Evidence is everything. Without evidence, a murderer can walk free without evidence. It's one person's word against another, and without evidence we can be left paranoid and wondering. Some crime cases are left a mystery simply because of the lack of evidence, but in other cases, the evidence is so overwhelming it brings into question very psychology behind everything. Just like in today's case, it simply begs the question, what the actual.
My name's Ben and I'm Nicole and you're listening to Wicked and Grim, a true crime podcast.
The following podcast and.
Material in your audience listener discretion is eyes. No, not having a beverage today?
Sorry, no beverages?
You're not having one?
Well I don't always.
Neither, do I?
Yeah, you do?
Thanks? You just making me sound like an alcoholic Oh boy, I had beer with dinner tonight. We went out for dinner.
So we went on a spontaneous date night.
Because our power was out, so we were like, instead of just making dinner at home, which we can because we have gas system and stuff, we still could have cooked, we decided to just go for dinner instead because fuck.
It, it was nice.
It was though.
It was a nice little Monday surprise yeah, it was actually.
Kind of neat because we're trying to do some more YouTube stuff. We actually have some interesting plans for the podcast, which we'll be kind of talking about in the near future. But anyways, we did a little.
Log today, A day in the life.
Right, a day in the life living in a tiny home and being entrepreneurs, business owners, podcasters like the whole like it was our day. So we're going to get that log up on YouTube here pretty quick.
And in all honesty, it was a pretty normal day for us really. I was, yeah, at the only unnormal well, I was home for most of the day. Usually I'm out shooting, but I didn't have any shoot scheduled today, so it's kind of nice.
Yeah touche. But I want to get off this topic really quick because I need to get on the topic of Halloween costumes.
Oh yeah, that's all Ben talks about all October Halloween.
I am undecided what I'm going to dress up as this here.
You have a couple ideas, though I do, but there are recycled ideas, and I'm kind of feeling bad about that.
You could go hit a value village too and see what they have.
I could I mean we're getting a little bit late. I feel I.
Think you could still find something though.
I'm sure I could, but I don't know. I'm just usually I'm like a month's in in advanced preparation for this kind of thing.
So, so your options are a monkey onesie.
Yes, A pink lady from Greece. Yeah, because you had that costume, and I might see if I can dig it out and try and.
Stuff myself into it. Yeah, if we kept it, yeah, I don't know.
I can always think of something else, so too, I could do like zombie makeup or something, who knows. Yeah, So I'll figure something out. But do you know what you're gonna do? Do you even have anywhere to go? Oh?
You make it sound like heaven forbid. I would have anywhere to go?
Okay, I know you have places to go. Are you able to go to any places? Have you figured that out yet?
Oh?
I'm unsure. I might be just at home editing weddings fair. We'll see, We'll see.
Because there is this fundraiser happening for this, say, a local animal rescue called Good Cause Crow Rescue. A friend of mine, Dana runs it. Shout out to you, Dana or I know you're listening right now. She's got this fundraiser going to kind of help raise some funds for these animals that she just like takes in and everything. So I'm gonna be going to that. Yeah, and I got to figure out something to wear for it.
But yeah, I think you should think of something new, something you haven't done.
Yeah, something I haven't done.
Hey, yeah, all brainstorms. I'll go on Pinterest for you.
Do it up. Maybe it just go as Eve or Adam. I'll just wear a leaf. No one needs to see that.
Yeah, I was like yeah, and then I was like, oh, save that for home mane.
There we go, There we go. Maybe the patrons can see it.
I don't even know if they'd want to do no.
No, I was just trying to think of some sort of transition to talk about Patreon here.
It was, it worked, but it didn't.
Yeah, so I did one of anker patrons who signed up this past week to go support us over there. So the amazing people who signed up, And I'm probably gonna butcher this very first name here, but I'm going to do my best. Kenny. I hope I say that right, Kennie Bee Jennifer Kramer Justin, James Simpson, Hannah Grace, Abby Garland, and Amanda Snook all signed up and I are getting that behind the scenes exclusive content. So yeah, we appreciate you guys. And even if you're not on Patreon, trust me,
we appreciate you guys too. You're awesome.
But that's awesome.
Thank you so much, yes, so so much and so much. I promise you I will not be posting a picture of me wearing nothing but a leaf.
As you were reading that, I was just like, gosh, dude, are you trying to get people to sign up or not.
Trying to get them to unsubscribe?
If you're doing that, you ready for this though, I'm ready.
This case is an interesting one. I've never heard of it. I just kind of happened to come across it in my travels and I think it was TikTok, but really we go okay, and I thought it was interesting.
So here we are, good old TikTok. Hey. You can learn lots on there, can't you?
