GUILTY IN - Christian Choate, 13, starved, beaten to death, Gary, April 2009

Guess we will have to wait and see what other horrors come to light. I have a feeling I don't want to know but won't be able to keep from following this one.

:sigh:

RIP Christian.

Cubby said:

I don't know if anyone read the full Chicago Trib article I posted above. (Chicago Trib usually goes pay to view usually within a week or two-so not sure how long the link will be valid)

His sister trying to revive him with a mattress pump the following day - that did it for me.

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And now we come to the reason why she didn't tell her mother right away. She was probably trying to deal with the fact that she was forced to watch/participate in the abuse. And she was made responsible for "caring" for him, so she probably felt some guilt in that he died. I surprised it didn't take longer for her to talk.

This case reminds me of The House of Horrors case where the whole household systematically abused a woman and killed her and then started abusing her son (minus the woman in this case). His sister who was 16 at the time was also charged. Her case was eventually moved to Juvenile court...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlin_case

*edited link for a better link to whole story

God Bless this poor child. If he had lived would he ever have been saveable? My heart just aches for all of these children who will grow into damaged adults.... where do the ripples start? do they ever end? These two adults and any others that knew of the treatment of this child should all hang. I am guessing there were a few others.....

redfish said:

God Bless this poor child. If he had lived would he ever have been saveable? My heart just aches for all of these children who will grow into damaged adults.... where do the ripples start? do they ever end? These two adults and any others that knew of the treatment of this child should all hang. I am guessing there were a few others.....

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From what I've read, the "Grandma", Kimberly's sister, Belinda Bradburn, and a cousin to start with...

marycarney, I am so, so sorry for the loss your family is enduring. The loss of a child, especially in this manner, is so vile and heartbreaking that it leaves us empty and cold. My deepest condolences to you at this time, as you are all, I'm sure, struggling to come to terms with this.

Christian's picture brought tears to my eyes. May he rest in peace.

It's incredibly sad BB witnessed her sister and sisters husband doing this and did not report it. I have to wonder if she will be charged with anything. :furious:

Also - is it just me or does KK remind anyone of Zahra Bakers step mother? I don't know if it is their facial expression or ? But imo there is something very evil looking about both of them.

mysteriew said:

And now we come to the reason why she didn't tell her mother right away. She was probably trying to deal with the fact that she was forced to watch/participate in the abuse. And she was made responsible for "caring" for him, so she probably felt some guilt in that he died. I surprised it didn't take longer for her to talk.

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I'm on the fence with this one. I think I need more information before I can form an opinion on the sister. Better stated I have too many unanswered questions right now. One being was she schooled? Yes, I'm glad she finally came forward......

5 other siblings living in that household witnessing the abuse.
A step aunt who visited and witnessed the abuse.
Another unknown witness.

I'm wondering if the 5 children including Christina were all attending school why didn't any of them have the courage to tell someone?

I'm trying to wrap my head around pulling one out of school to avoid detection of the abuse and not fearing one of the other 5 might tell. If the others attended school.

From the link KindraLore posted above in post #60.

The next morning, while in the trailer with Kimberly and Kimberly's sister, Belinda Bradburn, and a cousin, Christina tried to feed Christian some cold cereal, she told authorities. He refused to eat so she slapped him across the face twice and put him back into the cage, eventually noticing he was not breathing, she said.

Kimberly Choate and Bradburn were called back from a visit to Longfellow Elementary School, one witness in the house said.

Ok, so if I am reading this correctly KC aka KK and BB were AT THE SCHOOL when Christina noticed her brother was not breathing and presumably someone had to have called the school to request they come home.

So this woman was waltzing around at the school while her beaten and caged step son was at home. How the hmpf did these two woman explain and answer any questions from the school staff regarding Christian.

I would like to know what their business was at the school that day.

And I still have questions on why there was no alarm whatsoever from the school.

I am bracing myself over here. I think the ugly details may be more than I can bear.

I realize the sister, Christina, can be viewed as a victim herself, but I find some of her statements very disturbing. She shows a total lack of empathy.

Christian's sister, can remember the hatred that was aimed at her brother from all the other family members living in the trailer. "Everyone hated him," she said.


She said she would beat him if he got mouthy with her or if she was instructed to do so by her father or stepmother.
"I love my brother, don't get me wrong," she said. "But he had problems."


he also recalled several of the other children in the home hitting her brother as well, she said Tuesday.
"They never liked him," she said of the other kids. "He was always an outsider."


