Canadian True Crime - 67 The Death of Ezekiel Stephan - Part 1

Episode Date: May 15, 2020

[ Part 1 of 3 ] ALBERTA - In 2012, a toddler would get sick, and the decisions of his parents would inspire much debate in the years to come.Thanks for supporting my sponsors!See the special offer codes hereCredits:Research: Haley Gray and Portia BejannyResearch and writing: Haley Gray and Kristi LeeAudio editing and production: We Talk of Dreams  Disclaimer voiced by the host of Beyond Bizarre True Crime Theme Song: We Talk of Dreams  All credits and information sources can be found on the page for this episode at www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi everyone, today's episode is the first of three parts, and they'll be coming one week after each other. This is a case that's been suggested to me many times, and I've been keeping an eye on it. It's controversial with a lot of moral considerations and legal grey areas. If you're a long-term listener, this case is legally in a similar vein to the Andrea Giesbrecht episodes. And as with that case, my goal here is to present both sides of the story equally and

to the best of my ability, so that you're able to make up your own mind and form your own opinions. And with that, it's on with the show. This podcast contains coarse language, adult themes, and content of a violent and disturbing nature. Listener discretion is advised. This story takes place on a rural stretch of southern Alberta, a few hours drive south of Calgary.

It's a collection of small towns, including Cardston, McGrath, Raymond, and Sterling, and is referred to as Canada's Mormon Trail. In the late 1900s, Mormon pioneers, or pioneers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as they prefer to be known, came to Canada, charged with finding a suitable settlement site. Today, the area is known for its unique cultural heritage, with quaint towns, historic sites, beautiful rural landscapes, and safe communities. In 2012, one of the families in the area was David and Colette Steffen, a married couple

with two small children. Ezra, who was four, and Ezekiel, who was 18 months. David was 28 and worked as a sales and marketing manager, and 31-year-old Colette had stopped working when she gave birth to her first child, choosing to be a stay-at-home mum. She was also halfway through her third pregnancy. The two Steffen kids were generally healthy and happy, but on Sunday, February 26th, 2012, David was giving 18-month-old Ezekiel a bath before church, when he noticed that his son seemed less energetic than normal.

He noticed the toddler wasn't fussing as much as he normally did when it was time to wash his hair. Aside from that, though, there was nothing remarkable about his behaviour. After the bath, the Steffen family attended church together. The next day, David dropped Colette and the kids off at parent preschool before heading to a business meeting. But at the end of the preschool session, David received a call from his wife, saying that Ezekiel was sick.

He'd started showing the symptoms of a cold. He had a stuffy nose and what she described as wheezy breathing. He also had a fever of around 37.8 degrees. Normally anywhere above 37 is considered to be where a fever starts, so this would be considered a mild fever. Later on, Colette called her friend Terri, who was an ER nurse and midwife, and had helped her to deliver Ezekiel. She valued her friend's medical opinion and wanted to see if Terri had any idea about

what might be going on. The registered nurse listened to Ezekiel's breathing over the phone and suggested that he might have croup, an infection of the upper airway that obstructs breathing and causes a characteristic barking cough. After the call, Colette explained to her husband David what she'd been told, adding that croup was viral and so there wasn't much that could be done about it. She googled and most medical websites stated that you can most often treat croup at home with increased fluids and medication to reduce the fever.

The only medical treatment usually offered was steroids if the breathing issues were severe. At this point, they didn't feel that Ezekiel's breathing issues were severe, so they decided to use home remedies to try and boost his immune system. They started giving Ezekiel garlic and olive leaf extract because they understood it contained antiviral and antibacterial properties. They'd used it on themselves in the past and felt that it had been effective in fighting off colds and the flu. David and Colette were fans of creating healthy breakfast smoothies for themselves and their

kids and in Ezekiel's, they added in extra herbal supplements that would provide an immune system booster. To treat his breathing, they started using cool air and a humidifier, a staple remedy for many parents of young kids with a cough or cold. Colette continued this combination treatment for a few days as David was travelling for work. He had a demanding job and travelled around Western Canada at least 3 days a week, leaving Colette with the kids.

He would often check in with her on the phone though and she reported that Ezekiel's illness seemed to be progressing like the common colds they'd seen before in his older brother Ezra. By March 2nd, a week after Ezekiel's symptoms started, he seemed to be getting better. He was running around again and his congestion and discomfort seemed to have disappeared, so Colette stopped giving him the extra herbal supplements. For the next few days, David returned home and it was clear to both parents that their son was in recovery from his illness, so he attended church with his family. David noted that his son's energy levels were good and he had to move Ezekiel to his

lap to stop him from running around the church. He was definitely on the mend as far as they could see. The next day, Ezekiel was well enough to go back to preschool. He wasn't 100% but his breathing was back to normal, he'd been playing with his toys and eating a bit of solid food. David left to travel for work again, continuing to keep in contact with Colette over the phone. The day after he left, his wife observed that Ezekiel took a turn and became unusually lethargic. He lay in bed all day watching cartoons and he only responded by moaning unhappily.

Ezekiel was refusing to eat or drink as he normally did, so Colette restarted him on the extra herbal remedies. But also concerning to her was that he was showing what she described as unusual neurological symptoms. He started having involuntary movements like pulling at his diaper and rubbing the side of his face. Colette thought that the symptoms might be related to the fact that he'd eaten so little the week before.

