Kaiden James Light, This Angel Got His Wings Too Soon.

Kaiden James Light

Kaiden James Light was born on August 8, 2010 to Tatianna and Ronald Light. Tatianna was a recovering drug addict. For an unknown reason she previously had her parental rights terminated with her 5-year-old a few years priors to Kaiden’s birth.

Tatianna also hid her marriage to Ronald from the Conklin’s for 2 years fearing they would not approve of him.

Kaidens’ grandmother Deborah Conklin asked Tatianna and Ronald to allow Kaiden to stay with her because she was worried about his well-being. She kept Kaiden everyday except for 2 days and developed a close bond with her grandson, even promising him that she would keep him safe. Kaiden wasn’t safe though, his own mother would murder him just 8 weeks after he was born.

Looking at the documentation and facts surrounding baby Kaiden’s short life will unfortunately show one train wreck after another. This little angel was loved and could have been well taken care of and loved like no other but because of laws everyone who cared for or were concerned about Kaiden Light were unable to help him. Help never came for him and now there are more than 350 pages that documented his very short life. How does that even happen?

After Kaiden was born there was a call to children’s services by a legally mandated reporter due to the fact that Kaiden’s father was a registered sex offender from an incident in 1994. They decided at that time he was not a danger to Kaiden and they offered In-home services to the couple.

Tatianna, Ronad and Kaiden Light

In-home services sent nurses and specialists to the house and they kept notes on Tatianna as well as tracked Kaiden’s milestones. All the notes on Tatianna, Ronald and Kaiden were positive. They said they were both attentive and loving parents. The case was closed out on September 8 because In-home services felt they had done enough for the family with the exception of a psychology exam for both Tatianna and Ronald. Kaiden was 4 weeks old at this time.

On September 22, Deborah, baby Kaidens’ Grammy called the hot-line number and reported that he was displaying signs of shaken baby syndrome. She was advised by a caseworker to take him to the hospital, upon examining Kaiden doctors said they didn’t find anything wrong with him and sent him back home.

A caseworker asked Tatianna if it would be ok if the baby stayed elsewhere while she underwent a psychological evaluation and drug test. Tatianna agreed and Deborah kept the baby. Children’s Division couldn’t actually remove the baby from Tatianna because they didn’t have enough evidence therefore they were requesting permission.

According to Children’s Division, Lisa Altis, it is common practice that as long as the parent is working with the children’s service agency then other agencies will not report any of their concerns and it is illegal to remove the child in most cases such as the Lights’.

“It’s horrible, whether that child dies in the home or in foster care. I wish we could find a way to keep that from happening. We just can’t all the time,” Lisa Altis said.

On October 4, 2010, Tatianna’s drug test came back and she was clean of all “illegal” substances in her system. Tatianna is a prescription dug addict, she goes from doctor to doctor obtaining prescriptions so it would have been easy to pass a drug screening.

Tatianna’s psychologist, Dr. Eva Wilson told the caseworker“her testing did not disclose any concerning information regarding Mrs. Light and that she did not see a problem returning Kaiden to the home,”

Kaiden went home that evening at 6PM.

Deborah Conklin

The next day the psychologist’s report was received by the caseworker’s, both Isabella Escudero and Julie Anderson emailed each other back and forth stating their concerns for Kaiden. They asked to remove him from his home and were told there was not enough evidence to support that decision.

Caseworkers Isabella Escudero and Julie Anderson went to supervisor Gary Norell and told him they were worried and there were a lack of details in the evaluation from Dr. Wilson. They were also concerned about her drug addiction although she passed a screening. Aside from that they were worried about her mental health and her maturity level. The following is some of what was found in the 350+ pages of documentation;

“Mr. Norell wanted to know what concerns we had and we informed him that at this time we could not identify any concrete concerns as Mrs. Light was doing everything we had asked her,” Escudero wrote in Kaiden’s report. “The psychologist had cleared her and denied having any concerns. Mr. Norell informed us that the best decision to make at this time was to have Mrs. Light … (undergo) another psychological evaluation and to monitor her closely.” “Mr. Norell did not feel the Juvenile Office would accept a referral based upon the information that we had. . . Mr. Norell suggested that we needed to be able to present fact to the the Juvenile Office and we needed to take the time to gather more facts and information that could accurately express our concerns regarding the safety of Kaiden,” the report said.

