Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Boy, 9, Locked in Outdoor Dog Cage For Months in Freezing Temps: NEIGHBORS KNEW

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Boy, 9, Locked in Outdoor Dog Cage For Months in Freezing Temps: NEIGHBORS KNEW · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Greece locked in a cage. I'm
0:17
Speaker 1: not talking about a wild animal that's getting shipped over
0:21
Speaker 1: from Africa. I'm not talking about a dangerous species like
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Speaker 1: an alligator that just got pulled out of ok Finocchio
0:30
Speaker 1: with those long tongs. A baby boy, just nine years old,
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Speaker 1: locked in a cage, living outside in these temperatures. How
0:49
Speaker 1: was that happening in America? How and why is that
0:53
Speaker 1: happening in our great country? What nobody knew there was
0:59
Speaker 1: a child seen from school. None of the neighbors knew
1:02
Speaker 1: there was a boy nine years old living behind the
1:07
Speaker 1: house in a cage. The cage aspect is just the
1:13
Speaker 1: tip on the iceberg. I mean, I see grace this
1:17
Speaker 1: described stories. Thank you for being with us here at
1:20
Speaker 1: Fox Nation in series eleven. Let's kick it Off. W
1:24
Speaker 1: f M. Y Davidson County Sheriff Richie Simmons says this
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Speaker 1: is one of the worst child abuse cases that he
1:30
Speaker 1: has seen in his thirty seventy year career. Deputy's arrived
1:33
Speaker 1: to the hall on Crest Road just before seven thirty
1:36
Speaker 1: yesterday morning. There, they found a nine year old child
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Speaker 1: who had been left outside overnight with just the clothes
1:41
Speaker 1: on his back. He was inside a locked dog kennel
1:44
Speaker 1: all the property as the outside temperature felt at twenty
1:47
Speaker 1: eight degrees. There were some clothes that was that was there,
1:55
Speaker 1: just bits and pieces. A little bit of food was inside,
2:00
Speaker 1: but not enough to sustain warmth for this child. Investigators
2:06
Speaker 1: did not say why the child was locked in the
2:08
Speaker 1: outside kennel in the first place. Two other children were
2:11
Speaker 1: located on the property, along with two more who were
2:14
Speaker 1: at school when deputies arrived. I'm not even sure I
2:18
Speaker 1: understand what I just heard. I'm pretty sure I heard.
2:23
Speaker 1: They haven't figured out why the little boy was in
2:28
Speaker 1: a cage outdoors in twenty eight degree Whether does it
2:32
Speaker 1: really matter? Why does it matter? That's why the state
2:37
Speaker 1: never has to praise motive right there. It doesn't matter why,
2:41
Speaker 1: and it doesn't matter why adults have locked a child
2:46
Speaker 1: in an outdoor cage at twenty eight degrees outside. I
2:51
Speaker 1: want to make sure I understand what I just heard?
2:53
Speaker 1: Could you please, Jackie played Daniel Cruz one more time?
2:56
Speaker 1: Davidson County cheff Richie Simmons says this is one of
2:59
Speaker 1: the worst child abuse cases that he has seen in
3:02
Speaker 1: his thirty seventy year career deputy has arrived at the
3:05
Speaker 1: hall on Crest Road just before seven thirty yesterday morning.
3:08
Speaker 1: There they found a nine year old child who had
3:10
Speaker 1: been left outside overnight with just the clothes on his back.
3:13
Speaker 1: He was inside a locked dog kennel all the property
3:16
Speaker 1: as the outside temperature felt at twenty eight degrees. Okay,
3:20
Speaker 1: Nicole Parton joining me Crime online dot Com investigative reporter
3:23
Speaker 1: Nicole Parton. You know that my husband and I have
3:26
Speaker 1: been married almost sixteen years. It actually seems like maybe
3:30
Speaker 1: two or three years. Believe it or not. Do you know?
3:34
Speaker 1: Only the second third time, and all the time I've
3:38
Speaker 1: known him, even prior to our marriage, Last night was
3:42
Speaker 1: only the third time I threatened to divorce him. Note
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Speaker 1: make that for one was for losing my cat after
3:52
Speaker 1: I moved to New York. Coco. Okay, number two, Let's
3:57
Speaker 1: see what would that have been? Probably when he's set
4:00
Speaker 1: a curseword in front of the children. No, that's not
4:03
Speaker 1: that's not divorce worthy. I just hit his iPad for
4:07
Speaker 1: a week. But last night, this is the fourth one.
4:12
Speaker 1: The cat, the new cat, Cinnamon, took a major poop
4:17
Speaker 1: in the den. He put the cat outside and left
4:21
Speaker 1: the cat outside in thirty degree weather for like five hours.
4:27
Speaker 1: I came in from where I had been and said,
4:28
Speaker 1: we're a cinnamon. I put her outside. I'm like, when
4:31
Speaker 1: did she put her outside? And why the cat had
4:35
Speaker 1: been outside? I guess what was it, jackie thirty six
4:37
Speaker 1: thirty seven degrees outside? And yeah, I know she's wearing
4:40
Speaker 1: a fur coat, but still and he said, well, she
4:44
Speaker 1: could stay in the garage where it's warm with the cars.
4:47
Speaker 1: I'm like, still outside anyway. Let me just say that
4:53
Speaker 1: unless he wants a divorce, which I doubt because he
4:56
Speaker 1: wants to be with the twins, I don't get myself
4:58
Speaker 1: any credit there, he will not put the cat outside again.
5:02
Speaker 1: That's the cat, much less a nine year old little boy. Nicole.
5:10
Speaker 1: Pardon what in the h E double l is going on?
5:15
Speaker 1: And lexing to North Carolina? Absolutely, Nancy, and all of
5:19
Speaker 1: this when a concerned neighbor catches a glimpse of a
5:24
Speaker 1: little boy locked in this outside kennel with straw, just
5:28
Speaker 1: some straw, and the kennel like we put for an animal. Okay,
5:31
Speaker 1: wait a minute, wait a minute, okay, let me refer
5:33
Speaker 1: to the two guinea pigs that live in the house
5:37
Speaker 1: Chloe and spotted. Every morning they get the cage clean
5:41
Speaker 1: and they get fresh hay and food and water. Sometimes
5:46
Speaker 1: they have the window open, but I close it if
5:48
Speaker 1: it gets chillian. There. At night they have a full
5:51
Speaker 1: of salad, more hay, and more water. And this little
5:54
Speaker 1: boy had nothing. But what did you say? Straw? That's right,
5:58
Speaker 1: just some straw like some hey, that's it. You know,
6:02
Speaker 1: I hardly even know what to say right now, Nicole, pardon?
