"woman accused of killing a pregnant woman and her fetus"

[Jurhum]

By JIM SUHR, Associated Press Writer
48 minutes ago



EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - A woman accused of killing a pregnant woman and her fetus told police she drowned the woman's three young children and stuffed them into a washer and dryer at their apartment, an official said Sunday.

ADVERTISEMENT

Preliminary autopsies on the dead children Sunday appear to show they were drowned, Ace Hart, a deputy St. Clair County coroner, told The Associated Press.

As of Sunday, Tiffany Hall, 24, had not been charged in the children's deaths, but prosecutors on Saturday accused Hall of killing their mother, Jimella Tunstall, 23, and her fetus. The fetus had been cut from her womb, authorities said.

According to Sunday's autopsies, there were no signs of physical abuse or trauma on the children — ages 7, 2, and 1 — and toxicology tests were pending "to see if they were poisoned or possibly drugged," Hart said.

"They were not drowned there in the wash machine," Hart stressed.

On Sunday, the community turned to prayer to understand the slayings at a service for the slain family.

"This is an opportunity for people to turn to God," said Debra Kenton, a member of the New Life Community Church. "Who else can explain things like this?"

Authorities suspect Tunstall was slain on or about Sept. 15.

That day, Hall summoned police to a park, saying she had given birth to a stillborn child, Hart said. She was arrested after she told her boyfriend during the baby's funeral that the baby wasn't his and that she had killed the mother to get it, authorities said.

Tunstall's body was found Thursday, and authorities began a furious search for her children. Police said the children were last seen with the Hall on Monday.

Authorities had visited Tunstall's apartment Friday but noticed nothing amiss while looking for photographs of the children for media outlets to publicize in their search, Hart said.

While in custody, Hart says, Hall told investigators she killed the children at another location, then hauled them home and hid them in the washer and dryer.

Hall said 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?"

By Saturday night, Hart said, "you could find them by the smell."

The oldest, 7-year-old DeMond Tunstall, was found in the dryer and the younger two children — 2-year-old Ivan Tunstall-Collins and 1-year-old Jinela Tunstall — in the washer. Two of the children were found nude, the third wearing only underpants, Hart said.

Hall remained jailed Sunday on $5 million bond, charged with first-degree murder in Tunstall's death and with intentional homicide of an unborn child.

Meanwhile, stuffed animals continued to mount outside Tunstall's apartment, its door crisscrossed with white evidence tape. There was a white teddy bear, and a stuffed race car with DeMond's name.

An autopsy showed that Jimella Tunstall bled to death after sustaining an abdominal wound caused by a sharp object, believed to be scissors, Hart has said. Authorities believe her womb was cut open after she was knocked unconscious.

Relatives say Tunstall grew up with Hall and had let her baby-sit her children. Hall has two children of her own. Illinois State Police Capt. Craig Koehler said they are "safe and sound."

Hall likely will be arraigned Monday on the two charges, each carrying a 20 to 60 years or life in prison, prosecutors said. The murder count could be punishable by the death penalty.

DNA tests should determine definitively whether the baby was the one Tunstall was carrying, Hart said.

This is disturbing.

 

[PuffnScruff]

yeah, its east saint so....it's usual shit there. it is one of the worst ghettos in the midwest. i used to live in st.clair county, ten minutes from east saint, you would hear crazy shit from there almost everyday. i was actually shocked to see this make the news. dead bodies would pop up all the time in tall dried out grassy lots.

oddly enough i did go to school with a Tiffany Hall

this is the 2nd time in less than 6 months st.clair county has made national news.

 

[S. Fourteen]

Tuesday, December 21, 2004 Posted: 8:18 AM EST (1318 GMT)

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (CNN) -- Lisa Montgomery, accused of strangling a 23-year-old Missouri woman and cutting the fetus out of her womb, sat motionless Monday as a judge read the charge against her in U.S. District Court.

