Unfortunately, stories from the west are increasingly sounding like this one from Iran--where father's rights are INSTITUTIONALIZED as law, and mothers have no rights. This father, identified only as MOHAMMED, was a drug-addicted loser who bankrupted the family. Mom left him and returned to her father's house--and yet she is also equally smeared by the reporter as having a "poor relationship" with the child. But notice there is NO EVIDENCE of this. In fact, despite the fact that mothers have no custody rights in Iran, she made numerous attempts to get custody of this child--all to no avail, of course. Even though the father was threatening to mutilate the child if she did not return to him--didn't matter. She never got to the see the child at all--until he was hospitalized with burns over 70% of his body.
This is what institutionalized fathers rights looks like, friends. Absolute indifference to the health, safety, and well-being of mothers and children. We've posted on this case before.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/307575
Jun 4, 2011
Abused child, 3, dies 18 days after being burnt by father
By Helena H. Quartz.
Tehran - Barbod, a three-year-old abused child, whose body was burnt up to 70 percent by his addicted father, died in hospital on late Thursday June 2, despite 18 days of challenge to survive.
In a heartbreaking news, the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported* (Link to non-English web page) little Barbod, a third in a recent child abuse chain, died 10 AM Friday June 3, Tehran local time.
Barbod was hospitalized for 18 days in Tehran Mottahari Hospital. A local child support charity association called Mehrafarin had assumed the cost of Barbod’s treatment during his hospitalization. Fatemeh Daneshvar, Mehrafarin’s CEO told ISNA: “ We tried to transfer Barbod to Chamran Hospital – a private hospital with higher specialty in burnt body treatment - but they asked for 70 million ($70,000 USD) , i.e. $1,000 USD for each percentage of burnt degree, and unfortunately we couldn’t afford it.”
Barbod was suffering a body burnt over 70% after his unbalanced father poured a full tank of gasoline and put fire on him. He was the third victim of sever child abuse cases in Iran only in May 2011. Despite his high burnt degree among other children in the ward, Barbod was the most patient and quiet child amongst them, Daneshvar told ISNA.
In a report, the HRA Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRA) has published a photo of Barbod in hospital and more details about the poor relationship of his parents that ultimately claimed Barbod’s life. His father, Mohammed, became addicted to “chrystal” after he was bankrupt and lost all family’s fortune over his debts. He then became suspicious to his wife, Mina. After a hard relationship Mina separated and left to her father’s house. Barbod’s father threatened her on many occasions sending messages “ you return home or I will send you Barbod’s hand”, and another time “ you are coming back or I will send you Barbod’s ear”. Finally Mina could see Barbod after 5 months, only in hospital bed and with a body burnt over 70%.
The medical team had announced on early days of Barbod’s hospitalization that there is only a little chance of his survival. According to Daneshvar, Barbod’s mother failed to get the custody of her son despite her several attempts. The Iranian laws give the child custody to the father. Daneshvar added: “Barbod was a bitter lesson for the society to open eyes on child abuse cases in Iran today.”
Barbod’s father is still under treatment in another hospital facing 50% burnt degree as well. According to Barbod’s grandmother who was babysitting him when Mohammed entered the home and pour gasoline on the boy, Mohammed also burnt and was injured after he "embraced Barbod to comfort him" once Barbod got fired and started to scream.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Dad arrested for murder of 5-year-old daughter (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Dad SEAN BROOKS is the one arrested this time. Where was Mom? Who knows....
INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT.
http://www.news9.com/story/14845663/father-arrested-in-young-daughters-death
OKC Father Arrested In Young Daughter's Death
Posted: Jun 06, 2011 9:15 AM CDT
Updated: Jun 06, 2011 12:07 PM CDT
Sean BrooksNews9.com
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City police have arrested a man in the death of a 5-year-old girl.
Police were called to 843 E. Pine Drive Saturday, June 4, for an unresponsive child. When they arrived, they found Serenity Deal with obvious signs of abuse to her body. The little girl later died.
Police arrested Serenity's father, 31-year-old Sean Brooks, on complaints of first-degree murder and child abuse.
INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT.
http://www.news9.com/story/14845663/father-arrested-in-young-daughters-death
OKC Father Arrested In Young Daughter's Death
Posted: Jun 06, 2011 9:15 AM CDT
Updated: Jun 06, 2011 12:07 PM CDT
Sean BrooksNews9.com
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City police have arrested a man in the death of a 5-year-old girl.
Police were called to 843 E. Pine Drive Saturday, June 4, for an unresponsive child. When they arrived, they found Serenity Deal with obvious signs of abuse to her body. The little girl later died.
Police arrested Serenity's father, 31-year-old Sean Brooks, on complaints of first-degree murder and child abuse.
Dad kills mom during "custody swap;" 9-month-old infant and 2-year-old left motherless (Cumming, Georgia)
This reporter doesn't quite get it. She reports that "police don't know why the couple was arguing"--right after we're informed that there were NO WITNESSES to any argument at all. So we don't even know that there was an "argument," do we? In fact, this father may just be some control freak who decided he needed "command" of this situation, that he didn't feel like "sharing" custody. And even if cross words were exchanged, that has nothing to do with a homicide, does it? Given that Daddy CHRISTOPHER ERDMAN was the one who changed the location of the custody exchange, it sure sounds to me like Mom was set up in advance in an isolated parking lot--an area with no witnesses around. In short, a pre-meditated hit. A big, gory, Daddy Drama execution that would end "sharing" once and for all.
