Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - SPECIAL WEEKEND CRIME STORIES UPDATE: Postal worker/mom gunned down over a Chihuahua and a stimulus check

Episode Date: August 6, 2022

The man accused of shooting postal worker Angela Summers over mail delivery has  pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Tony Cushingberry is now facing life in prison. Summers had problems delivering mail to a home because of an aggressive Chihuahua. Repeated requests to the resident to curb the dog go unheeded. When Cushingberry's expected mail isn't delivered, he gets hostile and Summers is shot and killed.   Joining Nancy Grace to discuss: Kathleen Murphy - North Carolina, Family Attorney, www.ncdomesticlaw.com Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Beverly Hills, follow on instagram at DrBethanyMarshall Cloyd Steiger - 36 years Seattle Police Department, 22 years Homicide detective, Author "Seattle's Forgotten Serial Killer-Gary Gene Grant" www.cloydsteiger.com  Joseph Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics Jacksonville State University, Author,"Blood Beneath My Feet" Levi Page - Investigative reporter,  Crime Online    Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A mail delivery woman, a mother, is gunned down by some freak who shoots her in the chest because she stops delivering to his house because of his vicious dog. This young mom, Angela Summers, killed by a single shot to the chest. A couple of weeks before her fatal shooting, she had reported, quote, several issues with the suspect's vicious dog and mail delivery was halted. Then this guy, Tony Cushenberry Mays,

all he has to say is, quote, I didn't mean to kill her. That is total BS, technical legal term. It's like, Jackie, I take a gun and point it at you and pull the trigger and go, oops, I didn't mean to kill her. I only meant to scare her. Uh-uh. N-O. And I'll tell you why. The black and white letter of the law says the law assumes you intend the natural consequence of your act. Now, here's an example I would always give to juries. Take a piece of fine china,

the beautiful china your mom or grandma kept in a big out on display because it's so beautiful. You take that piece of fine china. You can practically see through it. You can see the shadow of your hand. And you throw it down to the cement floor. And then say, oh, I didn't mean to break it. No. N-O.

How dare he say he didn't mean to kill this mom. Just doing her job. Delivering the mail. How dare he say that? I'm so irritated with him even saying that. I didn't mean to kill her. You know what? In the last hours, a development in the case of this Indiana man who shoots down a female poster worker dead after she stops delivering mail to his house because of his vicious dog. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111.

That P-O-C, technical legal term. Tony Cushenberry Mays charged with second-degree murder, assaulting a federal employee, discharging a firearm after he guns down Angela Summers with a single shot to the chest. But in the last hours, he takes a guilty plea. Summers, beloved by everybody at her USPS, Linwood, Indianapolis post office. She died in the

hospital fighting for her life. To Jackie Howard Crime Online, what's the latest? Tony Cushingberry Mays has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is now facing life in prison. The 23-year-old admitted to police that he shot Angela Summers after confronting her when she walked past his home without delivering the mail. As you said, Nancy, delivery to his residence had been stopped because of repeated issue with Cushingberry May's dog, an aggressive Chihuahua. When Summers walked past his home, Cushingberry But that didn't seem to work, did it? telling him to contain his wild, vicious dog. But that didn't seem to work, did it? The only thing that would work for him is a bullet. I want you to take a listen to our friends at Fox at 59, Courtney Crown.

Paul Toms, a longtime mail carrier, now union rep for the local branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers, told us about what he called ongoing issues at the house involving a small, vicious dog. Yes, there was a history on this for quite a while, the way I understand it. Dog letters had been sent. That's a form to the patron when the dog is a nuisance or a danger vicious the union rep confirms summers gave the people living at the home several warnings which is the formal procedure before the usps stops mail service i had no idea it was this complicated and i had no idea that there's actually a method, a series of steps you take when the post, I guess I'm going to call it the post person, the postman or postwoman, delivers the mail and they have problems. Constant problems with one particular home.

Out to you, Levi Page, investigative reporter, CrimeOnline.com. What were the problems she was having, Angela Summers, with this one person, Tony Cushingberry? What's the problem? So Nancy Angela Summers is a postal worker, and there's this one home where there is an aggressive dog there that is very aggressive towards her. I'm not talking about a pit bull or a Doberman.

I'm talking about a Chihuahua. Hold on. I've got to tell you something. I go round and round with animal advocate and lawyer Penny Douglas Furr about this. Because I'm always focusing on pit bulls, rottweilers, a couple of other types of dogs that are always eating people. And she's constantly sending me studies about which dogs bite the most. Did you know chihuahuas are right up there?

