A man who forced his kids to open their Christmas presents in front of their mother's dead body is facing 15 years in prison.

William Wallace, 39, who hails from Anaheim in California, has been found guilty of second degree murder after killing his wife Za'Zell Preston, 26, in 2011.

Prosecutors said that the couple had attended a neighbor's Christmas Eve party the night before.

Later that evening, a neighbor testified that they had heard Wallace, who has previously served jail time for attacking Preston, arguing with his wife.

After beating her to death, he dragged her body from their bedroom to the living room couch, put sunglasses on her face.

Wallace then marched Preston's three-year-old and eight-year-old daughters from a previous relationship into the living room and told them: "Mommy ruined Christmas, she got drunk and ruined Christmas."

He then called 911 at approximately 9.30 AM on Christmas Day to report that Preston was in need of medical attention.

When Anaheim Police officers arrived at the scene they found the woman unresponsive and she was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Per People, in an official statement made on Wednesday, April 7, Orange County DA Todd Spitzer said: "A young mother finally losing her life after years of violence at the hands of her husband is a heart-wrenching tragedy.

"That heartbreak is only exacerbated by the fact that her children witnessed much of the violence and were forced to celebrate Christmas in the presence of their dead mother.

"That is not a Christmas memory any child should be forced to have."

He continued: "We all have an obligation to speak up against violence of any kind, especially domestic violence where the victims are so fiercely controlled by their abusers.

"The cycle of domestic violence is a vicious one and I want every victim of domestic violence to know that they are not alone. No one should have to live in fear of violence in their own home."

Wallace will be sentenced on June 4 for second degree murder.

According to the Orange County Register, Preston's relatives testified after Wallace's arrest that he was controlling and violent, and had threatened to kill his wife numerous times.

One stated that she had found a pregnant Preston laying in the fetal position in the street after Wallace had attacked her.

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In one of the most haunting cases in American history, Andrea Yates made a chilling 911 call on June 20, 2001, confessing to drowning her five young children in the bathtub of their suburban Houston home.

The mother of five - from the quiet Clear Lake neighborhood - instantly became the center of a media firestorm that shocked the nation.

The children - Noah, seven, John, five, Paul, three, Luke, two, and six-month-old Mary - were found dead, and Andrea was arrested the same day. Just under a year later, in March 2002, she was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison.

But the story didn’t end there.

Andrea Yates' Conviction Was Reversed in 2006

After her initial conviction, Andrea’s legal team successfully appealed the verdict.

Her defense argued that she had long suffered from severe postpartum depression and psychosis, and that her doctor had recently taken her off Haldol - a powerful antipsychotic medication - just weeks before the tragedy.

In July 2006, a new trial resulted in a dramatic shift: Andrea was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Since 2007, she’s been held in a mental health facility in Kerrville, Texas.

Andrea Yates with four of the five children she confessed to murdering. Credit: Getty Images

Why Her Ex-Husband Still Visits Her Every Year

Rusty Yates, now 61, still makes a point to visit Andrea once a year. Nearly two decades after divorcing her in 2005, he says there’s a bond only they can share.

“I try once a year to visit in person and we text back and forth some and talk on the phone some,” Rusty tells PEOPLE.

“Andrea and I always got along. That's a time of our life that we both cherish and she's the only person I can talk to about it. She and I are the only two who can get together and reminisce about what it was like to enjoy those years together.”

Despite their ongoing connection, Rusty admits it’s difficult.

“It’s bittersweet,” he says. “I mean, it's nice to reminisce. Honestly, I never imagined anything like this could happen, especially with her, especially how caring and loving and devoted Andrea is. I don't hold it against her, but even just communicating with her is a reminder of that.

“So, we try to focus on the better times, but it's a little hard to, even in our conversations, avoid that most significant tragedy. And I think that for her, it loomed so large that it's really kept her from growing, from really living and trying to enjoy the balance of her years. It's just too big. She can't get past it.”

Rusty and Andrea Yates' wedding picture. Credit: Pam Francis / Getty

Yates Has Refused Yearly Competency Reviews

Since her admission to the Kerrville facility, Andrea has had the legal right to request annual reviews to determine whether she is competent to leave. But according to PEOPLE, she has chosen to waive that right every single year.

Rusty believes Andrea’s mental state remains frozen in the past. “Andrea spends a lot more time going over old videos of our family, looking through old pictures — that sort of thing — because her mind is still sort of stuck there,” he says.

He adds that while he has found a way to forgive her, she cannot forgive herself.

“I was raised in a tradition where intention matters as much as anything, right? And we're flawed humans. We can have good intentions and do the wrong thing," he explains.

