Latest / Justice For / Logan Tipton

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Logan Tipton · Justice For

• JusticeFor: Every single day, we move through our lives with this underlying belief that there are places where we're safe without question, and your home is supposed to be one of those places. It's where you let your guard down, where you sleep, where your kids exist without fear. There's this unspoken agreement we all kind of have with the world, that when you lock your doors at night and tuck your family into bed, Nothing is supposed to get you there. Yeah. Welcome back to another episode of Justice 4. We are your host. I'm Jackie. And I'm Sam. We've been warning you guys about this episode. ⁓ It's going to be really heavy. Grab your tissues. We already have ours. We're prepared. ⁓ So I. I hate that opening, ⁓ let's, I guess let's do this. don't... Yep, yep, yep. ⁓ First and foremost, I have to give you guys an extra trigger warning right this second. ⁓ Today's case, we are talking about the death of a very young child. ⁓ If you've been following us since season one, you know that I haven't touched a case with a young child, like individually. ⁓ since season one. ⁓ It really spirals her and puts her in a dark place. Yeah. It really should be the other way around for me and her. You would think. You would think that I would have a lot harder time doing children episodes than you do, but I actually somehow have an easier time with it. Maybe. I don't know why. Yeah. But it does not. Affect her like it does me. It doesn't I I don't know. Yeah the last one that I did I spiraled bad And if you didn't notice like pretty much as soon as that one happened I turned to Like obviously cases we do aren't fun by any means but I turned to like spontaneous combustion and some like missing person cases and supernatural and Because I didn't notice that shift that you made until you pointed it out talking about this case. Yeah. But you really did kind of make that shift. I just bounce around. Yeah. My cases are like my ADHD. So with that, though, please, please, please listen to this episode at your discretion. And make sure that you're taking care of yourself emotionally, physically, mentally. Like, we love you guys. We need you to love yourselves as well. So feel free to skip this one if you need to or take breaks. You come back to it. Either way, we just like to give you that warning when it is going to be an especially tough case. Yes. Really quick before I continue on talking about this, ⁓ shameless plug. Shameless plug. please, please go like, follow, subscribe every single place that you absolutely can. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. ⁓ Apple, Spotify, YouTube. Leave us a comment. Leave us a review. ⁓ We have discussion post for every episode on our socials. ⁓ The shares, the likes, the comments, they really do help us out. They help us get traction and help us keep doing this for you guys. Absolutely. So, let's get into episode three of season three. Okay, I'm not ready for this, but let's go. No, you're not. So today's case was actually sent to me recently. ⁓ Well, an article was sent to me and as soon as I read that specific article, it was like this big of an article. Okay. Like it was, it was not a very large. host by any means. But I instantly dropped everything I was doing and I started researching it. I got so genuinely upset about this case and like so mad that I needed to tell you guys about it right away. And I don't know how I personally have never heard of this before. I don't think you have either. I recognized one picture and that wasn't the picture that you had shown me with like the dad and stuff whenever you're Snapchatting me. Yeah. I'm very curious as to why I recognize that picture. I have a feeling I know. I need all of you to buckle the fuck up right now. Right fucking passenger when I know it should be a NASCAR but I'm in denial. Okay. Grab your tissues. We are going to do everything we can to get through this episode together. We can do this guys. Or you can turn it off now and hit like and share and pretend like you made it. Do that. Either way. Do that. It gets heavy. Like I was just writing it. I was just typing it and I was crying today as well as a couple weeks ago. This episode is the reason that we took a week off. cause I needed it. Feel free to put us in the freezer if it gets too scary. I don't know. Yeah, go with what you feel. So today I am going to be telling you about Logan Tipton. The cutest little kid in the entire freaking world. You can see him right here. He's so fucking I want that one picture of his his little smirky picture that I was like, oh my god. That's the picture I want right here. He's so fucking cute. He's so freaking cute. Oh my god, he's so cute. Okay. Anyway, sorry. No, you're good. Logan James Tipton was born on November 1st of 2009 in Lexington, Kentucky. Is he related to London, Tipton? God, I wish, but no. ⁓ His parents are Dean and Heather Tepton. He is one of five siblings, three sisters and a brother. Is he the baby? He was not the baby. ⁓ He was not the baby. he doesn't have that baby energy. He's got that energy of having to like make his little baby siblings laugh. Yeah. But he's not the oldest. I know. He seems like he's in the middle mixture. He's the middle kid. Middle kids do night. Yeah. So keep that in mind. Okay. His family lives in Versailles, Kentucky, which is 13 miles west of Lexington. It is Versailles, not Versailles. tried, she's all, nope. But then she said Kentucky. And I was like, yeah, they gonna pronounce every letter. Yes. It is absolutely spelled exactly like the country in France, but it is pronounced differently. Yes, I did spend way too much time figuring this out. Oh, I would have to. How many times have, I haven't done it in a while, but how many times have you had to sit here while I'm all, hold on. Let Google tell me how to pronounce this again because, then I still can't do it. Quit the peeing. frequently. So Versailles has a population, oh excuse me, had a population of 10,656 people in 2024. Oh was like, had? Do they not anymore? Was this a Pompeii situation? It just passed. And at that time it had that population. Got you, got you, got you. Yes. No Pompeii here. It is considered a charming bluegrass town renowned for its world class thoroughbred horse farms, their historic bourbon distilleries and a unique Kentucky castle, which is why I had that picture of a castle, which you can see now if you're watching YouTube. So are we like, where in Kentucky are we? Do you know where Lexington is? Yeah. It's 13 miles west of it. ⁓ weird. Yeah. I gotta drive through Lexington whenever we go to West Virginia. Yeah. So we're like the Aurora of... Yeah. Yeah. of ⁓ Yeah. You know I like to talk about notable people who hail from the cities or towns that we talk about. I swear to God, if you find a Steelers connection in Kentucky, I'm leaving. ⁓ But there were actually mostly just a lot of politicians that came here. Congress, governors, senators. We