“What do we got here?” I said to Officer Newty as I arrived the crime scene at 301 Ridge Crossing Valley. The scene had already been tapered off with “Crime Scene Do Not Cross,” while police officers and firefighters were still arriving.
“2 parents murdered while sleeping, no suspect yet… But we’re not quite sure who all lives here. Seemed to be a couple of people, guessing they all pitch in for rent,” Officer Newty told me. “Parents were identified as Sara and Jeremy Newcomb, about 33 years old. None of the other members of the home were present, but inside of the house shows that more than 2 people live here.”
I am 43 year old, Sheriff of O’Fallon, Matt Helston. I was a cop for 15 years before getting the promotion of Sheriff’s position when I turned 40. I have encountered many, many crime scene cases, but this one seemed to have been one of the strangest.
When I arrived, many of the officers had been inside collecting evidence and everything was blocked off. Many of the firefighters and EMT’s were still arriving, while others were being called for backup. The station got the call from the parents work, neither of them had showed up for work for the past 2 days, and that wasn’t something they would do. Especially without a call or note that they wouldn’t be there.
I walked inside the home, examining the amount of things the home had. It was quite big, so we knew more people lived here… we just didn’t know who or where they were.
It was 12:37 p.m on a Friday.
There was quite a few rooms in the home, containing several different types of items such as clothing, bags and shoes that obviously belonged to separate individuals.
After examining the different rooms, I was then brought into the room where the murder happened. The smell was horrendous, and of course you could smell it all the way outside, but it was gruesome from inside of the room. Three other officers gathered in the room with me, collecting as much evidence as they could such as blood and DNA evidence.
After looking around the room and also the bodies, it was clear that these two individuals were murdered. A wallet was taken from the bedside table containing personal information, such as both social security cards of the parents and also drivers licenses. I took this evidence and slipped it into a paper envelope, and walked out of the room heading outside.
“Anything new?” Officer Slayer asked me.
“Nope, not that I know of. Murder of course. But I just collected driver's license and social security cards, so I’m going to go run the information.” I replied back, walking towards my car.
I opened my computer and typed the name in, “Sara Newcomb.” 57 others came up, of course, so I pulled out the social security card, and started typing the number in. The one I was looking for came up and I clicked on it. No sign of any crime charges or warrants, so that was good. But one thing stood out to me. “Mother of Christopher Newcomb.” She had a child. But where had he been at? If the parents have been murdered and sitting here for the past 2 days, where had the child gone? Had someone that lived in the house, murdered the parents and taken off with the child? What exactly happened with this crime? After closing out of Sara’s identification, I searched Jeremy Newcomb. 66 others came up, but after typing in his social number, the identification for the right person came up.
August 2011: child endangerment
December 2011: check fraud
March 2012: Probation ends
April 2012: Falsely accused of domestic assault
November 2012: Domestic Assault of 2nd degree
The list continued. One charge stood out. “April 2016: Child abuse/neglect.” The reason this charge stood out to me was because it was June of 2016… which means that charge only happened 2 months ago. Could someone in the house have been sick of the neglect towards Christopher and violently murdered the parents, then took him? Or what could have possibly happened to the parents of 9 year old Christopher.
I stepped out of the vehicle and walked towards the officers to tell what information I had found about the victims.
“Few things I discovered. One, the female, Sara has no sign of any crimes or charges. Two, she is a mother… and three, Jeremy’s charge list goes on and on from child endangerment to domestic assault. So, I really don’t know what we think we’re working with here…” I explained to the officers. “One thing I know we do need to do, is to find the identification of their child, and to where the hell he is. According to the computer, Sara and Jeremy’s child is Christopher Newcomb and he is 9 years old.”
“Adam 5, Adam 5.” Officer Newty called into his walkie talkie. “We need an amber alert for Christopher Newcomb, 9 year old child of Sara and Jeremy Newcomb.”
A dispatcher called back, “will do officer.”
Within moments an amber alert was called out for the 9 year old, as anyone who knew any information was to contact the O’Fallon police as soon as possible.
The EMT’s were exiting the house, with bodies on stretchers, placing them into the vehicles to send them down to the autopsy labs for examination.
