Natasha Leigh

 A two-day-old baby gets kidnapped. Seventeen years later, she would be reunited with her biological parents after she went to school with her biological younger sister. On April 28th 1997, Celeste Nurse went to the Groot Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, to deliver her and her husband’s first daughter via caesarean section. The surgery was a success; both Celeste and Zephany were healthy afterwards. They would be kept in the hospital for a few days to monitor Celeste’s healing stomach. Two days after the birth, Celeste remembered seeing a woman dressed in maroon pants and an oatmeal top comforting Zephany in her bassinet. Celeste recognised the clothing as a nurse’s uniform and fell back to sleep, thinking that her baby was being cared for by a professional. The next time that Celeste woke, it was to a different nurse questioning her repeatedly. “Where is the baby?”. That was how Celeste learnt that her 2-day-old daughter wasn’t safe in her bassinet. The hospital staff c...

 The Ogress of Reading was active for over thirty years during the Victorian era killing an estimated 400 children. Amelia Hobley was born at some point in 1836 to a master shoemaker and his wife. She was the youngest of five having three older brothers and an older sister. They were all born in a village called Pyle Marsh to the east of Bristol. She had fallen in love with literature and poetry one of few children at the time to learn how to read and write. It would provide a minimal escape from caring for her mother as she battled with Typhus, a battle she would eventually lose in 1848. Typhus fever is a group of diseases caused by bacteria carried and spread by fleas, lice, and harvest mites and in the 1830s was fairly common in close-knit areas such as London. Not only had Amelia witnessed her mother have violent fits and eventually pass, but she would also watch her older sister Sarah Ann die of unknown reasons in 1841. Sarah was only six years old. In 1845 another of Amelia’s...

A loving mother and wife snaps and kills her two daughters to “punish” her husband after years of a crumbling marriage. Taylor Sheats (left) and Madison Sheats (right) On June 24th, emergency services arrived outside of the Sheats family home after receiving multiple calls about a disturbance and shooting at the house. Right as they parked they would witness Christy Sheats kneel over her eldest daughter, Taylor, and fire one final shot. She refused to lay down her weapon leading to an officer fatally shooting Christy. Just outside of the house’s front door lay Christy’s youngest daughter, Madison, dead on the pavement. But how did a loving mother end up callously murdering her two daughters on their father’s birthday? Four years previously, in 2012, Christy’s grandfather passed away, he had played a large part in raising her so it was like she had lost her father. She would never truly be able to heal from the loss and Christy’s mental state began to rapidly deteriorate. In the followi...

 A mother believed that the only way to save her children from possibly inheriting her mental illnesses was to end their lives. Seth Kehoe October 26th 2008 Gene Kehoe had to make a phone call that no father or husband would ever want to make. His wife and two sons had gone missing whilst the three were taking a trip to visit family. They had planned to spend the day with Michelle Kehoe’s (35) ill mother at her care home in Sumner. It should have only taken them around an hour to drive from their home in Coralville to Sumner but they never arrived. The next morning, at 8 am, Michelle stumbled up to the front door of a home in Littleton. When the door opened Michelle fell into the home, trying to speak to whoever had answered, a slash across her neck was the reason she was struggling to speak. The person at the door grabbed a pen and paper for Michelle to write what it was on whilst they called for emergency services. Michelle wrote, “a man killed my boys and tried to kill me.”. Whe...

A young girl was starved for months leading to her death, and her killers only got charged with manslaughter. On the 25th of February 2010, Angela Gordon and Junaid Abuhamza pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq and five separate counts of child cruelty for the abuse of the five other children in their care. Gordon was sentenced to 15 years while Abuhamza was to be jailed indefinitely for the public's safety, this holding a minimum term of 7 and a half years. But how did they get to this point? How can they abuse six children for years without consequences? All six children's biological father, Ishaq Abuzaire, had left the home at some point in 2004 or 2006. There were claims towards him that he was abusive towards both Gordon and the children but he denies the claims. After Abuzaire left the home one of his friends, Abuhamza, became close to Gordon. By 2007, Abuhamza had moved into the family home and became a parental figure to the children. It woul...

