The Misery Machine - The Case of Dominic Elkins & Cody Metzker Madsen

Starting point is 00:00:00 Oftentimes on this channel, we highlight CPS oversight and negligence as it pertains to putting a child in harm's way with a dangerous parent or foster parent. However, the situation we haven't gotten the chance to talk about before is when CPS fails to recognize or straight up ignores evidence of a dangerous child inside the foster care system. It should come as no surprise that some children with special needs might fall through the cracks and not receive the type of help they need. But where this becomes even more concerning is where we're going to be a very concerning, is when it is a child with a history of violence.

Starting point is 00:00:33 Today's story involves one such teenager whose long-documented history is apparently not enough to stop him from being placed alone in a home with a much younger, vulnerable child. Dominic Lloyd Elkins was born on November 12, 2007, in Harlan, Iowa to parents Barbara Coonch and Thomas Ball. He was an outdoorsy kid who enjoyed going on camping trips.

Starting point is 00:00:56 He loved soldiers, bikes, and cars. Like most kids his age, he liked watching Transformers in Marvel movies. His grandmother said he was very sociable. He said hello to strangers on the streets and loved to make new friends. Dominic exhibited behavioral problems from a very young age, far beyond typical tantrums. He would throw his head against the floor, walls and doors, or even attack his mother. Barbara, unequipped to give him the care he needed, put him into foster care. His first foster family, likewise, couldn't give Dominic.

Starting point is 00:01:28 what he needed. In 2012, he was taken in by Children Square USA, a nonprofit that gives children the psychiatric help they need. In February of 2013, he left the program. He returned in July, but left again in August. Dominic was given proper therapy and medication and was on track to living a normal, healthy, and happy life. Barbara was amazed at the progress her son made. For the first time since surrendering him, she wasn't afraid for his future. Because he was so young, Dominic's story is short in. Details about him are sparse compared to the other boy in our story.

Starting point is 00:02:04 Cody Metzger-Madson was born on February 19th, 1996. He had many physical and mental health issues from epileptic seizures to hallucinations. He was said to have the mind of a small child. He didn't know how to regulate strong emotions, anger in particular. In addition, he couldn't always distinguish

Starting point is 00:02:23 what was real and what was not. It was especially problematic as he loved to play pretend. His pretend worlds were based on a combination of movies, TV shows, and video games he liked, such as Skylanders, Power Rangers, and Hugio. Cody's mother, Peggy, was an alcoholic who was addicted to Crystal. When she learned she was pregnant with Cody,

Starting point is 00:02:43 she stopped altogether, but it's unknown how far along in her pregnancy she was when she quit. The effects of Crystal use during pregnancy are still being researched today, but the current studies have found that there are long-term consequences. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, children born affected to Crystal have a variety of problems. In infancy, they were more likely to show decreased arousal, increased stress, and poor quality of movement. By ages 1 and 2, toddlers showed delayed motor development. Preschool and school-age children had subtle but significant attention impairments

Starting point is 00:03:19 and were more likely to have cognitive and behavioral issues in school related to difficulties with self-control and executive function. As early as six years old, Cody was shuffled between foster homes and care facilities. There were periods where he would be returned to his mother, but they never lasted. Peggy lived in Akron next door to her mother and stepfather. Cody and his younger brother often spent time with grandparents. Peggy didn't think much of Cody's childhood pretend games until he got older. She said he still had imaginary friends at 10 years old. She wasn't sure if this was normal, but didn't know how to best approach this.

Starting point is 00:03:54 In 2004, social workers visited Peggy and her two children. While there, they saw Cody's step-grandfather verbally degrade the two boys. When social worker witnessed the step-grandfather hitting Cody on the head with a cup, she remembered Cody cowering after being struck. And another social worker saw the grandfather hit Cody and his brother with a fly swatter. In 2006, Cody attended a public elementary school while living in foster care. Since Cody was known to have violent outbursts, the school made the choice to keep Cody separate from the other students. He sat in a classroom alone with a special education teacher

Starting point is 00:04:29 and a specific kind of teaching assistant called a paraprofessional. During recess, Cody wasn't allowed to play with the other kids since the faculty feared for their safety. In March of 2007, Cody got so angry that he threw chairs across the room. Law enforcement had to be called, and needless to say, Cody was pulled out of the school. Between 2007 and 2010, Cody lived and went to school in the Rabiner treatment facility in Fort Dodge. He would get violent if something didn't go his way. Michelle Armitage, his academic advisor at the facility, said he showed some sense of guilt after having violent outbursts.

