Mom Moves Away, Leaving 3yo Behind, Dead Under Trailer; Juanita Kinzie Arrested

[Dakota]

A Colorado mother in behind bars, accused of killing her own son.

In arrest papers, Juanita Kinzie says she told at least one person she'd "made a mistake" and her son was "with God."

Police say she is a meth user.

Investigators say she killed the boy, 3-year-old Caleb Pacheko, and hide his body under their mobile home in Sterling in the northeast part of the state.

http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/137940613.html

According to court documents, police in Denver contacted Kinzie on Sunday at a disturbance call. Police said she was under the influence of meth and told paramedics that her son with dead.
[...]

There were reports of a terrible smell coming from under the mobile home. A neighbor told Hooker that another neighbor mentioned the smell at the end of last summer.

“He told me at the end of August, ‘You better check these sewer lines out because I can smell something.’ It’s a very bad deal for a little kid,â€￾ neighbor Larry Morris said.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/01/23/mother-in-custody-after-toddler-found-dead-in-sterling/

The boy's uncle, Cogee Fields, said extended family members last saw Pacheco alive in January 2011.

He said the boy’s aunt, Yolanda Kinzie-Graber, became Pacheco’s guardian when his mother couldn’t take care of him.

But Juanita Kinzie soon asked for him back.

“Yolanda didn’t want to relinquish guardianship,â€￾ Fields said. “Social Services said she did have to turn him over to my sister. He was never seen again.â€￾

Fields said they asked Juanita Kinzie about the boy’s whereabouts several times but she didn’t respond.
[...]

Fields said the family contacted police a year ago, but was told there was no reason to suspect foul play. Family members said they tried contacting Social Services in three counties to ask for a welfare check but because authorities didn't know Kinzie's whereabouts, they couldn't do a welfare check without an address.

Family members said Caleb's mother moved around a lot.

They said they contacted the Logan County Sheriff's Office again last week, and deputies executed a search warrant at a mobile home where Caleb's family used to live before they moved out about six months ago. That's where they found the body.

“He was found underneath the trailer,â€￾ Fields told 7NEWS. “He wasn’t buried. He was wrapped in a blanket with a few other items that (investigators) didn’t disclose.â€￾
[...]

Fields said he was told that the remains were skeletal.

“So he’s probably been dead for a while,â€￾ the uncle said.

A neighbor told 7NEWS he last saw the boy a few weeks before the family moved out.

When asked when that was, the neighbor said, “Last summer. It was warm out.â€￾
[...]

Sean York, the father of one of Caleb’s sisters, told 7NEWS that family members are angry about a breakdown in the system.

“Who could sit there and let a little kid like that be missing for a whole year without doing (expletive?)â€￾

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/30277470/detail.html

The saga began more than a year ago when family members say they knew Juanita Kinzie was unfit to be a mother.

"She was asking me to watch him, so she could party at night," Yolanda Kinzie-Graber, Caleb's aunt, said.

Kinzie-Graber says Juanita Kinzie had alcohol and drug problems. Kinzie had asked her extended family to take Caleb for most of the time in late 2010.
[...]

About a year ago, Kinzie wanted her son back - even though Caleb tried to communicate to everybody that he didn't want to go when his mother was there.

"He changed. He got angry. I've never seen a little kid so angry before," Kinzie-Graber said.

Still, Caleb's mother got her way and took Caleb in January 2011. It was the last time his extended family would see the boy.

The family says they had pleaded with social services to get Caleb from his mother. They say Kinzie would lie to authorities and nothing ever happened.

http://www.9news.com/news/article/244317/188/3-year-old-boy-found-dead-mother-accused-of-murder

Caleb's page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003362169824

The page was started by his aunt in an effort to locate him. Sadly, just days later they found out what happened to him.

 

[Cape Town Girl]

The selfish selfish cunt. She unlike many others actually had a support system with close family willing to look after and love Caleb. She could have gone and partied her life away and still visited with her son if she wanted to.

But no she had to take him back and now he is dead.

 

[badfish76]

I hate how they always throw meth user in there like that's the reason the freaks do these terrible things.

