Ohio News

A Southern Ohio 12-year-old accidentally stumbled into quite an enterprise - her own line of make-up, geared toward tweens.

When Grace Bennett wanted to start wearing make-up a year ago, she and her mom, Julia, went shopping. The two left empty-handed after finding the labeling and marketing inappropriate for Grace’s age.

“There was some suggestive wording or packaging that you don’t want your child to have,” said Julia Bennett.

Grace also has sensitive skin and didn’t want make-up with a bunch of chemicals. So she started researching and testing. She came up with formulas for powder, blush, eyeshadow and bronzer. It was for herself, then her friends wanted to try it and it took off from there.

Grace’s company is GAB Cosmetics. She now has an Etsy store, Facebook and Instagram pages and a website. She has sold 1000 units in about three months to individuals and companies. For more information, click here.

COSHOCTON -- According to a social media post by the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office, a Bible was used to spread more than just the good word at the jail.

The post said on April 11 a bible was dropped off at the justice center for one of the inmates. During the search of the bible, a substance believed to be methamphetamine and suboxide were located.

As a result of the search, an ongoing investigation was launched into the illegal conveyance of drugs into the Justice Center. During this investigation, two women and one man were questioned to determine their involvement in the matter.

On April 12, Cherokee Williamson was arrested and formally charged with Illegal Conveyance of Drugs, a third-degree felony.

She currently is being held in the Justice Center on a $10,085 bond for her charge. More charges may be filed in connection with the incident after a review from the Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Assisting in the investigation were the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office Detective Bureau and the Coshocton County Prosecutor's Office.

This incident remains under investigation by the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office.

A teenager who took five bullets in the Florida school mass shooting has become the first victim of the Valentine's Day rampage to file a lawsuit.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday names as defendants shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz, the estate of his late mother, a family that took him in after his mother's death and three mental health facilities that treated him. It seeks unspecified damages.

It was filed on behalf of 15-year-old Anthony Borges, who authorities say was shot while blocking a doorway to protect other students.

It's not clear what assets Cruz has or the amount of his mother's estate. Cruz could be forced to hire a private lawyer if the assets are substantial.

The 19-year-old Cruz is charged with 17 counts each of murder and attempted murder.

A man accused of providing the gun used to kill two central Ohio police officers must remain in jail without bond.

Federal prosecutors say 30-year-old Gerald Lawson, of suburban Cleveland, bought the handgun that 31-year-old Quentin Smith used in the February slayings of Westerville officers Eric Joering and Anthony Morelli.

A criminal complaint says Smith gave Lawson the money to buy the gun last summer along with $100 for completing the transaction. Smith wasn't allowed to have weapons because of a previous burglary conviction.

U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus on Monday ordered that Lawson remain in jail. Lawson has pleaded not guilty.

His attorney said Tuesday there's nothing in Lawson's history to suggest he's a danger to the community.

Smith could face the death penalty if convicted of the slayings.

The Grove City Division of Police has identified the four suspects involved in the two robberies on the evening of April 6.

One 16-year-old has been arrested while police have located a 14-year-old suspect and also have warrants for two 15-year olds.

The Grove City Division of Police is still actively following up leads on the suspects.

According to Grove City police, the robberies happened about 15 minutes apart. The victims reported seeing three to four men and at least two with a gun.

Police believe the same group of suspects could be connected to a robbery in Columbus.

One woman said she was dragged from her car and still is healing from her injuries.

Grove City investigators say one victim arrived home and parked her car when four males approached her. At least two of them had guns. The took her keys and stole her rental car, according to the victim.

Fifteen minutes earlier, police responded to a robbery about two miles from that home.

They say the victims reported they had just pulled into their garage and parked the vehicle.

The garage door was open and as they exited the car, three males appeared and two of the males had guns.

Investigators say the suspects took one of the victim’s laptop computer and a cell phone from the other victim.

The Grove City Police Department said it's working with the Columbus Division of Police who reported a similar robbery on Saturday, with possibly the same suspects.

If you have any information about these robberies call the Grove City Police Department at 614-277-1710.

Starbucks, moving swiftly to confront a racially charged uproar over the arrest of two black men at one of its stores in Philadelphia, plans to close more than 8,000 U.S. stores for several hours next month to conduct racial-bias training for nearly 175,000 workers.

The announcement Tuesday comes after the arrests sparked protests and calls for a boycott on social media. A video shows police talking with two black men seated at a table. After a few minutes, officers handcuff the men and lead them outside as other customers say they weren't doing anything wrong. Philadelphia-area media said the two were waiting for a friend.