6:07
Speaker 1: What condition do we know the boy was in? Was
6:10
Speaker 1: it true? There was twenty eight degrees outside, twenty eight
6:13
Speaker 1: degrees outside, frost on the ground. A nine year old
6:17
Speaker 1: boy found locked in a freezing dog kennel outside the
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Speaker 1: home lex Into, North Carolina, cast out since April, shoeless,
6:30
Speaker 1: what sleeping on straw because there was quote no room
6:35
Speaker 1: for him in the home where father, stepmother, ought and
6:40
Speaker 1: four siblings slept. There was no room for him. He
6:43
Speaker 1: was the only one that had to sleep out in
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Speaker 1: a locked dog cage with straw, without shoes. Am I
6:53
Speaker 1: reading the right thing? That's correct? Absolutely? And the few
6:57
Speaker 1: clothes that he had on authorities they were they were damp.
7:01
Speaker 1: So he's out there in wet clothes of course, there's
7:04
Speaker 1: no bathroom, there's nowhere to go wet clothes. It's twenty
7:08
Speaker 1: eight degrees that we know is below freezing, and this
7:11
Speaker 1: young boy is left alone there for seven months. He's
7:16
Speaker 1: locked in the dog kennel seven months. Sarah Ford joining me.
7:19
Speaker 1: Legal director of South Carolina Victim Assistance Network. Her specialty
7:24
Speaker 1: is crimes on children. She's professor at Claflin University in
7:28
Speaker 1: South Carolina State University. Sarah, I'm sure you've tried a
7:33
Speaker 1: lot of cases, as have I. Have you ever cried
7:36
Speaker 1: in front of a jury. I've never cried in front
7:38
Speaker 1: of a jury, but it taken a whole lot for
7:40
Speaker 1: me not to. I've certainly cried when I've gotten to
7:43
Speaker 1: my office because we see so many horrible, horrible things.
7:48
Speaker 1: That's certainly gotten emotional in front of a jury, as
7:51
Speaker 1: I'm sure you have as well. Well. I've never cried
7:53
Speaker 1: in front of a jury. I did cry, began to
7:57
Speaker 1: cry once. It was a bench trial, which means a
7:59
Speaker 1: judge hearing it. I'll tell you what happened. There was
8:02
Speaker 1: a two little two year old girl who would be
8:05
Speaker 1: a vegetable in a vegetative state the rest of her life.
8:10
Speaker 1: All she would ever do at that point is lie
8:13
Speaker 1: on her back in a crib and that bib will
8:16
Speaker 1: get bigger as she gets older again, vegetative state from
8:22
Speaker 1: a horrific beating that her father gave her during the trial.
8:27
Speaker 1: As you know, Sarah, it's very hard to get medical
8:31
Speaker 1: records because of HIPPA and so many other things, and
8:35
Speaker 1: this was a juvenile victim, which made it even more
8:39
Speaker 1: more layers of protection during the trial. While thanks, I
8:45
Speaker 1: finally got the medical documents during the trial. Of course,
8:48
Speaker 1: they could not be admitted because you have to hand
8:52
Speaker 1: over scientific reports such as hospital records far in advance
8:55
Speaker 1: of the trial to the defense council. But I had them.
8:58
Speaker 1: They came during the trial, which was no help to me.
9:01
Speaker 1: And I was listening and I was just thumming, do
9:03
Speaker 1: you know what was happening? And I thumbed through and
9:06
Speaker 1: I saw where this little child had no hymen, this
9:09
Speaker 1: two year old little girl, which means she was raped.
9:12
Speaker 1: Not only was she beaten into a vegetative state for
9:15
Speaker 1: the rest of her life, she had also two years
9:18
Speaker 1: old been raped how many times, don't know. And my
9:22
Speaker 1: eyes welled up and immediately called for a recess and
9:26
Speaker 1: left and went outside and got it together and went
9:30
Speaker 1: back in there, and I gave them so much hell
9:33
Speaker 1: not enough though, because they're probably out of jail by now.
9:36
Speaker 1: Long story short, this case, it's very hard for me
9:40
Speaker 1: to keep a straight face when I hear what happened
9:44
Speaker 1: to this little boy? Okay, Nicole Parton, you just said, Actually,
9:49
Speaker 1: would you say it again? He was found locked outdoors
9:53
Speaker 1: in the dog kennel. Nothing there but some straw to
9:57
Speaker 1: lay on, so no pillow, nothing warm and cozy. It's
10:01
Speaker 1: twenty eight degrees that's below freezing. The few clothes that
10:05
Speaker 1: he has owned are wet, no shoes, and he's been
10:10
Speaker 1: there for seven months. Authorities said he was so cold
10:15
Speaker 1: when they got to him, he was shivering, uncontrollable, and
10:19
Speaker 1: he was unable to speak to them. He was so cold.
