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Callarogus Shark Media, good morning, I'm reed Carter. Tuesday, October
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twenty first, twenty twenty five. Delbert Cornish's lawyer told a
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Canyon County, Idaho judge this week that his client plans
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to plead guilty to murdering his eighteen year old daughter Onyx.
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August eighteenth. Cornish shot Onyx to death, then told his
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fifteen year old son Lucian, I killed your sister and
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pulled a gun from under a pillow, fired a shot
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into the floor, tried to force Lucian toward Onyx's room.
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Lucian fought back, disarmed his father, ran two blocks, and
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called nine one one before Lucian escaped. Cornish said this
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is your last time seeing me. I'll be dead thirty
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seconds after you leave. Court documents show Cornish told police
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he planned to kill both children then himself formal plea
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hearing November twelfth, Detroit. Charlotte Pendergrass forty nine, and her
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son Jalen twenty three, are charged with second degree murder
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and tampering with evidence. The victim, London Thomas seventeen. Jalen's girlfriend,
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April fifth, London reported missing after being dropped at Jalen's
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house at four am April twenty sixth, Her body found
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in an suv in Southfield parked their two weeks. A
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male friend of Charla told police she asked him to
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transport a sealed plastic bin. He placed it in the
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suv April eleventh. That's where London's body was found. Both
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plead not guilty. Jalen held without bond, Charlat gets five
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million dollars cash bond, and Today in Tampa, Alicia Andrews
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on trial for first degree murder of rapper Juliofulio June
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twenty third, twenty twenty four, the Jacksonville rapper shot and
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killed in what prosecutors call an ongoing gang war. Andrews
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traveled with four co defendants, all gang members, as they
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tracked Fulio to three locations before killing him. Andrews wanted
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to introduce domestic violence evidence showing her her boyfriend Isaiah Chance,
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abused her. Judge ruled no, Florida law doesn't allow durest
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defense for premeditated murder. Opening statements begin today. I'm read Carter.
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One father pleading guilty, one mother son murder team, one
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woman on trial who can't mention why she helped kill
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This is Celebrity Trials. August eighteenth, twenty twenty five, Caldwell, Idaho.
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Fifteen year old Lucian Cornish comes home from school normal
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afternoon until his father, Delbert starts crying, not normal, crying,
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scream crying. Lucian asks what's going on? Delbert says, I
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killed your sister, then reaches into his pillow on the
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couch and pulls out a gun. In an exclusive interview
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with Scrip's News Boise, Lucian described what happened next. I
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just kept trying to get him to let me leave.
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After a while, he said said, turn around and walk
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behind you. I didn't want to face my back toward him,
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so I just walked backward. I said, Dad, I'm your son,
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Why are you doing this? And I think that touched him.
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Delbert tried to force Lucian toward Onyx's room, where her
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body was fired a shot into the floor to make
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Lucian comply, but Lucian kept resisting. Finally, Delbert pointed the
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gun directly at Lucian. Lucian knew it's either I'm going
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to have to fight or I'm just going to die.
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Lucian lunged at his father, grabbed the gun, pinned him
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against the wall, disarmed him. His own actions terrified him.
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He was fighting his father for his life. Before Lucian ran,
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Delbert made one final statement, this is your last time
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seeing me. I'll be dead thirty seconds after you leave.
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Lucian already figured that, said I know dad, I love you.
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Then Lucian ran two blocks called nine one one. I
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remember when I was running away, I thought to myself,
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am I dreaming? Like my brain was just going in
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different directions. This has to be fake. Police arrived found
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Delbert still alive. He hadn't killed himself. Found Onyx dead
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in her room shot. Also found Onyx's cat dead. Delbert
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had shot the cat too. Court documents show Delbert confessed immediately,
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I did it, dude, told police he planned to kill
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both his children and then himself. Didn't explain why, just
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that he'd decided to murder his kids. Delbert was charged
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with first degree murder, assault with intent to murder, use
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of a deadly weapon, and commission of a felony, and
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animal cruelty. This week, Tuesday, October fourteenth, Delbert appeared in
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court via video for arraignment his lawyer told Judge Jeremy
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Kleinfelter that Delbert plans to plead guilty. Onyx's mother, Crystal Thompson,
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was in court, first time seeing Delbert since he murdered
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her daughter. He just came out and my blood went cold.
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I started shaking, you know, and I just felt I
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felt despair. He made eye contact with me, and then
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he looked away and he never made eye contact again.
