Hello. You have accessed yet another of the Specialized Pages of the Manifesto of Forbidden Truth web site. This page will most likely be the most frequently updated of all of the pages of this web site, at least until I decide it has gottten large enough. You pathetic creatures do not seem to have the sanity or emotional capacity that is required to recognize that Sacred Family Unit mythology truly is one of the very core roots of the ultra-diseased and deranged fabric of human life. You seem to labor under the bizarre notion, imposed upon you by your evil and brainwashing governments and societies, that there is something "sacred", completely natural, and totally appropriate, within such insane activities as getting married, being terroristically compelled by your society to assume possession of your biological creations, being automatically decreed by society to be the owner of every child you create, and the owner of every child whose creator you choose to have sex with regularly, live with, or marry, being legally robbed of your own money as well as societally demonized if you dare to try and break free from a Sacred Family Unit, etc... These are all evil and completely unnatural rituals and beliefs, fascist, enslaving, brutally and genocidally harmful myths that your perverse, child and freedom hating societies impose upon you. And yet you cannot seem to find the sanity to recognize or accept this Truth. Hopefully all of the Forbidden Truths I express within this Manifesto have enlightened you. But just in case you remain totally blind to this precious and fundamental Truth, I have decided to devote this one page for the purpose of creating a massive collection, which will be updated on a daily basis, in which I will provide basic information on a new atrocity that is directly caused by Sacred Family Unit mythology. Each day countless thousands of such new atrocities occur, but I will only list one such atrocity, each day, and the atrocity will have to be from either a daily online newspaper or a daily news wire service, published on the exact same date which immediately follows the previously posted atrocity. Thus an unbroken, daily chain of Sacred Family Unit atrocities will be established. No date will be skipped, I will find and post a Sacred Family Unit atrocity published in an online newspaper or via a news wire source, for all 365 days of the year, including christmas day, thanksgiving, etc... The beginning date for this project will be March 15, 2002. Hopefully within a year or two this page will be quite massive, and perhaps one or two of you pathetic creatures, upon perusing this massive, daily chronicle of Sacred Family Unit atrocities, will finally be able to find the sanity and courage to recognize how completely and profoundly correct I am in all of the Forbidden Truths that I have revealed within this Manifesto, regarding the perversion of nature which is known as the Sacred Family Unit.

A few important points: First of all, I will not be devoting much effort towards finding the most "extreme" examples of Sacred Family Atrocities. The goal of this chronicle is not to find the most deadly or bizarre daily examples of such atrocities, but rather to simply demonstrate the entire, wide spectrum of such atrocities, and show how incredibly pervasive and prolifically occuring, these atrocities are, via a single, daily news item. Secondly, this page will not contain any commentary or revelation of Forbidden Truth from me. The Sacred Family Unit atrocity news items speak for themselves, and there are several other Pages within this Manifesto, both the Main Body as well as Specialty pages such as the Sacred Family Unit Atrocities Database Page, which are filled with my commentary and revelation of hundreds of different Forbidden Truths, on this issue of Sacred Family Unit mythology. As usual, these news items will not be posted in their entirety, but enough basic facts will be provided, together with exact source and date information, for all of the basic information to be clear, understandable, verifiable, and fairly easy for competent online researchers to find additional information/updates on each case, if they so choose to do. I have decided to also include the exact url address for the "main page" of the news source where the article content is taken from, however it is very important that you note the fact that this is not the actual url address for where the specific article information itself is located, but merely the main page of the news source, and the actual news article most likely will not be easily accessible from this main page, especially not once a few days have passed by since the article was published.

Okay, with all of these technical details out of the way, we begin our Chronicle of Truth: Date: September 11, 2002. News Source: The Scotsman Newspaper, http:// www.news.scotsman.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Look that signalled baby’s anguish: A FARMER told yesterday how a small child looked him "straight in the eye" in a poignant plea for help, two weeks before she was allegedly murdered after suffering months of abuse at the hands of her mother and her boyfriend. James King, who had leased his farm cottage to the couple, told a court that, moments before, he had been left incensed when he saw how the couple were trying to force the tearful infant girl to walk. "She was extremely distressed and she was hanging onto a baby walker," he claimed. "She was crying quite severely. "The little child just looked me straight in the eye and I thought she was looking for help. I just said ‘That’s not how you treat a child’." Mr King was giving evidence at the High Court in Stonehaven on the second day of the trial of Andrea Bone, 20, and Alexander McClure, 27, who are charged with murdering Bone’s 13 month-old daughter, Carla-Nicole Bone. The baby’s grandmother also told the trial how she contacted the social services because of her concerns about the little girl's welfare and neighbours also spoke of how they had been left shocked and angered at the couple's treatment of the "pale and thin" infant. Bone, who married David Mullany, Carla-Nicole’s natural father in a secret ceremony two weeks ago, denies the highly unusual charge of murdering her baby daughter by wilfully failing to protect her. McClure is accused of murdering Carla-Nicole on 13 May by slapping her on her hands, face and legs, and repeatedly striking her head and body against a wall and repeatedly knocking her head on the floor and against a stereo cabinet. Bone is accused of murdering her baby by wilfully failing to protect her and ensuring her wellbeing or seeking medical treatment following the alleged attack at a cottage at Forgue, near Huntly, in Aberdeenshire, as a consequence of which the little girl died at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital. Both Bone and McClure also jointly face a separate charge of abusing the child at the Seaview caravan site at the Bridge of Don and the Forgue cottage between January and May of this year. Mr King, 51, of Conland Farm, Forgue, explained that he rented his farm cottage to Bone and McClure in April of this year. He looked in on the couple and their child, known as Nicole, from time to time and had been concerned when he entered the cottage two weeks before Nicole's death to find the infant in extreme distress, trying to stand while holding on to a baby walker. "I could see the poor child was just sort of swinging on this thing," said Mr King. "I asked her (Bone) why she was crying and they both more or less said to me they were trying to make her walk. I was a wee bit angry at that." He stressed, however, that Nicole had generally appeared to be a "happy and smiley" baby and that he did not get the impression she was being abused in any way. Earlier the baby’s grandmother, Elizabeth Berry, told the court how she had contacted social services on several occasions because of her concerns for Nicole after Bone and her son separated at the end of last year and Bone moved into a caravan with McClure. Asked why she had done so, Mrs Berry replied: "Because Andrea had a temper. She wouldn’t have taken it out on the child, but she has got a temper and takes it out on other people. I wanted what was best for my grandchild because I didn’t get to see Nicole. I wanted social services to go and see Nicole to let me know that she was okay. It was for my peace of mind." Mrs Berry claimed, however: "She (Bone) was a good mum. She always put Nicole first." James Brooks, who was a neighbour of McClure and Bone at the caravan site, said he had been shocked when he saw McClure "force-feeding" little Nicole while Bone sat watching. He claimed McClure had held the baby’s nose and placed a spoon between her top and bottom lip to try to force her to swallow her food. The baby, he said, was "hysterical" and "crying and screaming". Mr Brooks told the court: "To me a baby will only eat when it is hungry. There is no point of force-feeding it." The trial before Lord Abernethy continues today."

Date: September 10, 2002. News Source: The Calgary Sun Newspaper, http://www.calgarysun.com. Sacred Family Unit Artrocity Details: "Fujii gets eight years for 'cruel and heartless act': Desperation and depression drove Rie Fujii to commit the unthinkable -- abandon her infant children until they starved to death, a judge said yesterday. "It is difficult to understand how any adult could so neglect a child with such inevitable, horrible consequences," Justice Peter Martin said, in handing Fujii the equivalent of an eight-year sentence. "She left them for 10 days, dooming them to certain death," the Calgary judge said. "This was a most cruel and heartless act." Giving Fujii double credit for the 15-months "dead time" she has already served, Martin said she must complete a 5 1/2-year term in a federal penitentiary. "I also understand and expect that Ms. Fujii will be deported from Canada on the completion of her sentence," the Court of Queen's Bench judge added. Fujii, 24, pleaded guilty in July to manslaughter in the May, 2001, deaths of her children, Gemini and Domenic Brown. Fujii left the infants, Gemini, three months and Domenic, 15 months, alone in a starkly furnished downtown apartment while she went on a 10-day sex romp with her new boyfriend. Martin ruled Fujii was still suffering the effects of depression brought on by the birth of Gemini and her inability to cope with single parenthood. He said that while the slayings "shocked the community," Calgarians had to recognize Fujii's actions were fuelled by her mental state. "Courts have recognized the diminished responsibility of parents who have committed such offences while suffering from depression or other mental disorders," he said. Fujii showed little reaction as the judge sent her to serve her time in a federal prison, while her parents quietly wept in the front row of the courtroom. Hideto and Tomoko Fujii, who flew from Japan to show support for their daughter, declined to comment following the ruling. But in a prepared statement, they offered an apology for their daughter's conduct. "We are very sorry for what our daughter has done in your country and we respect the judgment of the court," said the statement, released by defence lawyer Bob Batting. "We would also like to apologize to the Japanese community for her hurting their image of being good residents of Canada." The document, signed by father Hideto Fujii on behalf of both of them, said they must still hold a memorial service for Gemini, whose tiny body has never been found. "We had a funeral service for Domenic last year in July in Calgary -- his ashes are now in Japan with us," they said. "They are the first and only grandchildren for us and we will treasure their memory forever." Fujii told police she dumped her daughter's body in the Bow River, but it was later learned the corpse had been placed in a dumpster. Batting said outside court his client still hasn't come to the full realization of what she did. "We have to remember that in a way she does have a life sentence because as she gets better, the realization of what she's done is going to hit her," said Batting. "She'll never forget this." Martin said Fujii's mental state played a large role in his decision to decline Crown prosecutor Pat Yelle's call for a sentence of up to 14 years. "Ms. Fujii ... consistently presented herself to others as a very stressed young mother of two infants who felt lonely and sad and overwhelmed by the demands of her children," he said. "She was clearly alone in what, to her, was a foreign country and no longer able to cope with the demands of motherhood." Martin said her status as an illegal immigrant compounded Fujii's problems, forcing her to eschew social assistance. "She had no partner, not even a true friend," the judge said. "She lived in a starkly barren apartment with two infants for whom she was ill-equipped to care and she was in the country illegally, facing the risk of deportation." Martin said Fujii's depression was caused by a litany of factors, including being abused by the children's father, Peter Brown, who abandoned them to live in desolation."

Date: September 9, 2002. News Source: KOAT-TV, Action 7 News, , http://www.thenewmexicochannel.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Boy Allegedly Locked In Basement Five Months: Second Child Remains In Family's Custody. DEXTER, N.M. -- A Dexter couple has been arrested for what investigators are calling a "disturbing case" of child abuse. Police in the town, south of Roswell, said the pair held the woman's teenage son against his will for more than five months. Two months ago, the 17-year-old went to the Dexter police department and told officers that his mother and stepfather had kept him locked in the basement. Police arrested Sharyl McMonigle, 35, and Mark York, 41. The couple faces 153 counts of false imprisonment for the 153 days the boy was locked up. York and McMonigle are also charged with one count of child abuse. The charges are fourth-degree felonies with possible sentences of up to 18 months in prison. The 17-year-old is now living at a different residence, but there is another child still living in the family's home. Police said their investigation shows that second child is not in danger."

Date: September 8, 2002. News Source: The Portland Press Herald Newspaper, http://www.pressherald.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Mother arrested on alcohol charge: DOVER, N.H. — A Rochester woman facing child endangerment charges in the death of her toddler daughter could have her bail revoked because of an alcohol violation. Police said Amanda Bortner, 20, was arrested in Epping on a charge of transporting alcohol by a minor on Aug. 29. That arrest could mean her bail on the earlier charges could be revoked. Bortner is expected to go on trial on those charges in November. Bortner's daughter, 21-month-old Kassidy Bortner, died on Nov. 9, 2000, at a baby sitter's home in Kittery. Bortner's boyfriend, Chad Evans, 30, was convicted in December of second-degree murder and multiple counts of assault for the abuse that caused the girl's death. Bortner, who blames her daughter's death on a baby sitter, not Evans, has been living at her former boyfriend's home. Evans is serving a prison sentence of 28 years to life. Just before Evans' trial, Bortner was charged with two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child. The charges allege she failed to protect Kassidy from Evans' abuse. Police say Bortner had been driving a vehicle that police found pulled off Route 101 around 2 a.m. They also said alcohol was found in the car. Transporting alcohol by a minor is a violation punishable by a 60-day license suspension or fines. Bortner is scheduled to be arraigned on that charge Oct. 4 in Exeter District Court. Bortner and Kassidy began living with Evans during the summer of 2000. After Evans' arrest in 2000, he was released on bail until August 2001, when his bail was revoked because he and Bortner violated a no contact order by living together."

