Transcript Tiffany Cole

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Criminal Profile
Brooke Sanfilippo
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Good family relationships
Did well in school, never go into trouble with the law
Came from a law abiding family
Long-time neighbors with victim
Family friends with victims
Kept in touch with victim when they moved to Florida
Visited victims often
Had a boyfriend named Michael James Jackson
Later became friends with Alan Lyndell Wade and Bruce
Kent Nixon who were both drug addicts
Convicted of 2 first degree murders, 2 counts of robbery and 2 counts
of kidnapping on James and Carol Sumner
 Cole and three men, Jackson, Nixon, and Wade, drove to the Sumners’
home and asked to use their telephone. While using the telephone they
choked and gagged the Sumners with duct tape. They were then put in
the trunk of Cole’s car and taken over the state line to Georgia. They
also robbed the home. In Georgia, a grave was already dug by the
group for the victims. They then buried the Sumners alive.
 Evidence: shovels at the grave site, victims’ belongings in the trunk of
the car, purchasing records of duct tape the day of the crime
 Sentence: sentenced to death
 Quote about the criminal: “I’m glad this monster has to pay
with her life for this horrendous crime.”
Had no nickname First degree murder: murder that is willful and premeditated
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Robbery: the felonious taking of another’s property
Kidnapping: the taking of a person against their will
The Sociological Theory of Deviance that best explains Tiffany Cole’s
deviant behavior is the Differential Association Theory. This theory can best be
defined as how a person’s behavior is influenced by how the company that they
keep’s behavior. If the people that a person is constantly with acts deviant, it is
very likely that this person will develop deviant behaviors. Criminal behavior is
learned by interaction with others. In this case, Cole’s interaction with the drug
addicts and thieves caused her to act out deviously. Her values easily changed
to the criminal friends’ values very quickly. It was even faster than normal
because one of the deviants influencing her was her boyfriend. He was very
influential over Cole because they were constantly together. Due to this, Cole’s
thoughts began to change from innocent to deviant. Her friends were also
deviant so this multiplied the bad influences on a once innocent woman.
Tiffany Cole was once a law abiding citizen, but now she is no longer that. She
is now a murderer due to those she was newly associated with.
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Wicked Attraction: Good Deeds Punished
Snapped: Killer Couples