Starbucks, which was once ridiculed for urging its employees to write "Race Together" on coffee cups to start a national conversation on race relations, has found itself through the looking glass: under fire for its treatment of black people.

The company reacted from a high level: Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson called the arrests "reprehensible" and said he wanted to apologize to the two men face-to-face. The company and a lawyer for the two men said they did meet, and Johnson delivered the apology. Starbucks also said the employee who called police no longer works at the store, but declined to give details.

Johnson had also promised to revamp store management training to include "unconscious-bias" education. Starbucks said its U.S. company-owned stores and corporate offices will be closed on the afternoon of May 29 for the training, which will eventually be incorporated into the instruction process for all newly hired employees.

The episode highlights the risks large corporations run when they tie their brands so closely to social messaging. In 2015, then-CEO Howard Schultz shrugged off the "Race Together" fiasco as a well-intentioned mistake and pressed on with his public efforts to engage in the debate over race in America. Johnson was scrambling to keep the Philadelphia incident from shattering the message Schultz was going for: Starbucks is a corporation that stands for something beyond profit.

"The more your brand is trying to connect emotionally to people, the more hurt people feel when these kinds of things happen," said Jacinta Gauda, the head of the Gauda Group, a New York strategic communications firm affiliated with the Grayling network. "They are breaking a promise. That's what makes it hurt deeper."

Beyond racial relations, Starbucks has staked much of its brand on its dual promise of providing good customer service and treating its employees well, said John Gordon, a restaurant industry analyst with Pacific Management Consulting Group. The Seattle-based company has a reputation for well-managed stores, "a point of difference that allows them to sell primarily drinks and coffees that have a higher cost," he said.

But in a multinational company with more than 28,000 stores worldwide, there has "to be a situation every day where some human being handles things wrong. You can't have that many employees and not have something stupid happen," Gordon said. "Even with a huge operations manual that lays out what to say and what to do, you can't cover everything."

Starbucks set its own high bar.

Last month, the company claimed it had achieved 100 percent pay equity across gender and race for all its U.S. employees and committed to doing the same for its overseas operations, an initiative publicly backed by equality activist Billie Jean King. The company also touts the diversity of its workforce, saying minorities comprise more than 40 percent of its employees in the U.S.

In 2016, Starbucks promised to invest in 15 "underserved" communities across the country, trying to counter an image of a company catering to a mostly white clientele. One of those stores opened in Ferguson, Missouri, the scene of 2014 protests following the police shooting of Michael Brown, one of several such killings that moved Schultz to launch the Race Together campaign.

Gauda, who has developed workplace inclusion and diversity strategies for corporate clients, cautioned that any unconscious-bias training should not be treated as "special subject" but incorporated as a core part of its employee training. She warned Starbucks against treating Philadelphia as a one-off affair, urging the company to investigate whether there were any warning signs.

"The company is in crisis mode now, but they should not look at this as an isolated issue," Gauda said.

In a statement, Johnson promised that "closing our stores for racial bias training is just one step in a journey that requires dedication from every level of our company and partnerships in our local communities."

Starbucks said the curriculum for the training would be developed with input from several experts, including Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

The company said the educational materials would eventually be shared with its licensed stores. In addition to the company-owned stores, Starbucks had as of January about 5,700 licensed stores in the United States, such as the ones inside Target and Barnes & Noble stores.

Gauda and other corporate communications experts said they were impressed with Johnson's hands-on approach to the crisis.

"I'm actually surprised he is handling it the way a CEO should be handling it. He went in head first and he took the blame for it," said M.J. McCallum, vice president and creative director of Muse Communications, an advertising and communications agency with an African-American focus. "I definitely applaud that. Most people won't jump on the bomb."

10TV Meteorologist Chris Bradley is sharing another update on his recovery.

Chris shared on his Facebook page that he will undergo a bone marrow test on Wednesday.

"Since February the biopsy numbers have been a blessing dropping from 90% to 47% to 7%. We need tomorrow's test to show the leukemia numbers under 5%."

Chris was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in March 2017.

In January, Chris started a new clinical trial medication after undergoing a stem cell transplant.

A seven-figure settlement has been approved for one of the victims of the deadly accident at the Ohio State Fair.

One of the six gondolas on the Fire Ball at the Ohio State Fair broke loose, killing 18-year-old Tyler Jarrell, and injuring seven others on July 26, 2017. Four of those seven victims suffered critical injuries: Keziah Lewis, 22, Jennifer Lambert, 18, Tamika Dunlap, 36, and Russell Franks, 42.

