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Thread: Katie Stockton Sentenced In IL Slayings Of 3 Children

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    Katie Stockton Sentenced In IL Slayings Of 3 Children

    Prosecutors in the Katie Stockton / "Baby Crystal" murder case are clear to pursue the death penalty, according to a court ruling on Wednesday.

    Winnebago County State's Attorney Joe Bruscato has 120 days to notify the court of the prosecution's decision.

    Stockton is accused of killing an infant found by the side of a road in rural Winnebago county in 2004, which was dubbed "Baby Crystal" by the community. She was arrested in Kansas City in August of 2009.
    Shortly afterwards, skeletal remains of two infants were found in the trunk of an impounded car owned by Stockton.

    http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news;_ylt=A0WTTkj6wyxLsBcBvgvQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBhNj RqazhxBHNlYwNzZWFyY2g-?p=death+penalty+baby+crystal&c=&ei=UTF-8&fr=&x=wrt

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    Katie Stockton case: One year after her arrest

    One year ago today Winnebago County Sheriff's police announced a break in a 4-and-a half year old cold case--Baby Crystal, the newborn found frozen to death along a rural Rockton road. But while Katie Stockton's arrest gave the community some closure, it led to more questions.

    Since last August 6, Stockton pleaded not guilty to ten counts of first degree murder for Baby Crystal's death. She's eligible for the death penalty. Prosecutors haven't decided whether to seek it yet. They're waiting to see whether to charge her with two more infants' murders. One week after Stockton's arrest, police found two badly decomposed babies' bodies in her impounded car.

    Forensic tests on the additional infant remains are complicated and slow-going. Experts outside the area are handling it. Last week they told Winnebago County's coroner they're making progress.

    "We're making sure it's tested to the fullest ability. We want all pieces of evidence to yield the maximum yield they possess," says Winnebago County Sheriff Dick Meyers.

    Investigators still don't know if the two babies were born alive or how long ago they died. The girls were Stockton's daughters, sisters but not twins. They had different fathers from each other and Baby Crystal. Police identified two of the three men, Crystal's dad and one of the infant's from the trunk.

    "Our eventual goal is to identify the father of that third little one, and then determine are there any more out there we don't know about," Meyers says.

    One or two officers work the case every day, more if a lead comes up that's time sensitive.

    Meyers says the two fathers have cooperated and are not considered suspects. He adds their relationships with Stockton ended before the babies were born but wouldn't say if they knew Stockton was pregnant.

    Police don't plan to release the men's names to the public yet, but Meyers says that information could come out later, possibly during the trial. The sheriff's department is working with the Winnebago County State's Attorney's Office to prepare for court.

    "You have three little infants that are deceased. Who's to speak for them other than the criminal justice system?" Meyers adds.

    http://www.wrex.com/global/story.asp?s=12941144

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    Death penalty decision delayed in Stockton case

    ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) -- A decision on whether a northern Illinois woman charged with the murder of a newborn girl known as Baby Crystal will face the death penalty has been delayed.

    The decision was delayed Thursday during a status hearing in the case of Katie Stockton of Rockton. In May, prosecutors were given a 120-day extension to declare whether they would seek the death penalty. That extension ends on Sept. 8.

    Stockton has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder in the death of Baby Crystal. She has not been charged in the deaths of two other infant skeletons found in the trunk of an impounded vehicle registered to her.

    http://www.wics.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.il/27120dd4-wics.com.shtml

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    Prosecutors to seek death penalty in frozen newborn baby case in northern Illinois.

    Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a woman charged with the murder of a newborn girl whose frozen body was found in a plastic bag on a dead-end road in northern Illinois.

    The Rockford Register-Star says the Winnebago County state's attorney made the announcement Tuesday in the case of 29-year-old Katie Stockton, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

    The infant, whom area residents named Baby Crystal, was discovered near the home of Stockton's parents in December 2004.

    Stockton has not been charged in the deaths of two other infants whose skeletons were found in the trunk of an impounded vehicle that was registered to her.

    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/09/07/prosecutors-seek-death-penalty-frozen-newborn-baby-case-northern-illinois/

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    Edited

    Police still trying to identify father of third baby

    Bruscato had no other comments regarding the case, but Winnebago County Sheriff Dick Meyers said the investigation continues.

    The father of Baby Crystal was identified last year, and in February police also identified another man as the father of one of the two fully-developed infant girls — determined not to be twins — found in the trunk of Stockton’s impounded vehicle in August of 2009. The vehicle was impounded in South Beloit when Stockton was pulled over for a traffic violation.

    The third father has not yet been identified.

    “We’re seeking anyone who had an intimate relationship no matter how short in nature,” Meyers said. “We know the third baby doesn’t have the same father, so we are definitely looking for a third person.”

    Meyers said the father may have nothing to do with the death, but he wants to identify him in order to put together a timeline.

    No charges have been filed against Stockton in the case of the infants found in the trunk.