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Thompson says the guilty plea brings mixed emotions, relief that
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Lushan won't have to testify, won't have to relive that
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day on the witness stand, but also painful reminders of
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everything her family lost. It'll save Lucian from having to
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go through, you know, getting up on the stand. That's
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what I've been really worried about. I just want my
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daughter to have justice. That's why I'm here. I'm representing
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her because she can't represent herself. Formal change of plea
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hearings scheduled November twelfth. Delbert will officially plead guilty, then sentencing.
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First degree murder in Idaho carries life in prison or
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death penalty, given Delbert planned to kill himself anyway. Life
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in prison is probably the outcome. Think about what Lucian experienced.
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Came home from school, father told him, I killed your sister,
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pulled a gun, fired a shot, tried to force him
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to see Onyx's body. Lucian had to fight his own father,
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disarm him, run for his life, all while processing that
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his sister was dead and his father was the killer.
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Lucian is fifteen. That trauma is permanent. He'll never have
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a normal relationship with authority, with family, with trust. He
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had to choose between fighting his father or dying. No
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fifteen year old should face that choice, and Onyx was eighteen,
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just starting adult life. Whatever conflict existed between her and Delbert,
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we don't know the details. It didn't justify murder. Nothing
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justifies a father shooting his daughter to death then planning
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to kill his son. Delbert also shot Onyx's cat. That
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detail is chilling. The cat wasn't threat didn't do anything,
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but Delbert killed it anyway. That's cruelty Beyond the murders,
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that's someone destroying everything his daughter loved. The GoFundMe for
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Onyx's family remains active, trying to cover funeral expenses, therapy
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for Lucian, living costs. Crystal Thompson lost her daughter, has
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to help her son heal from trauma, has to attend
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court hearings and face the man who destroyed her family.
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November twelfth, Delbert formally pleads guilty, admits to murdering Onyx,
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admits to attempting to murder Lucian, takes responsibility for the
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horror he created. Then sentencing, and Delbert spends the rest
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of his life in prison thinking about what he did,
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thinking about Lucian disarming him, thinking about the son who
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loved him enough to say I love you, Dad, even
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while running for his life more in a moment. April fifth,
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twenty twenty five, Detroit, London Thomas, seventeen years old, is
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reported missing to Inkster Police department. Last scene around four
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am when she was dropped off at her boyfriend Jalen
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Pendergrass's house. Inkster police investigate, Detroit police join FBI gets involved,
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Michigan State Police assists major search for a missing teen.
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April twenty sixth, Three weeks later, London's body is found
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in an suv in Southfield. The vehicle had been parked
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on Millard Street for two weeks. Inside London's body in
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a sealed plastic bin. That same day, a male friend
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of Charlotte Pendergrass contacts Inkster police. He has information Charla
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had called him on April eleventh, fifteen days earlier, asked
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him to transport a sealed plastic bin. He agreed, picked
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up the bill in placed it in an suv on
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Millard Street in Southfield. That suv, that ben That's where
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London's body was found. October seventeenth, twenty twenty five, Wayne
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County Prosecutor Kim Worthy charges Charla Pendergrass, forty nine, and
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her son, Jalen Pendergrass, twenty three, with second degree murder
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and tampering with evidence. Prosecutors say London was Jalen's girlfriend,
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say both mother and son committed the homicide together. Friday arraignment,
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Jalen remanded to jail without bond, Charla given five million
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dollars cash bond. Both in custody. London's grandmother, Justina Martin,
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attended court. I want justice for my granddaughter. I want
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them to get the maximum penalty they can get for
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my granddaughter. I don't sleep good at night since this
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happened because I've been praying for justice. I miss her
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so much. I missed talking to my grandbaby because she
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always called me and was like Grandma, I love you
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and I miss her. I got her pictured all over
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my house. The timeline is damning. April fifth, London reported
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missing after being dropped at Jalen's house. At four am
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April eleventh, Charla calls her male friend asks him to
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transport a sealed plastic bin. He places it in an suv.
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April twenty sixth, London's body found in that suv in
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that bin six days between London going missing and Charla
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asking someone to move a sealed bin. What was in
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that bin? London's body? Where did it stay for those
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six days? Somewhere Charla and Jalen had access to it,
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Then another fifteen days with London's body sitting in an
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suv on Millard Street before discovery. The friend who moved
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the bin didn't know what was inside, just helped Charla
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as a favor. When police found London, he came forward
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told them what Charla asked him to do. That's how
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they connected Charla to the murder. Both Jalen and Charla
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maintain innocence. Their attorneys say let the evidence play out.
