The Child Protection eNewsletter

Investigators call mother of missing Caylee Anthony “person of interest”… 

The mother of a missing 2-year-old is a person of interest in a case that is beginning to look like a homicide, prosecutors said Tuesday.  Sheriff's deputies said they still hope to find the girl alive.  Read MSNBC story here

Casey Anthony, 22, is charged only with child neglect and lying to investigators. Circuit Court Judge Stan Strickland set her bond at $500,000, saying the law did not allow him to hold her without bail.

He set the unusually high amount after hearing about evidence of human decomposition allegedly found in Anthony's yard and car.

Her daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony, has been missing since mid-June.

"Not a bit of useful information has been provided by Ms. Anthony as to the whereabouts of her daughter," Strickland said.  "And I would add that the truth and Ms. Anthony are strangers."

Anthony is charged with child neglect, making false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation.  Authorities say she did not report the girl missing until last week, and only then at her own mother's insistence.

Sheriff's deputies said Anthony's car smelled of decomposition, and a cadaver-trained German shepherd noted a smell of human remains in the car and her yard.  They said they found a stain, dirt and what seemed to be Caylee's hair in Anthony's trunk.  A search of the yard turned up no body.

Deputies emphasized they were still looking for the girl–alive–and urged anyone with information to step forward.

In further developments, the lawyer for Casey Anthony disclosed that the family had received a credible tip that a small child matching Caylee's description was seen boarding a flight to Atlanta at Orlando International Airport.  Fox News story here

The tip was even more credible because the person reported that the little girl pronounced her last name the same way Caylee's grandparents say she does, attorney Jose Baez told FOX News.

The child's grandmother Cindy Anthony confirmed that the lead surfaced late Tuesday.  She said the tip was from a woman who lives in Orlando and was left on her voicemail.  Cindy Anthony said she called the woman back and they talked.

The caller claimed to have seen Caylee board the flight with an older woman.  When she talked to the woman and child, the youngster apparently said her name was Caylee "Antony," pronouncing it without the "h" the way Cindy Anthony says her granddaughter does.  When asked her age, the little girl said she was 3; Caylee is almost 3 years old.

Madeleine McCann investigation halted… 

Portugal's attorney general has told police to halt the probe into the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann–but her parents vowed the search would go on.  CNN story here

The police case will remain on hold unless new evidence emerges.

Attorney General Fernando Pinto Monteiro's office told CNN the 14-month investigation uncovered no evidence of a crime by the three people named as suspects:  Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry, and Robert Murat, a Briton living in Portugal.

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz as her parents dined in a tapas restaurant with friends nearby.  Despite a huge police investigation and massive coverage in the Portuguese and British media, she has not been found.

Kate McCann said: "We look forward to scrutinizing the police files to see what has been done and what can be done."  She said they would leave "no stone unturned" in the continuing hunt for Madeleine by the McCanns' own private investigators.

For more on this story see  MSNBC video story here.

Pope meets sex abuse victims in secret Sydney mass… 

The Pope held a surprise last-minute private mass with four Australian sexual abuse victims, seeking to reinforce his apology for the “evil” of pedophile priests.  Times online UK story here

At the unscheduled meeting, just hours before Benedict XVI flew out for Rome after World Youth Day celebrations, the pontiff listened to the victims’ anguished stories and offered them consolation.

But some victims were angry at the secretive manner of the meeting and complained of being left out.  Anthony Foster, whose two daughters were raped as children by a Melbourne priest, said he was disgusted at the sneaky way the Church had arranged the meetings with “handpicked” victims.

The criticism was backed by Broken Rites, a group representing victims, which had unsuccessfully sought a meeting with the pontiff during his visit.  Chris MacIsaac, a spokeswoman, told reporters if “they (the Church) want to fix this they must listen to the people who have grievance with it”.

The Catholic Church in Sydney said it had chosen the victims to meet the Pope and claimed it was an example of the seriousness with which it was tackling the crisis of sexual abuse in the Church.

“The Holy Father’s meeting with victims reflects the continuing commitment of the whole church in Australia to bring healing and justice to those who have been so terribly hurt by sexual abuse,” it said in a statement.

The private mass in Sydney followed the Pope’s meetings with U. S. victims in April.  See  vol6_iss30  On Saturday he issued a strong public apology to Australian victims and spoke of his shame at the “evil” committed by some members of the clergy.

The Vatican said at the meeting the pope had assured the victims “of his spiritual closeness” and had promised to continue to pray for them, their families and all victims.  The victims were not named.

