The Face of America in Year 2015

[kscarbel2]

Maryland boy dies after beating for eating birthday cake

Reuters / July 6, 2015

A 9-year-old Maryland boy who was handcuffed and beaten by his mother's boyfriend for sneaking birthday cake has died from his injuries, police said on Monday.

The boy, Jack Garcia, died on Sunday after being on life support at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, a Hagerstown police spokesman said.

Robert Wilson, 30, the boyfriend of the boy's mother, handcuffed and beat the 9-year-old boy late on Tuesday after he caught him eating birthday cake without permission at their home in Hagerstown, about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Washington, police said in a statement.

Police arrived around 10:30 p.m. to find Jack suffering severe injuries to his face, neck, back, buttocks, legs and abdomen. He was unconscious and not breathing.

Wilson was charged on Wednesday with first- and second-degree assault, child abuse and reckless endangerment.Police will seek murder charges pending an autopsy report.

Wilson is being held on a $1 million bond.

.

[kscarbel2]

Houston mother starves boys, locking them in closet

ABC / July 6, 2015

Houston mother Sandra Anna Gonzalez is facing multiple charges on allegations of child abuse, and authorities described her 10-year-old son as being so malnourished that he looked "like a prisoner of war who had been starved."

The case came to light last fall when an employee at Beneke Elementary School reported a boy with multiple visible injuries was sitting on the curb outside the school, and said he didn't want to go home because his mother was abusing him, according to court documents.

The boy, who was then 10 years old, told Sergeant E. Gonzales with the Precinct 4 Constables Office that his mother, Gonzalez, was abusing him by "wiping her feet on his and his brother's knees and shooting him with a BB gun."

Sgt. Gonzales said when the boy took off his shirt, he could see more bruising and abrasions, as well as the boy's spine and ribs, and the child appeared to be severely malnourished.

A deputy interviewed Gonzalez at the family's home, where she lived with her boyfriend and six children. The deputy identified a 12-year-old boy with similar injuries and possible malnourishment, but other children in the home appeared to be in good health.

While the brothers were receiving treatment at Texas Children's Hospital, they told authorities they were only allowed one bologna sandwich a day and spent their time locked in the laundry room, while the other siblings ate as much food as they wanted.

The 10-year-old said their mother would punish them by shooting them with a pellet gun, and allowing their other brothers and sisters to do the same.

He recounted an example of his mother slamming his brother's head into the wall for eating food, and said she later painted her room to cover the blood spots.

The boys also say they were forced to kneel on 'seeds' all day as a punishment for stealing food.

Records obtained by Eyewitness News show Gonzalez has had a long history with CPS. Some cases date back more than a decade, to 2004, when she lost custody of two kids to her husband. In 2006, she lost custody of four other children to their aunt, but got them back in 2009.

Gonzalez's current boyfriend said he had nothing to do with the other children. However, he does admit that he has a newborn with Gonzalez, and that child is also currently in foster care with the other four children.

Gonzalez, 35, is charged with two counts of injury to a child. She is currently out on bond.

[kscarbel2]

Mother starved 5-year-old stepson in closet until he weighed just 29 pounds

Daily News / October 6, 2014

A Texas woman who kept her severely malnourished five-year-old stepson in a closet under the stairs until he weighed only 29lbs has been charged with felony injury to a child by omission.

Tammi Bleimeyer, 34, from outside Houston, was charged with felony child endangerment last year when the disturbing treatment of the boy, Jordan, came to light after his stepbrother spoke out.

Jordan was visibly emaciated in March 2014, with bones visible through his skin and bruises, according to authorities. He went to pediatric intensive care before regaining health.

A soiled mattress was found in a closet under the Bleimeyer's home along with a lock.

Mrs Bleimeyer denied the abuse and said that her 16-year-old biological son was lying because he did not respect his new 24-year-old stepdad, Jordan's biological father, because of the small age difference.

The biological mother of seven is now estranged from husband Bradley Bleimeyer, who was also charged with child endangerment.

Jordan's biological mother Wendy Hall said the boy told her he was fed just a cup of water and a piece of bread every day.

He was also allegedly drugged by his father to keep him quiet when guests were over.

Child protective services took custody of Jordan and Mrs Bleimeyer's other children.

Ms Hall was granted access to her son while he stayed with an aunt.

.

[grayhair]

I imagine this POS has a criminal record and was released by a liberal judge. Dollars to donuts this wasn't his first felony. Should prosecute his father too for piss-poor upbringing...

We have:

The dumbing-down of America - via the growing number of liberal, low-skilled "tenured" teachers who should be removed. (Love teachers but there is dead wood hiding amongst them.)

A totally ineffective, completely superfluous Federal Dept. of Education

Liberal law schools turning out liberal lawyers who become liberal judges

Plea bargaining by lazy prosecutors

Failure to promptly carry out the death penalty following the loss of the 3rd appeal.

Liberal citizenry who will vote for Governors who don't believe in the death penalty. (Should be a go/no-go litmus test.)

These crimes are horrific national tragedies, yet the admin uses the red herring of (imagined) global climate change to cover their lack of humanity.

That Sir, is how I see it...

[kscarbel2]

Maryland mother dumps baby on the side of the road

Associated Press / July 6, 2015

A Maryland mother is being held on $500,000 bail after police say she left her 6-week-old daughter on the side of a road Saturday.

Anne Arundel County police charged 26-year-old Sandra Clara McClary of Baltimore with child neglect and reckless endangerment on Sunday.

A resident of Pasadena found the infant in a scuffed carrier before midnight Saturday and called police.

Police say McClary called police Sunday morning claiming to be the baby's mother.

McClary is scheduled to go to trial this week in a string of robberies.

In a 911 call that police released Monday, the dispatcher sounds incredulous when the caller reports that a baby in a stroller is in the road near her house. A baby can be heard crying during some of the call.

Caller: I have a problem here. I live at ... And it's a baby in our street, and no one's around and baby's just steady crying.

Dispatcher: About how old?

Caller: About 2 months old.

Dispatcher: And there's no one around?

Caller: No one at all. She's in a stroller, we don't want anyone run over her, out in the street.

