On March 13, 2007, a knock sounded on Edward Vega’s apartment door and when he opened it Kathryn Nadal, a neighbor, stated something was wrong with her son, Holden. Mr. Vega entered Mrs. Nadal’s apartment with her and found her 5-week-old son, Holden, lying in a large bed with blood surrounding his lower extremities. Kathryn stated her Dachshund, Shorty, had attacked the baby while she slept. Mr. Vega said he didn’t see any blood on the dog or dog prints anywhere. He also said he didn’t see a torn diaper. Mr. Vega called for an ambulance and grabbed a clean diaper and held it against the baby’s genitals until help came.
Animal Control took Shorty to a Veterinarian, Dr. David Rundell, for an examination. The Doctor stated he found no evidence of human blood on the Dachshund nor any human tissue in the dog’s mouth. Dr. Rundell also stated the wounds he viewed in the pictures of the child wasn’t due to an attack by an animal; the wounds weren’t ragged and appeared to have been caused by a sharp instrument. Shorty, allegedly falsely accused, has since been adopted.
The day after the attack on Holden, Kathryn tested positive for cocaine and methadone and allegedly had a history of prescription drug abuse. On May 15, 2009, they formally charged Kathryn Nadal with the mutilation of her son.
Today August 10, 2009, a jury will hear opening statements in the case against Kathryn Nadal. Her son, Holden, is with his father, Camden Gothia, and still on the road to recovery from his wounds.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/index
http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou070511_ac_mutilatedbaby.5b9ef32a.html
http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou070409_tnt_mutilatedbaby.724cdf7.html
Monday, August 10, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Current Events: Another Child Molester Off The Streets? - For Now
On Friday night July 17, 2009, Minorva Murillo was doing her laundry at the mobile home park near Greenfield Road and Apache Trail in Apache Junction, Arizona when she heard her baby Jenifer, age 2 ½, scream. Minorva ran outside to find Jenifer gone. She asked her other children where Jenifer was and they said they didn’t know. Minorva called the police. A search followed and lasted throughout the night. Minorva told the police of a man she’d seen about an hour before her child went missing and gave a description of him. The police learned he was staying at the mobile home park.
Jenifer was found at his house and police arrested the man, 21-year-old, Alec Holtz. Jenifer was in good spirits despite what she endured during her 19-hour stay with a now accused child molester. Sunday the 19th of July police charged Holtz with child molestation, kidnaping and child endangerment.
I pray if this man is guilty that he is put away for a very long time and not simply a few years. The sentencing of these criminals who violate our children is ridiculous. Yes, prisons are full; yes, they go through the required procedures but they do not need to be let back out on the streets to ‘re offend.’ Holtz allegedly has raped a 2 ½ year-old baby! Will an ankle bracelet be enough? I am not sure it will. These monitors are not going to tell an understaffed, overworked and underpaid parole officer the suspect is in the presence of a child; unless by fate’s intervention their monitor status is checked while they are abducting a child. They aren’t going to show the suspect is in the act of violating a child. All they will do is - ‘after’ a child has gone missing - show that the suspect was in the approximate area. Out of his or her required distance of a child.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/southeastvalley/apachejunction/story/PD-Kidnapped-Apache-Junction-child-molested-by-21/iPACSpPdtE6tt7k9I5GGVg.cspx
Jenifer was found at his house and police arrested the man, 21-year-old, Alec Holtz. Jenifer was in good spirits despite what she endured during her 19-hour stay with a now accused child molester. Sunday the 19th of July police charged Holtz with child molestation, kidnaping and child endangerment.
