The Misery Machine - The Tragic Case of Josefina Cunningham

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

This week, Drewby and Yergy head to Rensselaer, New York, to discuss the horrific case of Josefina "Josie" Cunningham, an adorable toddler who was raped and murdered by her mother's boyfriend, 34-year-old Robert Fisher. Between July 6th and 7th of 2023, Robert was babysitting 3-year-old Josie at her home on Broadway in Rensselaer. During this time, he crushed prescription medication and forced the child to drink it. While she was conscious, he brutally assaulted her. When the child's mother returned, she found Josie unresponsive and foaming at the mouth. Robert had heavily staged the crime scene, positioning the toddler on her back with her hands folded, and had aggressively used Clorox bleach wipes to scrub her face and body in an attempt to destroy DNA evidence. She scrubbed so hard, that the pigment was removed from her skin. Josie was rushed to Albany Medical Center Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her official cause of death was ruled as homicidal violence driven by acute internal trauma, lacerations, and acute drug intoxication.Support Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachineJoin Our Facebook Group: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachineOfficial Merch Store: https://miserymachine-shop.fourthwall.com/Instagram: miserymachinepodcastTwitter: misery_podcast#documentary #themiserymachine #truecrime 🚨 EDUCATIONAL, DOCUMENTARY, SCIENTIFIC, OR ARTISTIC CONTENT DISCLAIMER 🚨CONTENT WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS ABOUT A SENSITIVE TOPIC INVOLVING LOSS OF LIFE. WE'VE REMOVED ANY GRAPHIC CONTENT TO COMPLY WITH YOUTUBE'S GUIDELINES. WE AIM TO PROVIDE INFORMATIVE, FACTUAL JOURNALISM ON A TRAGIC EVENT IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST THAT DOES NOT DISMISS ITS SERIOUSNESS. ALL CLIPS ARE USED UNDER THE DOCTRINE OF FAIR USE FOR NEWS REPORTING AND ANALYSIS.Fair Use Disclaimer: "Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for 'fair use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."THE CONTENT IN THIS VIDEO IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, BASED ON BELIEVED RELIABLE SOURCES. THEY MAY NOT BE CURRENT OR FULLY ACCURATE. VIEWERS SHOULD DO THEIR OWN RESEARCH AND NOT SOLELY RELY ON THIS INFORMATION. WE'RE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INACCURACIES OR OMISSIONS. WE DO NOT CONDONE, ENDORSE, OR ENCOURAGE ANY OF THE BEHAVIORS OR ACTIVITIES SHOWN. WE URGE EVERYONE TO ALWAYS ACT RESPONSIBLY AND WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF THE LAW.

Josephina Catherine Cunningham was born on July 25th, 2019 at St. Peter's Memorial Hospital in Albany, New York, to parents Lakeisha Stewart and Joseph Cunningham. Everybody called her Josie. She had three brothers, James Conway and Jaikwan. According to Jaiquan, in the weeks before she arrived, their mother painted the nursery walls pale pink and filled the room with stuffed toys. His father put furniture together and read up on how to take her. take care of a baby. They all talked about names, about which pediatrician in town was the best, and about throwing her a party when she came home. The labor was hard. Lakeisha had to be rushed

to the hospital, and the family waited for three days. Jaiquan stayed at the hospital the whole time, telling stories and playing cards. Every time a nurse walked past, they held their breath. On the third day, a text came through. She is here. Josie's blood sugar was and she was shaky, so she was taken straight to the intensive care unit. Jaikwan remembered watching her through the ICU window with monitors and tubes attached to her. She spent nearly three weeks in the ICU. During that stay, doctors found a heart murmur, which meant she was going to need a cardiologist. According to Jaikwan, she was, born with a hole in her heart.

