True Crime Society - Moms Who Murder

THE JESSICA CHANDLER CASE

Jessica Chandler allegedly murdered her two children in October 2024. The children were initially thought to have been poisoned to death, but their autopsies have revealed they were smothered with a Lilo and Stitch blanket.

On Tuesday October 29, 2024, authorities responded to an emergency call at the home of Jessica Chandler (28) in Johnson City, Tennessee. Jessica’s partner is James Neal and it is believed that he was out of town at the time of the incident.

The call came in at around 2.30am. When EMS arrived, they found the two children – Vista (4) and Eli (1) unresponsive inside the home. They were taken outside just in case there was a gas leak. Both children were pronounced dead at the scene.

Jessica was found with “self-inflicted, superficial cuts to her arms and legs” and she was taken to hospital. Johnson City Police Department Captain Mike Adams spoke about how they did not try to get Jessica to confess or give details about what happened at that time. “We wanted to get her treatment first and make sure that she is clear-minded before we was to obtain a statement from her.”

By Friday 1 November, Jessica was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder, which is intentional and premeditated murder. Two parallel counts of felony murder are also charged, related to the allegation that Jessica committed aggravated child abuse that led to the deaths of children under 8 years old.

During her arraignment on November 1, Washington County Sessions Court Judge Robert Lincoln said “You have some very serious charges here. “You are charged with two counts of murder in the first degree,” Lincoln continued. “You have two counts also of aggravated child abuse or neglect or endangerment to children who are under the age of eight years … does the state agree (these) are capital offenses?”

“They could qualify, your honor,” First Judicial District Attorney General Steve Finney answered. “That’s a subject for down the road.”

“Additionally, based on the fact that the children did not have visible wounds and because the deceased children (had other symptoms) it was suspected that Chandler killed her children by poisoning them,” Judge Lincoln said.

Jessica was appointed a public defender at her arraignment.

Nick Fama, an assistant in DA Finney’s office, told Judge Lincoln that based on the investigation so far, “we believe that the likelihood of conviction is very high.”

The court heard that there were “letters she has written admitting to the murders … she’s also confessed to law enforcement as of last night to doing the same.”

The District Attorney’s office also said that Jessica had been charged with two counts of aggravated assault against a first responder due to her allegedly brandishing a knife before being detained and requested a bond of no less than $1 million.

“We believe that she is a threat to herself, to the community, and we believe that she poses a high risk of not showing up to the court,” the DA’s office said. “The only way that we can guarantee that she’s going to be here is if she stays in jail, so the state would believe that high bond is very appropriate in this case.”

Judge Lincoln decided that Jessica should not get bond. “I’m gonna hold her without bond,” he said. “We may at the preliminary hearing stage review the bond again but at this point, I’m holding her without bail due to the totality of everything the court has before it at this point.”

Jessica appeared in court on January 7, 2025. Johnson City Police Department (JCPD) Criminal Investigator Michael Fowler shared that Jessica allegedly killed her kids because she could not ‘protect’ them from James. She allegedly smothered them with a Lilo and Stitch blanket. The causes of death for both children were asphyxiation by smothering.

Investigator Fowler said: ‘I think there [were] multiple reasons that came up. One was the previous incident with James and her not being able to protect her children.

‘She explained a lot about her past with her past life experiences. There [were] various contributions.’

Jessica left notes taped to her cabinets, allegedly implicating her in her children’s murders, according to police.

In one of the letters, Jessica detailed an incident involving the sexual assault of her niece by a relative, which made her concerned for her children’s safety.

One of the letters was read in court: ‘I’m not asking you to know my story. I’m asking you to understand my decision. I’ve seen a lot in this lifetime.

‘I refuse to let my children bear this cruel world alone therefore I brought my children into this world and I’m taking my children out of this world.’

We also learned why authorities believed the kids were poisoned initially. Empty bottles of Tylenol, Melatonin and NyQuil were found at the scene.

Police also said that Jessica pointed out the Lilo and Stitch blanket on a list of property taken from the home. ‘She pointed out on the property list that she used a Lilo & Stitch blanket to first suffocate Vista in her bed,’ Investigator Fowler said.

