Warning: This article contains discussions which some readers may find distressing.
A woman who attempted to cover for a friend accused of leaving his baby with ‘multiple bone fractures’ searched chilling questions online.
Cody Mort, 22, allegedly falsely told medics and police who arrived at the scene that she had witnessed the baby of her friend kick out at a television stand, while having his diaper changed.
This supposedly caused his various injuries which included a fractured left tibia, a fracture in the fourth fifth and seventh ribs and a healing fracture in the sixth rib.
However, according to the friend, Mort was not present when the injuries occurred.
Cody Mort lied to police about the baby’s injuries (Cavendish Press)
The incident occurred in August 2023 when Mort was staying at the man’s home.
At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, prosecuting Patrick Williamsons said: “The defendant rang her mother and informed her that late during the previous evening she had heard the baby crying.
“She said the following morning the baby’s was giving her concern in particular his left leg and the youngster was taken to hospital.
“At the Oldham A&E department Miss Mort said the injury has been caused by the baby kicking out at a TV unit and she stated that she had been present when it happened.
“Her mother spoke to the defendant’s father and told him what had been said by the defendant including asserting she had been present when the baby was injured. The father was angered that the friend might be responsible for the baby’s injuries.
“But in a text message the defendant said: ‘If he tells, he’s never seeing me again’.”
Mort and the man were later arrested and interviewed, with the woman explaining that he would ‘struggle’ to explain what happened so she ‘took the lead’ when he was questioned about the injuries.
However, when police learned that Mort had not been present at the time of the incident, they became suspicious of her.
The very same night of the questioning, Mort is said to have Googled: “How long is a prison sentence if I own up to covering up for someone.”
Inquiries found that she had also searched, ‘covering for someone who abuses their child’.
Inquiries found that she had Googled possible punishments for her deceit (Cavendish Press)
Mort contacted the police a week later and confessed that she had lied about being in the room with the baby.
Mr Williamson said: “She admitted her previous assertion that she was present at the time was false. She said she had panicked when giving her first account.”
Her defence counsel Richard Flook explained that she had ‘panicked’, stating: “No significant mischief that has been caused by her lie. She was at the hospital at the time she first said these things. She panicked and took the lead and got herself in a position where she couldn’t get out of it.
“When it was raised he said differently, she corrected this and went to the police of her own volition and told them she had lied. She’s well aware that there is a risk of custodial sentence. She’s very polite and very understanding and has shown genuine remorse and regret.
“It’s been a very difficult time for her. She is struggling with anxiety and there are significant mental health considerations to take into account.
“At the time she failed to comprehend the seriousness of her actions. She is at a low risk of reoffending.”
In sentencing, Judge Neil Usher told Mort: “In lying, you ran the risk that appropriate medical treatment could have been denied or delayed to this baby because you didn’t tell the truth. But you have expressed remorse which is genuine. You do not pose a risk in my judgement.”
Mort was freed with 19-week imprisonment suspended for 12 months and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work as well as ten rehabilitation requirement days.
Her friend was charged with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and is set to attend trial in March next year.
The baby has since been put into foster care.
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Featured Image Credit: Cavendish Press
Britt Jones
Teen sent a chilling final message to her friend before she was allegedly killed by ‘man she met on Snapchat’
Annabelle Margaret Floren-Wyant was found dead in the bedroom of Jorge Meza Alarcon Jr.
An 18-year-old sent an eerie text message to her friend just a couple of hours before being found dead by police.
In the early hours of Thursday, August 1, The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from Annabelle Margaret Floren-Wyant’s friend.
Annabelle had told her close male friend, whose name hasn’t been shared, of her plans to meet up with 26-year-old Jorge Meza Alarcon Jr. at his home in El Paso County in Colorado.
Apparently, the pair became acquainted over Snapchat and Annabelle went to Jorge’s house to ‘collect money’ from Jorge, who was apparently one of her Snapchat Premium subscribers.
The friend had dropped Annabelle off soon before 1AM, but he grew increasingly concerned about the 18-year-old after receiving a chilling text from her, for Annabelle to then go silent for 90 minutes.
Upon going into Jorge’s home, Annabelle had text her friend describing his demeanour as ‘weird’ and asked her pal to text or call her periodically to check that she was okay.
When he didn’t hear from Annabelle for some time, the unnamed friend called 911 and deputies went on to arrive at the scene to find Annabelle dead.
The teenager was found in Jorge’s bedroom with her underwear pulled down to her ankles and blood near her ear but no other obvious signs of trauma, Mail Online reports.