She conferred with David and they decided he was likely just tired from doing too much. Too much too soon before he'd had a chance to fully recover. What the Stephens didn't know was that the involuntary movements Ezekiel exhibited were most likely the beginning of meningitis. This is Christy and you're listening to Canadian True Crime, Episode 67. To tell this story properly, we have to go back to the beginning. Ezekiel's father, David, was one of ten children raised in a devout Mormon family. His mother, Deborah, had been struggling with bipolar effective disorder for years.

Medication wasn't working for her and she would still experience the characteristic episodes of emotional highs or mania and lows or depression. In 1994, Deborah tragically died by suicide at age 40, leaving behind her husband Anthony and their ten children, including David, who was just ten years old. Bipolar effective disorder tends to run in families and Anthony was terrified that his ten children would suffer the same fate. The next year, his fears became a reality when two of his children were diagnosed with bipolar.

Joseph, who was 15, and Autumn, who was in her early 20s, both were prescribed heavy medication which reportedly caused them to experience serious side effects. Anthony thought because of their diagnoses, Autumn and Joseph were now destined to be ill, medicated, hospitalised and possibly even die young like their mother. Although the Church of Latter-day Saints believes in modern medicine, there's a pocket of more extreme members who defer to certain religious passages which imply that natural remedies are preferable. The Stefan family were already open to this way of thinking, but after Deborah's death,

Anthony's fears led him to become more extreme in his views. In a desperate attempt to help his family, he started looking for an alternative treatment. In his search, Anthony met Dave Hardy, an animal feed specialist with a background in biological sciences. He specialised in selling food for pigs. He told Hardy about his family's history with bipolar effective disorder and his fears that he didn't want his children to suffer the same fate as their mother. Hardy said that their bipolar symptoms and behaviour sounded to him like something he

called pig ear and tail biting syndrome, which is an unusual behaviour when a pig becomes stressed and starts biting another pig's tail or ears. Hardy, being a pig feed specialist, said that he had a solution for this in pigs, special nutritional supplements with a mix of vitamins and amino acids that kept the symptoms under control. Anthony was willing to try this treatment on his children, so he started working with Hardy to create a version of the pig formula using human-grade supplements. The pair consulted with scientists and manufacturers and finally had a formula ready for the kids

to try. Anthony gave the supplements to Autumn and Joseph and it worked. He observed that his children no longer exhibited symptoms of bipolar disorder. When people from the area heard the supplements helped cure Autumn and Joseph's bipolar disorder, many people wanted to try them, so Anthony and Dave Hardy decided to start a company called True Hope Nutritional. The original pig formula supplement would later transform into what is now known as EM Power Plus, a supplement described on the True Hope website as a unique micronutrient

formula proven effective in reducing or eliminating the symptoms of bipolar, anxiety, depression and ADHD. It goes on to say that EM Power Plus, quote, provides your body and brain with the nutrients it needs to support itself on a daily basis to keep you feeling balanced, stable and experience true well-being. Under the FAQ section, the True Hope website states that psychotropic or psychiatric medications will interfere with the EM Power Plus over a period of time, quote, as brain function improves you can become increasingly over-medicated.

You can feel more side effects of the medication or increased symptoms of the original disorder. These medications should be gradually tapered off under the supervision of a physician and or the trained support staff at True Hope. In layman's terms, they encouraged users of EM Power Plus to wean off their doctor-prescribed medications like antidepressants. The business was growing fast. True Hope's nutritional supplements were building up a cult fan base, becoming wildly popular with the sector of the community who prefer to use natural remedies to treat a variety

of health issues. But the business wasn't without its own issues. In the early 2000s, Health Canada ruled that the unproven health claims True Hope was making about EM Power Plus actually put it in the category of a drug, and therefore it should be subject to the same testing as other drugs. The agency was also concerned about customers being encouraged to stop taking their prescribed medications. Health Canada had requested several times that True Hope file a new drug submission for

EM Power Plus, but the company did not respond. According to Health Canada, there was no evidence that the mixture of vitamins and minerals was safe, and risks had been associated with the use of EM Power Plus, although no further details on these risks were provided on the website. And until the required testing was completed, Health Canada ordered the company to stop selling the supplement. But they refused to comply, instead opting to ship EM Power Plus from the United States instead of Canada.

In response, Health Canada issued a health advisory warning Canadians not to take the supplement. They also started intercepting shipments at the US border, and then raided True Hope's offices in the town of Raymond, Alberta. True Hope's official response came from Dave Hardy, the pig feed specialist who co-founded the company with Anthony. He said there were several scientific studies that had shown EM Power Plus was safe and effective, and the company also had a high-profile supporter.

Official Member of Parliament James Lunning, who went public to criticise the government for using what he called bureaucratic inference to keep a product away from people who wanted it. True Hope filed a lawsuit against Health Canada on the grounds that because the agency had restricted access to EM Power Plus, it violated both the company's rights and the rights of the mentally ill. They lost the lawsuit. Health Canada then charged True Hope for selling EM Power Plus without the proper approvals.

