Fighting For Our Children

 Family homicide is an epidemic. It is a war. And if you are reading this, thinking “nope this can’t happen to me” think again!

Maricopa County, Arizona is rapidly rising to one of the most dangerous places for mothers and children to be when they are involved in the Superior Court System there.

Congratulations AZ Family Court Judges - Together you only killed 111 people in AZ in 2009!!!

And yes, congratulations are in order because this number is less than the previous years.  AZ family court judges kill over 100 people every year...

AzCADV releases '09 figures for domestic violence deaths
07/30/2010
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In 2009, 111 Arizonans died in domestic violence related incidents, the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence (AzCADV) said in a report.

 


      The deceased included adult and teen victims of intimate partner violence, children killed by their parents or caretakers, people killed by their relatives and perpetrators who committed suicide or were killed by law enforcement responding to a domestic violence call. It was the first year since 2004 that the number of cases logged by the AzCADV actually decreased. However, Arizona saw a small but proportionally important increase in the number of domestic violence related homicide/suicides from previous years. There were 19 perpetrators with 24 victims, leaving 43 dead.
     These tragedies comprised 38.7 percent of the total domestic violence-related fatalities in 2009, compared to 28.6 percent in 2008. In these cases, the victim and the perpetrator were overwhelmingly intimate partners, though several cases where a parent killed a child or children before committing suicide took place. Sixteen of the perpetrators were male, two were female and law enforcement did not release the sex of the perpetrator in the remaining case. Situations involving estrangement, such as divorce, separation or custody disputes, were mentioned in 50 percent of the homicide/suicides.
     One such domestic violence murder/suicide reportedly took place east of Snowflake. On May 8, 2009, police found the bodies of Ronald Hancock and his 4-year-old daughter a few hundred feet away from his residence on Garden Home Trail, dead from apparent gunshot wounds. The incident took place after Hancock reportedly pulled a knife and tried to kill his ex-wife.
     On May 27 of this year, in Taylor, 42-year-old Susan Curtis and her 7-year-old foster granddaughter were found dead in their home. Snowflake-Taylor Police said both died of gunshot wounds in a murder-suicide. In Show Low, there were two attempted murders involving domestic violence in over a month. One reportedly involved a woman trying to hit her boyfriend with a truck on Feb. 9 and another involved a man trying to kill her girlfriend with a rock on March 12 before he was tackled by the girlfriend's 16-year-old son.
     The victims included 56 males, 54 females and one person of unknown sex. Among the deceased females, 34 (63 percent) were killed by a current or former intimate partner. Intimate partner homicide was responsible for six (11 percent) of the male fatalities. Among the deceased males, 24 (45 percent) of them took their own lives in the context of a domestic violence murder, attempted murder or assault.
     In the logged deaths, firearms were the cause in more cases than all other methods combined. This is consistent every year, both nationally and in Arizona.
     "While it is nice to finally see a decrease in the number of domestic violence-related deaths in Arizona, the trends are quite concerning," stated Allie Bones, executive director of AzCADV. "The report highlights the continued need for services in the community that are responsive to victims who are leaving abusive situations."
     The full report can be accessed at www.azcadv.org.

 

Another Death in Maricopa Co., Arizona

On Wednesday, March 31, another father, Andre Leteve,  killed his children, this time in Scottsdale, AZ. 

Andre Leteve was a classic profile of the family annihilator, in his thirties, white, and fighting for control over his soon to be ex-wife and their two boys.   Now, a grieving mother must live with one of the most horrible and horrifying realities - the death of her children.  I do believe that the Northeast courthouse in Maricopa County off of Union Hills and Judge Michael Gordon are indirectly responsible for the deaths of these two boys and I do believe that Judge Michael Gordon must be called out.  As a judge, these boys lives were his responsibility.  In a world of family annihilators, judges must consider every possibility once a couple enters their court room.Father's kill 90% of the time, mother's 10%.  If these judges do not know what the signs are, then they must educate themselves.  Ignorance is not an excuse.

How many deaths must occur before our state representatives and officials step in to save our children.  Judge Jose Padilla is responsible for the deaths of Dawn Axsom and her mother, and now Judge Michael Gordon is responsible for the deaths of these two boys. 

Today I met a woman whose own son is calling police and CPS for help because his father is beating him.  No one is helping. Will this young man have to take matters into his own hands like the boy in St. John's county?  The doctors are telling the mother to call CPS. so now she will be damned before the judge for doing so.  However, at least she can rest easy that when and if her ex kills the son, she won't go to jail with him.

I wonder about my own daughters.  Right now Adam thinks that he is winning in his bid to remove me from their lives.  What happens when things change?  When he is not feeling in complete control of the situation?  Will he kill, Gina eggs him on, it says so in her MMPI - so when things change, will my children be safe?  It is a worry that I live with every single second of the day.  It is a worry that every judge should have  when they look in the mirror and in the eyes of the people who come to them for help.

My judge is Ruth Hilliard and this week  her colleague entered a sad group, a travesty of justice - judges who place a father's right to do harm above the child's/mother's right to live.

 

 News feature:

Women and children are being killed every day by a father, husband, significant other and not even the police care!

