Dad leaves four young kids home alone; found by repo man (Murfreesboro, Tennessee)

Not real clear on what happened here. Did the mother live in the home? If so, why was she also not at home at 11 PM when Daddy left these kids alone? Why isn't it explained? If she had lived there, wouldn't she have been held responsible as well?

Or is this a single custodial dad or dad with weekend visitation? It seems like the latter, but the article doesn't say so. Especially since the kids have now been "placed" with Mom and all.

Dad is identified as ROGER KATZENMAIER.

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/19706916/repo-man-finds-four-young-children-home-alone

Repo Man Finds Four Young Children Home Alone

 Posted: Oct 02, 2012 12:27 PM CDT Updated: Oct 02, 2012 12:28 PM CDT

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) - A man sent to repossess a car found four small children left home alone.

James King was at a Murfreesboro apartment building at about 11 p.m. on Saturday when he saw a small boy outside crying.

King called Murfreesboro Police, who discovered that four children, ages 2 to 7, had been left alone.

The Daily News Journal reported the oldest child told police they woke up to find their father gone.

Rodger Katzenmaier, showed up about an hour later, and told police he had gone to another apartment to use the telephone.

Katzenmaier was charged with felony child neglect. He was jailed on $12,000 bond.

Jail officials had no record of an attorney for him.

The Tennessee Department of Children Services placed the children with their mother.

Dad accused of using 2-year-old daughter as "human shield" (Apple Valley, Minnesota)

This illustrates what's wrong with our criminal justice system. This dude has a long criminal record, including CONVICTIONS for crimes like domestic assault. Nevertheless, the judge lets him out on bail during his most recent domestic assault investigation --with predicable results. We put this mom and child at further risk for their lives and in further emotional distress. We subjected this two-year-old girl to total terror as Daddy grabs her as a human shield when the cops pull guns.

It's all about Daddy's rights, you know.

Meanwhile, Mom, the crime VICTIM, is worried that she will be the one who is punished by being evicted from her home.

Dad the criminal gets coddled, Mom the crime victim is at risk of homelessness. What else do you need to know about domestic violence in the U.S.?

Dad is identified as TIMOTHY LEE MYERS.

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_21673979/apple-valley-man-accused-holding-2-year-old

Apple Valley man accused of using 2-year-old as 'human shield'

By Nick Ferraro

Posted: 10/01/2012 12:01:00 AM CDT October 2, 2012 12:50 PM GMT

Updated: 10/02/2012 07:50:10 AM CDT

An Apple Valley man is accused of using his 2-year-old daughter as a "human shield" when police drew a gun on him during a recent domestic assault investigation.

Timothy Lee Myers, 52, has been charged in Dakota County District Court with gross misdemeanor child endangerment, as well as domestic assault and obstructing legal process, in connection with the Sept. 22 incident.

Police responded to Myers' house in the 14000 block of Garrett Avenue about 1:45 a.m. after dispatch reported a call with yelling in the background and the caller saying it was "getting pretty bad," according to a criminal complaint.

Officers forced their way into the house because of "ongoing concerns that someone inside had been assaulted and may be in danger," the complaint said.

Once confronted, Myers yelled at an officer and ignored demands to put his hands on his head. The officer pointed the gun at Myers, who refused to raise his hands and kept one behind his back, the complaint said.

Myers then picked up the girl and put her in front of him "like a human shield," the complaint said.

When another officer entered the room, the first officer grabbed the child. Myers physically resisted officers' attempts to place him in custody, the charges said. Two people who were in the house told police that

Myers and a female resident had been fighting. One said she heard the victim making noises like she was being choked, the complaint said.

The victim, identified in the complaint as "M.D.M.," told an officer she did not want to give a statement out of fear that she would be evicted.

"However, the investigating officer said M.D.M. shook her head in the affirmative when he asked her if Myers choked and hit her," the complaint said.

