'It's just a family secret' - Shattering the Silence

Video Clip(s)
Connille Boehne, Interim Director of Children's Advocacy Center in DeSoto gives a brief overview of procedures.

Threats, shame and fear of rejection keep them from telling. As time goes on, it gets even harder to share their secret, because they have waited so long, they think no one will believe them.

And even when child victims of sexual abuse do tell what has or still is happening to them, prosecutors can face a difficult time getting a conviction, especially when the offender is a member of the child’s family.

“By their very nature, these cases are very secretive,” Washington County Prosecutor John Rupp explained. “The offenses are done at home or where the perpetrator can isolate the victim. The victim almost always knows it is wrong, but they don’t always know it is a crime or is illegal.

“It is just a family secret.”

The majority of Washington County child sex abuse or Internet pornography cases in 2007 involved the boyfriend of the victim’s mother or the victim’s stepfather, Rupp explained. About 90 percent of perpetrators were white males. Rupp rarely sees women sex offenders, although he theorizes that those cases are underreported.

Facts about sex offender behavior

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Most of the cases presented in Washington County involve offenders who are “opportunists” rather than pedophiles, Rupp added. Opportunist offenders are not sexually attracted to children until puberty, when body changes lead to more adult features in the child, Rupp explained.

Pedophiles, on the other hand, are sexually attracted to young children. In most cases, the abuse involves someone who is young and powerless and an adult with authority over them. Generally, there is a “grooming” period during which the children are indoctrinated to the abuse. The abuse typically goes on for years without disclosure. The abuser often threatens the victim, their loved ones, or their pets — anything that is precious to the child, Rupp said.

Even when investigators find evidence to back the child’s story, convincing a jury can be an uphill battle, said Madison County Prosecutor Lora E. Cooper.

“Jurors don’t want to think such things happen in their community,” Cooper said. “You want to make sure every ‘i’ is dotted and every ‘t’ is crossed.”

That is why it is so important for investigators to be specially trained to work with children to learn the nature of the abuse, Rupp said.

Washington County, Ste. Genevieve County and the Children’s Advocacy Center in De Soto used a Department of Justice grant to hire investigators. The investigators received extensive training in the CornerHouse style of forensic interviewing as well as the dynamics of child abuse and investigation techniques to corroborate pieces of information.

“A lot of times, the disclosures are what we call, ‘unconvincing disclosures,’” Rupp said. “The story comes out accidentally after a child tells a friend and the friend tells her mother. Or a child is angry at the perpetrator and that is the straw that breaks the camel’s back and the child tells.”

Seeking the evidence

When a motive can be attached to the child’s disclosure, the case is difficult to prosecute, Rupp explained.

The case of an Irondale man, who was convicted in October of child molestation and statutory sodomy, is an example of the importance of trained investigators. Jeffrey Lynn Thurman was sentenced to 65 years in prison earlier this month on a case that was a decade old when it was prosecuted.

The victim had not reported it right away. Her first disclosure could be tied to a motive and the victim’s parent had asked her not to tell. The second disclosure came four years later, after the victim showed increasing negative behaviors and suicidal tendencies. There was no physical evidence.

The case was solved because the county has a specially trained investigator who knew where to look for corroborating evidence in difficult child sex abuse cases, Rupp said.

The investigator eventually found evidence to discredit Thurman’s alibi.

Another problem is the absence of physical evidence in most child sex abuse cases.

“There is a belief out there that there is physical evidence in these cases,” Rupp said. “But DNA evidence is gone within 72 hours, and (the body) heals quickly. There usually is no physical damage.”

Abuse such as digital penetration or rubbing leaves no evidence, even if the child reports the abuse immediately, Rupp explained.

Interviewing a child victim can be challenging, as well. A story about a lion in the room where the child was abused might actually be a mural of a lion or a lion picture. Traditional investigators might write the story off as a child’s imagination, Rupp said.

In the CornerHouse technique, interviewers use anatomically correct dolls and interview children in places and situations where the child feels safe. However, the child must be able to correlate actions using the doll to show things that happened to them for the interview to be successful.

The interviewing techniques also are used to prevent “coaching” the child into false accusations.

Equally important to investigative techniques is the treatment of the victim. Overreaction can be as damaging to the child as under-reacting,” Rupp explained. “Putting them in foster care is part of the terror of reporting.”

Meeting the challenges

Iron County Prosecutor Scott Killen identified several issues that can make prosecuting child sex abuse cases difficult. The age of the victims can complicate communication during an investigation. Emotional state and other circumstances also can pose problems. In general, child sex abuse cases involve many factors, which can mean a lengthier investigation than people have come to expect after watching television shows, added Killen.