A mother was put on life support after a horrific domestic assault that Gold Coast police took several hours to respond to.
The woman's nine-year-old son witnessed the attack and told police his mother was like "a rag doll" following Saturday's sustained, 90-minute attack, The Courier-Mail reports.
Police are under fire for their handling of the incident.
Officers were responding to a triple-zero call reporting the domestic dispute when they were diverted to another job.
By the time they arrived at the Burleigh Waters unit, up to three-and-a-half hours after being called, the woman was unconscious in a pool of blood, The Courier-Mail said.
The attack was so violent that her blood was found on the ceiling, it said.
She was put on life support and remains in hospital in intensive care.
Police have launched an internal investigation into the handling of the incident.
The bashed woman's partner faced Southport Magistrates Court on Monday, charged with grievous bodily harm.

Child recounts the night his mother was murdered
Updated: 2/25/2010 6:53 AM
By: Harlan Schmidt
 
Demitirous Cotton and his mom Mel when Demitrious was just three years old. 
It was a riveting day of testimony in the capital murder trial of Milton Gobert, who stands accused of stabbing 30-year-old Mel Cotton to death in 2003.
Cotton's son, Demitrious Cotton, was five when he witnessed his mother's murder. He was also stabbed during the attack, but survived.
Now 11 years old, Demitrious took the stand Wednesday to testify face-to-face against the man accused of the attack. A full courtroom watched as he passed just feet from the man he said he saw stab his mother to death.
The boy's family and prosecutors diligently tried keeping the boy at ease, while he was forced to recount the events of that night.
The boy answered question after question, telling how the man bound his mother while demanding her purse and repeatedly stabbed her with a knife.
"What did the knife look like?" the prosecutor asked.
"Sharp, and it had a brown handle," he answered.
"Was the man doing anything with the knife?" the prosecutor asked.
"Yes," Demitrious answered.


 WATCH THE VIDEO

 

Day three

News 8's Harlan Schmidt was in the courtroom Wednesday and shares more.

 

 

 

"What did you see the man do?" Demitrious was asked.
"Stab my mom," he said.
Gobert listened as Demitrious' testimony continued.
"What did you do when you saw the man, and your mom, and what the man was doing?" he was asked.
"I ran over and tried to pull him down by his leg," Demitrious answered.
"You tried to pull the man down by his leg?" the prosecutor asked.
"Yes," he replied.
"And did you say anything to the man?"
"Yes."
"What did you say?" the prosecutor asked.
"Stop."
Demitrious told how the man came in to his room and choked him until he was unconscious. When he awoke, he had been stabbed.
 
Demitrious now lives with his aunt. 
The prosecution showed Demitrius a picture of him and his mother when he was three and asked him why he was bravely reliving the memories he has talked about so little since.
"What is the reason you're trying your best to remember?" the prosecutor asked.
"For my mom," he answered.
Demitrious now lives with his aunt, and he told the court his favorite activities were reading and playing his PlayStation.
If convicted of capital murder, Gobert could face the death penalty. It will be up to the jury to determine the sentence

Is our lack of good parenting frightening other countries?!  What does that say about the U.S.?

It appears that American adoptive parents to not have a good reputation internationally, nor the treatment of infants adopted in the US from other countries. And for all the US worship of the Hague convention in cases like Sean Goldman, officials are more than happy to ignore it when it's convenient to do so.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/adopted-boys-death-in-us-stirs-russian-anger/400923.html
Adopted Boy's Death in U.S. Stirs Russian Anger
04 March 2010
By Natalya Krainova
U.S. police have arrested the adoptive parents of a 7-year-old Russian boy for homicide after an autopsy found more than 80 external injuries on his malnourished body, Channel One state television reported Tuesday.
The case reignited Russian anger over U.S. adoptions, a delicate issue in U.S.-Russian relations in recent years, and could tangle efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama to "reset" ties that deteriorated under the previous administration.
Complicating matters, the boy died in August, and the Education and Science Ministry, which oversees adoptions, accused U.S. authorities of failing to notify their Russians counterparts within the time frame required by international law.
Pennsylvania parents Nanette and Michael Craver adopted Chelyabinsk-born Ivan Skorobogatov, whom they named Nathaniel, and his twin sister in 2003, Channel One reported.
The boy was hospitalized Aug. 20 after Michael Craver, 45, found him lying unresponsive on his bed that morning, U.S. media reports said. He was taken off life support at his parents' request Aug. 24 and died the next day.
Craver and his 54-year-old wife were arrested Feb. 26 and face charges of homicide, conspiracy and child endangerment. A local prosecutor said the arrests were made so many months after the death because the autopsy report was only finalized in late February, Pennsylvania's Patriot-News newspaper reported Feb. 27.
The autopsy found more than 80 external injuries, including 20 to the head, the report said, citing the arrest affidavit. It listed his cause of death as complications from traumatic brain injuries and identified malnutrition as a contributing factor.
The parents have told investigators that the boy was psychologically disturbed and injured himself by purposely banging against walls and falling on the floor.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Lyakin-Frolov said cases of Russian children dying in adoptive U.S. families "have become systematic recently," Interfax reported Wednesday.
From 1996 to March, at least 15 Russian children appear to have died at the hands of their adoptive foreign parents, including 14 in the United States and one in Canada, a spokesman for the Education and Science Ministry said by telephone Wednesday.
U.S. authorities failed to report the boy's death to Russian authorities within the time period set by law, a senior ministry official, Alina Levitskaya, told journalists, RIA-Novosti reported. She did not elaborate.
Children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov criticized "the poor system of control and reporting on the fate of adopted children" and wrote to the U.S. State Department for information about the investigation into the boy's death, Interfax reported.
Astakhov said international law requires foreign agencies involved in the adoption process to make an annual report to Russian authorities about the life of an adopted child, but U.S. agencies often refuse to do so, citing Russia's membership in the Hague Convention of 1961 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which contradict each other on the subject.
The Cravers regularly reported to Russian authorities during the first three years after they adopted the children, Levitskaya said. Russian authorities had "no reason to request extra information" from the Cravers, she added.
She noted, however, that the Cravers briefly lost custody of the boy and his sister in 2008 during an inquiry by child-welfare workers.
A number of Russian children who are put up for adoption are sick or disabled.
The boy's sister is in the care of local authorities, Channel One said.
A preliminary court hearing into the boy's death will be held March 31, Channel One said.
Of the 113,748 children placed in families in 2008, 4,125 were adopted by foreigners, according to the latest available data on the Education and Science Ministry's web site. Russians, meanwhile, adopted 9,045 Russian children in 2008, while the rest were placed in foster families.
In 2005, after the well-publicized deaths of several Russian children in the United States, influential State Duma deputies called for a moratorium on all foreign adoptions. The moratorium never happened, but foreign adoption agencies began facing greater bureaucratic hurdles. Two U.S. adoption agencies were barred from operating in Russia in July 2008 after a 21-month-old Russian boy died after being left by his adoptive U.S. father for nine hours in a sweltering car. In December 2008, a Virginia court acquitted the father of involuntary manslaughter in the death of his son.
In 2008, about 161,000 Russian children suffered from violence from their natural or adoptive parents, and 1,914 died, according to the children’s ombudsman's office. The report didn't distinguish between Russian and foreign adoptions.