Myers was released from jail the same day after posting $5,000 bail, which included conditions that he have no contact with the victims and avoid using alcohol and drugs.

Myers, who could not be reached for comment on Monday, Oct. 1, is on probation because of a June drunken-driving conviction.

Court records show he also has been convicted of domestic assault, obstructing legal process (interfering with a peace officer) and disorderly conduct.

His next court appearance for the latest charges is scheduled for Oct. 23.

Dad murders mom in front of their 8-year-old daughter (Orlando, Florida)

The killer dad is identified as DONALD STEPHENSON.

http://www.cfnews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2012/10/1/police_child_witness.html

Police: Child witnesses parents' murder-suicide

Police say Donald Stephenson killed Nicholette White, then himself in front of the couple's 8-year-old daughter.

By Margaret Kavanagh, Reporter

Last Updated: Monday, October 01, 2012 @ 12:20PM

ORLANDO -- Just hours before Domestic Violence Awareness month began, Orlando police said an 8-year-old girl witnessed her father brutally attacking her mother and then kill himself.

It happened around 5:30 p.m. Sunday in the 4600 block of Stag Horn Drive in Orlando when police were called to the Stag Horn Villas for a report of a "cutting".

Police said the girl saw 47-year-old Donald Stephenson attack her mother, 41-year-old Nicholette White, and commit suicide.

They think the little girl witnessed the attack and went to get help from a nearby neighbor, who called 911.

Police said when they arrive on the scene, they found the two adults with serious injuries on the floor of the home.

They both later died at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

People who live in the Stag Horn community said they are disturbed by what’s happened and extremely worried about the girl's well-being.

One woman, who did not want her name used, said she consoled the little girl minutes after the horrible incident.

She said, “I have not sleep all night," the woman said. "I have been twisting and turning all night. I can’t picture, imagine someone going through something like that. ” Police said the young girl is staying with relatives and DCF has been notified.

According to police, the couple was not married.

Dad expected to be charged with homicide in death of 8-week-old son (Coshocton, Ohio)

Dad is identified as CORREY LAFFERTY.

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2012/10/01/columbus-baby-death-ruled-homicide.html

Death Of 8-Week-Old Boy Ruled Homicide

Monday October 1, 2012 6:39 AM UPDATED: Monday October 1, 2012 6:40 AM

COSHOCTON, Ohio - A father could soon face murder charges after he was accused of killing his infant son.

According to the Coshocton Tribune, the 8-week-old baby was found not breathing on Sept. 26.

An autopsy performed Saturday determined that the child's death was suspicious and was ruled a homicide.

The baby's father, Correy Lafferty, was taken in to custody, the newspaper reported. Lafferty, 23, was ordered held on $250,000 bond on a felonious assault charge. More serious charges were expected to be filed soon.

"Babysitting" dad charged with physically abusing 5-month-old son, now dead (Houston, Texas)

A familiar story. Parents apparently didn't live together (e.g. reference to "his southwestern Houston home"). Mom has to work, support the kids. Dad is enlisted to "babysit" -- because he doesn't have a job? At any rate, like so many testosterone-fueled young men, Daddy goes off on the baby and kills him because Daddy can't deal with crying.

If the baby's death has been ruled a homicide, why is Dad only being charged with "injury to a child"?

Dad is identified as CHRISTOPHER MANE JOHNSON.

How I wish that American mothers had paid maternity leaves, so we didn't have to put up with these jerks for child "care"....

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8831187

Houston father accused of physically abusing his 5-month-old baby who eventually died

Updated at 11:48 AM today

Christopher Mane Johnson, 26, is charged with injury to a child.

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Houston father is accused of physically abusing his 5-month-old baby who eventually died from his injuries.

According to court documents, on the morning of September 25 Christopher Mane Johnson told police he was babysitting his children at his southwest Houston home when he observed his 5-month-old son not breathing. He called 911 and the baby was transported to Texas Children's Hospital.