It isn't. They do them because they are selfish, evil assholes with no compassion for anyone else.

 

[Bohring]

I hate how they always throw meth user in there like that's the reason the freaks do these terrible things.

It isn't. They do them because they are selfish, evil assholes with no compassion for anyone else.

While I completely agree, I have also seen meth turn good friends of mine who were once good people into the selfish, evil assholes with no compassion for anyone or anything else. Alas, you are correct. Not all meth users are crazy assholes, and not all crazy assholes are that way because of meth. Ergo, this post is pretty pointless.

The slaughtered cat story has me on a mental rampage, babbling nonsensically.

Happy Tuesday, everyone. (Said with sincerity, not sarcasm)

 

[crimsonsorrow]

I don't understand this K.C.- like cases. If you don't want to be a mom, give them up!

 

[Capitan Obvious]

I hope they kill this bitch and put her under a trailer... wait hog tie her and then put her under the trailer to die slowly!! :rant:

 

[badfish76]

Unless she washes her hair no one in the cell block will want to be within 10 yards of her.

 

[Silvahalo]

She didn't give a shit about him, got him back probably to collect a check.
It's always about the buck and the next fix w/ people like this. She's exactly the kind of bitch I want to kick unrecognizable.

Don't think I want to know what she did to him.
Breaks my heart just thinking how he was taken from a loving home and placed in hell.

The autopsy of the body was conducted on Monday, with final autopsy results expected at a later date.

Littlest Caleb you deserved the life so close to being yours. If I could make it right. I would.

 

[Tundratot]

I'm just sick that CPS wouldn't at least go take a look at him. In cases where no one has seen a child in a while, what is so wrong about going to see if the child is okay? Really, I think CPS should not only not take no for an answer, they should not let the parent stonewall them.

 

[Dakota]

Months before authorities found the remains of 3-year-old Caleb Pacheco on Sunday, the boy's mother had told an ex-boyfriend that her son's body was underneath a Sterling mobile home the two had once shared.

Joshua Briggs, the ex-boyfriend of the boy's mother, Juanita Kinzie, met with Kinzie at a Castle Rock hotel near the end of summer in 2011. During the conversation, Kinzie told Briggs that she had made a mistake and that Caleb was gone, according to an arrest affidavit.

When Briggs asked what Kinzie meant, she said that he "was with God" and still at the trailer. Briggs never talked to authorities about the conversation until Sunday, the same day Caleb's body was found.
[...]

Kinzie-Graber spent the next year searching for Caleb and called social services in multiple counties more than 70 times, she said.

None could help her locate Caleb.

The Colorado Department of Human Services will complete a child fatality review to investigate any rules violations or problems with established practices in Caleb's case, said spokeswoman Liz McDonough.

"The investigations are completed for any child whose death is a result of abuse or neglect and (if they) have had contact with the county child welfare system within a period of two years of the death," McDonough said. "This case met each of those criteria."

The report will take 90 to 120 days to complete.

Because the investigation is ongoing and a Logan County judge issued a gag order in the case — which halts the release of additional information — the department cannot release details about Caleb's case, McDonough said. She could not confirm whether the department received calls from the child's family during the past year.

Last week, Kinzie-Graber started a Facebook page asking people to help find her nephew.

Someone contacted the Logan County Sheriff's Department about the Facebook page, which in turn sparked an investigation into Caleb and Kinzie's whereabouts, according to the arrest affidavit.
[...]

Soon after, investigators were contacted by Briggs' family who own the trailer Briggs and Kinzie shared in Sterling. Investigators interviewed Briggs at the Logan County Sheriff's Office.

Briggs, who is being held in the Logan County Detention Center on charges in unrelated cases, also told investigators that when he helped Kinzie move out of the mobile home earlier that year. Kinzie asked him to check the pipes under the mobile home. While he was underneath the home, he saw a pile of blankets that "didn't look right" and "gave him a weird feeling."

He also said he smelled a horrible odor under the mobile home.

Kinzie was placed on a mental health hold on Sunday at Denver Health Medical Center and later arrested.

