The parents of a newborn baby in Pennsylvania have been arrested in connection with the child’s tragic death after authorities say they didn’t set up a bassinet or crib, instead letting the child sleep in their bed where he died. Ashley Susana Usadel, 31, and Travis Scott Smart, 34, were arrested Thursday morning and charged with one count each of child endangerment in the tragic death of young Zane Scott Usadel-Smart, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

Usadel is also facing an additional charge of involuntary manslaughter.

According to court documents obtained by NorthCentralPA, officers with the Sunbury Police Department responded at about 2:30 a.m. on April 10 to a home on North Sixth Street in regard to a call about an unresponsive infant. Upon arriving at the address, first responders said they saw the father performing CPR on the child, who was face-up on a bed in the living room of the home, and took over performing lifesaving procedures.

Emergency medical personnel arrived a short while later but were not able to provide any assistance. Zane was pronounced dead at the scene and authorities contacted the Northumberland County Coroner’s Office as well as the county office of Children and Youth Services.

Both parents were reportedly transported to the police station, where they underwent interviews with detectives.

According to a report from PennLive, Usadel said that she laid down in bed at about 9:30 p.m. the previous evening with the baby. She was allegedly holding Zane in her right arm and breastfeeding him while using her left hand to hold her phone and scroll through her TikTok feed. At some point, she said she fell asleep and believed Zane rolled out of her arms and onto the bed. She said she awoke to find him unresponsive next to her on the bed.

A nurse at a county jail in Minnesota is facing a manslaughter charge nearly six years after an inmate under her care died in a case that’s already resulted in a $2.6 million lawsuit and a new law in the victim’s name to ensure something like that never happens again.

Michelle Rose Skroch, now 37, is facing charges of second-degree manslaughter culpable negligence and two counts of felony criminal neglect, one for “knowingly depriving” inmate Hardel Sherrell of medical care and the second for doing so for an “extended period of time.” A criminal complaint says the 27-year-old Sherrell was booked into the Beltrami County Jail on Aug. 24, 2018. While his blood pressure was high, he was otherwise in good condition in his initial health screening. He had a history of high blood pressure and a recent incident of respiratory failure, the complaint said.

More from Law&Crime: ‘The victim’s face is broken’: Patient viciously attacks nurse for no apparent reason, likely blinding her for life, cops say

Three days after arriving at the jail, Sherrell began complaining of chest pain and said his fingers on his left hand were tingly. Doctors performed an EKG and gave him ibuprofen, Tylenol and an anti-anxiety medication. Sherrell also stated he had stopped taking his blood pressure medication in January 2018.

Sherrell’s condition continued to worsen over the ensuing days and kept falling out of his bunk bed and was unable to stand up. He said he was unable to feel his legs. A nurse went to check on him on Aug. 31, 2018, and found him lying on a mat in his cell and not able to move. His mouth also was drooping and his speech was slurred.

A jail doctor opined that Sherrell may be suffering from Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder affecting the peripheral nervous system. Sherrell went to the hospital where an emergency room physician diagnosed him with “malingering and weakness” as he was able to move his legs. They sent him back to jail after an MRI found no abnormalities, the complaint said. The ER doc instructed him to return to the hospital if he had a fever, signs of stoke and/or worsening weakness.

Skroch, who worked for MEnD Correctional Care, LLC which was contracted to provide medical services at the jail, came to work on Sept. 1, 2018, and was advised about Sherrell’s condition. When she went to see him, she allegedly just stood at his cell door and “never conducted a standard, basic nursing assessment.” She told Sherrell to “get up and walk” and that “there was nothing wrong with him and he could get up and walk if he wanted to,” according to the complaint. Sherrell “pleaded” for medical attention but Skroch allegedly said she “would not bargain with him.”

A death investigation and missing person case has been unfolding in Georgia that’s unlike anything local authorities have ever seen, with cops spending nearly a month looking for the fiance of a Spelman College instructor who was found dead and floating in a lake, along with her partner’s boat and shoes. The U.S. Secret Service has even been called in to assist, according to officials.

“There’s never been anybody looked for like this,” Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills told local Fox affiliate WAGA this week as police entered day 22 of looking for Gary Jones, husband of Joycelyn Wilson, at Lake Oconee — the last place they were seen alive together — in what officials have dubbed the largest search effort in county history.