He refused to eat so she slapped him across the face twice and put him back into the cage, eventually noticing he was not breathing, she said.


After a period when Kimberly tried to restore the boy to health, Christina again took control and would bathe him twice a week in ice cold water, prompting screams from Christian, the first witness said.

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In the father's early statement to police, he pointed a finger at the sister. Normally, I would've been outraged that he was trying to put the blame on his daughter. For some reason, his words rang true, and reading this additional information makes them even more believable. Don't get me wrong. I hold him and the stepmother responsible for Christian's fate. Don't have any warm, fuzzies for his biological mother, either. Christina, though, seems to share her father's sadistic nature. I pray she's not allowed to be alone with younger children.

Rest in Peace, Christian. I am so sorry you were made to suffer so horribly by your own family.

bessie said:

I realize the sister, Christina, can be viewed as a victim herself, but I find some of her statements very disturbing. She shows a total lack of empathy.

In the father's early statement to police, he pointed a finger at the sister. Normally, I would've been outraged that he was trying to put the blame on his daughter. For some reason, his words rang true, and reading this additional information makes them even more believable. Don't get me wrong. I hold him and the stepmother responsible for Christian's fate. Don't have any warm, fuzzies for his biological mother, either. Christina, though, seems to share her father's sadistic nature. I pray she's not allowed to be alone with younger children.

Rest in Peace, Christian. I am so sorry you were made to suffer so horribly by your own family.

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When the abuse in the is particularly severe, sometimes instead of standing together the kids will more or less throw each other "under the bus". They will imitate the same behavior they have seen from their parent by being violent themselves. They will tell on each other, because when the parent is busy beating one child they are leaving the others alone. And in this case allegedly the sister was "put in charge" of Christian, and allegedly was told that if he didn't behave she would get the same thing he got. So if this is true I am kinda on the fence about her. She may have thought she was doing it for her own survival, or she may have done it because of learned behavior. The only tie breaker for me is that when she got out of sperm donor's control she did tell. And she is the only one who told.

Mom, again I don't have as much of a problem with. Yes she says she was abused. But was it chronic abuse or a long time abuse. And what was sperm donor's relationship with the children like before she left? He could have been a 'relatively good dad' before she left. Then he hooked up with girlfriends, with kids of their own. Too many variables we don't know. And as far as the 6 years, I can kinda understand that. Sperm donor lived with girlfriends, how often did he move around and do you really think he was going to call her and leave his new addresses? Did either one of them have phones? She was living out of state, it wasn't like she could pop over every couple of days and look for them.

Sperm donor and the female he was with? Well I have my own thoughts about what should be done with them. The adult stepaunt? Hope she joins them.

bessie said:

I realize the sister, Christina, can be viewed as a victim herself, but I find some of her statements very disturbing. She shows a total lack of empathy.

In the father's early statement to police, he pointed a finger at the sister. Normally, I would've been outraged that he was trying to put the blame on his daughter. For some reason, his words rang true, and reading this additional information makes them even more believable. Don't get me wrong. I hold him and the stepmother responsible for Christian's fate. Don't have any warm, fuzzies for his biological mother, either. Christina, though, seems to share her father's sadistic nature. I pray she's not allowed to be alone with younger children.

Rest in Peace, Christian. I am so sorry you were made to suffer so horribly by your own family.

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I have to agree with you on this one. I do understand what mysteriew is saying; but the fact is Christina was old enough to know this was not just wrong but evil. She could have helped him, yet she choose to participate in the extreme abuse and actually allowed for excuses for it such as Christian had problems and that he was hated by them all. Like that made it ok.

Just as I sited the other case in Missouri where the 15 yr old girl took part in the extreme abuse of her own brother, I see little difference with this one. And she was charged. So we will just have to see and also wait for more details to come out.

I think we will find that she isnt exactly the innocent victim here as well.

Hmmm the stuff the sister says is just making me wonder ALOT about her role in this!

I hope they charge KK's sister and if this other cousin was an adult I hope they all get prosecuted to the MAX!!!

If this is against TOS for posting, tell me and I will quickly remove it. This was a comment left on a news article regarding this case:

Editing because I was told not to post the whole comment and provide a link....

The poster was "Some1whocares" which was obviously a neighbor and was complaining that she did call the authorities and reported that 10 children were living in a two bedroom trailer and that they were keeping Christian locked up. Stated that they did go to the house but did not go inside and talked to Kimberly outside.

