The murder of Emmanuel Scott | Ep 243

Summary

---

Crime and Coffee Couple – True Crime Podcast

Episode 243: The Murder of Emmanuel Scott

Air date: May 3, 2026
Hosts: Allison and Mike

---

Episode Overview

This episode covers the harrowing and deeply debated case of the 2005 death of five-month-old Emmanuel Scott, a tragedy that occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Allison narrates the case, focusing on issues of criminal neglect, parental responsibility during crises, and the justice system's handling of young, disadvantaged evacuees. Mike, hearing the story for the first time, provides raw reactions and probing questions, contributing to an unscripted, conversational exploration of this difficult case.

---

Key Discussion Points & Timeline

1. Introduction & Context (06:24)

• Allison sets the scene: Three weeks before Hurricane Katrina, Tiffany Woods gives birth prematurely to her fourth child, Emmanuel Scott, who is found to have a possible rare genetic abnormality (MCAD).
• The family’s life pre-Katrina: Tiffany dropped out of high school at 18, had multiple children with different partners, and struggled with little prenatal care, occasional drinking, and marijuana use during pregnancy.

2. Birth and Medical Background (09:58)

• Baby Emmanuel delivered at 31+3 weeks via C-section, weighing only 3 lbs 2 oz.
• Stayed 41 days in the NICU, tested positive for MCAD, a metabolic disease affecting fat breakdown and energy production.
  • Allison: “If treated, a person can live a completely normal life.” (11:31)
• Discharge papers lacked explicit mention of the need for frequent feedings. Tiffany claimed no such instructions were given, but prosecutors later contended she had been properly instructed.

3. Hurricane Katrina & Its Aftermath (13:59)

• Emmanuel is discharged (August 2, 2005), and the family’s follow-up appointment coincides with Katrina’s landfall (August 29, 2005).
• Massive displacement: family evacuates to Shreveport. Shelters become home; government aid/disaster relief is inconsistent and difficult to access.
  • Mike: “We live in Florida. So hurricanes are a big deal… It’s the water and flooding where a lot of the death and terrible stuff happens.” (15:35)
  • $125 billion in damages; mass homelessness and instability.

4. Nutritional Neglect & Deteriorating Health (16:36)

• In late October 2005, out of formula vouchers, Tiffany switches baby Emmanuel to cow’s milk at only four months old (standard is after 12 months), diluting it due to scarcity.
• Cow’s milk can be dangerous for infants, risking kidney issues, bleeding, and lacking necessary nutrients for growth.
  • Allison: “He was only four months old when they made this transition… he should have been on formula or breast milk.” (18:16)
• The family failed to consistently attend pediatric appointments, partly due to chaos/displacement.

5. Death Investigation (20:28)

• November 27, 2005: Tiffany finds Emmanuel unresponsive. Paramedics note clear signs of emaciation.
• Autopsy: cause of death is malnutrition—over 117 days, Emmanuel gained just 7 ounces instead of a healthy 6 pounds.
  • Allison: “Despite the passage of nearly four months since discharge, Emmanuel had gained only 7 ounces.” (21:16)
• House was otherwise tidy, with food (including beer, milk, baby food) available. Social workers find surviving children unkempt and lethargic.

6. Legal Proceedings & Testimonies (28:30)

• Both parents charged with second-degree murder. Bench trial preferred over jury trial.
• Forensic evidence: baby had no MCAD disorder or physical abnormality preventing proper nutrition (prosecutors).
  • Mike: “His organs were basically shutting down because of malnutrition and the fact that there was no food in his stomach.” (29:35)
• Defense brings in a geneticist arguing that an autopsy can’t conclusively rule out MCAD without genetic tests.
  • Allison: “You can’t just look at a baby’s liver and say, nope, they didn’t have it.” (33:38)
• Multiple experts agree that prompt medical care would have saved Emmanuel, regardless of family finances or disaster.
  • Allison (on ER care): “You don’t have to pay for any of that stuff… they definitely could have gone.” (34:38)

7. Hospital Discharge & Education Gaps (41:45)

• Medical staff training for Tiffany was minimal: 1 bottle feeding, a CPR video, limited guidance on specialized care.
• Recordkeeping gaps led to confusion over what was actually communicated and whether both parents were properly trained.
• Dr. Singh (defense): expressed concern that if medical staff couldn’t meet the baby’s nutritional needs in the hospital, it was unlikely parents could at home.
  • Allison: “In my experience… it was clear that he was thriving in the hospital based on his weight gain as a result of proper nutrition.” (35:26)

8. Courtroom Highlights & Sentencing (48:48)

• Judge rules both guilty of second-degree murder; sentences them to life without parole.
  • Judge’s rationale: “The parents had the money to purchase beer and cigarettes. Therefore, they should have been able to purchase formula.” (49:16)
  • Mike: “That’s crazy. I mean, not crazy necessarily. It’s a long time.” (51:18)
• Notable that no known baby photos of Emmanuel exist besides those taken at his autopsy.

9. Effects on Surviving Siblings & Family Aftermath (52:06)

• Surviving children separated in foster care; Tiffany delivered a fifth child in prison.
• Long-term trauma: siblings describe their lives as defined by their brother’s death, suffering bullying, and instability.
• Against the odds, older siblings achieved success—military service, education—despite the statistics against children with incarcerated parents.
  • Allison: “They did exceptionally well given the circumstances.” (55:18)

10. Redemption, Parole, and Debate (57:15)

• In prison, Tiffany earns bachelor’s degree, pursues a master’s, mentors others, works to rebuild relationships with her children.
• 2023: Louisiana governor commutes Tiffany’s sentence to 36 years. She is denied parole in 2026 by a single vote.
  • Allison: “She was changing for the greater good.” (59:23)
  • Allison (quoting parole official): “She was just simply tired of hearing about Hurricane Katrina, something that gave her no excuse not to feed her baby…” (59:30)
• The episode closes with an invitation for listeners to weigh in on Tiffany’s parole and a return to focus on the tragedy of Emmanuel’s lost life.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Allison (on the tragedies of Katrina and its aftermath):
“Katrina made landfall along the Gulf coast early Monday morning on August 29, 2005… the city of New Orleans collapsed into chaos. Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest to hit the United States. An estimated 1,833 people died in the hurricane as well as in the aftermath.”
(15:03)

Allison (on baby Emmanuel’s shocking weight statistics):
“He should have been up six pounds by that point. He had gained less than a half pound, which is a stark difference for what is expected and recommended.”
(22:09)

Allison (on the parents’ defense):
“They said he wasn’t taking [the milk] well, he was spitting up almost as much as consuming. But keep in mind he was only four months old when they made this switch to cow’s milk… eight months before he should have been switched.”
(49:52)

Mike (on hardship and parental responsibility):
“As a caregiver to a child… I would make sure that my children were fed before anything entered my mouth.”
(50:54)

Allison (on the legacy of trauma):
“Now adults, Tiffany’s two oldest sons have gone on to see say that their brother’s death truly defined their childhoods because everything just crumbled after his death.”
(53:48)

Allison (on Tiffany’s attempts at redemption):
“During her time in prison, she has done remarkably well. She earned a bachelor’s degree… she wanted to be a good influence for her children. She wanted them to see something different and to know… you can change yourself for the better.”
(57:15)

Mike (on the social realities):
“It’s super expensive to be poor.”
(61:00)

Allison (final reflection):
“Baby Emmanuel Scott never had the chance to live beyond his five months of life… Even now, more than 20 years after his tragic death, his case continues to stir debate. Some people believe that Tiffany Wood’s punishments is justified… While others feel that this tragedy… a lifetime behind bars is just another layer of heartache.”
(63:23)

---

Thematic Questions Raised

• Where is the line between neglect and tragic mistake during a crisis?
• Should poverty and disaster be seen as extenuating circumstances in criminal prosecutions?
• How much responsibility lies with hospitals for adequate discharge education, especially with high-risk infants?
• What’s the role of the justice system in cases involving systemic disadvantage?

---

Listener Engagement

Central question to audience:
Should Tiffany Woods have been paroled?
Comment on YouTube or podcast platforms.

---

Conclusion

The episode delivers a moving, nuanced, and unsensationalized account of Emmanuel Scott’s death, offering critical perspectives on parental accountability, systemic failure, and personal redemption. The hosts maintain their characteristic warmth and honesty, making the difficult content bearable and reflective. Even as justice is debated, the focus remains on the lost life of Emmanuel and the impact of one family’s tragedy on so many others.