 A couple going through a “somewhat” bitter but escalating divorce led to a devastating double murder-suicide during the early hours of June 6th 2017. Carola and Miguel Arnau had been married for around ten years with two young children when Carola filed for divorce on February 22nd 2016. She described the marriage as “irretrievably broken”. Just a year later, Carola filed for a protection from abuse order accusing Miguel of “inappropriate contact” with their four-year-old son. The claim was dismissed as unfounded by Children and Youth Services. During this time, Miguel’s parental rights were temporarily suspended. All rights were restored on April 4th after Carola withdrew the protection order. Miguel would then sue for custody of the children, being granted a temporary order giving him shared custody. They split care every other weekend and after school until 7 pm. By April 20th, Miguel would drop the complaint against Carola, stating they would resolve the issues privately. On J...

 Long-term abuse lead to the death of an 18-month-old, and her mother was charged with a minimum term of 18 years. Taking care of a child that’s biological parents have been unable to do so themselves is an honour that too many don’t understand. Keegan Downer was one of those children whose biological mother was deemed unfit to care for her right after she was born, spending the first ten months of her life in the foster system, being described as happy and healthy by her carer. Eventually, an extended family member was contacted. Kandyce Downer was deemed the “safest” option for Keegan. She was a mother of four and was often described as a good mother. She had previously but unsuccessfully tried to become Keegan’s older sister’s legal guardian. Downer was given custody through a special guardianship order in January 2015; Keegan moved into the family home in the Weoley Castle area of Birmingham. It isn’t entirely clear when the abuse began but when Keegan was removed from her nurs...

 A woman confessed to smothering her four-year-old daughter with a pillow in an episode of not taking medication. Zadie Wren Cooper was only four years old when she passed away on July 7th 2016, she had spent three days on life support before tests came back that she had no brain activity. It was after these tests that her family decided it would be best for Zadie to remove life support. It had been a freak accident on July 4th, Zadie somehow getting stuck between her bedframe and wall, unable to breathe. Her mother, Stephanie Smith, heard a noise on the baby monitor and rushed to help her child. When she got there, Zadie wasn’t breathing and Stephanie called emergency services for help. A dispatcher helped her perform CPR while they waited for first responders. Of course, the death of the young child caused investigators to look into the case. They had to make sure that the story that Smith had given them was the truth of what happened. Investigators were waiting for medical and f...

Cary Stayner claimed he didn’t know why he killed four women, especially after living through his younger brother’s kidnapping and death just a decade before. top row left to right JULIE SUND & CAROLE SUND bottom row left to right JOIE ARMSTRONG & SILVINA PELOSSO Cary Stayner was only eleven when his seven-year-old brother Steven was kidnapped by child molester Kenneth Parnell. The following seven years the family were forced to grieve for the boy’s life without knowing if he was truly gone. Cary said that throughout the time his brother was held captive, he felt neglected by their parents. Cary later claimed that during the time that Steven was kidnapped, he was being molested by his uncle Jesse.  Steven escaped from his hell sadly passing only nine years later. A year after Steven passed, Jesse, the uncle Cary claimed molested him, was murdered. Cary was living with Jesse at that point in time, his life spiralling shortly after the deaths. Cary was reported to have a...

Beautiful souls are taken so frequently all because others can't handle rejection, Tomicka Peterson is just one of many. Tomicka Peterson had ended her relationship with her boyfriend at the time Gibson Paul. It was Valentine's Day 2011 when she tried to leave Paul, getting out of the apartment as soon as she had ended things, seemingly worried for her safety and rightfully so. Tomicka left accompanied by two of her female friends and one of their 3-year-old daughters, another friend was waiting outside for them. Tomicka was just getting into the car that was outside when Paul came running out of the apartment building. He asked twice if Tomicka was actually leaving him. After Tomicka refused to respond, Paul pulled out a gun and began firing into the car. One of Tomicka's friends was grazed by a bullet but Tomicka was hit five times. She died at the scene. The driver of the car rushed them to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach. U.S. Marshals were immediately ...