also had an attorney general from here. ⁓ There was only one sports guy, Goldspotts. ⁓ His name is Owen Dam, D-A-M-M, that plays for, ⁓ he plays soccer for the football club Tulsa. Okay. ⁓ lastly, the last person I need to mention, his name is Lane Rogers. He is professionally known as Blake Mitchell, who was a porn star. Before he actually tragically... I don't know why you're going to be like, and that's Bill Nye's real name. Nope, he was a porn star, but he did tragically pass away in December of 2025. So just recently. I mean, we got to add that in because it's like somebody graduated from high school with like... Discovering they did porn which by the way did you find anybody from your senior class who ended up doing porn after high school? I don't want to talk about this on camera Nobody from my class and I'm very disappointed there was 469 of us who graduated and not a single one of you made a bad choice in your life And if I'm wrong, please correct me. I'm sorry. I'm trying to lighten this episode up a little bit before we get into it because I know how heavy and how dark this is going to be. So I'm trying to not... No, I appreciate there. So we have to be there. I appreciate it. We're about to get there. ⁓ Versailles is often considered a safe, quiet community, but it does have a little bit of criminal activity. The majority of it being property crime, so generally theft crimes. like break-ins or? Correct. It was also voted number two towns in best suburbs to raise a family in the Lexington area. It is a small town where everyone says that it feels like home. They can walk around everywhere safely and everyone knows your name. Don't you say it. Do you want to say it? And everybody locked their doors and their car doors every night and had alarm systems with cameras. That's what happened. Sure. Yeah. People didn't feel like they needed to lock their doors because nothing bad has happened here before. Lock your damn doors. Lock your fucking doors. Monday, ⁓ 7th of 2015, and kids were asleep at home while Heather working third shift. key had recently broken, so Dean left the front door unlocked for her for when she came home. Okay. ⁓ At around 4 a.m., a man walked into the front door. ⁓ went into the kitchen where he grabbed a knife, walked around the house and into the room where six year old Logan was sleeping soundly where he began stabbing him repeatedly. Logan's cries for help woke up his sister who happened to share the same room as Logan. What? Yep, she started screaming and ⁓ with those screams, This man actually started coming at her and she grabbed the knife from him. How old was she? They're young. They're young. Because he's like six, right? Mm hmm. The sister's older. The sisters were older. OK. And she grabbed the knife from this man and he said, give me that knife back. And she gave it back to him. I get it. ⁓ With the screams. Those screams ended up waking up their oldest sister who screamed out for her dad and ran to call the cops. All of the children except for Logan went downstairs at this time. Dean rushed towards the noises and screams for help. And as he approached, he heard this man yell at the kids, quote, clean your rooms. What the fuck? Then the man turned and faced Dean. covered in blood with a knife in his hand and they started to fight and struggle until the police arrived. Before the police arrived, during the altercation, Dean as well as the two sisters were also stabbed and one ⁓ of them also had her head stomped on, the one that he came at, the first one. There was one report that the sisters were injured because they tried to get in between the man and Logan to stop him from attacking Logan. Once police arrived, they arrested the man on spot, obviously. And then Dean realized that Logan was hurt and ran to him and scooped him up trying to assess his injuries. Dean said that it was about 10 seconds that he was holding him that Logan looked up at him. and close his eyes and died in his arms. It's been ten minutes, Sam. I know. I know. What the fuck? I told you, girl. ⁓ who the fuck walks into someone's house in the of the night and stabs children while they're sleeping? Yeah, well, this guy. ⁓ But who is he? That would be ⁓ Ronald Exantis. Ronald ⁓ was a 32-year-old registered nurse Indianapolis, Indiana. He was described as a quote, exemplary, dependable and trustworthy employee. End quote. They said he was usually a serious guy who never shared any personal information with people at work. And others said he was just not an affectionate type of guy at all. He worked for a dialysis company for 10 years as a technician before he ended up becoming an RN. He was Also, a former semi-professional linebacker. So he was not a small man by any fucking means. Also, this is not the background I thought that you were going to be giving me for him. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So like by professional linebacker, do we mean like NFL or do we mean? Semi-professional. Semi-professional. like the... Minors. Minor teams. He also had a girlfriend named Lauren that he had been with for three years. He was also the father to three young children. Okay, well I figured that he was a dad because of the like clean your rooms comment in here, but I am very intrigued as to we went from all of this to this. Before this, before this particular night, Ronald had no prior criminal record or documented history of mental illness. How old was he? 32. So we're two, I mean, we're not too young. CTE. That's, as soon as you said linebacker, that's kind of where I went. I mean, who was it? ⁓ god, this is... Erin. Erin Hernandez. Please don't come. I knew what name I wanted. just wanted to... Don't come for me on it. But he's a very interesting case of that. I mean, there's other things that play there, but he was younger in his, mean... Let's keep going on. Yeah? Police spoke to the Tipton family to see if they knew Ronald at all. There was zero connection. Zero. Well, I mean, you said he was from Indiana, right? Sure Did he even live in the area of Kentucky at this point? He lived in Indianapolis. How far is Indianapolis from? 200 miles. Just under 200 miles. OK, so not far. mean, ⁓ on top of that, they realized that Ronald had driven almost 200 miles from his home in Indy to the Tipton's residence. OK, I mean, that's not bad. 200 miles from here, that's what. Grand Junction. About five hours. Yeah. Not terrible. No. I'm saying like it sounds really far apart. Yeah. Kentucky and. They're right there. there. But like it would it sounds like it would be. Yeah. But no. And India is pretty central Indiana. OK. So. After the police arrested him, they took him in for questioning and he immediately confessed. by the way. But then he said he was reenacting Grey's Anatomy. What the fuck? No, that's the wrong show. Grey's I mean, was he showing us what happens before they get to the hospital? Beats me, Listen, I've watched Grey's Anatomy like three times through. What? Yeah, I don't know. Okay. Okay. He also went on to say that he killed his girlfriend