So much for the ideas that daddies just want to "share" custody and be treated "fairly" by the family courts. I call bullsh**.
This bastard shot this mom twice in the face--and twice in the body--and right in front of the kids. Even a 2-year-old child can pick up that kind of trauma. Then Daddy drove off with the dead or dying woman in his pickup truck! With the kids in the truck! This isn't a "disagreement" or an "argument," folks.
So what judge subjected this woman and children to "custody swaps" with a psychopath? What shrinks and custody evaluators ignored past threats of violence or actual abuse? (Chances are very high that one or both existed.) Who labeled the mom a liar or "alienator" if she brought up any concerns about this situation?
Notice that the paternal grandparents are mentioned. How much you want to bet they get custody now....
http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-atlanta/police-man-shoots-kills-the-mother-of-his-children-during-custody-swap
Police: Man shoots, kills the mother of his children during custody swap
June 6th, 2011 10:39 am ET .
Kimathi Lewis Atlanta Crime Examiner
A man was arrested Sunday after police said he shot the mother of his two children four times during a custody swap, then drove all three to his father’s house in Cumming.
Mr. Christopher Erdman, 25, of Cumming, was in the Fulton County jail Monday charged with murder in the death of Ms. Shannon Lawrence, 25, of Canton, Milton police Capt. Shawn McCarty said.
Ms. Lawrence was shot about 2 p.m. while her two children, 2 and 9-months-old, waited nearby, Capt. McCarty said.
It was supposed to be a routine custody swap, something they did almost every other week. But investigators said Mr. Erdman changed the place where they normally meet to a shopping center across the street on Birmingham Highway.
No one reportedly witnessed the man and woman arguing in the parking lot at 15780 Birmingham Hwy., and police don’t know why they were arguing.
Then the man pulled out a gun, shooting the woman twice in the face and twice in the body, Capt. McCarty said.
Investigators said Mr. Erdman placed the woman into his pickup truck along with his two children and drove 10 miles to his father’s house in Cumming.
The children were left with a grandparent and Mr. Erdman’s father drove his son’s truck to Northside Hospital-Forsyth, about three miles away.
So much for the ideas that daddies just want to "share" custody and be treated "fairly" by the family courts. I call bullsh**.
This bastard shot this mom twice in the face--and twice in the body--and right in front of the kids. Even a 2-year-old child can pick up that kind of trauma. Then Daddy drove off with the dead or dying woman in his pickup truck! With the kids in the truck! This isn't a "disagreement" or an "argument," folks.
So what judge subjected this woman and children to "custody swaps" with a psychopath? What shrinks and custody evaluators ignored past threats of violence or actual abuse? (Chances are very high that one or both existed.) Who labeled the mom a liar or "alienator" if she brought up any concerns about this situation?
Notice that the paternal grandparents are mentioned. How much you want to bet they get custody now....
http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-atlanta/police-man-shoots-kills-the-mother-of-his-children-during-custody-swap
Police: Man shoots, kills the mother of his children during custody swap
June 6th, 2011 10:39 am ET .
Kimathi Lewis Atlanta Crime Examiner
A man was arrested Sunday after police said he shot the mother of his two children four times during a custody swap, then drove all three to his father’s house in Cumming.
Mr. Christopher Erdman, 25, of Cumming, was in the Fulton County jail Monday charged with murder in the death of Ms. Shannon Lawrence, 25, of Canton, Milton police Capt. Shawn McCarty said.
Ms. Lawrence was shot about 2 p.m. while her two children, 2 and 9-months-old, waited nearby, Capt. McCarty said.
It was supposed to be a routine custody swap, something they did almost every other week. But investigators said Mr. Erdman changed the place where they normally meet to a shopping center across the street on Birmingham Highway.
No one reportedly witnessed the man and woman arguing in the parking lot at 15780 Birmingham Hwy., and police don’t know why they were arguing.
Then the man pulled out a gun, shooting the woman twice in the face and twice in the body, Capt. McCarty said.
Investigators said Mr. Erdman placed the woman into his pickup truck along with his two children and drove 10 miles to his father’s house in Cumming.
The children were left with a grandparent and Mr. Erdman’s father drove his son’s truck to Northside Hospital-Forsyth, about three miles away.
Dad murders 10-year-old son; custody rights not yet "settled" (Stanislaus County, California)
So why do you suppose Mom wanted to take her son and "start their own life together elsewhere?" Maybe because she knew that Dad ANTHONY LEE WILLIAMS was capable of violence, and, very likely, had behaved in a violent and/or threatening manner in the past? But given that we don't give mothers automatic custody rights to their own children, authorities claimed they had "no standing" when Daddy took off with the boy--and shot him to death.
My friend Annie did a little digging and found out this mother had applied for an order of protection, but had been denied. And now the county no longer allows public access to family court documents. Well, I'm sure that helps them avoid acccountability, doesn't it....
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110604/A_NEWS02/106040323/-1/A_NEWS02
Father, son dead in likely murder, suicide
By Christian Burkin
Record Staff Writer
June 04, 2011 12:00 AM
CORRECTION: June 4, 2011
The age of a Patterson man and the date of communication with his wife were incorrect in the print and initial online version of this article. The error has been corrected.