10:22
Speaker 1: Literally the clothes on him were freezing because it was
10:26
Speaker 1: twenty eight degrees. Take a listen to Sheriff Richie Simmons,
10:30
Speaker 1: Adam Davison County. Approximately six to fifty six am, we
10:34
Speaker 1: received a call for a welfare check of kids. When
10:38
Speaker 1: we arrived on seeing we made entry into a location
10:44
Speaker 1: that our deputies we felt like exisent circumstances to go
10:49
Speaker 1: over a fence to go after and look, and we
10:53
Speaker 1: actually found a nine year old child within a dog
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Speaker 1: lot that was on the premises outside and away from
11:00
Speaker 1: the home. We were able to breach the combination lock
11:05
Speaker 1: and the fence retrieved this child. Of the temperature at
11:10
Speaker 1: the tom was about twenty eight degrees. We found out
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Speaker 1: that this child had been out there all night, all night,
11:17
Speaker 1: but about all night every night for seven months. Time
11:32
Speaker 1: Stories with Nancy Grace's joining me special guest pediatrician at
11:39
Speaker 1: the Pediatric Emergency Medical Medicine Section. Child is safety expert
11:43
Speaker 1: and consultant founder of pedmom dot com. That's peed imom
11:51
Speaker 1: dot com. Doctor free inn has doctor has thank you
11:55
Speaker 1: for being with us. Explained to me what these conditions
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Speaker 1: would due to a child twenty eight degrees in wet
12:02
Speaker 1: clothing outside, no food and this has been going on
12:06
Speaker 1: for seven months. Yeah, so it's extremely dangerous and can
12:11
Speaker 1: actually even lead to death. So, just from some of
12:14
Speaker 1: the symptoms that I've read about that this particular child
12:17
Speaker 1: had confusion, difficulty speaking, the shivering, that tells me that
12:22
Speaker 1: at least he's in moderate hypothermia. We kind of look
12:25
Speaker 1: at mild, moderate to severe, which then can lead to death,
12:30
Speaker 1: and he's at least there, maybe even more severe without
12:33
Speaker 1: knowing more. But and that can happen in those temperatures,
12:36
Speaker 1: even fully clothed without having a source of heat, so
12:41
Speaker 1: he was not fully closed. Plus he was higher risk
12:44
Speaker 1: because he was a child probably and I would assume
12:47
Speaker 1: likely malnourished, being that he hadn't had food out there.
12:50
Speaker 1: All of those things put him even increased risk. And
12:53
Speaker 1: then being wet. You combine all of this and had
12:56
Speaker 1: he not been found, this could have ended very, very badly.
13:00
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to figure out what long term physical
13:07
Speaker 1: and psychological effects this boy will suffer. Guys, take a
13:12
Speaker 1: listen now to our cut LWFM Y. When deputies arrived,
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Speaker 1: they say they found the boy wearing jeans, a T shirt,
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Speaker 1: and no shoes. This was on October nineteenth, when there
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Speaker 1: was frost on the ground around the kennel. His stepmother
13:29
Speaker 1: claimed only the aunt knew the combination to the lock
13:32
Speaker 1: on the kennel and that she and her husband were
13:35
Speaker 1: upset about the boy being kept there. Another disturbing detail
13:39
Speaker 1: that nine one one caller also told dispatchers they took
13:42
Speaker 1: the child some food in the past and a neighbor
13:45
Speaker 1: who spoke to detectives on scene told them the boy
13:48
Speaker 1: had been in the kennel since ten thirty pm the
13:51
Speaker 1: night before, and he said he brought him a coat
13:54
Speaker 1: and snacks. Okay, let's analyze what we're just hearing that
13:58
Speaker 1: only one person in the home, out of all the
14:01
Speaker 1: people in the home, had the quote combination to the lock. Man,
14:05
Speaker 1: I would tear that kennel down if I had to
14:08
Speaker 1: drive my car over it to get the boy out.
14:12
Speaker 1: It's just excuses, excuses, excuses, No shoes frost on the ground,
14:18
Speaker 1: and we're seeing the emergence of an evil step mother
14:22
Speaker 1: claiming that only the aunt knows the combination to the
14:26
Speaker 1: lock on the kennel and that she and her husband
14:28
Speaker 1: were really upset about it, but did nothing explain to me,
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Speaker 1: Nicole Parton. The neighbors knew this. They said that they
14:35
Speaker 1: had been giving him a coat and trying to give
14:37
Speaker 1: him snacks since ten thirty the night before. Right, absolutely, so,
14:41
Speaker 1: we have actually two different neighbors. We have a neighbor
14:44
Speaker 1: who called ninety one one anonymously who caught a glimpse
14:47
Speaker 1: of the boy in the kennel, and that neighbor's wife
14:51
Speaker 1: says even that neighbor had kind of snuck over there
14:55
Speaker 1: in the path and dropped the boy some food over
14:57
Speaker 1: in the dog kennel. And then we have another neighbor
15:00
Speaker 1: who shows up on his four wheeler when detectives arrived,
15:03
Speaker 1: who also tells his story that in fact he knows
15:06
Speaker 1: the boy has been locked up for months, no offense.
15:09
Speaker 1: But what the hell is wrong with these people? A
15:12
Speaker 1: good question, I mean, help me out, Dodger, Angie Arnold.
15:15
Speaker 1: They know the boy is there outside, locked in a kennel,
15:19
Speaker 1: outdoors and cold, wet clothing, ten thirty at night, and
15:24
Speaker 1: then we find out the neighbors have known that he's there.
15:28
Speaker 1: They've been giving him snacks for how long weeks I
15:31
Speaker 1: don't know, and they somebody finally calls it seven thirty
15:35
Speaker 1: in the morning. Could you actually sleep, doctor, Angie, knowing
15:39
Speaker 1: a child was outside, Nitcy, None of us could sleep
15:43
Speaker 1: knowing something like that, Nancy. I couldn't sleep if somebody
15:46
Speaker 1: left their dog outside in the cold, and I can't
15:50
Speaker 1: even imagine locking. And also, you know how everybody's been
15:54
Speaker 1: talking about there was just straw back there, and he
15:56
Speaker 1: wasn't dressed very well, Nancy. They didn't put him back
15:59
Speaker 1: there so that he could be in good shape. They
16:03
Speaker 1: were probably hoping he would die from us and then
16:06
Speaker 1: they could cover that up because he hadn't been to school.
16:09
Speaker 1: He was just going to disappear from the world, this
16:13
Speaker 1: poor little boy. So no, I can't imagine that a
16:16
Speaker 1: neighbor wouldn't say anything. And maybe that's why these people
16:20
Speaker 1: think that they could get away with all of us
16:23
Speaker 1: with locking their child in a dog house, because they
16:28
Speaker 1: knew that no one was going to say anything, or
16:30
Speaker 1: were the neighbor scared of them. Also, you know, I'm
16:33
Speaker 1: looking at pictures I'm the little boy all the way back,
16:36
Speaker 1: this little boy we're not giving his name, Pictures of
16:42
Speaker 1: him as a baby in die pees, in a dog kennel.
