Samantha Bevans Murders Stepmother In Iowa

Samantha Bevans
Samantha Bevans

Samantha Bevans is a killer from Iowa who would be convicted of the murder of her stepmother Jodie Bevans

According to court documents Samantha Bevans would suffocate her stepmother Jodie Bevans as she lay sleeping on the couch. Samantha would then head over to Snapchat where she would brag about the murder. Apparently her boyfriend Tacoa Talley was also on the Snapchat video encouraging his girlfriend

Samantha Bevans would be arrested and the first thing she would do is attempt to blame her boyfriend Tacoa Talley for committing the murder even though police had seen her confess

Samantha Bevans would head into a courtroom where she still attempted to blame Tacoa Talley however the jury would find her guilty

Samantha Bevans will face sentencing later this summer when she will be sentenced to life without parole

Samantha Bevans Case

A jury has found a Palo woman guilty of first-degree murder in the death of her stepmother, KCRG reports.

Samantha Bevans was found guilty on Monday of working with her boyfriend, Tacoa Talley, to suffocate and kill Jodie Bevans in July 2022.

Prosecutors said Bevans killed her stepmother as revenge for kicking her out of her house.

During the trial, they showed the jury a Snapchat video of Bevans admitting to the killing.

Bevans’ defense argued Talley manipulated Samantha, and he is responsible for the killing.

They argued Bevans was trying to get a reaction out of Talley when she filmed the Snapchat video.

Talley was convicted of first-degree murder last year. He’s already serving life behind bars.

https://www.kcci.com/article/samantha-bevans-murder-trial-found-guilty-killing-stepmother-palo-iowa/60846681

Samantha Bevans News

An Iowa woman will spend her life behind bars for the murder of her stepmother.

On Monday, a Benton County jury found Samantha Bevans, 35, guilty of first-degree murder in the 2022 killing of 58-year-old Jodie Bevans.

Last week, Bevans testified in her defense, claiming her boyfriend, Tacoa Talley, smothered the victim inside her home in July 2022. Despite her attempts to shift blame, jurors reached a unanimous guilty verdict on their first day of deliberations.

Court documents indicate that after the defendant suffocated Jodie with a pillow, she posted a video on Snapchat, confessing to the crime, according to KWWL.

“I killed her. I killed her myself,” she said on the video.

Talley was also seen on the video, encouraging Bevins to “keep going,” then said, “I knew this was going to happen, so good job.”

Samantha Bevans: “We killed her

Talley: “Yeah we did”

During Thursday’s testimony, Bevans admitted she partially covered Jodie’s face with a pillow, intending to step on it, but stopped when Jodie vomited. She claimed Jodie was still breathing when she left the bedroom, which is why she told an investigator she didn’t think the victim had passed away.

Bevans alleged that Talley acted alone, but, Special Agent Holly Witt of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation testified that Bevans admitted to placing the pillow over Jodie’s face. She then demonstrated how she “ground” her foot on the pillow.

A medical examiner testified that Jodie had facial abrasions consistent with a pillow being held over her face and blunt force trauma on her left cheek, likely from being struck by an object or a fist. Her official cause of death was listed as asphyxiation.

“It doesn’t matter if you think she had she held the pillow down 100% of the time…If you two are doing it together, then you’re both guilty of it,” prosecutors said.

The prosecution argued that Jodie was killed for “payback and payout,” and that the defendant knew there was a safe with money in the victim’s home. Bevins chose July 14, 2022, knowing family members would be camping while Jodie, a nurse, would stay behind for work the next morning.

Prosecutors added that Samantha wanted revenge after Jodie kicked her out for sneaking Talley into the house. Family members testified that Samantha was also angry because Jodie didn’t attend a court hearing with her concerning a custody issue.

Bevans will be sentenced in mid-June. Under Iowa law, first-degree murder convictions carry a mandatory life sentence without parole.

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Cheyanne Harris Murders 4 Month Old Son

Cheyanne Harris
Cheyanne Harris

Cheyanne Harris is a killer from Iowa who was convicted of the murder of her four month old son

According to court documents four month old Sterling Koehn was found dead in his mechanical swing by emergency personnel. Cheyanne Harris and her boyfriend Zachary Koehn would admit to police that they had not changed Sterling diaper in the prior two weeks

Due to the diaper not being changed it would attract flies which in turn would lay eggs that turned to maggots and ultimately mass infection in Sterling little body. An autopsy would also determine the four month old also died from severe dehydration and malnutrition

Cheyanne Harris and Zachary Kohen would be arrested and convicted of murder

Cheyanne Harris would be sentenced to life without parole

Zachary Kohen would also be sentenced to life without parole

Cheyanne Harris Case

An Iowa woman was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after being found guilty of allowing her infant son to starve to death in 2017.

