Gloria Lofton was murdered in 2019 and her family have been desperate for justice and answers ever since.

Gloria Lofton was found dead in her Texas home in 2019,and puzzled authorities on what had happened until a murder suspect confessed to the crime.

Previously convicted murderer Raul Meza Jr., 63, served about a decade in prison for killing an 8-year-old girl before he was released.

Police have said last year in May he confessed to killing his 80 year-old roommate, Jesse Fraga, and implicated himself in Lofton’s sexual assault and murder.

Daughter, Christina Fultz, has expressed her frustration at DNA evidence that could have incriminated Meza being mismanaged. (CBS Austin News)

He has since been charged with both murders and this month entered a plea deal to return to prison for 50 years in exchange for avoiding going to trial and facing a possible death sentence.

Lofton’s family have urged prosecutors to reject this plea. Police are currently looking into as many as 10 other unsolved cases that they think might be connected to Meza since his release in 1993.

Daughter of Lofton, Christina Fultz, has also expressed her frustration at DNA evidence that could have incriminated Meza at the scene being mismanaged.

She also complained that a note, that identified Meza by name, was not recovered by authorities, but rather, herself.

Fultz, 35, said when she and her sister went to their mom’s home six days after her body was discovered, they found the note. They did not report the note to police at the time.

She said she had forgotten about the note and only realized about it after going through video footage she had taken of her mom’s home after her death.

interim Austin Police Chief Robin Henderson said the department was “deeply sorry” about the oversight linked to the DNA report.(NBC News)

“It was there in front of us this whole time, and who knows how many deaths may have been prevented had they looked around a little bit further and a little bit harder?” Fultz said.

Regarding the fumbling of DNA evidence, the affidavit stated the medical examiner found evidence that she may have been strangled but the cause and manner of death were listed as undetermined

In a statement this month, interim Austin Police Chief Robin Henderson said the department was ‘deeply sorry’ about the oversight linked to the DNA report.

“We realize the impacts this has on the case itself, community and most importantly the victims and their families,” Henderson said in the statement.

“As soon as the error was brought to our attention, we addressed it as quickly as we could to identify how it happened and implemented policies to avoid incidents like this from reoccurring. Since this occurrence, the Austin Police Department has added redundancies into the notification process to ensure this does not happen again.”

Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual abuse and rape which some readers may find distressing.

A father who killed a man who ‘raped and kidnapped’ his son doubled down on what he did when asked about it years later.

In the 1980s, then-elementary school student Jody Plauché was subjected to years of grooming and sexual abuse from his karate teacher, Jeffrey Doucet.

Doucet kidnapped the young boy in February 1984, taking Jody to a motel in Anaheim, California.

Jody was missing for two weeks before police tracked him and Doucet down after his abuser allowed Jody to call his mother from the motel he was being held at.

Jeffrey Doucet was arrested in 1984 after kidnapping Jody Plauché (Orange County Sheriff)

By March 1, Jody had been reunited with his family and Doucet was in police custody.

He was transported back to Louisiana to face trial for his alleged crimes, but Doucet never made it in front of a judge.

When he arrived at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, he was shot in the head and ended up in a coma. He died from his injuries the following day.

As for who shot him, it went on to be revealed that it was Jody’s father, Gary Plauché.

Doucet’s arrival was being filmed by local news channel WBRZ, when Gary (who was trying to conceal his identity) was seen wearing a cap and pretending to be on the phone.

The camera crew then caught the moment that Gary fired at Doucet and the criminal fell to the ground.

A police officer was quick to identify the father and rushed over to him and said: “Why, Gary?! Why?!”

Despite being responsible for Doucet’s death, Gary never served any time behind bars.

Gary Plauché was never imprisoned for shooting his son’s abuser (@jplauche/Twitter)

The father had initially been charged with second-degree murder, but he agreed to a plea deal which saw him plead no contest to manslaughter.

As part of the deal, Gary was sentenced to seven years’ suspended sentence, with five years’ probation and 300 hours of community service, which he completed in 1989.