In court records obtained by 10TV they are referred to as the "catastrophic victims."

Tuesday, a Licking County Probate judge approved a partial settlement to compensate Lambert.

Settlement documents say "Jennifer has not been home since the date of the accident. She was first treated (at the hospital) for a traumatic brain injury."

Lambert currently is at "an intermediate care facility," where she "seems to be progressing," but "it is unknown whether she will ever be self-supporting."

So far, the filing says, her medical expenses total more than $455,000.

The attorneys for the five catastrophic victims say they have been in coordinated settlement talks with three parties related to the Fire Ball ride: Its operator, Amusements of America, and "two companies that had previously inspected the Fire Ball,” identified as Comspeq and Soil Consultants.

"Jennifer's claims were settled for a total of $1,769,703.40," the filing says.

Minus attorneys’ fees of $589,901.14 and other expenses, Lambert will net $1,103,953.31.

Half of that will go into a trust, the other half to purchase an annuity that will pay her "$1,267 per month for the rest of her life."

This settlement would not the end of potential litigation.

The filing says the five catastrophic victims "are still considering claims against the designer, manufacturer and supplier of the Fire Ball."

Previous Coverage

• State declines to fine, sanction ride operating company after fair tragedy
• $1.27 million settlement proposed for family of teen killed at Ohio State Fair
• Mother of teen killed in Ohio State Fair accident breaks silence
• New photos show detached gondola, severed ride arm in aftermath of State Fair accident

COLUMBUS -- A Galloway woman is being held on $1 million bond for charges on serious crimes in Pennsylvania.

According to court documents, Jasmine Browning, 24, was arraigned Tuesday morning and is being held on the hefty bond for being a fugitive from justice, a felony.

Court documents show she currently lives in Galloway.

According to documents obtained from Pennsylvania, Browning is facing two charges of conspiracy aggravated assault and two charges of conspiracy kidnapping to inflict injury or terror in an incident that occurred March 26, 2017.

Just in time for tax day: The IRS website to make payments is down. But you still have to pay your taxes.

The IRS did not have an immediate explanation for the failure.

It appears, based on a message on the site, that the online payment system became unavailable at 2:50 A.M. ET on Tuesday.

However, the initial message about the outage may have only confused visitors to the site. It said that the payment service, IRS Direct Pay, was experiencing both an unplanned and planned outage. The headline said the service would be available again on Dec. 31, 9999, but the message text the service would resume on September, 22, 2016.

The IRS has since updated the website to say it is temporarily unavailable. But the agency adds, "Note that your tax payment is due although IRS Direct Pay may not be available."

Tax day falls on April 17 this year because April 15 was a Sunday and April 16 was Emancipation Day, a holiday in Washington, D.C.

IRS Acting Commissioner David Kautter testified during a House Oversight Hearing Tuesday that a number of systems are down at the moment and that the agency is working to resolve the issue.

The IRS typically recommends that taxpayers use electronic filing to avoid common mistakes. Online filing is quicker than dropping something in the mail — when the site works, of course. Plus, electronic filers typically get any refund faster.

PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) -- A Southwest Airlines jet made an emergency landing at Philadelphia's airport Tuesday with part of the covering from its left engine ripped off and a window damaged. Neither the airline nor the Federal Aviation Administration explained what went wrong.

Passenger Marty Martinez told CBSN from the plane that a woman was injured and was taken off the plane.

"There was blood everywhere," Martinez told CBSN's Anne-Marie Green.

Details on the passenger's condition weren't immediately available.

Southwest said there were 143 passengers and five crew members onboard the Boeing 737, which was headed from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Dallas' Love Field. Passengers were seen walking off the plane onto the tarmac at the airport after landing around 11:20 a.m.

The Philadelphia airport tweeted that Flight 1380 "landed safely at PHL and passengers are being brought into the terminal." The airport said flights were continuing to depart from Philadelphia and that the FAA had lifted a ground stop for planes at other airports waiting to depart for Philadelphia.

The FAA said that the plane landed after the crew reported damage to one of the plane's engines, along with the fuselage and at least one window.

Martinez did a brief Facebook Live posting while wearing an oxygen mask. He posted, "Something is wrong with our plane! It appears we are going down! Emergency landing!! Southwest flight from NYC to Dallas!!"

Martinez told CBSN that he thought he was recording his "last moments."