“If you guys can, gather any more information from inside the house, whether that contains info of the victims, or even evidence to who else lives here. I’m going to head down to the station to report and try to solve this.” I said to the officers. “Make sure this place stays roped off. We don’t need anyone coming in on the crime scene and touching anything.”
I walked back to my car, and made my way back to the station.

“Any more evidence that you have containing the murders of the Newcombs?” dispatcher Kelly asked me when I made my way into the station.
“Nope, not as of right now. I asked some of the officers to stay and collect more evidence that they find. There is more than just the victims and their child that live in that house. I would guess about 3 or 4 more people live there… There was just too much clothing and other accessories for it to be just the three of them. Hopefully they’ll gather stuff that will help us find a suspect in the murder.” I tell Kelly. “Any calls or information on the amber alert?” I asked.
“Nope, not yet. If anything comes in I’ll let you know right away.” Kelly replied.
I made my way back to my office, where I sat behind my desk and computer screen and started my report.
“Victims, Sara and Jeremy Newcomb found murdered in their bed approximately the night of June 3 or 4. Bodies known to have been there for about 2 days before being discovered. Stab wounds were discovered everywhere on the father, as well as strangulation. Stab wounds on the mother’s arms and legs were found, but death caused by strangulation of her as well. No suspects as of right now.”
I closed my laptop and looked at the time. 6:00 p.m. I was starving and needed to head home. I felt disgusting and all I wanted was a shower. I gathered my things, placing my laptop in my bag and also grabbing the evidence, also placing it in my bag. I shut my office door behind me, and walked towards the front entrance of the station to let everyone I was heading home.
“I’m heading home guys, the smell of that house hasn’t escaped my nose since I arrived at the house. I need food and a shower. If anything happens, or any information is discovered, let me know as soon as possible. Never hesitate to call, you all have my number.” I tell them and shake hands with Officer Newty, who also came back to the station at the same time as I did.
“Will do sir, have a good night. The other officers who stayed at the crime scene have not made it back yet, but I told them to find as much evidence as possible. Anything and everything helps.” Officer Newty said.
I walked back towards the back doors and exited the building, making my way to my car. I opened the door and climbed in, throwing my bag into the passenger side. I turned the car on and decided what I wanted for dinner. Hmmmm… Chick fil a? Had that two nights ago. McDonalds? It was cheap and easy. Panda Express? It was always so good, but I wasn’t really in the mood for chinese. Well, Chick fil a it is… again.
After grabbing food, I took the back roads on my way home.
15 minutes later and I pulled into the driveway, placing my bag of food under my armpit, throwing my bag over my arm and carrying my drink in one hand. I unlocked the door and went inside, putting my food bag and drink on the counter and bag on the couch.
I walked over towards the tv, turning it on and then walked back over to the counter to sit down and eat. Long work days always suck, especially when they’re busy because there is never any time for a break. There have been days where I go without any food. I’ll get home and think to myself, wow, what a day I have ate absolutely nothing. Most of the time after a long day, I have no appetite, especially if what I saw was horrid.
After finishing my dinner, I headed into the bathroom where I took one of the best showers of my life.
After my shower, I got dressed and climbed into bed. This had to be one of the best feelings ever. Crawling into bed after a long, stressful day… it’s just so relaxing.

“Morning Helston,”dispatcher Jenny greeted me as I walked into the station.
“Morning Jenny. Guessing nothing came up with the case from yesterday?” I asked.
“Nothing that I’ve been informed of. I believed they sent the clothing evidence off to the DNA lab to see if they could find out anything about who else lives at the house. Nothing about the child though.” Jenny exclaimed.
I walked back into my office, pulled my computer out of my bag and sat down behind my desk.
~ 4 hours later
*knock on door*
“Come in,” I called towards the door.
Officer Yettey opened the door, “There’s someone here who wants to speak with you. Female, names Tracy Reed, looks to be about late 30’s, early 40’s.”
I got up from behind my desk and walked out the door towards the front of the building. She was sitting in behind the front doors we have, that require a code to get into. I walked out those doors and greeted myself to her.
“Officer Helston, how can I help you today?”
“Good afternoon Officer, I’m Tracy Reed and I may have some information you’d like to know about the murders of the Newcomb’s.”
I turned around, entered the code by the side of the door, and proceeded to tell Reed to follow me.