Starting point is 00:05:06 According to her, if you confronted Cody about hurting you, he would say he didn't mean to. Michelle believed that Cody didn't understand the link between violent behavior and hurting someone, but knew enough to apologize after his episodes. While in the Rabinner facility, he took diligent notes about his fantasy world, of his teachers dubbed as Cody Land. He wrote down rules for his own pretend games that only he could understand. He also had an imaginary friend that spoke a made-up language that Cody knew. While playing pretend, he would take on various roles and switch between characters, like he was a one-man show. One of Cody's many obsessions was Yu-Gi-o. News reports covering this case referred to the card

Starting point is 00:05:45 game specifically, but it's also possible Cody consumed the manga, anime, and video games. Cody loved the dragons in Yu-Gi-o so much that he told Michelle he wanted to become a dragonologist when he grew up. From her perspective, Cody seemed to think the Yu-Gi-O dragons among his many other fantasy creatures were real. It was clearly more than everyday escapism. Even those without psychology degrees or social work experience could see that. A few times, Cody was seen holding a pencil in each hand and speaking out loud as if he was playing with dolls. When he wasn't talking about his favorite creative media or playing in his fantasy world, he was staring off into space. He appeared to be deep in thought, but absence seizures are also a possibility here. These staring spells didn't seem to be connected

Starting point is 00:06:31 to his anger. Shell was worried when Cody left the facility. She didn't think foster care was the best environment for him, she stated, even though I think he was highly intelligent, he was very immature, and I worried about his interactions with younger kids. In 2010, Cody was living with Julie and Donald Coolman in Logan, Iowa. They had two twin daughters of their own and other foster children. They lived on a large property with animals, a swimming pool, and plenty of space to run around, including a large ravine surrounded by tall grass and weeds. Cody got along with his foster family, though, they knew about his history of violence.

Starting point is 00:07:08 While he stayed with the Coolman's, Cody didn't see his biological mother. He told his court-appointed special advocate that he didn't want to meet with her. The advocate supported him in this, and turned down Peggy's visitation requests. Cody and the Coolman's other foster boys were interested in wrestling. Cody thought he could safely copy the moves the professional wrestlers had performed. Julie had to physically restrain Cody on more than one occasion. Cody spent some time in a typical high school.

Starting point is 00:07:37 Julie alerted faculty about Cody's violent episodes, even within the Coolman home. When one of his foster brothers insulted his biological mother, Cody lashed out choking him. Julie wrote, Cody doesn't understand what is right and what is wrong when he is playing. Communication between the school and the foster family did not last. Reddit user under the name Dapper Demon claims to have been one of Cody's classmates. Under a post on the subreddit, Ask Reddit. Redditors that had a classmate who went on to commit a heinous crime, what happened.

Starting point is 00:08:08 Dapper Demon wrote, Used to have lunch every day with a kid who had a myriad of mental and developmental disorders. We always made a point to make sure he felt part of the group and our conversations. During a hallucination, Cody told everyone around him there were snakes on the floor. When he got upset with his peers, he threatened violence.

Starting point is 00:08:26 He was reported to have said, you don't want to see my black eyes. My black eyes will hurt you. It is hard to make sense of the many things that Cody says, but in this specific instance, we have a theory. The Yu-Gi-O dragons are classified by one or two characteristics. For example, blue-eyes white dragon,

Starting point is 00:08:45 red-eyes black dragon, or odd-eyes-penny Angelum Dragon, among many others. Given how much Cody loved dragons in Yu-Giow, it's possible he was making a reference. However, there are no dragons considered to be Black Eyes, as far as I know anyways. So Cody may have made up his own subspecies to fit in his fantasy world. It's also possible he was referring to a specific card called Black Eyes the Plunder Patrol Sea Guide, though that's not a dragon. Again, this is just a guess, and Cody could have been talking about something else entirely. In early August of 2013, Dominic Elkins moved into the Coolman home. He was almost six years old, but he and Cody quickly became attached to the hip. They had the same hobbies,

Starting point is 00:09:27 interests, and play styles. There were some minor slips during Dominic's three weeks day and a time he had to be restrained while attending school. Otherwise, Dominic was very comfortable in his new home. Despite what many would think as a near-perfect environment, Cody's issues were still unaddressed. He was still very quick to anger and he hated being told what to do by anybody. While he still had the mind of a child, he was a teenager physically, and so therefore, he was much physically stronger than Dominic. On August 31st, 2013, the two boys were left alone. Donald Coolman was out with a friend. Julie and one of their daughters were in town by an ice cream and the other daughter was in the living room watching TV. Dominic and Cody were outside playing a game that they called Greeks and Romans.

