The Misery Machine - 2 Hours Of The Worst Dads Ever

Episode Date: December 27, 2025

Some of the most devastating crimes are not committed by strangers in dark alleys, but by the very people meant to protect and love us. In this compilation, we examine four separate cases that shook communities to their core, each involving a biological father who betrayed the most fundamental bond of parenthood. Phoebe Jonchuck, Maddox Lawrence, Dylan Redwine, and Takoda Collins were children whose lives ended far too soon at the hands of their own fathers. Though these cases occurred in different places and under different circumstances, they share a haunting common thread: warning signs missed, systems that failed, and innocent lives lost. This week, we will tell their stories, not for shock value, but to remember who they were, to confront the uncomfortable realities of family violence, and to ask how tragedies like these can ever be prevented.Support Our Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PayPal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join Our Facebook Group: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: miserymachinepodcastTwitter: misery_podcastDiscord: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#themiserymachine #podcast #truecrimeSource Materials Available Upon Request.

Hey guys, this is our official compilations channel. If you want to check out our newest videos as soon as they're uploaded, then check out our main channel, The Misery Machine. Maybe J. John Chuck was born on August 22nd, 2009 in Florida. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th.

Tickets on sale now at Yamava Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter. To parents Michelle Care in John John Chuck Jr. Phoebe was a happy child with a free spirit who loved to pose for pictures. She'd love to sing, dance, and create artwork. She'd like to wear bright colors. Her favorites were pink and purple.

Phoebe enjoyed apple juice and Cheetos, wearing sparkly pink sneakers, reading books about dogs. She loved rainbows, butterflies, puppies, and cats. Phoebe had long, curly blonde hair, green eyes, and a smile that lit up the room. Phoebe's parents both came from troubled backgrounds. Michelle's dad had abandoned his family when she was in kindergarten. When she was just 16 years old, Michelle's mother passed away. All that Michelle had left to remember her mother was a small wedding ring. Now, Phoebe's father, John, came from an even more unstable home life.

His father, John John Chuck, senior, was an alcoholic who beat his mother and was arrested multiple times for DUI. He left when John was just three years old. John's mother, Michelle Johnchuck, worked at Dunkin' Donuts, but got caught stealing and was busted for drugs. She left when John was just five years old. John was sent to live with his uncle Brian Morris and his partner Tim Maynard. They gave him a necklace with a small gold cross on it.

John proved to be a difficult child who got thrown out of multiple preschools, kicked his dog and stuck screwdrivers into electrical outlets. He threw such terrible fit that a counselor suggested he'd be wrapped up in a sheet like a straight jacket. He was prescribed Adderall and Ritalin, but nothing really helped him. One day, John's father showed up to reclaim him. He said he didn't want two men raising his son and he was pretty vocal about it. After that, John lived with his father and stepmom in a duplex next to a junkyard in Tampa, Florida. CPS visited the home multiple times and John's friends noticed bruises on his face.

He was 12. John's father told him to clean his room and John ended up losing it. He attacked his father with soda cans, pulled his hair and then finally grabbed a knife. The police were called and John admitted to pulling his dad's hair, but only after his dad hit him. He also admitted to making a stabbing motion with the knife. The police report from this incident noted that John hates his father and hopes that he goes to hell. This was only the first time in his life that John was put in the back of a police car. However, it was decided that no treatment was needed for John at the time. At school, John was known for being the small.

artist, the funniest, and the loudest. He entertained other students and made homemade puppets and plays that he performed in the lunchroom. He never wanted to be at home and preferred to spend time at friends' houses. In eighth grade, John told everyone that he liked men. He was teased for this, but he seemed to enjoy the attention. However, he dropped out of school the next year. His family had him committed to a psych ward after he climbed onto the roof of his father's duplex and, because YouTube can't handle us talking about this in a straightforward language, attempted to remove himself from this earth with a knife. After his hospital stay, John went back to living with his uncle Brian and Uncle Tim.

There he took online classes to try to earn his GED, but proved to have a volatile temper. When he was caught playing video games instead of studying, his uncle tried to take his computer away. John retaliated by throwing the laptop over a balcony and smashing it to people. Another time when he was so angry at Tim, he coated the stairs with wax. This led Tim to fall down the stairs and break three of his ribs. According to his uncles, John just watched and laughed. Later, Brian described John as a monster, and Tim referred to him as pure evil. At age 17, John moved out and began working at a strip club where he made a lot of money off of older men.

He also began using drugs heavily, especially spice, also known as K2. He then moved on to Crystal, smoking so much that his fingertips were often charred from holding the glass pipe. At age 18, John was first introduced to Michelle Care. She was 23 years old and already had a young son and a daughter. But she would go to bars together, putting on their makeup side by side in the mirror while singing along to pop songs.

John told her she was beautiful, and then one night he basically said, maybe I don't like men because I'm in love with you. The two developed a relationship bonding over their troubled lives. Michelle told him how she'd been charged with neglecting her son when he was five because a babysitter didn't pick him up from the bus stop. She still had custody of her son while her daughter stayed with relatives. John told Michelle about his father beating him and how he hated his mother for leaving. He told her he was bipolar but was on medication.

Michelle thought John was handsome, but soon saw that he had two sides. According to Michelle, he was charming, and then the devil came out. On Valentine's Day, he slashed her tires in a fit of jealousy. She said, he'll be as sweet as anything, then go all Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One day, John was upset that Michelle was outside too long talking to a neighbor, so he took her mother's wedding ring and threw it out of a window. Because of him, the last thing she had left from her late, mother was lost in the overgrown yard. Despite this, they soon moved in together and they both

enrolled in college classes where she took graphic design and he studied to be a paralegal. He asked her four times to marry him, but she refused him every single time. Despite their rocky relationship, Michelle did stay with him. On August 22nd, 2009, their daughter was born. She was named Phoebe after John's Chihuahua. Phoebe was a delightful and easy-going baby who was a rarely fussy. She loved being sung to and liked to have someone stroke her arm while she fell asleep. Her curly hair and round face seemed to work magic because John became a doting father. He changed diapers, warmed bottles, and wanted to stay home. You thought this was your run club era. Turns out, it was more of a thinking about run club era.

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It's now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus. We're somewhere in the Gulf of Thailand. Getting us out of here should be your focus. I'm your boss. You work for me. I'm not in the office anymore. It's bold, relentless, and endlessly rewatchable. White critics give it 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. You're so fired.

Oh, am I? No help is coming. Send help, rated R. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus. ...with his Feebs, all of the time. His uncle Brian said, When Phoebe was born, that changed him. He stepped up more than he ever had.

Michelle planned to go back to work after her maternity leave, but she started having problems with her leg. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and went on disability. John tried to go back to work but didn't seem able to hold down a steady job. He tried various money-making schemes, including fake check printing and stealing other people's credit cards. He even sued the cheesecake factory for $250,000 after faking a fall. Although John seemed to make a turnaround when Phoebe was born, it was very short-lived. When Phoebe was 10 months old, the cops were called for a domestic issue.

John had thrown Michelle to the floor and beat her legs. However, Michelle dropped the charges after John completed a DV program. A few years later, the cops were called again when John tried to choke Michelle. Phoebe, who was two years old at this time, locked herself in her parents' bedroom until John kicked down the door to get her out. The report from April 2012 stated, Family Violence Threatens Child. However, this was changed to side. Signs of present danger is low five days later because John and Michelle agreed to counseling.

Phoebe grew into a shy child. It began going to from here to their daycare. The owner, Linda Matos, described Phoebe as almost nonverbal. She always sat by herself for 30 to 45 minutes each day after being dropped off. Only then would she come out of her shell to join the other children. Linda would take Phoebe to Chucky Cheese and even to her own backyard, school. Linda's teenage son, Nick, tried to teach Phoebe to swim, but she was terrified of water. She didn't even like to take a bath. Despite her troubling home life, Phoebe still seemed to be a happy

toddler. John's mother, Michelle Johnchuck, came back into their lives and finally sobered up. Phoebe called this newly reacquired grandmother, Mama. She sometimes lived with John and Michelle's family as they moved from apartment to apartment. Although she developed a new lease on life, John couldn't forgive his mother for leaving him as a child. If she tried to help him with parenting Phoebe, John would fly off the handle and would say, You didn't raise me. Why do you want to raise my daughter? The family's life worsened, with John erupting into rage every few months. It is possible that the rejection he felt from both of his parents leaving him as a child

translated to fear and resentment as an adult. If he felt like he was being abandoned or rejected again, he would lose control. John punched holes and walls and broke windows when he was angry at his mother or Michelle. It would continually run out of money or get evicted, and John thought every place they lived in was possessed by evil spirit. Now, throughout Phoebe's toddler years, John continued to abuse both his wife and mother. Phoebe was there to witness John punch his mother in the face. and drag her down the stairs by her feet.

She watched as John poured boiling coffee over Michelle, tried to strangle her with Christmas lights and threw a concrete block at her. She was there, witnessing, John chasing Michelle into a closet and stabbing the door with a knife. When John punched Michelle in the face and cracked her head against the bathtub, Phoebe was there to witness it. John was arrested for the bathroom incident, but Michelle dropped the charges again. However, this time she decided she was done with him. finally moved out. Fortunately, when John got out of jail,

he told the judge that Michelle had sliced him with a box cutter, even though it was obvious that John had inflicted the wounds himself. Despite the dubious nature of his claim and his prior arrest history, John was able to get a restraining order against Michelle. He got Phoebe's share of Michelle's benefits, as well as Phoebe herself. Michelle could not afford a lawyer and didn't even get a notice about the court hearing. As such, she couldn't contest the restraining order, and she ended up not being able to see Phoebe for over a year. In June of 2013, the Florida Department of Children and Families concluded, and I quote,

there are implications for child safety. This is due to the family's history of prior reports and to the father's history of CA and neglect. A month after this, John was arrested for DUI and Michelle was arrested for theft. The DCF noted, the father interacts with Phoebe and a care. manner. The case is being closed with verified findings for family violence threatens child. Now, it was clear that the state was aware that Phoebe was in a dangerous situation, but no actions were being taken. John had been arrested seven times on family violence charges since the age of 12. Nevertheless, the years of calls to police and to child services amounted

to nothing. Phoebe never had a caseworker that was involved enough to notice that her father was abusing her mother and grandmother. They didn't notice that John was still using drugs and hallucinating. They didn't notice that John bounced Phoebe from place to place with her clothes in a trash bag. When a DCF investigator visited Phoebe at her daycare, she told the investigator that she missed her mommy. Although John had violent tendencies towards Michelle and Mama, he adored his daughter. He painted her toenails, taught her how to count trees, and took her out for slushies that turned her mouth blue. He brushed her long curly hair and let her win at tic-tac-toe. He taught her the alphabet and how to write her name with a crayon. When Phoebe was afraid of the dark, he let her fall asleep watching

