Something Was Wrong - S17 Ep3: Living in a Nightmare

Episode Date: August 10, 2023

*Content Warning: Murder of a child, homicide, child abuse, infant abuse, descriptions of injuries, NICU, coma, life-support, cyber harassment, suicidal ideation, cancer, death,  depression, anxiety, physical and emotional abuse.*Sources:A Second Miracle for Jacehttp://asecondmiracle.blogspot.com/Coverage of Jace’s Deathhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyaULHoPbmkCody Sartin is Arrestedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-H0P1o3ySkFree + Confidential Resources + Safety Tips: somethingwaswrong.com/resources SWW SS23 Merch: merch.cameo.com/store/somethingwaswrong Follow Something Was Wrong on IG: instagram.com/somethingwaswrongpodcastFollow Tiffany Reese on IG: instagram.com/lookiebooArtwork by the amazing Sara Stewart:@GreaterThanOkay - Instagram.com/greaterthanokay

Something Was Wrong is intended for mature audiences. It discusses topics that can be upsetting and triggering, such as emotional, physical, and sexual violence, suicide, child abuse, and murder. Content warnings for each episode are at the top of episode notes. And confidential and free resources for survivors can be found linked in our episode notes as well as on our website something was wrong.com slash resources. Some survivor names have been changed for anonymity purposes. Testimony shared by guests on the show is their own and does not necessarily reflect the views of myself, something was wrong, broken cycle media, or wondering.

The podcast and any linked materials should not be construed as medical advice, nor is any of the information a substitute for professional medical expertise or treatment. Thank you so much for listening. know me, you don't know me well. Please note, this episode discusses injuries to a child, child abuse, including an infant, and the murder of a child. Please use extra caution when listening. As always, you can find our full content warning for each episode at the top of the episode notes. Thank you. There's a lot of scenarios where J Scott scratches and bruises in Cody's care. I don't know. if all of those instances were malicious and abuse. This was a time in Jace's life where he was

learning and growing. He was a clumsy toddler. Some of those might have been a clumsy toddler, but in hindsight, it doesn't look good. That is a guilt I live with. That is a guilt that so many women and mothers live with daily coming out of unsafe relationships. You never think you could be a victim. You never think you would fall for this, or you would expose your children to domestic violence and unhealthy environments. As survivors, we can tell you it's not that easy. It doesn't matter your education, your socioeconomic status, your background. It can't happen to anyone. We were sleeping on mattresses in the living room because we had just taken the carpet out of our bedroom to finish the hardwood floors.

Cody woke up before me and started getting ready. He was going to go Red Samarans. Seemed in a good mood. I woke up around 9.30, and when Jace woke up, he came into the living room and he laid in bed with me. We watched cartoons. Jace had really been warming up to Cody lately. asking me if Cody was his daddy, giving him hugs and telling Cody he loved him. However, on this morning, I did notice that when Cody asked Jace for a hug,

Jace did it, but was some hesitation, and he looked away from Cody's face. I noticed it, but I didn't really find it significant until now. The night of Jase's accident, she picked up a night shift. That's what she was doing to make extra money. At this point, we were both on day shift and had been for a while. But she was picking up extra shifts and most of those were at night because you can make more money at night. And it doesn't really take away from family time, which is something she worried about. She was already working full time, which full time on our unit was three, 12-hour shifts.

So that's already hard when you have kids because you don't see them, right? You leave before they're awake and you get home usually by the time they're asleep, especially young kids. I remember talking to her earlier in the day and I could tell she was drained. She was going to be picking up another shift. If Jace hadn't been feeling good, like maybe a cold, my daughter and him had played together. They had a play date. And my daughter's nose was really running and stuff. She called just to be like, hey, my daughter, did she end up sick?

And I was like, no, I think it's just teething because she was fine. She just kind of had a running nose and kind of stuffy. Oh, because Jace just isn't really feeling good. And I was like, oh, poor baby. We just kind of talked about that. And I think they were going to like the pound to look at a dog or something, kind of cheer him up before she had to be at work. She was feeling so guilty about how much she was having to work.

And it was really running her. down too because she sounded so exhausted. Poor Jason knew to be scared that day. For some reason, he was off. It's like he knew something was going to happen, and he begged me not to leave. Please no go bye, my mommy. Please no go bye bye. And I lied to my son.

I assured him I wasn't going anywhere. I had gone to actually a children's mental health conference and spent three days out of town and I was really tired, but a couple of my friends were coming over to hang out. And for some reason, Leslie and Cody and Jace were all over here too. Leslie and Cody left and Jace stayed here and my friends were here. You know, we were all just hanging out. We ate dinner. So this night I've gotten back from this conference.

Leslie had to work overnight. She had asked me if I would keep Jace. I'm trying to set boundaries. I'm trying to make her live with her choices. And I said, no, I'm not going to keep him overnight. You need to come get him before you go to work. One of the hardest parts for me to remember is that Jace kept asking if he could stay and kept big. Like at one point he even said, you know, in his cute little three-year-old way, I'm tired, I'm going to go to bed now and like went into my bedroom and laid down on my bed.

