The custodial dad is identified as EVERTON BIDDERSINGH.
There are an amazing number of cases like this. Poor mothers in imporverished countries who lose custody to fathers in the wealthier countries. Fathers who can presumably provide these children with a "better life." And the "better life" turns out to be torture and death.
See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Canada.
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015/10/28/trial-starts-for-dad-charged-in-daughters-murder-after-body-found-in-suitcase.html
Melonie’s terrible last days unroll in courtroom as her father’s trial begins
The Crown outlines its case against Everton Biddersingh, whose daughter was found burned in a suitcase in 1991.
By:Rosie DiManno
Columnist, Published on Wed Oct 28 2015
Melonie Biddersingh came to Canada from Jamaica in early 1991 with nothing more than a single suitcase.
Whether this was the same suitcase in which her charred remains were found three years later, behind a Vaughan commercial building, is unknown.
The known details are gruesome: 21 healing fractures discovered on autopsy, when that pitiful corpse was examined by a coroner; weight of 50 pounds, far below the normal body index range for a 5-foot-2 teenager, indicating severe malnourishment; an ante-mortem — before death — head contusion that had resulted from trauma or blunt force injury; fluid in the nostrils and bone marrow, indicative of drowning as either a cause of death or major contributing factor — the liquid from a freshwater source, not tap water, perhaps pooling rain.
All of these details were related in a Toronto courtroom Wednesday, as the prosecution laid out its case against Melonie’s biological father.
To the death roll of Randal Dooley and Jeffrey Baldwin, children starved to death and grotesquely mistreated while alive, right in our midst, add now the name of this 17-year-old who lived and died with nobody taking notice.
All but held prisoner, the court was told, in a one-room apartment she shared with her father, her stepmother, two brothers, two half-brothers and, eventually, an infant half-sister for whom she was responsible. When the baby’s diaper needed changing, Melonie would be summoned with a buzzer.
She was not allowed to attend school, though furthering her education — her ambition to one day become a nurse — was the main reason Melonie had been excited about moving to Canada, leaving behind a mother and four other siblings, living in abject poverty in a slum shack.
The harshness of Melonie’s existence was only summarily outlined by Crown Attorney Anna Tenhouse in her opening address to the jury. The details here are all from that address:
At times, the teen was kept in a closet, “hidden from the outside world.”
She was made to shower on the balcony in summer, was at times locked out there as punishment, and forced to use a bucket to relieve herself.
She was called names like “the devil,” told that she’d brought evil to the family.
Made to sleep on a piece of cardboard on the living room floor, though there was a sofa bed nearby.
Had her head placed in the toilet and the toilet flushed, as punishment.
Was kicked and punched about her body, dragged by the hair and stomped upon.
Was at times chained to furniture.
Deprived of food, she became so weak she could no longer hold her baby sister. Enfeebled to the point that her older brother had to help her bathe after the girl urinated or defecated on herself.
That brother, Cleon, was allegedly forced to sell drugs and warned that, if he ever told anyone about it, or about the abuse in their home, “harm would come to him and his family in Jamaica,” Tenhouse told the jury.
Cleon got out by and by, ran away. Melonie’s other brother, Dwayne — 12 when he arrived in Toronto, a year younger than Melonie — died in an accident 17 months later.
Melonie died, court was told, on Sept. 1, 1994. This is not yet evidence. It is the prosecution’s claim.
But the photograph displayed on a screen in the courtroom — that’s evidence.
Blackened, curled into a pathetic heap of limbs, bits of singed hair still visible on the death scalp.
In the front row, Melonie’s mother, Opal Austin, choked on a sob and wept. Melonie’s sister, Racquel Ellis, was overcome: “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.”
Who could do this terrible thing?
Melonie’s father, Everton Biddersingh, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. His wife, Elaine Biddersingh — Melonie’s stepmother — has also been charged with first-degree murder but will be tried separately next year.
On Aug. 31, 1994, Det. Steven Seabrook, then a constable with the canine unit of York Regional Police, was patrolling in the Highway 7 area when he noticed a plume of black smoke. He tracked it to a spot behind an industrial area. What he saw, at first, were flames a couple of metres high, emanating from a pile close to a garbage bin. At the base of the fire was a tire, largely melted — source of the black smoke, from the burning rubber.
The heat was so intense Seabrook could come no closer than 4 or 5 metres.
Another officer arrived with a fire extinguisher, but that only put the blaze out temporarily. The flames sprung back.
Next came the firefighters, who were able to douse the pyre with water. And then they all saw, amidst the charred heap, a grisly sight.
“At that point, it was obvious to us there was a body lying on the tire, in the fetal position. No flesh on the legs, the head was very black and charred,’’ Seabrook testified yesterday. “I noticed a metal square shape around the body, looked like the frame of a suitcase.’’
The Suitcase Girl, as she became known in the media, once it was determined that the corpse was female.
No name. And no one came forward with information about a missing teenage girl.
Those with long memories may recall, as the years went by, the occasional press conferences as police continued attempts to identify her. The artist’s depiction of how she may have looked. The forensic sculpture of a female head, which triggered no public recognition either.
They never gave up but they never came close to solving the mystery.
Eighteen years would pass, longer than the length and breadth of Melonie’s sad life.
And then, as Tenhouse told court, the secret was exposed, the plotline that police have never revealed. On Dec. 11, 2011, Elaine Biddersingh confessed to her pastor, court heard, that the girl in the suitcase was her step-daughter. The minister took that information to police, and the Toronto Police cold case unit took carriage of the matter.
Opal Austin, living in Jamaica, was contacted. For nearly 20 years she had wondered what had become of her daughter and sought information. Everton Biddersingh told her Melonie had run away to New York.
DNA from the mother was matched to The Suitcase Girl, confirming her identity. She had a name. She claimed her history.
Outside court, Racquel Ellis told reporters: “It’s like the hole of my belly button dropped out. I couldn’t breathe. I had to come out of the courtroom. It’s like my heart was going to stop beating.’’
Everton and Elaine Biddersingh were arrested on March 5, 2012, in Welland, Ont.
Yesterday, the father never appeared to even once glance at the mother of their dead and desecrated daughter.
Melonie.
Rosie DiManno usually appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Showing posts with label malnutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label malnutrition. Show all posts
Friday, October 30, 2015
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Custodial dad wants new venue, separate trial in torture-murder of 5-year-old daughter (Port Huron, Michigan)
The custodial dad is identified as ANDREW MAISON. We've posted on this case before. According to previous posts, dad legally speaking had joint custody, but shut off the mother's contact. Of course, the authorities don't object when the daddy does that--just the mom.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2015/10/13/father-wants-new-venue-separate-trial-death-girl-5/73858972/
Father wants new venue, separate trial in death of girl, 5
Beth LeBlanc, Times Herald 4:51 p.m. EDT October 13, 2015
A Port Huron father is asking to be tried separately from his wife in the death of his 5-year-old daughter.
Frederick Lepley, Andrew Maison’s lawyer, states in the motion that his client would not receive a fair trial if he were tried alongside Hilery Maison.
“The Defendant Andrew Maison worked long hours outside the home, and left the child care duties relating to nutrition, medical care and discipline primarily to his wife,” the motion states. “…
Defendant Andrew Maison would be substantially prejudiced if he is tried with his co-defendant.
There is a high risk that a jury could hold him responsible for the neglect or abuse perpetrated by his wife.”
Mackenzie was found unresponsive at the Maisons’ Oak Street home May 26 after her stepmother, Hilery Maison, called 911.
Mackenzie was pronounced dead at the hospital. Police said she was malnourished, dehydrated and had pneumonia. She weighed 25 pounds.
Her 3-year-old sister, Makayla, was taken to the hospital for treatment of malnourishment. She weighed 17 pounds.
Hilery and Andrew Maison are facing charges of murder, two counts of torture and two counts of first-degree child abuse in Mackenzie’s death and Makayla’s alleged abuse.
Senior Assistant Prosecutor Mona Armstrong said the prosecutor’s office will oppose the request for separate trials.
“There really is no factual basis to support the request,” Armstrong said.
While there are circumstances that lead to separate trials for co-defendants, Armstrong said she doesn’t believe those circumstances apply in the Maisons' case.
Lepley also filed a motion for a change of venue Monday. The motion argues that demonstrators outside the courthouse, people wearing shirts demanding justice during the preliminary examination and media coverage of the case could prejudice jurors.
Lepley asks that either the venue is changed or those factors are considered during jury selection.
“…Potential jurors cannot, under the circumstances, be expected to remain impartial in light of the barrage of media coverage and social media posts that depict the Defendant as the person responsible for the death and or abuse,” the motion states.
Michael Boucher, Hilery Maison’s lawyer, also filed several motions last week, including one for a change of venue due to media coverage and negative community sentiment toward the Maisons.
The motions filed on behalf of Andrew and Hilery Maison will be discussed during an Oct. 19 hearing.
Boucher said he doesn't intend to file for a separate trial for Hilery Maison.
"We maintain that there is potentially an organic cause of this problem," Boucher said. "I have no intention of maintaining that one party is more responsible than the other.”
During a hearing Monday, Boucher and Lepley said they had located a pathologist who could possibly testify about other disorders or diseases that could have caused Mackenzie's death and Makayla's low weight and weakness.
They asked Circuit Judge Daniel Kelly to delay the trial to after March 1 to explore the possibility of other contributing causes. Kelly denied the request. The trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 3.
Calls to Lepley were not immediately returned.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2015/10/13/father-wants-new-venue-separate-trial-death-girl-5/73858972/
Father wants new venue, separate trial in death of girl, 5
Beth LeBlanc, Times Herald 4:51 p.m. EDT October 13, 2015
A Port Huron father is asking to be tried separately from his wife in the death of his 5-year-old daughter.
Frederick Lepley, Andrew Maison’s lawyer, states in the motion that his client would not receive a fair trial if he were tried alongside Hilery Maison.
“The Defendant Andrew Maison worked long hours outside the home, and left the child care duties relating to nutrition, medical care and discipline primarily to his wife,” the motion states. “…
Defendant Andrew Maison would be substantially prejudiced if he is tried with his co-defendant.
There is a high risk that a jury could hold him responsible for the neglect or abuse perpetrated by his wife.”
Mackenzie was found unresponsive at the Maisons’ Oak Street home May 26 after her stepmother, Hilery Maison, called 911.
Mackenzie was pronounced dead at the hospital. Police said she was malnourished, dehydrated and had pneumonia. She weighed 25 pounds.
Her 3-year-old sister, Makayla, was taken to the hospital for treatment of malnourishment. She weighed 17 pounds.
Hilery and Andrew Maison are facing charges of murder, two counts of torture and two counts of first-degree child abuse in Mackenzie’s death and Makayla’s alleged abuse.
Senior Assistant Prosecutor Mona Armstrong said the prosecutor’s office will oppose the request for separate trials.
“There really is no factual basis to support the request,” Armstrong said.
While there are circumstances that lead to separate trials for co-defendants, Armstrong said she doesn’t believe those circumstances apply in the Maisons' case.
Lepley also filed a motion for a change of venue Monday. The motion argues that demonstrators outside the courthouse, people wearing shirts demanding justice during the preliminary examination and media coverage of the case could prejudice jurors.
Lepley asks that either the venue is changed or those factors are considered during jury selection.
“…Potential jurors cannot, under the circumstances, be expected to remain impartial in light of the barrage of media coverage and social media posts that depict the Defendant as the person responsible for the death and or abuse,” the motion states.
Michael Boucher, Hilery Maison’s lawyer, also filed several motions last week, including one for a change of venue due to media coverage and negative community sentiment toward the Maisons.
The motions filed on behalf of Andrew and Hilery Maison will be discussed during an Oct. 19 hearing.
Boucher said he doesn't intend to file for a separate trial for Hilery Maison.
"We maintain that there is potentially an organic cause of this problem," Boucher said. "I have no intention of maintaining that one party is more responsible than the other.”
