Intro
0:00
hi are you Miss Staples yes how can I help you so we got kind of a weird phone
0:05
call um do you know Latricia no no I don't know anybody out
0:12
here some lady called DCFS and what and kind of made some claims that you had a
0:17
child that accidentally shot themselves absolutely not it was on the night of July the 25th 2023 that officers were
0:25
called to a family residence in Rock Island Illinois they had been dispatched to the property after a rather alarming
0:32
phone call came through reporting that a child had allegedly shot themselves but
0:37
as to who this child was what precisely had happened or if this report was even
0:42
real nobody was sure in fact even the officers attending the property seemed
0:47
to be in total disbelief let alone the mother of allegedly four Sushi Staples
0:54
you've never had a son named Zion no one of the calls from 2021
1:00
DCFS came out to your residence in Chicago and there was a Zion Staples
1:09
there however a second visit the next day would end with a very Grim outcome
1:15
and a revelation that will leave you both disgusted and shocked welcome or welcome back to
1:21
Coffee House crime folks my name is Adrian and today I'm going to show you what a real liar looks like in this
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video we're examining a case that will ultimately require your opinion because well the outcome is sadly not what I
1:34
expected anyway with all said and done please grab yourself a coffee and let's caffeinate while we investigate this is
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the case of sushi
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Staples July the 25th 2023 was like any other day for most people living on Rock
July 25th 2023
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Island however the next couple of days would pan out very differently for her mother her children and several police
2:02
officers you see it all began when an unknown person reached out to the Department of Children and Family
2:08
Services to say that they were concerned about a neighbor's child in fact this wasn't actually the first time they'd
2:14
reached out to the DCFS however following some very worrying information they would only now take them seriously
2:21
the person calling was a neighbor and friend to a woman named Sushi Staples who was a mother to several children
2:27
strangely enough this woman sushi had said to the friend that her son Zion would quote not be coming home for
2:34
Christmas anymore and well you can probably agree with me here that this did not sound very
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reassuring the woman in question and her children had all lived in Rock Island for several years now never moving home
2:46
during that time frame for most of her kids that house which was found on 20 and A2 Avenue had been home for their
2:53
entire lives now Rock Island is not a huge City with 37,000 residents it is
2:59
enough to have some history and character but not big enough to be well known across the state their mother
3:04
Sushi Staples was a patient caretaker working just a few miles away at the mercy 1 Genesis hospital to add to that
3:11
she was also a student at the local Community College striving to further her education after a late start you see
3:18
Sushi had officially divorced from her husband L ens and their breakup was
3:24
quite messy to say the least it turns out that by the time all was said and done the two actually despised each
3:30
other and once he started seeing another woman well that was it in fact his new partner seemed to apparently hate
3:37
Sushi's guts however Latz was not the only person she had kids with in fact
3:43
Sushi was actually the mother of eight children with 12E spanning between her first and her last as a mother who was
3:50
ultimately deemed unfit to take care of her eldest two children they would eventually be placed into the care of
3:56
DCFS short with the Department of Children and Family Services found in Illinois unfortunately there were also
4:03
other rumors going on too which was not only the reason why she never wanted to see him again but also why she had a
4:10
firearm but from the outside the Staples appeared to be a normal and happy family and by the year 2023 had rolled around
4:17
it was just Sushi and her four younger daughters in the property allegedly neighbors recall seeing her girls in the
4:23
backyard doing you know typical young girl things drawing on the driveway with colorful chalk and playing with each
4:29
other and stuff like that they got by on the simple things because financially speaking the family were not too strong
4:36
or stable after breaking up and the divorce and pretty much everything else that happened before and after Sushi was
4:43
now a single mother trying her very best to raise at least four children unfortunately there is no way around it
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being a single parent is going to be extraordinarily difficult no matter what and Sushi well she had several other
4:57
mouths to feed and so it was for this reason that she was on government benefits for every child under her roof
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and yes we are being vague with the numbers intentionally here but there were signs that Sushi was trying to improve her situation like I said she
5:10
was not only in full-time employment but also going to college this was a very positive thing but at least for the
5:16
short term the family were definitely not looking at any luxuries such as a new family car or a holiday you know I
5:22
think all of us can appreciate how important time away can be whether that be a local holiday or one further AAR
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you to you folks for supporting us content creators now going back to the lives of sushi Staples and her children
The lives and lies of the Staples family