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Jalen's attorney, Adam clements, while it seems so many have
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rested judgment and already arrived at the conclusion that he
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is responsible and that he's the killer. I hope people
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will let the evidence play itself out and respect the process.
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Charla's attorney, Terry L. Johnson, I want to see what
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the new evidence is that they all of a sudden
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come forth in the middle of the night, arrested these
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folks and say we're here. Now, we've got a case.
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What's the evidence. The evidence includes a male friend who
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moved a sealed plastic bin at Charla's request, That bin
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containing London's body. London last scene at Jalen's house. No
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other explanation for how London ended up dead in a
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bin that Charla arranged to transport. This isn't a stranger abduction.
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London was Jalen's girlfriend, went to his house voluntarily, never left.
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Three weeks later, found dead in a bin his mother moved.
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Mother son murder teams are rare but not unprecedented. Usually
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involves a son who commits violence and a mother who
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helps cover it up. The maternal instinct to protect her
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child overrides morality. Overrides law, overrides the victim's humanity. But
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this wasn't just cover up. Both are charged with second
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degree murder. That means prosecutors believe both participated in killing London.
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Not Jalen killed her and Charla hid the body. Both
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killed her together. What happened in Jalen's house that morning
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London was dropped off at four a m. Did she
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and Jalen fight, did Charlie get involved, did it escalate
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to violence? Did they both attack her? And why? London
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was seventeen, had her whole life ahead of her. Her
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grandmother describes her as loving, affectionate, the kind of granddaughter
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who calls to say I love you. And she was
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murdered by her boyfriend and his mother, her body stuffed
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in a sealed bin and hidden in an suv for weeks.
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Prosecutor kim Worthy praise the investigation. I am proud of
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the excellent work that has been done in this case.
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It has taken countless hours of investigation and diligent work
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by the Michigan State Police, the Detroit Police Department, and
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the FBI. As a result of that work, we have
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been able to charge and bring the perpetrators of this
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cruel and deadly crime to justice. Cruel is right. Killing
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your son's girlfriend, helping your mother hide your girlfriend's body.
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That's beyond dysfunction. That's evil. Second degree murder in Michigan
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carries life in prison or any term of years. If convicted.
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Both face decades behind bars. Jalen loses his freedom, Charla
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loses her son and her own freedom. London's family loses
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her forever more. In a moment. June twenty third, twenty
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twenty four, Tampa, Florida, rapper Julio Folio real name Charles
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Jones is shot and killed. He was a documented member
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of the gang six Block from Jacksonville. His murder was
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the culmination of a gang war dating back to twenty eighteen.
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The rival gangs Ace's Top Killers, ATK and twelve hundred,
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allied gangs working together against six Block. Multiple shootings, multiple deaths,
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years of violence, and in June twenty twenty four, they
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tracked Fulio to Tampa and killed him. Five people charged
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with first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder Alicia
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Andrews and her boyfriend Isaiah Chance, plus three other men.
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All the men are documented gang members of at K
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or one thousand, two hundred Andrews is not in a gang,
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but prosecutors say phone records show she traveled with her
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co defendants to Tampa, where they surveiled and tracked Fulio
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to three locations before killing him. Today, Monday, October twentieth,
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twenty twenty five, Alicia Andrews trial begins opening statements this morning.
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Jury selection complete, and Andrews faces a major problem. She
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can't tell the jury why she participated. Andrews wanted to
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introduce evidence of domestic violence, that her boyfriend Isaiah Chance
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abused her, that she feared him, that she helped track
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and kill Folio because Chance forced her to participate. August thirteenth,
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pre trial hearing, prosecutors moved to bar any mention of
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domestic violence. Judge Michelle Cisco granted the motion. Under Florida law,
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defendants charged with premeditated first degree murder cannot use duress
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as a defense. Because Andrews also faces conspiracy charges, any
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alleged domestic violence is legally irrelevant to whether she's guilty
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of murder. Andrew's attorney expressed disappointment, we would like to
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get it in our opening statement. Judge Cisco replied, I
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know I would like to be twenty pounds lighter. However,
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that's not going to happen anytime soon. Translation. I understand
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what you want, but the law doesn't allow it. Move.
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On August twenty ninth bond hearing. Despite the ruling, Andrews's
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defense presented domestic violence testimony, trying to get her released
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on bond while awaiting trial. They couldn't use it at trial,
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but maybe it would convince the judge to grant bond.