Allyce Walker wonders what challenges appear to be holding up her case.

Walker was a naive 15-year-old when she stayed over at her aunt’s house for the first time. The aunt’s husband had never approached Walker sexually, but that night, after her aunt went to bed, he lay down next to Walker on the mattress where she was watching television.

He molested her and tried to rape her, despite her protestations. When he finally stopped, he told her that if she told anyone, he would hurt Walker, her family and whoever she told. The man was a foot taller than she, weighed 100 pounds more and had a bad temper. He was convincing and she believed what he said.

She also worried that if her parents found out, one of them might try to kill the uncle. To protect them and the rest of her family, she told no one.

Keeping the secret took its toll. Walker struggled with guilt, shame, depression and worry. Her behavior changed, but no one seemed to notice.

“My mom noticed that I only wanted to wear black, and dark makeup, Walker said. “She thought I was just hanging around the wrong people.”

When she began experiencing extreme anxiety and having flashbacks to that night, Walker began therapy. Last year, told another aunt what had happened, and the aunt helped Walker file a report with the Iron County Sheriff’s Department.

She is still waiting to see if her uncle will be prosecuted.

“They said the statute of limitations was not up,” Walker said. “But they still haven’t told me anything. I’ve made several calls, but they haven’t called me back.”

Killen would not comment on Walker’s case, saying it was still under investigation. He said he would call her. This morning, however, Walker said she still has not heard from Killen or any investigator.

Gathering the evidence

The road toward a conviction begins with proper, age-appropriate questioning, Cooper, the Madison County prosecutor said. For example, young children may interpret “touch” as only done with the hands. When asked if someone touched them in a certain place, “no” might mean no one touched them with hands, not necessarily that they were not touched there, she explained.

Often, children do not tell until long after the abuse. They might have begun acting out as a way to deal with the sex abuse, which could make it appear that they are just trying to make trouble when they finally do tell. That requires calling an expert to court to explain delayed disclosure to the jury.

Some of the child sex abuse victims from the five counties go to a one-stop facility in Cape Girardeau for their forensic interview. Others head to the Children’s Advocacy Center in De Soto.

The Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence (SEMO-NASV) in Cape Girardeau is a one-stop facility that allows the forensic interview, physical exam and, until recently, counseling. The one-stop approach benefits parents who have transportation problems or must take time from work to bring their child to the appointments.

Plush green chairs in the waiting room seem to wrap their arms around visitors who sink back into the soft cushions. Dolls wait for children in a wicker basket, along with a stuffed dog with floppy ears and a ski cap. Toys fill a large plastic toy box and books sit on its shelves.

Comfortable chairs also await children in each of the two small rooms where the forensic

Interviewers talk with each child. The interviews are videotaped, so everything said and done in the room is documented. As the child talks with the forensic interviewer, everyone who needs to talk with the child — police, prosecutors, social workers, juvenile authorities — is in another room, watching and listening on closed-circuit television. They also can send in questions for the child to answer.

“Everyone leaves knowing what happened and what needs to be done without having to put the child through several interviews,” said Tammy Gwaltney, executive director of the facility. “Someone might need to see the victim again and clarify something, but this eliminates the victim having to keep repeating the story.”

After the interview, every child receives a forensic examination by one of the clinic’s two nurse practitioners. Both are SAFE (sex assessment forensic examiner) and SANE (sex assessment nurse examiner) certified. The examination is visual, and is done with a $30,000 machine called a coloposcope.

“Nothing is put into any orifice of the child,” Gwaltney said. “The child has all the control. They know at any time they can say, ‘You can’t do that.’

“We would not force them to do anything they have already been through.”

The coloposcope has a magnifying lens that increases to 15 times normal size. Physical damage that is not visible to the eye shows up in the magnified picture. A visual recording is made of the entire examination.

Gwaltney said the clinic is unusual in that every victim has access to a head-to-toe physical exam and developmental assessment during the same visit as the interview. As a result, many health issues unrelated to the trauma have been identified, particularly in children whose families have no health insurance to cover routine care. No one is charged for the exam, although the clinic bills insurance and Medicaid whenever applicable.

Until last summer, children also could receive free counseling at the facility. Funding dried up for the counseling services, but Gwaltney is seeking new resources to reopen the unit.

