SERIALously - 76: "But Mommy, I've Been Good": Mother’s HORRENDOUS and HAUNTING Confession

Episode Date: October 18, 2023

Welcome back to another bonus episode! In today’s episode, we’re talking about a case so horrifying, it’s hard to believe it’s true. A woman in Tomball, Texas thought her daughter was “evil��� and compared her to “Chuckie” from horror movies, often saying that she wasn’t like other children. Then, one day, she drove her daughter to a Tomball emergency room and asked hospital staff for a wheelchair for her child, telling the staff her body was hurting. However, hospital staff never expected what they found next. This case was originally published on my YouTube Channel 10 to Life. Follow the podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serialouslypod/  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise All Social Media Links: https://www.flowcode.com/page/annieelise_ SERIALously FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/SERIALouslyAnnieElise/ About Me: https://annieelise.com/ For Business Inquiries: [e-mail]

Hey true crime besties, welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly. Hey everybody, welcome back to an all-new bonus episode of Serialistly. It's me, Annie, your true crime bestie, here to talk all things true crime with you. Now, the reason why I had to jump on here and drop this bonus episode outside of the normal release schedule is because I need to talk to you about this case. It is so wild. There is so much to talk about, so we got to get right into it. Before we do, please take a quick second, just make sure that you are following along on the podcast so that you don't miss any future episodes and bonus episodes like these that drop, and also follow along on the Serialistly Facebook page where we drop all information regarding giveaways, behind-the-scenes information,

guest episodes, Q&As, all sorts of good stuff. All right, now let's get into today's case. On October 16, 2022, a woman pulled up to the emergency room doors at HCA Tomball Hospital located in Tomball, Texas. When the woman went inside, she informed the health care staff that her Dottie's body was hurting and asked if she could use a wheelchair. One of the emergency room nurses walked out to the car and what she found was not at all what she expected. When she looked into the car, she found a little girl wrapped up in plastic on the passenger side floorboard. So who was this little girl? Who was this woman that drove to the emergency room with this little girl in the back of her SUV? And most importantly, what happened here. So let's start at the beginning. Melissa Whitetown

is 37 years old and lives in Magnolia, Texas. Melissa is a mother of four children between the ages of 2 and 18. Sadly, she also gave birth to a stillborn baby as well. One of Melissa's children is a beautiful little girl named Nicole, who she had with her boyfriend named James back in 2017. They were in love, they had this new baby, things were great, but that new baby bliss didn't last long. On May 12th, 2018, Melissa was actually arrested for harassing James' mother, Kathy, with a series of vulgar and just incoherent messages about their child, Nicole, who she bizarrely refers to as Chanel, a completely different name. Now, Melissa sent 49 text messages, and they were all over the place, guys. Like, you know, incoherent, crazy,

vulgar, not good, not good, not good good some of these messages read where is chanel kathy because y'all really need to give her back to the hospital or you need to return her back to me just give me the effing baby back what the heck is going on somebody's gonna lose in court i'm not even joking with you all effers send me the eff and it's a text message to my daughter back seriously for safety reasons hazardous reasons and some and some more shit. Like, I am talking, you can't even really understand what she's saying. She also says about illegally taking over possession over Chanel, getting mental health warrants done, all of these bizarre, bizarre text messages, as you can read here. She also then talks about possession, saying, please just initial it off your your cell phone I'll run it down to the courts and I'll have him legally sign the papers in front of me please.

So obviously some very erratic and aggressive text messages and also nobody knows exactly why Melissa called Nicole Chanel. So in any event Melissa was arrested for harassment after sending these. Marissa pled guilty to harassment and was sentenced to 45 days in the Montgomery County Jail. The following year, in April 2019, Melissa was arrested for trespassing on James' parents' property and smashing the windshield of his father's vehicle. With that, she pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and was ordered to pay a little over $800 in fines. Now, those arrests were not the only odd thing to note here. James' neighbors had reported that they had called the police multiple times on Melissa over the years. One incident that neighbors