But the same year, the agency itself changed the rules on natural health products, which allowed the supplement to be sold without going through the same steps as a drug. The charges against True Hope would later be dismissed. An Alberta judge ruled that True Hope provided a vital and essential support program, seeking to avoid serious incapacitation or death in patients due to mental illness. The judge went on to say that the evidence was clear that when EM Power Plus was unavailable, those taking it regressed within a few days to aggressiveness and depression. Today, the True Hope website states that it provides proven products to restore and maintain

mental health. A disclaimer at the bottom of the site reads, These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The company is now considered to have a cult following among the health and wellness community, many of whom believe that big pharma or giant pharmaceutical companies only have profits in mind, not the health and well-being of the people that their products aim to treat. So the founder of True Hope Nutritional was Anthony Steffen, who had 10 children to care

for after their mother died by suicide. One of these children was David Steffen, who would join his father's business as an adult, firmly believing in the products after seeing the results in his own siblings. In the early 2000s, David met the woman who would become his wife, Collette. She had just obtained her private pilot's license with a night rating, as well as licenses for float planes and those with multi-engines. Collette had the goal of one day becoming a commercial pilot. Collette also believed in natural medicine, which began years earlier when her brother

found out he had a brain tumour. He opted not to undergo conventional medical treatment and went on to live for seven more years before finally succumbing to his illness. Collette believed in the power of natural remedies. The couple got married and Collette chose to start working at True Hope Nutritional with her husband until she gave birth to the couple's first child, a son named Ezra. At this point, Collette transitioned into being a stay-at-home mum, aiming to revisit her dream of becoming a commercial pilot once Ezra and his future siblings were older.

A few years later, Collette got pregnant with a second child, Ezekiel. During this pregnancy, the family decided to leave out Western medicine altogether. Collette never saw a doctor and never had blood tests or an ultrasound. The only medical care she received was from her friend, the ER nurse, Terri, who often checked her vital signs during the pregnancy. Terri had many years of experience as a registered nurse and she was also a medical midwife. After a term pregnancy, Collette went into labor at home with the help of Nurse Terri. After laboring in water, Ezekiel Jasher Steffen was born on August 20, 2010.

Terri assessed that he'd been born in excellent health. Collette and David never took him back to the doctor, choosing to have Nurse Terri come back to check on him periodically in the weeks after his birth. The Steffens had concerns with vaccinations and also chose not to vaccinate their children at all. So Ezekiel did not receive the scheduled vaccinations recommended by Alberta Health to protect against illnesses like meningitis. Starting at 10 or 11 months, the Steffens began giving their kids daily herbal supplements.

These included EM Power Plus, the controversial supplement from True Hope, as well as Amiga 369, whey protein and a digestive enzyme. These supplements would be mixed into their breakfast smoothies. Little Ezekiel grew into a bubbly, loving and lively toddler who loved soccer and his family. He developed normally and, according to his parents, he'd only been sick once when he caught a cold. In February of 2012, Collette was 20 weeks pregnant with her third child and the family

was living on a rural property in Cardston County, Alberta. By this time, David held a fairly senior position at True Hope, which as you'll recall, required him to travel extensively. So to recap, Ezekiel's illness started on February 26, 2012, when David noticed that his son seemed less energetic than normal and not fussing as much as he usually did. Then he had symptoms of a cold with wheezy breathing and a mild-grade fever. Most Terry listened to Ezekiel's breathing over the phone and suggested that he might have croup, a viral illness.

Collette did some further research and was confident that treating Ezekiel at home was the best course of action, with lots of rest, cool air to help his breathing and herbal supplements to boost his immune system. Collette and David observed that Ezekiel's illness seemed to be progressing like a normal cold and then he was well enough to go back to preschool. But he took a turn. He became unusually lethargic and wouldn't eat or drink and Collette noticed he started displaying unusual neurological symptoms.

She and David decided that maybe he'd done too much too soon before he'd had a chance to fully recover. David was away for work at the time and picked up some products for Ezekiel at a health food store that he determined would help boost his son's immune system and fight off the illness. The next day Ezekiel seemed to be doing a bit better. He was described as not quite as lethargic, still far from playful, but his involuntary movements had stopped.

The following day, March 8th, David arrived home from his business trip. He found Ezekiel in bed watching cartoons. He realized that his son was sick again, but it didn't seem to be a continuation of the same sickness he had the week before. This was different. David looked over Ezekiel and realized that he had achiness and tension. He assumed that it was the flu, which Ezekiel must have picked up when he went back to preschool. To help treat the flu symptoms, David decided to boost Ezekiel's immune system with a combination

of ginger, garlic, onion, hot peppers and apple cider vinegar. The finished treatment ended up being a kind of salsa, and David said that Ezekiel sat on his lap and they ate it with chips. For the next two days, the Stephens observed that Ezekiel looked like he was getting better, still not 100%, but he no longer had tension, wasn't showing any symptoms of croup, and his energy levels were up. But then, Ezekiel started to backtrack again. He stopped eating and drinking and became lethargic.

David and Colette noticed that his body had started to stiffen up, so they decided to keep him home from church that day. The next day was Monday, and David went to a meeting in the morning and came back home at around lunchtime to find that Ezekiel's symptoms had persisted. He still wouldn't eat or drink, and he was observed to be lethargic. According to court documents, Colette observed that his body was now so stiff that his back was arched. Colette gave him fluids through an eyedropper.