During a hearing Monday, Boucher and Lepley said they had located a pathologist who could possibly testify about other disorders or diseases that could have caused Mackenzie's death and Makayla's low weight and weakness.
They asked Circuit Judge Daniel Kelly to delay the trial to after March 1 to explore the possibility of other contributing causes. Kelly denied the request. The trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 3.
Calls to Lepley were not immediately returned.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Custodial dad, step on trial for torture of 11-year-old son (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
UNNAMED DAD. No word as to what happened to this boy's mother.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-mountie-wife-continue-trial-on-severe-child-abuse-1.3226475
Ottawa Mountie, wife continue trial on severe child abuse
WARNING: Story contains graphic and disturbing details
CBC News Posted: Sep 13, 2015 4:47 PM ET
Last Updated: Sep 14, 2015 7:26 PM ET
An Ottawa Mountie and his wife were arrested in 2013 in what police called the "worst case of abuse police have seen."
An Ottawa woman told police "I haven't done anything" after she and her RCMP officer husband were accused of severe long-term abuse of the man's 11-year-old son, including chaining him up in the basement of their home, court heard Monday.
The woman, 36, and man, 44, are on trial for what Ottawa police called the "worst case of abuse police have seen" when they were arrested in February 2013. They cannot be named to protect the boy's identity.
Each is on trial for aggravated assault, forcible confinement and failing to provide the necessaries of life.
The woman is also charged with assaulting the child with a weapon, while the man is charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon.
On Monday, court saw the woman's police interview via video, which was taken after her arrest. She told police her 11-year-old stepson was "out of control" and that she feared for the safety of her toddler and four-month-old baby.
She said she never hit the boy nor was she aware of his many injuries, including burn marks near his genitals, scabs and scars on his body and that he was gaunt and malnourished.
At one point, Ottawa Police Sgt. Tracy Butler told her in a raised voice the boy was "maltreated and abused by your husband."
She added, "you knew about it, you condoned it and you let it happen."
The woman, who was at times emotional during the interview, said, "I haven't done anything. I swear to God."
Father admitted to confining son During the interview, which lasted more than two hours, the woman told police her stepson was stealing and getting into fights.
She said he was sent to private school after being kicked out of school, but the boy began being home schooled in 2012.
She said the boy was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and oppositional defiant disorder and prescribed anti-psychotic medication.
She also said she worried he had sexual feelings for her after he asked her to breastfeed him.
"(He) didn't attach to me. I love him but it was difficult to reach out to him when he's mocking me all the time," she said.
She also said he told his father he would "initiate sexual things with other boys" at school and camp.
Last week, the court heard the man admit he used a chain and plastic ties to confine his son in the family's Kanata basement in his police interview video.
In 2013, the RCMP said the father has been on leave since May 2011, but the reason for that remains under a court-ordered publication ban.
Police sources previously told CBC News the man was a member of the force's counter-terrorism unit.
The trial continues.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-mountie-wife-continue-trial-on-severe-child-abuse-1.3226475
Ottawa Mountie, wife continue trial on severe child abuse
WARNING: Story contains graphic and disturbing details
CBC News Posted: Sep 13, 2015 4:47 PM ET
Last Updated: Sep 14, 2015 7:26 PM ET
An Ottawa Mountie and his wife were arrested in 2013 in what police called the "worst case of abuse police have seen."
An Ottawa woman told police "I haven't done anything" after she and her RCMP officer husband were accused of severe long-term abuse of the man's 11-year-old son, including chaining him up in the basement of their home, court heard Monday.
The woman, 36, and man, 44, are on trial for what Ottawa police called the "worst case of abuse police have seen" when they were arrested in February 2013. They cannot be named to protect the boy's identity.
Each is on trial for aggravated assault, forcible confinement and failing to provide the necessaries of life.
The woman is also charged with assaulting the child with a weapon, while the man is charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon.
On Monday, court saw the woman's police interview via video, which was taken after her arrest. She told police her 11-year-old stepson was "out of control" and that she feared for the safety of her toddler and four-month-old baby.
She said she never hit the boy nor was she aware of his many injuries, including burn marks near his genitals, scabs and scars on his body and that he was gaunt and malnourished.
At one point, Ottawa Police Sgt. Tracy Butler told her in a raised voice the boy was "maltreated and abused by your husband."
She added, "you knew about it, you condoned it and you let it happen."
The woman, who was at times emotional during the interview, said, "I haven't done anything. I swear to God."
Father admitted to confining son During the interview, which lasted more than two hours, the woman told police her stepson was stealing and getting into fights.
She said he was sent to private school after being kicked out of school, but the boy began being home schooled in 2012.
She said the boy was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and oppositional defiant disorder and prescribed anti-psychotic medication.
She also said she worried he had sexual feelings for her after he asked her to breastfeed him.
"(He) didn't attach to me. I love him but it was difficult to reach out to him when he's mocking me all the time," she said.
She also said he told his father he would "initiate sexual things with other boys" at school and camp.
Last week, the court heard the man admit he used a chain and plastic ties to confine his son in the family's Kanata basement in his police interview video.
In 2013, the RCMP said the father has been on leave since May 2011, but the reason for that remains under a court-ordered publication ban.
Police sources previously told CBC News the man was a member of the force's counter-terrorism unit.
The trial continues.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Dad sentenced to 25 years in prison for death of 2-month-old son (Sioux City, Iowa)
Dad is identified as MICHAEL WILLIAMS.
http://www.kcci.com/news/father-sentenced-in-sons-malnutrition-death/34820022
Father sentenced in son’s malnutrition death
Published 7:41 AM CDT Aug 20, 2015
SIOUX CITY, Iowa —A 28-year-old Sioux City man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison in the death of his 2-month-old son and neglect of his two other children.
The Sioux City Journal reports Michael Williams pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges including child endangerment resulting in serious injury. The sentence is part of a plea deal.
According to authorities, 2-month-old Leonard Williams was taken to a hospital on April 29, 2014.
Authorities say an autopsy showed the child died of malnutrition and dehydration.
http://www.kcci.com/news/father-sentenced-in-sons-malnutrition-death/34820022
Father sentenced in son’s malnutrition death
Published 7:41 AM CDT Aug 20, 2015
SIOUX CITY, Iowa —A 28-year-old Sioux City man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison in the death of his 2-month-old son and neglect of his two other children.
The Sioux City Journal reports Michael Williams pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges including child endangerment resulting in serious injury. The sentence is part of a plea deal.
According to authorities, 2-month-old Leonard Williams was taken to a hospital on April 29, 2014.
Authorities say an autopsy showed the child died of malnutrition and dehydration.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Former custodial dad, step bound over for child abuse charges (Detroit, Michigan)
It's not reported here, but dad CHARLIE BOTHUELL IV formerly had custody. The boy is now safe with his mother.
http://www.wxyz.com/news/key-hearing-nears-end-in-case-of-detroit-boy-in-basement
Father, stepmother of Charlie Bothuell bound over for trial on child abuse charges
Posted: 7:32 AM, Jun 24, 2015 Updated: 5:30 PM, Jun 24, 2015
DETROIT (AP MODIFIED) - The father and stepmother of Charlie Bothuell V will stand trial on second degree child abuse charges, a judge ruled today.
The Detroit boy was missing for 11 days before he was found in the family's basement a year ago.
The search for Charlie Bothuell led to an investigation of his father, also named Charlie Bothuell, and Monique Dillard-Bothuell.
Charlie says he was struck with a stick or PVC pipe if he disappointed his dad and stepmother. Charlie described his home as a "terrible place."
But defense lawyers say Charlie is lying. If he was stuck in the basement, they say he had many opportunities to leave the house during those 11 days.
http://www.wxyz.com/news/key-hearing-nears-end-in-case-of-detroit-boy-in-basement
Father, stepmother of Charlie Bothuell bound over for trial on child abuse charges
Posted: 7:32 AM, Jun 24, 2015 Updated: 5:30 PM, Jun 24, 2015
DETROIT (AP MODIFIED) - The father and stepmother of Charlie Bothuell V will stand trial on second degree child abuse charges, a judge ruled today.
The Detroit boy was missing for 11 days before he was found in the family's basement a year ago.
The search for Charlie Bothuell led to an investigation of his father, also named Charlie Bothuell, and Monique Dillard-Bothuell.
Charlie says he was struck with a stick or PVC pipe if he disappointed his dad and stepmother. Charlie described his home as a "terrible place."
But defense lawyers say Charlie is lying. If he was stuck in the basement, they say he had many opportunities to leave the house during those 11 days.
Trial continues for dad charged in death of 2-month-old son (Sioux City, Iowa)
Dad is identified as MICHAEL WILLIAMS.
http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/trial-for-sioux-city-father-charged-in-baby-s-death/article_d78c914c-d723-567b-b119-a7826797abcc.html
Trial for Sioux City father charged in baby's death continued
6 hours ago • NICK HYTREK SIOUX CITY |
A Sioux City man charged in connection with his son's death has had a falling out with his attorney and will not go to trial next week.
Michael Williams said in a letter to the court he no longer trusted Matt Pittenger, his court-appointed attorney, because Pittenger did not have his best interests in mind and doesn't believe Williams is innocent.
Williams asked Pittenger to withdraw. At a Monday hearing, Pittenger told District Judge Jeffrey Neary that the attorney-client relationship with Williams had broken down.
Neary approved Williams' request and continued the July 7 trial date.
A new trial date will be set once Williams has a new attorney.
Williams told Neary his family is attempting to hire a private attorney to represent him.
Williams, 27, is charged in Woodbury County District Court with three counts of neglect of a dependent person and single counts of child endangerment resulting in the death of a child and child endangerment resulting in bodily injury of a child.
Williams had taken his dead 2-month-old son, Leonard Williams, to a hospital emergency room on April 29, 2014. An autopsy showed that the infant died of malnutrition and dehydration.
Woodbury County Attorney Patrick Jennings said at Monday's hearing that the continuation was warranted, but he did not want to see the case continue to drag out. Charges were filed in May 2014 and additional charges were filed in November.
The trial has been continued twice before, and Williams has twice been on the verge of agreeing to plead guilty, only to reject a plea offer.
"We can't continue to do this," Jennings said.
According to court documents, Williams told police he left the baby unsupervised for long periods of time in the apartment he shared with Leonard's mother, Rebekah Williams-McCarthy, in the 2800 block of West Fourth Street.
Williams-McCarthy faces the same charges as Williams. Her trial is set for Aug. 4.
http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/trial-for-sioux-city-father-charged-in-baby-s-death/article_d78c914c-d723-567b-b119-a7826797abcc.html
Trial for Sioux City father charged in baby's death continued
6 hours ago • NICK HYTREK SIOUX CITY |
A Sioux City man charged in connection with his son's death has had a falling out with his attorney and will not go to trial next week.
Michael Williams said in a letter to the court he no longer trusted Matt Pittenger, his court-appointed attorney, because Pittenger did not have his best interests in mind and doesn't believe Williams is innocent.
Williams asked Pittenger to withdraw. At a Monday hearing, Pittenger told District Judge Jeffrey Neary that the attorney-client relationship with Williams had broken down.
Neary approved Williams' request and continued the July 7 trial date.
A new trial date will be set once Williams has a new attorney.
Williams told Neary his family is attempting to hire a private attorney to represent him.
Williams, 27, is charged in Woodbury County District Court with three counts of neglect of a dependent person and single counts of child endangerment resulting in the death of a child and child endangerment resulting in bodily injury of a child.
Williams had taken his dead 2-month-old son, Leonard Williams, to a hospital emergency room on April 29, 2014. An autopsy showed that the infant died of malnutrition and dehydration.
Woodbury County Attorney Patrick Jennings said at Monday's hearing that the continuation was warranted, but he did not want to see the case continue to drag out. Charges were filed in May 2014 and additional charges were filed in November.
The trial has been continued twice before, and Williams has twice been on the verge of agreeing to plead guilty, only to reject a plea offer.