Jessica’s bond was set this week at $2 million with GPS monitoring restrictions. Her next court date is set for March 31.

THE LACEY AND GARNETT SPEARS CASE

Garnett-Paul Thompson Spears (5) by his mother Lacey. She injected him with high levels of sodium, which would cause his death. It has been said that Lacey suffers from Munchausen syndrome by proxy (think Gypsy/Dee Dee Blanchard) and this is what let to Garnett’s murder.

As some background, Lacey was born on 16 October 1987 to parents Tina and Terry. She and her two siblings, Daniel and Rebecca, were raised in Decatur, Alabama.

On the surface, Lacey seemed to have an idyllic life. According to an article by lohud.com, she had an American Girl doll, loved Lifetime movies and the syrupy comfort of her favorite show, the drama “Seventh Heaven,” about a minister, his stay-at-home wife and their seven children, where problems were presented and resolved in 60 minutes.

When she was in middle school, her best friend was Jessica Lee Kyle. They had been friends for years. “She was hogging the monkey bars, and I spit on her glasses,” Jessica recalled of their first interaction. “Our teacher made us make up. And ever siince, we’ve been best friends.”

“She’d collect Beanie Babies and American Girls dolls,” Jessica said. “With her American Girl doll and my regular baby doll, we’d act like we were the babies’ mothers. We would take care of them as if they were our own kids.

“She took it to a more extreme level than I did. Even if she went to Wal-Mart, or out and about, she’d take (the doll) everywhere. It was something that gave her comfort.”

Jessica would later say around the time that they started middle school, their friendship changed.

Jessica would later learn that Lacey had told her (Jessica’s) mother that she was being abused at home.

“I remember my mom being on the front porch with Lacey, and my mom telling me to go inside because there was an important phone call she had to make,” Jessica recalled. Jessica’s mother called the Alabama Department of Human Resources that day – the equivalent of CPS.

Lacey would later tell other friends about the alleged abuse and would tell them that she had at least one abortion. She also told them she suffered from anorexia.

One day, she showed up to the church with an ankle brace, and told the team she fell while cheerleading.

“She said she fell because she felt weak because she hadn’t been eating.” Later that year, she’d tell people she was anorexic, a woman named Paula Sandlin said. Paula knew Lacey from softball.

Lacey once told people that she had not eaten for three days. Someone replied that they had seen her eat a hot dog the day prior. Lacey then changed her story to say that was the only thing she’d eaten.

When Lacey was 14, she told people that she was pregnant. “I said, ‘Do your parents know? What’re you going to do?'” said Paula. “I didn’t believe her; she didn’t look pregnant. But I didn’t want to call her a liar, in case there was some bit of truth to it.”

Lacey would eventually tell people that she had gone to Birmingham’s Carraway Methodist Medical Center to get an abortion. But when a friend challenged the story and said abortions weren’t done at that hospital, which closed in 2008, “She replied, ‘Oh, I went to Florida,'” Paula said.

The stories seemed so wild to her friends that during high school, some of them planned an intervention in an attempt to confront Lacey about what was true and what was not.

There is not much available about the alleged abuse she suffered. This quote is from lohud:

The Journal News is not publishing certain details of Spears’ reported allegations against others due to their sensitive nature and that there have been no public findings about their truthfulness. Alabama social services officials would neither confirm nor deny an existing case on Spears, citing confidentiality policies.

In 2008, when Lacey was around 21, she was living in a two-bedroom apartment in Decatur with her sister Rebecca.

A man named Chris Hill lived in the same complex. To get to her apartment, Lacey had to go past Chris’. Before the two met, he would joke about her. “We used to make fun of her, called her ‘the predator. She was quiet. You’d really have to stop her, say ‘Hey, hey, hey’ for her to talk to you. She was cold, or just very antisocial. Another breed altogether, like nothing I’ve ever dealt with before.”

One day, Lacey knocked at Chris’ door to ask a favor.