It's almost like he knew something bad was going to happen. He didn't want to go home with Leslie and Cody. He wanted to stay at my house. I just kept saying no. It's hard to bring that memory up because every time I think about it, it's just. such regret that I didn't just let him stay. Next thing that happens, they leave and my sister had to go to work and so Jace was going to be with Cody that night. Cody had said to me and to investigators that Jace fell out of the bed a couple times, so he wound up putting Jace in bed with him. Cody got up to use

the bathroom and when he came back to bed, he found Jace with his eyes rolled back and barely breathing. He told the paramedics, Jace fell out of his toddler bed, and that was the only explanation he gave. A toddler bed that's 16 inches off the ground. And now he's not breathing? Jace was lying on his back and posturing, which is usually indicative of a pretty significant head or spinal injury. And by posturing, he means his arms were turned out at his sides and they were stiff, and his neck was flexed backward. When they see that, they load up and go to the hospital immediately because there's nothing more they can do. Jace was not responsive to painful or verbal stimuli.

Cody kept asking what was wrong. What could have caused this repeatedly? He was very worried. He was asking repeatedly because he knew he would have to have an explanation to give, and he was looking for them to give him one. During the 911 call, the dispatcher told him to put Jace flat on the ground and give him CPR. But when the paramedics arrived, Jace was on my bed. So did he even try to give him CPR?

Cody also told the dispatcher, he woke up and there was this weird fluid on him. him in the bed because Jace's feeding tube had come out of his stomach. That's the true story. He didn't have time to come up with another story until later. Whatever he did to Jace caused his body so much trauma that his feeding tube popped out of his stomach and his stomach contents were all over the bed and him. That's when Cody realized Jace wasn't breathing right and his eyes were rolled back. It was later he came up with a story, he got up to go to the bathroom, and came back to find Jace like that.

I really wish I would have been able to hear the 911 call before the trial, and I could have pointed this out, which would have been a key point they could have made in the case. No one else caught on to what he said about the fluid beating all over him and his feeding tube come out. He never mentioned any of this to investigators or me. I would never fathom something so horrific would happen in the middle of the night while my son is supposed to be asleep.

I can only imagine when he woke up and realized I was gone, he was scared and crying. Did you really put him back in bed and comfort him? Did he wake up again and get even more upset? Would he not stop crying and you were fed up because he interrupted your precious video games? Did you try and put him in bed with you? And he knew better?

Did he scream and cry? And now that's just too much? Did you throw him across the room? Did you pick him up and slam him down? What did you do? I'll never know. I get a call and I remember looking at the clock. I remember the exact moment.

I remember every detail of this part. I get a phone call at 2 a.m. And it's my mom saying something is wrong. Jace, something is wrong with his brain or he's at a head injury. We don't know yet what's happened. He's at the emergency room in St. Francis. And we need to all go there right now. My mom and my aunt were coming to pick me up on their way.

And I remember just sitting on my bed and thinking, because Jays had so many medical problems before that, wondering like, oh, no, did something go wrong with all of his medical issues? And I just remember sitting on my bed and I just said, I don't know what's happening, but I know every moment with him is a gift. And then we get to the hospital. Cody said that he'd fallen off the bed. And I remember thinking right then he better not have done something to Jace.

They called my husband. We were in Florida at the time. We didn't have any details, but of course it was horrible one way or the other. It was a 22, 23-hour drive back, and we just packed up and hopped in the car and came straight back. And, of course, praying on the way back and hoping for the best. I don't remember how much we talked to the family on the way back or anything, but we just couldn't get back fast enough. So the best of my recollection, we went straight to the hospital. Our typical M.O.

Is that one or the other of us was probably going to always be at the hospital or at home helping take care of someone else or running errands or whatever. Most, if not all, of the family was camped out there the entire time. Cody had the nerve to show his face at the hospital at least once. It was like, excuse me, but you're not welcome here. You know, what are you doing here? I instantly suspected that he had done something because I can't imagine a child that age, self-destructing in any way, no matter what kind of little predicament they get themselves into. I couldn't imagine an injury so horrific that a child could do that to himself, even if he fell off a kitchen counter or something, you know.

We're all sitting around waiting and waiting. Eventually they move us to the main waiting room of the hospital. By this time, some of my friends have come and some of Leslie's friends have come and some of my parents' friends have come. So there's a fairly big crowd and the neurosurgeon comes out and says that Jason's brain is swollen, will see. what happens over the next 48 hours, but that he doesn't expect that Jace will ever recover. That felt just like all the air had been sucked out of the room. My brain couldn't really process what was being said. And the nurses communicated basically that this wouldn't happen from just falling off the bed. Cody tries to hug me and says, Stacy, I love you. I just want you to know

that I love you and that we are family. And I was like, get off me. At that point, some police officers show up. They ask Leslie some questions and they ask Cody some questions. And then they're about to leave and I say, excuse me, can I talk to you? I say, I have a lot of concerns that Cody has done something to Jace. And I told him about his history with the other child and that he was the one that was alone with him. They say, yeah, we were kind of wondering about that and we'll have the detectives talk to you as soon as they get here. Then a couple of detectives come and they talk to me first, and I tell them the situation. Cody was in the middle of everyone,

and slowly, like, everyone is sitting away from him. They talked to my sister and Cody separately. They basically are asking my sister if she believes that he did something to Jason. She says something like, from what I'm hearing, that's the only possible explanation. All of a sudden, my sister knows Cody has done something. My sister comes out of that room. and immediately comes to me and hugs me and says, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you and is crying.

Cody all of a sudden has nowhere to go. A couple of my friends that were there, he walks up to them and says, could you guys give me a ride home? My friend's husband is like, well, what happened? And he's like, he fell out of the bed. And my friends said to him, you know, Cody, if it looks like shit, if it smells like shit and it tastes like shit, we can all be pretty sure that it's shit. And what you're saying is a bunch of shit. So at that point, Cody just kind of sulked off, and I'm not sure how he eventually got back to the house. A couple hours later, the detectives asked me to take them to the house so they could see the crime scene and get any pictures and evidence that they could.

