Text/Images Copyright © 1999, 2000. All Rights Reserved.
Contact the CPAC.

The Campaign Train

May 20, 1998
Thank you Beckie and Tina.
Touch of Heaven's
respect and recognition for children
~ who lost their lives so very tragically ~
helps ensure that they are always remembered
for touching many lives and hearts.

"Sadness flies on the wings of morning and out of the heart of darkness comes the light." Jean Giradoux

Child Homicides (Sacramento County)
Abused to Death/Killed by Adults known to the Children

 Brendan Berger, 2 (1995): Carbon monoxide poisoning. Found dead, sitting on his (deceased) father's lap.

 Adrian Conway, 3 (1996): Tortured to death - allegedly by his mother, Tammy Alicia Holycross. Holycross pleaded guilty February 19, 1998 to second-degree murder and torture.

 Thalia Escoto, 11 months (1997): Her mother's boyfriend, Hiram Lebron, arrested on suspicion of murder; her mother, Eva Valdez was arrested July 1, 1997, and charged with felony child endangerment.

 Mariet Ford, 3 (1997): Mariet and his mother, who was eight months pregnant, were both beaten to death, left inside the home, which was then set on fire. Six months later, Mariet's 35-year-old father (Mariet Timothy Ford) was arrested and charged with 3 counts of homicide (including the death of the fetus). He was convicted and sentenced 1998.

 Tina Hafso, 11 days (1995): Smothered by her mother, Victoria Tressler, who passed out on top of her baby; Tressler was "coming down" from a four-day drug binge.

 Laura Hertzig, 16 (1994): Raped and murdered by her foster father, Douglas L. Griffith, sentenced to life in prison with no parole. Griffith was also convicted for attempted voluntary manslaughter; he shot social worker Fern Queen December 30, 1994 for trying to intervene and remove foster children in his care.

 La Rhonda Johnson, 15 (1998): Stepfather Leon Chauncey Cooper, age 37, turned himself in and was arrested on suspicion of homicide March 26, 1998. Detective ruled La Rhonda's death a homicide.

 Malcolm Jones, 6 (1995): Tortured and murdered by his great aunt, Mae Ella Robertson, a community activist in her Del Paso Heights neighborhood.

 Julianna Lacefield, 4 (1998): Died after reportedly being physically abused by her mother's boyfriend, Jamie Demetri Jackson. Jackson, age 35, was arrested and booked into Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of child abuse resulting in death.

 Christina Laws, 5 (1995): Stepfather Timothy Laws, frustrated by her crying, violently shook her when she was 2 months old (in 1990). She spent five years severely disabled (brain damage resulted from the violent shaking, to which her stepfather had pleaded guilty), suffered a seizure, fell into a coma and died four days later.

 Rebecca Meza, 2 (1997): Died April 28, two days after Joseph Carlos Engle held the toddler's head under bathwater until she lost consciousness as a form of "punishment." Engle and Rebecca's mother, Traci Elizabeth Kaufman, were initially charged with single counts of homicide, child molestation, and child endangerment. The prosecutor filed an amended complaint: 29 felony counts against Engle, charged with 15 counts of child molestation, 9 of child abuse, three of false imprisonment, and one of assault; and, 21 felony counts against Kaufman, facing 10 counts of child molestation, 6 of child abuse, and four of false imprisonment. The amended complaint followed the arrest of Engle and Kaufman, and investigators' interviews with four other children (ages 7 to 13) who had lived with the couple.

 Leah Parsons, 20 months (1997): Richard Marc Vigil, age 20, was arrested and charged with assault in the death. Leah, whose mother was Vigil's live-in girlfriend, died after she was beaten an squeezed to death - allegedly because she had spilled milk and cereal on herself. Vigil was watching Leah and her 3-year-old sister.

 Laquia Phipps, 2; Lanay Phipps. 16 months (1995): Submerged in scalding water by their mother/at her request. Their mother Nathalean J. Bolton had been involved with CPS in Santa Clara County, CA, before moving to Sacramento.

 Emilio Quintanilla, 15 (1995): Died of a heroin overdose, injected into him by his father, Sisto Quintanilla, who was charged in his son's murder.

 Marquis Ryan, 3 (1995): Battered child died with a broken heart - the organ's pumping chamber was ripped in two by the force of a blow to his chest. His mother's boyfriend, Chad Green, was charged with murder.

