Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Teen Girl Shot Dead for Boyfriend's View Pleasure

Episode Date: August 20, 2021

An Indiana man is charged with criminally negligent homicide in the death of 19-year-old Grace Anne Sparks while he was 300 miles away at his home. Hayden Berkebile, 29, told detectives they’d been in a relationship since “she was in her early teens, communicated via messaging apps, and had visited each other. Police say "Berkebille stated that the victim had been suicidal for years and on this day during the course of their conversation, she grabbed a gun, the camera moved, he told her ‘no, no, no’ and then heard a gunshot.” Sparks’ death has initially ruled a suicide. Investigators found, however, that Berkebile was a “BDSM sexual master” who “exerted sexual control over the victim causing her to engage in dangerous and demeaning acts,” encouraging Sparks to kill herself for his “viewing pleasure.” “On the day of the victim’s death, the victim asks Mr. Berkebile to use her,” an affidavit filed in court said. “Berkebile states ‘No, I want to kill you.’ ‘That’s all I [expletive] want.’” Berkebile faces charges of criminally negligent homicide and false reports.Joining Nancy Grace Today: Randy Kessler - Atlanta Trial Lawyer, Emory Law School Professor, Past Chair ABA Family Law Section, Author: "Divorce, Protect Yourself, Your Kids and Your Future", www.KSFamilyLaw.com, Instagram: @rkessler23, Twitter: @GADivorce Dr. Shari Schwartz - Forensic Psychologist (specializing in Capital Mitigation and Victim Advocacy), www.panthermitigation.com, Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrialDoc, Author: "Criminal Behavior" and "Where Law and Psychology Intersect: Issues in Legal Psychology" Dr. Kendall Crowns – Deputy Medical Examiner Travis County, Texas (Austin) Kristy Mazurek - Emmy Award-winning Investigative Reporter, President of Successful Strategies PR and Crisis Communications Firm Glenn Bard - Retired Pennsylvania State Trooper First Class, Computer Crime Investigations, U.S. Veteran of Operation Desert Storm, PATCtech Digital Forensics patc tech dot com Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I wish you could see this woman, Grace Ann Sparks. She's a teen girl. She's just 19 years old. She has dreams of becoming a veterinarian and she's found dead, shot in the head. Wait for it. She's shot in the head for for Hayden Berkebiles viewing pleasure. She is shot dead in the head for this 29-year-old guy's viewing pleasure.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace Viewing pleasure? Someone gets viewing pleasure watching a young teen girl get shot in the head? Take a listen to reporter Cole Sullivan, WBIR10. When Chaz Terry began investigating a suicide call at this West Hills apartment, KPD says he could tell something was off.

Records show 19-year-old Grace Ann Sparks shot herself in the bedroom with a.357 revolver. But a man in Indiana called 911 to report it. KPD says Hayden Burkabile and Sparks had a relationship since before she turned 18. And the KPD detective says Burkabile exerted sexual control over the victim, causing her to engage in dangerous and demeaning acts. He says Burkabile crafted a manner by which Sparks would kill herself for his viewing pleasure. Hayden Birkbeil, 29, is described as a BDSM sexual master. His words, not mine.

Who, quote, exerted sexual control over the victim, causing her to engage in dangerous, demeaning acts. Now, that is according to a sworn search warrant affidavit. Okay, let's just get right down to it. Joining me, Christy Mazurk, Emmy Award winning investigative reporter, president, successful strategies of crisis communications. Glenn Bard, former state trooper, first class computer crime investigations. That's important. Operation Desert Storm Vet, Patch Digital Forensics at pacttech.com. Dr. Kendall Crowns joining us, Deputy Chief

Medical Examiner, Travis County, Austin, Texas. You know how hard, how difficult it is to become a Deputy Chief Medical Examiner? Very difficult. Very difficult. He is also Senior Lecturer at University of Texas and Texas A&M. Dr. Sherry Schwartz is joining us today, forensic psychologist specializing in capital cases at panthermitigation.com. She is the author of Criminal Behavior and Where Law and Psychology Intersect. Randy Kessler joining me, renowned Atlanta trial lawyer, former chairman of the

