Posted on 09/23/2006 6:30:59 PM PDT by freepatriot32
1 hour ago
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - A woman was charged Saturday in the deaths of a pregnant friend and the fetus authorities believe she cut out from the slain woman's womb after knocking the victim unconscious.
Tiffany Hall, 24, was charged as authorities implored the public for help in their search for the victim's two sons, ages 7 and 2, and 1-year-old daughter. Authorities say they were last seen with Hall on Monday, three days before she was taken into custody.
Hall, who was jailed on $5 million bond, faces charges of first-degree murder and intentional homicide of an unborn child in the death of 23-year-old Jimella Tunstall, said St. Clair County State's Attorney Robert Haida.
Relatives of both women told media outlets the two grew up together and attended alternative schools. The woman in custody often baby-sat Tunstall's children, and Tunstall never expressed worry about leaving them in her care, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
An autopsy showed Tunstall bled to death after sustaining an abdominal wound caused by a sharp object, believed to be scissors, said Ace Hart, a deputy St. Clair County coroner.
Hart said he believes Tunstall was knocked unconscious before her baby, seven months into gestation, was removed during a slaying he called "very graphic and very brutal."
Officials were optimistic about the prospects of finding the children unharmed. Illinois State Police Capt. Craig Koehler said authorities will not end the search until the children are found.
"We have no evidence that leads us to believe they're dead," he said, adding two or three additional sites will be searched in and around East St. Louis on Sunday.
"These children are from East St. Louis," said Police Chief James Mister. "They know how to survive."
Koehler and Mister refused to publicly discuss the evidence or possible statements Hall has made to investigators. Authorities have also refused to reveal how the women knew each other, or whether Hall's alleged confession came before Tunstall's body was found.
Hall will likely be arraigned Monday on the charges, each carrying a 20 to 60 years or life in prison, Haida said. The murder count could be punishable by the death penalty.
"It's way too early to talk about that," Haida said. "Obviously, it's a very devastating situation for the families, but we're hopeful for a positive outcome in the return of the three children."
The charges came a day after a meticulous scouring of the 1,100-acre Frank Holten State Park, just blocks from where Tunstall's body was found. Investigators would not say what led them to believe the children were there.
Officials suspect Tunstall was slain on or about Sept. 15, Haida said.
The same day, Hall summoned police to the Frank Holten park, saying she had gone into labor, Hart said. The dead baby, taken to a hospital, showed no signs of trauma, and an autopsy the next day failed to pinpoint a cause of death, he said.
Hall would not let doctors at the hospital examine her and offered conflicting reasons for why she went into labor, alternately saying she had consensual sex and was raped, Hart said.
Authorities say Hall acknowledged to her boyfriend during the baby's funeral Thursday that the child wasn't his, and that she killed the mother. The boyfriend told police, who arrested his girlfriend hours later, investigators said.
DNA tests should determine definitively whether the baby was the one Tunstall was carrying, Hart said.
The baby was buried Thursday as Taylor Horn after a funeral arranged by L. King Funeral Chapel, whose president said Hall called minutes after the service was to start, asking if she could reschedule for a different day so more relatives could attend. At the time, Levi King said, only two relatives were there.
The woman showed up two hours late, ultimately signing an affidavit for the funeral home stating that the child was hers, King said.
The East St. Louis case is the second recent case in the area involving babies.
Shannon Torrez, 36, of Lonedell, Mo. _ south of St. Louis, about an hour's drive from here _ is accused of slashing a young mother's throat and kidnapping her baby on Sept. 15. The baby was returned unharmed Tuesday, the same day Torrez was arrested.
Also in Missouri, Lisa Montgomery will stand trial April 30 on charges of snatching a baby from the womb of Bobbie Jo Stinnett at her Skidmore, Mo., home in 2004. The baby survived.
Thank-you.
There is a father. He is very distraught. I don't know if these were his only children.
Yeah. I kind of thought she might have had someone special in her life recently. This may be why.
I understand this happens. For me, the fact that she was such a young mother just made the entire story even more depressing. She never had got to be a 'normal' teenager. And now her kids won't either.
So young.
It is interesting that the news article never mentioned the father of the children.
They mentioned the killer's boyfriend but not the father. Strange.
Where did you hear about the father?
More about the victim and the accused killer here:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/A5E582C9F50EC8A8862571F20013C6AC?OpenDocument
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Hall and Tunstall were friends growing up in East St. Louis, attending grade school and an alternative high school together. Both women were described by family and friends as quiet children who mostly kept to themselves.
