October 14, 2025 • 27 mins
Ronald Exantus killed 6 year old Logan Tipton by stabbing him in the head with a butcher knife. He also stabbed Logan's two sisters. He has been released from prison after serving only 7 years of a 20 year sentence.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Listen to Hudson Riverradio dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Don't make us come and find you.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
I'm Linda Zimmerman, I'm Brian Harrowitz, and this is Murder
in the Hudson Valley on Hudson Riverradio dot Com and welcome.
How are you this evening?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Brian hanging in there, thank you much and yourself.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Full of rage at the tonight's episode.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Before we even start, so you know it's a good one.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
But first I have an update. We covered the case
of the horrific murder of sixteen year old Paula Bohovesky
and Pearl River in nineteen eighty. Robert McCain and Richard
la Barbera sexually assaulted and brutally murdered this girl as
(00:52):
she was walking home from her job at the Pearl
River Library. I mean, I grew up in Pearl River.
I used to walk to the lit bravery by myself
all the time. This was a scary personal case. Both
of them got out in parole, hooray because you know, yeah, yeah,
(01:16):
I'm sure they're very well rehabilitated, or maybe not, because
Robert McCain a couple of months ago was arrested again
for forcibly touching a woman at Courtland Town Park. He
just as we're recording this, just in the last day
(01:38):
or two, pleaded guilty to essentially groping a woman as
he's on parole. So you think, well, that's pretty serious
that if you are that woman.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
With parole, that's serious to begin with.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Exactly, thank you. So what they're going to do is
give him four months in jail.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
That's it, super double secret probation. I oh, go sit
in a room now.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
If I was the woman who was groped by this
murderer and they just slap them on the wrists for
four months. Oh the words I want to use.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
All Right, if this were a first defense, blah blah blah,
you could argue one or the other. But this is
clearly not. This is somebody on parole and this is
supposed to be the stipulations of parole.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Right. If you, yeah, and one of your crimes was
sexually assaulting a girl and the other crime was murdering her.
If you start groping another woman, what does.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
You've set your track record in cement at this point? Yeah? Yeah,
So how old do we know how old he is now?
Speaker 3 (02:59):
He is sixty four years old?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Was apparently.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Okay, yeah, yeah, but wow, I was hoping that meant
he was going back in the slammer for good. Yeah,
but obviously not. So we'll keep an eye on that
four months from now. See what else? Who else he victimized?
And that woman's traumatized now and she will be for
(03:24):
life going to be afraid to go into a park.
She's going to be afraid to go in. So you know,
that is a serious thing because you don't know where
this guy's gonna stop once he starts doing something like that.
So another another black mark on the judicial system. But
(03:46):
but just wait, because should we take our first break
while I take a deep breath before we.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Get into a lot of breaks, would you like to
take our first break now?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah, let's take it now.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Hudson River Radio dot com Hudson Riverradio dot com.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Okay, sorry, I was sitting here still fuming.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Well, I guess sometimes you know, when you're full of
the ragie hall, you just kind of you don't want
it to be interrupted. You want a nice, steady flow.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Yes, well it's it will be flowing in all of
us quite soon. This is a case from Gray Street
in Versailles, Kentucky. Now, in France they pronounce it Versailles.
I don't know if in Kentucky they say that or
Versailles regardless. Monday, December seventh, twenty fifteen, little six year
(04:50):
old Logan Tipton, who is a kindergarten student at Simon's
Elementary School, who everybody described as just being constantly full
of joy, very happy child. One thing though, he was,
as his mother said, he was terrified of the dark.
(05:12):
A lot of kids are scared of normal. Yeah, right,
but he was terrified of the dark and he couldn't
go to sleep unless his mother, heather sang Silent Night
to him. She started singing Silent Night. He went right
to sleep.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
At four am, someone enters the house, which they kept unlocked.
I mean, you're in Kentucky, but twenty fifteen, unlocked door
not a good idea. This man grabs a large butcher
knife in one hand and a butter knife in the
(05:52):
other hand. Okay, a little interesting goes into the room
where the kids are sleeping, stabs both of his sisters
and then proceeds to repeatedly stab Logan in the head
with such force he bent the butcher knife. Wow, this
(06:14):
was a very big guy stabbing a six year old
boy in the head's Poor Logan is screaming, The sisters
are screaming. The father comes running in. Father was a
big guy, but so is this other guy. He's fighting
this guy, trying to subdue him. The girls had some
(06:38):
cuts and scratches, and the one had a stab in
the back. The father was a little scratched up. But
by the time police arrived, they try to help Logan,
but he is dead, killed in his bed by this
man with a butcher knife. Is that just the most
horrific nightmare scenario.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Out of nowhere? Somebody comes into your house and that's wow.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Okay, yeah, So who is this Well, it was thirty
two year old Ronald Exantis e x A n t US.