I pray if this man is guilty that he is put away for a very long time and not simply a few years. The sentencing of these criminals who violate our children is ridiculous. Yes, prisons are full; yes, they go through the required procedures but they do not need to be let back out on the streets to ‘re offend.’ Holtz allegedly has raped a 2 ½ year-old baby! Will an ankle bracelet be enough? I am not sure it will. These monitors are not going to tell an understaffed, overworked and underpaid parole officer the suspect is in the presence of a child; unless by fate’s intervention their monitor status is checked while they are abducting a child. They aren’t going to show the suspect is in the act of violating a child. All they will do is - ‘after’ a child has gone missing - show that the suspect was in the approximate area. Out of his or her required distance of a child.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/southeastvalley/apachejunction/story/PD-Kidnapped-Apache-Junction-child-molested-by-21/iPACSpPdtE6tt7k9I5GGVg.cspx
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Personal Entry: Hands of Friendship and Thoughts of Abuse
As I sit here thinking of how friendship is special, I think of how it isn’t set on a time limit or penciled scheduling; it’s constant, vigilant and caring. I think of how it’s there any given time speaking words of encouragement, listening and understanding, that it’s not setting terms. I think of how it’s the hand held out in time of need, a hand saying I am here to help you shoulder your troubles, just let them go.
I sit here thinking of abuse and how I wonder if I’ll ever close the bedroom door again, if the fear someone could come up to it unseen will ever allow me to close it. And I think of that hand. I wonder if I’ll ever sleep with my back turned to the door again. I wonder if the need to have it wide open is so I can see down the dark corridor of the hallway. I wonder if the need to know, to see what and who is there will ever stop and peace will fill my nights again.
And while thinking I find a nervousness inside me begin to churn and that I need that hand of friendship to talk with. I think of how I must constantly move, not knowing true restfulness; of how I suddenly find myself awake and sitting in the middle of the bed or sitting with my feet on the floor, ready for a quick exit. I think of how the smallest of unrecognized sound brings my head up, my ears and eyes alert. I think of the need to shelter myself; I think of that need to self-protect emotionally by internalizing the actions of another. I think of the mind-set of an abuser, wondering why they can’t reach out their hands in love and caring and not resentfulness, anger or violence. I wonder if it’s something inside them that creates a spur of the moment action or if it’s been there all along and suddenly rages.
I wonder about the anger that stems from the abusers’ health, and how ones physical health causes personality changes. I wonder if a way exists to really understand what goes on in another’s mind; the ones who appear born without conscience and only know how to live with an urge to cause hurt to animals or their fellow human beings. I think about the ‘I’m in it for the long haul’ effect, that ‘till death us do part’ line. And I know I must be there for the long haul but also need help with that hand of friendship beside me.
While I sit in the middle of the floor with space around me, I wonder why I need that space; if the need to know there’s an escape is a persistent factor in back of my mind. Why small spaces are not an option. And, I think of the hand of friendship, that one friend, who with patience waited for me to talk, giving me time to speak between the tears that I was shedding. Who with so much caring held out a hand and said, let me help shoulder your troubles; don’t you remember the faith you often spoke of in the past, of how you leaned on that faith? Let the hand of faith reach you tonight, take that hand held out to you. Take my hand of friendship as it was His and let the light of His love fill your heart; know you have the strength to endure, you will persevere, you will become a stronger person. You will overcome the obstacles you feel are binding you.
I think of all the Advocates out there, those Hands held out like the hand of Susan Murphy Milano, Anny Jacoby and Delilah; I think of all the other advocates and how they daily reach out and help. I think of how, by being the shoulder for abused ones’ tears, they are true Hands. I think of the hand of friendship that reached out to me, of the shows I have heard, the tears I’ve shed for victims, the joy I’ve felt knowing an abused person has found just the right Hand.
And so, I sit here tonight and think of how friendship is mostly the hand of God at work, always waiting for me to take His hand and put all the worries on His shoulders.
But still, I wonder about that escape.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Current Events: Victoria Balfour and People vs. Ayers
I have always believed a good defense attorney should argue vigorously for his or her client’s rights. If that argument includes adding a journalist, who was for all intent and purposes part of the investigation, to the witness list, then so be it. However, the more I read of the story, the more questions I had.
The facts appear simple - Victoria Balfour is a journalist for the San Diego Reader, and she wants to report on the People vs. Ayres trial and write a book on this case. For that reason she has kept a close eye on all the events surrounding its progress. You may say that just because she wants to write a book doesn’t mean they should allow her to sit in during trial. You would be correct to argue that view. Still, the system should not muzzle anyone’s right to freedom of speech. So, I believe, they should allow reporter Victoria Balfour to sit in court and report on the facts of this case. The book isn’t the issue, the journalist rights are at issue.