She also stated that there had been a tornado in August of 08 and there was no power for a week and it was so hot and she thought of him being locked up that whole time in there..



Some1whocares said on: May 11, 2011, 10:51 am
Now they are going to open an investigation. they said in the article that no one called.. here is their post from that article "I DID!!!!!!!!!!!! I CALLED TWICE ON THE MURDERERS IN 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY NEVER INTERED THE HOME! I TOLD THEM THERE WERE 10 KIDS IN A 2 BEDROOM MOBILE HOME AND THAT HE WAS LOCKED UP INSIDE!....

More at link...

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/...9-a522-7e02b542fb28.html?mode=comments&page=5

YOu can't copy and paste a whole comment, but you can give us a link to the news story the comment is posted under

Sniped:

Other people who knew the boy also were at a loss as to what
could have been done. Belinda Bradburn considered Christian a
nephew rather than a step-relative.
She described him Wednesday as “shy” and “sweet.”
“He was always a shy kid. He wasn’t rambunctious, bouncing off
walls. He was a good kid,” Bradburn said.
Bradburn is the sister of Kim Choate, who was living with Riley
Choate at the time of Christian’s death and is being held in Lake
County on an unrelated warrant out of Kentucky.


Yet she was there the morning he was beat before he died and obviously knew about this abuse.



http://www.nw-ind.com/area/loved-ones-lay-flowers-for-christian

The State vs. Riley Choate

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.town...-7f6d7c425916-revisions/4dc33aa8ae7fd.pdf.pdf

peeples said:

YOu can't copy and paste a whole comment, but you can give us a link to the news story the comment is posted under

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Thank you Peeples. I edited it as you said.

mysteriew said:

When the abuse in the is particularly severe, sometimes instead of standing together the kids will more or less throw each other "under the bus". They will imitate the same behavior they have seen from their parent by being violent themselves. They will tell on each other, because when the parent is busy beating one child they are leaving the others alone. And in this case allegedly the sister was "put in charge" of Christian, and allegedly was told that if he didn't behave she would get the same thing he got. So if this is true I am kinda on the fence about her. She may have thought she was doing it for her own survival, or she may have done it because of learned behavior. The only tie breaker for me is that when she got out of sperm donor's control she did tell. And she is the only one who told.

Mom, again I don't have as much of a problem with. Yes she says she was abused. But was it chronic abuse or a long time abuse. And what was sperm donor's relationship with the children like before she left? He could have been a 'relatively good dad' before she left. Then he hooked up with girlfriends, with kids of their own. Too many variables we don't know. And as far as the 6 years, I can kinda understand that. Sperm donor lived with girlfriends, how often did he move around and do you really think he was going to call her and leave his new addresses? Did either one of them have phones? She was living out of state, it wasn't like she could pop over every couple of days and look for them.

Sperm donor and the female he was with? Well I have my own thoughts about what should be done with them. The adult stepaunt? Hope she joins them.

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I understand what you're saying, Mysteriew. The sister might well have feared for her own safety. But Christian died two years ago, and the father has not been a threat to her for quite some time. Yet still, she shows no compassion, no remorse, not a hint of survivor's guilt. It takes a cold hearted person to make statements like the ones this young woman has made about her murdered brother. He had problems? Damn straight he had problems. He was locked in a cage, starved, beaten, and tortured. Mouthy? Are you kidding me? And what about the alleged cold water baths? If that's true, then why? I doubt anyone was standing over her shoulder watching. Why not make the water at least tolerable? I can't imagine how excruciatingly painful a cold bath was for Christian with his body already suffering from injuries and sickness.

Please understand, Mysteryiew, I'm not directing my thoughts at you. I'm sad and angry at the thought of the cruelty inflicted upon this poor boy. Reading about his sister's participation sickens me. Granted, we don't know all of the facts, and I'm sure Christina has a horror story of her own. But the interview in which she made the statements I posted -- direct quotes -- was an opportunity for her to express her thoughts about Christian and his tragic circumstances, and what she chose to say makes my blood boil. Until I hear something to change my mind, she gets no credit from me for finally speaking up. I'd love to know the circumstances that brought about her revelation.

As for the children's mother, I'll keep my thoughts to myself except to say that I can't excuse any parent who doesn't make an effort to ensure her children's safety and well-being, no matter where they live. I totally agree with you about the other three adults, though. I hope they live many looooong years rotting in their prison cells.