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 Fighting For Our Children Is in the process of moving to a new site to better serve the needs of Arizona's children and families... stay in touch and watch us grow!!!

There have been a lot of arguments over whether mothers or fathers are more abusive, This section is dedicated to fathers who kill and will be updated each time a father kills a child or partner - I think that everyone will see that fathers kill much more often than mothers....

Father of The Year Candidate:

Spencer Weaver of Inverness, FL (check him out on Dastardly Dads!)

 

Contemporary family problems do not originate with the behavior of mothers, as is often claimed by the media and some scholars; rather, they originate with our failure to support the caretaking work that mothers do, which remains virtually unrecognized in our social policies.”

– Demie Kurz, from Doin g Parenting: Mothers, Care Work and Policy, 1997

 Parental Alienation must be excluded from all custody hearings
By Preston Thymes | 02/18/10 12:00 AM PST
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Parental Alienation is a perilous accusation that should never be recognized in courts or viewed as particularly compelling in cases deciding the custody of a child, especially when resolving profoundly difficult questions concerning the scary scenario of  placing that child back into the home of a domestic violence abuser.

By definition, Parental Alienation is a “syndrome” that manifest in the process of divorce when a parent suffering from “deflated self-esteem” as “part of a normal grieving response to interpersonal loss” to “enforce their agenda” and “The alienating parent may or may not be consciously aware of manipulating the child and the legal/social systems. Alienating parents often believe that the accusations they make are true, but have developed those beliefs by a faulty reasoning process.”

First, it is important to begin by evaluating the premise of Parental Alienation, which is not a recognized syndrome by the American Medical Association.
Second, American Psychological Association has never issued a position on Parental Alienation.

Third, nowhere in the vast database of the Harvard Medical School Countway Library stacks of the History of medicine and medical discoveries from the 16th–21st centuries, is there any information on Parental Alienation syndrome.

Fourth, that may underline why vocal proponents of, Parental Alienation Syndrome such as Glenn Sacks is the Executive Director of Fathers and Families, are captious in their language stating, “Mental Health professionals have been making progress in increasing recognition of PA.” I am not entirely aware if the claim warranted by  The California Alliance for Families and Children who state “It is of our opinion that the way forward to address everyone’s concern is through better education on the issue,” is based on an awareness that such research is not possible through The Center for the History of Medicine Archives and Records Rare Books, Databases or Dictionaries at Harvard Medical School or Harvard School of Public Health?

Admittedly, proponents of Parental Alienation find their support in precedent from not “preventing a court from considering evidence that a parent had deliberately engaged in tactics and behavior that intentionally estranges a childs bond with their other parent,” but that is where their view deviates from the often lengthy, brutal and inhumane violence that occurs right in front of a child’s eyes forced to witness a domestic violence relationship proceed night after night.

Furthermore, many of their citations omit any specific objections to the use of Parental Alienation in a real-life situations where a victim is unable to obtain restraining order barring abusers from estranged loved one so the hope left is flee the danger.

Arguments to the contrary stand in stark contrast not only to the history of California Protective Orders Laws, codes and statutes but also the evidentiary precedent, in which a victim “alienating” a child from a monster not as procedural posture, but as survival instincts that arises when violence is emanate.

I struggle to understand how a “syndrome” that manifests in the process of divorce changes the fact that escaping domestic violence, even if by “alienation” merits relief no matter how it is arrived at.

As the head of Public Relations for one of only two domestic violence survivors shelters on the Central Coast, here at Shelter Outreach Plus, we see the faces of the children wet from tears as a parent is forced to keep them out of school for a week, because the estranged parent showed up at the attendance office at the child’s elementary and tried to take them away.