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several Neighbors in the neighborhood would notice that sushi would often talk about going to church but never actually
7:12
attend them and on the note of attendance or lack thereof none of her children would actually ever attend
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school that's because Sushi believed in homeschooling now I'm not going to bash it but if you're going to homeschool
7:24
your children then surely you want to be well educated yourself first right the
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Staples children were essentially shut off from the rest of America with no school they would pretty much keep to
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themselves around the family home which of course made it harder for others outside of the home to keep track of
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them speaking of keeping track of them some neighbors began to grow worried about her fifth child of the property
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you see they hadn't seen her son Zion for several months now and that is when the odd comment began to slip out I'm
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not sure about you folks but you don't casually walk around town saying that your son would no longer longer be
7:59
around for Christmas anymore I mean nobody would say that without insinuating that something severe had
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gone down and so with Sushi's rather ominous statement being made to the neighbor well that is when they
8:12
contacted the DCFS and ultimately the police so the main section of our case
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today begins on July the 25th 2023 it is on that day that officers made their way
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to the home of a so-called Sushi Staples after DCFS request to the police for a
Asking for Zion - Bodycam Footage 1
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welfare check came through approaching the family home which was found on the 1700 block of 20 and A2 Avenue it was
8:35
quite clear from the outset that Sushi was not impressed with having the police at her front door I do get it by the way
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many communities have lost confidence in the police force but Sushi well she seemed to be very annoyed and even
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aggressive the body cam footage displayed here can be quite long and tedious in some places so for the sake
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of this video I'll trim this footage down to only the essential parts I'll also stop and pause every once in a
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while to share my thoughts in between hi are you Miss Staples yes how can I help
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you so we got kind of a weird phone call um do you know
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Latricia no no um I don't know anybody out here some lady called DCFS and what
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and kind of made some claims that you had a child that accidentally shot themselves absolutely not as you can see
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the police officers were not foing around here they came here to find out exactly what happened to Zion so they
9:33
were not scared to save everyone's Time by getting to the point but one thing to note here is that Sushi did not sound
9:40
surprised by claims that her child was apparently dead you'd think that maybe she would outwardly exale if this is
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news that she had never heard before but instead she simply denied it as if it were an insignificant matter no it
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sounds crazy to me too that's what I am so sorry about this my ex-husband
10:00
his new girlfriend this broad is off the chain I have went down to Rock Island
10:05
and found a police report on her okay I have went and put a restraining order on her what's her name uh her name is Tony
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this girl is never in she has so many different Facebook pages she stalks me from she
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has made up different names called me from different numbers I have changed my number tried to do everything I can
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right unfortunately I can never seem to get them served because they're always bouncing around around in the Chicago
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area oh okay they're not even down here though they're not even out here and it's been a constant have we been here
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before no you've never come to my house for anything I've been here for seven years and never had a problem in Rock
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Island yeah I I didn't know you were I work I work at genesis hospital I'm a patient care Tech I'm a student at
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Eastern Iowa Community College I have a business in Davenport this girl has made
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threats towards me on Facebook posting her gun up saying that she's gonna come to my Addie
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it's just never ending right um so they they made some allegation that you had a
11:05
son and he shot himself and he in come on now you think look look where I live
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she remained angry and defensive throughout her entire encounter with officers and when asked if they could
11:16
inspect her basement well she defensively said no I no I get it just so I can check the box off can I look in