The caseworkers call to set up a visit between 2-2:30. Once they get there no one answered the door or the phone. Ms. Escudero says she pounded on the door for several minutes before giving up and leaving. She received a phone call while she was on her way back to the office that 911 had been called from the Light home.

Tatianna called 911 at 2:50 saying her infant wasn’t breathing. Kaiden was dead before the caseworkers ever made it to the house. The medical examiner estimated Kaiden’s time of death at 2:00PM.

She was arrested the same day and admitted to suffocating Kaiden with a pillow.

Tatianna Light has told several lies about how she murdered her infant son. She has said everything from she suffocated him with a pillow to she tripped and fell with him. When she told investigators he rolled over and smothered she couldn’t explain why she gave him CPR for 30 minutes, took his clothing off, cleaned the blood from his nose, removed the bedding and washed them all before calling 911.

“She described suffocating him for approximately one hour,” the probable cause statement in the case said. “During that time period she stopped and saw he was still alive, then continued until he was no longer breathing or moving.”

Tatianna Noel Light over-killed Kaiden. Why? From what I can gather the only conclusion I can come up with is because she was tired of being told she was a bad mother. This is what she told investigators from what I read in one of the articles.

After she admitted to killing Kaiden the investigators left the room and noted “During this time, Tatianna was very calm. She cleaned out her pockets, took off her jewelry and organized her wallet,” the report said.

When they went back into the room she was suddenly crying and suicidal;

“It takes more than one officer to subdue her and get her in handcuffs,” the report said. “She is now yelling that she does not want to go to jail and wants to go to the psych ward. She states more than once that she will kill herself if taken to jail and that she wants to kill herself and go be with her son.”

Tatianna told another officer that she knew what to say to go to the psych ward.

The following day, on the 6^th she was booked for second-degree murder and is looking at a 30 years to life sentence.

Since Tatianna’s incarceration she has sent a letter to the judge changing her story. You can see her letter here http://www.scribd.com/doc/52968553 In it she begs for her freedom so she can “help pay for the funeral and get drug abuse treatment.”

I’m guessing she believes the judge may give her her freedom back with a promise of employment and NA meetings. I’m also guessing that’s all Kaiden’s life was worth to her.

Shara Martin, Tatianna’s attorney responded to the letter saying she can only change her plea in front of the judge. She has a hearing set for May 13 where a trial date may be set.

As far as I can tell this was not a case of children’s division dropping the ball like we hear so many times, this was a lack of appropriate laws to protect this newborn and because of that he was murdered by his mother.

Arleasha Mays, Assistant Communications Director for the state Department of Social Services said;

“It’s not that we didn’t take action. This is a horrible tragedy … We feel very strongly that we were taking positive action to address any concerns that were made and to try and prevent this horrible event from ever happening,”

“We couldn’t go to court and say, ‘This doctor says it’s not (a bad situation), but my gut tells me that it’s not going to be safe,'” said Lisa Altis, one of the supervisors in the abuse and neglect unit of the juvenile office. “It’s frustrating for workers … I trust their gut, but I have to look at it from a legal perspective of what’s provable or not.”

Ronald Light has filed for divorce but it’s not final yet.

Deborah Conklin, Kaidens grandma

Please join Deborah Conklin’s facebook page Kaiden James Light (we love you and miss you) http://www.facebook.com/UnforgottenAngels#!/pages/Kaiden-James-Light-we-love-you-and-miss-you/178848618796846

Everything You Don’t Know About Online Friends (via The Ultimate Evil)

Thank you TUECAA for the great post

April is Child Abuse Awareness Month. Please spread the word and remember that silence is an abuser's best friend! I have always tried to warn parents, caregivers, and children about the dangers of social networking "friends."  In reality, we don't know these people. There are headlines almost every day of a sexual predator luring a child or an adult woman to her demise. We have websites that are designated for classified ads where serial rapists … Read More

via The Ultimate Evil

Profile of a Pedophile (Lindsay Ashford) (via ANTI-PAEDO)