After the plane landed, he posted photos of a damaged window near the engine.

News helicopter footage showed damage to the left engine and the tarmac covered with firefighting foam, although there were no signs of flames or smoke.

Tracking data from FlightAware.com shows the flight was heading west over New York's southern tier when it abruptly turned toward Philadelphia.

Southwest has about 700 planes, all of them 737s, including more than 500 737-700s like the one involved in Tuesday's emergency landing.

It is the world's largest operator of the 737. The Boeing 737 is the best-selling jetliner in the world and has a good safety record.

Investigators are likely to take apart the failed engine from Tuesday's plane and examine maintenance records as they try to piece together the cause of the explosion.

The flight was powered by CFM engines. An official told CBS News that CFM has sent representatives to the scene to support the investigation.

The engine failure was reminiscent of a similar event on a Southwest Boeing 737-700 jet in August 2016 as it flew from New Orleans to Orlando, Florida.

Shrapnel from the engine left a 5-by-16-inch hole just above the wing. Passenger oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling. Pilots landed the plane safely in Pensacola, Florida.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said one of the engine's fan blades broke off from the hub during the flight. The broken edge of the blade showed crack lines consistent with metal fatigue.

The NTSB was sending a go-team to the airport in Philadelphia to investigate and planned a 3 p.m. news conference.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Tuesday that part of a federal law that makes it easier to deport immigrants who have been convicted of crimes is too vague to be enforced.

The court's 5-4 decision — an unusual alignment in which new Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the four liberal justices — concerns a catchall provision of immigration law that defines what makes a crime violent. A conviction for a crime of violence makes deportation "a virtual certainty" for an immigrant, no matter how long he has lived in the United States, Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her opinion for the court.

The decision is a loss for President Donald Trump's administration, which has emphasized stricter enforcement of immigration law. In this case, President Barack Obama's administration took the same position in the Supreme Court in defense of the challenged provision.

With the four other conservative justices in dissent, it was the vote of the Trump appointee that was decisive in striking down the provision at issue. Gorsuch did not join all of Kagan's opinion, but he agreed with her that the law could not be left in place. Gorsuch wrote that "no one should be surprised that the Constitution looks unkindly on any law so vague that reasonable people cannot understand its terms and judges do not know where to begin in applying it."

The case turned on a decision from 2015 that struck down a similarly worded part of another federal law that imposes longer prison sentences on repeat criminals. The majority opinion, in that case, was one of the last written by Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016 and whose seat Gorsuch filled.

The 2015 decision "tells us how to resolve this case," Kagan wrote.

Tuesday's decision involves James Dimaya, a native of the Philippines who came to the United States legally as a 13-year-old in 1992. After he pleaded no contest to two charges of burglary in California, the government began deportation proceedings against him. The government argued among other things that he could be removed from the country because his convictions qualified as crimes of violence that allowed his removal under immigration law.

Immigration officials relied on a section of immigration law that lists crimes that make people eligible for deportation. The category in which Dimaya's convictions fell is a crime "that, by its very nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force...may be used in the course of committing the offense."

Immigration judges would have allowed Dimaya to be deported, but the federal appeals court in San Francisco struck down the provision as unconstitutionally vague. The Supreme Court affirmed that ruling Tuesday.

The decision does not interfere with the government's ability to deport people who are convicted of clearly violent crimes, including murder and rape, as well as drug trafficking and other serious offenses. The ruling is limited to a category of crimes that carry a prison term of more than a year, but do not otherwise comfortably fit in a long list of "aggravated felonies" that can lead to deportation.

The case was initially argued in January 2017 by a court that was short a member because of Scalia's death and the refusal of Senate Republicans to act on Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland. Deadlocked 4-4, the justices scheduled a new round of arguments once Gorsuch joined the court.

The case is Sessions v. Dimaya, 15-1498.

COLUMBUS -- Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted is reminding voters to cast their ballots in the May primary.

"One vote really can make the difference, so make sure your voice is heard," Husted said.

Early voting is underway across the state. Husted voted Tuesday morning at the Franklin County Board of Elections.

As of April 13th, more than 11,000 Ohio voters had cast their ballots and more than 116,000 absentee ballots had been requested by mail and in person.

More than 7 million registered voters are picking party nominees for governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor and treasurer.

They will also weigh in on a statewide ballot issue involving redistricting.

"If voters are frustrated by the political process, they're frustrated by gerrymandering, you literally have the opportunity to change all of that," Husted said. "How we elect our members of Congress. And ultimately I believe if it passes it will change the culture of Washington."

