Law&Crime Sidebar - Mom Threw Daughter off Balcony in Gruesome Killing: Cops

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

Thirty-year-old Chanel Yonko is accused of throwing her 17-month-old daughter, Hannah, off a hotel balcony, resulting in the toddler’s death. The case takes an even darker turn with evidence of potential stab wounds and a bizarre timeline of events. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber breaks down the shocking affidavit and the disturbing details, including Yonko’s competency evaluation and the possibility of the death penalty with forensic psychologist Dr. Apryl Alexander.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Check Out Megyn Kelly’s Investigation On The Disappearance of Baby Lisa Now at https://youtube.com/@MegynKellyHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wonderly Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wonderly Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that will

keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. A mother is accused of killing her 17-month-old daughter by throwing her off a hotel balcony. It is truly a sickening crime as we dive into the details of this event. Her mental health and some backstory. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber. Really, really sad story out of Galveston, Texas we've got to talk about. We have a woman who is accused of throwing her 17-month-old daughter off a hotel balcony, killing her. This is just awful. 30-year-old Chanel Yonko has been charged with capital murder in the death of her

toddler Hannah. According to a probable cause affidavit that was authored by Detective Matthew Larson, we learned a lot more details about this. So I want to start when Larson describes arriving on the scene after receiving a call about this unresponsive child bleeding on the road. Quote, the Afian observed a white blanket half on a sidewalk and half on the street. The affian observed a small pool of blood on the street. The affian observed the scene to be located on the east side of Beachfront Palms Hotel. It goes on to say the affiant observed that the child was already in an ambulance and left for the hospital shortly after.

The affiant was notified at 1034 a.m. that the child's death was pronounced by hospital personnel. Detective Rogers was at the hospital and advised to the affiant at 1044 a.m. that there were three puncture wounds on the child. So now we have this idea of potential stabbing injuries as well. And by the way, a man named Brandon Ureveen, Ureve, Biba apparently saw or was the one who actually found Hannah's body on the street told ABC 13, it was heartbreaking to see that, to see a little precious, beautiful, perfect little girl

laying there lifeless. Yeah. Now, in terms of the defendant, the affidavit continues. Officer Wilkie advised that he put out a description of a female who left from the location of where the baby was found, who possibly was a witness. Officer Reyes advised that a short time later, he observed a female matching the description that Officer Wilkie had put out in the 6,700 block of Seawall Boulevard. The affiant learned from Officer Reyes that the female was crying and asking Officer Reyes for help. The affiant learned from Officer Reyes that the female then began to be making comments about her daughter and that she might have been sick. And then the affidavit explains that Yonko was taken to the police

department, advised that she wished to speak to a lawyer. She apparently wouldn't even give her name, but here's what's interesting. Larson apparently ended up interviewing Yonko's sister, Mercedes, who's at the police station. Okay, now before I go any further, because I will tell you, there was an officer who spoke to the sister here when we got more details. I want to bring on Dr. April Alexander, forensic psychologist, to talk more about this. Doctor, thanks so much for taking the time. There's a lot that I want to get to about this.

First of all, generally speaking, generally speaking, why do parents kill their children? and my gosh, in an allegation like this, throwing a child off of a hotel balcony? Talk to us about that. Yeah, so this is an example of phylliside, which is one of the killings of a child by a caregiver. When we see these cases, we see them for a number of reasons. We've had research over the decades that have showed that some parents might do it out of altruism, so they think that the death is in the best interest of the child. Some do it as a part of a murder-suicide.