The baby's mother told police that she works overnight and left the children in Johnson's care. She says the baby was in good health when she left them the night before.

Medical personnel say the baby suffered multiple facial bruises, brain hemorrhages and brain damage. Investigators say doctors told them the cause of the injuries was suspected to be from physical abuse and that the baby was not expected to survive.

The baby died the following day. The manner of death was ruled homicide.

Police say Johnson initially told them he did not know why the baby stopped breathing nor how the baby sustained his injuries. Police say he later admitted to lightly shaking the baby because he was crying.

Johnson, 26, is charged with injury to a child.

Court record show Johnson has multiple drug convictions.

Dad stabs two kids to death during visitation (United Kingdom)

Yet another killer dad who snuffed out the lives of his kids. When are we finally going to stop giving violent narcissistic control freaks access to the kids, when their primary motive in life is to "punish" Mum? Who would rather indulge in Final Solution blood baths than share the custody of kids?

This dad is identified as MICHAEL PEDERSEN.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/man-two-children-found-dead-122155660.html

IRA survivor 'stabbed his children'

Press Association – 15 minutes ago

A former army sergeant who survived a devastating IRA bomb blast has stabbed his two children to death before killing himself in a countryside bridleway.

The bodies of Michael, 51, Ben, seven, and Freya Pedersen, six, were found next to a Saab 900SE convertible car in the tiny lane at Newton Stacey, near Andover, Hampshire, at 6.15pm on Sunday.

Mr Pedersen was a former army sergeant in the Household Cavalry unit that was hit by an IRA nail bomb in Hyde Park in 1982, it has been reported in the Daily Telegraph.

The children's maternal grandfather, William Clifford, 67, from Buckinghamshire, said outside his daughter Erica's home in Ashford, Middlesex: "We are obviously devastated and what we would ask is that you respect our privacy in this matter.

"It is extremely distressing and that is all I want to say."

Detective Superintendent Tony Harris, of Hampshire police, said that the "tragic" incident happened while Mr Pedersen was on an arranged visit with the two children from his estranged wife.

Mr Pedersen, of Chertsey, Surrey, had taken the children to visit his father in Andover but failed to return the two youngsters to their mother by the pre-arranged time of 5pm.

The bodies were found lying behind the car at 6.15pm by a walker, according to police.

Mr Harris said police were tracing the family of Mr Pedersen, who had two other children from a previous relationship, when his estranged wife raised the alarm at 7pm.

He said he believed the deaths happened sometime that afternoon and he was not looking for anyone else as part of the inquiry.

Study: Dads commit 45% of attacks on young children, boyfriends do 25% (USA)

When data on hospital admissions is analyzed--as opposed to (easily manipulated) abuse reports filed with CPS--child abuse is up, especially for babies and young children.

Who is doing the abuse? Well, we all know it's politically incorrect to say so, so it's buried. But the bulk of it is fathers, followed by boyfriends.

No speculation as to why here, but other studies have suggested that due to the Great Recession and family court trends, more men are being assigned primary care of infants and toddlers. And for any variety of reasons (hormones, socialization, etc.), too many are ill-equiped for the job.

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/01/14163696-abuse-of-smallest-babies-may-have-risen-study-finds?lite

Abuse of smallest babies may have risen, study finds

By Maggie Fox, NBC News

A new look at child abuse reports suggests there may have been a small but worrying rise in injuries to babies over the past decade or so. While most research suggests child abuse is down overall, the report published on Monday in the journal Pediatrics shows infants are far from safe.

The study contradicts government data collected over the same time, and it shows that health officials need to take a better look at whether child abuse is getting better, worse or staying the same, experts said.

“I think it’s premature to make any conclusions about whether it is going up or down,” says Dr. James Anderst, chief of the section on child abuse and neglect at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Mo., who was not involved in the study. “Medical providers may be getting better at identifying abuse over time.”