Date: September 7, 2002. News Source: The Chicago Sun-Times Newspaper, http:/www.suntimes.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Man guilty of killing, dismembering girl: Everette Johnson was convicted Friday of killing his 15-month-old daughter, then dismembering the body and feeding it to dogs. Cook County Judge Lon William Shultz spared Johnson the death penalty despite the gruesome way Johnson and the girl's mother, Joan Tribblet, disposed of the frail, 18-pound body of Oncwanique Tribblet on Dec. 19, 1997. Shultz said the actions of both parents showed "combined malignancies of their hearts.'' "Mr. Johnson and Ms. Tribblet opened a window for everyone to see into the deepest and darkest depravity of their flawed human souls,'' Shultz said. The judge admitted the way the toddler's murder was hidden from police and even family for more than six months was heinous. But he said the way the girl was killed--choked and beaten with a ruler by both parents--was not extreme enough to warrant the death penalty. Prosecutors Frank Marek and Veryl Gambino said Johnson could receive up to 100 years in prison for the killing and five years in prison for concealing the murder. They called the way the toddler's body was disposed of the worst case of concealment they had seen. Johnson's lawyers blamed the killing on the mother. Tribblet was sentenced to 60 years in prison Aug. 30 after testifying against Johnson and pinning the girl's death on him. She claimed the death was accidental and said the couple had been sleeping when Oncwanique woke up at 4 a.m. and roused her and later Johnson. While she admits grabbing the girl in a stranglehold by the neck, she said Johnson hit the girl with a ruler several times while holding her face down on the bed. The girl finally went limp, she said. Johnson cut up the girl's body and told Tribblet to cook it. But they stopped because there was so much smoke that a neighbor summoned a Chicago Fire Department truck. Some of the remains were then fed to dogs, and the rest were dumped into a pot of acid."

Date: September 6, 2002. News Source: The Baltimore Sun Newspaper, http://www.sunspot.net. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Woman tried suicide before crashing car, police say: 35-year-old being held at Perkins is charged in daughter's death. The 35-year-old Parkville woman accused of killing her 9-year-old daughter tried three times to kill herself and her only child Monday - first by trying to cause several gas explosions at their house before deliberately driving her car into a tree, according to court documents released yesterday. Alana Anne Dieter died Tuesday at Johns Hopkins Hospital of injuries she suffered in the crash, the day she was supposed to start the fourth grade at Immaculate Heart of Mary School. Her mother, Lisa A. Dieter, who survived the crash, was released yesterday from Hopkins, where Baltimore County police had been guarding her for more than two days as they waited to arrest her on a first-degree murder warrant. Dieter appeared at her bail hearing before a District Court Commissioner wearing a hospital gown. She used a walker and was aided by several of her attorneys. She was ordered held without bail yesterday and was sent to Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup, a state mental hospital. "I was trying to kill all three of us," Dieter told police, according to the documents, referring to herself, her daughter and the family dog, Tabitha, which was also in the car when she hit a tree at Double Rock Park in Parkville. Dieter allowed her daughter to take off her seat belt while they were driving through the park, according to the documents. "Lisa said her daughter asked why she was driving so fast and she responded telling her it was like a roller coaster," police wrote in the document. Dieter's attempts to kill herself and her daughter began about 1 a.m. Monday when she turned on one of the burners on her stove, allowed the gas to fill the house and then "attempted to cause an explosion by lighting a cigarette lighter," according to the documents. When that didn't work, Dieter tried again about 3:30 a.m., according to the documents, this time allowing the gas to fill the white cottage in the 7800 block of Bagley Ave. for about four hours before trying repeatedly to ignite the leaking gas. When Alana woke up that morning, she asked to go to the park, according to the documents. It was then, police said Dieter told them, that Dieter decided to crash the car. She even used a blanket to cover the back seat so her daughter wouldn't use the seat belt, according to the documents. But Alana climbed into the front seat instead. The family dog, a black German shepherd survived the crash. Police also noted in court papers that, in addition to Dieter's statements, they had recovered physical evidence to suggest the crash was no accident. Police said they found no skid marks to indicate Dieter had tried to stop her 1992 Buick Century before hitting the tree in a part of the park near the 8200 block of Glen Road at about 9:30 a.m. Monday. Police offered no clues about why Dieter, who divorced nearly two years ago, might have wanted to kill herself and her daughter. Dieter's lawyers declined to discuss the case yesterday. She is represented by the Towson firm of Irwin, Green, Dexter and Murtha. "It's such a catastrophic family tragedy," said lawyer Joseph Murtha. "There aren't adequate words to describe the family's grief and sorrow. At this time, they're also very supportive of Lisa as she goes through this tragic and unfortunate experience." After being released from Hopkins, Dieter was taken by police to Perkins, the county's jail administrator said. Maryland's only maximum-security hospital, Perkins houses offenders found not criminally responsible for crimes by reason of insanity, or those who cannot stand trial because they are not mentally competent. The 220-bed hospital also serves as a pretrial center for defendants who need psychiatric evaluation or treatment. A funeral Mass for Alana Dieter will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 8501 Loch Raven Blvd. A private wake is scheduled for 8:30 tonight at the Miller-Dippel Funeral home at 6415 Belair Road in Overlea, after visitation from 3 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today. The family has asked that contributions to be made to the Alana Dieter Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Immaculate Heart of Mary School."

Date: September 5, 2002. News Source: The Tacoma News Tribune Newspaper, http://www.tribnet.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Mom agrees to 12 1/2 years in '97 death of daughter: Nancy Hope Siriani, the longest-serving inmate in Pierce County Jail, struck a deal Wednesday that will finally get her out: She pleaded guilty to assault and manslaughter in the 1997 beating death of her infant daughter. But after five years and two months in the county lockup, she won't be free soon. Under the terms of a plea bargain reached on the verge of what would have been her third trial, Siriani will be transferred to a state prison to serve the remainder of a 12 1/2-year sentence. With credit for time served, the 48-year-old woman will have just under 7 1/2 years left on her term. Lawyers on both sides said the bargain was a fair resolution to a case that dragged on for years, turning Siriani, known as Nancy Hope since divorcing her husband, into a fixture at the jail. "We're coming up on what would be a third trial and the last two have run at least a month," said Pierce County deputy prosecutor Kit Proctor. "The issue involves a baby in a small apartment and the only two people who know exactly what happened are her two parents." The baby's father, Joseph Siriani, found guilty of homicide by abuse in the first trial, is serving a 50-year sentence. Jurors couldn't decide whether Nancy Hope also was guilty. The guilty verdict against her in the second trial was set aside by a judge. Hope's lawyer, Philip Thornton, said both sides recognized there were problems with a third trial. "I know that some of the witnesses were tired of testifying," he said. "Certainly the state thought about the expenditures of a third trial." Hope's saga began in June 1997, when her 3-week-old daughter, Sherri Rose Siriani, died of a fractured skull and lacerated liver. The girl, who had Down syndrome, had bruises on her lower abdomen, a prominent black eye and marks on her head that appeared to be a knuckle prints when she arrived at St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood. The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the child had been battered and prosecutors charged both parents with homicide by abuse. The couple, who flew to San Diego after their daughter's death, initially tried to explain their daughter's injuries, claiming the baby might have suffered the skull fracture during her delivery, and that the lacerated liver was caused by seizures she suffered. At trial, they switched gears and blamed each other for the girl's death. By the trial's end, a jury convicted Joseph Siriani of homicide by abuse. His 50-year sentence was twice the normal maximum for the crime. But the jury couldn't decide on Nancy Hope Siriani's guilt, and prosecutors tried her a second time. The second trial, in August 1998, convicted her, but Pierce County Superior Court Judge Karen Strombom agreed to set aside the verdict because of improper jury instructions. A third trial was to begin Tuesday. Hope had asked to be released without bail between trials, but a judge refused the request. Friends said Hope couldn't afford to post $150,000 bail, so she remained in the jail. Thornton said Hope looked forward to proving her innocence, but decided it was in her best interest to agree to the plea bargain. She entered an Alford plea Wednesday to reduced charges of first-degree man-slaughter and third-degree assault of a child. In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but agrees that a jury would likely reach a guilty verdict based on the evidence. The charges normally carry maximum sentences of 48 months and eight months, but under terms of the bargain Hope agreed to a 12 1/2-year sentence. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 27. "It was a difficult decision for Ms. Siriani," Thornton said. "She thought long and hard about it." It wasn't easy for prosecutors either, Proctor said. "The problem is, no sentence would be enough for the death of a 26-day-old baby," she said. "This is a resolution in a case that's gone on since 1997." "

Date: September 4, 2002. News Source: The Associated Press News Service, http://www.ap.org. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "DSHS ignored abuse of 3 children, suit alleges: A lawsuit filed on behalf of three Olympia-area children accuses state social workers of doing nothing in the face of overwhelming evidence the brothers were abused and neglected by their parents during a five-year period. The lawsuit filed recently in Thurston County Superior Court accuses 13 social workers from Child Protective Services, along with state Department of Social and Health Services and the state, of failing to act on at least 35 separate reports of sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect by law enforcement, school officials, relatives, medical professionals and relatives. Most of the reports were taken from CPS records, said Gary Preble, the lawyer who brought the lawsuit on behalf of the three boys, now aged 10, 9, and 7. "The failures were so many, and some so egregious, that it was hard to lay it out in a manner that could be grasped," Preble told The Olympian for a story in Wednesday's editions. The complaint alleges abuse ranging from punching and kicking to forced participation in sex acts. The case was brought on behalf of the three children through three relatives who have served as their guardians since 1999. The suit does not specify damages, but Preble said they could be as much as $3 million per child. DSHS spokeswoman Kathy Spears called the allegations "serious." "These allegations and their context have not been substantiated," Spears said. "Our legal and management teams will review the facts of this case and present the department's side of these allegations in the courts." "

Date: September 3, 2002. News Source: The Miami Herald Newspaper, http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Baby who died in van was monitored by DCF: The care and well-being of the 7-month-old boy who died when left for hours inside a sweltering minivan was being monitored by the Department of Children & Families because the baby and his brother had recently left state supervision, the child-welfare agency confirmed Sunday. ''Because of privacy issues, we can't reveal why the children were originally taken away from their parents,'' said Charles Auslander, DCF's Miami administrator, when asked of the connection between DCF and the child, who died Thursday. DCF removes children from homes if they find evidence of neglect, abuse or abandonment. A court order issued this summer returned the baby, Phillip Gutmann, and his 5-year-old brother to their parents, Auslander said. He said he could not reveal further details but confirmed that at the time of his death last week, the agency was overseeing the care given to the baby and his older sibling. ''What happened here seems to be a tragic accident,'' Auslander said. Attempts to reach the baby's parents, Phillip and Machia Gutmann, were unsuccessful Sunday. It is unclear how long the children were under state supervision or the conditions that the parents met so that a judge could allow them to reunite with their children. Once back home, the brothers were being monitored through DCF's post-placement supervision program to ensure their well-being. A DCF caseworker made monthly visits, a routine that was to last for six months. An agency caseworker last checked on the children in August and found no problem, Auslander said. Under the program, the parents may have also been eligible to receive economic assistance from the state to pay for day care for their children. ''The subsidy would go directly to the family,'' Auslander said. ``But I cannot say for sure they were receiving money.'' On Thursday, the mother told homicide detectives she gave the baby to a friend at about 9 a.m. to drive to a day-care center. Both women live at Naranja Lakes Condos No. 5 at 14840 Naranja Lakes Blvd. But the friend forgot about the boy and drove to work cleaning houses. He was not discovered in her van until 3 p.m., still strapped to his child seat in the back. Temperatures on Thursday climbed into the low 90s, and it is believed that the baby died from heat exposure. As of Sunday, no one had been charged in Phillip's death. Miami-Dade homicide detectives will confer with prosecutors next week to decide whether anyone should be criminally held responsible for the death. An autopsy of the baby revealed no trauma, supporting the theory that he was overcome by heat inside the closed minivan. The baby's body is still at the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's Office while his parents try to raise money to bury him. Relatives and friends plan to set up a trust fund on Tuesday where the public can send donations. Family friend Rita Rios is among those helping collect for the funeral. Rios defended the parents and said she did not believe the state had ever removed the Gutmann children from their home. ''That is a rumor going around, but it's not true,'' she said. Once taken out of their home, the children may have been placed in a relative's home. Another friend, who did not want to be identified, called it cruel to reveal the baby was once in DCF supervision. ''These parents are going through enough after losing a child this way,'' the man said. But sources said the children were removed from the home because of allegations of domestic violence, unrelated to the children. Auslander said the DCF files on the baby and his brother are closed unless a determination is made that the death is not accidental. In recent months, DCF officials have faced serious allegations that shoddy casework and poor judgment contributed to the deaths of several children whose perilous conditions were known to caseworkers. The scandal began last spring with the revelation that 5-year-old Rilya Wilson disappeared while in foster care. Since then, there have been numerous high-profile crises, including a DCF worker being arrested and charged with drunk driving while an infant foster child was in the car and several cases of children dying of neglect or abuse despite DCF having been told that the children might be at risk. The agency's director, Kathleen Kearney, resigned last month. Jerry Regier was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to become the new head of DCF. Regier has drawn scrutiny for his support of corporal punishment."

