Tia Skinner & Friends featuring The Hacky Turtles

Tia Skinner enlisted the help of her boyfriend (of two weeks) to murder her parents.  Listen to how quickly things escalate in the story of Tia Skinner and her well planned execution of her parents.



Leaving you with a happy ending and on a good note, as always.  This week we are featuring: The Hacky Turtles

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Transcript

Tia Marie Mitcell Skinner

MDOC # 814780

DOB 12/8/1992

Resides at the huron Valley Women's Complex

Yale, MI

1.  Tia was born into the prison system.

1.  Valerie Borja gave birth to Tia on the 8th of December 1992.

1.  Tia first belonged to the state as part of the foster system, in fact she belonged to the state until she was 3 years old.

1. Mom’s sister Marla adopted her and her brother and raised them as her own.

1. Marla was married herself and the two of them and 2 children. 

1. Tia did exceptionally well in school, being an honor student takes work.

1. She was in her high school band, she was involved with their church,  she sang in the church choir and went to study classes.

1. She seemed to embrace life and was a happy teenager, for a teenager I mean, they can be moody.

1.   However, she had her grades up and her plans to go to Western Michigan University, so she was doing the thing.

1. In  October of 2010 Tia started dating a boy named Jonathan Kurtz.  

1.   Johnathan lived in Avoca but also went to school with Tia at Yale High School

1.   Tia was a 17 and a Junior while Johnathan was 18 and about to graduate.

1.   Johnathan didn’t seem to have the best role models in his life and wasn’t really heading down the right path, it seems.

1.   He was known to be a drinker and partier (which means smoking weeeeeed)

1.   His neighbor, James Preston started hanging with him and trying to influence his life in a positive way.  By taking him to church.

1.   James was basically a good kid.  He had loving parents, he did well in school, he was an athlete and an eagle scout.

1.   This is where Tia met Johnathan and the two of them started dating.

1.   They had only been going out for two weeks when Marla confronted Tia with big concerns about dating Johnathan.

1.   Because Jonatan wasn’t in with the best crowd,  Marla was not going to allow Tia to date him, Tia was on the correct path so far and Marla didn’t want that to be swayed.

1.   On the 31st of October Marla gave the final no to dating Jonatan and took away Tia’s phone, she found out that Tia was still textin with him.

1.   Not only still texting him but saw that one of the texted was Johnathan saying that LOVED her.  (after 2 weeks)

1.   Being a teenager,  it didn’t go over too well with Tia.  She began arguing with Marla a lot regarding this situation.

1.   She was still seeing Johnathan, in fact, she was able to see him at church.

1.   Tia started sharing her frustration about her mom taking her phone away and not allowing her to see Johnathan.

1.   She..well they I guess start to plan the murder of her parents like they were planning a going away party.

1.   Plus, most of the planning was at their stupid youth church meetings.

1. This is where she, Jonathan and Paul would talk about their plans and how it was all going to work out.   Church.

1.   Tia had everything covered for them.  She gave them a map of the neighborhood that she gave them.  It was in pencil and neatly drawn with a MY HOUSE printed in box letters where she lived.

1.   She offered Johnathan and James $1000 to take care of her parental problem.

1.   She also gave them a handy dandy tip list.

1.    On the night of November 11, 2010  Tia and her parents went out for dinner.  Her older brother was in town from Grand Rapids.

1.    Sometime that evening, Tia left her bedroom window open and an assortment of knives on her bed, for convenience and a ladder against the house to make it easy to enter the window.

1.   At some point that evening she also snuck to her phone and sent a deadly text.  It has to happen tonight.

1.    Later after dinner, Tia begged her brother to go downstairs to watch a movie writer.  

1.   He didn’t want to because they had a new tv upstairs..why would he?   He finally caves and they go downstairs.

1.   When the movie begins, Tia keeps making excuses to go upstairs to get things but never returns with things.

1.   Noted odd behavior after having begged to watch a movie downstairs.

1.   At one point asks her brother for homework help but didn’t bring her homework down.  

1.   Tia’s parents turned in around 11:30 that evening for bed.

1.   On  her final trips downstairs Tia tells her brother that something is terribly wrong upstairs.

1.   It was  around midnight,  when two men with their faces covered entered the bedroom of Maura and Paul

1.   They managed to stab both of them numerous times until Paul chased them away from his wife and ultimately his family.

1.   Tia’s brother runs upstairs and finds this scene, his Dads blood everywhere.  His father had staggered through the house, leaving a blatant trail.