back in Indiana. Did he? When police looked into it, she was alive and well in her home. Okay. Well, I mean. Thank God. Right. He also asked for an attorney and he said to the police, quote, I'm sorry, end quote. All right, so we're clearly not all here right now. I want to pause here because I gave you some details that felt almost too heavy to just pass quickly on it. ⁓ This wasn't someone being followed. This wasn't something happening out in public by any means. This was someone making a decision to enter a home that a family was sleeping in. He got inside, went to the kitchen. and grabbed a knife from that kitchen. methodical. It was thought through. was not like Bianca Ellis walking in a grocery store with a knife. Yes. There's something specific about that detail that adds another layer onto how invasive this feels. Like he didn't even bring a weapon with him. He used something from inside their home, something that belonged in their safe space. and then he just. All of his actions show intent of what he was going to do. But like to play devil's advocate, he didn't bring anything with him. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, so like was he like walking around the neighborhood like checking doors and this was just the first door he walked in and it wasn't until he walked in a house and maybe like being disoriented thinking like he's walking into his own house, but it doesn't look like his house. So he's mad because toys are places or it's not clean or you know what I mean? Like maybe he was. Somewhere else We're gonna I know I'm sorry. I'm getting ahead of you. No, no, you're good You're good, like he grabs a knife and he starts moving through this house room to room Until he reached Logan and I don't know what it was Did he check other rooms first or just this was the first bedroom he happened upon the kids bedrooms were upstairs So he made and his parents room was downstairs so he was in the kitchen downstairs, made his way up these stairs into that room. And remember, he shared a room with his sister. Why did he choose Logan? I'm going to tell you now, I don't have an answer for that question. Yeah, it's all very, like, it's, like, it's so weird. It's like it's intentional, but like it's none of it's intentional. Like, We're going to have to know where he thought he was. Yes. That's that's what I'm I'm I would be so genuinely interested in the house layouts of the houses he's lived in. Yeah. Because I'm genuinely curious. Why he chose that house. Not that like obviously an Indiana house layout in a Kentucky, unless we have a freak of a same builder, is it going to be the same thing? know, like we know, like being on a street, you could pretty much bet every fourth house is about the same layout. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And those like those home, you know, that we grew up in stuff as kids. You saw the picture of the house though, like it wasn't... No. But it looks like in the neighborhood I grew up in, it's really funny because I went into, I met this girl at school, found out she lived down the street from me, went in her house and I went, whoa, this is my house, except for my stairs are here and your stairs are right here. Yeah. And then I went to like the house across the street from us and it was different, but that house was the same as my other friend's house on the street. like it... So I can tell you when I lived in Indiana, I lived in this house and I was friends with the couple that lived next to me. I would go into their house. It was literally the same fucking house. Yeah. So I mean. I'm very curious as to where he thought he was. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'm telling you guys about the autopsy right now. OK. She's really just like, hey, if we're going to suffer, we're all going to suffer quickly today. Precisely. no buildup. There's no nothing. I'm going to be 100 % real with you. I guarantee I've missed information. I guarantee I've missed information. I have been so distraught about this specific case. for weeks now. I don't know how many messages I've gotten from her. You good? You OK? You guys doing OK? Yeah. Because we canceled the photo shoot. took a week off. I needed time. Yeah. So what you have in here is great. It's going to be great. We're doing great things. Let's get into the autopsy. Let's do the autopsy. So Logan's autopsy revealed that he had been stabbed eight times to his head, neck and back. I'm a little surprised by that. I thought it was going to be more. You said eight times? I mean, it was dark and sisters intervened. Yep. Yes. However, He had been stabbed in the jugular vein, which means he would have died within minutes from blood loss. That means that this all happened very, very fast for him to still be alive when his dad went back upstairs to get him. Correct. Correct. That's crazy. Like, I know when we talk about it because we're breaking it down for you guys, it seems like this takes place over an extended amount of time. Yeah. Whereas this was five minutes, maybe. Two, three minutes tops with this jugular being hit. Well, we don't know if that was the first hit or the last. Yeah. We don't know. So. And you don't know if it was like like a nick. Correct. Or like a full, you know, because if it's like a nick, we got a little bit more time. yeah, so. We just know that it was hit. Ronald was then charged with first degree murder, first degree burglary, and three counts of assault for the dad and the two daughters that also were injured. He ended up pleading not guilty at his first arraignment. I am shocked. And was held on a million dollar bond. Wait, he pled not guilty after confessing to it? Yes, he did. I mean, they do it all the time. Yes, they do. Just days after his first arraignment, he was actually indicted by a grand jury, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky announced that they would be seeking the death penalty against him. Oh, damn. I didn't know Kentucky had the death penalty, but... In 2015 they did. I don't know about now. I didn't look that deep into it. Got you. attorneys argued ⁓ that he had suffering from a psychotic break ⁓ and he doesn't hurting Logan at all. So in June of 2016, he was scheduled for an evaluation ⁓ and the doctors him competent to stand trial. ⁓ Yay! Period. Good, because I was going to be so pissed if he was... if we got like an insanity plea out of this. I was going to be so mad. So trial was set for August of 2017. ⁓ Unfortunately, it was then pushed back to early 2018 and moved to Lexington because the media and the publicity on this case was so fucking heavy. They had to move it. I bet. Honestly, I'm not surprised by that at all. no, no, no. During trial, his defense team pushed the mental illness narrative continuously, whereas the prosecution said he knew exactly what he was doing, especially since he had remorse saying, I'm sorry, God, and asking for an attorney. Okay. A doctor from the state psychiatric center testified saying he, while he was in the center, he was seen barking like