Cold Case: Mother and Daughter Strangled to Death

They're often the stories that people tend to forget about... except for the families. I'm talking about Cold Cases. You know, those old murder cases that haven't been solved yet. We'll be covering Cold Cases from Abilene all this month!!

Let's travel back to March 9th, 1982... Suzanne Florez and her 8 year old daughter, Francisca, were strangled and beaten to death and the mother was also sexually assaulted. The original investigators on the case said that Suzanne's husband (common law) found them when he came home from work. He was never a suspect, instead only a person of interest. Investigators followed up on several leads, but no one was ever charged for the horrendous double homicide.

What makes this story so sad is that both the mother and daughter were killed, there was no apparent reason, and the person(s) that committed the crime have yet to be caught. I personally tried to contact the family, but they said they would rather put this rest.

While I don't know what it feels like to go through something like this (hopefully never will), I'm not sure I could ever put a mystery like this to rest until the person responsible is caught and put behind bars.

If you know anything about the double homicide please pick up the phone and call Crime Stoppers at 676-TIPS. You do NOT have to leave your name!! Your tip could solve this case!

You Know You're a Mom When...

Viewer Discretion is Advised :)

Turner has been under the weather for the past few weeks. We're expecting a tooth soon (finally!), but that's not the reason I'm blogging!

Everyone knows that babies do all kinds of cute things... they coo, smile, laugh, and play. Naturally, like everything else in the world, with the good also comes some bad. I'm talking about dirty diapers, screaming fits, and snotty noses. Regrettably, the latter is the reason I'm blogging tonight.

So, I was sitting at my desk before the news finishing up a few scripts. I always mess with my hair by habit and noticed that something hard was in it. I figured it was a bobby pin and didn't think anything of it since they are pretty common for me. So, as I continue to read through my scripts my hand keeps getting stuck on my 'bobby pin'. I thought how strange this problem was since they're normally easy to get out of my hair. Finally, after struggling for almost 10 minutes to get the darn thing out I decided to investigate. As I dig through my hair I discover that my problem is not a bobby pin. Instead, my sweet little 'Turner Bug' blew her snotty little nose into my hair!! I guess I didn't notice when she did it and by the time I finally discovered it... it was hard! I know, I know.... you're thinking something like "that is so gross"! But, believe it or not, I'm not grossed out in the least. All I can say is: You know you're a mother when your child blows her nose in your hair and you still think it's kind of cute!

Tell me your funny story or just leave a comment!!

PS-Be sure to check out our New Year, New You contest. The prizes are awesome. Nominate yourself, a friend, spouse, etc! Deadline to nominate is February 14th. Check this link for more.

No Anchoring, Sound Like a Man

I'll start off by saying that it's rare that I get sick. It always seems to be the start of spring and winter that I come down with something....and that is a BIG if. Right around the change of the seasons my good 'ole allergies kick in, and they kick hard!

That has all changed lately. In the last 5 months I've had 5 sinus infections! That's right, I'm 5 for 5 so far! And it's all been brought on by these stupid allergies...like I said, they kick hard!

So many of you may have noticed I wasn't on the news Tuesday. I stayed at home instead hoping to get better. I practically knocked myself out with any medicine I could get my hands on. Lucky for me, things started to turn around Wednesday. I anchored the 5pm cast... it went ok. I anchored the 6pm... barely. I could feel my voice start to slip away. I could barely talk by the time the 10pm cast rolled around. When I did talk, I sounded like a man, which wouldn't be bad except for the fact that I am not a man! I answered the phone during the 10pm newscast and the lady on the other line said, "Thank you for your help Sir". Ha!

So here I sit blogging about the fact that allergies have taken over my life and ponder ways to change the unchangeable!

On another note...let me know what you want to read/hear more about. Leave me a comment. I'm open to just about anything:)

No Excuse for Child Abuse

I know that I'm a new mom, but there is one thing I learned before I ever had a baby: You don't hurt children. Once I held our baby, I couldn't understand how or why anyone would ever hurt such a precious being. One thing is for certain: it's very hard in this line of business because we hear and have to report about all sides of a story, even stories that involve child abuse. Take the most recent case involving Elizabeth Collins who was sentenced to 8 years probation for biting her stepson. After hearing this, I couldn't imagine being so upset with my daughter that I would injure her! Elizabeth's story is just one of many we hear about far too often. Sadly many of the victims aren't even a year old! Babies can't talk or protect themselves! They can't do a thing besides sit there and take it. I've found that it's the saddest type of news to report on because you imagine that it's your child and someone is hurting them.

Elizabeth's mother wrote an email the night her story aired. In that email she admitted that her actions were inexcusable, but she placed the blame on her husband. When you hurt a child it's your fault. No one makes you hit a child. End of story!

To read the story in its entirety click here.

Furthermore, let me know what you think. What goes through your mind when you hear of stories about child abuse?

~PS - Kudos to Bonham Elementary for alerting authorities. If it wasn't for Bonham that child could have been hurt far worse than he was.

Too Fat To Date?

It's a joke, right? Nope, what you heard is totally true! An online dating website called beautifulpeople.com 'thinned' out its membership based on those who admitted to 'packing on a few pounds' during the holidays. So, 'bigger' people aren't pretty enough to use this dating site? What ever happened to the saying that beauty is on the inside ...or beauty is in the eye of the beholder? What really gets me is the that some of the people interviewed about this admit that being pretty is more important than having a good personality.

Here's how I feel about this: I find it disgusting that a website dedicated to helping people find love, would discriminate based on weight. There is nothing more superficial than people thinking that looks mean everything.

Watch the story here.

It's your turn to sound off on this. What do you think about what this website has done? What about the 5,000 people they booted off because they are not 'thin' enough? Is that fair?

Until next time...

Turner Talks...Sort Of

It's time for a Turner update.

November 19th marked her half birthday (6 months), which was celebrated with a vanilla cupcake topped with yellow icing. At first she wasn't sure what to make of it, then she slammed her hand right into the frosting. Needless to say, she loved it...well loved making a mess of it. Her "half birthday" has brought big changes, including crawling, eating baby food, and laughing at just about everyone and everything. But the biggest milestone happened December 9th. My husband was recording her making all sorts of noise and actually captured her saying "Da Da" and "Ma Ma". OK, it might not be exactly what she said, but Justin and I are convinced it was. What do you think? Is it all in our heads or is my baby girl growing up that fast?

Tough Times Call for Big Hearts

I know what it's like to grow up with a sister who is sick. I also know what it's like to have medical bills so high, you wonder if your family will ever be able to recover. So in a small way I know what Stormie Bingham's family is going through.

Stormie was born with cystic kidney disease and is now recovering from a kidney transplant after being on dialysis for several years after her kidneys failed.

I had the pleasure to meet her last year while I was in Coleman visiting a class. Although she may not remember me, I won't forget how sweet that little girl was. Through KTAB's Michelle Ashworth I heard that her classmates were doing a fundraiser for her. I was so thrilled! It's called the "Pop Tops Cause".

The way it works is simple: The trade each pound of Pop Tops in for money. I know they need it and they need the support from the entire Big Country. If you can't help out financially or you don't have Pop Tops to drop off at Coleman Elementary feel free to leave Stormie and her family a message of hope. A simple encouraging message makes tough times easier when you know others are out there praying and supporting you.

And for anyone else going through something like this, you too have a support system that you may not even know about.

To see Stormie's story just click the link below. KTAB's Michelle Ashworth covered it.
http://bigcountryhomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=195412

Until next time....