Blue's clues. John moved with Phoebe into a succession of different homes over the next year or so. He never had money to pay the rent for their own place, and he preferred the company of others anyway. They lived with eight different friends or family members during that time, including five different single moms. It seems that they couldn't turn away the little Phoebe, so John was able to wheedle his way into their lives. However, John was still smoking crystal and wasn't a very good house guest. Something would set him off and he would end up trashing the place. One time he freaked out some friends when he was driving high on drugs and suddenly floored it to a hundred miles an hour. However, there was only one time anyone saw him get rough with Phoebe. On that occasion, he grabbed her

by the arm and dragged her out of the room after she asked for a fruit cup before dinner. Otherwise, his rage was reserved for others. Each time a new roommate had enough and kicked him out, he'd leave behind broken furniture and piles of trash. The only thing he ever took when he left was his own daughter. For a while, Phoebe did get to go live with John's uncle Brian and Uncle Tim while John slept at a friend's house. They had a big, beautiful Victorian house with a Koi Pond, and Phoebe got to enjoy taking Reese's peanut butter cups from a crystal candy dish. Brian and Tim worried about Phoebe's safety, and even drafted up adoption paperwork to

keep Phoebe. However, John had the same response that his own father had two decades earlier. In 2014, Phoebe began attending kindergarten at Cleveland Elementary School. She turned five two days after school started. John brought cupcakes for the class and went to leave Phoebe hung on to his legs and cried. Her teacher, Micah Oliver, said it was the worst case of separation anxiety that she had ever seen. Phoebe threw these fits for a month until John snapped in front of the teacher and said, why does it have to be this way? After that, Phoebe's grandmother, mama, rearranged her work

schedule so that way she was the only one to drop off Phoebe each day, which made things easier. Soon, Phoebe moved into her grandmother's house while John crashed elsewhere. That autumn may have been the most stable time in Phoebe's life. She slept in her grandmother's big double bed, set her prayers, and hugged her life-sized baby doll named Lucy. Mama would often wake Phoebe in the morning by singing, You Are My Sunshine. Phoebe made friends at school and began to flourish. She liked to tell jokes and told her teachers that she was going to grow up to be either a doctor or a dancer. Her teachers knew that her mom wasn't around but believed she had a loving father and adoring grandmother. To them, there were no signs of neglect or abuse. She wasn't a child that teachers were

worried about. She was always clean and knew how to share nicely and politely said please and thank you. Although Phoebe missed her mother, she clearly enjoyed her cozy life with Mama. At one point, Phoebe awoke screaming from a nightmare and told Mama, I dreamt someone was taking me from you. Still, Michelle continued to press John to let her see her daughter, and John finally agreed. John and Phoebe met Michelle and her new boyfriend for Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrel. It should have been a nice family dinner, but when Phoebe asked if she could stay with her mother, John refused. In the month after Thanksgiving, things worsened for John. He lost two different jobs, old friends wouldn't return his calls, and now this, Michelle was getting ready to be married

and she wanted to see more of Phoebe. Seems likely that his old fears of abandonment and rejection were rising to the surface, leading to feelings of deep betrayal. He ended up calling a hotline to accuse Michelle of abusing or neglecting Phoebe, all while two other people called to report him for the same thing. He started sending bizarre text to a friend, accusing Michelle of being a demon who needed God, and saying that he was going to come kill her. Then John got a letter about his cheesecake factory lawsuit, asking for x-rays to prove the extent of his injuries. Another letter arrived from the Social Security Office, threatening to cut off the benefits he received for Phoebe. With one rejection after another piling up for John, he began to spiral.

Phoebe and John spent Christmas Eve at Michelle's house along with Mama, Michelle's new boyfriend, and his son. They enjoyed takeout barbecue, and John even said a prayer before they ate. Mama was happy with this latest detail, relieved that John finally believed in God. John's stepmother, Mickey, had an old family Bible. It was written in Swedish and was over a hundred years old. John started carrying around this huge old Bible, evidently drawing some inspiration from the book. On Christmas Day, he texted Michelle and said she didn't have to worry about him keeping Phoebe from her anymore. Phoebe received some wonderful presents from Mama that Christmas, new bubbles, a sparkly doll, plato, and a kit to make a scrapbook. Alas, the nice holiday morning turns sour

when John raged at Mama, screaming that she had never bought him presents like these. After Christmas, John again got hired for a new job, this time with the telemarketing company. The only jobs he had for months was working one day at a cafe before quitting and then part-time at Burger King. His new boss didn't know what to make of John's erratic moods. He said, in one breath, you could have the most educated conversation in the world with this guy, and I'd be thinking I could take him to a board meeting. Then he'd flip, and the devil would appear. here. John soon got fired, but his boss took him back after John begged him for another chance.

Meanwhile, tensions between John and Michelle grew even worse. Text message conversations grew more and more hostile. John called her nasty names and threatened to pursue full custody for Phoebe again. On December 29th, Michelle called the DCF hotline to report John for hitting Phoebe years earlier, that he had no stable housing for Phoebe. No one ever investigated this complaint, and John called the next day to claim that Michelle was using drugs. The drug test proved his accusation to be false. On New Year's Eve, John filed for another restraining order, claiming that Michelle's new boyfriend had weapons in the house. This request was denied. Meanwhile, Phoebe enjoyed the evening with Phoebe's grandmother, mama, watching the fireworks display put on by her two great-uncles.

In the following week, John was in an unusually humble mood, texting multiple people to ask for forgiveness. It seemed he had burned too many bridges because no one replied to him. He spent that Sunday at his mother's house doing yard work, listening to her talk about how much she would like to keep Phoebe. This set him off. That evening, he yanked Phoebe out of his mother's bed and yelled, you're not taking my kid. His mother was too startled to stop him and said later that if I'd try to take her, he'd have beaten me up. John took Phoebe to his dad and stepmom's house in. Phoebe didn't return to school for the next two days. Meanwhile, John was at his dad's house getting more and more obsessed with that ancient Swedish Bible.

He told his stepmom that Phoebe was a demon and spread salt in the doorways throughout the house to ward off evil spirits. When John went to work on Monday, he kept rambling about the Bible. He talked about Abraham and Isaac and about sacrificing a lamb. His coworkers were concerned, thinking that maybe he was on drugs or mentally unstable. They talked about getting him help, but knew that he might lose his daughter if he was checked in anywhere. On his way home that evening, John said something cryptic to his coworkers. He said, I'm going to be fine. I've got to walk that pyramid.

I just hope when I get to the top, I don't have to do it. I hope I don't have to make that sacrifice. I hope someone stops me. On Wednesday, January 15th, John brought Phoebe while he met with his lawyer Genevieve Torres. He was still trying to get cut. custody of Phoebe, so his attorney had drafted up the forms for him to sign. Phoebe waited downstairs, drawing a house with paper and crayons that a paralegal brought to her. John's lawyer just needed him to sign the paperwork so they could move forward, but she couldn't get him to focus. He kept rambling and waving

his hands around. He brought the Bible translated to Swedish, which he put on the table. He told Genevieve to read it, but the lawyer didn't know the language. He said to her, you're the creator. you can read any language. He told her that he had an appointment with a priest in an hour because he wanted to get baptized. She tried to get him back on topic. He dismissed her with a chilling statement. He said, don't worry about filing the paperwork. None of this is going to matter tomorrow.

Genevieve was understandably concerned by John's behavior, but wasn't sure what to do about it. She ultimately determined that this went beyond attorney-client confidentiality. She decided to call the police after she got him to leave. On the way out, John asked if he could leave Phoebe at the lawyer's office while he was at his appointment with the priest. Genevieve considered it, but worried that Phoebe would be scared or John might return an accuser of kidnapping. She also reasoned that Phoebe would be safe at a church. As soon as John left with Phoebe, Genevieve had her paralegal called the police.

She told the dispatcher, he's crazy, he's nuts, he's out of his mind and he has a minor child with him driving to a church now, and I should have kept the child. The dispatcher asked if John wanted to harm himself. Genevieve replied, no. He kept saying, I was God, and he needed to get baptized, and not to file anything because things are not going to matter anymore. I don't know if he's on drugs or what. I should have kept the child. Between about 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. that day, John took Phoebe with him to four different

churches across Tampa in his mission to get baptized. The first church was the St. Paul Catholic Church. We told the priest that he was possessed and asked him to do an exorcism. him. He also asked him how many people had jumped off the Skyway bridge. The priest ultimately told him that there was a process to go through before getting baptized, so John left. Outside, there were two Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies waiting to speak with him. Deputies Jessica Hallberg, Halebrough, and Aaron Rizzo asked John if he thought his lawyer was God. He replied, no, but God spoke to me. He told them that he had a new clarity on life, and that he used to be

on 37 different medications. During this interaction, Phoebe was smiling while she held her father's hands. The deputies asked the priest if John seemed like a danger to himself or others, and the priest said no. He told them John was just feeling paranoid, but he didn't mention John's exorcism request

or the question about the skyway. When the officers left, their report said this of John. He did not exhibit any signs of mental illness. The little girl appeared happy and waved at me when she was leaving with her dad. John then drove across town to a different Catholic church before picking up his stepmom and returning again to the first church. He again demanded to be baptized immediately, but the priest refused. It was about 1 p.m. at this point.

John then went to a Methodist church nearby and met with the receptionist there. The receptionist remembered Phoebe skipping on her way in. She gave Phoebe a lollipop and Phoebe waited with John's stepmom while John and John, inquired about a baptism. He showed the receptionist his oversized Swedish Bible. He said that he was related to the Pope, but that the Catholic Church would not baptize him. The receptionist gave him the email for the minister to contact. That seemed to work because John grabbed his Bible and left with Phoebe. Meanwhile, John's lawyer Genevieve heard back from the sheriff's deputies who told her they didn't think John was a danger to himself or others. Around 2 p.m., John started calling her office

repeatedly. He called eight times over the next hour, ranting and insisting that Phoebe wasn't really his daughter. Realizing that the police weren't able to help, Genevieve called the DCF hotline and spoke to a counselor for 18 minutes. She explained how John was obsessed with the Swedish Bible, thought she was God, and was claiming that Phoebe was not his child. During this conversation, John called again and spoke to repair illegal. He said he was back at his dad's house and everything was fine. Genevieve relayed this info to the counselor who put her on hold. She came back, she said, based on the information provided, unfortunately it doesn't rise to the level of Florida statutes for us to be able to accept the report at this time. Now, whether or not you feel this response

is by the book based on Florida's laws, you have to admit it is infuriating. I can't even begin to comprehend the level of helplessness that Genevieve felt in this moment after witnessing behavior from somebody clearly not mentally fit to have a child in his care. However, Genevieve kept insisting, desperate to get some sort of further action from the counselor. But this counselor had only been on the job six months, and she told Genevieve that it sounded to her like John had support from other adults. In the end, the report was closed at 3.25 p.m. John and Phoebe stayed at his stepdad's house that afternoon and evening, suddenly calm.

Everything seemed fine, and they all watched TV on. the couch. At 8 p.m., Mama got up to leave and said she'd take Phoebe with her so that she could drop Phoebe off at school the next day. It had now been three days of school that Phoebe had missed. John promised to bring her to school the next day, and Phoebe wanted to stay with him. Mama went home by herself, but shortly afterwards, John called and said he wasn't feeling well. He asked if Phoebe could come over after all, but Mama had told him that she had just gone to bed. At around 9.30 that night, John began texting his friend Nomi. He told her that they belonged together and ranted about sea salt in the Bible.

He also said he asked a priest how many people had jumped off the skyway. Nomi was disturbed and didn't reply to his texts. At around 10 p.m., John's dad and stepmom heard John leave the house and drive away. They assumed he was taking Phoebe to her grandmother's house and went back to bed. In reality, John had packed up all of the family. Phoebe's Christmas presents into trash bags and stashed them in his car, which was a white PT cruiser. He made her wearing the gold cross that he had gotten from his uncles when he was a kid. He drove them to Nomi's apartment complex and pounded on her door. Nomi hid thinking he'd come to

kill her and her son. A neighbor saw him pacing around the parking lot and noticed that Phoebe didn't have any shoes on and wasn't wearing a coat. Shortly after, someone called the police the report that a white PT cruiser was driving a hundred miles an hour down the highway headed south. John sped down the interstate crossing into the city of St. Petersburg. He suddenly slammed on the brake so hard that he left smoking skid marks. Sergeant William Drew Vickers of the St. Petersburg Police Department was off duty and headed home that night, but he happened to see the PT cruiser jam on its brakes. He decided to follow the car as it sped towards the skyway.