You definitely can. So I'm actually going to start this one off by reading the a bit of an insert from the victim's obituary. Okay, So Margaret was a beloved mother, proud grandmother, caring sister, and cherished aunt. She was born June twenty eighth, nineteen fifty two, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the late John and Ellen Shade. Throughout Margaret's life, she was always had a gift and passion for dance. For many years, Margaret was the co owner and dance instructor
with her family at Shade Sisters Dance Studio. And this case is all about Margaret today, Okay, So it's unfortunate. I mean, Margaret sounds like an incredible individual, especially like the Shade Sister's Dance studio, like that right there, it's it's her maiden name, for example. Yeah, in the name of that studio. So it's like a family business, which just even it gets to your heart just that little bit more, you know.
So, So I mean, just from hearing that, it sounds as though she was a very family oriented person.
She was very, very much so, which makes his case all the worse.
Awesome. Yeah, love to hear that.
So let's start this out. Margaret lived in South Fayette, Pennsylvania. It was a nice and hot autumn morning when Margaret's daughter Ellen was making a phone call. Now It was round ten thirty am this morning, and she tried to get a hold of her mother. It was September one, twenty nineteen.
Ellen, that's super recent.
Definitely is Allan was trying to notify members of the family about the passing of an uncle and the family and she was calling your mom to pass on the terrible news. Yeah. So Alan picked up the phone, diwed her mom's phone number, and it rang and rang and rang. There was no answer. So she decided to continue calling others, and she needed to inform other individuals as well, so she called her half brother David, who was next in
the list. She called him and Dialda's number in the phone rang and he picked up on the other end. David was thirty three, and during the conversation, he informed his sister that he was actually at their mother's house. He was at Margaret's house, and she was actually down for a nap, and that's why she didn't answer the phone.
She's kind of sleeping right now, unable to answer the phone sort of thing, right, Okay, So Ellen decided, like, okay, you know what, just let her know I phoned and I'll give her call back in a little while too. So that's kind of exactly it. She's like, I'll call her back when she's awake. So she hung up the phone and there we go.
No red flag. She just okay, yeah.
Later, there was a little bit of a red flag in this situation. She didn't know David was actually in town. David lived out of town. He'd actually recently moved to another town, which isn't exactly odd in itself, but the concerning part, the kind of red flag part, if you will, David in the past had actually been accused of physically abusing their mother several times. Oh yes, and so now he's unexpectedly home alone with her.
Okay, yeah, that's that would make you feel a bit uneasy, that's for sure.
Yeah. So Elle decided, okay, you know whatever, I'm going to call her back in a few hours when she's gonna be awake, right, Yeah, So she dialed the no number again. Phone rings mid afternoon sort of thing. However, the same scenario applied. Her mother didn't answer the phone, but David, however, did and his response didn't change either. He told Ellen that their mother was sleeping and couldn't come to the phone.
And this is like out a few hours later or a couple.
Hours later, Yeah, exactly. So we're mid afternoon now, right, Okay, So Ellen again did the same thing. Called back in a little while, and shit called back that evening, and again David answered, and he told her the same thing. Their mother was sleeping and she couldn't come answer the phone. It's the same conversation. It seemed like groundhog Day was happening here for Ellen. Ellen finally had enough. It happened over and over again throughout the day. Margaret can't be
sleeping this whole time. It's been far too long. Yeah, So Ellen kind of got angry at David and hold him quote, if she is still asleep, maybe she needs to go to the hospital. Maybe something's wrong with her. Nobody could possibly sleep that wrong, right, and I mean totally right.
Well, yeah, through the whole day. I mean, unless you know, that's when they normally are sleeping, if there were graveyards or something. But yeah, at this point, I think I would be like heading over.
There, Yeah, probably, Yeah.
I probably would have headed over there after like the maybe even the first one, because I'm just like a little bit nuts, yeah, a little paranoid.
I mean, I don't think Ellen is the host of a true crime podcast and has all this yeah, like ingrained in energy shit immediately.
I'm not judging her whatsoever you're going over, but I yeah, I'm just like my OCD, I'd be there.
Yeah, so Ellen knew like she wasn't the only one who is also trying to get a hold of Margaret as well. Many other family members have been calling, you know, with the whole like passing of the uncle sort of fish situation. Yeah, but they were all actually met with the same excuse from David regarding Margaret. Now, sometimes she did explain a little bit further, saying that she had drank too many drinks and took medication with and they didn't mix two well sort of thing.
Okay, okay, you.