At Shelter Outreach plus, we render any claims of Parental Alienation  invalid, because as often the last hope for a women in crisis who has no idea if her abusers will turn the violence from her onto the children, we absolutely do everything we can keep that person away from those children be-it our legal advocates through restraining orders, our The Domestic Violence Response Team (DVRT) through hotel vouchers or one of our 2 secret facilities throughout the region to encourage “alienation” and foster hope.

At Shelter Outreach Plus, we view Parental Alienation as less of “syndrome” in the mind a helpless child of more of a twisted form of  retribution in the twisted spirit of a domestic violence abuser.

At Shelter Outreach Plus, we believe the California court system should look to establish every safeguard possible to avail a domestic violence victim a way to mend a broken heart and concurringly seek out emergency shelter without fear of facing Parental Alienation in a future custody case.

We fully support AB 612, which is coming up vote in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee to ban Parental Alienation Theory,  and we fully support Assembly Member Jim Beall, Jr. (AD 24th) as author of the Bill. His continuing efforts to give voice to the battered women who on their own, could never find the courage to articulate the desperation they felt as the moment they knew they had to take their children and disappear.

Parental Alienation is at best, a deterrence that only diminishes whatever possible benefit that might be received from restoring the love that obliviously once was there in the home of a family by searching for justifications to delay a child’s removal from a terrifying situation.

In closing, I strongly believe that such views, no matter how steadfastly held by proponents of Parental Alienation or how many times successfully cited to the Senate Judiciary Committee as preventing “various loyalty tests” by misguided supporters of Parental Alienation, only miss the story that each victim brings with them into their first night in an emergency shelter where their goal is in no way “alienating parent may or may not be consciously aware of manipulating the child and the legal/social systems,” but to avoid the scary scenario of  placing that child back into the home of a domestic violence abuser.

 Fathers Rights folks blame moms for child abuse. WRONG! Sexual abuse, shaken baby syndrome, and other forms of violent child abuse are dominated by dads, stepdads, and caretaker boyfriends (60 - 90%). And as more dads are providing child care (either because mom is working and can't find other care, or because dads are increasingly getting unsupervised visitation/custody through the family courts), more dads are are being found guilty of basic child abuse and neglect. Who'd a thunk it?

Father Admits to Throwing Daughter Over Bridge - Not blaming Family Pet!!

 SAYREVILLE, N.J. – New Jersey State Police Are Searching For A 3-Month-Old Girl After Her Father Told Them He Threw His Daughter Off A Bridge And Into A River.
The Search Wednesday Is Centered Around The Garden State Parkway’s Driscoll Bridge, Which Spans The Raritan River Between Sayreville And Woodbridge, And Is Across The Bay From New York’s Staten Island.
Authorities Say Shamshiddin Abdur-Raheem Grabbed The Girl From The Child’s Grandmother In East Orange Tuesday Afternoon And Fled.
Police Found 21-Year-Old Abdur-Raheem At A Relative’s Home About Five Hours Later.
Winslow Police Lt. Michael Hoffman Says The Man Told Officers He Had Been Driving South On The Parkway When He Pulled Over And Threw His Daughter Off The Bridge.
Abdur-Raheem Did Not Have Custody Of His Daughter, And He And The Child’s Mother Are Not Married.

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As Family Court Fails Us, More Mothers and Children Take Matters into their own hands.... 

 

Mother, daughter plead guilty to murdering dad
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The Associated Press
Published: Friday, Feb. 19, 2010 - 7:06 am
VICTORVILLE, Calif. -- A mother and her daughter have pleaded guilty to the 2005 murder of the father of the family.
April Gwen Benitez pleaded guilty on Thursday to one charge of first-degree murder and faces 25 years to life in prison. Her daughter, Justina Marie Perry, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder and faces 15 years to life in prison.
Benitez, Perry and Perry's then-boyfriend, Vincent Schofield, were all charged with the 2005 murder of Alberto Benitez. Authorities say the three lured Benitez out of his Lucerne Valley home where Schofield beat him to death with a baseball bat.
Investigators believe the three targeted Benitez because he was abusive to family members.

 

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

76 Killer Dads: Fathers who ended their children's lives in situations involving child custody, visitation, and/or child support (USA)

Since posting a short list of fathers who had killed their children in cases where child custody, visitation, and/or child support was an active contributing factor (just articles published in 2010), several people have asked me for a more comprehensive list.

It's nearly impossible to come up with a truly comprehensive list. News articles provide incomplete or inaccurate information. Many articles are not readily accessible through a stardard google search. But I am providing you with the a list of the cases that I have collected over the last year or so, coupled with a few cases submitted by others. Most of these murders occurred during the past two years, but not all. If you have information about additional cases that fit the above listed criteria, please send the information to me.

Note that this list does NOT include ALL the fathers who annihilate their families in murder-suicides or kill their children under other circumstances, even when there was a history of domestic violence or child abuse. If child custody, visitation, and/or child support did not appear to play an identifiable role in the child's death, I did not include the case on the list. If I were to include all fathers who murder their children for any reason (mental illness, carelessness, "frustration," anger at the mother--but with no apparent or identifiable child custody, visitation, or child support issues), this list would be nearly endless. So this list is not to be taken as reflective or representational of all fathers who murder children.

I apologize in advance for any errors, either in the newspaper articles or in the transcription.