16:48
Speaker 1: And it's the same kind we have when we have
16:52
Speaker 1: to move Fat Boy or Cinnamon. It's for a bigger dog,
16:57
Speaker 1: but it's got a top. It's a full on cage
17:01
Speaker 1: with a lock on the door. He's in die piece,
17:06
Speaker 1: in a dog cage. When he looks like he might
17:09
Speaker 1: be I don't know, eighteen months maybe well, I mean
17:12
Speaker 1: it's you almost have to wonder if they were if
17:15
Speaker 1: they were training him to live in a dog cage,
17:19
Speaker 1: because that's how you train a dog, You put them
17:21
Speaker 1: in a cage. Guys, you're hearing doctor Angie Arnold, psychiatrist
17:25
Speaker 1: out of the Atlanta Jurisdiction at Angela Arnold, MD dot com.
17:31
Speaker 1: Robert Farley joining me former Detective Cook County Sheriff's Police Department,
17:36
Speaker 1: also with the US Marshall the commanding officer with a
17:41
Speaker 1: child Exploitation Unit, Rob Farley, the only silver lining I
17:48
Speaker 1: have to say about this case is that the boy
17:51
Speaker 1: is alive, because typically when I get a hold of
17:55
Speaker 1: a case like this to investigate, to try or to cover,
17:58
Speaker 1: the child is dead. That's the only good Colonel of this.
18:05
Speaker 1: What do you think, Farley? I mean, these people name
18:09
Speaker 1: life on life on life. My experience is that I'm
18:13
Speaker 1: amazed they lasted nine years. I mean, if you have
18:16
Speaker 1: pictures of them in the cage, which which I saw,
18:18
Speaker 1: I mean at eighteen months, it's a wonder. I mean,
18:22
Speaker 1: I did child these homicides, and it's a wonder he'd
18:25
Speaker 1: lasted really that long. The one thing that along with
18:29
Speaker 1: the silver lining with the little guy being so alive
18:32
Speaker 1: is the fact that boy, I really you know, got
18:35
Speaker 1: to commend the Davidson County Sheriff's Department. That you know
18:39
Speaker 1: they went and did the right thing. It wasn't one
18:41
Speaker 1: of these things they knocked on the door and you
18:43
Speaker 1: get some excuse and then they leave. I mean they
18:46
Speaker 1: really really went there. And you heard the sheriff use
18:49
Speaker 1: the term exigen circumstances, which, as you know, is in
18:53
Speaker 1: an emergency. You know there's no search horn or anything.
18:56
Speaker 1: We're going in. We're grabbing the kid and taking the
18:59
Speaker 1: kid out of Speaking of exigent circumstances, that term arose
19:05
Speaker 1: from Carol Versus the United States. That's the name of
19:09
Speaker 1: the case, and that case dates all the way back
19:12
Speaker 1: to moonshining era during Prohibition, when people would lug moonshine
19:19
Speaker 1: and the back of their cars and the trunks. The
19:22
Speaker 1: problem is, by the time you got a warrant, you
19:24
Speaker 1: see a caddy going by with a tail scraping the crown.
19:28
Speaker 1: You know there's a moonshine in there, but you didn't
19:31
Speaker 1: have a warrant. So a cop finally chased down on
19:35
Speaker 1: one of these cars full of moonshine in the trunk,
19:39
Speaker 1: opened the trunk, got in the moonshine. But then it
19:43
Speaker 1: was contested and it was actually suppressed anyway the evidence.
19:50
Speaker 1: It was appealed all the way up to the US
19:53
Speaker 1: Supreme Court. The defendant's name was Carol, last name Carol,
19:57
Speaker 1: hence the US versus Carrol, and the Supreme Court decided
20:01
Speaker 1: that under exigent circumstances, in other words, you're gonna lose
20:05
Speaker 1: the evidence. In this case, the boy could die. You're
20:09
Speaker 1: gonna lose the evidence unless you act immediately without a warrant.
20:14
Speaker 1: That's what exigent circumstances means under the law. And Robert
20:18
Speaker 1: Farley is exactly correct. Guys. He's so right about detectives
20:25
Speaker 1: acting because who knows if the boy could have even
20:28
Speaker 1: lived one more hour in subfreezing conditions. Now this is
20:34
Speaker 1: what they find. Take a list of our cut three
20:37
Speaker 1: from Fox A WHP. The first person deputy saw after
20:41
Speaker 1: finding the child was Sarah's Starr, who's the child's stepmother.
20:44
Speaker 1: To the Shay, she was inside with an infant and
20:47
Speaker 1: a four year old inside that home, she told the
20:50
Speaker 1: investigators she didn't have the combination to the lock on
20:52
Speaker 1: the dogcage, saying only her aunts, identified as Shelley Barnes
20:56
Speaker 1: had that. Let me understand what I'm hearing, Nicole Parton
20:59
Speaker 1: joined me Cryline dot Com investigative reporter. So there's other
21:03
Speaker 1: children in the home that apparently are okay, but she says, oh, yeah,
21:10
Speaker 1: he's out there, but I couldn't do anything because I
21:12
Speaker 1: don't have the combination. What right I mean, call authorities,
21:17
Speaker 1: do anything, get the child out of the cage. To
21:21
Speaker 1: explain to me what I'm hearing. Yeah, so that was
21:24
Speaker 1: her excuse to the detectives when they went inside again,
21:28
Speaker 1: as was pointed out, they didn't knock on the door.
21:30
Speaker 1: They went inside the home and found her with a child,
21:33
Speaker 1: an eight month old child, and also interesting, they found
21:37
Speaker 1: a four year old child hiding under the bed. The
21:40
Speaker 1: four year old was hiding under the bed. Step mom,
21:43
Speaker 1: forty year old Sarah says, we don't have the combination.
21:47
Speaker 1: We've really been concerned that the nine year old is
21:50
Speaker 1: locked outside, but only my aunt has the combination. There's
21:54
Speaker 1: nothing that we could do. We didn't know how to
21:56
Speaker 1: get him out. Father is also in the home, thirty
22:00
Speaker 1: two year old Jonathan Star is there. Same excuse. We
22:03
Speaker 1: couldn't get him out. We didn't have the combination, and
22:06
Speaker 1: so they forced the blame back on the fifty six
22:08
Speaker 1: year old aunt. Shelley Barnes, who we might add as
22:12
Speaker 1: a convicted felon with a laundry list of offenses against her.