Others, if your child is having a terminal illness, might do it to relieve their pain or suffering. But in many cases, we see, in philicide cases, we see a psychotic parent. So somebody who has severe and persistent mental illness, such as schizophrenia, who is not in the right mental state of mind, who does some horrendous act of filicide. I want to keep that all in mind as we talk about this,

because I want to lay out a little bit more of the timeline and get your perspective on it. So as I mentioned, Detective Larson ended up apparently interviewing Yonko's sister, Mercedes, who was at the police station. And it reads, the Afian interviewed Mercedes Yonko, who advised that she was sharing a room at the beachfront Palms Hotel with her sister, Chanel Yonko, and Chanel's daughter. Mercedes advised that Chanel had come to Galveston several days to see Mercedes. Mercedes stated that on the morning of the 23rd, she gathered with Chanel, and then the name of the daughter is redacted. to begin checking out the hotel. Mercedes stated that she got a ride to the Victorian,

which appears to be this condominium, this hotel, to try to talk to her fiancé Charles. However, it continues, and this is a really strange part. Mercedes stated that after a while, Chanel showed up to the Victorian, pushing her stroller. Mercedes originally stated that Chanel showed up with her daughter. Upon further questioning, Mercedes stated that she didn't actually see the baby, but had no reason to believe she wasn't in the stroller. Mercedes stated that she told Chanel that she couldn't find Charles and was going to go back to the beachfront Palms to gather their luggage.

Mercedes stated that Chanel then told her not to go back to the hotel. Mercedes found it odd that Chanel would say that and stated that Chanel said, don't go back to the hotel several more times. And the affidavit goes on to state that detectives ended up apparently finding a trash bag in a trash bin in the parking garage under that hotel, and in that bag, was a key card to Chanel's room, a, quote, skinning knife with a black handle, plastics and toys, unused diapers, and unopened kid snacks. And that's not even all. The affidavit also indicated that a detective apparently found footage of Chanel in the lobby of the hotel pushing Hannah in a stroller.

And you know how we can tell it was Hannah in the stroller? Because apparently, you can see a foot moving in the stroller. And then there is apparently video, quote, from the second story of the baby falling from what appears to be the third floor and landing on the grass and rolling onto the concrete sidewalk where the baby was found. The disappearance of baby Lisa Irwin has been a mystery for more than a decade. Who took her from her crib in the middle of the night? And could she possibly still be alive? Megan Kelly is taking you back inside the case in a special new five-part series, Megan Kelly investigates.

She interviews baby Lisa's parents, other key players in the case, and through hidden cameras, brings the first ever comments from one of the men at the center of the story. Deep reporting, expert analysis, Megan Kelly investigates on the disappearance of baby Lisa. All five episodes are available now on the Megan Kelly Show's YouTube channel and podcast feed, and you can also find out more at Megan Kelly. com. Officer Wilkie advised that Chanel's empty stroller was found at the Victorian, and then this is interesting. They say how an investigator at the hospital advised that the clothes that this baby was wearing the blankets that she was wrapped up in didn't have the puncture marks. So it seems to suggest

that those injuries were inflicted before the fall. The affiant believes that Chanel Yanko to have intentionally and knowingly caused the death of Hannah by intentionally dropping her off the hotel balcony and she was arrested she was charged with capital murder appeared in court on monday dr alexander want to go back to you on this what do you make of that timeline what stands out to you about that i think the final lines of that report and timeline are important uh they talk about that she knowingly and willingly engaged in this act to some of the evidence is what we're going to be picking up on so uh why was the knife presence um why did she say do not return to the room um All of those kind of points to some signs of possible premeditation.

And I think that's what they're looking for in this affidavit. If we're talking about stab wounds before throwing the baby off the balcony, do you have a theory about this? Because that is just an extra layer of sadistic and chilling. Yeah, it's so sad and bizarre. And that's why I think this case is going to a state where they're talking about competency. Just none of it makes sense. she had other means of possibly concealing. So why did she throw the child over the balcony?

Not quite sure what that behavior is. And we're still in the early process. Yeah, I was going to ask you that manner. Let's say she did this, that manner of killing your child. We've covered cases before of drownings, shootings, but allegedly stabbing and throwing off a balcony. Is that manner of killing tell you something? It's pretty violent. So that's what I'm curious. It was this like a violent act where she was retaliating in some way, or was this, again, issue related to psychosis because it does seem so unusual and so unbelievable. So I think that's what we're going to be toying with as this case proceeds to trial. What would you like to know from the sister?