Dispatcher: It's in the road?

Caller: In the road.

[kscarbel2]

Father and stepmother murder 3-year old boy

Sun Sentinel / March 26, 2015

The 3-year-old boy was covered in bruises from head to toe; his pancreas was broken into three pieces. His body was stuffed into garbage bags tucked inside a box in a laundry room.

Wednesday, police announced that his stepmother and father had been arrested in connection with his death.

The body of Ahziya Drew Osceola was found in the family's residence in the 5400 block of Johnson Street.

His stepmother, Analiz Rodezno Osceola, 24, was charged Wednesday with aggravated manslaughter; child neglect and providing false information to law enforcement.

Her husband of 10 months, Nelson Drew Osceola, 24, who is the child's father, was charged with child neglect.

Nelson Osceola was freed on a $50,000 bond from Broward County's main jail Thursday morning. His wife remained behind bars with a $230,000 bond after appearing in court.

"In his first three years of life, he endured what we believe to be a significant amount of pain," Hollywood Police Chief Frank Fernandez said. "No child should ever, ever endure this life, the life of little Ahziya."

The cause of the child's death, ruled a homicide, was from blunt impact abdominal trauma, according to the Broward Medical Examiner's Office.

His face and body were bruised; his pancreas was broken into three pieces. Enzymes from that organ were let loose and were breaking down internal organs, the medical examiner's office said.

The autopsy also found a spiral fracture of the child's left shin bone that was probably an old break. The medical examiner's office estimated Ahziya died late Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

During Ahziya's short life, there were four reports to the Florida Department of Children and Families hotline. Three described injuries and allegations of harm that prompted home visits, doctor exams, interviews with teachers and relatives, counseling and training for the parents. But physical abuse allegations were not substantiated.

Ahziya had a purple bruise on his left cheek that was blamed on a fall onto a wooden bed frame, an August 2013 report said.

In April 2014, fingerprints and a bruise on the lower side of each jawbone, scratches on both sides of Ahziya's neck and bruises on his left back ribcage were observed, a report states. His father attributed some of the marks to a fall in the bathroom and rough play with kids at an Easter party, and said his son fell all the time.

A bruise and abrasion were noticed beneath Ahziya's eye in December 2014. The child's bottom was also sore. His mother took him to an emergency room doctor who found small abrasions in his rectum that could have been from constipation, a report said. He was otherwise described as "very happy, rambunctious and talkative" and denied being harmed by anyone.

A fourth report said child investigators determined there was inadequate supervision and medical neglect when in January 2014 Ahziya left his mother in a fifth-floor hotel room, got into an elevator and was found in the hotel lobby. Karen Cypress was arrested and pleaded not guilty to criminal charges including child neglect. The case is open, according to Broward court records. The boy was placed with his father and Cypress was allowed to visit her son.

State reports listed investigators — from the Broward Sheriff's Child Protection Investigation Section, who work on behalf of DCF; the medically oriented Child Protection Team and Seminole Family Services — that had looked into allegations of abuse of Ahziya.

"There is no fail-safe system, other than a responsible parent," Fernandez said.

[kscarbel2]

Aunt beats 3-year-old boy to death because he wouldn't go to sleep

Daily News / February 27, 2015

A bouncing 3-year-old boy was beaten to death by a belt-wielding aunt infuriated when the adorable child refused to go to sleep, police sources said Thursday.

Christen (Ninee) Dale, 21, confessed to whipping her sister’s son, little Ethan Ali, inside Dale’s Brooklyn apartment.

“He came into her room and started jumping up and down on her bed,” the source recounted. “She told him, ‘Go to your room.’ Then she hit him with the belt.”

The mortally injured child went back to his room, where he died, while his aunt fell asleep in her bed.

The child had bruises on his chest and back, and the medical examiner ruled Thursday that his death was a homicide caused by “multiple blunt impact injuries.”

The heartless aunt, who was apparently alone in the apartment with her nephew, was charged with manslaughter, assault, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal possession of a weapon.

The dead child’s grandfather told the Daily News that Dale and Skeet beat the preschooler “all the time” with a belt.

“They beat him and they beat him,” said grandfather Leroy Ali. “He was always bruised. She beat him with the belt. I told her stop.”

[kscarbel2]

Mother beats her 17-month-old daughter to death

April 20, 2015

Taylor Lynn Fast’s daughter was discovered beaten to death.

Fast, 21, from Festus, Missouri, told police that her daughter, Layla, was severely bruised and unresponsive because she was bitten by a spider.

She also said that she did not realize that her little girl was dead.

Paramedics who attempted to treat Layla at the scene said she had been dead for several hours.

Layla suffered severe injuries to her face and neck. She had bruises all over her small body. Police at the scene compared her wounds to that of a high speed car crash victim.

Another child, a three-year-old boy, was also discovered at Fast’s home. The boy had severe bruising and a broken leg. It is unknown at this time if the boy is Layla’s brother.

Police say the beating taken by seventeen month old Layla is the worst case of child abuse officers there had ever seen.

“It’s anger. It’s sadness. It’s empathy,” Festus Police Chief Tim Lewis said. “Anybody that’s a parent. What got me is when I first saw this child; she looked like one of my great nieces. Just a small innocent child maybe 25 pounds. Just a little one year old girl should not have experienced what this child experienced. Her last few seconds of life were a pure hell. I’ve been a policeman for 32 years and this is the worst case of child abuse I have ever seen. Nothing even comes close to this. This child looked like a situation; say if a child was involved in a car accident. It was horrible.”

[mrsmackpaul]

bugger me whats going on in the world it appears that the more we get as a society the worse we become did any of this go in the depression or in the war years maybe but I think people had to many of there own problems to do all of this stuff

Paul

thanks for sharing this concerning stuff as I think we all need a wake up call to whats going around us at times

[other dog]

How did we get here like we are now?we stopped praying.Some may get tired of hearing this but its the truth and if I know it and don't pass that along then I am stupid.

