Former Terre Haute resident killed in violent attack in Tennessee
A former Terre Haute resident lost her life in Columbia, Tenn. May 31 after a violent attack in her neighborhood that left two people dead and another injured.
Stacie Lynn Malone Wright, 51, who graduated from Terre Haute North Vigo High School and Indiana State University, was one of two people killed in the attack; the other individual who died, John Bidle, was a neighbor.
The suspected gunman, Byron Childers, 41, lived just a few houses down from the victims, according to NewsChannel5 in Nashville.
Childers faces multiple charges, including two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, the station reported. Others individuals were assaulted in the attack.
According to WSMV.com, quoting affidavits, Childers walked up and shot 46-year-old Bidle, who was standing in front of a house in the neighborhood. Witnesses reported that Childers then stood over Bidle in the street and shot him several more times while shouting, 'It was safe now,' because he got the 'demon from hell.'
While this was happening, Wright opened the door of her home to see what the noise was, and Childers turned the gun on her, according to the affidavit. She was hit multiple times. Bidle lived across the street from her, the station reported.
Childers later began firing at an ice cream truck on the street. A man in the ice cream truck was struck by a bullet in the hip, and his truck was hit several times by the gunfire, WSMV reported.
Wright was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she later died.
In Tennessee, she had been a talent acquisition specialist at Ultium Cells.
She was born to the late Silver Ruth Barksdale Malone and Pastor Cleytus D. Malone, according to an obituary.
Survivors include her husband of 20 years, Sean Wright, and children, Sydni and Sean Michael of Columbia, Tennessee, as well as her father, Cleytus Malone of Terre Haute and brother, Dwayne Malone of Terre Haute.
Ceremonies to celebrate Wright's life are June 14 at Saints Home Church of God in Christ in Terre Haute; visitation is from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. and the funeral is at 1 p.m
In lieu of flowers, people are asked to donate to Stacie's GoFundMe at bit.ly/4n1F5vi
The Boys and Girls Club of South Central Tennessee issued the following statement on social media after her death:
"We are heartbroken.
"This weekend, we lost a beloved member of our Boys & Girls Club family. Stacie Wright—a longtime volunteer, mentor, and friend—tragically lost her life in Columbia.
"Stacie was a bright light in our community. She gave her time freely and her heart fully, always showing up with warmth, joy, and an unwavering commitment to the mission. Whether she was helping behind the scenes at fundraising events or guiding kids as they built birdhouses in Spring Hill, Stacie's presence made everything better. She truly embodied the spirit of service, and her impact on our youth was immeasurable.
"We are devastated by this loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends, and colleagues at Ultium Cells during this incredibly difficult time. Stacie touched so many lives, and her kindness will never be forgotten.
"She will be missed more than words can say."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indianapolis Star
27 minutes ago
- Indianapolis Star
Low-head dams can be 'drowning machines.' Awareness and safety urged for summer outings
Amanda Malott's son Andre "AJ" Edwards Jr. was 14 when he went down to play near the Silver Creek dam with some friends last year. A large billboard loomed over the creek where the boys were headed, encouraging southern Indiana locals to 'Check out New Albany's Silver Creek Landing.' It depicted several people standing above a small dam, and one figure dangling their legs over the edge. The waterway empties into the Ohio River just less than a mile from Silver Creek Landing and was one of AJ's favorite spots to play outside, Malott said. Less than an hour after AJ left home, two police officers were knocking on Malott's door. They told her AJ hadn't resurfaced after jumping off the low-head dam into Silver Creek, which divides New Albany and Clarksville. First responders and volunteers found AJ's body after a lengthy search into the night. AJ's story is part of a growing number of tragic incidents involving low-head dams across Indiana and the United States. Around 170 low-head dams in various states of disrepair sit in Indiana's rivers and creeks, and many have deadly currents that can trap even the strongest swimmers. At least 28 people in the state drowned in these underwater currents since 2010. Victims included a conservation officer with nearly three decades of experience who died in 1998 during a practice-rescue operation on the White River. AJ's tragedy pushed Malott to file a lawsuit, adding to the growing legal debate over low-head dam safety in Indiana. In March, the family of two kayakers who drowned at the Emrichsville Dam last year sued Indianapolis, alleging city officials knew about the 'lethal danger' of the dam but failed to place proper warning signage. Malott hopes her suit will help provide accountability and raise awareness around low-head dams, which Ken Smith, DNR's assistant director of the Division of Water, called 'drowning machines' in a 2016 PBS documentary. AJ's sister has set up a GoFundMe to support the family. Thousands of low-head dams were built across the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries. They typically aren't higher than 15 feet, yet they're capable of altering habitats and raising water levels. By creating slower pools of water upstream, low-head dams allowed industrial, municipal and agricultural entities to easily divert water. But many of these structures have outlived their purpose. They sit abandoned in streams and rivers because they're tricky and expensive to remove — sometimes costing nearly a million dollars — and ownership is not always clear. These outdated dams are still posing a risk for Hoosiers today. From the water, they can look small and unassuming, but they've continually proven to be deadly to swimmers and kayakers. As water flows over the crest of the dam, it can form deadly hydraulic currents. This phenomenon can trap swimmers in a sort of sideways vortex that experts say is almost impossible to escape. 