And I know it may sound silly to a lot of people, but when a dog, even a chihuahua, sinks its teeth into your legs, you can't shake them off. This is a lady mail carrier. And from what I understand, correct me if I'm wrong, Levi, because you know the facts better than me, but every time she would go there, the dog would try to attack her it would bark incessantly growl at her try to bite her sometimes the owner the adults would be in the yard they'd just let it happen sometimes there would be children in the yard and they allegedly would not only let it happen they seemed to egg it on like you know provoke it almost what What was happening with her? Yes, this dog was barking at her,

biting at her, nipping at her. And it happened multiple times. The owners of this property got multiple warnings to put their dog up. They refused. It got so bad, Nancy, that she actually had to take out her mace and spray the dog with mace and the owners got even more angry with her a woman started yelling at her calling her the b word i wouldn't deliver the mail either you know this reminds me okay dr bethany do not judge my father don't do it because i'm going to tell you a story never told you this this story before. You know, my dad, Matt, Walter Malcolm Grace Sr., was a, yes, he did. And he was just a dream. Good looking, smart, could dance, best dad.

Anyway, he was a freight agent with Norfolk Southern Railroad. And he had to do a lot of different jobs. But one of them was it scared me to death when I was a little girl and we would go see him at work trains would be going by and sometimes he stood in between two trains going different ways or same way very close and he would have their instructions like on a telegraph, typed out, on the top of a really long pole with a metal catch at the end. And he would stand between the trains and hold the pole up. And the trains would be going by. And believe it or not, the engineer would grab the instructions. And that would be which track they were supposed to switch to. My dad also would

manually switch tracks with these giant levers in the depot. Long story short, there was trouble at an intersection and he went out on foot, went to this intersection where cars cross to figure out what, because if the train bar didn't come down and the red lights didn't come on, somebody could get killed. So my dad is out there and the car, a car came up while he was out on the track at the intersection trying to figure out what's wrong. And the car started blowing the horn at him to move. And, you know, he's trying to save people's lives. And then the car started edging up on him. Well, he had that stick.

And he turned around and he whacked that car. Like, I don't know how many times. Hence, he got the name Mac the Maniac. Believe me, the car turned around and went the other way. But, you know, how much do you have to push somebody who's just trying to do their job? Are you hearing this? Can't they just bring this chihuahua in when the mail person comes? Okay, Nancy, you are bringing up something so important.

I'm glad you brought up your dad because I want to make a similar point. You better not judge him, Bethany Marshall, out there on Rodeo Drive. So charming and handsome. I met him at your book signing years ago. He's such a lovely man. But anyway, so what we need to know about our postal workers is that they have become first responders, just like our healthcare workers. They have become first responders without the training that first responders get. And when you look at the literature on training first responders, people who go out in the middle of a hurricane, a pandemic, after an earthquake, usually what you see is that normal protocols, the normal protocols no longer hold. Systems are overwhelmed, and they needed to be allowed or freed up to protect their own safety instead of being mired in bureaucracy. First responders get trained to do

this, but she's a postal worker and she's on the front lines. She's one of these people that cannot afford just to stay home in the middle of a pandemic. She is supporting herself and her 14-year-old daughter. She's engaged. So she's doing unsung hero's work. And this chihuahua comes out. Now, people may laugh because they're an angry chihuahua, but chihuahuas can be quite aggressive. Now, remember, everybody, three warning letters were sent to his home. Tony Cushenberry Mays telling him to contain his wild, vicious dog.

But that didn't seem to work, did it? Take a listen to CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter Dave Mack. Postal worker Angela Summers and resident Tony Cushenberry have had multiple run-ins over an aggressive Chihuahua. In fact, in early April, a curtailment of mail letter was sent to the family according to the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 39 President Paul Toms. Toms says when a dog is a nuisance or a danger to the mail handler, residents are informed through three letters. The first is a warning, then a second warning is sent out. After that is the curtailment of mail letter.