It was just after midnight on January 8, 2015. Sergeant Vickers radio dispatch to give them the plate number, but didn't turn on his lights or siren. He told Dispatch that he was following a white PT cruiser, traveling at a high rate of speed down 275 southbound. He followed the speeding car out of St. Petersburg and onto the Dick Meissiner bridge that goes over lower Tampa Bay. While Sergeant Vickers was still talking to dispatch, John's vehicle suddenly slowed down, swerved to the right, and stopped on the shoulder of the bridge. John got out of the car wearing his plaid pajamas and carrying that huge Swedish Bible. Sergeant Vickers yelled at him to get back in the car, but John kept walking back toward him. John shouted, you have no free will, and then walked to the rear passenger side of the Pee-Cruiser, opening the door.

Sergeant Vickers drew his Glock pistol and yelled, let me see her hands. John emerged from the car holding a young girl. Sergeant Vickers saw her long, honey-colored curls, and she pressed her face into her father's shoulder. He thought he saw her stretch like she was just waking up. John calmly walked to the edge of the bridge, holding eye contact with the officer pointing a gun at him. Without looking away, he reached the concrete railing, and suddenly threw Phoebe over the side.

Sergeant Vickers thought he heard a scream, and then heard a splash as Phoebe hit the frigid ocean waters 62 feet below. John didn't even look to watch his daughter fall. He simply walked back to his car while Sergeant, Sergeant Vickers yelled into his radio. He just dropped his kid over the railing into the water. He's fleeing south to the Toll Plaza. Give me rescue. I'm right on the interstate. The kids in the water. Sergeant Vickers ran to the edge of the bridge and tried in vain to see down into the dark water below. He saw a service ladder nearby and climbed down. Other officers arrived while

Vickers reached the bottom and searched frantically with his flashlight for any sign of the little girl. It was a cold night, only 42 degrees, a 25 mile an hour wind. Meanwhile, John had sped away down 275, first south, but then he pulled a U-turn and started back up the wrong side of I-75. He nearly hit a police cruiser and was finally stopped with spike sticks. He ignored demands to get out of the vehicle, so the driver's side window was smashed and he was pulled out through the broken glass of the pavement, where he was placed under arrest. Rescue professionals and volunteers were swiftly deployed to search for Phoebe. Everyone knew there was a slim chance that Phoebe had survived the fall in the freezing water.

Spotlight swept across the water while helicopters circled overhead. Tide patterns and currents were put into a computer to try to guess which direction Phoebe might have been swept in the choppy water under the bridge. Finally, Phoebe's pale face was spotted in the dark current framed by her long hair. She'd been swept under the bridge by the current and pulled nearly a mile to the southeast. The student search and rescue team that spotted her pulled Phoebe's cold body from the water into their boat. They attempted CPR and tried to revive her with warm blankets and ivy fluids, but she was already gone. Phoebe, who feared water so much she didn't even want to take a bath and been in the water an hour and a half before she was found.

In an interrogation room at the sheriff's department, John said to the deputies, my name is God, and you shall address me as such. I command you to take me to the city of Babylon now. He then said he was the Pope, and he wanted his Bible, and that this was all a conspiracy. He didn't want to be left alone in the room and told the officers that for the last few weeks he had been feeling different. At some point during the interview, John asked,

Is Phoebe okay? The officers asked who Phoebe was, and John's replied, Phoebe was my daughter, Phoebe J. Johnchuck. Note the past tense. Phoebe was his daughter. I went looking for answers. I've always had problems growing up, like, wondering who I was and how, and what my purpose was. And ever since yesterday and a couple days before.

Like what? The problems. How did you think? you're different well um it's like I don't know like when I went to the church or church uh St. Paul's Catholic Church and I spoke to Father Bill he told me that I wasn't going to be ready this Easter but next Easter and that I was the Pope that Francis or whatever is not um um um Um, is not like...

He's not the real pope? Yes. And, uh, my grandma's name, and I do have Greek heritage, believe it or not. Um, my grandma's maiden name is Velatimir. Um, and it's always been weird. And I've had people coming up to me recently and asking me what my name is, and I've only been able to say John. Um, prior to this, weeks prior to this, like, and they would ask me what my last. last name is and I would just say John.

How about you just physically couldn't say your last name or John John Chuck or he's just John? It was just John for some reason and it's like I really had to kind of think about it for a minute. Then that's just been going on this past week? Yeah. How about the island crew are you like working there? You said it's a Jamaican restaurant? I kind of felt uncomfortable. Uncomfortable?

How so? I mean, it's a job. How do you know all this stuff? You told me when I was asking you what your name was in which you're, you said that you worked the island crew and that it was a Jamaican restaurant or it's like a cafe. That's how you put it. I did, but I felt like he was dishonest. Who's that? The owner, like he was. Oh, you said you're, is it the owner that was being dishonest?

What made you think he was being dishonest? Going to different restaurants. Mm-hmm. He was going to different restaurants and working there to find out their main dishes and then putting it on his menu. Really? So we go to different restaurants to find out with their signature dish or the main dish is on their menu and bring it back to the restaurant that you worked at? Yes. I can see how that would be dishonest.

Is Phoebe okay? Phoebe? Who's that? Do you John, Chuck. Is she okay? I don't know, John. I haven't heard. I've been here watching and talking over you or talking with you.

At the end of the interrogation report, the officer noted, I observed there to be no remorse or regret for what he allegedly did. The only time he showed any emotion was when he asked me if Phoebe was all right. When he asked me that, he put his head. head down into his hand and began to shake his head back and forth. Despite John's strange behavior and appearance, a drug test was not administered. When he was taken to Pinellas County Jail, the deputies checked off no on the formant for indications of drug or alcohol influence or mental health issues. Phoebe's death shocked the community around Tampa Bay. So many people had seen her

with her father on that final afternoon or in the weeks and months leading up to her death. Phoebe's relatives wondered if they could have pushed harder to get her away from John sooner. Her kindergarten teacher wondered if she should have known that something was wrong. Sergeant Vickers wondered if he could have handled the interaction with John and the bridge differently to save Phoebe's life. John's lawyer Genevieve wondered how things would have been different if she had kept Phoebe in her office that day. Phoebe's grandmother, mama, blamed herself, first for abandoning John as a child,

and doting so heavily on Phoebe, wondering if this could have triggered John's resentfulness and jealousy. She said, what if I killed her because I loved her too much? Authorities had been called out of concern for Phoebe seven different times in her short life, but none of that made a difference. The disputes between Phoebe's parents garnered so many reports to DCF that they weren't taken seriously. Phoebe's death helped bring attention to serious flaws in the system. The very next day after Phoebe's death, changes were made to address the way in which hotline counselors handled calls. If the caregiver was believed to be experiencing a psychotic episode, like John was reported to have been,

and officials were now required to respond within four hours to check on the child. In just one year after that change, more than 900 calls had been forwarded to investigators, and at least one baby had been saved because of these changes. An autopsy was performed on Phoebe's small body. It was determined that she was alive before she entered the water. The fall from the bridge to the water would have lasted two seconds before she hit the water at about 60 miles per hour. The water temperature that night was 67 degrees with an air temperature of 42 degrees. By the time she was found her body temperature had dropped to 44.6 degrees.

The attempts to revive her with the warm blankets and an ivy brought her body temperature back up to 75 degrees before she was declared dead. She had huge bruises on her back, jaw, and lip from the impact with the water. She had a layer of blood on her brain, scrapes near her ear and ankle, and frothy fluid in her lungs. The cause of death was determined to be drowning with hypothermia as a contributing condition. The manner of death was ruled a homicide. John John Chuck was charged with first-degree homicide and held without bond. At his first court appearance, Pinellas County Judge Michael Andrews asked him if he wanted an attorney.

John replied, I want to leave it in the hands of God. The judge responded, I'm pretty sure God's not going to be representing you in this case. You're going to be standing trial. John pled not guilty by reason of insanity. For years after Phoebe's death, the defense and prosecution went back and forth on whether or not John was mentally stable enough to stand trial. He had psychiatric evaluations, and eventually he was declared competent enough to stand trial. John's trial was held in early 2019 and lasted a month. During his trial, the defense argued that John was insane at the time of the killing.

He was driven by imagined voices and delusions and was unaware that what he was doing was wrong. However, experts testified that while John did indeed suffer from delusions and mental illness, it was not the driving force behind his decision to kill Phoebe. Prosecutors argued that John was acting out of vengeance, killing Phoebe so her mother could never get custody of her, because he was resentful that his own mother loved the little girl more than she had ever loved him. On April 16th, the jury found him guilty of first-degree homicide. He was sentenced to life in prison. John's mother, Phoebe's grandmother, mama, said after the trial,

I want to tell him I love him because he's my son. When it comes to what he's done, I hate him. He took my sunshine away. Phoebe's funeral was held on January 14th, 2015, at the Lake Magdalene United Methodist Church. About 150 people gathered to say goodbye to the little girl whose life had been cut so tragically short. There were yellow and purple roses and pink balloons. The sermon focused on messages of forgiveness and the mourners were bright colors instead of black to honor Phoebe's sunny personality. Her mother Michelle wore a multi-colored sundress, while her grandmother, Mama, carried Phoebe's precious baby doll Lucy.

Her tiny casket was covered in flowers in pink tulle, and a smiling baby doll and a stuffed animal were placed next to her small body. Mama said of Phoebe, every time I see a rainbow, I will think of you. After the ceremony, four a pallbearers carried her casket to awaiting hearse. A caravan led by three Hillsborough County Sheriff's cruisers with sirens blaring rolled a mile away to Lake Carroll Cemetery. A local funeral home covered the cost of her burial. She was buried in a sliver of ground between her two grandparents. Her gravestone reads, Phoebe J. Johnchuck, August 22nd, 2009 to January 8th, 2015. Mama's Princess Angel.

Forever in our hearts. The community continued to remember Phoebe. Memorial with flowers, teddy bears, and white crosses appeared on the bridge. Her Facebook pages dedicated to her memory. A 5K race in her honor and local students raised money to sponsor a service dog that now bears her name. The petition was started to rename the bridge in her honor. Each year, a memorial motorcycle ride and flower drop is held to raise money for a scholarship fund created in Phoebe's memory. The scholarship is awarded to a student at St. Peter.

Petersburg College who is studying social services. Mama kept Phoebe's favorite life-size baby doll Lucy, which Phoebe used to hug while snuggled in her double bed. Now her grandmother kisses the doll every night before tucking it into bed like she used to do with Phoebe. A year after her death, Phoebe's mother, Michelle, was interviewed to reflect on the loss of her daughter. Still living with MS, Michelle was learning to cope, but her heart was still breaking

for her little girl. Michelle found the manner of Phoebe's death particularly cruel because Phoebe could not swim and was terrified of the water. She said, why that way? Why anyway? Michelle also shared the morning ritual she does to remember her daughter. She wakes up in time to watch the sunrise and turns on Phoebe's favorite song, Good Morning, Sunshine. On April 24th, 2014, Morgan Lawrence gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Maddox. Morgan and her husband Ryan were young and in love. Despite having limited financial means, the young couple was determined to love the sweet baby that had arrived in their life.