“She asked me if I’d put a baby crib together for her,” he said. Lacey was caring for a friend’s baby named Jonathon Strain. She would often keep him overnight and on weekends. In fact, she told some friends “JonJon” was her own child. Jonathon’s mother Autumn found out about that and confronted Lacey. Lacey apologized.

“I started putting it together and she started asking me personal questions,” he said. “I think she was lonely. I hadn’t seen anybody go up to her apartment in some time. I just figured she needed some attention.”

In the days that followed, that “attention” became sex; “neighbors with benefits,’ Chris called it. ‘We hooked up for a little while.’

This arrangement continued for a few months and Lacey was the one to end it. Soon after that, she told Chris she was pregnant. They started discussing getting married and even talked about baby names. “She said ‘I like Garnett.’ I said, ‘No. Let’s keep looking,’ ” Chris recalled. “We were acting like we were a couple. I was trying to get her to marry me and see if we could make it work.”

Out of the blue, Chris said Lacey changed. “She went from wanting to be married to saying ‘He’s not your kid,’ ” he said. “All of a sudden, she just acted like I didn’t exist. She just ended it. She just wanted to be a mother and not have a father involved.”

It appears that Chris didn’t pursue the matter and Lacey gave birth to a boy she named Garnett-Paul Thompson Spears on December 3, 2008. Garnett weighed 6lb 14oz at birth. She still lived in the same complex as Chris and he would occasionally see Lacey and the baby.

“We had already split up, and she was saying he wasn’t mine, and to leave her alone. I only saw her, and him, when she would get out of her car to walk upstairs. I would hear her car door shut, and hear him cry. Then I would look out of my window to try and get a look at him.” he said.

Lacey apparently threatened to call police if Chris approached her and the baby.

Lacey would tell anyone who asked that her “soul mate and Garnett’s Daddy” was a police officer named Blake who died in a car accident.

Lacey started making posts on social media about Garnett’s alleged poor health. She said that they made 23 trips to the hospital during his first year.

In 2008, when Lacey was around 21, she was living in a two-bedroom apartment in Decatur with her sister Rebecca.

One day, Lacey knocked at Chris’ door to ask a favor.

In the days that followed, that “attention” became sex; “neighbors with benefits,’ Chris called it. ‘We hooked up for a little while.’

Lacey apparently threatened to call police if Chris approached her and the baby.

Lacey would tell anyone who asked that her “soul mate and Garnett’s Daddy” was a police officer named Blake who died in a car accident.

Lacey started making posts on social media about Garnett’s alleged poor health. She said that they made 23 trips to the hospital during his first year.

“It broke Lacey and Garnett’s heart for him to go to school every day,” said longtime friend Kathy Hammack. “I remember being on the phone with her when Garnett was heading to school, and heard Garnett say, ‘No, momma.’ He suffered separation anxiety. He didn’t like being away from her any more than she liked being away from him.”

Garnett’s ‘health issues’ continued for his entire life. In January 2014, Lacey made 28 facebook posts about his health in 11 days. Garnett went from having a cold or flu, to having seizures, and then being put on and taken off a breathing tube. Lacey kept making posts about Garnett’s health and his sodium levels. On January 17, Lacey posted photos of Garnett and said that he was well enough to run laps around the ward. On January 19, 2014, he was airlifted by helicopter from Nyack Hospital to Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, NY.

Lacey rushed to go to the hospital. When she arrived there, she was stopped by a doctor who had conducted testing on Garnett. He told her it was “metabolically impossible” for Garnett to have produced the extreme sodium levels found in his system.

“Something isn’t right,” the doctor told her, according to two witnesses to the conversation.

Normal range is 135 to 145 milliequivalents per liter. Garnett’s had surged to the mid-180s. A doctor told Lacey in the presence of others that it was the highest sodium level he’d ever seen.

After this occurred, Lacey asked a neighbor and asked her to get rid of one of Garnett’s feeding bags from her home. The neighbor removed the pouch and called police, who recovered the bag, which contained an extreme concentration of sodium, sources said. Police also took food from Lacey’s apartment, along with her computer and cellphone.