Date: September 2, 2002. News Source: The Tacoma News Tribune, http://www.tribnet.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "LAKEWOOD: Baby dies after choking on bottle nipple; father charged. A 3-month-old Lakewood boy hospitalized since Monday after choking on the nipple of a bottle died Saturday. The boy's father, 20-year-old Christopher Forks, has been charged with first-degree child abuse. Sheriff's department spokesman Ed Troyer said the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office will decide Tuesday if any more charges will be added. After calling 911 on Monday, Forks told police his son, whose name has not been released, had been drinking milk from a bottle and swallowed the nipple. But staff members at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital and Health Center told police the boy was too young to swallow the nipple without help. Family members told KING 5 television the child choked accidentally. Detectives are still investigating the baby's death, Troyer said."

Date: September 1, 2002. News Source: The Akron Beacon Journal Newspaper, http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Woman sues CSB, hospital: Summa, social workers failed to stop father's abuse, rape victim says. A women impregnated by her stepfather with a syringe as a teen has sued two local agencies, accusing them of failing to protect her from further abuse. Shenna Grimm, the stepdaughter of John Goff, filed a lawsuit in Summit County Common Pleas Court late Friday afternoon against the county Children Services Board and Summa Health System, which owns Akron City Hospital. Goff, 41, of Stow, was convicted Thursday of two counts each of rape and sexual battery and one count of child endangering. He is being held in the Summit County Jail pending an Oct. 7 sentencing. Goff, who maintains that he did no wrong, impregnated Grimm with a syringe filled with his semen in December 1998. He wanted a child, and Narda Goff -- his wife and Grimm's mother -- couldn't have more children because of a hysterectomy. Grimm, who was 16 then and is 20 now, subsequently gave birth to a son, who is in foster care. Goff was listed as the boy's father on his birth certificate, and a DNA test proved his paternity. The lawsuit contends that officials with CSB and the hospital learned about Grimm's unusual pregnancy but failed to report it or take any other action that might have spared her from more abuse. The suit says that Goff abused Grimm from June 1998 -- when he and Narda Goff first approached Grimm with their childbearing plan -- to 2000. In January 2001, Grimm moved out of their home and went to Stow police with her story. When Grimm went to City Hospital to give birth to her son, hospital officials -- based on her age and the behavior of her father -- knew or should have known that she was ``a minor child suffering from sexual abuse at the hands'' of her father and that ``such sexual abuse was likely to continue,'' the lawsuit contends. The lawsuit also alleges that unnamed social workers from CSB were informed of allegations of sexual abuse but failed to take action as required by law. Neither the hospital nor the CSB took ``any appropriate action to protect'' Grimm ``from further sexual abuse and made no meaningful referrals with respect to such abuse,'' the lawsuit says. By not taking action, the agencies ``were malicious, willful and reckless,'' and Grimm suffered permanent physical and mental harm, the suit says. Grimm is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and attorney fees. The suit also names Goff as a defendant and lists his address as the Summit County Jail. Officials with CSB declined to comment Friday. A City Hospital spokeswoman said the hospital hadn't seen the suit or heard anything about the allegations and wasn't in a position to comment. The case has been assigned to Judge James Murphy."

Date: August 31, 2002. News Source: The Des Moines Register Newspaper, http://desmoinesregister.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Siblings begged their father not to stab boy, officer says: The disabled boy 'had the devil in him,' Raymond Boothe told authorities. While Raymond Boothe repeatedly stabbed his 11-year-old son with needle-nose pliers, his other three children watched and screamed for him to stop, an investigator said Friday. The cries of the children - ages 6, 7 and 9 - went unheeded, said Undersheriff Dave Zoellner of Leavenworth County, Kan. Boothe, 34, told authorities he plunged the pliers several times into the chest and back of Levi Boothe in a ditch off the darkened Kansas Turnpike, Zoellner said. "He dragged the boy to the edge of the road, and slung him out on to the highway," Zoellner said. "He said the boy was still moving. He said if he wasn't going to die by the stabbing, he knew he would get hit by a car or truck that will kill him. "Investigators aren't sure whether Levi died from stab wounds or from the impact of a vehicle - possibly more than one - that struck him. Autopsy results weren't complete Friday. Boothe told authorities he stabbed the physically and developmentally disabled boy, who lived in a group home in Creston, "because he thought the boy was evil, had the devil in him and he had to rid the family of that," Zoellner said. Investigators in Iowa, Missouri and Kansas are assembling a picture of the grisly events on Tuesday evening near the Douglas-Leavenworth county line. Boothe was in maximum security at the Leavenworth County Jail Friday, charged with first-degree murder. Officials said he struck a policeman before his arrest and might be suicidal. Investigators said the other three children were treated for minor injuries after Boothe smashed his Dodge Neon into a tree in Lawrence, Kan. Police called the wreck a suicide attempt. The children were expected to be reunited with their mother, Lisa Boothe, in Cameron, Mo., where they lived. On Tuesday afternoon, Boothe, a carpenter, picked up Levi at Creston's Irving Elementary School. Levi was mute and had a malformed brain, heart and kidneys, authorities have said. Boothe drove to Osborn in northwest Missouri to pick up the other three children at the house of his sister, Stacy Perry, authorities said. She was baby-sitting while their mother was at work, according to relatives. Boothe told authorities he became enraged on the way to Kansas when Levi "flipped him off," Zoellner said. "His father started choking him in the car," Zoellner said. "The children started screaming. He said he pulled the car on the side of the road, got out and went to the trunk to get the pliers. He went around and dragged the boy out of the car and threw him down in the ditch." Zoellner declined to say how many times Levi was stabbed. He said Boothe has showed remorse "on occasion." Boothe's lawyers have asked for a delay to allow psychiatric testing. The killing stunned family members, who described Boothe as an average guy with no apparent problems. He appeared to be a good family man, they said. "They did a lot of fishing and hunting together," Jack Carson of Diagonal, Lisa Boothe's cousin, said of the couple. He said the couple married and raised a family in Diagonal before moving to Cameron, Mo., a few years ago to be close to Raymond Boothe's family. "We can't understand why he did this," Carson said. "Somebody has to be out of their mind to do something like this." "

Date: August 30, 2002. News Source: WPLG-TV, Channel 10 News, http://www.click10.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Man Charged With Killing Child Over Breakfast Heads To Court: Jury selection is in its fifth and likely final day for the trial of a man charged with killing his girlfriend's child because she ate his breakfast. Juvon Pickett, 22, is charged with first-degree murder for the killing of Ashley Smithson, 3. Prosecutors say Pickett beat the malnourished girl in September of 1998 after she ate a breakfast sausage meant for him. Smithson lingered in a coma for the next month on life support, then died. The child's mother, Pecynthia Bradley, is serving an 11-year sentence after she pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Bradley reportedly did nothing to prevent her daughter's fatal beating. If Pickett is convicted, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars."

Date: August 29, 2002. News Source: The Arizona Republic Newspaper, http://www.azcentral.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "DES chief: Agency lax in baby's death: Child welfare workers could have done more to protect a 10-day-old girl who died after being sent home with her crack-smoking mother, state Department of Economic Security Director John Clayton admitted Tuesday. "It appears that, from a preliminary review, certain actions taken in this case were not in keeping with the department's mission of protecting children," said Clayton, whose agency includes Child Protective Services. CPS had been monitoring the baby's family. Clayton has put together an independent panel to review what led to the death of Anndreah Robertson. The panel, including child advocates, a neonatologist and a judge, is scheduled to meet Sept. 6. Anndreah died Nov. 9, 2001, her intestines destroyed by a constant cloud of secondhand crack-cocaine smoke. Her death was ruled a homicide by the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office. She weighed 4 pounds. Anndreah's mother, Demitres Robertson, 23, was charged last week with first-degree murder and child abuse. The baby's grandmother and primary caregiver, Lillian Butler, 44, was charged with two counts of child abuse. Robertson, who is 9 months pregnant, already was in custody on a prostitution charge. The women are scheduled to appear in court for a hearing today. CPS caseworkers knew three weeks before Anndreah's Oct. 30 birth that crack cocaine was being smoked regularly in her family's central Phoenix apartment. Still, they let the girl go home after she stayed in the hospital for three days until the cocaine cleared from her system. The agency also allowed her two brothers to stay in the home. Agency officials said last week that parental substance abuse by itself is not a sufficient reason for removing children from their parents. "When the system does not respond adequately, I will make no excuses nor tolerate the same from my staff," Clayton said. Rep. Laura Knaperek, R-Tempe, a critic of the CPS, said she is glad the agency is taking responsibility. She said she plans to introduce legislation next session, if she's re-elected, that would broaden the definition of an abused child to include those born addicted to drugs. She also said she would make that reason enough for removal from their home. A similar bill introduced in 1996 did not make it through the Legislature. Knaperek also has asked Pat Shannahan of the Office of the State Ombudsman to conduct an investigation. Clayton said he wants the panel to recommend policies and laws to better protect children. Carol Kamin, director of the Children's Action Alliance and a former head of CPS, said that is why she agreed to be on the panel. "It's too late for Anndreah, but so that her life can have some meaning, we have to make sure this won't happen to other babies," she said. "That will be her legacy." A man living in the same apartment where the 10-day-old baby died of secondhand crack smoke is set to be a key prosecution witness against his wife and stepdaughter, both charged in the infant's death. Solomon Butler, 53, was given immunity from other possible charges in exchange for his Sept. 12 testimony at a preliminary hearing before Judge Gregory Martin of Maricopa County Superior Court. His wife, Lillian Ann Butler, 44, who was the baby's primary caregiver, is charged with two counts of child abuse in Anndreah Robertson's Oct. 30 death. The infant's mother, Demitres Robertson, 22, faces a felony murder charge and two counts of child abuse. In an interview before Wednesday's court hearing, Butler, a tall, frail man who walks with a cane, said his wife did not smoke cocaine. That contrasted with a police report that states Butler told a Child Protective Services worker that both Lillian Ann Butler and Robertson smoked crack in their Phoenix apartment and it was affecting Robertson's two young sons. The CPS visit was before Anndreah was born. Solomon Butler acknowledged Wednesday that Robertson did bring Anndreah to the couple's home after she was born, but said Robertson was "back and forth on the street like she always was" and was "basically homeless." "

Date: August 28, 2002. News Source: The Roanoke Times Newspaper, http://www.roanoke.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Drug possession charges certified: Additional charges of second-degree murder felony child abuse against Regina Harris are still pending. CHRISTIANSBURG - A woman accused of causing her infant son's overdose death led investigators to the tablets of methadone and oxycodone found in her home, an investigator testified Tuesday. District Judge John Quigley certified three charges of possession of a controlled substance filed against Regina Harris, 28, of Elliston after the hearing in Montgomery County General District Court in Christiansburg. The charges next go to a grand jury. Additional charges of second-degree murder, felony child abuse, and distribution of drugs to a minor are still pending against Harris in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. That preliminary hearing is set for next month. Harris is accused of giving her 6-day-old son, Toby Robert Harris, methadone and another opiate. He died May 9. Three weeks later, the medical examiner's office called his death a homicide after toxicology reports showed the drugs in the infant's bloodstream. Investigator Norman Croy of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office testified Tuesday that Harris admitted to having a "big problem" with oxycodone, a drug that acts similarly to heroin when abused, and had been on a methadone treatment program. Harris' comments came as four investigators executed a search warrant at her home on Dark Run Road on May 31. Harris showed investigators a single oxycodone tablet and a bottle of methadone tablets, prescribed to another family member, that she kept in her bedroom, Croy testified. Harris did not have her own prescription for the drug and told investigators she kept the methadone for that family member because of previous thefts, Croy testified. Investigators also found four methadone tablets in Harris' purse and a straw with cocaine residue in a nightstand drawer, he testified. Methadone also showed up in her bloodstream, according to lab reports filed with the court. The defense presented no evidence. Defense attorney Joe Painter argued that Harris shouldn't be charged with possession of cocaine because investigators had no evidence, other than an old identification card in the same drawer, that the straw actually belonged to Harris. Quigley denied the motion. Harris has been free on $50,000 bond. She is in court-ordered drug counseling and is subject to random drug tests and check-up calls from authorities. Authorities have yet to proffer any public evidence on how they believe the boy ingested methadone. A second-degree murder charge means a death is considered accidental but connected to another felony, such as drug use."