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your basement real quick and I'll get out of no you need a search warn to do that I'm sorry I'm not about to have my
11:28
rights violated because someone makes your reations like this I know like I said it sounded crazy to me too I'm just
11:35
up here seeing if you know we have to investigate it no no matter how crazy if you want to do that I would suggest you
11:42
go through the proper protocols I'm not about to let some crazy woman who has
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now has my husband make uranous accusations like this and have my rights
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violated doesn't no I get it that's that is not okay I have four girls in here that's what I'm just asking I'm not
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children I'm not trying to blame anything on you I'm not saying this is true I'm just I was just asking
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though and you guys only have girls yes okay I have four do you want to see them
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no no no they said it was a son I was just curious if that's even true it's not okay I this this is I'm just I'm
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it's a Never Ending Story with these two I get like I said I'm not I'm not trying to bother you anything but we get a call
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no matter how crazy it sounds we still got to come up and see if there's any truth all right well sorry to bother you okay
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it's like I said we get a call we we got to show up they they done got to the point now where they don't have my phone
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number so they emailing me okay I have spam emails here from these people I'm
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going to go down here the last one I get was let me see is it have a name on it
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yes it has his name on it I had to go here this is the last one I have and
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this gotten to the point where they're emailing me because they don't have a contact phone number on me this is how
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bad the harass has gotten but until I can get Rock Island to Cook County to
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serve them and actually find the address on them right that's going to be a problem so they keep having me come back
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to court until I can get an address on them I'll add some notes just in the call that I was hearing that it's a
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harassment thing so we don't have to keep coming up here and thank you all right sorry sorry to buy I just like I said we get a call even if it's sounds
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crazy we I come see man this this lady this I don't even know what to say about her it's never ending all right I have
13:37
CS here I saw that after agreeing with the officers that she was being harassed Sushi finished the conversation by
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saying I'm here I haven't got anything to hide I'm here I ain't got nothing to hide
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okay Sushi claimed that she had no son named Zion and never did and that all of
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this was simply some evil scheme czy by her ex-husband and his new partner however if she had nothing to hide then
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why didn't she let officers inside the property Oh and before we continue I do
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have one small confession that I must share you see it wasn't actually the body cam footage or any of the legal
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documents that initially piqued my interest in this case instead it was actually seeing the world's most
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ridiculous name to ever exist and of course I'm talking about sushi Staples I
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mean if this woman isn't going to receive life behind bar for murdering a child then surely her name is enough be
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right back renaming Nero to Turkey toler's paperclip or pork chop MC notepad let's get back on track here you
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see Sushi was obviously worked up and very defensive about something however
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what exactly that was nobody knew however without a warrant police
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officers were not allowed to do anything which is precisely why they would then go back to the office and then try to
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acquire one you see the DCF first and respective police departments had a good enough reason to investigate here it
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wasn't that Zion was some random name pulled out from an unrealistic story after all because the DCFS could at
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least confirm that Zion Staples did in fact exist and Sushi well she was still
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claiming benefits from a child named Zion too so if this really were a fabricated story why was the money going
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into her account since she claimed that he wasn't real this would at least suggest that Sushi was committing fraud
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with the additional benefits therefore giving police officers enough reason to go back to her home to pay her a second