And when we got there, Cody had already taken a lot of his things, including the TV. So Cody murdered Jace, and then he stole our TV, which, felt like that was just an extra FU when he took the TV. They wouldn't allow Leslie to be at the hospital. The Department of Human Services, Child Protective Services was involved. So they wouldn't allow her to be at the hospital. They would only allow two people to be with him at a time. So I stayed at the hospital with him.

She had to go before a judge two days later. And the judge then allowed her to be at the hospital. but I was at the hospital with Jace hoping and praying for a miracle. It was very hard. I just wanted him to like wake up and be himself or wanted to be able to hold him or anything. I don't remember too much about those few days. I mean, we were just pleading with God for a miracle, hoping and praying our guts out. We usually text each other.

Very seldom do we ever call each other. So when we call each other, we know God this probably is really bad. My phone rang at like two in the morning. And I saw it was her and I was like, oh my God, it scared me. So I picked up the phone and she was hysterical. I could barely understand what she was saying, but she was saying, they're taking Jace back. They think his brain is bleeding.

And I'm just like, what? Oh my gosh. I was like, okay, let me get dressed. I'm going to head up to the hospital. I go meet her. He was still in surgery. At this time, several friends had been rallying around. And I remember, Cody was trying to be all consoling to Leslie and hugging her.

he was always where she was. Like, it was hard to even get near her. Like, he was just right there. She's just obviously scared. You know, he's still in surgery. Lauren, I can't lose him. I can't lose him. We all are scared. Leslie, I think, got questioned if I remember, but I remember them needing to question Cody. Well, he was in there for a while because we were sitting in this little area just waiting for Jace to come out and hear how he's doing. We weren't really paying too much attention because we're just so scared for Jace, just wonder how he was doing. You know, you're not really paying attention to other things around you just waiting to hear about Jace. And I just remember him being really awkward after he came out of the questioning, because I think it was then that they

were starting to really question him about some child abuse, even though he wasn't really sharing that. I just remember not seeing too much more of him after that. And the doctor's really starting to confirm that it was a child abuse case. Even the hospital is like a child abuse, right? And there's certain steps you have to take with that. But it was scary for Leslie too, because the way the world works and the legal system works is they have to question her. Did you know about this? Really making her feel like a crappy parent. I was trying to reassure you did everything.

Look at all the documentation of all the times you took him to the pediatrician. I mean, she did what she could. And I think the legal system or the medical system kind of failed her at times too. After the finger started really looking forward, Cody being the one that did it, he left. And this speaks so much on his character. Like he disappeared. Leslie didn't want to believe it. It was like, there's no way, there's no way.

And I was like, Leslie, there's no other way. So she was heartbroken, just devastated. And he ends up leaving. We don't know where he goes. He can't find him. Come to find out at that moment. He leaves the hospital. A family member or something came and picked him up.

Took him back to Leslie's because that's where he was still living and stole her TV and then left. There was no remorse. Talk about sociopathic to the max. Like, I'm about to get caught because I murdered this poor innocent kid. but I can't just let it be and just go get my clothes. I'm going to go ahead and steal the TV too. I don't remember much of Cody other than after his questioning, he disappeared, stole Leslie's TV, and no one ever saw him again.

My name is Kathy Still. I am a police officer with the Tulsa Police Department, but in 2010, I was a detective with our Child Crisis Unit. I am no longer in that unit. I'm back on patrol now, but the Child Crisis Unit, I believe, is the most important detective unit in our department because they investigate all crimes involving children. So any child under the age of 18 that was injured, neglected, exposed to drugs by their parents or caregivers, as well as investigating sexual assaults of all children under the age of 14.

Today is actually the beginning of my 30th year on the police department. I started the academy 30 years ago today and I spent eight and a half years in child crisis, which was amazing. I, loved every second of that job, but it was also very emotionally draining. It was very difficult for me, especially at that time in my life, my children were between the ages of five and 16. A lot of times I would be involved with cases with children the same age as my children. It kind of wore on me for a while. To the point, it started affecting, according to my family, my personal well-being, it's one of those jobs you can't do for a real, real long time. I never dreamed I would still be here after 30 years. You know, to be a female in law enforcement has always been something

that I've taken great pride in when I was in college and decided that was the career path I wanted to take and told my family they were shocked, to say the least. Some were a little downputting and not wanting me to do it, but I really put my whole entire heart and soul into this job. And because of it, I got married, had kids, and all these wonderful things came out of it. But there's also a downside to it. It can be all consuming sometimes, and you definitely have to keep one foot in normal life and not get both feed into all law enforcement. My experiences here in my 30 years have been favorable for sure. Now that I've been on so long, I feel like people actually listen to me sometimes.

I may not be the one out running and chasing people like I used to, but when it comes to doing great detailed investigations and the things that are required to get convictions for people that commit crimes, I feel like I accept. at that and definitely learned a lot in my eight and a half years when I was in child crisis because it is a very detail-oriented, very specific investigation. But as a woman, it's still difficult at times. Obviously, there's issues that come up. We may be discriminated against or looked over or look past sometimes because we're women, but I feel at least here in Tulsa, and for most of my career, that hasn't been an incredibly bad issue. I think we right now, women on our department,

We have a little over 800 police officers and there's 120 of us that are female. So that's less than 20 percent. But I feel like they are actively recruiting and trying to get more women involved because, to be honest, law enforcement couldn't function without women. I was in the unit eight and a half years and I think Jace's case was probably one of maybe 10 homicides that I worked. My eight and a half years there, I only investigated, and this is in exact numbers, but it was between 300 and 350 cases. Now, that's all cases, physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect.