For more information on clergy abuse see  childprotectionguide/vol1_iss13.

In other news… 

A Texas grand jury indicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs on a charge of felony sexual assault of a child.  Read AP news story here  Five of his followers have been indicted as well.  Attorney General Greg Abbott said four of Jeffs' followers are charged with one count of sexually assaulting girls under the age of 17.  One of the four faces an additional charge of bigamy.  Abbott said a fifth follower is charged with three counts of failure to report child abuse.  The charges follow an ill-fated child custody case in which more than 400 children were placed in foster care.  The Texas Supreme Court ruled child welfare authorities overstepped in taking all the children from their parents even though many were infants and toddlers.  The criminal charges came during the panel's second meeting on the case and followed the ill-fated child custody case in which more than 400 children were placed in foster care.  The Texas Supreme Court ruled child welfare authorities had overstepped in taking all the children for their parents even though many were infants and toddlers.  For more on this case, see  vol6_iss40.

A federal appeals court agreed with a lower court ruling that struck down as unconstitutional a 1998 law intended to protect children from sexual material and other objectionable content on the Internet.  Read Lancaster online AP story here  The decision by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia is the latest twist in a decade-long legal battle over the Child Online Protection Act.  The fight has already reached the Supreme Court and could be headed back there.  The law, which has not taken effect, would bar Web sites from making harmful content available to minors over the Internet.  The act was passed the year after the Supreme Court ruled that another law intended to protect children from explicit material online–the Communications Decency Act–was unconstitutional in the landmark case Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union.  The ACLU challenged the 1998 law on behalf of a coalition of writers, artists, health educators and the publisher Salon Media Group.  For ways to protect children online see  childprotectionguide/vol1_iss24.

Authorities say a slain pregnant woman may have been alive and was possibly drugged when a baby was ripped from her womb, allegedly by a woman who tried to pass the infant off as her own.  ABC News story here  The eviscerated body of 18-year-old Kia Johnson of McKeesport was found bound at the wrists and ankles with duct tape, and wrapped in a comforter and garbage bags.  Her partially decomposed remains were in the master bedroom of Andrea Curry-Demus, 38, who was charged with homicide, unlawful restraint and kidnapping, officials said.  Authorities said Curry-Demus, who served prison time in the 1990s for snatching a 3-week-old baby girl from a hospital, took the baby boy to a Pittsburgh hospital and claimed that it was her own.  Authorities say that Curry-Demus showed up at West Penn Hospital with a newborn that still had the umbilical cord attached.  Tests later proved that she was not the mother.  According to police, Curry-Demus initially told investigators that she paid a pregnant woman named Tina $1,000 for the baby.  Curry-Demus was taken into custody on a child endangerment charge.  Wilkinsburg Police Chief Ophelia Coleman said the child was "under observation."  The hospital has declined to release any information about the child.

Louisiana prosecutors asked the Supreme Court to revisit its recent decision outlawing the death penalty for people convicted of raping children.  ABC News story  The unusual request is based on the failure of anyone involved in the case–lawyers on both sides as well as the justices–to take account of a change in federal law in 2006 that authorizes the death penalty for members of the military who are convicted of child rape.  The court almost never grants such requests, but lawyers for Louisiana said their situation was different because the 5-4 decision written by Justice Anthony Kennedy relied in part on what Kennedy called a "national consensus" against executing convicted rapists.  The ruling on June 25 drew harsh criticism from politicians in Louisiana and other states where executing those who rape children was authorized or under consideration.  But only in the days following the decision did anyone point out that Congress changed the law and that President Bush signed an executive order in September 2007 that implemented the change.  It was first discussed on a military law blog.  Louisiana "regrettably did not know of this federal provision," the state's lawyers wrote.  "This was a significant error, for which (Louisiana) accepts full responsibility."  In spite of their mistake, however, the lawyers said the federal law is relevant to the case and should be considered by the court.

A former psychologist who evaluated sex offenders at North Dakota's state mental hospital faces federal charges of possession of child pornography.  AP story here  Joseph Belanger, 61, pleaded not guilty to three counts, including possession and receipt of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors.  Steven Light, Belanger's attorney, said afterward that he had yet to review the evidence but that if the allegations prove to be true, "it's further evidence that this type of illness can strike anyone."  Belanger, who worked at the State Hospital in Jamestown for more than 20 years, testified in court on whether convicted sex offenders were dangerous and should be confined indefinitely for psychiatric treatment.  He was an expert witness in hundreds of cases, Light said.  "He was the go-to guy in the state," Light said.

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