Optometrist Imprisoned for Life for Cyberstalking Resulting in Death | Christine Belford Analysis

hell this is Dr Grande today's question is can I analyze the case of Christine bford just a reminder I'm not diagnosing anybody in this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoyed this video please like it subscribe to my channel and consider supporting me on patreon I'll put the link to patreon in the description for this video first I'll look at the background of this case move to the timeline of the crime then offer my analysis Christine bford was born B on November 22 1973 and lived in Wilmington Delaware she worked as a teacher at a Catholic School Christine married in her early 20s and had a child she divorced in 1998 in 1999 Christine became romantically involved with an optometrist named David matusitz after she started working for his practice David was from New Jersey and was six years older than Christine just like Christine he had been married before on October 13 2001 the couple married they went on to have three children Christine suffered from depression and was treated by mental health professionals David was not supportive of her recovery effort in 2003 David's parents Thomas and Lenor moved into the family home this Arrangement caused a lot of tension David's parents were controlling and did not get along well with Christine these conditions only made Christine's symptoms of depression worse in early 2006 Christine separated from David and moved out of the family home the divorce was finalized in November of that year a bitter custody dispute followed David and his parents implied that Christine's mental health problems made her an unfit mother on February 13 2007 the Court ruled that Christine and David would have joint custody of their children it appeared as though everything was going to settle down and be peaceful David told Christine that he wanted to take the children to Disney World and she was not opposed on August 26 2007 David departed with the children Christine thought that he would be back in about 2 weeks when David failed to return she contacted the authorities on September 28th of that same year the court awarded Christine temporary Soul custody of her children the police contacted David's father Thomas and David's Sister Amy Gonzalez neither one was too interested in helping the authorities locate the missing children Thomas and Amy both moved to edcouch Texas which is a small town near the southernmost point of the state by tracking emails Law Enforcement Officers figured out that David was in Nicaragua they visited this country in March 2009 and found David Avid his mother Lenor and his three children living in an RV David and his mother were arrested and the children were returned to Christine on September 3 2009 David pleaded guilty to one count of international parental kidnapping and one count of bank fraud he received four years in prison on September 10 his mother pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child her sentence was 18 months in January 2010 Christine filed a petition to terminate David's parental rights the court granted her request in August 2011 during the time that Christine was fighting to terminate David's rights Lenor launched a defamation campaign complete with a website she did all this from prison among the many accusations Lenor said that Christine had committed horrible offenses against the children during this time Christine became more isolated and Afraid in September 2010 Lenor was released from prison and she moved to Texas where Thomas and Amy lived David joined them when he was released in September 2012 now moving to the timeline of the crime on January 8th 2013 David was granted permission by the US probation office to attend a child support aage hearing the next month the hearing was in the Newcastle County Courthouse in Wilmington Delaware he traveled to Delaware with his father Thomas and his mother Lenor although in his request for permission he never mentioned that he would have company on the day of the hearing February 11 2013 David and Thomas drove a Honda CRV to a hotel parking garage not far from the Newcastle County courthouse at 7:32 a.m. they walked into the courthouse David entered the security screening line as Thomas walked around the lobby David passed through security and made his way to another floor as Thomas remained in the lobby at about 8:00 a.m. Christine Belford entered the courthouse along with a friend of hers named Laura malford Thomas produced a Glock 21 semi-automatic pistol chambered in 45 calber ACP and shot Christine and her friend Laura to death after a brief shootout with Capitol police officers Thomas ended his life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the Head David was arrested and charged in connection with failing to ask permission to have his parents with him on the trip the Honda CRV was searched by the police it contained several items including ammunition an electric shock device binoculars restraints a military style knife a bullet resistant vest and photographs of Christine's children and residents David and his parents had also taken a Honda Civic on the the trip which had been parked in marn in that vehicle the police found a rifle chambered in 223 Remington a 357 Magnum Revolver a 9mm semi-automatic pistol a shovel and gas cans 2 days after the shooting David's Sister Amy Gonzalez filed a petition for custody of Christine's three children but she would not be successful ultimately David his mother Lenor and his sister Amy were charged with conspiracy to commit inter State stalking and cyber stalking and cyber stalking resulting in death David and his mother were also charged with Interstate stalking resulting in death they went to trial in June of 2015 and they were convicted all three were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Lenor managed to escape her sentence when she died on May 6 2016 at the time I'm making this video David and his sister Amy continued to serve their life sentences now moving to my analysis the prosecution of David his mother and his sister for cyberstalking resulting in death was the first time this law was tested in court some people view convicting the trio as