76 Killer Dads: Fathers who ended their children's lives in situations involving child custody, visitation, and/or child support (USA)

ALABAMA

Franklin County

Father: PAUL GONZALEZ
Victim(s): Andrea Gonzalez (5 years)
Date of Death: Reported missing in Nov. 1993. Body never recovered.
Custodial father eventually pleads guilty to manslaughter. Stepmother charged with child abuse.

Jefferson County

Father: CORY RICE
Victim(s): Janiya Nicole Hale (1 year)
Date of Death: July 2009
Father, a registered sex offender, is charged with murder. Daughter died during overnight visitation.

ARIZONA

Cococino County

Father: RYAN PETERS
Victim(s): Teigan Peters (aka Teigan Brown) (3 years)
Date of Death: June 2009
Daughter killed in murder-suicide during court-ordered visitation . Mother had applied for orders of protection.

Maricopa County

Father: ALLEN CHAMBERS
Victim(s): Mindi Chambers (17 years)
Date of Death: Assumed to have been murdered around the time she went missing in 1982.
Custodial father ALLEN CHAMBERS is now presumed to have murdered Mindi Chambers around the time she went missing. Daughter had reported sexual abuse to the authorities. Not reported as officially missing til 1995.

Father: JEFFREY DUCHANE
Victim(s): Trenay Duchane (12 years)
Date of Death: Nov. 2008
Custodial father and stepmother convicted of murder.

Father: RAUL MOLINA GONZALEZ
Victim(s): Anthony Gonzalez (11 years)
Date of Death: Summer 2005
Father convicted of murdering son during summer visitation.

Father: NUSHAWN CAMPBELL
Victim(s): Son (5 years)
Date of Death: June 2009
Father with sole custody stabs son to death in failed murder-suicide. Mother had been trying to regain custody.

CALIFORNIA

Contra Costa County

Father: ERHAN KAYIK
Victim(s): Volkan Kayik (16 years)
Date of Death: July 2007
Custodial father found guilty in 2009 of strangulation death of son.

El Dorado County

Father: DAVID ELIOTT
Victim(s): Chandler Nash-Eliott (11 years)
Date of Death: Dec. 2009
Father not charged in the "suicide" of son. Father had physical custody, parents had shared custody. Father had extensive history with CPS regarding neglect, abuse, lack of supervision, etc.

Los Angeles County

Father: DAVID HELMS
Victim(s): Lance Helms (2 1/2 years)
Date of Death: 1995
Custodial dad convicted in beating death of son. Father had obtained custody despite extensive history of violence, drug abuse.

Father: CAMERON BROWN
Victim(s): Lauren Sarene Key (4 years)
Date of Death: Nov. 2000
Father scheduled to go to trial for 3rd time for death of daughter. Daughter was allegedly pushed off cliff during visitation in order to avoid child support.

Orange County

Father: GIDEON WALTER OMONDI
Victim(s): Richie Omondi (4 years)
Date of Death: 2006
Father shared custody with the child's mother. Convicted of 1st degree murder in Jan. 2010. Drowned son to avoid child support.

San Bernadino County

Father: JESUS ROMAN FUENTES
Victim(s): Jesus Gabriel Fuentes (4 years)
Date of Death: Feb. 2010
Father crashes car, shoots to death son during visitation. Parents divorced. Father in critical condition from self-inflicted gun shot wound.

Father: STEPHEN CHARLES GARCIA
Victim(s): Wyatt Garcia (9 months)
Date of Death: Jan. 2010
Father kills son during court-ordered visitation. Murder-suicide. Parents never married. Mother had pleaded with 3 judges regarding father's violence, threats.

San Diego County

Father: DENNIS POTTS
Victim(s): Tori Vienneau (22 years), Dean Springtube (10 months)
Date of Death: July 2006
Father is convicted Sept. 2009 in the murders of his former girlfriend and son. Father didn't want to take paternity test, pay child support.

Ventura County

Father: JAMES MULVANEY
Victim(s): Jason Mulvaney (12 years), Jennifer Mulvaney (7 years)
Date of Death: Sept. 2009
Father stabs to death son and daughter in murder-suicide during overnight visitation. Parents had shared custody and were still involved in divorce, custody case.

COLORADO

Arapahoe County

Father: AARON THOMPSON
Victim(s): Aarone Thompson (7 years)
Date of Death: Reported missing in Nov. 2005. Body never recovered.
Father convicted in Sept. 2009 in daughter's murder. Father had custody, as he had abducted the children from mother in Michigan.

Jefferson County

Father: JOSEPH TRUJILLO
Victim(s): Adrian Trujillo (5 months)
Date of Death: Jan. 2010
Father charged in death of infant son. Father had physical custody while mother in military. Father alleged to have left baby alone while father went out drinking for 7 hours. Baby later found dead.

CONNECTICUT

New Haven County

Father: MORRIES D. HILL SR.
Victim(s): Morries Hill Jr. (5 months)
Date of Death: 2008
Father charged in connection with the death of son. Baby died from "severe physical abuse." Infant died in father's home during overnight visitation.

FLORIDA

Colllier County

Father: SAMUEL SEJOUR
Victim(s): Elijay Kye Aliazar (3 months)
Date of Death: Jan. 2009
Father had shared custody with infant's mother. Son died of blunt force trauma to the head during visitation. Father charged w. 2nd-degree murder.