LATHROP - A 51-year-old Patterson man and his 10-year-old son were found dead Friday morning in a van parked on farmland east of Tracy.
Investigators believe the father, Anthony Lee Williams, shot his son, Hussan Williams, and then himself.
Deputy Les Garcia, a Sheriff's Office spokesman, said Williams and his wife, Hussan's mother, were going through a divorce.
The bodies were discovered at about 8 a.m. Friday on a levee road near Paradise Cut, just west of Interstate 5 and north of Interstate 205. Garcia said a security guard found Williams' van during his regular rounds.
"He's the one who found the van and then alerted us," Garcia said.
Deputy Raj Singh of the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department said Hussan was at a friend's house Thursday when his father arrived to pick him up. Later, Singh said, Williams called his wife and said he and his son were going to start their own life together elsewhere.
Singh said though the couple had separated, custody rights had not been settled. Hussan had reportedly gone with his father willingly, and authorities had no standing to take him back.
"There was no abduction, no threat," Singh said.
There was some communication between Williams and his wife Thursday night as authorities attempted to arrange Hussan's return, but the two stopped talking to each other, Singh said.
There were two other murder-suicides in San Joaquin County this year, one of them in Stockton and another in Acampo. Those were also domestic, but the victims in both cases were adult women. One was killed by her fiancé, the other by her husband.
My friend Annie did a little digging and found out this mother had applied for an order of protection, but had been denied. And now the county no longer allows public access to family court documents. Well, I'm sure that helps them avoid acccountability, doesn't it....
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110604/A_NEWS02/106040323/-1/A_NEWS02
Father, son dead in likely murder, suicide
By Christian Burkin
Record Staff Writer
June 04, 2011 12:00 AM
CORRECTION: June 4, 2011
The age of a Patterson man and the date of communication with his wife were incorrect in the print and initial online version of this article. The error has been corrected.
LATHROP - A 51-year-old Patterson man and his 10-year-old son were found dead Friday morning in a van parked on farmland east of Tracy.
Investigators believe the father, Anthony Lee Williams, shot his son, Hussan Williams, and then himself.
Deputy Les Garcia, a Sheriff's Office spokesman, said Williams and his wife, Hussan's mother, were going through a divorce.
The bodies were discovered at about 8 a.m. Friday on a levee road near Paradise Cut, just west of Interstate 5 and north of Interstate 205. Garcia said a security guard found Williams' van during his regular rounds.
"He's the one who found the van and then alerted us," Garcia said.
Deputy Raj Singh of the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department said Hussan was at a friend's house Thursday when his father arrived to pick him up. Later, Singh said, Williams called his wife and said he and his son were going to start their own life together elsewhere.
Singh said though the couple had separated, custody rights had not been settled. Hussan had reportedly gone with his father willingly, and authorities had no standing to take him back.
"There was no abduction, no threat," Singh said.
There was some communication between Williams and his wife Thursday night as authorities attempted to arrange Hussan's return, but the two stopped talking to each other, Singh said.
There were two other murder-suicides in San Joaquin County this year, one of them in Stockton and another in Acampo. Those were also domestic, but the victims in both cases were adult women. One was killed by her fiancé, the other by her husband.
Decades after dad's sexual abuse, someone finally listened (Ruckersville, Virginia)
Usually the media likes to play up "false accusation" cases. This one is really more typical. Authorities who just ignore (and protect) sexually abusive fathers like RICHARD CLINTON MOORE, JR.
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2011/jun/04/decades-after-abuse-someone-finally-listened-ar-1085739/
Decades after abuse, someone finally listened
Woman's drive for justice changed state law
Malinda Kail's father went to prison for abuse he confessed to 21 years prior.
By Sharon C. Fitzgerald
Published: June 04, 2011
For years, Malinda Kail wondered if her childhood memories were skewed.
The 42-year-old Ruckersville woman remembered years of sexual abuse at the hands of her father, but he wasn’t criminally charged, despite in the 1980s admitting the abuse to child protective service workers.
As an adult, Kail wrote letters and sent emails to every county and state official she could think of and anyone still alive who worked the original case. But no one had any record or memory of the accusations against her father, Richard Clinton Moore Jr., and those who did would not speak to Kail about her case.
It would take 22 years and two of her letters getting into the right hands to start turning the wheels of justice for Kail.
But by then, it was nearly too late, she said.
“I wanted some answers to why they didn’t do anything to him all those years ago,” Kail said. “Then they went and arrested him and didn’t give me a chance to have a say in anything. I feel like they took the power away from me all over again.”
Old records found at the Region Ten Community Services Board offices in Charlottesville in the summer of 2008 showed Moore admitted to abusing Kail and another of his daughters from the time they were preschoolers until they were teenagers.
Moore, who was arrested in 2009 and later pleaded guilty to charges of sodomy and taking indecent liberties with Kail, received a 13-year prison sentence, of which some seven years were suspended.
Virginia Department of Correction records show Moore is scheduled to be released on parole in September after serving just a little more than two years of his sentence.
But her father’s conviction and a change in state law requiring jurisdictions to keep records of substantiated child molestation cases for at least 25 years have done little to ease Kail’s suffering or answer her questions.
