Tennessee Man Arrested at Georgia Airport in Mother’s Death

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn.—Authorities have charged a Tennessee man in the death of his mother.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a news release 51-year-old John Christopher Ralph of Elizabethton was arrested by federal agents Saturday night at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The statement said that Ralph is charged with one count of first-degree murder and is being held in the Clayton County Jail in Georgia, on a $1 million bond while awaiting extradition to Tennessee.

The statement says the body of 76-year-old Edith Betty Ralph was found at her home by a caregiver Saturday. John Ralph also lived at the home.

The statement didn’t give details on how she died.

4-Year-Old Girl With Down Syndrome Killed by Mother’s Boyfriend, Says Sheriff

A 4-year-old girl with Down syndrome was reportedly killed by her mother’s boyfriend, according to sheriff’s officials.

Adam Hughes, 24, was babysitting his girlfriend’s children at their home in Rancho Cucamonga, California, when the alleged incident took place, said a news release from the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department on April 1. One of the children, Kylie Willis, had Down syndrome, the release noted.

At some point on Tuesday, March 26, Hughes allegedly assaulted Kylie because she “angered Hughes by interrupting him,” the news release said. He then put her to bed.

But, several hours later, he noticed Kylie was not responsive and had “blue fingers and lips,” said the department, prompting Hughes to call his girlfriend, Corrine Blake.

At around 7:56 p.m., he called 911, and paramedics took Kylie to a nearby hospital for treatment before she was airlifted to another medical center for “severe head trauma,” the sheriff’s department said.

After she spent several days on life support, Kylie was pronounced dead on March 29 by the alleged attack, the news release stated.

Two days before her death, both Hughes and Blake were arrested on child abuse charges, but Hughes was later charged with murder after the girl died.

The criminal complaint had stated Hughes was accused of “unlawfully … having care and custody of Jane Doe, a child under the age of 8 years, assault that child by means of force that to a reasonable person would be likely to produce bodily injury, resulting in the child becoming comatose due to brain injury and suffering paralysis of a permanent nature,” reported the Daily Bulletin.

Meanwhile, Blake, “under circumstances and conditions likely to produce great bodily harm and death, willfully caused and permitted a child to suffer,” said court documents.

No additional information was released by the department, which added that several agencies are investigating.

Anyone with information about the case can call Detective Wendi Beaton at (909) 387-3589 or and can contact WeTip at (800)78-CRIME or www.wetip.com.

Violent Crime Declined in 2017

In September 2018, the FBI said Americans committed fewer violent and property crimes across the United States in 2017, according to statistics. The violent crime rate—including offenses such as murder, robbery, and aggravated assault—dropped by almost 1 percent although it is still about 4 percent above the 2014 rate. The murder rate dropped by 0.7 percent.

“There were more than 1.2 million violent crimes reported to [the FBI] nationwide in 2017. There was a 0.7 percent decrease in murders and a 4 percent decrease in robberies from 2016 to 2017. Aggravated assaults increased 1 percent in 2017. The FBI began collecting data solely on an updated rape definition last year, and 135,755 rapes were reported to law enforcement in 2017,” the agency said.

Of the estimated 17,284 murders in 2017, more than half occurred in larger cities—with populations of more than 100,000.

There are fewer than 300 such cities in the United States, and while they account for less than 30 percent of the country’s population, many of them contribute far beyond their share to national crime rates and have done so for years, even decades.

While the national murder rate inched down to 5.3 per 100,000 residents, it spiked by 15 percent in Philadelphia, to a rate of more than 20 per 100,000 residents. Columbus, Ohio, saw a massive 54 percent murder rate increase, reaching nearly 16.3 per 100,000 residents.

Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips contributed to this report.