---

Transcript

[Mike]

Insurance isn't one size fits all. That's why customers have enjoyed Progressive's name your price tool for years now. With the name your price tool, you tell them what you want to pay and they'll show you options that fit your budget. So whether you're picking out your first policy or just looking for something that works better for you and your family, they make it easy to see your options. Visit progressive.com, find a rate that works for you with the name your price tool. Progressive Casualty Insurance company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law.

[Wix Advertiser]

You know what I realized the hardest part about building a website isn't making it look good. It's getting what's in my head onto the page. But I've been playing with the new WIX Harmony editor and I'm impressed. You can literally just tell it what you want or if you're picky like me, jump in and move things around yourself. The nice part is you can hop between AI and hands on editing so you end up with a site that actually looks the way you pictured it. Try it out for [e-mail] Harmony

[Allison]

hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode with the crime and coffee couple. My name's Allison.

[Mike]

And my name is Mike.

[Allison]

Hello, Mike.

[Mike]

Hello. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and if I don't see it tomorrow, good night.

[Allison]

That's right.

[Mike]

From. What's that called? Truman Show, I think.

[Allison]

Yeah. I don't know. Was that.

[Mike]

It's Jim Carrey. I know it's Jim Carrey for sure.

[Allison]

Yeah. I'm thinking that wasn't Truman show because I can't picture any kind of possibility he'd be saying that.

[Mike]

Correct us in the comments of the podcast or YouTube or whatever, but welcome to the show. Allison delivers a brand new episode every single Sunday to me. I've never heard this one before. Unless you're like researching it and you're like telling me some stuff because it's so interesting. Every once in a while she'll be like, oh my gosh, you got to hear this part. Then she'll know I'll forget before we actually get to to air. Which is absolutely true. So she's not doing anything wrong. But if you could help us right away real quick. If you're on an iPhone, go ahead and give us a five star review and leave some words like great crime couple or great true crime podcast, something like that. Those words mean a lot is what AI is telling me. So five stars anywhere you go. And if you can't leave a word Review. That's totally cool, too. We appreciate any you can give. And make sure to follow us so you can get any updates anytime we come out with a new episode. Just that way, you know, so it's not lost in all those different true crime podcasts. So many good ones out there.

[Allison]

Yeah. So thank you guys so much for being here and listening and what's going on with you.

[Mike]

I just turned 47, I think it was.

[Allison]

Yes, you did.

[Mike]

We were talking about it yesterday, and you asked me how old I was and I had to think about it. And then you did like, an Instagram video on our Instagram at Crime and coffee couple, too.

[Allison]

Well, I didn't ask him how old he was because I'm the exact same age as Mike. We're about a month apart. I was just like, who's 46 today?

[Mike]

And I was like, not me. Can't raise my hand.

[Allison]

I was like, oh, you're 47, and

[Mike]

you start just kind of forgetting what age you are. And then one of our. Our family members said, well, just wait until you're older and you forget your kids birthdays, which I know is right around the corner for me.

[Allison]

Probably will never happen to me.

[Mike]

Not ever. I. Man, I really hope not. It's just one of those things that you're as old as you think you are, right?

[Allison]

Yeah. But birthdays are a big deal to me because it's just like that person's special day of the year. There's 365 days in a year. This one's your day. So I make a big deal of birthdays. I will never, ever forget one of our children's birthdays. But I was watching a reel about a guy who was saying what it's like to be getting older, and he's like, man, this is just weird. He's like, remember we used to stretch because we were getting ready to work out. Now we just need to stretch just

[Mike]

in general to do life. And then he's talking about you're starting to get with your friends, and you're talking about your body like it's an old beater car. You're like, yeah, the. The left knee is going to need some work at some point. The right shoulder. Yeah, the right shoulder is not doing me any. Any help. It's. It's definitely got some kinks in it. Gonna have to work that out. You know, we're gonna see how things go over the next six to eight months.

[Allison]

And then he was talking about people starting their night at 10pm like, you know, we Used to when we were in our 20s. And he's like, can you imagine starting your night at 10pm Clubs? Do they even exist anymore? And Mike is going to some. What is it called? BDM? EDM.

[Mike]

Oh my God. That could be very different. BDMs.

[Allison]

I know that's.

[Mike]

I'm not going to. Oh, you're funny. You're funny, girl. Not going to a BDM time. It's edm.

[Allison]

I don't even know electronic dance, techno music.

[Mike]

I imagine it's edm electronic dance music, isn't it?

[Allison]

Oh, isn't.

[Mike]

It's not ed, T. Yeah, there's no T. Why you keep saying oh, it's ed, E, D, M. Oh, I'm like, what the hell are you talking?

[Allison]

Edm?

[Mike]

Et.

[Allison]

Oh yeah, I would imagine electronic dance music.

[Mike]

Is it what you thought it was? Etm?

[Allison]

No, edt.

[Mike]

Edt. Eastern Daylight Time.

[Allison]

I don't listen to electronic music. I don't sit in my car with

[Mike]

no, you don't need to listen to it. But you just said EDM and you're trying to find what the T stands for. Do you understand? How crazy.

[Allison]

Product music.

[Mike]

There's no tea. Do you get that yet, people?

[Allison]

I don't give a hoot what it is. I just know you're going to this concert and I will not be joining you. I will be on the couch with a blanket on my knees with maybe some Hulu going. We shall see.

[Mike]

One of our dear, dear pals also loves EDM music. And then a couple other friends too. And we're gonna go and have a great time. I'm gonna dance the entire time. It's gonna be a great time. I forward to it. I love really like Basy music. I don't like a lot of the trancy, like, you know, whimsical kind of stuff. I like the stuff that feels like you're just getting pounded in the face, sort of like.

[Allison]

And then you were talking about going to an afterparty concert and that one ended at three. I'm like, that's just absurd.

[Mike]

So there's one guy there that I really, really want to see and his name is Eptic Epic. So it's very heavy dubstep, if you've ever heard of dubstep. Kind of like Skrillex. He's probably the best known dubstep artist out there. So it's just. It's very like video game sou sounding and it's just. It's like head banging, which is crazy for like electronic music. It's. He's he's, he's, he's good. He's supposed to be a pretty good one. And I got an invite to his after party so I don't know, I guess just because I'm a 47 year old, it's my birthday then. So this one, his after party goes from like 10pm to like 3am yeah,

[Allison]

you wouldn't get home until probably close to 4. I'm like, you'd be getting home about two hours before I woke up for the morning.

[Mike]

I wouldn't stay till 3. From what I understand the, the main event person like ends at 1:30ish or maybe 2 so they can like watch the after them or whatever. So I don't even know I'm not going to go that I, I think I decided yesterday I'm not going to go.

[Allison]

I mean more power to you if you decide to go. I hope you have a great time. I know you guys will. I have no doubt about that.

[Mike]

Oh it's going to be great.

[Allison]

But everybody has their own fun and my fun is not electronic music pumping. I would have the most splitting headache that ever existed if I was at that concert. And then two, I'm not good with like throngs of people around me because I'm only like five two, five, three. So I kind of get lost in the crowd and it's just not fun for me.

[Mike]

Look at you're smelling armpits, you're looking at shoulders like you're rubbing against sweatiness. It's just not great.

[Allison]

And you know you could rewind 20 years from now. Even when I was in my 20s, I wouldn't want a thing to do with that sort of situation.

[Mike]

Well what's cool, we're old enough now we can buy VIP tickets. And the VIP tickets aren't bad, like 125 bucks, which is a lot for an EDM concert. But at the same time it's like there's unlimited water. It's a lot less congested bathrooms right there. Yeah, I'm older now. It's like I don't need to over heat and like fall down in the middle of a crowd. And then everybody's like hey, get the old guy, hurry, we got this guy down. And then I need seven EMTs to pick me up cuz I'm chubby and it's the whole thing. So we're just going to, yeah, go and have a great time. I can't wait.

[Allison]

Well, I look forward to hearing all about it.

[Mike]

I'll tell you guys too, even whether you want to hear about it or not?