a dog and he was ripping his own dreadlocks out. Huh, uh-huh. Two COs from the detention center he was being held in also testified. They said he was considered high risk and would be restrained frequently and placed in a safety smock due to his quote unquote erratic actions. But they noted that as soon as he started being treated at a psychiatric facility, all of the incidents stopped, every single one. Meds are beautiful thing. are. correctly medicated is, it makes a hell of a difference. It really, really does. I personally think the biggest day of testimony came the day that Lauren, his girlfriend, testified. No shit? About the weeks leading up to the event. I mean, like, honestly, I do want to hear from her because... Uh huh. I want to know if his behavior started before this, he started being erratic, if he's playing this whole thing because he's a nurse. Yeah. And before he became an RN, was doing dialysis. He's been in the medical field essentially his entire adult. ⁓ I also want to point out I'm giving you guys snippets of what like what I'm about to tell you and In our show notes. I'm linking the entire case Like the entire trial of transcript. ⁓ got you got you got you We listen I mean we would love to play clip after clip or read you line for line ⁓ just read you but that takes a long time and no, so I want give me the juicy I hope you're ready. So she went on to say that he actually stopped eating completely. Like he would like pick. He would like he was a little bird picking. He had become highly, highly emotional and would start saying things that just didn't make sense. He would also constantly apologize to her mom and her, even though he wasn't doing anything wrong. On December 6th, this one I'm going more in depth to because this day, I think really matters. So December 6th, the day before the murder, they were at church and he started acting out in the middle of church and started crying, but like couldn't explain what was wrong. Even before they got to church, he was just crying. But he couldn't say what was wrong. He would just keep rambling and. Then while he was still in church, he started causing a commotion in the back of the sanctuary to the point where the pastor came and spoke to him. And the pastor was like, he was just babbling. He was incoherent. I have no idea what he was saying. They said that he would be like joyous, like have like this joyous moment for like five or eight minutes, but then fall to the ground and just start crying. Then while would be sitting in church, he would start pointing at people in the church, and that's a police officer. ⁓ that's a detective. They're investigators. Okay, so we're paranoid. ⁓ So then same day ⁓ after church, was having one of his ⁓ emotional episodes. He was sobbing, tears rolling down his face, and he instantly dropped to one knee in front of Lauren and proposed to her. And she said, no. No, she said yes. Because then they went to a jewelry store where they started looking at rings. They did bring the person who worked at the store to testify in, and she said, yeah, they were there for about an hour, and they both seemed just like super happy. Why? Uh-huh. But then later that evening after all of that, they were laying in bed and then all of a sudden he got up and starts pacing their room and he kept repeating, quote, I don't want to be with you. I don't want to marry you. I'm not going to hurt you. I have to go. And he kept repeating it over and over to her. And then finally, like she was like, bro, calm down. What the fuck is wrong with you? Like what's happening? And then he left. Between 8.30 and 9pm. He fucking dipped. What the fuck? Yeah. And she didn't think anything of it. She was like, maybe he just needs to go calm down. I don't know what's going on. ⁓ And she didn't hear from him, anything like that, until the next day when the police are knocking on her door, seeing if she's alive. Remember that he said that he killed her. So the Indiana police showed up to her house, checking to make sure she was alive because he said he murdered her. And she was like. know I'm here, what the fuck happened, and that's when she found out. This poor woman. I know. This poor fucking woman. Yeah. Huh. Yeah. ugh. ⁓ I'm gonna tell all of you right now, I did not find a diagnosis for him. Okay. I'm gonna be real with you. It's probably out there. I, I can't. I can't. I'm sorry. And we don't have one in any of his trial, any therapist or anything like that. don't have anybody. mean, they had some talking, but they never put a diagnosis out there. OK, he doesn't have like official diagnosis that, you know, bipolar. Yes. ⁓ Obviously not D.I.D. But like, I think you might have hit it on the little D.I.D. No. CTE. CTE. Yeah. Either that or like late onset. But he didn't have like the anger. He did not like an anger. mean, I guess there's I mean, it's not very well. I mean, it is just now getting more and more. Research, research and other stuff. So like we can't necessarily say what the exact parameters are of it. You know, not every mental break is the same, not everything, but. Mm hmm. Yeah. C.T. is the first thing I thought of with this because he everything was normal. He has life. I mean, he was a nurse. I mean, it wasn't it wasn't like he was a cook at Waffle House. And then. Yeah. was a manager at Walmart. Never had offense, but you know what I mean? Like, we're- No criminal background, no mental illness history. What happened? Like was this late on set? a psychosis, schizophrenia, I don't know. Yeah, like a schizophrenia or a I want to know what medication to get them. be a CTE. And with his CTE coming out, he could, it could be just this weird combination of him developing like his schizophrenia coming to fruition and CTE hitting together. You know what I mean? Yes, absolutely. ⁓ Because like his age, the life just starts changing. Like your brain starts changing. It starts telling you certain things you don't know. Like I don't, I don't know. The brain is so strange like I mean that's why they that's why there's doctors and scientists out there who will request brains of certain people. I would be very interested to see his brain scans and to see somebody analyze his brain scans. I'm not saying that CT excuses anything like this, but it is something that I feel like needs to be evaluated more for young men in doctor's appointments or other things because... 