"We can't continue to do this," Jennings said.
According to court documents, Williams told police he left the baby unsupervised for long periods of time in the apartment he shared with Leonard's mother, Rebekah Williams-McCarthy, in the 2800 block of West Fourth Street.
Williams-McCarthy faces the same charges as Williams. Her trial is set for Aug. 4.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Custodial dad, step remanded for abuse torture of 5-year-old daughter; girl has 13 fractures, malnourished (Pasir Mas, Malaysia)
As often happens with the media, we have a real slick erasure of a lot of backstory. "Somebody" granted this UNNAMED DAD custody, and allowed him and the step to torture this child over two years. Obviously, the mother must have had her contact cut off, as she couldn't have "discovered" old scars and signs of malnutrition if she had had contact all along. So "somebody" also allowed the father to shut the mom out--very common with child abusers who like to punish Mom and not get caught. But of course, "somebody" is never named.
http://english.astroawani.com/malaysia-news/child-abuse-father-stepmother-remanded-64150
Child abuse: Father, stepmother remanded
Muhafandi Muhamad, Astro Awani | Updated: June 29, 2015 (First published on: June 29, 2015 13:16 MYT)
PASIR MAS: A husband and wife duo has been brought to face the Magistrates Court today to help facilitate investigations in the case of an abused five-year-old girl.
Pasir Mas Senior Registrar, Rashid Mustafa, ordered the suspects to be remanded for four days beginning today.
The suspects are the victim’s stepmother, 25, and biological father, 39, and were detained at a restaurant in Kota Bharu on Sunday at 9pm.
The two are believed to have been trying to evade authorities following the incident on June 25, 2015.
It was previously reported that Nur Zuliana Zaara had suffered from severe trauma after being made a victim of torture at the hands of her stepmother for the past two years.
She was discovered by her biological mother, Sana Abdul Malek, 28, who found old and new scars on her body. She was also found to be malnourished.
Doctors found a total of 13 broken bones on her body including her backbone, and also fractures on her hips, arms and thighs.
Nur Zuliana is currently being warded at the Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital and will undergo surgery today.
The case is being investigated under Section 31 (1) of the Child Act 2001.
The suspects were represented by a lawyer who had filed for a release on bail for the female suspect as she is nursing an 11-month-old baby.
http://english.astroawani.com/malaysia-news/child-abuse-father-stepmother-remanded-64150
Child abuse: Father, stepmother remanded
Muhafandi Muhamad, Astro Awani | Updated: June 29, 2015 (First published on: June 29, 2015 13:16 MYT)
PASIR MAS: A husband and wife duo has been brought to face the Magistrates Court today to help facilitate investigations in the case of an abused five-year-old girl.
Pasir Mas Senior Registrar, Rashid Mustafa, ordered the suspects to be remanded for four days beginning today.
The suspects are the victim’s stepmother, 25, and biological father, 39, and were detained at a restaurant in Kota Bharu on Sunday at 9pm.
The two are believed to have been trying to evade authorities following the incident on June 25, 2015.
It was previously reported that Nur Zuliana Zaara had suffered from severe trauma after being made a victim of torture at the hands of her stepmother for the past two years.
She was discovered by her biological mother, Sana Abdul Malek, 28, who found old and new scars on her body. She was also found to be malnourished.
Doctors found a total of 13 broken bones on her body including her backbone, and also fractures on her hips, arms and thighs.
Nur Zuliana is currently being warded at the Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital and will undergo surgery today.
The case is being investigated under Section 31 (1) of the Child Act 2001.
The suspects were represented by a lawyer who had filed for a release on bail for the female suspect as she is nursing an 11-month-old baby.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Custodial dad, step to stand trial on murder and torture charges in death of 5-year-old daughter (Port Huron, Michigan)
Still waiting to see the names of the judges and family court officials who granted dad ANDREW MAISON custody and allowed him to cut off all contact with the mother.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3139636/Father-wife-weep-court-hearing-let-daughter-5-die-severe-dehydration-malnourishment-face-murder-torture-charges.html
'Abuser' parents finally weep as court hears horrific details of how they 'starved daughter, 5, to just 25 pounds before her death'
Andrew and Hilery Maison of Port Huron, Michigan will stand trial on murder and torture charges
They called police to their home on May 26 when his daughter Mackenzie, 5, suddenly went unconscious
Mackenzie died soon after suffering from severe dehydration and malnutrition and weighing just 25 pounds
She also had numerous bruises on her body and multiple infections
Her sister Makayla, 3, weighed just 17 pounds and was also severely malnourished and dehydrated
She survived and has since been moved to a foster home
By Chris Spargo For Dailymail.com
Published: 20:07 EST, 25 June 2015 | Updated: 01:49 EST, 26 June 2015
A father and his wife who are charged with murdering his daughter wept in court on Thursday as lawyers detailed the abuse and torture that led to the young girl's death.
Andrew and Hilery Maison of Port Huron, Michigan will stand trial on charges of murder, two counts of torture and two counts of first-degree child abuse in the death of Mackenzie Maison, Andrews 5-year-old daughter.
Mackenzie was found dead at the couple's home on May 26 weighing just 25 pounds, while her 3-year-old sister Makayla, who managed to survive, weighed just 17 pounds.
Both girls were severely malnourished and dehydrated.
'These children were dying in front of these defendants, and they did absolutely nothing while they are taking adequate and appropriate care of the other two children,' Senior Assistant Prosecutor Mona Armstrong said in court Thursday according to The Times Herald.
Andrew and Hilery were at times quiet, and other times seen openly crying in court.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3139636/Father-wife-weep-court-hearing-let-daughter-5-die-severe-dehydration-malnourishment-face-murder-torture-charges.html
'Abuser' parents finally weep as court hears horrific details of how they 'starved daughter, 5, to just 25 pounds before her death'
Andrew and Hilery Maison of Port Huron, Michigan will stand trial on murder and torture charges
They called police to their home on May 26 when his daughter Mackenzie, 5, suddenly went unconscious
Mackenzie died soon after suffering from severe dehydration and malnutrition and weighing just 25 pounds
She also had numerous bruises on her body and multiple infections
Her sister Makayla, 3, weighed just 17 pounds and was also severely malnourished and dehydrated
She survived and has since been moved to a foster home
By Chris Spargo For Dailymail.com
Published: 20:07 EST, 25 June 2015 | Updated: 01:49 EST, 26 June 2015
A father and his wife who are charged with murdering his daughter wept in court on Thursday as lawyers detailed the abuse and torture that led to the young girl's death.
Andrew and Hilery Maison of Port Huron, Michigan will stand trial on charges of murder, two counts of torture and two counts of first-degree child abuse in the death of Mackenzie Maison, Andrews 5-year-old daughter.
Mackenzie was found dead at the couple's home on May 26 weighing just 25 pounds, while her 3-year-old sister Makayla, who managed to survive, weighed just 17 pounds.
Both girls were severely malnourished and dehydrated.
'These children were dying in front of these defendants, and they did absolutely nothing while they are taking adequate and appropriate care of the other two children,' Senior Assistant Prosecutor Mona Armstrong said in court Thursday according to The Times Herald.
Andrew and Hilery were at times quiet, and other times seen openly crying in court.
Despite their tears however, the prosecution argued that these girls ahd been suffering for a long period of time.
'Malnutrition alone doesn’t occur in a day or two days or, really, in a week. Malnutrition is more a prolonged type of a process,' Dr. Daniel Spitz, medical examiner for St. Clair County, testified in court.
'I think I can say this child was malnourished over a period of months and, more likely, years.'
Mackenzie's body was also bruised in numerous places and she had multiple infections
Makayla meanwhile drank four glasses of water when police arrived - after the couple called them when Mackenzie suddenly went unconscious - and could barely stand up according to their report.
She was also so weak she had trouble biting into an apple at the police station.
She was released from the hospital on June 1 and is now in foster care.
Michael Boucher, Hilery’s lawyer, and Frederick Lepley, Andrew’s lawyer, argued that the two did not knowingly deprive the girls of nutrition.
The results of Mackenzie's autopsy have not yet been released.
The girls' mother, Shelby Coffee, had lost custody of the two in 2013.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Custodial dad, step back in court for torture-murder of 5-year-old daughter (Port Huron, Michigan)
The custodial dad is identified as ANDREW MAISON. See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Michigan.
We have a posted on this case before. Here is one of the posts, where we find out that the girl's mother had been shut off from any contact for a year and a half. She had no money to go to court. These problems are very common for non-custodial mothers.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/local/2015/06/09/live-court-father-stepmother-charged-girls-death-back-court/28728949/
Live from court: Father, stepmother charged in girl's death back in court
Times Herald 9:49 a.m. EDT June 9, 2015
The father and stepmother of a 5-year-old girl found dead in her Port Huron home May 26 are due in court at 9 a.m. for a probable cause hearing.
Andrew Maison, 25, and Hilery Maison, 27, are charged with open murder, two counts of torture and two counts of first-degree child abuse.
Mackenzie Maison was pronounced dead after rescue crews responded to her Oak Street home the evening of May 26 to a report of an unresponsive child. Her 3-year-old sister was taken to a hospital for malnourishment.
Two other children were taken from the home.
Both children were younger than 11 and Hilery Maison's biological children and did not show signs of neglect, according to officials.
Officials have said Mackenzie was malnourished, had a severe infection and pneumonia when she died.
We have a posted on this case before. Here is one of the posts, where we find out that the girl's mother had been shut off from any contact for a year and a half. She had no money to go to court. These problems are very common for non-custodial mothers.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/local/2015/06/09/live-court-father-stepmother-charged-girls-death-back-court/28728949/
Live from court: Father, stepmother charged in girl's death back in court
Times Herald 9:49 a.m. EDT June 9, 2015
The father and stepmother of a 5-year-old girl found dead in her Port Huron home May 26 are due in court at 9 a.m. for a probable cause hearing.
Andrew Maison, 25, and Hilery Maison, 27, are charged with open murder, two counts of torture and two counts of first-degree child abuse.
Mackenzie Maison was pronounced dead after rescue crews responded to her Oak Street home the evening of May 26 to a report of an unresponsive child. Her 3-year-old sister was taken to a hospital for malnourishment.
Two other children were taken from the home.
Both children were younger than 11 and Hilery Maison's biological children and did not show signs of neglect, according to officials.
Officials have said Mackenzie was malnourished, had a severe infection and pneumonia when she died.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Custodial dad, step enter plea deal for attempted murder, torture of 5-year-old daughter (Bakersfield, California)
Yet another news account where the father's obvious custodial status is airbrushed away, and the mother "disappeared."
Clearly Daddy and the step could not have induced severe malnutrition in a shared custody situation--not unless the mother, through some weird congruence, was okay with the same. In which case she would have been arrested too.
But that didn't happen. In fact, we have no idea of what happened to Mom. I spot checked previously published articles on this case, and they totally ignore the mother as well. It's as if she had never existed; she has been neatly excised from history.
So how did this torture Daddy get full custody of this child? Who gave it to him? What happened to the mother? Is she still alive? Deceased? What?
Dad is identified as JESSE BROWN.
http://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/2-sentenced-for-child-abuse
2 Sentenced for child abuse
By: Mindy Wyatt
Posted: 4:25 PM, Jun 10, 2015 Updated: 4:39 PM, Jun 10, 2015
A couple that faced child abuse charges that entered a plea deal back in March was sentenced this morning in Superior Court.
The father of the child Jesse Brown and the step-mother Virginia Rodriguez faced a judge to hear their sentence. The couple were facing attempted murder charges and torture charges in the abuse of a 5-year-old girl, but entered a plea of no contest to willful cruelty to a child and inflicting injury on a child.
Jesse Brown received a ten year and four month sentence and Virginia Rodriguez was sentenced to four years.
On Feb. 23 Bakersfield police responded to a home and found a 5-year-old girl unconscious. Police said she appeared to have cigarette burns and was extremely malnourished. The 5-year-old weighed 25 pounds.
