Archive for the ‘Utah’ Category
Utah Endangered Missing: Ethan Stacy
05.13.10: Ethan's Injuries
Original Post: May 11, 2010 | I read the story this morning about little Ethan going missing in the middle of the night from his mother’s and step-father’s home. According to his mother, Ethan had just arrived ten days ago to visit for the summer. He normally resides with his father in Virginia. His mother also told police that Ethan had a habit of “running off” and had done so at least five times in the last ten nights. She had gone after him on those prior occasions and had been able to locate her 4-year-old, but not last night.
There was just something not right about the story. I knew he was already dead. I didn’t write about Ethan’s disappearance. I checked the news this evening to see if Ethan had been located, and was met by the following headline:
4-Year-Old Layton Boy was Murdered, Police say
According to the article police believe Ethan was murdered by his new stepfather and then of course, he and Ethan’s mother tried to cover up the crime by burying Ethan’s body in a remote area thirty miles away. The happy couple just tied the knot May 1. *note sarcasm*
Nathan Sloop, 31, was arrested for investigation of aggravated murder, child abuse, obstruction of justice and desecration of a corpse. Stephanie Sloop, 27, was arrested for investigation of child abuse, obstruction of justice and desecration of a corpse.1
Now, instead of Ethan’s father looking forward to welcoming him home at the end of the summer, he has to plan for his son’s funeral. I just wonder what Ethan could have done to deserve what he got.
Updates
May 12, 2010
The preliminary information released today regarding what happened to Ethan Stacy at the hands of his stepfather and mother is horrifying to say the least. I will never understand the absolutely heartless and truly barbaric ways people can treat their another person’s child let alone their own child or allow someone else to harm their child.
According to the new accounts I have read, the stepfather, Nathan Sloop, began abusing Ethan almost as soon as he arrived to stay the summer in Utah. Police confiscated pictures from the cell phone of Ethan’s mother, Stephanie Sloop. Those photographs show the progression of Ethan’s injuries over a period of a week. Why she was taking pictures of her son’s injuries instead of taking him the hell out of harm’s way is something I just can’t understand. According to police reports all of this abuse was done in the name of discipline.
The injuries resulted from the stepfather, Nathanael Sloop, “engaging in a systematic and progressively more violent pattern of abuse toward Ethan,” detectives wrote in interview summaries. The documents say Sloop was angry with the child and “tried everything” to discipline him; however, they don’t say why the boy was being disciplined.2
Sloop told police that he had hit Ethan and caused his face to swell. One would think that at that point Stephanie would have done something to save Ethan. No, what she did on May 6 was to lock Ethan in a bedroom for a few hours so they could take a 10 mile trip to get married. Yep, she locked her injured little boy in a room and left him alone to go get married to the brute who was beating her son. She said she didn’t take Ethan with them to get married because she was afraid people at the courthouse might ask questions about Ethan’s injuries. Can you imagine how badly beaten he must have been to make her worry about what people would say if they saw his little face all swollen and bruised? It gets worse.
Ethan died on Saturday night, they found him dead in his bed Sunday morning. According to Stephanie Sloop, Ethan had been vomiting, laying around and refusing food three days before he died. So that would have been starting on Wednesday or Thursday. On Friday she found Ethan badly burned from his feet to his buttocks apparently from being scalded in the tub – she told police she thought Nathan was responsible. I don’t understand this part. They forced Ethan to drink two 16-ounce bottles of water, a 16-ounce bottle of Kool-Aid, and a glass of orange juice over a two hour period of time. They did try to treat his pain and swelling with Motrin and Benedryl.
It wasn’t enough for Nathan Sloop that he had killed Ethan. Of course he did not want to pay for his actions so he had to hide the body and then make up some sort of story. So this is what they did:
…used a hammer to disfigure his face and teeth before burying his body in the mountains…to delay, prevent identification…wrapped his body in plastic…
Stephanie Sloop told investigators she bought two cans of lighter fluid for Nathanael Sloop to burn the body before it was buried. The reports didn’t say whether that was actually done. 3
What a horrific ending for this little boy’s short life. The saddest thing of all is he didn’t want to go visit his mom. According to family members he never even wanted to talk to her on the phone when she called. At least Utah has the death penalty, I hope it is sought for both of these monsters. Of course there will probably be a plea arrangement where she will agree to testify against him in exchange for a punishment which will amount to a slap on the wrist.
Sources
Pat Reavy, Layton Police Search for Missing 4-Year-Old Boy, Deseret News, Last Accessed: 05.11.10
- Pat Reavy, 4-Year-Old Layton Boy was Murdered, Police Say, Deseret News, Last Accessed: 05.11.10 [↩]
- Utah Man Beat Boy to Death, Disfigured Him, ABC3340.com, Last Accessed: 05.13.10. [↩]
- Ibid. [↩]
UT AMBER Alert: Robyn Atkinson
Amber Alert Issued for: Utah
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Robyn Atkinson
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Sixteen-year-old white female with brown hair and green eyes. Robyn is 5’3″ tall and weighs 120 lbs.
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Robyn may not be able to provide her home address or phone number. She does not read or write at her grade level or chronological age.
Suspect Names: None at this time
Circumstances:
Sixteen-year-old Robyn Atkinson was last seen in the area of 1685 E. Pheasant Brook Rd., in Sandy, UT on Friday, September 12, 2008. Information states that she was dropped by a school bus in her neighborhood after a day at her high school; she was then seen walking by her home. I am going to assume the information about the school bus dropping her off came from the school bus driver.
It is not clear what time Robyn was dropped off near her home. However, when she failed to come home last night, her father called police. Now, if this was a normal sixteen-year-old teen it would have made sense to not sound the alarm bells when the teen did not immediately come home after school, but this is not the case with Robyn. Robyn is so severely mentally challenged that a letter found supposedly written by Robyn to her father could not be easily understood.