He was a dialysis nurse helping people. Oddly enough, he
(07:26):
had no criminal or psychiatric history, and he lived in Indianapolis, Indiana.
That is one hundred and seventy four miles away. Why
the Tipton house. He had never been to Versailles before
this right.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Action on top of this, nothing with the family, nothing else.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
This just random house zero, a random house. Let me
tell you what he said. He confesses to police right
away in a way, we'll get to that. He said
he was driving and got lost one hundred and seventy
four miles away. He parked on Gray Street because he
(08:13):
had been binge washing watching Gray's Anatomy, and he was
reminded of knives for surgery, so decided to perform surgery,
and he did that by taking a butcher knife and
stabbing a six year old in the head. Immediately, his
(08:37):
defense attorneys he's mentally ill, that's what happened. There is
so much uproar over this case that when it went
to trial, they had to move it from Woodford County
to Fayett County. And this was serious because they have
the death penalty there, so you can't get much more
(09:01):
of a justification for a death penalty case than the
murder of a six year old boy in his own bed, unprovoked.
The jury trial, the jury selection took four days. They
had a pool of one hundred and eighty people. They
whittled it down to fourteen, finally got thirty four, then fourteen,
(09:26):
so fourteen attended the trial, but only twelve then would
do the deliberation because you need alternates in case someone
gets sick or does something wrong. So it was seven
men and five women. The trial took place March twenty eighteen.
(09:47):
Chral Tipton, the sister, testified. Can you imagine this little
girl having to testify what a terrifying thing that is.
She testified that she woke up, saw a man in
her room with a butcher knife in one hand and
a butter knife in the other. He goes over to her,
(10:11):
puts the butter knife to her stomach and runs it
up the length of her body to her nose, just
to terrify her. This little girl in her bed, And
of course he stabbed the other sister, Dakota, in the back,
and there were other injuries. Coral is the one who
(10:33):
calls nine one one says there's a man in the
house and then says, daddy's upstairs telling him to stop.
Can you imagine your little daughter, your little kids going
through this. It's it's inconceivable.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Stuff of nightmares, you know, nightmares for kids or monsters
and other imaginary things, and this is the real deal.
Just yeah, incredible.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Yeah, And for a parent to you know, your number
one thing is to protect your kids, and this guy
comes into your house and does this. Well, one of
the public defenders. He had three. Bridget Hoffler said, we're
not disputing the stabbing. How could you? But he was
(11:25):
not in a culpable mindset. He didn't know what he
was doing. He didn't know what he was doing. He
was wrong, he was insane. However, let us contrast this
that when the police arrived and he's got this butcher knife,
they said, what did you do with that? I stabbed
(11:47):
a little boy and killed him. That's kind of understanding
what you just did, right.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Are aware of what you've done? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Exactly. And the body cam footage of the police they
recorded him saying I'm sorry God, I'm sorry God for
what I did. That's understanding what you did was wrong.
I would agree, and he immediately asks for an attorney. Okay,
(12:20):
does that show someone who has no clue of what happened. No,
he knows he's in deep crap and he wants an attorney.
So the prosecution was think. They had a psychiatrist and
a toxicologist who said, since he had no prior history
(12:44):
there there was marijuana in his bloods, you know, traces
of smoking marijuana, that he probably smoked marijuana that had
some sort of disassociative synthetic drug in it.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
I will say that's kind of common nowadays. Unfortunately, you know,
people think they're eye into straight cannabis and it's laced
with the Fentandel's the big one. But you don't know
what you're buying.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Right, right, and that that may have caused the psychosis.
Get him to jump in a car, drive for hours
and kill.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
It would explain it wearing off later too, and all
of a sudden, now you know where you are, Now
you know what you've done?
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Does that? Do they not last that live?
Speaker 1 (13:27):
It depends on what it is and how much you taks.