32. And that's... And his life... just changed at the drop of a unheard of for it to hit that young. Correct. It's not unheard of. it's not talked about regularly. ⁓ I also don't ⁓ know his history prior. Like his childhood, the way he grew up, his parents, things like that. So there could have been other factors involved in it. And he was the kind of guy that wore a mask every day according to his other coworkers. He wasn't an affectionate guy. He wasn't emotional by any means. And then all of a sudden, he is. It's confusing. Yeah. I also, I don't really touch on this a little bit later, so let's touch on it now. Why Logan's house? Of all places. Like you said earlier, maybe he was walking around the neighborhood and just checking doors. I don't know. I genuinely cannot tell you why he decided to stop here, of all places. and walk into that specific house, we don't have these answers. He has never once explained any of it because he's not- out saying that he has connections to this No connections. No connections at all to this family, to the city- the family, to the city of the neighborhood or anything? Zero connections. This is is literally the most random act of violence. hundreds of miles away. this, but it for once this genuinely sounds like a psychotic break that was unfolding over weeks. Weeks. Weeks. And like he's This is so gratifying for me right now because think about Sidney Powell. Think the one who killed her mom with the ⁓ yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah about her Weeks leading up to it and she was being emotional. She was pacing back and forth. She was talking about I can't do this I can't do this I need help with this and doing that and everybody was like this is really weird but we're just kind of trying to help you and do whatever and then she just snapped and then but she was also emotional and crying like this leading up to it remember what her debt her mom said sitting there on the couch just crying and like That's a very, I mean, I've never heard of anything else that's as similar. I I wish we knew more about his background and leading up to like we do with Sydney because like hers kind of vilified her and made her look like she manipulated and did those on purpose. But look at him. He is an RN. He worked at dialysis. He did this just like Sydney. She did sports. She did all this and it all good. And then all of sudden it just something snapped. Like in my mind, I genuinely believe that he was just driving. And then he, I don't think he was checking the neighborhood. I'm not going to lie to you. I think he was driving and he just so happened to see this house, see the Tipton's house and something in him, something in him told, like his brain told himself, there's something wrong in that house or you need to go in that house. This is your house. Cause the clean your rooms. He's a dad. Yeah. That was the other part I was going say is that maybe he drew, okay. So think about it. Tank of gas. You're about, he would have made it. You're about 400 miles if he had a full tank gas. If he didn't have a full tank of gas, about 200 miles. So maybe he literally was going to, he was almost out of gas. Lexington's where he hit. He pulled off of the highway and he was driving and I'd be very curious to see what this neighborhood looked versus his neighborhood in Indiana. Yeah. I'm wondering if they were similar or maybe similar to like, cause he had kids, but his kids didn't live with him, right? Cause he's with his girlfriend. actually know. So maybe it looked like the house that he didn't raise his kids in or something or. His childhood home and the clean your rooms was something that was yelled at him. Also think about it, the Grey's Anatomy comment, was an RN. Not even that, but well that's actually a good connection. Like maybe he watched Grey's Anatomy with his girlfriend or another woman he may So yeah, it's just so very interesting that like... this just started unraveling. Like I'm seeing like, I haven't heard another one that sounded like what happened to Sydney. ⁓ This kind of changes her case a little bit it's so wild. It's happening, it happens. Huh. ⁓ Huh. So ⁓ trial ended up lasting six days the jury. it? Yeah. I mean, I guess we did have a lot of forward evidence. just figured sometimes mental stuff can take a long time in trial. Totally fair. So trial lasted six days, and the jury was given four options to choose from. ⁓ Not ⁓ Not guilty by reason of insanity or guilty but mentally ill What's the difference between? guilty by reasonable by reason of insanity and not guilty but mentally ill. Wait, did I say that right? Not guilty by reason of insanity or guilty but mentally ill. What's the difference between those two? Essentially guilty is, yep, you absolutely fucking did this, but you're sick. But isn't that what not guilty by reason of insanity also is? that... I mean, ultimately, it's just that you're not guilty of this because you're fucked. But the other one is... is you kind of knew what you were doing, but you're still fucked. Okay. Does that make sense? Yeah. That's how I took it anyway, because I've never personally seen guilty but mentally ill. Can we add that to Letitia's options? Maybe. I like that option for her. option. I do want to make it extremely clear here because this is where things get a little bit complicated. Mental illness is real. And there are absolutely cases where it plays a very significant role in criminal behavior. The legal system has to account for that. Yes. Which is why insanity defenses exist in the first place. Okay. It's very real. We're not saying it's not. But it's not true in every case. There is a lot of defendants who try to use it to get out of what did. Leticia. Yes. But then in But then there's arguably she couldn't use it and cause she didn't need to. It didn't apply to her. But then there's people who should use it like Sydney, who don't get to use it. So I just, I feel like it is very broad. The parameters and I hold on. We have to go back to what we learned with the not guilty by reason of insanity. There has to be proof of patterns before you committed the crime that you were like this. cannot prove these things afterwards. So you have to have a history of being treated by a psychiatrist, have a history of trying to either be diagnosed or pointing out certain things that you've had wrong with you. You cannot say, ⁓ I've had this forever, or ⁓ I've just never said anything about this, or I've never seen anything about this. It doesn't work that way. Because... If you've ever listened to a case, mean, every single one of them with the mental thing, we always have PTSD in there because after you murder somebody, you are going to have PTSD whether you intended to do it or not. Yes. Therefore what you're diagnosed with after the commission of a crime is not always accurate to what you should have been diagnosed with before the commission of the crime because of what committing that crime does to your brain. Yep. Which is just a fun, another layer. Y'all still buckled up? No, I unbuckled at the rest stop. Do you want to re-buckle yourself? Okay. I don't know what else I could be buckled for other than him not being guilty. ⁓ god. The jurors deliberated for 12 hours and reached their decision. ⁓ Exantus was found but mentally ill on the three assault charges ⁓ on Dean and Logan's ⁓ However, ⁓ They found him not guilty by reason of insanity for the murder of Logan Tipton in the burglary charges. No, you can't you can't say yes to the assault and say no to that. You could do it the other way around. How does that make sense? No, go back. No, if I was a judge, I would read that and go, no, go back. Mm-hmm, yeah. So