Missing and Murdered Children

| August 24, 2010 | The New Jersey State Police issued an AMBER Alert this afternoon for Terry Dusseault, Jr., 8 years. He was allegedly abducted by his father, Terry Dusseault, Sr., 38, from the area of 301 Canal Circle in Lumberton, New Jersey.

There are many AMBER Alerts issued when a parent abducts a child and usually it is due to a custody dispute. However, in this case, the parent in question may be feeling more desperate.

Terry Dusseault, Sr. is a registered sex offender. The crimes that earned him the registered sex offender designation were committed in North Carolina in 2005. He was convicted on several counts of Third Degree Sexual Exploitation on June 13, 2007 according to the North Carolina Department Of Correction Offender Public Information site. A story I read stated that Dussealt served a prison term for those convictions and the charges involved possession of child pornography.

The reason he may have decided to take the drastic step of abducting his son and going on the run is that he was charged this morning with sexual assault of three children in Burlington County, New Jersey. None of the charges involve his son.

The AMBER Alert site states the following about outstanding charges:

The suspect is also wanted for 6 counts of Child Sexual Assault & Endangering the Welfare of a Child charges in NJ.¹

I don’t know about anyone else, but I have a firm belief that sex offenders cannot be cured, that most remain predators, and that they should be sentenced to long prison terms if not to life without parole. I am in favor of Civil Commitment, if that commitment is for life. But I digress…

I really do not understand why Dussealt, Sr. was allowed to walk out of court after being charged. In my view, given his past convictions and the current charges, which if true shows a progression of his “disease” and warrants no bail or at least a very high bail amount. There is no information at this time that he in fact out on bail.

Anyway you look at this situation, there was an error in judgment made and now an innocent 8-year-old boy is in the company of a most likely desperate father who has nothing to lose.

Terry Dusseault, Jr.

Terry is an 8-year-old white male with brown hair and brown eyes. He is 4’8″ tall and weighs 80lbs.

Terry Dusseault, Sr., suspect

Dusseault, Sr. is a 38-year-old white male with brown hair and brown eyes. He is 5’10″ tall and weighs 210lbs. When last seen he was wearing a tan, short-sleeved shirt and khaki shorts. He has a tattoo of “NY” on his left arm and tattoo of “Schaney” on his upper chest.

Suspect Vehicle

Black 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe with New Jersey license text: LXB61U. According to some reports, this vehicle belongs to the suspect’s girlfriend, Amy White Additional information gives the Vin number of KM8SC 83D81 U125802.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the New Jersey State Police or 9-1-1.

August 25, 2010

The AMBER Alert issued yesterday has been canceled. Terry Dusseault, Jr. was found safe and unharmed in the company of his father, Terry Dusseault, at a market in Medford Township, New Jersey. The elder Dusseault was taken into custody.

More information has been revealed about the family dynamics. Prior to the alleged abduction, Terry Dussealt, Jr., resided with his father and uncle at an apartment building located at 301 Canal Circle in Lumberton, New Jersey. According to news reports, the child’s mother is deceased.

After finding out charges were filed against him yesterday morning for the sexual assault of three children, Terry Dusseault fled with his son before police could take him into custody.

Some news reports state Dusseault’s previous convictions in North Carolina resulted in prison time, other news accounts state he only received probation.

I am glad this AMBER Alert came to a positive conclusion. It is really sad that this little boy has not only lost his mother, but will now most likely lose his father to prison time. Hopefully his uncle is a positive influence in his life.

NC DOC Offender Public Information, Terry Dussealt, Jr., 08.24.10.

Police: Convicted Sex Offender Abducted Son in NJ, CBS3.com, 08.24.10.

Tom Hester, Sr., State Police Issue AMBER Alert for Burlington County Kidnapping, NewJerseyNewsroom.com, 08.24.10.

NJ Boy Found Safe, Dad in Custody, KYW.CBS.LOCAL.com, 08.25.10.

NJ Father Arrested After Abducting Young Son, CBS3.com, 08.25.10.

1. NCMEC AMBER Alert, Terry Dusseault, Jr., 08.24.10 [↩]

|May 28, 2010 | The California Highway Patrol has issued an AMBER Alert this evening for a four-year-old girl who was kidnapped by her non-custodial mother.

The non-custodial mother, Angela Marie Aiton, 35, allegedly abducted her daughter from a Newport Beach, California shopping mall. She was seen driving away in a black, 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee, with license plate number 4AXJ869.

Aiton lost custody of her daughter during a battle with mental health issues. Symphony was sent to foster care. The foster father brought Symphony to the mall for a supervised visit with her mother. At one point Aiton asked if she could take her daughter to the restroom, she never returned to the table. The foster father called police at about 6:30 p.m. Read the rest of this entry »

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

1. Pat Reavy, 4-Year-Old Layton Boy was Murdered, Police Say, Deseret News, Last Accessed: 05.11.10 [↩]
2. Utah Man Beat Boy to Death, Disfigured Him, ABC3340.com, Last Accessed: 05.13.10. [↩]
3. Ibid. [↩]