10 Horrific Child Murders: Florida
Florida is known for its endless sunshine, top rated beaches, and being home to the happiest place on Earth.
Thousands of tourists flock to this vacation hot spot every year. But as we know all too well, evil lurks everywhere and even Paradise has a darkside.
Here are 10 horrific child murders that took place in the Sunshine State.
1. Sarah Lunde - Ruskin
2. Christine McGowan - Apopka
3. Jessica Lunsford - Homossasa
4. Cherish Perrywinkle - Jacksonville
5. Meredith Jesse - Lakeland
6. Baby Chance - Sarasota
7. Carlie Brucia - Sarasota
8. Baby Lollipops - Miami
9. Kathleen Steele - Tampa
Thousands of tourists flock to this vacation hot spot every year. But as we know all too well, evil lurks everywhere and even Paradise has a darkside.
Here are 10 horrific child murders that took place in the Sunshine State.
On April 9th 2005, 13 year old Sarah Lunde made her way home from a church youth function. While her mother was out of town she would be under the care of her 17 year old brother Andrew. At around midnight Andrew and a friend decided to go grab something to eat. By the time they returned home at 4 a.m. the front door was open and Sarah was gone.
Apparently seeing no cause for concern, Sarah was not reported missing until her mother returned home Monday. By this time it had been more than 36 hours since she had last been seen.
On April 16, Sarah's decomposing remains were found submerged in a pond on an abandoned fish farm only about a half mile from her house.
In August of 2008, 36 year old convicted sex offender, David Onstatt, was sentenced to life for the 2nd degree murder of Sarah Lunde.
Onstatt, an ex boyfriend of the teens mother, confessed to strangling the girl after an argument.
It was around 6 a.m. October 30th 1990 when Stephen Rank went into his stepdaughter, Christine McGowans, bedroom to wake her up for school. Instead he found the girl deceased in her bed. The 10 year old had been raped and strangled. The front door was open and his work truck was missing.
That same day Elmer Carroll, a sex offender living in a halfway house next door to Christine, was arrested walking about half a mile away from the stolen truck. In addition to having blood on his sweatshirt and genitals, that was later matched to the little girl’s blood type, the vehicle’s keys were found in his pocket.
On November 26th 1990, Carroll was indicted on one count felony murder and one count sexual battery on a person under 12. He was convicted of both on March 21st 1992. After exhausting all appeals Elmer Carroll was put to death by lethal injection on May 29th 2013.
As Mark Lunsford arrived home in the early-morning hours of February 24th 2005, he could hear his 9 year old daughter's alarm going off. Lunsford shared the mobile home with his daughter Jessica and his parents. After preparing for work and still hearing the alarm he went into her room to wake her. She wasn't in her bed. After searching the home and noticing the front door unlocked he told his mother to call nine-one-one.
A massive search was launched including interviewing all registered sex offenders in the area although they were unable to locate one. John Couey was staying illegally in his half sisters trailer less than 150 yards from the Lunsford home. By the time they realized this he was already gone.
A few weeks later he was arrested in Atlanta, GA after an employee at homeless shelter recognized him from the news.
When a search warrant turned up DNA evidence, Couey admitted that he kidnapped, raped, and held the little girl for 3 days before burying her alive. On March 18th he led detectives to her shallow grave behind the trailer.
In march of 2007 John Couey was sentenced to death. Karma would get him first however; on September 30, 2009 he died of anal cancer.
On October 6, 2009 Mark Lunsford and his longtime girlfriend welcomed a baby boy. It would have been Jessies 12th birthday.
On June 21, 2013, at 10:41pm, a Jacksonville Walmart surveillance camera caught 8 year old Cherish Perrywinkle being lured away to her death by a registered sex offender.
While shopping at Dollar General earlier in the evening, Cherish, her mother, and younger siblings were approached by an older man offering to buy them clothing and food at a nearby Walmart.
While perusing the aisles , Rayne Perrywinkle allowed her daughter to visit the McDonalds located inside the store with the man.
Approximately 40 minutes later, at 11:18 pm, Cherish was reported missing by her mother. Early the next morning police arrest suspect Donald J. Smith after he was identified from surveillance cameras. At 9:20 am the battered, sexually assaulted body of Cherish Perrywinkle was found in a creek behind Highlands Baptist Church.
Donald J. Smith has plead not guilty and is currently awaiting trial.
Cheyenne Jesse and her daughter Meredith did not have the best relationship. The six-year-old had serious Psychiatric issues including hearing voices and self-mutilation causing her to be Baker acted twice between June and July of 2015. The day after being discharged for the last time on July 18th, Cheyenne brought the girl to her grandfather’s house. She then stabbed her to death and shot her father in the head.
On July 22nd when the smell became too much to handle she used a shovel to move their bodies into plastic totes, which she then stacked in a nearby shed. Urging from her family forced Cheyenne to file missing persons report on Aug 1. During their visit the next day, police noted a foul odor coming from inside the residence. After performing a search and finding evidence of a crime scene inside, Cheyenne Jesse was arrested. The bodies were discovered later that same day.
Despite claiming that she killed them in self-defense Cheyenne was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of evidence tampering on August 18th 2015. She is currently awaiting trial and faces the death penalty.
Chance Walsh was only 9 weeks old when he suffered a horrific death at the hands of his parents. After being repeatedly beaten by his father, baby Chance had a diaper wipe forced down his throat. His mother, Kristen Bury, fished it out with needle nosed pliers, wrapped him in a blanket and left his battered body in his crib where he died from his injuries. They eventually moved his decomposing remains into a closet before finally burying him in a shallow grave not far from their home. Then they ran.