David would say that his wife was always very attentive, particularly when the kids weren't getting the fluids they needed. David needed to leave for another meeting, but he said he'd stay a bit longer so they could discuss what to do for Ezekiel. At this point, Colette was frustrated with her husband because he was gone on business a lot of the time, and she was the one staying up all night taking care of Ezekiel, as well as four-year-old Ezra, all while she was halfway through a pregnancy. They threw around the idea of taking Ezekiel to a doctor or to the hospital, but ultimately

decided taking him outside of the house would just upset him at this point. They also didn't want to risk taking him to a medical clinic and potentially exposing him to other illnesses there while he had a compromised immune system, if it could be avoided. As a compromise, David and Colette asked Nurse Terry to come over and take a look at Ezekiel as a friend. David left for his meeting. When Terry arrived, she observed Ezekiel asleep on the bed, but she said that he didn't look

alarmingly unwell. There was nothing outward that made her think, that boy's sick. He wasn't warm and didn't seem to have a fever. She listened to his lungs with her stethoscope, and they were clear. She observed no alarming signs or symptoms. She recommended giving him electrolytes and said that while Ezekiel seemed to be okay outwardly, she suggested that David and Colette look into the possibility of meningitis. It was randomly on her mind because of a patient she'd been caring for recently, and

she'd been discussing it earlier in the day in a separate conversation with her husband. Terry told Colette that knowledge is power, and together they googled the symptoms of meningitis. They learned that there were three types of meningitis, bacterial, viral, and the rarer fungal. And while they were hard to diagnose, bacterial was far more concerning than viral. Colette knew very little about meningitis, so according to her later testimony, the two of them reviewed a number of websites.

One website was WebMD, which detailed that meningitis is a rare infection that affects the delicate membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. WebMD states that the common symptoms of meningitis can develop within hours or days, and may include confusion, fever, headache, numbness in the face, sensitivity to light, stiff neck so you can't lower your chin to your chest, and upset stomach or vomiting. When it came to the viral type of meningitis, Colette read that the symptoms mimicked the symptoms of the flu, but she learned that the symptoms for bacterial meningitis were more severe, like fever, arched back, loss of consciousness or seizures.

She determined that Ezekiel was not currently presenting with any of these more severe symptoms. Terry and Colette read about some physical tests that could be conducted that test rigidity of the neck and can determine if meningitis is a possibility, whether bacterial or viral. At the time, they didn't perform the tests. Terry would testify that before she left the Steffenhaus, she told Colette that while Ezekiel seemed to be outwardly okay, she couldn't rule out something might be wrong with him internally, and she suggested that they take Ezekiel to a doctor for another opinion. Colette's recollection would differ.

She would say that she trusted her friend and if Terry had told her to go to the doctor, she would have. She would also testify that Terry said that if they did take Ezekiel to a hospital, he would likely be turned away because of his lack of symptoms. Colette recalled a similar experience she'd had when she was young and had a cold that wouldn't go away. Her mother took her to the doctor, and Colette remembered the doctor berated them for wasting her time because there was nothing she could do for a common cold.

After that day, Colette sent nurse Terry some text messages indicating that she had performed the tests they read about, and Ezekiel seemed to respond in a way that indicated he did have meningitis. WebMD, one of the resources Colette looked at, states that bacterial meningitis can be life-threatening, but people with viral meningitis usually get better on their own within seven to ten days. The only way for a definitive diagnosis of viral or bacterial meningitis is with a spinal tap, also known as a lumbar puncture, where a needle is inserted into the spinal canal

to get a sample of fluid, which is then tested. Online sources advise a doctor's examination, regardless. Colette continued to read up. She'd already determined that Ezekiel wasn't presenting with the more serious symptoms associated with bacterial meningitis. She also read that these symptoms tend to develop suddenly, setting in in a 24 to 48 hour period that is considered a critical state. She determined that because Ezekiel had been sick on and off for days now, it couldn't

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Colette felt that she'd done her due diligence and was confident that Ezekiel had the far less serious viral meningitis and therefore could successfully be treated at home. So she called her husband David and explained what nurse Terry had told her and also what she found out online about meningitis. David said the symptoms sounded similar to the flu. He was confident that Colette had been diligent in information gathering and he had all the information that he needed. He didn't look into the situation himself or do his own research.

But he did want to call his father Anthony as a backup opinion. After all, Anthony had raised 10 children. Ezekiel's grandfather came over that night to look at Ezekiel and give him a blessing. He observed that Ezekiel was somewhat lethargic although he was crawling around and didn't appear to have any overt symptoms. When he held his grandson, he noted that Ezekiel squirmed around and appeared to be alert. Anthony didn't see any need for Ezekiel to be taken to a doctor. That evening, David noticed Ezekiel had what he described as an achy slash tension, stiff

type look but he chalked it up to the flu. With everything they'd learned that day, David and Colette decided to boost Ezekiel's immune system by resuming the herbal supplements along with additional electrolyte and amino acid supplements. They decided that if Ezekiel's symptoms worsened, they would take him to the doctor. At this point, the Stephens would testify that they weren't particularly worried about Ezekiel because his symptoms weren't as severe as what Colette had read about meningitis online.

They both felt that if Ezekiel truly had meningitis, he'd show full blown symptoms, none of which they observed to be present at the time. And he seemed to be improving. The next day, March 13th, the Stephens piled into their truck so they could run some errands. But before they could even take off, Colette and David realised that Ezekiel had gone stiff again and appeared uncomfortable. So they took his memory foam mattress topper, laid a backseat down and put the topper on it for Ezekiel so he could lay on that instead of his car seat.

