The Misery Machine - The Case of Caden McWilliams

Starting point is 00:00:00 Caden McWilliams was born on December 20th, 2010 in Colorado to parents Elisha McWilliams Panky and Leland Panky. Some reports indicated that Leland was Caden's stepfather, but information that we'll get to later on in the episode proved otherwise. Elisha and Leland were married in 2014, after which Caden's sister was born. However, things weren't happy in the Panky household. In November of 2017, Leland began beating Elisha. According to their landlord, Elisha had recently changed from being a really outgoing person to a hermit that just wanted to stay in her house. The family was evicted in early 2018, after which they began staying in area hotels. During the 2017-2018 school year, Caden attended Ellis Elementary School.

Starting point is 00:00:50 His principal, Nicole Whiteman, described him as a hard worker who did well academically and who was always positive, caring, and who lived the Ellis core value of intent. In her words, at Ellis, Caden stood out from others from the moment he walked through the school doors every morning with a huge smile on his face. His smile and eyes showed how kind and sweet he was at the core. Other students wanted to be his friend and look to Caden for what to do next. According to his teacher, Christina Halfler, he was always such a bright, shining student. He was always so kind. He was so popular. He would walk into the Catholic. cafeteria and kids would say, Kaden, come sit by me. Everybody was always so excited to see him.

Starting point is 00:01:36 He was always smiling and such a pleasure to have in class. Caden last attended school on May 24, 2018, even though the school year didn't end until May 31st. In August of 2018, Elisha notified Kaden's school that he wouldn't be coming back. In fact, she was going to homeschool him. This will become very important later in our story. According to her Facebook page, Elisha worked for IHS market, which later merged with S&P Global. And per their website,

Starting point is 00:02:05 the company is the world's foremost provider of credit ratings, benchmarks, and analytics in the global capital and commodity markets. It is unclear what exactly Elisha did in her role, but she was employed as a temporary worker. Elijah was contracted to work for the company through April of 2018, but her contract was later extended until August.

Starting point is 00:02:26 Employees of the company were allowed to work from home, but Elijah worked at the company's satellite office in Highland Ranch, Colorado, about 95% of the time. When pressed on why she came into the office, Elijah replied that she would rather work in the office than at home. In fact, Elijah rarely left the office at all. Co-workers claimed that she was there all of the time almost every day and would eat lunch at the office, never leaving to get takeout or go to run errands. According to one co-worker, Elijah was often still there after everyone had left for the day. After Elijah was involved in a car accident, another temporary worker would give her rights home, where they would engage in small talk. During one of those conversations, Elijah stated that her husband Leland was a stay-at-home dad

Starting point is 00:03:14 and she was the sole provider of income for their family of four. On December 21st to 2018, officers and detectives with the Aurora PD responded to a call at the Aurora Extended Stay Hotel located at 14095 East Evans Avenue regarding a DV complaint. There they were met by 41-year-old Elijah McWilliams Panky, who had made the call regarding her husband, Leland, who wasn't actually staying at the same hotel as her. Leland was renting a room at the town place suites located at 3699 South Monaco Parkway in Denver. By means of their investigation, authorities were able to establish that the couple had two children, a baby girl that has not been named due to her age, and a boy, seven-year-old

Starting point is 00:04:00 Caden McWilliams. When asked about the whereabouts of the two children, Elisha informed the detectives that they were with their father, Leland. While speaking with Elisha, a substance suspected to be heroin was observed in the room. As such, the room was secured and a search warrant was obtained by the Aurora PD. While Elijah was being transported at the police station, the search warrant led detectives to suspected heroin, and detectives also found a business card for a public storage facility located 5.005 East Evans Avenue in Denver. The access code was written on the back, and Detective Brandon Meadows contacted the storage facility and was advised that Elijah had been renting the storage unit since May 17th of 2018. After the search of Elijah's room had concluded,

Starting point is 00:04:47 it was locked and secured. That same day, both Denver and Aurora police officers responded to the town place suites to have a chat with Leland Panky. Officers found Leland in the parking lot getting into a black 2009 BMW. Leland had an active DV arrest warrant listed on the National Crime Information Center database, with Elijah listed as the victim. As such, he was taken into custody for questioning, and his vehicle was towed to the Denver police impact. pound lot. A cursory search of his BMW yielded a half ounce of crystal mouth. While in custody, officers asked him about the whereabouts of his children, as Elisha claimed

Starting point is 00:05:30 that they were with him. Leland claimed that one of his children was at a daycare center located near I-225 and Parker Road, but changed the subject and avoided answering questions about Kaden. Eventually, Leland suggested that Kaden was with Elisha. Due to the act of D.V. Warrant, he was ultimately placed under arrest and transported to the Aurora PD. The next part of our story is a little convoluted because so much has been redacted from official reports. On December 21st, Aurora Police Detective Jeffrey Prince interviewed a 24-year-old woman who claimed that Leland had told her that he had lost his son three weeks prior. According to the woman whose name was redacted, Leland told her that it was too much to handle.

