'Jerry Springer' Ex-Producer Jill Blackstone Arrested for Murder

Jill Blackstone, a former producer on Jerry Springer, has been arrested and charged in connection to the 2015 death of her sister.

According to TMZ, Blackstone, who was a former producer on Jerry Springer and Sally Jessy Raphael, was arrested at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland on Tuesday, April 10, on a warrant for murder and three counts of animal cruelty.

Blackstone's arrest stems from the March 2015 death of her sister, Wendy Blackstone, who died from a combination of carbon monoxide poisoning and Xanax.

It was originally believed that Wendy, who was blind and partially deaf, had committed suicide, as authorities had discovered her clutching a handwritten note in one hand and a barbecue grill placed at Wendy's feet, according to the Daily Mail.

When paramedics arrived to the scene, they discovered Wendy and three dogs dead in the garage. Jill, too, had suffered from severe carbon monoxide poisoning after the incident and had to spend two days recovering in a hospital.

After being discharged, Blackstone was charged with first-degree murder and held on $1 million bail, though she was later released and all charges against her were dropped.

The suicide note, however, is now believed to have been written by her sister, Jill Blackstone, and authorities have since begun to paint a much darker picture of the events that led to Wendy's death.

Law enforcement now reportedly believes that Jill had assisted her sister, not out of vengeance, but mercy for her condition, according to another report by TMZ. It is also believed that there may have been a suicide pact that Jill had backed out of, leaving the enclosed garage before she, too, succumbed to the carbon monoxide being emitted from the grill.

"The police were here for 12 to 14 hours on Saturday. We were told they were investigating a double suicide, an attempt, and one of the people died. "[Jill and Wendy] were having a hard time finding a new home because the sister that died was very ill - she couldn't see, she couldn't hear, she was housebound, she was very ill. So she needed to find a house that could accommodate her sister with the illness and the dogs. Evidently the pressure was intense on them, but nobody expected this to happen," Stephanie Cohen, who lived across the street from the sisters, said at the time of the incident.

Following her arrest, Blackstone now faces extradition to Los Angeles for prosecution.