Date: August 27, 2002. News Source: The Cincinnati Enquirer Newspaper, http://enquirer.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Mother sentenced in newborn's death: DAYTON, Ohio — A woman who told authorities she suffocated her newborn infant in a plastic bag and hid him under the stairwell in her basement has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. Ruby Melvin, 36, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of murder and one count of gross abuse of a corpse after a Montgomery County grand jury indicted her earlier in the day. "I apologize to the city of Dayton for causing such heartache and pain," Ms. Melvin said before Common Pleas Judge Michael T. Hall imposed sentence. "I do love my kids so much. I ask for my family to be strong." Ms. Melvin has six other children, 3 to 20 years old. Police found the infant's body July 17 under clothes and toys in Ms. Melvin's basement."

Date: August 26, 2002. News Source: The Associated Press News Service, http://www.ap.org. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Mother accused of fatally shooting two of her children at Montana ranch: AUGUSTA, Mont. - A mother shot and killed two of her four children while they slept, then waited for police to arrive at their Montana ranch, authorities said. Jeanette Swanson, 46, allegedly shot her 14-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter early Monday and then called 911 asking for help. Relatives said the woman had been treated for depression just last week. Two other children, asleep in the home, were uninjured. Her husband, Gene, was sleeping in a camp trailer outside the residence. All awoke to sounds of gunfire at the home near Augusta, a ranching community of 285 people that is about 75 miles north of Helena. ``This is a bad one, it really is,'' said Lewis and Clark County Undersheriff Cheyle Liedle. ``This was not an accident.'' Swanson was being held in Helena on two charges of murder. Liedle said a motive hasn't been fully developed on why a mom, who home-schooled her children and doted on their care, would shoot two of them. The shooting shocked this small ranching community, where residents hadn't seen a murder in a dozen years. ``We spent most of our day dealing with the students' grief and dealing with that kind of loss,'' said School Superintendent Russ Bean. ``Even though they didn't know the kids well, it was an issue that they had to deal with.'' "

Date: August 25, 2002. News Source: The British Broadcasting Corporation News Service, http://news.bbc.co.uk. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Inquiry into 4-year-old's killing: An inquiry is underway into how a four-year-old girl came to be beaten to death for crying while in the care of her mentally-ill father. An Old Bailey judge sent Elvis Smith to a psychiatric unit indefinitely on Thursday after he admitting killing his daughter Nicole. The court heard that Nicole, who had been placed in her father's care by Greenwich Council following a custody hearing, was beaten with a leather belt because she kept crying. Smith, 36, of Casterbridge Road, Greenwich, south London, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and the court accepted his plea of not guilty to Nicole's murder. Smith was known to have mental health problems but was said to have cared well for his daughter when she first went to live with him, aged six months. But later he began to seek help from social services and his doctor, the court heard. Nicole was not on the At Risk register at the time of her death. Judge Martin Stephens said it would be inappropriate for him to make any comment on the social services aspect of the case at this stage. He told the court: "I am informed a full inquiry is continuing to take place. All should await the results of the inquiry." Nicole's mother sat distressed at the back of the court as details of her daughter's last minutes alive were given by prosecuting counsel Christopher Hehir. Smith's relationship with Nicole's mother, Theresa Thorpe, had not continued for long after she was born, said Mr Hehir. He started a relationship with another woman for a time, but when that broke up, became involved in a sexual relationship with a man. "But in the summer of 2000, he learnt the other man was HIV positive. He took it very badly and made threats of violence to this man," said Mr Hehir. "He saw his GP and then a psychiatrist as he was increasingly suffering from anxiety about what he had learnt," Mr Hehir told the court. On July 2 last year - the day before her death - she had appeared happy. But early next day, Smith called an ambulance. When police arrived he told them: "I hit her. Oh God. Tell me she is not dead. Don't let her die, she is all I have got." "I asked social services for help. I told them I could not cope. They would not listen. They said it would be all right," he said. Cause of Nicole's death was haemorrhaging through injuries consistent with a sustained attack. Smith said his daughter started crying when told to go to sleep. "She said she wanted to see her father's friend who had HIV. Told she could not, she would not stop crying," said Mr Hehir. Psychiatric reports on Smith since his arrest show he is suffering from a severe personality disorder of a psychopathic nature. He will not be released without Home Office permission. Greenwich Child Protection committee said in a statement issued earlier: "The brutal ending of Nicole's life was a tragedy. "Elvis Smith's attack on his daughter came completely out of the blue. Until that point, the evidence suggests he was a caring and committed father. "He was not suffering from a serious mental illness. He was experiencing depression and anxiety and was being treated appropriately for these conditions. "There is nothing to suggest that this attack on Nicole could have been predicted." "

Date: August 24, 2002. News Source: The Log Cabin Democrat Newspaper, http://www.thecabin.net. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Pelham's trial delayed: Jason Pelham, 24, the Conway man accused of killing his infant daughter, will have to wait a while longer for his day in front of a jury. He was due in circuit court Friday for pretrial proceedings with a trial set for a few days after, but the trial has been delayed because the results of his psychological examination are not ready. "It's unfortunate it takes so long É but there is nothing we can do about that. I have no choice but to continue" the trial, said attorney Frank Shaw, who was sitting in for Judge David Reynolds. Pelham, who has a history of being disruptive in court, was not present in the courtroom Friday. His attorney Kenny Fuchs was and agreed a continuance was necessary. Pelham is accused of killing his 6-week-old daughter, Juliet Pelham, at their Conway home in the early morning hours of Nov. 15. The girl's mother, Amanda Pelham, who has since divorced Jason Pelham, reportedly found her unconscious daughter in her bassinet next to the sleeping man. The girl was not breathing and her head was battered, according to Amanda Pelham, and emergency medical personnel were called. The baby was rushed to the Conway Regional Medical Center where doctors could not revive her. Jason Pelham was arrested at the hospital on first-degree murder charges and has been in the Faulkner County Detention Center since, being held with no bond. His pretrial was rescheduled for Nov. 1 with his trial scheduled for the week of Nov. 18."

Date: August 23, 2002. News Source: The Des Moines Register Newspaper, http://desmoinesregister.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Mother recalls son's last day: Ex-wife testifies at Martin murder trial. Three-year-old York Martin ate tacos and watched a "Peter Pan" video the night before he died, then he went upstairs to say his prayers and climb into his father's bed. York enjoyed prayer, his mother testified Thursday, the second day of her ex-husband's first-degree murder trial. York "loved the "thank-you" part," the former Karla Martin testified. "He had a really grateful heart." Prosecutors say it was Christopher Martin, 38, a legally blind motivational speaker, who silenced that heart sometime between the end of Jan. 8 and the beginning of the next day. West Des Moines police and paramedics found the child cold and lifeless when they arrived at 2601 Crown Flair Drive shortly after 4:15 a.m. Jan. 9. Investigators found blood on the bed where York and his father had been sleeping. Blood was splattered on the headboard and on two of the bedroom walls. A state crime lab investigator testified Thursday that DNA testing proved much of the splattered blood came from Christopher Martin. Martin, who had an injured right hand in police photographs taken Jan. 9, told detectives that he had cut himself while trying to fish broken glass out of the kitchen garbage disposal. Francis Garrity, Polk County medical examiner, said York suffered repeated blows to his face and head, but it was strangulation, not the head trauma, that killed him. Garrity testified Wednesday that hospital doctors were incorrect when they initially told police that the child had a broken neck. Police investigators have said they believe that York's large, bloody wounds can be matched to edges on the headboard of the bed where his body was found. Prosecutors ended Thursday's testimony by having Karla Martin, now Karla Daly, walk through the last day of her son's life. Daly described York as a healthy child who loved to run around outside, to count in Spanish, and most of all, play with his 4-year-old sister. "He was a very honest child and very trusting," she said. "We miss him very much." Daly testified that she and the two children were met by Christopher Martin at the Des Moines airport Jan. 8 as they returned from a Florida vacation that he had not taken. The family went home and ate a light supper, then Martin bathed the kids while his wife took a customary walk through the neighborhood. Daly said she later watched as the children said their prayers. York told his mother he loved her as Daly went back downstairs to retrieve some luggage. The last words he heard from his mother was that she loved him, too. Daly identified a piece of yellow paper that she said she found in a box outside Martin's basement office after the murder. Written in Martin's handwriting, it said: "Influence of poor father on son cannot be overcome by godly mother. Often, child will follow footsteps of ungodly man than steps of godly mother." Prosecutors argued that the note showed Martin's state of mind before the murder. But Judge Robert Blink refused to let jurors hear the evidence, ruling that no one could prove when the note was written."

Date: August 22, 2002. News Source: The Associated Press News Service, http://www.ap.org. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: " Mother of sunburned children doesn't think she did wrong STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (AP) — A woman who was jailed for eight days for allegedly allowing her children to become severely sunburned -- then abruptly freed after the charges were reduced to a misdemeanor -- said she doesn't think she did anything wrong. Eve Hibbits and her attorney, Shawn Blake, appeared on NBC's "Today" show Thursday morning, the day after three felony counts against her were dismissed and replaced with a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment. Authorities said the three children were not as severely injured as officials had believed. Hibbits was arrested Aug. 14, the day after a sheriff's deputy noticed her 2-year-old daughter, Rose, and 10-month-old twin boys, Thomas and Timmy, had sunburned faces at the Jefferson County Fair. Temperatures were in the 90s at the time. Sheriff Fred Abdalla said the children did not have any sunscreen or shirts on when a deputy spotted them and took them to a first aid station. They were later treated at a hospital and released. He said their faces looked like they had been "dipped in red paint." Hibbits, 31, said in the television interview that she didn't think she had committed any crime and being behind bars was awful. "It felt like the walls of the jail were falling in on me. I ain't never been in jail," she said. Blake said he thought the arresting sheriff's deputy overreacted. "The paramedics said it wasn't necessary, the kids were fine but they could take them to the hospital anyway," he said. Hibbits was released on her own recognizance and pleaded innocent to the misdemeanor. She had been held on $15,000 bond. Hospital officials initially told authorities the children suffered from second-degree burns but later reduced that to first-degree burns, Jefferson County Prosecutor Brian Felmet said. "I don't feel they (the charges) were too severe based on that information," he said. "With the benefit of hindsight with the information we have now, we feel they weren't warranted." The maximum penalty for the misdemeanor is six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, but Felmet said probation was likely. While Hibbits could have faced up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine on each of the felonies, the prosecutor and sheriff said on Wednesday that was not their intent. "Never was it anybody's intent to put her in prison. ... My intent was for the safety of the children, which was accomplished, and to give her a wake-up call," Abdalla said. Felmet said authorities also were concerned because they thought that one of the twins had a collapsed lung. But medical records showed the boy's underdeveloped lung was the result of being born prematurely. Hibbits' husband, Richard, was working at the fair and the family had been camping there. The family lives in Brilliant, a small town south of Steubenville."

