Episode 197: Quortney Kley Updates (with Gretta Morgan)

When six-year-old Kerrigan Rutherford was found dead of unknown causes in her family’s rented home in Montgomery, Illinois on July 2, 2020, neighbors spoke up about the abuse and neglect they had witnessed taking place within the family. As it turned out, several people had made reports to police and to DCFS about the way Courtny and James Davidson treated Kerrigan and her younger sister. After an autopsy and toxicology tests revealed Kerrigan’s death was caused by an overdose of her mother’s antipsychotic medication, the girl’s mother and stepfather were arrested. This is the tragic story of Kerrigan Rutherford.Photos related to today's episode can be viewed on Facebook and Instagram.You can also follow the podcast on YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest. Visit the podcast's web page at sufferthelittlechildrenpod.com. Please help make the show my full-time gig to keep the weekly episodes coming! By supporting me, you'll also access rewards, including a shout-out by name on the podcast and exclusive gifts! This podcast is written, hosted, edited, and produced by Laine. Kerrigan’s story was originally featured on Suffer the Little Children Blog.Music for this episode is from AudioJungle.net. Subscribe to Suffer the Little Children on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast listening platform.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/suffer-the-little-children--4232884/support.If you see something, say something. https://childhelp.org

29 Sep 202033min

A little West Virginia boy endured the death of his father and was subsequently sent to live with his paternal grandmother, aunt, uncle, and three cousins. Nine months later, five-year-old Keaton Boggs was brought to the emergency room, suffering from a catastrophic head injury and obvious signs of abuse. After two days, Keaton died in the hospital, and his grandmother, aunt, and uncle were arrested in his death and accused of inflicting months of unimaginable abuse and neglect on the helpless little boy.This is the heartbreaking story of Keaton Boggs.Stanford Medicine’s page listing some signs and symptoms of child abuse: https://childabuse.stanford.edu/screening/signs.html Photos related to today's episode can be viewed on Facebook and Instagram.You can also follow the podcast on YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest. Visit the podcast's web page at sufferthelittlechildrenpod.com. Please help make the show my full-time gig to keep the weekly episodes coming! By supporting me, you'll also access rewards, including a shout-out by name on the podcast and exclusive gifts! This podcast is written, hosted, edited, and produced by Laine. Keaton’s story was originally featured on Suffer the Little Children Blog.Music for this episode is from AudioJungle.net. Subscribe to Suffer the Little Children on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast listening platform.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/suffer-the-little-children--4232884/support.If you see something, say something. https://childhelp.org

15 Sep 202046min

On September 23, 2019, 36-year-old Lisa Snyder of Albany Township, Pennsylvania called 911 and reported her two children were unresponsive. When EMTs arrived, they found a scene straight out of a horror movie or any mother’s nightmare; in the basement of the modest brick home, 8-year-old Conner and 4-year-old Brinley were hanging by their necks from either end of a wire dog lead wrapped around a support beam in the ceiling. Lisa’s story pushing the theory of a murder suicide perpetuated by 8-year-old Conner, who she said had been bullied in school, quickly fell apart, and a few months later, investigators had enough evidence to charge Lisa with not only the murder of her two children, but other baffling and frankly disgusting crimes, as well.This is the unimaginable story of Conner and Brinley Snyder.To contribute to the GoFundMe benefiting Conner and Brinley’s older brother, Owen, click here. If you (or someone you know) are having thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (in the US) at (800) 273-8255 or visit the website.Within the US, you can also text the word HOME to 741741 to connect with a Crisis Text Line counselor. You are not alone.Photos related to today's episode can be viewed on Facebook and Instagram.You can also follow the podcast on YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest. Visit the podcast's web page at sufferthelittlechildrenpod.com. Please help make the show my full-time gig to keep the weekly episodes coming! By supporting me, you'll also access rewards, including a shout-out by name on the podcast and exclusive gifts! This podcast is written, hosted, edited, and produced by Laine. Brinley and Conner’s story was originally featured on Suffer the Little Children Blog.Music for this episode is from AudioJungle.net. Subscribe to Suffer the Little Children on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast listening platform.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/suffer-the-little-children--4232884/support.If you see something, say something. https://childhelp.org

8 Sep 202046min

Last week, I told you about the early life and brutal death of five-year-old Lauren Michele McConniel. When Lauren was admitted to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis on March 3, 2010, she weighed a scant 28 pounds and had absolutely no fat reserves. She was covered in injuries, had a deadly level of salt in her blood, and had been displaying increasingly disturbing behavior while living in Indiana with her father, stepmother, and three adult members of her family, behavior that many believe was caused by sexual abuse at the hands of her step-grandfather. All the while, Amber’s mother, who lived in Tennessee, had been exhausting every method possible to find her, but by the time someone told her where her daughter was, it was too late. Lauren died in the hospital on March 9, 2010. Three months later, the first of five adults would be arrested in connection with Lauren’s death.This is the conclusion of the story of Lauren McConniel.Photos related to today's episode can be viewed on Facebook and Instagram.You can also follow the podcast on YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest. Visit the podcast's web page at sufferthelittlechildrenpod.com. Please help make the show my full-time gig to keep the weekly episodes coming! By supporting me, you'll also access rewards, including a shout-out by name on the podcast and exclusive gifts! This podcast is written, hosted, edited, and produced by Laine. Lauren’s story was originally featured on Suffer the Little Children Blog.Music for this episode is from AudioJungle.net. Subscribe to Suffer the Little Children on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast listening platform.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/suffer-the-little-children--4232884/support.If you see something, say something. https://childhelp.org