On this day, Cushingberry was waiting for the delivery of his stimulus check. When Summers didn't deliver it, the 21-year-old confronted the postal carrier on a neighbor's porch, repeatedly asking for his mail. As the confrontation escalated, Summers then sprayed him with mace. This woman can't catch a break with tony cushingberry maze he's just 21 years old and in her mind she probably thought he was a young guy and he shouldn't be talking to her that way confronting her and it all goes to a stimulus check because of covid19 that he's been waiting on every single day but we can't blame it on the stimulus check or COVID because this situation

had been going on for a long time and then it blows up. Take a listen to Fox 59's Courtney Crown. Summer's Facebook page reveals her concerns over the dog at this house. A post she made details threats from the house. She also states she had a stimulus check for the person living there, and the union rep thinks that led to this tragedy. We want something like this to never, never happen again. It shouldn't happen. Summers did not request a route change, but she would not have been contractually eligible to move because she is a non-career carrier. So she was filling in. So there was no way she could have moved routes even if she had wanted to. And again, to go back to my dad, I remember when the railroad at one

juncture when I was a little girl, they were laying people off. And my dad was just so worried he wouldn't have a job. And he took what they called a mobile route, which means one day he'd drive 100 miles to work in the morning. One day he'd drive 40 miles. One day he'd drive all the way to Savannah to work, which is like a five-hour drive, one way to keep the job. I can just imagine her. She needs this job. She needs the benefits. She's got a 14-year-old daughter to raise. So she put up with this idiot and his dog. Take a listen to a little bit more from Fox 59 Courtney Crown.

Police say they found a woman suffering from a gunshot wound. Police report the mail carrier was then taken to a local hospital. They're spending time talking with those witnesses to try to get an idea exactly what led up to this. Now, the good thing here is police say that the witnesses that they're talking with, and as you guys can imagine, happened around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. A lot of people were out on their front porches. All of these homes have nice front porches out here.

The good thing is those witnesses have been cooperative with police. But because we still have a suspect on the run, we're still looking for more information. IMPD is asking you, if you know anything, please call the Homicide Department or you can always leave an anonymous tip by calling Crime Stoppers. Well, she's talking about the good thing out of all this. That's digging deep to find a silver lining on this one. So to you, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter Levi Page, what do we think happened? So Nancy, she suspended mail delivery to this home. The owners of that residence refused to sign a waiver that they

were going to keep their chihuahua up. So they were angry that they weren't getting mail. And 21-year-old Tony Cushingberry Mays was wanting his stimulus check. And when he saw that she had passed by his home and went to the neighbors and was dropping off a package on their front door. He confronted her. He was very aggressive. So Angela Summers. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Back it up for me, please. What did you say? He saw what about the neighbor? He actually witnessed her pass by his home. She was dropping off a package on his neighbor's front doorstep and that is when he confronted her about wanting a stimulus check he was very aggressive let me just write this down quickly you're saying she angela summers the postal delivery carrier with a 14 year old

daughter and i keep saying that for a reason, she had passed his house, and she was at the neighbor's house. Do I have that correct? Correct. Okay. So he then, Tony Cushingberry Mays, 21 years old, goes to the neighbor's and confronts her there? Yes, and is so aggressive that she has to take out Mays' friend.

Hold on. Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina trial lawyer, certainly a courtroom veteran, find her at ncdomesticlaw.com. These human relations, they just get all tangled up, and then it goes haywire over nothing. How hard is it to put your dog inside till after the mail person comes? But Kathleen Murphy, you see where I'm going with this, that he saw her go to the neighbor's house, left his home, armed, I assume, and goes over to the neighbor. Why? Is that a very critical legal point? When he goes over there, he is intentionally

chasing her down. He is intentionally confronting her. He is intentionally enraged at her, and he intentionally has a gun with him, which leads to that very clear murder charge, whether federal or state. He will clearly be charged not with second degree, not with voluntary, not with self-defense, but intentional murder. She's right. She read my mind. Because let's just say that Jackie and I get into a big hair fight here in the studio. So tired of her telling me when to cut and go to commercial break, blah, blah, blah. And I just go crazy

and I get my imaginary gun and just shoot her. Sorry, Jack, you're dead again. The fact that I would have to get up from this desk, get my gun, walk over to her and shoot her under the it's premeditation. It's not like they were having an argument over the dog, even any argument, and then the heat of the moment, he pulls the gun and fires. It could arguably be voluntary manslaughter in that situation, although the law says in the time it takes to lift a gun and pull a trigger, you've got time

for premeditation. It does not have to be a long drawn out plan such as poisoning someone over a period of weeks or months or lying in wait and attacking them dressed in black ninja style. It can be just like that time to form intent. But in this case, as Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina trial lawyer accurately points out, he pursues her. He leaves his home, walks to the neighbors, and starts up with her. All right, right there, Levi Pace. Jump back in. What happens then?