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visit and so on July the 26th 2023 only one day after visiting her before they
Unraveling - Bodycam Footage 2
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then returned to the property with an actual search warrant as you can see in this new body cam footage the tone was
15:48
very different this time and the shift in power between Sushi and several police officers was immediate where
15:54
officers were now prepared to search her property Sushi seemed much more cautious and worried eventually she had no choice
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but to let them in and the officers did not seem to be waiting around for her either while two of them kept Sushi
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detained two others checked the basement for any signs or clues of Zion and meanwhile upstairs it was quite clear
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that Sushi was beginning to panic over something do you know why we're here no I don't I don't know why you're here
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okay and I'm really scared cuz my kids are upstairs and I don't know what's
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going on okay
16:32
just can I call my family to tell them to somebody to come you're you're not
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under arrest or anything like that okay that's that's why I'm sitting here talking to you okay okay I'm scared to death cuz I don't know what's going on
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and so the reason we're here okay is cuz we're investigating a call that we we
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had okay officers came out and talked to you last night correct yes okay um we
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have to handle that real seriously okay because the allegations are that you have a son and that he's deceased and
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he's here in this house okay so that's that's where we're
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at right now do you have a son named Zion no I don't once again when asked
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whether she had a son named Zion or not she simply said no instead claiming that she'd been through a recent situation
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involving her own identity being St I mean it does seem quite fitting that she had a backup story at the ready
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you've never had a son named Zion no are you claiming benefits for a kid named
17:41
Zion no I haven't gotten any benefits for
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anyone I just recently went through a situation where a young lady stole my identity and she falsely file my taxes
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and my informations and stuff like that and I've been working with the FBI I've
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been working with the IRS there's been a lot of things popping up
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and um have you had any interactions with DCFS up in
18:12
Chicago I did okay false calls that were made okay correct um one of the calls
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from 2021 DCFS came out to your residence in Chicago and there was a Zion Staples
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there over time it became quite clear that theor authorities were not willing to back down they would drill and drill
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down on Sushi's story as the hour passed by and I think she recognized that she was fighting a losing battle well cuz
18:39
we're seizing your phone okay I understand you're seizing it but
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that's like I should be able to at least call my lawyer still I shouldn't be held
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in my own house and not be able to call my counsel well are you requesting a
18:55
lawyer right now um cuz if you request a lawyer right now we're done talking and then what
19:02
you're going to arrest me I don't know what we're going to do we're going to search your house search this house
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upside and down somewhere here we need to get the
19:13
bottom of this Zion in this Zion thing I can't this is coming from other this is coming from other people this is get I
19:19
can't help people call and make allegations against me people do this every day out of and that is when
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Sushi finally cracked to the officers but even still still she wouldn't admit that he was a real person you need to
19:32
come clean cuz we're not going anywhere this is just you're just going to dig yourself a bigger grave now I asked you
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if there's anything with Zion's name in this house you said no I need some extra help
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okay that was it what do you mean by
19:56
that I had a person person that makes
20:06
documents and it was just really hard
20:17
like so does is is Zion a real person
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I can't call a lawyer and let them know you are here I can't call a lawyer to come here to my house while I'm being
20:34
questioned by you if you if you want an attorney right now we we we can just we just we'll just be done we'll be done
20:41
all right but the investigation continues okay
20:48
okay do turn around for me oh no no no I'm going to jail what am I going to
20:53
jail for what have I done you just admitted a fraud
20:58
so now you're going to Railroad me on fraud railroad you what we're trying to figure out where your kid is my you're
21:05
saying that he's doesn't exist my kid ready walk out we'll cuff you in