I wish there were more information, and the sister provided an articulate description of that timeline, and I wish there was more information about how she was viewing her sister at that time. what she engaged in in any other types of unusual behavior, speaking oddly in order to have a rule in or rule out of possible psychosis. There was a statement by Jack Rody, the Galveston County Criminal District Attorney on this case. It was on March 12, 2025, and it reads, Chanel Yonko has been found competent. Trial by jury is set for December 1st. And it's been reported that trial, by the way, the last two weeks. But the statement continued, the taking of a human life by government in the name of justice is the most serious decision anyone in the criminal

justice system can make. The district attorney's office is considering this question with the greatest possible deliberation. The district attorney's office must also consider the additional legal requirements in death penalty cases of mitigating circumstances and future dangerousness, as well as the ability to prove all necessary legal elements beyond a reasonable doubt. We will announce our decision on the penalty, meaning the death penalty, we will seek in this case when we are satisfied that we have thoroughly considered all relevant information. Now, in terms of the competency, let me tell you how that all played out. So apparently, according to Houston Public Media,

a psychiatric evaluation was ordered for Yonko after she was indicted in January. And a psychiatrist specialist named Edward Gripon concluded that Yonko was competent in that she understood certain aspects of the legal process, provided an account of her time leading up to her daughter's death. She also reportedly denied using drugs or alcohol, but did indicate that she had suffered head trauma in the past, that she had bouts of forgetfulness. So a lot of things here, doctor, going back to you, how do psych evaluations and competency evaluations work exactly?

Absolutely. So we have to go step by step. Competency is usually raised when there was some indication of mental illness. And when that issue is raised, we have to stop court proceedings right away. This is something that has been in statute for decades now, that if anybody believes that the defendants might be experiencing some mental illness to where they don't understand the courtroom proceedings, that they can't represent themselves adequately in their defense, we have to stop the process. From there, they do get sent to an evaluator, a psychiatrist or psychologist, who then examines whether or not they do understand their rights. are able to consult with their attorney in a rational manner and just have factual knowledge of the legal system. If they're found competent, we go back to trial. If not, that's where

defendants get referred to what's called competency restoration, getting education on the system, getting mental health treatment, and possibly psychiatric medication in order to be restored to competency. Most individuals are successfully restored to competency, and when that's done, they return to trial. So I think sometimes the public gets this confused that they think competency is the same as a mental health defense and it's not. It's a process to make sure that we're protecting anyone's civil rights as they go to trial. And by the way, just want to let everybody know, ironically, you are at a conference right now. That's why you might hear some of the noise in the background, but where they're about to actually talk about competency.

We didn't even know that. It just happened to be one of the things that coincidence about where you're at. By the way, the idea of forgetfulness. I thought that was very key. Forgetfulness. Is that a real thing? Again, all of us have some degree of forgetfulness, right? What we need to examine is whether or not it is something that causes significant distress or impairment. But I did find peculiar in what you said a few minutes ago was she talked about head injury. We've seen with some people in the criminal legal system, there is a history of traumatic brain injury. Usually because individuals who are at risk for mental illness have experienced abuse in the past, domestic violence. So I thought that was an interesting aspect of this case as well.

If you had the opportunity to evaluate her, what would you ask her? Again, I think the next step in this is just mental state at the time of the crime. All of us want to know what happened. And so for us, just doing that from a psychological lens, walk me through what that day looked like, the day before, what was your relationship with your child? So all the questions that we currently have on why this heinous event happened is what we're going to be asking. Well, I ask because you have to wonder whether or not mental health will be a defense, whether or not insanity would be an offense. And because there is an affirmative defense, I read the law on this, this is my understanding, an affirmative defense in that state in Texas to prosecution, that at the time of the conduct that is charged, the actor as a result of severe mental disease or defect, did not know that his conduct was wrong.