Documents said the girl had old and new injuries to the head, wrists and ankles. #The girl was still in the hospital three days later. The examining doctor said the girl had been tortured and abused for an extended amount of time.
A second child was taken into protective custody, officials said.
Clearly Daddy and the step could not have induced severe malnutrition in a shared custody situation--not unless the mother, through some weird congruence, was okay with the same. In which case she would have been arrested too.
But that didn't happen. In fact, we have no idea of what happened to Mom. I spot checked previously published articles on this case, and they totally ignore the mother as well. It's as if she had never existed; she has been neatly excised from history.
So how did this torture Daddy get full custody of this child? Who gave it to him? What happened to the mother? Is she still alive? Deceased? What?
Dad is identified as JESSE BROWN.
http://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/2-sentenced-for-child-abuse
2 Sentenced for child abuse
By: Mindy Wyatt
Posted: 4:25 PM, Jun 10, 2015 Updated: 4:39 PM, Jun 10, 2015
A couple that faced child abuse charges that entered a plea deal back in March was sentenced this morning in Superior Court.
The father of the child Jesse Brown and the step-mother Virginia Rodriguez faced a judge to hear their sentence. The couple were facing attempted murder charges and torture charges in the abuse of a 5-year-old girl, but entered a plea of no contest to willful cruelty to a child and inflicting injury on a child.
Jesse Brown received a ten year and four month sentence and Virginia Rodriguez was sentenced to four years.
On Feb. 23 Bakersfield police responded to a home and found a 5-year-old girl unconscious. Police said she appeared to have cigarette burns and was extremely malnourished. The 5-year-old weighed 25 pounds.
Documents said the girl had old and new injuries to the head, wrists and ankles. #The girl was still in the hospital three days later. The examining doctor said the girl had been tortured and abused for an extended amount of time.
A second child was taken into protective custody, officials said.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Custodial dad, step charged with torture, murder of 5-year-old daughter (Port Huron, Michgian)
We've reported on this case twice before, but this is the first time I have seen the father's name disclosed. Dad ANDREW MAISON reportedly had joint custody of the girls with their mother, but decided to shut off Mom's access. Of course, the authorities did nothing. See our previous post.
http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/29189886/father-stepmother-charged-in-death-of-malnourished-girl
Father, stepmother charged in death of malnourished girl
By JEFF KAROUB Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) - Prosecutors on Friday accused a father and stepmother of intentional, persistent abuse and neglect of two young girls, one dead and the other fighting for her life in a Detroit hospital.
Andrew and Hilery Maison were charged with murder, torture and child abuse after authorities say 5-year-old Mackenzie Maison and her 3-year-old sister were found malnourished, dehydrated and abused.
Mackenzie was found unresponsive Tuesday in a home in Port Huron and pronounced dead at a hospital. Her younger sister was being treated at the Children's Hospital of Michigan. Port Huron is 55 miles northeast of Detroit.
Bond was denied and not-guilty pleas entered during video arraignments for the Maisons, who were arrested Tuesday. Hilery Maison denied the charges and asked for an attorney. Andrew Maison also has no lawyer. The next hearing was set for June 9.
Assistant Prosecutor Mona Armstrong said Mackenzie was 25 pounds at the time of her death, and was suffering from pneumonia and a genital infection. Her 3-year-old sister weighs 17 pounds. A girl of 3 would normally be around 30 pounds and a girl of 5 years should be about 40 pounds, though that can vary based on height and other factors.
Armstrong described both girls as "severely malnourished."
Armstrong said two other children, aged 10 and 1, were placed in foster care and appeared to be healthy. She said they are believed to be Hilery Maison's biological children.
"There are two victims in this particular case," Armstrong said. The girls were "severely neglected" and denied food and nourishment over the course of "weeks to months," she said.
An autopsy was completed Thursday, but results haven't been made public. Medical examiners also are awaiting lab test results.
"It's heartbreaking," St. Clair County Prosecutor Mike Wendling told The Associated Press. "It's not the type of case any prosecutor wants to handle, but it has to be handled."
Wendling said there are many unanswered questions about the history of the girls' conditions but that evidence to be presented in court would show malicious intent.
"I think the facts will establish ... why two children (were) treated differently than the other two," he said.
http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/29189886/father-stepmother-charged-in-death-of-malnourished-girl
Father, stepmother charged in death of malnourished girl
By JEFF KAROUB Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) - Prosecutors on Friday accused a father and stepmother of intentional, persistent abuse and neglect of two young girls, one dead and the other fighting for her life in a Detroit hospital.
Andrew and Hilery Maison were charged with murder, torture and child abuse after authorities say 5-year-old Mackenzie Maison and her 3-year-old sister were found malnourished, dehydrated and abused.
Mackenzie was found unresponsive Tuesday in a home in Port Huron and pronounced dead at a hospital. Her younger sister was being treated at the Children's Hospital of Michigan. Port Huron is 55 miles northeast of Detroit.
Bond was denied and not-guilty pleas entered during video arraignments for the Maisons, who were arrested Tuesday. Hilery Maison denied the charges and asked for an attorney. Andrew Maison also has no lawyer. The next hearing was set for June 9.
Assistant Prosecutor Mona Armstrong said Mackenzie was 25 pounds at the time of her death, and was suffering from pneumonia and a genital infection. Her 3-year-old sister weighs 17 pounds. A girl of 3 would normally be around 30 pounds and a girl of 5 years should be about 40 pounds, though that can vary based on height and other factors.
Armstrong described both girls as "severely malnourished."
Armstrong said two other children, aged 10 and 1, were placed in foster care and appeared to be healthy. She said they are believed to be Hilery Maison's biological children.
"There are two victims in this particular case," Armstrong said. The girls were "severely neglected" and denied food and nourishment over the course of "weeks to months," she said.
An autopsy was completed Thursday, but results haven't been made public. Medical examiners also are awaiting lab test results.
"It's heartbreaking," St. Clair County Prosecutor Mike Wendling told The Associated Press. "It's not the type of case any prosecutor wants to handle, but it has to be handled."
Wendling said there are many unanswered questions about the history of the girls' conditions but that evidence to be presented in court would show malicious intent.
"I think the facts will establish ... why two children (were) treated differently than the other two," he said.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Former custodial dad, step charged with abuse, torture of 13-year-old son; why does dad still have "shared custody" rights? (Detroit, Michigan)
I have never seen a coherent explanation as to why dad CHARLIE BOTHUELL IV gained custody at all. Mom is obviously a fit parent, since she now has custody again. So who let torture daddy have custody to begin with?
http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/father-stepmother-face-key-hearing-on-torture-abuse-charges-in-charlie-bothuell-case
Father, stepmother face key hearing on torture & abuse charges in Charlie Bothuell case Posted: 9:50 AM, Mar 27, 2015 Updated: 6:21 PM, Mar 27, 2015
DETROIT (AP) - Proceedings have begun to find out if prosecutors have enough evidence to push Charlie Bothuell IV and his wife Monique Dillard-Bothuell to trial on charges of Child Abuse (Second Degree) and Torture.
The two are accused of abusing Mr. Bothuell's now 13-year-old son, also named Charlie. #"He told the medical providers that he was hit with a pipe by his dad," Dr. Dena Nazer of Children's Hospital testified Friday during a preliminary examination for the couple.
The Bothuells reported little Charlie missing last summer, but police found the boy in the couple's basement eleven days later.
Investigators say it appeared the boy had been hidden behind a lot of junk in the basement.
His father, Charlie Bothuell IV, said he was shocked and didn't know the boy's whereabouts.
Bothuell and Monique Dillard-Bothuell are accused of forcing him to stay in the basement, denying him food and demanding that he follow a twice-a-day regimen of 100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups and thousands of revolutions on an elliptical machine.
The hearing to determine whether the case goes to trial will resume on April 14. And, at some point, little Charlie is expected to testify during the preliminary examination.
The couple denies any abuse. Charlie now lives with his biological mother who shared custody with his father.
Mr. Bothuell has been ordered to stay away from his son. He later agreed to terminate his paternal rights.
http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/father-stepmother-face-key-hearing-on-torture-abuse-charges-in-charlie-bothuell-case
Father, stepmother face key hearing on torture & abuse charges in Charlie Bothuell case Posted: 9:50 AM, Mar 27, 2015 Updated: 6:21 PM, Mar 27, 2015
DETROIT (AP) - Proceedings have begun to find out if prosecutors have enough evidence to push Charlie Bothuell IV and his wife Monique Dillard-Bothuell to trial on charges of Child Abuse (Second Degree) and Torture.
The two are accused of abusing Mr. Bothuell's now 13-year-old son, also named Charlie. #"He told the medical providers that he was hit with a pipe by his dad," Dr. Dena Nazer of Children's Hospital testified Friday during a preliminary examination for the couple.
The Bothuells reported little Charlie missing last summer, but police found the boy in the couple's basement eleven days later.
Investigators say it appeared the boy had been hidden behind a lot of junk in the basement.
His father, Charlie Bothuell IV, said he was shocked and didn't know the boy's whereabouts.
Bothuell and Monique Dillard-Bothuell are accused of forcing him to stay in the basement, denying him food and demanding that he follow a twice-a-day regimen of 100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups and thousands of revolutions on an elliptical machine.
The hearing to determine whether the case goes to trial will resume on April 14. And, at some point, little Charlie is expected to testify during the preliminary examination.
The couple denies any abuse. Charlie now lives with his biological mother who shared custody with his father.
Mr. Bothuell has been ordered to stay away from his son. He later agreed to terminate his paternal rights.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Custodial dad, girlfriend bound over for trial in torture-murder of 3-year-old daughter (Holmen, Wisconsin)
We've reported on this case before, but this is the first time I have seen it confirmed that dad DYLAN BARTSH was CUSTODIAL.
This is what happens when we strip out social services. Moms with serious illnesses or disabilities are forced to farm out their kids, just like we were still living in the 19th century. This child would never have been in the home of these psychos if the mother had had adequate support.
http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/father-girlfriend-bound-over-for-trial-in-toddler-s-death/article_9cb72349-66d6-5950-bd78-d179349e0f7f.html
Father, girlfriend bound over for trial in toddler’s death
Holmen father, girlfriend charged in toddler’s death
A Holmen father and his girlfriend beat a malnourished 3-year-old girl, subjected her to 10-hour timeouts and may have forced her to eat salt
LA CROSSE, Wis. — A phone call from a nurse ripped Sheena Poldoski from her sleep early Oct. 29.
“I remember her words vividly,” Poldoski said during an interview last month. “She said, ‘You need to get ready. You need to come say goodbye to your daughter.’”
Poldoski drove from Hutchinson, Minn., to a La Crosse emergency room, where her 3-year-old daughter clung to life. She grabbed Audryna Bartsh’s tiny body, apologized through sobs and held her daughter until she died on Oct. 31.
The toddler’s father, Dylan Bartsh, 30, and his girlfriend, Jaymie Rundle, 24, subjected the malnourished and dehydrated child to extensive abuse while raising her in their Holmen home until she suffered a seizure early Oct. 28, according to testimony in La Crosse County Circuit Court.
A judge Wednesday bound the couple over for trial on charges of child neglect resulting in death and physical abuse of a child, both as party to the crime. They return to court Tuesday for arraignments.
“I hate them. They’re monsters,” Poldoski said. “I want them to suffer the way my daughter did. I would love an eye for an eye, but that’s not the way it is. I want them in prison for the rest of their lives. I want them to suffer for the rest of their lives.”
Dane County Medical Examiner Vincent Tranchida testified Wednesday that he discovered 22 scrapes and 28 bruises on the toddler’s head, including a black eye, as well as a torn lip and bleeding in her brain.
Audryna had 70 scars on her neck consistent with an adult fingernail. Abrasions, bite marks and 17 injuries consistent with being struck with a wire hanger covered her body.
The child also was dehydrated and emaciated, with cracked lips, sunken ribs and protruding hip bones.