[Allison]

But on that note, I know I'm cutting your story short. No, it's great, but this is a doozy. It's kind of a lot to take in, so we should go ahead and get started. This is the murder of Emanuel Scott. So three weeks before Hurricane Katrina catastrophically changed New Orleans, In August of 2005, 25 year old Tiffany woods gave birth to her fourth child prematurely, a baby boy that she named Emmanuel Scott. During his stay in the neonatal intensive care unit or the nicu, little Emanuel tested positive for a rare genetic abnormality. But sadly, crucial follow up testing had not been done before the hurricane hit. And months after the passage of the hurricane, Emmanuel had sadly died. And first responders could immediately see just how malnourished this little five month old baby was. This case raises a number of questions. Where is the line between criminal neglect and a tragic mistake? How much responsibility should parents carry during the crisis of a natural disaster as well as during the aftermath of a storm? And finally, did the justice system unfairly punish two young evacuees? So, you know, you guys can think about these questions as I go through the details of this case. So this is a story of baby Emmanuel Scott, one that despite the passage of more than two decades, still divides people. So while growing up in New Orleans East, Tiffany woods dropped out of high school only months before graduation because she had just given birth to her first child. So about this time, she's 18 years old. So now moving forward to, you know, where we are in this case, after three healthy pregnancies, she realized that she was pregnant with her fourth child, who was due in 2005. So she went into the hospital two months before her actual due date, when she began to bleed heavily, a time when she later told doctors that she really hadn't been receiving prenatal care. She also admitted to drinking the occasional beer during her pregnancy, as well as using marijuana. So at the time, Tiffany was in a common law relationship with 18 year old Emmanuel Scott. So the baby and the father share the same name and the couple had a young daughter together. She also had two sons from another father, and they were all living together in New Orleans. So while typical pregnancy lasts 40 weeks, baby Emanuel was delivered prematurely via C section at 31 weeks and three days gestation on June 23, 2005.

[Mike]

And that's kind of. That's almost the earliest you can deliver, right? 28 weeks about or no, I think

[Allison]

it's as early now as like 21 weeks. If I'm not mistaken. And we have a neonatal intensive care unit in the hospital where I worked, but I really never covered it. My co worker did. So this is a topic that, as a registered dietitian, is outside my scope of practice because I never. I never worked with babies. So the reason why she went into labor, or why she started bleeding, I should say, and they had to deliver the baby was because she developed a placental abruption. So this is the sudden separation of the placenta from the uterus. Little Emanuel was born exactly two months before Hurricane Katrina began forming as a tropical depression over the Bahamas. So at the time of his birth, he weighed only 3 pounds, 2 ounces. And according to medical records, he was dehydrated. So after he was resuscitated, given fluids, a breathing tube was inserted, and then, based on a routine screen, his blood was drawn so that doctors could screen for genetic abnormalities and diseases all babies are tested for in a hospital. So a manual screen for what's known as mcad, or medium chain acoa dehydrogenase deficiency. It's easy to say, easy for me to say. It did come back positive. So many countries, including the United States, screen for this MCAD deficiency at birth. What they do is they use a heel prick on a baby to take the baby's blood. So MCAD is a rare inherited metabolic disorder that prevents the body from breaking down medium chain fatty acids and then converting them into energy. So if left untreated, MCAD deficiency can lead to a severe lack of energy. Because your body is not utilizing the fat and converting it to energy, it can cause tiredness, liver disease, coma, as well as other serious health issues. But if treated, a person can live a completely normal life.

[Mike]

So it's like you're essentially getting half of the amount of energy that any other person would out of food.

[Allison]

There's just certain foods you need to focus on eating. So it can cause dangerously low blood sugar levels, otherwise known as hypoglycemia. So infants who are diagnosed with MCAD deficiency require frequent feedings that provide adequate calories from carbohydrates in order to maintain, you know, normal blood sugar levels and avoid this hypoglycemia. So babies who are under four months old require feedings every two to three hours around the clock. We're talking middle of the night feedings. You have to set your alarm and feed your baby.

[Mike]

It's a lot.

[Allison]

And then moving forward to about one year of age, fasting time can gradually be increased to up to 12 hours. So because blood testing Isn't foolproof. Even though Emmanuel had gotten a positive MCAD screen, you couldn't just take that and run with it. It required follow up testing at a biomedical genetic lab in order to confirm this diagnosis. So in the meantime, he spent 41 days in the NICU, a time when the staff was feeding the baby a specialized formula on around the clock schedule. So on his discharge, a doctor wrote in Emanuel's chart, good luck with this one. He is very cute. So as Tiffany woods was preparing for baby Emanuel's discharge, staff was teaching her how to care for her premature infant. So that once she got home with the baby, she would know, you know, how to take care of him. However, the discharge paper said nothing about frequent feedings, which I find super surprising because that's like the basis of this potentially positive, you know, disease or condition.

[Mike]

It's like saying a baby has diabetes, not talking about, like blood sugars.

[Allison]

Yeah. So she claimed that the hospital staff had also made no mention of it. Prosecutors later argued that she had been instructed properly, but she had failed to follow through.

[Mike]

If it's not documented, then she wasn't instructed properly.

[Allison]

Well, we always say in the hospital, if you don't chart it, it didn't happen. So at the time of his discharge in early August of 2005, three weeks before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, Emmanuel now weighed 5 pounds, 6 ounces. So during his hospitalization and his stay in the NICU, he had gained 2 pounds. So he had currently reached the 10th percent tile growth curve. So Tiffany took her baby to the pediatrician for a follow up appointment, as well as vaccines days later, after she was released from the hospital. And then she had scheduled a follow up appointment to meet with a genetics lab in Tulane on August 29. This is the very day that Katrina actually made landfall in Louisiana. So sadly, the family never made it back to Tulane and baby Emanuel was never seen by this lab. Katrina made landfall along the Gulf coast early Monday morning on August 29, 2005. It was a Category 4 storm with sustained winds at about 145 miles per hour. So by August 31, 80% of the city was underwater after all of the levees were breached by floodwaters. Obviously this was extremely catastrophic. Life changing for so many people. The city of New Orleans collapsed into chaos as hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest to hit the United states. An estimated 1833 people died in the hurricane as well as in the aftermath of math. Math related to the flooding that happened. A lot of the people actually died in their own homes.

[Mike]

And that's like, yeah, we live in Florida. So hurricanes are a big deal. And that's where a lot of the death and terrible stuff happens is the water and flooding. It's the, the wind is bad, you know, but usually you're, you're in a house or something, and afterwards is the, the timing you got to worry.

[Allison]

Right? And there's certain zones where you live, and if you're close to the, the shore, they tell you you have a mandatory evacuation, and if you do not leave your house, we cannot help you.

[Mike]

Yeah, this is a zone where we're not allowed to send EMTs, doctors, whatever. You're, you're pretty much done until this is lifted.

[Allison]

Right? So that's why they're always on the news. We urge you to please evacuate. Because if you think about it, once the roads are underwater, how can someone come and save you? So that's why with Katrina, people were on boats in their neighborhoods and things like that. So millions across the Gulf coast and New Orleans were left homeless. And the Hurricane caused about $125 billion in damage.

[Mike]

That's so crazy. 125 billion.

[Wix Advertiser]

Billion.

[Mike]

A billion's a lot, and billion is a lot. 125 billion is a lot of money.

[Allison]

So it was the costliest hurricane on record. So as the storm was making its way to the coast, Tiffany and her partner Emmanuel, as well as their children. So now they have four children. They pack them all up. One is an infant that was just released from the hospital. And they left their home, driving northwest to Shreveport, cramming into the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum. This is a multi purpose sports arena. So by this time, the arena had been converted into a shelter. So there were rows and rows and rows of cots for evacuees to sleep. And then from there, depending on how long they stayed there, they then checked into a motel until they eventually rented a house in the Shreveport area. That's, you know, they couldn't come back to where their house was. And while Emmanuel was working at McDonald's, Tiffany was staying home to care for her four children when baby Emanuel was four months old. The young couple ran out of government vouchers in late October. And this was a time when they made the fateful decision to transition their baby to organic cow's milk. According to the CDC, when a child is under 12 months old and they're given cow's milk rather than infant formula or breast milk, they may be at risk for various things, including intestinal bleeding as well as kidney issues due to the Higher protein and mineral levels. And specifically when I'm saying mineral levels, it's excessive amounts of sodium and potassium as well as protein, which is what can cause all those three things can lead to kidney issues in a tiny little baby. So according to the American Academy of pediatrics, it's lacking the proper amount of iron, linoleic acid and vitamin E. You

[Mike]

said baby manual is 12 months old at this time?

[Allison]

No, he was only 4 months old when they made this transition. So not only was Emmanuel only 4 months old, but he had also tested positive for NCAD deficiency. And of course, this required frequent feedings as well as close monitoring.

[Mike]

And he's basically the size of like a one month old or newborn.

