Joint custody dad, fiancee charged in death of 2-year-old daughter; protective mother speaks out (Carthage, Missouri)

Due to the influence of fathers rights ideology, mothers are being pressured, brainwashed, and bullied into joint custody with fathers where there was never a marital relationship or even long-term committed relationship. That is insane in itself. But add a bullying, controlling violent father into the mix, a young child who cannot communicate with the mother, and thousands of miles of distance, and you have a recipe for disaster.

There is ZERO reason for a 2-year-old child being forced into joint custody. Young children need loving, consistent care by a primary caregiver. They do not need to be shipped from Hawaii to Missouri like so much freight.

Dad is identified as ALBERT STEVEN O'CONNOR.

See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Missouri.

http://www.carthagepress.com/article/20150902/NEWS/150909755/?Start=1

Mother speaks about girl killed in child abuse case

The mother of a two-year-old girl, found dead in a Carthage home had just last week booked a flight to Joplin to pick up the girl and take her to her home in Hawaii as part of a shared custody agreement she had with the baby's father.

By John Hacker Posted Sep. 2, 2015 at 9:41 AM

The mother of a two-year-old girl, found dead in a Carthage home had just last week booked a flight to Joplin to pick up the girl and take her to her home in Hawaii as part of a shared custody agreement she had with the baby's father.

Frida Hoeft hadn't seen little Emalata Hoeft since March in California.

“That was the last time I gave her the last hug and her last kiss and told her I'd be back for her soon,” Frida Hoeft said in a telephone interview with The Carthage Press. “Now I'm going to be back for her in a casket. It really sucks.”

What happened

Emalata Hoeft was found dead when Carthage fire, ambulance and police were called to the home at 1915 Missouri St. shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday for a medical call about an unresponsive child.

Medical personnel determined the child was dead and the man and woman in the home, who turned out to be the child's biological father and his fiancé, were questioned by police after they determined there was reason to believe the child's death was not natural causes.

Tearra Diane Olson, 20, and Albert Steven O'Connor, 26, were arrested on Saturday. #Olson was charged with the class A felony abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death, and is being held in the Jasper County Jail on a bond of $750,000 surety and $250,000 cash.

O'Connor was charged first degree endangering the welfare of a child and is being held on $200,000 bond cash or surety.

The probable cause affidavits, filed by Carthage police investigators to support the charges being sought against suspects, paint a picture of neglect turning into an explosion of physical abuse that resulted in the child's death.

CPD Det. Adam Blankenship said in the affidavit on O'Connor that O'Connor worked at the Butterball plant while Olson worked at Flex-o-Lators.

The affidavit alleges that O'Connor “left the two-year-old child at home alone while he and his fiancé were both at work, with no supervision and shut up in the child's bedroom with only a sippy cup of water to drink.”

The affidavit said this happened from 9 a.m. - 2:45 p.m. On Aug. 24, 25, 26 and 28.

The document also said a baby sitter who had cared for the child had not had her in her care since Aug. 21 because the babysitter was out of town.

Carthage Det. Ben Vogt wrote the affidavit in Olson's case.

 He said officers were called to the home at 8:08 a.m. Saturday for the report of an unresponsive child.

He said officers contacted Olson and O'Connor and found the child dead in the back bedroom of the home.

“Tearra Diane Olson was later interviewed and disclosed to an officer that she struck (name redacted) head 3 times on a hard surface at approximately (6 p.m.) on Aug. 28, 015,” the affidavit said. “Olson stated she struck E.H. Due to her screaming, crying and refusing to eat her dinner. (Name redacted) was not breathing and Olson then placed (name redacted) in her bed and closed the door.”

Carthage Police Chief Greg Dagnan said O'Connor was apparently not home at the time that Olson is alleged to have struck the child's head on the hard surface.

A mother grieves

Frida Hoeft said her daughter was the love of her life and and a very happy child.

“She was just a happy baby,” Friday Hoeft said. “She loved to dance, she loved to put smiles on people's faces, she loved to just laugh out of nowhere, she loved to play. She just loved everybody. She never put a frown on nobody's face.”

Frida Hoeft said she met Steven O'Connor in California and they had a brief relationship before Emalata was born.

Hoeft grew up in Hawaii, where her family lives, and had moved to “the states” on two occasions after graduation, once in 2010 and then in 2012 when she met O'Connor.

 Emalata was born in Sacramento and the relationship with O'Connor didn't last, but they were all living in California until early in 2015 when O'Connor announced he and his fiancé were moving to Missouri.

“Me and her father came to an agreement because he wanted to move to Carthage because his girlfriend, she apparently said her dad wanted them to move in,” Frida Hoeft said. “I said if you're going to move then I'm going to move with you or we're going to come to this agreement where we're going to share custody going back and forth with her. He said okay.”

The mother said O'Connor and Olson moved to Missouri and she returned to be with her family in Hawaii. Frida Hoeft said O'Connor and Olson moved to Carthage sometime in April and she tried to stay in contact with O'Connor, Olson and Emalata, but O'Connor made it difficult.

 “They didn't keep me updated, Steven tends to give me attitude,” Hoeft said. “He doesn't want to tell me nothing and he'll lie to me about everything. He wasn't terribly honest with me. My whole family lives here and I was supposed to pick her up this Friday and I had just booked my flight. I was flying to Joplin.”

Now Frida Hoeft and her family are planning Emalata's funeral. Frieda said she plans to bury Emalata in a cemetery in Pearl City, Hawaii.

“I have family and friends and unknown people that I do not know are helping me by fundraising to bring her home and to help her have the funeral she deserves,” Frida said. “That's my main goal now, just to make sure she's back here and she's going to have the best funeral she can have because she needs a beautiful funeral just like how she was and still is. She still lives on in my life and everyone's life down here.”