Who knows?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yeah, So the prosecution is saying, you know, not only
was he aware of what he did, he voluntarily took
that drug. Okay, we've had cases before where people voluntarily
take the drug, murder somebody and say, you can't blame me,
it was the drugs, Well, who put them in your body?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Right?
Speaker 3 (13:53):
So the defense says that, you know, the prosecution is
looking for a drug that is not there. Mental illness
is not a drug. It's why Ron is here, and
logan is not do you catch that Ron. Let's make him,
Let's make him like a friend of our yup, not
(14:16):
even saying, ron I caught that, and I started having
steam coming out of my eye. I know, I'm onto them.
I know what these defense attorneys do. And then they
brought up that at the psych center, he got down
on all fours and barked like a dog. Because no
one in the history of criminal justice ever tried to
(14:36):
fake insanity, right, you know, I'd take that with a
little grain of salt. And then they said he was
also pulling his dreadlocks out in jail. Okay, so they
also the defense he left Indianapolis with no luggage, no weapon,
no plan. That's insanity or it's drugs, who knows. So
(15:08):
in concluding, the prosecutor, Keith Aardley said, is he insane?
I don't think so. And he held up the bent
knife and he think of the force it took.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I had not the kitchen knife. Is that snow? Especially
a butcher knife?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Those are they are thick? They're wide? Yeah. So the
public defender Kim Green, said, we have shown you he's insane,
So you know, let's take our second break before I
give you the.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Do we know that the knives he used were they
from the house. He went in the house and use
their own.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Yes, got he went into the kitchen and took the
butter knife and the butcher.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
House, so he didn't walk in the house with them,
so he took me from there. Okay, yeah, yep, yeah, wow,
all right, I'm just asteemed as you are. Maybe a
close second.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Wait, this is Hudson Riverradio dot com. This is Hudson
Riverradio dot com. We are back, and everybody better strap
themselves in for this verdict and what is to follow.
(16:29):
There was five days of testimony and when it went
to deliberations, which began at eleven thirty five am Monday,
March nineteenth, twenty eighteen, the jury had four choices, not guilty,
not guilty by reason of insanity, guilty but mentally ill,
(16:54):
or guilty on the charges of murder. There were two
counts of second degree assault that was for attacking the
two little girls, and fourth degree assault, which was attacking
the father. Okay, so late Monday night, so they start
deliberating late morning, and by Monday night they had a verdict. Okay,
(17:20):
they found him not guilty of murder by reason of insanity, Okay,
which I strongly disagree with. But then get this of
the assaults, the assault charges. They find him guilty but
(17:42):
mentally ill. How does this make any freaking sense. He's
guilty of stabbing the little girls and the father, and
during the same act he stabs the little boy and
kills him, but he's not guilty of that. The prosecutor,
(18:04):
I think, was apoplectic. He said, it's an inconsistent verdict.
I don't think it makes legal or logical sense. I'm
very disappointed. Does that make any sense to you?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
No? No, unless he wasn't I mean, he couldn't be
convicted of something he wasn't charged of. So if he
wasn't charged for assault on logan and only the murder, maybe,
but I would have thought the prosecutor would have tacked
on any charge he could come up with. But the
(18:37):
rule of thumb basically is, you can have more than
the minimum to charge somebody and convict, but you can't.
You have to meet the minimum. You can have more,
but you can't have less.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
They say, but how are you guilty but mentally ill
of the assaults but then not guilty by reason of insanity?
It just that it makes okay.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
I agree that it doesn't makes sense. I'm trying to
come up with an explanation. I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yeah, the jury was horrible. That's the only thing I
can Okay, okay. Public defender Hoffler jumps in and says,
of course, the jury returned the only verdict that could
under the law. No, it didn't. This is a conflicting
this is wrong. How do you even say that?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Right?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
But then she says, but there is no victory for anybody.
The Tiptons are devastated, and we feel for them. Really, really,
just keep your mouth shut about what the Tiptons feel,
because you are doing everything you can to get this
guy off Ron your buddy Ron there. I'm sorry. Defense attorneys,
(19:49):
I know they're doing their job. They have to give
him the best defense. But don't say, oh, yeah, we
feel for the victims. You wouldn't be carried. You wouldn't
be taking this case if you were feeling for those victims.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
So you get a signed cases too.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
That's you can decline. You can say I think this
son of a bitch as guilty as sin. I hate
his guts. I can't accuate, you know, I can't represent
him fairly. Have a conscience, there's an idea. Have a conscience,
all right, So the jury on the assault guilty but
mentally ill, recommends twenty years for the assaults. So Heather
(20:34):
Tipton said her children, her two surviving daughters, were heartbroken
and confused. And this is the most brilliant statement, the
most truthful statement I've heard out of this whole case.
