Helen Ford

A Chicago woman was convicted of first-degree murder March 2nd for the killing of her 8-year-old granddaughter, who was tied up and deprived of food and water for days.

55-year-old Helen Ford now faces life in prison without parole for the 2013 murder of Gizzell Ford, which, after the bench trial, Cook County, Ill., Circuit Judge Evelyn Clay called “exceptionally brutal.”

Eight months before Gizzell was killed, a judge had placed her in the custody of her father, Andre Ford, an unemployed felon who was living with his mother because of a chronic degenerative disease. He was also charged in his daughter’s murder but died in Cook County Jail in August 2014 while awaiting trial

Gizzell kept a journal in which she detailed some of what she went through at the hands of her grandmother. “I know if I be good and do everything I’m told I won’t have to do punishments,” Gizzell wrote, describing how she had been forced to squat for hours and told to stand in one place for “an hour or two.”

“I am going to be a beautiful smart and good young lady,” she wrote one day. “I can do anything I put my smart mind to. People say I’m smart and courageous and beautiful.”

Her last entry was on July 11, 2013, when she wrote, “I hate this life because I’m in super big trouble.”

Gizzell was dead the following day, and her body was discovered soon after in her grandmother’s trash-filled apartment. She had been strangled and badly beaten. Prosecutors said that Gizzell had been tied to a bed for days, denied food and water, and then punished when she tried to get a sip of water from a toilet. It is believed that her father directed the attacks, while her grandmother carried out the cruel deeds.

Angela M. Bingham

Angela M. Bingham was arrested Tuesday, September 27, 2016, after police said she confessed to killing her 3-year-old grandson, Rilan M. Everett, more than a week ago. She's charged with first-degree murder, according to Delaware State Police spokesman Master Cpl. Gary Fournier. Bingham is being held at the Baylor Women's Correctional Institution. Bail is set at $1,000,000 cash.

About 8:38 a.m. Tuesday, state troopers and Kent County Paramedics responded to a home in the first block of Skinner Lane after Bingham called 911. Bingham left the house during the 911 call and was found walking near Reeves Crossing and South Du Pont Highway She was detained by a Felton Police officer. Paramedics and troopers then entered the home and found a child's body in a bedroom in a state of decomposition.

Court records revealed that Bingham confessed to suffocating her grandson on Sunday, Sept. 18 with a washcloth while he lay in bed. The young boy, who was awake, struggled as she held the cloth over his mouth and nose. She removed the washcloth when the boy no longer struggled, according to court records.

Bingham told authorities she stuffed towels around the bedroom door and burned incense to mask the smell of her grandson's decomposing body. Bingham said she had her grandson because her daughter left to be with a boyfriend.

The Delaware Division of Forensic Science was contacted and removed the boy from the scene to conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Patricia Flores

A Haltom City, Texas, grandmother, Patricia Flores, is accused of injuring her 2-year-old grandson. Authorities said that she was caring for Lyfe Flores when the toddler was left by himself in a bathroom with hot running water. While the alleged incident took place on March 24, 2016, officials stated that Flores, 48, waited six days before seeking any medical treatment for the burns. Police were called to her residence on March 30 and only then found the injured boy.

Lyfe was transported to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, and then to Parkland Hospital in Dallas; however, the child died from his wounds. Authorities said that the lack of medical treatment led to an infection that may have contributed to the toddler’s passing. Flores faces a charge of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury, with a $75,000 bond.

Colleen Church

Police believe Colleen Church shot her six year-old granddaughter Alexis before killing herself in a tragic murder-suicide. Relatives are now coming forward to detail how a string of personal tragedies and a secret battle with depression may have pushed Church over the edge. 

Eureka, Missouri police say Church, 50, picked up her granddaughter from school on Monday and took her to a Holiday Inn near the Six Flags Park for a girl's night out - something Church did for her Alexis semi-regularly. Police believe Church shot her granddaughter sometime Monday night or Tuesday morning the last week of September 2015. Their bodies were discovered by hotel staff at 11:30 am on Tuesday, after the two failed to check out on time.

Preliminary reports from the medical examiner suggest that Church and her granddaughter each died of a single gunshot wound to the head. Eureka police told the St Louis Post-Dispatch that investigators have spoken with relatives who say Church was under pressure and was still mourning the loss of both her husband and one of her sons, who died of a drug overdose five years ago.

Tonya Danyial Monroe

Sandy Springs, Georgia Police said on Thursday that 9-month-old Koby Connelly died from a meth overdose in an apartment in Sandy Springs in March 2016. His grandmother has been charged with felony murder, possession of methamphetamine and cruelty to children after toxicology tests revealed Koby ingested meth.

The little boy's parents are pleading for the public's help finding 45-year-old Tonya Danyial Monroe. Police said the infant died after ingesting meth at an apartment in Sandy Springs. Taylor and Hayden Shaw said they last spoke to Tanya Monroe, Hayden's mother, about a week ago when she said she was moving in with a boyfriend in the Acworth or Cartersville area. Police said she has disappeared and is believed driving a 2004 Toyota Four Runner with a Georgia tag of RAL 9819. 

Pietrina Hoffman

Police have arrested Pietrina Hoffman in the death of 14 month old Neveah Doyle of Mahanoy City. The baby was found dead in a home on West Center Street in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, on January 10, 2016.

Police say Hoffman was babysitting her granddaughter, 14 month old Navaeh Doyle, and another 2 year old girl on the night of January 10, 2016, at a home on West Centre Street in Mahanoy City. Hoffman said she put Doyle on the floor to sleep while she went to sleep on a nearby chair, when she woke up, some 12 hours later, the baby was dead. Hoffman insists she didn't do anything.

But investigators say they found evidence that the baby had been smothered by being held face down on the floor. An autopsy shows the toddler had bruises and lacerations on her face and coffee grounds in her throat. Hoffman faces at least 20 to 40 years if convicted on these charges including homicide.

Dawn Diana Raines-Hewes

Dawn Diana Raines-Hewes, 51, has been charged with murdering her grandson Richard Kite in a bathtub while she was babysitting in her Fairfield, California, home on December 29. Police say Raines-Hewes admitted intentionally drowning Richard.

The four year-old was found unconscious by a neighbor after the grandmother ran screaming from the house and called 911. Police then arrived at the scene and tried to resuscitate the boy who was taken to hospital but died a short time later.

Two of her granddaughters, aged one and six years old, were in her care at the time but were not harmed.Raines-Hewes is being held in Solano County Jail without bail.