Cheyanne Harris, 21, was ordered to spend life in prison without parole for the death of her 4-month-old son, Sterling Koehn.

Harris was convicted of first-degree murder and child endangerment causing death earlier this month after emergency officials found the infant dead in a mechanical baby swing in the Iowa apartment she shared with the child’s father, Zachary Koehn.

The couple didn’t change the infant’s diaper for nearly two weeks before he was found dead. Officials said it attracted flies that laid eggs and hatched into maggots that crawled in his clothes and his skin for days while he was still alive.

Sterling died of malnutrition, dehydration and infection and the state medical examiner determined his death was a homicide.

The child endangerment charge was merged with the murder charge at sentencing.

Koehn, 29, was also sentenced to life in prison in December after being convicted on charges of first-degree murder and child endangerment causing death.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/02/20/Iowa-woman-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-sons-diaper-rash-death/8951550696712

Cheyanne Harris News

A jury on Wednesday found a northeast Iowa mother guilty of murder in the death of her infant son, whose body was found in a maggot-infested diaper.

Cheyanne Harris, 21, was convicted of first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death after her son, Sterling Koehn, died of malnutrition, dehydration and infection. The baby’s father, Zachary Koehn, 29, was convicted in November of the same charges.

Plymouth County jurors returned the verdict after more than five hours of deliberations. Harris will later be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sterling was found dead on a mechanical swing, weighing less than seven pounds, in the couple’s apartment in Alta Vista, a small city in northeast Iowa. Feces in his diaper ate through his skin, allowing E. coli bacteria to enter his bloodstream and cause infection.

The hot room he was in attracted flies, which laid eggs that hatched into maggots while Sterling was alive; they crawled in his clothes and his diaper for days, prosecutors said. A forensic entomologist who examined insects on Sterling’s body concluded the baby had been in his swing for nine to 14 days in the same diaper.

Autopsy photographs appeared to show the boy — wearing camouflage pants and a shirt with a cartoon cow above the words “let’s play” — bleeding from the mouth. Harris cried in court after prosecutors showed the jury crime scene photographs.

At the beginning of the trial, a public defender representing Harris said while Sterling’s death is a tragedy, it was not a planned murder. Harris suffered from postpartum depression and self-medicated, but she had no desire to harm her son, she said.

“The monster, in this case, is mental health,” Nichole Watt said

At trial, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Agent Chris Callaway testified Harris questioned her maternal care during an interview. She told the agent of Sterling: “I should have checked on him more,” the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported.

A babysitter testified the infant had a raw diaper rash and seemed underweight, but ate hungrily, the Courier reported. The first time she babysat, Harris left then-3-month-old Sterling and a 2-year-old girl with her for 17 hours, she told the jury.

The infant’s father called 911 on Aug. 30, 2017, and lied to the dispatcher when he suggested Sterling had died of sudden infant death syndrome, prosecutors said. Chickasaw County sheriff’s deputies found the boy’s body in a bedroom separate from where Koehn, Harris and their older child slept.

The case was not one of the parents lacking adequate resources to care for their children, prosecutors have said. Koehn made $45,000 a year and had access to health insurance as a truck driver who hauled chickens from Wisconsin to Charles City, Iowa.

The state medical examiner determined the boy’s death was a homicide; his cause of death was listed as failure to provide critical care. In charging documents, a deputy said the case facts “go far beyond neglect.”

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2019/02/06/cheyanne-harris-iowa-mother-murder-trial-maggot-infested-baby-infant-sterling-koehn-ia-crime-courts/2791443002

Cheyanne Harris Now

Name:

Cheyanne Renae Harris

Offender Number:

6885796

Sex:

F

Birth Date:

02/17/1997

Location:

Iowa Correctional Institution for Women

Offense:

MURDER 1ST DEGREE

TDD/SDD *:

LIFE

Commitment Date:

02/19/2019

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Yemissi Keto Murders 1 Yr Old Son

Yemissi Keto is a killer from Iowa who was convicted of the murder of her one year old son

According to court documents emergency personnel would arrive at the Iowa home where they would find the unresponsive one year old boy and a strong smell of chemicals in the air. Unfortunately they were unable to save the one year old

Yemissi Keto would later admit to police that she had doused the child with cleaning chemicals in the hopes of killing him before she would ultimately strangled him

Yemissi Keto would be arrested and convicted of murder and will be sentenced later this year

Yemissi Keto Case

A Waukee woman is facing life in prison after a Dallas County jury found her guilty for her infant’s August 2023 death.