[Allison]

Right. Because he was. He was born essentially like nine weeks early.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Allison]

So by this point, his discharge was weeks behind him. And Emmanuel hadn't had consistent pediatric follow up up because of the chaos of the hurricane. The special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, otherwise known as wic, was disrupted. And paperwork hadn't transferred across parish lines, which in New Orleans is county, parish is a county. And evacuees were trying to re enroll in their benefits while living in these highly unstable living environments. You know, they might be displaced to a shelter, a motel, a rental house, either way away from their own home. So according to Tiffany, after the hurricane tore through, Emmanuel began struggling with holding his formula down since he was often spitting up. Paired with the fact that they had run out of the vouchers for his formula, this is when she made the decision to switch him over to cow's milk. So initially, Tiffany claimed that Emmanuel seemed to be doing better after this switch. He seemed like he was vomiting less. But tragically, on November 27, 2005, this is nearly three months after Katrina made landfall. In a little over five months after Emmanuel's premature birth, Tiffany woods picked up the phone. She called 911 after she found. Woke up and found her infant unresponsive in his crib. So when paramedics arrived, it was too late to help sweet baby Emmanuel. And he was deceased. And meanwhile, Tiffany and Emmanuel were explaining that they had each performed CPR on him by this point. So a death investigation began. And everyone who saw the baby was able to see just how emaciated he was. I mean, it didn't matter who you were. If you looked at him, you could see that he was. His body, his little body was waste of any kind of fat or muscle.

[Mike]

I don't know how, as a parent, you think that's okay. I mean, I know you're displaced in a lot of things, but find some help, man.

[Allison]

So an autopsy, excuse me, concluded that baby Emanuel Scott's cause of death was malnutrition. And it would have taken an extended amount for this to happen. You know, malnutrition and wasting of muscles and fat don't just happen overnight. It takes time. So on his discharge from the hospital on August 2, 2005, Emmanuel weighed 5 pounds, 6 ounces, while at the time of his death, which was 117 days later, on November 27, 2005, he weighed 5 pounds, 13 ounces. So despite the passage of nearly four months since discharge, Emmanuel had gained only 7 ounces.

[Mike]

So essentially the same. And what would they expect? They'd probably expect pounds. Right? You're getting.

[Allison]

So I'm gonna get into that. So according to the Mayo Clinic, in the first few months of life, babies gain about 1 ounce, or 28 grams per day, which is exactly what he was doing while he had been hospitalized. At four months old, this slows down to a gain of about 20 grams a day. So had Emmanuel been gaining the average of, let's just say, 24 grams a day in those 117 days from discharge until his death, he should have gained about 2, 800 grams, which is a little more than 6 pounds. But instead, he had gained less than a half pound during that time.

[Mike]

So you're saying. Are you going to say the exact. So he. He was born at 5, 6. 5 pounds, 6 ounces. They were expecting 11 pounds something ounces.

[Allison]

Right.

[Mike]

And he was 5 pounds, 13. Basically the same weight.

[Allison]

Almost the same. You know, he should have been up six pounds by that point. He had gained less than a half pound, which is a stark difference for what is expected and recommended.

[Mike]

Yeah, they expected him to have over double the weight.

[Allison]

Right.

[Mike]

And he was the same, basically.

[Allison]

Exactly. So by the time corporal Patrick McConnell arrived at Tiffany and Emmanuel's rental home, the house had been encircled with yellow crime scene tape. So the detective who was with the Shreveport. Excuse me, Shreveport Police Department, he viewed Emmanuel's body while he was still in the medic unit that was parked outside the house. So the infant was visibly very, very thin, and he had mucus on his face. So once inside the home, he found it to be clean and tidy, with the refrigerator well stocked with food, organic milk, condiments, and a few really large cans of natural ice beer. Jars of baby food were stored on top of the refrigerator. So the bedroom held a full size bed, a playpen with one empty bottle inside, as well as an infant bed that held two bottles of milk, which you're really, you're not supposed to feed your baby milk while they're laying in bed because then it can cause. If they're older and they have teeth, it can cause cavities too.

[Mike]

Quick side note, my parents used to put me to sleep with several bottles of milk just so I wouldn't, wouldn't cry. And I'd have them just lined up on the side there. Just keep on sucking them down.

[Allison]

They're like, there you go, there's your milk for the night. About a thousand calories. Yeah.

[Mike]

And now I got a big old

[Allison]

tummy to think so. Although Tiffany claimed that both she and Emmanuel had performed CPR before paramedics arrived, McConnell felt that this was likely inconsistent based on the fact that baby Emanuel had mucus on his face and on his mouth and he would have expected this to be wiped away before or during cpr. Etc. I also missed the part where I was going to mention that a heart monitor was found in a closet, so it was clearly not being utilized.

[Mike]

Nice.

[Allison]

So when Beverly Hunter, this is a now retired social services worker, arrived at the home just after 1pm she noticed that the three other children appeared to be very unkempt. She described one child as being very dirty. So after spending maybe three and a half hours in the house, she never saw anyone change the child's diaper. So she took it upon herself to do so. And in addition to the spots on the little girl's bottom, she also noted dried mucus on her face and the child just to her seemed very lethargic. So Beverly went on to describe Tiffany as having a very flat affect. When she broached the subject of grieving, Tiffany responded, I'm not grieving. She went on to say, when I found it, it was stiff. If it was going to die, I didn't kill it. It was going to die anyway.

[Mike]

Man, what a dehumanizing way of talking about your baby.

[Allison]

This is her baby boy. And you can say, okay, maybe she's in a state of shock because she just found her baby unresponsive in his crib. She had to run around the house doing cpr. And then paramedics arrived and pronounced him dead. But I don't see under any circumstance how you could possibly refer to your 5 month old child as it.

[Mike]

I mean, trying to be devil's advocate. Maybe it's trying to not, you know, disassociate with the humanity of it all. Trying to make yourself just not feel what you're supposed to be feeling, but I don't know. That's pretty damning, I'd say.

[Allison]

So basically protecting herself maybe. So Beverly spoke with law enforcement at the home. And based on the details of their initial findings, she was suspicious about Emmanuel's death because obviously they were telling her just how emaciated the baby looked. And obviously this is only the start of the death investigation. So she's only working with the information she has at this point in time. So this paired with the unkempt appearance of the surviving children, she made the decision that these three children should not remain in their parents home. They should, for the time being, be taken into custody. And let's just see how this all plays out.

[Mike]

Well, yeah, you don't know if they did something to the baby. And it's just clearly there's something going on because none of the kids are clean and just. Yeah, just a better safe than sorry situation.

[Allison]

So she couldn't help but notice and she was surprised that this happened, that the children were very eager and ready to come with her.

[Mike]

Really.

[Allison]

And this is something she rarely if ever sees. Because, you know, ripping a child away from their parents, even if they're not the, you know, most. Even if they're abused notch parents and they could be drug abusers and neglecting them, they're still their parents.

[Mike]

Yeah. Kids don't know better. They're just like assuming, you know, this is my person.

[Allison]

Right. But that wasn't the case with these three children. And I'm not sure exactly. I know the oldest was about 8. I'm not sure how old the other two were.

[Mike]

That's pretty telling.

[Allison]

So in September of 2006, the Catto Parish DA's office charged Tiffany woods and Emanuel Scott with second degree murder. So prosecutors would need to prove that they were negligent for not taking their baby to a doctor. Because under Louisiana law, cruelty to juveniles is a felony. And this allows for a murder conviction and an accidental death rather than manslaughter. So they were each defended by court appointed lawyers who advised them to opt for a bench trial together rather than a jury trial. So judge Jeanette Garrett would hear all of the evidence and then decide their outcome. Ugh, I barely got any sleep last night. What? Why? I spent hours fighting with AI all because I was trying to make a website. It started out okay, but then I got stuck just trying to change one button. Okay, okay, relax. Just try wix Harmony. What's that? It's wix's new website builder. Lets you switch back and forth between AI tools And hands on editing anytime. So I'm not just prompting and praying. Nope. Just try it for [e-mail] Harmony I never thought of myself as the type to settle down. Never knew where the team's next lunch was coming from. But then I met you.

[Mike]

EasyCater Workplaces everywhere are saying, I do want to delicious food at work. And they're ordering from beloved restaurants. With EasyCater, you were reliable.

[Allison]

You had great options for every budget. Even when marketing ops did keto again, we got through that together. With you, it's just so easy. Easykater, will you keep showing up at my workplace forever.

[Mike]

Find love at first lunch [e-mail]

[Allison]

so during his opening statement, prosecutor Brady O' Callaghan argued that Tiffany and Emanuel should have sought medical help for their baby boy. Instead, they watched him slowly die of starvation and dehydration in a city that was doing everything that it could to reach evacuees and in a place where medical care was available for anyone who needed it. According to Dr. Frank Peretti's testimony. This is an expert in forensic pathology who actually performed baby Emanuel's autopsy. He immediately, on first glance at this baby, could see just how malnourished he was. His blood urea nitrogen, or BUN level was elevated. This indicated that he had been in kidney failure. He was likely extremely dehydrated as a result of malnutrition. His body contained no fat, no muscle. There was no food whatsoever found in his stomach.