Know, causing her to pass out, which I can understand. But even still, there is a bit of suspicion here, especially considering his history. Right, So this excuse still wasn't enough to explain a day and a half, because that's where we're at now. It was a day and a half later. It wasn't just the one day. The phone calls kept happening the next day.
Oh my gosh, So a.
Day and a half later, this is still not a good enough excuse, and Ellen said, like, something is seriously wrong.
Yeah.
So Ellen called in a wellness check with authorities for her mother. She called the South Fayette Police Department and they quickly sent out some officers to check on her house on Old Orchard Drive. Now, unfortunately, police were unable to get an answer when they knocked at the front door and it appeared like no one was home. So Ellen didn't take the response from authorities too well that you know, quote no one was home, you know very well.
She's like, that's not good enough. This is a wellness check. You need to make sure.
Right, Yeah, And I'm honestly not even sure. Can they just like break in at that point? Like, I have no idea.
I think they need reasonable suspicion still even for a wellness check, right, I believe, So don't quote me on that. And I'm sure it's different.
Different everywhere exactly. Yeah.
So Ellen's like, something's not right. She should be home. David was answering the phone, saying this excuse, like you need to figure something out.
Yeah.
So she continued to call the police, requesting the wellness checks over and over, and she did so approximately two dozen times that day.
Oh my gosh, yes, because I'm assuming she doesn't live in the same town then, correct.
I'm not too certain. I don't know where exactly she lives.
Okay, well, I'm imagine if she did, she probably would have just gone there.
Potentially. Potentially. Yeah, And to be fair, to be fair, authorities weren't just like knocking the door, Oh she's not home and lea like. They were coming and going, like trying again and again, and the whole time Ellen's like, yeah, we need a wellness check, like you need to make sure, you need to make the contact, you need to figure
this out. So authorities are trying, Ellen's trying, and eventually, at eleven forty five that same day, police didn't just knock on the door and assume, you know, no one was home. This time, they forced entry into the home. They were going to connect on this wellness check. They could see something was wrong right away. Everything in the house was in disarray and there were clear signs of
a struggle. Police slowly and cautiously made their way through the home, trying to find any signs of Margaret or David. They stepped across the floor, making their way through broken glass everywhere and scattered belongings and began to see blood. There were pools and drops on the floor, there were splatter marks up the walls and smears throughout the house, and police knew they were about to see something absolutely horrific.
David was nowhere to be found, but it would be in the upstairs bathroom where they would finally locate Margaret. She was found lifeless, laying folded in the bathtub. She was laying in the bathtub in such an unnatural way that it was clear whoever put her there would have had to completely have broken her back in order to position her in the way that she was found.
Jeez.
They were clearly dealing with a brutal murder and the investigation quickly ensued.
Okay, just how you described that. It's unlike the people, so like the police officers, you know, literally like you're walking through a scene, right, yeah, and it's gusts getting work and worse, and like your whole body, all your senses I think would be like you turn around, like you don't want to see what's coming, but like they have to go and find it like that. That's just I don't know, for some reason, just the way you describe it made me be like.
Wow, well, what if the next corner, the next bedroom you approach, someone is in there and they need your help.
Yeah, because you don't know for sure. Maybe they're still alive, right, I guess so if you look at it that way. But oh, I mean, everything in your body would be kind of almost being like run away. But they don't they go find it, yep.
Which major props to investigators and authorities like that, because that's that's hard. Oh I couldn't do it, no way, It's incredible what they actually have to do, So props to you guys out there and the ones specifically in this case. They of course found pieces of evidence right away this scene to paint a picture of exactly kind of what occurred, like the blood's bladder, for example, the broken glass, but they also found a lot more evidence
than just that. They found three garbage bags on the scene containing several disposed gloves, an almost empty bottle of ammonia, a empty bottle of bleach, a roll of masking tape, and several bloodstained towels.
Oh my gosh.
They were also able to determine that Margaret had suffered not only a broken back, but suffered fractured ribs, laceration on her face, and several contusions across her body. The autopsy report concluded that Margaret Somny had died from blunt forced trauma to her head, neck and body. Essentially, she was beaten to death.
And why like David just like hated her that much.
Well, we don't know. It's David. I don't you're assuming.
I'm assuming here and I could be eating these words, but you won't be, okay, because I'm like, I would be shocked if it was.