Nine year old Dakota who was stabbed in the back.
She says, Mommy, if he stabbed me first and then
(20:56):
killed Logan, how is he guilty of stabbing me but
not guilty of killing Logan? That's it I mean. And
this is from a nine year old. And the justice
system couldn't figure this out. A jury of seven men
and five women couldn't figure out what a nine year
old sees clearly. So yeah, so Heather said, you know,
(21:21):
the justice system had failed them, full of anger and sorrow. Yeah,
so Special Judge Phil Patten On April twenty fourth of
twenty eighteen, does give him exantis twenty years in prison
with mental health treatment. The funeral, I should have mentioned earlier.
(21:44):
The funeral of Logan was held at the Falling Springs
Recreational Center, a big open field. He loved football and
he was in the Woodford Youth football It's so clute, cute,
this little six year old and this big.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah foot house knocking them over.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Yeah, nine thousand people attended, and someone set up a
go fundme page which quickly raised fifty thousand dollars for
funeral expenses as well as another place to live because
the kids were too scared to go back into their house,
(22:24):
which can you blame them? That's the house where their
brother was murdered and they were attacked. So this is
this is bad, annoying. This is where it gets just
about as bad as possible. Okay, he should have been
(22:48):
in prison till the mid twenty thirties. Okay, he ended
up serving less than ten years. Justin seid September of
twenty twenty five, Ronald Itsantis was released for good behavior
(23:09):
and education credits. Good behavior and what oh, I took
an accounting class that makes up for stabbing a six
year old in the head less than ten years.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
He was already a nurse, he was already educated.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Right, yeah, yeah, what I'm so close to swearing. What
the hell does education credits have to do with someone
who assaulted children? And good behavior? Well, of course, everybody's
gonna most people are gonna act and say what they want.
What I don't see anywhere is what about his mental health.
(23:51):
He was found not guilty by reason of its sanity,
guilty but mentally ill.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
They don't say he's fine.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
He's fine now because he has educational credits and he
behaved well for less than ten years in prison. And
the father I saw an interview with him. It's just
it's just horrible, he said. After the attack, he said,
I gave up. I just left, laid in bed, gave
up on everything and wanted to die. And then he
(24:22):
went on and said, I've had my talks with God,
and I'm not afraid to tell you what I told
the court. If I ever crossed paths with him, I
will kill him. I will kill him where he stands,
and I cannot blame him one bit.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Nope, I would have to agree with you there.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yeah. If I was on a jury and the father
was being charged with the murder of this thing, there's
no way in hell I would convict him. Yeah, not happening.
So you can sta go into somebody's house stab a
little six year old boy in the head till he's dead.
(25:03):
Attack the sisters. The father serve about eight to nine
years and you're fine. Now you can go about your business.
What the hell is wrong with our system?
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Where do we start?
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Yeah? Yeah, how about you know, a little justice, the
punishment fitting the crime. I could see if he went
out of prison and then was institutionalized for the rest
of his life because he's insane, he's mentally ill.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Right, if he's confined somewhere, yes, not release to the public.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Right, right, So we'll keep an eye on this and
see what happens.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Maybe we know who, you know, I'm role, but nowhere do?
We don't know where?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
No, And I'm sure in lieu of what Logan's father said,
they're not going to release they would if they want
to protect this guy, they would be smart not to
release his location because I'm sure Logan's father isn't the
only one who wants to get their hands on this
guy at this point. So there we have it, all right, Wow? Okay,
(26:27):
yeah brutal So yep, just released because he behaved well
and took some classes. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
I think I think he's going to be back in
the news again sooner than later.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I would imagine, I would imagine. So take us out
while I the steam.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yes, make yourself a hot tidy.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Let the steam come out of my ears.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
All right, thanks Linda. Yeah, you've torked everybody up. I
can't wait for the emails to come in on this one.