then the jury recommended that he get 20 years sentencing for the assault charges, which is what he ended up getting sentenced for. So he can be out when he's 52? Mm-hmm. Let's sit with this for a minute before we do that, okay? He murdered a six-year-old. right, with multiple witnesses. He confessed to the crime. ⁓ He was also found competent to stand trial. And like I... How? I want to talk to this jury. How did they come to this conclusion? Yeah. How? I don't... I want to know... You don't have the jury instructions, you? Nope. This is also where a lot of people start feeling things don't quite line up, as you can see here. Because on one hand, the system is saying he is not legally responsible for the death due to his mental state. But on the other hand, it is holding him responsible enough to sentence him for assaults. So which is it? Because... Yeah, we had a jury instruction that the jury didn't understand. There is something in those jury instructions that it's like Karen Reed. The judge wasn't being clear enough. They... We've had another case like this too, where he ended up getting a lesser sentence because they were confused on what it was asking of them. I have a new respect for judges who really take the time to go through jury instruction. Regardless though, this doesn't make this outcome any easier to process. Is he someone who cannot understand his actions or is he someone who can be held accountable in a traditional sense? I'm not saying that there's an easy answer to this, but it does actually create a very great area that people very much struggle with. Well, mean, okay, you said that with his meds, he did a lot. All those behaviors stopped that were from... jail whenever he went to the mental health institution for his meds and he stabilized, okay? And he was willing to take them. He was taking them. He was not being forced. I can tell you that. God, I want to see the jury verdict slips and instructions because I have a feeling that the way that that murder charge was, I have a feeling it has something with you. If you find them guilty with this, if you find this to be true, then this has to be true. And if this is true, then this has to be true. I have a feeling it has to be somewhere in there to where the assault instructions were different from the first degree murder for how they were to handle the mental health on it. So I will say, typically when someone is found not guilty by reason of insanity, they are placed in a secure psychiatric facility, often for an indefinite amount of time depending on their actual mental state and whether they're considered to be a continuous danger. ⁓ The focus is supposed to be on treatment and containment. Okay? But in this case. The outcome didn't follow the path in the way that felt consistent to the public. Instead, the 20-year sentence for the assaults became the primary structure of his confinement. And over time, that sentence became the subject to the same systems that apply to many prison terms, parole eligibility, time-served credits, so on and so forth. Which brings us... right there. He lived out. He served. Totally. ⁓ Which brings us to the part of the case that reignited fucking everything. His eligibility date for parole was set for 2021. He's already fucking out? That's just his first eligibility parole Yeah, nothing else in this conversation has gone the way that I thought it was going to go, so he's already out. So that was three years after the sentencing. First of all, how in the fuck? Did he get a parole hearing after three years? Assault charges, not murder. That's Thankfully, I don't know how many times I've ever said that in an episode. Thankfully, was this parole hearing got deferred to 2023. OK. I'm assuming because of COVID. But then it was that one was then deferred to 2025. OK. where he stayed in jail for a long time. At his parole hearing in 2025, he was released from prison for good behavior. They also said that because of the good behavior and his educational background, they were able to shave off 13 years of his sentence. he was released. September 30th of 2025 after serving roughly seven years. I'm gonna say- released to a mental hospital, correct? No. I'm going to say this again because it's not sitting right when you hear it. fucking years. Seven. Seven fucking years. for breaking into a home in the middle of the night, for stabbing multiple people, and for a six-year-old losing his life. And this is the point where people stopped questioning the verdict and started questioning the entire fucking system. Yeah. Because now it's not just about whether the insanity defense was appropriate. It's about how the aftermath was handled, how decisions were made, what safeguards there were and were not in place. Who decided he was safe to be released? What evaluations were done? What criteria had been met? Regardless of how we feel about the situation and the questions that I just asked Ronald was released. I'm not okay. So When you are convicted of not guilty by reason of insanity, you should be in a still end up in a mental institute When you're convicted of guilty With mental illness After your prison sentence, I feel like you should go to a mental institution so I don't understand why He didn't get a 20 year sentence with the assault. With the condition, judge you done fucked up in sentencing, with the condition that after his release, he serves his non guilty by reason of insanity in a mental institution. Right? Cause that's logical, correct? I think so. It makes sense in my head. So I don't understand. Yeah. He was released on September 30th. So he's just been out running around. He applied for his mandatory reentry supervision to be in Florida, where he would have to live for six months under strict supervision. But then he would be moved back to Kentucky under supervision until his sentence officially expired in June of 2026. Why does he get to go to Florida for six months? I'm happy you asked that. Why Florida, you ask? Not Kentucky, where he was sentenced? Well, my loves, that's because under the Safer Kentucky Act, he would have been required to serve at least 85 % of his sentence. So 17 years before he could apply for reentry. Like reentry to Kentucky or? Reentry into, yes, into the world, the free world. Okay, so you have to serve 85 % of your sentence in Kentucky in order to... re-enter the world, but he got out after seven years. So that means he can't be in Kentucky. So he has to be in Florida instead. Only for six months though. And then he can come back to Kentucky? Yeah. Is this what's wrong with Florida? Is it because the Southern states just keep sending all their shit to Florida? Probably. they're like, well, see you in six months. That actually makes it out of Florida. That actually makes a lot of sense. What? Yeah. Kentucky, can you make Florida great again? Send him back to Kentucky. Has Florida ever been great? I love Florida. don't know if you're wrong. so weird. I love Florida. So the Kentucky Parole Board released a statement. They wanted to clarify that