Ariel Robinson convicted in beating death of 3-year-old Tori Smith

Ariel Robinson was emotional on the stand while testifying in the trial for the beating death of 3-year-old foster daughter Tori Smith.

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - After a four-day trial, a former Food Network contestant accused of killing her foster daughter was sentenced to life in prison.

Ariel Robinson was convicted of homicide by child abuse in the death of 3-year-old Victoria “Tori” Rose Smith, who died at their home on Sellwood Circle in Simpsonville on Jan. 14, 2021. Prosecutors said Robinson severely beat the child with a belt which caused her to suffer internal bleeding.

Maye, who was Darnell’s legal guardian, is charged with aggravated murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence in his death.

This combination of file photos provided on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017, by the Bucks County District Attorney's Office shows Sara Packer, left, and Jacob Sullivan. Sullivan pleaded guilty Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019, to first-degree murder in the 2016 death of 14-year-old Grace Packer. Sullivan pleaded guilty to all charges in Grace's death, setting up the penalty phase of his trial that opened Friday, March 15, 2019, in Doylestown. (Courtesy photos | For lehighvalleylive.com)AP

Funnel cloud in Santo, Texas

A Pennsylvania man should be put to death for killing and dismembering his girlfriend’s 14-year-old daughter as part of a rape-murder fantasy he and the teen’s mother shared, a prosecutor said Friday.

Three days before she was set to stand trial in the death of her teenage son, a Springfield Township woman fired the attorney she had hired to defend her.

On April 25, Tamara Moore − who had been expected to plead guilty − instead told Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Jody Luebbers that she wanted another attorney. Moore's trial had been set for April 28.

Moore, 53, who faces up to life in prison, didn't entirely explain her decision.

Attorney Clyde Bennett II told Luebbers said that Moore didn't want him to represent her, "based on my analysis of the case."

Alejandro Perez Jr., known by his family as Andres, was only 3 years old when he died in Oildale on February 9 just before 7 in the morning.

 

A drawing of 3-year-old Alejandro "Andres" Perez Jr. by his grandpa Ed Walton III.

Michael Gray Sr. and Shirley Gray’s case has been moving through the Roane and Knox County court systems for years after an investigation into their treatment of their children was prompted in 2020.

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PORTER COUNTY, Ind. (WNDU) - Officials say a northwest Indiana boy who died in foster care back in April died of homicide.

The St. Joseph County Coroner’s Office says 10-year-old Dakota Stevens died from mechanical asphyxia, a kind of asphyxiation in which an object or physical force stops a person from breathing.

According to the IndyStar, Dakota was in the care of a foster parent on the afternoon of April 25 when first responders were called to a house in the 200 block of Falcon Way in Valparaiso for a “medical emergency.”

Dakota was taken to Porter Memorial Hospital before he was airlifted to Memorial Hospital in South Bend. The boy’s aunt, Ana Parrish, says he was taken off life support two days later.

After at least one other failed suicide attempt, Kathrine Dufresne — the Chelsea woman who killed her seven-year-old daughter Sophie Fitzpatrick — has ended her own life.

Dufresne, 53, died in hospital Wednesday night after being found hanging in the jail shower.

Last fall, Dufresne and her adopted daughter Sophie were found injured inside the family home — a discovery made by Dufresne’s husband and Sophie’s father Murray Fitzpatrick, who had just returned from a business trip.

Sophie was pronounced dead in Hull hospital.

The girl had been strangled and Dufresne had tried to kill herself, police said at the time.

A North Dakota woman has been sentenced to life in a federal prison for fatally abusing her 5-year-old foster child.

Tammy Longie, of Tokio, earlier pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, child abuse and neglect in the May 2020 death of Raven Thompson. His body was found the basement of Longie's home on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation.

Longie was sentenced in federal court Monday in a case that U.S. Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl called "tragic and horrifying."

NORTH DAKOTA MAN FATALLY SHOT IN STANDOFF WITH POLICE

TAMPA | Florida detectives have launched a criminal investigation into the death of a 17-month-old boy in foster care who was about to be placed with adoptive parents.

The Tampa Bay Times reported Saturday that Aedyn Agminalis died last Sunday after being taken off life support. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has opened a criminal investigation. The boy suffered from bleeding on the brain, cardiac arrest and acute respiratory failure. The state Department of Children and Families is launching its own inquiry.

“The loss of this child is absolutely devastating,” DCF Secretary Mike Carroll told the newspaper in an email.

The boy was living in a foster home licensed by A Door of Hope, a subcontractor for Eckerd Kids, a non-profit contracted by the county. Details about the foster home have not been released.