CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains detailed discussion of the murders of a pregnant woman and three young children, including graphic violence. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

Her name was Jimella Tunstall. She was 23 years old. She grew up in foster care in East St. Louis, Illinois, fought to get her children back through the court system, bought a car with her tax refund, enrolled in college, and had dreams of becoming a photographer. She was seven months pregnant. She had one person in her life she trusted completely: her best friend of twenty years.

That person killed her. And then she killed her children, too.

In September 2006, Tiffany Hall beat Jimella over the head with a table leg, removed her unborn daughter from her body, and left her to die. Three days later, she picked up Jimella's three children from their father under pretenses and drowned them one by one in the same bathtub. DeMond was seven. Ivan was two. Jinella was ten months old. Their bodies were found hidden in a washing machine and dryer.

In June 2008, Tiffany Hall pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of intentional homicide of an unborn child. She was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. She remains incarcerated at Dwight Correctional Center in Illinois.

This episode tells the full story of Jimella and her children: who they were, the world they lived in, and what was taken from them. It also examines the mental health questions this case raises, the limitations of the legal sanity standard, what the media got wrong, and what it means when the person who hurts you is someone you have loved for twenty years.

DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE: The M'Naghten Rule and its limits Mental health, intellectual disability, and the legal system Fetal abduction as a documented crime category The racial dimensions of how this case was covered What justice looks like when the family asks for mercy

SAY THEIR NAMES: Jimella Tunstall. DeMond Tunstall. Ivan Tunstall-Collins. Jinella Tunstall. Taylor Horn.

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