they did not release Ronald on his parole. He was reviewed for parole on September 30th, 2025, as required by the state law. And a decision was issued that they believed he should remain in prison the remainder of the sentence. But they were completely powerless to stop the fact that he was being released under the mandatory supervision rule. Wait, so they didn't approve his parole? No, they did. Because the state law required it. Not them personally. says that he has to serve 85 % of it. Crazy, right? So they weren't required by state law. I think it's crazy to me that they also... I don't know why it bothers me. They're like, well... He's a really educated man though. Like who are you, Brock Turner? No. Guess what? Brock Turner should also be in jail. Thank you. And we appreciate all of you guys who make his life hell. Keep fucking doing it. I'm... Just know that if everyone in this world died except for me, Brock Turner would still be hated deeply. You're welcome. All right, calm down Nancy, Grace, and Casey Anthony. Same goes for that bitch. Yeah. Okay, let's continue on. have a little bit more to tell you guys, because there's some stuff that happened. So he was scheduled for release and his supervision started on October 6th of 2025. Logan's dad Dean said this about the release, quote, I've had my talks with God. I told the court if I ever cross paths with him, I will kill the man will kill him where he stands and. I have no argument. So, October 9th, 2025. That's my sister's birthday. Three days that he started supervision. Okay. Three days after he was officially, officially released into the wild of Florida, Ronald was re-arrested in Florida for failing to register as a convicted felon within 48 hours of his release. And yes, he was aware that he had to do this because he signed a fucking piece of paper acknowledging that he had to do it. He was arrested in his home in Florida, which was right across the street from an elementary school. What the fuck? So how did he get a house in Florida so quick? Who knows? He's got a family down there. I don't even know. He has since been transferred back to Kentucky where he will finish out the remainder of his sentence since he violated his parole instantly. Okay. And he is set to be released in 2038. Okay, that's better. I like this a whole lot more now. So Logan's was not notified about the rearrest, by the way. ⁓ They found out because were watching the news. What the fuck? Yeah. That's fucked. But at the same time, they said they had ⁓ a ⁓ wave of come them, knowing that this man was not on the streets anymore. Most definitely. That's also terrifying to arrest him across the street from an elementary school. Like are you fucking kidding me dude? Right. Right. With that though, let's turn to talk about Logan's family. Okay. Yeah. Because while all of this was happening, Logan's family was still living the reality of that night. That doesn't change. That doesn't get reduced. No, I mean... That doesn't get paroled. No, in your own home. That's a different level of invasion yeah, it's an invasion. I feel like ⁓ an invasion of your privacy, invasion of your life. ⁓ safe space. Yeah, there's a word, but I know what ⁓ trying to say. ⁓ think of it this way. His sisters ⁓ watched this man kill their brother in front of their eyes. Yeah. ⁓ his dad had to watch him take his last breath. ⁓ ⁓ I mean... I will say though that this family is resilient. I... I hope every good thing comes to you guys, genuinely. My hearts and my prayers are with every single one of you. ⁓ Instead of staying quiet, they spoke the fuck out. Good. They advocated, they pushed for changes, and they made sure Logan's name stayed attached to what happened. Good. And that led to the creation of Logan's Law. ⁓ tell me about it. Logan's law focuses on strengthening oversight when it comes to violent offenders, especially in cases involving insanity verdicts. It emphasizes more thorough evaluations before release and aims to close the gaps that ⁓ have allowed this type of situation to happen. Because clearly, there were some fucking gaps. Yeah. Logan's law bars people found guilty of a Class B felony or who commit a felony from being granted mandatory reentry supervision. ⁓ It also does not allow jurors to split decisions anymore, ⁓ meaning they cannot find not guilty by reason of insanity on one charge ⁓ guilty on another. Thank you. ⁓ Thank you. Yes. ⁓ I personally love that, but that also can be scary for the fact that maybe he could have been found not guilty on anything. regardless, defendants who are found guilty but mentally ill would have to undergo mental health checks before being released. And it also gives the court the options to order treatment if needed. It would. also allow jurors to sentence someone convicted of intentional murder to life without parole, even without aggravating factors. ⁓ Logan's is set to go into in ⁓ later in the summer of 2026. this 90 days after the legislative session ends. ⁓ This was an update as of April this year. ⁓ OK. So ⁓ soon. That's awesome, though. agree. ⁓ White House and the Supreme Court also made statements that they are looking into why he was released over a decade early saying, this quote, it's wholly unacceptable for a child killer to walk free after just several years in prison, end quote. Duh. Duh. No fucking shit. Did we, did we really have to put a whole statement out just for that? We, I don't know. think there's enough people that are pissed that probably. Okay. So now I want to talk about Logan. Yeah. I want to hear about him. Okay. Logan was six years old and like we already said he's the literal cutest child that has ever fucking existed Listen this kid would have gotten all the popsicles for me. It's like literally I Would he could ask me for anything. I've been like just take it take the whole house. I don't even care Yeah, you want a cookie sure you can have anything you anything in the whole world anything you anything you want He was just the sweetest thing his dad said he was always the one to greet him at the door, run to him at the door. And when he, like when he got home, the first to always greet him with a huge smile and yell out, Dad! He was also always the one to tell his parents good night first. quote, he was a beautiful kid and he was just too good for this world, end quote. Logan loved football. I know his football pictures are my favorite. He's like the cutest little football player. you know that he was like, you know, he, he probably liked the best end zone dances. ⁓ I guarantee it. The best celebration dances. For For sure. He played offensive linemen for the Woodford County U-6 Yellow Jackets where he wore the number 63. Everyone who met him said he was always happy and smiling and his siblings say they miss their best friend dearly. After his death the Yellow Jackets retired his number and named him the best offensive lineman they have ever had. Damn, at six years old, that's pretty good. I know, there's some fifth graders in that league going, are you kidding me? Really, four