It's very obvious here who the culprit is. But that's not the mystery of this story. There is so much more to just oh who did it? It's there. I don't want to give shit away. There's just a major what the fucks? Okay, that's fair. Yeah, So Ellen of course heard the news right away. I mean, she's calling authorities on a wellness check, right, and authorities made the connection. They're like, okay, we found your mother. Unfortunately, here's the situation. Yeah,
and clearly and understandably should be shaken. And eventually she managed to compose herself and she was calling family, David being one of them. So she told David the news. She picked up the phone doubt his number, his phone rang, and when she broke the news to him on the other end, in a very cold response, he simply said, quote, I don't want to give you the wrong answer, Ellen, and I don't blame her because I'm in the exact
same boat. Didn't really know how to react to that, so she again told him, you know, our mother was killed. She's dead, and David once again replied, quote, I just don't want to give you the wrong answer.
Oh my gosh, I feel like I would just lose my shit. Yeah, like I don't know, Oh, okay.
Your mother has passed away and has been murdered, and your answer is I don't want to give you the wrong answer.
Yeah, what excuse me? I mean, I'm just waiting to hear more details about things. But like if he maybe has some sort of like mental illness or something, I'm wondering.
But well, and like in a situation like that, shock can do a lot to people.
That's true, that's true. But then I mean, I'm assuming Ellen is kind of thinking that he potentially did this, So I don't know. Holy shit, holy shit, I feel like this case is going to piss me off. I'm already pissed.
Yeah, I might, and I mean it's not surprising in all honesty, but David would become the police number one suspect that very day in the hunt for where he was now began.
You don't say it would be two.
Days later, on September fourth, that the police would arrest David. He was attending his uncle's funeral, who had passed away when Allen was originally trying to contact Margaret. Okay, So they found David outside the funeral, and they had he had some interesting things on him at the time. He had a diamond gold necklace, a silver bracelet which both belonged to his mother, three blank checks with his mother's name on it, and his mother's debit card.
Oh gosh.
Okay, so that's some pretty damning evidence.
Yeah, no shit, yup.
He had also checked into a nearby hotel for the duration of a stay during the funeral, and the hotel was called the Hotel Indigo Indigo, And in the room they found even more. They found a gun that had belonged to Margaret and also some of her purses. Reportedly, he had also gifted a pearl necklace to one of the hotel staff, saying for a pretty lady from I'm a pretty lady.
Okay, I'm just I don't even know how to respond to this. This is disturbing.
Oh yeah, it is, It really is. So the evidence is just piling up. Yeah yeah, and I mean like this is some seriously damning evidence. It like it doesn't even compare to what's gonna happen here soon, So just bear with me. But David of course denied any involvement
in the death, like any individual like that would. Instead, David tried to point police in another direction, saying maybe it was an accident or maybe it was an overdose, and then once it kind of like, well, the evidence certainly does not point to that, like she had a broken back, well folded in a tub, like there's a struggle, like all this sort of shit. He then said, oh, well, well she was actually seeing a guy. You should go look into him.
Okay, yeah, this guy. I'm just like pissed right now. I feel like I'm ellen right now and just like living, i'd be losing my mind.
Well right so rightfully, so holy heck, so not fooled at all. The police continue their focus on David and when they turned to his cell phone, this is when they found something absolutely disgusting.
Okay, what I don't see how much could get worse here?
I don't think anyone is ready for what they found on his cell phone. Police found a total sum of two hundred and seventy seven photos David had taken of the crime scene, his mother's deceased body, and even some photos that included the act of the murder. One photo in particular showed David taking a selfie, a selfie with his now deceased mother visible next to him while he had her blood smeared across his face, and he has posed giving a thumbs up to the camera.
What, yeah, are you serious? Right now?
He took a selfie with her body. That's the loot of his face going thumbs up?
Is this guy a literal monster?
Like? This is his mom? Like like she gave birth to him?
Correct?
Okay, like legit mom? Okay? Whoa whoa?
Yeah, I don't know. I still don't know how to process that information when I first came across it. That's the initial information that I discovered that made me look into this case.
Like what, I'm sorry, but like, whoa, I can't imagine, like what would be going on inside of you to be killing your mom for one, and then like literally like posing for a selfie with her dead body with a thumbs up.
Yeah. So to put it in perspective too, like you are a professional photographer, Your job is to take photos. It takes a lot of time to take two hundred and seventy selling pictures.
Well, not me necessarily break it down for you, a professional who is just snap snap, snap, case snap snap, Like you're taking pictures down near like every other second.
It's gonna be fifteen twenty minutes before you hit the three hundred mark.
Like, was he was this a prolonged thing where she was just suffering? Because now this is just so cruel. This is brutal.
I mean, with all the photos and everything, they were able to paint somewhat of a timeline and know she thankfully was not suffering. The death was one evening sort of thing. She was not tortured per se. Okay, as far as evidence shows, as far as I was able to find researching this.
But seriously, like this fucker was getting phone calls from family and basically she was dead. Yeah, and he's just saying that she's asleep, having a nap, yeah, and just lying to everybody. Yeah, okay.