Starting point is 00:10:18 We don't know exactly what happened while the two boys were unsupervised, but given Cody's nature, investigators guessed Dominic must have angered Cody in some way. He may have broken the rules of their game or made a joke at Cody's expense or asked to do something different. We may never know. Another theory, one that Cody maintains to this day, was that he was so deep in his imagination that he couldn't separate what was real and what was not. He went into his own world where he saw goblins attacking his loved ones and he felt he had to do something. He later compared what he saw to the video game franchise Skylanders.

Starting point is 00:10:55 He only stopped because he heard someone screaming for help. No matter what the specific events were on August 31st, the outcome is the same. Cody killed Dominic. The five-year-old died from a combination of drowning and blunt force trauma. Cody pushed his head underwater and hit him with a brick so hard that Dominic's jaw broke and his teeth fell out. After Cody killed Dominic, he was left face down in the water. Cody ran back to the house and found his foster sister. She said he was covered in mud in an anxious, panic, frantic state.

Starting point is 00:11:31 Cody told her Dominic ran off, so sister call her parents. Donald was further away, but Julie was already on her way home and was back only minutes later. Cody led his foster mother and sisters to the ravine. Julie took one look at her surroundings and knew Cody was lying to them. If they were playing there, as he claimed, the tall grass and weeds would be trampled, but the ground was completely untouched. After some prodding, Cody relented and brought his family to the other side of the property. His sister was the one who found Dominic.

Starting point is 00:12:03 He tried to give him CPR, but he was already gone. This is when Cody told many stories about what happened. He said that Dominic hit himself with the brick, and then next he said Dominic was the one who threw a brick at Cody. Then he said that Dominic fell from a tree into the ravine, and then a figure he called a cloak man drowned Dominic. Cody said he doesn't drown that easily. He's a fighter. I know that. Later said he changed his story based on who he was speaking to because he saw symbols above everyone's heads, which told him who could and couldn't be trusted. In his police interviews, Cody again denied her. Dominic. Investigators had his clothes as evidence. They determined the blood splatter on the

Starting point is 00:12:44 fabric indicated the two boys were in very close proximity when Dominic passed away. Therefore, Cody was lying. The bricks in the ravine were not tested for DNA, but forensic experts said the elements would have erased any evidence if they tried to. It took many hours of interrogation to coax the truth out of Cody. He was left alone. He spotted the cameras in the room and audibly complained about being recorded. Eventually, Cody said the phrase, I didn't know he would actually drown. Dominic's funeral service was held on September 7th, hosted by Polly Jones funeral home.

Starting point is 00:13:17 Afterwards, he was buried at the Harlan Cemetery, about 26 miles from Logan. Six months after his arrest, Cody met with Alan Goldstein, who was a forensic psychologist. Dr. Goldstein noted Cody's ADHD and fetal alcohol syndrome symptoms. He needed to expend extra effort to keep his patient on topic.

Starting point is 00:13:37 He reviewed over 15,000, pages of medical information along with interrogation footage, police documents, and court records. In their first meeting, Dr. Goldstein asked Cody what he thought about his chances at trial. Cody accurately labeled the evidence against him and seemed to understand his chances at walking away a free man were slim. He bowed his head and cried. The following day, Cody recounted his recollection of August 31st. This conversation was summarized in the court ruling, and I will quote it as follows. Cody went into one of his worlds that resembled a video game.

Starting point is 00:14:13 Once he was in that world, he saw goblins fighting people he knew. The commander of the goblins was in front of him near the edge of the ravine. Cody attacked the goblin commander toward the edge of the ravine and kicked him into a tree branch. The goblin's head hit the branch. Cody went down the ravine after the goblin. He reached into a pack belted to his waist for his weapons, a sword and a brick. He attacked the goblin and smashed the brick into his face. He pushed its head into the water as he hit him.