21:12
front Okay this is embarrassing can I I can get in the car do you got to take my
21:20
dignity away and put me in C we're not we're not going to we're not going to put them behind you okay we can we're
21:26
going to walk you to the car real quick and then we'll get you out of here okay my neighbors they've been KN me for
21:34
years you see that badge over there I work two jobs in Genesis I hear you I hear you I go to school out
21:41
here the detectives did seem to have a hunch and their gut instincts would
A Grim Discovery
21:46
ultimately prove to be correct and so after Sushi was arrested and then escorted outside they would take a look
21:53
at the property's external garage the room was almost entirely empty spare a
21:59
few items bunched up in the corner underneath some shelves and although most objects were visible there was one
22:05
trash can that was hidden in the corner quite naturally this pequ the officer's
22:10
interest and so after inviting forensic detectives to come to the scene they then pulled us away from the wall to
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check what was inside [Music]
22:35
the men were met with a rather unpleasant smell and the trash can appeared to have something quite heavy
22:41
from within and after taking a closer look they found precisely what they were looking
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for the body of a young boy was found inside and of course ultimately that
22:59
would prove to be
23:09
Zion so I guess it turns out that Sushi was actually lying all this time after
Legal Proceedings
23:15
all despite strongly denying his very existence Zion was in fact a real person
23:21
and yeah he may now be dead but he was very much just as real as the rest of his siblings you know I am really
23:28
struggling to understand how anyone can lie about their child's entire existence just like that I mean this has to be one
23:34
of the most disrespectful things you can do following the discovery Sushi was obviously rearrested under a whole
23:40
Myriad of extra charges however this case would not progress as you might expect from the outset officers decided
23:48
not to see this as a case of murder but instead as an accidental death that sushi would then try to keep as a secret
23:55
and that's because two of Sushi's other children would tragically confess that they saw their brother die they would
24:00
claim that apparently Zion had accidentally shot himself in the head after finding his mother's firearm and
24:06
that all of this was just one giant mistake preliminary results from an autopsy indicated that the death was not
24:12
natural and as a result was considered suspicious and so following this information Sushi was charged not with
24:20
murder but with failure to report the death of a child under 13 concealment of the death and obstruction of justice
24:27
from the very GetGo Sushi may not have been facing life behind bars but she
24:33
certainly did have a lot of explaining to do I mean it kind of feels like I'm stating the obvious here but her mother
24:39
wouldn't typically hide her son's body grieve about it quietly and then even refuse to acknowledge he ever existed
24:46
for her to go through with all of this well there must have been a certain level of permissible guilt somewhere
24:52
whether it be the fact that she realized how stupid she was to let Zion find the gun or if she felt bad for claiming
24:59
benefits off of her child who was now dead so moving into the legal proceedings of this case the prosecution
25:05
remained focused not on murder but on Sushi's neglect endangerment and fraud instead according to the police Zion
25:13
died from a gunshot wound which most likely was accidental and self-inflicted
25:18
it is believed that he most likely found the gun inside the home put it to his head and then pulled the trigger not
25:24
thinking or knowing that it was actually loaded prosecutor comps believed that before his death Sushi was merely
25:31
responsible for the endangerment of her child but what made this case obviously so much worse was how she responded
25:38
after instead of calling for an ambulance or even reporting his death to the authorities she would instead ask
25:44
her very own children to help conceal their brother's body two of her daughters helped place his body inside a
25:51
plastic bin which was then placed in the home's basement right below the space where the family would routinely eat
25:57
breakfast and dinner together she then asked her children to help change the carpets which at the time were covered
26:04
in their brothers blood and flesh detectives would realize that there were clear signs that someone was also trying
26:11
to conceal the smell of Decay every event of the house seemed to be stuffed with clothes and drier sheets most
26:17
likely in an effort to stop the smell from getting outside where neighbors would then become suspicious as we know
26:24
but due to her financial shortcomings Sushi was able to claim child benefits for Zion and although he was now dead
26:31
and she had essentially erased his entire existence from her life she would continue to cash in on those benefits
26:37
for several months afterwards when the smell got too bad she would then move his body from the basement to an
26:43
external garage located at the end of the property she placed him in the bottom of a large metal trash can placed
26:49
it in the corner of the room and then tried to hide it from people's view with multiple items upon his Discovery
26:56
detectives would also find several air freshness in the garage and after opening the trash can and taking a look
27:02
they would find his body which was only covered in a short pair of Spiderman
27:08
pants between the months of December 2022 and July 2023 Zion's body remained
27:14
on the property like a dark little secret and in the meanwhile his mother claimed all of the government's money
27:21
