Illinois Supreme Court will not hear appeal of custody ruling
Associated Press, U.S.A., Nov. 06, 2004
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. U.S.A.- The Illinois Supreme Court has decided not to hear an appeal of an appellate court's decision to grant a convicted child killer custody of her 3-year-old son.
The Illinois 4th District Appellate Court ruled March 10 that the parental rights of Sheryl Hardy, 36, should be reinstated and that she and her husband, Randy Hardy, should regain full custody of their 3-year-old son.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office filed an appeal of the decision with the state Supreme Court, but the justices announced Friday they had decided not to hear the case, which means the Appellate Court's ruling will stand and that Sheryl Hardy will have full parental rights to her son.
The case stems from the 1989 death of Hardy's 2-year-old son, Bradley McGee. During the trial in Florida, Hardy testified that she smoked a cigarette while her former husband, Thomas Coe, punished the boy for soiling his pants by lifting him by his ankles and repeatedly dunking him in the toilet. The boy died the next day of head injuries, and a medical examiner counted more than 90 cuts and bruises across the boy's body and head.
Hardy admitted in court to abusing Bradley, including forcing him to eat his own feces.
Coe was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Hardy was convicted of second-degree murder. Hardy served nine years of a 30-year sentence and was released from a Florida prison because of jail overcrowding.
Hardy returned to Illinois, settling in her hometown of Jerseyville, about 60 miles southwest of Springfield. She married Randy Hardy in July 2001 and gave birth to her son the following February.
The son was taken from her at birth, and she has been fighting for custody ever since.
The state and Hardy have been in a tug-of-war over the boy ever since. In late 2001 Hardy won a hearing and regained custody. But the DCFS won an appeal of that decision and placed the boy with foster parents.
In March, the appellare court ruled that cutting Hardy's parental rights would not be in the best interests of the child, finding that prosecutors had not offered enough evidence that Hardy was now negligent or abusive.
"Parental rights and responsibilities are of deep human importance and will not be lightly or easily terminated," the court said.
Two weeks later, after Randy Hardy took custody of his son, Madigan's office filed notice that it planned to appeal the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court.
During the legal wrangling, Sheryl Hardy had unlimited supervised time with her son, who was allowed to stay in the couple's new home in Roodhouse, about 25 miles from Jerseyville.
Firefighters Find Baby's Body In Washing Machine
Fire Officials Claim Fire Intentionally Set
NBC4-TV, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
LOS ANGELES, USA -- Murder charges are expected to be filed against a woman whose infant son's body was found in a washing machine after firefighters doused what they say was an intentionally set fire, authorities said Tuesday.
Latunga Starks, 32, was taken into custody last night, according to the Sheriff's Department Web site.
Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Dennis Shirey identified the mother and her nearly 3-month-old son, Michael Kelvin Thompson.
"Murder in the nursery"
Australian mom killed her 4 babies
TORONTO SUN, May 23, 2003
It seemed a tragic coincidence - at first.
Craig and Kathleen Folbigg's first son died in his sleep at 19 days old. Their next child, Patrick, died two years later at nine months.
Still, it was after their fourth baby died before Australian police suspected something was terribly wrong.
In Sydney's New South Wales State Supreme Court this week, Kathleen Folbigg, 35, was found guilty of killing all four of her babies.
The jury's work would have been made much easier if they had been allowed to read Folbigg's entire secret diary. In it, she practically confesses to following in her dad's deadly footsteps.
"Obviously I am my father's daughter," the Australian woman wrote in her diary Oct. 14, 1996, having already killed three of her four children.
"But I think losing my temper and being frustrated and everything has passed. I now just let things happen and go with the flow. An attitude I should of had with all my children, if given the chance, I'll have it with the next one."
Folbigg was pregnant at the time with her fourth child. She would go on to kill her as well.
Mother Shoots father, has his Baby and then kills the Baby and Herself
Investigation into the Death of Zachary Andrew Turner (18 July 2002 to 18 August 2003)
Zachary Turner, a 13 months old baby, died at the hands of his fugitive mother, Dr. Shirley Turner, who killed him and then committed suicide on August 18, 2003.
Turner was facing extradition to the United States to stand trial for the 2001 murder of Dr. Andrew Bagby, Zachary's father.
28-year-old Dr. Andrew Bagby was found shot to death in Keystone State Park, 55 kilometres northeast of Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
Turner fled to Newfoundland, Canada where Zachary was born. She was out on bail against the wishes of U.S. authorities at the time of Zachary's death. Read More ..
Boy, 8, found dead; mom faces charge
Canadian Press, (various newspapers across Canada, including the Toronto Star) Aug. 16, 2006.
ISLE LA MOTTE, Vt. A Montreal mother recovering from alleged self-inflicted wounds will be charged in the coming days with murdering her 8-year-old son, whose body was found in Lake Champlain, a Vermont state attorney said today.
I am going to prepare a charge of first-degree murder, Grand Isle States Attorney David Miller said in a telephone interview. Read More ..
Affair led to mother murdering her own kids
Days after buying another woman Valentine's Day flowers, a Sydney father came home to find a trail of blood leading him to the bodies of his two young children lying next to their mother, a court has been told.
Australian Associated Press
Aug 24 2009
The woman had given the couple's three-year-old daughter and four-year-old son rat poison and an unidentified pink liquid before smothering them and killing them, court papers said.
She then tried to take her own life, the NSW Supreme Court was told.
Doctors agree the mother, from Canley Heights in Sydney's west, was suffering from "major depression" when she poisoned her children on February 19 last year.
She has pleaded not guilty to the two murders by reason of mental illness.
As her judge-alone trial began, the mother's lawyer told Justice Clifton Hoeben his client didn't think life was worth living after learning about her husband's affair.
Wicked mum murdered son, 8, with electrical cables after he caught her in sex romps with his granddad
The Mirror, UK, October 19 2016
Vicious Veronica Panarello throttled her son Loris to death and abandoned his body in a remote gully after he found out about the fling.
The "manipulative" mum, wept as she was jailed for 30 years at a court in Italy on Monday
A wicked mum who brutally murdered her eight-year-old son after he allegedly discovered she was having an affair with his grandfather has been jailed.
Vicious Veronica Panarello throttled her son Loris Stival with electrical cables and abandoned his body in a remote gully after he found out about the fling.
The "manipulative" mum wept as she was jailed for 30 years at a court in Italy on Monday.
Panarello, 28, had tried to pretend her son had been abducted to cover up the horrendous killing in November 2014.
Panarello throttled her eight-year-old son Loris to death with electrical cables. Read More ..