Starting point is 00:14:41 Even after it was still, Cody did not trust that the goblin was dead because, according to him, sometimes goblins reemerge and attack again. They are kind of tricky little creatures. Cody testified that he did not realize at the time that he was battling the goblin, that the creature was, in fact, Dominic. Dr. James Dennert, a psychiatrist and neurologist, was also tasked with evaluating Cody. He reviewed the reports made by Dr. Goldstein and by investigators immediately after Cody. his arrest, questioned if Cody was truly having a psychotic episode while alone with Dominic.

Starting point is 00:15:14 Dr. Dennard's education and professional experience taught him it was unlikely for a person in a state of psychosis to suddenly slip into a state of non-psis. This meant Cody couldn't hallucinate fighting a goblin and then immediately realize he hurt his five-year-old foster brother. The fact that Cody lied to his foster family, Dr. Dennert argued was proof enough to know what he did was wrong. While in custody before his trial, Cody bit a prison guard and was charged with assault. He said he only had bits and pieces of this memory, and he was angered when he was asked to give up a crumpled up paperball that he made to entertain himself. After the court reviewed his mental evaluations, Cody was deemed fit to stand trial.

Starting point is 00:15:56 He was charged with premeditated murder and pled not guilty by reason of insanity. The task at hand was not proving Cody guilty or not guilty. There was enough evidence that he was guilty. Rather, it was proving if he was in a sound state of mind during the crime. The prosecution was intent on proving that Cody was malingering or faking illness for personal gain. In this case, they felt that Cody was faking a psychotic episode in order to stay out of prison. There are various questions psychologists asked to determine if someone is a malingerer. For example, if a suspect claims that they are having more and more symptoms with no discernible pattern,

Starting point is 00:16:34 that suspect is likely to be malingering. 26 U.S. states, including Iowa, have a rule for insanity pleas called the Monotin rule. It is based on Daniel Monotin, a Wood Turner in Scotland. Mnotton had delusions he was being watched by the Tories political party and attempted to assassinate British Prime Minister Robert Peel in 1843. However, Monotin instead shot the Prime Minister's personal secretary by mistake. His charges were dropped, but he lived the rest of his life in an institution. The ruling would be the basis for legal insanity in the UK and in the 26 U.S. states that adopted it.

Starting point is 00:17:09 The monotin rule states a person can be found legally insane by a court if there was enough evidence proving they suffered from a defect of reason during the crime. Now, there are many criticisms of the monotin rule, but those are beyond the scope of this video today. Since the crime took place in the state of Iowa, the monotin rule was legally relevant here, and because of that, Cody's defense team believed they had enough. evidence for an insanity plea, so this was the route they took for trial. Dr. Goldstein, one of Cody's psychologists, testified to the court. He claimed that Cody was deep in a psychotic episode when he killed Dominic. Even up until the trial, Cody didn't show much emotion when we're counting the crime. Dr. Goldstein argued that Cody's emotional detachment was a sign of psychotic behavior and that he was not in his right mind. Among the other witnesses

Starting point is 00:17:57 were Cody's mother, Peggy Madsen, members of the Coolman family, and Iowa Department of Human resources manager, a court-appointed special advocate, and his former educators. Dr. Goldstein pointed to their testimonies about Cody's violent episodes and inability to remember them as further proof that the teenager was unwell. He also referred to Peggy's crystal use while pregnant as a potential cause for his neurological issues. While Cody's foster sister testified about finding Dominic, Cody was restless and fidgety while she was on the stand. Dr. James Denner, the psychiatrist on the prosecution side testified he thought Cody was stretching the truth. Cody told him he was going into his fantasy world as early as two years old, but Dr. Dennert didn't think it was likely for Cody to have

Starting point is 00:18:40 such formed memories at a young age. Cody took the stand for over 40 minutes. He testified that he truly did believe he was battling a goblin commander. He said, I love the little guy referring to Dominic. I would never hurt him, not even a hair on his fricking little head. During cross-examination, the prosecution tried to confront him with his various stories and lies, Cody said. The way you're saying it is kind of hurting my feelings in a way because I'm figuring that you don't really believe me, do you? They asked how he felt, knowing he killed Dominic. Cody responded, I feel like a regretful little punk. I never even wanted to hurt Dominic. I would have never hurt Dominic. He was like a brother that I haven't had for a long time.

