Posted on 09/24/2006 11:28:49 AM PDT by CMS
Authorities on Sunday were trying to pinpoint the cause of death for three children an investigator says were found decomposing inside the washer and dryer of their apartment, hours after a woman was accused of killing their pregnant mother and her fetus.
Saturday night's discovery inside apartment 28J at the John DeShields public housing complex came two days after the mother of the children — ages 7, 2 and 1 — was found in a weedy lot, her abdomen torn open and the fetus missing. Investigators carried out a furious two-day search, including scouring an 1,100-acre state park, for the children they said were last seen Monday with 24-year-old Tiffany Hall, a family friend prosecutors charged Saturday afternoon with killing Jimella Tunstall and her fetus.
Hall "fessed up where the kids were. She didn't say she killed them," Hart said Sunday, saying he understood why investigators may have overlooked the children during their previous trip to the apartment. "Who would be looking in the washer and dryer?"
[SNIP]
Hall and the baby were taken to a hospital, where she would not let doctors examine her and offered conflicting reasons for why she went into labor, alternately saying she had consensual sex and was raped, Hart said. The dead baby showed no signs of trauma, and an autopsy the next day failed to pinpoint a cause of death, Hart said.
Authorities say Hall acknowledged to her boyfriend during the baby's funeral Thursday that the child wasn't his, and that she had killed the mother to get it. The boyfriend, reportedly a sailor home on leave, told police, who arrested his girlfriend hours later, investigators said.
[SNIP]
Hall likely will be arraigned Monday on the two charges, each carrying a 20 to 60 years or life in prison, Haida said. The murder count could be punishable by the death penalty.
Terrible story with terrible news coverage.
I don't know. A competent murder investigator, maybe?
I would agree.
Now, however, let's see what a defense lawyer will say:
My client is:
a)Insane
b)Low IQ
Either way, if they can successfully get that message across, the monster responsible won't be receive the death penalty.
In court,this piece of filth will claim to be bipolar.The jury will find her not guilty by reason of insanity and she'll be out of the psych hospital within 24 months.
Who are these investigators? The keystone cops?
Time was, you would know that this person would fry. Today, you just know she'll outlive us both and become a best selling author.
Absolutely correct, any investigators worth their salt would look in any container with size enough to hold even a small portion of a body. Someone should answer for this incompetence.
This vicious murderer should face the death penalty for this horrific crime. Prayers for the children and their mother.
Bwah haha. If the cops were looking for dope, they damn sure would have checked the washer and dryer, count on it.
We really need to bring back firing squads.The East St. Louis case is the second recent case in the area involving babies.
Shannon Torrez, 36, of Lonedell, Missouri -- 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 is to stand trial April 30 on charges of snatching a baby from the womb of Bobbie Jo Stinnett at her Skidmore, Missouri, home in 2004. The baby survived.
Even with all this, none of it really makes "sense," if such a thing ever could. Just seems like the whole thing is being cast a certain way.
Notwithstanding, it's too gruesome to comprehend. Too wicked; too damning of our times.
I suppose Hillary Clinton could have prevented this somehow...
Yep, you'd think they'd look in any spot big enough to hold a child.
Outstanding and very sad comparison. You're so right, had the money maker been involved, they would have torn the place apart.
Yes! My husband was Crime Scene Investigator, while looking for a murdered victim he opened a attache case and lo and behold....hand. I think it was the only part of the body found.
My dearly departed soul mate and I used to love to discuss crimes and we were always shocked at how naive people can be. I must say that quote still stuns me.
When investigators are searching for missing children, they need to look literally everywhere a child could hide or where a child's body could be hidden.
It's tragic, but they don't seem to be learning from even the high-profile cases. The police at the Ramsey home in Boulder in 1996 didn't search the basement. The police in Camden last year didn't search the trunk of an abandoned car near the house of three missing boys.
I don't know exactly what is wrong with our law enforcement personnel today, but some of them seem to lack common sense. I have a feeling that some agencies hire officers who fit a politically-correct profile, instead of looking for the best candidates for the job.
Because she was carrying around a dead child that she claimed to have just give birth to.
At least I think so.
This story is very confusing.
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