After the toddler seemed more comfortable, the Stephens began the one hour drive to their lawyer's office in Lethbridge to sign documents related to the sale of their house. At the law office, the Stephens took turns going into the office while one parent stayed in the car with the children. While they were waiting, Colette called a naturopathic clinic. According to the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors, naturopathic medicine aims to stimulate the body's own healing power to fight underlying causes of disease. But its members, naturopathic doctors, are required to identify when health issues are

beyond their scope of practice and should refer patients to physicians or other healthcare professionals. Critics of naturopathic medicine say that the practice promotes therapies and treatments that are not supported by science. In Colette's phone conversation with the naturopathic clinic, she spoke to the receptionist, Lexie, who would testify that a woman called and told her she was looking for a recommendation for an immune system boost for a child who might have meningitis. Lexie would recall that the woman on the phone said she didn't think it was bacterial meningitis

and said that if it was any kind of meningitis, it would be viral, but she didn't know for sure because her child wasn't demonstrating the symptoms she'd learned about in her research. In any event, she said she wanted something that would boost his immune system. Lexie then went and spoke to her employer, naturopathic doctor Tracy Tannis. Doctor Tannis would testify that Lexie told her that she had a woman on the phone who thought her child had meningitis, and Dr Tannis advised Lexie to tell the lady to take the child to emergency right away. Lexie would testify that she couldn't remember if she relayed the information in this exact

way, but she did say that she asked the woman on the phone if she had taken her son to the doctor. The woman replied that she didn't want him to get a spinal tap, but she had a registered nurse helping her. Lexie recommended an echinacea mixture called BLAST that would boost his immune system. Back to the Stephens, after the documents were signed at the lawyer's office, they headed to the grocery store. Court documents noted that the grocery store they went to had a walk-in doctors clinic,

but they chose not to go there. Instead, they went to the naturopathic clinic that Colette called earlier. This time, she spoke with naturopathic doctor Tracy Tannis, simply telling her that she'd come to pick up an echinacea mixture called BLAST for her son. Dr Tannis would testify that she didn't know it was the same woman from the phone call earlier, and if she had have known this, she wouldn't have sold the mixture and would have advised a trip to emergency. Once they had the mixture, the Stephens headed home.

David stayed in the back with Ezekiel while Colette drove the car, and David felt that his son was a bit less stiff and a bit more responsive. Once they settled in at home, Ezekiel drank a child-sized cup of pediolite, and he was put down for a nap where they observed him having a restful sleep. David couldn't see any signs of illness. He would testify that he was 100% convinced that his son had recovered. He knew that bacterial meningitis could be fatal, but from what he'd gathered from Colette, if Ezekiel did have bacterial meningitis, there would be that 24-48-hour window where

the symptoms would become severe. He assumed that what appeared to be viral meningitis was just the overlap of the symptoms of the two different illnesses that he believed Ezekiel had, croup and then the flu. And if it was viral meningitis, he understood that it could not be treated with antibiotics. The only option was to wait it out, boost the immune system and monitor the symptoms, which they were doing. So, he encouraged Colette to attend a church function she wanted to go to, assuring her that he would look after the kids.

But at around 8.30pm, an hour after Colette left, David noticed that Ezekiel started breathing irregularly, describing it as a deep breath followed by a normal breath followed by a shallow breath. This was different to the irregular breathing Ezekiel showed when he had croup. When Colette called David to see how everything was going, he told her about Ezekiel's breathing issues and she decided to come straight home. Once she arrived, they were discussing if they needed to take Ezekiel to the doctor when all of a sudden he stopped breathing.

Colette patted Ezekiel on the back to get him to start breathing again. This worked, but only for a short time. David called his father Anthony to see what he thought. Ezekiel stopped breathing again and Colette started giving him rescue breaths while David called 911. They lived on a rural property without traditional house numbers, so David had to run out to the road to get the property number. When he ran back into the house, he found that Ezekiel had coughed up mucus and started

breathing again. David figured the toddler had just aspirated some of the liquids he'd been given and that's why his breathing had been irregular. His initial thought was that he'd just phoned 911 for what was a non-issue. According to court documents, he declined to have an ambulance dispatched. At this point, Ezekiel was still breathing fine, but the Stephens wanted to take him to the hospital to see why he'd stopped breathing. They figured that the ambulance might have trouble finding the house and it would probably

be faster to drive Ezekiel to the hospital now, instead of waiting for the ambulance to arrive. David put the mattress topper back in the folded down seat for Ezekiel, got his other son Ezra out of bed and dressed, and called his father Anthony to tell him to meet them at the hospital. Not long after they left, Ezekiel stopped breathing again. Colette started giving him more rescue breaths, but it didn't work this time. While trying to drive the car, David called 911 again and told them he needed an ambulance

right away and asked them to meet them at a designated spot. Then he handed the phone to Colette so she could give CPR to Ezekiel while the operator directed her. Colette continued giving CPR for 10 minutes until they met up with the ambulance about 5-8 kilometres outside of Cardston, Alberta. The paramedics went to the car, located Ezekiel who was described as pale and ashen-coloured, and took him to the ambulance. There was no room for David and Colette to ride in the ambulance so they followed behind

to Cardston Hospital. By this time, 40 minutes had passed since their first 911 call when David cancelled the ambulance. According to court documents, when the emergency responders took over Ezekiel's care, he had no pulse or blood pressure. His heart rate was zero, he was not breathing, his respiratory rate was zero, and his Glasgow Coma Scale, or GCS score, which gives an indication of the level of consciousness, was three, the lowest score possible.

