Chloe Watson Dransfield was found with fatal injuries on the street in Leeds
The family of a 16-year-old girl who was killed in what was said to be a row over a boy have paid tribute to their ‘princess’.
Chloe Watson Dransfield was found with fatal injuries in Kennerleigh Avenue, Austhorpe, Leeds at 6am on Saturday.
The teenager was said to have been stabbed in the back in a dispute over a boy, according to family and neighbours.
A fifth teenager, a 17-year-old boy, was arrested on suspicion of murder on Monday after four others were held over the weekend.
In a statement, her family said: ‘My beautiful princess Chloe. I cannot put into words how I feel that you are not here with me.
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‘You are my life, my world, my best friend and I know that I am yours. I cannot live without you – I need you.
‘You are stunning, confident, loyal, honest and my family-oriented princess.
‘When you walk into any room it lights up with your bubbly personality. There is so much I could say. There’s a big hole in my heart that can never be filled.’
Chloe Watson Dransfield was found with serious injuries in a street in Austhorpe, Leeds, and died soon after
They added: ‘Your two sisters and big brother will always love and miss you to infinity. You will always and forever be in our hearts. Love Mum, Connor, Courtney and Cienna.’
Two women, both 18, a man, 19, and a boy, 18, remain in police custody on Monday after they were arrested on suspicion of murder.
A fifth person, a 17-year-old boy, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of murder. He remains in custody.
Her cousin Shantelle Watson wrote on GoFundMe: ‘My 16-year-old cousin’s life was sadly taken in tragedy.
’16 years young. She didn’t even make it to her 18th – her whole life was taken in a flash over a boy.
‘Her mum is distraught; she has left two younger siblings behind.’
She added: ‘I wanted to create a GoFundMe to help give her the best send off possible.
‘She didn’t deserve this; she was so full of life, such an innocent, beautiful soul taken too soon.’
Neighbour Wayne Mallows described how he tried to save the girl but she had been stabbed in the back.
The 64-year-old told the Daily Mail he performed CPR on the teenager on the pavement close to his home.
‘I was called out of the house about 5.50am on Saturday morning by a dog walker,’ he said.
A murder investigation has been launched following death of a teenage girl in Leeds (Picture: YappApp)
‘She said that my neighbour was outside doing CPR on a young girl. He was getting tired.
‘I asked if they’d rung an ambulance and then I realised that a phone was on the ground and he had it on loudspeaker. Ambulance control were giving him instructions.
‘I took over until the ambulance arrived 10 minutes later. She had been stabbed in the back and there was quite a bit of blood. Her eyes were just blank.’
Detective Chief Inspector James Entwistle, who is leading the investigation, said: ‘Our thoughts remain with Chloe’s family at this incredibly difficult time. Our specially-trained officers continue to provide them with support.
‘Our investigation into her death is ongoing and five people arrested on suspicion of murder remain in custody, as we continue to establish the full circumstances of this incident.
‘I am appealing to anyone with any relevant information to contact us.’
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When you lose a loved one, your world can change within a matter of seconds. How a person responds to death is a totally unique experience that can come in many forms.
“Some people are more emotional … some people more cerebral…. There’s no right or wrong way; it’s how it works,” explains Brenda Gibbs, owner of Living and Loss Grief Counselling.
The “five stages of grief” are often listed as denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. But the truth is, this is not necessarily how we cope with losing a loved one.
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“That sort of five stages of grief has largely been debunked…. Those were actually written to help a dying person see what stages they’re going through,” says legacy guide and celebrant Karla Combres, who works with individuals and families to help define and create lasting legacies. “The truth is, it’s messy, it’s not linear, you might feel one thing one second, another thing this, you might go back, you might go forth.”
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And we do not grieve just the dead. Some grieve relationships ending, losing a job or even a child moving out on their own. But the common thread among all grief is the element of support needed to heal. That’s why community gatherings like “Death Cafes” were created to help people feel seen during a time that feels isolating.
“There are community gatherings meant truly just to normalize dying and death…. It’s very open-ended, usually. No proselytizing, no selling of products,” Combres says.
At the end of the day, the best way to help someone in their grief journey is to simply reach out.
“It’s about just checking in. How is your day today? If you want to offer help, be specific,” Gibbs says.
The plastic surgeon who performed a tummy tuck on a TikTok mom before she died from a catastrophic brain injury has said he is “struggling to understand” what happened.
Dr Shahryar Tork, a double-board-certified plastic surgeon based in Cincinnati, said the Feb. 25 surgery on Rachel Tussey “was completed successfully and without complications,” and “she was awake and in excellent condition” when he last saw her in recovery.