Jones, who is believed to be dead, was boating with Wilson on Feb. 8 when they disappeared sometime that evening. His boat was found circling a portion of Lake Oconee with no one on board, roughly seven miles away from where he and Wilson were caught on video at a boat launch. Cops say they can be seen putting the vessel into the water together. Witness testimony and phone records show that whatever happened with the couple unfolded between 5:01 p.m. and 5:24 p.m., according to Sills.

“This is a huge area,” he told Fox and ABC affiliate WGXA last week. “Not to mention the cold weather and the cold water preventing normal surfacing. There is a Herculean effort going on here trying to locate his body.”

A Washington couple who pleaded guilty to manslaughter following the accidental shooting death of their 1-year-old daughter were sentenced to prison time.

Jesse Kitson, 34, and Arabella Watts, 26, were charged in the death of their baby daughter, who was killed on Dec. 4, 2021, when an unsecured gun fell off a coffee table and fired. According to court documents obtained by local news outlet HeraldNet, Kitson was walking back and forth from the grill outside to the kitchen while Watts was on the couch inside checking her phone.

At the time, Kitson told police that he had left the gun on a shelf, but Watts said it was on the coffee table. While the exact details of the shooting were unclear, police believed that the baby pulled a coat off the table, causing the loaded gun to fall off and fire a round into the girl, killing her.

The body of a man who disappeared from a Colorado sober living home last month — with cops finding large amounts of blood strewn throughout the residence, sparking a search for him and another man who lived there — was found in a “wooded area” on Friday, prompting cops to charge the housemate with murder after he was caught on the run with a woman in Mississippi.

Johnny Rankin Morris, 46, has not only been charged with Stephen Walker’s murder in El Paso County but also a killing in Park County as well, according to local police officials. He was caught by cops in Pearl River County, Mississippi, on Dec. 30 for an unrelated crime and is now awaiting extradition on charges of first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence following the discovery of Walker’s remains.

A 27-year-old woman in Texas will spend several years behind bars for leaving a dead infant inside of a gas station toilet in Houston last year. Harris County District Judge Kristin M. Guiney on Monday ordered Diana Guadalupe Zavala Lopez to serve four years in a state correctional facility after she pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with evidence — human corpse as well as one count of tampering/fabricating physical evidence with the intent to impede an investigation, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

Guiney also credited Zavala Lopez with 489 days of time already served.

As Law&Crime previously reported, agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended Zavala Lopez in August 2023 at a bus station in Brownsville, Texas, which is the largest city in the U.S. portion of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

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Criminal Justice

Duane Morris partner ousted after wife found dead in stairwell and her parents allege domestic violence

By Debra Cassens Weiss

November 12, 2024, 9:42 am CST

Updated: A judge in Cook County, Illinois, has granted a temporary restraining order that prevents a now-ousted partner at Duane Morris from retrieving the remains of his wife after her body was found in a stairwell in his South Loop residential building last month.

The lawyer, Adam P. Beckerink, was blocked from receiving the remains in a Nov. 7 TRO sought by the parents of Beckerink’s deceased wife, 36-year-old Caitlin Tracey, report CWBChicago, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times.

The parents alleged that Beckerink, a tax lawyer, had physically abused his wife, the articles report. The parents filed a separate action in Berrien County, Michigan, where Tracey had lived, that seeks authority to access her remains from the Cook County medical examiner and make funeral arrangements. A Michigan judge granted the request Tuesday.

Tracey’s body was found in a stairwell of Beckerink’s building in Chicago’s South Loop on Oct. 27. Her foot had been severed.

Beckerink was “swiftly removed” as a partner at Duane Morris, and he is no longer associated with the law firm, a firm spokesperson told the ABA Journal in a statement. Duane Morris was not previously aware of the domestic violence allegations, the statement said.

Two domestic violence charges are pending against Beckerink in Berrien County, according to the Chicago Tribune. He is also facing felony charges of resisting and obstructing arrest. He has not been charged with crimes related to his wife’s death.

Tracey had obtained an order of protection against Beckerink in Cook County in October 2023, but it was dismissed the following month after Tracey moved to vacate it, according to CWBChicago and the Chicago Tribune. In an affidavit supporting her bid for a protection order, Tracey said she filed two police reports for domestic battery against Beckerink in August and September 2023, the articles report.