said was about a time that Melissa was beating up on a car with a baseball bat. Neighbors called the police, of course, thinking it was somebody else's car, but it turned out to be her own car that she was attacking with the baseball bat. Another incident was reported by a neighbor saying she seemed to always have mental issues and she would have arguments with my mailbox for no reason. This neighbor had to also eventually get security cameras installed around his property. Other neighbors say they also called the police several times due to hearing screams. So Melissa has a very lengthy criminal history, including the assault resulting in bodily injury, trespassing, harassment, two DWIs, resisting arrest, and the criminal mischief itself. PWI's resisting arrest and the criminal mischief itself. So with all of this kind of circling like a tornado, ultimately Melissa lost custody of Nicole when Nicole was just a baby. Nicole's father, James Bradshaw Jr., was given full custody of baby Nicole. James and Nicole reportedly lived

with his parents, James Bradshaw Sr. and Kathy, the same Kathy that Melissa had sent those raging text messages to. Now, Nicole was said to be a sweet little girl that could never meet a stranger and was just full of love and always giggling. She loved to talk about dinosaurs and had bright, bright blue eyes that were full of curiosity. According to some of Melissa's Facebook posts, it seemed like she doesn't see some of her older children very often, and it's also said that now all four of her children had been living with other family members. So now that you have a little bit of history about Melissa, let's fast forward to August 16, 2022, when that woman pulled up to the emergency room doors and when the nurse discovered a little

girl wrapped up in plastic on the passenger side floorboard. The driver of that car was later identified as none other than Melissa White Town and it was confirmed that the little girl in the back of Melissa's SUV was her now five-year-old daughter, Nicole. When the emergency room nurse saw the little girl on the floor of the SUV, she saw her wrapped in a trash bag inside a mesh laundry bag. When they turned the little girl on the floor of the SUV. She saw her wrapped in a trash bag inside a mesh laundry bag. When they turned the little girl's body over, they could see that her neck had a laceration and ligature marks on it. Nicole was pronounced dead just moments later at the hospital at 1210 p.m. that day.

Melissa was then taken into custody to be questioned. Marcelino, it sounds unfathomable. A mother brings her daughter to a hospital emergency room and tells the staff she killed her young daughter. But that's exactly what authorities are saying happened tonight as they try to figure out how and why it all happened. A shocking confession. She notified hospital personel killed her daughter. Auth pulled up to H. C. A. Heus

Tomball and told the staff old little girl who was i Cherokee. Moments later, the little girl dead. Unf in homicide for 28 years and this is something that we don't run across often, but when we do, we make extra point to get all of the details. Police say the woman showed up around noon and that mother tells police she killed her daughter in Spring Creek Park, but after searching the area, deputies say they couldn't find

where it allegedly took place. We checked the park. We can't find any signs of a scene over there. I don't believe they have cameras at the park. The child investigators say had an incision on her neck. There's going to be a while before we know it the exact nature of her of all of her injuries.

The 35-year-old mother, whose identity has not been released, police say has been handled as being homeless. We do not have any confirmed information on the mom, the child's history with CPS, or any medical records at this point in our investigation. And the Harris County Sheriff's Office says they are continuing to question her. They said they also have the name of the girl's father. They're reaching out to him and other possible family members. Now, Melissa allegedly made a truly haunting confession. She confessed to stabbing and strangling and ultimately killing little five-year-old Nicole,

all because she says, according to her, that she was an evil child, and Melissa did not want to apparently deal with her any longer. And the gruesome details of what took place that fateful day were about to make this case one of the worst ones that detectives had ever seen. out to make this case one of the worst ones that detectives had ever seen. It is not known how Melissa had access to her daughter as she didn't have custody of her, but it was revealed in Melissa's confession that she said she took little Nicole to Spring Creek Park in Toneball, Texas. At the park, Melissa made her five-year-old Nicole, kneel down on her knees. She then pulled a knife out from her bag, and according to Melissa, Nicole started screaming, but I've been good,

saying this to her mother over and over, to which Melissa replied to her, stop fighting it. Melissa then attempted to slit her daughter's throat, but this strong, resilient, and brave little five-year-old girl survived it. So Melissa then placed a trash bag over her daughter's head and suffocated and strangled her for approximately 30 to 45 minutes. 37-year-old Melissa Towne was not present in court Monday when authorities detailed how she confessed to murdering her five-year-old Melissa Towne was not present in court Monday when authorities detailed how she confessed to murdering her 5-year-old daughter. The defendant stated she wanted to end the complainant's life because she was an evil child and did not want to deal with her anymore. Towne apparently admitted to police that she brought her daughter to Spring Creek Park in Tomball,

sliced her throat with a knife, put a trash bag over her head, then strangled and suffocated her for nearly 45 minutes. Authorities say she then put her five-year-old in a mesh laundry bag and took her to the hospital. The defendant stated that the complainant yelled, I've been good, and the defendant replied, stop fighting it. Melissa then left the park and drove to the hospital. She told the nurses that her daughter's body was hurting and asked them for a wheelchair. She told the nurses that her daughter's body was hurting and asked them for a wheelchair. Once the nurse came outside to the car, she saw Nicole wrapped up on the floorboard of Melissa's Jeep.