“I am heartbroken for Rachel Tussey and her family. My thoughts remain with her loved ones during this devastating time,” Tork said in a statement to TMZ.
“Like them, I am struggling to understand how this could have occurred.
Rachel Tussey, 47, posted a video just hours before she underwent a tummy tuck and died from post-surgery complications. @midlifeunmuted_ / TikTok
“Rachel’s surgery was completed successfully and without complications,” he said. “When I last saw her in the recovery room as she prepared for her planned overnight stay, she was awake and in excellent condition with her husband by her side.”
Tussey, a 47-year-old mom of three, had documented her cosmetic surgery journey for more than 27,000 followers on TikTok in the days leading up to the procedure.
“I’m in good hands. I know God’s got my back. Let’s do this,” an enthusiastic Tussey said in her last video, dressed in a hospital gown just hours before surgery, alongside the caption #midlifeglowup and #mommymakeover.
Rachel Tussey and her devastated husband, Jeremy, had three children together. GoFundMe
But what was supposed to be a routine appointment quickly turned into a nightmare, her husband Jeremy Tussey later revealed in an update on TikTok.
Jeremy said he had been waiting in the recovery area when he was called back to his wife’s room around 5:45 p.m. after the operation.
He briefly spoke with the doctor, who was leaving for the day and allegedly reassured him that the surgery had gone well.
Moments later, Jeremy said he heard his wife calling out for him — before noticing something was wrong.
“Next thing you know, I look down and her face is off color,” he recalled. “I assumed it was from the surgery, you know, from a lack of blood.”
When Tussey stopped responding, medical staff began performing CPR. She was rushed to TriHealth Bethesda North Hospital and placed on life support.
Jeremy said doctors later told him she had gone more than six minutes without oxygen and had suffered a severe brain injury. Tussey was eventually moved to hospice care after life support was withdrawn and later died.
Bernard Layne III, a personal injury attorney representing the family, said Tussey suffered a permanent anoxic brain injury after undergoing a surgical procedure at a private surgical center in Cincinnati.
“At this time, we will not comment on any aspect of culpability or liability in this matter,” Layne said, adding that the focus is on supporting the grieving family.
Jeremy said he is determined to understand what went wrong.
“To me, it looks like incompetence. Somebody dropped the ball here,” he said.
Tussey leaves behind her husband and their three children, Tristan, Alec and Livi.
When families lose a loved one, making decisions is filled with emotion and now, increasing costs are making those choices all the more difficult.
With funeral arrangements running upwards of $20,000, people are finding it harder and harder to afford an end-of-life ceremony.
“A full-service funeral with a casket and buying a new cemetery plot and a luncheon, sometimes those funerals can be upwards of $15,000 to $20,000,” said Morgan Edwards, president of Saskatoon Funeral Home.
To cut costs, people are finding unique alternatives to celebrate their life, with DIY funerals becoming increasingly popular. Cindi McAuley-Michaud, a doula, works with families to make their end of life plans a reality through her business Love’s Final Journey.
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McAuley-Michaud also helps people come up with lower cost to honour their loved ones — from planting them in a tree, to assisting those at the end of their life to write cards for future holidays they may miss.
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“Maybe grandma has that special recipe that she’s never really shared with anybody, maybe she wants me to video her recipe, her making that special dish and give it to her to grandkids,” says McAuley-Michaud.
For those with no extra funds to spend, the Prairie Hospice Society provides people with supported quality of life in their final days by assisting around 130 people per month for free.
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“Some of the things we can provide these individuals in the community is we can provide rides. So sometimes it is getting to that appointment, having that friendly voice to talk to when you get in the car or out of the car after an appointment,” explains Kristi Chisholm, executive director for the Prairie Hospice Society.
“Maybe it is getting into the library to pick up some more audio books because you are a bit isolated. Maybe it’s just having that friendly voice talking about what they want to do next. Maybe those bucket list items. Or maybe it’s to just focus on something and not about dying.”
When talking to experts on the subject, every person said planning ahead, if possible, is the best way to have your celebration of life to be exactly what you want it to be.
Louie Day likely died ‘instantly’ and was thrown from his vehicle when it crashed on the A414 near Ongar, Essex (Picture: BPM Media)
A popular trainee police officer died by suicide after crashing his car into a tree at almost 100 mph, an inquest has ruled.
Louie Day likely died ‘instantly’ and was thrown from his vehicle when it crashed on the A414 near Ongar, Essex, in the early hours of September 5 last year.