The Thursday verdict found Yemissi N. Keto guilty of Murder in the First Degree and Child Endangerment Causing Death, according to court documents obtained by Local 5.

Police found an unresponsive 1-year-old boy at a Waukee residence while responding to an “unknown problem” that day, according to a criminal complaint filed against Keto. Responders tried to resuscitate the child, but he was pronounced dead on the scene.

While officers were at the residence, they noticed a “strong odor of bleach” and found several bottles of bleach and other cleaning substances around the child, the criminal complaint states. In addition, the floor where the child was found was wet.

Keto, who was 26 at the time of the crime, later admitted to police that she had poured cleaning products on her 1-year-old son’s face before suffocating him.

The criminal complaint indicated Keto “admitted these actions were taken with the intent to kill [the child].”

In Iowa, first-degree murder carries a mandatory minimum of life in prison. Keto’s sentencing date is set for April 26, 2024.

https://www.weareiowa.com/article/news/crime/waukee-mom-yemissi-keto-1-year-old-infant-death-first-degree-murder-jury-conviction-updates/524-9751f04c-307d-436e-9979-bef2155ab593

Yemissi Keto News

A Waukee woman accused of killing her own child has been convicted.

Yemissi Keto was arrested in September 2023 on charges of first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death. A 1-year-old baby was found unresponsive on Aug. 31, 2023, and pronounced dead at the scene.

Court documents say officers on the scene found several open bleach bottles and cleaning substances around the baby. Keto, the child’s mother, said she held him on the ground and poured bleach or another cleaning substance over the child’s face before suffocating him. Keto admitted she took these actions with intent to kill the baby, according to court documents.

A jury delivered a guilty verdict Thursday for Keto on charges of first-degree murder and child endangerment causing death.

A sentencing date has not been announced.

https://www.kcci.com/article/yemissi-keto-murder-trial-waukee-iowa-baby-death-guilty/60128971

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Helen Frazier Murders Andre Brown

Helen Frazier is a killer from Iowa who would be convicted of the murder of her boyfriend Andre Brown

According to court documents Helen Frazier would call 911 and tell the operator that her boyfriend Andre Brown was stabbed in the chest by a homeless man named Milton Junior Leak. Authorities would arrive at the home and find Andre Brown dead

Milton Junior Leak would be arrested and questioned repeatedly during the month that he spent in custody however something was not right. In the end it turned out that Milton Junior Leak had nothing to do with the murder of Andre Brown and in the end it was the woman, Helen Frazier, who made the initial 911 call that was responsible for the murder of Andre Brown

Helen Frazier would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to 52 years with no parole for 35 years

Helen Frazier Now

Name:

Helen Jeannette Frazier

Offender Number:

0051298

Sex:

F

Birth Date:

01/28/1965

Location:

Iowa Correctional Institution for Women

Offense:

MURDER – 2ND DEGREE, 85%

TDD/SDD *:

08/01/2060

Commitment Date:

04/11/2019

Recall Date:

05/04/2052

Helen Frazier Videos

https://youtu.be/cEduqws4WR0?si=R7ElHQcy1-5TJAjY

Helen Frazier Case

n the afternoon of Jan. 2, 2017, Helen Frazier called Des Moines’ 911 dispatch in a panic.

“I’m begging you to come right now,” she said. “Please.”

Frazier claimed her boyfriend, Andre Brown, had been stabbed in the chest by his friend, a homeless man named Milton Junior Leak.

Her testimony led to his arrest for Brown’s murder, and Leak would spend almost a month behind bars before authorities realized Frazier’s accusation was just a ruse to throw detectives off her trail.

Before meeting Frazier, Brown grew up in Chicago and later joined the Marines, achieving rank and becoming a military police officer. In the Marine Corps, Brown saw the world.

“He just loved traveling. He enjoyed it,” his sister, Julie Rauster, told “Snapped,” airing Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen.

When Brown was honorably discharged, he went on to work in construction and manufacturing, spending his free time with family. Brown, however, never lost his love for travel, and following his 50th birthday, he headed to Des Moines, Iowa, for a fresh start.

“I think he just wanted to do Andre,” Rauster said.

At 55, Brown met fellow Chicagoan Helen Jeanette Frazier. Frazier had three grown sons from a previous relationship, and in the past, she had struggled with alcoholism and homelessness.

Brown provided a stability in Frazier’s life that she had not experienced in years. Although they intended to take things slowly, Brown offered Frazier a place to stay when she found herself homeless again.

To friends and family, the two seemed to make a good match, and they expected the couple to get married.

“It could have been a fairy tale ending,” Rauster said.