Investigators said that Nicole had visible cuts to her neck, and doctors had pronounced her dead again just minutes later. So Melissa had been taken into custody where she gave this haunting confession and where they also found a knife in her possession. So for the record, this town is charged with capital murder of a child under 10 years old. Miss Kennedy, state's position, please. Your Honor, in this case, the state filed a motion requesting a no bond as the defendant is currently charged with a capital offense, that of capital murder. The state is against a pretrial release requesting to refer the decision of bond to the district court. A few facts from the case. The offense date is going to be October 16, 2022. Officers were dispatched in reference to a deceased five-year-old child.

dispatched in reference to a deceased five-year-old child. When officers arrived, they made contact with the mother of the deceased child, later identified as the defendant. Officers stated that the defendant made a non-custodial statement to that officer stating that she made a conscious decision and needed to end the child's life. The officers stated that the defendant told them the offense occurred at Spring Creek Park. When officers detained the defendant, conducted a pat-down for weapons, found a knife in the defendant's pocket. A doctor at the hospital pronounced the child deceased. Officers located the complaint in line in the floorboard of the passenger side of a motor vehicle, inside of a laundry mesh bag covered with a blanket. of a motor vehicle inside of a laundry mesh bag covered with a blanket. Officers spoke with a nurse who stated that the defendant approached her asking for wheelchair for her daughter.

The nurse asked the defendant what was wrong with the daughter. The defendant stated that her body was hurting. The nurse proceeded outside to the defendant's vehicle, found the complaint lying inside of a laundry mesh bag on the floorboard of the passenger side the nurse stated that she opened the laundry mesh bag turned the complaint to turn the complaint over to where she saw that her throat had a laceration the nurse stated that there was bruising around her neck eyes and mouth officers then transported the defendant to the police station, conducted a custodial interview, read the defendant her Texas statutory warnings. The

defendant admitted to taking her daughter, the complainant, to the park. The defendant stated she drove her motor vehicle toward the ravine inside of the park. The defendant stated they exited the vehicle. She grabbed a bag that contained a knife, trash bag, and a laundry mesh bag. The defendant stated that they walked further into the woods. The defendant stated she had the complainant get on her knees. The defendant knelt behind the complainant, grabbed her hair with the defendant's left hand while utilizing the knife with her right hand, sliced the complainant's throat, causing a laceration. The defendant realized the knife did not kill the complainant because the complainant began to scream and fight. The defendant stated that she immediately placed the trash bag over the complainant's head.

The defendant stated that she had a hard time strangling the complainant and that she continued to strangle her for approximately 30 to 45 minutes. The defendant stated that the complainant yelled, I've been good, and the defendant replied, stop fighting it. The defendant stated that she was able to sit on top of the complainant while covering her mouth with the defendant's hand, placing the trash bag over the complainant's head. The defendant stated that she then placed the complainant inside of the laundry mesh bag to carry her to the vehicle. The defendant stated she wanted to dispose of the complaint, so she decided to take her to the hospital. The defendant stated she wanted to end the complainant's life

because she was an evil child and did not want to deal with her anymore. When officers observed the complaint, she had a laceration on her neck, bruising around the neck, eyes, and mouth. Your Honor, the state filed a motion requesting no contact with any witnesses no weapons alcohol drugs gps curfew house arrest for the defendant to surrender her

passport or any travel documents for the defendant's travel to be restricted to harris county no contact with anyone under the age of 17 no contact with any school or daycare facilities to not supervise or participate in any activities involving anyone under the age of 17, do not have access to the Internet, no cell phone or computer that has access to Internet, no pornography. The state is against a pretrial release under the Code of Criminal Procedure Article 17.03, current violent offense. That's it, Your Honor.

