Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
The Case of Christine Belford
There´s a disturbing video on YouTube posted on March 20th ,20011.
The title is ” don´t hurt me mommy.”
The owner of the account was arrested and sentenced to life in prison.
Now ,pay attention to the women in the video . her name is christine Belford , the person filming wants you to thinks she misstreating her children.
But when you read the comments, the amount of outrage tells you ,there´s more to the story.
And in 2007…
Christine´s three children will disapearer
This is David Matuesiewics,christine´s ex-husband.
christine lets david take the kids after he promised them a fun trip to disney world.
Two weeks later t,the children are missing,and david is nowhere to be found.
What follows is an 18- month internationa manhunt.
will orchestrate the worst case of cyberstalking the state has ever seen.
The first people in the entire country convicted of cyberstalking resulting in death.
-first and foremost , thtis was not a random act of violance.
shots have been fired inside a Wilmington ,Delaware courthouse.
Witnesses say a man shot and killed two women.
we´re now getting word that the gunman may be dead.
sgt. paul Snavack
-The FBI is on site , the Secret Service.A shooting occurrent at about 800 this morning.
February 11th 2013
an undientified man opens fire inside a wilmington courthouse.
Fatally shooting two women.
Before taking his own life.
-The investigation is still preliminary at this time.we´re proessing the entire scene.
-we have tactical teams searching every floor of that courthouse.
The gunman´s wehicle , a white SUV is found parked across the street.
Inside , police find a red notbook.
in which is written a hit list of future targets.
one of the names ,Timothy Hitchings ,christine Belford´s laywer.
Tim: obviouisly , i was intended to be killed that day. we didn´t know who might still be at large looking for me.
CCTV footage shows to men exiting the vheicle.
Before one of them calmly corsses the street.
enters the courthouse alone.
At 12:10 p.m , police released a statement to the press.
saying the gunman was related to one of the victims.
One victim was reportedly the shooter´s stranged wife.
David Matusiewicz shot and killed belford inside the New Castle County Courthouse .
The truth, however , is far more disturbing.
Detective shriner , who was called to the scene on February 11th, describes in an interview exactly what he found.
-i heard on my police radio about a shooting at the courthouse.obviously ,i immediately responded.i saw two individuals on the ground. there was another individual on the ground outsde the rotating door.
When hehe walks across the lobby . he recognizes one of the people deceased.
Detective shriner is the only person on site to be familiar with the case. of christine belford and david matusiewicz.
Right away,he assumes he knows who the shooter is.But the detective is wrong.
September 9th 2007.
six years before the shooting,at around 9:00.p.m.
detective Jeff Shriner of the missing Perssons Unit receives a call from a distressed mother. claiming that her three daughters have been kidnapped.
The women on the phone is Christine Belford and the man who she claims abducted her children.. is her ex-husband david matusiewicz,
..along with his moither Lenora Matusiewcz.
Christine explains that david took the girls on a two -week trip to Disney World in Orlando ,but never returned.
At first , shriner doesn´t think it´s a kidnappning just another case of parents fighting over custody.
But when shriner tries to contact david,he´s nowhere toi be found.
His suspicions increase when christine shows him the custody papers.
It states that David made various alegations claiming christine is an unfit mother and that he should have full custody.
As the investigaton begings, shriner first looks at credit card records.it shows david last transaction was made on August 26.
The day that they left for Florida.
Right away ,detective shriner sends out a missing persons report,but know one knows just what david and his mother have in store.
More than 200 milwa aourg in Hidago, Texas.
Christine´s three daughters ,laura ,leigh , and karen.
are sitting in the back of a Winnerbago.David and Lenore are up front.
After driving on Interstate Highway 2 ,david takes the nearest exit and turns on International Boulevard
towards the Mexican border. In less than one mile , U.S Jurisdiction will end.
As he reaches a customs booth,the agents grabs their passports and asks how many people are inside the RV.
As David answers, he shows now signs of being worried. neither does lenore.
The Agent can hear the girls talking and playing in the back. he looks at the passports one at a time ,then hands them back to david and opens the gate.
David and Lenore have now successsfully International Lines.
What authorities don know is , david started planning his crime as early as last year.
In December ,2006 , he made arrangements to get fake IDs for himself, his mom, and all three girls.
David Cross the Mexican Border on August 28th.
and left no trace behind.