Montgomery, who was arrested in Kansas, has two federally appointed defenders, who answered all questions at her initial court appearance. Montgomery never looked up from the federal complaint in front of her during the proceedings.

Don Ledford, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Kansas City, Missouri, said Montgomery's next federal court appearance is set for 9:30 a.m. (10:30 a.m. ET) Thursday in Kansas City, Kansas.

Afterward, Montgomery, of Melvern, Kansas, will be transferred to Missouri, where she is to stand trial, he said.

An identity hearing, held to confirm that the right woman was arrested and charged, also will be continued Thursday, Ledford said.

Montgomery was to be moved from the Wyandotte County jail in Kansas City, Kansas, to a federal detention center in Leavenworth, Kansas, which is used by both Kansas and Missouri, Ledford said.

Montgomery, a 36-year-old mother of two high-school age children, faces a federal charge of kidnapping resulting in death, which carries possible sentences of life in prison or death if she is convicted.

U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said Monday that the decision on what penalty to pursue would come much later.

"In this district, we have a history of seeking the death penalty in appropriate cases," Graves said. "It's not something we shy away from, but we're still a ways away from that decision."

Graves said authorities will proceed with the case in Missouri.

"We have the state line very close by, but it's charged on the Missouri side," Graves said. "The main body of what took place was on the Missouri side."

Lisa Montgomery is accused of strangling Bobbie Jo Stinnett at Stinnett's home in Skidmore, Missouri, and cutting her fetus from her body.

The baby, now named Victoria Jo, was recovered and united with her father, Zeb Stinnett, in a hospital in Topeka, Kansas, after Montgomery was arrested Friday night.

The infant was released Monday evening from Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center in Topeka, according to the hospital's Web site. At the request of the family, the hospital said, no further information will be released.

Relatives of both the victim and the suspect attended the hearing Monday.

Montgomery's husband, Kevin Montgomery, told reporters outside the courthouse that he hoped the Stinnett family was getting "as much support from their church and community as I am."

Choking back tears, Montgomery said his heart was broken for the Stinnett family as well as his own.

"It's a long road that we've got to go down now," he said. "Families are mighty precious to me and I hope they are to him. Zeb and Victoria Jo have got a rough road to go down."

Two funds, one for Victoria Jo and one for her mother, are listed on the hospital's Web site.

A wake and funeral service for Stinnett will be held Tuesday at 2 p.m. (3 p.m. ET) in Maryville, Missouri, just north of Skidmore, and are closed to media and the public, the funeral director said. The burial is open to the public, he said.
Mother found dead Thursday

On Thursday afternoon, Stinnett's mother found her daughter dead in a pool of blood in her home and called 911, saying it looked "as though her daughter's stomach had exploded," according to an FBI affidavit.

Investigators determined Stinnett's uterus had been cut laterally, the fetus removed and the umbilical cord cut, the affidavit said.

Once in custody, an FBI affidavit alleges, Montgomery "confessed to having strangled Stinnett and removing the fetus. Lisa Montgomery further admitted the baby she had was Stinnett's baby and that she had lied to her husband about giving birth to a child."

Graves said Montgomery met Stinnett through an Internet chat room, with Montgomery showing interest in a dog that Stinnett had offered for sale. Montgomery traveled to Skidmore in northwestern Missouri on Thursday, police said.

FBI Special Agent Jeff Lanza said that computer files were an integral part of the investigation.

"There were actual contacts we were able to pick up from the suspect's computer," he said.

Lanza said that investigators believe Montgomery likely acted alone.

"I don't anticipate additional charges in the near future," Lanza said. "She's the only one charged."

Graves said Montgomery's husband had been questioned early on but was "considered innocent."

Graves and Lanza declined to discuss possible motives.

I can't find the follow up story

 

[Mr.Deuce]

sick fuck

 

[Rahim]

Thats pretty crazy

 

[PELLA]

theres so many sick people out there, jesus. I cant even imagine coming up with something like that.

 

[_carmi]

damn