After making our way down the hall, I opened my office door, and told her to have a seat in the chair in front of my desk. I followed after her, and sat in my chair. I opened my laptop, and turned to the document about the case.
“Okay, first, I understand you’re name, but can you tell me something about yourself that will explain more as to why you’re here to tell me this? Maybe a significance to the murder?” Confusion in my voice.
“Well… I lived with the Newcombs. Sara, Jeremy, Christopher, Danny and I,” she began telling me. I began to take notes on my computer. “As you probably already know, Jeremy has multiple charges against him for multiple incidents. Some for his own child, and some involving his wife. He was a very violent man, but he meant well. Sara was my best friend.” tears began to fill her eyes, but she held them back. “Sara would always tell me that when Jeremy was having one of his ‘fits’ to just leave, because he gets really scary. Very violent. She said he had a very bad childhood which is why he tends to be like that, but i don’t know,” she stopped, trying to gather her thoughts.
“Danny, who’s Danny?” I asked her.
“Danny is my boyfriend, we both helped Sara and Jeremy pay rent on the house, since they offered us to stay there with them,” she answered.
“Where is Danny?”
“That’s another reason why I came here, I’m not sure where he is,” she said, confusion in her voice.
Automatically right there, Danny was a suspect. Why did Danny disappear when the Newcomb’s were murdered?
“What is Danny’s last name?” I asked
“Danny Worsnop.” Tracy answered.
I searched the name, as for multiple people came up. I clicked on the one that showed in the Missouri area, and turned my computer screen showing Tracy and asking, “this guy?”
“Yeah that’s him.” she responded.
“Any more information that you know? Anything special about Danny? Anything about Christopher?” I began asking, hoping for answers.
She sat there quietly, looking as if her mind had been gathering information to tell, but she said nothing.
“I’ll give you a rerun of what happened on Wednesday. At about 9, Danny and I woke up to get ready for work. Christopher had been running around, since school is out and his parents were not up. We got ready, then headed out on our ways, letting Sara and Jeremy that we were heading out for work. After leaving, I then realized that something had felt eerie… It was a Wednesday morning and Sara and Jeremy were normally gone by then, at work and Christopher would’ve been gone too, at Sara’s cousin Angie’s house. I didn’t think too much of it, just thought maybe they were off that day, or possibly overslept. While at work, my mother calls me, asking me to house sit on Wednesday and Thursday night. After agreeing to, after work I headed straight there, and Danny came with me. Next thing I know, Sara and Jeremy are murdered and Christopher is gone.”
I continued taking notes, trying my best to document everything that Tracy had been saying. A few things she had said didn’t seem to quite add up, so we kept her at the station.
As six o’clock rolled around, it was time for me to pack up and head home. Before Tracy came into the station, I actually had time to go on break and get something to eat, so surprisingly after I got off, I wasn’t hungry.
I headed out, telling the dispatchers and officers goodbye, and also telling them to keep an eye out for Danny Worsnop, also to keep Tracy at the station until further explanation.
After making it home, I took a shower and watched Tv. After a while of dozing off while laying on the couch, I eventually got up and headed to bed.
*BUZZZZZZZZZ*
The sound of my phone woke me up, looking over at the clock. 3 am. I knew it was not my alarm, so I picked up and phone, “Station,” it was obviously important if they were calling this early in the middle of the night.
“Hello?” I answered, sleep in my voice.
“Helston, we need you at the station as soon as possible, it’s urgent,” Officer Newty spoke back, fear in his voice.
“Be right there,” I hopped out of bed, grabbing my work clothes, and throwing them on as I grabbed my keys and raced out the door. I didn’t live too far from the station, but I made it there quicker than I ever have before.
I parked my car and jumped out, speed walking to the doors. I quickly entered the code and opened the doors.
“What is it?” I asked as I walked into the dispatchers office. There were many officers in there, I couldn’t even see any of the dispatchers with the amount of officers that were standing in there.
Officer Newty stepped out of the crowd of Officers and asked to speak to me privately, where we walked back into my office.
“Christopher Newcomb came into the station tonight, actually only about 20 or 30 minutes ago. He walked through the front doors, and at first everyone was confused, seeing this young boy walk into the station, at 2 o’clock in the morning… so when Officer Phebs went out to check and see what was up with the child, he began to cry, hysterically cry. No words could come out, only tears. So we brought him in, and set him in a room with dispatcher Kelly, so she could try and calm him down, in which she did. And then he proceeded… proceeded to say that he was Christopher Newcomb. And that he had murdered his parents,” Newty said.
