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Sept. 29, 2025, 5:15 AM EDTBy Tim StellohThe trial of a Texas woman with a grim relationship history is set to begin this week in a courtroom near Houston in connection with allegations that she killed her most recent husband with a fatal dose of insulin.Jury selection for Sarah Hartsfield, a former U.S. Army sergeant who has been married five times and whose third husband previously accused her of asking her fourth husband to kill his new wife, is scheduled to begin Monday.She is charged with one count of murder in the January 2023 death of Joseph Hartsfield, 46. She has pleaded not guilty.More on Sarah HartsfieldAfter 5-time bride is charged in husband’s murder, other deaths get a fresh look Sarah Hartsfield’s marriages and romances often ended under grim circumstancesMurder suspect’s son has been waiting for his mom’s arrest his whole lifeHartsfield fatally shot her fiancé in 2018Sarah Hartsfield, 50, has admitted to fatally shooting another romantic partner — a former fiancé — in self-defense in Minnesota in 2018. She was cleared of wrongdoing, but a local prosecutor said he was re-examining the case after she was indicted on the murder charge in Joseph Hartsfield’s death.The status of that inquiry is unclear. The prosecutor, Chad Larson, did not respond to a request for comment.At the time of her indictment in Joseph Hartsfield’s death, the sheriff overseeing the case described Sarah Hartsfield’s past relationships ominously: “Everybody wants out of it because they fear for their life,” he told NBC affiliate KPRC of Houston.The trial in Texas’ Chambers County is expected to take two to three weeks.FULL EPISODE: Along Came Sarah08:31Sarah Hartsfield’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. A previous lawyer, Keaton Kirkwood, said she maintains her innocence and planned to assist the investigation into her husband’s “untimely death.”“We adamantly denounce the misinformation that has been provided to the public regarding her past,” the lawyer told KPRC in 2023.Kirkwood withdrew from the case that year over what he described as an irreconcilable conflict of interest with Hartsfield.“She is not wanting to follow the advice of her legal counsel and has taken actions that have precipitated said conflict,” he wrote in a filing.An insulin overdoseJoseph and Sarah Hartsfield had been married for 11 months when he was hospitalized on Jan. 7, 2023, with what a nurse described as a life-threatening illness, according to an affidavit in support of a search warrant.He was diabetic and was admitted to a hospital east of Houston with low blood sugar, but he didn’t respond to glucose and his blood sugar kept crashing, the affidavit states.The nurse suspected insulin — the lifesaving drug that can double as a difficult-to-detect murder weapon — may have been to blame for his condition, according to the affidavit.At the hospital, Joseph Hartsfield’s family told authorities that he’d recently returned to his hometown, opened a new bank account and planned to divorce his wife.“He was concerned for his safety, thinking Sarah might try to kill him,” the affidavit states.Facebook messages that Sarah Hartsfield sent a friend weeks before his hospitalization show her disparaging her husband.“I’ve paid for everything to the point I have nothing left,” she wrote in the messages, which the friend shared with NBC News. “He was just looking for a meal ticket and way back to a lifestyle he could never attain on his own.”Joseph Hartsfield was pronounced dead on Jan. 15, according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. The nurse’s suspicion was later confirmed by the institute, which concluded that he died from complications of toxic effects of insulin.His manner of death was listed as undetermined.Hartsfield testified at a March 2023 bond hearing that her husband died from a stroke that resulted from a “100 percent clogged artery,” a transcript shows. She attributed that cause of death to the lead neurologist who treated her husband.After Joseph Hartsfield’s death, she wrote on Facebook that she was “numb and lost” without him and listening to old phone messages to hear his voice.“I guess I’m going to try to sleep, I can’t possibly cry and weep anymore than I have this evening,” she wrote on Jan. 27. “I love you Joseph Hartsfield.”She was arrested a week later.Fiancé fatally shotHartsfield testified at the bond hearing that she shot her former partner David Bragg in 2018 after he became upset about her third husband coming to town to see their children.The couple, who were briefly engaged, had moved to Minnesota a few months before after meeting at Fort Hood, according to Hartsfield’s son.David Bragg.KPRCDuring the hearing, Hartsfield testified that she “took the beating of my life for letting my child see her father.”She said she dove to the floor and “blindly fired” after Bragg threatened to shoot her.“I didn’t aim,” she testified. “It was such an automatic response.”The Douglas County attorney who later reopened the investigation into Bragg’s death concluded in 2019 that Sarah Hartsfield had “no reasonable possibility of retreating.” Bragg’s family described the circumstances surrounding his death as “farfetched, and almost made up.”An alleged murder plotTwo years later, the third husband, Christopher Donohue, sought a protection order against Sarah Hartsfield. In an affidavit in support of the order, Donohue alleged that Sarah Hartsfield’s fourth husband told him that she’d been pushing him for months to kill Donohue’s new wife.She’d given her fourth husband, David George, a pistol to carry out the act and wouldn’t let him come home until he’d done so, according to the affidavit.In an interview with “Dateline,” George said he had no intention of following through with the alleged plot. During the bond hearing in her fifth husband’s death, Hartsfield said George made a “full retraction” of the claim that she’d pressured him to carry out the shooting, which she said he made for “retaliation purposes.” She has not been charged with a crime in the alleged plot.Donohue has declined previous interview requests. The two ex-husbands have been subpoenaed to testify at Hartsfield’s trial.Tim StellohTim Stelloh is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

