This briefing includes a family-annihilation trial involving three young children and a toddler homicide. Victim names below are those officially released.
Daily Breaking True Crime Briefing
As of: Sunday, August 23, 2026, afternoon ET
Scope: Verified charges, pleas, sentencings, and material trial moves from August 20–23. Blotter and tabloid-only items were cut. Lawandcrime.com and People.com/crime were reviewed. The New Yorker had no matching crime or courts piece in the window.
In Plymouth, the Clancy defense rested Friday after Dr. Phillip Resnick’s testimony; prosecutors started rebuttal the same afternoon and closings are still ahead. In Collin County, Judge Michael Chitty denied Karmelo Anthony a new trial on Saturday, leaving the 35-year murder sentence intact for appeal. Los Angeles prosecutors charged a prior murder convict in a Hollywood triple shooting. A Cumberland County jury convicted Jeanie Ditty of first-degree murder in the 2015 beating death of her 2-year-old daughter and a judge imposed life without parole. Pima County arrested one man in the killing of Tucson police recruit Carlos Ramirez; a second person was located and a third remains wanted. And in Albany County, Anthony Bechand pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Cohoes stabbing of Amanda Rodriguez after a 12-day Adirondack manhunt.
Clancy Defense Rests, Rebuttal Opens
The defense in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial rested Friday after day 18 of testimony. The victims are Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months. Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder. She acknowledges strangling the children in the family’s Duxbury home on January 24, 2023. She is pursuing a lack-of-criminal-responsibility defense based on postpartum psychosis. She has not testified. Closings are expected Monday or Tuesday, depending on remaining rebuttal witnesses.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington ended with forensic psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick, who has previously testified in postpartum cases including Andrea Yates. Resnick told jurors Clancy was frankly psychotic that day and described a command hallucination and a sense that an outside force was moving her body. Prosecutors opened rebuttal the same afternoon with psychiatrist Dr. Avram Mack, who agreed she had a major depressive episode but said he did not find psychosis that would erase criminal responsibility. Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office; trial in Plymouth Superior Court before Judge William Sullivan.
The live question remains criminal responsibility. A verdict is not in.
Sources:
- CNN — Defense rests; prosecution begins rebuttal
- CBS Boston — Resnick testimony; closings expected next week
- Boston 25 — Defense rests in Lindsay Clancy murder trial
Anthony New-Trial Motion Denied
Retired Judge Michael Chitty denied Karmelo Anthony’s motion for a new trial on Saturday, August 22, in a half-page order after a two-day hearing in Collin County. Anthony, 19, was convicted in June of murder in the April 2025 stabbing death of Austin Metcalf, 17, at a Frisco ISD track meet, and sentenced to 35 years. The conviction and sentence stand. Defense counsel said they will take the case to the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas.
The original trial judge, John Roach, had been recused from post-trial proceedings earlier in the week. Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said prosecutors expected the denial and remain confident in the verdict. The order did not elaborate. Collin County courts; Collin County District Attorney’s Office.
A nationally watched case moves off the trial court and onto the appellate clock. That is not a new finding of guilt. It is the door closing on a retrial in this court.
Sources:
- NBC News / AP — Judge denies Karmelo Anthony’s request for new trial
- CNN / AP — Texas judge denies new-trial request
- FOX 4 Dallas — What’s next after the new-trial denial
Prior Convict Charged in Hollywood Triple
Los Angeles County prosecutors on August 20 charged Patrick Kevin Spurlock, 57, with three counts of murder in the July 24, 2026, shooting deaths of Jeremiah Badeker, Jack Cartegena, and Michael Bogacz inside an apartment in the 1900 block of N. Wilcox Avenue in Hollywood. Special allegations include multiple murders, a prior murder conviction, and personal use of a firearm. He is held without bail. A competency hearing is set for August 31. He is presumed innocent.
The DA’s office says Spurlock ordered the three men to the ground during an argument and shot them at close range. He was arrested August 13 near the scene. In 2005 he was convicted of second-degree murder in Washington state and released in 2022 after 17 years. Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office; LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division.
A triple homicide, a prior murder conviction on the charging sheet, and a competency date still ahead. No plea has been entered on this edition’s clock.