Either way, it’s still happening and that’s a concern, says Dr. John Leventhal of Yale University, who led the study. “Maybe parents are doing better and hurting their children less in general, but there is a small group where there continue to be substantial injuries that end in hospitalization,” Leventhal said.

Leventhal and colleague Julie Gaither looked at statistics on children admitted to hospitals for serious injuries. Writing in the journal Pediatrics, they said they found a nearly 11 percent increase over 12 years in serious injuries to babies a year old and younger.

This is at the same time that two major national surveys of child abuse found decreases of between 55 percent and 23 percent in child abuse injuries overall, for all ages, between 1997 and 2009. It's important to point out that each study goes to different sources for data -- this week's study looks at hospital admissions, while the government studies examined reports of abuse filed to Child Protective Services and other agencies by doctors and other sources.

Child abuse is a serious problem in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more than 740,000 children and youth are treated in hospital emergency departments for injuries resulting from violence every year.

“Child abuse, neglect or violence can actually affect the development of a child’s brain – impacting the child now and for years to come. Our Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) studyshows a connection between child maltreatment and some of the nation’s worst health problems, including depression and heart disease,” CDC child abuse expert Linda Degutis says in a blog on the agency’s website.

CDC declined comment on Monday’s study in Pediatrics.

“I would say that the experts in this area are still trying to make sense of the various trends in physical abuse and explain why there are divergences,” said David Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire, who led one of the studies showing a decrease in child abuse injuries between 1997 and 2009. “This new report is helpful but does not resolve any of the outstanding questions.”

Leventhal said it’s important to get better data, but says it’s difficult. “It is probably harder to substantiate a physical abuse case now than it was 15-20 years ago,” he says -- mostly because agencies have tightened the rules for classifying cases as child abuse. “My colleagues in child protective services say it is much harder.” Many, he says, classify abuse cases as neglect instead. But it would be important to get data to back this up.

Anderst and Leventhal both said education is an important way to help prevent child abuse. “Over 50 percent of the kids on my study were infants. Thirty to 40 percent of those infants had abusive head trauma, often known as shaken baby syndrome,” Leventhal said. That suggests parents are caretakers who are frustrated and don’t know how to cope with a wailing baby, he said.

“I think, regardless of the cause, the message is too many children, particularly very young children are getting hurt,” he said. “And pediatricians and others who look after children need to craft clear messages so that children are not hurt by abuse.

Yale’s hospital has an approach called “Take Five.” “If you feel like you are going to lose it, put the baby in a safe place, namely a crib, step back and take five,” Leventhal says. Some states are also giving new parents information about not shaking their babies – even seemingly gentle shakes can cause traumatic brain injury. “There are now systematic efforts funded in part by the CDC to see whether education about crying infants, about stepping away, about not shaking a baby, change the likelihood that children end up in the hospital with those injuries,” Leventhal added.

Sometimes people were themselves beaten as children, and pass this behavior along, Anderst said. “Some people are just ill-prepared to be parents and don’t know how to handle children. Some people come from violent backgrounds and that is how they handle their problems.”

So how to change this behavior? “It’s the same way we get people to quit smoking. It is the same way we get people to wear seat belts. It is a combination of laws and enforcement of those laws and also supporting people so they can be better parents,” Anderst said.

He said government officials should think about those consequences when they cut programs to save money in state budgets.

Sometimes it's not the parents who are doing the harm but someone outside the family.

Dr. Suzanne Starling, a pediatrician at Eastern Virginia Medical School, has made intensive studies of who’s hurting kids, and found a consistent pattern: men are far more likely to hit, shake or batter young children. One study she published in the Southern Medical Journal found fathers committed 45 percent of attacks, and boyfriends of the mothers another 25 percent.

“Parents need to believe that the people close to them might have the potential to lose it with a frustrating circumstance such as a crying baby,” Leventhal advised. “They need to say each of the people who looks after their child, ‘my baby cries sometimes and it gets frustrating. If you feel that way, call me. I will come home from work. But don’t hurt my baby’.”