Suffer the Little Children

On June 6, 2019, every parent’s worst nightmare became reality for Ashley and Matt Cowan of Williamsport, Pennsylvania when they received a frantic phone call from their babysitter saying their infant daughter wasn’t breathing. The next day, 16-week-old Remi Joan Cowan was removed from life support. Despite the suspicious circumstances surrounding Remi’s death, the babysitter was only questioned o...

*Note: The original version of episode 1 has been replaced with Episode 123: AJ Freund (Mega-Episode). On April 18, 2019, JoAnn Cunningham and Drew Freund of Crystal Lake, Illinois reported their 5-year-old son, AJ, missing. Days later, police discovered AJ’s bludgeoned body in a shallow grave. JoAnn and Drew were arrested and charged in their son’s murder.   Last week, JoAnn Cunningham, who plead...

On October 7, 2017, 22-year-old Kelsie Blankenship burst out of her Conneaut, Ohio apartment, carrying the limp body of her almost-13-month-old daughter, Sereniti, and screaming for help. It was too late, however, and Sereniti was pronounced dead at the hospital. After both Kelsie and her live-in boyfriend, 37-year-old Joshua Gurto, were questioned, Joshua went on the run, resulting in a 3-week ma...

In the early morning hours of Monday, June 22, 2020, a 911 call summoned police to 135 Rowley Street in Gouverneur, New York, where 38-year-old Lashanna Charlton lived with her two daughters, aged 18 and 13. When police arrived, they found 18-year-old Treyanna Summerville dead. According to family members, neighbors, and classmates, Treyanna had endured years of manipulation, controlling behavior,...

On June 1, 2020, Laura Villalon Sanchez called police in Waco, Texas, reporting that her 2-year-old son, Frankie Gonzales, had disappeared while she and her three young children visited a local park. Police and various other agencies mobilized a massive search involving land, water, and air, but no sign of Frankie could be found. The next morning, Laura led police to her little boy’s body, which s...

On December 21, 2018, police in Old Lycoming Township, Pennsylvania responded to a 911 call about an unresponsive child. Inside the mobile home, on the floor of a bedroom, they discovered 19-month-old Ky’mani Moore unresponsive. Ky’mani was taken to the hospital, where he was almost immediately pronounced dead.  For the first time, a very special guest joins me on the podcast; Melissa Moore, Ky’ma...

On May 24, 2019, a couple carried an unresponsive 12-year-old boy into an emergency room in Bloomington, Indiana. The boy, who was almost immediately pronounced dead, was emaciated and covered in contusions and lacerations, triggering a child abuse investigation. What police discovered in the motel room where the boy had been living with his father, his stepmother, and three siblings would shock e...

On March 13, 2017, 21-year-old Travis Graham brought his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter, Charlette Dawkins, to the emergency room, claiming she had fallen down the stairs while throwing a temper tantrum. Despite doctors’ best efforts, Charlette was pronounced dead the following day. Doctors told the family there were signs the little girl had been abused for a prolonged period, including bruises...

Severe injuries and deaths from child abuse are rising amidst the stresses of COVID-19. In this episode centered around the story of one such child, I will also discuss resources and tools to help us cope with these stresses.  On April 10, 2020, a three-year-old boy arrived in the emergency room at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. His foster parents told doctors the little boy...

In February of this year, police in Las Vegas responded to a domestic disturbance call involving a 37-year-old woman and her 31-year-old boyfriend, both of whom were homeless and living out of a pickup truck with the woman’s teenage daughter and three dogs. The woman had extensive injuries, but she had an even more shocking story to tell authorities. What she told them led to the discovery, over a...

Last June, Julia Tomlin reported her 2-year-old son, Noah, missing, saying when she awoke around 11:30 in the morning on June 24, he was gone from the family’s mobile home in Hampton, Virginia. Investigators launched a massive search that spanned ten days, caught the attention of the national media, and involved several law enforcement agencies as well as concerned citizens. As the days passed, Ju...

In 2011, a chronically abused 10-year-old girl suffocated to death on a hot Arizona summer night, padlocked inside an airtight plastic container that used to store her sister’s Barbie collection. This was Ame Deal’s punishment for eating a popsicle. Ame’s death sparked a massive overhaul of Arizona’s child protection system and resulted in the convictions of five of her family members. She must ne...

In 2009, a 16-month-old girl died while in the care of her mother's cousin, Christy Shaffer. The baby's death was ruled a homicide caused by blunt force trauma. The police had only one suspect: Christy Shaffer. The prosecutor charged her with nothing more than neglect, and the judge let her out of jail after a mere 77 days.  Small-town politics, corruption in the justice system, grassroots activis...

A young boy in Montana loses his father and goes to live with his paternal grandparents, aunt, and uncles. Two years later, police are called to the family’s West Yellowstone home, where police find the boy dead, battered, and malnourished on the living room floor. Before long, five people, four of whom lived in the house with him, are charged in connection with the systematic torture and brutal d...

(Part 2 of 2) An 8-year-old Long Island boy with autism dies of hypothermia after spending the night in the unheated garage of his family home. His NYPD officer father and the man’s fiancee are arrested for his murder. Only then do the years of abuse the little boy endured come to light, meticulously documented by his mother, who continues to fight for justice for her precious Tommy and his two su...

An 8-year-old Long Island boy with autism dies of hypothermia after spending the night in the unheated garage of his family home. His NYPD officer father and the man’s fiancee are arrested for his murder. Only then do the years of abuse the little boy endured come to light, meticulously documented by his mother, who continues to fight for justice for her precious Tommy and his two surviving brothe...

In September of 2016, Geraldine Perkins ran into the ER at Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospital in New York City, carrying the lifeless body of her 6-year-old son, Zymere. She told medical staff that Zymere had fallen off his bed. The truth that was eventually revealed was darker than anyone could have imagined. Zymere had been beaten to death by his mother's boyfriend, Rysheim Smith, using a splintere...

Dylan James Groves was born on January 10, 2019 with illicit drugs in his system. 153 days later, his tiny body was recovered from the bottom of a well about two miles from his family's trailer home in Otway, Ohio. Dylan's story illustrates the havoc drug addiction wreaks on families and exemplifies why the health and safety of the child needs to be considered more important than the state's blind...

*Note: The original version of episode 1 has been replaced with Episode 123: AJ Freund (Mega-Episode). On April 18, 2019, Drew Freund and JoAnn Cunningham of Crystal Lake, Illinois reported their 5-year-old son, AJ, missing. Almost immediately, their story began to unravel, and six days later, little AJ's brutal fate was revealed. AJ's story is a tragic example of why large-scale changes must be m...

Suffer the Little Children is a true crime podcast giving voices back to the victims of child abuse and shining a harsh light on the parents, guardians, and caretakers who silenced them. Each week, your host, Laine, will dive deep into a different case of child abuse that resulted in either death or serious injury. Calling attention to these tragic stories can lead to positive changes in the syste...