KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — Officers responded to a call on Joe Lewis road around midnight Monday morning on a report of a sexual assault on a child. According to investigators, the mother of the child along with another witness came home and found the man sexually assaulting the child. Officers say the suspect left the apartment on foot. According to investigators, the man was babysitting the victim along with two of the victim’s siblings, as well as two other small children. READ MORE HERE

An Oswego man was arrested Tuesday on charges of raping and sexually abusing multiple children and one adult, police said. Richard Graham Jr., 33, of Furniss Station Road was charged with 20 felonies and two misdemeanors after he raped and sexually abuse children, and raped one adult, Oswego County sheriff’s deputies said. The charges were predatory sexual assault against a child, first-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act, first-degree sexual abuse, first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child and endangering the welfare of a child. READ MORE HERE

INDEPENDENCE, Missouri – Two Independence women were charged Tuesday with child abuse after prosecutors say a 10-year-old was beaten, neglected and locked in the basement. Chianna Hendrix, 25, and LaTrecia Hendrix, 36, were arrested on suspicion of abuse or neglect of a child, a Class B felony, according to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office. They are being held in the Jackson County Detention Center on $100,000 bond each. READ MORE HERE

OHIO – Authorities say a mother allegedly traded her 11-year-old daughter to a drug dealer for sex in exchange for heroin. According to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, this occurred multiple times between February and June 2014. The girl’s mother, 30-year-old April Corcoran, allegedly gave her daughter to 41-year-old Shandell Willingham, who had sex with the girl and occasionally videotaped the incidents, according to prosecutor Joseph T. Deters, who detailed the charges in a news release. Corcoran is also accused of giving her daughter heroin, authorities said. READ MORE HERE

CHAUVIN, La. – A 26-year old Chauvin man charged with raping a girl multiple times between ages 6 and 9 was sentenced to 60 years in prison, the Terrebonne District Attorney’s Office said. Ronny Anthony Goubert, of 5912 Joyce St., pleaded guilty Monday to sexual battery in state District Court in Houma as part of a plea agreement, Assistant District Attorney Bud Barnes said. Goubert, who could have received up to 99 years in prison, is required to serve up to 85 percent of his sentence, or about 50 years, before he becomes eligible for parole, Barnes said. READ MORE HERE

WILMINGTON, Delaware – A former Delaware deputy attorney general has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy. Thirty-five-year-old Daniel Simmons of Pike Creek pleaded guilty Monday morning in New Castle County Superior Court to one count of fourth-degree rape. He faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced on June 16 and must register as a Tier II (medium-risk) sex offender. He remains free on bail pending sentencing. READ MORE HERE

Human remains were found inside a wood stove at the North Carolina home of a man charged with killing a contestant from the TV show “Food Network Star,” her husband and their unborn child, according to a sheriff. Suspect, Robert Jason Owens, told investigators that he stored and destroyed the bodies of a Buncombe County couple, according to warrants. Joseph “JT” Codd, 45, and Cristie Schoen-Codd, 38, were reported missing on Sunday by family members after Cristie didn’t arrive in Mississippi like she was expected to. Christie Shoen-Cood was a contestant on the TV show “Food Network Star.” READ MORE HERE

Remains found in woods near Kenai may be missing Alaska family

Alaska – Human remains and clothing found on a trail northwest of Kenai on Saturday night may be linked to a family of four who went missing from the area last May, the Kenai Police Department said Sunday. Rebecca Adams, 23, her two children Michelle Hundley, 6, and Jaracca Hundley, 3, and Adams’ boyfriend Brandon Jividen, 37, were last seen in late May at their apartment in the Kenai Peninsula town of about 7,000. Their family dog “Sparks” vanished with them. The family’s sudden disappearance spurred one of the biggest search efforts the Peninsula has seen and made national headlines. READ MORE HERE

STORY SUMMARY:

• Mother vanished with young daughters and boyfriend
• Breakfast left on table; cars, wallets, keys, untouched
• Biggest search in 20 years by state troopers, FBI, yields no clues
• Police question fugitive grandmother over missing family
• Grandmother caught with stolen guns, meth, sex offender boyfriend

UPDATE: The 3rd child, 5-month old Christopher, has died. 

PALM BAY, Florida– A quiet Brevard County neighborhood erupted in chaos Friday evening when the Palm Bay Police Department received a 911 call about three children who were stabbed inside a home. Multiple ambulances and police cars swarmed the 1100 block of Kenmore Street Northwest around 6 p.m. Officers and medics found Jessica McCarty, 33, allegedly holding a knife at her front door. Inside the home, investigators said they found three children – an infant, a 7-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy – all of whom were unresponsive. READ MORE HERE

UPDATE: Florida woman charged with killing her 2 children, seriously injuring baby

PALM BAY, Florida— A central Florida woman charged with fatally stabbing her two children and seriously injuring her baby has waived her right to a court appearance. Instead of appearing before a judge Sunday,  Jessica Lacey McCarty chose to remain in custody where she is under a special medical watch. No other details were given about her condition. A judge ordered her held without bond. READ MORE HERE

Florida woman charged with fatally stabbing 2 children

Florida Mother Stabs, Kills Her Two Children: Police

Palm Bay mom charged with murder in death of children

A babysitter in Elkhart County is facing a felony charge after investigators say a toddler died in her care. WSBT 22 learned Jackie Rolston lied to police about how 19-month-old Kirk Coleman died in her care, and it’s not the first time she has been accused of child abuse.  Monday, Angie Garza and her family picked out a headstone for her dead grandson. Tuesday – his birthday – they spent St. Patrick’s Day at the cemetery celebrating a little boy they loved so much. “He would have been two,” Garza said. “That was a bad day.” READ MORE HERE

New Paris woman charged with battery resulting in 19-month-old’s death

Family of Kirk Coleman promotes petition for a national child abuse registry

Grandmother who made 9-year-old girl run for 3- hours until she collapsed and died is found guilty of her murder and now faces the death penalty 

GADSDEN, Alabama — Jurors who convicted an Alabama woman in the running death of her 9-year-old granddaughter soon must decide whether to recommend she should die for the crime or spend the rest of her life in prison. A jury convicted 49-year-old Joyce Hardin Garrard late Friday in the February 2012 death of Savannah Hardin, siding with prosecutors who depicted Garrard as a “drill sergeant from hell,” a domineering taskmaster so enraged over a lie about candy that she made the girl run until she dropped. The sentencing phase — a mini-trial within the trial — is to begin Monday, the judge said. The jury will hear additional testimony and make a decision on whether to recommend life without parole or death for Garrard, but the final decision is up to Circuit Judge Billy Ogletree under Alabama law. READ MORE HERE

FLORIDA – A grandmother has been arrested following horrific allegations of abuse. Linda Brantly of Orange County, Florida has been accused of chaining her three elementary school-aged children to her washing machine with dog collars and forcing them to sleep on the floor. She would also make the children to plank or raise their hands in the air for extended periods of time as punishment. Even worse, these allegations were discovered as the three children were being interviewed about possible sexual abuse they had suffered at the hands of a family member. READ MORE HERE

The teenagers would get together before school and at lunch to talk about a group project: the murder of a classmate, said police in Tucson, Arizona. But the plot fell apart when another teenager informed on them, police said. The five students at Flowing Wells High were charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, said police spokesman Sgt. Pete Dugan. READ MORE HERE