That's everything, every case that was assigned to me. And homicides themselves in my time there, I mean, I guess that's probably averaged about one a year. One of the things on the sexual abuse cases that was the hardest for me, when I went into this unit, I had 12 years on. So I thought I knew and had seen a lot. And then they're listening to these young children and they're trying to explain things that happened to them, but they really don't have the words. for it. So they're explaining it and using words that they have learned or terms to explain things that, one, they should never be explaining at that age. It always astounded me because when the suspects or the defense attorneys were trying to explain some of these actions and when the child said, whatever it was, trying to explain, say, some type of sexual act, whether it was just fondling or something, but they just didn't have those words because it wasn't anything they learned. And it's the same thing with people in society. If you haven't experienced it or if you don't know somebody who has experienced something similar, you may. not understand fully what's going on and you just want to live in your happy little bubble

and not understand or know all these things that are going on in this world. I became involved with Jace's case on the morning of June 13th, 2010, when patrol officers were assigned to one of our local hospitals after he showed up there with some injuries that were very concerning. I got called at like 6 o'clock in the morning on my weekend. The patrol officers did a really great job of gathering a lot of information for me. So they had kind of filled me in on the demographics of Jace's house and who he lived with and the people that were there already at the hospital and the type of injuries that he had as far as what they had seen themselves and then what the doctors were relaying to them.

Jace, when he was brought to the hospital, he was alive. He actually was still in surgery, I think, when I had first gotten to the hospital or just coming out of surgery. They had done surgery on his brain to relieve some of the pressure and the bleeding. When I got to the hospital, I had another one of my squadma. Detective Rochelle Swanson with me who actually trained me when I went into the unit. My first impressions, before I even really met and sat down with anybody, was that I was just shocked at the amount of injuries on this child.

I conducted my first initial interviews. I spoke that day with Stacey, Leslie, and Cody. It's a little different than sometimes you see on TV shows, and even like homicide, different cases. Child crisis cases are a little bit different when you're dealing with kids. we typically will do the investigation and get everything that we need to get charges filed rather than just going out and making an arrest immediately. And that's really hard for people to understand sometimes because even if we know this is a person

that committed this crime, we still have to get, you know, A, B, C, D, E, and F finish before we can get to G and get the charges filed. It's a little different than some of the other units that I worked in. Every time I talked to them was an official investigation. even if I didn't read them their rights because they weren't under arrest. So anytime I'm talking to or interviewing parents, family members, anybody that's involved with the child, it's an official interview. If they're not under arrest, I don't have to Mirandize them and read them their rights.

But I'm asking questions specific to the investigation so I can figure out what I need for that investigation for the district attorney's office to file charges. When I sat down and I think I actually talked to Stacey first, Jason's aunt, she just had a ton of information, had said a lot of things that were really concerning to me, what I'd call like red flags about Cody and the fact that Cody hadn't really been involved in Jason's life, but for like, I think four months, maybe even less. I'm not, I don't know exactly, but it was a short period of time before he had moved in. Stacey was explaining a lot of different injuries that he'd had over the course of those months that were kind of troubling for all

of them and that she had questioned a lot of these things. So already in my mind, before I'd even talked to Leslie and Cody, I was thinking, how did this lady talking about Leslie, who's a NICU nurse and in the medical field not realize that these injuries were suspicious was my first thought, to be honest. And then when I met Leslie, my gut was like, okay, I really don't think she's involved. It seems like she really was taking steps to try to figure out and get to the bottom of these injuries, but somehow he kind of fell through the cracks, honestly. I did interview her, like I said, at the hospital that morning. That was my first official interview with her.

And I know I spoke with her during the course of my investigation repeatedly. Probably the hardest thing when I look back at this case is initially after I saw Al Jace's injuries. Obviously, I knew he had been abused. At that time, I knew that there were really only the two people that were caring for him, Leslie and Cody, during the time period that the doctors were saying, and this is when this injury had to have occurred. So I had to place Jason protective custody. So I basically had to kick Leslie out of the hospital and make her leave, which was really,

as a mom for me, I can't even imagine being in her shoes. And she and I've talked about this later because as upset as she was, she understood, she cooperated. She did everything that I asked her to. But I can't imagine being in her shoes knowing her child may be dying and then she can't even be there. So that was a very difficult part for me. I never actually brought her to the main police station and interviewed her, but we did speak,

like I said, at the hospital. And on the phone, we met in person during the course of my investigation several times. And then when I met Cody, my instant first impression of him was that he was saying all the right words. Like he was expressing concern and sadness and offering to help, but I didn't get the feeling that he truly meant that. It was just kind of just an impression. I always tell, especially women, you know, if you ever have a gut feeling, something's wrong. It probably is. And I just had a gut feeling with him that he wasn't being truthful and that something way worse had happened than what he was explaining to me.

Were you able to spend time with Jace before he passed away? Yes, at the hospital. That first morning that he was there on the 13th, I met with him and the doctors and the nurses that were treating him then. And I know over the course of the next two or three days before they had done a bunch of tests determined there was no brain activity and the family had decided to take them off life support. I met with him again right before that happened to take more pictures because a lot of the injuries that were documented after his death weren't visible the day that he was admitted to the hospital. You know, you fall down or you bump your arm and you think, oh, that really hurt, but you don't notice the bruise usually until the next day, unless it's really significant. And that was kind of how his injuries developed over the course of those few days.