Starting point is 00:19:23 In their closing statement, the defense brought expert witness Dr. James Denner into question. They believe Dr. Dennert came to a conclusion about Cody from the start and formed an opinion around that conclusion. At the end of his trial, Cody was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Judge Kathleen Klinosko said, Cody Metzger Madsen appeared to be unaffected by the gravity of his acts against Dominic. He was animated in describing his battle against the goblin. He became testy when confronted with his lies and inconsistencies. However, it is not clear he appreciates even now the consequences of his.

Starting point is 00:19:57 actions. Barbara Cooch, Dominic's biological mother, was present throughout the entire trial. She left the courtroom audience crying at least twice. The first time was during Cody's testimony and the second was following the judge's verdict. If he is ever deemed to be rehabilitated, a judge would have the power to release him back into society. Until that day comes, Cody will remain in state custody. He was first held in the Iowa Medical and Classification Center for evaluation. He was diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder or IED, as well as oppositional defiant disorder, ODD, and a psychotic disorder. Eventually, he was sent to independent state hospital. To this day, he is closely monitored. Iowa doesn't often see successful insanity

Starting point is 00:20:43 pleas when it comes to murder cases. In 2014, there were only two Iowa murder cases with successful insanity pleas. The state of Iowa versus Cody Metzger-Madson was the second one, and his predecessor is Thomas Barless Jr. He killed his father, believing him to be Satan and himself to be Jesus. Both Cody and Thomas Barless Jr. waived their right for a jury trial and opted for a judge-only one instead. This is a common strategy for a defense seeking not guilty by reason of insanity. On August 14, 2015, Julie Coolman passed away in a motorcycle accident.

Starting point is 00:21:18 It's not reported what Cody said or did when he found out or if he even knows at all. That same year, Dominic's birth mother sued the state of Iowa. Now, it was common practice for foster children with comparable behavior to be put in the same home. Because both Dominic and Cody were diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, the lawsuit said the state should not have put them in the same household. The state paid $175,000 and an additional $300,000 from the state foster home insurance fund. Now, covering this case reminded me of when I used to work for a date, care almost 20 years ago. State care had all preschool-aged children and quite a few of them had

Starting point is 00:21:57 special needs. Not all of them, but quite a few. But despite being equipped to give proper resources for those children, what we weren't equipped for was one child who was very charming but very violent, attacking other children, threatening to kill us when he was upset and having these big stories about how he and his family hides bodies of their enemies on the weekends. He was very destructive when he felt slighted and there had to be weapon checks done on him. Every time there was incident with him, we would just document it and nothing else would happen. I remember asking why we didn't do anything else with him, and she told me it was because we couldn't do anything else. Unless the court mandated he'd get put in residential or the parents agreed to do it,

Starting point is 00:22:36 there was nowhere else for him to go. And even if the parents did want to send him, they're usually waitless. So they said eventually he'll phase out of our daycare and go to public school and then they can figure out how to handle him. And you would hope that in the past 20 years, things would have improved somewhat, but based on talking to people I know who work in the field, it doesn't seem like it has. Situations are different state by state here in America, but in our home state of Maine, there's very little funding, and so some kids are waitlisted years before they can get the help they need.

Starting point is 00:23:07 And in the end, the child suffers, and so do those around them. Since Dominic's passing, there have been many deaths involving child welfare services. In 2016, 16-year-old Natalie Finn was seen begging for change. on the street when she should have been in class, and later died from starvation. In 2017, 16-year-old Sabrina Ray died under the supervision of her foster parents. Investigators suspected neglect as the girl's corpse was visibly malnourished. With more cases connected to child welfare, Iowa's Department of Human Services has faced public scrutiny. When discussing Dominic, the department spokesperson described his death as a unique circumstance, but he refused to answer direct.

Starting point is 00:23:50 questions about the foster system's internal failings. In July of 2024, Cody attacked another patient at the Independent State Hospital. The victim was unnamed, but, is reported to be a man in his late 60s with schizoaffective disorder. Cody left him with fractured ribs, bruises, and bleeding in his brain. He was arrested, but these charges were dropped without prejudice, meaning he can be recharged in the future. He is almost unrecognizable in his most recent mugshot. He's no longer the teenager.

Starting point is 00:24:20 boy plastered all over Iowa news, but a grown adult man with an uncertain future. Best case scenario, this will be the last we hear about Cody. If he isn't granted his freedom, he will likely spend the rest of his life institutionalized.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Dominic Elkins & Cody Metzker Madsen

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