So she sprays him with mace, and he says that he has asthma, and his asthma flared up. And he took out a gun and shot her in the chest, Nancy. His asthma flared up. Okay, go ahead. And Nancy, what is so sad, he took off running. And what is so sad is she was on this front porch, she had been shot in the chest, and people there ran out to check on her and stay with her until the ambulance arrived. And apparently, she was still talking to people, talking to emergency workers and police officers when her lung collapsed. And the neighbors were worried about her, and as she was being stretched away into the ambulance,

she gave them a thumbs up, hoping to survive, but she did not survive. She later died in the hospital. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, for those of you just joining us, we're talking about a 45-year-old mom of a 14-year-old girl. That means she had her daughter when she was 31, and she's gone down on her postal route over a dog, a chihuahua. Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, joining me out of Beverly Hills, it's often these tiny details that just break my heart, like her giving the thumbs up as they were taking her away in the ambulance. And then all of a sudden the lung collapses.

She dies. But that moment where she's talking to everybody and going, I'm going to be okay, you know, probably telling them to call her daughter. Gives the thumbs up. There's just something about that moment that is just so just twist your heart nancy it's like the sublime and the vile the sublime is her giving the thumbs up her thinking about her daughter her not knowing that she's going to bleed out and die and there's the vile. There's this young man who already had a gun in his belt lying in wait for her. I mean, there's the lightness and then there's the dark.

And it's such a world of contrast. Nancy, you know, when we're like in an accident or somebody gets shot or stabbed, I don't know the medical aspect like Joe Scott Morgan does, but I do know the psychological, that the person goes into a state of shock. She probably did not even completely know what had happened to her. She did not know the severity of her wounds. There's no way for the mind to take in that there's been a catastrophic wound to one's body. I was once in Las Vegas at a convention. Somebody was walking across the street. A car hit him. He rolled over the top, laid on the ground for a second, popped up, and just kept on walking for three more blocks and then collapsed. He did not know what had

happened to him. And so obviously people came to his aid and an ambulance came. But she gave the thumbs up. She wanted to reassure other people that she was okay. She was full of hope, even in the face of hate. You know, I'm going to circle back, Cloyd Steiger, to you and the ridiculous things that can trigger a murder, but I want to go to Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor of Forensics at Jacksonville State University and author. Joseph Scott, help me

prove this murder case. What can you tell me about the scene? Well, the scene is going to be obviously an outdoor area. And what will need to happen is when they're processing the scene, the first thing they need to do is, if this is a semi-automatic weapon, which means it ejects the spent casing out to the side, since they're going to be absent a weapon, potentially in everything else, they don't think to go and collect that brass. But that piece of spent brass that's at the scene is going to be a tieback, a specific tieback to that scene and to that weapon. And that's important. So you're telling me not only will the bullet have identifiable striation marks on it from hurling down the barrel, but the spent shell casing will also have those markings on it as well.

Those are called extractor marks, Nancy, because it's almost, if people at home will just imagine, it's like a tiny little metal claw inside of the weapon that grabs that spent casing and ejects it out of the side. And because these casings are typically brass, it leaves very distinctive markings that can be matched back to that weapon. That's why when you see us out on scenes and we're down on our hands and we're in our knees and we're photographing and all that stuff, we have to be very careful because every little tiny element plays a huge part. You know, what's interesting is that people know, I guess from TV, that bullets can match

up like a fingerprint to a particular gun. And we know about the databank, much like the DNA databank and the fingerprint databank, APHIS. There's also a firearms databank. A lot of people don't know that a shell casing can also be matched up to a particular weapon. I believe it's harder to do that than it is with the bullet, but it can absolutely be done. I'm just listening to what you're saying. Another thing I'm thinking about is this guy claims that he has asthma and therefore he had to fire his weapon. If you have asthma, seriously have asthma, you're really not even supposed to have a dog. You're not. And that's the deal because I have asthma.

I have a dog, a cat, and two guinea pigs. But my asthma is not serious. So if his asthma is so serious, he's got to kill over it. But he has a dog? That's a whole other line of argument for the prosecution. Guys, we're talking about the death of a mom, Angela Summers, on her route. Take a listen to Fox 59, Erin Cantrell. The United States Postal Service confirms Summers was working at the time of the shooting.

It just doesn't make sense, you know. Tribbons have been showing up all around this Eastside community to honor Summers and her life. She loved people. She loved her, the people on her route. She worried about the older people on her route during this time. She always carried treats and she would, you know, give the dogs treats on her route. Melissa wants people to remember, male carriers are human and says they should be treated with respect. Nobody deserves this, you know, but she definitely didn't deserve this.