ABA family law section and author of Divorce, Protect Yourself, Your Kids, and Your Future. He's got a lot of experience, war stories of relationships gone wrong. I bet he's never seen a case like this. And you can find him at ksfamilylaw.com. First of all, Dr. Sherry Swartz, you know there's a problem when I go to you before the reporter. Could you explain to everyone that's not into bondage what BDSM is? Yeah, it is. It stands for bondage, discipline, dominance, and submission. It's a form of sexual sadism where the person or persons who are into this become sexually aroused at violence, physical violence,

the psychological dominance, having somebody behave submissively. And what we know about that is that very often that is sometimes the only way, excuse me, that these individuals can get aroused. When this case was initially investigated, right at the beginning, red flags were raised. But who is this beautiful young teen girl? And I'd like to point out that their relationship, as it is, started years old with a teen girl that ends up dead on the floor for his, quote, viewing pleasure. Take a listen to our friends at WBIR10. Candace Sparks shares story after story of her daughter with the tender heart,

the bluest of blue eyes, and curly blonde hair. She was champion of the underdog. You know, people could pick on her, but they couldn't pick on her friends. After high school, Grace Ann moved from Cookville to Knoxville. She finally got the horse she always wanted. Let's take a listen to more of who the victim really is. You know, she was so excited about her plans. And I just lost it. I fell to the floor. It had to be shocking. Yes, that's the thing. It was out of the blue.

I just, I couldn't believe it. But then I found out that there was more involved. So much more involved. You were hearing her mother, Grace Ann Sparks' mother, describing her. The mom says her little girl had a, quote, heart of gold. From the time she was a child, she loved animals. As soon as she graduated high school, her goal was to enroll at University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. Bright blue eyes, blonde curly hair, and her joy when she finally got to adopt a horse.

Mom says she had the world by the tail. Pretty, great personality, super smart, no end to what she could accomplish. When the medical examiner arrived on the scene and said he thought it was a suicide, mom just didn't believe it. To Dr. Kendall Crowns joining me, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Travis County, that's Austin, Texas, lecturer, University of Texas and Texas A&M. Tell me about going to a scene, finding a female victim dead by GSW, gunshot wound, and immediately assuming it was a suicide. What would lead to that conclusion? Well, usually with a suicide at the scene, the main thing is the gun is still there.

It's usually the individual's clutching it or it's beside them or underneath the leg. But that's one of the key things. The other thing is the gunshot wound of entrance. When you look at it, you can see specific things that show that it's contact range, like muzzle impression and soot around the wound itself. Other things that you're looking at in a suicide situation is there's no evidence of a struggle. Often with women, suicide, they will shoot themselves in the bathtub or do it in an area where it'll be easier to clean because they're thinking those that find them and having to clean it up. So those are factors that you're looking for. And then sometimes there's a note, like a physical note that's written, or nowadays there's digital notes as well that are put on the computer or on cell phones. But those factors are what you're looking for with a suicide what is stippling stippling or gunpowder tattooing is

when you're holding the barrel of the gun anywhere from near contact to about 18 to 24 inches and you pull the trigger it's the actual gunpowder coming out of the gun gun itself and hitting the edge of the skin and either embedding in the skin or abrading or kind of scratching the skin. It leaves like these little dots around the gunshot wound of entrance. And that's one of the ways we determine range of fire. Usually with suicides, it's contact range. So the soot or gunpowder all kind of blows into the wound itself and you'll find it about

the edge of the wound and into the wound itself, and you'll find it about the edge of the wound and in the wound cavity. Kind of like a tattoo, where the gun is in contact with the skin or close to the skin. Yeah, that's actually another name for it is gunpowder tattoo. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, when Grace Ann Sparks' teen girl is found dead in her own home, it's announced a suicide. But her mother doesn't believe it, cannot believe that's the entire story. And as usual, mommy is right. Back to Dr. Kendall Crowns, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Travis County, Austin, Texas. We often conduct field tests, which means it's a test done not in the laboratory, the crime lab or the morgue,