Duval County

Father: JOSI M. HALL
Victim(s): Kyla Hall (1 year)
Date of Death: 2008
Father had sole custody, and had been cleared of previous abuse allegations. Daughter died of blunt force trauma at home.

Hillsborough County

Father: CHAUNCEY ROBINSON
Victim(s): Chavon Robinson (22 months)
Date of Death: Feb. 2008
Father convicted Dec. 2009 of murdering child during visitation.

Jackson County

Father: WESLEY JONATHAN WILLIAMS
Victim(s): Danielle Baker (mother), sons Ahmaad (4 years) and Amarion (1 year), and unrelated infant.
Date of Death: 2005
Father allegedly committed quadruple murder because he was angry about child support.

Lake County

Father: RICHARD L. ADAMS
Victim(s): Kayla McKean (6 years)
Date of Death: 1998
Custodial father beat daughter to death. Had been subject of multiple CPS investigations.

Orange County

Father: ROOSEVELT BRADLEY II
Victim(s): Roosevelt Bradley III (8 months)
Date of Death: Aug. 2009
Father arrested for murder of infant during visitation.

Osceola County

Father: MELVIN ORTIZ
Victim(s): Unnamed Son (5 years)
Date of Death: July 2009
Son beaten to death while visiting father, stepmother.

Palm Beach County

Father: TONY CAMACHO
Victim(s): Crystal Camacho (8 years), Nelson Camacho (10 years)
Date of Death: Dec. 2006
Father and mother were finalizing divorce. During Christmas visitation, father stabbed daughter, then killed her and brother Nelson Camacho (10 years) in arson murder-suicide. Mother had unsucessfully petitioned for protection.

Pasco County

Father: THOMAS LUDWIG
Victim(s): Diella Ludwig (2 months)
Date of Death: Dec. 2008
CPS granted father THOMAS LUDWIG custody of infant twins. Father charged with 1st-degree murder in Diella's death.

Volusia County

Father: MICHAEL REESE
Victim(s): Jeremiah Reese (14 years)
Date of Death: Sept. 2009
Jeremiah Reese died of "accidental overdose" at the home of his custodial father. Father had long history of abuse, neglect with CPS.

IDAHO

Ada County

Father: NICHOLAS BACON
Victim(s): Bekm Bacon (8 months)
Date of Death: Feb. 2010
Father shot to death son in murder-suicide. Parents going through divorce, but had joint custody. Infant killed during visitation with father.

Jerome County

Father: ROBERT ARAGON
Victim(s): Sage Aragon (11 years)
Date of Death: Dec. 2008
Custodial father acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in hypothermia death of daughter. Father had told to her to walk to mother's home during blizzard.

Twin Falls County

Father: JIM NICE JR.
Victim(s): Justin Nice (6 years), Spencer Nice (6 years), Raquel Anna Nice (2 years)
Date of Death: 2005
Father murdered children with rat poison during court-ordered visitation.

ILLINOIS

McClean County

Father: MICHAEL CONNELLY
Victim(s): Duncan Connelly (6 years) and Jack Connelly (4 years)
Date of Death: March 2009
Father killed sons in murder-suicide during court-ordered visitation. Mother had extensive involvment with the courts trying to prevent contact with father.

Will County

Father: CHIDI ESI
Victim(s): Nathan Esi (19 months)
Date of Death: Oct. 2009
Father accused of drowning son during visitation.

INDIANA

Green County

Father: RONALD A. BOHANNON
Victim(s): Travis Bohannon (14 months)
Date of Death: Aug. 2009
Father separated from wife. Son "accidently" shot during visitation. Father convicted of reckless homicide Jan. 2010.

Lake County

Father: CORDELL RICHARDSON
Victim(s): Eboni Richardson (19 months)
Date of Death: Aug. 2009
Father shot daughter during visitation. Didn't want child's mother to do moveaway.

Father: TERRY BETHEL (aka Terry Noel)
Victim(s): Josiah Shaw (13 months)
Date of Death: Jan. 2008
Father allegedly arranged to have visitation with son, then shot him to death to avoid child support.

KANSAS

Shawnee County

Father: JAMES KRAIG KAHLER
Victim(s): Karen Kahler (44 years), Emily Kahler (18 years), Lauren Kahler (16 years), Dorothy Wight (89 years)
Date of Death: Nov. 2009
Parents were in the process of divorcing, reportedly "sparring over children."

Sumner County

Father: UNNAMED FATHER
Victim(s): Caden Michael Reemes (4 years)
Date of Death: Aug. 2009
Child asphyxiated at the home of his custodial UNNAMED FATHER.

KENTUCKY

Anderson County

Father: TIMOTHY FRAZIER
Victim(s): Cole Frazier (21 months)
Date of Death: May 2009
Father obtained custody with police assistance through fraudulent EPO. Shot son to death in murder-suicide. Mother suing police, city.

Clark County

Father: PATRICK WATKINS
Victim(s): Michaela Watkins (10 years)
Date of Death: 2007
Custodial father, stepmother found guilty of murder in girl's death. Girl removed from mother's home by social workers.

LOUISIANA

Pointe Coupee Parish

Father: AARON BOWMAN
Victim(s): Aaron Bowman, Jr.
Date of Death: Nov. 2009
Father had "temporary" custody of son, 2-year-old daughter when son beaten to death. Father charged with 1st-degree murder.