So I did get to spend a little time with him then and the nurses. Once Cody moved in with Leslie, there were several times other family members had noticed unusual injuries on Jace. And I thought they were somewhat suspicious. I know at least twice that Leslie took Jase once to the hospital and went to the doctor. And he had bilateral bruises on his ears, which was probably the, the most astonishing part to me because he had bruised on each ear, his left ear and his right ear. As a child, especially as the toddler, kids fall down, they get hurt.

They get bumps on their forehead all the time, shins. I mean, that's just what they do. Those are kind of normal childhood injuries. But the family was feeling these injuries were suspicious. They took him to the doctor and they pretty much got dismissed. And if you're a mom or a dad or a family member of a child that you see injuries, that you just, your guts telling you something's not. right, and you take them to the doctor and they dismiss your concerns, you need to take them to

someplace else. Because I feel like, in Jason's case, if just one of those medical doctors during those two previous visits would have said something, Jason may still be alive today. And I'm not that I'm blaming them, but I feel like the people that were speaking the loudest for him weren't really being heard at that time with their concerns. And I really believe something could have maybe changed the outcome of this case. If somebody would have just listened to them, he ended up getting murdered before anybody really listened. We had decided to donate his organs, so we weren't actually there when he was pronounced dead because they had to keep him hooked up to life support until they did the organ donation stuff.

They wheeled him out of the room, and I think probably one of the hardest moments of my life and one of the hardest things to think about is just the walking out of the hospital, knowing we would never see him again. That was a very hard moment. The news was that he was brain dead and Leslie was going to have to make the horrific decision of ending his life, so to speak. They were waiting on organ recipients.

I have two children of my own. It's just a place you really don't want to go and can't go unless you're there. I remember when we went in to say goodbye to Jace, even my teenage son was crying. and, you know, they don't have their own children. I don't think they understand the gravity of what was happening, but what was gut-wrenching was watching Leslie's parents. We all said our goodbyes and we left.

Leslie was the last one in the room, and I just remember when she came out of that room, having been the last one to say goodbye, she could barely walk down the hall. She was walking, but not really, and ran into a wall and all but fell on the floor from her grief and watching her grief, was just as gut-wrenching as anything.

I just remember my heartbreaking because she was planning so hard to leave him and get away from him. Through all her hard efforts, this still occurred. After that, it was like a vigil around Jace's bed, just being up at the hospital as much as I could for her and supporting her, and I got to go back and see Jace.

Her family was in there, but she let a couple of us and I was one of them. Oh, my God, it was so heartbreaking. I've never seen a kid. on life support like that, just waiting to get organs donated. It was awful. That image is still in my head and how little his little chest looked and he had bruises. It was just so sad.

But after Jason, his organs were donated, I just remember it was very much evident that, yes, it was Cody. And then it was just taking the steps to figure out what to do after that, getting a lawyer. You wouldn't answer any other phone calls anymore. It started really sinking in. I really feel like she's just trying to go through motions there for a little bit. Which I think a lot of people do that when they're grieving. The grief really doesn't fully set in for a little while. She was in disbelief.

So he was just trying to get him behind bars where he needed to spend the rest of his life. The lead detective on the case, I have a lot of respect for her. She was the only one who finally helped me accept that Cody did this. She did her job well and treated everyone with respect. She was in the child crisis unit and was on call. the morning Jace was hurt. That's how she got assigned to the case. She discussed her investigation into the case. She took pictures of my house documenting where the injury occurred. She took measurements of the furniture in Jace's room, since the defense claims that he jumped off something in his room.

Jace's official cause of death was homicide by blunt force trauma to the head. He was either hit by something on the head or his head slammed against something. Due to the severity of the injury, he would have lost consciousness almost immediately. It was akin to an injury. you would get in like a high-velocity car crash. People who fall out of two-story buildings don't even have this severe of an injury. He did not just fall out a bit. And then it hit me like a bolt of lightning. It is all my fault. The reason no one expected any of this to be child abuse is because all of these medical professionals trusted me. They knew what I had done for him. They knew how I'd taken such good care of Jace and now he was thriving. They knew how much my family took part in raising him.

They would never think that I would be involved with someone who was abusing Jace. They knew I would never stand for that. I was better than that. But it is my fault. I let this man in my home. I let him control me. I left alone with my son one too many times and now he's dead because of me. I was his parent. It was my responsibility to protect him and I failed. I had to let myself walk through this guilt and really sit with it and process it. I had to finally admit this to myself so I could start dealing with the guilt instead of pushing it to a dark corner of my mind where I promised myself I would deal with it one day. And then I had to talk to people. I had to sit with it. I had to hear people remind me that I'm not the bad guy here. Certainly, I should

have used better judgment, but I didn't kill Jace. Cody did. He controlled. He manipulated. He abused. He murdered. I will always feel this guilt, but I now know how to let myself feel it, work through it, and go on living. The pain and grief of losing a child is like no other. I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. Before his arrest, they had tried to get Cody to speak with the detectives again, but he was not being cooperative. During the drive to the police station, he asked about Jace's injuries. He asked if there would have been bruises and continued to claim he was innocent and he loved Jace. My sister and I went into the police station. It's called the Children's Justice Center here, where they have multidisciplinary team, including police. They wanted my sister to try to call Cody to try to get

him to say that he did it, which was funny. They couldn't find the recording device to do it with or something. So I was like, well, why don't we just put him on speakerphone and I'll record it with my phone? And they were like, okay, great. It was like the least movie police sting operation in the world. It was not high tech. He didn't answer the phone and he did text her and say, what did you want? Eventually, they arrested him. Fortunately, it doesn't take months, or at least in this particular case, it didn't. Here in Tulsa on our kid cases, we operate under a district attorney's task force. So we have a facility on the OU campus here in Tulsa that houses all parties that are involved investigations with children. So everyone from the district attorney's office who prosecute the cases, law enforcement that investigates them, DHS, our Department of Human Services, Child Protective Services, and medical staff, forensic interviewers. They're all in one building, one facility under one roof, so that way we can work closely together. After Chase died, of course, we had the way we had the way

for the autopsy to get the official calls of death. Short time after that, I typed up an arrest warrant. I presented it to the district attorney's office, and they issued a warrant for his arrest for first-degree murder. My name is Kaylee Strain. I am an assistant district attorney now in District 12. I am the chief prosecutor here. I was just recently promoted to that position this past July.