After giving conflicting stories to family members on his whereabouts, the baby boy was reported missing on October 4 by his grandparents. Shortly after, Kristen Bury and Joseph Walsh were arrested in South Carolina for the disappearance of their son.
After being extradited back to Florida, Kristen Bury made a plea deal and on October 15 led authorities to the infants makeshift grave. She was sentenced to 25 years.
On September 10, 2016 Kristen Bury committed suicide in her cell. Joseph Walsh is due to stand trial in June 2017.
At 6 pm on February 1, 2004, 11 year old Carlie Brucia called to tell her mom she would be walking home the few blocks from her friends house. When she hadn’t arrived by 6:30 her step father went to look for her, while her mother called the police.
About 18 hours after Carlie disappeared, police discovered a car wash surveillance video which had captured the young girl being lead away by a man in a mechanics uniform.
After receiving numerous calls identifying the man in the video as Joseph Smith, officers arrested him on a probation violation.
During a visit with his mother and brother, Joe Smith confessed to murdering the girl while on a cocaine binge.
On February 6th, 5 days after the girls abduction, Joseph Smith led law enforcement to the parking lot behind a Sarasota church where they found the remains of Carlie Brucia. It was less than 2 miles from the abduction site.
She had been raped and strangled to death.
On March 13, 2006, Joseph Smith was sentenced to death. He is currently appealing his conviction.
In April of 2017 Carlies mother passed away from a drug overdose.
On November 2, 1990 utility workers found the emaciated body of a little boy hidden in shrubs at a Miami home. Judging by the numerous injuries that covered his tiny body, the child had lived a rough life. Mercilessly beaten and virtually starved, He weighed only 18 pounds at the time he died. Unidentified, the little boy was dubbed Baby Lollipops after the pattern on his t- shirt.
After a month long search, a former babysitter identified him as 3 year old Lazaro Figeuro. Soon thereafter, his mother Ana Cardona, and her lover, Olivia Gonzalez, were arrested on child abuse and 1st degree murder charges.
Cardona initially confessed to leaving the boy 4 days prior to him being found and that he was unconscious but alive hoping the homeowners would seek help for the boy. He died only 12 hours before being discovered. She later claimed that her confession was coerced.
Olivia Gonzalez agreed to testify against her former lover. She admitted to witnessing Cardona abusing Lazaro and to helping dispose of the boy.
Gonzalez was freed in 2008. Ana Cardona has been convicted and sentenced to death twice only to have both convictions overturned. She faces her third trial later this year however prosecutors will be seeking a life sentence this time.
Kathleen Steele was a 62 year old single mother to three small children, a 2 week old girl and two boys ages 3 and 6. Her husband had passed away in 2011 but was able to Father the two younger children through artificial insemination.
On the hot afternoon of August 8th 2016 Steel piled the children into her car to run errands. When she got to the Cellphone store she left the kids in the car with the windows up and the engine off. She was gone for 38 minutes. When she returned she ignored the six year olds pleas that the baby was hurt and continued to her next stop. It wasn’t until then that she noticed that the infant was bruised and not breathing. Instead of calling nine-one-one she took her to a friend who happened to be a nurse. Despite the baby obviously being dead the woman performed CPR until paramedics arrived.
According to the boys statement while Mom was inside the store the infant started crying. He took her out of her car seat flipped her over a few times and then repeatedly slammed her head into the roof of the car, fracturing her skull in multiple places. He then strapped her back in.
The boy was too young to be charged however his mother is currently awaiting trial for aggravated manslaughter.
10. Joseph Artis - St. Petersburg
For the last three years of his short life four-year-old Joseph Artis lived with his maternal grandmother. His mother Tasha trotter had a long history of mental health issues and had once abandoned him outside of a hospital which caused custody to be given to her mother. Trotter was still in the boys life although it was usually under supervision.
On the evening of March 28th 2014, when Joseph and his grandmother arrived home Trotter was waiting for them on the porch. She followed them into the house and was noticably acting strange. Before anyone could react she grabbed a knife, ran into her sons bedroom and began stabbing him in the neck and chest. She then carried the boy outside and waited for police.
When Authorities arrived she laid his body down in the grass and was placed under arrest. The little boy nicknamed turtle, and who loved Spiderman was rushed to the hospital but died less than an hour later.
On April 5th 2014 Joseph "Turtle" Artis was buried in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lined coffin. Tasha Trotter is awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges. Other than her documented mental health issues, her motive remains unknown.
For the last three years of his short life four-year-old Joseph Artis lived with his maternal grandmother. His mother Tasha trotter had a long history of mental health issues and had once abandoned him outside of a hospital which caused custody to be given to her mother. Trotter was still in the boys life although it was usually under supervision.
On the evening of March 28th 2014, when Joseph and his grandmother arrived home Trotter was waiting for them on the porch. She followed them into the house and was noticably acting strange. Before anyone could react she grabbed a knife, ran into her sons bedroom and began stabbing him in the neck and chest. She then carried the boy outside and waited for police.
When Authorities arrived she laid his body down in the grass and was placed under arrest. The little boy nicknamed turtle, and who loved Spiderman was rushed to the hospital but died less than an hour later.
On April 5th 2014 Joseph "Turtle" Artis was buried in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lined coffin. Tasha Trotter is awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges. Other than her documented mental health issues, her motive remains unknown.
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