MAINE

Kennebec County

Father: SHANE SOUCY
Victim(s): Connor Soucy (4 months)
Date of Death: Aug. 2009
Infant became "unresponsive" during visit with father. Later died at hospital.

MARYLAND

Baltimore County

Father: MARK CASTILLO
Victim(s): Anthony Castillo (6 years), Austin Castillo (4 years), Athena Castillo (2 years)
Date of Death: Mar. 2008
Mother had tried to stop father from having access, but blocked by courts. Children murdered during court-ordered visitation.

Father: STEPHEN NELSON
Victim(s) Turner Jordan Nelson (3 years)
Date of Death: Feb. 2008
Murdered by father by being thrown off bridge. Father and mother had argued in court over custody.

MASSACHUSETTS

Bristol County

Father: KRISTOPHER GRIFFIN
Victim(s): Kaitlyn (6 years)
Date of Death: July 2009
Father allegedly murdered daughter because he was concerned about possible moveaway.

Worcester County

Father: LESLIE G. SHULER
Victim(s): Nathaniel Turner (7 years)
Date of Death: June 2009
Father charged with beating death of son. Took place during father's summer visitation.

MICHIGAN

Oakland County

Father: JOHN KELLY
Victim(s): unnamed infant (13 weeks)
Date of Death: Feb. 2010
Infant died during unsupervised visitation.

St. Clair County

Father: JOE GALVAN
Victim(s): Prhaze Galvan (3 years)
Date of Death: Jan. 2010
Child died of blunt force trauma in home of father, stepmother. Both face murder charges.

MISSOURI

Cass/Jackson Counties

Father: MARK GUENTHER
Victim(s): Elizabeth Guenther (18 months)
Date of Death: Feb. 2010
Father to be charged with 2nd degree murder. Baby suffered fatal skull fracture during father's weekend visitation.

Father: DAN PORTER
Victim(s): Sam Porter (7 years), Lindsey Porter (8 years)
Date of Death: June 2004
Father murdered children during court-ordered visitation. Had extensive history of domestic violence.

St. Louis County

Father: Nathaniel Robinson
Victim(s): Desmon Valenzuela (3 years)
Date of Death: 2007
Father obtained custody 1 month before child's beating death. Convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jan 2010.

NEVADA

Clark County

Father: BRANDON TODD ARDUINO
Victim(s): Brandon Christopher Arduino-Boggs (13 years)
Date of Death: Sept. 2009
Son killed in auto homicide case where father DUI. Parents had been in lengthy child custody case.

Father: ALEX KOPYSTENSKI
Victim(s): Giovani Kopystenski (5 years)
Date of Death: July 2009
Custodial father. Autistic son "accidentally" shoots himself in head after finding gun in father's car.

NEW JERSEY

Passaic County

Father: EDELMIRO GONZALEZ
Victim(s): Adrian Gonzalez (7 years)
Date of Death: Nov. 2009
Father in "bitter custody dispute" with "estranged" wife. 7-year-old son shot to death, 11-year-old son, wife, in critical condition.

NEW MEXICO

Bernalillo County

Father: RICHARD ROBERT SANCHEZ
Victim(s): Richard Jr, Daniel, and Christopher Sanchez
Date of Death: Aug. 2001
Father "went missing" with sons during custodial visit. Bodies recovered, identified in July 2009.
NEW YORK

Erie County

Father: JAMES E. KENT
Victim(s); Joshua Kent (3 years)
Date of Death: Mar. 2005
Sole custody father beats son to death.

Genessee County

Father: UNNAMED FATHER
Victim(s); Marcus Peters (6 years)
Date of Death: Oct. 2009
Child dies during weekend visitation with father, but authorities say death not "suspicious."

Monroe County

Father: MARK RESCH
Victim(s): Hunter Resch (7 years)
Date of Death: Feb. 2010
Child shot to death in murder-suicide during court-ordered visitation. Father had history of DV, mother had filed two orders of protection.

Orange County

Father: CHRISTOPHER RHODES
Victim(s): Jerica Rhodes (7 years)
Date of Death: Jan. 2005
Sole custody father convicted in daughter's stabbing death. Had extensive history of DV.

NORTH CAROLINA

Edgecombe County

Father: BRICE MCMILLAN
Victim(s): Tyler Brice (13 years)
Date of Death: June 2008
Custodial father, stepmother convicted of 2nd-degree murder. Boy tied to tree, died of dehydration, heat exhaustion.

OKLAHOMA

Bryan County

Father: WOLF ABEL
Victim(s): Cheyenne Wolf (11 years)
Date of Death: April 2008
Custodial father, stepmother charged in girl's death.

OHIO

Cuyahoga County

Father: ANTHONY JOHNSON
Victim(s) Anthony Johnson Jr.
Date of Death: Aug. 2009
Father accused of beating child to death during visitation.

Franklin/Delaware Counties

Father: DANIEL J. DOBSON
Victims: Nicole Dobson (15 years), Sarah Dobson (11 years)
Date of Death: Dec. 2009
Father had physical placement of 15-year-old daughter. "Shared parenting" plan in place with divorced mother. Girls shot to death in murder-suicide.

Stark County

Father: JAMES MAMMONE III
Victim(s): Macy Mammone (5 years), James Mammone (3 years), Margaret Eakin (57 years)
Date of Death: June 2009
Divorced father convicted of stabbing children, beating to death former mother-in-law in Jan. 2010.