She defied the odds when my prayers were answered and the hole miraculously healed. Josie's aunt Dina drove Lakeisha home from the hospital. Jaiquant had left the house a mess and by his own account his mother was angry about it when she walked through the door. The three of them cleaned it up while Josie was asleep in her new car seat. By 10 months old, Josie was crawling and she could say yes and no. She was still on formula and wouldn't go anywhere without her pacifier and more often than not, she fell asleep with it still in her mouth. She enjoyed playing peek-a-boo, splashing in her baby bath,

clapping her hands when something delighted her. Josie wanted to be a firefighter when she grew up. According to Jaikwan, she talked about it all the time. Jai Kwan described his sister as bright, bubbly, and kind. The two of them read children's books together. Family and friends described her as happy, energetic, and fun-loving. When the family came over, everyone wanted to hold her. Their cousin Josiah was a teenager at the time who normally kept to himself,

but the moment he had Josie in his arms, he went completely gentle with her. By the time she was three, Josie was going to victory daycare in Albany, and Jaiquan applied for a job there. He wrote about the day she saw him there, saying, When she saw me there, she exclaimed, That's my brother, a moment I will never forget. In his words, she would often call me on our mother's phone, greet me with, Hi, brother, and ask what I was doing.

Whenever I visited, she would run to hug me, Before I left, she'd kiss my cheek and say, bye-bye, brother. These moments remain deeply meaningful to me. Robert J. Fisher Jr. was born in December 18, 1989. He was raised in Gilderland, New York, and by 2023, he was living in Rensselor. In 1998, his father died. Robert Fisher, Sr. was killed in a tractor accident while he was working at Altamont Orchards. That left his mother, Alice Fisher, a widow with six children.

Robert was about eight years old at that time. Alice kept up with the mortgage and the water and sewer payments until 2004, but by 2007, the family owed over $6,000 and their water was shut off. That same year, they lost their house. They moved into an apartment owned by Helderburg Safe Haven, a local not-for-profit. It was while they were living there that Robert was arrested for the first time. According to the Altamont Enterprise, it was for two instances of menacing Beavis. behavior. In 2007, Gilderland police arrested him for fourth-degree criminal mischief, second-degree criminal contempt, and second-degree harassment. All three were misdemeanors.

By 2009, he was arrested that year for petty larceny and attempted petty larceny after stealing $372 in cash from a man who had paid him for intimate relations. He had three years of probation for that. By December of 2011, Robert was homeless. That month, Gilderland police traced a set of stolen credit cards back to him. Investigator Thomas Funk said Robert admitted to at least two vehicle burglaries in the Westmear area. He had been going into unlocked cars, garages, and houses taking anything valuable that he could find. He appeared in front of Justice John Bailey and was charged with two counts of second-degree burglary.

He was held in the Albany County Jail and placed in the Albany County Jail and placed. said more charges were expected. But after that, we lose track of him. We could not find anything about Robert between that arrest in 2011 and the summer of 2023. News 10 reported in July of 2024 that he had a prior violent history without ever explaining what exactly it was, and we tried to find his rap sheet, and for whatever reason it was not available. Robert was introduced to Lakeisha Stewart by a neighbor. Some reports, claim that he was simply a friend of the family. By the first week of July of 2023, he and Lakeisha were in a relationship. Jaquan met him and immediately did not like him.

Or in a Jaiquan, something felt a little off inside when I first met him. It was a little off. I just felt something in my gut. He went on to say, it was like my mother was hypnotized. She was too deep in love with him. It was actually kind of strange. On Thursday, July 6th, 23, Jaikwan stopped by his mother's house located in Rensler to pick up his keys. That would be the last time that he saw Josie alive. According to Jaikwan, Robert had been drinking heavily that day and his eyes were bloodshot. Lakeisha left for Walmart with two friends named Joyce and Betty and was gone for about two hours. Josie stayed at the house with Robert.