God knew that in the end of age man would do this.To me the world is so messed up that no one president of country could put peace back in the world with out getting a war started.Rush said a while back that only thing that will stop the threat of world war is a war.When you study the Bible it tells us that all of these things will come about and to look up for your redempsion drawth nigh.(end of age) But God knew in the end that the greedy will rise up over us and I remnber when the government something to us and now its our enemy.

I heard a woman telling George Noory one night last week that there is now talk of everyone having to have a chip implanted with their ID number on it, that could be scanned like a bar code to be able to buy and sell anything, because there's so much identity theft now I guess. No cash, no credit card, no writing a check, they would just scan your number. I don't remember the exact reason, but it sure sounds like the "mark of the beast" as it says in the Bible to me.

[41chevy]

I imagine this POS has a criminal record and was released by a liberal judge. Dollars to donuts this wasn't his first felony. Should prosecute his father too for piss-poor upbringing...

We have:

The dumbing-down of America - via the growing number of liberal, low-skilled "tenured" teachers who should be removed. (Love teachers but there is dead wood hiding amongst them.)

A totally ineffective, completely superfluous Federal Dept. of Education

Liberal law schools turning out liberal lawyers who become liberal judges

Plea bargaining by lazy prosecutors

Failure to promptly carry out the death penalty following the loss of the 3rd appeal.

Liberal citizenry who will vote for Governors who don't believe in the death penalty. (Should be a go/no-go litmus test.)

These crimes are horrific national tragedies, yet the admin uses the red herring of (imagined) global climate change to cover their lack of humanity.

That Sir, is how I see it...

Because in our society objects and victims are the guilty parties- not the person who did the crime. There are no personal responsibilities today for actions taken by someone. Blame it on a hard up bringing, a cruel parent, a gun that jumped into your hand and told you to pull it's trigger, the child/ woman asked for it. . . . We have a society of idiots, taught by idiots, and ruled by idiots.

[kscarbel2]

Mother chokes 2-year-old daughter to death, throws into ravine

Associated Press / July 7, 2015

The mother of a 2-year-old girl found dead in a ravine has been arrested on charges she asphyxiated the girl after becoming upset that she had to help the toddler clean herself after using the toilet, police say.

Adriene Williams, 26, of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, was arrested on charges of criminal homicide, endangering the welfare of a child, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.

Her toddler, Adrionna, was discovered dead by a dog walker in a neighboring suburb, Swissvale, about 40 minutes after her family reported her missing June 14.

Medical examiner determined the girl was asphyxiated.

The girl's bare feet gave no indication she had walked to where she was found, about 2 miles from her grandmother' duplex, police said.

Shortly before Williams left for work, her daughter used the bathroom and needed help cleaning herself, according to one cousin.

"This seemed to annoy Adriene and she got up from the couch stating, 'I want to change my name,' in a loud angry voice," the cousin told police. After Williams helped her daughter, the girl climbed on a couch to play with her mother but the cousin told police, "it seemed that Adriene didn't want to play with her."

Surveillance video from various sources showed Williams' car headed toward the area where the girl's body was later found. Cellphone tower information painted a similar picture, police said.

[grayhair]

Friends tell me the death penalty in PA is on hold while douche lightweight governor sucks the consults with his attorney buddies political contributors. 186 individuals on PA death row but no executions in the last 16 years. Some have been on PA death row for over 30 years. Sad to say we don't move all that quickly here in TX either, but eventually we do get around to it. Meanwhile taxpayers have to feed these scumbags, medical, dental, time in the prison law library, color TV, and on and on.

My opinion, each death row inmate should have a kidney removed immediately by a prison surgeon. Said kidney then sent to Bethesda for transplantation to help a military combat veteran in need, or the next up on the national organ waiting list. Maybe testicles too from convicts of rape/murders. Those could just be sent out with the other medical waste. Get back to the inmate with a confirmation letter stating the date and time that his cachubies were incinerated. Nothing cruel or unusual there. Now making the testicles into key fobs could be unusual... I don't know.

[kscarbel2]

Minneapolis Toddler ‘Stomped’ to Death by Mother’s Teenage Boyfriend for Crying

KTLA 5 / June 16, 2015

A Minneapolis teenager has been charged with second-degree murder in the brutal beating death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter.

The 17-year-old suspect is currently charged as a juvenile. He made his first court appearance Monday at the Hennepin County Juvenile Justice Center, where it was announced there would be a certification trial to determine if he should be tried as an adult.

Police were dispatched to a home in Minneapolis around 12:35 p.m. on June 10 on a report of a child not breathing.

The child, 2-year-old Sophia O’Neill, was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center where she died almost nine hours later.

Doctors said the girl had “multiple bruises, including extensive bruising to back and abdomen.

Specifically, the doctors who tried to save O’Neill found that she had a split kidney, split pancreas, liver damage, rib fractures, both new and healing, a collapsed lung and other cuts and bruises,” a statement from the Hennepin County Attorney said, citing the juvenile petition.

The child’s 20-year-old mother told authorities that she left her daughter with her boyfriend earlier that day.

A neighbor told police that the 17-year-old knocked on his door around 12:25 p.m. and asked to use his cell phone. The teen returned about 10 minutes later carrying the child, according to the statement. The neighbor told authorities he called 911 and began performing CPR on the child.

“In an interview with police, the boyfriend admitted that when the toddler wouldn’t stop crying, he kicked the child twice in the back and then laid her on the floor and stomped on her back.”

A pretrial hearing was set for July 9 during which the court will consider whether to certify the suspect as an adult.

“This was a brutal beating that is almost beyond comprehension,” Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said.

“This investigation continues and if (the suspect) should be convicted, we will determine if there are legal factors that would allow us to seek a harsher sentence,” Freeman added.

[kscarbel2]

North Carolina father kills his one month old baby

WCTI 12 / September 16, 2014

Kinston, North Carolina police have charged a man with murder in the death of his 1-month-old baby, who died of "abusive head trauma" and other injuries.

Police arrested 20-year-old Ricky Lee Clark Jr. and charged him with an open count of murder in the death of his 1-month-old son, Caden Demari Williams.

An autopsy revealed that the baby's death was a homicide. Caden died from "abusive head trauma and blunt/compressive force injuries of the trunk."