Their family lives were unstable. While Tunstall spent time in foster homes, Hall spent years in and out of Juvenile Detention, according to her mother, Beverly Cruise. They became mothers as teenagers and struggled to care for their children.
Hall lost custody of her children for three years after her 2-month-old baby suffered debilitating injuries. She later regained custody.
Cruise is like a member of Tunstall’s family.
Cruise said she felt she had to come along when Tunstall’s family, including Tunstall’s mother, Sandra Myers, went to view the victim’s body Saturday at Officer Funeral Home in Belleville.
Along with the two mothers was Lovie White, who is Myers’ sister and Cruise’s best friend. The small group walked out of the office, through the waiting room and into the room that held their loved one’s remains.
Myers immediately fainted.
Cruise collapsed onto a bench. She clung to White as she cried.
Myers was carried to a sofa.
Cruise said softly: "I had to come see for myself."
She added, almost in a whisper, "I wanted to hold her, hug her, say I’m sorry."
Funeral arrangements have not been finalized.
The father:
Friends and relatives of Tunstall kept vigil at the park. "I¹m praying that they are not out there, that they are with someone and that person will return them," said a cousin of Jimella, Tyronica Tunstall.
Authorities were also talking to Ivan Collins, of East St. Louis, the father of the three missing children and the slain baby. A reporter saw a man crying and punching the wall at the police department as he looked at the picture.
Tyronica Tunstall, 25, said the last time she spoke to her cousin Jimella was on Labor Day. "I think it's sickening that you can actually do something
like this," she said. "I hope Jimella wasn't living when the baby was cut out."
The tragedy began to unfold on Thursday, at the funeral for a baby whom Hall had claimed for nearly a week was her own. Hall's claimed she delivered a dead newborn after being raped by a man at his home in St. Louis.
But after the burial, Hall confided to her boyfriend that the baby wasn't theirs, and she had removed it from her cousin's body after killing her, according to police.
--St. Louis Post- Dispatch
So, who exactly, complained that this was taking up precious space in the NEWS category and had this moved to CHAT?
The 3 missing children have just been found DEAD, and this monster (and mother!!) has just been charged with the murder of their mother along with the murder of her unborn baby.
Sometimes I am AMAZED at what offends people.
/rant
Not to defend the abortionist, but the difference is one of voluntary versus involuntary...similar to how a person is free to smoke--but could still sue someone who poisons him with carcinogens dumped into his water.
Heartbreaking.
Kids clothes can be just as expensive as adult clothes, and they grow out of them so quickly. It's not uncommon for the eldest to get the nice, new stuff, and the younger ones to get the second-hands.
As a young Mom, she probably was recycling what she already had. Since her eldest was a girl, she undoubtedly had lots of girls clothes.
I recycled a little when my daughter came after my son (just the neutral looking items in good shape). Sent a bunch of stuff to my sister when she was expecting. Turns out, she had a girl. She saved the stuff, and sent it back to me when I had another boy! They got a lot of use.
Still, the kids looked to be clean, in decent clothes, healthy, and happy.
God comfort their little souls and hold them close....
I agree with you...this belongs in News. It is a sad commentary on the condition of morality in these United States, and an even sadder commentary on the devaluation of human life.
Im not clear on something-is the woman who was charged initially also responsible for the murders of the three kids?
Such a situation is not uncommon in many places in this country--it's a large country with many cultures, and in some (of which this victim might have been), sexuality starts at an earlier age than you might be used to. I say this simply to point out that the victim might not stand out because of the age of her eldest child. I am not making a value judgement in this at all, but simply pointing out the reality.
I understand the point you make about the will of the mother, or lack thereof. Sort of like how did the woman get pregnant in the first place, by choice or by force. However, the person doing the killing of the fetus has a human life on his / her hands either way, no matter what our legal system says. That's the difference, or lack thereof, I am pointing out.
Truth serum. IMO, she has abdicated any rights to protection. There's a reason she's not co-operating. If she was co-operating, she'd take the police right to them. Those children MUST BE FOUND.
Just found out they were. How tragic. I hope she gets the death penalty if she's the one. I wonder who the apartment belonged to.
This just makes me sick. There's been way too much of this sort of thing (brutal treatment and death) of children lately.
I agree.
It appears that way. The three little ones were also stabbed...then shoved in a dryer. They have been dead for days.
It seems that it is a mass murder.
God only knows why he woman charged would do such a thing.
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