Well, amongst those photos, there was also a video, and it's timestamped two forty one September one, and it shows David washing his now mother's lifeless body in the bathtub where she was found.
Oh my gosh, this.
Is just okay.
So not only were they able to recover these horrific pieces of evidence, these photos and video, but they were also able to look in the search a history on his phone, and they found while in her house, he was researching things such as, quote, how long does it take before a body starts to decompose? And how long do you wait to dispose of a body?
Okay? Can I just ask a question? And I don't even know if you're going to know this, and I don't think it's super important, but I just for some reason curious. Were these photos just like in his fucking gallery or were they like in his deleted folder.
I don't know for sure, but I'm assuming they're just in his gallery. I don't think someone with that amount of evidence on their phone, they're not sorting it or storing it properly. It's just fucking.
There that's just wild, so beyond fucked that.
I okay, you look.
Here's the word of the day. Flabbergasted.
I really am. It's it's hard to process this one. That is just I mean, okay, sometimes they can kind of under Okay, this is gonna sound so bad. I can kind of like sometimes understand I don't even think I can say this, but like people murdering it kind of.
There's there's mental disorders and things that take place that you can wrap your mind around, or people being.
That angry or whatever, but to literally like to be like documenting the whole thing on your phone like that and it's your mom.
Yeah, I don't know. Well, there's cases on crime where there's motive, there's cases on crime where there's psychological things whatever. But then there's cases with crime where it's just senseless and no matter how you look at it, you just it doesn't make sense. Why how like none of it makes sense? And this is one of those cases. In just three months following David's arrest, the County District Attorney's offices proposed a plea deal, and three years later, in
twenty twenty two, David did exactly that. He pled guilty to third degree murder in connection to his mother's death. So, in August seventeenth, twenty twenty two, David entered this deal in the courtroom, and his plea bargain resulted in the dropping of all other charges against him, all charges against him for third degree murder, other charges such as first degree murder, desecration of a corpse for example, you know, potential torture, break an entry, all these things.
When they had so much evidence. Why are they doing that? What are they needing from him?
I don't know.
Oh my gosh, you're kidding me.
In a deal with them, they say, if you plead guilty, we'll give you third degree murder and drop all other charges.
And like, third degree murder, what is he going to get? Is he op? Now?
Well, third degree murder is exactly what the result was. He was found guilty on the third degree murder. You're kidding me, but I mean this left him with only a maximum a possible maximum sentence of forty years maximum that was the possibility. Now, during the trial, a medical expert testified that David's mental capacity was significantly impaired at the time of his mother's killing due to the consumption of quote extremely high doses of adderall aka, he was
on drugs. Okay, so he wasn't with it because he was on drugs. It's essentially what it is. So David was handed a twenty year sentence and they allowed him to avoid all these other severe charges.
Okay. I just had to look up because I was like, what exactly is third degree murder? Like I just couldn't remember, so like.
The specific definition.
Yeah, if someone intends to harm only but accidentally kills a person. Yeah, like it was an accident basically, Okay, Okay, it's often called manslaughter, okay, because that's what I was like, is that what that is?
That is not enough?
No, not enough at all.
Oh my gosh, I can't comprehend why when they had so much to put him away forever?
Really yeah, but for whatever reason they let him make that They suggested this plea deal, and they went along with it with them, which does not make any fucking sense to me, which pisss me off so much.
Yeah, eight twenty years is not enough for what he did.
No, So, the crimes David committed against his own mother, Margaret was unfortunately not the first sign that he was capable of such things. So we've gone over David's crime against his mother and his resulting sentence from it. However, there is a history, and we're going to talk about that now.
So the fact that there's a history means that they definitely should not like he needs to be gone for longer, yes, because he's going to come out and probably do it again.
Probably So. His sister Ellen, as we talked about earlier, recalled an incident from when David was only five years old five now. She remembers being fifteen at the time and upstairs in her room when all of a sudden, throughout the house she heard her mother screaming at the top of her lungs. So she rushed to go see what was going wrong, and apparently it was David. At the time. He had a friend over and he and his friend had just killed a bird and Margaret had
just found it in the home. So Margaret was horrified and screaming what she found, and she told David, quote, this is what serial murderers do.
Uh huh. Could they do something weird to the bird other than just kill it? That's all I know, okay, but still that's how it starts. Like, yes, like practicing on animals or whatever.
Now some situations that I found, they're talking about it being a baby bird. Oh my gosh, but yeah, they killed it. I some heard without evidence, they were talking about torturing of the bird. But all they could find was he killed a bird.