When authorities looked under the mobile home, they found blankets and plastic just to the right of an opening in the siding around the base of the home. Inside the bundle they found skeletal remains consistent with a small child.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_19819598

 

[Silvahalo]

I just hope she didn't leave him under the fucking trailer injured but very alive. That very thought just breaks me so bad, don't want to go there. Rest in peace precious Caleb.

 

[Tundratot]

Hey, Briggs! Denial much? Cover for your friends a lot? Afraid of being called a "snitch"? Yeah, you're the kind of sterling individual I want walking around the community. Not!

 

[biteme]

Well at least CPS will do a review as to how this could've happened and stop it in the future
WAIT!! Isn't that their caned statement to appease the public outcry every time they fuck-up.

 

[Silvahalo]

Caleb Pacheco​

Social Services Looking Into Death Of Sterling Toddler

DENVER (AP) — A body found beneath a mobile home in a rural Colorado town is believed to be that of a 3-year-old boy who authorities say was placed in the custody of his mother — now charged with his murder — over the objections of his aunt.Juanita Kinzie, 24, was arrested on charges of first-degree murder after police discovered the body Sunday. She was being held without bond Wednesday at the Logan County jail in northeastern Colorado.
. . .

The Logan County sheriff’s office opened an investigation into Kinzie’s whereabouts after it learned that Kinzie-Graber had created a Facebook page in her search for her nephew.The state’s criminal background computer system, which allows officers to instantly check information on traffic stops and other contact, had a note asking law enforcement to ask Kinzie about her son’s whereabouts, according to the arrest affidavit.It was unclear whether the note was placed there as a result of Kinzie-Graber’s contact with police or by social workers following up on Kinzie-Graber’s concerns.

Liz McDonough, spokeswoman for the state human services department, said social workers are not required to get back in touch with family members who report that a child may be in danger. Social workers are required to tell doctors, teachers, nurses or other concerned professionals, McDonough said.“If you call and you don’t hear back from social services, you need to be calling law enforcement,” said Becky Miller Updike, the ombudsman with the Office of Colorado’s Child Protection Ombudsman.

Linda Weinerman, executive director of the Colorado Office of the Child’s Representative, said Logan County social services should have followed up within 24 hours if there was any indication the child was in danger.At that point, a guardian could have been appointed for the child.“This never got to that. I can’t tell you who was at fault,". Weinerman said Wednesday.
Kinzie has a court hearing scheduled for Feb. 8.
[...]

I'd like to be there on the 8th to throw rotten egg's at her face.

 

[Bohring]

Kinzie has a court hearing scheduled for Feb. 8.

Maybe she'll kill herself before then.

 

[Marv]

But Juanita Kinzie soon asked for him back.

“Yolanda didn’t want to relinquish guardianship,” Fields said. “Social Services said she did have to turn him over to my sister. He was never seen again.”

I am so fucking sick and tired of reading shit like that. The child is being brought up in a safe and happy, caring home by a relative. The negligent/abusive/addict parent decides they want their kid back, dammit! Along comes the SS and sides with the loser parent/s, because it's 'for the best' to keep the family together. At all costs. Right?

WRONG!!!

Fuck the parents 'rights' and 'wants'. Put the CHILD first for a change. Leave the child where it is happy and cared for. If the child is old enough, then ask them what they want, if not, leave them where they are safe and happy until they ARE old enough to ask. Being with the bio-parent is NOT always 'for the best'. Sometimes (oftentimes) it has the WORST possible outcome - the death of the defenceless child. Children like little Caleb.

Can you imagine the frustration, the feeling of dread that the relatives must have when they are FORCED to hand back the child to someone who they KNOW is unsuitable? No one listening to their concerns, no one doing what's right for the child - just what's right for the 'parent'. Total fucking nightmare.

 

[Whisper]

Family, friends say goodbye to 3-year-old slain toddler

STERLING, Colo. -- More than 200 people gathered to remember the life of 3-year-old Caleb Pacheco, a toddler whose body was discovered underneath a mobile home on Sunday.