Baby Caden's mother, Tyrianna Williams, said Clark never told her what happened in the hours before Caden's death.

Autopsy examination revealed acute subdural hemorrhage suspicious for abusive head trauma as well as rib fractures, contusions of the thymus and right middle lobe of the lung, and multiple lacerations of the liver," the report says.

The 1-month-old was suffering from subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhage (bleeding in the area between the brain and the thin tissues that cover the brain), according to the report. In addition, the baby had mild brain swelling and retinal bleeding, as well as a skull fracture, a spinal cord injury, and four rib fractures.

"[The injuries are] consistent with compressive grasping of the infant by the chest and vigorously shaking and slamming the infant against a relatively soft but nonyielding object. Striking the infant with a hand or fist would produce similar injuries," the report states.

Further examination of the baby's brain revealed that the injuries were acute and occurred within hours of the baby's death, according to the report. An examination of the spinal cord revealed that the injuries were acute and in the process of healing, with some prior injuries dating back at least two to four days, the report says.

The baby's rib fractures were healing, indicating that the injuries had occurred several days prior to his death, the report states.

The report explains that the infant could have appeared relatively normal just hours before the fatal injuries were inflicted.

Based on the findings, the report concluded that the cause of death is "abusive head trauma and blunt/compressive force injuries of the trunk."

[kscarbel2]

Father beats his 11-month-old daughter to death

WGN TV / November 19, 2014

Kenosha, Wisconsin police are investigating the homicide of 11-month-old child Serenity Rose.

It’s a crime the Kenosha Police Chief says is the “most violent child death” he’s ever seen in his years of law enforcement.

He said the child was brutally beaten – killed by her own father, 34-year-old Russell Rose.

“The words I would use to describe this person are not fit for the media. So I’m calling him a monster,” said Police Chief John Morrissey.

Morrissey said officers were first dispatched to the neighborhood near 50th Street and 21st Avenue in Kenosha where the murder occurred around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 18th.

“A citizen witness heard a baby crying, heard what he described as two thumps, the baby was not crying, observed the suspect holding something above his head and drop what he was holding. Turns out, that was Serenity. And that’s when the citizen tackled him,” said Morrissey.

A neighbor was able to lead the 27-year-old mother who was bruised and had cuts to her face to a home just a few doors down. There’s where an officer found her and 11-month-old Serenity. Morrissey said the child was “lifeless, badly bruised, bloody” and her face was partially disfigured.

The mother and child were taken to Kenosha Hospital and Medical Center. The mother was treated for her injuries and Serenity was pronounced dead having suffered multiple blunt force injuries.

Chief Morrissey said Russell Rose has an extensive criminal record that includes battery to an officer and escape. The Kenosha Police Department is seeking homicide and arson charges in this case.

.

[kscarbel2]

Grandmother charged with first-degree murder after cutting baby's throat with power saw

New York Daily News / March 11, 2015

Chicago woman Manuela Rodriguez was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday for the brutal death of her 7-month-old granddaughter Rose Herrera. whose throat was slashed post-mortem with a power saw.

Initial reports said Rodriguez, 52, killed the baby by cutting her throat with the saw to silence her crying Monday.

But an autopsy Tuesday concluded the girl was killed by blunt force injuries, caused by multiple hits to the head, before the gruesome grandmother sliced the baby’s throat, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The infant, whose age was reported Monday as 9 months old, also could have been suffocated after having a sock shoved in her mouth, the medical examiner’s office said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/woman-cut-baby-throat-attempted-suicide-cops-article-1.2143546

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-grandmother-charged-in-gruesome-killing-of-7monthold-20150310-story.html

[kscarbel2]

2-year old child beaten to death over dirty diaper

KUTV / May 13, 2015

The 2-year-old toddler, James Sieger Jr. (nicknamed JJ) was taken off life support Monday morning as a result of being beaten, kicked, punched and dropped according to Layton, Utah police.

“It’s just horrible,” said Lt. Travis Lyman with Layton Police Department.

Lyman says the beatings happened at a home in Layton where the boy’s mother, Jasmine Bridgeman, 23, and her boyfriend, Joshua Schoenenberger, 34, lived.

According to jail documents, JJ pooped his diaper and the couple became furious, even taking the diaper off and smearing it in his face.

Documents say Schoenenberger continued to beat JJ while Bridgeman went outside and smoked a cigarette.

“The biological mother allowed significant amount of abuse to go on without intervening, but also engaged in it herself,” said Lyman.

Police say the couple brought JJ to the Davis County hospital and lied, reporting he had almost drowned in the bathtub. Police say it was clear that’s not what happened. He had internal bleeding, bruising to his legs, groin, arms and head.

Investigators believe the beatings have been going on for some time.

.

[kscarbel2]

Eric Dean: The child they couldn't save

Star Tribune / January 12, 2015

Special report: On 15 occasions, day-care workers and others told Pope County authorities that they suspected Eric Dean was being hurt. But it was not enough. His death exposes the failure of a system charged with protecting the youngest Minnesotans.

Bruises covered 3-year-old Eric Dean’s face. A scab formed above his lip. His ear bled from a red welt.

Before his stepmother, Amanda Peltier, left him at his new day care, she bent down to meet his blue eyes and told the boy to say he fell down.

Day-care provider Colleen Myslicki watched in disbelief. After studying the strange puncture wounds on Eric’s face and ear, she realized they were bite marks. Later that day, she asked him what happened.

Eric’s reply: “Mommy did it.”

As required by state law, Myslicki reported to Pope County child protection that she believed Eric was being abused. She didn’t know it then, but hers was the 12th report to alert social workers in the west-central Minnesota county to suspected maltreatment of the boy.

That scene and a string of others documented in court and social service records, testimony and interviews offer a rare view into the short and tragic life of Eric Dean and a child-protection system that was unable to save him.

Those records show that by the time Eric died at age 4 in February 2013, 15 reports had been filed on his behalf. The county’s child-protection agency investigated only one, after the boy’s arm was broken in 2011, and found no maltreatment. According to records, only one report was shared with police, despite state law directing that law enforcement should be notified of all suspected abuse reports.