Victoria Balfour isn’t on the prosecution witness list, although, from what Robin Sax reports, Balfour did, as an investigative reporter, give the DA information that helped them in their decision to bring this case to trial. The fact she isn’t on the witness list for the prosecution tells me they do not feel she can add anything to their case during trial. I, too, wonder just what she can add to the defense case. I would think they’d feel she could harm their case, not help it. So I’m getting those hmm moments that make me curious. What are the reasons for adding her to the list of possible witnesses?
I am agreeing with Robin Sax, why hasn’t the Prosecutor come forth and argue that the defense show cause for adding Balfour to their witness list? Especially since they apparently haven’t contacted her prior or since including her.
One could argue that she could purchase a copy of the court manuscript to help write a book that includes the trial facts. But, I believe that is a wrong argument. A writer needs more than words spoken by a person. She (He) needs to give the reader such a clear picture that each reader is inside the witnesses’ mind so they can see how each witness became part of the events of the case. She (He) needs to see the defense attorney and prosecutor in action to write chapters that come to life on the pages and put the reader in that courtroom. Otherwise, the book would be clinical. Boring!
And, too, otherwise the book would leave the readers with questions about why the author calls her or himself an author or a journalist. If I were a juror, if I not only hear the witnesses’ testimony but pay attention to how they present their testimony before making a decision on whether to disregard parts or all of their testimony, I’d be well informed to do just that. A journalist is well informed when they pay close attention to the facts. They can then report truths and not opinion.
Again, I say, it’s not the book Balfour aspires to write that is at issue, it’s her right as a journalist to do her job and report on the trial. I have to wonder that if they exclude her from attending the trial so she can do her job and do it well, if they are muzzling her freedom of speech.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-sax/people-v-ayres-wheres-the_b_220910.html
The facts appear simple - Victoria Balfour is a journalist for the San Diego Reader, and she wants to report on the People vs. Ayres trial and write a book on this case. For that reason she has kept a close eye on all the events surrounding its progress. You may say that just because she wants to write a book doesn’t mean they should allow her to sit in during trial. You would be correct to argue that view. Still, the system should not muzzle anyone’s right to freedom of speech. So, I believe, they should allow reporter Victoria Balfour to sit in court and report on the facts of this case. The book isn’t the issue, the journalist rights are at issue.
Victoria Balfour isn’t on the prosecution witness list, although, from what Robin Sax reports, Balfour did, as an investigative reporter, give the DA information that helped them in their decision to bring this case to trial. The fact she isn’t on the witness list for the prosecution tells me they do not feel she can add anything to their case during trial. I, too, wonder just what she can add to the defense case. I would think they’d feel she could harm their case, not help it. So I’m getting those hmm moments that make me curious. What are the reasons for adding her to the list of possible witnesses?
I am agreeing with Robin Sax, why hasn’t the Prosecutor come forth and argue that the defense show cause for adding Balfour to their witness list? Especially since they apparently haven’t contacted her prior or since including her.
One could argue that she could purchase a copy of the court manuscript to help write a book that includes the trial facts. But, I believe that is a wrong argument. A writer needs more than words spoken by a person. She (He) needs to give the reader such a clear picture that each reader is inside the witnesses’ mind so they can see how each witness became part of the events of the case. She (He) needs to see the defense attorney and prosecutor in action to write chapters that come to life on the pages and put the reader in that courtroom. Otherwise, the book would be clinical. Boring!
And, too, otherwise the book would leave the readers with questions about why the author calls her or himself an author or a journalist. If I were a juror, if I not only hear the witnesses’ testimony but pay attention to how they present their testimony before making a decision on whether to disregard parts or all of their testimony, I’d be well informed to do just that. A journalist is well informed when they pay close attention to the facts. They can then report truths and not opinion.
Again, I say, it’s not the book Balfour aspires to write that is at issue, it’s her right as a journalist to do her job and report on the trial. I have to wonder that if they exclude her from attending the trial so she can do her job and do it well, if they are muzzling her freedom of speech.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-sax/people-v-ayres-wheres-the_b_220910.html
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Is Caring- That Human, And Parental Instinct, Out of Commission?