"Why did this have to happen like this, they could have done something, like an amber alert or something," said relative Rose Pacheco.
Investigators in Logan County discovered the boy's body after receiving tips from family members that the child had not been seen or heard from for several months. The Pacheco family is hoping an investigation into complaints at the Logan County Social Services office could help uncover the timeline that lead to the child's death.

[...]
"We went out searching for Caleb, we never thought this is where it would end, we really thought we would find him." said Yolanda Kinzie Graber.

FOX31 Denver reached out to the Logan County Department of Social Services but we were told because the case remains an active investigation, they were unable to comment on the situation.

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-famil...earold-slain-toddler-20120126,0,4154959.story

 

[Dakota]

The mother of 3-year-old Caleb Pacheco, whose body was found stuffed under a mobile home in Sterling, pleaded guilty in the death of her son today.

Juanita Kinzie, 24, appeared in Logan County court this afternoon, where she pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder and one count of child abuse resulting in death. The two original charges of first-degree murder and concealing a death were dropped as part of the plea agreement.

The plea agreement includes a stipulated sentence of 32 years in prison, said Robert Watson, district attorney for the 13the Judicial District.
[...]

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20418136/mother-accused-killing-3-year-old-appears-logan

 

[Bohring]

Bummer. I was hoping she'd offed herself.

 

[Tundratot]

That was swift. Can't complain about that sentence, either, unless they went for suspended sentence or are going to let her off in four years.

 

[Dakota]

Juanita Kinzie, who pleaded guilty to killing her 3-year-old son and hiding his body under a Sterling mobile home, was sentenced today to 32 years in prison.

Kinzie, 24, will serve at least 24 years before she is eligible for parole after earlier pleading guilty to one count of child abuse resulting in death and one count of second-degree murder in the death of her son, Caleb Pacheco.

The sentence was handed down at a hearing in Logan County District Court, where Kinzie formally apologized to Caleb's father, A.J. Pacheco.

"If he has any questions, I am more than willing to hear anything he has to say to me," Kinzie said. "Whether it's anger, hate, or forgiveness."
[...]

Under a plea agreement, prosecutors agreed that Kinzie would serve no more than 32 years — a sentence that is six years longer than the normal sentence range for second-degree murder.

The Colorado Department of Human Services has opened a child-fatality review in Caleb's death. A review is opened when a child dies of suspected abuse or neglect and entered the county child-welfare system two years prior to his or her death.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20785561/sterling-mother-be-sentenced-murder-her-3-year

Her attorney said Juanita's adopted sister, Yolanda Kinzie-Graber,offered to help Juanita, then "played mind games."

The attorney said Kinzie has become a strong person and involved in bible study and drug and alcohol treatment. Kinzie took the stand during her sentencing hearing.

"I don't excuse anything that happened in my life. Know that I do love (Caleb) and still miss him every day," she said."If there was something I could do to bring him back, I would. But I can't."

She apologized for what happened.

"I know my son is in heaven and he's OK."

Kinzie lashed out at her adopted sister, Yolanda Kinzie-Graber, saying, "I turned to my sister Yolanda for help," but she claimed that the sister tried to take Caleb away from her.

However, Kinzie said she forgives Yolanda for everything she's done to her.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/31160056/detail.html

 

[Valasca]

She apologized for what happened.

"I know my son is in heaven and he's OK."

Oh, well, then it's okay. let her go.
/sarcasm.

 

[Tundratot]

Can't imagine the mind games her sister must have worked on her to cause her to kill her own child. Seems like she's still blaming someone else.

 

[HeatherHabilatory]

Kinzie lashed out at her adopted sister, Yolanda Kinzie-Graber, saying, "I turned to my sister Yolanda for help," but she claimed that the sister tried to take Caleb away from her.

However, Kinzie said she forgives Yolanda for everything she's done to her.

Your son SHOULD have been taken away from you because you're a dumb bitch who shouldn't own a uterus, let alone use it!

Oh, you forgive your sister for trying to save your son's life? How thoughtful of you!

 

[Whisper]

Judge wishs he couldve given killer mom more time then he was allowed

Juanita Kinzie sentenced for killing son Caleb Pacheco, hiding body under trailer

[...]