An examination of Eric’s county and court records reveals the failings of a system built to protect Minnesota’s most vulnerable children: Caretakers such as Myslicki make reports to child protection and watch helplessly as the maltreatment continues. Reports often go uninvestigated and don’t get referred to police. Social workers frequently encourage parents suspected of neglect or abuse to attend parenting classes.

In the most tragic of cases, those children die. Fifty-four Minnesota children have died of maltreatment since 2005, despite child-protection agencies getting reports that the kids were at risk or their parents and caretakers were dangerous, according to a Star Tribune analysis of state and county child protection records.

Pope County’s review of the case, completed last month, concluded that the county should share more information with police and that state law should change to direct counties to consider previous reports when deciding whether to investigate an allegation.

A child-protection worker testified that the county believed Eric was being abused, but in the face of the family’s denials and a lack of witnesses, could never prove it. The county declined to discuss details of Eric’s case but said it followed the law in how it responded to the multiple abuse reports.

“We responded to the information we received,” said Nicole Names, the county’s director of human services. “That’s about all I can say about that.”

Eric’s former caregivers are angry at the way the county responded to their warnings.

Myslicki, who would ultimately file four reports during the six months Eric was in her care, sobbed uncontrollably all night when she found out he was dead.

“It felt so hopeless,” Myslicki said. “If the county had done more, I know he’d be alive today.”

The home Amanda Peltier shared with Eric’s father, David Dean, was supposed to be a refuge.

Eric had been living with his mother and her boyfriend. After reports had alleged Eric and his brother were being abused in that home, Eric’s father moved the boys to their apartment in November 2010.

But when Eric started attending Kingdom Kids day care in Glenwood, a day-care worker noticed something amiss. Brandi Knight, who taught in the toddler room, examined the facial bruises and bite marks on the little boy. She asked how he got them, but at that time, in December 2010, he couldn’t say. At 2 years old, Eric’s speech was delayed at least a year.

Knight knew the injuries could have been from other kids. But over time, Knight noticed new injuries, once or twice a week.

She asked Peltier about the marks. Eric is clumsy, she would say. Or, he could be uncontrollable and violent and bang his head on the walls or on his bed when he sleeps. His brothers and cousins bite.

Knight had trouble believing Peltier’s explanations. She came to know Eric as a quiet kid who craved attention and loved to be held and hugged. She never saw him bang his head on walls and rarely saw him misbehave.

Knight and other teachers began to note how Peltier treated Eric differently from her other children. She was forceful with Eric, would grab him and yell at him. She demanded that the teachers not show any affection to Eric, saying he didn’t deserve it.

Once, after one teacher bought him new shoes to replace ones that were so worn they fell off his feet, Peltier was enraged.

“She said he can’t have them until he’s a good boy,” the teacher, Karin Egdorf, recalled.

Both teachers said what they saw was not enough to report to child protection.

Even so, two reports were made to child protection in February 2011 that Eric was being maltreated. The county won’t say what was alleged or who alleged it, only that the allegations didn’t meet the criteria for a response.

Day-care director Brenda McDonald said the complaints could have come from other parents at the day care. They’d noticed Peltier’s rough handling of Eric, and McDonald encouraged them to report what they witnessed to the county and gave them the number to call.

The teachers’ concern about Eric grew as he continued to arrive at day care with bruises and bite marks. In July 2011, a hospital reported to the county that Eric’s arm was broken in a way that often indicated violence. The county opened an investigation.

“We hoped they would find out who was doing this,” Knight said.

The hospital case was assigned to Kelly Lurken-Tvrdik, a county child-protection worker. She had worked at the county for a year, after a decade of experience as an advocate at a St. Cloud battered women and children’s shelter.

Lurken-Tvrdik interviewed Peltier in July 2011.

“The reason that we got the report in the first place is because of the way that it was broken,” the social worker told Peltier, according to child-protection records filed in court. “It’s like someone twisting the arm.”

Peltier told Lurken-Tvrdik that she wasn’t watching the kids as closely as she should have been, and was in the basement of her mother’s home doing laundry when suddenly Eric came tumbling down the stairs, plopping down in front of her, according to a transcript of her interview with Lurken-Tvrdik.

“He does fall down a lot,” she told the social worker.

The county sent the report and Peltier’s story of what happened to Dr. Mark Hudson, a child abuse specialist at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis. But they didn’t tell him about any of the six prior abuse reports, according to Hudson. Lacking other evidence of child abuse, Hudson concluded the break could have resulted from a fall down the stairs. He did express concern to the county about Eric’s black eye, which Peltier’s explanations could not account for, records show.

Lurken-Tvrdik determined that Eric wasn’t maltreated and the county closed the case. (She did not respond to requests for comment for this story.)

State law says any investigation or family assessment conducted by a county agency needs to be shared with law enforcement. Child protection didn’t tell police about Eric’s broken arm. Only one of the 15 abuse reports was passed on to police.

“Is that concerning?” said Jim Minion, the police chief in Starbuck at the time. “You bet.”

Eric began working with a special-education teacher, Mindy DeGeer, when he was 2. Her assignment: Teach Eric to talk.

He began in the lowest percentile for his age. She grew to enjoy her time with Eric. He was affectionate, had a bright, easy laugh and wanted to do whatever it took to please her. After weekly hourlong sessions reading and playing with toys, Eric started to speak.

By the time he was nearly 3, Eric could easily say “Mommy.”

It was then, in October 2011, that Knight, the toddler room teacher, asked how he got the new injuries on his body.

“Mommy did it,” Knight recalls Eric saying. “Mommy bite.”

Another day-care teacher, Heather Hopper, ran to tell her boss, McDonald, that she needed to see Eric right away.

McDonald found burst skin with adult-sized upper and lower jaw marks on Eric’s face, bruises from the bites, scratches all over his body, and fingernail imprints on his abdomen, as if somebody was holding him down.

In Minnesota, teachers and day-care providers must report suspected abuse or neglect to child protection. Failure to do so is a crime. “You need to report this,” McDonald said to Hopper.