“I still want to know what happened all those years ago,” Kail said of the handling of her case. “I want to make sure it won’t ever happen again.”
Running away
Growing up, Kail saved her pocket change for the day she could leave home for good.
The oldest of four children, Kail describes her family home as being a powder keg ready to explode at any moment. She believes the abuse from her father started when she was just in diapers, and Region Ten records from 1987 that Kail provided to The Daily Progress corroborate her memories.
Kail and her younger sister fled their family home in Louisa County on Oct. 24, 1987, after years of abuse from Moore and what she considered disregard from her mother, court records show.
“Dad ruled with an iron fist in our house,” Kail said.
The three sisters were taken out of the family home for good after meeting with social service workers and talking with Louisa County sheriff’s deputies.
“We went into foster care and that seemed to be it,” Kail said. “After that night we didn’t see the sheriff’s investigator again. I felt like we were on our own.”
Looking for answers
Kail tried to make a life for herself in the years after leaving her family’s home.
She eventually aged out of the foster care system and went to live with her boyfriend and his family. The couple eventually married, had a daughter and then divorced.
Kail would later marry her current husband, Clay Wilcher, and have two children with him. Although she would see her nuclear family from time to time, she said they remained fairly distant. Over the years, she would ask questions about why her father wasn’t charged with a crime.
“I wanted some straight answers as to what happened,” Kail said. “I was digging in my brain and I couldn’t leave it alone because things didn’t add up to me.”
At first, Kail said she contacted Louisa County social services in search of her records. When those leads fell dead she started a letter-writing campaign that would last more than six years.
“I just couldn’t give up,” Kail said.
In the summer of 2008, Kail wrote two letters — one to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Services Council and one to Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle — sharing details of her story and her need for answers on what didn’t happen long ago.
Those two letters would open a criminal investigation and lead to new legislation.
Justice delayed
Louisa County sheriff’s Maj. Donnie Lowe was a rookie deputy in the police academy in 1987, but he remembers stopping by the office on the night Kail and her sister were brought in after running away from home.
He sat and talked with the two young girls and left them his business card, something the soon-to-be deputy said he gave to all residents he came in contact with.
Lowe was surprised to see that card more than 20 years later when Kail came to talk to him about her case.
“I had completely forgotten about that night,” Lowe said. “When she came back and told us what was going on it freaked me out because I thought I would have remembered that case.”
Lowe could not find any records of Kail’s case at the Sheriff’s Office. And the deputy who worked the original case was dead and the investigator had moved on to another job.
“I never heard another thing about the case when I came back from the academy,” Lowe said. “I don’t know if we’ll ever know why it wasn’t prosecuted.”
Louisa’s commonwealth’s attorney, Tom Garrett, said his office was just as surprised when Kail’s letter was passed along from the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Services Council, a state agency that provides training to commonwealth’s attorneys across the state.
Garrett, who had been in the office for less than a year, said he had never heard of Kail before getting the letter.
According to Kail’s handwritten notes, she reached out to the Louisa County commonwealth attorney’s office in May 2008. Kail said she met with Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Rusty McGuire only after her father’s sentencing and never met with Garrett.
Once Kail’s letter arrived, Garrett said he asked the sheriff’s investigators to look into the case. Because there were no case files and only old records from Region Ten, the case had to be built from scratch, Garrett said.
Moore was arrested Feb. 25, 2009 — more than 21 years after he first admitted to social service workers that he had sex with his daughters.
“He was totally surprised,” Garrett said. “I don’t think he ever expected to be arrested for having sex with his daughter even though he signed a confession years earlier.”
State law mandated Morris be sentenced under the guidelines he would have faced if he was convicted in the 1980s. He pleaded guilty in July 2009 and was sentenced to 13 years in prison, most of it suspended.
If he had been arrested under current law, Moore would have received more time and more charges, Garrett said.
Kail’s two sisters and brother declined to work with prosecutors on the case in 2008, although in interviews with sheriff’s investigators at the time all of them admitted abuse took place in the house.
Investigators found no solid evidence Moore molested anyone other than his own children, Garrett said. No one has come forward since his prosecution to say they were molested by Moore.
“You don’t roll out of bed one morning and decide to sexually prey on children,” Garrett said. “You don’t go to bed that night and wake up the next morning and feel any differently. When we find someone like Richard Moore, even if it’s 22 years later, we need to prosecute him and make sure that when he gets out he’s on the Sex Offender Registry because scientists will tell you he’ll still be a threat to children.”
‘The ball was dropped’
Malinda Kail logically knows her father deserved prison time for the crimes he committed against his children.
But she wasn’t exactly ecstatic when Moore was sentenced to prison.
“I wasn’t going there to get him in prison,” Kail said. “I wanted some answers. He should have been in prison years ago. But they didn’t ask me what I wanted.”
Garrett said the circumstances of Kail’s case obligated his office to bring charges against Moore.
“This is a casebook example of why there should never be a statute of limitations on this type of crime,” Garrett said. “We had two signed confessions from him that he did this … that is why it was so easy to get a conviction almost 23 years later.”
In his interview with a social services counselor in 1987, Moore admitted to having sex with his daughters. He also said he had been abused in his childhood and that his attraction to his daughters began when they were toddlers.
Although the girls told family members and talked to their mother, the abuse continued for years, records show.
