SARGENT GETS 100 YEARS IN PRISON
by Andy Kravetz, Peoria Journal Star

Saying James Sargent showed a “complete and total lack of remorse” for the death of his son last year, a Peoria County judge on Friday sentenced him to the maximum of 100 years in prison.

Sargent, 24, showed little reaction and stared ahead as Circuit Judge James Shadid read his appeal rights. As he left the courtroom, he didn’t look back at his parents or the parents of his former girlfriend, Tracy Hermann, also facing murder charges for the February 2008 death of Benjamin Sargent.

Shadid said little beyond praising detectives for their work, and he didn’t lay out his reasoning for the sentencing, as he normally does, beyond noting various legalities, saying “facts speak for themselves.”

JASON SHENFELD SENTENCED TO LIFE
by Katie Brace|WPTV Channel 5, Tampa Bay

WEST PALM BEACH, FL — A plea deal in the high-profile murder of a Palm Beach Gardens softball star. Jason Shenfeld (Original PYSIH Story) will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Amanda Buckley.

Eighteen-year-old Amanda Buckley was killed in July of 2007. Her friend, Jason Shenfeld, was twenty-six at the time. Buckley’s body was found in his closet.

According to court records, duct tape was found in Buckley’s hair. She had extensive bruising. Investigators concluded the trauma was so severe Shenfeld intentionally killed Buckley.

LAWSUIT FILED IN WRONG-WAY CRASH THAT KILLED FIVE IN FAMILY
by Erica Blake, Toledo Blade

Nearly a year after Michael Gagnon was sentenced to 43 years in prison for causing the drunken-driving crash that killed a mother and four children, the victims’ family has sued him, his family, and the owners of the Oregon bar where he became intoxicated.

The suit was filed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court late Thursday by surviving members of the family, including Danny Griffin, Jr., who was driving his family home to Maryland on the night of the crash. It seeks damages in excess of $25,000 against each defendant.

My dad grew up with the Bourgeois family, so this crime was a little too close for comfort.

April 8, 2006- Tracy Mei, 34, is lying in a pool of her own blood on the floor of her garage.

Let’s take a look at the chain of events that led to this point. Tracy was the live-in girlfriend of Steven R. Bourgeois, 43, of Westminster, MA.

April 8th started like any other day, people woke up, ate, went to work. Police patrolled the small town streets and the rural backroads. Happy citizens took their trash out to the curb for collection. Just another day in backwoods Massachusetts. Until…

POLICE HAVE TO STUN JADA JUSTICE SUSPECT BEFORE HEARING
by Bill Dolan, The NorthWest Indiana Times

CROWN POINT | Lake County police had to use a stun gun Monday morning on one of the two adults now charged with the murder of 2-year-old Jada Justice.

Tim Tkachik, 24, of Hobart, appeared for his initial hearing Monday morning with his head bandaged and a prominent bruise on his left cheek.

Michael Higgins, a spokesman for county police, said Tkachik became disruptive in a holding cell shortly before the court session. “He got up on a table and was trying to get into an electrical panel. He was asked nicely to get down and when he didn’t they had to use a Tazer,” Higgins said.

I am a foodie. I have a huge freezer in my garage that is often full of unusual things. Like right now, I have a 20 pound box of Alaskan crab legs. (HEY – they were $3.99 a pound!) But I am pretty sure that I have never had anything quite as strange in my freezer as PYSIH’s newest celebretard, Robert Knight, 50, did.

Robert Knight had Tracey F. Moore’s head and arms in his freezer.

Tracey Moore, 44-years-old and mother of nine children, was Knight’s girlfriend. Neighbors say they were always fighting, and strangely, were said to walk about 15-20 feet apart from each other when they went anywhere. Sounds cozy, no?

My duties as both the editor and a writer for People You’ll See In Hell force me to view the dark side of life, and I see more than my share of the evil that lurks there. Hey, it’s all part of the job, right? In a way all the child murders and abuse cases and the taking of life over reasons as mundane as money and jealousy have hardened me to the point that I’m not touched by a lot of the things I see and read about. The evil men do seems to have lost the shock value it used to have.

But this case, man, this is the kind of evil that takes you breath away. It’s the kind of evil that, after you absorb the horror of it all, changes you forever.

Here on PYSIH, we see a lot of stories about bad mothers. There are moms who leave their kids alone; moms who starve and neglect their children; and moms who pick boyfriends over their own children. There is no indication that Jada Justice’s mom was that kind of a mother.

Jada’s mom left Jada with her cousin, when she went to visit friends. According to relatives, this is not uncommon in their family. The cousin, 18 year old Engelica Castillo, often happily babysits for relatives for days on end. Unfortunately, this time, Engelica says that someone stole the baby.