Ezekiel had no eye-opening, muscle movement, or verbal response. Paramedics began trying to pump air into Ezekiel's lungs through a bag-valve mask, but the breathing equipment in the ambulance was too big to treat an 18-month-old child. It was for children aged 8 to 10 years old. Because the paramedics couldn't get a seal on the bag-valve mask, no air was able to enter Ezekiel's lungs. The paramedics continued using the large bag for two and a half minutes, but it wasn't working.

They tried another bag, but that one didn't fit either. By this point, the paramedics had been trying to get air into Ezekiel's lungs for over five minutes. They switched course and decided to intubate Ezekiel, but once again they did not have the correct equipment to treat the 18-month-old. The tube they had was too small, but they decided to use it anyway with one EMT having to hold the tube in a specific way to even make it work en route to the hospital. Ezekiel's chest started to rise and fall, showing that the ventilator was working at

least a little bit. Ezekiel was successfully intubated at 10.11pm, eight minutes after he was first picked up by ambulance. He arrived at Cardstone Hospital two minutes later. David and Colette would testify that they didn't find out about what happened in the ambulance for another two days. The medical team at Cardstone Hospital continued CPR and gave Ezekiel doses of medication he needed for his heart rate.

Ezekiel started showing signs of life. One of the doctors at the Cardstone Hospital called a critical care pediatrician at the much larger Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary to advise about the severity of Ezekiel's symptoms. In Calgary, Dr Shauna Burkholder arranged for a star's ambulance helicopter to take the toddler to the Alberta Children's Hospital, a journey of about 240 kilometres. But there was a snowstorm and the helicopter couldn't land at the Cardstone Hospital to pick Ezekiel up.

So he had to be driven to another hospital where the helicopter could land, which would be Lethbridge Hospital, around 80 kilometres away. Ezekiel flew with a three-person team, including a respiratory therapist and a pediatric doctor who was training to become an emergency pediatrician. They were worried about the potential for organ failure and wanted to ensure that it was managed. Ezekiel was observed to be in shock. He became more unstable during the flight.

At this point, David and Colette went back home to pack what they would need for a hospital stay. David's brother, Daniel, and his wife met Colette and David at the Steffen House and helped the couple to pack. David described feeling shell-shocked and welcomed the help. Daniel drove Colette and David to the Alberta Children's Hospital, where Ezekiel would arrive by helicopter. Doctors at the Alberta Children's Hospital recommenced treatment immediately.

What was most concerning to Dr Burkholder was Ezekiel's lack of neurological response. His pupils were fixed and dilated. He didn't respond to talking or painful stimuli, and there was no gag or cough reflex. She also determined that his brain was swollen and his kidneys were also not functioning properly. He would testify that Ezekiel was not breathing on his own and was in cardiac arrest. A CT scan was then ordered to rule out a tumor or brain bleeding. Dr Burkholder would describe the scan as extremely abnormal.

It showed severe swelling on the brain and several other abnormalities. These factors combined to put an immense amount of pressure on the brain tissues, blood entering the brain and the brainstem, which regulates basic human functions like breathing and heart function. Dr Burkholder would testify that the scan was one of the most devastating she had ever seen. She couldn't say for sure whether Ezekiel was brain dead or not, but determined at the time that it was likely.

Dr Burkholder would testify that this CT scan, combined with her physical exam, the results of blood tests and her conversations with the Stephens about what led up to Ezekiel's hospital stay, led her to believe that Ezekiel likely had meningitis. But she didn't know which type he had, and without a lumbar puncture or spinal tap, they wouldn't be able to determine it definitively, and Ezekiel was too unstable to have a needle inserted into his spine. Dr Burkholder would testify that she treated him for both kinds preemptively, with antibiotics intravenously as is the treatment for bacterial meningitis, alongside an antiviral medication

and an effort to prevent any further brain injury. Dr Jonathan Gamble was one of the doctors at Alberta Children's Hospital and would describe Ezekiel as, by far, our sickest patient in the ICU at the time. Ezekiel was on life support, and Dr Gamble ensured that he was kept cool in the hopes of having an optimal neurological outcome. An X-ray taken of Ezekiel's chest showed a mild to moderate mass of fluid inside the right lung. According to court documents, David and Colette were told that Ezekiel's heart had stopped,

and there was a lack of brain activity. They also discovered that Ezekiel had suffered seizures. Dr Gamble told them that the seizure could simply have presented as a repetitive movement. The Stephens mentioned what Colette had referred to as the neurological symptoms they observed. Ezekiel's movements and pulling at his diaper. David described feeling dumbfounded after all the information was presented. He would write that he went and spoke to the various doctors and hospital officials to try and absorb what was happening.

He kept firing information about Ezekiel's condition and their observations and actions over the last two weeks, providing as much information as he could in the hope that there was a nugget of information that might save his son's life. Meanwhile, Alberta Children's Hospital authorities had decided that child and family services needed to be called. They determined that Ezekiel was critically ill, had received delayed medical treatment, and they needed to investigate if there was possible neglect. It wasn't just Ezekiel they were worried about, it was also his older brother Ezra.