Okay, I mean at five that it depends. I mean if it was an accent or whatever. But this does not seem like it would have been.
No, this was intentional. Now, his history isn't just painted to the memories of you know, their home, either their legitimate court documents and arrest records that showed David had a history with the law and violence. So his first as I kind of already mentioned, with the abuse his mother, Right, So his first incident was in April of twenty eleven, when he was arrested for a DUI. Three years later, in June of twenty fourteen, David would again be arrested,
but this time on harassment charges. I couldn't clarify who those harassment charges were on. Two months later after that, he then was charged with assaulting his mother. In June of twenty fifteen, David was charged with aggravated assault, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and harassment for allegedly beating up his seventy
one year old father, David Lee Sumney Senior. Sorry. This incident had began simply over a debate with some vacation scheduling, when David snapped, pinned his father against the front door of the house, and became striking him in the face. Oh my gosh, a seventy one year old man.
That's terrifying.
A year later, on November twenty sixteen, David again was charged with assaulting his mother. David was reportedly drunk and began violently assaulting Margaret. He kicked her and grabbed her by the neck while striking her. There were also notes in the file that reported he quote picked her up around the chest area and squeezed her, causing severe pain below her breast area, while he stated this is how we do it in the Navy seals. It's important to note that there is no record of David ever being
in the Navy. The Navy even looked into their system. He never existed in it whatsoever.
She was probably terrified of him, Oh she was. Yeah.
Another assault incident against Margaret saw her write a letter asking for some temporary protection from her son. Now In this incident, he reportedly punched her in the face and again squeezed her torso. At the end of the incident, while Margaret was able to escape the house, she ran to the neighbors for help, and David reportedly shouted to her as she ran away, quote, I'll get you next time.
Oh my goodness, Okay, this is unreal. I am just flabbergasted that they let him have a plea with all this.
Yeah, it makes no sense.
It makes absolutely no sense. There has to be more, something we are not aware of, because it just doesn't make any sense.
It doesn't because these, like I said, these are criminal documents. Yeah, these are assault charges filed. This isn't hearsay. These are things on his fucking record.
And then literally every single piece of evidence that they had for her murder.
Yeah, like I just said this quote quote I'll get you next time, That is on documents before she was killed.
Oh my gosh, and they literally just lowered it to a third degree.
Yeah, that is bizarre.
Sounds like first premeditated to me.
Oh yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah, he hated her for some very odd reason.
So through all these incidents, David was never convicted of a felony. All the charges that were laid against him were either downgraded big surprise, because we've already seen that happen, or David pleaded to a misdemeanor instead, basically the same as last pleaded to a downgraded charge. Right. Margaret, though, had a heart of gold, and even though her son was violent towards her, and even though she was terrified of him, she still loved him and was in the
court looking for pleas of leniency towards him. So she was still on his side trying to fight for leniency.
Thanks for that. That's so sad. It is my heart just broke into a million pieces.
So basically as a result of this, he never was more than eight months in confinement, and I couldn't clarify what confinement means, whether it's house to rest or what and probation for all those charges.
Wow, And she probably just believed in him so much that he'll get better, we'll get through this problem. And then it led to her desk.
Yep, because he's such a piece of shit.
There has to be more like he has to have some sort of mental illness in my opinion, because I just don't think that someone who's of sane mind would kill their mom.
Well, then if he does, I don't know why he's not in some sort.
Of getting psychiatric care. Yeah, he needs to maybe be getting some help of sorts.
Yeah, but as far as I can tell, he's not. He's just behind bars for twenty years.
And because someone like this, I feel like in twenty years, I just I can't envision them changing.
No, which is a big problem with any sort of imprisonment system in North America. It's just put people.
Away because I think, I do really think some people can change, but they have to be remorseful. And the fact that he did this over and over, I just I can't envision him changing. He's going to come out and do something.
Again, Yeah, I think so, yep.
Which is very helpless feeling.
Oh is it ever?
Yeah?
So, as I did mention though, Margaret, she cared for her son, but she was still very much so terrified for her own safety. She knew what David was capable of. She eventually went and purchased a gun specifically to protect herself against her abusive son, the one that he had, the one that he had stolen. Yes. Now, unfortunately, David's family weren't the only victims of David's violent past. In August of twenty eighteen, David had met a woman online
who we will call Tina. Okay, so Tina never had any inclination that anything was off about him, to put it in her own words, that's a quote from her, okay. And she attributed you know, much of the odd behavior, kind of the kind of strangeness from them once in a while to the supposed quote Navy seal training that he had talked about.
Right, my gosh, the fact that he's lying about that is also makes me so angry.