"So, it's easier for me to forgive Andrea than it is for her to forgive herself because she was raised in a tradition of works. It's a strict Catholic upbringing.

"She's kind of stuck because she has this extremely hard time forgiving herself. It's like, how do you take something that significant and get past it in life? Or do you get stuck there? And that's where you're stuck and that's it.”

Yates was initially convicted of capital murder but the verdict was later overturned, and she was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Credit: Getty Images

From Chance Meeting to Tragedy: How Rusty and Andrea Met

The couple’s love story began in the late 1980s, when both lived in the same Houston apartment complex. Andrea was a nurse at the time.

“One night someone had bumped her car in the parking lot, and I was sitting in my apartment,” Rusty recalls. “I was talking to somebody on the phone. I heard a knock at the door and opened the door, and it was Andrea.

"And I literally dropped the phone. She asked me; she said, 'Hey, do you know anything about that?' Because she knew that I parked out in the same area she did. And later she admitted that it was just an excuse to meet me.

"She'd been wanting to meet me," he continues. "And Andrea is a very shy, kind of reserved person. And if you know her at all, that was a big step for her because she's not a very forward person at all."

The couple married in 1993 and went on to build a family of five.

Featured image credit: Getty Images

A haunting message allegedly left by a father accused of deliberately blowing up his own home while his girlfriend and their three young children were inside has now been revealed.

Jacob Rabb was taken into custody on Monday (March 9) and charged with 25 counts, including attempted homicide, aggravated arson, and criminal mischief in connection with the April 22, 2022, explosion at a home in Plum, Pennsylvania.

At the time of the explosion, the 41-year-old, his then-girlfriend Laura Petty, and their three sons, aged 11, six, and two, were all inside the house but managed to escape.

A man allegedly admitted to blowing up the family home. (Stock image). Credit: simonkr / Getty

Petty initially believed Rabb had saved the family from disaster, even calling him a hero who had rescued them from their "worst nightmare".

"If it wasn’t for Jake, we wouldn’t have made it out," she reportedly told police at the time, cited by the New York Post.

But more than a year later, after filing for a protection-from-abuse order against him in May 2023, she allegedly discovered disturbing handwritten notes hidden in her kitchen cabinets.

According to investigators, one message read: "If I can’t have her no one will or my kids see you all in hell," Penn Live reported. Another line in the note added: "P.S. I blew up the house."

Authorities say Rabb later broke into Petty's home on June 10, 2023, and allegedly held a knife to her throat while threatening to kill her.

"Let’s play a little game," he said before slicing his arm and threatening to provoke police to shoot him, according to the affidavit.

Investigators Say Gas Line Was Intentionally Manipulated

Police allege Rabb caused the explosion by disconnecting the gas line to the dryer, allowing gas to flow freely through the house before the blast.

During questioning related to the later break-in, he allegedly admitted he "disconnected the gas valve" from his ex’s dryer and turned on the gas, per PEOPLE.

He denied starting the 2022 explosion itself, telling investigators he wrote the confession note because he was suicidal. However, investigators say he admitted responsibility to at least two other people, including his father.

"Dad, I blew up the house," Rabb’s father told investigators, his son said, according to court documents.

A supervisor at a sober living home where Rabb stayed in November 2025 also told police that Rabb said he had planned to kill himself, his ex-girlfriend, and their children after having a final meal at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Family Narrowly Escaped Deadly Blast

Police found the home engulfed in flames around 11:30PM on the night of the explosion, with windows blown out and the garage door thrown into the street. Two neighboring homes also suffered thousands of dollars in damage.

Rabb and Petty told investigators they had been asleep when the ceiling suddenly collapsed on them.

Their oldest son, who had been in the basement playing video games, said he smelled gas before the blast and suffered first-degree burns while escaping. "It's amazing they survived this incident," Holiday Park Fire Department Chief James Sim said.

Per CBS News, Lou Bellisario, a neighbor, said people in the community finally have some closure: "We are surprised only because we didn't know for the longest time what had caused the explosion.

"We had some contact with some of the arson investigators, and nobody knew what happened, so it definitely is a surprise to us," they added.

Rabb is being held at the Allegheny County Prison without bail because authorities believe he "poses a threat to [the] victim, witness or the community."

It is unclear whether he has entered a plea. His next court appearance is scheduled for March 18.

Featured image credit: Simonkr / Getty

Trigger Warning: This article contains information some people will find distressing.

A mom from Texas has finally been sentenced to prison after forcing her children to live with the body of their dead brother.