Starting point is 00:06:13 He hadn't grieved, and he needed to get help from someone. She told Detective Prince that Leland told her that her family could have his storage and later that he didn't want anything to do with it because it had too many memories. This next part is also heavily redacted, but I was able to figure out the gist of what was going on based on clues that were provided in the affidavit. Aurora police officers responded to the Parker Learning Center located at 3104 South Parker Road in Aurora. There, they met with an employee and discovered that Elyche and Leland's daughter was indeed at the location.

Starting point is 00:06:49 The employee advised the officers that Leland had spoke to his staff on November 29th. Allegedly on that date, Leland said that he wanted his daughter to be social with the other kids at the center because she had lost her brother. Meanwhile, both Elisha and Leland

Starting point is 00:07:04 were sitting at the Aurora Police Department being grilled about the whereabouts of Caden, after which they both asked for a lawyer. On December 23rd, Detective Meadows with the Aurora PD prepared a search warrant for the couple's storage unit on East Evans Avenue, which was subsequently approved by a judge. The same day, detectives with the crimes against children unit responded to the storage unit. In addition, two canine handlers and their partners from search and rescue dogs of United States responded to assist.

Starting point is 00:07:33 Both canine teams were deploying cadaver dogs. At approximately 9.05 a.m., an employee at the storage facility removed the lock from Elijah and Leland's unit, and at around 9.59 that same morning, detectives raised the door and began their search. Numerous photographs were taken before anyone entered the unit. Now, at a glance, the unit contained a few plastic storage totes, a large pile of clothing, and miscellaneous items located at the back. Closer to the door, detectives found several gallon-sized water bottles and a couple of partially empty bags of Quicrete brand concrete.

Starting point is 00:08:09 Granular pieces of premixed concrete covered much of the floor of, the unit. Along the eastern side was a rectangular-shaped object that was raft with layers of black trash bags and silver duct tape. The object was roughly two to three feet tall and two feet across. Canine handlers Kathy Briently and Melissa Kent both deployed their canine partners, Sam and Hawk, within the open storage unit, and neither canine alerted to any odors. Detective Patrick McGinty began the search of the unit by cutting away the layers of the black plastic from the rectangular-shaped object. Each layer was tightly wrapped against the next interior layer, and many layers contained duct tape. After he removed several layers, he began to detect a strong

Starting point is 00:08:56 odor. After the canines were deployed again, both showed noticeable interest in the rectangular shaped object. Both handlers advised that their canine partners had displayed their individual trained indication, which signaled the presence of the odor of human remains. remains. Based on the new information learned during the brief search, detectives halted their efforts and secured the scene pending the arrival of homicide detectives from the Denver Police Department. After obtaining information from the members of the Aurora PD, Denver homicide detective Carrie Johnson responded to the Denver PD headquarters and authored another search warrant for the storage unit, which was signed by Judge Olympia Faye at 253 p.m. That same day at around three

Starting point is 00:09:43 P.m., detectives Marty Smith and Carrie Johnson entered the unit with their search warrant. The unit contained numerous items of evidentiary value that were measured, photographed, and collected as evidence. Among those items that were found was a large plastic dog crate with a block of cement inside it. Denver PD bomb technician Kurt Peterson x-rayed the dog crate. However, the x-rays were inconclusive as to whether anything was contained inside the block of cement. As such, Dog crate was transported to the Denver Medical Examiner's Office. Numerous bags of Quickcrete and the large bottles of water were collected as evidence. As mentioned prior, the Quick Creek mixture was prevalent on the floor of the unit and appeared to be mixed and placed inside of the dog crate.