Only cow all right. Thank you all for joining us
here for murder in the Hudson Valley. We will see
you next time. If you are not a victim of
murder in the Hudson Valley, listen to Hudson River Radio
dot com at work. We won't tell the boss.
Listen to Hudson Riverradio dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Don't make us come and find you.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
I'm Linda Zimmerman, I'm Brian Harrowitz, and this is Murder
in the Hudson Valley on Hudson Riverradio dot Com and welcome.
How are you this evening?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Brian hanging in there, thank you much and yourself.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Full of rage at the tonight's episode.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Before we even start, so you know it's a good one.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
But first I have an update. We covered the case
of the horrific murder of sixteen year old Paula Bohovesky
and Pearl River in nineteen eighty. Robert McCain and Richard
la Barbera sexually assaulted and brutally murdered this girl as
(00:52):
she was walking home from her job at the Pearl
River Library. I mean, I grew up in Pearl River.
I used to walk to the lit bravery by myself
all the time. This was a scary personal case. Both
of them got out in parole, hooray because you know, yeah, yeah,
(01:16):
I'm sure they're very well rehabilitated, or maybe not, because
Robert McCain a couple of months ago was arrested again
for forcibly touching a woman at Courtland Town Park. He
just as we're recording this, just in the last day
(01:38):
or two, pleaded guilty to essentially groping a woman as
he's on parole. So you think, well, that's pretty serious
that if you are that woman.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
With parole, that's serious to begin with.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Exactly, thank you. So what they're going to do is
give him four months in jail.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
That's it, super double secret probation. I oh, go sit
in a room now.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
If I was the woman who was groped by this
murderer and they just slap them on the wrists for
four months. Oh the words I want to use.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
All Right, if this were a first defense, blah blah blah,
you could argue one or the other. But this is
clearly not. This is somebody on parole and this is
supposed to be the stipulations of parole.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Right. If you, yeah, and one of your crimes was
sexually assaulting a girl and the other crime was murdering her.
If you start groping another woman, what does.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
You've set your track record in cement at this point? Yeah? Yeah,
So how old do we know how old he is now?
Speaker 3 (02:59):
He is sixty four years old?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Was apparently.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Okay, yeah, yeah, but wow, I was hoping that meant
he was going back in the slammer for good. Yeah,
but obviously not. So we'll keep an eye on that
four months from now. See what else? Who else he victimized?
And that woman's traumatized now and she will be for
(03:24):
life going to be afraid to go into a park.
She's going to be afraid to go in. So you know,
that is a serious thing because you don't know where
this guy's gonna stop once he starts doing something like that.
So another another black mark on the judicial system. But
(03:46):
but just wait, because should we take our first break
while I take a deep breath before we.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Get into a lot of breaks, would you like to
take our first break now?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah, let's take it now.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Hudson River Radio dot com Hudson Riverradio dot com.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Okay, sorry, I was sitting here still fuming.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Well, I guess sometimes you know, when you're full of
the ragie hall, you just kind of you don't want
it to be interrupted. You want a nice, steady flow.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Yes, well it's it will be flowing in all of
us quite soon. This is a case from Gray Street
in Versailles, Kentucky. Now, in France they pronounce it Versailles.
I don't know if in Kentucky they say that or
Versailles regardless. Monday, December seventh, twenty fifteen, little six year
(04:50):
old Logan Tipton, who is a kindergarten student at Simon's
Elementary School, who everybody described as just being constantly full
of joy, very happy child. One thing though, he was,
as his mother said, he was terrified of the dark.
(05:12):
A lot of kids are scared of normal. Yeah, right,
but he was terrified of the dark and he couldn't
go to sleep unless his mother, heather sang Silent Night
to him. She started singing Silent Night. He went right
to sleep.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
At four am, someone enters the house, which they kept unlocked.
I mean, you're in Kentucky, but twenty fifteen, unlocked door
not a good idea. This man grabs a large butcher
knife in one hand and a butter knife in the
(05:52):
other hand. Okay, a little interesting goes into the room
where the kids are sleeping, stabs both of his sisters
and then proceeds to repeatedly stab Logan in the head
with such force he bent the butcher knife. Wow, this
(06:14):
was a very big guy stabbing a six year old
boy in the head's Poor Logan is screaming, The sisters
are screaming. The father comes running in. Father was a
big guy, but so is this other guy. He's fighting
this guy, trying to subdue him. The girls had some
(06:38):
cuts and scratches, and the one had a stab in
the back. The father was a little scratched up. But
by the time police arrived, they try to help Logan,
but he is dead, killed in his bed by this
man with a butcher knife. Is that just the most
horrific nightmare scenario.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Out of nowhere? Somebody comes into your house and that's wow.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Okay, yeah, So who is this Well, it was thirty
two year old Ronald Exantis e x A n t US.