which was instead intended for his upbringing trying to place myself in her own shoes for a few moments I still
27:27
can't understand why she reacted the way she did I mean I get it I know that most people behave rather abnormally in
27:33
extreme situations however I would like to think that all of us would be kicking screaming and crying about it rather
27:40
than trying to hide a child's body thinking about it maybe it was the fear of losing custody of her other children
27:46
and that is actually what drove her to it or maybe it was just a simple combination of stupidity and greed
27:53
during a preliminary hearing it was revealed that Zion was most likely to have shot himself and that the coroner
27:59
testified that this was indeed a definite possibility however he did also say that there was no way of proving it
28:06
and that we will likely never know who shot him leaving many to believe that maybe it was actually a homicide instead
28:13
the DCFS would also state that they had dealt with the Staples family several times over the past 10 years during this
28:20
time they investigated several claims of abuse however none of these claims were ever ruled to be credible after the
28:27
hearing the judge found probable cause in the case and therefore would have liked to have held a trial in response
28:34
sushi would wave her arraignment hearings and then request a jury trial however before this case could go any
28:40
further she then actioned other plans before the trial could even get underway
28:45
Sushi decided to take a plea deal and pleaded guilty to endangering the life or health of a child doing this meant
28:52
that all of her other charges would ultimately be dropped meaning that she would only face responsibility for
28:58
endangerment alone I should have done more and I should have made the right
29:03
decision but I just don't know what happened I am not a criminal I am not a
29:08
monster I am just a mother who have tried over and over again no matter how many times I F to get up and do the
29:16
right thing again after pleading guilty Sushi was sentenced to a grand total of only 2 years behind bars for her role in
29:23
the death and financial exploitation of her son and since she had already spent 204 days in prison this sentence was
29:31
reduced to only 1 year and 5 months the judge would also further recommend that
29:36
she should be placed in a mental health facility as at the time she suffered from an anxiety disorder she was also
29:43
ordered to serve 6 months of mandatory supervised release once she finished her prison term but the funny thing is Sushi
Slippery endings
29:49
was not happy with this sentence she believed that she had been hard done by by the judge and so she wanted to
29:56
withdraw her plea deal and instead be resentenced in a handwritten letter to the judge she said I'm asking for a
30:03
reconsideration of my sentence because I'm a firsttime felon and have never been to a prison and my last charge with
30:10
law enforcement was over 20 years ago missing a few commas here and I feel I should receive a deferred judgment
30:17
mental health court and probation you know what I'm not going to bother reading the rest but please do remember
30:22
that this note was written by a mother who opted to homeschool her children the main point here is that despite
30:28
endangering her child letting him die hiding his body claiming government benefits off of him and then denying his
30:35
entire existence Sushi believed that 2 years was simply too much and with that
30:40
said you know what every once in a while a case comes by and the perpetrator just absolutely baffles me I do find it very
30:47
fascinating how capable some people are of lying I mean Sushi she was so adamant
30:52
that her son didn't exist that she got aggressive towards officers and this level of victimization is quite
30:58
reminiscent of cluster be personality types you know I think all of us have dealt with at least one narcissist in
31:04
our lives during her sentencing Sushi claimed that she was not a monster but simply a mother who fell down many times
31:10
tried to get back up and do what's right but personally speaking I don't think anything about this story demonstrates
31:17
right Behavior so I'm calling on this one but yeah I don't know maybe I'm wrong what do you think about this
31:24
situation anyway I think that'll do for me today and so on that note thank you so much for watching this video I really
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do appreciate you being here from what I understand Sushi will soon be out of prison which basically means that's the
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very end of this story and all that I have to report on but yeah I would love to know your thoughts on this maybe we
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all can agree this wasn't murder but 2 years really as always please share your
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thoughts in the comment section down below and thank you so much to all of you for watching this video today and being here I really do appreciate it and
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thank you again to s for sponsoring this video if you'd like to get an exclusive 15% off then please scan the QR code or
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click the link down below if you'd like to catch me on social media then please click any of the links above
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alternatively if you want to support me in the channel directly then please check out my patreon you also get early
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access to my videos and exclusive content as always I'll return very soon for another video but until that moment
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arrives please do remember to look after yourself and look after each other thank you so much folks see you again soon
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goodbye