That day Hopper filled out a “suspected child abuse or neglect form” and sent it less than 2 miles away to the county’s child-protection office.

The county never investigated. It screened out the report and a similar one made by someone else, saying the allegations didn’t meet the criteria in state law to respond, according to county records.

Hopper filed another report two weeks later. This time, Eric had an egg-sized lump on his head with puncture wounds around it that formed into tiny red scabs.

The county declined to investigate that report as well.

Of the 15 abuse reports eventually filed on behalf of Eric, nine would be “screened out,” meaning they were closed without investigation or assessment. That’s consistent with practices statewide, where agencies did not follow up on 71 percent of suspected maltreatment reports, one of the highest rates in the country.

McDonald began to fear that Peltier was going to kill Eric. But she and the other teachers wanted to protect him by keeping him at Kingdom Kids.

“We were smart enough to know that once we started reporting, she would pull him,” McDonald said.

That’s what Peltier did.

DeGeer, the special-ed teacher, continued teaching Eric after he started at a new day care in Colleen Myslicki’s home in Glenwood. DeGeer, too, had seen bite marks on Eric at Kingdom Kids, but assumed another child must have done it.

By January 2012, she saw the bite marks on the boy’s face again at Myslicki’s day care. This time, she knew something was seriously wrong.

Eric told her he bit himself. DeGeer reported it to the county.

That same day, Myslicki filed her first report, that she saw facial bruises and bite marks on Eric’s cheek and ear, which was bleeding.

“Mom coached Eric into saying he hurt himself,” she told the county.

Rather than determine whether abuse happened, the county referred the family to a state program known as family assessment. Made state law nearly a decade ago, the program tries to teach adults to be better parents. The program is intended only for children in “low-risk” situations, but family assessment has become so prevalent in Minnesota that it’s now used by counties in lieu of investigation more than 70 percent of the time.

And unlike investigation, in which child-protection workers determine whether abuse or neglect occurred, family assessment is voluntary.

The assessment was assigned to Lurken-Tvrdik. She went to the home and took photos of Eric, which showed bruises to his left ear, his forehead, his right cheek and under his right eye, and a scab above his lip. Unlike the last time she saw Eric, he wouldn’t talk or look at her.

“He looked very sad,” Lurken-Tvrdik later testified in court. “Yes, I definitely saw a change.”

Dean and Peltier declined help from the county, which closed the case.

The next week, Eric came to day care with a bruised face and neck, a bleeding right ear and a fat lip. Myslicki alerted child protection once again, and the county screened out that report.

Myslicki began keeping a log of the boy’s injuries. On Feb. 14: black and blue marks on his forehead. Feb. 22: swollen left cheek and a left black eye. The next day: bruises on his right cheek starting to turn black and blue. The day after that: more bruises on his forehead and nose.

The log was enough to get the county to open another family assessment case, Eric’s third in his three years of life.

On March 13, 2012, Lurken-Tvrdik and another county child-protection worker, Amy Beckius, met again with Peltier at her Starbuck home. This time, Eric’s father was there.

Though Peltier did most of the talking, she and Dean both told the child-protection workers that they never laid a hand on any of their children. Peltier told them what she told day-care providers: Eric’s injuries were largely a result of his own doing. The bites, she said, came from other kids, including their 6-month-old son.

Eric’s grandparents told the social workers they saw no signs of abuse. Eric’s siblings also said their parents didn’t physically punish them.

A week after Peltier and Dean met with child protection, Eric went for a checkup at Glenwood Medical Center. His nurse practitioner said there was no medical explanation for the boy’s bruises.

The county identified Eric as high-risk for more maltreatment, then closed the case on April 5, 2012.

“It would appear,” Beckius wrote, “that the family is willing to access what services are needed for Eric and they continue to deny any physical means of punishment to Eric... .”

At day care, Myslicki said the signs of abuse stopped for a few months until one morning in August 2012. Peltier was furious with Eric when she came to pick him up, Myslicki said. The boy cowered as Myslicki held on to him. Peltier slapped Eric out of her hands, knocking him to the floor, and yelled at him to get his shoes on, according to Myslicki.

Myslicki made her final report to the county.

“If that’s not maltreatment,” Myslicki said, “I don’t know what is.”

The county screened out the report. Myslicki said child protection told her that if she had any further problems with Peltier and Eric, she should contact her day-care licenser.

Myslicki said the bruises, bleeding ears and bite marks started to reappear. Eric continued to tell her his stepmother was hurting him. But she stopped filing reports.

“What good would it have done?” she said.

In October 2012, two months after Myslicki’s last report, Peltier pulled Eric out of the day care. She started caring for him and the five other children in the blended family in their Starbuck home. It was there that Eric would suffer the final abuse.

On Feb. 26, 2013, Peltier slapped Eric across the face, bit him and threw him across a room, she later admitted to two Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) agents. Eric screamed and cried, then started to complain his stomach hurt.

Medical examiners would later say a perforation in his small intestine leaked fluid into the space around his organs. Enzymes that digest food were digesting his body.

He vomited throughout the day, continually asking for water, but was unable to hold down fluids or food.

The next day, Peltier spanked him after she said she saw him misbehave. Eric became listless and later that night had trouble breathing. Dean and Peltier put him on their bed. He went into shock and became delirious.

Peltier told the BCA that she went to smoke a cigarette. When she came back to the bedroom, Eric was choking on his own vomit. His father called 911.

Eric was taken to a Glenwood hospital, then airlifted to St. Cloud. He was pronounced dead early the next day.

A few days later, BCA investigators confronted Peltier with photos of the bite marks.

Over the course of 2 1/2 hours, she admitted to what child protection had been warned about for years. Sometimes she got so mad at Eric that she’d grab him by the ears or yank him by the arm and throw him. She said she bit Eric so many times it became instinctive for her.

“I feel bad about everything,” Peltier told the investigators. “I feel like I took his whole ... childhood away.”

A jury deliberated for five hours in May 2014 before finding Peltier, 32, guilty of first-degree murder. She was sentenced to life in prison and will be eligible for parole in 30 years.

