The Gulf Coast Dixie Mafia

We open with a man extradited to Louisiana after an investigation into the online exploitation of an Acadiana child—including allegations he tried to push the minor toward demise. From there we head to Alabama, where a man is accused of using a chainsaw to kill his grandmother and aunt inside their home, then turning a court appearance into its own spectacle. Former University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling has been sentenced in the case of her newborn son, whose body was found in a closet; she previously admitted in court that she “ended his life.”

In the halls of a Reno, Nevada middle school, Caitlin Rock’s job was to help kids who were already struggling. As an intervention specialist for the Washoe County School District, she worked with students who had attendance problems at Billinghurst Middle School — kids who needed an adult they could trust. Instead, prosecutors say she targeted one of them. Beginning when the boy was just 13, Rock — a married mother in her mid-40s — allegedly spent more than a year and a half grooming, texting, and more. The relationship continued until the victim was 14, when his mother tracked his phone one night after he snuck out and the truth began to unravel.

We start with a Baton Rouge man facing charges after his 92-year-old father was found beaten to death inside the family home—despite a protective order already in place from a prior assault. Then we head to the Poconos, where a mother has been charged in the double homicide of her husband and 3-year-old son inside a Great Wolf Lodge hotel room. Authorities say she called for help afterward, telling responders she wanted to be with them. From there, the stories only get stranger. A Brazilian man is planning to remarry the wife who severed his penis after she learned he cheated on her—and he’s using compensation money from the incident to fund the wedding and a prosthesis.

Today I cover several Texas teacher-student cases as part of the “bad teacher” series, starting with Kathryn Murray in Houston, whose relationship with a 15-year-old student led to her firing, arrest, and later additional charges after the student was found at her father’s home. Next up, Brittni Collops, a Fort Worth-area English teacher and basketball coach whose text messages and sexual contact with students led to multiple convictions and a prison sentence, followed by early release.

In Baton Rouge LA, A City Hall bathroom becomes a crime scene, Gypsy Rose Blanchard says her partner died of an overdose on his birthday, and Tennessee’s botched execution of Christa Pike leaves lawyers saying she may never recover. Gypsy Rose Blanchard tells reporters she believes Ken Urker overdosed in Raceland, Louisiana, on his 34th birthday. Deputies found drug paraphernalia and a handgun at the scene. The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office says it has found no evidence of foul play, and toxicology is still pending.