Late Night: The Disappearance and Death of Celina Cass

Posted: August 3, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: child sexual abuse, children, Crime, physical abuse, Violence against women | Tags: , , , , | 12 Comments

Celina Cass

In my Tuesday Reads post I wrote about the many women and children who go missing in the U.S.–so many that this horrible state of affairs has been almost normalized in our society. One of the recent cases I mentioned was that of and 11-year-old girl from northern New Hampshire, Celina Cass.

Celina had been missing since Thursday, July 25. Her family said they had last seen her working on her computer before she went to bed. In the morning, she was gone. Celina’s body was found on Monday in the Connecticut river near a hydroelectric dam, wrapped a blanket. Reportedly, the body was wrapped in a blanket. Even after an autopsy, the cause of her death is unknown. Investigators are still waiting for the results of toxicology tests.

Wendell Noyes

Celina lived with her mother, Louisa Noyes, her older sister Kayla, 13, and her stepfather, Wendell Noyes. Yesterday, I wrote that I suspected Celina’s stepfather had something to do with her death. Noyes has a criminal record. He was arrested for violating a restraining order taken out by his former girlfriend–breaking into her home during the night and threatening to push her down the stairs. Afterwards, he was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

It was because of his previous violent behavior and the fact that Celina was not his child that made me suspect him–not his apparent mental illness. Statistically, stepfathers are five times as likely to abuse children as natural fathers. In addition, Police said Noyes was “uncooperative” when questioned. Then on Monday, he was rushed to a Concord, NH, hospital, apparently having had another breakdown.

Well, it looks like I may have been correct in my suspicions. Today, police searched Celina’s family home and seized Noyes’ pickup truck. From ABC News:

Noyes, 47, was taken by ambulance to a hospital Monday after behaving bizarrely. His odd behavior and hospitalization came about the same time that searchers found the girl’s body in a nearby lake next to a dam.

I hope someone has been able to talk to Celina’s older sister Kayla, because it is quite likely that Celina–and perhaps Kayla as well–had been sexually abused by their stepfather. According to his Facebook page, Noyes is interested in “hot girls,” and most of his “friends” reflect that interest. For what it’s worth, Noyes’ brother Gordon is a registered sex offender, convicted of molesting a child.

Celina’s natural father is Adam Laro. I haven’t yet been able to find out how Celina got the surname “Cass.” How many stepfathers has she had? I have questions about Laro as well. He is currently living with his parents, and his former wife did not contact him about Celina’s disappearance.

Laro was in the hospital because of a heart condition when Cass disappeared from her home. He said he was not contacted by Cass’s mother, who had custody of the child. Instead, he turned on the television and saw his daughter’s school photo on the morning news.

“I thought, ‘That looks like a picture of my daughter,’” Laro recalled. “And then I realized that it was my daughter.”

Marcia Laro, Celina’s grandmother, said of her:

“She was such a unique little girl,” said the woman, 65. “She was adorable, lovable, trusting, happy.”

Cass’s grandmother said she was disappointed that Celina’s mother did not come forward to speak to the media while the search for Celina went on. Both Louisa and Wendell Noyes have declined requests for interviews.

Marcia Laro said she did not understand why the mother did not reach out to Celina’s father after the child’s body was discovered.

“We haven’t heard from her,” the grandmother said. “We’re confused.”

Two other troubling issues:

First, as you can see from this photo, Celina desperately needed some dental work. Why didn’t her father and grandparents see that she got it?

Second, Adam Laro originally said he thought Celina and her sister Kayla were well cared for, but more recently he told a different story. He says Celina and her sister shared a room and then,

“The next thing I know they are staying on an air mattress on the cellar floor, staying down in the cellar and to me it’s like, why would they do that? It wasn’t a good atmosphere over there, there were a lot of people in and out of that place and a lot of faces every time I went over there. It hurts me incredibly. I don’t even know how to explain it–it’s crushing–it’s heart crushing–it’s like a sore that is never going to leave,” said Laro.

Did he ask his daughters what was going on? Did he try to help them? This is very troubling to me.

So–lots of unanswered questions. Perhaps more will come out soon. But a beautiful young girl is dead and many people’s lives will be affected–not just those of her family members, but her classmates, teachers, and even the people whose job it is to find out what happened to her.

In summary, this is an obvious and very sad case of child neglect and abuse. Celina’s natural father clearly was not close to her, and her stepfather has a history of violence and a brother who is a sex offender. His Facebook page speaks shows that he doesn’t mind who knows that he is interested in porn and “hot girls.” Celina’s mother has not been heard from so far. I’m guessing she was a doormat for her husband. Celina’s sister Kayla needs to be removed from the home as soon as possible.