Date: August 21, 2002. News Source: WPBF-TV, Eyewitness News 25, http://www.thewpbfchannel.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Day Care Worker Testifies In Trial: Testimony continued Wednesday in the trial of a mother, who prosecutors said didn't do enough to protect her son from her boyfriend. A string of witnesses have taken the stand in the high-profile trial of a mother accused in the death of her 2-year-old son. Prosecutors say Marguerite Saccone didn't protect her toddler, Joshua, from a man she knew was dangerous. Prosecutors said Tuesday that Saccone lied about her boyfriend -- the man who was beating Joshua -- lied about where he lived, and lied about leaving her son alone with his eventual killer. At the trial Tuesday, prosecutors said that in the months before his murder, Joshua told everyone he could that he was afraid of his mother's boyfriend "Junior" Lincent Chin. The boy's grandmother, Beverly Harbol said that Joshua ran and hid one day at an unexpected knock at the door. "He said 'Shh! Junior's coming. Hide! Junior's coming,'" Harbol said. "I held him and I said 'No one's coming, come out and play with me.'" Joshua's daycare teacher, Ebony Brown, said Marguerite Saccone asked her not to reveal her living relationship with Chin. "She said, 'I have a favor,'" Brown said. "'If anyone asks, tell them he doesn't stay with me.'" Joshua's father, Frank Saccone, testified that when he picked his son up from Marguerite's house in April 2000, the boy was so severely beaten that he took a photo. Joshua's pediatrician said on the stand that she knew the boy was being abused and inquired about the boy's injuries. The doctor said she even offered to keep the boy if there were problems. Prosecutors said Marguerite Saccone lied repeatedly about who was hurting her son. Prosecutors said that in the weeks before his murder, she left him alone each day with Chin and even let the child suffer with a broken collarbone for weeks because she didn't want to be blamed for the injury. Frank Saccone said his ex-wife admitted some guilt as their son lay dying of a fractured skull. "She didn't actually say what happened, but she said one time she was hit in the head with a phone by Junior, and she couldn't believe how blind she was. And she was sorry and all that," Saccone said. Joshua's doctor said she also warned the Department of Children and Families, but the agency did not follow through to make sure Joshua wasn't exposed to Lincent Chin. The defense said it plans to show how Marguerite Saccone had no idea Chin would kill her child."

Date: August 20, 2002. News Source: The Agence France-Presse News Service, http://www.afp.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Japanese mom suspected of killing baby son with alcohol: A suicidal Japanese mother is suspected of killing her 10-month-old baby son by forcing him to drink alcohol, reports said. The baby was found Monday along with his drunken mother, 30, at home in Aichi, 250 kilometers (155 miles) west of Tokyo, by the child's 35-year old father when he returned home from work, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper and Kyodo News agency said. The baby was already unconscious when an ambulance crew arrived and was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, the reports said. "I have been drinking with my child all day long," the mother was quoted by Kyodo as telling police officials. Police found three bottles of distilled liquor and whisky in the room. A police official declined to confirm the reports, but said alcohol had been detected in the baby's blood. The woman had left a message on her computer saying: "The two of us planned to die together," the Sankei reported."

Date: August 19, 2002. News Source: The Knoxville News-Sentinel Newspaper, http://www.knoxnews.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Girl may die before hearing: Testimony sought in mom's abuse case. A 15-year-old girl at the center of a firestorm over faith healing may not live long enough to testify this month at a hearing on charges of child abuse and neglect against her mother. Attorney Gregory P. Isaacs filed a motion in Loudon County General Sessions Court seeking a judge's approval to take the terminally ill teenager's deposition as soon as possible. The girl's mother, Jacqueline P. Crank, faces a preliminary hearing Aug. 28 on allegations she failed to seek emergency medical treatment for her daughter in May despite the urging of a certified nurse practitioner at Physician's Care Clinic in Lenoir City. Authorities have alleged Crank took her daughter to the clinic May 6 because of a large tumor on the girl's shoulder. After spending "approximately three hours with Crank to find orthopedic treatment," clinic nurse practitioner Tracy Gartman arranged for Crank to take the girl to the emergency room at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, a warrant stated. Crank, instead, returned to the home she shares with at least eight other members of her church, including the group's "spiritual father," Ariel Ben Sherman, authorities said. Isaacs has maintained that Crank, a devout Christian, turned to prayer to heal the girl. Crank was arrested in late June. Earlier this month, authorities also charged Sherman with aggravated child abuse and neglect, alleging he was advised in February to seek medical care for the girl. After Crank was arrested, the state Department of Children's Services took custody of the teenager and checked her into East Tennessee Children's Hospital, where she was diagnosed with a form of bone cancer. The girl later was allowed to return to her mother's home, but DCS has maintained legal custody to ensure the teenager receives medical treatment. However, her chances of survival are slim, everyone involved in the case agrees. According to Isaacs' motion, Children's Hospital physicians estimated she "had approximately 12 weeks to live" when she was first diagnosed with cancer. Since then, her medical condition "has worsened and the child's prognosis is much worse," Isaacs wrote. Isaacs states in his motion that the girl's testimony is critical to her mother's defense. Although he did not detail what he believes the girl's testimony would show, Isaacs included in his motion copies of poems the girl wrote about her own faith. In those poems, the girl lists her last name as "Christ," saying she is a "daughter of God." Isaacs has argued state law specifically sets out a "spiritual treatment exemption" under the child abuse and neglect statutes. He also has filed a motion asking a judge to dismiss the case, citing a section of the law that states the child abuse and neglect statutes do not apply "for the sole reason the child is being provided treatment by spiritual means through prayer alone." Noting that some states with a similar exemption have added language that clearly sets out when a parent may forgo medical treatment in lieu of prayer, Isaacs argues Tennessee's law sets no such boundaries. "The statute is silent as to what point a parent's reliance upon spiritual treatment could become criminal conduct, if ever," the motion states. Either the charge against Crank should be dropped because she legally exercised her religious and parental freedom or it should be dismissed because the law is "vague and overly broad," Isaacs contends in the motion."

Date: August 18, 2002. News Source: The Log Cabin Democrat Newspaper, http://www.thecabin.net. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Benton County dealing with deaths of four babies: BENTONVILLE (AP) -- The arrest of a woman last week on an assault charge after her 15-month-old son died brings to four the number of cases in the Benton County courts involving the deaths of babies. Three people were charged with capital murder, while the woman arrested Thursday, 21-year-old Rosa Martinez, was charged with battery. But that could change, a law enforcement officer says. "We're still investigating it as a homicide but it will remain a battery charge for now," Benton County Chief Deputy Chris Plumlee said Friday at a bond hearing for Martinez. She was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bond. A trial is scheduled for Sept. 10 for Jerome DeAsis, 28, on a capital murder charge. He is accused of slashing his 5-month-old son's throat and then setting the family's mobile home on fire. The body of Dominic DeAsis was found June 17, 2000, after the flames destroyed the trailer. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Liliana Pina, 24, was charged with capital murder in the suffocation death of her 11-month-old daughter, whose body was found Oct. 10, 2001. Pina was found by paramedics in the attic of her home. A judge has ordered her treated for a psychotic disorder. No trial date has been set for Pina, but a hearing is set for Aug. 26 on whether to allow prosecutors to introduce as evidence a statement she made to investigators. No decision has been made by prosecutors on whether to seek the death penalty."

Date: August 17, 2002. News Source: The South African Press Association News Service, http://www.news24.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Couple arrested for child abuse: Rustenburg - Four children from a North West farm allegedly endured severe beatings by their parents who apparently did not register them at birth and prevented them from attending school, police said on Saturday. Inspector Gabashane Moseki said a couple appeared in the Brits Magistrate's Court on Friday after being arrested at their farm in Elandsdrift in Mooinooi near Rustenburg on Thursday. The 45-year-old man and his 31-year-old wife were arrested for the alleged negligence and abuse of their four children - three boys and a baby girl, aged between 10 and two. "The children were found to have bruises believed to have been caused by sjambok beatings. The children are allegedly not registered with the Department of Home Affairs, and none of them attended school," Moseki said. The police, including members of the Child Protection Unit, applied for a search warrant of the farm after being alerted by concerned community members. "After overcoming the owner's resistance on their arrival at the farm, police rescued the children," Moseki said. The children have been placed into the temporary custody of the social worker. An unlicensed rifle, a large quantity of live, empty and spent cartridges of ammunition and an engine and trailers, believed to be stolen property, was discovered on the farm. Moseki could not confirm newspaper reports that the man's wife and children lived in complete isolation from the rest of the world and even believed that South Africa was engulfed in a civil war. The children are reportedly illiterate and are believed to have spent their days helping their father, reported to be a diesel mechanic, repair engines. The three boys were allegedly forced to sleep in a shed on the property even in winter because there was no room for them inside the house. The home also does not have running water, although it has electricity. The couple, who were denied bail, will appear in court again on Friday."

Date: August 16, 2002. News Source: The Knoxville News-Sentinel Newspaper, http://www.knoxnews.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Pair charged with murder in death of infant son: Police call case of abuse one of worst they've seen. A Knoxville man accused of the abuse death of his 3-month-old son denied he killed the infant. "I did not murder my baby," a defiant Blake Delaney Tallant said Thursday evening as Knoxville police officers loaded the man into a paddy wagon. His wife, also charged with murder and aggravated child abuse, quickly interrupted her husband. "Shut up and get in the car, Blake. You're only making it worse," said Sarah Tallant, whose long dark hair was strewn over her face as officers locked her husband in the caged vehicle. Citing the number of the child's broken bones, police described the abuse as "brutal" and said it was one of the worst cases they've investigated. The couple's arrest came less than 24 hours after police responded to a call made by Sarah Tallant that her infant had stopped breathing. Two officers responded and quickly initiated CPR, but Lex Arson Tallant was later pronounced dead on arrival at East Tennessee Children's Hospital, according to Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith. Police say the infant died of pneumonia caused by internal injuries. Keith said that Lex had been brutally abused over an extensive period of time and had broken ribs and a broken left arm and left leg. "There is evidence the child was held in a child safety seat for more than 24 hours straight," said Keith, who was visibly shaken while detailing the infant's injuries. Keith said there is also preliminary evidence that Lex was sexually abused. "We've seen a lot of gruesome (child abuse cases), but this is one of the worst we've had to work with," he said. "Collectively, it's just so brutal." When police first responded to the call on Knott Road, they found an assortment of drugs and drug paraphernalia, including more than a gram of crystal meth and the early stages of a meth lab. Police also seized a marijuana pipe and $1,500 in cash. Blake Tallant, 30, was arrested on the drug charges and later released on a $3,500 bond. Police worked throughout Wednesday night and Thursday to gather the evidence to arrest the couple on murder and child-abuse charges. The couple were then arrested at their home in West Knoxville Thursday evening. Both are being held at the Knox County Detention Center without the possibility of bond. "We feel fortunate to bring this case to a close," Keith said. Blake Tallant is originally from Jonesboro, Ark., and Sarah Tallant, 27, is from San Diego. Keith said both had no criminal records prior to Wednesday's incident. The couple also have a 3-year-old son who is now in the custody of the Department of Children's Services. Police say the elder Tallant boy has no signs of abuse."

Date: August 15, 2002. News Source: WCVB-TV NewsCenter 5, http://www.thebostonchannel.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Mom Charged In 2-Year-Old's Death: Woman Held On $100,000 Bail. QUINCY, Mass. -- A Braintree woman is facing manslaughter charges in the death of her 2-year-old child. NewsCenter 5's Pam Cross said the boy allegedly died of severe skull injuries, and Natasha Higer has been charged with manslaughter in the case. Cross said that Higer and her husband, Louis, adopted the child, Zachary, on Dec. 24, 2001. Police said she brought her 2-year-old son Zachary to the doctor Tuesday suffering from life-threatening skull injuries. Doctors suspected the child had been beaten. "The skull fracture was consistent with a fall from a multi-story building," prosecutor Robert Nelson said. Higer told investigators that the baby was fine at about 8 a.m. Tuesday, but that she could not rouse him by 11 a.m. His injuries included a stroke to the left side and severe swelling on the left side of the brain. "It was a flat surface that the baby's head hit. So it wasn't quite the corner of the table because the fracture of it would look different than it did. It is some type of flat surface," Higer's lawyer, William Sullivan, said. Higer's lawyer said that she is upset about the child's death, even though she questioned police about the care of her dog. "There were statements made as she was placed in custody. There are some questions about who was going to take care of some of the household items. She never said that she cared more about the dog than the child," Sullivan said. Higer's husband was not in the courtroom during her arraignment Thursday. She was held on $100,000 bail."