Police say she wrote a letter to her father, but it is hard to read because she has a learning disability. Police say she doesn’t read or write at her age level. Police say though the letter is hard to understand, they believe she said she was attending a football game.
Apparently the first call to police in the evening did not result in much of a search for the girl by authorities. It was not until the parents were unsuccessful in searching for Robyn at the football game that police started searching after the second call at 1 a.m.
Police searched the neighborhood and dispatched the Child Abduction Response Team. Now authorities believe Robyn is at risk for physical harm because of her learning disability and believe she would not be capable of providing anyone with her home phone number.
I hope she is found safe and well. It doesn’t look good as so much time has passed.
Anyone interested in aiding in the search should go to the LDS Church at 11755 S. Highland Dr. (1700 East)
Anyone with information about the disappearance of Robyn Atkinson should contact the Sandy Police Department at 840-4000.
10:30p.m. PST
Authorities received a tip late this afternoon through the TipLine that led them to a home in Sandy where they located Robyn Atkinson. They took her to the police station for questioning and now she is going home to be with her family.
Either law enforcement was holding out on the information concerning Robyn’s disappearance or her father knows someone. I don’t recall law enforcement mobilizing so quickly and including federal authorities so quickly for a missing teen.
Sandy police Chief Steven Chapman said, “We had a lot of volunteers and people who were concerned enough to go and put their time in, and we had a lot of police officers here, a lot of agencies, a lot of federal agencies, and we stopped at nothing to make sure that we had everything covered. And it worked out very well.”
It appears from this photograph that the only person who is unhappy about being found is Robyn. I am thinking there is more to this story as far as the family interaction is concerned. Also, a seventeen-year-old male was taken in for questioning and released. Police say he may face charges.
I am glad Robyn was located safe. However, this is another one of those instances when I have to scratch my head and wonder why there was so much effort put forth for this child.
September 14, 2008 – 12:29a.m. PST
I don’t know why this bothers me so much, but it does. I just received the missing poster for Robyn Atkinson from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Robyn was located at a little after 6:30p.m. Saturday night. I have just a couple of questions. One should be obvious. Why did it take the NCMEC so many hours to release the poster? They claim their poster program is vital in locating missing children and has a proven track record. If they were in communication with the Sandy Utah law enforcement officials they would know that the Amber Alert had been canceled last night so there was no reason to release the poster. The Amber Alert for Robyn is no longer on the NCMEC Amber Alert page. Sometimes I think the NCMEC sends out the posters of recovered children because they have to prove the value so they can continue to receive grants from the government.
September 17, 2008
Just two days after the Amber Alert for Robyn Atkinson was successfully concluded a sixteen-year-old juvenile was charged with harboring Robyn. Apparently Robyn followed the male to his home and hid out there from his parents. Police received a tip that Robyn may be at that home. When they went to the home the juvenile refused entry until police threatened to get a search warrant.
It is not clear what went on while Robyn was at the juvenile’s home, why she willingly followed him, or if he and Robyn knew each other.
UT AMBER Alert: Hernandez Siblings
Original Post: September 2, 2008Last Updated: September 2, 2008View Sources
Israel Hernandez lost custody of his three children earlier this year years ago because of accusations of physical abuse. His sister was granted custody through the courts. Israel was supposed to only have supervised visits. However, the caretaker aunt had been allowing unsupervised visits with the children over the past few months. This time Israel picked the children up on Sunday at 10 a.m. for a visit. When he failed to return Pablo, Xiomara, and Alicia later that day his sister called police.1
At first the police treated the call as a custodial interference dispute but after the deputies took the report they realized the children may be in danger; an Amber Alert was then activated.
Victim 1: Pablo Hernandez
Pablo is a 4-year-old Hispanic male with brown eyes and short black hair. He stands 3 feet tall and weighs 30 pounds. When last seen he was wearing a blue shirt with white stripes, blue jeans and white shoes.
Victim 2: Xiomara Hernandez-Torres
Xiomara is a 3-year-old Hispanic female with black hair and brown eyes. She is 3 feet tall. When last seen she was wearing a rose-colored shirt and black pants with white shoes.
Victim 3: Alicia Hernandez
Alicia is a 6-year-old Hispanic female with black hair and brown eyes. She stands 3 feet 6 inches tall, and weighs 40 pounds. When last seen she was wearing a red and pink shirt with white shorts and pink shoes.
Suspects Israel Hernandez & Martha Torres
Israel is a 30-year-old Hispanic male. He has brown hair and brown eyes. He stands 5’5″ tall and weighs approximately 155 pounds. Hernandez may have a mustache and goatee. Both ears are pierced and he may be wearing glasses.
Torres is the biological mother of Xiomara Hernandez-Torres. She has lived with Israel Hernandez since Xiomara was two-weeks-old.
Suspect Vehicle
Maroon Chevy Corsica or Black Cadillac Escalade. No license numbers available.
Hernandez and Torres may be headed to California or Mexico.
If you have information about this case please call Valley Emergency Communications at 801-840-4000.
September 2, 2008
There is still no sign of the children. Police say the reason the children were removed from the custody of Israel Hernandez is because the abuse was extreme and he has not changed his ways over the years.
Of course that statement makes me wonder why in the world the caretaker aunt would allow him to take the children on unsupervised visits when the court order was for supervised visits only.
I hope the children are found soon and found safe and unharmed. It is unlikely they will be found soon because the aunt said today that her brother would most likely not keep the children in the US; she said he will take them to Mexico.
- Amber Alert Issued for 3 Children, ksl.com, September 1, 2008. [↩]