“We’re talking about quite a few days of not being fed enough,” Tranchida said.
The toddler’s sodium level reached 206 — the normal range is 136 to 146 — and the medical examiner could not rule out she was forced to ingest table salt.
Tranchida ruled Audryna’s death a homicide, the result of child abuse.
Bartsh told police he had “checked out” of caring for Audryna and considered her Rundle’s responsibility, Holmen police investigator Crystal Sedevie testified. He said he spanked the toddler after he noticed she was thin but did not seek medical care because he was frightened police would investigate her physical injuries.
Bartsh also said Rundle denied harming the girl when he confronted her, Sedevie testified.
Two other children who lived in the house said the couple spanked Audryna and that Rundle slapped and hit her with a flyswatter, Sedevie said. Police did not see signs of abuse to four other children living in the house.
Bartsh and Rundle took custody of Audryna in May 2013 from Poldoski, her biological mother, although she said she did not forfeit her rights to her child.
Poldoski said a medical condition that required surgeries left her unable to care for Audryna and her son.
“I knew I was having a hard time taking care of my kids. I wanted what was best for them,” she said. “It was the most difficult thing I ever had to do. Clearly, I wish I had never made that decision.
“Do not make me regret this,” Poldoski said she told Bartsh. #She next saw her daughter Oct. 29 in a hospital bed, hooked to ventilators.
“I couldn’t believe they would do that to her,” she said. “I knew they were going to go away for this.”
Poldoski remembers praying for a daughter when she learned she was pregnant in 2010. Audryna was born Aug. 12, 2011, at a healthy 7 pounds, her mother said. She grew into a child drawn to shoes and leopard print.
“She was a little bit of a drama queen,” Poldoski said.
Audryna’s ashes are in a white box on her mother’s dresser. One day, when there’s justice in her daughter’s case, Poldoski plans to hold a celebration of life.
“People say, ‘Be strong,’ but I don’t feel strong. The only thing that keeps me going is my son and knowing one day I’ll see Audryna again,” she said. “I’m so sad. It’s a living nightmare.”
This is what happens when we strip out social services. Moms with serious illnesses or disabilities are forced to farm out their kids, just like we were still living in the 19th century. This child would never have been in the home of these psychos if the mother had had adequate support.
http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/father-girlfriend-bound-over-for-trial-in-toddler-s-death/article_9cb72349-66d6-5950-bd78-d179349e0f7f.html
Father, girlfriend bound over for trial in toddler’s death
Holmen father, girlfriend charged in toddler’s death
A Holmen father and his girlfriend beat a malnourished 3-year-old girl, subjected her to 10-hour timeouts and may have forced her to eat salt
LA CROSSE, Wis. — A phone call from a nurse ripped Sheena Poldoski from her sleep early Oct. 29.
“I remember her words vividly,” Poldoski said during an interview last month. “She said, ‘You need to get ready. You need to come say goodbye to your daughter.’”
Poldoski drove from Hutchinson, Minn., to a La Crosse emergency room, where her 3-year-old daughter clung to life. She grabbed Audryna Bartsh’s tiny body, apologized through sobs and held her daughter until she died on Oct. 31.
The toddler’s father, Dylan Bartsh, 30, and his girlfriend, Jaymie Rundle, 24, subjected the malnourished and dehydrated child to extensive abuse while raising her in their Holmen home until she suffered a seizure early Oct. 28, according to testimony in La Crosse County Circuit Court.
A judge Wednesday bound the couple over for trial on charges of child neglect resulting in death and physical abuse of a child, both as party to the crime. They return to court Tuesday for arraignments.
“I hate them. They’re monsters,” Poldoski said. “I want them to suffer the way my daughter did. I would love an eye for an eye, but that’s not the way it is. I want them in prison for the rest of their lives. I want them to suffer for the rest of their lives.”
Dane County Medical Examiner Vincent Tranchida testified Wednesday that he discovered 22 scrapes and 28 bruises on the toddler’s head, including a black eye, as well as a torn lip and bleeding in her brain.
Audryna had 70 scars on her neck consistent with an adult fingernail. Abrasions, bite marks and 17 injuries consistent with being struck with a wire hanger covered her body.
The child also was dehydrated and emaciated, with cracked lips, sunken ribs and protruding hip bones.
“We’re talking about quite a few days of not being fed enough,” Tranchida said.
The toddler’s sodium level reached 206 — the normal range is 136 to 146 — and the medical examiner could not rule out she was forced to ingest table salt.
Tranchida ruled Audryna’s death a homicide, the result of child abuse.
Bartsh told police he had “checked out” of caring for Audryna and considered her Rundle’s responsibility, Holmen police investigator Crystal Sedevie testified. He said he spanked the toddler after he noticed she was thin but did not seek medical care because he was frightened police would investigate her physical injuries.
Bartsh also said Rundle denied harming the girl when he confronted her, Sedevie testified.
Two other children who lived in the house said the couple spanked Audryna and that Rundle slapped and hit her with a flyswatter, Sedevie said. Police did not see signs of abuse to four other children living in the house.
Bartsh and Rundle took custody of Audryna in May 2013 from Poldoski, her biological mother, although she said she did not forfeit her rights to her child.
Poldoski said a medical condition that required surgeries left her unable to care for Audryna and her son.
“I knew I was having a hard time taking care of my kids. I wanted what was best for them,” she said. “It was the most difficult thing I ever had to do. Clearly, I wish I had never made that decision.
“Do not make me regret this,” Poldoski said she told Bartsh. #She next saw her daughter Oct. 29 in a hospital bed, hooked to ventilators.
“I couldn’t believe they would do that to her,” she said. “I knew they were going to go away for this.”
Poldoski remembers praying for a daughter when she learned she was pregnant in 2010. Audryna was born Aug. 12, 2011, at a healthy 7 pounds, her mother said. She grew into a child drawn to shoes and leopard print.
“She was a little bit of a drama queen,” Poldoski said.
Audryna’s ashes are in a white box on her mother’s dresser. One day, when there’s justice in her daughter’s case, Poldoski plans to hold a celebration of life.
“People say, ‘Be strong,’ but I don’t feel strong. The only thing that keeps me going is my son and knowing one day I’ll see Audryna again,” she said. “I’m so sad. It’s a living nightmare.”
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Custodial dad with history of domestic assault charged in abuse death of 3-year-old daughter (La Crosse County, Wisconsin)
So basically Daddy and his girlfriend tortured his 3-year-old daughter to death.
That's sickening enough. But what is left unsaid and unexplained is just as horrifying. Who made the decision to take this little girl away from her mother and give custody to a father with a previous CONVICTION for domestic assault? Let's start seeing names. Because the people who delivered this poor little girl to this vicious freak are just as responsible.
Dad is identified as DYLAN BARTSH.
http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/holmen-father-girlfriend-charged-in-toddler-s-death/article_c8a5d419-617b-5e7c-80a0-7892ac513266.html
Holmen father, girlfriend charged in toddler’s death
19 hours ago • By Anne Jungen
A Holmen father and his girlfriend beat a malnourished 3-year-old girl, subjected her to 10-hour timeouts and may have forced to eat salt before her Oct. 31 death, according to court records.
Prosecutors Tuesday charged Dylan Bartsh, 30, and Jaymie Rundle, 24, with child neglect resulting in death and physical abuse of a child, both as party to the crime, in La Crosse County Circuit Court.
The toddler died at a hospital after a seizure three days earlier, when doctors discovered she was emaciated with bruises, scratches and scarring on her face and body, according to the complaint.
A medical examiner ruled her death a homicide and during autopsy discovered contusions to her head, a black eye, fingernail and bite marks, injuries inflicted by an object similar to a wire hanger and chronic malnutrition and dehydration.
The autopsy also found elevated levels of table salt contributed to her death. The medical examiner could not rule out that she was forced to eat salt after finding injuries to her mouth, cheeks and jaw, the complaint states.
Bartsh and Rundle, who together have other four children, took custody of his daughter in May 2013 from her biological mother.
Bartsh told investigators that his daughter’s life was a “challenge” and that she stopped eating two weeks before her death, according to the complaint. He blamed her sodium levels on PediaSure and Ensure consumption.
The other children reported the couple forced the toddler into timeouts in the shower and spanked the child with a fly swatter, the complaint states.
Bartsh’s mother, who wasn’t allowed to visit her grandchild, told police the victim was put on timeout for 10 hours. The grandmother photographed the child’s injuries.
Bartsh, who lives now in Altura, Minn., is in the Winona County Jail awaiting extradition to Wisconsin. Rundle is housed in the La Crosse County Jail and expected to make her first court appearance Wednesday.
Bartsh was convicted of domestic assault in Winona County District Court in 2008 and 2012, according to court records. The 2008 conviction stemmed from an incident where he was accused of brandishing a steak knife and threatening and hitting a woman in the presence of a small child.
That's sickening enough. But what is left unsaid and unexplained is just as horrifying. Who made the decision to take this little girl away from her mother and give custody to a father with a previous CONVICTION for domestic assault? Let's start seeing names. Because the people who delivered this poor little girl to this vicious freak are just as responsible.
Dad is identified as DYLAN BARTSH.
http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/holmen-father-girlfriend-charged-in-toddler-s-death/article_c8a5d419-617b-5e7c-80a0-7892ac513266.html
Holmen father, girlfriend charged in toddler’s death
19 hours ago • By Anne Jungen
A Holmen father and his girlfriend beat a malnourished 3-year-old girl, subjected her to 10-hour timeouts and may have forced to eat salt before her Oct. 31 death, according to court records.
Prosecutors Tuesday charged Dylan Bartsh, 30, and Jaymie Rundle, 24, with child neglect resulting in death and physical abuse of a child, both as party to the crime, in La Crosse County Circuit Court.
The toddler died at a hospital after a seizure three days earlier, when doctors discovered she was emaciated with bruises, scratches and scarring on her face and body, according to the complaint.
A medical examiner ruled her death a homicide and during autopsy discovered contusions to her head, a black eye, fingernail and bite marks, injuries inflicted by an object similar to a wire hanger and chronic malnutrition and dehydration.
The autopsy also found elevated levels of table salt contributed to her death. The medical examiner could not rule out that she was forced to eat salt after finding injuries to her mouth, cheeks and jaw, the complaint states.
Bartsh and Rundle, who together have other four children, took custody of his daughter in May 2013 from her biological mother.
Bartsh told investigators that his daughter’s life was a “challenge” and that she stopped eating two weeks before her death, according to the complaint. He blamed her sodium levels on PediaSure and Ensure consumption.
The other children reported the couple forced the toddler into timeouts in the shower and spanked the child with a fly swatter, the complaint states.
Bartsh’s mother, who wasn’t allowed to visit her grandchild, told police the victim was put on timeout for 10 hours. The grandmother photographed the child’s injuries.
Bartsh, who lives now in Altura, Minn., is in the Winona County Jail awaiting extradition to Wisconsin. Rundle is housed in the La Crosse County Jail and expected to make her first court appearance Wednesday.
Bartsh was convicted of domestic assault in Winona County District Court in 2008 and 2012, according to court records. The 2008 conviction stemmed from an incident where he was accused of brandishing a steak knife and threatening and hitting a woman in the presence of a small child.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Custodial dad, step convicted of torture, child abuse in starvation, beating of children (San Bernardino, California)
We've posted once on this case before. So far, I have seen no explanation as to how this vicious father got custody, who gave it to him, or what happened to the mother of these children. With a man like this, you got to wonder whatever happened to her, as it's highly likely he dished out the similar torture tactics on her.
Dad is identified as ERIK AUSTIN FLORES.
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/12/11/3393279_father-girlfriend-convicted-of.html?rh=1
Father, girlfriend convicted of starving children
The Associated Press
December 11, 2014 Updated 7 hours ago
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A Southern California father and his girlfriend have been found guilty of torture and child abuse for starving two of his children and beating a third.