Starting point is 00:10:29 At 7.45 p.m., the Denver PD crime lab and detectives finished collecting evidence that was in plain view. At 8 p.m., Detective Smith secured the door and placed a lock on the unit. On Christmas Eve, while the citizens of Denver were out celebrating with their families, the Denver Medical Examiner's Office identified and removed the remains of what appeared to be an adolescent from the block of cement. The body was decomposed and a visual identification could not be made. Later that same day, a third search warrant for the storage unit was approved and signed by a judge. Detective Smith in the Denver PD Crime Lab completed the search and documented

Starting point is 00:11:10 the contents of the unit in its entirety. On December 29th, at 3 in the afternoon, Aurora PD Sergeant John Kessler contacted Detective Smith of the Denver PD and advised him that officers were at the Aurora Extended Stay Hotel with a female witness that claimed to have information about a seven-year-old boy that had been killed and placed into a dog crate. Aurora PD officer Stacy Sparks, who was involved and familiar with the case, was already on location in meeting with the reporting party. Also present were officers Nick Langdon and Jason Weber. After Officer Spark spoke with the witness,

Starting point is 00:11:49 whose name has also been redacted, she was sure that she had all of the information pertaining to the case. At 312 p.m., Officer Nick Langdon contacted Detective Smith. He told him that the witness had been staying at the Aurora Extended Stay Hotel with Alicia Pankey and that Elijah told her that a little boy died inside of an animal. carrier and was currently in her storage unit. At approximately 4 p.m., Detective Smith arrived at the hotel and met with the witness, who agreed to go to the Denver PD headquarters for an interview.

Starting point is 00:12:22 At 6.51 p.m., Detective Smith began a video-recorded interview with the witness. She said that she had met Elijah at the Arapaho County Jail on December 22nd. They were both in the same cell block, shared conversations with each other, and were released at the same time on December 24th. Yes, even though a body was found inside of her storage unit, Elijah was released from jail. While they were in jail together, Elijah allegedly told the witness that her son was missing and that her husband Leland was the last person her son was known to be with. When they were released on December 24th, the witness went to stay with Elijah at the hotel after only two days of knowing one another.

Starting point is 00:13:07 The hotel room was apparently already prepaid. The witness shared that she was with Elisha at the Orapico County Courthouse when detectives showed up, took a saliva sample from her, and gave her a piece of paper indicating that she was a suspect in her son's death. The witness testified that the previous day, around three or four in the afternoon,

Starting point is 00:13:26 Elisha told her that the little boy had died in the dog crate. Elisha shared with her that her husband and the two children were staying at the hotel, but she couldn't exactly remember where the hotel was located. She told the witness that Leland would tell the boy to go into the dog crate and she would do the same whenever she needed to take a shower. Allegedly, the little boy was in the dog crate in late July and Leland had put blankets on top of the dog crate.

Starting point is 00:13:50 Elisha told the woman that she heard her son cry out, that he was hot and thirsty, but rather than help her own son, she just stayed in bed. She said that the following morning, she got up and found that the little boy had died, possibly of suffocation. Leland also checked on his son to verify that he was indeed dead. According to the witness, Elijah took the dog crate with the little boy still inside and put it in their car.

Starting point is 00:14:16 Afterward, they drove to a store and bought concrete and industrial strength trash bags. Elijah told the woman that they then drove to the storage unit, poured concrete into the carrier, and wrapped it in trash bags. As a result of the witnesses sworn testimony and arrest warrant for CA resulting in death was prepared by Detective Smith. On January 2nd, 2019, Elijah Pankey turned herself into the Denver PD, was placed under arrest and held in the Denver City Jail. On January 7th, 2019, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann announced the filing of formal charges against Elijah Pankey in connection with the death of Caden McWilliams. She was charged with one count of CA resulting in death and one count of abuse of a corpse. In a press release, D.A. McCann stated,

Starting point is 00:15:07 quote, thanks to the tenacious work by both the Aurora and Denver Police Department, we now know that young Caden was not only missing for several months. He was no longer alive. This is a terrible tragedy for the community. The community now knows that a little boy was not only missing for seven months, he had in fact died. While this case will take time to resolve, it will take even longer for our community to learn and heal, end quote. On January 8th, Denver District Attorney Investigator Teresa Wirtz spoke with an employee of the storage facility.