Annabelle Margaret Floren-Wyant was found dead at the property in El Paso, Texas. (KOAA 5)
Police went on to track Jorge down around three miles from his home. He was found with facial injuries and told officers that he’d met with Annabelle for the purpose of having sex.
He went on to allege that while they were intimate, Annabelle asked for the money and as he turned to get it, the 18-year-old hit him in the back of the head with her cellphone.
Initially Jorge said that he’d blacked out after this and the next thing he remembered we was walking near where to police found him.
But later in an interview, the 26-year-old said that Annabelle previously threatened him and was uneasy about the encounter due to a vehicle remaining outside idling.
Fearing that their meet-up was some kind of plan to attack him, Jorge said he’d put Annabelle into a chokehold.
Jorge Meza Alarcon Jr. has been charged with murder. (El Paso County Sheriff’s Office)
He has since been charged with first-degree murder.
El Paso County Sheriff’s office has been approached for comment.
According to court documents obtained by KOAA News, Jorge is also facing charges of animal cruelty and criminal mischief for allegedly strangling a dog to death in February 2024.
If you see an animal in distress and/or in need of help, call 911 if a crime is in progress. You can also visit a directory of animal abuse investigation agencies by state here.
Featured Image Credit: El Paso County Sheriff’s Office/KOAA 5
Niamh Shackleton
Daughter’s chilling reaction caught on police bodycam as she’s arrested for murdering her parents and hiding their bodies
Virginia McCullough murdered her elderly parents and hid their bodies for four years
A woman who murdered her parents then lived alongside their dead bodies for four years told police ‘cheer up’ when she was arrested.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication that she crushed and put into his alcoholic drinks in June 2019.
A day later she also beat her 71-year-old mother Lois McCullough with a hammer and fatally stabbed her.
She was jailed for life with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday (October 11).
Bodycam video footage released by Essex Police shows the moment McCullough was arrested on September 15, 2023, where she can be seen confessing to the murders and telling officers where they can find her parents’ bodies and the murder weapons.
Handcuffed and wearing a pink jumper, she told officers she had slipped something into her father’s drink and put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and hidden her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
“I did know that this would kind of come eventually, it’s proper that I serve my punishment,” McCullough went on.
Having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, she can be seen in handcuffs telling an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
“I know I don’t seem 100 percent evil,” she added.
“I deserve obviously whatever’s coming sentence-wise if that’s the right thing to do and that might give me a bit of peace.”
Virginia McCullough was sentenced to life behind bars (Essex Police/PA Wire)
She can also be seen telling police that there was a handbag containing a bank card where there is ‘a lot of transactions that have taken place over the last few years from money that pertains to my parents’.
Further footage from a bodycam shows McCullough at the police station telling officers where they can find the hammer and kitchen knife she used to kill her mother.
Getting tearful and wiping her eyes, she added: “The next bit is very hard to talk about, that’s probably the most grisly detail, so on the ground floor, underneath the stairs there’s a few storage boxes and things and in the middle, I think it’s in one of the boxes or in a bag or something… you will find forensically it’s helpful – there’s a hammer.”
John and Lois McCullough were murdered by their daughter in 2019 (Essex Police/PA Wire)
“I’m trying to help so you find everything,” McCullough continued.
“It’s in the middle under the stairs, it will still have blood on it, it’s rusted but it will still have blood traces on it.”
She added: “Not co-operating is futile. There’s no point in not co-operating, there really isn’t.”
McCullough’s trial heard that she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, UK, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths she continued to spend their pensions.
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Featured Image Credit: Essex Police
Niamh Shackleton
Incredibly chilling 911 call as woman begs for cops to arrive after pet chimp brutally attacks friend
Travis the chimpanzee brutally attacked Charla Nash in 2009
Warning: This article contains content that some readers may find disturbing
People have been left horrified after hearing a 911 call from a frantic chimpanzee owner as it brutally attacked her friend.
In 2009, Sandra Herold’s friend Charla Nash was visiting her home in Connecticut when tragedy struck.
Sandra owned a 200lb chimpanzee named Travis and, while Charla had frequented the Herold household on several occasions with no issue, on February 16 2009, Travis brutally attacked her out of nowhere.
Travis is thought to have stolen his owner’s car keys and went out to the yard and, in a bid to lure him back to the house, Charla held out a toy to try and entice him.
He recognized the doll, but is thought to have been confused by Charla after she recently changed her hair.
The large chimp proceeded to attack Charla, sparking a horrified Sandra to call 911.
In the chilling phone call, she can be heard telling the dispatcher on the other end of the phone: “Send the police… the chimp killed my friend, he’s killing my friend… he ripped her apart, hurry up!… he’s eating her!”