Thank you. These will be the bond conditions. She's ordered to appear in court, commit no new crimes. She's ordered to surrender her passport for a temporary deposit with the court. Her travel is restricted so that she must remain within Harris County and its contiguous counties she's ordered not to use possess or consume marijuana or controlled substances or alcohol she's ordered not to use or possess a firearm deadly weapons including knives or ammunition she's ordered to submit to electronic monitoring with an initial curfew from 12 a.m. to 11.59 p.m., which is 24-hour house arrest, only allowed to leave if she is going to court or pretrial services or seeking medical treatment. She is further prohibited from having any contact with any person 17 years of age or younger

and prohibited from going within 1,000 feet of any school, park, daycare facility or other location where children can gather. Bond instead is in this case at $15 million. So Melissa is still in custody on one charge of capital murder, and the bond was set for $15 million. Melissa's attorney, James Safford, told reporters after the hearing that she actually has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and has been institutionalized at least nine times due to mental illness before. Her attorney said there's no doubt there are some dark demons haunting her. To a developing story, a mother accused of killing her five-year-old daughter. Melissa Town made her first court appearance this morning.

She's accused of stabbing her daughter to death on Sunday, and investigators say she did confess. KPRC2's Rilwan Balogogan is live at the courthouse downtown. Rilwan, her confession was discussed in this court hearing and so was her bond. Yeah, Andy, Lisa, the district attorney's office didn't ask to raise Melissa Town's bond, which was set by a magistrate judge at 1515 million because they believe that is sufficient. Now, today was the first time Melissa Towne appeared in courts wearing handcuffs behind her back as she approached the judge and her attorney. Her attorney said she was crying during the entire appearance. In court, the prosecutor recalled what Harris County Sheriff's Office said

happened Sunday afternoon. This is when authorities say she confessed to killing her five-year-old daughter, Nicole Bradshaw. Towns attorney says he is immediately going to try and get a mental health evaluation because he says she has been institutionalized at least nine times. Meanwhile, the prosecutor explains that despite the apparent confession, they're still investigating. We want to make sure that every statement given by a defendant is corroborated, especially when there are mental health issues involved. And so that's why we're still doing a very thorough investigation with this case. But the case will proceed as normal in terms of I need to make sure that after we get all of our evidence in, that that's given to the defense so that they can prepare an adequate and just defense for their client as well,

because that's the only way that the system works. Right now, the bond issue is immaterial. Her mental illness and mental health is more relevant than bond, in my opinion. Now, the defense attorney and prosecutors both say they will investigate all of the people who had access to the five-year-old Nicole Bradshaw. attorney and prosecutors investigate all of the pe to the five year old Nicol from Criminal Justice Court to news. So officers cerc

Melissa claimed that the c not find any scene that p Nicole's death. However, that the crime also did not take place in the vehicle that was driven to the emergency room that day. So were there signs in the days, weeks, or months leading up to this terrible crime on sweet, innocent five-year-old Nicole? Well, the answer, as I'm sure you guessed, is yes. In addition to Melissa's track record and losing custody of Nicole and not having physical custody of her older children, we began to learn more unsettling details about Melissa.

Melissa's co-worker spoke out after this incident, asking to speak anonymously, but said that Melissa was unhinged, saying, I worked with her at Denny's for a few months and nobody liked her because she was so weird. worked with her at Denny's for a few months and nobody liked her because she was so weird. She would go up to tables and talk to customers in a Minnie Mouse-like voice, like she was at a daycare or something. These customers would be full-grown adults, like a 60-year-old couple with no kids, and they'd just be looking at Melissa super confused, like, is she for real? Why is she talking to me like a Minnie Mouse voice? It is weird. So Melissa was apparently nicknamed Crazy Chick among many of her fellow workers at the restaurant because of her strange behavior. And this co-worker said that she went out of her way to be nice to

Melissa because she believed that there might have been something wrong with Melissa. The co-worker also said, I tried to be nice to her because I thought maybe she hasn't been socialized properly or something, but she would end up messaging me some of the weirdest stuff. She would message the coworker, how are you doing? And the coworker would be busy or, you know, not able to reply right away, but she would still apparently continue on with the conversation by herself. Like she didn't know that it was one-sided or didn't know what was going on. So this coworker says that we knew she wassided or didn't know what was going on. So this co-worker

says that we knew she was going to snap someday because she was delusional and she says that she wasn't shocked at what happened sadly because of this. The other telltale sign that something was off with Melissa is her many rants and posts that she had posted on her own Facebook. Now some are very long posts like these ones. I can't read all of them because first of all they are extremely long and also just do not make a lot of sense so pause this video and watch this to read the whole thing if you would like. But they don't make much sense, and others are some like this one over here, where she says that she has a spider that has human DNA along with animal DNA, and that she's keeping it in a special jar.