Any hopes of the couple living happily ever after came to an end on Jan. 2, 2017, when first responders found Brown on the floor of his home with a single six-inch stab wound to his chest.

“[I]t punctured his lung. It punctured his aorta twice, which started substantial internal bleeding,” prosecutor Jeff Noble told “Snapped.”

Officers attempted to revive Brown through CPR, but he later died at the hospital.

Speaking with police, Frazier claimed that just before the murder, Brown had gone to a local convenience store while she stayed at home to finish up cooking for a New Year’s celebration. When Brown returned, an unexpected guest knocked on the door — Milton Junior Leak, a homeless man who had previously lived at Brown’s house.

“Leak was supposed to be a friend of about 10 years for Andre,” Des Moines Police Officer Dusty Chapline told “Snapped.”

Frazier told investigators that Brown wasn’t happy to see Leak, who had stolen a coat from Brown and owed him money.

Frazier continued to cook while the men argued, and then she heard a “thud,” she said. Frazier walked into the dining room and found Brown on the floor, claiming she saw Leak flee the scene while clutching a bloody knife.

Frazier cooperated with the investigation and consented to a search of the house and her phone, and investigators believed they had strong case thanks to the eyewitness account. Detectives soon tracked down Leak at a local soup kitchen.

While he was forthcoming about staying with Brown and owing him money, he was surprised to find out about his friend’s death and his alleged involvement.

“He denied it the whole time … he was very adamant,” Des Moines Police Detective Lorna Garcia told “Snapped.”

Leak said that on the day of the murder, he had been alone in a hotel room with no witnesses to confirm his whereabouts. Without a verifiable alibi, Leak was charged with first-degree murder and held on a $1 million bond, according to local newspaper the Des Moines Register.

Detectives began to build their case against Leak by trying to corroborate Frazier’s statements through potential security footage of Leak near the crime scene. Investigators, however, could not find any video that put Leak in the vicinity of Brown’s home.

“We could not place Milton at the scene. We could not find anything else to connect him to this murder,” Garcia said. “It was very clear I needed to talk to Helen again.”

Frazier was interviewed a second time by detectives, and when confronted by the lack of evidence against Leak, she changed her story.

“She admitted that Milton Leak didn’t do it. She admitted that she had made that up,” prosecutor Kevin Hathaway told “Snapped.”

Frazier later claimed she implicated Leak because she “doesn’t like” him, according to the Des Moines Register.

She went on to allege that a man named Kenny Oakley murdered Brown after they got into an argument about money. Oakley allegedly stabbed Brown, and he threw the murder weapon into the kitchen sink before leaving the house.

Investigators had found a knife in the sink at Brown’s home, but because it had been sitting in water, they were unable to obtain any trace evidence from it.

In an interview with authorities, Oakley said he had never met Brown or Frazier, adamantly denying having anything to do with the murder.

“He had a solid alibi, which I was able to confirm, because he was a trucker and he had a trucking log. So, we could confirm that he was not even at the house,” Garcia told “Snapped.”

Following Helen Frazier’s statements, the charges against Leak were dropped, and he was released from jail.

“We discovered conflicts in initial statements provided to detectives by witnesses. Further investigation found that probable cause did not exist to charge Mr. Leak,” Sergeant Paul Parizek of the Des Moines Police Department told local NBC affiliate WHO-TV.

Once again, Helen Frazier was interviewed by detectives, and for the third time, she had a new story. She claimed a drug dealer from Chicago named Mark Keegan was Brown’s killer. Des Moines Police contacted their colleagues in Chicago, but they could find no trace of a Mark Keegan, leading them to believe he didn’t exist.

“At this point in the investigation, I definitely knew that she was lying, and I knew that she was our suspect,” Garcia said.

Digging into Helen Frazier’s past, investigators learned she had been arrested numerous times for assault. They also discovered Brown had repeatedly called the police on Frazier, including an incident that took place about a month before his murder.

Brown’s friends and family told detectives that he was planning to kick her out of his house.

By examining Helen Frazier’s phone log, they found she had called her mother right before dialing 911 on the day of Brown’s death. Law enforcement interviewed Frazier’s mother, and in the end, “she eventually acknowledged that Helen had in fact, told her over the phone, that she had stabbed Andre,” Noble told “Snapped.”

After speaking with Helen Frazier over the phone, her mother texted family members.

“It said, ‘Pray for Helen. She stabbed Andre’ … Then she sends another text message later that same day saying, ‘Never mind, it wasn’t Helen. It was somebody else,’” Hathaway said.