Moore told investigators that he stopped physically having intercourse with them after his wife confronted him for a third time, but he never lost the desire to do so, reports said.
Both Lowe and Garrett said there is no explanation as to why Moore wasn’t charged in 1987 and why there were no records of the case at either agency.
While Lowe declined to speculate on what might have happened, Garrett said he finds it hard to believe a case file was ever turned over to the commonwealth’s attorney’s office.
Henry A. Kennan, who was sheriff in Louisa County in 1987, and then-Commonwealth’s Attorney John Garrett (no relation to Tom Garrett) both are deceased.
“The ball was dropped, there’s no doubt about that,” Garrett said. “One could wonder how it happened, but I just wasn’t there. Our responsibility is to prosecute the crimes of which we’re made aware, and when this case came to us we prosecuted it vigorously.”
Moving forward
Kail has created several large notebooks detailing her life story.
In them are the documents detailing her family’s interviews with social services about the allegations of abuse and notes detailing her long search for answers.
There are also copies of the handwritten notes and emails she sent looking for answers and the few replies she received in return.
A few years ago Kail sent several notebooks out to attorneys around the state, but no one was willing to pursue a civil case against Louisa County or state officials.
But just like prison time for her father, Kail said she was never hoping to make money off her years of abuse. She just wanted some answers as to what happened and gain some hope that it wouldn’t happen to someone else.
Last year, Kail worked with Bell on legislation that extended the number of years agencies must keep records of substantiated sexual abuse cases from seven to 25 years after the original complaint.
Bell said Kail’s story resonated with him and his staff and inspired them to help in whatever way they could.
“She had been so dogged in trying to get answers,” Bell said. “It’s a major credit to Malinda that she fought for those records. She just wouldn’t give up.”
The legislation will help in future cases, but Kail still wonders if it’s enough to keep other cases from falling by the wayside.
“I just want to know this won’t happen to someone else,” Kail said. “I want people to know that if something like this happened to them they should be able to get answers.”
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2011/jun/04/decades-after-abuse-someone-finally-listened-ar-1085739/
Decades after abuse, someone finally listened
Woman's drive for justice changed state law
Malinda Kail's father went to prison for abuse he confessed to 21 years prior.
By Sharon C. Fitzgerald
Published: June 04, 2011
For years, Malinda Kail wondered if her childhood memories were skewed.
The 42-year-old Ruckersville woman remembered years of sexual abuse at the hands of her father, but he wasn’t criminally charged, despite in the 1980s admitting the abuse to child protective service workers.
As an adult, Kail wrote letters and sent emails to every county and state official she could think of and anyone still alive who worked the original case. But no one had any record or memory of the accusations against her father, Richard Clinton Moore Jr., and those who did would not speak to Kail about her case.
It would take 22 years and two of her letters getting into the right hands to start turning the wheels of justice for Kail.
But by then, it was nearly too late, she said.
“I wanted some answers to why they didn’t do anything to him all those years ago,” Kail said. “Then they went and arrested him and didn’t give me a chance to have a say in anything. I feel like they took the power away from me all over again.”
Old records found at the Region Ten Community Services Board offices in Charlottesville in the summer of 2008 showed Moore admitted to abusing Kail and another of his daughters from the time they were preschoolers until they were teenagers.
Moore, who was arrested in 2009 and later pleaded guilty to charges of sodomy and taking indecent liberties with Kail, received a 13-year prison sentence, of which some seven years were suspended.
Virginia Department of Correction records show Moore is scheduled to be released on parole in September after serving just a little more than two years of his sentence.
But her father’s conviction and a change in state law requiring jurisdictions to keep records of substantiated child molestation cases for at least 25 years have done little to ease Kail’s suffering or answer her questions.
“I still want to know what happened all those years ago,” Kail said of the handling of her case. “I want to make sure it won’t ever happen again.”
Running away
Growing up, Kail saved her pocket change for the day she could leave home for good.
The oldest of four children, Kail describes her family home as being a powder keg ready to explode at any moment. She believes the abuse from her father started when she was just in diapers, and Region Ten records from 1987 that Kail provided to The Daily Progress corroborate her memories.
Kail and her younger sister fled their family home in Louisa County on Oct. 24, 1987, after years of abuse from Moore and what she considered disregard from her mother, court records show.
“Dad ruled with an iron fist in our house,” Kail said.
The three sisters were taken out of the family home for good after meeting with social service workers and talking with Louisa County sheriff’s deputies.
“We went into foster care and that seemed to be it,” Kail said. “After that night we didn’t see the sheriff’s investigator again. I felt like we were on our own.”
Looking for answers
Kail tried to make a life for herself in the years after leaving her family’s home.
She eventually aged out of the foster care system and went to live with her boyfriend and his family. The couple eventually married, had a daughter and then divorced.
Kail would later marry her current husband, Clay Wilcher, and have two children with him. Although she would see her nuclear family from time to time, she said they remained fairly distant. Over the years, she would ask questions about why her father wasn’t charged with a crime.
“I wanted some straight answers as to what happened,” Kail said. “I was digging in my brain and I couldn’t leave it alone because things didn’t add up to me.”
At first, Kail said she contacted Louisa County social services in search of her records. When those leads fell dead she started a letter-writing campaign that would last more than six years.
“I just couldn’t give up,” Kail said.