Did you hear that? She would carry treats for dogs on her route and would check on, how's your mother? How's your grandmother? Who's that jumping in? Is that Dr. Bethany or Kathleen? This is Kathleen. Jump in, Kathleen. I have.

Thank you. I just wanted to let everybody know that I was looking at Angela Summers' family, and I was looking at her GoFundMe page, and she has that daughter who's 14, and we have young teens together, you and I. And it is sad to me that this child will not have a supporting parent, a dual income household. And I just wanted to let everybody know that there is a way to help this family. You know what, to you, Levi Page, I want to get that GoFundMe exactly what it is, what it says it is. I'm just thinking about the dichotomy of what happened to her. To Cloyd Steiger, 36 years Seattle PD, 22 years homicide and author,

Seattle's Forgotten Serial Killer, Gary Jean Grant at cloydsteiger.com. Cloyd, you know, you've seen it all. What do you make of this? Shooting down a lady mail deliverer on her job because you won't put your dog away well yeah it's the the inane-ness of these kinds of murders i mean there were several options he could have put his dog away he could have put a mailbox out by the street just one of those routes where she has to actually go up and

put the mail through the slot so he could have gone to the post office and got his mail or got a p.o box but he couldn't be bothered with that because he just wanted, you know, you have to act my way. He was in such a rage that he actually, like you said before, when he went over to the neighbor's house, he brought a gun with him. Right. What was the intention of that gun? And then his excuse is, well, my asthma flared up.

In the time it takes to get sprayed and pull out a gun and shoot somebody, your asthma doesn't have time to flare up. That's just a simple excuse. He's just looking for confrontation. He found it. He was mad. He had no impulse control and a terrible tragedy happened. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Guys, we're talking about a guy named Tony Cushingberry who allegedly guns down a lady mail deliverer because she wouldn't give him a stimulus check after numerous complaints that his dog would try to attack her. Now, just tell me what the charges are right now, Levi. So, Nancy, he is charged with second-degree murder. He is charged with assault on a federal employee. You know, here's the deal.

I'm not saying that a federal employee's life is worth more than anybody else's life. But when you shoot a cop or you shoot the president or you shoot a postal worker, you're not just killing somebody. You are attacking a symbol of the United States. That's the deal. And there is an enhanced penalty on that. He can get life behind bars. The reality is that we can easily prove he knew she was a federal postal worker because they had been having so many arguments about delivering the mail. Was that Kathleen jumping in or Beth? Bethany.

Jump in, Dr. Bethany. My understanding is he had 10 weapons, a young man in his early 20s. And it's important for the public to know that there are risk factors for violence. And one is owning numerous firearms, a history of violence, substance abuse, impulse control. And this young man, I think, was living with his family. And,

you know, you have a mother to a boy. A very important part of parenting young people, especially men, is to unlink violence from social interaction because some boys do have greater amounts of aggression. They like to, like, kick rocks or maybe punch or hit. And there's so many socializing experiences where the mother teaches the young man to tame the aggression and instead to love and be kind and to be grateful. And I just wonder what was going on in this household that violence overran any sense of human decency. It's like, again, like I was talking about an earlier segment, like an animal, somebody... I know you're familiar with Sigmund Freud. Doesn't he say that by age four, your personality is set? It's over. You know what? Actually, it's true. By age three, all of our

defenses, our coping styles, what we do to respond to stress and anxiety is set by yeah i'm setting you up bethany i'm setting you up because here's the clinch this guy's 21 however he's not a boy he is a grown man it's too late for mommy for mama to come in and train him that's over with according to freud and i say four you say three. It's done. This is who he is. Don't start dragging on the mother, Dr. Bethany. I guess her fault. But you can.

A child's later socialization experiences in the family can at least ameliorate or override certain tendencies like aggression. And I do, again, wonder what was happening in that home. I mean, where did he hold these 10 firearms? What did his family think? Why did they think he needed those? Take a listen to a tiny bit of what this woman, Angela Summers, went through. Take a listen to our friends at Wish TV 8. This is Sierra Higniety.

Just days before Summers was killed, she took to Facebook to voice some of her concerns she was having along her route. She talks about a house that has an aggressive dog. The people living in the home were upset because their mail had been withheld because they had not signed and returned the dog warning card that had been delivered, which is standard protocol. In the post just a couple of days before her death, she says there was a large group of people gathered on a porch. One woman yelled to her, making multiple threats, including one to mace her, physically harm her, and letting a dog loose to attack her. According to the Post, the woman demanded that Summers deliver her mail.