OREGON

Clackamas County

Father: DONALD L. COCKRELL
Victim(s) Alexis Pounder (3 years)
Date of Death: Jan. 2010
Father, mother had shared custody. Father, girlfriend charged with beating, starving girl to death. Mother allegedly blocked from seeing child by father.

PENNSYLVANIA

Philadelphia County

Father: DOMINGO "ANIBAL" FERREIRA
Victim(s) Charlenni Ferreira (10 years)
Date of Death: Oct. 2009
Girl died from abuse in the home of her custodial father, stepmother. Father later (allegedly) committed suicide in jail cell.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Anderson County

Father: JAMES T. DICKERSON
Victim(s): Jeremy Dickerson (7 years)
Date of Death: July 2009
Father with "full custody" charged in son's beating death.

Chester County

Father: UNNAMED FATHER
Victim(s): Xymerra Evans (11 months)
Date of Death: Sept. 2009
Child sexually abused, beaten during visitation with father. Later died at hospital.

TENNESSEE

Shelby County

Father: CURTIS LEE MORRIS, JR.
Victim(s): Isaiah Snipes (16 months)
Date of Death: Nov. 2009
Father had just obtained custody of son, 3-year-old daughter in Sept. 2009. Father charged w. 2nd-degree murder.

Warren County

Father: MITCHELL STONE
Victim(s): Kayndace (3 years), Akeelia (1 year)
Date of Death: May 2009
Custodial father, stepmother charged in deaths of two girls.

TEXAS

Denton County

Father: DUKE WATROUS
Victim(s): Ashley Watrous (10 years)
Date of Death: Dec. 2009
Custodial father charged in shooting death.

Gaines/Yoakum Counties

Father: MARIO ROMERO
Victim(s): Mitchell Romero (3 years), unnamed mother
Date of Death: Oct. - Nov. 2009
Mother reportedly murdered by father during child abduction. Son later killed in car accident.

Jasper County

Father: LEO DESMOREAUX IV
Victim(s): Triston Dobbins (21 months)
Date of Death: Dec. 2007
Boy died of head injuries while visiting father, stepmother. Father on trial for capital murder Jan. 2010.

VIRGINIA

Norfolk County

Father: JOSHUA SAWYER
Victim(s): Carly Sawyer (5 years)
Date of Death: June 2009
Custodial father, stepmother charged with 2nd-degree murder. Mother lost custody during divorce, father denied mother contact.

WEST VIRGINIA

Mercer County

Father: RONALD HOLCOMB
Victim(s): Brooklyn Holcomb (5 years)
Date of Death: Jan. 2007
Custodial father convicted of 2nd-degree murder in daughter's death. Mother had lost custody the year before after applying for child support.

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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

 

The American Judges Association reports that "Studies show that batterers have been able to convince authorities that the victim is unfit or undeserving of sole custody in approximately 70% of challenged cases."

 

Children are at astronomically greater risk of physical abuse in the care of a man than in the care of a woman.

Men are the abusers in 90% of cases. The abuser is usually the biologic father or, in some cases, the mother's boyfriend. The most common female attacker is a babysitter, let's not forget that stepmother's/girlfriends fall into this role.

In the USA, an estimated 906,000 children are victims of abuse & neglect every year, making child abuse as common as it is shocking. Whether the abuse is physical, emotional, sexual, or neglect, the scars can be deep and long-lasting, often leading to future child abuse.
Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors". - Evelyn Cunningham (journalist; activist; administrator)

 

Pat Craven created a concept called "The dominator", which is essentially a list of the common characteristics she has identified in abusers.

They are depicted in cartoon illustrations, which include: "The Sexual Controller", who may rape his partner; "The Liar", who denies abuse; and "The Bully" who intimidates his partner by shouting and destroying possessions.

 

Families of abusers are often conditioned into knee jerk defenses of their actions, which we see here. For all the talk that Dad wasn't really a "violent man," his actions certainly prove otherwise. And in retrospect, I think we can safely conclude that this man would not have been a good bet for additional child custody/visitation rights of any sort. Not when he's perfectly willing to gun down his own children because he's frustrated or "fed up." Lots of people get "fed up" from all kinds of aggravation everyday, but they don't murder their children. 

 The American Psychological Association has no official position on "parental alienation syndrome." This concept has been used in contested child custody cases and has become the subject of significant debate. While it may be that in some divorces, children become estranged from their non-custodial parent for a variety of reasons, there is no evidence within the psychological literature of a diagnosable parental alienation syndrome.

Abusive parents are more likely to seek sole custody than nonviolent ones...
American Psychological Association, Violence And The Family: Report Of The American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force On Violence And The Family, (1996), available at http://www. apa.ora/pi/viol&fam.html

■    .. .and they are successful about 70% of the time.
American Judges Foundation, Domestic Violence and the Court House: Understanding the Problem...Knowing the Victim, available at http://aja.ncsc.dni.us/domviol/page5.html

■    Allegations of domestic violence have no demonstrated effect on the rate at which fathers are awarded custody of their children, nor do such allegations affect the rate at which fathers are ordered into supervised visitation, (i.e. abusers win unsu-pervised custody and visitation at the same rate as non-abusers)

 

Susan Murphy Milano Show- Battered Mothers &Child Custody


 
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