- Latest News - September 29, 2025

The trial of a Texas woman with a grim relationship history is set to begin this week in a courtroom near Houston in connection with allegations that she killed her.

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Sept. 29, 2025, 5:00 AM EDTBy Scott Wong, Sahil Kapur and Yamiche AlcindorWASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with the top four congressional leaders Monday in a high-stakes sit-down at the White House that could determine whether the federal government shuts down this week.Funding is set to run out at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday unless Trump and leaders on Capitol Hill can reach an eleventh-hour agreement.The Democratic leaders of the House and the Senate, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, both of New York, as well as their Republican counterparts, House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, are expected to attend.The standoff represents a test of wills between the parties, with Republicans determined to flex their muscle after they won full control of the government last year, while Democrats face a restive base and see a rare opportunity to advance health care policy goals, like extending key Obamacare subsidies.Six months ago, Democrats caved in to a GOP-written funding bill, but they insist that won’t happen again unless they have a say in the final legislative product.Even though Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, Democrats have leverage because it takes 60 votes to pass a bill through the Senate; the GOP has 53 seats.Schumer made it clear Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the only way to avoid a shutdown is for Republicans to get serious about negotiating with Democrats to win their votes, and he outlined demands on health care policy.“We need the meeting,” Schumer said. “It’s a first step, but only a first step. We need a serious negotiation. Now, if the president at this meeting is going to rant and just yell at Democrats and talk about all his alleged grievances and say this, that and the other thing, we won’t get anything done.”But Thune vowed that Republican leaders won’t negotiate on a short-term bill. Instead, he said, they’re willing to come to a compromise with Democrats on a longer-term government funding bill.“What the Democrats have done here is take the federal government as a hostage — and for that matter, by extension, the American people — to try and get a whole laundry list of things that they want that special interest groups on the far left are pushing them to accomplish,” Thune said on “Meet the Press.”Leader Thune says government shutdown is ‘totally up to the Democrats’: Full interview18:12Unless one party backs down or softens its demands, the U.S. government is on track for a shutdown in less than 48 hours. Senators will return to Washington on Monday evening with no clear plan, while the House is out of session.If the government shuts down, none of the millions of federal workers in the United States would be paid, and hundreds of thousands of them would be furloughed. In recent days, White House officials had tried to allow military personnel to continue receiving pay during a shutdown, according to a source familiar with the discussions, but those efforts were unsuccessful. So military personnel wouldn’t be paid during a shutdown, either.All federal workers, including military personnel, would be paid back after a shutdown ends, whether they were required to work during the closure or not.A prolonged government shutdown could put significant strain on federal workers and military members who would forgo their paychecks. But it also could be dangerous for a U.S. economy that is showing signs of fragility. While the stock market continues to hit highs, inflation has remained stubbornly high; Trump’s tariffs are hurting U.S. farmers, small businesses and consumers; and recent college graduates face a tough job market.Speaking to NBC News by phone Sunday, Trump warned that there could be a shutdown and reiterated an earlier threat that a closure could result in his administration’s mass firings of federal workers.“There is a possibility, yeah,” he said of a shutdown. “And if there is, we are going to cut a lot of the people that … we’re able to cut on a permanent basis, and we will be doing that. I’d rather not do that.”In addition to extending Obamacare funding, Democrats are demanding to roll back cuts and changes to Medicaid that were enacted in Trump’s sweeping domestic agenda law.Trump has responded by accusing Democrats of trying to permit health care for undocumented immigrants, which they flatly dismiss as a lie.“The problem we have with the shutdown is that Democrats want to do all health care for illegal immigrants … many of whom are criminal and that we are removing from our country,” Trump told NBC News. “We’re not going to do that.”Monday’s meeting is a sign that neither party wants a shutdown — or that both sides are concerned about getting blamed in the event of one. Trump abruptly canceled a meeting with Democratic leaders last week, making a shutdown seem practically inevitable. And Republicans and Democrats have been pointing fingers at each other in recent days as the deadline ticks closer. But the risk of a shutdown — which would be the first federal closure in Trump’s second term — remains extremely high. This month, the House passed a stopgap bill to avoid a shutdown that would extend government funding at current levels through Nov. 21. The House isn’t scheduled to be back in session until Oct. 7, one week after the shutdown deadline.The Senate rejected both the House-passed extension and a separate Democratic plan that would permanently extend Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of the year and reverse Medicaid cuts enacted in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”If a last-minute deal is unexpectedly reached, Johnson would need to call House members back to Washington on short notice to keep the government’s lights on. Although the House is out of session, Jeffries has asked House Democrats to return to Washington on Monday evening to show they are working to solve the impasse.Scott WongScott Wong is a senior congressional reporter for NBC News. Sahil KapurSahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.Yamiche AlcindorYamiche Alcindor is a White House correspondent for NBC News.Monica Alba contributed.