Ryan was 22 and had met Morgan while they both worked at various stores in the Destiny USA Shopping Mall in Syracuse, New York. Ryan had excelled in art in high school. His mother, a victim's advocate, died from kidney cancer when he was seven. Ryan had many low-paying jobs after high school, including jobs in the mall. He also began taking college courses after high school, but discontinued classes after a few semesters without earning a degree. Morgan and Ryan began dating shortly after meeting, and the couple was soon inseparable.

They love the outdoors and spent a lot of time hiking at surrounding parks and trails. It wasn't long before Morgan became pregnant and the two decided to get married and move in together. Baby Maddox was loved fiercely by her family. Morgan's family were heavily involved in Maddox's life. Ryan's brother Rich also had very young children, one born within just a few months of Maddox. Despite being born to young parents who likely did not plan on having a baby so soon, Maddox had so many people in her life that loved her. Before her first birthday, Morgan and Ryan noticed that something looked wrong with Maddox's left eye.

It was getting darker and was no longer the same color as her right eye. Maddox was diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer called retinoblastoma. The couple immediately went into action seeking treatment for their little girl. Multiple times each week, the family would drive four hours each way to New York City for chemo treatments, each which took about six hours. Ryan and Morgan would sit with Maddox, holding her chubby little hands through long hours of chemo. A GoFundMe was established to help with the enormous financial strain on the couple, who were both still working fairly low-paying jobs. The page raised about $9,000 to help with the expensive treatment that Maddox needed.

There is very little that can be found about Maddox's journey fighting cancer. Looking back, we can say that she seemed to beat the cancer fairly quickly. By the following winter, she was cancer-free. Before, during, and after her treatments, Ryan was described as being a completely devoted father. Ryan worked an early morning job where he delivered pastries to local shops. He took Maddox with him every day. Everyone agreed that he was very attentive to his daughter. He didn't leave her in the car when bringing the pastries into the shops. Instead, he went everywhere with Maddox in one arm and the box of pastries and another. Morgan's parents,

Michael and Robin Forster, also spent a lot of time with Maddox. On Michael's days off, he had Maddox. When Morgan would drop her off, she would say to Maddox, look who it is, it's your best friends. Michael said he loved being more than just her grandpa. It was an honor to be her best friends. They would snuggle up and watch Sophia the first. They had tea parties together. Michael said he loved to tickle and elicit a hearty laugh and a big smile.

Maddox's grandmother Robin said Maddox had different dance moods for every genre of music. People were just so drawn to her. At not even two years old, she was so gentle that even Robin's old cat trusted Maddox and sought her out. She had the ability to make you feel better just by being near you. Saturday, February 20th, 2016 started just like any other for the Lawrence family. They only had one car, so Ryan dropped Morgan off at work at the mall and told her he would be back later to pick her up, as he always did. However, Morgan received a text later saying that the car would be waiting in the parking, lot with the keys in it. When Morgan got out of work at 10 p.m., the car was where Ryan said it would be.

Morgan drove home. When she got there, Ryan and Maddox were gone. Soon, Michael received a frantic call from Morgan. She begged him to come immediately without any explanation. He arrived to find Morgan with the police officer and no sign of Ryan or Maddox. Ryan had left a note in an eight-minute video where he said he had taken Maddox and was thinking of harming the baby and himself. Due to the nature of the video where Ryan is described as being extremely emotionally disturbed, the police were just as worried as Morgan. The family waited for hours to hear of any news. Morgan had to retell the events of the evening over and over again to each new officer that arrived

as the police began working to try to find her daughter. Morgan and her family were beside themselves with worry for Maddox. Was she safe? Would they ever see her again? They waited all night into Sunday morning, often in silence as no answers came. They oscillated between grief, fear, and hope that perhaps nothing was wrong. They would soon see her again. On Sunday morning, with no further sign of Maddox or Ryan, an amber alert was issued.

Maddox was last seen in a white shirt with brown puppies on it, pick pants, a blue coat with a pink interior, size six brown suede shoes, and a knit hat decorated with popcorn. mompoms. She was described as two feet tall, 26 pounds with blonde hair and brown eyes. The Amber Alert also included information about Ryan, including photos of him so that the public could be on the lookout. He was described as being six feet tall with brown hair and hazel eyes. He had a zodiac tattoo on his right hands and a round burn scar on his lower right leg. On Sunday and Monday, Morgan, Robin, and Michael spent most of their time at the police station. Early Sunday morning, along with the Amber Alert, a press conference was held and Morgan

pled for Ryan to call or come home. If you're listening, please just bring Maddox home. Ryan, please just please call. We just want to know that the both of you are safe. The whole family loves you. The whole family wants you both home. And we just want to know that you guys are in a good police and we'd love to see you both as soon as possible. Meanwhile, police were tirelessly searching the area near Destiny USA. Assuming that Ryan had dropped the car off, that would make the mall his last known location. Police searched the parks nearby, abandoned buildings, airports and train stations, but their searches did not yield any helpful information.

The media continued to blast out the Amber Alert on every available platform. It wasn't until Monday that they finally heard something. At around 4.30 p.m. on February 22nd, a 911 call was made from Baldwin'sville, about 10 miles from Syracuse. Ryan was spotted in a thrift shop purchasing a comforter. The two women in the store said he smelled strongly of campfire smoke, which initially made the cashier think that he might be homeless. He was recognized by a former employee who was there shopping. Some sources say that she knew him as a regular shopper in the store. He came in with an attempt at a disguise that involved a wig, a hat, sunglasses, and a bandana,

but the woman still knew it was him. The cashier remarked that he seemed off. Luckily, the former employee, having seen the continuous amber alerts going out, felt like she needed to act. After Ryan left the store, the woman called the police and followed Ryan. Ryan was arrested despite giving a fake name initially. His plan to evade police was clearly not well thought out. When asked to spell his fake name, he couldn't, which was an obvious red flag for the police. He also made an error when the police asked for his age and date of birth, giving an age that did not match the date of birth that he had provided.

When police pointed this out, he changed the story and gave his real birth date. Finally, they asked to see some identification and he produced his real ID. Officers said that he did not try to resist and was seemingly cooperative as he was taken into custody. At the time that he was arrested, he had a backpack full of camping gear as well as books about survival and evading capture. When the news of Ryan's capture reached Morgan and her parents, the family instantly reacted in hope that the police also had the baby. Unfortunately, Maddox was not with Ryan. It was February in upstate New York. The high temperature of the day was just 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

height. The family feared she was alone and cold somewhere. In addition, because Ryan smelled so strongly of smoke, the assumption was made that wherever she had stayed for the past two nights, he had needed a fire to keep warm. So if he was no longer with Maddox, who was caring for her? Who was keeping her warm? While the authorities waited for more information, helicopters combed the area Ryan had been found in, hoping to find a campsite where Maddox was waiting. Police brought Ryan in to try to get more information. He was questioned for nearly 18 hours. Initially, his story was that he had left Maddox with a couple named Chris and Tyler who then fled to Bolivia. The detective, doing his due diligence, continued to question him. There were many

inconsistencies in his story, such as the claim that he had set up the arrangement with a couple by phone call, even though there was no record of any such call. Then later, he referred to them as Chris and Taylor instead of Tyler. He also mixed up which country the couple had fled to. He eventually admitted the couple was made up. This put officers back at square one. If Ryan hadn't given Maddox to someone else, where was she? When pressed to tell where Maddox was, he had a chilling response.

He said, You won't look at me the same once I tell you what I did with her body. After being in custody for 18 hours, he finally agreed. to help the authorities find her. The media followed as he took them to multiple locations, finally leading them back to the creek walk just down the road from Destiny USA. At the inner harbor of Onondaga Creek,

police divers retrieved Maddox's remains from the frigid water, wrapped in a yellow bag. Her body was retrieved just before noon on February 23rd. The Amber Alert was canceled at 131 p.m. Ryan was charged with second-degree homestead. in the death of his 21-month-old daughter. It's left everyone wondering, what happened? How did this devoted father, with no history of violence, kill his own daughter?

The same daughter he had fought to save from cancer for the last 10 months? The answers detectives got were chilling. According to detectives, Ryan claimed that he was growing jealous of Maddox and all the attention she was getting. In particular, the attention she got from his wife, Morgan. However, these claims have never been repeated outside of the 18-hour interrogation that followed Ryan's arrest. However, he did share the grisly details of what he did do to her. Ryan told detectives that by the time he left the car at the mall for Morgan, wrote the note,

and recorded the video on the night of February 20th, Maddox was already dead. That morning, after dropping Morgan off at work, Ryan drove Maddox over 20 miles to Labrador Hollow. Labrador Hollow is a nature conservation area where Morgan and Ryan hiked regularly. The 1400 acres of this park straddled the borders of Onondaga and Cortland counties. It featured nearly five miles of hiking trails as well as a 2,000 foot handicap accessible boardwalk. Ryan took Maddox to one of their favorite natural features, Tinker Falls. As Maddox toddled ahead of Ryan toward the 50-foot waterfall, he prepared to strike. Ryan used a wooden baseball bat to bludgeon her in the back of the head

and then continued to hit her until he beat her to death. He then put her body in a fire pit along with a baseball bat and burned her body beyond recognition. Some sources say he was at the fire pit for hours, burning his daughter's tiny body. Presumably after the fire had burnt down and the body was cool enough to move, he put what was left of her in a yellow bag. It is later stated that the divers recovered her head, torso, and parts of her legs.

He then drove back to Syracuse to the creek walk just down the street from where Maddox's mother was working, with no idea that her baby was dead. He tied a cement block to the yellow bag containing Maddox's remains and sank the body to the bottom of the creek. After he disposed of Maddox's body, he dropped the family car off at the mall and walked home. This is where he wrote the note to my name. Morgan and recorded the video message. From there, it is unclear exactly where he went for the next two days. It seems that he left their home on foot and walked the 10 miles to Baldwin'sville. Some sources say he stayed in an abandoned house for the next several days until his capture.

When Ryan was interviewed later, he did not tell a story of jealousy, but rather made claims that he was hearing the voice of his deceased mother. He claimed he heard what he thought was his mom saying that she could take care of her by saying, give her to me. He claimed to try to fight that thought, but another thought was telling him he was selfish or trying to keep her in the world while her parents suffered around her. He felt this was a mercy to release her and the people around her from suffering in their lives. He insisted he was not evil. He was taken over by a storm or madness.

He claimed that he was not trying to hurt anyone. He was trying to save Maddox, his wife, his family, from hurt. and suffering. In fact, he told reporters that he was praying that God would give him a sign that he should not hurt her. He prayed to God that he should make Maddox stumble on their walk to Tinker Falls as a sign that he should spare her life. But she did not stumble, so he bashed her head in. In a later interview, Ryan was asked if he said anything to his beloved daughter before he struck her down. He said, Maddox were going on another trip. I'm going to see you soon. Daddy's just got something to take care of real quick.

I love you and you're the best baby in the whole world. This is what Ryan said to her before he murdered her. In an emotional press release after Maddox's body was found, Syracuse Chief of Police, Frank Fowler, had this to say about Ryan's motive. Sunday night that this was a pretty happy couple with no problems. There seemed to be no marital issues, no alcohol drug. I mean, can you shed any light as to what may be?

have triggered this without going too deep into the investigation? No, no, no, because what you're asking for me to do is to follow a logical thought process to describe a very heinous and illogical act. It just don't work that way. It just don't work that way. So, no, sorry, I can't. After being charged with second-degree homicide, Ryan was held without bail.