The social worker would testify that the Stephens were cooperative. When they were asked what they would do if Ezra showed the same symptoms as Ezekiel, the Stephens said that without hesitation they would take him to a doctor. After their interviews, the social workers were satisfied and closed the case. After the social workers spoke with the Stephens, the police came in. On March the 15th, around 24 hours after Ezekiel had arrived at hospital via helicopter, Constable Ryan Bullford spoke with David and Colette separately to get a statement on what happened. David would later write that they weren't in the best frame of mind during the interviews.

They were both exhausted and now sleep deprived. David's interview started at midnight and ended at 2 in the morning. David's interview was from 2 to 4 in the morning. In Constable Bullford's meeting with Colette, he asked why she didn't seek medical attention sooner. Colette said that she didn't take Ezekiel to the doctor because she was afraid he'd catch another illness while there, so instead she spoke with her friend Nurse Terry. The conversations were recorded and later released to the public.

Please note I have edited the following clips only slightly to remove extended silences. In this clip, Colette described Ezekiel's turn and display of the odd neurological movements and the progression of his illness after that. He would do a movement with his hand that didn't seem like it was him controlling it, something maybe more neurological where he would kind of pull out his diaper almost like he's taking off and then rub the side of his head with the side of his fist twice and he'd do that a couple times and then stop. So once I saw that, we increased the fluids, we made sure he was getting even more fluids

and we increased the smoothies and he improved quite quickly, he was responding a lot faster. She then described the treatments they gave him, how he started to get better, but then on the Sunday he started to get a bit lethargic. So Monday when we woke up, decided not to go to school just because of how weak he was and his sleep wasn't very good that night. I didn't want to expose him to any other children and I called my birth attendant, my birth book for children, she's an RN and I had her come out, come over and check his vitals. I wanted to make sure that his lungs were clear, I wanted to make sure that there was

no pneumonia or anything, there was no fluid in the lungs and just make sure that things were okay and he was asleep when she got there so because he didn't seem to be as responsive as he was before, through her experience she said he does look like he's showing signs of meningitis so I went online and researched meningitis and figured that it looked like he had about 95% of those symptoms of a viral meningitis. I researched all three meningitis and with the viral it takes much longer and the recommendation on the medical websites as well as the natural websites was boosting the immune system, increasing it a lot and then one of the options they said if you were to go to a hospital you would

be put on an antibiotic so I started the natural antibiotics immediately again with natural anti-inflammatories in case there's any inflammation, trying to prevent anything so it didn't turn into a bacterial if it was meningitis so we started that immediately as well as another natural product. Colette went on to say that she started Ezekiel on total reload which is a true hope nutritional supplement and she saw him start to get better. In this clip Colette speaks more about online research she conducted and the trip to Lethbridge where she would see the naturopath.

As you'll recall they didn't put Ezekiel in the car seat for this trip instead laying him down on a mattress topper. Tuesday we had to go to Lethbridge to sign papers and with one of the symptoms of meningitis the back and the neck will arch and on the medical website that I was on the WebMD they had two exercises that you could test your trial to see if meningitis is a possibility. She described performing the first test on Ezekiel and he responded in a way that indicated he had meningitis. And then the second exercise is laying on their back you put your hand over the knee

cap and your other hand behind their ankle and lift their leg straight up to do a 90 degree angle with their body but if the knee starts to bend there's obviously some tightness stiffness which is another sign of the viral meningitis which he had done and this was all on the Monday. I did this testing as soon as he woke up after the other tenant had left and so then that's when we started everything and he started improving immediately and so sorry back to then Tuesday having to go into Lethbridge because he was so stiff still we could not get him in his car seat to be able to buckle him up and we had folded the seats down in

our blazer and put in his mattress and I had laid beside him so that we could get these papers signed as the lawyers and I had called a natural doctor in Lethbridge Dr. Pike earlier that day and just asked for viral meningitis what they would suggest and they have a product called BLAST that is filled with lots of homeopathics natural antibiotics and immune booster to help boost that immune and so we signed the papers and got that and I gave him one milliliter of that as soon as we received it and I decided that I would drive home because I get car sick and so my husband laid with him in the back and he started responding very quickly because we were continuing with the fluids we brought them with us he relaxed he wasn't so arched

anymore he's become a lot more alert he was reaching over and playing with my husband's lip trying to make it make a sound or whatever and so he was much more alert Constable Bullford also spoke with David who told him that both his father and Colette agreed that they needed to put Ezekiel back on the herbal supplements in this clip Constable Bullford spoke with David about naturopathic remedies his treatment choices when it came to Ezekiel's illness and what he thought went wrong with Ezekiel's health are we experts in in that field I would say no because there's so much to know both so many things are we very well acquainted with the things that we use in our in our own home absolutely and because we've just kept it pretty basic and pretty

simple down to just a number of remedies like you've seen there I mean there's hundreds of remedies that you can use and we've just chosen to use a few a few of the most powerful and most well recognized ones and that's that's of olive leaf extract and the garlic which are very well recognized for for being antifungal antiviral all that stuff so so do we have formal education no are we educated absolutely and have we experienced benefits from it before in the past absolutely has it worked for us in every single scenario in the past before this yes I think what the problem was here is that what it would have ultimately taken is 24 hours supervision from a doctor which we would not have received because they're not going to give somebody with croup that to recognize