A San Bernardino County jury convicted 30-year-old Erik Austin Flores and 23-year-old Mariah Rita Sugg of Hesperia on Wednesday. Each faces 20 years to life in prison when they're sentenced next month.
Prosecutors say the 4-year-old and 5-year-old children suffered permanent height loss because of their malnutrition and resembled concentration camp survivors when they were found and taken in by authorities earlier this year.
The third victim who did not starve because he was fed at school testified that Sugg would beat him and his siblings, make them do exercises for hours and make them stand in the corner for entire days.
Dad is identified as ERIK AUSTIN FLORES.
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/12/11/3393279_father-girlfriend-convicted-of.html?rh=1
Father, girlfriend convicted of starving children
The Associated Press
December 11, 2014 Updated 7 hours ago
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A Southern California father and his girlfriend have been found guilty of torture and child abuse for starving two of his children and beating a third.
A San Bernardino County jury convicted 30-year-old Erik Austin Flores and 23-year-old Mariah Rita Sugg of Hesperia on Wednesday. Each faces 20 years to life in prison when they're sentenced next month.
Prosecutors say the 4-year-old and 5-year-old children suffered permanent height loss because of their malnutrition and resembled concentration camp survivors when they were found and taken in by authorities earlier this year.
The third victim who did not starve because he was fed at school testified that Sugg would beat him and his siblings, make them do exercises for hours and make them stand in the corner for entire days.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Custodial dad convicted of murder by abuse in death of 3-year-old daughter (Clackamas County, Oregon)
An update to the killer dads and custody list. As usual the custody issues here are obscured. But previous articles have stated that dad DONALD LEE COCKRELL had "shared custody" but refused to let the daughters have any contact with their mother.
So what happens when an abusive controller has full rein? As too often happens, he basically tortures the kids. The murder victim suffered from starvation, malnutrition, dehydration, and beatings.
The mother has regained custody of the surviving daughter, which suggests she is a fit mother. But at what a cost. Not explained here is why the mother was never able to regain custody or even contact while all this was going on.
Who refused to enforce even the minimums of the shared custody agreement? What authorities ignored this ongoing abuse and looked the other way? Of course, those names are omitted.
This previous post provides additional background.
http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2013/03/verdict_reached_in_trial_of_do.html
Donald Cockrell convicted of murder by abuse in death of 3-year-old daughter in Sandy
By Steve Mayes on March 01, 2013 at 1:55 PM, updated April 13, 2013 at 2:20 PM
A Clackamas County jury convicted Donald Lee Cockrell Friday of multiple counts of murder by abuse and criminal mistreatment in the death of his 3-year-old daughter, whose battered and severely malnourished body was found at Cockrell's home in Sandy.
Cockrell, who did not testify, faces at least 25 years in prison when he is sentenced at a later date. The jury found him not guilty of aggravated murder, which could have brought the death penalty.
Cockrell's fiancee, Michelle Nicole Smith, testified against him as part of a plea agreement. Smith, who admitted causing some of the girl's injuries, pleaded guilty last year to murder in the girl's death and faces a minimum of 30 years in prison.
Paramedics found Alexis Marie "Lexi" Pounder dressed in zip-up pink pajamas, lying on her back, her severely underweight body layered with bruises and scrapes, on Jan. 9, 2010. Blood vessels in Lexi's eyes had burst, leaving her eyeballs red. An autopsy concluded Lexi was the victim of homicide and battered child syndrome. She died of pneumonia and dehydration.
The autopsy report detailed "dozens and dozens of injuries to her tiny, tiny body," said prosecutor Christine Landers. Smith admitted inflicting some injuries and blamed some on Cockrell.
Defense attorneys placed responsibility for the girl's death squarely on Smith. "She's very sophisticated at covering her tracks," said defense attorney Robert L. Huggins Jr. Cockrell entrusted the care of his daughers to Smith, Huggins said. "All the evidence is Michelle did it."
Landers said Cockrell tried to blame everyone except himself. He blamed Smith, the doctors who unquestioningly provided her with prescription drugs, Smith's daughter and even Lexi for having an eating disorder.
"His disregard for his child as she deteriorated was reckless and indefensible," Landers said.
Had Cockrell taken Lexi to the doctor the night before she died, she would be alive today, Landers said.
"It was the last time he failed his daughter," Landers said.
Cockrell's trial lasted nearly a month, drawing from a witness list that included dozens of detectives, doctors, family members, social workers.
Prosecutors opened the trial by sketching Lexi's short painful life.
Lexi was one of five children who lived in the blended family. Smith and Cockrell, who met in 2008, each had two children from prior relationships and had one child together. The family lived in a messy 700-square-foot mother-in-law apartment at Smith's parents' home in a rural area near Sandy.
Lexi's life was one of constant discipline and shaming. She was incontinent and always in trouble for soiling herself. When the family went to a fast food restaurant, Lexi would be the only one who didn't get a meal. She was forced to sleep on the floor or to run as a punishment.
In the days before she died, Lexi had diarrhea and dry heaves.
Jurors got their first look at Lexi Pounder as Landers showed them photos. Lexi a happy infant, as a bruised toddler, as a skinny naked body on the medical examiner's cold metal table.
Cockrell could not claim ignorance, said prosecutor Christine Landers. Lexi weighed 21 pounds when she died. At the time, her 9-month-old half sister weighed 19 pounds. "He picked up both of those girls," Landers said.
As Lexi wasted away and endured spankings and slaps that left her body tattooed with bruises, Smith had decided to part company with Cockrell. She testified that she stopped caring about him, his children and the condition of their small apartment, which one investigator decribed as "an awful mess." Meanwhile she became fixated on maintaining her supply of oxycodone and other painkillers.
Lexi's sister, Kara Pounder, also suffered, prosecutors said. She rooted around the kitchen, where the sink was piled high with dirty dishes, eating food off the floor or out of the garbage, Landers said.
Cockrell and Smith forced Kara to sleep in a small escape-proof space, wedged between a couch and a wall. Cockrell did nothing to save his children from their beatings, Landers said. He stood by while Lexi vomited so violently that the whites of her eyes turned red as blood vessels ruptured. "That is not a normal childhood illness," Landers said.
When Lexi died at the age of 3 1/2, she weighed as much as an average 15-month-old child.
She was beaten and underfed, prosecutors said, and died when her immune system collapsed and she couldn't fight off pneumonia.
When a detective interviewing Cockrell asked what happened to Lexi, "he has no explanation of why his child was dead," Landers told the jury. His answer was that "I woke up and found my daughter dead."
The defense repeatedly attacked Smith, portraying her as an unreliable, unstable woman addicted to painkillers who cut a deal to avoid a possible death sentence. "Michelle Smith's testimony has been bought and paid for," said defense attorney Jenny Cooke.
Cooke characterized Smith as drug-addled caregiver "so stoned she couldn't see straight and an incompetent witness who couldn't remember much beyond "Donnie did it."
Cooke said torture and mistreatment did not kill Lexi Pounder; the girl was ill and developed a pneumonia that took her life. The child had been losing weight but that wasn't apparent to Cockrell, Cooke said. Some bruises and abrasions were caused by routine childhood accidents or by one of Smith's children jumping on Lexi's head, Cooke said.
"There is no evidence anyone subjected Alexis Pounder to torture" or that Cockrell withheld food or knew the girl required immediate medical care, Cooke said. "She did not die of blunt force trauma" and her injuries did not cause her death, Cooke said.
Landers summarized Cockrell's defense as "I never took care of my children. How could I know" Lexi was in such fragile condition.
"Because of the way she looked," Landers said. "Seventy five bruises on her tiny little body."
The remaining children have been placed with relatives. Lexi's mother, Heather Pounder, has custody Lexi's sister, Kara. Michelle Smith's parents have custody of the other three children.
So what happens when an abusive controller has full rein? As too often happens, he basically tortures the kids. The murder victim suffered from starvation, malnutrition, dehydration, and beatings.
The mother has regained custody of the surviving daughter, which suggests she is a fit mother. But at what a cost. Not explained here is why the mother was never able to regain custody or even contact while all this was going on.
Who refused to enforce even the minimums of the shared custody agreement? What authorities ignored this ongoing abuse and looked the other way? Of course, those names are omitted.
This previous post provides additional background.
http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2013/03/verdict_reached_in_trial_of_do.html
Donald Cockrell convicted of murder by abuse in death of 3-year-old daughter in Sandy
By Steve Mayes on March 01, 2013 at 1:55 PM, updated April 13, 2013 at 2:20 PM
A Clackamas County jury convicted Donald Lee Cockrell Friday of multiple counts of murder by abuse and criminal mistreatment in the death of his 3-year-old daughter, whose battered and severely malnourished body was found at Cockrell's home in Sandy.
Cockrell, who did not testify, faces at least 25 years in prison when he is sentenced at a later date. The jury found him not guilty of aggravated murder, which could have brought the death penalty.
Cockrell's fiancee, Michelle Nicole Smith, testified against him as part of a plea agreement. Smith, who admitted causing some of the girl's injuries, pleaded guilty last year to murder in the girl's death and faces a minimum of 30 years in prison.
Paramedics found Alexis Marie "Lexi" Pounder dressed in zip-up pink pajamas, lying on her back, her severely underweight body layered with bruises and scrapes, on Jan. 9, 2010. Blood vessels in Lexi's eyes had burst, leaving her eyeballs red. An autopsy concluded Lexi was the victim of homicide and battered child syndrome. She died of pneumonia and dehydration.
The autopsy report detailed "dozens and dozens of injuries to her tiny, tiny body," said prosecutor Christine Landers. Smith admitted inflicting some injuries and blamed some on Cockrell.
Defense attorneys placed responsibility for the girl's death squarely on Smith. "She's very sophisticated at covering her tracks," said defense attorney Robert L. Huggins Jr. Cockrell entrusted the care of his daughers to Smith, Huggins said. "All the evidence is Michelle did it."
Landers said Cockrell tried to blame everyone except himself. He blamed Smith, the doctors who unquestioningly provided her with prescription drugs, Smith's daughter and even Lexi for having an eating disorder.
"His disregard for his child as she deteriorated was reckless and indefensible," Landers said.
Had Cockrell taken Lexi to the doctor the night before she died, she would be alive today, Landers said.
"It was the last time he failed his daughter," Landers said.
Cockrell's trial lasted nearly a month, drawing from a witness list that included dozens of detectives, doctors, family members, social workers.
Prosecutors opened the trial by sketching Lexi's short painful life.
Lexi was one of five children who lived in the blended family. Smith and Cockrell, who met in 2008, each had two children from prior relationships and had one child together. The family lived in a messy 700-square-foot mother-in-law apartment at Smith's parents' home in a rural area near Sandy.
Lexi's life was one of constant discipline and shaming. She was incontinent and always in trouble for soiling herself. When the family went to a fast food restaurant, Lexi would be the only one who didn't get a meal. She was forced to sleep on the floor or to run as a punishment.
In the days before she died, Lexi had diarrhea and dry heaves.
Jurors got their first look at Lexi Pounder as Landers showed them photos. Lexi a happy infant, as a bruised toddler, as a skinny naked body on the medical examiner's cold metal table.
Cockrell could not claim ignorance, said prosecutor Christine Landers. Lexi weighed 21 pounds when she died. At the time, her 9-month-old half sister weighed 19 pounds. "He picked up both of those girls," Landers said.
As Lexi wasted away and endured spankings and slaps that left her body tattooed with bruises, Smith had decided to part company with Cockrell. She testified that she stopped caring about him, his children and the condition of their small apartment, which one investigator decribed as "an awful mess." Meanwhile she became fixated on maintaining her supply of oxycodone and other painkillers.
Lexi's sister, Kara Pounder, also suffered, prosecutors said. She rooted around the kitchen, where the sink was piled high with dirty dishes, eating food off the floor or out of the garbage, Landers said.
Cockrell and Smith forced Kara to sleep in a small escape-proof space, wedged between a couch and a wall. Cockrell did nothing to save his children from their beatings, Landers said. He stood by while Lexi vomited so violently that the whites of her eyes turned red as blood vessels ruptured. "That is not a normal childhood illness," Landers said.