Now, with a two -week head start , they couild be anywhere.
They find ties to a New Zeland banc account and to Canada.
Shriner has also discovered that David sold the Vision Xenter for 650, 000. dollar.
what´s worse?
David has taken a line of credit for 249 ,000 under christines name for which he forged her signature.
November 2007
christine´s daughters have been missing for two months.
Thomas and his daughter amy Gonzales deny knowing anything about where david and lenore went.
strangly enough both thomas and amy moved to edouch , Texas
Less than 20 miles from the Mexican border.
at that point detective Shriner assumed that the whole family was involved.
The search goes international.
every news outlet talks about the kidnappning of three girls by a Delaware optometrist.
U.S . Marshals get a hit. they find that david is hiding in Cerro Azul
just one hour outside of Panama City.
they mobilize a team but david vanishes before they can move in on his house.
Soon after The FBI gets a hit on David´s passport, crossing over to Costa Rica ,and then , nothing.
For the next 16 months the chase grows cold.
christine is losing hope. hasn´t seen the girls in 18 months
karen, the youngest ,will be turning four soon. she had just turned two when her mother last saw her .
detective shriner: it was getting to a point where, i didn´t know if we´d ever find these children.
At that time, the FBI gets a break.
After tapping Amy´s cell phone, they trace one call to south america to the smal town of Catarina , Nicaragua .
March 13th 2009.
A police officer in Nicaragua pulls over a car for a rutin traffic stop. the driver of the car is david. and with him, his daughter laura.
David has been goung around town selling his daughter ´s belonings for money ,after he spent the entire 1 . million dollar he planned for his kidnappning.
As david hands the officer his driver´s licences, the officer ignores it, and instead , asks david to step out of the vehicle.
david is immediately put under arrest and laura is taken to the police station .
Less than an hour later,lenore and the two youngest girls are located.
In the RV a few miles away.
That same night ,christine jumps in the first plane to Nicaragua .
allthough she´s thrilled when she´s reunited with them, christine is shocked to hear what david has been tellling them about her.
Laura , the eldest who is now six,says she was told her mom had ended her life.
One of the most spiteful things you can say to a child.
is ,” your mother didn´t love you enough to stay in this world.”
and it also indicates to a child who´s been kidnapped , she´s not coming.helps is not on the way.
David plead guilty to one count of international parental kidnappning and one count of bank fraud.
he is sentenced to four years in prison,followed by five years probation.
Lenore pleads guilty to endangement of a child and is sentenced to 18 month in jail.
allthough david and his mother lenore are behind bars and the children are now safe
the nightmare that lasted 19 months was only the opening act to the terror the Matusiewiczs have in store for christine.
On December 22nd ,12 ,days into sentence.
a letter is sent by David from prison to amy´s house. it reads,
No one understood what kind of monster they were dealing with.
four years before the courthouse shooting.
The return of christine´s three daughters makes the front page of the ” new journal”showing a picture of christine with laura and karen.
for a while , life is almost back to normal.
with david behind bars,christine can finally breath a sigh of relief.
At that time, a women reaches out to christine.
after she heard about the kidnappning.
cindy bender added christine on facebook and sent her a message saying like, ” hie o´d been following the story and i just wanted to reach out .and make sure your guys are okay”
She says she dated david matusiewiczs in the past and understand what christine going through.
she becomes an unlikely friend offering a safe space for christine to open up.
christine shared information with cindy about the girls´s schools and their grades and what sports they were playing. she would update her with pictures of the girls .
December 2009
Less than one month into david sentence,
a mysterious webpage begins to circulate.
It´s title ” a grandmothers’s ompossible choice”
The content is fabrication of the Matusiewiczes it details in 29 paragraphs allegations against christine. claiming that she sexually abuses her daughter laura.
But how can this website get posted when lenore matusiewcz is sitting in a jail cell with no access to the internet?
Amy Gonzales. in a letter sent from prsion to Amy´s house , david gives clear directives to his sister for a variety of plots to spread the story.
Amy begins mailing printsouts of the website,sending it anonymously to christine´s friends and neighbors, to the schools of her children,even to her church.
christine belford was a sunday school teacher. she resigned her position teaching first graders about jesus because she felt that she felt she could put them in danger just by being there.
Their goal out of all this was to make christine look as bad as they possibly could, and they wanted to show her that they were still in control of everything.