22:15
Speaker 1: Wait wait, wait, wait wait, the aunt with a combination
22:21
Speaker 1: is a convicted felon for what what did she do?
22:23
Speaker 1: She has thirty four arrest I believe it was including
22:28
Speaker 1: identity fraud, health and safety violations, maintaining a dwelling place
22:34
Speaker 1: for controlled substances. She's a jewel, She's a one with
22:38
Speaker 1: a combination. Time stories with Nancy Grace Sarah Ford. Can
22:58
Speaker 1: I just say, number one, they can all rot in hell? Absolutely,
23:03
Speaker 1: number one. That's the first legal premise. Second is all
23:08
Speaker 1: of them were colluding. They're all responsible. Every adult in
23:11
Speaker 1: that home is responsible and for child torture of this
23:17
Speaker 1: manner in North Carolina. I do believe there is at
23:21
Speaker 1: least a twenty year sentence and that can be compounded
23:25
Speaker 1: if they wanted to the state could give them a
23:28
Speaker 1: twenty years sentence if found guilty for every single day
23:32
Speaker 1: this child is in that dog age, for starving the child,
23:36
Speaker 1: for probably beating the child. Because you know it all
23:38
Speaker 1: goes hand in hand. Can I ask a legal question
23:41
Speaker 1: from the medical sign of jump and dodgra Has. I
23:43
Speaker 1: am wondering what the thought process is about the fact
23:48
Speaker 1: that this particular child, on that particular night, with that
23:52
Speaker 1: temperature and in those conditions, could very well have died.
23:56
Speaker 1: I tempted murder. You know what, doctor has a Slaggers
23:59
Speaker 1: don't like it when we get shown up by doctors. Okay,
24:02
Speaker 1: so sadly shut your piehole. Actually you're completely right, and
24:07
Speaker 1: I have to eat a dirt sandwich. You're right, doctor Has,
24:10
Speaker 1: this could be attempted murder, Sarah Ford. I guess I
24:12
Speaker 1: needed an m day to straighten me out. She's right, Sarah,
24:16
Speaker 1: this could be attempted murder. She's absolutely correct. I want
24:20
Speaker 1: them to go down on attempted murder. They absolutely should
24:23
Speaker 1: be charged. I mean the charges that they have of
24:25
Speaker 1: abuse and neglect, I mean that's just the bottom of
24:28
Speaker 1: the barrel saying it's poor child. I mean, this is
24:31
Speaker 1: absolutely the fact that this child has lived this long
24:35
Speaker 1: in a cage is an absolute miracle. And these you know,
24:39
Speaker 1: the step mom, the biological father, and the aunt. You know,
24:42
Speaker 1: they're just going back and forth trying to blame each other,
24:45
Speaker 1: but they are all culpable to the max in this
24:48
Speaker 1: and need to be prosecuted. You know, doctor has I'm
24:50
Speaker 1: investigating you. I think you secretly have a JD as well. Guys,
24:54
Speaker 1: this is not the first time that locking a child
24:57
Speaker 1: in an enclosure such as a cage, a closet, a
25:02
Speaker 1: shower stall, a box, a dog cage, as in this
25:07
Speaker 1: case has happened. It's a very unique phenomena and it
25:12
Speaker 1: is a little known aspect of child abuse. The deprivation
25:22
Speaker 1: of movement, the enclosure aspect of this type of child
25:28
Speaker 1: abuse is possibly next to starving. I think one of
25:33
Speaker 1: the most awful forms of child abuse, and it's certainly
25:36
Speaker 1: not in the first time it's happened. Take a listen
25:38
Speaker 1: hour cut twelve a Our Friends at Needs twelve. We
25:41
Speaker 1: begin with that developing story out of Cinema Rich's disturbing
25:44
Speaker 1: information about the death of an eight year old boy
25:46
Speaker 1: released by police just a short time ago. Police now
25:50
Speaker 1: say Michael Valva and his fiance Angela Paulina left Thomas
25:54
Speaker 1: Valva in an unheated garage, unheated and unfinished overnight in
25:59
Speaker 1: freezing timber Us. They say when he was taken to
26:01
Speaker 1: the hospital where he was pronounced dead, his body temperature
26:05
Speaker 1: was seventy six degrees, as we first told you. Police
26:08
Speaker 1: responded to reports that the child fell in the driveway
26:11
Speaker 1: of the home. This was on Bittersweet Lane last week,
26:13
Speaker 1: but investigators said the eight year old suffered head and
26:16
Speaker 1: facial injuries, inconsistent with those reports. The couple also have
26:21
Speaker 1: five other children, including two other sons and Paulina's three daughters.
26:26
Speaker 1: You remember when in old house right there you were,
26:32
Speaker 1: you had two floors right downstairs and upstairs you free
26:38
Speaker 1: basically or the basement was dead and the one part
26:44
Speaker 1: of the house there was also garage, right yeah, there's
26:49
Speaker 1: a garage. Did you ever see any heat in the garage? Anyone?
26:53
Speaker 1: Like head? Was the garage heated or unheated? Nope? Plattle cold?
26:59
Speaker 1: It was cold? Yeah, like so let's say like it
27:04
Speaker 1: it was like snow where there, but sailors it was
27:07
Speaker 1: really cool. It's like if you it's like you point
27:10
Speaker 1: your whole boyance now really yeah? And was anybody sleeping
27:16
Speaker 1: in the garage? I was great, you were Thomson Anthonie
27:20
Speaker 1: think was it was was the garage door you were
27:24
Speaker 1: able to go inside the garage and out? Or was
27:27
Speaker 1: the door locked? Oh? Sometimes the door was locked? Sometimes
27:31
Speaker 1: I was locked yeah, when mom Da left the garage.