 Jesusita Scott, 5 (1998): Paula Lynn Scott, age 44, was booked on suspicion of murder for allegedly having strangled her daughter, Jesusita. Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jim Cooper said Scott, alleged to have strangled her daughter, did it out of anger toward her estranged husband.

 Lindsay Ann Sullivan, 2 (1995): Autopsy ruled the cause of death as "shaken baby syndrome" and blunt head trauma.

 Androse Tennessee, 3 (1993): Mother's former boyfriend, Brandshay Huntsinger, was charged with murder. Androse's mother was charged with two counts of child endangerment.

 Sara Rose Thompson, 4 months (1995): Sacramento County death review team said it's "highly probable" she died of abuse. Her mother has a history (in Southern California) of CPS involvement.

 Tyler Watkins, 4; Torrance Watkins, 6 (1996): Shot and killed by their father, who then killed himself.

 CPAC Front Page 

 Click Here for Information 

"While some cringe in the shadows of ignorance and fear, others have taken up the banner of courage, marching in the sunlight of knowledge and hope.... The choice is yours - to be a participant in life or to be only a spectator." Sacramento Writer Barbara Hernandez December 30, 1931 - May 10, 1994

First Singing Lesson
by
Anne M. Cox
Copyright © 1995

   I held a light to my life and its glow reflected the years since I was born; childhood was torn away: The way he spoke at me; how he eyed time for preying; why he chose to stay; where he could have gone instead; what he derived from taking me to hell; when he would stop. I could tell; I could be a child: I closed my eyes and prayed for Father not to lay me down once more. I tried counting sheep and leaving pennies in many wells. I wished for long legs and could almost see myself leaping over the moon. I needed an escape. I held fast to a dream: I'll die soon and then he'll have to stop. Not. I buried my thoughts and bit my tongue after that. I sealed fate with my lips: I ate silence most days and nights. I feigned asleep while he raped me - till I was a teen and reached for a star and fell short; I landed on an idea: I could learn to fight.
   Incest ignited a painful emotional inferno, but it didn't extinguish my life. It was a torch I discovered that could lead me to be the person I choose to be. My father beat me; he raped me. But he couldn't take destiny. He couldn't make me stay restrained to the past. He didn't know me. I now have a sea of candles for each year I've been alive and light them one by one. I'm 35 and looking forward to seeing more years ahead. I'm not afraid of him anymore; I have something in-store. I will dance on dad's grave. I will celebrate the gift I gave myself: I have a life after abuse. I survived. I hope to grow old and relish the seasons and someday I'll be singing: I told.

   Published May-June 1995 (Vol.10, No. 3, p. 17) Mississippi Voices for Children & Youth, Editor Sue Hathorn, Executive Director, Mississippi Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse, Jackson, MS.

Gift Certificate
in memory of my friend and mentor Barbara Hernandez
(December 30, 1931 - May 10, 1994)
by
Anne M. Cox
Copyright © 1995

   The day came when it seemed time was left behind, standing still and nothing would be the same; we could not return to where we stood before - the hill became a mountain and we could see above the peak and our feet would carry us to serenity where silent songs harmonized with the dance of life around us. Our eyes filled with visions for our hearts to lead us like the wind toward our dreams. We could ride on clouds and stars forever and reach beyond the moon and fold in our arms our aims someday ...
   ... and it appeared the day arrived when it became time to realize we don't hold the power to make the clock keep pace with our ideas. Illusions are suspended by a delicate line that yields itself to reality. The height at which our kite may sail falls outside our scope and we see the release begin. We are passengers on the wings of time ...
   ... and the day happens when we learn about letting go and how much it hurts. We start a journey with small steps and take a path toward healing. We witness the growth of ourselves as we watch ourselves evolve and allow our emotions to carry us home where we are not alone - surrounded by loved ones who walked the road before us. We unlock the gate to comfort by accepting our role as participants in the process of this gift beautifully wrapped as Life.
   And the day is finally here when it dawned on me, the best present I've received was my gift certificate: I choose how to spend my life!

   Published Sept.-Oct. 1995 (Vol.10, No. 5, p. 26) Mississippi Voices for Children & Youth, Editor Sue Hathorn, Executive Director, Mississippi Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse, Jackson, MS.

Guestbook
 View Earlier Entries 

View   Sign

  Contact: The CPAC Offline

Don't steal from this site.
Taking without permission is copyright infringement.

You are visitor 17585  to this CPAC page since July 22, 1997.
Counter reset at 1290

The "Angels Among Us" design set was purchased by
the CPAC for its exclusive use.