The campaign against christine really started to take a toll on her .
christine struggles to shield her daughters from the Matusiewicze´s reign of terror.
September 16 th 2010
Lenore Matusiewicz is released from prison,christine has a restraining order against the entire matusiewicz family and yet….
christine freqently felt ,like she was being watched.
she said” i dont know if i’m just paranoid”
March 20th,2011 , a friend of christine sends her a video circulating online.
the video shows christine being stalked as someone is filming her with her children.
The person is watching from inside of a car. just down the street from her house.
This video is then sort of repackaged,posted on YouTube and Weaponized
-the title of the video id ” don’t hurt me, mommy.”
The editing selects moments where christine holds her daughter by the arm as any parent would do keep her children off the streets.
Only now with this title,christine is meant to look abusive.
December 2011
David’s release : 16 months
Lenore and Thomas drive over 2000 miles and come knocking at christine’s door unannounced.
The children are home, but christine isn´t there.
Thankfully, Jerald is there. he confronts thomas and lenore and is able to sent them of but the damage is done .when she hears was happened christine no longer feels safe in her own home.
christine places cameras outside of her house. they got three German shepherds.,bats´in her room and knives next to her bed.
christine is completely tormented by this ,and she tries to sell her house.
she knows ,they knows , where she lives . and what happens?
Cindy:“hi chris, hope all is well your way.anything new going on? email when you can give the girls a hug for me. talk soon, cindy”
christine:sorry about the delay ,the kids are doing well, happy in school.nothing recent with david´s family since they were around beginning of December,house is for sale.and i’ve had several people in to see it.
What christine doesent know is cindy is also chatting online with amy, david’s sister .
Cindy someone christine trusts and appreciates is going behind her back to the very people she’s terrified of.
It turns out that Cindy has never stopped loving david and the two have maintained a sexual relationship virtually via email.
Now that david is in prison,cindy relays information about the girls to him through amy.
Because of cindy´s email exchange, the Matusiewiczes are now aware that chrstine is planning to move .
They arrange to get picture taken around the property of each entry,each window ,each camera installed.
David will be released in four months and they’re planning a home invasion.
christine has no idea.but she can feel something is wrong.
christine did tell people that she thought that they were going to kill her.
In a letter to her attorney ,christine writes:
” david has nothing to lose at this point ,he has lost everything. he allow me to survive to suffer i may survive long enough to watch the girls be harmed .i may even go missing .
christine is expecting the worst.she trained her daughter katie for an emergency escape through the master bedroom window.
if any of the matusiewicz come knocking. christine would hold them off downstairs. while katie is to gather the three girls run up the stairs and lead them out the window.where a rope ladder awaits.
David is released from federal prison,
as he’s placed on a five-year probation,he goes to live with his family on Edcouch
He writes to Amy the following email:
February 11th 2013
as christine getting her kids ready for school, she keeps a happy face.making sure the girls don’t get worried.
But katie knows exactly what’s troubling her mom.
katie: ” i was kind of nervous that morning.because i knew that she had court .
Jerald:” A simple child support hearing. ,that’s all it weas intended to be.
katie: i knew that david was going to be at court.my mom was very stressed out.she tried to not show it to us. but you could tell.
Jarold :” i asked her,” do you want me to go to court with you? i´ll ggo , i´ll take the day off work,”
But christine declines.she’s is already planning to go with her frend Beth.
7:55 A.M
christine pulls into the parking lot
of the newcastele county courthouse
and walks up to meet her friend at the entrance.
Inside , the front’´s lobby is filled with security guards , employees and civilians .
After passing first through the rotating door,christine walks to the metal detectors followed closely by her friend Beth.
Before she can recognize his face, a man takes out a gun points it at her chest and pulls the trigger…….
christine was shot and killed. he friend beth mulford was also killed.
Two security guards were also wounded in an exchange of gunfire.
The shooter was struck as he attempted to exit the building. he then turned the gun on himself.
Detective shriner ,who is called to the scene,discovers christine on the floor of the lobby.
He’s convinced the shooter is david, but shriner is wrong.
detective shriner:once i observed the body, the next reaction i had was ,” oh my god , its’´not david.”
The shooter is acctually the father , Thomas Matusiewicz
BUT WHER´S DAVID ???