Helen Frazier was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and two counts of malicious persecution on March 6, 2017. Two years later, she was found guilty of second-degree murder and two counts of malicious persecution, according to the Associated Press.

Helen Frazier was sentenced to 52 years in prison and will be eligible for parole after 35 years, reported the Des Moines Register.

https://www.oxygen.com/snapped/crime-news/helen-frazier-boyfriend-andre-browns-murder-innocent-man

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Noah LaPrei Murders Grandmother

Noah LaPrei was a seventeen year old teen killer from Iowa who would beat to death his Grandmother

According to court documents Noah LaPrei would beat to death his Grandmother 79-year-old Rachel Pray at her Des Moines Iowa home. Noah would then head to a nearby store where he would fling items off of the shelves and yell at customers and staff

Noah LaPrei would be arrested, convicted and sentenced up to fifty years in prison with no minimum time period set

Noah LaPrei Videos

Video shows teen out of control after grandmother's murder

Noah LaPrei Now

Name:

Noah John LaPrei

Offender Number:

6307058

Sex:

M

Birth Date:

01/04/1998

Location:

North Central Correctional Facility

Offense:

MURDER – 2ND DEGREE, 85%

TDD/SDD *:

07/03/2038

Commitment Date:

06/09/2017

Recall Date:

09/17/2024

Noah Laprei Case

Noah Laprei will spend up to 50 years in prison for beating his grandmother to death. However a Polk County Judge refused to set a minimum that he must serve.

Laprei was sentenced Thursday in Polk County District Court after entering an Alford Plea to a charge of Second Degree Murder in April. Under that plea he admitted there was enough evidence to convict him but he was not admitting guilt.

79-year-old Rachel Pray was beaten to death in her home in October 2015. Minutes after her death her grandson, Laprei, stormed into a nearby convenience store and demolished shelves and accosted customers and employees.

At his sentencing hearing Thursday Laprei’s attorneys asked the judge for leniency. Laprei claims he was under the influence of a hallucinogenic drug the night his grandmother was killed.

After hours of testimony from experts and family members Polk County District Judge Karen Roman sentenced Laprei to a maximum of 50 years in prison with no mandatory minimum. She urged Laprei to seek out help for his drug problems in prison and to continue his education. Laprei could apply for release immediately though the Iowa Parole Board will likely require him to serve years of his sentence before he is eligible for release.

https://who13.com/news/noah-laprei-sentenced-for-killing-his-grandmother/

Noah LaPrei News

Noah Laprie, 19, has been sentenced to 50 years for the death of Rachel pray, 79.

He entered the plea for second degree murder, meaning he acknowledges that there was enough evidence to convict him. But there will be no trial or verdict.

A courtroom filled with family members, some were there to give impact statements before Judge Karen Romano, but everyone seemed to be there in support of both Noah and his grandma.

udge Romano took all of this into consideration before finally handing down a sentence.

“Noah John Laprie is adjudged guilty of murder in the 2nd degree in violation of code section 707.3 to be in prison for a period not to exceed 50 years,” said Judge Karen Romano.

A few family members took the stand before the verdict, supporting 19-year-old Noah Laprei.

“I watched you grow up and become an outgoing and caring young man. I would never have though this possible. I know someday I will forgive you and just know that I love you,” said a family member.

Others say he doesn’t deserve to spend his life in jail.

“Noah loved her so much. I know he did and unfortunately he was handed a loaded gun that night and it’s all very serious and he will have to live with it for the rest of his life, but I really don’t think that place should be prison,” said Noah’s cousin, Shade Sanders.

Noah himself says he’s sorry for what he did that night.

“There’s so many people that were affected by this and everyone here today and I could, I’m just so, I ever in a million years, I never wanted, I never intended for this to happen, I didn’t want it to happen, I wasn’t in my right state of mind,” said Laprie. “I loved my grandma. I told her I loved her every day when I left, when I got off the phone with her. I thanked her for every time she did my laundry or prepared a meal for me and when she helped me because she helped my so many times.”

Noah’s uncle says he believes Noah’s remorseful and this sentence is the best thing that could happen.

“Now he can get his life straightened around and come back and live a life. He’ll never forget what he did ever,” said Noah’s uncle, Roy Pray.

Noah was sentenced to 50 years with no mandatory minimum. It will be up to the Department of Corrections to determine where he will serve his time and when he would be released. The judge says she believes he will serve a number of years before he’s released.

Noah does have a chance to appeal the judgment, but that has be filed within 30 days from today.

https://www.weareiowa.com/article/news/des-moines-teen-sentenced-for-murder-of-grandmother/524-27cf4b6a-660c-40b4-bb7f-fc96f9cbf01a

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