Prior to that, I was the director of, of our special victims division and specifically focused on prosecuting crimes against children and sexual assault cases. I had been in that particular field since actually this case in 2010. When this case was brought to the courthouse, I was an assistant district attorney in Tulsa County. When this case was filed, I had only been a licensed attorney for a lawsuit. less than a year. Then when it finally went to trial, I have been an attorney for about two and a half years and you get a whole lot of experience very quickly. This was not my first murder case, but it was my first child abuse murder case that I have been a part of. Quite honestly,

ever since this case, this kind of what started me on the road to wanting to focus primarily on crimes against children. I remember first meeting Leslie in a conference room with the other prosecutor that was on the case. She was the lead prosecutor and was Sarah McCamess. I remember sitting in a conference room when Sarah had taken over the case and had asked me to do the case with her. I just remember my heart breaking for her because she had done so much for Jace from taking care of him in the NICU and then working so hard to be his foster mom and then becoming his adopted mother and then just losing him in such a tragic way and at such a young age, I just remember looking at Leslie and just wanting to hug her. This case hit me so hard. It was so tragic. Leslie and her family

are an amazing group of people. They have such big hearts. I knew the most. I knew the most of moment I met her that Jace was still with her and that he was just the sweetest little angel. I actually keep a picture of Jases in my phone. She had professional photos done. I was looking at it before I came in here. He's in this sweet little striped shirt. Those big, beautiful eyes that were filled with happiness and joy. This little teat stuck out. the front of that smile. He looked so loved and he looked so happy. She would tell us stories about how he was such a fighter and he had to overcome so much and he looked so loved. And that's what I remember. I'd been in touch with Cody a little bit after he had finally moved out of Leslie's

house. So I knew where he had moved to like he was staying in Stillwater with some family and And once the warrant was issued, I had our fugitive warrant squad contact. I believe it was Payne County. And they actually went and arrested him on June 23rd. So 10 days after Jace was admitted to the hospital with these horrific injuries that he ultimately succumbed to, I think on the 16th, Cody was in jail. So we went to Payne County and brought him back to Tulsa. I learned a lot of information from prior women that he had been involved with that had children. he had actually been accused of abusing another lady whose child was under one years old,

who had similar injuries to J's just not as serious. And the child did end up living. But I can remember as I was preparing for trial and I talked to the mother of that child and some other females who had been in dating relationships with him that he had a temper was probably the one thing that stood out. Several women had filed protective orders against him. In other states, it may be called a restraining order or an order of protection. If somebody has been violent towards you or threatened you, you can go get an order from the court to keep them away from you.

And there had been, I think, at least three, maybe even four women that had filed protective orders against him. So that was very, very concerning for me because to me that showed a pattern of behavior with him. I was able to get the police reports and the BHS reports. That's our child protective services here in Oklahoma. I saw pictures of that child's injuries, and I could literally do side by side. The injuries to that little girl and Jace's injuries, and they were in the same place, the same patterns to me,

that just solidified to me that Cody Sarton was definitely the one who murdered Jace. A three-year-old Tulsa boy's death is now being investigated as a homicide. Jace Burgess died last week in a hospital. Police say they received a call that the boy fell out of bed, He was taken to a hospital where he later died. The Emmy report says the cause of death was blunt forced trauma to the head. A man accused in the death of a three-year-old boy is being brought back to Tulsa tonight. 28-year-old Cody Sarden was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder.

Jace Burgess was taken off of life support last Wednesday after lingering in a coma at a Tulsa Hospital for days. Police believe a little boy suffered fatal head injuries associated with shaken baby syndrome, as well as other injuries while in the care of Sarton, his mother's live-in boyfriend. A suspect was arrested at a home near Stillwater this afternoon. Payne County deputies went to the location, set up on the location, and waited for the phone call to come. Once the warrant was signed, phone call was made, and Payne County deputies made the arrest. I maintained contact with his sister. Of course, he told his family he was innocent and he didn't know what happened.