Sources:
- Los Angeles County DA — Spurlock charged in Hollywood apartment killings
- County of Los Angeles — Charging announcement, August 20, 2026
- Los Angeles Times — Arrest of man with prior murder conviction
Ditty Gets Life in Toddler Killing
A Cumberland County jury convicted Jeanie Kassandra Ditty, 33, of first-degree murder and felonious child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury in the December 2015 beating death of her daughter, Macy Grace Ditty, 2. Judge J. Stanley Carmical sentenced her August 21 to life without parole on the murder count and 157 to 201 months consecutive on the abuse count. An earlier 2020 trial ended in a hung jury. Ditty has filed an appeal.
The retrial began with jury selection August 10. Jurors deliberated less than three hours. Prosecutors said Macy was brought to Cape Fear Valley on December 2, 2015, with extensive blunt-force injuries, including non-survivable brain trauma, and died two days later. Fayetteville Police investigated; a special prosecutor from the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys handled the retrial. Cumberland County Superior Court; Fayetteville Police.
Eleven years, one hung jury, then a life term. The appeal is now the live file.
Sources:
- WRAL — Ditty sentenced to life without parole
- WCTI — Jury finds mother guilty in 2015 death of daughter
- WITN — Defense files appeal after conviction
Arrest in Tucson Recruit Killing
Pima County Sheriff’s Department, with FBI help, arrested Santiago Jorge Rogers, 39, early August 22 on a first-degree murder warrant in the August 19 shooting death of Carlos Ramirez, 23, a Tucson Police recruit days from academy graduation and a former Pima County corrections officer. Rogers was taken without incident at a Tucson hotel near Palo Verde and Irvington and booked into the Pima County Adult Detention Complex. He is presumed innocent. Alex James Barnett, 33, remains at large under a Blue Alert with an active first-degree murder warrant. A third man seen on surveillance leaving a vehicle tied to the investigation was located Saturday; detectives said his involvement was still under review and he had not been charged.
Ramirez was found shot inside the home he shared with his fiancée around 6 a.m. August 19 in the Star Valley area south of Valencia Road. The fiancée, a Pima County corrections officer whose name has not been released, was wounded and listed in stable, non-life-threatening condition. Their child was in the home. Motive has not been made public. Pima County Sheriff’s Department; Tucson Police Department.
One arrest, one person located, one man still wanted. Do not treat the manhunt as closed.
Sources:
- FOX 10 Phoenix — Arrest made; manhunt continues
- Arizona Daily Star — Man arrested in killing of Tucson police recruit
- AZFamily — Two suspects found, third remains outstanding
Bechand Pleads Guilty After Manhunt
Anthony Bechand, 53, pleaded guilty Thursday in Albany County Court to second-degree murder in the September 2025 stabbing death of Amanda Rodriguez, 41, in the Cohoes home they shared. Sentencing is October 30. The agreed term is 20 years to life. He waived appeal. First-degree burglary and evidence-tampering counts were resolved in the plea.
Prosecutors say he stabbed Rodriguez in the chest, then fled into the Adirondacks. The manhunt ran 12 days and ended near Paul Smith’s College in the town of Brighton, Franklin County, after a civilian spotted him walking. Albany County District Attorney Lee Kindlon and Cohoes Police Chief Todd Waldin spoke after the plea in the context of domestic-violence cases in the city. Albany County District Attorney’s Office; Cohoes Police; New York State Police.
A regional manhunt that ate two weeks now has an on-the-record plea and an October date.
Sources:
- WCAX — 12-day North Country manhunt ends in a guilty plea
- WRGB / CBS6 Albany — Bechand pleads guilty; 20 years to life expected
- Times Union — Bechand admits he killed girlfriend in Cohoes
Also watching
The 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office charged Alexei Munive-Rodriguez, 48, on August 20 with first-degree murder and related counts in the stabbing death of his wife, Mayle Vega Jimenez, 33, in Northglenn. He was arrested near Lamar after a multi-day pursuit and is held without bond. Denver Gazette.
Watch Plymouth for Clancy closings early this week. Watch Pima County for Barnett. Watch Hollywood for Spurlock’s August 31 competency setting.
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