Breaking… Verdict Reached in Casey Anthony Trial

Posted: July 5, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: child sexual abuse, children, Crime, physical abuse | Tags: , , , , , | 152 Comments

Casey Anthony

The jury informed the court a short time ago that a verdict had been agreed upon. The result will be announced at approximately 2:15.

ORLANDO, Fla. — The jury has reached a verdict in the murder trial of Casey Anthony, who is accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. Judge Belvin Perry says he will read the verdict at 1:15 p.m. Chicago time Tuesday.

The Florida jury deliberated for more than 10 hours. If convicted of first-degree murder, the 25-year-old Anthony could get a death sentence.

She could also be acquitted or convicted of second-degree murder or manslaughter.

She is also charged with lying to sheriff’s detectives investigating her daughter’s 2008 disappearance.

The panel of seven women and five men appeared briefly in the courtroom Tuesday before Perry sent them to continue their work behind closed doors. The jurors had worked through much of the long weekend, hearing closing arguments Sunday and Monday morning and deliberating for six hours that afternoon.

Such a short deliberation time sounds bad for the defense, good for the prosecution. Of course the OJ jury only deliberated for four hours, but he had better attorney’s and a biased jury.

I’ll add more info as I get it. Let us know what you’re hearing.

Family Dynamics and the Casey Anthony Trial

Posted: June 25, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: child sexual abuse, children, Crime, physical abuse, psychology | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 61 Comments

Cindy, Casey, and Lee Anthony

Since it’s Saturday night on a slow news day, I thought I’d share some of my impressions about Casey Anthony and her family. I’m by no means an expert on this case–I only began following it right after the trial began. I’ll try to briefly summarize the story behind the trial as I understand it, but I’m going to assume that readers have a basic knowledge of the Anthony case.

This case has been covered so extensively in the media for the past three years that it might even outdo the media circus around the O.J. Simpson trial. This is one reason I never read about the case until recently. I thought the public reaction was kind of repulsive and hysterical. But once I started reading about what happened, I was drawn in by the fascinating story and its psychological aspects.


Background:

Casey Anthony, 25, is on trial in Orlando, Florida, for first degree murder in the death of her daughter Caylee, who was nearly 3 years old. If convicted, Casey could be sentenced to life in prison or death. She is also charged with second degree murder and aggravated child abuse–both of which carry a life sentence.

George Anthony

The story began when Casey became pregnant at age 19. Casey supposedly did not realize she was pregnant until she was 7 months along. Casey’s mother Cindy, a registered nurse, also claims she never realized her daughter was pregnant until then. Casey’s father George went along with the charade too. Once she faced the fact that she was going to have a baby, Casey told friends she wanted to give the child up for adoption; but Cindy pressured her to keep the child, and provide for both of them. The child, Caylee, was born on August 8, 2005 and the mother and child lived with George and Cindy.

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Battle to Save Corporal Punishment In New Orleans Catholic School

Posted: June 1, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: children, Civil Rights, physical abuse, Surreality, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

Do you get the feeling the bad old days are coming back? U.S. economy has returned us to 1930s-style levels of unemployment, evil Republicans like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are trying to recreate the poverty of those years by removing the social safety net, and Republicans are working as hard as they can to make sure women have no control over their bodies or their lives.

Now we have students of a Catholic school in New Orleans and their parents demanding Archbishop Gregory Aymond reverse his decision to end corporal punishment, and school alumni aresuing the educational consultant who recommended the policy change!

Can this really be the 21st Century?

From yesterday’s New Orleans Times-Picayune:

The controversy over corporal punishment at St. Augustine High School resurfaced Tuesday when several alumni sued a consultant [read the suit here (pdf)] who advised Archbishop Gregory Aymond that St. Augustine students had been injured by paddling.

The claim isn’t true, the alumni said.

For months Aymond, who as archbishop exerts some control over the Catholic school, has sought to end St. Augustine’s decades-old practice of paddling students. He has said it is not consistent with Catholic values.

But backers of corporal punishment, who include St. Augustine administrators, parents and alumni, say it is part of St. Augustine’s formula for success.

According to the story, the consultant, Monica Applewhite, convinced the Archbishop to ban paddling of students against the decision of the review committee.

In late 2009 Aymond asked Monica Applewhite, described as a educational safety consultant based in Austin, Texas, to look into discipline at St. Augustine.

As Aymond’s representative, Applewhite sat in on St. Augustine’s internal review of its corporal punishment policy. The review committee elected to continue the policy, with modifications.

But the lawsuit says that Applewhite privately advised Aymond that she learned during her inquiry that parents had taken three students to the hospital after paddling, and that others had been paddled “day after day and more than 5 or 6 times a day.”