years up in here and he's the best O-lineman we've got? Yep. I mean, get it, Logan. Period. For his funeral, actually, I have a video for you to watch. No. I will watch it after we're done because I would to say- And y'all, I'm sorry that you have to watch it right now, but I'll watch it after That's fine. I can't. For his funeral, almost the entire town came and they walked his casket from the 50 yard line into the end zone. So he had one final touchdown. ⁓ hell no. I don't like you. I know, I know. On the 10 year anniversary of his murder, the family held a vigil and dozens of people joined them on the high school football field. That includes his old teammates actually, which many of them still play for the high school. ⁓ god, because he would have been in high school. Today Logan would be 16 and instead of getting a driver's license or playing for his high school football team with his friends, he's being mourned. And getting a law named after him. Yep. I don't think there's a clean way to wrap this up. I'm going to be real with you guys. So now is the time that we need to discuss justice if we got justice. Because like at this point, like I don't think so. Not even fucking close. mean, he's in jail. And will be until what, 2038? Another 12 years. Another 12 years. 12 years. He'll be in there until 2038. We do have a law, so I will say that we have other forms of justice, but I don't think that we have true justice for him because he is not put away for this murder. He kind of got off on the murder and only stuck with the assault charges and his family's had to fight so hard just to get to where we are. Yes. I don't feel like it's true justice, but it's some form of justice. What does justice even look like in this type of situation? Is it a different verdict? A longer sentence? A different system entirely? It could be a multitude of things. think it's change. It's making sure and there's going to be change to the law so this doesn't happen to another family. Correct. And that's justice on its own. They actually said that in an interview saying we'd want to prevent another family from going through this. And that right there is justice but... I feel like we wouldn't even be seeing the justice that we're even seeing right now if he would have registered as a felon in Florida. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, I mean, I don't know. I'm half and half on it. I just feel like no matter what, it's going to feel incomplete because of what was taken. Yeah. I personally think the murder of a six-year-old deserves more than 20 years in fucking jail mentally ill or not. I agree with you. So. Especially with a confession. Yeah, absolutely. So now I'm going to turn to the jury. want to hear your thoughts on this one. ⁓ Do you think the insanity verdict sense in a case like this? Do you think early release should ever be an option when the outcome involves the level of this violence? And do you feel the system is equipped to handle cases where mental illness and extreme violence intersect like this? ⁓ This is one of those cases where the questions don't have easy answers and the impact does not go away. No, I definitely feel that our justice system needs a bit of reform in the area of mental health and how... the charges are handled and how it's deemed and what goes on. I do feel like if you have the mental illness add on to that or the not guilty by reason of insanity or guilty by reason of an insanity in there, automatically whatever your prison time is served needs to be followed with a mental institution. And then the mental institution from there gets to deem whether you are... Competent. Yes. I do also believe that families should have some say in this situation. but that's me. ⁓ That's the case, you guys. We did it. I left a lot out. I'm going to be real with you. I know there's probably more about where Lauren's at now, ⁓ more about the family. And they do speak out. There's interviews with them. You can look into it. You saw what happened to me. I can't. I remember when I was first telling you and Jen about this and I'm just sitting there bawling. You guys are like, why are you doing this? Why are you doing this case? I needed to. It's like what we said with Harmony Montgomery. If they had to go through this, we can talk about it. absolutely. Like, his name, this case deserves so much light. that I feel like it's not really getting. Not over here anyway. Like there might be more in the South a little bit more, but like Logan's name and the reform that's coming along with it deserves to be talked about more. So if I'm gonna put myself crying on camera, we're just gonna fucking do it, all right? He deserves all of it. Period. So ⁓ with that, please go like, follow, subscribe. So you can cry with us. Yeah. I guess. No. I don't know. I don't know what's coming out next. ⁓ after this? discussed anything yet. It'll be just as a surprise to you guys as it will be to us. Yeah, it's going to be a good time. We're going to be fine. Everything's fine. ⁓ Go buy some merch to y'all at this point. We have season three merch out. We do. do. A shirt from our live show that was amazing. We do have talks of other live shows, but nothing is set in stone because we still need breaks. We both work full-time jobs. We have lives, so on, so forth. Yes. So it's coming. We'll let you guys know when it happens. But with that, thank you for staying with us through all of this. ⁓ We love you guys. If you have a case that you want us to cover or you just you've heard or you've seen headlines and you want more info on it, but you don't want to do all that work and you don't know where to find everything. ⁓ Justiceforpodcast.com. We have a case submissions tab on there. Go ahead and submit a case. You can also find all of our episodes on there, resources, show notes from all of our episodes, pictures. ⁓ This specific case was sent to me on Facebook. So like we, we check our messages. We do look at comments. Like we're still, highly, highly involved in our socials. So, granted, you don't know which one of us is commenting or responding to you. But we're here. We're here. So yeah, so go follow us everywhere so you don't miss anything. You always know we have new episodes coming out or new events or anything else that's going on. And we'll see you next week. Yes. Really quick, just to end this though, if for any reason the Tiptons are listening. are watching or anything like that, our hearts are with you guys deeply. Always. Deeply, deeply. ⁓ We're sorry you had to go through this. And if you want to add anything or if you guys knew, even if it's just not the family, if it's anyone involved, if you want to add anything, if you want me, if I mess something up, ⁓ I was so distraught trying to write this, she witnessed it multiple times. If I miss something, if I fuck something up, let me know. I want to fix it. I want to do justice for Logan. Yeah. Reach out, all that jazz. But we will catch you guys next week for an all new episode. Have a safe week, guys. OK, love you. Bye.