In the summer of 2008, Kail wrote two letters — one to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Services Council and one to Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle — sharing details of her story and her need for answers on what didn’t happen long ago.
Those two letters would open a criminal investigation and lead to new legislation.
Justice delayed
Louisa County sheriff’s Maj. Donnie Lowe was a rookie deputy in the police academy in 1987, but he remembers stopping by the office on the night Kail and her sister were brought in after running away from home.
He sat and talked with the two young girls and left them his business card, something the soon-to-be deputy said he gave to all residents he came in contact with.
Lowe was surprised to see that card more than 20 years later when Kail came to talk to him about her case.
“I had completely forgotten about that night,” Lowe said. “When she came back and told us what was going on it freaked me out because I thought I would have remembered that case.”
Lowe could not find any records of Kail’s case at the Sheriff’s Office. And the deputy who worked the original case was dead and the investigator had moved on to another job.
“I never heard another thing about the case when I came back from the academy,” Lowe said. “I don’t know if we’ll ever know why it wasn’t prosecuted.”
Louisa’s commonwealth’s attorney, Tom Garrett, said his office was just as surprised when Kail’s letter was passed along from the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Services Council, a state agency that provides training to commonwealth’s attorneys across the state.
Garrett, who had been in the office for less than a year, said he had never heard of Kail before getting the letter.
According to Kail’s handwritten notes, she reached out to the Louisa County commonwealth attorney’s office in May 2008. Kail said she met with Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Rusty McGuire only after her father’s sentencing and never met with Garrett.
Once Kail’s letter arrived, Garrett said he asked the sheriff’s investigators to look into the case. Because there were no case files and only old records from Region Ten, the case had to be built from scratch, Garrett said.
Moore was arrested Feb. 25, 2009 — more than 21 years after he first admitted to social service workers that he had sex with his daughters.
“He was totally surprised,” Garrett said. “I don’t think he ever expected to be arrested for having sex with his daughter even though he signed a confession years earlier.”
State law mandated Morris be sentenced under the guidelines he would have faced if he was convicted in the 1980s. He pleaded guilty in July 2009 and was sentenced to 13 years in prison, most of it suspended.
If he had been arrested under current law, Moore would have received more time and more charges, Garrett said.
Kail’s two sisters and brother declined to work with prosecutors on the case in 2008, although in interviews with sheriff’s investigators at the time all of them admitted abuse took place in the house.
Investigators found no solid evidence Moore molested anyone other than his own children, Garrett said. No one has come forward since his prosecution to say they were molested by Moore.
“You don’t roll out of bed one morning and decide to sexually prey on children,” Garrett said. “You don’t go to bed that night and wake up the next morning and feel any differently. When we find someone like Richard Moore, even if it’s 22 years later, we need to prosecute him and make sure that when he gets out he’s on the Sex Offender Registry because scientists will tell you he’ll still be a threat to children.”
‘The ball was dropped’
Malinda Kail logically knows her father deserved prison time for the crimes he committed against his children.
But she wasn’t exactly ecstatic when Moore was sentenced to prison.
“I wasn’t going there to get him in prison,” Kail said. “I wanted some answers. He should have been in prison years ago. But they didn’t ask me what I wanted.”
Garrett said the circumstances of Kail’s case obligated his office to bring charges against Moore.
“This is a casebook example of why there should never be a statute of limitations on this type of crime,” Garrett said. “We had two signed confessions from him that he did this … that is why it was so easy to get a conviction almost 23 years later.”
In his interview with a social services counselor in 1987, Moore admitted to having sex with his daughters. He also said he had been abused in his childhood and that his attraction to his daughters began when they were toddlers.
Although the girls told family members and talked to their mother, the abuse continued for years, records show.
Moore told investigators that he stopped physically having intercourse with them after his wife confronted him for a third time, but he never lost the desire to do so, reports said.
Both Lowe and Garrett said there is no explanation as to why Moore wasn’t charged in 1987 and why there were no records of the case at either agency.
While Lowe declined to speculate on what might have happened, Garrett said he finds it hard to believe a case file was ever turned over to the commonwealth’s attorney’s office.
Henry A. Kennan, who was sheriff in Louisa County in 1987, and then-Commonwealth’s Attorney John Garrett (no relation to Tom Garrett) both are deceased.
“The ball was dropped, there’s no doubt about that,” Garrett said. “One could wonder how it happened, but I just wasn’t there. Our responsibility is to prosecute the crimes of which we’re made aware, and when this case came to us we prosecuted it vigorously.”
Moving forward
Kail has created several large notebooks detailing her life story.
In them are the documents detailing her family’s interviews with social services about the allegations of abuse and notes detailing her long search for answers.
There are also copies of the handwritten notes and emails she sent looking for answers and the few replies she received in return.
A few years ago Kail sent several notebooks out to attorneys around the state, but no one was willing to pursue a civil case against Louisa County or state officials.
But just like prison time for her father, Kail said she was never hoping to make money off her years of abuse. She just wanted some answers as to what happened and gain some hope that it wouldn’t happen to someone else.
Last year, Kail worked with Bell on legislation that extended the number of years agencies must keep records of substantiated sexual abuse cases from seven to 25 years after the original complaint.
Bell said Kail’s story resonated with him and his staff and inspired them to help in whatever way they could.