    He said the father of the second infant found in the trunk likely was in a relationship with Stockton anywhere from December 2004 to mid-2009.

    Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia would not comment on the status of the forensic investigation on the skeletal remains of the infants found in the trunk because she said she is awaiting information from the state’s attorney’s office.

    As for now, Fiduccia said the infants have not yet been buried.

    Tests done on Baby Crystal’s body determined she was born alive and died from exposure. Baby Crystal also tested positive for hepatitis B and cocaine was detected in the baby’s body.

    She is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Winnebago.

    Stockton is also the mother of a boy who is around 10 years old whose father police have concluded is not that of Baby Crystal nor the other two infants.

    If anyone has information regarding the case or the identity of the father, call the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office at 815-319-6416 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 815-319-6416 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or Crime Stoppers at 815-963-7867 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 815-963-7867 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

    http://beloitdailynews.townnews.com/articles/2010/09/08/news/local_news/news801.txt

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    Few women on death row

    Stockton’s capital case out of ordinary in Illinois

    For the first time in about nine years, a case will be prosecuted in Winnebago County that could result in the death penalty.

    But a death penalty sentence can be a tricky matter with unclear results.

    Prosecutors have indicated they will seek the death penalty for Katie Stockton, 29, of Rockton, who has been charged with 10 counts of first degree murder. Stockton is accused of killing her infant child referred to as “Baby Crystal.” The baby’s body was found in a garbage bag along a rural road in Rockton Township in 2004.


    Stockton has not been charged in the death of two other infants, whose skeletons were discovered last summer in the trunk of her car. DNA testing has confirmed the babies were Stockton’s daughters.

    The car had been impounded in South Beloit after Stockton was pulled over for a traffic violation.

    This is the first time since 2001, in the trial of William Buck, convicted murderer of Rockford Police Detective Kevin Rice, that the death penalty has been sought in Winnebago County. The last Winnebago County defendant to be executed was Ray Lee Stewart in 1996. Stewart had terrified the region during a killing spree which left four people dead in the Rockford area and two others in Beloit.

    He was put to death by lethal injection.

    According to Illinois law there are several factors that make someone eligible for the death penalty. In the Stockton case, Baby Crystal’s age qualifies Stockton to face the death penalty if convicted.

    The death sentencing rate and the death row population is very small for women. In Illinois it is even less common for women to be executed.

    Since Jan. 1, 2010 there were 61 women on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. This constitutes 1.87 percent of approximately 3,261 people that make up the death row population in the nation.

    According to Sharyn Elman, chief public information officer for the Illinois Department of Corrections, there are currently no women on death row and only seven women have received the death penalty in the past. If Stockton were to be sentenced she would be among the very few women in Illinois to ever receive such a sentence.

    In over 100 years, since 1900, 50 women have been executed in the United States. Of these women, only one, Marie Porter in 1938, was executed in the state of Illinois.

    If Stockton is convicted and given the death penalty, the moratorium placed on the death penalty in Illinois by Gov. George Ryan in 2000, will keep Stockton from execution unless the order is lifted.

    Winnebago County State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato was unavailable for comment on his office’s decision to seek the death penalty. A “case management” meeting with attorneys will be held Oct. 12, 2010.

    http://beloitdailynews.townnews.com/articles/2010/09/17/news/local_news/news1701.txt

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    A judge takes away the option of bail for a woman accused of leaving her baby in the cold to die.

    The judge made the move Wednesday during a court appearance for Katie Stockton. Stockton faces 10 first degree murder charges in the "Baby Crystal" case. Stockton is accused of leaving her newborn baby out in the bitter cold along a Winnebago County road in December 2004. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case.

    Stockton is also being investigated for the infant remains of two other babies found inside the trunk of her car back in August 2009 in a South Beloit impound parking lot.

    Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia says the cause and manner of their deaths remains undetermined, but they were full term babies and Stockton is the mother of both infants.

    She has not been charged in those deaths.

    http://www.wrex.com/Global/story.asp?S=13728688

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    Katie Stockton, mother of Baby Crystal’s, due back in court again


    The grave marker for Baby Crystal at Calvary Catholic Cemetery.



    Perhaps today Baby Crystal would be an adopted 7-year-old girl in first grade if her mother had properly abandoned her in an emergency room Dec. 17, 2004.

    Instead, the newborn infant was wrapped in a flannel jacket, double-bagged in an orange Menards bag and white trash bag like so much garbage, and dumped along with bloody clothes on a freezing cold rural Rockton road to die. Temperatures in the region were measured at a high of 32 degrees that day and dipped to a low of 15 that night.

    Thoughts of the cruelty and pain Baby Crystal must have suffered as her 7-pound, 3-ounce body froze will always haunt Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia and those connected with the case.

    “It was determined that she was born alive and froze to death,” said Fiduccia this week, flipping through the Baby Crystal files that are still within easy reach of her desk. “How do you do that to a child?”

    No one has been brought to justice for the death of the blue-eyed baby with dark, curly hair, even after all the time that has passed.