He was evaluated by two psychiatrists and was determined to be competent to stand trial. He told psychiatrists that he planned to kill Maddox, evade police that eventually self-checkout. When asked to elaborate on that, he said his plan was to either starve or get an infection or otherwise succumb to the elements. Now, this story did not add up. Plans of this sort are usually carried out immediately and with a clear goal in mind. let's not forget that he was also continuing to gather camping and survival gear when police found him. He even had a mosquito net in his back pat. This does not sound like someone who was planning on succumbing to the elements. In addition, though he told the psychiatrist that he did not plan to survive the incident,

those claims were never made to the law enforcement that interviewed him after he was apprehended. Perhaps the most disturbing and damning piece of all of the evidence, evidence found was the phone records tracking him from the day before Maddox was killed. On February 19th, Ryan appeared to have done a dry run of the killing. He took Maddox to all of the locations he would take her to the following day. It seemed that he even prepared the wood he would need to use the next day to burn her body. This shows his plan was clearly premeditated and thought out. It was not a moment where he just snapped. The Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick announced that he would be personally prosecuting the case. Ryan's charges were upgraded from second

degree to first degree homicide. The state of New York has some specific circumstances that would cause a homicide to upgrade from second degree to first degree. These include both factors, including the identity of the person killed and the circumstances surrounding their death. For example, killing a police officer or a judge will earn you first-degree homicide, or if you kill someone during a robbery, burglary, arson, kidnapping, or assay. In this case, police determined that Maddox was first kidnapped by her father, for he killed her, which qualified him for first-degree homicide. Ryan was now eligible for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. With this upgraded charge, the rock-solid confessions

he made to police, and the psychiatric evaluations ruling out an insanity plea, Ryan decided to make a deal. Ryan pled guilty to first-degree homicide in exchange for a sentence that included the possibility of parole after he served 25 years. Ryan also claimed that he chose this path to save everyone the heartache of a long, drawn-out trial, again, trying to claim that he was showing mercy to Maddox's devastated family. After Ryan was arrested, he divorced Morgan. What the family found most bizarre was Ryan didn't ask for memories of Maddox during the divorce proceedings. He didn't request photos of his baby, her favorite toys, or perhaps a sentimental piece of clothing from her infant days. Instead, he asked for a photo of his dog, a broken fish tank, and a bike that didn't have any

wheels. These bizarre requests were interpreted as clear indicators of what he found to be truly important. During Ryan's sentencing hearing, Morgan and both for her parents made statements, in addition to Ryan's brother Rick and Ryan himself. The prosecuting attorney and the judge made statements intended to go down in the permanent record so that they would be read when Ryan becomes eligible for parole at 49 years old. They all beg the future parole board to see how absolutely heinous this crime was and to not release him. When Michael spoke of Maddox, he made some statements that sadly ring true for so many victims and families that we've spoken with. We wanted to share some of it with you.

I just melt my heart. I miss those days. I feel robbed. As if much was stolen from me. And it was. I was unable to say, celebrate her second birthday with her and watch her blow off the candles on her cake. I missed out I've seen her opening in her gifts. This summer, Maddox didn't float around with me in my pool as I expected she would. She doesn't spend the night anymore. And I no longer watch Sophia I can't take her for an ice cream cone or push her on a swing. I didn't see her react.

I didn't see her reaction to the beautiful fireworks and the loud explosions on the 4th of July. We didn't attend the New York State Fair together, see the butter sculpture, or drink cups of chocolate milk. I missed her as we went apple picking. I didn't see her in her Halloween costume. I won't be able to rake the leaves and see Maddox jump in them, throw them up in the air. She won't be with me for Thanksgiving dinner, nor will I have a picture of her sitting on Santa's laugh this year.

I won't see her learn to sled or even see her reaction to snow. She will not help us pick out a Christmas tree or decorated with us. I won't see her come to my house on Christmas Day, excited to see the gifts on your the tree. I won't see her tie her own shoes or hear her tell me she is a big girl because she uses the potty. I will miss out on her attended preschool. I won't be able to take her picture on the steps of the school bus on her first day of kindergarten. I won't hear her recite the alphabet or count to 100. Her special drawings won't hang in my house. I will never see her sing in a chorus, star at a school play, or learn how to play an instrument.

I won't see her learn how to ride a bike, jump rope, or even swim. She will never show me her first loose tooth, nor will she bring it to me when it finally falls out. I will never see her first haircut or her hair grow to reach her shoulders. I won't hear her tell. the story of how she caught her first fish or how she climbed her first mountain all of this I feel has been stolen from me

I also feel that my future has been torn from me I will never be part of the life that Maddox should have been allowed to experience like seeing her attend her first school dance or hearing about her first kiss

congratulating her for getting her driver's permit or watching her get ready for her junior prom, taking pictures of her and her date before her senior ball, or letting her drive my car when she receives her driver's license. I will never hear Maddox's name being called at her high school graduation, and I won't see her walk across the stage to receive her diploma in the class of 2002. I won't hear about the choice she has made of where to attend college, nor will I help her move into her dorm her freshman year. I will not hear that she has met the man of her dreams

or see her graduate from college. I won't witness her wedding proposal or see her fitted for the perfect wedding dress. Never will I hear that men, Maddo and never will I see a wedding ring place on her finger. I won't hear the wonderful news that Maddox is pregnant, nor visit her after she gives birth. I will never have the opportunity to hold her baby in my arms.

But that is not all. Every second, minute, hour, day, month, month and year of her future was taken from me. What was stolen from me was all of her life experiences to come. How unfair of a decision Ryan solely made for innocent Maddox as well as for all of us. I cannot express enough how unfair it was that he chose to change Morgan's life. And I cannot express enough how unfair it was that Ryan chose to negatively affect so many other people's lives, including mine. So I feel it is only fair that all of Ryan's remaining seconds, minutes, hours, months, and years on this earth to be somewhat taken from him.

that all of his future life experiences happen while behind bars in prison. We also think that Ryan's brother Rich also very clearly explained the mental state of someone who was willing to kill their own child. He said, if the love for your child doesn't provide a bright enough future for you, nothing ever will. You murdered your best shot at true happiness. We don't like to spend our time focusing too much on the killers in our show. We'd prefer to spend our time talking about the victims impacted in these stories. However, we felt this clip was so valuable to debunk the idea that this person was truly remorseful for what he had done. Would you say you'd do anything to make the grief you caused Morgan and the rest of the family go away?

I would do anything to take their pain away. I never intended to put them into this. Would you go as far as to say, I vow to never put go up for parole? If that's something they would be glad that would make them least feel a little better. I mean, you could do that. Yeah, I guess I could. But I, I just feel so bad. I feel bad for them, and I feel bad for my family also.

My dad and my sisters, they want to see me get out. I don't think I'll ever heal from this. But you wouldn't be willing to go that far. I guess not. Clearly, he wouldn't do anything to prevent them from experiencing further suffering. After Maddox's body was found along the banks of the Onondaga Creek Walk, a memorial in her honor quickly sprang up. For months after her death, the memorial grew. People brought signs, candles, stuffed animals, and toys.

As time went on, it was clear that this story greatly impacted everyone in the community. and people felt they needed a place to return to honor Maddox. The memorial evolved over time. After a few months, the family requested that no more stuffed animals be brought to the site. By October, a permanent memorial was installed that included a plaque embedded into the ground and a bench for people to stop and arrest while they honor a life taken too soon. The memorial is well maintained to this day eight years later. J&R landscaping, a local company, helps maintain.

it each year by adding fresh mulch and flowers. The Facebook page dedicated to Maddox called In Memory of Baby Maddox is run by someone identified as Billy Yankee. He also appears to be the person who maintains the permanent memorial along the creek walk. It does not appear that Billy is a family member of Maddox which makes his dedication to her memorial all more impressive. We would like to thank you, Billy, for honoring her all of these years later, even through your own battle with cancer. Billy shovels out her memorial all winter and often posts photos of snowmen

he builds for Maddox at her memorial. Family and community members still leave her small gifts like flowers or a pumpkin on Halloween or Easter candy in the spring. Every year on her birthday, donations in her honor are asked to be made to the Make a Wish Foundation. On the Facebook page,

pictures are posted of animals that come to visit the memorial, including frogs, deer, turtles, a bunny, geese, and hawks. It's clear that Maddox is still very much missed and loved. Maddox is honored annually in the Syracuse Ride for Missing Children, along with Jenny Lynn Watson. Each year, a hundred or more bike riders make a trek that's around 90 miles long. As bikers pass the site of Maddox's memorial, many bystanders are seen each year, standing in silent remembrance. of both Maddox and Jenny Lynn Watson, who was killed in 2010. Since Maddox's death, a law has been introduced to change the requirements for a first-degree

homicide charge in the state of New York. The proposed change called Maddox's law adds to the previous list of victims that would warrant a first-degree homicide charge to also include victims under the age of 13. The law has been passed unanimously twice by the New York Senate. Unfortunately, on both tries, the law stalled when it got to the State Assembly. This is just another one of those cases that leaves us feeling disgusted and perplexed. With no history of abuse or neglect, an amazing family willing to do anything to help this baby, how did we end up with another dead baby? During the press release after Maddox's body was found, the chief of police was asked what people should do if they feel like they might harm a child.

As adults, there's some inherent rights that we have as becoming adults. We get to make our own decisions about how we want to live our lives. And I think we owe our children that are under our care and custody the same right to grow up, to become adults, and to make their own choices in life. They deserve a chance. and if a person out there struggling in whatever way they may be, just remember that that child deserves a chance. And if you can't provide them with what it is going to require for them to grow up

and become a healthy adult and separate yourself for that child, there's plenty of agencies out here in Onondaga County in the city of Syracuse, for that matter, where people are willing to help out. And this is a great community that we live in, and we're surrounded by some great services for people. And we would like to beg the same. There are resources available no matter where you are. Please ask for help. There is no excuse for any of this. Dylan Nicholas Redwine was born on February 6, 1999 in Denver, Colorado to parents Mark Allen Redwine, a lot.

Hall truck driver in Elaine Hatfield Hall, who has since been remarried to a man named Mike Hall. Dylan had an older brother, Corey Redwine, who was seven years his senior. Despite their age difference, the brothers were extremely close. The family resided in Bayfield, Colorado, a small community of approximately 3,000 residents near Durango, a rugged, mountainous and picturesque region adjacent to the southwest corner of the state. Dylan and Corey also, also had two older half-siblings, Mark Redwine Jr. and Brandon Redwine from Mark's previous marriage to Betsy Horvath. Mark and Elaine's 18-year marriage came to an end in 2007, and a contentious divorce and bitter custody battle ensued, even though Mark's visits with his children,

while the family lived in Bayfield, were sporadic at best. Mark allegedly told Elaine that during the divorce and subsequent custody hearing, he would, kill the kids before he let her have them. Dylan had blonde hair and blue eyes and he stood at five feet and weighed approximately 105 pounds. Time of our story, he was 13 years old. He was well liked by his peers in Bayfield, enjoyed playing baseball and was also a fan of the Boston Red Sox. Dylan was known as a trickster because he frequently pulled pranks on his four best friends. This group of five, which one member described as a brotherhood, remained intact even after Dylan moved six hours away to live with his mother. September of 2012, Elaine gained full custody of Dylan. With Corey, they would

move over 300 miles to Monument, a suburb of Colorado Springs. Though he enjoyed seeing his friends, Dylan was upset with his father throughout much of 2011 and 2012. He expressed several times that he did not want to visit Mark as he lost all respect for his father. However, this was a court-ordered visitation and not one that Dylan was excited about. Elaine was concerned that if Dylan did not visit his father during his 2012 Thanksgiving break that it would further jeopardize her sole custody of her youngest child. Her attorney also warned Elaine that she could be prosecuted if Dylan did not fly out to meet his father. In 2011, Corey and Dylan, while on a road trip with Mark to Cleveland, came across disturbing images on their father's laptop. Specifically, the brother stumbled upon

selfies of Mark dressed in women's lingerie and a wig, soiling himself. and consuming the contents from a filthy diaper. Mark, it turned out, is a coprophiliac, one who derives erotic pleasure from poop. We're not going to share these images for obvious reasons, but they're readily available on the internet if that's your thing. Corey, who was 20 at the time, took photographs of the images with his phone.