that okay he's now moved out of croup and he's now moving into the initial symptoms of meningitis I don't I don't think anybody would have caught that unless he was under 24 hours supervision of a doctor who who was monitoring him just for curiosity sake because I think any doctor probably were looked at and said yeah okay yeah he's getting better but he's just a little bit lethargic because he's probably hasn't gotten enough stuff while he had the croup so let's nourish him back to strength I think anybody would have speculated the same thing that we speculated and then like I said unfortunately by the time he was actually showing the symptoms of croup or not croup of meningitis that's when we jump back on this and like I said they weren't

severe symptoms but they were symptoms nonetheless that we recognized that we had to do something about it just like we had done something about the croup just like we've done stuff about their colds and slews in the past and and so so we took that on but never would have we ever thought that that there could have been a turn for the worse that quickly otherwise I promise you if we would have known that he would have he would have been in the hospital on a on the Sunday when we first started to get a little bit concerned about him maybe having something else now while the police didn't speak directly with Colette or David again they would continue investigating Ezekiel's death behind the scenes

later that morning two doctors examined Ezekiel and he was declared brain dead he was described as being flaccid, comatose and completely unresponsive even though his heart rate improved during his time in hospital his neurological function did not doctors spoke with Colette and David about Ezekiel's prognosis explaining that he would not recover according to the court documents David and Colette didn't want to give up yet they wanted to try other therapies the next day March 16th a second brain death examination was performed and Ezekiel was again determined to be brain dead according to David they felt pressured to take their son off life support and donate his organs he would write on his website that

they didn't want to donate Ezekiel's organs and to them it seemed peculiar that they wanted his organs while at the same time claiming he had bacterial meningitis as a side note online medical sources indicate that if a patient with bacterial meningitis is treated with the appropriate antibiotic therapy for 24 to 48 hours before death they could be suitable candidates for organ donation two days later on March 18th five days after Ezekiel first stopped breathing David and Colette made the difficult decision to take Ezekiel off life support he passed away that day according to David when they left the hospital they were confused about exactly why Ezekiel had

died because there was so much conflicting information from doctors and there were a few changes of story as they tried to find out what happened so the Stephens decided to request an autopsy report to get more information while the autopsy itself was conducted in a timely manner the report wasn't completed for another seven to eight months David would write quote the next few months would be filled with a tremendous amount of tears sleepless nights and wishing that we would just wake up from this terrible nightmare as any loving parent would go through we found ourselves consistently beating ourselves up with the would have could have should have the autopsy was conducted by Dr. Barmedale Adeagbo an Alberta medical examiner or forensic pathologist

he determined that Ezekiel's cause of death was bacterial meningitis as well as a plural Ipaima or collection of pus on the lower right lung it was his finding that Ezekiel's brain wasn't functioning properly because it was covered in pus which caused the brain to swell and the Ipaima meant that Ezekiel was no longer receiving enough oxygen through his lungs according to Dr. Adeagbo's report he tested the bacteria on Ezekiel's lungs and brain and found that they were both the same after reviewing the statements Colette and David gave medical personnel regarding the days leading to Ezekiel's death Dr. Adeagbo determined that Ezekiel most likely also had an upper respiratory infection he noted that the infection caused the development of a disease

that led to his death so what he's essentially saying is that Ezekiel started off with an infection which progressed to bacterial meningitis in the report Dr. Adeagbo stated that bacterial meningitis was consistent with Ezekiel not being vaccinated and noted that Alberta Health recommends parents have their children vaccinated with meningococcal conjugate at four months and 12 months of age On February the 14th 2013 11 months after Ezekiel's death David and Colette Steffen were charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life the Canadian criminal code specifies that parents are under a legal duty to provide the necessaries of life for their children and if failing to perform that duty endangers the life of the child or causes their health to be affected

or causes their health to be endangered permanently then the parents have committed an offence David would write that they felt blindsided by the charges the Steffens released a statement to the media in March of 2012 our 19 month old son came down with a slight flu like illness like any other good parents we attended to the matter and treated him accordingly to standard practices and recommendations like millions of parents do each year over a period of a number of days it appeared as though he was doing much better David then went into details about what happened after the 911 call in the ambulance and once Ezekiel arrived at hospital the end of the statement included three bullet points detailing his concerns with Alberta Health Services firstly

that there was a 40 minute 911 response time where the nearest available ambulance was located literally five minutes away second the ambulance that arrived on scene did not have the required intubation equipment to save a child's life and thirdly that 911 failed to contact the EMT dispatch located five minutes away in spite of that ambulance being readily available as confirmed by the attending EMTs Alberta Health Services also issued a brief statement saying this is a sad event and our hearts go out to those involved given that the parents have been charged by RCMP and this is an ongoing police and legal matter it's not appropriate for AHS to comment at this time what would take place over the next few years would be a very public debate over

parental rights versus parental responsibility should parents be forced to give their kids conventional medicine should their personal medical beliefs be allowed to affect the care and well-being of their kids basically it all boiled down to this question at what point should the Stephens have taken Ezekiel to the doctor this is where i'm going to leave it for part one part two will be released in about a week thanks to Hailey Gray and Portia Bijani for researching this episode and special thanks to physicians assistant Brianna Israel who provided clarification on medical terms audio production was by we talk of dreams who also composed the theme song the host of the beyond bizarre true crime podcast voice the disclaimer i'll be back soon with part

two see you then