    Although Katie L. Stockton has spent 2½ years in jail on charges that she murdered her infant daughter, there has yet to be a trial date set, much less a trial. Her case is expected to continue its grinding march onward this afternoon in the Winnebago County Courthouse.

    It’s a case that has moved at glacial speed: The past six months have been consumed almost solely by legal arguments over statements Stockton made to Winnebago County sheriff’s deputies in a Kansas City, Kan., police station in the summer of 2009.

    After months of legal wrangling, Judge John Truitt on Nov. 29 finally tossed what are said to be potentially incriminating statements because Stockton had asked for a lawyer. But arguments over that ruling still continue today with a request by prosecutors for him to reconsider.

    Monthlong continuances have been granted for minor delays such as the day in January when Stockton’s public defender David Doll had a family emergency, or the day in February when Doll wasn’t prepared for arguments because of an unspecified administrative issue in the public defender’s office.

    This is the third time Truitt has been scheduled to hear arguments on the prosecution’s 12-page motion asking him to reconsider his ruling on the alleged confession.

    Doll did not respond to phone messages seeking comment.

    But prosecutors have not objected to the delays and have asked for their own share of continuances the past two years.

    Why has this taken so long? Did the abolishment of the death penalty in March 2011 slow the case down? Have forensic evidence and reports taken longer than anticipated to process?

    Those were among the questions Winnebago County State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato declined to answer when reached by phone Thursday.

    Fiduccia said she will remain patient with the prosecution as long as it means justice will, eventually, be served.

    “She was a little baby that was thrown away like a piece of trash,” Fiduccia said. “It affected everybody. It affected the guys in the Sheriff’s Department. It affected the sheriff. It affected all of us, because why would you do that to a little baby when you have the state law saying that you can take it to any ER and drop it off and no questions will be asked?”

    “Crystal Doe” as she is referred to in court documents was found outside Stockton’s parents’ Rockton home. Even though detectives interviewed Stockton at her boyfriend’s apartment building on Jackson Street in Rockford the night Baby Crystal was found, it would take five years for the Sheriff’s Department to arrest her in August 2009.

    By then, two of Crystal’s half sisters had been stored in the trunk of Stockton’s blue 1993 Saturn. Their remains were little more than bones by the time detectives learned of the vehicle’s existence and tracked it to a private tow yard in South Beloit.

    Although the girls were born full term, extensive forensic testing could not prove they were born alive. No charges have been filed in their deaths. The three girls were fathered by different men. Baby Crystal’s father and the father of one of the babies in the trunk who named her Mariah Renee have been identified by authorities. Who the father of the third girl is remains a mystery, but DNA evidence has shown Stockton is the mother of the babies, officials and court documents say.

    Winnebago County Sheriff Dick Meyers said the pace of the case doesn’t surprise him, given its complexity.

    But Meyers said because these crimes involve children who are “at the mercy of those who are supposed to care for them and those are the ones who turn out to be the ones who harm them,” it’s especially senseless and especially hard to remain patient.

    “It’s not unusual anymore that time is used as a perceived benefit in the eventual outcome of a court case,” Meyers said. “That’s not just with this one. The length of time does get frustrating, but unfortunately that’s our system.”

    Under court orders filed by Bruscato’s office, Fiduccia isn’t allowed to bury the girls found in Stockton’s trunk even though they have already been the subject of numerous batteries of inconclusive testing.

    Their remains are in tiny boxes, wrapped in colorful baby blankets and sitting atop a 3-foot-tall pedestal in Fiduccia’s office.

    A photo of Baby Crystal — who might appear to be a sleeping baby if you didn’t know better — wearing a pink winter hat, dressed in warm pajamas and covered by a colorful afghan blanket is displayed above her sisters. Angel ornaments decorate the wall.

    Saying that no baby should spend Christmas in a morgue, Fiduccia urgently arranged for a donated casket, burial plot in Calvary Cemetery and funeral Dec. 21, 2004, for Baby Crystal.

    Although there is space reserved for her half sisters there, the office display serves as Fiduccia’s daily reminder that these babies have not been laid to rest. And she is painfully aware they have spent three Christmas holidays there.

    She doesn’t want them to spend another.

    “I don’t think any child should sit in anybody’s morgue over Christmas,” Fiduccia said.

    http://www.rrstar.com/news/x17856044...t-again?zc_p=2

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    With regards to the title of this thread, Illinois has thankfully abolished the death penalty (it did so in 2011) since prosecutors first pursued the case against Katie Stockton in 2010. Therefore, Ms. Stockton is no longer in danger of receiving capital punishment.

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    Quote Originally Posted by couldheshebeinnocent? View Post
    With regards to the title of this thread, Illinois has thankfully abolished the death penalty (it did so in 2011) since prosecutors first pursued the case against Katie Stockton in 2010. Therefore, Ms. Stockton is no longer in danger of receiving capital punishment.
    Too bad Crystal wasn't as lucky!

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