1 Sep 202050min

Five-year-old Lauren Michele McConniel was a happy, healthy, vibrant child until she was unjustly torn away from her loving mother in Tennessee. In Indiana, Lauren’s father and stepmother refused to allow her mother to see her, and, along with three members of her stepmother’s family, spent several months physically and sexually abusing Lauren until she ultimately starved to death in March of 2010. Five people were convicted in connection with Lauren’s death, and three of them remain behind bars to this day.This is the disturbing story of Lauren McConniel.Photos related to today's episode can be viewed on Facebook and Instagram.You can also follow the podcast on YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest. Visit the podcast's web page at sufferthelittlechildrenpod.com. Please help make the show my full-time gig to keep the weekly episodes coming! By supporting me, you'll also access rewards, including a shout-out by name on the podcast and exclusive gifts! This podcast is written, hosted, edited, and produced by Laine. Lauren’s story was originally featured on Suffer the Little Children Blog.Music for this episode is from AudioJungle.net. Subscribe to Suffer the Little Children on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast listening platform.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/suffer-the-little-children--4232884/support.If you see something, say something. https://childhelp.org

25 Aug 202042min

Illinois mother Kara Witkowski, who joins me on today’s episode, spent months trying to protect her two young children from harm while in the care of their father. Thomas Biel had confessed to raping and abusing Kara and was under investigation for possessing child pornography. His father, Jerry Biel, was being investigated for allegedly molesting Kara’s 3-year-old daughter. Despite months of warnings from Kara, meticulous documentation backing up her claims, and the repeated hospitalization of her toddler son for a prolapsed rectum so severe that even surgery didn’t correct it, a family court judge granted full custody to Thomas Biel. Soon afterward, Kara’s 2-year-old son, James, died under suspicious circumstances while in the care of his father’s family, but police announced after less than 24 hours, even before an autopsy was performed, that there had been no foul play. Even though an independent second autopsy proved that spinal trauma caused James’s death, there has still been no investigation.This is a story of corruption and injustice in Kane County, Illinois. This is the infuriating story of James Biel. Please sign and share the petition to reopen the investigation into the death of James Ryker Biel.Please like and share the Justice for James Facebook page.Photos related to today's episode can be viewed on Facebook and Instagram.You can also follow the podcast on YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest. Visit the podcast's web page at sufferthelittlechildrenpod.com. Please help make the show my full-time gig to keep the weekly episodes coming! By supporting me, you'll also access rewards, ranging from a shout-out by name on the podcast and exclusive gifts! This podcast is written, hosted, edited, and produced by Laine. James’s story was originally featured on Suffer the Little Children Blog.Music for this episode is from AudioJungle.net. Subscribe to Suffer the Little Children on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast listening platform.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/suffer-the-little-children--4232884/support.If you see something, say something. https://childhelp.org

18 Aug 20201h 5min

Exclusive interview with former prosecutor Jeff Wible!In episode 8 of this podcast, I covered the tragic story of Alissa Guernsey, a 16-month-old girl who died in Topeka, Indiana in 2009 while in the care of her foster mother, Christy Shaffer. Christy was only charged with a single count of neglect of a dependent resulting in injury, and after only 77 days in jail, the judge in the case modified her sentence and released her on the spot. For years, the outcome of Alissa’s case has been surrounded by controversy, and most of the public’s outrage has been directed at two men: prosecutor Jeff Wible and Judge Scott Vanderbeck.Jeff Wible recently granted me an unprecedented telephone interview, during which he clears up some misconceptions and provides answers to a lot of questions that have swirled around Alissa’s case in the eleven years since she died. On today’s episode, you’ll hear my recent conversation with the former LaGrange County prosecutor, whose side of this story has never been fully presented. Photos related to today's episode can be viewed on Facebook and Instagram (see photo album for Episode 8: Alissa Guernsey). You can also follow the podcast on YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest. Visit the podcast's web page at sufferthelittlechildrenpod.com. Please help make the show my full-time gig to keep the weekly episodes coming! By supporting me, you'll also access rewards, including a shout-out by name on the podcast and exclusive gifts depending on your pledge tier! This podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Laine. Alissa’s story was originally featured on Suffer the Little Children Blog.Music for this episode is from AudioJungle.net. Subscribe to Suffer the Little Children on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast listening platform.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/suffer-the-little-children--4232884/support.If you see something, say something. https://childhelp.org

11 Aug 202047min

In January of this year, two young children showed up on a neighbor’s doorstep, saying their mommy had been gone overnight and they didn’t know where she was. By the time police arrived, the mother had returned, but the closure of one mystery opened a much larger one: where was the woman’s third child? 26-year-old Sagal Hussein of Howard, Wisconsin insisted her 5-year-old son, Josias Marquez, who had severe health issues and was described as “high needs,” had gone out of state to stay with his father, but that story quickly fell apart. Two months later, after authorities were unable to locate Josias, they arrested Sagal on neglect charges and searched her vehicle, where they were horrified to find the partially mummified body of 5-year-old Josias in a duffel bag in the trunk. This is the unimaginable story of Josias Marquez. Photos related to today's episode can be viewed on Facebook and Instagram. You can also follow the podcast on YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest.   Visit the podcast's web page at sufferthelittlechildrenpod.com.   Please help make the show my full-time gig to keep the weekly episodes coming! By supporting me, you'll also access rewards, including a shout-out by name on the podcast and exclusive show merch!   This podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Laine.   Josias’s story was originally featured on Suffer the Little Children Blog.  Music for this episode is from AudioJungle.net.   Subscribe to Suffer the Little Children on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast listening platform.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/suffer-the-little-children--4232884/support.If you see something, say something. https://childhelp.org

4 Aug 202032min