Yeah. So the two were on and off for several months, they kind of, you know, seeing each other a bit and not and blah blah blah. They decided to take a five day beach vacation together to Atlantic City in July of twenty nineteen. It was a fun trip, sure, but the intent was mostly to test the waters of a potential relationship with them with each other. Right, Okay, we're on and off a little bit. Is there anything actual real here? Could we actually be a couple? That's
kind of the gist of this trip. So it was on this trip that David would show his true colors to Tina. Now, to quote Tina again, quote the first time he physically hit me was in the hotel room. I was like, holy shit, and my mind just went into survival mode, just figuring out ways to keep the situation calm, to avoid getting hurt again, just keep everything cool, calm and collected. So Tina managed to calm the situation down and they went on with their vacation. Then a
few days later, shit would hit the fan. David, for one reason or another, became irate in the hotel room once again and began assaulting and torturing her in the hotel room.
Oh my gosh, he.
Would choke Tina until she passed out.
Holy shit, she's lucky, she's alive.
Oh just wait. He would beat her in the face repeatedly, and then he even went as far as waterboarding her in the bathroom.
What does that mean again?
So waterboarding, if you're not familiar with it, it's an individual is laid down. It's an ancient form of torture. Okay, you put a well, I don't know if it's ancient, but it's an old form of torture. They lay you on your back and they put a cloth over your face and they run water over it, essentially drowning you, like to the brink of death, and then they give you a gasp of air and do it again, over and over and over.
That is so terrifying.
If you're wanting to know what waterboarding is even close to being, like, while you're still safe, just put a face cloth over your face that's wet and try to breathe and then imagine water being poured over on top of it. Oh my gosh, it's wild. So he was doing this to her, and she was rightfully so terrified, yes, and was at his mercy to make things even worse. He wasn't just harming her physically, but he was playing intense psychological games with her as well as he was
threatening to end her life. He said things like this quote, how do you want your body to be found in the bathroom from an overdose? Or would you like your body to just disappear?
I can't do this anymore.
This case is.
Just this guy is fucked up. Yes, fuck this David dude. He is an absolute douche canoe.
Oh my gosh, he is more than that. And the fact that he is just getting away with this stuff is making me just irate, Like I feel like I need to release some angry anger here.
Please don't hurt me.
I'm not gonna hurt you. But this man, is, this monster, is making me just pissed.
That's exactly what he is. He's a fucking.
Monster, disgusting piece of shit.
So Tina was, like I said, at the mercy of this disgusting piece of shit in the hotel room alone. Luck, however, was on her side in this situation. Though if you can call it luck, I guess I mean it's a stroke of luck.
Well, I'm shocked that she got out of this alive.
It was the very day that they were supposed to check out, and they had missed their checkout time. Okay, so a staff member from the hotel had come up to the room to check on them.
Okay, someone was doing their job.
I like this, Yes, And this gave Tina an opportunity to sprint out of the fucking room. And she ran to an adjacent room that the door happened to be open, and she got in there, slammed the door behind her, and began to scream, He's going to kill me, He's going to kill me.
The gosh that is just heartbreaking.
Isn't it. I am so happy she got the fuck out of there, though.
Holy the fact that she did is a little bit of a miracle, really, yeah, because like, well, I mean, she would have had to, because what she endured and then she still lived shows how strong she is too.
And honestly, she went through an interviewed and talked about this too to news sources. These quotes I got from her are from her interviews. Wow, So good on her for having that strength, because being able to talk about that stuff is oh to help other people.
Yeah, but it also shows how strong she is too in that sense, because that would be very hard to talk about.
Yeah, one hundred percent. So I mean, of course, local authorities with this situation, someone's screaming, he's gonna fucking kill me, right, They were called immediately and police issued an arrest warrant right away for David. However, David was able to evade the authorities.
Okay, because yeah, the date situation was just going in my head. That was twenty eighteen. He killed his mom the next year. He should be in fucking jail, like he shouldn't have been able to kill his mom.
Well, the main reason he was able to avoid authorities in this incident. Was he left the hotel before authorities got there, right, like he just ditched?
Oh gosh?
Okay, And his name was never entered into the National Crime Information Center, which basically meant, I mean, he's a wanted individual. There's a warrant out for his arrest, immediate arrest, right, But this basically meant that the moment he left state to go back home, no authorities outside the state of New Jersey knew he was a wanted criminal because he wasn't registered in this fucking National Crime Information Center.
Oh my gosh.
Now, eventually, after the murder of his mother, David was charged in connection to this incident in twenty twenty. That's too late, definitely, I mean, thankfully he was charged, but still, yes, too little, too late. And in this incident he was charged including aggravated assault, terroristic threats for threatening immediate death,
and criminal restraint. Though I was unable to find the result of this trial, and I was actually unable to even confirm if that trial had taken place yet, so he may still be on trial for that coming.