His family was still in his corner in defending him. letting me know all Cody does is cry and cry. He can't even get out of bed. All he wants to do is hold Jace and hear him say daddy again. He's lost everything and everyone is blaming him. And how much Cody and I need each other right now? Maybe my sister did it. And she's trying to pin it on him. Oh wait, maybe it was my dad. Come on. Cody was the only one with Jace by his own admission. A child isn't alive and thriving one minute and dead the next by a severe head injury. There is only one cause and his name is Cody. There is no other, plausible scenario. He was still trying to manipulate me through her. I mean, what in the world? First of all,

you were never his father. You knew Jace all of five months. You were a psychopath. I led in my home and controlled us. You prayed on me because you knew I was weak and vulnerable. And oh my, how you hit the jackpot. You met this naive woman who also just happened to be a nurse, someone who could take care of you and provide for you. You won't admit what you did, but I can only imagine. And not knowing what happened is your way of punishing me for eternity. People always tell me, it's better if you don't know. No, it's not. I need to know, or I'm left with imagining all the scenarios in my head, and that's much worse for me. I can't start to have closure until I know, and you won't give me that. Of course, there were new stories regarding Jace's death and then

Cody's arrest. I entered a whole other new world, the world of online trolls. I was vilified by the public and those that don't know me, don't know Jace, my family, or the situation. I had so much support from those that know me because they knew who I was and what I stand for. They knew Jason and I's journey together, and they knew my heart. It was a huge learning experience for me. I learned not to judge someone by what the media presents or what you hear. You don't know the whole story of a person's life, the circumstances, and what led them to places in their lives. Take a step back and hold judgment. It's not your place to judge. I've always cared about what people's opinions are of me. I hate it when people are mad at me.

I can be a people pleaser. This was really hard on my psyche. People wished me dead, wished me arrested, called me a failure, a horrible mother, etc. They would post in news forums that they were going to come to the trial and protest about me. Someone posted a private message that I sent to friends on Facebook about what had happened, meaning someone I trusted and considered a friend, shared this message with someone and they posted it. I didn't know who it was, but but knowing what of my so-called friends did this was so hurtful. Cody's family would join these forums and tell stories they heard from Cody in jail. Ridiculous stories.

His family wouldn't let us grieve. It was like a car wreck I couldn't stop looking at. I would tell myself to stop reading these things and then get right back on and look. Eventually I stopped and got in a better headspace. After Jace died, I couldn't go back to my house, so I wound up moving in with my sister for a while. Packing up Jace's room was one of the first. of the hardest things I've ever have to do. My poor sister was grieving and dealing with guilt as well.

One of the hardest parts was waking up every morning and just for that little bit. There's like that one moment when you wake up that you don't remember that everything is awful or that you're living a nightmare. And having that one moment of everything okay and then remembering the next moment that everything is a nightmare was very difficult every day. There was some story about it on the news and his family started commenting on that on the story saying that I was the one who killed Jace because I was a bitter spinster. They also said that I was in a vampire cult, which I think is because I was into twilight. One thing I did to help with the grief is I took Jace's clothes and made quilts out of them for my family. And so whenever it was like unbearable, I would just go in

my room and start working on the quilts. They're not fancy, but it was putting my grief into something. I think that that was really good. What was your relationship with Leslie like in those months following as you are both grieving and going through the beginnings of this legal process? It's interesting because I was both mad at her and very protective of her at the same time. I was afraid that they would charge her with like failure to protect or something like that. But the police all acknowledge, like, no, this is a sociopath. He is a bad guy that tricked you. That helped me to hear that. Leslie's counselor that she went to said the same thing. So I think that helped me to be able to say, okay, this is because of him, not because of her. She stayed with me for maybe six

months after that. She moved in with me and we just left the other house empty for a while. She eventually moved back in over there. And I didn't want her to because I didn't want to go over there at all. But she said, you know, something terrible happened here, but it's also where I have all the good memories. I remember one interesting moment was when we were meeting with the district attorney. He was asking us questions and telling us what was going to happen. And he started talking about possibly offering him a plea deal. At that moment, I spoke up and said, no, we don't want any kind of plea deal. Like, we have all been sentenced to a life of unhappiness. And he needs to experience the same thing. At that moment, I truly did not believe that I could ever be happy again.

I knew I couldn't kill myself because I couldn't do that to my mom, but I did not want to be alive. I should have taken a lot of time off work. I probably had no business working at that time, but I probably worked twice as much instead. I took a few months off work. I knew going back would be hard, as that's where I met Jace. And now I was going back without him. and my normal working routine of checking in on Jace all day long, going to get him, and so on. I had to learn a new normal.

Watching my parents grieve the loss of Jace was so hard. I'm convinced the loss of Jace killed my dad. I had never seen my dad love anything like he loved Jace. My dad lost the will to fight his cancer. He didn't do what it took to get the bone marrow transplant, and seven months after Jace died, my father's cancer had progressed to leukemia, and he died on January 13, 2011. back in 2010. October comes, and I definitely wasn't in the dating scene. I had no interest and most

definitely was never going to do online dating again. However, I had noticed a nice young man walking around the hospital that was particularly easy on the eyes. He was a part of the HVAC department. He was very handsome, but I certainly wasn't going to go up and speak to him because I wasn't interested in dating and remember, I avoid all face-to-face contact with men I find a trash. One day in the NICU, I was talking to my friends, and they were like, hey, Leslie, what about that guy? This handsome man happened to be on a ladder near us working in the ceiling. I'm like, yeah, he's cute. I've noticed him before. And one of the respiratory therapists I worked with heard about this and said, hey, I know him. I'll talk to him for you. She talks to him while he's on a break one day and tells him,

there's this NICU nurse that's obsessed with him. And he needs to come up and meet her. I'm sorry, what? I never said that. I said he was cute and had a lot. nice and how am I supposed to look him in the face when she told him I'm obsessed with him. There's no way. And my self-esteem, too. Why would anyone that I think is cute ever be interested in me? Like, they would just turn around and walk away and I would be rejected. One day, there was a respiratory therapist.