Securing him became the top priority ,because shooting christine in the courthouse was not the end of their plan .
right away police try to locate the three daughters, laura , leigh and karen .
As shriner knows david or any other member of the matusiewicz clan will go after them next.
state troopers race to their schools ,hoping to find them in time.
All three girls are to be put in protective custody.
Moments after the attack .david is spotted inside the building . and put under arrest .
He denies knowing anything of what his father did.
Yet, when he´s told of his death,david dosen’t show any emotion
The girls are found and brought to a safe house awaiting transfer to an undisclosed location
Lenore and amy is brought in for questioning,both obviously deny having any knowledge of thoma’s plan.
Apart from the white SUV in the courthouse parking garage.
The FBI searches thehouse in Edcouch
and collects thousands of pieces of evidence
The matusiewicz may have succeeded in eliminating their target. but their plan is far from over.
Even with thomas dead ,david arrested,and with chirstine gone, amy and lenore are left behind, to carry out the last phase of their plan.
February 13th
just 48 hours after the shooting, amy Gonzalez sends out a petition for custody of the kids.
She sending a petition to a courthouse that hasn´t even been reopened yet,after the killing .
February 21th
10 days after the shooting,lenore matusiewicz appears on a podcast episode series,where she defends her husband thomas.
Her attempt to salvage the situation as well to clear her name comes off most disturbing.
lenore:” he would never hurt his family.the meningioma ,the tumor changed him. tom wasn’t behaving nromally for the longest time.he told me he wouldn´t bring his guns.
Tom didn’t plan any of this. he was plannin a reuben sandwich party.we already have the fresh corn ,beef and the sauerkraut
and my husband loves to eat . he was an adoring husband,father, uncle,son – in -law ,brother – in -law ,
But the worst part comes when she reiterates the allegations of aubse against christine,shameless and vile ,she attacks the women who can no longer defend herself.
and she does so by speaking on laura’s behalf.
lenore:” and then she said,” i have to do things to mommy.it’s a big secret.if i ever tell mommy ´s gonna be in trouble. i dont want my mommy to go to jail. she said that mommy taught them all about the G- spot when they were in the bathtub.
August 18th 20013
prosecutors bring their indictments in front of a grand jury .
right away a Lenore and Amy are arrested.
June 11th 2015 , 2 years later.
the trial begins.the first ever case of cyberstalking resulting in murder
the evidence against the Matusiewiczes is overwhelming.
over 600 items collected by the FBI,multiple handguns, thousands of rounds of ammunition,pictures of christines house with security cameras circled,emails uncovered proving the Matusiewiczs were using third parties to get information.
like cindy bender and courtney Emerson,another one of david´s misstresses.
All of which led to the inescapable conclusion that they were prepared to commit an act of violant against christine belford.
The most disturbing of all might be a printed version of the serenity prayer.
“lord grant me the serenity to accept the things i canot changes, the courage to change the things i can and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people i had to kill because they pissed me off.”
But with all the evidence brought up against them,.david , lenore and amy are stoic.
Their defense,christine was an abusive mother and they did what they had to to protect david’s three daughters.
when katie takes the stand, she defends her mother with all her heart.describing how she was terrified and pleaaded to the judge, the matusiewiczes will never stop until they have my sisters.”
Katie is now 20 years old.she hasn´t seen laura or any of her sisters in two years.
she’s worried that Matusiewiczs will convince the jury that her mother was abusive and that they will succeed.
katie is horrified at the thought that they couild get the girls back.
The Matusiewiczs are relentless they were methodical highly organized ,and ruthless.
there is only one thing that could bring them down. the one person that could testify against them.
The Matusiewiczes create a story that only laura can rebut.
On june 22nd.
laura, whos is now 13 years old takes the stand. her testimony is fiven behind closed doors for her own safety.
but one sentence from laura’s mouth is shared with the press
non of it is true. she was never abused.
everythins matusiewicz have said is a lie. she was the one at the the very end who restored her mother´s reputation in a way that nobody else could.
The Matusiewiczes stood silent and the lies fell apart right in front of the jury.
This trial represented an extension of christine Belford’s fight.
it represented the bravery and courage of her children who came into this courtroom and testified on her behalf.
david matusiewicz,his mother lenore and his sister ,amy are all found guilty and sentence to life without parole.
they would never get out of prison again.
It´s a victory for the three young girls and christine.