On this day, Jan. 10, in 1997, 3-year-old Shelby Lynne Barrackman was strangled in Houston by her grandfather because she licked the icing off of cupcakes. David Andrew Douglas, 49, a restaurant dishwasher, was baby-sitting Shelby. He admitted to drinking lots of brandy. When he found that Shelby had eaten the icing, Douglas went into a drunken rage. The little girl began crying, and Douglas grabbed her neck and squeezed the life out of her.

In an effort to cover up the crime, Douglas reported to police that she must have wandered away while he was sleeping. Her body, clad in a sweat shirt and a disposable diaper, was found in a field behind the apartment. Nearby, buried under leaves, was a paper bag containing an empty brandy bottle, with a Douglas’ fingerprint on the bag.