While Garnett was dying, Chris (his father) found out about the situation. He had not heard from Lacey for years so he sent her a Facebook friend request to try to get information.

On January 22, she said that Garnett was going to be removed from life-support. She said that Garnett had been declared brain dead. She also wrote “his soul is already with the angels” and “I’m not ready to let him go.”

Then, one last post, on Jan. 23: “Garnett the great journeyed onward today at 10:20 a.m.”

That same day, Chris made a Facebook post about Garnett. “This is my other son Garnett, and he is 5 years old. I never get to see him because his mom just up, and moved to New York. Well, Friday he had some severe seizures that caused his brain to swell, and now is brain dead, and on life support…. Even though I don’t get to see him, I feel like he’s been with me this hole (sic) time. IM not going to lie. I cried for hours when I found this out, and it will continue to hurt till the day I die.”

After Garnett died, Lacey moved to Kentucky to live with her parents. A police investigation into Garnett’s death was underway. There was a camera in Garnett’s hotel room and law enforcement watched the footage. Lacey could be seen taking Garnett to the private bathroom multiple times, in which there was no camera.

A friend of Lacey’s also told authorities that Lacey had given Garnett 100 oz or almost 3 litres of water from her own drink bottle before he died. “Lacey said numerous times that he was very thirsty and she kept giving him water,” said the friend.

One week after Garnett died, Lacey accepted Chris’ friend request. She acknowledged that Garnett was his son. “I need you right now,” she texted on Feb. 18. “This is OUR SON.”

On Feb. 19, she texted: “Chris, you know we will always be a part of each others lifes (sic) for the rest of our time here. We have a son together.”

“We may not have worked out but now we both need each other. Friends at the very least. Do you agree?”

Other messages she sent include “I WANT G Back” and “I feel OK at moments and then it hits me like a thousand pound weight.” She later texted “I want to die.”

She also spoke to Chris about the police investigation. “I know they are looking at me,” she wrote on Feb. 20. “I WOULD NEVER HURT MY BABY.”

Chris asked Lacey about news reports that mentioned a possible salt connection in relation to Garnett’s death. He asked her “Did they tell u about a salt deal?”

Lacey replied: “What?” … “Salt?” … “What does this mean.” Then “Just in disbelief.”

Chris also asked her why she lied about Garnett’s alleged father, Blake.

“I wanted to protect Garnett,” she replied. “… Everything I DID or said was to protect G.”

In June 2014, around 6 months after Garnett died, Lacey surrendered to police following a grand jury indictment. She was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter.

In April 2015, Lacey was sentenced to twenty years to life in prison for Garnett’s death. The maximum sentence was 25 years to life and she was spared that as the judge said he hoped she would get help while in prison.

Lacey gave no reason or apology for why she ended up killing Garnett. When asked by the judge whether she she’d like to say anything before sentencing, Lacey replied, “No sir.” She displayed no emotion at the moment of sentencing.

“One does not have to be a psychologist to realize that you suffer from a mental illness known as Munchausen by proxy. I hope you, over the next few years, come to grips with your condition,” Judge Neary said to Lacey. “By not imposing the maximum sentence, I’m combining your punishment with something that you really did not exhibit toward your son, namely mercy.”

The district attorney and the judge said that Lacey kept Garnett sick and then killed him so that she could get sympathy in ‘mommy blogs’ and online posts.

“Garnett Spears should be in school today and he’s not because his mother murdered him,” Assistant Westchester County District Attorney Doreen Lloyd said at sentencing.

“He had a right to grow up, and a right to grow old,” Lloyd added. “And she stole that from him.”

“Throughout his short life, Garnett Spears was forced to suffer through repeated hospitalizations, unneeded surgical procedures and ultimately poisoning with salt, all at the hands of the one person who should have been his ultimate protector: his mother,” Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said in a statement. “Using the child’s ‘illnesses’ to self-aggrandize herself, Lacey Spears’ actions directly lead to her son’s tortured death.”

Lacey was called “a calculated child killer.” Her actions were “nothing short of torture,” one prosecutor said. “The motive is bizarre, the motive is scary, but it exists.”