Dad's girlfriend accused of beating 7-year-old boy nearly to death; wanted "revenge" against boy's mother (Shasta County, California)

Read this article. Do you see what's hidden in plain sight or out-and-out missing? If not, I'll point it out to you. Because this article is a classic in how to confuse and mislead the reader.

1) Notice that you have to wade through 12 PARAGRAPHS to find out that this little boy's father's girlfriend was the legal guardian! Who the hell gave her legal guardianship and why? What role did the father play in making sure his gal pal got the kid, and not the boy's mother?

2) Notice that the psycho girlfriend and her equally psycho brother are both charged in the severe beating of this boy that took place OVER A WEEK at the girlfriend's mobile home. Or was it the couple's mobile home? Not made clear here at all which it was. Why?

3) Two scenarios are possible here. Either Daddy dumped the kid with his psycho girlfriend for a least a week--if not longer--or he was in the home when this beating took place over a week. Yet there is NO REFERENCE HERE TO DADDY BEING CHARGED.

4) The girlfriend says she wanted "revenge" against the boy's mother--even though Daddy already had already stripped her of custody! See an abuser dynamics going on here? That the boy was a handy scapegoat for violence against his mother? Daddy didn't have anything to do with encouraging or contributing to this dynamic? And knew nothing about it? And was deaf and blind to her abusive behavior?

5) If the sexes were reversed, and this was the boyfriend of the custodial mother, wouldn't we see her roundly condemned as an unfeeling slut who had failed to protect her child? Wouldn't we see her name dragged through the mud? Wouldn't we see her charged with neglect for "allowing" this abuse to happen?

6) But notice a curious thing. The girlfriend is named. Her brother is named. The mother is named. The assorted judges are named (in fact, three are named in all). The deputy district attorney is named. BUT NOT THE FATHER. Nope, we have an UNNAMED DAD in this case. How did Daddy manage to keep his name out of the paper?

7) Notice that the boy is now in foster care, not with Mom. Why?

http://www.redding.com/news/2011/mar/23/judge-woman-accused-in-boys-beating-fit-for/

Judge: Cottonwood-area woman accused in boy's beating fit for trial
7-year-old had 10 broken ribs, collapsed lung
By Dylan Darling
Record Searchlight
Posted March 23, 2011 at 10:26 p.m.
Rachel Limon is accused of attempted murder in the beating of a 7-year-old boy.

Gregory Limon is accused of child abuse, being an accessory and obstruction of justice.

A judge Wednesday determined for the second time that a Cottonwood-area woman accused of beating a 7-year-old boy to near death in December 2009 is fit to stand trial.

After reviewing a report filed by two court-appointed doctors, Shasta County Superior Court Judge Dan Flynn said the jury trial for Rachel Limon, 28, will start on Aug. 23.

Limon is accused of attempted murder and other charges in the beating case. She's being held at the Shasta County jail in lieu of $1.5 million.

It wasn't the first time the trial has been delayed so Limon could undergo mental evaluation. In January 2010, after Limon's attorney complained that she had been unresponsive to his questions, Superior Court Judge James Ruggiero ordered an evaluation. The judge reinstated the case five weeks later after a doctor found her competent.

Her brother, Gregory Matthew Limon, 23, also is accused of child abuse, being an accessory and obstruction of justice in the case and will be tried with his sister. He is free on $50,000 bail.

Gregory Limon declined to comment after the ruling.

Shasta County sheriff's investigators accuse the siblings of teaming up in one of the most brutal child abuse cases in recent memory in the north state.

Acting on an anonymous tip on Dec. 11, 2009, sheriff's deputies found the beaten 7-year-old at a Rhonda Road mobile home near Cottonwood.

Investigators say the boy — who had 10 broken ribs, a lacerated spleen and liver, two broken vertebra, and a collapsed lung – and would have died within a day had he not been treated by a doctor.

After a two-week stay at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, the boy was released into foster care on Dec. 24. Since the boy entered foster care there has been no way to check on his recovery.

Rachel Limon, who was the girlfriend of the boy's father, was the boy's legal guardian at the time of the beating. Sheriff's detectives testified at a preliminary hearing last March that the abuse occurred over about a week in late 2009.

The detectives said Rachel Limon admitted to having caused some of the boy's wounds as a way to get revenge against the boy's biological mother, Melissa Radford, 28.

Rachel Limon faces several life sentences if convicted and Gregory Limon faces nearly seven years in prison if convicted, Ben Hanna, the Shasta County deputy district attorney prosecuting the case has said.

On Jan. 21 Shasta Superior Court Judge Anthony Anderson dismissed a separate attempted murder case against Gregory Limon after the man Limon was accused of stabbing refused to testify against him.

Limon was accused of stabbing his roommate, Raul Lopez, who at the time was 33, on Sept. 20 last year. Lopez is the uncle of the boy who was beaten, and sheriff's detectives said the stabbing happened when the two men were arguing about the child abuse case. The stabbing reportedly took place at the same home where deputies found the injured boy.