When asked about the killing while appearing in an ESPN special report, Gary maintained that he would do it all over again and had no regrets.

Last year, Jody opened up on how he’s doing following his traumatic experience as a child.

“I wouldn’t trade my life,” he told The Mirror. “Knowing how it turned out, I wouldn’t trade it in for anything.”

Jody has dedicated a lot of his adult life to activism and raising awareness about child sexual exploitation.

He decided to do this after Baton Rouge sheriff told him that one of his interviews on a talk show in 1991 inspired another young boy to come forward and detail the abuse he’d endured at the hands of his local pastor.

“That’s the moment where I decided that I’m going to keep raising awareness. I’m going to keep speaking out, and hopefully, I can make a difference,” Jody said.

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues or want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.

The family of a missing woman who was found frozen to death on the roof of a hospital she was admitted to the day before are demanding answers.

Chelsea Adolphus, of Waukegan, a city in Illinois less than an hour’s drive north of Chicago, visited the Vista Medical Center East at around 4am on Wednesday, January 22 for an unspecified medical issue.

The following day (Thursday, January 23), staff noticed she had gone missing from her room at 2am. Around seven hours later, she was discovered unresponsive on the roof of the Waukegan facility.

The Lake County Coroner reported she had been treated in the emergency room for 14 hours before being declared dead at 11pm that same day.

Yesterday (January 27), an autopsy found that the 28-year-old patient died of hypothermia, having been dressed in only a hospital gown while she faced temperatures as cold as 19°F – which is well below freezing.

According to Time and Date, a website which records past weather reports, there was light snow and fog between the hours of midnight and 6am on January 23, with temperatures reaching as low as 23°F.

While it also reports that on the same day, from 6am till midday, the downfall of snow had stopped but temperatures dropped further to as low as 19°F.

Chelsea Adolphus died of hypothermia after she accessed the roof of the hospital she was admitted to (YouTube/ABC7Chicago)

It is still unknown how Chelsea managed to reach the roof of the hospital.

Speaking during a press conference at Lake County Coroner’s office, her brother Paul Adolphus said: “My sister didn’t deserve this. She was young and changing her life around to be an amazing person to travel the world through real estate.

“Where is the surveillance team? Where’s the camera? Where’s the, ‘hey, where’s the doctors? What’s going on here? Where’s all this security that was there for no reason?’ We want to know exactly what happened from when my sister stepped foot in that facility.”

He added: “I’m just 100 percent I don’t think it’s fair that my sister came to a facility that is supposed to be safe and they end up being the one causing the death of my sister.”

Lake County coroner Jennifer Banek also claimed there was a ‘lack of care and safety measures’ in place at the medical center, which is operated by American Healthcare Systems.

Chelsea wanted to ‘travel the world through real estate’, her brother shared (YouTube/ABC7Chicago)

“The Waukegan Police Department had not been notified of the incident and were notified by the Lake County Coroner’s Office,” she explained. “American Healthcare Systems and the costs medical leadership team has been issued a preservation letter by my office ensuring all paper, video, digital and electronic evidence is not destroyed, overwritten or deleted.”

American Healthcare Systems sent the following statement to CBS News: “We deeply regret the incident that occurred at Vista Medical Center on January 23, 2025. In accordance with HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act], the hospital is unable to comment on any patient’s specific health information.

“We are conducting our own internal investigation, which is ongoing. Additionally, we have reported the incident to state and federal regulatory agencies, and we are cooperating fully with them and with local law enforcement.”

Adding: “Due to our requirements under HIPAA, we are prevented from releasing details about this matter.”

If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact GrieveWell on (734) 975-0238, or email info@grievewell.com.

Warning: This article contains mentions of violence and suicidal thoughts which some readers may find distressing.

Sherwood Brown spent 23 years of his life on Mississippi death row for crimes he did not commit.

How would you motivate yourself to survive if you were wrongly sent to prison for a triple murder, handed the death penalty and spent more than two decades on death row?

Sherwood was sentenced in 1995, beginning the 23 years he spent on death row for crimes he didn’t commit. This is how he survived.