The punishment was mandated by a plea agreement, but the judge in the case expressed dissatisfaction with its length given the terrible circumstances of the child's death.
[...]

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/06/juanita_kinzie_sentenced_murder_caleb_pacheco.php

 

[Dakota]

At least she will be 56yo (at youngest) when she gets out and won't have the resources to breed.

 

[Dakota]

A state report reviewing the death of a 2-year-old whose mummified body was found under a Sterling mobile home is riddled with almost 100 inaccuracies and missing details about the decisions that child protection workers made before his death, according to an investigation released Thursday.

The investigation, conducted by the Office of Colorado's Child Protection Ombudsman, listed 97 findings that Ombudsman Becky Miller Updike says raise questions about the accuracy and credibility of the fatality review. The Colorado Department of Human Services, which did the fatality review, did not list all of the policy violations made by county caseworkers responsible for protecting Caleb Pacheco, Updike said.

"I'm concerned about the overall number of inaccuracies and the overall process that allows the state to release a report that had so many inaccuracies," Updike said. "If any good can come from the review of this death, it would be that we improve future child protection. I think the number of errors in this report raises concerns about that."

Updike's investigation found that in writing the 12-page child fatality review, human services repeatedly used incorrect dates, did not include details about ongoing drug use by Caleb's mother, Juanita Kinzie, and failed to note that caseworkers incorrectly completed risk and safety assessments.
The Department of Human Services also routinely omitted details found in caseworker reports, incorrectly summarized contacts with Caleb's family and failed to note policy violations, according to the ombudsman report.
[...]

Nonetheless, the state's Division of Child Welfare disagreed with 70 percent of the findings listed in the ombudsman report, according to their responses included in the report.

This is the first ombudsman investigation into a report completed by the Department of Human Services.

Child fatality reviews are completed for kids who entered child welfare services two years before their death from abuse and neglect. The reviews detail previous involvement with the child welfare system, including whether caseworkers and supervisors made mistakes in protecting kids.
[...]

On Jan. 5, almost a year after Caleb's body was found, the Department of Human Services released its review of his death.

The ombudsman report revealed new details and possible violations made by Logan County caseworkers and supervisors in their decision to return Caleb, who had been cared for by his aunt, back to his mother.

The fatality review noted Kinzie consented to a drug test. The ombudsman report says the review omitted the fact that the drug test showed she was using meth.

By the time the drug test came back, Caleb and Kinzie had disappeared.

In their response, human services admitted to withholding the information, but the department said revealing the test's results would have violated federal privacy laws, as Kinzie was in treatment at the time of the test. Neither the ombudsman report nor the human services report indicate that Kinzie was receiving treatments at the time of the drug test.

In all, the ombudsman found 17 additional policy violations, three instances when human services violated state law, 61 inaccuracies and 16 key details about the case not included in human services report.
[...]

"I think we've heard the state on numerous occasions say that they are moving toward a more transparent process. However, our findings call that statement into question," Updike said. "I hope the state really is moving toward this because the public deserves it, the families deserve it and the policymakers deserve it."
[...]

The ombudsman investigation also included recommendations to improve the child fatality review process. The ombudsman office suggested that human services not summarize information from caseworker reports and include more case-specific information. One recommendation suggested that human services work with an outside entity to review all child fatality reviews released in the last two years.

Human services disagreed, or disagreed in part, with those three recommendations and four others.

Stephanie Villafuerte, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center, said the report about Caleb also raises concerns about the accuracy of other child fatality reports completed by the Department of Human Services.

"It is a terribly sad day in Colorado when a child dies from abuse and neglect. It is an even greater tragedy when the report of this child's death contains over 90 different errors and omissions," Villafuerte said. "How can any of us problem-solve around child abuse deaths if we do not have accurate or full information."

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingn...almost-100-inaccuracies-human-services-report

 

[DamagedGoods]

She had a baby with Briggs too. But apparently being the father of Caleb's half sister still wasn't enough to make him give a shit until his own sorry ass was on the line.

http://www.journal-advocate.com/sterling-local_news/ci_21064908/joshua-briggs-accepts-6-year-plea-assault-mischief

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Remembering Caleb Pacheco