“She had been so dogged in trying to get answers,” Bell said. “It’s a major credit to Malinda that she fought for those records. She just wouldn’t give up.”
The legislation will help in future cases, but Kail still wonders if it’s enough to keep other cases from falling by the wayside.
“I just want to know this won’t happen to someone else,” Kail said. “I want people to know that if something like this happened to them they should be able to get answers.”
Mom becomes advocate after violent dad kills 5-week-old twins during visitation (Baraboo, Wisconsin)
We've posted on dad DAVID YATES before. Kudos to mom Susan Bird-Winbun for stepping up to the plate and doing her part to prevent this kind of violence from happening again. We've said it before and we'll keep saying it. If dad has a history of violence, it's only a question of time before the kids are hurt.
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/article_8ce8724c-8f0a-11e0-be92-001cc4c002e0.html
Victim becomes full-time advocate against domestic abuse SAMARA KALK DERBY | skalk@madison.com
Posted: Saturday, June 4, 2011 7:10 pm
Three years after her ex-boyfriend killed her 5-week-old twins, Susan Bird-Winbun has become a full-time advocate for protecting children from abuse.
She recently started a nonprofit, Murder is Murder, which is lobbying for stiffer punishment against child abusers. She's also in the process of opening a domestic violence shelter in Sauk County.
Bird-Winbun, 31, who recently moved from Baraboo to Reedsburg, is speaking out about the abuse she suffered at the hands of David Yates, who in October was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murders of their twin infants, Savannah and Tyler Yates. The babies were found beaten to death in their father's condominium in April 2008.
"One of the goals of me speaking out is to save people from living with the blame that I carry on myself," said Bird-Winbun, who also is writing a book about her experiences with domestic violence. "I am speaking so people know what to do before it turns into a situation - a tragedy - like it did with my children."
Bird-Winbun said she had to be silent until Yates' trial was over.
David Yates, 18 years her senior, was her boss when the two worked for a resort company in Wisconsin Dells. He had been her boyfriend for 3 1/2 years, and she said he was good with her three children from a previous marriage.
The couple had been dating for six months when the verbal abuse started, Bird-Winbun said. Soon he was grabbing her and throwing things at her, she said.
"Over time it began to escalate," Bird-Winbun said. "That's one of the biggest myths about domestic violence, that it begins as full-fledged violence. He didn't knock me unconscious or break my nose the first time he hit me."
By the time she recognized what was happening to her as domestic violence, she said, it was so overwhelming she didn't know what to do. She finally had what she describes as "an awakening" and left him one week after the birth of their twins. They were murdered one month later.
Interestingly, before that, Yates never acted out against any of her children. He yelled at her older son once, but wouldn't even put the kids in a "time out" without checking with her first, she said.
At the time she figured that if her older children were safe with him, it followed that his own infant children would be safe, too.
She knows now that someone who is violent with one person will be violent with others. "Chances are high they don't discriminate against who they are violent against," Bird-Winbun said.
Child abuse is a hidden epidemic, according to Childhelp, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping victims of child abuse and neglect.
Almost five children die every day as a result of child abuse, most of them under the age of 4, the group reports. More than 3 million reports of child abuse are made every year in the United States, but each report can include multiple children.
Hanna Roth, co-founder of the Rainbird Foundation, a Madison nonprofit that works to end child abuse, has her own history of abuse. Her father was a teacher and a convicted pedophile. She said she doesn't know how many children he hurt, and he went to prison for his crimes against them. But he never served time for the abuse he committed against Roth and her siblings.
"The fastest way to end child abuse is to take it out of the closet and talk about it," Roth said.
It's important that children know that violence is never OK, whether it's against an adult or a child, Bird-Winbun said. "This is something you can talk about with your family at the dinner table or in the car on the way to soccer practice."
In school, children are taught about safe sex and not doing drugs, she said, "But I don't remember one single instance when it was discussed what to do if your boyfriend hits you or how to help a friend who's been abused."
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/article_8ce8724c-8f0a-11e0-be92-001cc4c002e0.html
Victim becomes full-time advocate against domestic abuse SAMARA KALK DERBY | skalk@madison.com
Posted: Saturday, June 4, 2011 7:10 pm
Three years after her ex-boyfriend killed her 5-week-old twins, Susan Bird-Winbun has become a full-time advocate for protecting children from abuse.
She recently started a nonprofit, Murder is Murder, which is lobbying for stiffer punishment against child abusers. She's also in the process of opening a domestic violence shelter in Sauk County.
Bird-Winbun, 31, who recently moved from Baraboo to Reedsburg, is speaking out about the abuse she suffered at the hands of David Yates, who in October was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murders of their twin infants, Savannah and Tyler Yates. The babies were found beaten to death in their father's condominium in April 2008.
"One of the goals of me speaking out is to save people from living with the blame that I carry on myself," said Bird-Winbun, who also is writing a book about her experiences with domestic violence. "I am speaking so people know what to do before it turns into a situation - a tragedy - like it did with my children."
Bird-Winbun said she had to be silent until Yates' trial was over.
David Yates, 18 years her senior, was her boss when the two worked for a resort company in Wisconsin Dells. He had been her boyfriend for 3 1/2 years, and she said he was good with her three children from a previous marriage.