It's not clear yet if the same home that Summers is referring to in her post is the home on North Denny Street where shots were fired on Monday. Threatening to mace her, to attack her, let the dog loose and bite her if she did not deliver the mail. And this is not just driving by in your car where the postman is on the wrong side of the car so he or she can put the letter in your mailbox. As Joe Scott or Levi Page accurately pointed out, this was a home where you had to walk up the yard, up the steps, and put the mail in a box beside the door is our understanding. And then all these people congregated on the porch yelling at her and threatening her. Of course, she didn't go deliver the mail. Take a listen to Fox 59 Jesse Wells. While doing her job delivering mail in this east side neighborhood on Monday, 45-year-old Angela Summers was shot in the chest and died at the hospital. It's real hard.

Of course, this never happened to us before. Reverend Michael Davis, pastor at Unity of Indianapolis, says Angela served as a board member for the church and remembers her outgoing and outspoken personality. Angela was quick with a laugh. Also, she was quick with her opinion. You never questioned what Angela was thinking because she would let you know and now to jesse wells again fox 59 what do we know about cushingberry the agency confirmed on wednesday that 21 year old tony cushingberry is accused of the murder it doesn't stop the tears

um it actually brought on some more today just because of the relief of knowing that this isn't going to have to go on and on and on and on. There can be some closure. Angela leaves behind a teenage daughter and a community trying to make sense of the violence. Of everything, her daughter was first. And that's why she worked hard to have somebody so integral in your community, to have their life taken so quickly and so violently. It's hard to take that in. It's hard to understand that. Finally, the U.S. Attorney's Office is reviewing the case because

killing a federal employee on duty is a federal offense that could carry a life sentence. A life sentence. Why should this guy get anything but a life sentence? We see it over and over again how small things in daily living end up in murder. Why couldn't they just show this woman a tiny bit of kindness? I don't understand it. I want to go to Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State. You've been on so many death scenes. They're very rarely some long- event, meticulously, carefully orchestrated. They're more often just like this, Joe Scott. Yeah, they are. And that's, you know, the long orchestrated thing is the stuff of Hollywood, Nancy.

And I can just say it. Most people, most of these events are reactionary. In this particular case, we've got an ongoing history with this, but it's not like this guy planned this out. You know, he just he showed up with violence in his heart and in his mind. And he wrecked this woman's life and wrecked her child's life. And let me tell you a little bit about what she went through. You know, they talked about how she gave the thumbs up. You know, we're going back then.

And, you know, when she's being carried away on by the ambulance crew, she took around, she took this bullet through her lungs. And at the moment that that occurred, she probably doesn't have an awareness of how serious this is. But all the while, and this goes to the horror of this, all the while her pleural cavity, which is the area actually where the lung is seated, there's a space in there. That lung has got a hole in it. And out of that hole is pumping blood.

And it's filling up in that pleural space. And as that pleural space gets filled with blood, she is slowly, slowly, literally suffocating on her own blood. That means that her lung can no longer expand. She can't take air in. And when she does, I would suspect that she was probably spitting up blood at some point in time. And it's almost like she's drowning. Drowning for what?

A stupid dog. A dog, mind you, that this person had been asked to clear this up. No, he lives in the house with mommy. He's got 10 weapons. I was looking at a photo of him. He's got enough time to get ink splashed all over his neck with these detailed tattoos, a tattoo on his face. You know, and you're waiting on a check.

He's just a little prince, isn't he? And this woman who's trying to do her job, which is a very hard job, literally drowns death on her own blood. And it's just absolutely horrific. Listen to this. The woman, Alondra Salazar, who lived next door, says she heard a loud noise followed by a knock on the door. When she opened it, she found Miss Summers on the porch, surrounded by blood, undelivered mail, a can of pepper spray. She tried to comfort Ms. Summers, who said she was hyperventilating while they waited for paramedics. The reality is she was dying. Just think about this daughter and this mother who kept this route full of problems because based on her position with

postal, she couldn't transfer routes. So she was stuck with it to make a living. In the last hours, a development, a guilty plea in a case. Jackie Howard, what's the sentence? Well, Nancy, we don't know yet. Again, Cushenberry Mays did plead guilty to second-degree murder after killing Angela Summers. He now faces a maximum of life in federal prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Jane Magnus Denson later this year. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.