and field tests have been done time immemorial. For instance, let's say you're in World War II and you're trying to identify a body. There is a field test. No, there wasn't DNA at the time, but there were field tests then. Here, I assume, Dr. Kendall Crowns, there would be a GSR, gunshot residue test, where right there on the scene, or the hands can be bagged in paper bags with rubber band around them and take it to the morgue. I would do a GSR right there on the scene because GSR is so easily moved or destroyed. It's like baby powder, gunshot residue, and you very often cannot see it with the naked eye, but you rub. What do you rub on the hand, Dr. Kendall Crown? So with GSR testing or gunshot residue testing, it's a kind of a sticky tab that we use to place on it.

And it kind of pulls the gunshot residue off like placing a tape on it. What I'm asking is what's on the sticky tab? What is that substance? Got me there. I don't know. I can't believe it. I is that substance? Got me there. I don't know. I can't believe it. I've actually stumped you, Jackie. Yes, you have.

But that's what you got. I parked that down. A sticky light tape. And then it's examined, and you can then, under a microscope, determine if there's gunshot residue and test it. That would be a reason you could determine something was a suicide if the victim has gunshot residue on their hands. But not always.

There could have been a struggle over the gun. I mean, there are many ways to beat a gunshot residue test or to thwart it. To Glenn Bard, former state trooper, first class computer crime investigation, U.S. vet, Operation Desert Storm, and an expert in digital forensics. Glenn Bard, of course, you've come to scenes before where you determine that it's not a homicide, it's a suicide. What would lead, what would factor into your decision? What we do a lot of times is a couple of things. First off, when a person does commit suicide, a lot of times they research it first. They'll do different Google searching and Internet searching about the best ways to do it, the least painful ways to do it,

and so on like that. Some other times they'll leave, again, notes, whether it be in a message or some type of note left on the digital information about them saying goodbye. A lot of times they'll want to apologize. You know, I love you. This isn't because of you, but I just can't be here anymore. So we'll look for those notes. And then third, probably one of the most important things we do is we take the digital technology, the phones, the computer systems, and we arrange everything by a timeline. And what we do is we look at the event leading up to the point in time of the incident. So if the event took place at, say, noon, what I'm going to start doing is looking at noon and work my way back and see what happened leading up to it. Were they in a good mood? Were they in a bad mood? Were they messaging with friends? Were they in a fight

with somebody that was dear to them? So we look at the technology kind of like a totality of it and it gives us a way to see if they're researching suicide, see if they had been depressed and look at what was taking place leading up to the incident. Did they leave that suicide note or that basically apology note for what they had done? So how did this whole thing go down? Take a listen to Robin Wilhoyt at WBIR 10. Knoxville police say while Grace Ann pulled the trigger, Hayden Bergen bile is to blame for her death. Police say the two talked online for years, starting well before Grace Ann turned 19. They say he encouraged her to

kill herself for his viewing pleasure. Why did this person decide my kid needed to not be here anymore. What made him so special that he gets to decide that? Prosecutors hope to convict Burkabyle on negligent homicide and false report charges. The case would be a first of its kind in Tennessee. What is your hope that will come to pass? Justice for my daughter. I hope that this person gets the maximum sentence allowed. To Randy Kessler, veteran Atlanta trial lawyer, and you can think of all the means and all the abbreviations,

manipulated murder, mind control murder. I mean, the headlines are going to be all over the place. This is going to change the law. Can you actually encourage somebody to hurt themselves and be responsible for it? This is fascinating. It's going to be very interesting to watch and we'll see what happens across the nation after this one. Well, it's not the first time a case like this has ever been prosecuted. Take a listen to our cut 10. This is ABC News reporter Deborah Roberts. With no word from her son, a frantic Len Roy contacted the Fairhaven Police Department. An officer was soon on the case and began searching.