When she got back, Josie was asleep and looked fine to her. Akisha was worn out, so she went to bed. Later that night, she came out and found Robert on the couch with no clothes on going through her phone. Court documents later placed it between 8 o'clock that night and 720 the following morning. Here is what Robert admitted to and what assistant district attorney at Tonya Edwards laid out in court. We're in ADA Edwards. The defendant took the medication prescribed to Lakeisha, crushed it up, and put it in a cup for Josie to drink. He drugged her, went into her bedroom,

and raped her. He did all of this while she was alive and awake. We only know that now because of the autopsy results. Robert tried to clean up the crime scene. Use Clorox wipes on Josie's body. Orina Jaiquan, he also swept, moped, and used a large amount of bleach through the house. Next morning, Lakeisha went in to wake Josie for daycare, but she didn't respond. Her hands and her feet and her lips had gone blue. There was bleach on her body, and she appeared to be foaming at the mouth. Lakeisha called 911. Detective Sergeant Michael Desso was among the first on the scene,

along with Officer Catherine Hannigan, Sergeant Michael Hughes, and Officer Trey McCoy. Josie was on her back with her hands crossed over her. According to Police Chief Warren Famiglietti, when our responders showed up to the scene and they made contact with Josephina, they described her as being laid in bed on her back, with her arms folded across her torso as if she was staged, as if someone wanted it to seem that she was in a peaceful state. Josie was taken to Albany Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. She was less than three weeks shy of her fourth birthday. Jaiquan was on his way to work at Spirit Halloween when his aunt Dina called him. She asked him if he had spoken to his mother and then said, did she? she tell you that Josie died? Jaiquan ordered a lift to his mother's house. When he got there,

his cousin was on his knees outside. Police cars were all around the house and yellow tape blocked the door. His mother was in the car with her friend Joyce. He asked where Robert was and his mother told him that he was down at the station. He tried to interfere with the investigation and officers had taken him in. Jaiquan went to Albany Medical Center with his aunt and uncle. Detective Sergeant Desso met them there and offered his condolences. Captain Robert Appleton of the New York State Police walked them through what was being done and told them there was a full investigation going on. Captain Appleton drove Lakeisha and Jaiquan to the state police headquarters in Latham,

where they were both interviewed for hours. His aunt and uncle picked them up afterward and that evening, Child Protective Services met with Lakeisha. The next day, Captain Appleton called with an update and met with Lakeisha to explain what investigators had found. Jaiquan's aunt called him afterward and told him the investigation had found that Josie died as a result of essay. Robert was arrested that same day.

On August 2nd, 2023, Robert was indicted on two counts, second-degree murder and first-degree essay. The indictment said he essayed Josie somewhere in that window on the night of July 6 into the morning of the 7th and that he caused her death by doing it. Before that indictment, he had been facing charges of aggravated essay, assault, and endangering the welfare of a child. He pled not guilty and was to be represented by public defender Arthur Frost. According to Jaiquan, the courtroom was packed, family, friends, police officers, and firefighters. A lot of them were visibly shocked when the not guilty plea was entered and it set off arguments among friends and family.

Outside the courtroom, Detective Sergeant DeSso and Captain Appleton spoke to the media. Robert was held for roughly a year in protective custody. His trial was scheduled for July 31st, 2024. Three weeks before it was due to start on July 9th, he pled guilty instead. ADA Edwards explained the term saying, Full parameters of the plea included a plea to the entire indictment, so both counts murder in the second degree and in the first degree. He will receive, in exchange for that, a sentence of 20 years to life.

She said that negotiating a plea in a case like this is normal, but the brutality was not. And Robert gave up details that matched the evidence. Jaiquan did not want to see a plea. He wanted a trial saying that, and I quote, I wanted them to go into details of what really happened that night. I want them to go really into detail. I want some good straight details because that could open up a lot of stuff. Trials like this, you know, attract national attention.

This may open up some laws. District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly saw it differently, saying he's getting the harshest punishment possible. He's got life on the back end and a significant sentence in the front. The death penalty is not an option in New York. I think all of us digging deep in our souls would like to see something like that happened to someone like that. But that's not the law. Sentencing was first set for August 6. It happened on September 10th, 2024 in front of Judge Deborah Jay Young.

New details came out that morning. Some of what came out was too graphic to report. It literally has not been reported. The district attorney's office read a statement on behalf of the family. ADA Edwards said, Hours before her murder, she was seen on video footage at her daycare running around in the playground, smiling and laughing with her peers, doing what children should be doing. This is how her family, friends, and her.

the community should remember Josie, a carefree, happy child. ADA Edwards also spoke about the photographs from that morning. She said, seeing the pictures of Josie's face after what the defendant did to her was mortifying. Those images will be ingrained into the minds forever for those who saw them. Prosecutors say the community should know what Robert Fisher did last year when he killed three-year-old Josephina Cunningham. The details are just awful and new at six. Kumi Tucker spoke with the little girl's brother only on 13. She joins us live right now from Troy.