.Since 1997, approximately 3,000 children have been seen at SEMO-NASV, Most children seen at the facility (32.6 percent) from 2000-2007 were in the 3-6 year-old range. Children ages 12 and 13 were the next highest in number (13.7 percent). Eight percent of the clients were two years old or younger.

The youngest child was 6 weeks old. The oldest adult was 85.

New law

A 2006 court ruling could further complicate prosecutions of child sex abuse.

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled in November 2006 that Samuel Justus, who was sentenced in Daviess County to 10 years in prison for molesting a 3-year-old child, should receive a new trial because he had the right to cross-examine the child.

During Justus’ trial, the judge agreed that the victim did not have to testify due to severe emotional distress. The court allowed both the girl’s video-taped testimony from an interview at a Child Advocacy Center and the testimony of child abuse experts who interviewed her.

St. Francois County Wendy Wexler Horn said that before the Justus ruling and recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions such as Crawford and Davis v. Washington, it was unclear whether prosecutors could play video-taped interviews with the victim and rely on Children’s Division (or DFS) workers’ testimonies instead of putting the victimized children on the stand.

“The Justus case seemed to have answered that question,” Horn said. “It spells out more than ever before the necessity for a child to testify.”

In the ruling, the Missouri Supreme Court said recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court found that defendants have the right under state and federal constitutions to confront witnesses against them and cross-examine those witnesses.

Horn was not surprised by the state court’s decision.

“It seemed to be the direction they were going since the Crawford ruling,” she said.

Horn said that in some cases, the recent decision leaves her with the dilemma of whether or not to further traumatize a child by forcing him or her to testify against the person her office is prosecuting.

If a case will be difficult to prosecute, Cooper sometimes decides the best thing is to drop the charges.

“I have to ask, ‘Am I doing more harm to this victim by pursuing it?’” Cooper explained. “I can’t think of anything worse than putting a child on the stand in front of a jury who then essentially calls them a liar. The children already feel like they’re being punished when you make them talk about things adults don’t even want to talk about.”

Plea bargains

In the middle Jerry Rau’s trial for molesting five children in St. Francois County, Rau decided to take a plea bargain offered by then-St. Francois County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Bill Bryant.

Rau's public defender, Jolene Taaffe, said the state's original offer had been five consecutive life sentences. The new offer was two life sentences, which the judge decided to run consecutively.

Bryant offered the plea bargain to keep the five children, who ranged in age from 5 to 11 at the time of the allegations, from being further traumatized. Bryant called them “Five of the saddest kids I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Rau’s wife, Amy, is serving two life sentences for her role in the crime.

In another St. Francois County case, a victim took the stand, but broke down and was not able to say much. Prosecutors played a video-taped interview of the child from the Children's Advocacy Center in DeSoto. In it, the child identified the man and described what happened. As a result, Peter Noll IV currently is serving a life sentence for molesting the 4-year-old girl. The Court of Appeals upheld his conviction.

Horn said she doesn’t believe the recent Missouri Supreme Court ruling will change what child advocacy centers do, but it will change how prosecutors prepare for a case, how they determine plea offers and if they file or dismiss charges.

The trauma of testifying will be a factor in the decision to make a plea bargain, Horn said.

“On the other hand, we have to consider what we believe to be justice ... so it’s a balance,” she said.

Handling disclosures

Parents can help or hurt prosecution of a child sex abuse case by their response to their child’s disclosure.

Cooper said it is important that the parent does not panic, although that is a normal human response. Instead, the parent should sit down and try to find out without putting suggestions in their head.

“Don’t try to cross examine,” Cooper advises parents. “That requires a specialized training that most parents don’t have. The child might refrain from saying things if they feel you don’t believe them.”

Children also might hold some information back if they feel that what they are saying is upsetting or hurting their parent, she added. That is one reason children disclose to a friend or an adult at school.

Parents of young children should be aware that child sex abuse happens to children of all ages, even infants.

Long-term effects of child sex abuse can include physical problems, acting out, difficulty in school, depression, eating disorders, risky or self-destructive behavior and symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As teenagers and adults, they can be promiscuous or have problems with intimacy. Most need some counseling or therapy to help them process and deal with the abuse.

Getting help begins with letting children know they can share their secret. Be patient with them.

“Parents need to understand that there has to be something that makes a child disclose,” Cooper said. “They disclose when they feel safe, or when the perpetrator has been out of the home and the child is afraid he’s coming back.

“They are not going to tell you about it the day it happens.”

Some information for this story was provided by Daily Journal Reporter Teresa Ressel.

Paula Barr is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-431-2010, ext. 172 or at pbarr@dailyjournalonline.com.

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