The affidavit alleged that Beckerink physically abused her at a Ritz-Carlton hotel, at Beckerink’s South Loop residential building and at her Michigan home, according to CWBChicago and the Chicago Tribune. In one instance, she alleged, Beckerink struck her in the head with a pickle jar and poured vodka on her body, burning her wounds. In another, she alleged that Beckerink strangled her and slammed her head against a cabinet.

Tracey’s parents, Monica and Andrew Tracey, are represented by lawyer Andrew J. Cunniff of Galarnyk & Associates in the Cook County case and by Mowitt “Mitt” S. Drew III of Butzel Long in Michigan.

A lawyer for Beckerink, Todd Pugh, told the Chicago Tribune that there is no link between Beckerink and Tracey’s death.

“Caitlin was the love of Adam’s life, they’ve been married since April, her family has not had any contact with her in the several months since she married Adam,” Pugh said. “He wanted to include them in honoring her memory and wanted to do this at the funeral home that her family selected, but based on the filing that we just received, that wasn’t sufficient.”

Here is the full statement from Duane Morris to the Journal: “This is a shocking and tragic case, and we send our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Caitlin Tracey. Our firm was not aware of the domestic violence and other allegations against Adam Beckerink asserted in various legal proceedings until recent media accounts of her death. Once we confirmed key facts, the partners board swiftly removed Adam as a partner of Duane Morris LLP. He is no longer associated with our firm.

“This is a tragedy for all involved. Our deepest condolences go to Caitlin Tracey’s family. Counseling will be available for Chicago office employees this week.

“Out of respect for the legal process, it is not appropriate for the firm to speculate about the ongoing investigation, other than to say we hope justice will be served, and we stand ready to assist if we can be helpful to investigators.”

In a statement after the Michigan judge ruled for Tracey’s parents Tuesday, Drew said he and his clients are “incredibly grateful” for the expedited decision.

“The ruling allows Caitlin’s family not only to honor her life with the final services she deserves but also to grieve appropriately, supporting them in their journey through this difficult time,” Drew said.

Updated Nov. 12 at 11:35 a.m. to include information on the Michigan judge’s ruling and a statement by the parents’ attorney.

A suspected killer is behind bars in Texas after an alleged would-be murder target told police he pretended to be dead in order to save his own life.

Eiber Gabriel Sira-Vargas, 29, was arrested in connection with the July killing of 19-year-old Alexis Jose Vegas, who was found by a stretch of road with multiple gunshot wounds. According to San Antonio ABC affiliate KSAT, a passerby spotted Vegas’ body near a drainage ditch off a stretch of southbound U.S. Highway 281 at around 3:30 p.m. on July 1. Police found shell casings and zip ties near the victim’s body — but no clues as to who the killer was.

More from Law&Crime: Wife makes daring escape after husband kidnaps her at gunpoint, flees in vehicle with suspect on top of car: Police

Investigators got a break in the case, however, when they learned about an armed robbery that left a man shot, injured, and hospitalized just hours before Vegas’ body was found. Local CBS affiliate KENS reported that the man, who has not been publicly identified, was initially “not forthcoming” with police, according to the arrest affidavit.

For around two weeks, Jazlynn Roush — a Las Vegas woman accused of killing her 68-year-old roommate with fentanyl-laced cocaine — allegedly went about her day with the slain sexagenarian’s body stowed away in her freezer, according to police.

It wasn’t until an office manager at the property where victim Monique Gilbertson’s mobile home was located began noticing things, such as Gilbertson’s car being parked differently and her dogs barking louder than normal, that Roush’s chilling secret was exposed, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reports.

On Nov. 6, authorities got a call from the manager to perform a welfare check on Gilbertson after attempts to contact her were unsuccessful. She had been living with Roush — who was identified by cops as Daniel Roush, despite her legally changing her name in Nevada’s Eighth Judicial District in 2022 — after meeting her at a Home Depot and hiring her to do handy work, according to her arrest report, which was first obtained by the CBS affiliate KLAS and Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Police went to the 5500 block of Tres Piedras Road where the pair lived, about eight miles east of the Las Vegas strip, and tried knocking on the door to see if Gilbertson would answer, to no avail.