He sent them to Mark, referring to him as sweetie and a sh-eating coward. Corey further taunted his father with, Hey, beautiful, you are what you eat. Dylan wanted to use them as leverage against his father during an argument where Mark claimed that Elaine and Corey were bad influences. Dylan wanted the images to show his father who he really is. Corey later told A&E that he regretted sending the photos that Dylan requested. In the months leading up to his father's visit, Dylan told multiple people,

including his mother and his friends that he did not want to visit his father. He also discussed these feelings with the judge, the attorney, and others involved with the ongoing domestic relations case. He discussed the photographs he had viewed of Mark. He stated that he planned to confront Mark out of frustration and anger. These statements were backed up by multiple text messages. On November 18, 2012, Dylan arrived at the Durango Laplata County Airport. Dylan texted a lane upon landing with a scowling emoji. Mark picked him up and they visited the local Walmart McDonald's. Surveillance videos from the airport and Walmart show little to no personal interaction between Dylan and his father. They arrived at Mark Redwine's home located 2343 County Road 500 and

Via Cito about 30 miles from Bayfield where his friends resided. Dylan was last seen wearing a Duke Blue Devils baseball cap, a black Nike t-shirt, basketball shorts, and black Nike Air Jordans, Mark and Dylan had argued on their previous visit. Text messages found on Dylan's phone indicated that he wanted to attend a sleepover with a friend named Ryan Nava rather than his father on the night he arrived in Bayfield. However, his father denied the request and Dylan stayed the evening with Mark. Dylan made plans with Ryan via text message to meet at 6.30 the following morning. His last phone or iPod touch activity was 9.37 p.m. on November 18th, the night he arrived.

Following morning, Dylan's phone received a text message from Ryan at 6.46 a.m. asking, where are you? This message received no response. It is believed that during this time, an argument ensued between Dylan and his father. Given the duration between Dylan's activity on his phone, a narrow window existed for either Dylan to leave his father's home to seek refuge with his friend or for something far more sinister to occur. However, if Dylan indeed went to visit his friend, it stands to reason a trail of text messages would verify these plans, wouldn't they? Dylan also did not engage in any social media after 937 p.m. on November 18th, 2012. If there had been a physical altercation

between them, Mark stood at five feet and 11 inches tall while weighing 225 pounds. He would dwarf his youngest son. It was just five feet tall and weighed 105 pounds. Mark Redwine reported his son missing a little before 5 p.m. on November 19th, 2012. He stated that he'd run errands beginning around 7.30 that morning and returned around 11 a.m. He couldn't find Dylan, but he noticed the television was turned to Nickelodeon and a bowl of cereal had been left on the table. Mark then took a 45-minute nap before carrying on with his day. First responder Roy Vreeland said Mark seemed uninterested and nonchalant about his missing son. He went on to state that,

from my personal experience in the same situation many times with family members, the parents, they never want to leave our side. They can be, I don't want to say annoying because I respect what they are going through, but they can get in the way. They're constantly wanting to know what we found, if we found anything, why we're not trying hard,

why we didn't stay all night. Roy described Mark's house as filled with empty alcohol bottles. He asked for clothing and even a toothbrush for the canine search dog to catch Dylan's scent, but Mark claimed that nothing in the home belonged to Dylan. Roy was suspicious, he noted, It almost appeared he knew there was nothing in the house before I asked the question. The dog sniffed the pillow that Dylan had lied on and picked up a scent, but the trail went cold after about 100 yards.

The first responder also noted that Mark turned off his lights at 11 p.m. the evening after he reported Dylan missing. Most people tend to turn every light on and make their house a beacon so that a missing person could find their way home, whether it's a spouse or a child. It was odd. Very odd. The Laplata County Sheriff's Department enlisted more police and the FBI in the days following Dylan's disappearance. Sheriff's spokesman Dan Bender stated, foul play is definitely something we're looking at, but we're hoping it's a runaway case and that Dylan will show up and be fine. because we don't have any clues that point in any particular direction, we have to consider every possibility.

Elaine and Corey arrived with her future husband Mike Hall the next day. Elaine expressed her fears that her ex-husband was involved in Dylan's disappearance. In an interview with ABC News, Elaine said, if Dylan maybe did or said something that Mark didn't want to hear, I'm just afraid of how Mark would react. For his part, Mark shied away from the media, simply stating, I know they're looking for my son, but I prefer not to say anything. I prefer to let the investigators do their work. He added notably in the past tense,

I want everybody to know how much I loved that boy, and how much I cared about him. He was such a wonderful boy. He meant everything. It wasn't long before police ruled out the theory that Dylan was a runaway. Mark's home was an isolated location from the town. If Dylan left on his own accord, it stood to reason that he would have taken his wallet, which was recovered in Mark Redwine's

house. There was a candlelight vigil in the community, however, Mark was not in attendance. Hundreds of people searched for Dylan in the coming weeks and months. However, Mark was not among them. Because of the rough terrain, the effort was difficult, so police used ATVs, drones, and dogs. They also searched on horseback. After an exhaustive effort lasting several months, some of Dylan's bones, including a clavicle and a tibia, along with pieces of his clothing and a tuft of his hair were discovered off of Middle Mountain Road in June 2013, approximately eight miles from Mark Redwine's house. The remains were compared against one of Dylan's baby teeth and the DNA matched,

confirming Dylan was deceased. However, Dylan's skull was not found among the remains. Mark was familiar with a road in the place where Dylan's remains were found. was accessible via ATV. Mark owned such an ATV. Mark appeared to live his life as if nothing had ever happened. He appeared disinterested in the efforts to find Dylan. Investigator Kevin Brown noted that Mark didn't ask how the search was going or if anything

had been found. Investigator Brown had invited Mark to observe the dive team at the Vecito Reservoir near Mark's house. Mark did not show up that day. Another investigator named Dan Patterson said that Elaine and Corey were right to they were watching, but Mark was nowhere to be found. Brandon Redwine, one of Dylan's half-brothers, drove from Gilbert, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, with his family to aid in the search.

See that he, Mark, and Mark's brother, David Stone, were set to go searching on Middle Mountain Road. After 20 minutes, Mark told the group that Dylan was not there. Brandon said that they all encouraged Mark to be more active in the search. He said, it was frustrating. It's your son. Get involved. Mark agreed, but.

His lack of action spoke louder than the words he had for Brandon, who stated, and I figured Mark knows something. I didn't know what he knew. I didn't know how he knew it. During the search, Elaine, Corey, and Michael Hall raised over $50,000 for information concerning Dylan's whereabouts. They hosted a fundraiser and a silent auction at Dylan's new school, Louis Palmer High School and Monument, Colorado, where he had just moved earlier that year.

With the proceeds of that fundraiser, a billboard was erected. in Colorado Springs and a hotline was established for leads and tips. They set up the Facebook group Dylan Redwine, The Journey to Justice, and Remembering Dylan Redwine. On December 3rd, 2012, Elaine spoke with CNN's Nancy Grace via telephone, where Dylan's disappearance would be the focus of the show. There it was revealed that in 2003, Mark Redwine was charged with CA or neglect without injury, although the specifics are hazy. Brandon Redwine would once directly ask Mark if, he knew where Dylan was. He asked his father directly.

Do you know where Dylan is? Mark replied, I know where Dylan's at. He's in my heart. Brandon described Mark as stoic upon learning of the discovery of Dylan's remains and didn't appear to be sad whatsoever. However, Mark spoke passionately about blunt force trauma when Dylan's remains were first found. Brandon found this odd because Dylan's skull had not been discovered and there had been no mention of blunt force trauma. Mark seemingly overcame his fear of the media by appearing on the

Dr. Phil show in February of 2013. Sitting across from Elaine and Corey, Mark maintained his innocence while Elaine and Corey attacked him. He attacked back, drawing booze from the audience. He also denied the photos of him dressed in lingerie while dining on a soil diaper were authentic. He explained that he fabricated the pictures himself because he suspected that Elaine and Corey were breaking into his home. It was pointed out that Elaine passed her polygraph with flying colors. Mark told the audience that, at first, he was told he failed the test, but then was told the results were inconclusive. Ever the showman, Dr. Phil brought Mark back the very next episode to take the polygraph with an expert. But on the day of the show, Mark refused to take the test while denying any involvement in Dylan's

disappearance, explaining he drank heavily the night before. In 2015, Elaine sued Mark for wrongful death. This case was dismissed because the statute of limitations had passed. Mark would file a countersuit, alleging that Elaine bullied him on social media, encouraged violence against him, and participated in protests outside his home. Mark would hold an hour-long interview following the dismissal of his case. Mark said he didn't believe any charges would ever be filed, especially against him, noting, if they don't have it by now, they're never going to have it.

He went on to say, I've got a bad taste in my mouth about Laplata County. I've got a bad taste in my mouth about the Laplata County Sheriff's Office. I've got a bad taste in my mouth about the judicial system. Yes, Mark, I'm pretty sure you do have a bad taste in your mouth, but I'm not sure Laplata County has anything to do with that fact.

I'm pretty sure it's the soil diapers, but I digress. In November of 2015, three years after Dylan went missing, his skull was discovered by hikers approximately five miles from the location where his other remains had been found. Fractures on the skull were consistent with blunt force trauma, and the cut marks were indicative of a knife or other sharp instrument. The Laplata County Police Department zeroed in on Mark Redwine after his son's skull was discovered. They obtained a warrant to search Mark's home. Dylan's blood was in cover. covered in a trained cadaver dog, a German shepherd named Molly,

death sense in Mark's living room, laundry room, and kitchen, as well as in the bed of his pickup truck. A grand jury convened under the request of Laplata County District Attorney Christian Champagne. The grand jury formerly charged Mark with second-degree homicide and CA resulting in death. He was held on a $1 million-dollar cash-only bond. Mark Redwine was arrested on July 7, 2017 in Bellingham, Washington. On his arrest report, Mark claimed he planned on forming a search party for Dylan once he returned to Colorado. The state of Washington comply with the findings of the grand jury that had issued the indictment in Durango, Colorado.

July 28, 2017, Washington's state lieutenant governor, Donna Lynn, acting in place of Governor John Hickenlooper, signed an arrest and extradition order to place Mark Redwine in the custody of the state of Colorado. Mark waived his right to contest the extradition order. while awaiting trial, he was incarcerated in La Plata County Jail in Durango. The original 2019 trial date would suffer several pandemic-related delays and requests for continuances from Mark Redwine's defense team. Most notably, his public defender, John Moran, was arrested for DV on June 19, 2021. The affidated states that Attorney Moran's ex-girlfriend was sitting in a chair when he pushed both his ex-and-the-chair off of his back porch.