1.   He tried giving his father cpr.

1.   Maura calls 9-1-1 but Jeff takes over the call.

1.   He states that he is an ER nurse but he can’t take care of this situation alone, to get the police and medics there asap

1.   Unfortunately, after being stabbed 23 times, Paul ends up passing away.

1.   During this chaos the brother is yelling for Tia to get upstairs and help him…help their Mom, DO SOMETHING.

1.   She is downstairs and according to her brother just kept repeating, “I can’t…I can’t.  I can’t come up there.”

1.   Help shows up in the form of police and ambulance.  Mara is taken to the hospital and she freaking survives the 20+ stab wounds.

1.   When Jeff was interviewed, he had thought there was only 1 guy involved

1.   However, when police were able to talk to Mara in the hospital she stated that there was definitely two people.

1.   Mara’s oldest daughter mentioned that Tia had been arguing with their mom over this boy and her cell phone.

1.   Police of course mark off their crime scene, they question the kids and start searching for evidence.

1.   Two very different knives were found near Paul’s body, near the entryway.

1.  They noted the ladder and the open window to Tia’s room.

1.  Upon searching the outer part of the house an officer found the hand drawn map.

1.   On the way to the police department Tia was calm.  Too calm.  Talking about her future at Western Michigan University, police thought it was odd for a 17 year old to be so calm after her parents were so brutally attacked.

1.   During an interview with police, Tia pointed the finger at James Preston first

1.   Then she told them that Johnathan Kurtz and James Preston did it.

1.   When the officers put her own map on the table, she finally admitted to being involved with the murder of her own parents.

1. Cell phone records revealed text messages between Tia, Kurtz, and Preston that indicated that the crime had been planned by all three

1.   Some of the texts discussed what type of knife they should use, which would be the best…ya know?

1.   We can’t forget Tias' tip list.  It included things like:

  -Dogs bark (please try not to hurt them)

  -Parents room is over all doors in the kitchen

  -Sliding door leads to fenced in back yard.

  -The quieter, the better

  -Stairs creek

  -The later the better

  -The best place to park is the abandoned house.

1.  When the boys were questioned, they all did the same thing, until they couldn’t.

1.   Basically pointed the finger at Tia or at each other.

1.   The proof in this case was just too easy and too overwhelming.

1.   All three of them were arrested on November 14 2010 and charged at the St Clair County Jail  for Open murder, Attempted Murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

1.   They would be held without bond.

1.   Mara, Jeff and others would testify before a judge to help with evidence  I guess?

1.   Her mom and her brother testified during the trial, having to face Tia sister & daughter.

1.   Johnathan went to trial in June

1.   James went to trial in July

1.   Finally Tia’s trial was in August.

1.    Officer Regina Margosian was the officer who drove Tia in that night testified that Tia was indifferent about the situation and that she just talked about her future.  She never asked her about her parents.

1.   St Clair County Deputy Jeff Green testfied also.  When he asked Tia if she knew what happened upstairs she replied with, “No but my brother said it was bad.”

1.   The jury deliberated for under an hour before sentencing Tia to life in prison.

              Sent 1:   homicide murder 1st degree premeditated/conspiracy

              sent 2:   attempt to murder

              sent 3:  homicide murder 1st degree, premeditated  

1.   Jonathan Aaron Kurtz

   Mdoc # 809153

  Sentenced on 9-16-2011

  Currently 33 years old and resides at the Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee

Sentence 1:  homicide, murder in 1st degree, Premeditated/conspiracy

Sentence 2:  attempt to murder

Sentence 3:  Homicide murder in 1st degree, premeditated

1.   James Leslie Preston

  Mdoc # 811364 

  at age 32 he now resides in Muskegon at the correctional facility

           Sentence 1:  homicide, murder 1st degree premeditated/conspiracy

           Sentence 2:  Attempt to murder

           Sentence 3:  Homicide murder 1st degree, premeditated

1. In her first interview after the situation happened, Tia told The Times herald, “It sounded awful to me, it literally made my heart break in two to hear my dad like that”   

1. “I think it was just awful I just had a bad temper and I took it out on somebody who didn’t deserve it, somebody who looked after me and took care of me.”

1. “I hoped that both of them pulled through.  That was the biggest thing that I hoped both of them would pull.”

1.  Mara, made a statement to Tia during the sentencing, I believe, "Tia, you've completely puzzled me. I thought I knew you. I thought we shared the same feelings, values, loves and life.  But I guess I never really knew you at all, and that's heartbreaking," 

1. Since then, Tia has appealed 3 times. 
2.  The last being when Supreme court changed the laws

1. None of the appeals worked, she will remain in prison for the rest of her life.  

1. Tia is currently 32 years old