[Mike]

That's crazy. I mean, his brain was dying, too, because your brain needs fat and all those things. It's just. Oh, so it's such a horrible, horrible, sad story.

[Allison]

So his organs were basically shutting down because of malnutrition and the fact that there was no food in his stomach when, you know. According to the staff at the hospital, Tiffany was instructed to feed her baby about every three to four hours.

[Mike]

But we don't know that for sure because it's not documented.

[Allison]

Right. So he had no evidence of pyloric stenosis, which is a narrowing at the outlet of the stomach into the small intestine, because when this is narrowed, it can cause a lot of nausea and vomiting because food is staying in the stomach for too long. And also, there was no intest or intestinal abnormalities, I should say. So there was nothing that the doctor could see that would prevent nutritional intake or the absorption of nutrients. Most notably, based on the examination of his liver, Emanuel did not actually have a metabolic disorder of any kind, including MCAD deficiency.

[Mike]

Oh, no. So that means he was Just kind of, you know, didn't have any deficiencies. So he could have eaten just like any other kid at his age.

[Allison]

So there's nothing that the doctor could see wrong other than simple malnutrition because oftentimes a baby does vomit or spit up a lot related to that pyloric stenosis. That wasn't the case here. Again, there was nothing wrong with either his small or large intestine. Nothing that told the doctor that there was no reason why this baby should be malnourished.

[Mike]

Well, when we were young parents, we are one, our, our son used to vomit every once in a while, like projectile. And we found out we were giving him too much milk. Milk, like too fast.

[Allison]

We put the wrong nipple size on the bottle. And that's just being a 29 year old, stupid, stressed out young parent. And then I looked at the nipple size, I was like, oh my God.

[Mike]

Like it's such a sad moment for us because we're like, we're like choking our baby and it's like so stupid. But it's like I, you know, parents are going to make mistakes once in a while. Like we're not perfect. Right?

[Allison]

Right.

[Mike]

And luckily we fixed that immediately.

[Allison]

But this was something again that was long and drawn out. It did not happen overnight. It happened essentially since discharge from the hospital.

[Mike]

How does, like, I have to imagine there's some drug use or something? I don't know.

[Allison]

There was nothing mentioned whatsoever about drug use.

[Mike]

How do you just forget to feed your baby?

[Allison]

It's not forgetting. I think it's a whole picture that we can talk more about towards the end of this case. But according to experts, a false positive occasionally does, you know, occur, especially with a premature child, which is why they require an appointment with a geneticist or whatever it is in order to definitively diagnose the blood test is more like a red flag. Hey, this is very possible, but we can't say for sure.

[Mike]

Might have a marker and want to see if it actually took place.

[Allison]

However, according to a biochemical geneticist at Seattle Children's hospital. This is Dr. Irene Chang, who was a witness for the defense, a pathologist such as Dr. Peretti. She's saying he wouldn't be able to determine if the baby had died from MCAD deficiency just by examining his liver. And she said genetic testing was the only surefire way. And this was something, for whatever reason, it was never complete depleted. I don't know why they didn't take his blood and test for MCAD deficiency.

[Mike]

Like, you mean while he was Alive?

[Allison]

No. Even after his autopsy? Yeah, during the autopsy. Why wasn't a vial of blood or whatever is required to diagnose this? Why wasn't that done? I don't know.

[Mike]

Well, it's so frustrating because you're like, oh, this doctor, he's coming out with a definitive statement, and you trust them. And it's like, wait a minute. Now this other doctor, who is more of a specialist in this area, is saying, no, you can't actually tell. And it's like, like, oh, well, who the hell do we believe?

[Allison]

I mean, personally, I would believe the biochemical geneticist at Seattle Children's Hospital, because this is her specialty.

[Mike]

That's a great title.

[Allison]

Yeah, it is. I mean, that's an impressive title.

[Mike]

Somebody, like, walked up to me and said, they were a biochemic. What's biogenetic?

[Allison]

It was a biochemical geneticist.

[Mike]

I would look at them, be like, I'm not going to offer you any value, and I'm going to turn around and thank you for your work.

[Allison]

I mean, it's just people who are that smart just boggle my mind. I'm like, I'm so glad that there's so many smart people in this world that are like that, because we'd be screwed if it was me all across the board.

[Mike]

So she said, you can't figure that out without testing.

[Allison]

She's saying, it's not adequate. You can't just look at a baby's liver and say, nope, they didn't have it, so you can take it for what you will. So according to Dr. Gerald Whitten, this is an expert in pediatrics and neonatology who reviewed Emanuel's medical records while he had been staying at Tulane medical center for, what, 41 days? He was there, as well as the autopsy report. The baby's lack of nutrition would have resulted in noticeable changes that were happening over a course of time, such as irritability, decreased activity, as well as lethargy, of course, because he was being essentially starved to death. So he went on to say that medical intervention would have completely avoided Emmanuel's death. And emergency medical care is never refused based on the inability to pay. So in other words, this family, there's no arguing that they were struggling all across the board financially, etc, they would have been treated had they presented to the hospital with their infants.

[Mike]

And you can go down the path of being like, okay, maybe they're poor enough, they didn't have access to a car, or they couldn't, whatever, you know? So it's like, you could still call 911 and get an ambulance to take your baby to the ER and that's. You don't have to pay for any of that stuff. Like the ER is kind of looked at in America is like basically medical care because like people use it because they don't have health insurance sometimes because it's so expensive, expensive. So it's. They definitely could have gone right.

[Allison]

They're basically knocking off any kind of excuses that might be presented as to why the baby did not get the medical care that he so desperately needed. So therapists who had worked with Emmanuel in the NICU noticed no great difficulties with his suck swallow techniques. And according to their opinion, it was clear that he was thriving in the hospital based on his weight gain as a result of receiving proper nutrition.

[Mike]

He was gaining the proper amount of weight that they would expect, expect.

[Allison]

And obviously in the hospital they have other ways of feeding a baby. No doubt this baby was fed via IV with TPN or total parental nutrition as well as a feeding tube. I have no doubt that that happened. And then they started transitioning to him consuming this specialized infant formula. So what they do is they feed various ways and then they taper off as he's able to consume more orally via bottle, they start to taper off the other ways so that in the whole time he's meeting his nutritional needs needs some way or the other. According to Dr. Whitten, after reviewing Emmanuel's medical records during hospitalization, based on the goals that were set by the dietitian, there were no indications that he was predisposed to malnutrition. Emmanuel was sadly the worst off baby he had ever seen in his entire career. Later testimony indicated that the night before baby Emmanuel had been found unresponsive. Emmanuel, his father, had worked until about 1am Once home, he watched a little bit of TV and then he went to bed in the room that he shared with Tiffany and their two young children. So when he woke up the next morning, he went outside to smoke a cigarette. And although he did recognize that he passed Baby Emmanuel's crib, he saw him. He didn't really check on him, though. He didn't touch him. It wasn't until later that he noticed something was wrong with his mouth. And as he grabbed him to begin CPR, Tiffany called 91 1. He later attributed his lack of emotion at the scene to the assumption that his son would be surviving because he said while he was performing CPR on the baby, he took a gasp. So he assumed that once first responders came in everything was going to be fine. Emmanuel had a ninth grade education and he hadn't completed GED classes. He said that he loved his children and he never intended to harm their baby. The family had enough money to buy food, but they made the decision to switch to not only organic cow's milk when they shouldn't have, but they were also watering the milk down.

[Mike]

It's like pretty much taking it away. Like, why buy organic? Like, I'd rather them buy non organic and not water it down.

[Allison]

Exactly. So, you know, it was clear that they, they really did not know what they were doing. And they said that they made the switch not only because they had ran out of these vouchers, but they thought he seemed to be spitting up less after he started consuming milk. So as far as they were considered, the baby never seemed to deteriorate after the switch. But to every single person who walked into that house and just glanced at baby Emanuel, it was clear he was, he was starved.

[Mike]

Well, you know how like, you just get used to how things are. I'm not trying to say that I wouldn't notice if a kid was starved, but it's like, you know, know you're working your day to day, you got your job and the other kids and everything, and it's like baby Emanuel looks the same. So you're not like really noticing.

[Allison]

I mean, I understand what you're saying. When you see someone on a day to day basis, you don't see the switches in them. And then you'll go to a group gathering and they're like, oh my gosh, you've lost so much weight.

[Mike]

Look at you.

[Allison]

And you're like, oh, I don't really notice because I see him every day. Yeah, but this was very apparent. And obviously they had raised three other children. They know what a baby is supposed to look like.

