Custodial dad charged with rape and murder of teen daughter who was labeled a "runaway" in 2006 (Ceres, California)

Disgusting. Notice how custody was taken away from the mother because she was "depressed" from being abused. She was forced to flee to out-of-state shelters--even ran to CANADA--to escape her violent husband. And the result is that she socked with a custody suit which went on for 8 FREAKING YEARS. Typical control freak abuser sh**. No wonder she was "depressed." In reality, she was worn out and exhausted, and I don't suppose it really lifts your mood when some moronic "court investigator" labels you an "unfit parent" because you've been in fighting mode for so many years, and nothing you do manages to secure your safety or the safety of your children.  

So instead of jailing daddy for his abuse, giving Mom sole custody, and allowing her to move where she likes, the courts GIVE DAD MARK EDWARD MESITI CUSTODY. Despite a history of drug/alcohol abuse, domestic violence, "anger" issues, and general criminality, this father got custody of two teenagers. But then Daddy had money, and Mom didn't.

Before the year is out, Daddy and the new step report the teen daughter as a "runaway."

Notice that during this short time, child welfare workers received "several warnings of danger in the home" and even the police have been out to the house on "multiple visits." Even the children's attorney was "deeply concerned."  But typically, nothing happened to change the situation.

Mom told the police she didn't think the girl was a runaway, that she should be classified as a missing person. But they ignored her. The typical treatment that women and mothers get from those in authority.

Three years later, in 2009, police found the daughter's body buried in the backyard of the home Daddy had been renting at the time--but only after a "cold case" investigator took an interest in the case and pushed the matter.

Daddy is now charged with rape and murder. In fact, NOW the police have found "computer" evidence (a videotape?) that Daddy sexually assaulted the girl while she was apparently drugged and unconscious.

But who were the judge, the "court investigator," and other "professionals" who handed this girl over to a known abuser? Where are their names? Why aren't they held accountable?

http://www.modbee.com/2011/06/02/1716153/father-charged-in-death.html

Friday, Jun. 03, 2011
Ceres father charged in death

Body of 14-year-old girl was found in back yard in 2009
By Sue Nowicki

Alycia Mesiti was 14 years old in August 2006, enrolled to attend the year-old Central Valley High School in Ceres. But before classes began, her father and his girlfriend reported her as a runaway.

In March 2009, officers unearthed Alycia's body in the back yard of the home the family rented in the 3500 block of Alexis Court in west Ceres.

Her father, Mark Edward Mesiti, was booked at the Stanislaus County Jail on Thursday afternoon on charges of murder with malice, one count of lewd and lascivious acts on a child, and one count of rape or sodomy. He is expected to be arraigned today or Monday in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

The tragic story that has taken years to unfold includes plenty of red flags of potential problems, from an eight-year custody dispute to a disturbing report by a court- ordered attorney.

According to previous stories in the SanJose Mercury News, the Ceres Courier and The Bee, as well as law enforcement reports, here is what happened:

Custody battle

Alycia and her older brother were placed in her father's custody in November 2005, about the time the family moved to Ceres. In the previous seven years, Mesiti was convicted of bank fraud and drunken driving, and charged with domestic violence. He was ordered to attend anger-management classes and landed in prison after failing to attend court-ordered drug and alcohol treatment programs.

But the children's mother, Roberta Allen, had her own problems. She battled depression and a court investigator called her an unfit parent. There were reports of a suicide attempt and fights with the two children. She told a Mercury News reporter that she suffered years of persecution by Mesiti and had fled to other states and even to Canada, where she and the children lived in battered women's shelters.

She said her husband could afford to hire an attorney in the custody battle, while her own responses were handwritten.

As the battle raged for eight years, the children at times stayed with aunts and grandparents.

In the nine months the two teenagers lived with Mesiti before Alycia was reported missing, the children's court-appointed lawyer, Jonnie Herring, wrote in her report to a Santa Clara County judge that she was "deeply concerned about both minors, especially Alycia."

Police and child welfare workers received several warnings of danger in the home. Ceres police confirmed multiple visits there.

Then, on Aug. 16, 2006, Mesiti and his girlfriend, Shelly Walker-Welborn, called police and told them Alycia had run away from home. They said she had left Aug. 11 to visit friends in San Jose, where they had lived previously. They also claimed she had called Aug. 13 to say she was going camping with other, unnamed friends. Mesiti said his daughter had been acting out and having trouble adjusting to life in the valley after their move.

Allen, a restaurant worker in 2009, said she called the Ceres police to say she didn't believe her daughter had run away and instead should be classified as a missing person.

"The police stopped taking my calls," she said in 2009. "They said, 'She'll come home.' "

Four months after reporting Alycia missing, Mesiti and Walker-Welborn moved to Los Angeles.

New effort on cold case

The case languished until the early months of 2009, when Sgt. James Robbins became the investigations supervisor for Ceres police. He ordered new interviews, which ultimately led to a cadaver dog being taken to the family's old home.

Three days after Alycia's body was discovered in a grave 6 feet by 6 feet by 4 feet deep adjacent to the patio, Los Angeles police went to Mesiti and Walker-Welborn's apartment and found it full of equipment to make methamphetamine. They arrested the couple and placed Walker-Welborn's 12-year-old daughter in protective custody.

Charges later were dropped against Walker-Welborn, who testified against Mesiti.


Mesiti was convicted March 18 of manufacturing methamphetamine; on May 12, he was sentenced to five years in state prison. He was sent to North Kern State Prison in Delano, about 35 miles northwest of Bakersfield.

Ceres police picked him up there Thursday morning, said Deputy Police Chief Mike Borges.

According to an affidavit filed June 4, 2009, Ceres police officer Keith Griebel said Mesiti "has admitted to burying Alycia and a search of Mark's computer after it was seized pursuant to a search warrant shows evidence Alycia was being sexually assaulted on several different times by Mark while she was apparently unconscious."

In an apparently unrelated case, Gregory Joseph Ulrich, a 53-year-old Modesto man who knew Mesiti, was convicted in April 2006 of molesting Alycia. He was released from jail a few days before Alycia's disappearance.

Borges said it has taken police more than two years to get custody of Mesiti because "he was using delaying tactics" on his meth conviction in Los Angeles. "He went through probably four attorneys. Finally, the judge had enough and he went to trial."

Alycia's memorial was held in Cupertino in April 2009. She was described as a girl who liked horses and the music of Shakira, one who was pictured cooking macaroni and cheese and hugging a Snoopy doll.

Allen, her mom, was having trouble sleeping back then. She had last seen her daughter one day in 2006 when they ate lunch together in downtown San Jose. She next saw Alycia at the Stanislaus County coroner's office.

"There was nothing left of her," Allen said.