He was a dialysis nurse helping people. Oddly enough, he
(07:26):
had no criminal or psychiatric history, and he lived in Indianapolis, Indiana.
That is one hundred and seventy four miles away. Why
the Tipton house. He had never been to Versailles before
this right.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Action on top of this, nothing with the family, nothing else.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
This just random house zero, a random house. Let me
tell you what he said. He confesses to police right
away in a way, we'll get to that. He said
he was driving and got lost one hundred and seventy
four miles away. He parked on Gray Street because he
(08:13):
had been binge washing watching Gray's Anatomy, and he was
reminded of knives for surgery, so decided to perform surgery,
and he did that by taking a butcher knife and
stabbing a six year old in the head. Immediately, his
(08:37):
defense attorneys he's mentally ill, that's what happened. There is
so much uproar over this case that when it went
to trial, they had to move it from Woodford County
to Fayett County. And this was serious because they have
the death penalty there, so you can't get much more
(09:01):
of a justification for a death penalty case than the
murder of a six year old boy in his own bed, unprovoked.
The jury trial, the jury selection took four days. They
had a pool of one hundred and eighty people. They
whittled it down to fourteen, finally got thirty four, then fourteen,
(09:26):
so fourteen attended the trial, but only twelve then would
do the deliberation because you need alternates in case someone
gets sick or does something wrong. So it was seven
men and five women. The trial took place March twenty eighteen.
(09:47):
Chral Tipton, the sister, testified. Can you imagine this little
girl having to testify what a terrifying thing that is.
She testified that she woke up, saw a man in
her room with a butcher knife in one hand and
a butter knife in the other. He goes over to her,
(10:11):
puts the butter knife to her stomach and runs it
up the length of her body to her nose, just
to terrify her. This little girl in her bed, And
of course he stabbed the other sister, Dakota, in the back,
and there were other injuries. Coral is the one who
(10:33):
calls nine one one says there's a man in the
house and then says, daddy's upstairs telling him to stop.
Can you imagine your little daughter, your little kids going
through this. It's it's inconceivable.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Stuff of nightmares, you know, nightmares for kids or monsters
and other imaginary things, and this is the real deal.
Just yeah, incredible.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Yeah, And for a parent to you know, your number
one thing is to protect your kids, and this guy
comes into your house and does this. Well, one of
the public defenders. He had three. Bridget Hoffler said, we're
not disputing the stabbing. How could you? But he was
(11:25):
not in a culpable mindset. He didn't know what he
was doing. He didn't know what he was doing. He
was wrong, he was insane. However, let us contrast this
that when the police arrived and he's got this butcher knife,
they said, what did you do with that? I stabbed
(11:47):
a little boy and killed him. That's kind of understanding
what you just did, right.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Are aware of what you've done? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Exactly. And the body cam footage of the police they
recorded him saying I'm sorry God, I'm sorry God for
what I did. That's understanding what you did was wrong.
I would agree, and he immediately asks for an attorney. Okay,
(12:20):
does that show someone who has no clue of what happened. No,
he knows he's in deep crap and he wants an attorney.
So the prosecution was think. They had a psychiatrist and
a toxicologist who said, since he had no prior history
(12:44):
there there was marijuana in his bloods, you know, traces
of smoking marijuana, that he probably smoked marijuana that had
some sort of disassociative synthetic drug in it.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
I will say that's kind of common nowadays. Unfortunately, you know,
people think they're eye into straight cannabis and it's laced
with the Fentandel's the big one. But you don't know
what you're buying.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Right, right, and that that may have caused the psychosis.
Get him to jump in a car, drive for hours
and kill.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
It would explain it wearing off later too, and all
of a sudden, now you know where you are, Now
you know what you've done?
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Does that? Do they not last that live?
Speaker 1 (13:27):
It depends on what it is and how much you taks.
Who knows?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yeah, So the prosecution is saying, you know, not only
was he aware of what he did, he voluntarily took
that drug. Okay, we've had cases before where people voluntarily
take the drug, murder somebody and say, you can't blame me,
it was the drugs, Well, who put them in your body?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Right?