Date: August 14, 2002. News Source: The Indianapolis Star Newspaper, http://www.indystar.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Boy's death no surprise to some: Abuse of siblings had been reported to officials; girl was taken from home, boy wasn't. A day-care worker who knew Mary Francis Edwards isn't surprised by allegations that the Coatesville woman's 5-year-old son, David, died after being left in an open pickup truck bed on a sweltering July day. Dawn Miller, former executive director of Kid Zone Daycare in Brownsburg -- where all three of Edwards' children would go -- even called authorities with her concerns. And she wonders why Edwards still had custody of her children at all. "It was obvious to all of us she was neglectful and abuseful," Miller said. "She told us she hated the father and they (the children) reminded her of the father." So Edwards bleached David and his 6-year-old sister's hair and eyebrows, and she would punish David by taking him out of day care, giving them crackers for dinner or nothing for lunch, Miller said. She said she called Child Protective Services three times, including once after seeing severe bruises on the girl's buttocks. Edwards was charged; the 6-year-old is now being cared for by her grandmother. "When she pled guilty to child abuse with (the girl), she shouldn't have had the other two," Miller said. But Andrew Stoner, Gov. Frank O'Bannon's executive assistant for human services, said: "The state didn't kill anyone, the parent is responsible." John Hamilton, secretary of the Family and Social Services Administration, declined comment on this case but said there is generally a strong preference to keep families together. "If there were circumstances where the home was in such a condition where no food was available, evidence that the children were not being protected and cared for," Hamilton said, "you might have a response dealing with the whole family." A routine internal review is being conducted to determine whether procedures were followed, he said. Becky Pryor, former executive director of Indiana Advocates for Children, is outraged that Edwards still had custody of David and her youngest child, a 2-year-old girl. "How much harm do you have to do first?" Pryor said. Pryor said that the state should have intervened for David and the 2-year-old, who was placed in foster care July 22, the day David died. "Often when one child is being abused, you remove that child, they start abusing the other child," Pryor said. "Someone should have been checking on the children." David died after being taken to Riverview Hospital in Noblesville, where his core body temperature measured 108 degrees. Edwards had driven to Noblesville from Hendricks County, where she had appeared in court earlier that day in the abuse case involving her oldest daughter. Along the way, she stopped and put David in the back of her pickup truck. She left David outside for an hour to an hour-and-45-minutes after arriving at the apartment of her mother, Betty Shirrell. As they chatted about Shirrell's upcoming wedding to her ex-husband, the temperature of the truck bed, lined with black plastic, soared to 140 degrees. At a probable cause hearing Tuesday, detective Mark Pruitt of the Noblesville Police Department testified that Edwards' boyfriend, Vincent Scott Tansy, told police that Hendricks County child welfare officials had been notified that Edwards was trying to starve David to death. Pruitt also testified that the cause of death was environmental hyperthermia, and the death was considered a homicide. "He had dehydrated. His body was wasting away," Pruitt testified. "He had sunken eyes, a low body weight of 30.5 pounds. David almost had no body fat. His body was absorbing all the body fat that he had trying to stay alive." Edwards told police her son was "an evil child," Pruitt said, who smeared feces and urine on the floors and the walls. She said she would wake up to find him standing over her with a butcher knife. Edwards has now been charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent leading to serious bodily injury. If convicted on both counts, she would face up to 40 years in prison. "I wish they had a Class A felony in neglect for this one," Hamilton County Prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp said during the hearing. She said a date for a pretrial hearing would likely be set today. Edwards remains in Hamilton County Jail."

Date: August 13, 2002. News Source: The St. Paul Pioneer Press Newspaper, http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "NEW HOPE: Mom held in son's death: A New Hope mother suspected of killing her 8-year-old son is expected to be charged this morning in Hennepin County District Court. Latrice Jones, 29, has been jailed since Sunday, the day she is suspected of stabbing her son Quentin to death. She had been distressed and has a history of mental instability, authorities said Monday. Jones was being held Monday at the Hennepin County jail on probable cause of murder. New Hope police detective Sgt. Jeff McFarlane said relatives of Jones had become concerned about her emotional state and called for help Sunday evening just before 7 p.m. Jones let officers inside her 5701 Quebec Ave. apartment, where they found Quentin's body. She was arrested a short time later. On Monday, the Hennepin County medical examiner's office said Quentin had been repeatedly stabbed and died of his injuries. Relatives of Jones told investigators that she had suffered from mental illness for at least the past four years, McFarlane said. On Sunday, a family member talked with Jones on the telephone and became concerned as Jones continued to "rant" and "rave," McFarlane said. The relative, an aunt, became concerned and called police, saying Jones had "exhibited emotional distress," authorities said. The relative wanted to check on Jones and her son but was concerned that she would not be able to make it to Jones' apartment in time. So she called police, McFarlane said. Jones was home alone at the time with Quentin, authorities have said. When officers arrived, she let them into the apartment. She was arrested a short time later after Quentin's body was discovered. She was questioned by investigators and booked into jail. When officers escorted Jones from her apartment, she was barefoot and wrapped in a quilt, said neighbor Lisa Andersen. Jones appeared to be calm at the time, she added. The Crystal Towers apartment complex in New Hope is home to a number of children, who play in the parking lot and a nearby small yard. While officers occasionally patrol through the complex, there have been few problems. "I was shocked when I heard," Anderson said about Quentin's death. According to Hennepin County social workers, they have had no reports of child maltreatment concerning the Joneses. But Jones has had a few problems with the law; in 1994 she was arrested and accused of disorderly conduct, and in 1995 she was accused of fifth-degree assault. Quentin's death happened nearly six months after another Twin Cities mother said to be mentally unstable stabbed her son to death in California. On Feb. 24, Donna Anderson stabbed her 13-year-old son, Stephen Burns, to death as he visited his father in Burlingame, Calif. Anderson, who lived in Shoreview, is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty in June. Although she was diagnosed as delusional, a California judge ruled that Anderson was competent to stand trial."

Date: August 12, 2002. News Source: The Des Moines Register Newspaper, http://desmoinesregister.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Mother gripped by loss, regret: With mate charged in son's death, she and others reflect on why she stayed in an abusive relationship. Davenport, Ia. - Enough of the message got through that Mary Essary knew something was seriously wrong. The Davenport woman was pouring milk for residents at the nursing home where she works when the call came from her husband, Jeramy. "He was hysterical," Mary Essary, 26, remembered. "I said, "What's wrong?" He said, "I found Niqolus at the bottom of the stairs with a dirty diaper, unconscious and gasping for air." Then we got cut off because he was using a cell phone." Mary Essary hung up and ran for the door. She wanted to get home to her 16-month-old son. What she found that morning this past May would change her life and make her question the story told by her husband, who awaits trial on first-degree murder charges. It would make her wish she had left Jeramy "a long time ago." It would also make others question how a mother whose husband had a history of child abuse did not see this coming. Mary Essary was a 17-year-old high school student when she had her first child, Victoria. From the start, she and Jeramy, then her boyfriend, struggled to pay bills. She worked part time at Hardee's, trying to complete high school during the day and attending vocational school three nights a week. "I gave it all that I possibly could," Essary said. One night in 1993 while she was in class, Jeramy Essary broke the leg of his 3-week-old daughter. According to Scott County court records, hospital personnel who treated the girl told investigators the break and bruises to the girl's face "were of a very violent nature and could not have been accidentally inflicted." He pleaded guilty of child endangerment and spent time in prison for that and for a burglary conviction. A Department of Human Services social worker opposed allowing Jeramy Essary to have contact with his daughter, court records indicate. Officials believe Mary Essary willingly initiated contact with Jeramy, however, and he was allowed to resume life with his family after his release, records indicate. Mary Essary said she didn't see at the time that she should have gotten out of the relationship. "I think now, looking back, that he had an anger problem," she said. Their second daughter, Alison, was born when Mary was 18. By then, Jeramy Essary had begun a cycle of being in and out of jail, often doing time for violating his conditions of release. When he was out, he had trouble sticking with jobs for more than a few months, Mary Essary said. "When he'd first get out, he was fine. He had his head straight, everything else," she said. "But later on, it would all just fall apart." The couple married in 1998. Within a few years, they were expecting their third child, Niqolus. They hoped for a new start. The morning of May 15 started badly. Jeramy, 27, said he'd been up all night, working on the kitchen floor of the couple's Davenport home. They argued when he asked his wife to change her stomach-baring shirt before she went to work. According to court records, Jeramy slapped her, spat on her and pushed her, knocking her over a bicycle, records say. Mary, bruised and cut, changed her shirt. As she rushed home later that morning, Mary Essary thought there must have been an accident - despite the broken leg nine years before, despite the fight that morning, despite incidents just days earlier. On May 12, authorities believe Jeramy grabbed Niqolus by the back of the neck and slammed his head into an entertainment center, according to Scott County records. The crying boy had a red-and-blue bump on his forehead. Mary Essary tried to intervene that day but backed off when her husband told her to"stay out of it or he would really hurt" the boy, court records indicate. On May 14 - a day before Niqolus died - Jeramy held a hand over Niqolus' mouth for one to two minutes when the toddler wouldn't stop crying, authorities allege. When Mary barged into the house May 15, it struck her that Niqolus wasn't on the main floor. If he'd fallen down the stairs, why wasn't he there on the floor or on the nearby sofa? She found her husband and son upstairs. "My son was in the farthest bedroom, lying on the floor about this far from the wall," she said, demonstrating about a foot's distance with her hands. "He was lying on his side." Jeramy, panicky, discouraged her from going to the hospital, she said. "He said, "They're going to think I did it. They're going to think I did it," " Mary Essary remembered. "I said, "If you didn't do it, then why are you worrying?" " During the drive to the hospital, both made rough attempts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Neither knew exactly how. Niqolus lay lifeless in his mother's arms. "I couldn't get anything out of him," Mary said. Shortly after Niqolus was pronounced dead at the hospital, Davenport police charged and arrested Jeramy Essary for the unrelated incidents of abuse that had allegedly happened earlier in the week. He remained in jail as the investigation continued. Niqolus was buried, and family and friends waited months for results of the autopsy. Last month, they received some answers. Deputy State Medical Examiner Dennis Klein ruled that the cause of death was asphyxiation, or lack of oxygen caused by an obstruction to normal breathing. The death was not natural or accidental, authorities said. The findings didn't match Jeramy Essary's story about his son's fall. On July 16, he was charged with first-degree murder, various counts of child endangerment and willful injury. Mike Walton, the assistant Scott County attorney who will prosecute Essary, said it wouldn't be appropriate to discuss the case. Mary Essary, however, said she expected that Jeramy would be accused of trying to quiet the boy by holding his hand or a pillow over the boy's mouth. Jeramy Essary, who will be arraigned Aug. 22, is being held in the Scott County Jail. His attorney didn't return a call last week. Beulah Essary, Jeramy's grandmother from Bettendorf, is one of few people who visit him regularly in jail. He hasn't talked to his wife since the day his son died, and his parents live in another state. "He swears up and down that he didn't do it," Beulah Essary, 77, said. "He wanted a boy so bad, and after he had a little boy, I really don't think he would have done it." She said she wondered what prevented Niqolus from breathing, but she wasn't ready to judge. Too many people at Niqolus' funeral were ready to condemn Jeramy, she said. "The talk was that Jeramy killed him," she said. "I said, "You don't know until he's proven guilty." The Bettendorf woman said she wished she had visited the family more often. "I just kind of blame myself for not going down and checking on him," she said. She said she wondered, though, why Mary Essary didn't get out of the relationship if there was so much abuse. Mary left the house almost every day to go to work, she pointed out. Mary Essary knows others wonder that same thing. The Department of Human Services placed her two girls in foster care immediately after her son's death. She sees them once a week. "They say it's because of the past domestics," Essary said, explaining that the social workers were afraid she would end up in a relationship in which her daughters could be abused. "But this is the way I look at it: You walk in my shoes," Essary said. "If you haven't walked in my shoes, you do not know what it's like." Mary Essary said she planned to divorce her husband, whose letters from jail she usually doesn't read. She's getting counseling, as are her daughters. She has advice for anyone in an abusive relationship: "Get out, because they are never going to change. They'll tell you they'll change, but they're never going to change. I wish I would have left a long time ago." She wants justice for Niqolus, and she wants her daughters back. Eventually, she hopes to volunteer with victims of domestic abuse. She hopes her loss will serve as a lesson. "Look at what I've got now. I have nothing," she said. "I will never see my son grow up, learn to go potty, learn to tie his shoe, have a best friend, start his first day of school. I'll never get to see any of that." "

