| The Children's Stories |
| Michael Andrew Cox 2 Years Old Shaken To Death |
| Michael died from a violent shaking because he wet his pants. His stepmother, Stephanie King has been charged with first degree murder and aggravated child abuse charges. |
| Katherine Renee Goode 2 Years Old Squeezed To Death |
| Officials at the medical examiner's office could not determine the cause of death and Katherine's death seemed destined to never be solved. But three women, her mother, a police detective, and the county prosecutor did not give up. About six months after her death the detective picked up the case and sent copies of the autopsies to experts around the country. One of the doctors agreed to do a second autopsy. Katherin's body was exhumed and the second autopsy revealed hemorrhaged tissue showing she had in fact been squeezed to death. Armed with the new information police began to zero in on Katherine's father, Michael Shane Goode, 34, who had been a suspect from the beginning. But, whereas lack of evidence had ruled him out before, the new autopsy changed all the rules. After two months of investigation, an indictment was handed up against Goode. What they had discovered was a crime almost incomprehensible in its premeditated brutality. The detective said, "This guy, to me, was colder than anybody else." She had seen many child murders before, but none like this. "This was different, because it was a premeditated, planned killing." During the investigation, it was learned that Goode had at first asked his estranged wife to abort the baby. She refused. When Katherine was 13 months old, Goode, who complained that he couldn't afford the child support payment, nonetheless took out a $50,000 life insurance policy on Katherine, whom he had never seen and whose name he wasn't even sure of. The detective said that Goode then staged a number of visits with Katherine to create the illusion that he was fond of her. But it was all a planned effort to rid himself of child support and to cash in on the life insurance. On the day Katherine paid her last visit to her father, the prosecutor said Goode bear-hugged her so tightly that her lungs collapsed. It took seven to nine minutes for Katherine to die. When it was over, Goode left her lying on the floor of the house and went to bed. Goode is now behind bars. His conviction in Katherine's murder means he will spend the next 40 of her birthdays thinking about what he has done. An appellate court upheld the conviction. A book has been written about this case, called, "To the Last Breath: Three Women Fight For the Truth Behind a Child's Tragic Death", by award winning national true crime author Carlton Stowers. The prosecutor in the case remarked on the haunting picture of little Katherine on the cover, and points out that the photograph is most unique. In all the other pictures, she is laughing and smiling, and in this one, she's not. It was taken when she was with her father. She knew. |
| Shannon P. Simpson 17 Years Old Beaten to Death |
| Shannon's stepfather, Michael David Deen, 29 has been indicted on first degree murder charges after beating Shannon to death with a set of brass knuckles. |