Update on Joint Death Investigation – SBI

TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.

Source