She screamed to people walking by for help, but Attorney Moran sprayed her with a hose in an effort to silence her. The attorney appeared intoxicated during his arrest. John Moran then failed to appear at two hearings and was deemed by the judge unfit to properly represent Mark Redwine, resulting in yet another delay. He would be replaced by Justin Bogan, another public defender. Attorney Moran would continue as the second chair as his DV case was later. dismissed. Finally, on June 21st, 2021, the five-week trial would begin. Despite defense motions for a change of venue, the trial was held in Laplata County with Colorado 6th District Court Judge Jeffrey Wilson presiding. Mark Redwine pled not guilty to both counts of second-degree homicide in

CA resulting in death of a minor. He elected not to testify in his defense. Christian Champaign led the People's Case against Mark Redwine. He was assisted by Michael Doherty, the district attorney for Boulder County. Prosecution alleged that Mark had erupted into a fit of rage after being confronted about the notorious photographs, which were subsequently shown to the jury. They presented evidence in the form of text messages from Dylan to friends and family members about the strained relationship he had had with Mark and not wanting to attend the court-mandated visit. Elaine and Corey's testimonies backed up these claims. Dylan's friends took the stand echoing Corey and Elaine. The fact that Mark

Mark transferred money from Dylan's debit card to his own personal account also raised suspicions. Additionally, the prosecution offered the blood evidence, the blunt force trauma in Dylan's skull, and the cadaver dog's findings of Dylan's scent inside Mark's house and in the bed of his pickup as further evidence that Mark killed his son. Notably, Mark's defense did not address the disgusting images on which the prosecution based much of his speculation about Mark's motive to injure Dylan. Instead, they opted to chip away at the prosecution. evidence and instill reasonable doubt. The defense downplayed any strain in the relationship between

Mark and Dylan. Boland attacked the police force for a biased and sloppy investigation, pointing out that an expert broke part of Dylan's skull during examination and that a scientist was allowed to view the police reports before their testimony. He also contended that, though the skull showed evidence of blunt force trauma, it could not be definitively said when those injuries occurred. The defense also said that Mark Red Wine was made a target because investigators used cameras and GPS to monitor his movements. The defense referred to the blood found as infinitesimal and dismissed the use of canines as junk science. They offered a different theory, one that involved Dylan being killed by a

bear while on a walk. It should be noted that bears hibernate in the winter. Attorney Justin Bogan then spoke about his client's inability to commit the crime. He explained, Mark didn't have enough time or knowledge to dismember a body, clean up effectively to evade a luminal test for blood, and appear fine at work the next day. He closed with, You may not like the pictures of Mr. Redwine. You may not approve of the way he handled himself during the search for his son. You may not approve of a lot of the things he's done. But if they, the prosecution, don't know what happened, you don't know what happens. On July 16th, 2021, the formerly sequestered jury found Mark Allen Redwine guilty on both counts. It took just six

hours for them to reach a unanimous decision. Mark stood expressionless as the foreman read the verdict. Mark was remanded back to Laplata County Jail where he already resided for over four years to await his fate. Dozens of people who had lined the streets outside the courthouse erupted into cheers and cried tears of joy at the announcement of the verdict. In her victim impact statement before sentencing, Elaine shared the following. You knew where Dylan was the whole time we were looking for him. Not once did you offer up any advice or suggestion as to where he would be. The night that you hurt Dylan, you should have done the right thing and called 911 and let them figure it out,

instead of taking his body and letting it be scavenged on a mountain. On October 8th, 2021, Mark Redwine was sentenced to 48 years behind bars for each count. second-degree homicide and CA resulting in death with 1,540 days of credit for time served. These sentences were the maximum allowed by Colorado statutes, although they would be served concurrently. Mark refused to speak at the hearing, but his attorneys passed a type statement to Judge Jeffrey Wilson that he read into the court record. It read, innocent of all charges, miscarriage of justice, fate conviction, sham trial. I take this circumstance very seriously, and I want to make clear that I, too, have lost a child I love more than life itself. I will fight for true justice, not for myself, but for Dylan.

I have always shown remorse for the things that I am guilty of. Stand against fake justice. Judge Wilson admonished Mark Redwine from the bench. He said, as a father, it's your obligation to protect your son and keep him from harm. Instead of that, you inflicted enough injury of the judge. on him to kill him in your living room. After the passion of whatever caused you to act the way you did subsided, you didn't think about Dylan.

You thought about yourself. You sanitized the crime scene. You hid Dylan's body. And you went so far as to remove the head from the rest of his body. Mark Redwine is serving his 48-year sentence in the Arkansas Valley Correctional facility in Ordway, Colorado. He is 62 years old at the time of this recording. He will be first eligible for parole in May of 52.

At that time, he will be 90 years old and most likely is never going to make it out of jail. When Elaine was asked about being seen as a pillar of strength during the years leading up to Mark's sentence, she replied, You really have no choice when your child goes missing and is subsequently found murdered. I mean, what are you supposed to do? You can't just roll over in your bed and ignore the world. You have to fight. and that's what we did. But she conceded.

We're never going to have closure because you can't have closure when a piece of your life and your heart is missing. Dylan died on November 19th, 2012 in Viasito, Colorado in La Plata County. He is buried in the Bayfield Cemetery. A stone bench inscribed with a name Dylan Nicholas Redwine sits nearby.

Beneath it, among some stones and trinkets, sits a baseball glove with a ball in its webbing. The bench is adorned with a carving of a baseball player swinging a bat. This is one of the worst cases I've ever heard. It is up there with some of the most depraved and barbaric things I've ever heard done to a young person. Over a hundred of you have requested this case over a hundred. So get ready because this one's bad. On December 13, 2019, 9-1-1 dispatchers received a disturbing phone.

call from a Dayton Ohio father named Al Moodahon McLean regarding his son who was allegedly unresponsive. Rather than focusing on his son's condition, McLean spent most of the call lamenting that Dakota was allegedly disobedient and how difficult it was to be apparent. At one point during the call when McLean was instructed to initiate CPR, he could be heard audibly retching and then complained, quote, it smells real rotten inside of his stomach." Upon arrival at McLean's 1934 Kensington drive home in Dayton, Ohio, paramedics found him waiting at the door, and his son, 10-year-old Dakota Collins, battered and bruised from head to toe, lying alone and unresponsive on the living room floor.

Dayton Police Officer Evans also responded as paramedics tended to Dakota. To allow the medics to work without distraction, Officer Evans engaged McLean in conversation on the porch, during which McLean continued a rant and rave about his uncivilized and uncontrollable son. Although paramedics focused on attempts to resuscitate Dakota, the evidence of neglect and harm done to him were clearly present all over his body. When the paramedics indicated that Dakota had passed away and that there was nothing more that could be done to save him, McLean's response to the news of the death of his own son was, quote, all right, I tried to get you guys hear as fast as I could." End quote.

Dakota was transported to the hospital for further examination. Upon arrival, Dr. Lyker, an expert in pediatrics, specializing in CA, had an opportunity to externally examine his battered remains. Dr. Lyker noted hundreds of lacerations, abrasions, and bruises to Dakota's head, scalp, face, mouth, including the inside of it, his neck, his chest, his abdomen, arms, hands, legs, and feet, basically everywhere on his body. Patterned abrasions were noted on his chest as well as his abdomen and legs. Older scars were seen on his torso and extremities.

Injuries, lacerations, and bruising were also visible externally in his private areas. According to Dr. Liker, the extent and nature of the injuries were not consistent with accident or self-infliction. They were the result of severe physical harm on numerous. occasions over a sustained period of time. Many of the injuries were in areas that are very difficult to bruise. Dr. Lyker noted that many of the injuries were located in areas often considered to be defensive locations, as they are the areas of the body, such as the back of the arms and posterior of the body, that are exposed when one tries to protect themselves from strikes.

She also noticed evidence of prior rib fractures that were not visible in Dakota's medical records. Dr. Liker also noted pruning on Dakota's hands, like one would note if they've been in water for too long. As disturbing as the external presentation of Dakota's injuries were, it was the internal examination performed by Deputy Coroner Dr. Brian Casto that told the true depth and extent of the harm inflicted on Dakota. The autopsy confirmed extensive injuries, abrasions, and contusions to the head, torso and extremities. Evidence of fresh injuries as well as old injuries were both present on Dakota. With respect to Dakota's head, Dr. Castro found even more injuries as the bruising was hidden in

his hair. External autopsy photos show bruising around Dakota's right forehead, right chin, inside the upper and lower lip and in the left nasal opening. The internal examination explored the depth and gravity of those injuries. When Dakota's scalp was peeled back, deep bruising was observed in all areas of the head. External contusions in patikia, which are pin-sized red spots due to bleeding, were noted on Dakota's chest. An internal examination revealed internal bruising to his stomach. Dakota's backside also showed severe external and internal injuries.

There was severe pulmonary edema, which is fluid in the lungs. And they concluded that it was related to prolonged, submersion in water. Dr. Castro also observed fractures of numerous ribs. Dakota's digestive system was also examined, and what was found was shocking. His stomach had contents that were a tan yellow puree-type consistency, which appeared identical in color and consistency to that of human waste. An external examination of Dakota's backside and the back of his legs showed healed scars and fresh bruising. Branding was all the found on Dakota's back. Due to its location, it would have been nearly impossible for

Dakota to have done this himself. However, the internal examination was most telling relating to the trauma of these injuries. The entirety of his backside, all the way to the bone, was bruised and swollen with a significant injury to his private areas. Observed were two half-inch lacerations. Internal examination showed the depth and damage of this injury. The The internal examination of Dakota's pelvic area revealed an abundance of blood associated with the injury. The most significant injury as it related to Dakota's death was not even visible externally. It was severe bruising to the back of the neck. Internal examination of this area revealed deep bruising through all the layers of neck muscle directly over the spine.

Dr. Castro described this bruising as the type of injury typically only observed in catastrophic events such as severe car accidents. Dr. Castro ruled the cause of death for 10-year-old Dakota Collins as blunt force trauma, combined with compressive asphyxia and water submersion, with the manner of death listed as homicide. While Dakota was examined, law enforcement remained at the Kensington address with his father, Almudahan McLean. Shortly after Dakota's remains were transported, McLean's partner Amanda Hines and her sister Jennifer Ebert returned to the residence with a three-year-old, who was later determined to be McLean's brother. Although McLean initially maintained that just he and Tacota lived at the

Kensington residence, it was later confirmed that he, Heinz, Ebert, Tocoda, and the three-year-old all lived there. When police arrived, they originally stayed on the ground level of the home. However, they were eventually given permission to search the entire residence. The ground floor was furnished, there was running water and food in the refrigerator. There appeared to be a security system as the TV in the living room showed live video of the outside. Family photos and photos of pets were hung on the walls throughout the home. However, there were absolutely no photos of Dakota. There was a bedroom that belonged to McLean and Hines, along with a mudroom that had been converted into a spare bedroom for Ebert. There was also a bedroom consistent with the needs of a three-year-old

with age-appropriate toys and clothing. But there was no room set up for Dakota. No age-appropriate toys, school books, or clothing for a 10-year-olds. Nor was there a bedroom for Dakota set up in the basement. Only a room for the dogs with crates in a dirty cement floor littered with excrement. In the living room, there was a door that led to the attic, an area that authorities soon learned to be where Dakota was being kept. As the detectives went up the stairs, they noticed an overwhelming smell of human waste.