Experts estimate that Louie was ‘probably driving between 96 and 99 mph’ when it collided with the tree, Essex coroners’ court heard.
At the time, the 23-year-old was training as a response officer with the Metropolitan Police on the East Area Command, based from Barking and Dagenham. He had been a PCSO for two years beforehand.
There were no witnesses to the crash, but a passerby found Louie ‘lying on the floor’ having been thrown out of the car, EssexLive reported.
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He was sitting on, rather than under his seatbelt and suffered multiple injuries to his head, chest and abdomen, the inquest heard.
An inquest into his death at Chelmsford on Thursday February 26 heard that Louie had left a ‘note of intention’ before his death.
Experts estimate that Louie was ‘probably driving between 96 and 99 mph’ when it collided with the tree, Essex coroners’ court heard (Picture: Google Street View)
Michelle Brown, area coroner for Essex, said: ‘Louie Day from Brentwood died on September 5, 2025, on the A414 near King Street due to multiple injuries (head, chest and abdomen) sustained as a result of a road traffic collision as the driver and only occupant, leaving a note of intent.
‘The conclusion is one of suicide.’
Medical examinations found no evidence of drugs or alcohol in his system, the inquest heard.
A delivery driver saw Louie’s car shortly before the crash.
In a witness statement they said a car travelling towards them did a three-point turn in the middle of the road which seemed ‘unusual’.
‘After it turned round, it looked like it was speeding away. It must have been doing faster than 40mph,’ they said.
‘As I drove on I saw smoke and mist in the road and then saw bits of car and realised something had happened,’ the driver added.
In a statement, Louie’s family said: ‘It is with the greatest sadness that we announce the passing of our son, Louie Day, a beautiful soul who has left this world and will be greatly missed by all who loved him.’
Louie’s death is one of a number to have occurred on the A414 between Chelmsford and Harlow.
Work is ongoing to make the road safer and reduce serious collisions, including the installation of new average speed cameras.
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I was 14 the first time I really thought about the death penalty. Every day in freshman English, our teacher wrote a new question on the whiteboard. Before class began, we had to write a short essay on the topic. One day, the prompt read: “What is your opinion on capital punishment?”
Until that moment, I hadn’t given it much thought. Whenever I heard that someone had been sentenced to death, I just assumed they probably deserved it. But I’d never been asked to consider whether it was morally right.
I wrote my first sentence with a No. 2 pencil: “I believe the death penalty is appropriate when a serious crime has been committed.”
Then I stopped. I picked up the eraser and erased it. I realised I couldn’t, in good faith, justify capital punishment.
Unlike my answer to the question on the board, death wasn’t a decision that could be undone just by picking up an eraser. Death was final. So, from that moment forward, I knew where I stood: I was against the death penalty.
As I grew older, my opposition to the death penalty never faded. It became a core part of my identity, a topic I often returned to in conversations with friends, or sometimes even strangers.
The more I read about the topic, the more disturbed I became by how unevenly capital punishment is applied. Two people can commit the same crime and receive completely different sentences, depending on where the crime occurred, or on their access to money and legal resources.
I learned about the many people who were executed and later found to be innocent. I began donating to The Innocence Project, an organisation that works to free the wrongfully convicted. At times, my donations were small. But it was my way of staying connected to a belief I had carried since I was 14.
I never expected that 20 years later, I would again be confronted with the same question written on that whiteboard. But this time, it wasn’t hypothetical.
In April 2025, I received a jury summons. I didn’t have time for jury duty, but the court’s website said most proceedings last only two to three days. I assumed I would not be selected, and if I was, I expected it to be brief.
Ultimately, I was selected to be a juror, and I quickly realised this wouldn’t be the case. It was a trial of an accused serial killer who was alleged to have murdered eight people: Andrew Remillard; Parker Smith; Salim Richards; Latorrie Beckford; Kristopher Cameron; Maria Villanueva; his mother, Rene Cooksey; and her partner, Edward Nunn.
As the scope of the case became clear, I knew that a death sentence was a real possibility, and I felt conflicted about moving forward as a juror. But as I listened to other potential jurors answer the attorneys’ questions during selection, I began to think maybe I belonged there. I hoped I could keep an open mind and bring nuance to deliberative conversations.
One of the most difficult days as a juror was when the youngest daughter of Maria Villanueva testified. Maria had been abducted and sexually assaulted. Her lifeless body was found in an unpaved alley – nearly naked, surrounded by trash cans and cigarette butts.