[Mike]

So, and real quick, how many weeks before his unfortunate death, what was he switched to?

[Allison]

It was sometime in October.

[Mike]

So that was November. So about a month.

[Allison]

About a month. Maybe month and a half or so. Yes. So Emmanuel was claiming that they hadn't noticed anything alarming in their son's condition, and he felt that there was no reason for them to seek medical attention. That's why they hadn't taken him to the doctor or to the hospital. They were like, like, as far as we were concerned, until we found him unresponsive in his crib, we never even thought anything was wrong. So Dr. Shalini Singh, this is an expert in pediatrics, she testified that after reviewing Emanuel's medical Records, including his discharge summaries. She felt that the LA or the records were lacking certain markers, different labs, as well as social services notes. So basically she wasn't able to get a full picture of what went on done during his hospitalization. And that's why charting is so essential in a hospital. And I worked in a hospital as a clinical dietitian for 21 years. Most of my day unfortunately was charting. I like to spend time with my co workers and face to face with patients, but sadly, a bulk of my day was down at my computer just charting away. And that's why when I'd be talking to a patient, I would be taking copious quick notes because if I didn't put it in my medical record, it didn't exist. And there's always the risk that you're going to be brought into a court of law because something happened to a patient. And in this case they're referencing the dietitian's notes. So no doubt, you know, she was probably in that courtroom as well. So she believed in referencing the dietitian's notes that even at the hospital, Emmanuel was meeting only the low end of his estimated nutritional needs needs, which wasn't enough to properly grow. And of course, like I said, they can supplement feedings via feeding tube, iv, etc, but once you're out of the hospital, you can't do that unless they have a feeding tube, right? So although the attending physician recommended that his intake be increased even with around the clock feeds, the nurses had been unable to meet the higher end of his nutritional needs. Anytime I do a patient assessment, I have a range of nutritional needs I need to meet and say a patient is tube fed or fed via iv. It is my job to make sure that's happening. And if it isn't happening, I have to say why, you know, it has to be cut and dry. However, according to the clinical dietitian's assessments, Emanuel had been deemed low nutrition risk and she thought that he was doing well gaining weight. And he was, he was definitely gaining weight. During his hospitalization, the occupational therapist noted that he had been feeding well prior to discharge. Dr. Singh was surprised that Emmanuel was discharged at the time that he was seeing that if the nurses were struggling to meet his needs with 24, 7 care, the parents were certainly going to be struggling at home. She also testified that the physical therapist had been unable to evaluate Emmanuel's ability to to suck, since each time she went in to work with him, he had been sleeping. I found that a little weird because in our hospital, our NICU is the suck swallow is evaluated by a speech therapist. I don't know. There's obviously something I'm missing here. But he had been in that hospital for 41 days. Like, there wasn't a single time that the baby wasn't sleeping that the physical therapist could evaluate him.

[Mike]

Seems weird.

[Allison]

Yeah, that seemed a little strange to me, but I don't know the full story, so I can't really say say so. One week prior to discharge, he was termed a poor feeder by someone. And Tiffany hadn't had the opportunity to practice and prove to the medical team that she was able to successfully feed her baby. The medical records that had no documentation indicating that the father, Emmanuel, had been educated on infant care at all. So anything that was taught was taught to Tiffany. She indicated that she had been or. Excuse me, this is Dr. Singh. She indicated that had she been Emmanuel's attending physician, she would not have discharged him at the time that he was discharged.

[Mike]

And are they talking about infant care, like, to general infant care or specialized because of his situation, the whole picture? Because we weren't given any kind of infant care. Like, we were like, we take the baby, like, all right, we'll have fun. Where it's like, so we don't get like a book and we don't, like, get somebody to talk to us about it.

[Allison]

Just take this thing home. We take this little boy home and we have to take care of him.

[Mike]

I was like, I get that I'm supposed to change him, but, like, what does that entail? You know, I don't know. I mean, I've seen it. I understand basics, you know, but nobody came in was like, here's how you take care of it.

[Allison]

No, I mean, we were 29 years old when we had our first. And, you know, thankfully we had our nieces ahead of time. So we had changed diapers before. I don't know if you did.

[Mike]

Also, Emanuel, they've had three other kids, right?

[Allison]

Sure. So really big picture. When I'm talking about discharge education, it's more about his ability to feed that was really the highlight. And then what kind of care he needed after the fact, how often he needed to eat, etc, it was more so about the feeding. So it was her experience that when parents prematurely switch their baby from infant formula to cow's milk, it's normally done with a lack of education or from a lack of education rather than a desire to intentionally harm their baby. It's usually parents just who. They're not educated on what a child should be doing or receiving.

[Mike]

It's easier, it's cheaper, it's cheaper.

[Allison]

So. So that sadly, they make that switch too early. So Tiffany, who testified on her own behalf, began taking over her son's care just before his discharge. And she had been shown a video on CPR the night before they left the hospital. She was supervised feeding her son, but she had only fed him one bottle before leaving the hospital, and this had been the extent of the training she received. So she said that she had been told to give Emmanuel his prescribed medication each day, to utilize his heart monitor, and to feed him every three to four hours. But immediately she had issues using the heart monitor. And she said that she hadn't received the help to fix this issue as she requested. She indicated that Emmanuel wouldn't take much of his offered bottles and she fed him every four hours. But he had slept through the night, which goes against the discharge instructions of feeding him every three to four hours. So this in and of itself was not in accordance with the discharge instructions.

[Mike]

Well, I mean, I don't like feeding kids and waking them up to feed

[Allison]

them, but you also haven't been told that your child has MCAD deficiency and can develop severe hypoglycemia to the point that they go into a coma. Yeah, it's very different when you're talking about a healthy infant versus one with this rare genetic deficiency. You.

[Wix Advertiser]

My new website's been getting a lot of attention lately and here's my secret. I used WIX Harmony. It's one of my favorite tools because it feels like such a natural way to create and I have so much control over my website. I can just tell Aria, my AI agent to create whatever I'm imagining in my head. Or I can click anywhere on my site and change things myself. Try it for [e-mail] Harmony. That's wix.com Harmony.

[Mike]

You didn't start a business just to keep the lights on.

[Allison]

You're here to sell more today than yesterday.

[Mike]

You're here to win.

[Allison]

Lucky for you, Shopify built the best converting checkout on the planet. Like the just one tapping ridiculously fast

[Mike]

acting sky high sales stacking champion at checkouts. That's the good stuff right there.

[Allison]

So if your business is in it to win it, win with Shopify. Start your free trial [e-mail] win. So she believed that the feeding issues that she was seeing were just expected because her baby was premature, as her partner Emanuel had indicated. Tiffany confirmed that at the end of October. So about one month before baby Emanuel's death is when they ran out of WIC vouchers, thus switching the baby to cow's milk. Milk. Now, in this case, it says at Emmanuel suggestion. And then later on it says at Tiffany suggestion, who suggested the switch to organic cow's milk? I'm not entirely sure. But regardless, it happened. So after the switch, she felt that he was doing better, he was vomiting less, but she was aware of the fact that his weight hadn't changed since his discharge from the hospital four months previously. She said that since she was unable to drive and had been unfamiliar with the Shreveport area, this prevented her from taking her baby to the doctor. But they, from as far as I understand, they did have a car because they drove to Shreveport, and Emmanuel would drive himself to work at McDonald's, and they had a cell phone, so, you know, you could take it for what it is. While they'd previously been staying in shelters, all of their children had been seen by medical experts, none of who expressed any concern or suggested that she take Emmanuel to the hospital. But it's not entirely clear how long they had been staying in shelters before they eventually rented a motel room and then the house that they were staying in. Prosecutors argued that Emmanuel had died 90 days after the storm, and at that point, the devastation of Katrina shouldn't have been a factor. Saying he didn't starve while he was trapped in an attic in New Orleans, surrounded by flood waters, he starved in a house in Shreveport, a house where there was a refrigerator full of beer and food and baby food and two healthy parents. Prosecutor o', Callaghan, who is now a judge in Caddo Parish, indicated that the photos from little Emanuel's autopsy were a clear indicator of the slow death sentence that he suffered. They depicted him with an open mouth, thin arms, and a shrunken, hollow stomach. Judge Garrett was haunted by these photos, as I'm sure anyone would be. And as the testimonies came to an end, she came back with a verdict. And, Mike, what do you think she decided?

[Mike]

Guilty of whatever their second degree murder. Yeah.

[Allison]

So she found Tiffany woods and Emmanuel Scott guilty of second degree murder. And in her ruling, she went on to say that the parents had no money to purchase.

[Mike]

Or.

[Allison]

Excuse me, that the parents had the money to purchase beer and cigarettes. So therefore, they should have been able to purchase formula. Blah.