Speaker 3 (13:53):
So the defense says that, you know, the prosecution is
looking for a drug that is not there. Mental illness
is not a drug. It's why Ron is here, and
logan is not do you catch that Ron. Let's make him,
Let's make him like a friend of our yup, not
(14:16):
even saying, ron I caught that, and I started having
steam coming out of my eye. I know, I'm onto them.
I know what these defense attorneys do. And then they
brought up that at the psych center, he got down
on all fours and barked like a dog. Because no
one in the history of criminal justice ever tried to
(14:36):
fake insanity, right, you know, I'd take that with a
little grain of salt. And then they said he was
also pulling his dreadlocks out in jail. Okay, so they
also the defense he left Indianapolis with no luggage, no weapon,
no plan. That's insanity or it's drugs, who knows. So
(15:08):
in concluding, the prosecutor, Keith Aardley said, is he insane?
I don't think so. And he held up the bent
knife and he think of the force it took.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I had not the kitchen knife. Is that snow? Especially
a butcher knife?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Those are they are thick? They're wide? Yeah. So the
public defender Kim Green, said, we have shown you he's insane,
So you know, let's take our second break before I
give you the.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Do we know that the knives he used were they
from the house. He went in the house and use
their own.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Yes, got he went into the kitchen and took the
butter knife and the butcher.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
House, so he didn't walk in the house with them,
so he took me from there. Okay, yeah, yep, yeah, wow,
all right, I'm just asteemed as you are. Maybe a
close second.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Wait, this is Hudson Riverradio dot com. This is Hudson
Riverradio dot com. We are back, and everybody better strap
themselves in for this verdict and what is to follow.
(16:29):
There was five days of testimony and when it went
to deliberations, which began at eleven thirty five am Monday,
March nineteenth, twenty eighteen, the jury had four choices, not guilty,
not guilty by reason of insanity, guilty but mentally ill,
(16:54):
or guilty on the charges of murder. There were two
counts of second degree assault that was for attacking the
two little girls, and fourth degree assault, which was attacking
the father. Okay, so late Monday night, so they start
deliberating late morning, and by Monday night they had a verdict. Okay,
(17:20):
they found him not guilty of murder by reason of insanity, Okay,
which I strongly disagree with. But then get this of
the assaults, the assault charges. They find him guilty but
(17:42):
mentally ill. How does this make any freaking sense. He's
guilty of stabbing the little girls and the father, and
during the same act he stabs the little boy and
kills him, but he's not guilty of that. The prosecutor,
(18:04):
I think, was apoplectic. He said, it's an inconsistent verdict.
I don't think it makes legal or logical sense. I'm
very disappointed. Does that make any sense to you?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
No? No, unless he wasn't I mean, he couldn't be
convicted of something he wasn't charged of. So if he
wasn't charged for assault on logan and only the murder, maybe,
but I would have thought the prosecutor would have tacked
on any charge he could come up with. But the
(18:37):
rule of thumb basically is, you can have more than
the minimum to charge somebody and convict, but you can't.
You have to meet the minimum. You can have more,
but you can't have less.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
They say, but how are you guilty but mentally ill
of the assaults but then not guilty by reason of insanity?
It just that it makes okay.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
I agree that it doesn't makes sense. I'm trying to
come up with an explanation. I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yeah, the jury was horrible. That's the only thing I
can Okay, okay. Public defender Hoffler jumps in and says,
of course, the jury returned the only verdict that could
under the law. No, it didn't. This is a conflicting
this is wrong. How do you even say that?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Right?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
But then she says, but there is no victory for anybody.
The Tiptons are devastated, and we feel for them. Really, really,
just keep your mouth shut about what the Tiptons feel,
because you are doing everything you can to get this
guy off Ron your buddy Ron there. I'm sorry. Defense attorneys,
(19:49):
I know they're doing their job. They have to give
him the best defense. But don't say, oh, yeah, we
feel for the victims. You wouldn't be carried. You wouldn't
be taking this case if you were feeling for those victims.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
So you get a signed cases too.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
That's you can decline. You can say I think this
son of a bitch as guilty as sin. I hate
his guts. I can't accuate, you know, I can't represent
him fairly. Have a conscience, there's an idea. Have a conscience,
all right, So the jury on the assault guilty but
mentally ill, recommends twenty years for the assaults. So Heather
(20:34):
Tipton said her children, her two surviving daughters, were heartbroken
and confused. And this is the most brilliant statement, the
most truthful statement I've heard out of this whole case.