Date: August 11, 2002. News Source: The Associated Press News Service, http://www.ap.org. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Mom Accused of Neglect in Son's Death: CRESTVIEW, Fla. (AP) - A woman was charged with child neglect of her mentally impaired son who died in November, more than a decade after the state began investigating reports of abuse. The Department of Children & Families investigated James Alford's death but concluded it was not caused by neglect. The finding ensured that the agency's performance would not be evaluated by a review team created by the Legislature to help prevent child deaths. Michelle Wesson, 33, was arrested Friday. A police report said she "habitually failed" to provide minimal care for James, who was 14. The medical examiner's report found he died of septicemia, likely brought on by unsanitary living conditions. Wesson was being held without bail Saturday. Whether she had an attorney could not immediately be determined. A police report said James came to the agency's attention in 1990, when a caller reported that the 3-year-old boy was physically abused. More than 20 reports of abuse of neglect were investigated thereafter. Over the years, callers told the state agency that James was hit with a switch, sometimes leaving open cuts, and was beaten with a rubber hose or board and burned with a cigarette. Wesson repeatedly told investigators that James or his siblings were accidentally hurt and promised she would clean her house and better supervise her children, records showed. Investigators repeatedly found the home teeming with bugs and human and animal waste. When sheriff's deputies found the teen Nov. 11, the home was so filthy that several animals they removed had to be euthanized, authorities said. The child welfare agency has been immersed in scandal since reporting in April that a girl in its care had been missing more than a year. Rilya Wilson of Miami hasn't been seen since January 2001."

Date: August 10, 2002. News Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Newspaper, http://www.jsonline.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Woman charged with killing son in crash: 3 other children hurt; she told police she had been drinking, complaint says. A woman was charged Thursday with killing her 3-year-old son in a drunken driving crash that occurred, a complaint says, after she downed "a few drinks to settle her nerves" following a quarrel with another son. After Collette Renee Finchis' car jumped a curb Tuesday and slammed into a utility pole, she staggered around the crash scene, leaned on her car to keep her balance and was unable to perform sobriety tests, according to the criminal complaint. "Forget it, I can't do it," Finchis told police when she lost her balance while trying to stand on one leg, the complaint says. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I was drinking. I can't do it." Inside her car, according to the complaint, police found three of her children and one of her grandchildren injured. Her 3-year-old son, Kamar Pugh, was found fatally injured on the floor by the front seat, the complaint says. Emergency personnel tried reviving him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Another son, Marv'Tavis Pugh, 4, was found on the back seat and was taken to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa, where he was treated for a broken leg, lacerated liver and head injuries, the complaint says. Another child, 7, and an 8-month-old grandchild were taken from the rear seat to Children's Hospital for treatment of injuries and released, according to the complaint. Finchis, 36, of the 2700 block of N. 56th St., was charged with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle in the crash about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 6200 block of W. Appleton Ave. The first officer who arrived at the crash scene found Finchis' Lincoln Town Car off the roadway and adjacent to a fallen utility pole and Finchis sitting in the driver's seat with the engine running, the complaint says. When she was questioned about her children, Finchis had difficulty remembering their names, dates of birth and where they were seated, and at one point suggested that police stop asking her such questions and get the information from her relatives instead, according to the complaint. Finchis told police she had put a seat belt on the son who died but he sometimes undid the belt and was not in a child seat, the complaint says. She said she'd earlier had four "kind of strong" mixed drinks to calm herself after a quarrel with a son, and a blood sample obtained after the accident showed she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.208, more than twice the 0.10 considered proof of intoxication in Wisconsin, according to the complaint."

Date: August 9, 2002. News Source: The Associated Press News Service, http://www.ap.org. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Parents allegedly abused own children in global porn ring: WASHINGTON - A group of parents sexually molested their own children and sent pornographic pictures of them worldwide over the Internet, U.S. Customs officials said Friday, announcing 20 arrests in the United States and abroad. Forty-five children, including 37 Americans ranging from 2 to about 14, were victims and have been removed from the care of those indicted, Customs officials said. Eighty percent of the children were molested by one of their own parents, they said. Authorities say the parents traded photos of themselves sexually abusing their own children and shared tips in online chat rooms. Most of the children are now in the custody of another parent or relative, or foster care. "I've rarely seen crimes as despicable and repugnant," Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner said. All of the suspects are men except one Danish woman, Bente Jensen, who is charged with her husband, Eggert Jensen. Ten U.S. citizens face charges filed since January, including nine people named in an indictment unsealed Friday in Fresno, Calif. The other, Jeffrey Naimo of Killeen, Texas, already has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, Bonner said. Six residents of Denmark, Switzerland and the Netherlands also were indicted in Fresno and the Justice Department is seeking their extradition to face charges, Bonner said. Four other Europeans were charged abroad as part of the joint investigation with the Danish National Police that reached Belgium, Germany, England, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Customs officials said they would not identify them or specify their nationality because the investigation is ongoing. Bonner said he had never seen a broad conspiracy of this type among parents before. "If this isn't unusual, God help us," he said. The charges of sexual exploitation of children, conspiracy to exploit children, and receiving and distributing child pornography each carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years to a maximum of 20 years. Some defendants could receive 60 years if convicted of all charges against them, Bonner said. More arrests are expected. Authorities are still trying to identify other children in some of the explicit pictures. The indictment alleges that members of the ring, referring to themselves as "the club," traded messages across the Internet requesting photographs of specific sexual poses. One man asked for an audiotape so he could hear a child crying while being spanked, the indictment said, and another posed naked with an underage girl. In one instance, a man swapped his own children with another pedophile to be abused, Bonner alleged. He said the wide availability of child pornography on the Internet encourages pedophiles. "Together we must find ways to protect our children and to starve the pedophiles of the sordid images that induce them to act," he said. A few of those arrested received pictures but did not produce them, Bonner said. The investigation began when the international charity Save the Children found on the Internet a picture of Eggert Jensen molesting his 9-year-old daughter and reported it to Danish authorities, authorities said. The Danish National Police traced Jensen through a company logo on the shirt he wore in the picture, said Customs special agent Mike Netherland. Danish police found information on the Jensens' computer that was forwarded to the U.S. Customs Service and led to the arrest in January of chiropractor Lloyd Alan Emmerson in Clovis, Calif. Paul Whitmore and Brooke Rowland, both of San Diego, also were arrested in January based on information from Denmark, investigators said. Searches of the California suspects' computers led to nine other U.S. citizens, Netherland said. The other Americans facing charges include: Tracy Reynolds of Longview, Texas; Leslie Peter Bowcut, Burley, Idaho; Michael David Harland, West Palm Beach, Fla.; Harry Eldon Tschernetzki, Spokane, Wash.; John Zill, Greeneville, S.C.; and Craig Davidson, Kansas City, Kan. An 11th American, Sean Bradley of Reno, Nev., committed suicide prior to the filing of formal charges, Netherland said. The six foreigners indicted in Fresno were identified as the Jensens of Denmark; Jean-Michael Frances Cattin, Marcel Egli and Peter Althaus of Switzerland; and Dirk-Jan Prins of the Netherlands. No hometowns were provided."

Date: August 8, 2002. News Source: The South Africa Press Association News Service, http://www.news24.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Child raped as mom looks on: Cape Town - A foster mother discovered that a six-year-old girl in her care had allegedly been raped by her biological mother's lover, while the mother looked on, the Cape Town magistrate's court heard on Thursday. The little girl was allegedly sexually abused by the mother - a prostitute - and her lover-pimp. The mother and her lover appeared in the court on Wednesday on provisional rape and attempted murder charges. They were arrested on August 1 and have not pleaded. No details were given about the attempted murder charge. The mother is not named to protect the girl's identity. The court heard that the foster mother made the discovery when the girl winced as the foster mother washed her private parts during a bath. Later, after the foster mother had managed to gain the child's confidence, the child had described how her biological mother had allegedly watched while her lover-pimp allegedly raped her. The girl alleged that both her biological mother and the mother's lover had afterwards sexually abused her with their fingers. The child was placed in foster care by court order, after a Juvenile Court ruled the mother unfit to care for her. The court order resulted from the biological mother's use of the child in a shoplifting incident, for which she (the mother) has already been convicted and sentenced. Prosecutor Ruwayder Badrudien said there was no objection to bail, provided both had a fixed abode. The lover-pimp told the court he had lost his job at Seagulls, a Sea Point restaurant-bar, since his arrest, and that both he and his lover would live with his mother in Bothasig. The pimp admitted two previous convictions, one for shoplifting, the other for fraud. Asked if she would stay with her lover if released on bail, the mother replied: "Yep." The biological mother said her lover had R250 for bail, but could raise R500, while she said she had no money at all. Magistrate Derek Winter said R500 bail was "laughable" on charges of child rape and attempted murder, and fixed bail at R1 000. The case was postponed to August 28 for further investigation."

Date: August 7, 2002. News Source: The St. Petersburg Times Newspaper, http://www.sptimes.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "The Baby Survives 17 Hours in Trash Bin. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A newborn baby girl who was put in a garbage bag and dumped in a bin survived for about 17 hours before a neighbor rescued her, police said Tuesday. The baby's mother, Stephanie Smith, told authorities she delivered the child at home and dumped her in a bin across the street Sunday, according to a police report. A neighbor heard noise and fished the child out Monday, police said. She was wrapped in a dirty towel with placenta still attached, but was in good condition despite daytime temperatures of up to 90 degrees. "It's very unusual for a baby to be born and put in that environment and not have any problems," said Dr. Benjamin Torres of All Children's Hospital where the child was taken. Smith told police she dumped the full-term baby hoping it would die in the bin so she could keep the birth a secret. The 23-year-old was charged with attempted first-degree murder. She remained hospitalized Tuesday for complications related to the delivery and was not available for comment. A lawyer had not been appointed."

Date: August 6, 2002. News Source: The Reuters Health News Service, http://www.reuters.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "US Child Abuse Deaths Sharply Underestimated: Study. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many children's death certificates do not correctly list abuse, neglect or other forms of maltreatment as the cause of death, Colorado researchers report. Because of this child abuse deaths may be more common than current figures indicate, their study suggests. "Child abuse is underrecognized as a problem in the United States," Tessa Crume, an epidemiologist at the Colorado Department of Public Health ( news - web sites) and Environment, told Reuters Health. The current ways of assessing child abuse--analyzing data from death certificates--"are drastically underestimating it," she said. "I don't think death certificates are the place to assess child abuse," Crume added. "We look to death certificates, but we shouldn't." Crume and her colleagues compared data collected by a statewide child fatality review committee, including information from the coroner's office, social services, law enforcement and other vital records, with information on the death certificates of children who died in Colorado from January 1990 to December 1998. The children ranged in age from newborn to 16 years. Of the 295 deaths that the committee identified as maltreatment-related, only half were listed as such on the children's death certificates, Crume and her team report in the August online issue of Pediatrics. The researchers also found biases in how child abuse information was recorded on death certificates, the report indicates. For example, death certificates for black children and girls were more likely to have child abuse or neglect correctly listed as the cause of death than were death certificates for boys or for Hispanic or white children, study findings indicate. Further, maltreatment was 60% less likely to be recorded on the death certificates of children who died in rural areas as opposed to those who died in metropolitan areas. "These discrepancies in ascertainment raise concerns that professionals who investigate child deaths may be more likely to conclude that maltreatment was a contributing factor in the cause of death for children with certain sociodemographic characteristics," the authors write. Children who died from shaking, by blows from a blunt or sharp object, firearms or some other violent means were more likely to have their death recorded as maltreatment-related than those whose death was caused by neglect and abandonment, drowning or some other act of omission, the report indicates. What's more, although parents were most commonly responsible for the abuse or neglect, maltreatment was nearly nine times more likely to be recorded on a death certificate if the perpetrator was someone unrelated to the child, study findings indicate. This may be due to a number of factors including the hesitancy of law enforcement officials to consider grieving parents as potential abusers, the researchers note. In addition, "the same police officers who investigate child deaths are the same ones who investigate adult crime scenes," Crume said. Many investigators are not trained to recognize certain types of evidence that are different from what they would look to find in the case of an adult death, she explained. In light of the findings, rather than looking to death certificates, "the only way to assess child abuse fatality is to have a multidisciplinary child death review team," Crume said. The study was partially funded by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. SOURCE: Pediatrics 2002;110:e18."