There are also nearly 500 local issues.

The primary is set for Tuesday, May 8th.

You can get a closer look at the issues and find your ballot here.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The Cleveland Indians have donated $37,000 for hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico.

In September, the team decided to donate a playoff share to relief efforts on the island, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria and where large areas remain without power. The donation made Monday, along with $4,000 given by the Cleveland Indians Wives Association, will go directly to communities where Indians All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor and catcher Roberto Perez grew up.

The Indians are in Puerto Rico to play a two-game series this week against the Minnesota Twins.

Perez and Lindor made trips to Puerto Rico during the offseason, donating time and some of their own money for bottled water and other goods.

Lindor took part in a baseball clinic Monday for kids at his grade school.

COLUMBUS -- Columbus-based Big Lots has announced the retirement of its CEO.

David Campisi served as president and CEO of the company headquartered in central Ohio.

The company says Campisi has been on a leave of absence for medical reasons since December 2017. He has decided to retire to focus fully on his health.

"On behalf of the Board, I want to thank David for his years of dedicated service to Big Lots," said Jim Chambers, non-executive chair of the Board. "David has provided strong leadership during an important period in the Company's history, and one of his lasting legacies will be the talented team that he developed at Big Lots. We sincerely appreciate David's many contributions to Big Lots and wish him a long and healthy retirement."

The company is now conducting a search to find his successor.

PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio -- Ohio natives Rascal Flatts are headlining the second annual Bash on the Bay Country Music Festival this summer.

The Grammy-award winning country music group will perform on Aug. 30 at the Put-in-Bay Airport as part of their "Back to US" tour presented by Ford F-Series.

Several other bands are set to take the stage including Chris Lane and the Cory Farley Band.

“Last year we proved that Put-in-Bay and the Shores & Islands region can put on an amazing show,” stated Tim Niese, festival organizer, and local businessperson. “Being able to secure a multi-award-winning group like Rascal Flatts will help us make this year’s festival bigger and better than ever.”

Gates for the festival will open at 3 p.m. Tickets for the festival are scheduled to go on sale Friday through Etix.com. A special Rascal Flatts VIP experience ticket also will be available.

You can find additional concert information here.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A closely watched medicine made from the marijuana plant reduces seizures in children with severe forms of epilepsy and warrants approval in the United States, health officials said Tuesday.

British drugmaker GW Pharmaceuticals is seeking permission to sell its purified form of an ingredient found in cannabis — one that doesn't get users high — as a medication for rare, hard-to-treat seizures in children. If successful, the company's liquid formula would be the first government-approved drug derived from the cannabis plant in the U.S.

The Food and Drug Administration's approval would technically limit the treatment to a small group of epilepsy patients. But doctors would have the option to prescribe it for other uses and it could spur new pharmaceutical research and interest into other cannabis-based products. Man-made versions of a different marijuana ingredient have previously been approved for other purposes.

The FDA posted its review of the experimental medication Epidiolex ahead of a public meeting Thursday when a panel of outside experts will vote on the medicine's safety and effectiveness. It's a non-binding recommendation that the FDA will consider in its final decision by late June.

Patients taking the treatment had fewer seizures, according to the FDA's internal review posted online. Scientists concluded that GW Pharmaceutical's submission "appears to support approval" despite some potential side effects including risks of liver injury.

More than two dozen states allow marijuana use for a variety of ailments, but the FDA has not approved it for any medical use. In 2016, the agency recommended against easing federal restrictions on marijuana. The U.S. continues to classify marijuana as a high-risk substance with no medical use, alongside other illicit drugs like heroin and LSD.

For years, desperate patients and parents have pushed for wider access to medical marijuana products for a host of conditions including pain, post-traumatic stress disorder and epilepsy, with only anecdotal stories and limited studies on their side.

But studies conducted by GW Pharmaceuticals have begun to change that picture.

Across three studies involving more than 500 patients, Epidiolex generally cut the number of monthly seizures by about 40 percent, compared with reductions between 15 and 20 percent for patients taking a dummy medicine.

Most patients in the study were already taking at least three other medications to try and control their seizures.

Epidiolex is essentially a pharmaceutical-grade version of cannabidiol, or CBD oil, which some parents have used for years to treat children with epilepsy. CBD is one of more than 100 chemicals found in the cannabis plant and it doesn't contain THC, the ingredient that gives marijuana its mind-altering effect.