In what has been described as one of the most harrowing murders in the United States, a woman has been sentenced to 50 years behind bars for her part in the death of her eight-year-old son.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office confirmed that Gloria Williams, 38, pleaded guilty back in October to two charges of injury to a child in connection with the death of Kendrick Lee at the family’s Houston apartment.

Earlier this year, her husband, 34-year-old Brian Coulter, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for beating the little boy to death in 2020.

Two of Kendrick's siblings testified during Coulter’s trial, stating that they saw him beating Kendrick on multiple occasions including the day he died.

After Kendrick had passed, Coulter apparently covered the boy's body and lay him in the apartment with the rest of his siblings while he and Williams moved out and into a different apartment, per the release.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez explained that Williams’ 15-year-old son eventually called the police in October 2021 to report that their younger brother "had been dead for a year and his body was in the room next to his".

When the authorities arrived, they were shocked by the conditions the children had been living in.

"The apartment was in a horrible condition. We saw soiled carpet, and no furniture at all. No bedding, no blankets that we could see. We saw roaches and flies and a very bad condition for anyone to live in," Gonzalez said at the time.

Lieutenant Dennis Wilford described Coulter as "manipulative" but still added that Williams took part in the death of her child.

"We expect parents to protect their children, not hurt them, because children really are our most vulnerable victims," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a release. "This case shocks the conscience not just because a child lost his life, but because of his parents’ complete and total disregard for human life."

However, as part of her plea deal, the 38-year-old requested that her kids don't have to recall the incident again.

"By pleading guilty and waiving the right to a jury trial, the defendant finally acted like a protective mother," said prosecutor Edward A. Appelbaum. "For one day of her children’s lives, she was a good mother."

Williams will have to serve at least half her sentence before she will be eligible for parole, according to PEOPLE.

If you believe a child could be at risk, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

Featured Image Credit: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle/Getty

A series of disturbing text messages has been made public after a father murdered his own children with the help of their uncle.

Mark Wright, the uncle who assisted in the brutal murders of his niece and nephew, has pleaded guilty to multiple charges related to the deaths of the siblings in 2018.

The tragic case involves the deaths of 14-year-old Mary Crocker and 16-year-old Elwyn Crocker Jr., whose remains were discovered buried in the backyard of their home in Guyton, Georgia, in December 2018.

Mary had been missing for two months, while Elwyn had been gone for over two years. Neither child had been reported missing by the family, and their disappearance was not investigated until later.

Mark Wright, 21, admitted to helping his brother-in-law, Elwyn Crocker Sr., kill and bury the children.

In a chilling series of text messages, Crocker Sr. communicated with family members while carrying out the gruesome task. One message read (via the Daily Mail): "Almost done burying Mary's," to which his mother-in-law, Kim Wright, responded, "Cool! How deep?" Crocker Sr. replied, "There was a car driving by, driving by very slowly, I think it was a cop."

As he continued to bury Mary’s body, Crocker Sr. also texted his wife, Candice Crocker, saying: "I think she's been hit in the head too many times."

The children had suffered severe abuse over an extended period. Mary was starved, tased, beaten, and kept in a dog kennel.

Surveillance footage presented during the trial showed disturbing images of Mary, emaciated and disheveled, with her hair cut off.

Neighbors reported that she was often seen doing yard work alone, far from the usual activities of other children her age.

Wright's confession, along with the text messages, shed light on the horrifying events that led to the children's deaths. The messages also revealed that the couple had plans to go to the movies after the murder was carried out.

The investigation uncovered other troubling details, including web searches on Crocker Sr.’s phone asking what happens if a child ingests bleach and how to bury a dog in the yard.

The family’s disturbing history, including past reports of abuse and mandatory counseling after allegations in 2012 and 2013, was also revealed.

Effingham County police began investigating the family after a concerned neighbor raised alarm over Mary’s wellbeing.

During the search of the home, Crocker Sr.'s third child, an 11-year-old boy with cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy, was found alive and was taken into state care.

The community was left shaken by the crime, with the town's coroner calling it a "very unusual crime" for the rural area. Crocker Sr., who had worked as a Walmart Santa Claus, was reportedly searching for incest pornography on his phone at the time, further disturbing revelations about his character.

Mark Wright, who was charged with second-degree murder, cruelty to children, and several other counts, pleaded guilty in August 2025. As part of a plea deal, he avoided the death penalty and will serve a prison sentence of 10 to 80 years. His sentencing is scheduled for October.

Meanwhile, pre-trial hearings continue for Elwyn Crocker Sr., Candice Crocker, and Kim Wright.

Featured image credit: Effingham County Sheriff's Office