After listening to her talk about her mother, I had a 6pm dinner reservation for pasta and drinks with my neighbours. The juxtaposition felt shameful, but I was desperate to think about anything other than what had happened in court.
After months of testimony, the jury deliberated on whether or not the defendant was guilty. We found the defendant guilty on all charges, but the jury still had to determine if the defendant would receive life in prison with no release or the death penalty.
Before the sentencing phase of the trial began, the victims’ families read their impact statements.
When Kristopher Cameron’s partner spoke, I knew her words would hurt.
“Our son was only 10 months old when his father was taken. My daughter never got to meet him. My kids will never experience dances or donuts with their dad. He had dreams. Now all we are left with is the void his absence will carry.”
Kristopher’s children will never hear his voice or watch him walk through the front door after work and kiss their mother. Instead, they’re left with ashes on a mantle. They won’t know his smell, his laugh, or how it felt to hug him. They will never unwrap a gift with a tag that says, “From Dad.” Kristopher’s murder ended one life, but it also fractured every life he was connected to.
After several more months of listening to the prosecution and the defense arguing over mitigating circumstances, it was time for the jury to deliberate again. We immediately took a preemptive vote.
I was the only one who didn’t instantly vote for death.
Photo Courtesy Of William Ehlers
The author with his dog.
Attempting to keep an open mind, for six out of the eight counts, I voted as “undecided”. For the murder of the defendant’s mother and her partner, I voted in favour of life without parole.
I braced for the judgement from the other jurors. I explained that I had tried to consider all the mitigating circumstances related to the defendant. He had been abused. I know his childhood was difficult, and I know that he had a problem with drugs. Legally, these factors all allowed us to grant leniency. But any attempt to have these conversations fell on deaf ears.
Many jurors refused to acknowledge the defendant’s history of drug abuse and mental illness, despite expert testimony from both the defense and the prosecution. All the mitigating circumstances were irrelevant to them. The only thing that mattered was making sure the defendant was executed.
It didn’t feel like justice for the victims – it was vengeance toward the defendant.
After just a few days of deliberation, I knew if I didn’t change my vote to execute, I’d be the cause of a hung jury, which meant the sentencing phase would have to be retried, a process that would take months. A new group of jurors would be tasked with deciding a sentence for a verdict they hadn’t delivered. And there was no way to know how long it would be before the new trial began.
I sat on the floor of the jury room hallway, creating a list.
If I choose death, that’s it. He’s dead.
But if I choose life, the jury will hang. His sentence will be retried, some new set of jurors will go through it all again, and the victims’ loved ones will be denied closure.
There was no option that did not harm someone, if not many people. There was no option that minimised the damage. I’d gone into this trial initially believing I would not vote to execute the defendant under any circumstance. I romanticised the idea of refusing to crack under pressure, and the mercy I would be extending to someone. But after a week of sleepless nights and several bottles of wine, I knew what I had to do.
“All in favour of life for count one, regarding Parker Smith, raise your hand.”
“Now, all in favour of death, raise your hand.” Twelve votes.
I was forced to put my hand up for each individual charge until I had voted for death six times. I couldn’t bring myself to vote for death regarding the murder of the defendant’s mother, Rene Cooksey, and her partner, Edward Nunn, because I did not believe the defendant was in a coherent state of mind when he committed these murders.
Once the vote was done, I managed to lift my head off the table, only to drop my face into my palms and weep. I couldn’t hold back any longer. I could hear backpacks zipping as the other jurors packed up their belongings to head out for lunch, while I just cried.
The defendant had been arrested on Dec. 17, 2017. Exactly eight years later, we turned in our verdicts. They were read out loud the next day.
Being a juror on a capital murder trial unearthed frustrations with our system that I never knew existed. I always knew that I didn’t support capital punishment, but I supported it even less after this experience.
I know I will always partially regret my decision. My life will forever exist in two sections: before trial and after trial. If I was able to give in on my most strongly held belief, what do I really believe in, and what do those beliefs even mean? Being responsible for an execution is a burden I will carry with me. While the death of each victim brings me sorrow, so does the inevitable death of the defendant.
I wish the trial hadn’t ended this way. But I wish there didn’t have to be a trial at all, because I wish that all eight victims were still here. I think about Andrew, Parker, Salim, Latorrie, Kristopher, Maria, Rene and Ed constantly. I will always do my best to make sure they live on.
I chose death, not because I wanted the defendant to die, but to bring closure to the families and to allow the victims to finally rest in peace. Although I know I am going to carry the burden of that choice with me forever, I hope it lifted at least a little of that burden off them.
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