He wound up in this Kmart parking lot. So I saw in the corner of my eye a black F-250 parked over there. Parked right over here? Right over there. Fairhaven officer Dave Correa finds the black black pickup truck conrad's lifeless body behind the wheel he's gone his life over at age 18. i'd seen enough people that were gone to realize just by looking at him that he was gone that there was nothing that anybody was going to be able to do for him in the back seat this portable water pump powered by a gasoline engine running that engine

with the windows closed filled the truck with a lethal cloud of carbon monoxide gas, enough to kill anyone inside in 20 minutes flat. Deadly as a loaded gun. It's immediately clear that it's a suicide. They contact his parents and Lin-Roy learns that her son has died. And in that case as well, the mom could not believe her teen boy would commit suicide. She knew that was not the entire story. And once again, mother is right. Take a listen to our Cut 11. This is our friend from CBS, Aaron Moriarty. Right away, we heard from investigators that medical examiner found there was a suicide.

It wasn't until they started looking at his phone that they realized there was something else going on here. Because on that phone were hundreds and hundreds of texts from Michelle Carter to Conrad Roy urging him to end his life. You can't think about it. You just have to do it. You said you were going to do it like I don't get why you aren't. And Michelle Carter admittedly said, do it. She was kind of making fun of him for not taking his own life. I thought you really wanted to die, but apparently you don't.

I feel played and just stupid. You're going to have to prove me wrong because I just don't think you really want this. And she kept pressuring him to do it. You're ready and prepared. All you have to do is turn the generator on and you'll be free and happy. No more pushing it off. No more waiting. There was one point where he actually got out of the truck and changed his mind.

Yeah, he was scared. And she told him to go back in the truck. Yes. You're playing me? Why don't you go ahead and kill yourself? Just do it and get it over? Go die? It goes on and on and on.

Michelle Carter's horrible, hateful texts and phone calls to a sensitive young teen boy, her so-called boyfriend, demanding he kill himself. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. crime stories with nancy grace guys we are talking about the case of grace and sparks found dead for the quote viewing pleasure of her long-distance boyfriend hayden berkebile nearly years old, he had been in a relationship of sorts with this teen girl for years. And her mom is just devastated. The mind control he exerted over her little girl, gorgeous young girl. She looks like an 18-year-old Nicole Kidman with the beautiful curly strawberry blonde hair, the crystal blue eyes, planning to go to college to become a vet there in Tennessee.

Thrilled she had just adopted her first horse. Wanted to be a large animal vet. That's all over. All her mother has left is pictures. That's it. That's all she's got. This won't be the first time a case like this has left is pictures. That's it. That's all she's got. This won't be the first time a case like this has been prosecuted. Take a listen to our cut 12.

This is Lindsay Janis at ABC. Michelle Carter allegedly sent her boyfriend a series of text messages that authorities say were intended to convince him to take his own life. Her attorneys have tried twice to have the charges against her dropped, but now they must go to trial. to take his own life. Her attorneys have tried twice to have the charges against her dropped, but now they must go to trial. This morning, Michelle Carter, the Massachusetts teenager accused of urging her boyfriend to commit suicide by a text message, is now facing up to 20 years in prison. The state's highest court ordering her to stand trial, deciding Friday to uphold Carter's grand jury indictment on a manslaughter charge for the 2014 death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy. Roy died of carbon monoxide poisoning after

locking himself inside his truck in this Kmart parking lot. At the time, prosecutors say he was on the phone with Carter for 47 minutes. His girlfriend allegedly convincing him to stay in the truck after he had second thoughts. He was scared. She told him to get back in the car. She told him to get back in the car. Just do it. Get it over with. Do it tonight. Listen, I've already talked to your family. They'll be fine. Sure, they'll be sad for a few months. They'll get over it. End the misery. Kill yourself. That's what she said.

