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Nursing student murdered by roommate over cat argument: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 04 May 2025 23:43:11 +0000

Tamilore Odunsi (GoFundMe).

A nursing student in Texas who was just days away from graduating was stabbed to death by her roommate after an argument over their cats, authorities say.

Chester Lamar Grant, 40, is facing a murder charge in the April 26 death of 23-year-old U.K. native Tamilore Odunsi in Houston. Cops responded shortly before 4 p.m. to an apartment on the city’s southside for a welfare check. Officers knocked on the door but received no answer. Then they walked around to the back of the apartment where they found blood on the concrete patio. Cops entered the apartment and found Odunsi in the kitchen suffering from numerous stab wounds. Officers also discovered Grant in the bedroom with at least one stab wound. The victim was pronounced dead while Grant was taken to the hospital with critical injuries.

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Houston police told local CBS affiliate KHOU the two had been roommates for just a couple months and were in a spat over their cats. The argument escalated and Grant allegedly stabbed Odunsi before trying to take his own life. Police took Grant to the Harris County Jail on Saturday. He is being held on a $500,000 bond.

Odunsi’s family started a GoFundMe account for the woman known on TikTok as Tami Dollars or TD.

“Tami was a beautiful soul, full of light, ambition, and kindness,” the fundraiser reads. “She was just 23 years old. A devoted Christian, she was a God-fearing young woman who found strength and joy in her faith. She had a deep love for her church community, where she was actively involved and always eager to serve others with humility and grace.”

She dreamed of becoming a nurse and wanted to work with children in her new career.

Odunsi was set to graduate from nursing school just a few days before her murder, her family said. Her death is “an unimaginable loss at a moment that should have marked the beginning of a bright and promising future.”

Grant is slated to appear in court on Monday.

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12-year-old ‘restrained’ to bed, forced to eat cat food: DA

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 05:49:24 +0000

Stacey Ann Louder (left) and Amanda Lynn Gregorio (Luzerne County Correctional Facility).

Two Pennsylvania women were accused of horrifically abusing a 12-year-old girl — and the alleged abusers were her own mother and grandmother.

Stacey Ann Louder, 52, and Amanda Lynn Gregorio, 35, were arrested on Monday following an investigation that began in September 2024. According to arrest reports obtained by local news outlet The Citizen’s Voice, the girl was first taken into custody by Luzerne County Children, Youth and Families after she was hospitalized for seizure-like symptoms. During the visit, Gregorio — the girl’s mother — allegedly admitted to giving the girl 50 mg of Benadryl and 60 mg of melatonin before she began showing symptoms.

From there, investigators uncovered more about the girl’s home life.

According to the arrest reports, the girl’s trip to the hospital sparked concern among the medical professionals who treated her. They suspected abuse based on injuries she had including bruising and scars from being restrained to her bed.

The girl was asked about being restrained by police, and she told them it “hurt” and “made her mad.” She also reportedly told police that she was forced to relieve herself while restrained in her bed, where she would remain for long periods of time. According to the report, Louder and Gregorio installed cameras in the girl’s room to make sure she didn’t escape.

The alleged abuse extended to forcing the girl to eat cat food, which Gregorio admitted to a witness on the phone, authorities said. The witness also said that Gregorio told her she didn’t like restraining her daughter, but that Louder — Gregorio’s mother and the alleged victim’s grandmother — was “making” her do it.

Prosecutors said that the girl’s weight had dropped to 50 lbs.

Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce said in a statement, “The abuse of this child offends the sense of decency of every mother, grandmother, and otherwise respectable person imaginable. Once again, the very people to whom this child would look to keep her safe, were her assailants.”

Louder and Gregorio were each charged with aggravated assault of a victim less than 13, conspiracy, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, endangering the welfare of children, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault and tampering with evidence. They were held on $125,000 cash bail at Luzerne County Correctional Facility.

Both women are due in court on May 6.

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Florida woman sentenced for animal cruelty cat deaths

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 18:38:05 +0000

Michelline Joy Toulouse appears inset against an image of her apartment where several dozen cats were found abandoned, starving, and dead in May 2021. (Broward County Corrections; Screengrab via WSVN)

A Florida woman who locked away 63 cats in a dizzying state of neglect and filth will now spend several years behind bars.

Michelline Joy Toulouse, 39, pleaded no contest to 12 charges of aggravated animal cruelty in September. On Wednesday, after hours of testimony, she was sentenced to three years in state prison to be followed by 10 years of probation to deal with mental health and drug issues. The court also sentenced her to 500 hours of community service with a trash cleanup organization. And, she will be barred from owning animals for the duration of her time under state supervision, according to the Broward State Attorney’s Office.

Toulouse was, at one time, facing up to 60 years in prison.

During her sentencing, Broward County Circuit Judge Ari Abraham Porth took the defendant to task for the horrific treatment meted out to the dozens of homeless cats she once volunteered to help.

“These poor animals suffered painful and torturous deaths,” he said, according to a courtroom report by Miami-based Fox affiliate WSVN. “You let them live and die in the most untenable horrific squalor.”

In late May 2021, police responded to an apartment on Northwest 94th Avenue in Sunrise — a large city in the Miami metro area — after neighbors complained about an awful and telltale stench.

Inside, the 63 hoarded and emaciated felines, both living and dead, were discovered in what some animal welfare advocates would term the worst case of animal cruelty in Broward County.

“You can open the door about this much, and all you saw were little paws just desperate,” Saving Sage Animal Rescue Foundation spokesperson Gina Vlasek told WSVN at the time of the discovery — using both hands in a gesture to signify just a few inches of space. “As we started to walk through the property, it was just the most horrific thing that you could ever imagine. No food, there was urine in the water bowls and at least one of the cats died within the last 12 hours and was eaten halfway down. I still can’t process what I saw.”

At least nine of the cats were found dead. Dozens more were rescued over multiple days — the initial numbers unclear due to the state of Toulouse’s long-abandoned apartment.

“There was no ‘clean’ area inside the residence in any room for the cats to not be in contact with their feces,” Sunrise police wrote in the initial report about the flea-ridden, infection-spawning residence.

In June 2021, while investigators were still poring over the conditions inside her apartment, Toulouse was charged with theft after being accused of stealing $300 from Saving Sage during a volunteer shift. She was arrested on animal cruelty charges three months later.

Another one of the defendant’s former colleagues testified during her sentencing hearing on Wednesday, WSVN reported.

“She was my friend, who I treated like a daughter. I loved and supported her and would have done anything to help,” Saving Sage Vice President Kathy Bieniek said, reading from a victim impact statement. “To witness her manipulate and gaslight me and accuse me of planting these cats really changed my outlook on everything.”

Bieniek also spoke with WSVN after the sentencing — saying that she found the result favorable under the circumstances.

“I am so happy that these cats finally have their justice because they deserve so much more than what she gave them,” she said.

Under the terms of her punishment, Toulouse is not allowed any contact with any Saving Sage member or volunteer. She will also be expected to pay the group an undetermined amount in restitution.

A spokesperson for the state attorney’s office told Law&Crime that there was no plea deal reached in the case. Instead, the defense was allowed to argue for a downward sentencing departure.

The defendant, for her part, cried on the stand, according to a courtroom report by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Asking the court for leniency, the defendant reportedly hyperventilated when prosecutors showed image after image of the cats impacted by her cruelty. She also insisted she only left the cats alone for 11 days.

“This is upsetting to you?” Broward Assistant State Attorney Lindsay Carrier asked. “Imagine what it was like for them.”

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