CBD oil is currently sold online and in specialty shops across the U.S., though its legal status remains murky. Most producers say their oil is made from hemp, a plant in the cannabis family that contains little THC and can be legally farmed in a number of states for clothing, food and other uses.

A doctor who treats children with epilepsy says it's important to have an FDA-approved version of CBD.

"I think it needs to be approved because everyone is using it across the internet without knowing the safety ... and no one is watching the interactions with other drugs," said Dr. Joan Conry of Children's National Health System in Washington, who was not involved in the studies.

Conry and other researchers say it's not yet clear why CBD reduces seizures in some patients.

GW Pharmaceuticals makes its drug from cannabis plants that are specially bred to contain high levels of CBD. It's seeking approval for two rare forms of childhood epilepsy — Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndromes.

Common side effects included diarrhea, vomiting, fatigue and sleep problems. FDA reviewers flagged a more serious issue with potential liver injury, but said doctors could manage the risk by monitoring patients' enzyme levels.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York Jets center Nick Mangold has retired after an 11-year career in which he established himself as one of the NFL's best at his position.

The 34-year-old Mangold announced Tuesday morning on Twitter he will sign a one-day contract with the Jets to retire as a member of the team. Mangold didn't play last season after he was released by New York in February 2017.

The Jets will hold a news conference April 24 at their facility to honor the seven-time Pro Bowl selection.

Mangold was a first-round draft pick out of Ohio State in 2006 and immediately became a starter for New York.

Known for his consistency, sense of humor and blond, bushy Viking-like beard, Mangold was one of the most popular Jets players among teammates and fans.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Homelessness is a problem that affects people of all ages. Local advocacy group "See Kids Dream" recently teamed up with Crimson Cup Coffee to give students from Ohio Avenue Elementary the opportunity to help the homeless.

Students crafted an original video to create awareness about homelessness and to let people know there's somewhere they can go to get help. "For our video, we show, like, the organization that they can go to -- Huckleberry House -- and what they do there," said fifth-grader Jerome Johnson.

Melissa Rogner, director of marketing from Crimson Cup and a volunteer for Project Dream said, "It was really uplifting to see how children were empowered to think beyond themselves. And I think that's a cool component of how you build a really positive community."

Student Daylanie Johnson understands the importance of being involved in the community: "If you know somebody's struggling and you don't help them, it's a problem," he said. "Like, you need to help people when you know they're struggling."

See Kids Dream is actively involved in a number of projects that encourage critical thinking and civic engagement. Click here to learn more about the organization and they work they do.

TARRANT COUNTY, Texas -- A Texas jury on Monday convicted a man of killing a college student who was found dismembered, burned and with her heart cut out -- rejecting a defense attorney's argument that her client panicked only after the woman died during consensual sex.

Jurors in Fort Worth deliberated less than three hours before finding Charles Dean Bryant guilty of murder in the death of Jacqueline Vandagriff, a 24-year-old student at Texas Woman's University in Denton.

Hours later, he was sentenced to life in prison by the same jury.

Bryant, 31, also was found guilty of tampering with evidence and was sentenced to an additional 20 years on that conviction. The sentences will be served concurrently. The jury deliberated the sentences for about an hour Monday afternoon.

Defense attorney Glynis McGinty argued that Vandagriff died accidentally during consensual sex with Bryant. She said a plastic tie was placed around Vandagriff's neck, causing asphyxiation. Prosecutors countered that there's no evidence the two had sex.

McGinty said Bryant committed a crime by panicking and disposing of the woman's body in September 2016, but he did not commit murder.

But prosecutor Lucas Allan told jurors that contrary to defense claims, Bryant didn't "freak out" because Vandagriff died. Bryant deliberately killed her and calmly dismembered her body while cutting out her heart, Allan said.

"Why cut out the heart? What does it have to do with disposing of a body? He cut her heart out," the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Allan as telling jurors Monday. "I want that image to sink in."

Social media accounts, surveillance video and cellphone pings all put Vandagriff and Bryant, a fitness trainer, together at a bar in Denton and eventually at his home, reports CBS DFW. Investigators say there's also evidence someone had started digging a hole in Bryant's backyard. The spot is where officials say Bryant initially tried to bury Vandagriff.

Vandagriff's remains were found in a kiddie pool near Grapevine Lake two nights after the fatal encounter, the station reports. Her purse was found in the trash at Bryant's home.

Investigators later learned that a former girlfriend had a protective order against Bryant for allegedly stalking and harassing the woman.