So often we read of severe abuse and death of our children at the hands of parents . . . by a family member or a sibling. Have we become so mechanized that maternal and paternal instincts are extinct? Has brotherly love become a thing of the past?
We so often hear of a child gone missing, of an infant being found in a trash-dumpster or thrown into a body of water, and off overpasses. So often we read of a missing child believed deceased and buried in an unmarked grave somewhere unknown.
Sometimes I feel an overload and can’t center my thoughts or my prayers on just one missing child or just one missing adult. I can’t sit and write about just one bruised, battered body of an adult or child found murdered at the hands of those entrusted with their care. With the one who promised in marital vows to love, honor and obey (meaning to respect the others wishes) until death do us part - not until they cause the death.
Today, as I sit thinking of children, little Jaliek Rainwalker comes to mind - a child yet found but believed deceased by the many not the few, allegedly at the hands of a person supposedly to have loved and cared for him. I think of little Trenton Ducket - another precious child unfound but believed deceased. I think of Josef Smith- brutally treated like a a possession and killed by his parents in the name of ‘spare-the-rod' love. I think of Sean Paddock horribly abused by his adoptive mother and died due to her punishments. I think of Caylee Anthony believed killed at the hands of her mother. I think of Daisja Weaver, an infant, yet found but believed deceased, whose parent allegedly threw off a bridge into a body of water. I think of little Laycee Johnson a 13-month-old whom her babysitter brutally beat about the head so badly her abuser killer’s knuckle prints were allegedly visible when she reached the hospital. I think of Emma Lee Barker, 18 months, allegedly smothered at the hands of her mother and left in tall grass on the side of an interstate. I think of Alycia Mesiti, age 14, allegedly killed by her father. I think of Ebony Dorsey, age 14, sexually assaulted and murdered by her mother’s boyfriend.
I think of all the child victims’ at the hands of those entrusted with their care, those who should love and protect them - those whose names I only recognize when hearing them. And all those I do not know about, or whose names have vanished into my memory so deeply that I can’t recall their names. Sadly, I’ve read of so many murdered children that I can’t readily list them.
Is this our children their children’s future? Will what we have always thought of as ageless and undying - that natural and instinctive parental love - become obsolete?
We so often hear of a child gone missing, of an infant being found in a trash-dumpster or thrown into a body of water, and off overpasses. So often we read of a missing child believed deceased and buried in an unmarked grave somewhere unknown.
Sometimes I feel an overload and can’t center my thoughts or my prayers on just one missing child or just one missing adult. I can’t sit and write about just one bruised, battered body of an adult or child found murdered at the hands of those entrusted with their care. With the one who promised in marital vows to love, honor and obey (meaning to respect the others wishes) until death do us part - not until they cause the death.
Today, as I sit thinking of children, little Jaliek Rainwalker comes to mind - a child yet found but believed deceased by the many not the few, allegedly at the hands of a person supposedly to have loved and cared for him. I think of little Trenton Ducket - another precious child unfound but believed deceased. I think of Josef Smith- brutally treated like a a possession and killed by his parents in the name of ‘spare-the-rod' love. I think of Sean Paddock horribly abused by his adoptive mother and died due to her punishments. I think of Caylee Anthony believed killed at the hands of her mother. I think of Daisja Weaver, an infant, yet found but believed deceased, whose parent allegedly threw off a bridge into a body of water. I think of little Laycee Johnson a 13-month-old whom her babysitter brutally beat about the head so badly her abuser killer’s knuckle prints were allegedly visible when she reached the hospital. I think of Emma Lee Barker, 18 months, allegedly smothered at the hands of her mother and left in tall grass on the side of an interstate. I think of Alycia Mesiti, age 14, allegedly killed by her father. I think of Ebony Dorsey, age 14, sexually assaulted and murdered by her mother’s boyfriend.
I think of all the child victims’ at the hands of those entrusted with their care, those who should love and protect them - those whose names I only recognize when hearing them. And all those I do not know about, or whose names have vanished into my memory so deeply that I can’t recall their names. Sadly, I’ve read of so many murdered children that I can’t readily list them.
Is this our children their children’s future? Will what we have always thought of as ageless and undying - that natural and instinctive parental love - become obsolete?
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