VA - Beckett Podominick, 3, dies of head trauma, Vienna, 10 May 2015

A Campbell County judge is candid about what he saw three months ago in the chair of school shooter Kenneth Bartley — a bomb ready to explode at any minute.

“It’s a judge’s nightmare,” Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton said this week. “You’re looking at a ticking time bomb, and you don’t have the services locally to even begin. I’m sitting there looking at a young man who is going to have a tragic ending.”

Now a 3-year-old boy is dead. Bartley is under investigation and on the run.

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A 3-year-old Virginia boy left in the care of Campbell County school shooter Kenneth Bartley died of "blunt head trauma" earlier this year, according to the results of an autopsy.

Beckett Josef Podominick died from injuries he suffered in a fall May 10 at the Vienna, Va., home of his mother, Erin TePaske.

TePaske, who has served as Bartley's therapist, struck an unusual agreement this year to allow Bartley to live in her home to avoid jail in a domestic assault case. She was not at home at the time of her son's fatal incident.

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The boy's mother, Erin Tepaske, says his death was nothing more than a tragic accident that happened when she briefly left the house briefly. She said Beckett fell on some steps behind the home...

TePaske did not want to speak on camera, but said through tears that her son had accidental fall and that Kenneth Bartley had nothing to do with it. She said he is very upset and loved her son. TePaske said the boy's father Matthew Podominick also supports Bartley and feels the death was an accident.

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Police records show Bartley was home alone with the boy and called the E-911 center to report the boy fell down three steps on the porch. Vienna police investigators have interviewed Bartley twice so far. Bartley insists the fall was accidental, and TePaske has called the boy’s death an accident.

The boy’s father is not so sure.

“I want to express how heartbroken I am over the horrific loss of my son,” he said in a statement. “I am grateful for the continued investigation of his tragic death.”

Bartley was freed last year after a favorable jury verdict in a November 2005 shooting at the Campbell County Comprehensive High School that left administrator Ken Bruce dead.

Bartley almost immediately ran into legal trouble, accused first of assaulting his father and, later of attacking his mother.

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A child protective services agency has concluded a 3-year-old boy who died from injuries suffered while in the care of Campbell County school shooter Kenneth Bartley likely was a victim of child abuse, according to documents obtained by the News Sentinel...

"After careful consideration, we have made a founded determination," CPS Specialist Lisa Alexander wrote in a letter to the boy's parents. "This finding means that a preponderance of the evidence indicates Beckett Podominick was physically abused by an unknown abuser."

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[Tepaske] insisted the boy accidentally fell backward from the top of a roughly 3-foot high set of steps onto gravel and has denied any abuse by Bartley or herself...

[The] boy's injuries... included two fractures to the top and side of his skull and hemorrhaging of his eyes. The back of his head showed injuries consistent with landing on gravel, but the report did not show any wounds consistent with the child trying to break his fall.

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Tepaske asked Bartley to move out of the home shortly after her son’s death, she told television station WBIR. She moved out herself sometime in the fall, according to renters now living at the home.

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the Virginia Medical Examiner's... report lists the boy's "manner of death" as "undetermined."...

TePaske has maintained her son's death was an accident, caused when he tried opening an outward-swinging door atop some steps at the rear of the home he shared with Beckett and Bartley.
TePaske said the boy's grip slipped while he was pulling with all of his strength, sending him backwards with great force. She said the child's back arched and his head was the first part of his body to break the fall as he hit a concrete block on the ground, causing a traumatic brain injury that killed him.

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The 32-page report notes “several additional injuries” on the child’s head that “did not appear consistent with injury from a fall,” but rather from “an object or device.”

The report also says the child had “multiple occult fractures without an accidental explanation.”
“His head injury was more severe than would be expected from a fall and had wounds on (his) scalp which would not be expected based upon the description of the injury,” states the Inova Children’s Hospital report, conducted in Falls Church, Va. “These clinical findings were highly concerning for non-accidental injury.”...


Matthew Podominick, the boy’s father, told WBIR 10News that the information “paints a picture of severe abuse of my son, Beckett.”...

(Bartley) has even taunted the police in the past that he is above the law. I think it's time he faces justice.”

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"I have had several independent medical experts review Beckett's medical records, CT SCANS, X-Rays, and autopsy report. They all report no injuries consistent with any form of child abuse...

TePaske said the CPS conclusion is due to media speculation that Kenneth Bartley was involved in Beckett’s death, and says Matthew Podominick has perpetuated the accusations "out of spite and anger."

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Weeks before a 3-year-old boy died from a traumatic brain injury suffered while in the care of Campbell County school shooter Kenneth Bartley, he suffered a broken wrist and fractures to his spine and sternum in what a child abuse expert concluded was no accident, records show...

...explanations Tepaske offered to CPS investigators included Beckett fell "once off the counter in the kitchen and he fell backward from a book shelf in the basement" when no one was around and "he fell once and hurt his wrist," according to interview notes obtained by the News Sentinel. She said he didn't appear to suffer from those falls nor did she take him for treatment.

Hauda was suspicious of Tepaske's claim Beckett never seemed to be in pain, particularly with the wrist fracture.

"(It) would cause persistent pain in the forearm and he would not use the arm normally for some time after the injury," Hauda wrote. "Over the succeeding several hours or days, he may begin to use the arm and hand more normally, but he would still have pain upon use of the arm or if a caregiver (touched) or pulled on the forearm. It would take several days for the injury to heal so that Beckett would have no further pain."

Hauda ultimately rejected the notion any of Beckett's injuries, including the fatal ones, were accidental.

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the doctor conducting the report, Dr. William E. Hauda II, found several healing spinal injuries and a healing arm fracture. Correspondence with [mother] TePaske is included in the report, in which she said she contacted an orthopedist via the website JustAnswer.com who said the spinal injuries could have been caused by being strapped into a child safety seat too tightly. According to the report, Dr. Hauda was unable to find any evidence that the injuries could have been caused by a child safety seat.

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The nature of TePaske and Bartley’s relationship remains unclear. A forensic report on the case lists him as her boyfriend, but the source of that information is not listed. TePaske said they had no romantic relationship.

The Vienna police have not charged Bartley in the case. He denied repeated requests for comment, and his attorney did not return calls. He is being held in jail in Tennessee on probation violations.

Two grieving parents are waiting for a cloud to clear, but for different reasons. Matthew Podominick said he wants justice for his son. And Erin TePaske wants to remove the doubt hanging over a man who has faced it for much of his life.

Who is right?

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He assaulted his father and his mother on separate occasions, pleaded guilty to domestic assault, and was sentenced to probation.
As Sexton weighed what to do with Bartley, he heard court testimony that Bartley's father, Kenneth Bartley Sr., and perhaps Bartley himself had had an affair with TePaske, who had worked with Bartley Jr. after he killed Bruce. The judge, however, wasn't convinced Bartley and TePaske had been intimate...

TePaske had argued she could give Bartley a fresh start and provide psychological treatment. Months later, her child was dead and new accusations were being made against Bartley.

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Kenny Bartley pleads guilty to violation of probation...

Bartley was sentenced to 2.5 years. However, he was credited for time served at 7.5 months. He will serve the remainder of his sentence, 10.5 months, behind bars.

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