It's been years since I've seen her, but she was one of my few friends in that unit because she didn't mess with the baby smote, so I could talk to her and I feel like I was getting in the way. Anyway, she tells me one time that there's this nurse up here, and she's just absolutely obsessed with you. She talks about you all the time. Now, according to my wife, that's not true. She never said that. So I was like, I'll come meet her. She told me her name, all this. And so I went up, I went straight up to the unit to meet her. I was going to introduce myself to her. When I got there, I couldn't find her, you know. So I had my tool cart with me, trying to act

like I was working. And when I got up there, she was nowhere to be found. Y'all couldn't find her. I looked around a little bit, and then I was like, all right, everyone's looking at me, so I need to act like I'm doing something. I messed around with some of the coolers, checking temperatures or something and then I left. I can't remember how long it was after that, but her friend gave me her phone number, and I called her. When I called her, I guess I got nervous and it went to

a recording. And when I went to give her my phone number, I totally couldn't remember my phone number. I don't normally fumble with words and stuff like that, you know? So it really, that embarrassed me. Maybe I was more nervous than I give myself credit for. She does end up calling me back, and our first date was at Buffalo Wild Wings.

I remember I took her to see a Brock Leicester fight. How romantic is there. So, the plan was for him to come up and meet me in the Niki one day. It was like high school again. Everyone knew he was coming and they were all standing around giggling like little school girls. I got so nervous, I started sweating profusely and I hid. I couldn't do it. I couldn't meet him. He was so handsome. There was no way he would like me. He comes in pushing his tool cart like he's got something to work on, try not to make it obvious, and that poor guy got ghosted by me. He wound up calling me, and of course I didn't answer. I made him leave a voicemail. I couldn't

even call him back right away. We messaged on Facebook some, and then we eventually talked on the phone. My mindset was different than the previous year. I wasn't looking to date anyone. My trust was non-existent, but since I met him through work and there were people that knew him and vouched for him, I thought I would at least have a conversation with him. We talked on the phone for several hours one night, and there was just something about him. He was so polite and respectful. Then he dropped a bomb on me, his age. He was five years younger than me. That is a lot.

But I was in a decent headspace at that time, and I thought, well, I'll go to dinner with him. And if anything, maybe I'll make a good friend out of this. We went to dinner. And as they say, the rest is history. I knew I could trust him. He was sincere. He was respectful. He was a family man.

He was a Christian. He was a country boy with the accent and everything. He's a yes ma'am, no ma'am kind of guy. He had a job. provided for himself, lived by himself. He knew what I had been through and never pressured me for anything. We took things slowly. He would come say hi to me at work.

We would go out on dates with friends. They all approved. We didn't even kiss for the longest time. In fact, I kind of started to get annoyed about it because by now I really liked the guy and I was like, come on, man. On New Year's Eve, he finally asked me to be his girlfriend, or as a country boy calls it, his girl. They were like inexperienced high school kids that liked each other but didn't know how to communicate.

More on Leslie's end. He just seemed real patient. And there's like not a mean bone in his body, which is exactly what Leslie needed. She needed someone who was like, her father really. And that's exactly who chases. Sweet, willing to do anything for anybody with nothing in return, just so selfless. But he makes me laugh because he's blessed us hard. I mean, without Leslie, I think that boy would be lost.

So they're a good balance. She helps them try to stay on track and get things done. But I truly believe that there is not another man out there that would love Leslie the way Chase loves her. Genuinely loves her. Like, Leslie is his world. She needed that. She deserved that after the hell she went through. She found a good one.

I was 26 years old. I was kind of past dating, really. I was looking for a wife. More specifically, someone I thought would be a good mother. It's always been important to me. is to have a good mother for my children. I had a good mother. I was a mama's boy, and today we've got three mama's boys.

I got asking her about in the trial. I went to a few of the hearings. This is all while we're still dating. I was always really careful with what I said to her bed because at this time, Kelsey's trying to be strong, but this has to be horrible. This has to be, like, really on her mind all the time. He was able to meet my family.

He met my dad, which means a lot to me, because my dad passed away on January 13th, 2011, which also happens to be Chase's birthday. January 13th was the day my dad died, but it was also the day I felt hopelessly in love with Chase. We were newly in a relationship. It was his birthday, and all he cared about was being there for me that day. He wrote down Bible verses to share with me. He came over and prayed with me. He came over and just held me all night. It was that night he told me he loved me. The way he supported me through still dealing with the loss of a child and now dealing with the loss of my dad proved to me how selfless he is and this is what I'd been looking

for. I feel like God put him in my life because he knew that he is what I needed. He knew in order to get through the devastation of losing a child, losing my purpose, my dad, losing everything, that I would need to be surrounded by love. Between my friends and Chase, I no longer felt like I had no future. It would still be hard, but I had support. My friends, my family, my coworkers, they wouldn't let me fall. I was surrounded with love and support, and I'm forever grateful for them.

Cody remained in jail as we waited and waited and waited for the murder trial. Next time, on something was wrong. We became close with the prosecutors. They were a big support. They really wanted to honor Jace and wanted justice for him. Leslie and I were not allowed to be in the trial because we both were called to testify. How terrified did that little boy have to be in those moments? Anybody that abuses a baby or a child is just hands down, not a person.

For information about how and where to file a report of suspected child abuse or neglect, call the Child Help National Child Abuse Hotline. Child help can be reached seven days a week, 24 hours a day, at its toll-free number, 1-800-4-A-child. That is, 1-800-4-22-4453. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time, stay safe, friends. Something Was Wrong is a Broken Cycle Media production, created and hosted by me, Tiffany Reese. If you'd like to support the show further, you can share episodes.

with your loved ones, leave a positive review, or follow Something Was Wrong on Instagram at Something Was Wrong podcast. Our theme song was composed by Gladrags. Check out their album, Wonder Under. Thank you so much.