I sat there, blank expression on my face. I didn’t know what to think. I tried gathering my thoughts, but nothing could be said.
“I need to speak to him. Set up the conference room, cameras and recorders. Questions need to be answered. Not only for me, but for everyone.” I said.
I stood up from behind my desk, and Newty did the same, heading towards the door. We both exited my office, and headed back up towards the dispatcher room. Newty passed the information onto the other officers, and I went into the break room, grabbing a cup of coffee. I couldn’t understand the information I just heard. How was a 9 year old capable of doing such a thing. Maybe revenge after what his father did? What exactly was going through his head when all of this happened? Where has he been for the past 3 days? Why has he decided to turn himself in? So many unanswered questions, and I needed answers. I grabbed my coffee and headed out, towards the conference room.
Officer Phebs was sitting in the room with Christopher. He seemed to be trying to comfort him, but Christopher just sat there with an unexplainable blank expression on his face. I looked into the conference room from outside of the room through the glass windows. I grabbed a clipboard, and sheet of paper, and headed into the room.
I nodded towards Officer Phebs, giving him permission to leave the room.
“Hi Christopher, I’m Officer Helston. I just want you to know that you’re in here for questioning and that you are not in trouble-”
“Don’t tell me that I’m not in trouble, I know I will be after all of this is over, so let’s just get through it so I can be on my way.” Christopher explained after he cut me off.
I knew I was dealing with a troublesome child here. He was 9 years old, but had the mindset of a 14 year old.
“As from what I heard from another Officer, you came into the station this morning and confessed of the murder of your parents, correct?” I asked.
“Yes,” he answered.
“Can you tell me exactly what happened on that day?” I replied back.
“Well before I tell you what happened, I would just like to tell you that my dad... my dad was a very mean man. Very mean. Not only to me, but to my mother. Not only to my mother, but to everyone. He was just so hateful,” tears filled his eyes, but he continued to talk. “I’m 9 years old, and when I was 4 years old, my dad would put me in the dog cage, and make me stay in there. He would get angry at me when I would pee my pants, but he never trained me to use the bathroom. He wouldn’t let me eat when I was hungry, and he was just so, so mean. Most people wouldn’t believe that I would remember that since I was so young, but it really impacted me. I remember it like it was yesterday. And my mom... my mom never did anything to help me. I believe she was scared of my father, therefore she did not try and help, but that made me grow hatred for the both of them. As I started growing older, the neglect decreased since I was able to tell people I trusted about what had been happening. When I was 7 my dad went to jail. He seemed to be gone for awhile. I think it was only for about 8 or 9 months, but during this time, I thought my mom would have been more loving, more caring towards me. She never told me she loved me, never said sorry for what she let happen to me. When my dad got out of jail, he would hit me. Tell me it was all my fault. All my fault that he went away. Told me I was stupid, told me he wished I was never born. He made me feel so bad. I hated my dad.”
I could feel the anger in his voice. It upset me very much. Maybe his parents deserved what they got.
“But for what happened with my parents… the night before all of this happened, my mom and dad got into an argument. Which then lead to me being the problem, I was always the problem. I was in my room, just watching Tv, trying to drown the screaming and yelling out. But while I was just in my room, minding my own business, my dad came in and began hitting me. Hitting me with his hands, his belt, anything he could hurt me with. It was like he took his anger out on me.” Christopher lifted his shirt up, showing me the welt he had on his back. It was huge, very irritated and quite deep into his skin.
It made my own skin crawl. I didn’t have any children, but how could someone do such a thing, especially to their own child.