Date: August 5, 2002. News Source: The United Press International News Service, http://www.upi.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Capital murder charge prepared in shooting: Police said Monday a capital murder charge would be filed against a 29-year-old man they say killed his wife, their two children and two other relatives in what one detective called the bloodiest family violence he had ever seen. Abel Revill Ochoa, 29, was arrested shortly after the shooting at a home in the southwest section of the city Sunday night. He was held in lieu of $2 million bond at the Dallas county jail under a 24-hour suicide watch. Police will ask the district attorney to file a capital murder charge against Ochoa because it was a multiple-slaying and involved children, Sgt. Hollis Edwards said. Prosecutors could seek the death penalty in the case. Investigators were still trying to piece together what sparked the bloody shooting spree in the Oak Cliff area of the city. The suspect became upset with his wife but they don't know what sparked the disturbance, the sergeant said. "While the family was in the living room he walked in and began shooting with an automatic pistol," Edwards said. Killed were his wife, Cecelia Ochoa, 32, and two of their children, Anahi Ochoa, 10 months, and Crystal Ochoa, 7; his father-in-law, Bartolo Alivizo, 56, and his sister-in-law, Jacqueline Saleh, 20. Another sister-in-law, Alma Alvizo, 27, was critically wounded and remains hospitalized at Methodist Medical Center. Neighbors heard a string of gunshots that sounded like firecrackers Sunday night and then Alma Alvizo ran bleeding from the house to get help. She told a relative what had happened before being rushed to a hospital. A veteran Dallas police detective told The Dallas Morning News it was the worst domestic violence he had ever seen in the city. "This is the worst that I've ever seen -- and I've been in homicide 10 years," said Sgt. Gary Kirkpatrick. "There's never been one of this magnitude." The suspect's brother said the family had some domestic problems, Kirkpatrick said. Witnesses reported seeing the suspect run from the home and leave in a sport utility vehicle. He was arrested without incident a short time later at a shopping area in the area. Neighbors could not recall any past disturbances at the home. "It scares me -- they were a peaceful family," said Maria Torres. "I don't understand why this would happen." "

Date: August 4, 2002. News Source: The Dallas Morning News Newspaper, http://www.dallasnews.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Different paths, same desolation: An analysis of Texas inmates suggests that women who kill children have little in common -- except despair. Killing a child is a horrific act, universally condemned by society, the antithesis of the maternal instinct – but every year, women kill dozens of Texas children. Young children in Texas are most at risk. And mothers are responsible for the greatest percentage of child deaths attributed to abuse or neglect in Texas. Seventy women are serving time in Texas prisons for having a role in killing their own children, stepchildren or a relative's child. A Dallas Morning News analysis of their cases produced a disturbing picture of who kills and who is killed, what can motivate a mother to commit such a horrible crime – and how society responds to it. That number does not reflect the full scope of the problem. Legal experts say that some women who kill their children may never face trial because of difficulties in linking them to the crime – or an insanity defense may keep them out of prison. But those who are convicted typically will spend a very long time behind bars, in part because of "get tough" legislation passed in the early 1990s requiring Texas inmates to serve a greater percentage of their prison sentences, and perhaps reflecting society's growing intolerance towards child killers. Sixty-four percent received prison sentences of 40 years or more. More than half of the women in Texas prisons for killing children in their households were incarcerated since the beginning of 1997. Some of the women in the News study killed children in fits of rage, as they succumbed to the stresses of crushing debt or were overwhelmed by the demands of being a caregiver to multiple children and the family's only source of income. Others murdered while grappling with the demons of mental illness. Teenagers abandoned newborns. Two older women killed during custody battles – one shooting her 3-year-old son with a shotgun as he watched cartoons, the other strangling her two young sons with a scarf. "Whether we're talking about conduct that's borne out of mental illness, or we're talking about parents losing it, each is more likely when we have families that are under increasing amounts of stress," said Sam Houston State University forensic psychologist Phillip Lyons. "So the tighter and hotter the pressure cooker, the more likely we are to see parents losing their cool or a manifestation of some sort of mental illness." In all, 83 children died in the incidents that resulted in prison time for the 70 Texas inmates in the study. Eight out of 10 killed victims who were 5 years old or younger. Seven killed more than one child. The victims were strangled, smothered, scalded and stabbed. They were drowned, burned, shot or poisoned. Infants were slammed into walls or left to die in trash bins. Trauma accounted for about 39 percent of the deaths. Roughly one in four of the victims were drowned, suffocated or strangled. Relatively few were killed with weapons: seven were stabbed, four were shot and one was struck in the head with a hammer. According to Texas Child Protective Services, mothers were responsible for 48 percent of the abuse or neglect deaths in Texas last year. Fathers accounted for 26 percent of the deaths, "paramours" (boyfriends mostly, or girlfriends) 14 percent, relatives 7 percent and "other" 5 percent. But for a variety of reasons, not all child killings result in criminal prosecutions or lengthy prison time for the culprits. Who goes to trial – and who doesn't – may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Exactly how many abuse and neglect deaths result in criminal convictions or mental health commitments is not known – in Texas, or, for that matter, the nation. "Some deaths involve very young children and occur at the hands of a sole caregiver in the privacy of the child's own home," a recent report by the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services noted. "Foul play may never be suspected, or, if suspected, is difficult to prove." The report also pointed out that "no single agency is responsible for tracking child deaths." Economics and race sometimes may play a role in what is reported as a suspicious death, said Juan Parra, a University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio pediatrics professor who heads one of the state's more than 40 child fatality review teams. The teams produce data that help reduce preventable child deaths. Dr. Parra indicated that hospitals catering to more affluent clients with private insurance may not report suspected abuse as often as institutions that deal primarily with poor and mostly minority clientele. Other cases never end up in a courtroom because they are simply too difficult to prosecute. Forensic science is an evolving field. And in some instances, scientists know less now than they thought they did years ago. "When I was an intern and doing my residency 25-26 years back, we were taught that, based on the color changes or a contusion or a bruise, or a tissue reaction, one could give predictive value as to when exactly that occurred," said Tarrant County Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani. "We know now that this is absolutely bogus. One can't really do that. Human tissues behave differently and react differently and different color changes occur. ... So we give what are called windows – we give a range." Those ranges, Dr. Peerwani acknowledged, "are sometimes helpful and sometimes are not helpful in trying to prosecute a given parent or care provider." Harris County prosecutor Denise Oncken, who serves in the child abuse division of the district attorney's office, points to two issues that make it difficult to prosecute child killers. "It may be hard to determine who the person is that abused the child, especially if there are multiple caretakers," she said. "The second problem is determining ...what the injuries were caused by." Particularly in communities that do not have ready access to medical examiners or other trained forensic experts, child deaths may not be identified as criminal acts. A death may be attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, for example, when in fact the child died because of trauma. In 1996, Tanya Reid was convicted of murder in Deaf Smith County for the 1984 death of her infant daughter, after a conviction three years earlier was overturned on procedural issues. Eight-month-old Morgan died after repeated episodes of what originally was thought to be infant apnea, and an autopsy indicated that SIDS may have been a factor. Texas authorities began looking at her daughter's death after the former nurse was convicted in 1989 for endangering a baby son in Iowa. A closer examination suggested that Ms. Reid may have been smothering her children to gain attention, so-called "Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy." Dr. Peerwani said that conducting a thorough investigation at the scene and forensic evaluation are crucial to identifying criminal cases and "depending on the resources of the community, these things may not be done as they should be done." Some women who do go to trial avoid prison with an insanity defense. For example, a Harris County jury found Evonne Rodriguez, accused of strangling her 4-month-old son with rosary beads because she believed he was possessed, not guilty by reason of insanity in 1998. However, she was committed to a state mental hospital. "It's very rare, relatively, for women to kill their children, but when they do, they tend to have some type of psychotic disorder. ... They tend to be fairly seriously mentally ill," said Dr. Lyons, a former Alvin, Texas, detective who specialized in crimes involving children. "And I wouldn't be at all surprised if that doesn't result in a number of acquittals or plea bargains or an unwillingness on the part of prosecutors to prosecute." Whether mental illness is an issue or not, punishment for similar crimes can vary dramatically. Angela Dawn Skierski's newborn died in 1994, after she abandoned the baby in a trash bin. The former college coed, 18 at the time of her infant's death, received a 60-year prison sentence. Other young women have received relatively short sentences or even probation. Samantha Pearson's newborn was found dead after she wrapped him in towels and placed him in a garbage bag. She, too, was 18 at the time. In 1998, she pleaded guilty in a Johnson County court to charges of injury to a child and child endangerment. She was released on parole last year. Juana Leija received a 10-year probated sentence more than a decade ago after she threw six of her children into a Houston­area bayou, drowning two. Her attorneys argued that she suffered from mental illness and had been abused by her husband. In 1993, Kimberly Lynnette Harris abandoned her 23-month-old daughter near another Houston-area bayou in 1993. During her trial, experts testified that she was psychotic, suffered from depression and had a low IQ; she reportedly was grappling with financial problems and had a troubled relationship with the child's father. A few days before abandoning her daughter, she'd also undergone an abortion. She was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Ms. Oncken, the Harris County prosecutor, said that every case involving a child's death is different, and there's a range of punishment. "Typically they're going to a jury ... so it's 12 citizens who are making the decisions," she said. "It depends on the community's standards and what they think of that particular person who committed the crime. Some people just play better to the jury than others do." Changes in the law also have led to stiffer sentences. In the early 1990s, killing a child under the age of 6 became a capital offense under Texas law. In some cases, women who kill children are charged with capital murder but later plead to a lesser charge, or accept a life sentence rather than risk the death penalty. Gerry Morris, former president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said plea bargains to lesser offenses or sentences are not unusual because such agreements enable prosecutors to avoid the cost of a trial, while ensuring the woman stays behind bars past her childbearing years. When considering an appropriate sentence in a plea bargain, attorneys also take into account if there is a child who survived the woman's attempt to kill, Mr. Morris said. "The concern there is certainly you want the surviving child to reach adulthood, to be able to defend himself against Mama." "

Date: August 3, 2002. News Source: The South Florida Sun-Sentinel Newspaper, http://www.sun-sentinel.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "No charges against Florida mom who refuses to give son medication to save his eyesight. FORT LAUDERDALE - Police won't press charges against a mother who has refused to give her 11-year-old son a medication that his doctor said could save the boy's eyesight. The boy's mother, Margie Lacre, said a drug prescribed to treat his arthritis-related eye disease could have side effects of lung and liver damage. The Broward County Sheriff's Office, which investigates possible child abuse and neglect cases for the state's Department of Children & Families, found no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing by the mother, spokesman Jim Leljedal said Friday. The DCF can request another investigation into the boy's case if his condition changes, or his symptoms become worse, said Mary Allegretti, a DCF spokeswoman. Dr. Barry Waters, the boy's arthritis specialists, filed a complaint in July against Lacre to the DCF, hoping the agency would try to persuade or force the mother to agree to the treatment. The boy's doctors contend side effects of the drug, methotrexate, only occur rarely and the boy could go blind within months without treatment. Over the past year, Lacre has left her son on medications that let his vision get worse, Waters said. Lacre could not be reached for comment. Her telephone number is unlisted. Methotrexate often is prescribed to relieve the inflammation and pain of arthritis, Waters said. In the boy's case, Waters said the arthritis is attacking collagen in his eyes, damaging his eyesight and preventing normal eye movement."

Date: August 2, 2002. News Source: The Scotsman Newspaper, http:// www.news.scotsman.com. Sacred Family Unit Atrocity Details: "Mother Who Killed Son Sent to Mental Hospital: A mother who deliberately set fire to a shed killing her young son was today detained indefinitely in a mental hospital. Mercy Atsu was "tormented" when she torched the outbuilding on November 3 last year, Preston Crown Court was told. Aar