Mothers often carry overwhelming burdens– balancing work, financial struggles and the demands of raising children. Sometimes, that pressure can lead to heartbreaking outcomes. Not everyone grows up with the ideal image of motherhood. In fact, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most notorious mothers in recent history. While these tragic stories may be difficult to read, they also serve as a reminder this Mother’s Day to appreciate the love, care and support many mothers provide every day.
Faneshia Scott
Rhythm Fields was only 15 months old when her mother, Faneshia Scott, tortured and beat her to death, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Her body was discovered in Scott’s apartment in March 2017. The mother was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree cruelty to children, but it would take the courts eight years to bring her to trial.
Finally, a jury found Scott guilty of murder in 2025. She was sentenced to 41 years in prison, according to the DOJ.
Sheila Agee
Sheila Agee was sentenced to life behind bars for her role in the 2023 murder of Brooklyn Sims, who dated her son, Keith Agee, WEAR-TV reported. Prosecutors said Keith walked into a Home Depot, where Sims worked, and shot her in broad daylight, the Pensacola News Journal reported. He’d accused her of giving him a sexually transmitted infection– an allegation that was disproved in court.
Text messages showed Agee texted her son information on Sims’ whereabouts before the murder took place. Evidence also showed the mother encouraged Keith to kill Sims. Agee’s first trial in 2024 ended in a mistrial, but in 2025, a jury convicted her.
Talecka Brown
When police arrived at Talecka Brown’s home, they found her 13-year-old daughter suffering from a single gunshot wound to the neck. Brown told police a homeless person fired the gun at her daughter as she was walking home from school, according to NBC Washington. But soon, officials would discover she was actually responsible.
Brown told her daughter to lie and say a homeless person shot her, but surveillance footage showed the teen in perfect health coming home from school, moving the trash can from the curb and then walking into the house, according to Fox 5 News.
In truth, Brown shot her own daughter. She was charged with attempted first-degree murder and sentenced to life behind bars.
Melissa Valbrum
Melissa Valbrum was arrested after Miami-Dade County police said she instigated an altercation, which resulted in her own daughter being shot. She was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery, and culpable negligence inflicting personal injury, according to CBS News.
Valbrum and her 15-year-old daughter were leaving a local McDonald’s when the mother started an argument with three other women. After retrieving a gun from her own vehicle, witnesses said Valbrum accidentally shot her daughter in the shoulder, we previously told you.
Aaliyah Jack
Aaliyah Jack is currently awaiting trial after she was accused of killing her 4-year-old son and abandoning her 1-year-old son. The body of Jack’s four-year-old toddler was found last week in a lake behind a Louisiana Welcome Center along the Texas state line, the American Press reported. After announcing a warrant for Jack’s arrest, the mother was found in Mississippi without her youngest son.
The next morning, a driver spotted a baby crawling in a ditch along the interstate. The child would quickly be identified as Jack’s youngest son. She told a KPLC reporter, “I had did that to them,” when asked what happened to her sons.
Mitchelle Blair
Detroit mother Mitchelle Blair pleaded guilty in 2015 to killing two of her children, 13-year-old Stoni Blair and 9-year-old Stephen Berry, whose bodies were found in a freezer during an eviction at the family’s apartment, NBC News reported. Prosecutors said Blair abused, tortured and suffocated the children before hiding their remains for years.
She claimed she believed the children had harmed a younger sibling and referred to them as “demons” in court, according to the outlet. Despite concerns about her behavior, mental health experts ruled she was competent to stand trial. Blair pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
Tiffany Woods
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, Tiffany Woods had recently given birth to a 3-pound pre-mature baby boy, the Independent reported. Due to the storm, Woods had no access to the proper medical care for the baby. The family’s formula vouchers ran out, and they began feeding the baby cow’s milk. He eventually died of malnutrition.
Woods was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder. Her parole was most recently denied in February.
Crystal Royster
A Detroit mother, Crystal Royster, was sentenced for making false bomb threats after her daughter was not allowed to participate in the school play at Lake Shore High School, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office. A judge sentenced Royster to 18 months’ probation with the first 14 days in jail.
Jannie M. Perry
The burned body of 6-year-old Damari Perry was found in an abandoned Indiana home back in 2022. Her mother, Jannie M. Perry, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, dismembering a human body, aggravated battery of a child, aggravated domestic battery, concealing a homicidal death, child endangerment, abuse of a corpse, parent giving false information, failure to report child death and obstructing justice, CBS News reported.
The mother pleaded guilty after confessing to holding her son in the tub under cold water, which led to his death. Perry’s older son and another minor were also charged in connection to the boy’s death. She was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Deja Taylor
Back in 2023, a 6-year-old was arrested for bringing a gun to school and shooting his first-grade teacher, ABC 7 News reported. His mother, Deja Taylor, took responsibility for the incident and partially blamed her son’s actions on the fact that he has ADHD.
Taylor was charged with a felony count of child neglect and a misdemeanor count of recklessly leaving a firearm as to endanger a child. She was sentenced to two years behind bars.
Teresa Ann Bailey Black
In 2024, the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office in Georgia announced that Teresa Ann Bailey Black was sentenced to 10 years in prison for hiding the death of her 6-year-old son for over two decades. The boy’s remains were discovered in 1999 in DeKalb County, but he remained unidentified for years as “John Clifton Doe.”
In 2020, a new facial reconstruction prompted a tip leading investigators to Black through DNA evidence. Black admitted she left William’s body in the woods after his death. She was acquitted of murder and assault charges.
Darrian Randle
Darrian Randle told police that her 3-year-old daughter was kidnapped at gunpoint. This led to an Amber Alert sent out in Newark, Delaware, according to a press release. As the investigation into the crime continued, however, police soon realized Randle was not telling the truth.
Randle admitted to lying about the kidnapping and the suspects involved. Police said she did this to protect and “divert attention from her then boyfriend,” Cedrick Antoine Britten, who was also charged in connection with the girl’s death, ABC News reported
Lamora Williams
An Atlanta mother, Lamora Williams, was convicted on 14 charges in the deaths of her two young sons in 2017 and sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 35 years. Prosecutors said Williams placed 1-year-old Ja’Karter Penn and 2-year-old Ke’Yaunte Penn in an oven, causing fatal burns.
She initially told police she returned home from work to find the boys dead and a babysitter missing, but investigators found inconsistencies in her story. The children’s father told police Williams video-called him showing the boys’ bodies. Despite defense claims involving mental illness, a jury found Williams guilty of murder, assault, child cruelty and related charges.
