A grandmother in Georgia was allegedly killed by a stranger who followed her home and then choked her to death — crushing her neck with his knees and full body weight while she was lying on the ground, according to police and family members, who describe the murder as “horrific” and “mind-blowing.”

Hector David Sagastume Rivas, 21, is accused of murdering 52-year-old Camillia Williams sometime between 11 p.m. on March 12 and 1 a.m. on March 13, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB. Police in Cobb County say Sagastume Rivas strangled Williams and then dumped her body on the side of a road in a yard near her home in Marietta, where it was found last Thursday morning in a place that her family says left them shocked.

“When they found her in the bushes, we looked at the bushes real close and it just so happens to be a Camellia bush.” Camillia’s brother, Arsene Williams, told WSB. “It’s hard to believe that this is really truly happening,” he said. “I don’t know how to absorb it right now.”

According to Arsene and Williams’ family, the Louisiana native called a relative the night before her body was found and said she was being followed by a man who they claim was Sagastume Rivas.

“She didn’t know him,” said Tony Williams, another one of Camillia’s brothers. “The night before she was at the dollar store and she told one of my nieces the guy was following her,” Arsene alleged.

Cops say a motive has not been provided by the suspect yet, but he has admitted to allegedly killing Williams. He told investigators the details about using his knees, claiming he did so after trying to take her life with a chokehold, to no avail.

“I just can’t imagine what someone would have in their heart to do that to somebody,” Williams’ niece, Danielle Williams, told local NBC affiliate WXIA. “What he’d done was really horrific,” she said. “It’s mind-blowing.”

Sagastume Rivas was being held Wednesday on charges of felony murder. He’s been denied bond and is awaiting his next court date.

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A Florida father will reportedly spend the next two decades behind bars after he and his wife left their 18-month-old daughter in a car in the middle of the Sunshine State’s scorching hot summer.

Joel Rondon, 34, pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter of a child in the death of his daughter last year and was sentenced Friday by Judge Jalal Harb, according to Tampa Fox affiliate WTVT. Joel Rondon tested positive for methamphetamine, marijuana, and alcohol, while his wife Jazmine Rondon tested positive for both marijuana and alcohol. They left the toddler overnight after returning home from a Fourth of July party.

Rondon reportedly said he felt “shattered and scarred” by his daughter’s death, with Harb having harsh words for him at the sentencing.

More from Law&Crime: ‘My daughter really is dead’: Distraught dad hammers mom’s ‘negligence’ after 3-year-old allegedly dies from 100-degree heat in SUV filled with empty alcohol bottles

“One of the most impressive facts of this case is that you decided to go back to the vehicle to retrieve your cigarettes, and you didn’t notice your child there,” the judge reportedly said. “This is not a question and you’re done talking. You failed that child then, and you continue to fail that child now.”

Jazmine Rondon, 34, also is charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and is awaiting trial.

As Law&Crime previously reported, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that the Rondon’s attended the celebration in Lakeland with their three children, ages 8 years, 6 years, and 18 months old. The family arrived home at about 3:00 a.m. on July 5th, 2023, after both parents had consumed alcohol and smoked marijuana during the course of the party, the release states.

Upon their return, Jazmine Rondon instructed her husband to bring the toddler inside while she took the other two children into their home. Joel Rondon said the car door they used to access the child’s car seat was opened at that time. He then brought a few things inside and went back out where he observed that all four doors of the car had been closed. Assuming his wife had retrieved their daughter, Joel Rondon got into bed with his wife and went to sleep.

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Family Law

Leaving kids home alone wasn’t endangerment, state supreme court says; ‘no parent can shield a child from all risks’

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 22, 2024, 3:22 pm CST

A mother didn’t commit the crime of child endangerment when she left five children ages 5 to 12 home alone while she shopped for groceries at Walmart, the Iowa Supreme Court has ruled in a unanimous opinion.

The state supreme court reversed the conviction of Waterloo, Iowa, woman Paula Cole in a Feb. 16 opinion.

The Legal Profession Blog has highlights, while the Des Moines Register has coverage.

“Under the facts presented, we do not believe that the mother created a risk that violated” the endangerment law, the Iowa Supreme Court said.

The state supreme court cited a law review article titled, “Criminal Child Neglect and the ‘Free Range Kid’: Is Overprotective Parenting the New Standard of Care?” In the article, law professor David Pimentel argued that risks abound in child-rearing. Vaccines to protect children from diseases can have adverse effects or even cause death. Keeping children off playground equipment to protect them from injuries can create a risk from lack of exercise. Prohibiting children from playing freely in the neighborhood can create a sense of dependency and helplessness.

Risks can also be misjudged. The risk of a child abduction by a stranger is effectively nonexistent. Yet injuries and deaths from car crashes are everyday occurrences.

“None of us can escape all risks,” the Iowa Supreme Court said. “And no parent can shield a child from all risks. Rather, parents’ best hope is simply to manage life’s risks—including the very real risk that our efforts to avoid one risk will end up creating new and different risk.”

Cole had left five of her children in her apartment in a secured building when she went grocery shopping in July 2021. She took the youngest, an infant, with her. The other children were sleeping. The evidence is mixed on whether Cole told the children that she was leaving.

While she was shopping, a 9-year-old child had a disagreement with a younger child until her 10-year-old brother intervened. The 9-year-old girl backed off but left the apartment building.

The 10-year-old boy was upset that his sister left the apartment building, so he went to a neighbor for help. The neighbor tried to coax the 9-year-old girl back home, but she remained outside. The neighbor then let the 10-year-old boy use his phone to call 911 because the boy was “kind of freaking out a little bit.”

When a police officer arrived, the 9-year-old girl was with several of the other children in front of the building. The children let the officer in their apartment, where the oldest child was either sleeping or pretending to sleep.

Cole returned to the apartment carrying the infant and shopping bags. She was charged with endangerment and was convicted.

The Iowa endangerment law says a parent commits child endangerment when they “knowingly [act] in a manner that creates a substantial risk to a child or minor’s physical, mental or emotional health or safety.”

Under this law, “a parent does not create a risk if that risk is part of the background risk of ordinary life,” the Iowa Supreme Court said. “Rather, a risk is created by a parent when the parent’s behavior produces an identifiable risk that falls outside the range of risks that accompany ordinary life.”

Usually, a parent creates a substantial risk when the risk is the product of behavior that is unlawful or that is “overtly abusive,” the state supreme court said.

The Iowa Supreme Court cited some examples of endangerment from other court cases. They include causing a fire by smoking illegal drugs with an oversized butane torch, causing severe bruises by hitting children with a broomstick, causing a child’s death through physical abuse or knowingly leaving the child in the care of an abuser, sexually abusing a child, discharging a gun near a child’s head, and locking a child in a basement for 10 to 12 hours per night.

“In summary,” the Iowa Supreme Court said, under the Iowa endangerment law “a parent creates a risk when that risk is clearly outside the range of risks that accompany ordinary life.”

In this case, Cole’s behavior was not independently unlawful, she did not hit or harm her children, and she did not create a risk outside the range of risks that accompany ordinary life, the state supreme court said.

“Indeed,” the Iowa Supreme Court said, “no evidence shows that leaving the kids home was any riskier than driving them to Walmart (even assuming she had a vehicle that big).”