When Lexi died at the age of 3 1/2, she weighed as much as an average 15-month-old child.
She was beaten and underfed, prosecutors said, and died when her immune system collapsed and she couldn't fight off pneumonia.
When a detective interviewing Cockrell asked what happened to Lexi, "he has no explanation of why his child was dead," Landers told the jury. His answer was that "I woke up and found my daughter dead."
The defense repeatedly attacked Smith, portraying her as an unreliable, unstable woman addicted to painkillers who cut a deal to avoid a possible death sentence. "Michelle Smith's testimony has been bought and paid for," said defense attorney Jenny Cooke.
Cooke characterized Smith as drug-addled caregiver "so stoned she couldn't see straight and an incompetent witness who couldn't remember much beyond "Donnie did it."
Cooke said torture and mistreatment did not kill Lexi Pounder; the girl was ill and developed a pneumonia that took her life. The child had been losing weight but that wasn't apparent to Cockrell, Cooke said. Some bruises and abrasions were caused by routine childhood accidents or by one of Smith's children jumping on Lexi's head, Cooke said.
"There is no evidence anyone subjected Alexis Pounder to torture" or that Cockrell withheld food or knew the girl required immediate medical care, Cooke said. "She did not die of blunt force trauma" and her injuries did not cause her death, Cooke said.
Landers summarized Cockrell's defense as "I never took care of my children. How could I know" Lexi was in such fragile condition.
"Because of the way she looked," Landers said. "Seventy five bruises on her tiny little body."
The remaining children have been placed with relatives. Lexi's mother, Heather Pounder, has custody Lexi's sister, Kara. Michelle Smith's parents have custody of the other three children.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Custodial dad who slaughtered five kids was investigated AT LEAST A DOZEN TIMES for beating, starving them, but caseworkers did nothing; dad also convicted felon (Red Bank, South Carolina)
When we first reported on this case, I predicted that the "daddy just snapped" story would just collapse with more information. And sure enough, this "good" dad has a criminal record including substance addictions issues AND a history of child abuse (beatings, withholding food) that CPS workers ignored REPEATEDLY. As in AT LEAST A DOZEN TIMES.
Meanwhile, the worst we are told about Mom is that she may have had an affair (or maybe not, depending on whether you believe this killer of five innocent children). Otherwise, everybody reports she seems like a very nice person.
Once again, we see what LIES the fathers rights people spread. In reality, fathers are not discriminated against. Even drug-addicted, violent fathers with a criminal record get full custody--only to kill the kids, because it was about control anyway. And how CPS and the courts collude in these crimes.
Dad is identified as TIMOTHY RAY JONES JR.
Though I have not posted all these articles about this vicious killer, many continue to fawn over him, make excuses for him, plead what a nice guy he is. Totally disgusting. The same claims would never be made about a mother who did this.
Who gave this father custody? Who are the (so far) unidentified therapists who totally misjudged this piece of sh**?
https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/24973586/father-who-killed-children-was-investigated-for-abuse/
Father who killed children was investigated for abuse
Reuters September 12, 2014, 10:37 am
South Carolina child protection workers visited the family of a man accused of killing his five children at least a dozen times since 2011 in response to reports of abuse and neglect, state records released show.
The children, aged 1 to 8, said father Timothy Ray Jones Jr., 32, spanked them and made them do push-ups for punishment, but they did not appear afraid of him, according to workers, who did not remove the children from his care.
In notes about their most recent visit on August 7, social workers said Jones, a divorced father with legal custody of the children, seemed overwhelmed. However, after investigating a report that he was beating the children and not feeding them enough, workers did not find them to be in immediate danger.
Police say the children were already dead by the time South Carolina authorities learned on Monday that the children's grandmother in Mississippi had reported them missing after they did not show up for a planned visit.
Following his arrest on unrelated charges in Mississippi on Saturday, police said Jones confessed to the slayings and led them to his children's decomposing bodies, which he had wrapped in garbage bags and dumped near a rural logging road in Alabama. Authorities have not said how the kids were killed.
Jones is expected to be arrested on murder charges after being returned to South Carolina on Thursday.
He likely killed the children soon after he picked them up from school and day care in late August, Lexington County Sheriff Lewis McCarty has said.
Jones, who worked for Intel at its office in Columbia, South Carolina, was also possibly accused of other unrelated criminal acts before.
In 2002, a Timothy R. Jones with the same birth date was sentenced in McHenry County, Illinois, to prison time for charges including possession of a stolen vehicle, theft, burglary, forgery and unlawful possession of a controlled substance. He served 18 months behind bars, including time spent in county jail, before getting released on parole from prison in 2003, according to Illinois Department of Corrections spokesman Tom Shaer.
Records from South Carolina's Department of Social Services, which has been criticised by lawmakers in the past of mishandling child welfare cases, show the agency had long been aware of the Jones family. Child welfare workers began visiting the family at their Leesville home in fall 2011 when there were only three children, and continued through their mother's last two pregnancies, as well as after Jones reported his wife had left him "for a younger man."
The visits stopped for a time after fall 2012, when workers said Jones took the children to Mississippi, where he had relatives.
The state resumed contact in May after a report that Jones was beating the children, records show. Jones said he had grabbed a child by the back of the shirt and lifted him up because he destroyed his brother's toy.
Caseworkers concluded there was not enough evidence to arrest Jones.
Meanwhile, the worst we are told about Mom is that she may have had an affair (or maybe not, depending on whether you believe this killer of five innocent children). Otherwise, everybody reports she seems like a very nice person.
Once again, we see what LIES the fathers rights people spread. In reality, fathers are not discriminated against. Even drug-addicted, violent fathers with a criminal record get full custody--only to kill the kids, because it was about control anyway. And how CPS and the courts collude in these crimes.
Dad is identified as TIMOTHY RAY JONES JR.
Though I have not posted all these articles about this vicious killer, many continue to fawn over him, make excuses for him, plead what a nice guy he is. Totally disgusting. The same claims would never be made about a mother who did this.
Who gave this father custody? Who are the (so far) unidentified therapists who totally misjudged this piece of sh**?
https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/24973586/father-who-killed-children-was-investigated-for-abuse/
Father who killed children was investigated for abuse
Reuters September 12, 2014, 10:37 am
South Carolina child protection workers visited the family of a man accused of killing his five children at least a dozen times since 2011 in response to reports of abuse and neglect, state records released show.
The children, aged 1 to 8, said father Timothy Ray Jones Jr., 32, spanked them and made them do push-ups for punishment, but they did not appear afraid of him, according to workers, who did not remove the children from his care.
In notes about their most recent visit on August 7, social workers said Jones, a divorced father with legal custody of the children, seemed overwhelmed. However, after investigating a report that he was beating the children and not feeding them enough, workers did not find them to be in immediate danger.
Police say the children were already dead by the time South Carolina authorities learned on Monday that the children's grandmother in Mississippi had reported them missing after they did not show up for a planned visit.
Following his arrest on unrelated charges in Mississippi on Saturday, police said Jones confessed to the slayings and led them to his children's decomposing bodies, which he had wrapped in garbage bags and dumped near a rural logging road in Alabama. Authorities have not said how the kids were killed.
Jones is expected to be arrested on murder charges after being returned to South Carolina on Thursday.
He likely killed the children soon after he picked them up from school and day care in late August, Lexington County Sheriff Lewis McCarty has said.
Jones, who worked for Intel at its office in Columbia, South Carolina, was also possibly accused of other unrelated criminal acts before.
In 2002, a Timothy R. Jones with the same birth date was sentenced in McHenry County, Illinois, to prison time for charges including possession of a stolen vehicle, theft, burglary, forgery and unlawful possession of a controlled substance. He served 18 months behind bars, including time spent in county jail, before getting released on parole from prison in 2003, according to Illinois Department of Corrections spokesman Tom Shaer.
Records from South Carolina's Department of Social Services, which has been criticised by lawmakers in the past of mishandling child welfare cases, show the agency had long been aware of the Jones family. Child welfare workers began visiting the family at their Leesville home in fall 2011 when there were only three children, and continued through their mother's last two pregnancies, as well as after Jones reported his wife had left him "for a younger man."
The visits stopped for a time after fall 2012, when workers said Jones took the children to Mississippi, where he had relatives.
The state resumed contact in May after a report that Jones was beating the children, records show. Jones said he had grabbed a child by the back of the shirt and lifted him up because he destroyed his brother's toy.
Caseworkers concluded there was not enough evidence to arrest Jones.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Baby murdered while living with custodial dad, step; step charged (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Another one of those stories that make you go "huh?"
Though it's not spelled out, it is clear that UNNAMED DAD had custody along with the step.
The step is accused of violently shaking and abusing the baby. But if the baby was ALSO "seriously underweight," how was the father not aware of this? If he had just assumed custody, then wouldn't the mother have been charged with neglect? But no, there's no evidence of that here. So this weight loss/failure to thrive apparently took place after Daddy assumed custody.
Mom is angry and grieving--as she has every right to do. How did this obviously neglectful (if not physically abusive) father get custody, and who gave it to him? This is an outrage that could have been prevented.
And Daddy claims the baby fell? Really? Sounds like the kind of perpetrator lying/covering up we often see with these cases.
http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/charges-likely-10-month-olds-death/nhGWQ/
Updated: 6:06 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5, 2014 | Posted: 5:39 a.m. Friday, Sept. 5, 2014
Cambria County baby’s death ruled homicide
PITTSBURGH — A Cambria County baby’s death has been ruled a homicide, and his stepmother has been charged.
Police said Haley Butler had been asking for prayers for her stepson on social media while they were investigating her.
Brennon Everett died Wednesday at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
The baby likely suffered from shaken baby syndrome, doctors said.
Court documents said he was “seriously underweight and had symptoms of severe shaken baby syndrome.”
The boy was living with his father and Butler in Cambria County before he was taken to the hospital, police said.
“I’m feeling obviously angry and drained. My emotions are out of whack,” said Brennon’s mom, Rebecca Everett.
The father claims the baby fell, police said.
Though it's not spelled out, it is clear that UNNAMED DAD had custody along with the step.
The step is accused of violently shaking and abusing the baby. But if the baby was ALSO "seriously underweight," how was the father not aware of this? If he had just assumed custody, then wouldn't the mother have been charged with neglect? But no, there's no evidence of that here. So this weight loss/failure to thrive apparently took place after Daddy assumed custody.
Mom is angry and grieving--as she has every right to do. How did this obviously neglectful (if not physically abusive) father get custody, and who gave it to him? This is an outrage that could have been prevented.
And Daddy claims the baby fell? Really? Sounds like the kind of perpetrator lying/covering up we often see with these cases.
http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/charges-likely-10-month-olds-death/nhGWQ/
Updated: 6:06 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5, 2014 | Posted: 5:39 a.m. Friday, Sept. 5, 2014
Cambria County baby’s death ruled homicide
PITTSBURGH — A Cambria County baby’s death has been ruled a homicide, and his stepmother has been charged.
Police said Haley Butler had been asking for prayers for her stepson on social media while they were investigating her.
Brennon Everett died Wednesday at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
The baby likely suffered from shaken baby syndrome, doctors said.
Court documents said he was “seriously underweight and had symptoms of severe shaken baby syndrome.”
The boy was living with his father and Butler in Cambria County before he was taken to the hospital, police said.
“I’m feeling obviously angry and drained. My emotions are out of whack,” said Brennon’s mom, Rebecca Everett.
The father claims the baby fell, police said.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Custodial dad, girlfriend plead not guilty to starving, sexually abusing, torturing three children (Hesperia, California)
Something I've observed over time. When the media says "couple" that often translates as custodial dad and girlfriend/step. Just as it does here.