Archbishop Aymond says he has been contacted by former students and parents of students who were injured by corporal punishment in the school. He made this statement at a news conference today:

“I feel it necessary at this time to share that since the issue of paddling at St. Augustine has become public, I have been contacted both in writing and in person by individuals and parents of individual students who were injured as a result of being paddled at school,” Aymond said in a statement. “Those who have shared this information with me have done so in confidence, but at this juncture, the public should know that my concerns over paddling at St. Augustine go beyond Dr. Applewhite’s report to first-hand accounts.”

I also want to point out that paddling at St. Augustine’s is routinely used to discipline students for such shocking infractions as “tardiness, sloppy uniform dress or other minor rules infractions.”

Frankly, I thought that corporal punishment had been eliminated in the U.S. But I was wrong. According to this report on corporal punishment research, paddling is still common in a number of states.

The US Supreme Court decided in 1977 that spanking or paddling by schools is lawful where it has not been explicitly outlawed by local authorities. It is true that the incidence of CP has declined sharply in recent years, but only 31 states (plus D.C. and Puerto Rico) have actually abolished it, either de facto or de jure. CP is still used in the other 19 states, and it remains a fairly common practice in three of them, all in the South: Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi.

It is also routine, but only in a minority of (often rural or small-town) schools, in five more southern states: Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.

The latest states to abolish were Delaware, in 2003, after an eight-year gap in which no abolitions took place at state level; Pennsylvania, in 2005; Ohio, in 2009; and now in 2011 New Mexico (documentation in next update). The number of paddlings had already fallen to a low level in these states.

On the other hand, efforts to ban school CP by legislation have failed in 2003 in Wyoming and repeatedly in Missouri, and also in North Carolina in 2007 and Louisiana in 2009.

The New York Times had a story about corporal punishment in September 2006. This chart was published with the article.

The pattern suggests that corporal punishment is more accepted in southern states and red states. Perhaps there is something to notion that Republicans and conservatives generally tend toward authoritarianism.

In my opinion, paddling is child abuse and should be illegal. Furthermore, I think children have rights just like adults do. I guess if the Supreme Court disagrees with me, our only hope is for sanity in state legislatures. Good luck with that.

Thanks to Dakinikat for alerting me to this story.

Bad News at Good News Camp

Posted: April 6, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: child sexual abuse, children, physical abuse | Tags: , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Last night I posted that prosecutors are looking into sexual abuse allegations relating to an employee at the Good News Christian Camp on Cape Cod–the same camp at which Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown says he was sexually abused by a counselor when he was a young boy.

Today an employee at the camp shot himself. And officials say he is the employee who was recently accused by another man who was abused at the camp when he was 10 years old. From The Boston Globe:

An employee of a Christian summer camp on Cape Cod shot himself to death today just days after he became the focus of a criminal investigation into allegations that he sexually abused a camper during the 1980s, officials said.

In a joint statement released this afternoon, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe and Sandwich Police Chief Peter Wack said the man was dead when he was found near his vehicle on the grounds of Camp Good News this morning.

[….]

The dead man’s name was not released by authorities. But Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents a former camper who brought a sex abuse allegation to prosecutors on Monday, said the employee was his client’s alleged abuser: Charles “Chuck” Devita, 43, who is listed on the camp’s website as part of the leadership team and director of the physical plant.

Devita left behind notes insisting “that he never did anything being alleged and was, indeed, sick of being accused,” according to a law enforcement official.

What a coward. He spends decades abusing vulnerable young boys, and when he’s finally caught he checks out, leaving a note claiming innocence.

Meanwhile, Scott Brown says his abuse took place in the 1970’s, more than 40 years ago. He refuses to identify his abuser, but now we know that the Camp has employed at least two pedophiles.

According to the Boston Herald:

Garabedian tells the Herald his client was supposed to meet with a state police investigator about today’s death. Garabedian said his client alleges he was repeatedly sexually assaulted at the overnight camp in 1985 by Devita.

Garabedian said three other people have now come forward today alleging they were also sexually assaulted at the camp — two from Devita and one from another man.

“Another individual has come forward alleging that he was molested by a different individual. I am currently investigating,” Garabedian said.

So…maybe three pedophiles have worked for this “Christian” camp. Let’s hope parents in Massachusetts stop sending their kids to this place, and learn to be vigilant about what is going on with their kids in the future. Parents need to be aware that pedophiles seek out jobs where they will have access to children.

It’s important for parents to discuss these kinds of situations with children in age appropriate ways. If nothing else, being open with your kids might help them feel safe to talk to you if, goddess forbid, they are approached by a sexual abuser.

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