And he did. An extremely sensitive young man was mentally overpowered by Michelle Carter. Take a listen now to our cut 13. In a series of text messages leading up to Roy's death, prosecutors say Carter was essentially bullying him into suicide. Texting, you need to stop thinking about this and just do it. And there is no way you can fail. Tonight is the night. It's now or never. When are you going to do it stop ignoring the question carter's lawyers argued the then 17 year old's texts were protected by the first amendment and didn't cause roy to kill himself saying roy was the one who convinced carter he should commit

suicide he has in fact brainwashed her to the point where she's now accepting his idea of this is my only option. But Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court disagreed, saying Carter engaged in a systematic campaign of coercion that targeted Roy's insecurities and that her instruction to get back in his truck in his final moments was a direct causal link to his death. So she, Michelle Carter, is actually on the phone with him, listening like the little ghoul she is as he dies. Listening as her boyfriend dies at her behest. You know, Randy Kessler, a veteran trial lawyer joining me out of Atlanta, Emory Law professor, Randy Kessler, First Amendment, are you kidding? They actually argued that her texts and what she said to him, aiding and abetting his death, this young teen

boy was protected by the First Amendment. The First Amendment is not unfettered, Kessler. I can't run into a theater and yell fire and laugh while everybody claws over themselves trying to get out. Yeah, you took the words out of my mouth. You and I learned that first day of law school. You cannot run into a crowded theater and yell fire because that will cause injury and damage.

That does, you know, there are limits on free speech. And that's exactly the example I would have used. All lawyers know that example clearly, which is, you know, this is much worse than running into a crowded theater and doing that. This is leading someone to death and pushing and pushing until it happens. It is not free speech. So you and I agree on that. How in the world would you defend a case like this? I mean, it's not free speech.

It's intent. It's going to be intent. Nobody believes that somebody would really kill themselves just because I say, go kill yourself. People use that, unfortunately, as a euphemism or as a, you know, an argument. What people? If I heard one of my twins say, go kill yourself or go die, fur would fly. You've never heard spouses say to each other, drop dead, or, you know, I wish you just didn't exist. People say things like that, never, ever believing that it would happen.

So that's got to be the defense. You need intent. Well, guess what, Randy Kessler, veteran trial lawyer, Emory Law School professor. Guess what? A jury disagrees with you. Take a listen to our cut 14. And again, our friend Aaron Moriarty. Carter was on the phone with Roy as he was dying of carbon monoxide poisoning inside his truck in July 2014. She never called for help. When Roy apparently changed his mind and got out of his vehicle, she even told him to get back inside. Roy suffered from depression. The hardest thing for me is to be comfortable in my own skin. And before he killed himself, Carter sent the 18-year-old dozens of texts pressuring him to

commit suicide. One read, hang yourself, jump off a building, stab yourself. I don't know, there's a lot of ways. Michelle Carter exploited my son's weaknesses and used him as a pawn. Where was her humanity? Carter, who herself has struggled with anxiety and eating disorders, wept at times during the hearing. This is a tragedy for two families. Judge Lawrence Moniz sentenced her to two and a half years in jail, but he said Carter would only have to spend half of that, 15 months behind bars. She also received five years probation. Well, that's a slap on the wrist, but take a listen to I Cut 15, what Conrad Roy's father had to say. Michelle Carter exploited my son's weaknesses and used him as a pawn

in her own well-being. She has not shown any remorse the fact that my son was convicted convinced sorry to kill himself makes his death unimaginable how could Michelle Carter behave so viciously and encourage my son to end his life where was her humanity in what world is this behavior okay and acceptable? Coco is missed beyond measure. His family misses him. His sisters miss him. His friends miss him.

And I miss him. The last words I said to my son was, I love you. And Coco said, I love you too. I miss him every moment of every day. That is just exactly what the mother of teen girl Grace Ann Sparks is going through right now. To Dr. Kendall Crowns joining me, Deputy Chief Medical boy, Conrad Roy, died of carbon monoxide inhalation at the behest of his girlfriend, Michelle Carter. How do you die of carbon monoxide? So carbon monoxide, when you inhale the exhaust, actually your blood binds it more preferentially than oxygen.

