True to form, the public is no longer being educated on the widespread incompetence/corruption that gave dad HANIF ZARIF SIMS custody, despite a long history of abuse allegations in his former home state of New Jersey. Nor do we hear about all the child protective services screw ups in Colorado. But I am reminding you, in case you didn't know or you forgot. This little girl's murder wasn't some unforeseeable "tragedy." It was virtually set up by the family court in New Jersey, along with boneheaded CPS people in two different states. See some of our previous posts on this case:
http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/11/custodial-dad-gal-pal-both-blame-each.html
http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/10/custodial-dad-girlfriend-due-in-court-9.html
Here's the timeline I constructed for this case, just so you as a Dastardly reader know the real background:
1) October 2007: The mother loses custody in classic scam, where she isn't even informed of the court dates. This is typically seen in family courts (like New Jersey's) with well-earned reputations for corruption.
See: http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-on-crawl-space-girl-dad-scammed.html
2) As noted in the article below, after Mom loses custody, she never sees her daughter again. This is very often seen with abusive fathers with a lot of coercive control issues, especially when there is a corrupt court backing them up.
3) Dad receives and maintains custody in New Jersey despite a weapons warrant and an ongoing abuse investigation. In fact, New Jersey child protection authorities file a neglect and dependency case against the girl's custodial father, investigating whether he was physically and emotionally abusing her. In fact, they "claim" that they were in the process of taking the girl away from her father when he moved.
See: http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/05/custodial-dad-girlfriend-not-suspects.html
4) But if child protection was in the process of taking child custody away from Dad, why was he able to move to Colorado with no apparent moveway objections from the courts? And the evidence shows that Dad did NOT make a run for it. Why? Because the New Jersey New Jersey officials notified El Paso County, Colorado about their abuse investigation. So they obviously knew where he had gone. El Paso County Department of Human Services does not act on these allegations.
See: http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/05/custodial-dad-girlfriend-not-suspects.html
5) October 2008: After neighbors make complaints, an El Paso County Department of Human Services child protection worker goes to the house and interviews two children there. The girl told the worker she isn't supposed to talk about them and an older boy (the gal pal's kid) also says nothing.The complaint is deemed “inconclusive” and El Paso County officials do not open a case. In other words, the girl's apparent fear and evasiveness are either overlooked or deliberately ignored. The El Paso authorities never follow up.
See: http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/05/custodial-dad-girlfriend-not-suspects.html
6) Neighbors say that when girl seemingly disappeared, they ask her custodial dad/gal pal what happened and were told that she had gone back to New Jersey to live with an aunt.
See: http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-on-crawl-space-girl-dad-scammed.html
7) March 2009: The custodial dad and his gal pal leave Colorado for California.
8) March 14, 2009 - Dec. 9, 2009: Custodial dad, gal pal, gal pal's son, stay at Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles. Infant boy born while they are there. No sign of the girl and family never mentions a girl. Gal pal makes odd comment to staff: “I don’t think I’ve been able to appreciate that I have a new baby because of a situation that I’m in.” Mission helps subsidize an affordable housing apartment for the family. But custodial dad and gal pal leave town, leaving the children with "a friend" and "disappear." Unidentified "family members" later pick up the kids.”
See: http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-on-crawl-space-girl-dad-scammed.html
8) May 14, 2010: Remains of young girl found in crawl space of Colorado home formerly occupied by custodial father, gal pal, children. El Paso County Sheriff's Department says that custodial dad, gal pal are not "suspects." However, New Jersey authorities say they have sent detectives to California, but can't find Dad or the gal pal.
9) July 2010: Sims and the gal pal tell a Colorado TV station that they just "found" the girl dead in the shower. So naturally, like any loving caretakers would have done under the same circumstances, they dumped her body in the crawl space of their home (er, had a "basement burial").
See: http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/07/she-was-just-lying-there-custodial-dad.html
10) July 2010: After 2-month search, Sims arrested in Nevada.
See: http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/07/custodial-dad-of-girl-found-dead-in.html
11) August 2010: Colorado authorities suggest that this poor child may be been buried in the crawl space while still alive.
See: http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-details-on-9-year-old-girl.html
12) October 2010: Both dad and gal pal implicate each other in girl's murder.
See: http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/11/custodial-dad-gal-pal-both-blame-each.html
http://www.gazette.com/articles/court-117694-plea-deal.html
Woman accused in Monument girl's death takes plea deal
May 06, 2011 8:24 PM
LANCE BENZEL
THE GAZETTE
A former Monument woman accused of murder after the corpse of a 9-year-old girl was found in the crawl space beneath a vacant duplex has pleaded guilty to a charge of child abuse causing death, a court official said.
In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop the first-degree murder count against Monique Lynch.
According to a court clerk, the deal was approved Monday afternoon by 4th Judicial District Court Judge G. David Miller.
Further details about the plea deal were unavailable Friday, including whether Lynch, 30, will testify against the girl’s father, Hanif Zarif Sims, who is set for a May 31 trial on charges of felony child abuse.
A sentencing hearing for Lynch was set for June 30 before Miller. She faces 10 to 32 years in prison, prosecutors said.
Genesis Sims’ body was discovered May 14, 2010, by two contractors who were digging a pit for a sump pump in the dimly lit crawl space beneath a duplex where Sims and Lynch had lived in December 2008.
An autopsy could not determine how Genesis died, but concluded that her death was a homicide. Sims and Lynch blamed each other after they were tracked down in Henderson, Nev.
Sims told investigators that Genesis died sometime between his birthday on Sept. 9, 2008, and Dec. 25, 2008, after a confrontation with Lynch.
He said he tried to resuscitate her and wanted to call 911, but that Lynch, who was five months pregnant at the time, had an outstanding arrest warrant in New Jersey and didn’t trust Monument police.
The couple put her body in a laundry bag and buried her, authorities said.
Afterward, they told neighbors in Monument that Genesis had been sent to New Jersey to live with her biological mother, authorities said. Relatives who called from New Jersey were told that the girl couldn’t come to the phone.
After leaving Colorado, the couple spent time in a homeless shelter in California.
Attorneys for Lynch and Sims have argued that prosecutors lack evidence of foul play in the death.
Lynch is being held at the El Paso County jail on $750,000 bond. Sims is being held on $500,000 bond, jail records show.