an overreach by the government a way to avenge the murders even though the actual killer was already dead the government of course disagrees they believe that the behavior of the trio caused Christine's death in order for the trio to be considered guilty under the cyberstalking charge Christine's death must have been the result of their conduct in a real and meaningful way and in the absence of their conduct the harm would not have occurred this law can be interpreted like the felony murder rule the trio was engaged in conduct that led to death but they did not necessarily have a specific intent to kill the theory in this case would be that the trio inspired Thomas to carry out the murder or could reasonably foresee how their behavior would lead to this outcome this brings me to the question were David Lenor and Amy guilty of cyberstalking resulting in death let's take a look at the evidence both for and against the idea they were guilty starting with the inculpatory factors David Lenor and Amy harassed and stalked Christine for years they made several false accusations against Christine using social media a website email services and by mailing letters they accused her of stealing money stealing contact lenses mistreating her children in all types of horrible ways abandoning one of her daughters in a shopping cart threatening to sell her children allowing them to play with dangerous equipment and chemicals and leaving pills within their Reach In addition the trio accused Christine of having multiple personality disorder they employed or directed a few people to obtain personal information about Christine including a private investigator some of these people friended Christine on Facebook and then supplied private information to the trio at one point David was even given Christine's Facebook username and password the trio mailed letters containing defamatory statements to Christine's friends family members church and employers they repeatedly made Anonymous complaints to the Delaware Division of Youth and Family Services they released personal information about Christine like license plate numbers of vehicles parked outside her home photographs of her home and details about her lovers the trio uploaded videos of Christine playing with her children outside her residence before David Lenor and Thomas made their way to Delaware Thomas looked into funeral arrangements left his family members combinations for lock compartments in his residence and gave them instructions related to his property this shows that Thomas was only interested in a one-way trip the hearing that Christine was getting ready to attend when she was killed was requested by David he failed to disclose to the probation office that he could have attended the hearing remotely and he never told them he would be accompanied by his parents David Lenor and Thomas took two vehicles loaded with weapons to Delaware video surveillance from a Walmart store captured David and Lenor walking around one of the vehicles with his trunk open they must have known what Thomas was planning to do moving to the exculpatory factors David Lenor and Amy denied having any prior knowledge of the murders Amy Gonzalez was not on the trip to Delaware she remained in Texas Thomas was an adult he had once been a police officer he was certainly capable of making his own decisions maybe he decided to commit the murders on his own if the trio did have prior knowledge why would they have allowed Thomas to commit the murders in the manner that he did why not have Thomas travel to Delaware alone and simply kill Christine David and Lenor did not need to be in the area they exposed themselves to more risk for absolutely no reason at the time of the murders David had cash in his pocket presumably to pay his child support when considering all the evidence in this case do I think the trio was guilty of cyberstalking resulting in death in my opinion David and Lenor were guilty Beyond a reasonable doubt they went on the trip to Delaware so David could attend a hearing which could have been attended remotely as far as Amy's involvement I am not convinced Beyond A Reasonable Doubt I think she was guilty of cyberstalking but not the resulting in Death part she deserved a long prison sentence but not life without the possibility of parole what do I think happened in this case this is just a theory my opinion d David was self-centered grandiose irresponsible remorseless antagonistic paranoid aggressive vindictive Petty volatile and had a sense of entitlement he came to believe that the government was persecuting him by keeping him from his children his parents and his sister shared many of his beliefs and many of his negative characteristics Thomas and Lenor wanted access to David's children and viewed Christine as the enemy they were willing to do whatever was necessary to achieve their goal after conducting a stalking campaign for years it became clear they were not going to win Thomas decided that he would give up his own life in order to kill Christine it never occurred to the remaining family members that they could be held accountable and sentenced to life in prison this is why they didn't come up with a plan that kept them separated from Thomas the crime could have been carried out in a much easier way but perhaps Thomas wanted to kill Christine in the courthouse to send an anti Anover message he wanted to show the government that they could not stop him and they could not protect his victim now moving to my final thoughts the verdict in this case may have been controversial but there's no doubt it sends a clear message if a person engages in cyberstalking against a victim and that victim dies for any reason the offender is in serious trouble it's probably best to avoid cyberstalking mostly because of the life in prison part those are my thoughts on the case of Christine bford please put any opinions and thoughts in the comment section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always I hope you found my analysis of this topic to be informative thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

Views: 102,757

Keywords:

Id: Hh7Zo1f6sh4

Length: 13min 43sec (823 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 18 2024