- Latest News - September 29, 2025

President Donald Trump will meet with congressional leaders on Monday to discuss whether the federal government shuts down later this week.

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Sept. 28, 2025, 11:48 PM EDTBy Dennis RomeroThe person accused in a fatal shooting and fire Sunday at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, is a 40-year-old area man with a military background.Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, is from Burton, a city of nearly 30,000 people roughly 6 miles from Grand Blanc Township. Both are suburbs of Flint.Police said the attacker rammed the church with a vehicle, got out and opened fire with an assault rifle. Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye said he also used an accelerant to start a fire, which was later contained.Follow live updates here.At least four people were killed in the attack, two of whom were shot, and eight were injured.Officers killed Sanford in a parking lot behind the church, police said.The FBI’s special agent in charge for Michigan, Reuben Coleman, said Sunday night that the bureau is looking for a motive.“The FBI is now leading the investigation and is investigating this as an act of targeted violence,” he said.Thomas Jacob Sanford.HandoutSanford joined the Marine Corps in 2004, according to Marine records, and held the titles of organizational automotive mechanic and vehicle recovery operator.In 2007, he started a nearly seven-month deployment under Operation Iraqi Freedom and left the corps a few months later, the records show.Sanford achieved the rank of sergeant and had his last duty assignment at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina before he left the Marines in June 2008, according to the records.He was awarded the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal, the records show.Drone video shows Michigan church on fire after shooting00:18A 2007 article in the Clarkston News, a publication in the village of Clarkston, about 20 miles southeast of Grand Blanc Township, said Sanford graduated in 2003 from Goodrich High School, about 12 miles east of the shooting site.Goodrich Area Schools officials did not immediately respond to a request to confirm Sanford’s attendance and graduation from the high school.At the time, according to the article, Sanford was soon to be deployed to Fallujah, Iraq.“I’m looking forward to seeing the culture and the people of Iraq,” Sanford is quoted as saying. “I’ll return with the real news of the situation.”The article says a grandfather served in the Navy and an uncle served in the Marines, both in World War II. His father, Thomas Sanford, is quoted as saying: “Jake’s going voluntarily and plans on returning to his community when his service is over. We are very proud of him.”Thomas Jacob Sanford appeared to have a young child, according to a review of a Facebook page belonging to a woman believed to be his wife.A voicemail message left for a phone number listed for his parents was not returned. Attempts to reach his wife were unsuccessful.Dennis RomeroDennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.Donna Mendell, Jean Lee, Sheena Jones, Courtney Kube and Mosheh Gains contributed.

- Latest News - September 29, 2025

The person accused in a fatal shooting and fire Sunday at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, is a 40-year-old area man with.

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