27:37
Speaker 1: Oh so when Anthony and Tommy you were left in
27:39
Speaker 1: the garage the door was locked and was there anything
27:43
Speaker 1: else to sleep on in the garage? Just the floor,
27:47
Speaker 1: just the floor and no pillow and no pillow, was
27:52
Speaker 1: no planet either. They were hearing a little Thomas now,
27:56
Speaker 1: but who I might add as autistic hearing his little
28:00
Speaker 1: brother Andrew describe how Thomas would have to stay in
28:05
Speaker 1: the garage night after night after night, and there would
28:07
Speaker 1: actually be snow in the garage, sleeping on the cold
28:11
Speaker 1: floor without a pillow or a blanket. In Thomas Valve's case,
28:17
Speaker 1: there was also considerable beatings, starvings, deprivations. Listen to Pixie eleven.
28:24
Speaker 1: My children were basically starved to death. Justina Valvet can't
28:28
Speaker 1: bring back her eight year old son, Thomas, a special
28:31
Speaker 1: need student with mild autism, but she can demand accountability
28:35
Speaker 1: from the child welfare workers and judges who gave custody
28:38
Speaker 1: of her three sons to ex husband Michael Valvat and
28:41
Speaker 1: his girlfriend Angela Polina. What do you have to say
28:44
Speaker 1: for yourself? Valvet said, Her ten year old son was
28:46
Speaker 1: also forced into Michael Valvet's freezing garage. He had frost
28:50
Speaker 1: bites on his hands, on his legs. The East Moriches
28:54
Speaker 1: School District had expressed concern about the two oldest boys
28:58
Speaker 1: in this letter sent an eight twenty eighteen. They were
29:01
Speaker 1: looking for foot on the classroom floor in Nagata. Bitch,
29:05
Speaker 1: they were coming to school boarding diapost. Did you hear that?
29:09
Speaker 1: Sarah Ford? The school district head quote expressed concern because
29:15
Speaker 1: the boys were coming in looking for food on the
29:19
Speaker 1: floor and in the garbage, wearing diapers. But they did nothing,
29:27
Speaker 1: And the mom is threatening to sue defects apartment family
29:31
Speaker 1: Children's services. But wait a minute, she's the mom. What
29:34
Speaker 1: did she do? What did she do to save her boys?
29:38
Speaker 1: And now Thomas Velvet isn't dead, This little autistic boy
29:43
Speaker 1: having slept in the garage where there's snow every night,
29:48
Speaker 1: forced out there by the bio dad and his girlfriend.
29:52
Speaker 1: I mean, the school expressed concern. That's all. That's all
29:55
Speaker 1: they could do. He wasn't coming to school. When he
29:58
Speaker 1: did come to school, he was looking for food in
30:00
Speaker 1: the garbage. Expressing concern doesn't cut it, Sarah Ford. It
30:05
Speaker 1: doesn't cut it. It doesn't cut it. You know, teachers
30:07
Speaker 1: are mandated reporters, you know, and for mandated reporters, that
30:12
Speaker 1: means that there is a law that teachers, doctors, other
30:17
Speaker 1: professionals have an obligation, a legal obligation to report suspected
30:22
Speaker 1: abuse of children. Express concern, my rear end. That's all
30:28
Speaker 1: they did. They express concern. How do people sleep at
30:32
Speaker 1: night knowing what these children are living through? Just like
30:36
Speaker 1: the neighbors in the North Carolina case, they knew the
30:39
Speaker 1: little boy was outside in a dog cage, and what
30:43
Speaker 1: would they do? Go give them a couple of chips?
30:45
Speaker 1: That's it? Are you serious? That's not the end of
30:48
Speaker 1: the Thomas novel story. Take a listen to our cut
30:52
Speaker 1: nineteen our friends into the ABC. You're never gonna believe
30:54
Speaker 1: this because the father who did this to the boy
30:57
Speaker 1: actually sets up a go fund me police seems also
31:00
Speaker 1: had facial and head injuries. Michael Valva had told police
31:03
Speaker 1: Thomas had fallen in the driveway and was knocked unconscious.
31:07
Speaker 1: He created a go fund Me page, which raised fourteen
31:09
Speaker 1: thousand dollars for Thomas's funeral. In it, Michael Valvet describes
31:13
Speaker 1: the death of his son as a quote tragic accident,
31:16
Speaker 1: but police believe Valva and Paulina routinely left Thomas and
31:19
Speaker 1: his ten year old brother in the garage as a
31:22
Speaker 1: form of punishment. So many people involved here that took
31:27
Speaker 1: a part of protecting the abuse that instead of protecting
31:30
Speaker 1: my children. Zuko Valvat says, school staff in the East
31:33
Speaker 1: Morichas School District had contacted CPS about Thomas and signs
31:37
Speaker 1: of physical abuse. They also noted he and his brother
31:40
Speaker 1: were suffering from food deprivation and were visibly dirty. Z deprivation,
31:45
Speaker 1: visibly dirty and it happened day after day after day. Yea,
31:49
Speaker 1: the abusers were protected while the children suffered. There is
31:54
Speaker 1: no case worse than child abuse, child death, child murders.
32:04
Speaker 1: You were hearing about little Thomas Valva being forced to
32:09
Speaker 1: stay in a snowy garage. The enclosure aspect of child
32:14
Speaker 1: abuse is not a new thing. Take a listen to
32:18
Speaker 1: our cut twenty nine from k E. Why Cynthia Vasquez
32:22
Speaker 1: doesn't just work at Cossa pacificas Center for Abused and
32:25
Speaker 1: neglected kids. She came in one of the worst cases
32:28
Speaker 1: that we've ever seen. She was horrendous when she and
32:31
Speaker 1: her sister went through. Cynthia's a little girl that came
32:34
Speaker 1: to us from a cage. She had lived in an
32:37
Speaker 1: animal cage in a basement for years, almost five years
32:42
Speaker 1: in fact, from when she was just five when she
32:45
Speaker 1: first joined her foster family. All was good. For the
32:48
Speaker 1: first year, it was great. I mean it was like
32:51
Speaker 1: the dream house. The Christmas was awesome. I mean we
32:56
Speaker 1: went to Disneyland like every month. But then everything changed.
33:00
Speaker 1: Everything changed, all right, take a listen to more. Cynthia's
33:03
Speaker 1: foster mother received thousands of dollars to pay for her care.
