How Beautiful Savanna Lost Her Life To An Evil Neighbour
The expectant mother was only eight months pregnant when she fell into the hands of an evil neighbor, who brutally took her child from her and then threw her body in a river. What a monster!
Beautiful Savanna was born on August 9, 1995, in Belcourt, North Dakota. She happily lived with her parents and younger brother in a basement flat in Fargo, and right before her disappearance, she had recently found her dream job working as a nursing assistant and was studying hard to be a fully qualified nurse in the eldercare department.
According to her family, everything seemed to be going well for her. She and her boyfriend, Ashton Metheny, were happy together and fully dedicated Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe members. Not only were they excited about moving in together, but the couple was also expecting their first child — a baby girl in late September 2017. Unfortunately, with so much evil in this world, that day never came for them.
THE EVIL NEIGHBOURS UPSTAIRS
Indeed not everyone that smiles at you loves you and wishes the best for you. On top of Savanna's flat lived two-faced individuals, Brooke Crews (38) and her boyfriend, William Hoehn (36). According to the police, their relationship seemed pretty toxic; they constantly fought, were arrested many times, and were previously given a peace order against each other which they failed to comply with.
Allegedly, before getting together, both of them were known amongst the police department. Brooke had seven kids with different partners who repeatedly sued her for not doing anything for either of her kids and failing to pay child support all the time.
On the other hand, scumbag William had two kids, which he had also completely neglected. Instead of keeping their unhealthy lifestyle to themselves on the 19th of August 2017, they thought of extending it to a vulnerable pregnant woman.
That morning Brooke asked eight-month-pregnant Savanna to try on a dress she had made, which would later cost her $20 if she loved it. Out of the goodness of her heart and not expecting anything malicious from the neighbor, Savanna agreed.
Before leaving her home, she ordered her favorite pizza and texted her mother to know where she was going. Sadly she never got to enjoy her pizza and was never seen again.
After a few hours of her not being back home, her father knocked on the neighbor's door, and Brooke answered. She told him they were not done with the fitting yet, and she would be a bit longer than expected. The dad, not suspecting anything, took her word for it and left.
At about 4:30 pm, the parents could not take the wait any longer. Savanna's mom knocked at the neighbor this time, and whoever answered told her she had left a few hours back. Without making much sense of it, the mother knew something was wrong.
She described her daughter as someone who constantly communicated her whereabouts and would never vanish without a word.
With her car missing from the garage, they thought maybe she had gone to visit her boyfriend, Anthony. After contacting him, he expressed his worry as she just stopped texting back in the middle of a conversation. Their last hope was checking her social media accounts, as she loved frequently posting but to no avail. The family then decided to involve the police.
THE SEARCH
The possible suspects were obviously the neighbors, and the police conducted the first search in their home without success. Desperate to find their daughter, the parents and everyone around her posted Savanna as missing on social media. Around their surroundings, they put her missing posters on the walls hoping that something positive would come out.
With the family yielding nothing from the posts, the police headed back to the neighbors for a second search and still came out empty-handed. As they say, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes though, it might bear the most painful and heartbreaking news.
On the 24th of August, at 10:05, the police returned for the search and discovered a newborn baby lying peacefully on the bed. Without the couple previously seen pregnant, the police knew the baby might be Savanna's, and indeed it was.
Three days after the arrest of the couple and the baby reunited with her grandparents and the biological father, a dark cloud fell on Savanna's family. At about 5.45 in the evening, two kayakers were kayaking in the Red River and discovered a female body wrapped in plastic and tapped on a log. Police were called, and forensics revealed it was Savanna. An expectant mother had been killed for her child.
TRIAL AND SENTENCING
During the trial, Brooke tried to lie to the jury, hoping they would believe her. She said that when she asked Savanna to come over, she wanted to teach her how to self-induce birth, and two days later, Savanna had returned and handed her the newborn.
However, her boyfriend, William, furious and tired of her lies because, in the past, Brooke had used a fake pregnancy to keep him from leaving her, revealed what happened that fateful day.
He said that, though he had previously been angry about the fake pregnancy and demanded Brooke to produce a child, he wasn't aware that she would take it from someone else or murder Savanna for it. He arrived home from work on the 19th of August and found Brooke wiping blood in their bathroom, with Savanna's body on the side. After a few mins, Brooke presented him with a newborn. "This is our baby; this is our family".He then asked if Savanna was already dead, and Brooke said, "l don't know. Please help me".
Then according to Brooke, William left the bathroom, returned with a rope, and tightened it around Savanna's neck until she was no longer breathing. "If she wasn't dead before, she is now," he said.
Since he wanted a child with Brooke, he helped get rid of any evidence. After cleaning, he had loaded all the materials they used, including body towels, in his truck and got rid of them.
That night they began searching for flights and a place to relocate to. But the failure of the police to see that the baby was with him inside the blanket on the first search made them not hurry to leave.
BURIAL OF SAVANNA
On the 7th of September 2017, a funeral service was held by the Spirit Lake Tribal Chairwoman, Myra Pearson and the Fargo Mayor. People turned up in large numbers wearing red t-shirts to honour and bid farewell to her and in respect of all other indigenous women killed or missing.
The following day, her boyfriend was given full custody of their daughter, whom they had both agreed to name Haisley Jo. He expressed that though it was going to be challenging experiencing parenthood without his best friend on his side, their daughter was a blessing, and she would be raised with love from both families.
SENTENCING
On the 11th of December 2017, Brooke pleaded guilty to kidnapping, conspiracy to commit murder, and providing false information to the police. She then confessed to performing a c-section haphazardly on Savanna's abdomen using a kitchen knife before pulling the baby out of her womb. What a ruthless person.
Brooke was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Her final words exiting the courtroom, "There is no excuse. There is no rationalization. There is nothing. My actions devastated a family and shocked the community that I called home." However, her statement moved nobody.
On the 4th of September, 2017, William pleaded guilty to kidnapping and providing false information to the police. Though he was not found guilty of conspiring to kill Savanna, he was still sentenced to life in prison with a possibility for parole. He is preparing to appeal his sentence.
PERSONAL CONCLUSION
I know the bible says to forgive, but how can you forgive something like this? It is very chilling the kind of heart some people have out there, especially for a woman with her own kids, to commit such a crime. I thought the labor pains and the unconditional love for the kids were designed to make one a better person to everybody around them. Poor Savanna died brutally. I hope she is resting in peace and the family finds healing.