The couple had been dating for six months when the verbal abuse started, Bird-Winbun said. Soon he was grabbing her and throwing things at her, she said.
"Over time it began to escalate," Bird-Winbun said. "That's one of the biggest myths about domestic violence, that it begins as full-fledged violence. He didn't knock me unconscious or break my nose the first time he hit me."
By the time she recognized what was happening to her as domestic violence, she said, it was so overwhelming she didn't know what to do. She finally had what she describes as "an awakening" and left him one week after the birth of their twins. They were murdered one month later.
Interestingly, before that, Yates never acted out against any of her children. He yelled at her older son once, but wouldn't even put the kids in a "time out" without checking with her first, she said.
At the time she figured that if her older children were safe with him, it followed that his own infant children would be safe, too.
She knows now that someone who is violent with one person will be violent with others. "Chances are high they don't discriminate against who they are violent against," Bird-Winbun said.
Child abuse is a hidden epidemic, according to Childhelp, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping victims of child abuse and neglect.
Almost five children die every day as a result of child abuse, most of them under the age of 4, the group reports. More than 3 million reports of child abuse are made every year in the United States, but each report can include multiple children.
Hanna Roth, co-founder of the Rainbird Foundation, a Madison nonprofit that works to end child abuse, has her own history of abuse. Her father was a teacher and a convicted pedophile. She said she doesn't know how many children he hurt, and he went to prison for his crimes against them. But he never served time for the abuse he committed against Roth and her siblings.
"The fastest way to end child abuse is to take it out of the closet and talk about it," Roth said.
It's important that children know that violence is never OK, whether it's against an adult or a child, Bird-Winbun said. "This is something you can talk about with your family at the dinner table or in the car on the way to soccer practice."
In school, children are taught about safe sex and not doing drugs, she said, "But I don't remember one single instance when it was discussed what to do if your boyfriend hits you or how to help a friend who's been abused."
Dad kills 15-year-old daughter; mom has life threatening injuries; mom's new BF also killed (Lakeland, Florida)
JOSE ANTONIO NEGRON: Another control freak violent father. Why do we even bother looking for what "sparked" these murders? There is no legitimate excuse.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/05/florida-man-allegedly-goes-on-shooting-rampage-killing-daughter-and-ex-wifes/
Florida Man in Custody Following Shooting Rampage That Left His Daughter, Ex-Wife's Boyfriend Dead
Published June 05, 2011
FoxNews.com
Police say Jose Antonio Negron killed his daughter and ex-wife's boyfriend at a Florida home on Saturday night
A Florida man went on a shooting rampage Saturday night, killing his teenage daughter and ex-wife’s boyfriend, police officials told FoxNews.com. His ex-wife was shot multiple times during the incident.
Police say Jose Antonio Negron confronted the three at a home in Lakeland, Fla. The argument began in the garage and moved into the house. Negron allegedly shot dead his daughter, Marta Negron, 15, and Luis Fernandez, 46. The two were pronounced dead at the scene.
His ex-wife, Olga Gonzales, 46, who was shot more than once, was able to walk to a neighbor’s home and call police. Police were unable to confirm where the shooting took place.
Gonzales suffered life-threatening injuries, but before she was transported to the hospital she told her neighbor who the shooter was, MyFoxTampaBay.com reported.
“She said my ex-husband shot everybody,” her neighbor told the station. “My daughter – my baby - and my boyfriend.”
Negron, who was once charged in 1994 with firing a gun in public, will face two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, the station reported.
“The Tampa police have him in custody and they’re questioning him now,” Sgt. Mark Melius, from the Lakeland Police Department, said. “We’re expecting him to be moved here sometime tonight.”
Negron, 54, turned himself into police early Sunday moring, Melius said. It was unclear what sparked the shooting.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/05/florida-man-allegedly-goes-on-shooting-rampage-killing-daughter-and-ex-wifes/
Florida Man in Custody Following Shooting Rampage That Left His Daughter, Ex-Wife's Boyfriend Dead
Published June 05, 2011
FoxNews.com
Police say Jose Antonio Negron killed his daughter and ex-wife's boyfriend at a Florida home on Saturday night
A Florida man went on a shooting rampage Saturday night, killing his teenage daughter and ex-wife’s boyfriend, police officials told FoxNews.com. His ex-wife was shot multiple times during the incident.
Police say Jose Antonio Negron confronted the three at a home in Lakeland, Fla. The argument began in the garage and moved into the house. Negron allegedly shot dead his daughter, Marta Negron, 15, and Luis Fernandez, 46. The two were pronounced dead at the scene.
His ex-wife, Olga Gonzales, 46, who was shot more than once, was able to walk to a neighbor’s home and call police. Police were unable to confirm where the shooting took place.
Gonzales suffered life-threatening injuries, but before she was transported to the hospital she told her neighbor who the shooter was, MyFoxTampaBay.com reported.
“She said my ex-husband shot everybody,” her neighbor told the station. “My daughter – my baby - and my boyfriend.”
Negron, who was once charged in 1994 with firing a gun in public, will face two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, the station reported.
“The Tampa police have him in custody and they’re questioning him now,” Sgt. Mark Melius, from the Lakeland Police Department, said. “We’re expecting him to be moved here sometime tonight.”
Negron, 54, turned himself into police early Sunday moring, Melius said. It was unclear what sparked the shooting.
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