Once again, not a world on what happened to the mother or how/why this sicko dad got custody. But the mother has apparently been eliminated from the picture.
http://www.vvdailypress.com/article/20140903/NEWS/140909930
Hesperia couple plead not guilty to child torture charges
ANNELI FOGT
STAFF WRITER
Posted Sep. 3, 2014 @ 7:09 pm Updated at 7:15 PM
HESPERIA — Two Hesperia residents arrested on suspicion of child torture and willful cruelty pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to six counts each of felony child abuse, court records show.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department officials said Erik Flores, 30, and Mariah Sugg, 22, both of Hesperia, were arrested on Aug. 28 in the 9500 block of Choiceana Avenue after it was determined they were responsible for three emaciated children who were brought to Loma Linda University Medical Center in June.
Sheriff’s officials said forensic pediatricians from Loma Linda contacted the Sheriff's Department’s Crimes against Children Detail on the morning of June 6 regarding three malnourished children, ages 4, 6 and 7. The Department of Children and Family Services brought the children to the hospital before serving a detention warrant on the father, Flores, who resides with his girlfriend, Sugg, authorities reported.
Sheriff’s officials reported two of the children were extremely emaciated and malnourished. The 7-year-old, who is provided meals at school, was well nourished. However, he provided witness testimony as to how his siblings were being treated, as well as disclosing neglect to himself, sheriff’s officials said. The 4- and 6-year-old were admitted into Loma Linda Children’s Medical Center. The 7-year-old was examined and placed in foster care, authorities said.
According to the forensic pediatricians, the 4-year-old victim was close to death and showed signs of sexual molestation.
Sheriff’s officials said Flores and Sugg were interviewed by detectives from the Crimes against Children Detail. Detectives concluded the victims endured torture and willful injuries related to malnourishment, sexual abuse and failure to thrive while under the care of Flores and Sugg, authorities said. After being removed from the father and his girlfriend, the 4- and 6-year-old had both gained in excess of 10 pounds in a two-month period, sheriff’s officials said.
Flores is being held at the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto. Sugg is being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. Both are being held in lieu of $500,000 bail and facing three felony counts of child torture, and three felony counts of willful cruelty to a child.
Sheriff’s officials said both Flores and Sugg were receiving food stamps and had the ability to properly feed and nourish the children. However, they used the deprivation of food and extreme physical workout sessions as a form of punishment.
This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective David Clifford at the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, Crimes against Children Detail, at 909-387-3615.
Once again, not a world on what happened to the mother or how/why this sicko dad got custody. But the mother has apparently been eliminated from the picture.
http://www.vvdailypress.com/article/20140903/NEWS/140909930
Hesperia couple plead not guilty to child torture charges
ANNELI FOGT
STAFF WRITER
Posted Sep. 3, 2014 @ 7:09 pm Updated at 7:15 PM
HESPERIA — Two Hesperia residents arrested on suspicion of child torture and willful cruelty pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to six counts each of felony child abuse, court records show.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department officials said Erik Flores, 30, and Mariah Sugg, 22, both of Hesperia, were arrested on Aug. 28 in the 9500 block of Choiceana Avenue after it was determined they were responsible for three emaciated children who were brought to Loma Linda University Medical Center in June.
Sheriff’s officials said forensic pediatricians from Loma Linda contacted the Sheriff's Department’s Crimes against Children Detail on the morning of June 6 regarding three malnourished children, ages 4, 6 and 7. The Department of Children and Family Services brought the children to the hospital before serving a detention warrant on the father, Flores, who resides with his girlfriend, Sugg, authorities reported.
Sheriff’s officials reported two of the children were extremely emaciated and malnourished. The 7-year-old, who is provided meals at school, was well nourished. However, he provided witness testimony as to how his siblings were being treated, as well as disclosing neglect to himself, sheriff’s officials said. The 4- and 6-year-old were admitted into Loma Linda Children’s Medical Center. The 7-year-old was examined and placed in foster care, authorities said.
According to the forensic pediatricians, the 4-year-old victim was close to death and showed signs of sexual molestation.
Sheriff’s officials said Flores and Sugg were interviewed by detectives from the Crimes against Children Detail. Detectives concluded the victims endured torture and willful injuries related to malnourishment, sexual abuse and failure to thrive while under the care of Flores and Sugg, authorities said. After being removed from the father and his girlfriend, the 4- and 6-year-old had both gained in excess of 10 pounds in a two-month period, sheriff’s officials said.
Flores is being held at the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto. Sugg is being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. Both are being held in lieu of $500,000 bail and facing three felony counts of child torture, and three felony counts of willful cruelty to a child.
Sheriff’s officials said both Flores and Sugg were receiving food stamps and had the ability to properly feed and nourish the children. However, they used the deprivation of food and extreme physical workout sessions as a form of punishment.
This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective David Clifford at the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, Crimes against Children Detail, at 909-387-3615.
Custodial dad charged with 1st-degree murder in brutal beating death of 4-year-old daughter (Cherokee, North Carolina)
As is often the case in these stories, there are a lot of buried facts and things that are not explained at all.
1) A careful reading shows that this vicious killer was in fact a custodial father. He also had custody of a son.
2) The murdered girl apparently lived with both parents back in New Jersey. There were apparently concerns about her being malnourished then. Was this the mother's fault? Apparently, not as the problem PERSISTED after Daddy got hold of her and moved out of state, and in fact seemingly got WORSE.
3) How did this father get custody? Who gave it to him? Why was he allowed to cut off all contact with the mother (this often happens with abusive control freak fathers, contrary to what the FR folks tell you about "gatekeeping" mothers)? Who allowed him to move out of state, when mothers are routinely forbidden by the family courts to do the same?
4) The son reported abuse by the father to social workers before, and had documentable bruising. Why was there no follow up?
Lots of unanswered questions here.
Dad is identified as ERIC DAVIS.
http://www.thesylvaherald.com/top_stories/article_76cfbe88-336d-11e4-af1d-0017a43b2370.html
Autopsy report reveals extent of murdered child’s injuries
Posted: Wednesday, September 3, 2014 2:00 pm
By Quintin Ellison
When a pathologist examined Erica Davis, practically the only parts of her body not broken, bruised or fractured were the little girl’s legs, according to a lengthy autopsy report released last week by Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
The 4-year-old child’s father, Eric Davis, 24, remains jailed on charges he abused his daughter and son Oct. 11, 2013, in a room at the Qualla Motel near Cherokee. Erica died Oct. 12 at Asheville’s Mission Hospital after she was taken off life support.
Davis is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of intentional child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury. Deemed unable to pay for legal help, he has been assigned two lawyers by the state’s Office of Indigent Defense Services. Having two lawyers – a more-experienced first chair and a second chair – is standard practice when it appears reasonably likely that prosecutors will seek the death penalty.
That isn’t certain. A required pretrial hearing (rule 24) to determine whether the state intends to proceed with a capital case hasn’t been held. Davis is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 9.
State law passed in 2001 gives a prosecutor the discretion to try a first-degree murder case without seeking the death penalty, even if aggravating circumstances exist to support a death sentence. These are factors that increase the severity or culpability of the alleged criminal act.
Last November, District Attorney Mike Bonfoey declined to comment on the case.
One aggravating circumstance under North Carolina law is whether “the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, cruel or depraved (or involved torture).”
The autopsy lists the official cause of Erica’s death as “acute intracranial injury with subdural hematoma and cerebral edema” due to blunt trauma to the head.
Erica was struck repeatedly, including with a cylindrical object; multiple contusions and several lacerations were found. There was blunt trauma to her thorax, abdomen, back and pelvis; three of her ribs were fractured.
Erica was very underweight for her age, just 29 pounds (less than the fifth percentile, the pathologist, Dr. Patrick Lantz, wrote). She was wearing a disposable diaper, unusual for a child that age. Social workers in New Jersey, where her parents initially lived, had reported in 2009 to a judge that Erica, then an infant, appeared malnourished. The little girl was later returned to the custody of her mother and father, both 19 at the time. In an October, 2013, interview, Erica’s mother told The Herald she had last seen her daughter in July 2011.
In a summary of his findings, the pathologist wrote that Erica had been living at the Qualla Motel with her father, brother and aunt, according to investigative reports he reviewed.
“The father called 911 stating that (Erica) was choking on water. When paramedics arrived, she was unresponsive,” the pathologist said. Law enforcement officers were called to the scene.
Davis’ son, then age 3, told a Jackson County social worker that his father “made the boo-boos,” according to court documents used to support a search warrant. The boy’s buttocks were heavily bruised and there were handprint marks on both sides of his face.
1) A careful reading shows that this vicious killer was in fact a custodial father. He also had custody of a son.
2) The murdered girl apparently lived with both parents back in New Jersey. There were apparently concerns about her being malnourished then. Was this the mother's fault? Apparently, not as the problem PERSISTED after Daddy got hold of her and moved out of state, and in fact seemingly got WORSE.
3) How did this father get custody? Who gave it to him? Why was he allowed to cut off all contact with the mother (this often happens with abusive control freak fathers, contrary to what the FR folks tell you about "gatekeeping" mothers)? Who allowed him to move out of state, when mothers are routinely forbidden by the family courts to do the same?
4) The son reported abuse by the father to social workers before, and had documentable bruising. Why was there no follow up?
Lots of unanswered questions here.
Dad is identified as ERIC DAVIS.
http://www.thesylvaherald.com/top_stories/article_76cfbe88-336d-11e4-af1d-0017a43b2370.html
Autopsy report reveals extent of murdered child’s injuries
Posted: Wednesday, September 3, 2014 2:00 pm
By Quintin Ellison
When a pathologist examined Erica Davis, practically the only parts of her body not broken, bruised or fractured were the little girl’s legs, according to a lengthy autopsy report released last week by Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
The 4-year-old child’s father, Eric Davis, 24, remains jailed on charges he abused his daughter and son Oct. 11, 2013, in a room at the Qualla Motel near Cherokee. Erica died Oct. 12 at Asheville’s Mission Hospital after she was taken off life support.
Davis is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of intentional child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury. Deemed unable to pay for legal help, he has been assigned two lawyers by the state’s Office of Indigent Defense Services. Having two lawyers – a more-experienced first chair and a second chair – is standard practice when it appears reasonably likely that prosecutors will seek the death penalty.
That isn’t certain. A required pretrial hearing (rule 24) to determine whether the state intends to proceed with a capital case hasn’t been held. Davis is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 9.
State law passed in 2001 gives a prosecutor the discretion to try a first-degree murder case without seeking the death penalty, even if aggravating circumstances exist to support a death sentence. These are factors that increase the severity or culpability of the alleged criminal act.
Last November, District Attorney Mike Bonfoey declined to comment on the case.
One aggravating circumstance under North Carolina law is whether “the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, cruel or depraved (or involved torture).”
The autopsy lists the official cause of Erica’s death as “acute intracranial injury with subdural hematoma and cerebral edema” due to blunt trauma to the head.
Erica was struck repeatedly, including with a cylindrical object; multiple contusions and several lacerations were found. There was blunt trauma to her thorax, abdomen, back and pelvis; three of her ribs were fractured.
Erica was very underweight for her age, just 29 pounds (less than the fifth percentile, the pathologist, Dr. Patrick Lantz, wrote). She was wearing a disposable diaper, unusual for a child that age. Social workers in New Jersey, where her parents initially lived, had reported in 2009 to a judge that Erica, then an infant, appeared malnourished. The little girl was later returned to the custody of her mother and father, both 19 at the time. In an October, 2013, interview, Erica’s mother told The Herald she had last seen her daughter in July 2011.
In a summary of his findings, the pathologist wrote that Erica had been living at the Qualla Motel with her father, brother and aunt, according to investigative reports he reviewed.
“The father called 911 stating that (Erica) was choking on water. When paramedics arrived, she was unresponsive,” the pathologist said. Law enforcement officers were called to the scene.
Davis’ son, then age 3, told a Jackson County social worker that his father “made the boo-boos,” according to court documents used to support a search warrant. The boy’s buttocks were heavily bruised and there were handprint marks on both sides of his face.
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