'It's basically a cyclone or a whirlpool turned on its side,' said Scott Salmon, the former executive director of Friends of the White River. 'Once you get stuck in there, whether you're a person or you're a tree or you're a boat, the chances of you getting out of that … is very, very low.' Low-head dam safety boils down to three points: Wear a life jacket for the entirety of your trip on the water, don't go paddling when the water level is abnormally high, and figure out in advance where you will low-head dams and other potential threats. Hoosiers should always wear life jackets while recreating in a body of water, according to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. The jackets should be in working condition, fit properly, and United States Coast Guard approved. Wearing a life jacket isn't a guarantee of safety in the face of low-head dams, but 'it won't hurt,' Salmon said. Capt. Jet Quillen, with DNR's Law Enforcement Division, advised boaters to 'always avoid elevated water levels and fast-moving water' in an email to IndyStar. Boaters can check the National Water Dashboard for safety information about Indiana waterways. And lastly, creating a float plan can mitigate danger. Prior to departure, Quillen recommended noting any nearby hazards, like low-head dams, and planning for where you will put in and take out. There are low-head dams across the state without proper signage, so the Indiana Low-Head Dams map is one of the most comprehensive resources for finding existing dams that might intersect your float. The dam on Silver Creek was embroiled in disputes and lawsuits even before AJ's death. One of the ongoing fights started in 2021 after DNR issued a permit to Ecosystems Connections Institute to remove the dam. New Albany pushed back. In a legal filing, the city said destroying the dam 'constitutes an unlawful and unconstitutional taking of property.' A judge let the removal permit move forward, and New Albany filed an appeal. The city has since claimed, in a 109-page document Director of City Operations Michael Hall shared with IndyStar, that no one knows who owns the dam and "DNR refused any ownership or responsibility." The document also claimed removing the dam would 'severely impact the recreation opportunities available in the creek, such as fishing and wading." After AJ's death, New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan declared a State of Emergency and the city attempted to make the dam safer by adding stones on the downstream slope to eliminate the hydraulic current. The action resulted in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ordering the removal of the rock because the city did not acquire a permit. The DNR filed a separate legal proceeding over the lack of a similar permit. Neither case has been resolved. The dangers of low-head dams — and their deadly currents specifically — have been known for years, according to Malott's lawsuit, which cites evidence from the dam removal case. Mallott accuses officials of New Albany, Clarksville, Clark and Floyd counties and the DNR of negligence for failing to post warning signs about the danger posed by the dam. 'How can you have something that the Indiana government acknowledges as a perfect drowning machine available for the public, small children, to recreate around?' said Jon Noyes, the attorney representing Malott. New Albany denied all counts in Malott's suit including that it owned, operated or controlled the dam, according to documents filed with the Marion Superior Court on June 5. Clarksville and Floyd County did not respond to IndyStar requests for comment, while Clark County and DNR said they do not discuss pending litigation. Malott's suit claims New Albany officials were notified in 2021 the dam is "dangerous to humans," and urged the city to "see the human safety value of removing this structure ..." The same year, Clarksville officials passed a resolution stating the dam was an "acknowledged 'attractive nuisance'" during high-water flows. Despite those concerns, the suit alleges the public was encouraged to recreate at the dam. The lawsuit said the Silver Creek Landing billboard was in place on May 27, 2024, when AJ and some friends went to the landing to explore and play. There were no signs warning them of the danger of what the boys called a waterfall, just the billboard. "As A.J. and his friends were jumping off the 'waterfall,'" the lawsuit says, "A.J. slipped and landed in deadly hydraulic currents, which took his life." Low-head dam removal provides safety for Hoosiers spending time outdoors and also bolsters wildlife habitat along Indiana waterways, especially for fish, according to Jerry Sweeten, a stream ecologist at the Ecosystems Connections Institute. Silver Creek feeds into the Ohio River, which allows fish to swim upstream from the larger water body — until they reach the dam. 'We know that 85 percent plus species of fish in Indiana need to move upstream and downstream as a part of their life history. That's just biology,' Sweeten said. 'Low-head dams can have a severe effect on that movement.' Sweeten's research found 15 fish species downstream of the dam, but only four species directly upstream. Throughout his career, he has noticed more invasive carp in the pools above low head dams and fewer smallmouth bass, which are a prized species for many local anglers. 