Due to there not being a light source in the attic, they had to use flashlights to further investigate. The attic was devoid of any personal effects aside from a broken chair. Two legs from the broken chair were recovered downstairs, one stuck behind the television, and the other in a laundry basket outside the bathroom. There were no clothes, no books, no toys, only filth, excrement, and insects. Deep inside of the attic was another room secured with a lock. When the room was unlocked, detectives found a bloody tarp in a filthy lawn chair, which they discovered was Dakota's bedding when he was permitted to have it.

Detectives also found a dismantled video camera that had been used by the three adults to watch Dakota, which, per Heinz, had been disconnected by McLean after Dakota became unresponsive, but before he called 911. Dakota originally did have a bedroom in the home. However, he lost the room after McLean and Hines took custody of McLean's three-year-old brother, and Dakota was sent to the attic. After leaving the Kensington residence, the investigation continued,

including interviews of the residents, teachers, and other individuals, as well as review of the evidence gathered. As the details unfolded, it became clear that the only thing more horrific than the facts of Dakota's death were conditions he was made to live in at the hands of his father,

his father's partner, and her sister. On January 5, 2015, Dakota was enrolled at Horace Mann Elementary School at ages 7. Although they were unsure of Dakota's specific needs, his teachers recognized that he could benefit from a little help. Although he did not have issues at school with proper restroom usage, he was sent to school daily smelling of human waste. He was also sent to school with embarrassing and potentially painful haircuts,

making him vulnerable to ridicule, in addition to the ridicule he already faced from the odor. The school tried their very best to help with Dakota, providing him with donated clothing to wear during the day while they washed his soiled ones. Teachers sent Dakota to the school nurse who would assist him with these issues. When notified of what was going on, McLean refused assistance and was enraged with staff interventions, further demanding that the school nurse not see Dakota for any reason at all. Ebert noted that McLean would give Dakota weird haircuts knowing that it would cause him ridicule.

Hines noted and teachers confirmed that McLean wanted daily updates from teachers. Hines would get those reports and then relay them to McLean. If there were anything but glowing, unbeknownst to his teachers, it would result in severe discipline for Dakota. Based on the account of Hines, Dakota was ordered to stand in the living room and hold a loaded book bag. Most days of the week from the time he got home from school until it was bedtime, this was to Dakota's life. On weekends, if Dakota did not have a good report card, he would be made to stand in this position in the living room for the entire day. Dakota was an active and rambunctious youth, so it was no surprise that he didn't receive a perfect report from the school daily. However, because of this,

Dakota's life was a living hell when he was at home. McLean was furious with Horace Mann Elementary and blamed the school for repeatedly sending CPS to his house. However, when CPS did come, the family was prepared. McLean and Hines instructed Ebert and Dakota on how to act when the door was knocked on, which was to stay behind a locked door and not be heard. Then McLean and Hines would schedule a time for CPS to return. McLean had Dakota prepared to answer their questions. He was to tell them nothing and act perfectly happy.

CPS had a host of resources to offer the family, including connecting them to medical or psychological services. Sorry about Prada's meowing. However, McLean declined their assistance. He blamed the school in Dakota for their intrusions and would take his rage out on Dakota after every time they came. Beating him, throwing him, kicking him, body slamming him,

any marks left behind would be covered by long sleeves and pants. Fed up with a repeated interference. in May of 2018, McLean and Hines withdrew Dakota from school, the one place where Dakota found at least a momentary refuge during the day. In order to keep the school out of their business, McLean and Heinz wrote falsified educational plans, claiming that Hines, who represented herself as his stepmother, would be homeschooling Dakota. By then, Dakota was largely confined to the attic for the majority of every single day. Originally, Dakota had full reign of the entire attic. However, in November of 2018, he allegedly launched himself through a window, leaving McLean and Hines no other option but to take him to the hospital.

At that time, there was not an allegation of CA on record, and social workers and doctors treated Dakota in the presence of McLean and Hines, who again represented herself as a mother figure to Dakota. During that visit, psychological counseling was recommended as part of an aftercare plan. However, the family did not follow through with making appointments. When social workers called McLean and Hines to assist in setting up that appointment, that help was declined to. During this time, McLean did call the juvenile court to inquire about services for juveniles under the age of 10. The court does, in fact, have a program to offer services to families struggling with mental health or behavioral issues.

However, when McLean learned it was therapeutic help and would not result in Dakota being locked up, he declined that assistance to. After his visit to the hospital, Dakota was moved to the basement while McLean walled off the windows in the attic. When Dakota returned to his attic confinement, it was now a smaller area, deprived of external light. Afterwards, McLean and Heinz made sure Dakota was locked up in the attic to avoid his escape. In the attic, Dakota was deprived of clothing, and by the time of his death, Ebert confirmed that all of his clothes had been thrown out. Yet despite this, if Dakota came down to use the restroom, without his house, clothes, he would be subject to discipline. His father only allowed Dakota to use the restroom at night

after McLean's brother went to bed and accused him of trying to show off his unclothed body to McLean's three-year-old brother. To further humiliate him, McLean began to call him slurs and would refer to him by using girls' names. Once confined to the attic, Dakota spent all day, every day in painful poses created by McLean. All three adults watched him from the comfort of their living room television. They had installed a camera to monitor him. If Dakota moved out of these horrific poses, Ebert or Hines would advise McLean of the movement so he could beat Dakota for disregarding the rules. An iPad recovered from the home had images of Dakota in these excruciating positions. He was made to stand with no clothes on, in a dark attic, bent over so that his hands were touching

the floor. He was to hold this pose from when he woke till the early hours of the morning. But the details surrounding the harm of Dakota only got worse. As McLean spoke to 911 dispatchers, as well as Officer Evans and detectives, he repeated a theme about how Dakota would not stop eating his own waste. However, McLean failed to mention that it was he that physically made Dakota performed this dehumanizing act. Per Ebert, and later confirmed by Heinz, it started as a disciplinary action, handed down by McLean.

McLean became enraged that Dakota, who was confined to the attic without access to a bathroom, had no choice but to use the floor. McLean commanded Dakota to eat his own wastes. And when Dakota refused, McLean physically made him do so. Dakota tried to refuse, but McLean made sure that he had no escape. After that, Dakota knew that he was expected to do this, or face further suffering. The last hours of Dakota's life were detailed by Heinz and Ebert. McLean had been out drinking, and when he came home, he took his anger out on Dakota.

Ebert from another room heard Dakota crying and saying, no more. Heinz dozed off in the couch and woke to McLean punching Dakota hard in his stomach, consistent with the internal bruising visible at autopsy. The next morning before the three-year-old woke up, Ebert called for Dakota to come down to use the restroom. Dakota was walking, but he was holding onto the walls. He would wobble and fall and then stand back up. McLean's response was to elbow, Ticota,

harden the back and order him back upstairs. Once back upstairs, McLean gave instructions to put away his folding chair and perform his discipline pose. Because Dakota did not move fast enough, McLean decided to take things further. As Tocoda laid down in his stomach, McLean stood on his back,

forcing all of his weight, even reaching to the ceiling to push down extra hard on Tocoda's body, crushing him. This is a man that's over 200,000. pounds. After this, McLean again had Dakota stand in the same pose and went downstairs to watch TV with Ebert in the three-year-old, all the while yelling up at Dakota, calling him a mama's girl, as well as slurs that we cannot say here. McLean then took a bottle of hot sauce up to pour on Dakota's backside. McLean readily admitted that pouring hot sauce on Dakota's private areas was

something that he did frequently, even daily in the last weeks of his life, according to Ebert. He had called it one of his parenting tools. Still not satisfied that Dakota was sufficiently compliant. McLean threw him around some more, grabbed him by the ears, and dragged him down the steps. He took Dakota into the bathroom and told him to clean his shorts. When Dakota again did not move fast enough, he was told to move faster or he was going to drown. Ebert from the living room, then heard splashing and Dakota gasping for air. McLean took Dakota back upstairs and from the model.

Ebert could see him laying on the lawn chair in the fetal position as McLean stood behind him. While McLean was standing behind Dakota, Ebert could see him making a repetitive motion with his hands. McLean's arm was going back and forth by Dakota's rear ends, and Ebert thought McLean could have been using the hot sauce. But when he came back downstairs, he tossed the chair leg that he apparently used on Dakota behind the dresser. McLean admitted during his interviews that the chair leg had damaged Dakota's insides. But he denied that he was the one that shoved it in there. He tried to explain the injury was self-inflicted by telling detectives that he saw Dakota stick it inside himself. He went on to describe asking Dakota to pull it out.

McLean later told detectives, quote, that's the kind of stuff he was into, end quote, before quickly assuring detectives without them asking any questions about this, that McLean himself was very straight. Finally, McLean changed the story to Dakota fighting to keep the chair leg inside of him and that he had arrezzle him to get it out. McLean claimed that he had took him to the tub to clean him up, but saw the injury was not too bad, which was wholly inconsistent with the actual injury inflicted to Dakota per his autopsy.

After McLean came back downstairs and discarded the chair leg, Dakota never made another sound. He no longer would have to incur the wrath of his caretaker. in the home were arrested and charged in Dakota's death on December 14th. While in the police cruiser, McLean again only seemed concerned for himself and the conviction he was likely to receive, not about the death of his son. McLean asked the officer, quote, you can get the death penalty though, right? End quote. To which the officer responded that that's up to the prosecutors, that's not up to us. McLean's concerns about the death penalty did not end up playing a role in his case. Prosecutors

Prosecutors said they charged McLean with all possible charges, including homicide. However, surprisingly, none of the charges carried death penalty specifications. Dakota's father, Almudahan McLean pled guilty to M.A. and endangering the welfare of a minor. He was sentenced to 51 years to life in prison and will need to register as a Tier 3 offender. McLean's girlfriend, Amanda Hines, was then sentenced to 22 to 27 and a half years in prison for her role in Dakota's death, Hines and her sister Jennifer Ebert pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and multiple counts of endangering the welfare of a minor. Ebert was sentenced to eight years in prison for her role. All three defendants received credit for time served, which is more than 600 days for each of them.

McLean will be in his 80s before he is eligible for parole. One might be asking, where was Dakota's mother when all of this was happening? Well, in 2008, his biological mother, Robin Collins, lost custody of him in a Dane County family court after harming him when he was still a baby and went to jail on additional charges. A person can only call and tell you so much of you not doing anything that they feel like them calling isn't doing anything. If they called 17 times, not even including the times that I've called, then and nobody's being done. Or maybe they're thinking, oh, maybe they investigated and I don't, and there's nothing going on. Or maybe I'm just, you know, thinking too much of it. Or maybe there's something else.

And maybe that's what happened. After spending some time in foster care, Dakota was eventually awarded to his father, McLean, with full custody in 2013. In 2014, McLean got permission from the judge to leave the state for Pennsylvania. Instead of doing so, he went to Dayton, purchased a house, and Dakota's mother and grandmother were unable to track him down. But McLean already had a criminal history. At the time, he had pled guilty to a misdemeanor for beating and choking a man. Three days after the custody decision, he was charged with beating Heinz with a metal pole.

Those charges were dismissed when Heinz decided to not cooperate with the police. Allegedly, family court judges who were constantly processing custody and divorce cases aren't required to check the addresses or follow up on moves in most instances. It's not legally part of a court's role to follow up on address changes out of state. If CPS was involved, where records would be off limits to the public, it would be CPS that would be responsible for checking on those cases and ensuring the right case information was passed to the state where the family moved. But privacy laws mean it's not known if CPS was playing a role in Dakota's case at the

time of the move. When reached for comment, Wisconsin's DCF office said they couldn't confirm or deny whether Dakota had ever been in the system.