Starting point is 00:15:42 The employee advised the investigator that on May 17, 2018, Elisha Panky opened an account with their company and was given access to the Evans lot and a storage unit. According to the employee, Elisha was provided with the unique access code that allowed her entry into the Evans lot via the front access gate between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. When the unit was overdue on rent, the access code was deactivated. DNA samples from Elisha and Leeland were compared to a DNA profile that was obtained from the postmortem samples from the juvenile encased in the concrete. On January 10th, forensic scientist Eric Duval with the Denver PD Crime Lab determined that Leeland and Elijah Pankey were in fact the biological parents of the adolescent found encased in

Starting point is 00:16:27 the concrete block. It was Caden McWilliams. On January 15th, Denver PD crime scene investigator Michael Bush downloaded the Evanslot surveillance videos for the dates of May 17th, 2018, through December 23rd, 2018. During that roughly seven-month period, both Leland and Elisha were caught on camera numerous times, both together and separately, accessing the gate and the storage unit, as well as paying their rent at the facility's office. On January 20th, Detective Smith interviewed Leland at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office with his lawyers present. During that interview, Leland denied having a key to the storage unit. He stated that he had access when the couple first moved their belongings into the unit after they had been kicked out of the place they were living.

Starting point is 00:17:14 Leland continued that after he and Elisha separated, which was before Caden got out of school, he no longer had a key, and he never accessed or entered the storage unit again. However, video surveillance caught Leland entering the lot via Elish's Code on September 27, 2018. He was there for roughly 13 minutes. On February 28, the Denver coroner's office released the autopsy report for Caden McWilliams. The report indicated that on December 24, 2018, Dr. Meredith Frank began the autopsy process. According to the report in Dr. Frank's opinion, Caden McWilliams died as a result of homicide by undetermined means, with child maltreatment serving as a significant contributing condition. Dr. Frank also noted the following. The post-mortem examination revealed severe

Starting point is 00:18:07 emaciation of the body consistent with a malnourished or deprived state. Seven-year-old Kaden only weighed 27 pounds. Numerous injuries of the head, torso, and extremities, some of which showed evidence of healing. It was all also possible that Caden experienced complications of injuries such as infection or sepsis. He may have also suffered a component of asphyxia or hyperthermia, which could not be confirmed. A test revealed co-in metabolite and in Caden's liver tissue. Dr. Frank determined that given the highly suspicious nature of his death, the findings of the autopsy, and that Caden was a young child who was dependent on others for his care,

Starting point is 00:18:54 The manner of death was a homicide. On March 15th, Elisha Panky was interviewed at the Denver PD headquarters by Detective Smith. Also present were DA Joe Morales and both of Elisha's lawyers. Elijah revealed the following information. Near the end of May 2018, the family all moved into a room at the in-town suites located at 2,900 West Hampton Avenue in Sheridan, Colorado. Elijah was still working full-time and would leave the room at around 6.30 a.m. and return home about 12 hours later. She shared that Leland was solely responsible for the care of Caden and his little sister.

Starting point is 00:19:32 She stated that she was well aware that her husband was mistreating Caden after they moved into the in-town suites. She also knew that Leland wasn't feeding him. Around July 11, 2018, three days prior to Caden's death, Elijah was taking a nap when she awoke to Leland yelling. She observed Leland holding Caden by the neck up against the wall. The little boy's feet were not touching the ground. Afterward, Leland took Caden to the bathroom where Elijah claimed she heard a ruckus, what sounded like things hitting the walls. She claimed that she never heard Caden cry out in pain, or cry at all for that matter. Leland then left the little boy in the bathroom with the door closed. He told Elijah something cryptic.

Starting point is 00:20:19 that they couldn't save both children, and that they could take Caden to the mountains to bury him. Elisha said that a few days prior to his death, Leland was keeping Caden inside of the dog crate. She confirmed that the day they found their son dead, they purchased Quickcrete, trash bags, and water. They drove Caden to their storage unit, mixed the concrete, and poured it into the crate. It should be noted that even though Elisha claimed that Caden died in mid-July, authorities believe that he was killed in May, around the same time that she pulled him from school. On March 29th, the Denver coroner's office provided Detective Smith with a forensic anthropology report, which was completed by Dr. Christine Pink and indicated the following.