Kumi, good evening to you. Good evening, Sabrina and Mark. And here at the Rensler County Courthouse, it was very difficult to sit in this courtroom today and listen to these horrifying details. And we want to warn you, the details are very upsetting. And many first responders were here. They packed the courtroom today in honor of that little girl.

Josephina Cunningham had a sweet smile. She was just three years old when her life was taken from her in a horrifying attack. Robert Fisher admitted to raping and killing Josie in her home on Broadway and Rensler in July 2023. You are a threat to society. You've shown no remorse for what you did to Josie. He was a friend of her mother. He drugged her, went into her bedroom and raped her while she was alive and awake.

And these actions killed her. Her body went through such a traumatic response. Her body shut down because it could not sustain the trauma. He tried to cover it up, scrubbing her face so hard with Clorox wipes, he burned the pigment off her face. He even put Clorox wipes inside her. A deeper look at the house yielded that there was bloody baby sharks' sheets in Josie's room, the defendant's bloody underwear, countless bloody towels.

He said almost nothing in court. everybody to know what Mr. Fisher did on that night. And when our initial responders showed up to the scene and they made contact with Josephina, they described her as being laid in bed on her back with her hands folded across her torso as if she was staged. But the significant bruising on her hips, inner thighs and buttocks told a different story. Fisher was sentenced to 20 years to life behind bars. We felt the plea was necessary because we needed to know what happened. And in order to have Mr. Fisher allocute, we offered him 20 to life. Josie's brother says this case deserves the death penalty. People that are innocent and getting killed like this and murder like this, they can get death penalty. And the official cause of death was homicidal violence during a sexual assault with acute hemorrhage and lacerated.

And the official cause of death was homicidal violence during a sexual assault with acute hemorrhage and lacerated. plus acute intoxication from the drugs, and prosecutors and police want people to know exactly what Robert Fisher did and to remember that and also to remember little Josie. Robert kept his head down for the entire hearing and chose not to speak. Judge Young sentenced him to 20 years to life, telling him, you are a threat to society and you show no remorse for what you did to Josie. It is my duty to impose a sentence that reflects the seriousness of your actions and protect society from the harm you demonstrated yourself are capable of inflicting. Chief of Miglietti, whose department had investigated the case, called Robert a monster.

He said, it is my sincere hope that Robert Fisher never gets the opportunity to take a peaceful breath on this earth for the damage he inflicted on so many people, including Josephina, to a minimum be in agony for the rest of his life. And then the district attorney's office is something that has never been followed up on publicly. They urged the community to think back on any interactions they may have had with Robert Fisher because he may have been involved in other crimes.

Robert entered custody of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision on September 23rd, 2024 and was sent to the Elmire Correctional Facility in Shimon County. His parole eligibility date was July 3rd, He served 29 days. On October 22nd, 2024 at 127 a.m., a corrections officer found Robert unresponsive on his bed leaning against the wall. 1.30, the cell door was opened and four officers went in. And later another officer and a prison nurse arrived.

And then the report goes dark. There are seven entries logged between 134 and 149. every single one of them is redacted. At 152, an ambulance crew arrived and took over his care. The entry at 154 is redacted. A 155, an emergency room doctor pronounced him dead over EMS radio. On the document itself, the cause of death was given as unknown, despite an autopsy being completed. About an hour later, at 252 that same morning, a second man died at Elmira.

William Brand had arrived at the facility 12 days earlier on October 10th. He was serving 10 years for first-degree CSA. When reporters asked about William, they got an answer. State police said he died of a medical event. They have never said, as of the date of this recording, what Robert had died from. Two Albany newsrooms went after the story, News Channel 13 and CBS 6.

