The Child Protection eNewsletter  Two Maryland children were likely dead since at least last fall and their bodies moved several times to different homes before their remains were found in a basement freezer in their mother's house in southern Maryland, authorities said Wednesday. WBALTV story here Renee Bowman is jailed and suspected of killing and freezing her two adopted daughterswho would be 9 and 11and abusing a third. Based on information she has given, investigators are working on the premise that the girls were killed when the family lived in Rockville, said Lieutenant Paul Starks of the Montgomery County police. Bowman's former Rockville landlord has told police the family moved in November, Starks said. Detectives are trying to figure out where the family lived and when "and, more importantly, when and who last saw these girls alive," Starks said. Calvert County deputies on Saturday found the remains of the girls encased in freezer ice at Bowman's home in Lusby, about 60 miles southeast of Rockville. They searched the house after arresting Bowman, 43, on a child abuse charge in the beating of her youngest daughter, who is 7. With Bowman in jail, charged with child abuse, and investigators working to piece together what happened, the case again shined a spotlight on the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency, which recommended Bowman to a D.C. Superior Court judge as a suitable adoptive parent in 2001 and 2004. Washington Post story here The girls had been wards of the D.C. government. The child welfare agency came under fire in January after social workers failed to investigate reports of alleged child neglect by Banita Jacks, a Southeast Washington woman now charged with killing her four daughters in their home. For more on that story, see vol6_iss4. After adopting the three "special needs" childrena broad category that includes any child over age 5Bowman received a monthly stipend of about $2,400 from a federal program for adoptive parents, D.C. Acting Attorney General Peter Nickles said. He said Bowman apparently was being paid even after the children had died. CBS News story here The Washington Post looks at the life of Renee Bowman at Washington Post story. British crowd goads suicidal teenager into jumping, takes pictures... A jeering crowd taunted a suicidal teenager as he threatened to jump from the top of a city-center car park. Daily Mail story here  In a shocking indictment of modern Britain, youths who gathered in the street below yelled at 17-year-old Shaun Dykes to kill himself over the course of three hours. One allegedly shouted: "How far can you bounce?" The A-level student eventually plunged 60 feet to his death after police negotiators tried in vain to talk him down. In a final sickening act, some of those responsible for the abuse outside the Westfield shopping centre in Derby rushed from behind the police cordon to take pictures of the teenager's body on their mobile phones. Yesterday police branded the mob's behavior at the scene of Saturday's tragedy a 'shocking reflection on society'. Superintendent Andy Hough, of Derbyshire police, said he was 'disturbed' by some of the comments aimed at the teenager, who is believed to have suffered from depression and also to have been upset at the breakdown of a relationship. "People were at the police cordon shouting for the man to jump," Superintendent Hough said. "I find it a disturbing and shocking reflection on society when people feel inclined to do that." "Negotiators were working with the man threatening to jump and it was their job to talk to him in the hope of changing his mind. We really need the public to work with us, not against us. It was a very disappointing situation." For warning signs and ways to help teens who may be suicidal see eGuide/vol1_iss23. In other news...  Investigators have named Casey Anthony a suspect in the mid-June disappearance of her toddler daughter, Caylee, Florida authorities said. CNN News story here Police had previously labeled Anthonywho authorities said didn't report the 3-year-old child's disappearance until mid-Julya "person of interest" in the case. "Casey is a suspect," said Orange County Sheriff's Department Captain Angelo Nieves. "She has been uncooperative, leading investigators down the wrong path and lying to them. She has not provided any credible information about the last time she saw her or where she was left." Casey Anthony of Orlando, Florida, was arrested July 16 on suspicion of telling detectives lies about Caylee's disappearance. She was released on bail after that arrest and subsequent arrests on unrelated theft charges. Meanwhile, Casey Anthony's former fiancé appealed to her to stop lying about what happened to her daughter. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26988149/ "Casey, tell the truth. This isn't about you anymore. This is about Caylee," Jesse Grund said at the end of an interview with TODAY's Matt Lauer Thursday in New York. "Stop dragging people's lives through this. Stop destroying people's lives and tell the truth. What happened to Caylee?"  