What led to Sherwood’s conviction

On January 6 1993, 13-year-old Evangela Boyd, her mother, 48-year-old Verline, and 82-year-old grandmother, Betty, from DeSoto County, Mississippi, were killed. Two years later, 26-year-old Sherwood was convicted of their murders.

Death Penalty Info reports the conviction relied heavily upon several testimonies and alleged evidence – an FBI agent testifying blood was found on a pair of Sherwood’s shoes, however, they ‘could not confirm absolutely the presence of blood’ in a ‘confirmatory test’.

Another said they weren’t ‘able to determine positively’ whether a pair of Sherwood’s shoes matched bloody footprints found at the Boyds’ house.

A doctor testified it was ‘highly probable’ a cut on Sherwood’s wrist had been made by Evangela, but later said they couldn’t say with ‘absolute certainty’ or even ‘reasonable certainty’.

And – while facing serious charges themselves – one of Sherwood’s former friends claimed they’d heard him admit to the crimes. They received no prison time in return for their testimony.

Sherwood was sentenced to death in 1995. (Death Penalty Information Center)

Receiving the death sentence

Sherwood was subsequently convicted on one count of capital murder and handed the death sentence alongside two consecutive life sentences.

The now-56-year-old tells UNILAD it took ‘a lot of years being on death row to really realize’ he was there.

“I actually thought I was going to die within the next month,” Sherwood said. “They sentence you to a date and I’m sitting there in my cell, preparing myself to get executed.”

Sherwood was held in Mississippi State Penitentiary for 23 years. (Google Maps)

Death row

“It almost happened, but it didn’t.”

Instead, Sherwood would spend the next 23 years receiving the same hole-filled tray of food, spending 23 hours a day in his cell with fleeting trips outside in the chicken coop ‘pens’.

He faced racial discrimination, ‘got jumped by a lot of guys,’ saw ‘a couple of guys get killed’ and even ‘got stabbed in the neck’ himself, but bar some self defence, he never hit back.

Why? Sherwood knew he was innocent and didn’t want to risk anything jeopardizing future freedom.

“We [were] supposed to be fighting for our life on death row [but] we tried to kill each other.”

And Sherwood also had another battle to fight – not giving up.

Sherwood before he went to prison. (Supplied)

Holding on to hope

“Year after year, my case kept getting turned down. Sometimes you want to give up. It makes you want to give up,” Sherwood says. “You want to kill yourself. But […] if you kill yourself how can you prove you’re innocent? Then people will say, ‘Well, he killed himself because he was guilty’.”

But day after day, week after week – for over 20 years – Sherwood didn’t give up. He survived. Motivated to ‘come home’ for his family.

In the time he was locked up, Sherwood sadly lost his mom, grandmother and ‘big momma’ – “People that really cared about me and [who] wanted to see me home.”

Nevertheless, the motivation to make it out for the rest of his loved ones kept him going on top of ‘the anger’ of knowing he was innocent.

Sherwood said it took ‘a lot of years of being on death row’ to realise he was there. (UNILAD)

“It was killing me at the same time, but it kept me motivated because I knew I hadn’t done anything.

“I’m constantly saying in my head: ‘You gonna go home, you gonna go home’.”

Exoneration

In 2018, Mississippi Supreme Court reversed Sherwood’s convictions based on DNA testing and false evidence, and he was transferred to Desoto County jail while his case was re-investigated.

In August 2021, it was decided Sherwood wouldn’t be re-tried but set free – his release day ‘the best day’, but ‘a sad day’ too.

“I didn’t get a chance to show her [his mom] that I made it.”

Sherwood recalls putting on his new clothes so fast he ‘left some of the tags,’ but when he finally walked out of the prison gates he felt confused.

Sherwood was released in 2021. (Christina Steube/ Supplied)

“I didn’t know if I wanted to be happy, I didn’t know if I wanted to cry – I couldn’t cry. I think it took a minute to realize that I was out.”

Sherwood’s first meal when he left prison was a ‘big old steak’.