33:07
Speaker 1: But eventually I just went out of control. I was
33:11
Speaker 1: put inside a cage, a homemade cage, native plywood, just
33:16
Speaker 1: five feet by four feet, built in a basement with
33:19
Speaker 1: a wire mesh window. On the inside. There was a
33:22
Speaker 1: bed and there was like a latch, so you couldn't
33:26
Speaker 1: like get out. She remembers being kept on the edge
33:29
Speaker 1: of starvation. I was only allowed to eat raw eggs
33:32
Speaker 1: with vegetable oil, and it was disgusting. She remembers hot
33:36
Speaker 1: sauce put in her eyes and other forms of torture.
33:40
Speaker 1: She put my hand on the stove and left it
33:45
Speaker 1: like you know, it was like pushing it down. And
33:46
Speaker 1: that mother was getting thousands of dollars every month to
33:50
Speaker 1: take care of these children. And this child was locked
33:53
Speaker 1: in the cage in a basement for five years, her
33:56
Speaker 1: hand being forced onto a hot What mind of a
34:00
Speaker 1: freak can even do that? To doctor Angela Arnold or
34:04
Speaker 1: now psychiatrists joining us out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. What
34:08
Speaker 1: kind of mind would put a child's hand on a
34:10
Speaker 1: hot stove or put them in a change in abasement. Well, Nancy,
34:15
Speaker 1: the worst thing is and we don't and we're not
34:17
Speaker 1: going to blame this on mental illness because there's evil.
34:20
Speaker 1: I didn't even ask that there's evil without mental illness, okay.
34:26
Speaker 1: And oftentimes, oftentimes the perpetrators of this type of abuse
34:30
Speaker 1: are playing They could be playing out a type of
34:34
Speaker 1: abuse that they've suffered in the past. The child could
34:37
Speaker 1: remind them of someone and they're not getting caught, and
34:40
Speaker 1: so they're just escalating their abuse that they're playing out
34:44
Speaker 1: through this child. But they could very well be playing
34:50
Speaker 1: out things that are going through their own mind that
34:52
Speaker 1: they may have suffered through this child, or they are
34:57
Speaker 1: just completely evil and they get some sort of pleasure
35:01
Speaker 1: out of watching this abuse. Let me understand something. Robert
35:05
Speaker 1: Farley joined me former detective Cook County Shares Department expertise
35:08
Speaker 1: child exploitation doctor Angela Arnold. When I asked what kind
35:12
Speaker 1: of it's my fault? I asked the question, okay, rule
35:16
Speaker 1: number one, don't ask a question you don't know the
35:18
Speaker 1: answer to. But see that's for in court. And the
35:22
Speaker 1: answer I got Robert Farley is somehow the parents the
35:25
Speaker 1: guardian may be living out something that happened to them
35:29
Speaker 1: through the child. Do I care, Robert Farley? Do I
35:32
Speaker 1: care why they're doing it? The answer is no. That's
35:35
Speaker 1: a tip to you. The answer is no, don't care
35:37
Speaker 1: why an adult is mistreating a child this way till
35:40
Speaker 1: they die? You know the ans some of the cases
35:43
Speaker 1: that I had with arresting people who've killed children in
35:47
Speaker 1: that I just claim they're just bully. They're just bad, bad,
35:53
Speaker 1: bad people. As you're talking though, about these kids being
35:57
Speaker 1: caged from an invest the data point of view, what
35:59
Speaker 1: I would be looking for also is evidence of restraints
36:04
Speaker 1: and binding because oftentimes these kids are, you mentioned, like
36:09
Speaker 1: in the cage, bound to a bed. So I would
36:11
Speaker 1: look for restraint marks on their risks. I look for
36:14
Speaker 1: restraint learns on their ankles. I would look for bruising
36:18
Speaker 1: as a result of the kids being kagged is during
36:23
Speaker 1: they're pretty much tortured. I mean, I can think of
36:25
Speaker 1: a fellow that you know, six foot three, two hundred
36:28
Speaker 1: and thirty pounds, you know, murder and nineteen month old
36:31
Speaker 1: baby was doing body slams with the baby, and the
36:35
Speaker 1: stuff you see on the wrestling things on that, I mean,
36:37
Speaker 1: this is a monster. You know what's interesting about what
36:40
Speaker 1: you just said, Robert Farley, You're absolutely correct in my
36:44
Speaker 1: mind and my lay person mind. Again, I'm not a shrink,
36:48
Speaker 1: but there's a difference in losing all impulse control and
36:52
Speaker 1: hitting your kid, which of course is murder one. And
36:56
Speaker 1: they can rotten hill as opposed to a systematic not
37:00
Speaker 1: after night after night, day after day after day, leaving
37:02
Speaker 1: your child, your baby in a cage outdoors in twenty
37:08
Speaker 1: eight degree temperature. And I don't even know what to
37:11
Speaker 1: call those neighbors who knew it was happening and did nothing.
37:14
Speaker 1: And here's another example. Take a listen our cut thirty
37:16
Speaker 1: two not just one, but two children in a cage.
37:19
Speaker 1: Favors saw the couple living there outside fighting and a
37:23
Speaker 1: short time later, deputies responding to a nine on one
37:26
Speaker 1: call that the woman made showed up at the house
37:28
Speaker 1: after a report of domestic violence and a window being
37:31
Speaker 1: broken out. While the deputies were talking to the male
37:35
Speaker 1: and the female, they hurt children inside the house. Once
37:40
Speaker 1: deputes were inside, the discovery was heartbreaking. The youngest ones
37:44
Speaker 1: appeared to be malnourished and were unclothed. Their two older
37:51
Speaker 1: children were locked inside a dog kunnel and in Racine,
37:54
Speaker 1: Ore Cut thirty four. It happens all over the country.
37:57
Speaker 1: Here's wis in about the same nitions and race s Wisconsin. Listen.
38:02
Speaker 1: The Racine County sheriff says it is one of the
38:04
Speaker 1: most disturbing cases of child abuse he has ever seen.
38:08
Speaker 1: A nine year old girl locked in a dog cage.
38:10
Speaker 1: The girl recently told her teacher at school, who told authorities.