So it displaces the oxygen from your red blood cells and floods your system with carbon monoxide. And you basically suffocate or asphyxiate to death from lack of oxygen getting to your brain and organs. Is it a painful death or do you just kind of go to sleep? So as the levels get higher, you'll get a headache, kind of an extreme headache. You'll also start getting nauseated and even throw up until the point that you have enough lack of oxygen that you pass out. The theory a lot of people like to think is that you just kind of pass out quietly. But it's actually the reality is you get a migraine-esque headache and you vomit and retch and throw up before you pass out. So it's not just falling asleep. There's some activity involved in it before you pass out. And Dr. Sherry Schwartz, forensic psychologist, what kind of a freak would sit on the other end of the phone and listen to that? Somebody who is really seriously lacking in empathy and doesn't have a conscience.

And that's really troubling. That makes that person one of the most dangerous people to walk among us. When you lack empathy and it's not your impulse to say, no, no, no, stop, let's get you help. That's a dangerous human being. And the reality is Conrad Roy was just about two blocks from a police station, and she knew that. She could have saved his life, but instead sat by on the phone and listened to him retch with a migraine and die of carbon monoxide inhalation. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

We are talking about the death of a gorgeous teen girl, Grace Ann Sparks, who is shot dead for the viewing pleasure of her nearly 30-year-old boyfriend, a couple of states over in Indiana, Hayden Berkabile. Chrissy Mazurek, Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter, joining us today. How long had these two been in a relationship? Ready for the shocker? Yeah. And she was 13. This was going on for several years. He trolled her on Facebook and then they would have continued chats on all of these social media apps like WhatsApp. He groomed her for several years. And then as he's called himself this sex master, the day of her death, she asked him what he wanted. And he said, I want to kill you. That's all I want. How do we know that? Was that in text? Is there a record, a trail of that? Apparently they took video snapshots of the conference that they were having at the time of the death.

And it's in the affidavit now. Wow. Okay. Glenn Bard, inter-former state trooper, first class computer crime investigator, now with PATC Tech Digital Forensics. Glenn, how are we going to prove this case? Well, what you're going to do is you're going to take and look at not just the one date of this. You're going to take all this communication from previous. You're going to show the pattern of it. So we don't want to just focus on just that one or two things said that day we're going to take all the texts all the videos that they have captured and screenshotted all the communications they've had and show that this

is an ongoing pattern where this individual had spoken to her like this before so that it wasn't a one-time thing or an accidental that he had had this in his, you know, wherewithal of doing this intentionally to her over and over again from obviously since the time she was about 13 years of age. And at that age, Dr. Sherry Schwartz, people are so malleable. They can be formed or diverted to all the wrong paths. Absolutely. And we can't underestimate that this makes us have to really consider that Birkbeil is in fact a predator. He was grooming her, as Christy said.

And that is really the element here. They basically go on the hunt to look for young victims like Grace, who are really high in empathy. She was doing animal rescue and she was so young and so impressionable. And here's this older guy who's interested in her. And that grooming can can go on and take many forms for a long time. These individuals don't typically lead with the BDSM sex master thing on their resume. They build up to that. So we cannot underestimate. So, Chrissy, Missouri, what was he doing? Have her perform, this teen girl perform sex acts on, like, Skype or WhatsApp? WhatsApp. That's what the investigators from Knoxville tell me,

is they saw a pattern of this type of video being sent back and forth on WhatsApp. And then she asked him, you know, before he said, I want to kill you, she asks him, tell me what you would like me to do. Use me. And that was his response. I want to kill you. Take a listen to our cut for this is Cole Sullivan at 10 News. In late September, the detective says Birkbeil told her, I want to kill you. And he was video chatting with her on FaceTime when she pulled the trigger. They're going to look forensically at all of the data that's available, both from the respective cellular

devices, as well as what's available out there in the social media world. Defense attorney T. Scott Jones and others we contacted say there's never been a case like this in Tennessee, a case where a man more than 300 miles away is charged with the murder of a woman who shot herself. Did he create an unjustifiable substantial risk by his actions and by his words? A grand jury indicted Birkbeil for negligent homicide and false reporting. The trial is scheduled for late September, two years to the day from Grace Ann Sparks' death. If he's convicted, the false reporting charge actually carries more prison time than criminally negligent homicide.