'The science of all of this strongly suggests that the best thing you can do for the stream is to get that concrete out,' he said. Advocates of the dam say the structure creates more opportunities for recreation but Sweeten said that dam removal is almost always the best option. It can improve fishing, vitalize ecosystems, and most importantly, eradicate danger for Hoosiers outdoors. 'One of the saddest things I've ever heard in my entire career is listening to a mom or a sibling of a young person who needlessly lost their life at one of these dams. Why they're there is bewildering to me,' said Sweeten. 'How someone can justify leaving something that would cause someone else to get hurt like that is, it's just bewildering. It's hard to understand.' The Silver Creek area was AJ's favorite place to hang out with friends. He didn't know it was dangerous, Mallot said. AJ would never spend a sunny day inside, even during the winter, his mom said. He would go outside and meet up with friends every chance he could. The 14-year-old was a ball of light making friends wherever he went, Malott said. He wasn't just her son, he was her best friend, too. A few summers ago, Malott remembers AJ would take six or seven water bottles with him when he went outside to play with his friends. It turns out he was taking those bottles to some of the homeless community who lived out in the woods, she said. 'That kid would give you the shirt off his back and had a smile that lit up a room,' Malott said. A year later, Malott said her son's death at the dam still doesn't feel real. 'I'm still waiting," she said, "for him to come through the door.' IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Karl Schneider is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach him at Follow him on BlueSky @
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
L.A. pursuit suspect reportedly drives through police skirmish line
A pursuit suspect and three passengers were taken into custody after a dangerous high-speed pursuit that began in downtown L.A. Wednesday night. L.A. police initiated the pursuit at around 10:40 p.m. after the suspect reportedly drove through a police skirmish line in the area of Beverly Boulevard and Wilshire Drive where officers were attempting to contain anti-ICE protesters. From downtown, the driver got on the 110 Freeway where they hit speeds of more than 100 miles per hour while weaving through lanes of traffic with lights blacked, coming dangerously close to sideswiping other motorists. After making it to the southbound lanes of the 405 Freeway, just after 11 p.m., officers with the California Highway Patrol took over the pursuit, prompting the suspect to attempt a U-turn, trying to exit the freeway going the wrong way on an on-ramp. U.S. Marshal wrongly detained by ICE agents in lobby of federal building Police quickly came up behind the suspect, foiling the attempt, though the suspect whipped the vehicle around and continued the chase into Torrance where they exited the freeway and hit speeds of 80 miles per hour on surface streets with CHP trailing the vehicle. While law enforcement was tracking the suspect from the air and the ground, a tire appeared to come off the car near 8th Avenue in L.A. That's where the suspect brought the car to a stop, bailed from the vehicle and continued the pursuit on foot. The suspects were taken into custody by police just moments later, Sky5's Gil Leyvas, who was covering the chase, reported. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Families arrested in LA Ice raids held in basements with little food or water, lawyers say
As federal agents rushed to arrest immigrants across Los Angeles, they confined detainees – including families with small children – in a stuffy office basement for days without sufficient food and water, according to immigration lawyers. One family with three children were held inside a Los Angeles-area administrative building for 48 hours after being arrested on Thursday immediately after an immigration court hearing, according to lawyers from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), which is providing non-profit legal services in the region. The children, the youngest of whom is three years old, were provided a bag of chips, a box of animal crackers and a mini carton of milk as their sole rations for a day. Agents told the family they did not have any water to provide during the family's first day in detention; on the second day, all five were given a single bottle to share. The one fan in the room was pointed directly towards a guard, rather than towards the families in confinement, they told lawyers. 'Because it was primarily men held in these facilities, they didn't have separate quarters for families or for women,' said Yliana Johansen-Méndez, chief program officer at ImmDef. Clients explained that 'eventually they set up a makeshift tent in an outside area to house the women and children. But clearly, there were no beds, no showers.' They have since been transferred to a 'family detention' center in Dilley, Texas, a large-scale holding facility retrofitted to hold children with their parents that was reopened under the Trump administration. Lawyers, who had been largely blocked from communicating with immigrants arrested amid the ramped-up raids in LA, said family members were able to recount the ordeal only after they were moved out of state. The harrowing details are the first to emerge about the conditions that people are being held in following the immigration raids targeting LA-area businesses and neighborhoods. To quell the widespread protests that followed, Donald Trump sent in military troops despite opposition from California leaders. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said that it arrested 118 immigrants on Friday and over the weekend. Others were arrested at immigration offices and courthouses in the days prior. ImmDef and other local advocacy groups had compiled a separate list of more than 80 people who were apprehended – though many of them still do not appear in the agency's online databases of detainees. Many of the people arrested were jailed ad hoc, in LA-area courthouses and administrative offices. Over the past several days, attorneys have taken shifts waiting outside federal immigration offices, attempting to speak to the immigrants, but federal agents and national guard troops have largely blocked lawyers and family members from visiting with those who were arrested, citing safety concerns amid widespread protests in the city. On Tuesday, the immigration court in downtown Los Angles had been shut down – and blocked off. DHS did not immediately respond to multiple Guardian queries about where it was holding people arrested in LA, and whether local offices had been given instruction to prepare supplies and facilities to hold immigrants prior to the large-scale raids in the region. Legal aid groups were also largely denied access to immigrants who were transferred to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) processing center and detention center in Adelanto, in the high desert east of LA. 'Ice's excuse was, they're still processing all the new people,' said Johansen-Méndez. Over the weekend and on Monday, her colleagues were only permitted to visit with a handful of clients at the Adelanto detention center, even though they had called ahead to confirm that at least 40 people referred to the organization had been sent there. Several people have already been deported. Luis Angel Reyes Savalza, a deportation defense attorney supporting the affected families in LA, said at least one person who was bused to Mexico almost immediately after his arrest was not provided any paperwork or opportunity to contest his deportation. At least two others who were arrested at LA-area carwashes were deported to Tijuana, according to Flor Melendrez, executive director of the Clean Carwash Worker Center. Another person was told by agents to sign a paper if he wanted to visit an attorney, Johansen-Méndez said – but believes he was tricked into signing some sort of voluntary departure paperwork. 'Within hours, he was across the border to Mexico,' she said. Meanwhile, the family members of workers arrested at a clothing factory in downtown LA, in the parking lot at a Home Depot in the suburb of Paramount, and at a carwash in Culver City were desperately seeking answers about their loved ones' whereabouts. Landi, whose husband was arrested on Friday while he worked a shift at the Ambiance Apparel warehouse, said he had reported to work that day as normal. 'We never imagined he will be kidnapped by immigration,' she said at a news conference on Monday, outside the business's gates. The Guardian is not using her surname to protect her family's privacy and safety. 'The day he was kidnapped, my family went to request information about his abduction, but Ice told us he wasn't at the center,' she said. 'However, after much effort and struggle from our lawyer, Ice simply confirmed that he was there.' Families were not allowed to bring their loved ones jackets or medications, lawyers said. Those who were able to confer with attorneys reported that as holding facilities in the city became crowded with immigrants, families were rushed out to detention centers in California's high desert or in Texas. Agents confiscated belongings and provided little food or water, explaining to immigrants that the facilities had not prepared for the influx of detainees. Conditions in Adelanto were deteriorating as well, lawyers said. One of ImmDef's clients reported that meals were provided late, blankets and clothing were scarce, and some people were sleeping on the floor of a day-use recreational room as beds filled up. One client said he witnessed an older man's health dramatically decline after being denied medication for three days. On Sunday, Democratic US representatives Gilbert R Cisneros Jr, Judy Chu and Derek Tran said they were blocked from entering Adelanto. DHS did not respond to a query asking why lawyers and lawmakers have been denied access. With limited access to immigrants in detention, attorneys are also scrambling to understand the scope of the raids, and the extent to which the Department of Homeland Security has violated immigrants' rights. Related: US immigration officials raid California farms as Trump ramps up conflict One of the more unusual aspects of the large-scale militarized raids that began last week was that agents from Ice were joined by Customs and Border Protection officers, who are empowered to conduct warrantless stops – but only within 100 miles (160km) of the US border. Johansen-Méndez believes that the government has justified their presence in Los Angeles – which is more than 100 miles from the US-Mexico border – because the city touches the Pacific Ocean, which the administration could be considering as a 'border'. 'They're counting the entire coastline as a port of entry,' said Johansen-Méndez. 'It felt almost like an urban legend that it could be done. But at this point, it's just they're everywhere, literally.' Lawyers from ImmDef and other legal aid and advocacy groups have also been trying to piece together testimonies to better understand how and why immigration agents chose to sweep certain businesses and neighborhoods, and what justifications officers provided when stopping and apprehending people. 'How do they decide who they're going to ask for their papers and arrest, other than racially profiling?' Johansen-Méndez said. 'Did they just ask everyone in the room for their papers or just some people? Did they skip certain people that didn't fit the profile? We can't get that information because we can't talk to everyone.'