38:14
Speaker 1: The sheriff tells twelve News they arrested two caregivers pictured there.
38:18
Speaker 1: They say the girl was forced to stay in the
38:21
Speaker 1: cage for up to twelve hours a day, including at
38:24
Speaker 1: night and on weekends. Twenty three years of law enforcement,
38:27
Speaker 1: I have yet to see something like this. I needed
38:29
Speaker 1: to see it for myself and I was taken back.
38:32
Speaker 1: It was a shock that people actually treat a child
38:35
Speaker 1: like this. It was one of the most disturbing things
38:37
Speaker 1: I have witnessed in law enforcement. Living in a cage.
38:41
Speaker 1: And of course will never forget the case of little Adrian,
38:44
Speaker 1: at least I won't. I won't go through all the
38:47
Speaker 1: torture inflicted on him. But in our cut and from
38:50
Speaker 1: kh SMB, you see his enclosure was in a lot
38:54
Speaker 1: shower stall. Listen. The abuse began with Adrian standing for
38:57
Speaker 1: hours at a time with his hands in the air,
39:00
Speaker 1: but quickly escalates. They'd strap them to inversion tables or
39:04
Speaker 1: make them stand outside all night or in the cold
39:07
Speaker 1: holding tiki torches. Why are you doing that? Please just
39:14
Speaker 1: stop at Jack, I can't even hear anymore. Okay, you
39:16
Speaker 1: were hearing Adrian's voice before his death. The step mother
39:20
Speaker 1: would video all of our torture, beat and starved locked
39:24
Speaker 1: in a lock shower stall until he died. In this
39:28
Speaker 1: case that we're covering right now out of North Carolina,
39:33
Speaker 1: the silver lining is that the boy lived. I'm going
39:37
Speaker 1: to count on doctor Hess and doctor Angie Arnold to
39:41
Speaker 1: describe the life long repercussions this will inflict upon him.
39:49
Speaker 1: But just so you know, here's a resolution. Take a
39:53
Speaker 1: listen hour cut seven. Our friends at WFMY. You see
39:56
Speaker 1: something in your neighborhood involving children, whatever, say something to us.
40:03
Speaker 1: It wasn't isolated case this come. This has probably been
40:08
Speaker 1: going on some and the importance we want is for you,
40:12
Speaker 1: the public, to get involved and help us. All three
40:15
Speaker 1: people who are charging this case made their first court
40:17
Speaker 1: appearance this morning. A judge raised all three of their bonds.
40:21
Speaker 1: The father and stepmother their bond was increased to one
40:23
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars, and the child's aunt, Shelley Barnes, her
40:26
Speaker 1: bond was increased to three hundred thousand dollars and she
40:29
Speaker 1: is also facing drug and weapons charges. Too. Doctor free
40:32
Speaker 1: and has from pedemom dot com what type of long
40:37
Speaker 1: term ailments will afflict this boy? So it depends on
40:41
Speaker 1: what his core temperature was once he was actually found.
40:45
Speaker 1: You can have some organ damage, but even more peripheribly
40:49
Speaker 1: because you end up shunting your blood, meaning try and
40:52
Speaker 1: get your blood more to the core to take care
40:54
Speaker 1: of your important organs. You can get frostbites on fingers
40:58
Speaker 1: toes knows the essentially any of your parts of your extremity,
41:02
Speaker 1: which if severe enough, can require an amputation. Now I
41:05
Speaker 1: don't know if that was the case with him, but
41:08
Speaker 1: considering what we've already known, if not a possibility already,
41:13
Speaker 1: it definitely could have been had he been left there.
41:16
Speaker 1: And doctor Andy Arnold, there's more to this case. Because
41:19
Speaker 1: this North Carolina boy found in a lot to in
41:22
Speaker 1: a phrasing dog kennel, seen in a cage as a baby,
41:28
Speaker 1: he was erased from family photos and sent to quote
41:31
Speaker 1: live outside by his father, stepmother, and aunt. Can he
41:37
Speaker 1: ever surmount the emotional and psychological damage? Ever? I really
41:42
Speaker 1: don't think. You know, Nancy, it's said, but I don't
41:45
Speaker 1: think that he can. First of all, he may have,
41:47
Speaker 1: as doctor Hester said, he may have suffered brain damage
41:51
Speaker 1: from from the torture that he was, the torture that
41:56
Speaker 1: was heaped upon him. But Nancy, this is such a
42:00
Speaker 1: such a form of abandonment. So the child hasn't he
42:05
Speaker 1: stopped his development at some point, he stopped his normal development.
42:10
Speaker 1: He hasn't reached his normal milestones, He has no attachment
42:14
Speaker 1: to anyone, and then that all has to you know,
42:19
Speaker 1: when you've missed these things, when a child is developing
42:22
Speaker 1: at their core, oftentimes you can't get them back. And
42:26
Speaker 1: this is also so severe. I also wonder, doctor Angie,
42:30
Speaker 1: how come no one missed him at school? Oh? I
42:33
Speaker 1: wonder that if my children are even late, I get
42:36
Speaker 1: an email at eight twenty am, your child is tardy.
42:42
Speaker 1: It's not a very nice email either, as it is
42:44
Speaker 1: shouldn't be so what They didn't even know the child
42:48
Speaker 1: and just quit coming to school. I can't wait to
42:51
Speaker 1: see whose head is gonna roll. A silver platter is
42:56
Speaker 1: too good for these heads once they're chopped off. So
42:59
Speaker 1: we've got Nathan Star. Let's name them the victim's father
43:02
Speaker 1: thirty two years old, Sarah Starr forty year old, victim's stepmother,
43:08
Speaker 1: and Shelley Barnes, the evil at age fifty six. These
43:14
Speaker 1: charges are not enough. This is attempted murder. The tip
43:19
Speaker 1: line if you have any information or which just want
43:22
Speaker 1: to give input like I do for the Davidson County
43:25
Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office is three three six two four two twenty
43:28
Speaker 1: one hundred repeat three three six two two twenty one hundred. Sadly,
43:34
Speaker 1: I can't prosecute the neighbors who stood by and let
43:37
Speaker 1: it happen. We wait as justice un false. Goodbye friend,