The Ontario government said it would compensate victims after a judicial inquiry concluded that poor oversight of an inadequately trained Canadian pathologist led to the wrongful convictions of several people accused of killing small children. CNN News story here Justice Stephen Goudge made public his report on the work of Dr. Charles Smith, whose expert testimony led to an undetermined number of wrongful convictions. Smith's testimony played a key role in the conviction of a man who spent 12 years in jail for sexually assaulting and strangling his 4-year-old niece. Evidence later surfaced that showed the girl died of natural causes, and William Mullins-Johnson was exonerated last year. Goudge urged that 142 past cases involving forensic pathology must be reviewed because people may have been wrongly convicted. He also said that advancements in the pathology field related to shaken baby syndrome and pediatric head injuries over the last 20 years justify a review of those cases. Spanish police arrested 121 people in the country's biggest-ever crackdown on child pornography, seizing discs containing millions of video and photo files shared by a network that distributed them in 75 countries. ABC News story here Two of the suspects produced pornographic material themselves using members of their own families, police said in a statement. Those arrested came from all kinds of backgrounds, including pilots, salespeople, porters, taxi drivers and bank employees, it said. The arrests were made last week and four of those in custody are minors, police said. Brazilian police helped with the operation, which began in July 2007. A further 96 people have been named as suspects in the case, which involved raids on more than 250 homes across Spain. Most of the suspects are Spaniards, police said without naming the other nationalities. Police said the detainees used peer-to-peer, or P2P, servers to share at least three download sites. Spanish authorities said they have arrested more than 1,200 people in connection with child pornography on the Internet in the last five years.  Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that a man charged with drugging, sexually assaulting and killing his 12-year-old niece coerced another girl into aiding his plot by claiming to be part of a child-sex club that sometimes selected girls for "termination." MSNBC News story here The federal grand jury in Rutland that indicted Michael Jacques also handed up special findings that would make him eligible for the death penalty if he is convicted on the charge of kidnapping with death resulting. Brooke Bennett, of Braintree, disappeared June 25 and was found dead a week later. Her disappearance triggered Vermont's first-ever Amber Alert, and state residents were shocked when her body was found in a shallow grave July 2. Jacques is accused of persuading a 14-year-old girl identified in the indictment only as "J1" to help kidnap Brooke after telling her that Brooke had been "designated for termination because she was causing significant problems for the juvenile's father, resulting in him becoming suicidal." The indictment said Jacques told J1 about a child-sex club called Breckenridgea nonexistent group that Jacques allegedly made up to coerce her into sex for years and to get her to help with Brooke's abduction. See vol6_iss48 and vol6_iss47.  The Supreme Court declined Wednesday to revisit its recent decision outlawing executions for people convicted of raping children. Fox News story here The unusual request, from Louisiana and the Bush administration, was based on the failure of anyone involved in the case to take into account a federal law from 2006 that authorizes the death penalty for members of the military who are convicted of child rape. The state argued that the case should be reopened because Justice Anthony Kennedy relied in part on what he called a "national consensus" against executing convicted rapists. The court split 5-4 in the June 25 ruling. The justices, by a 7-2 vote, issued an amended opinion that adds a footnote concerning military law, but otherwise leaves the essence of the decision untouched. For more, including a link to the original decision, see vol6_iss45.  Plans are in the works to bring religious leader Tony Alamo back to Arkansas from Arizona. Fox 16 news story here Alamo faces charges of transporting minors across state lines for sexual purposes. In a hearing Friday, a judge ruled that two girls taken from his compound in Fouke will stay in state custody. After an eight hour hearing, a judge decided taking two girls from the Tony Alamo Christian Compound in Fouke was the right thing to do. "The state's role continues to be protection and monitoring of the children as they are in state custody," says Julie Munsell with the Department of Human Services. DHS went back to court Monday for another round of hearings, but the parents of the other four girls taken from the Alamo compound waived their right to a probable cause hearing. For now these girls will also remain in state custody. DHS removed all six girls from the compound just over a week ago after the FBI and Arkansas State Police raided the compound as part of a two year child abuse and pornography investigation. See vol6_iss59 and vol6_iss58.
*for access to member only sites like the New York Times, use the ID "JohnDoeID" and the password "whatever". On sites asking for an email address, feel free to use "info@childprotectionprogram.org" Subscribe Unsubscribe |
© 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1991, Survivors And Victims Empowered, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
No part of this publication may be reprinted without permission unless used in an article reviewing this publication. The organizations listed within this publication are not necessarily endorsed by Survivors And Victims Empowered.
Survivors And Victims Empowered
1725 Oregon Pike, Suite 106
Lancaster, PA 17601
(717) 569-0550 voice
(717) 569-3039 fax
http://www.childprotectionprogram.org