Soon, Okay, So that's good. He may end up hopefully maybe getting more time. But then I'm just like, huh, I wonder if the plea thing was, like, oh, but him killing his mom is weight like, not that it was bad what he did to Tina, but his mom.
Like, yeah, well he actually took a life. Yees.
Yeah, I don't know.
Now, I was able to find one more thing regarding the potential trial or the trial that may have occurred or whatever. I was able to find one thing. Reportedly he has also entered a plea for those charges as well.
Oh see, my brain right now is just going a mile minute because I'm trying to justify shit.
But you can't.
But I just I can't.
None of this can be justified as far as I'm concerned. It's fucking bullshit.
It's going to be keeping us up at night.
Yeah it yeah, I don't know. I don't get it.
That doesn't make any sense.
No, it makes absolutely no sense, like zero fucking none. And apparently okay, there was also an incident apparently about a week prior to him assaulting his mother and taking her life. I think it was in late August. I haven't my notes here. August twenty fourth, he was given a just a citation outside of Pittsburgh after punching a lift driver.
Yeah, well, what a winner. This guy is about as scum as again.
Hey, yep. So to finish off this case, I wanted to read a quote from David's half sister Ellen. Oh boy, and this is taken directly from the courtroom quote. There were so many instances for David to be stopped in twenty nineteen alone, and yet he was able to slip through the cracks. Again. He is a Ted Bundy type, you know. He is manipulative, charismatic and is able to manipulate people. He is also a sociopath who is capable of murder.
Oh my gosh.
That's haunting, isn't it.
And that's probably I mean because he is twenty years right yep? Do you do you know how around how old he is?
He was thirty three at the time. Oh shit, So he's going to get out at least when he's fifty three. Yeah, plenty of life still love.
That is so much more time to do a lot of damage.
I mean, he might get parole. I don't know if there's going to be any additional charges for the incident with his ex girlfriend.
We can only hope, We can only hope, I guess at this point.
But honestly, as far as the court sees, it was just assault and uttering threats really for what against Tina? Against Tina, I'm saying, I'm playing devil's advocate here. As far as the court may look at it, especially if they're taking a plea deal that's attempted murder, he may only get just like aggravated. It's all charges for it and maybe a few months tacked on because of a
plea deal. Like you see what I mean, he's pleading guilty. Yeah, so he's probably gonna get a lesser sentence, which is fucked up because like you said, yeah, you damn your like he tried to fucking murder her.
Yeah, and like honestly that should have been dealt with and then like his mom would still be alive. Yeah, just saying that is so this case. Thanks a lot. I am just fucking pissed right now, rightfully.
So, I mean I was angry several times in researching this. I kept getting to the point with like, Okay, here's the case, here's the information, and then here's another piece and I'm like, wait, what the fuck?
Yeah, Wow, that's unreal, unreal. I mean, and any life is a life, but it's just on it's it's hard to comprehend too, that it was his own mom. Yeah, who sounds like she was kind of amazing.
She was. She literally was in the court. She's terrified for her her own life, to the point where she's buying a gun for her own safety against his individual.
Yet she still wants him to be protected.
Yeah, she's in the court trying to get a lesser charge for him. Hmmm, Like that is a fucking golden hearted woman right there.
Well, yeah, and you have to wonder why why would he even want to do that to her? Then?
I don't know.
Oh gosh, okay, holy moly.
Yeah, huh so that's uh the story of Margaret Summoners. Yeah, and her piece of shit son, David Summoners.
He definitely isn't relationship material, because don't they what's the saying that how a man treats his mom is how he'll also like treat his wife.
Yeah.
You know, so this guy if he ever ends up in a relationship, like, dear.
God, please, I really hope he doesn't.
Yeah, that's not going to end well.
No, So hopefully you guys are able to process this better than Nicole, because I'm looking at her right now and her face is just like confusion anger, And I think she might take it out on me because she's pissed off that I put her through.
Oh right, gosh, you're just you're trying to make people worried about your safety now maybe gosh, no, you don't need to be.
Worried about my safety. Nicole will not I know that, but she may be mad at me for a few days.
Well, I just I have a lot of thinking to do. This is it's just.
Well, I've been thinking on this case for about a week now and I have yet to come up to any sort of conclusion that that can make sense of it.
Yeah, I mean there's nothing.
So No, there really isn't so.
I mean it was a good case like you presented it. Well, it was good for us to learn of this, I suppose, but it is real fucked.
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