PERPETRATOR DATA: 24 year old
VICTIM: 23 year old Jimella Tunstall
METHOD OF LOCATING VICTIM: long time acquaintances
SURVIVAL OF MOTHER: no
SURVIVAL OF FETUS: no
DID PERPETRATOR HAVE CHILDREN: 2 but had lost custody for some time in the past
FAKED PREGNANCY: yes
MOTIVE: unclear from available information.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE SOUGHT: yes
OUTCOME: life in prison
Jimella Tunstall and Tiffany Hall were old friends since childhood and Hall even babysat Tunstall’s 3 children at times. This did not stop Hall from beating Tunstall unconscious then cutting Tunstall’s fetus from her body. After Tunstall bled to death, Hall dumped her friend’s corpse in an empty lot.
Hall called for emergency medical aid from a park, where responders found her and the corpse of an infant which she claimed to have delivered stillborn. She was taken to the hospital but refused to allow an examination. Her story changed repeatedly; at times she claimed to have become pregnant from consensual sex but then claimed it was the result of a rape. She was discharged from the hospital.
Hall then visited Tunstall’s ex-boyfriend, who was father of several of Tunstall’s children, and who cared for all of them as his own. She told him that Tunstall had asked her to pick up all the children. Hall sedated Tunstall’s 7 year old, 2 year old, and 1 year old children, drown them, and then hid their corpses in the washing machine and dryer in Tunstall’s apartment.
Hall scheduled a funeral for the dead infant, who she called “Taylor Horn”. The funeral director said that Hall arrived 2 hours late. Hall’s boyfriend was home on leave from the military in order to attend the service. During the service, Hall told her boyfriend that the dead child actually belonged to another woman, a woman whom Hall admitted murdering. Hall’s boyfriend contacted the police.
Tunstall’s corpse was found not far from the park where Hall had called for emergency care. There were scissors nearby. The police asked the media to put out a call to locate Tunstall’s 3 young children. When the police had checked Tunstall’s apartment, it never occurred to them to look in her washing machine. Eventually Hall admitted that the missing children were in Tunstall’s apartment.
Hall pled guilty to 4 counts of murder and 1 of intentional homicide in the death of a fetus.
Records indicate that Hall had lost custody of her own children in the past due to issues of child abuse.
3 children of slain mom are found dead
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15029073
https://www.deseret.com/2006/9/25/19975953/two-families-agonize-over-grisly-slayings/
https://www.foxnews.com/story/illinois-women-gets-life-in-prison-for-murdering-pregnant-friend-unborn-child-cut-from-the-womb-and-victims-other-three-children
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25065836
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woman-charged-in-stolen-fetus-case/
Cut-from-womb suspect had troubled past