More on this monster Lindsay Ashford

A couple of months back, pedophile movement ringleader Lindsay Ashford was whining about how a girl he met was going around his city telling people about who he is to warn them about the danger in their midst. I got to thinking and realized that she might be a great source of information about this pervert so I decided to write her and ask her about her impressions of him so that we could sort of get inside his head. See how he works so to speak. … Read More

via ANTI-PAEDO

PEDOPHILE SYMBOLS AND CODES: An Update (via The Ultimate Evil)

I’m not familiar at all with things like this or how it is proven but thought I would share it. This blogger spends a lot of time and energy on their blog and that is awesome!

I recently posted a comment left by a supposed self-proclaimed pedophile, in which he suggests my pedophile symbol collection is outdated by listing variants he and his ilk often use to fool the public. After posting the comment, I was asked for more information on the symbols. I have gone through all of the posts I've made previously to gather the symbols and online codes into this one post for easy reference.Please, feel free to copy and paste … Read More

via The Ultimate Evil

Seraphina Wilson, A 2 1/2 Year Old Little Girl Proves Anything Can Be Done

Seraphina Wilson

I am 21 yrs old and a mother of 2. My oldest will be 2 August 24. My youngest will be 1 August 11. My oldest name is Seraphina. She is blind and disabled due to child abuse. My little angel was 6 months old when she was beaten for the last time. She was living with her father and his girlfriend while we were undergoing a custody battle. I knew there was abuse going on in the home and I contacted the police and Department of Child services and they did nothing. I was even prepared to kidnap her but they never let her out of the home where I could get to her.

After she was taken the from them the last time we heard about the abuse she endured. She wasn’t allowed to eat when she was hungry if she didnt eat fast. She wasn’t allowed to sleep unless on their schedule. She was spanked, slapped and, put in time out beginning at 1 month old. She even had her hands safety pinned behind her back so she wouldn’t get out of a swaddle at night.

Once there was a police report made when they took her to the ER because she was pooping blood. The Drs noticed that Sera had handprint bruises on her stomach. She was squeezed so hard that it cause bruises. Even after that and another incident of a black eye she was not taken from the home.

The last time she was abused was on February 18, 2009. Her father’s girlfriend, Alicia, was home alone with Sera and her own daughter who was a newborn. She had gotten angry with Sera becuase she was whiney and took her into her room and holding her around her waist, swung her back and forth beating her head against her own crib. She did this several times and than threw her into her crib so hard she hit her head yet again off the other side. Sera went into shock and started choking yet Alicia just turned up the music in the room and left shutting the door behind her.

She told police later that she thought she killed her. By the time her father got home Alicia had went in to the room and picked up Sera and was holding her as she siezed and choked in her arms. Alicia claimed she couldn’t find the phone, but her father was able to find the phone right away. He called 911 and an abulance came and picked her up.

The parametic on the ambluance did a quick assesment on her and said that on a scale from 3-15 Sera was an 8. She was not responding to anything but more pain and even then all she could do was wimper. Once they got her on the way to the hospital they needed to get her on some pain medication. Because Sera was so stiff they had to take a corkscrew like tool and put an IV into her bone marrow. Finally they were able to get her on morphine and she started to relax.

Meanwhile, I was pregnant with my second child. I was not feeling well. Not having a clue what was happening to my baby, I went to the ER to make sure everything was OK with the way I was feeling. When I got there and was getting ready to be checked in, my daughter had arrived. The Dr came to me and asked me if I brought a baby with me. I told him no and realized they were talking about my daughter. They escorted me and my fiance to a family waiting room and told us that my daughter had been dropped when being put into her crib (that was Alicia’s story at the time).

After a few tests the Drs knew that the damage done to my daughter was not an accident. That is when the interogations started. They told me I was not allowed to see my daughter. They also gave me the worst news a mother could hear. They told me that the damage done to my baby was to severe and that she would’t make it through the night. She was still seizing, had a skull fracture, a bleed in her brain, detacted retinas, a clot in her brain, along with bruises all over her. I could do nothing but sob as my heart broke. The only thing that kept me going was the child that was growing inside me. They sent me home after what seemed like an eternity of trying to calm me down. That night was so tramatizing I dont remember much of it.