Travis was a 200lb chimpanzee. (AP Photo/The Stamford Advocate, Kathleen O’Rourke)
Meanwhile, Travis’ screeches could be heard in the background as he continued his rampage.
The rest of the harrowing call consisted of Sandra crying and pleading for the police to hurry and shoot Travis when they got there.
When police arrived, officer Frank Chiafari opened fire and shot Travis multiple times, after which the chimpanzee returned to his cage, where he later died.
While Sandra said Travis had killed Charla, this fortunately wasn’t the case.
But she was left in critical condition with life-changing injuries, and suffered with with broken bones in her face, with Travis having torn apart her eyelids, nose, jaw, lips and most of her scalp.
Charla Nash was left with life-changing injuries, resulting in her needing a full face transplant. (Nancy Lane/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
Travis also left her blind, and had fully removed one of her hands from her body.
She required hours of surgery after the attack, and after her jaw was reattached she later flew to Ohio for an experimental facial transplant.
The four minute-long 911 call Sandra made was shared on YouTube following the incident, and people were quick to share their thoughts.
“Hearing Travis’s screaming just makes this 1000x more terrifying,” one person commented.
Travis’ owner Sandra Herold made the chilling 911 call. (Andrew Theodorakis/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
“This terrifies me,” echoed a second person. “‘He’s eating her, he’s eating her.’ I always get this chilled feeling when I hear this, and I feel bad for that woman.”
Someone else wrote: “This is one of the most horrifying and depressing things I ever heard.”
Both Travis’ former owners have since passed away. Sandra died in 2010, with her husband having died from cancer six years prior.
Sandra also didn’t face criminal prosecution for the attack after it was ruled she was not aware of the risk her pet posed.
Featured Image Credit: AP Photo/The Stamford Advocate, Kathleen O’Rourke/CBS News
Niamh Shackleton
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Horrific Google searches of couple who allegedly left baby disabled from ‘monstrous’ abuse revealed
Tom Kember made sick Google searches relating to child abuse in the early hours of the morning
Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
A pair of ‘monsters’ left their premature baby ‘non-verbal’ due to significant brain trauma inflicted on her in 10 days of horrific abuse.
Tom Kember and Katherine Reilly have been convicted unanimously of child cruelty despite denying all charges, with the former also found guilty of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Tom Kember searched multiple things on Google including ‘can I get dosent for abiseing (sic)… baby’ (Avon and Somerset Police)
A British court heard how 27-year-old Kember made horrific Google searches which hinted at the abuse he put the little girl through.
On January 12, 2020, he took to the search engine to find out the answer to ‘what happend aif u (sic) hit a baby’s face’ – suggesting he had assaulted the tot, while also searching ‘can a baby be sick if it gets hit’.
The following day, at 10.45pm, while visiting a fast-food restaurant with both 25-year-old Reilly and the baby, he proceeded to search ‘if baby hits its head does the baby sleep a lot’.
Just hours later, at 1.20am, the court heard how he finally called 111 – a non-emergency number medical helpline in the UK – to report his baby’s state of health.
Later on that morning, on January 14, 2020, after the baby had finally returned to the hospital they had been discharged from 10 days prior, he searched ‘can I get dosent for abiseing (sic)… baby’.
Katherine Reilly was found guilty of child abuse after her daughter was found with injuries similar to those sustained in a high-speed traffic collision (Avon and Somerset Police)
The prosecution’s case suggested Kember, who, alongside Reilly from Taunton, in Somerset, meant to search ‘can I get done for abusing… baby’.
The jury heard how medical evidence found that the baby’s injuries were similar to those seen in previous high-speed traffic collisions or from falls from a one-storey building, ruling out a domestic accident.
Judge Julian Lambert described the pair’s wicked crimes as a ‘monstrous act’ following the jury’s verdict.
Det Ch Insp Roger Doxsey, from Avon and Somerset Police, said: “It is tragic to reflect that having been born at 31 weeks she was readmitted to hospital with these terrible injuries before her due date.
“A helpless baby has been abused by adults who were more concerned with avoiding the consequences of their actions than with seeking medical help for her.
The little girl, who was only weeks old at the time of the abuse, was taken to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton (Google Street View)
“I would like to pay tribute to the medical staff who helped to ensure this little girl’s remarkable survival, and the family who are now providing her with such love and care.”
The little girl has since been adopted by foster parents, who have been caring for her since she was four months old.
With the child now four years old, the court heard how she is non-verbal, with significant visual impairment, suffering from multiple daily seizures and other complex needs.
Reilly has been bailed ahead of sentencing, due to take place on January 24, while Kember remains in custody.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues or want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