And in another post, she asks, would you like me to show what multiple person disorder looks like in a person when they're not on their medication? And no, I'm not talking about me. Another alarming post says, hair, well, let's see when I got RAPED when I was five, the kids that actually helped with it, they decided they were going to put a spider up in my you know what. Really unsettling, really graphic, really alarming. So with all of those signs that were seen by neighbors, co-workers, and all of her friends and family on Facebook, how did this woman get access to her daughter that day? We know that Nicole's father had custody of

her since she was a baby, and neighbors have reported that they've actually helped James watch Nicole whenever he needed a babysitter. One of the neighbors said that he had been asking for help and that anytime they could, they would all help. The neighbor said they all love Nicole and that James really loved Nicole and that he was the best dad he could be. So I'm curious, did he need a babysitter and maybe ask Melissa just this one time? It seems unlikely due to the effort that he put in to keep Melissa away from her completely, but then why did Melissa have her? There are rumors on Facebook that James had been letting Melissa stay in an RV of theirs, so is that how she got access? Although that has not been confirmed. It was also said that the authorities actually did search an RV at some point during their initial investigation.

A spokesperson for CPS made this statement about Melissa and the incident. CPS is investigating this tragic death alongside law enforcement. The child's mother, Melissa Town, does have prior history with CPS, but specific details of CPS investigations are confidential according to the law. Ms Miss Town has three additional children ranging in age from two years old to 18 years old who are safe and have been living with other family members. But still, what happened to Nicole? How did Nicole get put into this vulnerable position to be in Melissa's custody to where this horrific crime was inflicted on her. And more so, one of the most haunting details about this and about Melissa's confession to me is that she said when

she made her daughter kneel, the second she pulled out the knife, the daughter said, no, please mom, I've been good. Almost as though she knew that something was about to happen to her, which makes me question, how many times have things happened to this poor girl in the past? For her to immediately see a knife and identify that she's in danger and saying, no, no, no, no, I've been good, almost as though she feels she's getting punished for being bad, which again would be indicative of this having had happened in the past and a threatening or abusive response happening in turn and it just broke my heart and it's very similar to the detail

that we had heard in the Harmony Montgomery case as well when Harmony would cover her little baby brother's mouth when he was crying which babies cry we all know that because she didn't want the baby or herself to get in trouble because it's almost like you know what's about to happen no i've been good no i'll be quiet it's just heartbreaking this five-year-old little girl and also for melissa to try to slit her throat and for it not to work for nicole to still be alive so then she takes the trash bag and puts it over her and strangles her for 30 to 45 minutes strangulationangulation is a very personal, personal crime and method of murder. Now with a bag over her head, she may not have been able to see her mother directly, and I pray to God it was quick, but for her to hold her hands around her five-year-old

daughter's neck for 30 to 45 minutes, pushing and strangling her is that hatred is that mental illness it is evil we know that much how does somebody do this and how does a mother do this and how was she again allowed access to Nicole which I just feel you know my heart breaks if James allowed this on as a one-off trying to give a little bit of leeway for Melissa and then this was the ultimate response and that this was the ultimate outcome of that because I can only imagine the amount of guilt that he must be harboring in addition to the heartbreak it just blows my mind how we see the same kind of thing happen over and over again with parents and their children although granted this time was way more evil and brutal than most so i'm curious to know from you guys do you think that this was a

mental break do you think that she is schizophrenic and that this is a side effect and you know outlet from that not outlet but you get what i'm saying or do you think that this was driven by hatred and that she maybe this was maybe premeditated and she had been planning this and that when she picked her up and took her to the park if that is in fact where it happened that which they haven't found evidence that it is was that all planned and why why why why all right guys thank you so much for tuning in to another bonus episode with me. Like I said at the top of this episode, make sure you're following the podcast so that you don't miss any more bonus episodes in the future. And if you would be so kind as to just quickly rate

this podcast, review it. It takes 30 seconds max to leave a review, and it really does help the algorithm and help push this podcast out to more people so that these victims stories get heard which we know is the goal so thank you guys so much for tuning in to another bonus episode and I will be talking to you again very very soon all right it's me Annie signing off Teksting av Nicolai Winther Thank you.