The next day I called the hospital and my baby was still alive. I was finally oked to see her and stay with her that afternoon. The first time I saw her my heart broke all over again. She was laying in the white barred crib that looked like a miniture prison cell. She had wires connected every where on her little body. Gauze covered her head to keep the electrodes on her head and a splint on her arm to keep her from knocking out IV’s. She laid there lifelss. If it wasn’t for the machines saying she was alive I wouldn’t have believed them. She looked like she was terrified to move.

The next few days she was back and forth from the ped’s unit to the Intensive care unit. Her siezures would come and go. She was put on several meds to keep her from seizing. They had to keep her tired so she wouldn’t get worked up. After the 10th day. I decided to go home that night to get some rest so I wouldn’t hurt the child I was carrying.

The next day I came up to the hospital to see Sera and we were informed that she was placed in a foster home. I was devestated. We went to the DFS office to try and fight to get her back, but all they could tell me is that they “suggested I sign my rights over because I couldn’t handle all the challages of raising a child as special as Sera”. She was never going to walk or stand or see. They told me that she was going to be in diapers for the rest of her life and would never speak. Even hearing all that I knew I had to get my daughter back. After 5 months of jumping through hoop after hoop and going to visits and classes. I finally “earned” the right to have my daughter back.

Ever since, we have been working with her constently to make sure that she lives to the best of her abilities. She is in Physical Therapy, Oral/Speech Therapy, Disabilty Services, and School for the Deaf and Blind. With all the services she is in, she has learned to stand on her own. She is starting to walk. Is learning sign language, and says a few words. She is on seizure medication. And is learning how to use her other senses to make up for the loss of her vision. We have come a long way. But as we are going on we have more trials that keep coming up.

We have just recently found out that there still is a chance of brain deteoriation and that her life span has all ready been shortened. We are now in the process of finding a Dr who is willing to help us find the aswers we need to help her.

Also because of the stress I endured during the tramatic event my daughter underwent, my youngest little girl, Emilie, is also having problems. She was born 5 weeks early and we have had many tests done on her. She has calcium deposits in her brain, she favors one side more that the other, (although not as much anymore), she had tortiulis in her neck which cause a misshapen head, and she was very slow to reach her milestones. We are also having those things looked into by a Dr in Seattle.

We just ended our trial against Alcia Hocter for all the pain she has caused our family. She was found guilty of Aggravated Asault and Criminal Endangermant. Finally after 1 yr and 4 mo she will be sentenced on July 14, 2010. In that period of time she has been out of jail she has had another child and gotten engaged to a registered sex offender. She is looking at a sentence of 30 yrs at the most. In order to ensure she gets the full sentence I need to collect letters stating to the judge that this shouldn’t be tolerated and asking that he shows her no mercy as she has shown none so sweet Seraphina. If you are interested in writing one please let me know.

Even with all of this we still manage to find happiness in every little thing my girls accomplish. Sera’s father has signed over his rights to her and Will, my fiance, will adopt her right after we are married on July 24, 2010. At that point we will finally be a family.

The Wilson's

We will be faced with struggles every day and new trials will always arise, but someone was watching over my little girl that day as well as my youngest the day she was born. They are meant to be here and will achieve what they are meant to. God(or whomever is up there) has only taken from my babies what they don’t need to fufill there reason they are on this earth. I have confidence that they are being closly watched and protected in there life here.

Please join Seraphina’s Struggle on facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Seraphinas-Struggle/111126468919457

Written by Kendra Wilson, Seraphina’s Mother in July 2010

Sean Michael Sowards, An Angel That Literally Lived In Hell On Earth

Sean Michael Sowards

Sean Michael Sowards was born on September 23, 2004 to Crystal Conklin and Michael Sowards of Warren, Michigan, who had been together for 8 years. Baby Sean was Michael and Crystal’s first-born son, they also had a little girl, Angelique “Angel” who was a year older.