It means he could spend two to eight years in prison. So he would actually do more time on false reporting than he would be in coercing, aiding, and abetting this teen girl to commit suicide. Take a listen to Hour Cut 7. This is investigative reporter Dave Mack with Crime Online. Police say Hayden Burkabile and Grace Ann Sparks have had a relationship since the woman was in her early teens. They communicated often using messaging apps and visited each other before she died. As police look at more than two years of electronic communication between the pair, it becomes evident that Sparks has been talking to Birkbeil online for years,

possibly since she was 13 years old. At that time, Sparks is obviously a juvenile, but Birkbeil, 10 years older, was an adult. Randy Kessler, why can't he be also prosecuted for child abuse, convincing a 13-year-old girl to perform sex acts on video, live? I mean, that's like a cam girl, for Pete's sake. There's a whole bunch of things. And did he distribute any pictures? I mean, I'm sure there's a lot more there. This seems like the most dramatic and the most jury appeal that Woody actually made her do.

I mean, there are probably a lot of charges that are underneath this. And I think you're exactly right. They should explore all that. Two to eight years. That doesn't sound like enough. Guys, take a listen to our cut eight. Once again, Dave Mack, Crime Online. Knoxville police say Hayden Berkebile is a 29-year-old Indiana man encouraging Grace

Sparks to kill herself for his viewing pleasure. Investigators describe Birkbeil as a BDSM sexual master who exerted sexual control over Sparks. A sworn search warrant affidavit states that this control caused Sparks to engage in dangerous and demeaning acts. The affidavit also states that on the day that Sparks died, Birkbeil told her, I want to kill you. That's all I effing want. To a teen girl he's been taking advantage of sexually since she's 13 years old. And as I told you, I told you all about the Michelle Carter case,

where Michelle Carter insisted Conrad Roy commit suicide, and he did, and she was prosecuted and convicted. There's another case. Take a listen to our Cut 17. These are our friends at CBS. In Young You stood silently as a prosecutor read dozens of profanity-filled text messages that she said the 21-year-old sent to her boyfriend, Alexander Artula. Literally, I want to bash your head against the wall. Can you go f***ing hit your head on the f***ing sink repeatedly? The former Boston College student is accused of physically, emotionally, and psychologically abusing Artula through text messages, which drove him to take his own life on his graduation day last May.

The defendant's abuse was the cause of Mr. Artula's suicide. Over the course of the last two months of their 18-month relationship, the couple exchanged more than 75,000 text messages. More than half were sent from you. Prosecutors say she constantly drove the talk of suicide, repeatedly texting Artula to go die. And in another text, she wrote, do everyone a favor and go effing kill

yourself. Prosecutors say you was there on the parking garage roof when her to jump. They say she knew he was there for nearly an hour because she tracked his phone location, but never alerted anyone to intervene in his suicide. There's no doubt about it. She's the devil's minion. What does the mother of Grace Ann Sparks have to say? Take a listen to our cut five from WBIR 10. Candace says there's a lesson for every parent in Grace Ann's story. When you give your kid a smartphone, you're essentially giving them a plane ticket to anywhere in the world, an unsupervised plane ticket. Two years after her daughter's death, Candace chooses to remember Grace Ann as the girl who could light up any room. There's no

end to what she could have accomplished. I want her to be remembered as a light. She was a light in a world that sometimes was really dark. If you think someone you know is suicidal or contemplating suicide, please call 800-273-8255. 800-273-8255. Please act. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off.

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