When word first spread through Starbuck and Glenwood about Eric’s death, residents at first were told it was from the flu.

Eric’s teachers and day-care providers knew right away what really happened.

Mindy DeGeer broke down in tears at her school when another teacher gave her the news.

“I just knew it in my heart,” she said.

Myslicki knew, too. She will always think that she should have done more. “I should have continued reporting it, but I didn’t think the county would do anything,” she said.

After Peltier took Eric out of her day care, “I had a bad feeling he wasn’t going to survive under that roof,” she said. “I’ll carry that with me for the rest of my life.”

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Pennsylvania 3-year-old hung up by feet, beaten to death

WPVI TV / November 7, 2014

A man and his girlfriend are charged with murdering the girlfriend's 3-year-old son in what a prosecutor described as an "unspeakable act of depravity.".

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced the arrests of Gary Fellenbaum and Jillian Tait.

On Tuesday authorities were called to their residence for the report of an unresponsive child. Responding EMTs found 3-year-old Scott McMillan suffering from bruises, lacerations and puncture wounds all over his body.

Fellenbaum, Tait, and Fellenbaum's wife, Amber, confessed that the little boy had been beaten with blunt and sharp objects, whipped, taped to a chair with electrical tape and beaten, hung up by his feet and beaten, leading to his death.

Authorities say they beat Scott to death using homemade weapons, like a whip, a curtain rod, a frying pan, and an aluminum strip.

Police say Tait explained that the fatal beating began when the boy wouldn't eat his breakfast.

Hogan said, "Little Scotty McMillan is dead. Over a three day period ... he was systematically tortured and beaten to death. He was punched in the face and in the stomach. He was scourged with a homemade whip. He was lashed with a metal rod. He was tied to a chair and beaten. He was tied upside down by his feet and beaten. His head was smashed through a wall."

Hogan said professionals with deep experience in these types of cases were brought to tears.

"Our ER nurses see a lot of terrible things. But when they saw his body, they wept," Hogan said.

The district attorney says Gary Fellanbaum and Tait went car shopping, bought pizza, took a nap and engaged in sexual activity - all while the child lay dying after weeks of relentless torture.

Tait allegedly told police that Fellenbaum beat her 6 and 3-year-old boys on a number of occasions. He would allegedly hit them with a closed fist in the head, face, chest and buttocks, and on one occasion she says he strung the boys up by their feet and beat them, while she and Fellenbaum laughed.

That 6-year-old boy is now in the care of relatives.

Fellenbaum and Tait are charged with murder and are currently being held without bail. Hogan says he will be seeking the death penalty.

Amber Fellenbaum, who lived in the home with their 11-month-old child, has been charged with child endangerment for not calling police. She is currently being held on $500,000 bail.

Law enforcement veterans tell Action News that they have never seen a child abuse murder case like this one.

Hogan said, "When you go to bed tonight, say a prayer for little Scotty McMillan. The brief nightmare that was his life... is over."

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2-year-old girl dies - tortured most of her life, coroner says

Cincinnatti.com / April 8, 2015

When 2-year-old Glenara Bates was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center last month, she had more than 100 wounds to her body, officials said. She weighed only 13 pounds.

Hamilton County's prosecutor said child protective officials "dropped the ball" in the case of Glenara and her siblings – and county Department of Job and Family Services officials acknowledged missteps.

Glenara had broken teeth, bite marks, and numerous lacerations as well as marks from being whipped with a belt, officials said while announcing murder charges against her parents.

They face the death penalty.

"There's no doubt in my mind that his child was tortured for most of her ... pitifully short life," said Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco. "She was, literally, skin over bones."

Andrea Bradley, 28, of East Walnut Hills, and Glen Bates, 32, of College Hill, have been indicted on charges of aggravated murder, murder and child endangerment.

They were arrested March 29, the same day Bradley brought the girl to the hospital, said Prosecutor Joe Deters. Glenara – one of Bradley's seven children – was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Both Bradley and Bates admitted severely abusing Glenara.

Glenara's death happened a year and a half after she was returned to Bradley's custody.

Court records show Bradley gave up custody to Glenara days after she was born in January 2013. Bradley had been convicted of endangering another of her children. She also was once hospitalized for psychiatric reasons and has a history of drug use, according to court records.

At Wednesday's news conference, Deters said the county should have removed Glenara and her siblings from their parents' custody "five years ago."

In a statement Wednesday, county Jobs and Family Services director Moira Weir said a preliminary review shows "we failed to follow our own policies and procedures in this case."

"We are conducting further internal reviews and will also have an independent reviewer examine our casework and practice," Weir said in the statement. "I will add that we deal with 17,000 Hamilton County children a year, and when we have any case end tragically like this, it weighs heavily on me and everyone in our organization ... This result is heartbreaking."

She said she could not comment further.

Five of Bradley's children, ranging in age from 1 to 8, who were living in her house in the 2600 block of Hackberry Street, were removed from the home after Glenara's death, Deters said. They are now in JFS custody.

A sixth child lives with Bates' relatives. Bradley is now pregnant with her eighth child and will likely give birth in jail. She gave birth to her first child at 15. Court documents list four fathers, including Bates. Two of the other fathers are in prison, the documents say.

Deters said there is evidence the other children had been abused in the past, although they didn't exhibit "current signs of abuse" the way Glenara did.

Glenara, he said, slept in a bath tub filled with feces and blood. "It's horrific, what was going on," Deters said.

Bradley was well-known to JFS. Her history with the agency dates back to 2007. Bradley was hospitalized in 2009 for "extreme depression," records show. She has been diagnosed as bipolar and has a history of marijuana use. She was accused of physically abusing at least three of her other children. One child tested positive for marijuana after being born, court records say.

Glenara's death occurred a year and a half after JFS and a juvenile court magistrate agreed to allow Glenara and her siblings back into Bradley's home.

In 2012, before Glenara was born, JFS took temporary custody of five of Bradley's children. She was accused of abusing one of them. The child, whose name and age is redacted from the documents, had bruises and whip marks on her face, neck, eye, back and legs. The child had difficulty walking because of the severity of the bruises, the documents say.