In 2003, the girl tested positive for weed in her system, DHS provided services to the family.

In 2005 DHS received a report that Crystal was beating on Sean, they said she would wake the baby up just to beat on him. DHS was told “She doesn’t want him and only kept him because the father wanted him,”

Elizabeth Herd, Sean’s paternal grandma also called DHS;

“My concerns were Sean was being injured in his home,” she said. “I told them my 4-month-old grandson was being spanked by his mother because he wouldn’t stop crying.” She said she was told that “unless he is seriously injured or dead, they would not investigate.” and “They said parents have a right to discipline their children, and it was none of my business,” she said.

In 2006 Elizabeth was told by Crystal that her grandson had an eye infection, it was after this that she was kept away from Sean. Elizabeth also reported that she saw bruises and cuts on Sean but was always told that Angel did it.

Sean Michael Sowards and sister

Michael came home from work on the evening of June 11, 2007 and saw his son in desperate need of medical attention. Sean was laying in bed unconscious in his own vomit. He picked his son up and rushed him to the emergency room at St. John Oakland General Hospital where it was learned that he had extensive head and brain trauma among many other injuries that were new and old.

When Sean arrived at the hospital he was unresponsive, covered in bruises and cuts from head-to-toe, he had a cut on his forehead that should have received stitches but was already healing, his toenails on his big toes were torn away, replaced with blood, he was essentially blind from from his eyes being burnt from most likely nail polish remover being poured on them, he had a broken finger, bite-marks and was underweight.

Sean was then transferred to St. John Hospital in Detroit for emergency surgery. Although the doctors did a heroic job and worked on baby Sean in surgery to relieve the fluid on his brain he still died 2 days later on June 13th. It was at this point his tragic nightmare-ish life story began to unfold in the news.

Crystal and Michael both were arrested on the 13th. On the 14th, after investigators spoke with Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office they released Michael from jail. Crystal was charged with felony murder and child abuse.

The couples 3-year-old daughter Angel was placed into the custody of Macomb County Child Protective Services. She was never abused, Sean was the only target of his mothers hatred.

Crystal was 7 ½ months pregnant and complained of labor pains so she was taken to the hospital. She returned to her cell as soon as they discovered there was nothing wrong with her.

During Crystal’s arraignment she cried uncontrollably and Judge Walter Jakubowcski Jr. told her he wasn’t impressed with her theatrics and said she was a danger to all children and he hoped God would save her soul before setting her bond at $500,000 cash.

Crystal and Michael told Krystal Magnan, a DHS worker;

” that he (Sean) was clumsy and he would bump into walls a lot, and (his sister) was physically aggressive toward him. She also said DHS investigated 2 complaints but they were not serious and were closed. “She didn’t really give me answers,” Magnan said. “She piggy-backed on what the dad said, what Mr. Sowards said.”

These excuses would be used many times by Crystal when talking about Sean’s injuries.

On April 18th Dr. Marcus DeGraw of St. John Hospital in Detroit testified against Crystal saying that;

“There was a repetitive infliction of pain for discipline, almost a torture scenario,” “He was abused … repetitively throughout his existence.”

Dr. Degraw treated Sean in the hospital and said he died of blunt force trauma to the head, a single blow “causing immediate symptoms.” He said the type of injury Sean had is what you would see in a high speed accident or falling from a window several floors high.

He said that Sean was undernourished and half the weight a child should be at for his age. During his testimony he said;

“To me, it was neglect, a restriction of food,” DeGraw said. “You would have to work extremely hard to make a child not gain weight like that.” You can feed a child 5 meals a week and he will still gain weight.”

Forensic nurse, Marnie Van Dam said in court that Sean had over 3 dozen bruises from head-to-toe and was covered in cuts and abrasions. His big toe toenails were ripped off, Sean’s eyelids were red and swollen and his corneas were cloudy. His bruises were in various stages of healing, proving that his abuse was recurring.

Macomb County Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz agreed that Sean died of non-accidental blunt-force trauma to the head.

Assistant Macomb prosecutor Therese Tobin told reporters”He was battered head to toe,” “He was basically blind” from being shaking or hit on the head.