“After beating me, screaming at me and telling me how dumb I was, he left the room, left me there… crying, bleeding. As wrong as it sounds, I was so sick of it. So sick and tired of all the abuse, the neglect, the hatred towards me. The only love I’ve ever received has been from my grandma. I’m not sure why they didn’t take me away from my parents when my dad got caught by the cops, but I think it had something to do with my mother. She probably lied, lied to keep me since she has a clean record. After that night, I stayed up… I couldn’t sleep. The only thing I could think about was getting rid of my dad. Somehow, I did not want him to exist anymore. At around 3 am, Wednesday morning. I knew they would be sleeping, so I left my room and headed into the kitchen. I grabbed the sharpest, biggest knife we had, and headed into their room. The first thing I did was stabbed my dad in the stomach, this automatically woke him up and sent screams throughout the whole house. I wasn’t afraid that my mom would wake up because I knew she was a very heavy sleeper. When he screamed, he looked into my eyes, and I told him to shut up. I then stabbed him in the neck. After he was stabbed in the neck, he began bleeding out. Seemed to be losing consciousness, but I wasn’t done with him. After all the pain he put me through, I wanted to make sure he knew how much I hated him. I stabbed him a couple more times, in the legs and anywhere else. I began going crazy with it. The hatred just came out, it was like all at once. My mom then turned around, and I went from sitting on top of my dad to jumping over on top of my mom and stabbed her in her legs and arms. I did not want to stab her anywhere important like her neck or chest, but stabbing her in her legs would result in her not being able to get up and leave. As she began screaming, I grabbed a pillow and put it over her head. I laid on top of the pillow for a good minute, until she stopped breathing. I knew she wasn’t dead, maybe just unconscious. I didn’t intentionally plan on killing my mother, but after all the stabbing I did to my dad, the adrenaline was just running through my body and it just happened. After my mom stopped breathing, I grabbed the phone charger cord, and wrapped it around my dad’s neck… as tight as I could. His neck began turning purple, and his eyes then rolled into the back of his head. I knew he was done. I stabbed him one more time, one good time in the middle of the chest. He was out after that. I unwrapped the cord from his neck, and then wrapped it around my mom’s, doing the same to her. After all of that was over, I ended up leaving their room and went into the bathroom to take a shower. There was kind of a lot of blood on me but not really.” Christopher sat and explained to me.
I sat there taking in all of the information that he had told me. So many thought running through my head. What do you do with a 9 year old kid, who murdered his parents? Do you feel bad for making him sit somewhere where he’ll rot and lose life, or do you feel bad for him for all the years he had to go through with his parents?
“Well, Christopher… Thank you for your honesty. At this point, I’m not quite sure what will happen, we’ll have to speak to the court officials and other officers to see where you will go.” I tell him.
“What do you think my options are?” Christopher asks.
“Well, you won’t have options, you’ll go wherever they tell you to go, but my guess would either be a place to help you, or juvie. As of now, I don’t think juvie is the right option, since what your dad put you through but we’ll have to see.” I respond.
I pick up my clipboard, and stick my pen in my shirt pocket.
“You stay here, and I’ll be right back.” I tell Christopher, before exiting the room to speak with another officer.
“Well, his confession’s done. Now we just have to figure out what to do with the poor kid.” I said to Officer Newty.
I turned around and looked at the clock, 9 a.m., I had been at the station a lot longer than I expected. And I’m guessing Christopher’s confession took about 3 hours.
“They’re gonna suggest juvie, but I’m gonna say the kid needs a mental hospital or something. His head is really messed up, probably will never be normal,” Officer Newty said.
The whole situation was just messed up, made me feel bad for the kid. He’s going to most likely spend the rest of his life locked away, which will never fix his head anyway.
I opened the door into the conference room and Christopher turned around in his chair to observe.
“If you brought anything in here, pick it up and bring it with you. Come with me please.” I exclaimed to him.
He grabbed his jacket, then stood up from the chair and went out the door before me.
“Into the dispatcher’s office, straight ahead,” I told him, in which we headed.
When we got in there, I explained to him that he would be held here until further notice of what was to be going on. He nodded, but said nothing. He was held in one of our waiting cells, kind of like a jail cell, but not all the way.
“Keep him here until further notice of what shall happen with him. We should know within the next couple of days. If anyone has any important questions, or finds anything else out containing the case, don’t hesitate to give me a call. I’m heading out though, it’s my day off,” I told everyone in the dispatcher room, while I gathered my bag that I left in there. I walked out the back doors, and headed home.

4 days later
“9 year old, Christopher Newcomb, is charged with the murder of his parents, Sara and Jeremy Newcomb on Thursday morning at the 301 Ridge Crossing Valley Block. Charges against Newcomb are still being discussed. Newcomb will be placed in Retreat Center Mental Institution.” News Channel 11 spilled the news.