In January 2013, six days after Glenara was born, Bradley agreed to give up custody, records show. Glenara was placed in foster care with her other siblings.

Bradley was ordered to undergo drug treatment, parenting education and mental health therapy, records show. Random drug tests were ordered.

In September 2013, JFS and a juvenile court magistrate agreed to return Bradley's children to her because she was doing so well.

JFS monitored Bradley and her children for three months. In December 2013, after a juvenile court hearing, it was determined that the children were doing well and protective supervision was ended.

Glenara was hospitalized in 2014 for "failure to thrive" and later released, according to court records.

Sammarco said others may have known Glenara was being abused, but didn't act.

"I think it's a case of a number of people knowing what's going on," she said, "and not saying anything."

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Ogden, Utah man beats 14-month-old baby to death

Standard Examiner / August 29, 2014

Adam Barney admitted to killing his girlfriend’s 14-month-old daughter by repeatedly punching her in the face and abdomen and squeezing her, a probable cause statement filed in 2nd District Court says.

Ogden police arrested the 23-year-old after emergency crews responded to the Western Colony Inn at 234 24th St., No. 2, where they found a baby “beyond medical help and deceased,” court documents said.

Barney was booked into the Weber County Jail and charged with aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, which holds a maximum sentence of up to life prison. Bail is set for $100,000.

“Barney stated he struck the child several times in the face and stomach then squeezed her substantially,” the document said.

Barney said that during his increased frustration over dirty living conditions, the victim crying and other two children misbehaving, he lashed out.

“Barney picked the toddler up and threw her onto the bed where she struck an unknown object, which caused more crying,” the document said.

The toddler was sticky from food she had eaten so Barney picked her up and they went into the shower together. While holding the toddler in the shower, Barney said, he fell down and dropped her. “Out of frustration, he punched her in the face twice. ... punched her in the stomach and squeezed her really hard.”

Adam Barney punched 14-month-old Kenzie Rose La Buy with “everything he had,” a detective said in testimony.

Barney said he got out of the shower and put the baby on the bed, and told the other kids to watch her while he continued to clean up.

“Barney looked at the infant on the bed and noticed her exhale a couple times like she couldn't breathe,” the report said

After realizing the girl was dead, Barney told police, he cleaned her up and later called his live-in-girlfriend, the toddler’s mom.

An autopsy performed Tuesday at the state Medical Examiner’s office revealed that the cause of death is “homicide due to blunt force trauma to the abdominal area causing the victim to hemorrhage internally,” reports said.

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Father tosses 7-month-old son into river, dies

Reuters / July 7, 2015

Connecticut police have found the body of a 7-month-old boy they believe was tossed into a river by his father, who had tried to kill himself at the same time.

Middletown police responded to a report of a body found in the river near East Haddam, Connecticut, around 8 p.m.

Detectives and Connecticut State Police confirmed the body was that of Aaden Moreno, who had been missing since early Monday.

Police believe the baby's father, Tony Moreno, 22, was holding the child, or had flung him into the water, as he attempted suicide early Monday by jumping off the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown.

Moreno is expected to face criminal charges.

Moreno's family called police on Monday to report that Moreno was threatening to commit suicide and that he had the baby with him, police said.

Two officers arrived in time to see Moreno jump off the 120-foot bridge but did not see the baby. The father was rescued and airlifted to Hartford Hospital.

Court records made available Tuesday show that Moreno had recently been accused of threatening the child and the child's mother, Adrianne Oyola.

Oyola said in a June restraining order application that Moreno had struck her and told her that he could make the baby "disappear."

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Pennsylvania man sent to prison in rape plot to conceive child

Reuters / July 9, 2015

A Pennsylvania man convicted of raping his wife's teenage daughter in an effort to conceive a baby the couple could raise as their own was sentenced on Thursday to up to 27 years in prison.

Gary Machinshok, 29, of Wilkes-Barre was sentenced on Thursday to first-degree rape and other charges related to the abuse of the 15-year-old girl and her 11-year-old sister.

Prosecutors said the girls' mother, Misty Machinshok, 33, was unable to have another child and wanted the 15-year-old girl to become pregnant so she could raise the baby.

The mother assisted in the rape by pushing the teenager onto her husband and suggesting the best positions for getting her pregnant.

Prosecutors said Machinshok testified against his wife, who was sentenced in April to 15 to 30 years in prison. She pleaded guilty in January to charges including rape, assault, endangering the welfare of a child and conspiracy.

Gary Machinshok was sentenced on Thursday to 13-1/2 to 27 years in prison.

The abuse came to light when one of the girl's friends alerted a teacher who called police.

The girl was raped more than once in 2013 after the couple met through a website called onlinebootycall.com.

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Connecticut mother drugs her two children to death, charged with murder

Reuters / July 9, 2015

An overdose of over-the-counter cold medicine caused the death of two children whose bodies were found in their gas-filled home in Connecticut, and their mother, who had said she stabbed them, remained charged with murder, police said on Thursday.

Autopsies concluded this week by the state's chief medical examiner on Aleisha Moore, 6, and Daaron Moore, 7, determined they died from acute intoxication of an antihistamine used to treat cold or allergy symptoms.

The children were found dead and their mother, LeRoya Moore, injured when police and firefighters were called to their East Haven home on June 2 for a medical emergency.

Police said there was also a gas leak in the home at the time, and that the mother had told a friend she was going to commit suicide.

Moore, 36, who told authorities she stabbed the children, was charged last month with two counts of murder and three counts of first-degree reckless endangerment in connection with their deaths.

"Blunt force trauma and puncture wounds were positively ruled out as a cause of death,” according to the medical examiner.

Police discovered 46 bottles and boxes of over-the-counter and prescription medications, according to an arrest warrant.

Police said they found a note Moore placed near the younger children saying she did not want to leave them in the care of an institution.

Moore's parental rights were terminated years ago by the state for abuse of two older children. No further details were available.

By the time the bodies were found, the children had been dead "for an extended period of time," police said.

Authorities said they determined gas in the home had been intentionally turned on.