CBS 6 asked the Shemong County Health Department for the autopsy reports within days of Robert's death. The public health director wrote back, The Shemong County Health Department does administer the coroner's program for the county. We do not comment on cases, nor do we release autopsy reports. News Channel 13 filed a freedom of information law request with Shemung County on January 25, 2025. Two months later, March 26, the county sent the form back, with the boxes checked, denied. The reason given was that it was exempt by other statutes.

On March 7, 2025, News Channel 13 followed the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision asking for the autopsy report and for any correspondence between the Department and Elmira about Robert's death. The department asked for an extension on April 2nd. They asked again on May 16th. It began on July 7th. On September 4th, they asked a fourth time. On October 3rd, 2025, nearly seven months after the request was made, and almost a year after Robert had died, the department produced four pages.

The pages were dated October 23, 2024, the day after he died. Sections were blacked out. What the report said was that Robert was found unresponsive, redacted, on his bed, leaning against the wall. The department pointed to four things. The public officer's law. rules that keep medical records private inside a correctional facility. The federal health privacy law, most people known as HIPAA, and a separate statute covering the privacy of patients treated for substance use.

The blacked out sections covered a lot. Anything that identified him personally, medications he may have been taking, whatever history he had with substances in general, and every medical visit in his final two weeks. We also do not know if he had a cellmate at the time. some people are probably wondering, well, did his cellmate do it? The request for emails was denied outright. The department said it has no mechanism for the practical search of all departmental electronic

communications by keyword and cited a court decision holding that it is not required to make Herculean efforts to answer a records request. So much for the Freedom of Information Act. The department has a policy on this. If a death doesn't look natural and it doesn't match a condition, they already knew he had, the state police has to investigate. So does the department's own office of special investigations, and every death in a state facility gets reviewed by the state commission of corrections on top of that. Chief Amiglietti spoke to reporters after his death. We didn't not expect it. It's a horrific

crime. Everyone knows what he did. We didn't expect him to have a smooth time in prison. He also put out a written statement on behalf of his department, which read, On behalf of the Rensselaer Police Department, I would like to announce the death of admitted child murderer, pissed, and predator Robert Fisher. I already see comments online expressing joy and relief from the news of his death. Being careful not to express my personal beliefs on a professional platform, I will say that I would find it impossible to compose a rational, articulate argument in opposition of those expressing relief.

It appears that justice was ultimately served by a power much greater. Detective Sergeant Desso, who had been one of the first officers through the door that morning, spoke to Josie's father after the news broke. He said, it was tough because there's nothing that will bring his daughter back. Although he's no longer paying for this person to be in prison to pay for his meals and lodging, it's not going to bring his daughter back. He's still without his daughter. It's still bringing it up over and over again.

Jaekwon didn't stop after Robert made his guilty plea, and he certainly didn't stop after Robert had died. Before the sentencing, what he wanted was for New York to bring back the death penalty. He had called it the Josie Act. After Robert died, he changed the target. He told reporters, I still plan on keeping Josephina's memory alive. Instead of trying to reinstate the NYS death penalty, I am going to try to get it as a federal law in all 50 states.

He said that it would give families of victims of heinous crimes the choice to have the convicted person put to death. He also wrote a book about his sister and produced. produced a short documentary. He was 22 at the time, and he had just started his first year at the State University of New York Schenectady. He explained what the work was doing for him. He said, how is this process helping? It's helping me grieve without crying, without thinking about it, trying to think of something positive. Josie's funeral was held on Friday, July 21st, 2023 at 4 in the afternoon at W.J. Lyons Jr. funeral home on Washington Avenue and Renssela. Family and friends were invited to come in the hour before the service. You weren't able to find

where Josie was buried. Her find a grave memorial lists the burial details as unknown. There are seven photographs on the page and 47 flowers have been left on it. Jaiquan has written a lot about his sister since July of 2023, a book, a documentary, a first-person essay, an interview after interview. He wrote that from the moment she came into the world, he knew she was extraordinary. He felt she was the only one who understood him. And every time she hugged him, it was like power rushing through his body. And he wrote down what she said to him every time he left the house. Bye-bye, brother.