Photos of Sean’s battered and beaten little body were shown to jurors, pictures of his bed room were also included. There was blood covering the closet walls, the door, his sheets and the carpets. There was also blood on his clothes on the utility room floor and in the washer were more clothes with blood and the stench of vomit according to Officer Marlene Niedermeier.

Mathew Conklin, Crystal’s uncle testified that she treated Angel a lot different than Sean. He said he once warned her about it when Sean tried to climb up in her lap saying “Mommy, mommy” and she grabbed him by his forehead and pushed him back forcefully. Mathew said the boy hit his head hard enough it bounced off of the coffee table “like a ball.”

He said when Sean started crying;

“Angel looked at me and started screaming. She (Crystal Conklin) put her attention to Angel. She picked up Angel and said, ‘Poor Angel.'” “Angel got all the positive attention and positive interaction,” he said. “It seemed Sean was always dished off to the side.”

Mathew stated that Crystal and Michael stayed with him for weeks at a time due to their financial situation.

He also said while being sworn in and questioned by Prosecutor Therese Tobin that he believed Sean had not developed correctly for his age because of how he was treated by his mother. Crystal complained frequently that the baby cried all the time and never slept through the night.

“She was very upset at his crying,” he said. “She once said that something was wrong with him and then said she thought he was doing it on purpose.”

Mathew also testified that “Sean’s face was always covered with blankets” and she tried to keep him in his playpen down in the dark, wet basement or out in the garage so she didn’t have to deal with him.

Mathew also saw bruises and cuts on the boy but was given the same excuse as everyone else.

When Mathew was cross-examined by defense attorney Ronald Goldstein he said his niece did come to his home while Sean was in the hospital and she was upset and nervous. She told him that Sean had a seizure.

When Michael Sowards’ initially took the stand he said that he had not seen his girlfriend hit their son. He retorted and later testified that he did see her hit him. He said the reason he lied in the beginning was;

“at the time I couldn’t believe she could do that to my son. I didn’t believe what was happening. It was a nightmare. I didn’t think someone who I cared about so much could do that to my son. I believed she was excessive at times, but I didn’t believe she was capable.”

Michael also acknowledged his role by saying he didn’t do enough to stop the abuse of his son.

Cpl. Chad Richardson also testified and said that he interviewed Crystal twice. She told him that Sean vomited and she put him in his bed. She checked on him later and said “Seany, Seany” and he would not wake up. That was when she noticed that he had vomited a couple more times.

In the 2nd interview she said her and Sean were in the bathroom and he “slipped and fell, and she couldn’t catch him in time,” but that she never laid a hand on the child other than for discipline. Cpl. Richardson told the court “She said he was acting like a ping pong ball bouncing against the walls in the hallway,”

“We had her in custody for seven hours and she did not ask once about her son,”

Michael at Sean's funeral

Kathleen Conklin said she visited her sister the weekend before Sean’s death and his legs were both in one pants leg to restrict him from moving. It was normal for Crystal to wrap him in 2 blankets and either put him in a car seat or high chair so he wasn’t able to move around. She said she didn’t feel like her sister loved Sean “there was always so much anger towards him.”

When the prosecutor asked Kathleen how she thought her sister, Crystal felt about Angel she said, “She loved Angel. Angel was allowed to be a kid. She allowed her to play.”

Crystal suddenly had her own version of the story that Michael was the one that abused and murdered Sean except she had not mentioned one word about it until she took the stand that very day.

Attorney Tobin said in closing arguments;

“Michael Sowards failed his son. He admitted that to you,” Tobin told the jury. “He will answer for that later.” She also asked the jurors to consider both testimonies, Michael’s and Crystal’s.

Sean's marker

“Sean’s last week was spent almost blind. He would put his hand over his eye for some comfort, for some assistance. He was a 2-year-old walking around the house. He was trying to find his own way with this own hands,” Tobin said. “If your child couldn’t see, do you let him feel his way around the house or do you get him in a car, or get him in an ambulance and get him to a doctor? The reason [Conklin] didn’t is the dirty little secret. Sean was abused.”