[Mike]

So, yeah, absolutely. And I get that that's an emotional side of it, but, like, people are addicted to cigarettes. You can't just stop buying cigarettes because the addiction there. Right.

[Allison]

When your baby is starving to death and has died now.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Allison]

And the the cause of death was simple malnutrition. I think it was nothing else wrong with Emanuel.

[Mike]

I think it was more idiocy rather than the switch or whatever. Yeah, I think they just probably just didn't feed him, I think. I don't know. But they're saying that he just didn't take it very well.

[Allison]

They said he wasn't taking it well. He was spitting up almost as much as consuming. But keep in mind, he was only four months old when they made this switch to cow's milk. That is. What is that? Eight months before he should have been switched. Yeah, eight months before he should have been switched.

[Mike]

And they don't know that. They're, you know, not properly educated.

[Allison]

Sure, I understand that. But on top of the fact that he should have never had cow's milk in the first place, they were also diluting it.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Allison]

So not only was he spitting up and he wasn't getting fed often enough, it was being diluted. So it was just the perfect storm form of a lack of nutrition.

[Mike]

I mean, I know if it was my kid, I wouldn't be doing the thing. Yeah, I wouldn't eat. I probably wouldn't eat. And I've done that in the past, like, just eating way, way less and just making sure that the family's fed. So it's like, yeah, as a man or mom or dad or whatever. Like, they definitely screwed up, you know, as a.

[Allison]

As a caregiver to a child. That child is helpless. They are 100, relying on you for their needs. And like you said, I wouldn't eat. I would make sure that my children were fed before anything entered my mouth.

[Mike]

Like, you could have a can of beans or something for a week. You know, that'll satiate you for a little bit. Like, it's not ideal, obviously, but, like, you could survive on a couple months.

[Allison]

You know, ramen can stop.

[Mike]

Yeah. You could do it as cheap as you want, and you don't have to buy the beer. And this I get. I totally get that.

[Allison]

Right. So she felt that there were also inconsistencies in their timeline and testimony, and the law required her to sentence them both to life in prison without parole.

[Mike]

Wow. That is a lot. That's crazy. I mean, not crazy necessarily. It's. It's a. It's a long time.

[Allison]

It's a long time because we cover cases where someone's been raped and murdered and they're out in 20 years.

[Mike]

That's exactly what I'm thinking. And there's cases in Europe where it's like, raped and murdered. And, like, you've got them down. It's like 20 years, and then you

[Allison]

got like, times five deaths.

[Mike]

You know, that's crazy.

[Allison]

So according to baby Emanuel's family, the photos that were now preserved in the court file are the only known photos of him. It sounds like really, after his death is the only picture that was ever taken of.

[Mike]

Took pictures of him.

[Allison]

Never.

[Mike]

That's weird. That's highly suspicious.

[Allison]

And they had phones, so I'm assuming they were cell phones. Bones.

[Mike]

And never took a picture.

[Allison]

Never took a picture.

[Mike]

So starting certain. I don't know. I don't want to, like, jump into conclusions.

[Allison]

So after their convictions, Tiffany's three surviving children were taken into state custody. And any sense of stability in their lives just crumbled because they were separated. Her two eldest children, these are sons that she had with men who were later incarcerated, were eventually sent to live with a cousin in New Orleans. At the time of her conviction, she was actually pregnant with her fifth child.

[Mike]

This is the time where we gotta step in as this is society and be like, you can't have any more kids.

[Allison]

Well, yes, but that's a person's right. You know, we live in a country where people don't get forced contraception.

[Mike]

I get it. But I think in this case, we could probably force.

[Allison]

Sure. I mean, working in a hospital, we see another drug addicted person come in yet again pregnant, and then the baby is being taken care of in the NICU because they're addicted to narcotics. It's. It's very, very sad situation.

[Mike]

As the self appointed commissioner of death, I should also be the self appointed commissioner of forced contraception. I think that's the term. Forced contraception. And looks like Tiffany and also Emanuel should both be forced to be conceptionalized. I don't know, whatever the word is. That's what I want.

[Allison]

Contraception.

[Mike]

Yes. I want both of them unable to make more kids.

[Allison]

So she went on to deliver a baby girl while she had been behind bars, and her two daughters were then sent to live in two different foster homes.

[Mike]

Like, this is where, like, society starts to crumble. Like, these kids have close to zero chance. Like, you're talking about, you know, you look at a kid that's born with a loving family and has, like, all the opportunity in the world compared to some of these kids that are like, you know, they watch their baby brother slowly die, and then they are told, you're coming to a foster care, and they're like, yeah, that sounds way better than what we're in. Right? Now it's like that these kids are such disadvantaged.

[Allison]

It's so sad. So now adults, though Tiffany's two oldest sons have gone on to see say that their brother's death truly defined their childhoods because everything just crumbled after his death. And her younger son, this is Troy John, indicated that some of his earliest memories were of fighting with his classmates, who would taunt him and call his mother a murderer. Ne John Woods, Tiffany's oldest son, who was about eight years old when his baby brother died, had the goal of proving people wrong about his family as well as himself. He's said hell no to this. So according to statistics, up to 70% of children who have at least one parent in prison are at risk for going through the prison system themselves. However, after graduating from Southeastern Louisiana University in 2019, he went on to become an Airman First Class in the US Air Force, and he now works as a contract worker.

[Mike]

The armed forces is a great way for kids that are in that situation to try to get themselves up because they're going to pay for everything for you college and get you to a job and, you know, it's, it's basically free to get into the military. It's, you know, it's, it's an interesting situation. Good for him.

[Allison]

Yeah. And he seems like a truly standup kid, so. Troy John will soon be a father while Nyla is pursuing a career in nursing. Although he and his sister Alicia don't often speak, he said she's doing great as well, which is really outstanding. I mean, it sounds like, you know, per the circumstances, they're doing extraordinarily well.

[Mike]

Like you said, odds are they one of them would have ended up at least or, you know, in prison or two of them, probably 70%, you said. So it's like if they're anything in society, then like they've basically won the lottery for themselves.

[Allison]

Yeah, I really give them so much credit because with the circumstances they were given, it was a really uphill battle and it seems like they did exceptionally well. Although Tiffany was accused of lying about performing CPR on baby Emanuel knee, John, a then 8 year old, indicated that he clearly remembers the chaos of the morning of his baby brother's death while his mother was speaking with the dispatcher. He remembers her panicking and doing CPR on him before the police and paramedics arrive. So even though she was accused, he says that's a lie. She did do cpr. So when he and his younger brother Troy John were placed together, their younger sisters, Nyla and Alicia were placed together elsewhere. He described their time in foster care as very chaotic. And after they were sent to live with relatives, they felt that they were only tolerated because the relative was receiving. Receiving, you know, a check from the government. So at the time, his relationship with his mom was strained because he was living in a house where there was a big opinion about his mom. So he was being negatively influenced by the talk that was going on around him.

[Mike]

Sure.

[Allison]

So after they entered their teens, a cousin encouraged them to start talking to their mom on the phone, maybe visiting her in prison. So Nijan indicated that the first time he went to see his mom in prison was the first time he felt like a child again. He felt like he was getting his childhood back. He said he was able to see how she has positively changed. They began writing letters to each other. Tiffany was sending him things that she crocheted. They were really starting to build a relationship, and it was obvious to him that she was taking accountability for her actions.

[Mike]

That's good.

[Allison]

During her time in prison, she has done remarkably well. She earned a bachelor's degree. She then began working towards a master's degree. She later indicated that despite being in prison for the rest of her life, she wanted to be a good influence for her children. She wanted them to see something different and to know that no matter what the situation is, you can change yourself for the better. So I'm very proud of her for making those changes.

[Mike]

Yeah, she made some terrible mistakes in the past, but all you can do is change your future. So. And just she took advantage of it, and she's trying to be a great role model.

[Allison]

As the years passed, she also took on mentorship roles and maintained a clean disciplinary record. In the meantime, though her children were growing up and they graduated, they began living their lives as adults, away from their mom. During a parole hearing, one of her sons testified from California, saying, we all serve the sentence with our mom. On the other hand, in 2017, Emmanuel Scott, baby Emmanuel's father. Father, was transferred to a maximum security housing prison after he was accused of attempting to escape. He claimed that he doesn't know how, but he somehow ended up on the roof after he smoked synthetic marijuana and began hallucinating.

[Mike]

I'm not sure how it happened.