Starting point is 00:21:04 Antimortem injuries in different stages of healing were present on the cranium and lower right arm. The right forearm had a fracture that had been healing for 40 to 50 days. A nasal bone fracture with evidence of healing at the time of death with new. bone formation present. According to Dr. Pink, bone formation typically occurs in children by 10 to 14 days after the injury. Injuries to the frontal bone, nasal bones, and right orbit were consistent with blunt force trauma. These injuries were the result of at least one below. However, due the active nature of healing and the lack of intersecting fractures, separate instances of traumatic injury could not be ruled out. On May 24th, 2019,

Starting point is 00:21:49 Detective Smith requested a warrant for the arrest of Leland Panky for the offense of first-degree homicide, CA resulting in death, and tampering with the deceased human. In January of 2020, prosecutors reached a plea deal with Lelins. They agreed to drop the first-degree homicide charge in exchange for the lesser charge of CA resulting in death in tampering with the deceased human. He was sentenced to 72 years in prison. As a result of her plea deal, Elisha, Chepenki was sentenced to 32 years in prison, plus five years of mandatory parole for her role

Starting point is 00:22:25 in Caden's death. Explaining the decision, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann pointed to the unknown cause of death for Caden, remarking, quote, we had to take in account the risk of going to trial on first-degree homicide charges when the exact cause of death was not determined, end quote. Prosecutors were also wary of subjecting Caden's loved ones, as well as a judge and jury, to a trial that would revisit the details of the case, which officials described as one of the most horrific cases they'd ever seen. Leland Panky's crimes, they said, were intentional, deliberate, calculated, callous, self-serving,

Starting point is 00:23:01 and deprived of any sense of humanity or human kindness. During sentencing, Elijah's sister Sarah Cruz fondly remembered her nephew. She said, quote, I was in the room when Caden was born. I saw his sweet little face and was immediately smitten. As Caden grew, it became apparent that he had a very old soul. He was a sweet child and gentle and our entire family fell in love with him, end quote. Miss Cruz is now the guardian of Caden's younger sister,

Starting point is 00:23:31 who she describes as a miracle and a survivor. In the wake of Caden's death, his former teacher, Christina Halfler, started a GoFundMe page to set up a memorial to honor the little boy, with the goal of incorporating Caden's memory in a public art project planned to be displayed on the side of Ellis Elementary and a bench or tree. As of the date at this recording, the fundraiser is now closed and raised $6,210. As of September 2019, the memorial was completed. An 121-foot mural off of Dahlia Street in Denver features a tree and a bumblebee because Caden enjoyed nature. There's also a dinosaur too.

Starting point is 00:24:11 A bright orange bench outside of the school's entrance was also dedicated to Kaden, as well as a tree that was planted nearby in his honor. The finishing touches on a work of art with so much meaning. Way too close to home for me, so I decided that, you know, we should do some sort of a memorial. Brooke Webb didn't know Kaden McWilliams, but her daughter went to school with him and saw him in the hallways of Ellis Elementary. His death touched the community. It was devastating for the teachers and the parents and the whole community because if anyone had known that he was, you know, facing that kind of torture and abuse, we would have wanted to step in and do something. Webb still wanted to do something, a little boy who seemed to be forgotten in life and in death. Police believe he was missing for several months before his body was found.

Starting point is 00:25:04 So she started raising money for a memorial outside the school he loved. I wanted, you know, the bench and the tree, and for the kids that remember Caden and New Caden, that they can have, you know, peace while they're here at school. His classmates even gave their input on the mural that would be dedicated to the smiling boy with a love of nature. Students met with the artist and helped paint the design. They inspired. It is incredibly joyful, I think, about the specific things in it that were very special to Caden. and then I see lots of colors representing so much joy and diversity in our own school. And it really feels very student-centered. A teacher at Ellis wants people to feel that joy when they look at the mural and when they remember Kaden.

Starting point is 00:25:52 I hope that when people see the mural and see the bench will remember, obviously remember Kaden and the amazing kid that he was and also think about the care and the joy that we, we have at our school. Brooke Webb, a parent of an Ellis Elementary student, reached out to legislators in hope of changing safe haven laws to include older children. She said many people are familiar with the concept of dropping a baby off at a fire station if they're unable to care for it and believes there's a way to put in place a similar policy for older kids.

Starting point is 00:26:27 Brooke Webb has been a champion for Cadence cause and also runs the Facebook group, Justice for Caden McWilliams, which kept its followers updated. as Caden's case progressed. If you suspect that a child is being mistreated, please contact the Child Help National CA Hotline. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24-7 in more than 170 languages. You could be the person to save a child just like Caden McWilliams.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Caden McWilliams

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