“For some reason, Crystal Conklin did not treat her son the way she treated her daughter. Why is that? I don’t know,” Tobin said. “What we know are the ramifications of those feelings. What we know is that there was a bruised and battered Sean for whatever reason”

Michael cried through much of the court proceedings and said “The only thing that matters, is justice for my son,”

Crystal Conklin was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She was also given 9-15 years for the first degree child abuse charge and it will run concurrently.

On July 10th Michael Sean Sowards was sentenced to 9 months in jail and five years probation for second degree child abuse for failing to be aware of, stop or report the abuse.

Michael read the following letter in court;

Your Honor, Mrs. Tobin,

Everyone has regrets and choices in their life that they wish they could change or do over, do differently. I know I do! I just want to say, I love my children! I love them with all my heart! They were the most precious gift in my life and anyone who knows me knows how much I loved them. I made extremely bad decisions. I stayed in a very bad relationship in the hope that I could fix things, I could make everyone happy, or make everything ok as long as I never gave up trying. My judgment, my entire thinking process was clouded by years of verbal, mental, physical abuse and manipulation by a very ill woman. But never in my worst nightmares did I even think that all of this could ever happen. Like the saying, “Hind site is always 20/20”. Now that I have had time to reflect and have been away from Crystal for some time. I realize now more than ever how beat down mentally I was. But I kept thinking to myself, I had a baby on the way, plus Angel and Sean and all I wanted was for us to be a family. And the harder I tried the worse Crystal would be. Of course I wish I had left her, but she made that almost impossible. Your honor I failed my son, my children. But I always loved them and I never hurt them. I tried my best with what I knew and what I thought at the time was possible. But always that wasn’t enough. Losing my son, my daughter, my babies has crushed me! I can’t imagine any kind of pain worse than that of losing your children. I would give my life in a heartbeat for the chance to change things, to leave Crystal and protect my son. That’s my regret.

He has also given up parental rights to Angelique and Brianna so that they may have a better life.

Sean's family is very active in child abuse awareness and activism.

Crystal’s whole defense was that she was a “battered woman” that was scared to death of her boyfriend Michael. She attempted to blame Michael for Sean’s murder and abuse and said that she could not tell or Michael would retaliate on her.

Crystal lied from the moment she was arrested and she is probably lying as you are reading this article. She changed her story so many times and had absolutely no evidence to back up her story. Her own family knew she was rotten and once they were sworn in they had no choice but to tell the truth about how despicable she was because they didn’t want to be held in contempt.

Crystal even tried to blame her son’s death on her own child, Angel. Can you imagine the damage that would do to a child if she were to ever find out that her own mother blamed her for that.

In what scenario is it ever ok to spank a 4-month-old for crying? I don’t understand what reasoning DHS used when they said there was no reason to investigate the claim of abuse because “parents have a right to discipline their children” Elizabeth Herd, Sean’s grandmother said there were 10-12 complaints filed with DHS that went unnoticed.

As mentioned before Crystal attempted to claim the “battered partner syndrome” however no one believed her. In fact, it was believed that Michael was actually physically, mentally and emotionally abused by Crystal and perhaps was to weak to leave Crystal and protect his son from her.

This in no way excuses the fact that Michael had the responsibility to protect his son from being abused. He was the adult and Sean was the helpless child.

With that being said, there are not nearly enough resources for men that are abused. Men are supposed to be strong, be the protectors and the head of the household. Main stream society doesn’t accept weakness’s in men. It’s estimated that out of 100 domestic violence situations 40 of those involve men as the victim. It’s said that even those numbers may be a lot higher because a lot of men won’t come forward because of the stigma attached.

It’s hard to get women to report abuse even after all the programs that are offered, when is the last time you saw a commercial for a men’s shelter or abuse hotline for DV? If you see a man with a bruised face what’s your first reaction? I think it’s pretty obvious we have a lot of work to do in this area.

Please visit Seans Voice at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001033050337

Elizabeth and Danny Herd are very active in their community and work to prevent child abuse. Thank you for making a difference in so many children’s lives. Through you, Sean’s memory will always live on.