“And big old thing of fries. I didn’t know if I was supposed to pick it up with both of my hands – I’m trying to think which hand to use to hold a fork in and cut with the knife.”

Sherwood’s first meal was steak and chips. (Supplied)

“It was one of the best days of my life, but […] after being locked up for 28 years [five of those in standard prisons], everything was new.”

Life now

Sherwood may’ve survived death row, but he carries 23 years’ worth of memories and experiences with him, saying he feels ‘messed up inside’.

“I’ve been home almost three years and I still call my plate a tray.”

And despite being exonerated, Sherwood says people ‘still judge’ him and look at him ‘sideways’ to this day.

He admitted it’s ‘rough’ both mentally but also physically, with hip replacements and a stent resulting in him being disabled and unable to work.

“Since I’ve been home I’m not young anymore.”

Sherwood used to want to seek ‘vengeance’ but his life and freedom is worth more to him than that. (UNILAD)

Sherwood has also yet to see his former friend who provided statements which led to his conviction – despite asking to see him.

“Not to do anything to him – I’m not trying to lose my life to go back into the system again – just to ask him ‘why? Why you threw my life away?'” Sherwood explains. “I feel like I can move on with my life if I hear him say something, or nothing.”

However, Sherwood admits he’s not always felt this way – the idea of ‘vengeance’ keeping him motivated on death row too.

“I used to work out every day – hard – just to try to keep my body in shape,” he says, explaining he used to wet old legal papers and stuff them into garbage bags to use as weights.

However, one of his friends on death row turned around to him and said: “Man, you know something? You ain’t doing nothing but hurting yourself.'”

And Sherwood now hopes to offer similar advice to others who remain behind bars.

Sherwood on his day of release (Christina Steube/ Supplied)

Why Sherwood returns to death row

Since 1973, Sherwood is the 100th African-American in the US be exonerated from a wrongful capital conviction and death sentence.

His voice and story are just one of many more innocent people currently imprisoned on death row, awaiting their executions.

Sherwood urges them: “Just don’t give up. Sometimes I know your mind play tricks on you, but don’t give up.”

And Sherwood still visits death row – or what he refers to as ‘home’ – too.

“People look at me when I said that was my home, but that was my home. That was my family, […] the guys I knew for almost 30 years.”

While he shouldn’t ever have been there, Sherwood says death row ‘saved’ him.

“Even though it were bad for me, [it] saved my life […] from being in the street or getting killed,” he explains. “But it also put me in a situation of getting killed by the state of Mississippi. And then I also had to fight for my life inside – that was the hardest part.

“You don’t want to do anything to jeopardize you getting out.”

It’s a ‘blessing’ for Sherwood to be out, but he can’t help but ‘feel bad’ for the others he’s ‘left behind’.

Despite leaving death row, Sherwood frequently returns to support others still there and is campaigning for important change (UNILAD)

He says: “You get to see the good in people and you get to see the bad – and some people shouldn’t be there.

“I must speak on their behalf. There’s a lot of guys on death row, their whole life has changed – you get older, you change.

“People don’t like to see you do good, they only want to see bad.”

At the time of writing, Sherwood has yet to receive any sort of compensation or apology from the state of Mississippi.

He’s since been working alongside the Innocence Project, the law firm Fish & Richardson – which represented him pro-bono – and employment charity HopeWorks in Memphis to help raise awareness and support those who remain imprisoned.

My final question to Sherwood is: “Having been confronted with death, what advice would you give to others about life?”

Sherwood resolves: “You don’t know how much life means to you until you get your life back. Life is precious. Life is everything. In fact, if I could start my whole life all the way over again, from my childhood to coming back up, I think I would be something good.

“Yeah, I will be something good. And trying to make a change. But I need help.”

To help support Sherwood, you can donate to his CashApp – $brownsherwood1968 – and you can support the projects he’s involved with by following the links above.

UNILAD’s Survivors series sheds light on different survival experiences and the lessons learned from facing death. New interviews are being released daily beginning May 20.