[Allison]

Well, it sounds like, you know, it's possible he got a little cuckoo from smoking this synthetic marijuana and he got paranoid and maybe ran up to the roof. Who knows? Yeah. So in 2023, 18 years after Emmanuel's death, former Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards heard Tiffany's story and decided to commute her sentence. So this reduced her life sentence to 36 years. So during a parole hearing in February of 2026 just recently, supporters spoke in favor of parole, discussing her exemplary behavior during incarceration as well as her education, her mentorship. Mentorship. Why do I want to say mentorship?

[Mike]

I don't know. You don't. It's not internship. It's not mentorship.

[Allison]

Mentorship. So she was really doing good things behind bars. She was changing for the greater good.

[Mike]

Yeah. And she deserves to try to live her second life as maybe a great grandma or. Or a wonderful. A wonderful grandmother.

[Allison]

Right.

[Mike]

Not the great.

[Allison]

Oh, like, as. Okay, got you. So the only person prior present that spoke against Tiffany's release was Leonie Fitzgerald. This is the director of Caddo Parish District Attorney's Victims Assistance Program. She said that she was just simply tired of hearing about Hurricane Katrina, something that gave her no excuse not to feed her baby. She painted a picture of Tiffany as a neglectful mother who had options but ultimately chose neglect.

[Mike]

All those things are correct. But at the same time, she's not like a monster. You know, I don't think. I don't think she's a monster. I feels like, you know, especially she feels like she realized it in jail and it was like her prison and was like, I gotta do better, and I think she deserves another chance.

[Allison]

So. According to a Harvard Medical School study that was published in October of 2007, titled Katrina Victims Increasingly Depressed, Traumatized, and suicidal as relief efforts Dragon, 84.6% of participants experienced significant financial income or housing loss. 36.3% experience extreme physical adversity, while 22.8% experienced extreme psychological adversity. So, you know, she could sit there and say she's tired of hearing about it, but statistically speaking, people were very deeply affected, especially when they didn't have the financial means or the job that you can continue to work remotely from or, you know, insurance and yada, yada, yada.

[Mike]

Yeah, these are the people that need to show up, and if they don't show up two days in a row, they lose their job, and then they can't afford food. It's not like, oh, I'm gonna get back on LinkedIn and update my resume. There's no resumes involved. No. It's just going somewhere, getting minimum wage, and trying to survive. And then if you want a bank account, they charge you for that bank account. Then if you want a credit card, they charge you for that credit card. Like, it's. It's super Expensive to be poor.

[Allison]

So to me it just seems a little ignorant to just be like, I'm tired of hearing about it, you know. So. When she was given time to speak, Tiffany explained the events that had led up to her baby's death. She discussed evacuating New Orleans to Shreveport. This was a place she was unfamiliar with. She and her young family faced uncertainty and homelessness when they arrived in north Louisiana. She recalled how Emmanuel would vomit large amounts after consuming his formula. And after they ran out of their WIC vouchers that were provided to low income families to purchase the infant formula, she made the devastating choice. And she, she describes it at as such. She said it was my choice and it was a devastating one. And this was when she purchased whole milk, which they then diluted with water. And she admitted that during that time they had been in survival mode and they just, she admits they had no idea what to do. Although two of the board members voted for her parole, one voted against it, saying that he was swayed by the images presented as evidence at the trial. Because a unanimous vote was required to be granted parole, she will remain in prison and cannot reapply for parole for five years. A now 46 year old Tiffany currently faces a projected good time release date of January 29, 2036. It can be noted, according to data compiled by ProPublica, in the two years that Governor Jeff Landry has taken office in January 2024, Louisiana has paroled the fewest number of inmates in 20 years years. And there have been a 78% drop in paroles. Wow, that is insane.

[Mike]

And whether that's good or bad remains to be seen.

[Allison]

I mean, it just seems when there's a 78 drop in paroles, what's going on?

[Mike]

I mean, he's clearly doesn't want to give parole. I mean, that these people probably deserve to be in prison. So it's just maybe they're not getting parole as often. And that might be a good thing for somebody that's like a murderer, right?

[Allison]

I mean, it depends on the case.

[Mike]

Yeah, I can't, I can't make a rash assumption.

[Allison]

I mean, that to me just seems very, very extreme dream. So baby Emmanuel Scott never had the chance to live beyond his five months of life. He never got to take his first steps. He never said his first words. He didn't experience the world beyond his first fragile months of life. His story unfolded during one of the most chaotic and painful times in Louisiana's history, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. But even in the midst of devastation, Emmanuel Deserves safety, love, protection and care. Heir Today we were, we can remember Emmanuel Scott as a child who mattered no matter how short his life was. Even now, more than 20 years after his tragic death, his case continues to stir debate. Some people believe that Tiffany Wood's punishments is justified after the suffering that Emmanuel faced. While others feel that this tragedy because it happened in the midst of Katrina's devastation, that a lifetime behind bars is just another added layer of heartache to this already horrific story. And that is the case of the murder of Emmanuel Scott.

[Mike]

It's super sad for Emmanuel, baby Emmanuel.

[Allison]

Obviously there's no denying that anyone can say that this is utterly tragic. That factually Emmanuel starved to death. It wasn't something that happened overnight. It was something that happened, happened since his discharge from the nicu.

[Mike]

And I'd love to hear your guys opinions if you've read any other things about this case like what you feel, I get the whole Hurricane Katrina, it's an excuse, right. It did make things harder, no doubt about it. But what I always tell my kids, there's always going to be obstacles. Right. It's just a matter of you overcoming those obstacles. And when you come from a disadvantaged life, it's a lot harder. You don't picture yourself as being able to overcome obstacles because you think the whole world is against, against you. And so somebody like me who's not from a disadvantaged background, I feel like I can, I can make things happen.

[Allison]

Of course it's. You have to, to look at the true picture of what was going on here. You know, we're Talking about an 18 year old, a 25 year old, neither of which have a high school education. They have four children now, one who was born prematurely. And then a hurricane, a devastatingly catastrophic hurricane, we can't overlook that for fact, was barreling towards Louisiana and it wasn't like, oh, the hurricane passed and now everything's fine.

[Mike]

No, but they got out. They had access.

[Allison]

Yeah, they got out and they were in a shelter for X time. They were in a motel for X time and then they were in a rental house for X time living in a place they were unfamiliar with as Emmanuel scrambling to find this job at McDonald's. No doubt they were buried in a lot going on. And I am not saying that that is an excuse to watch your baby starve to death because had they picked up that phone and called 911 two months earlier, Emmanuel would have still been here today.

[Mike]

Right. And it's a sad story all around and glad to hear that Tiffany is able to pull herself up and you know, hopefully make something of her life and her kids, you know. Cheers to all you guys. It's just incredible. You should be really proud of yourselves.

[Allison]

Absolutely. And I do feel that some punishment 100% was necessary because that baby starved to death. Death. But life in prison without parole, when Tiffany has made something of herself and seems excessive. It just seems to me that I think she should have been paroled in February of this year. That, that's my opinion. No doubt she should have spent time behind bars because she essentially and, and her hus or her partner, the, you know, they were responsible for their baby's care and he didn't get that care.

[Mike]

Should Tiffany get parole? Leave a comment.

[Allison]

Yeah, that's, that's the question out there. Do you think she should have gotten parole and all. At the heart of this case, though, we have to focus on little baby Emanuel who doesn't even have a picture of him that I can post in reference to this case because it doesn't exist. And the fact that he was five months old and he never got to live beyond that. And Lord knows what his death must have felt like, you know, for, for him, you know, it was extended and painful and devastating.

[Mike]

Well, thank you for telling us story.

[Allison]

Yeah, just a very sad case. Case. We thank you guys so much for being here with us. And like Mike said, you, if you leave us a five star review, we would so greatly appreciate it.

[Mike]

If you love what we do, become a patreon or a subscriber. And it's just like five or ten bucks a month. You get all these bonus episodes immediately. All of our back catalogs. Go check it out. You deserve it.

[Allison]

Yeah. So thank you guys so much. We hope you have a wonderful week. And until next time, bye.

[Mike]

Hey. He's by who? Hun Sammy. The puppy I had when I was a kid. He's right there by the couch.

[Allison]

Could this be related to his Parkinson's? What's Sammy doing?

[Mike]

Wagging his tail. He wants to play.

[Allison]

Stay calm. I, I, I don't see him. You really don't? No. But I know you do.

[Mike]

This is the second time this has happened. Or is it the third? He came back to see me. That's the part that really breaks me.

[Allison]

About 50% of people with Parkinson's may experience hallucinations and or delusions over the course of the disease. That can mean seeing things that aren't real and believing things that aren't true. Symptoms can worsen over time but are treatable. Learn more@moretoparkinson's.com and take the screener to see if it's time to start a conversation with your doctor.