Nine year old Dakota who was stabbed in the back.
She says, Mommy, if he stabbed me first and then
(20:56):
killed Logan, how is he guilty of stabbing me but
not guilty of killing Logan? That's it I mean. And
this is from a nine year old. And the justice
system couldn't figure this out. A jury of seven men
and five women couldn't figure out what a nine year
old sees clearly. So yeah, so Heather said, you know,
(21:21):
the justice system had failed them, full of anger and sorrow. Yeah,
so Special Judge Phil Patten On April twenty fourth of
twenty eighteen, does give him exantis twenty years in prison
with mental health treatment. The funeral, I should have mentioned earlier.
(21:44):
The funeral of Logan was held at the Falling Springs
Recreational Center, a big open field. He loved football and
he was in the Woodford Youth football It's so clute, cute,
this little six year old and this big.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah foot house knocking them over.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Yeah, nine thousand people attended, and someone set up a
go fundme page which quickly raised fifty thousand dollars for
funeral expenses as well as another place to live because
the kids were too scared to go back into their house,
(22:24):
which can you blame them? That's the house where their
brother was murdered and they were attacked. So this is
this is bad, annoying. This is where it gets just
about as bad as possible. Okay, he should have been
(22:48):
in prison till the mid twenty thirties. Okay, he ended
up serving less than ten years. Justin seid September of
twenty twenty five, Ronald Itsantis was released for good behavior
(23:09):
and education credits. Good behavior and what oh, I took
an accounting class that makes up for stabbing a six
year old in the head less than ten years.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
He was already a nurse, he was already educated.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Right, yeah, yeah, what I'm so close to swearing. What
the hell does education credits have to do with someone
who assaulted children? And good behavior? Well, of course, everybody's
gonna most people are gonna act and say what they want.
What I don't see anywhere is what about his mental health.
(23:51):
He was found not guilty by reason of its sanity,
guilty but mentally ill.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
They don't say he's fine.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
He's fine now because he has educational credits and he
behaved well for less than ten years in prison. And
the father I saw an interview with him. It's just
it's just horrible, he said. After the attack, he said,
I gave up. I just left, laid in bed, gave
up on everything and wanted to die. And then he
(24:22):
went on and said, I've had my talks with God,
and I'm not afraid to tell you what I told
the court. If I ever crossed paths with him, I
will kill him. I will kill him where he stands,
and I cannot blame him one bit.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Nope, I would have to agree with you there.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yeah. If I was on a jury and the father
was being charged with the murder of this thing, there's
no way in hell I would convict him. Yeah, not happening.
So you can sta go into somebody's house stab a
little six year old boy in the head till he's dead.
(25:03):
Attack the sisters. The father serve about eight to nine
years and you're fine. Now you can go about your business.
What the hell is wrong with our system?
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Where do we start?
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Yeah? Yeah, how about you know, a little justice, the
punishment fitting the crime. I could see if he went
out of prison and then was institutionalized for the rest
of his life because he's insane, he's mentally ill.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Right, if he's confined somewhere, yes, not release to the public.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Right, right, So we'll keep an eye on this and
see what happens.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Maybe we know who, you know, I'm role, but nowhere do?
We don't know where?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
No, And I'm sure in lieu of what Logan's father said,
they're not going to release they would if they want
to protect this guy, they would be smart not to
release his location because I'm sure Logan's father isn't the
only one who wants to get their hands on this
guy at this point. So there we have it, all right, Wow? Okay,
(26:27):
yeah brutal So yep, just released because he behaved well
and took some classes. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
I think I think he's going to be back in
the news again sooner than later.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I would imagine, I would imagine. So take us out
while I the steam.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yes, make yourself a hot tidy.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Let the steam come out of my ears.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
All right, thanks Linda. Yeah, you've torked everybody up. I
can't wait for the emails to come in on this one.
Only cow all right. Thank you all for joining us
here for murder in the Hudson Valley. We will see
you next time. If you are not a victim of
murder in the Hudson Valley, listen to Hudson River Radio
dot com at work. We won't tell the boss.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.