And you have to wonder, are there aspects, and we don't have the full picture, we don't have all the evidence, right? But based on what I laid out so far, were there aspects of that account where you said maybe it does fit into that definition or are there aspects that you say not so much? Yeah, I think this is a difficult case because I was seeing a little bit of both of it as you were describing it. So again, thinking about premeditation, premeditation might suggest that a person was in the right state of mind and had planned it out, had planned getting the weapon, had planned getting the hotel room, concealing it from her sister and saying, do not go in there, that can go either way. That could be a person who's psychotic and realize what they did and what they did might be wrong, or it could go the opposite way of, again, trying to conceal what they had done.

So the further questioning in any type of mental health defense is to differentiate which is which. So again, that's where I would want to examine more about, describe to me what happened that day. Walk me through first thing in the morning. What did you do when you woke up? What did this all look like? So we can have a clear picture of her mental state. Yeah, I struggle with it because you would say a mother throwing their child or allegedly throwing their child off a balcony and broad daylight for everybody to see. You had to be insane to do that.

On the other hand, don't go back to the hotel. Don't go back to the hotel throwing things out in the trash bin. I mean, those are the allegations. It's a really, you know, savage case, but an interesting one from that mental health legal point of view. Talking about the death penalty, so still up in the air, what are some of the issues that could come up in the death penalty case, if this moves forward, in terms of mitigation, right? And mental health becomes such a prime, prime factor in mental health analysis. Right. So in mitigation, we're going to be learning more about her history. So thinking about factors where we might be able to better understand what she did.

Again, we always want accountability. It sounds like there's a lot of evidence saying that she did it, so there's no question about that. But really getting an understanding of who she is and how she operates. Is this a person with a history of abuse? Is this a person with a history of substance use? And do the trier of fact, whether that's the judge or jury, believe that those are mitigating factors to be death penalty to life in prison, for instance. By the way, you talked about history.

There's a little more reported history about Yonko that I wanted to discuss. So according to ABC 13, this marriage certificate revealed that Yonko was married to an 80-year-old man back in 2017 when she was just 23, but apparently he moved to have that marriage annulled two years later, arguing he was tricked into that marriage and that the marriage was never consummated and that she ended up having a child with another man while they were married. That's what he alleged. And then ABC 13 also confirmed that she has a criminal record, apparently, in multiple states. Also, according to Houston public media, Yonko had a prior history with child protective services.

In 2019, apparently her other child had to be taken to the ER and that this child was five months old and was found by Yonko and the child's father in the crib with, quote, blue lips and a red body. And the father of the child in Yonko also allegedly showed up to the hospital, quote, in an altered state, which begs the question earlier, if she was being honest about a history of drug or alcohol use, and that they had apparently, quote, suction her mouth and nose before transporting her to the hospital. This is according to department documents. The medical staff recommended for the child to be admitted for further testing and overnight observation. However, the mother and Parramore left with the child against medical advice. Now, it doesn't appear that anything really move forward with neglect charges, but doctor, or at least that's not evident from our analysis or research, but doctor, how does this affect the analysis in your mind? So a person with a history of child maltreatment now committing the psilicide. So again, just thinking about how people are going to weigh that type of evidence, again, was this spontaneous or was this ongoing child abuse towards all of her children that had been going on? So again, to your earlier question, we have some questions. on is this premeditated?

Is this a mother who just can't care for her children? Is this longstanding substance use or mental health conditions where she genuinely just can't take care of her children? So these are the questions that we want to ask going forward because, again, this pattern of behavior, awful, unusual, and again, trying to get some clear understanding of who this woman is. Yeah, Dr. April Alexander, listen, I appreciate taking the time. I know this is not an easy case. This is not an easy case. It is a heartbreaking case, to say the least.

But thank you for explaining it to us. Really appreciate to taking the time and enjoy the rest of your conference. Thank you so much. Take care. All right, everybody. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts.

I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.