GUILTY OR - Alexis Pounder, 3, starved & beaten to death, Sandy, 9 Jan 2010

[Missizzy]

I truly believe, kbl, that DHS is hoping against hope that none of us are taking notes. They don't know about the members of WS, I guess!! We don't forget and we check back in.

I think this was already posted but it was updated last night:

http://www.kgw.com/news/3-year-old-...-under-suspicious-circumstances-81092882.html

One comment I'd like to make is that Lexi is adorable and looks very "loved" in the photos. From my own experience in working with abused children, photos can be very deceiving, though. I used to equate photos of smiling babies with doting parents. It's just not the case. Who knows what went on a minute after a photo was taken.

 

[kbl8201]

I truly believe, kbl, that DHS is hoping against hope that none of us are taking notes. They don't know about the members of WS, I guess!! We don't forget and we check back in.

I think this was already posted but it was updated last night:

http://www.kgw.com/news/3-year-old-...-under-suspicious-circumstances-81092882.html

One comment I'd like to make is that Lexi is adorable and looks very "loved" in the photos. From my own experience in working with abused children, photos can be very deceiving, though. I used to equate photos of smiling babies with doting parents. It's just not the case. Who knows what went on a minute after a photo was taken.

and and what would another story like this be without a quote like this 'i had no idea what was going on in that house'. wow that sure sounds familar. i wonder if this couple had a box they talked to god thru......
im sure she had some times that werent hell on earth missizzy, and that's probably one of the few.
the thing thats making me angry, is that the mom wasnt suitable due to her drug addiction, but these two feces were?

 

[Texas Mist]

<snip>

OREGON CITY -- A Clackamas County judge found photos of a 3-year-old Sandy girl who died from abuse and malnutrition so "graphic and disturbing" that he had them sealed in an envelope that can be opened only with the court's permission.

more here http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2010/01/sandy_girl_died_from_assault_t.html


<snip>


The last time she saw Alexis was Dec. 12, she said.

"She had a weight problem, I had been taking her to the doctor," Pounder said. "As far as I know so had they and the doctor talked to us about different stuff with getting her weight up. She had a problem where she didn't want to eat and her weight was really low."

"You know we were working with her, but I guess I don't know what happened over there. I don't know if one of them just snapped or what," Pounder said.


more here

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/12/crimesider/entry6087397.shtml

Sooooo - how could NOBODY have done something for Alexis!! Was anybody really taking little Alexis to the doctor??? Her mother says she saw Alexis on Dec. 12 -- wouldn't she have looked 'disturbing' then???? This isn't the first story we've heard about little ones with "eating problems" that were, in fact, being starved to death....there's too many people involved here, IMO, for there to only be *two* monsters facing charges.

 

[kbl8201]

<snip>

OREGON CITY -- A Clackamas County judge found photos of a 3-year-old Sandy girl who died from abuse and malnutrition so "graphic and disturbing" that he had them sealed in an envelope that can be opened only with the court's permission.

more here http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2010/01/sandy_girl_died_from_assault_t.html


<snip>


The last time she saw Alexis was Dec. 12, she said.

"She had a weight problem, I had been taking her to the doctor," Pounder said. "As far as I know so had they and the doctor talked to us about different stuff with getting her weight up. She had a problem where she didn't want to eat and her weight was really low."

"You know we were working with her, but I guess I don't know what happened over there. I don't know if one of them just snapped or what," Pounder said.


more here

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/12/crimesider/entry6087397.shtml

Sooooo - how could NOBODY have done something for Alexis!! Was anybody really taking little Alexis to the doctor??? Her mother says she saw Alexis on Dec. 12 -- wouldn't she have looked 'disturbing' then???? This isn't the first story we've heard about little ones with "eating problems" that were, in fact, being starved to death....there's too many people involved here, IMO, for there to only be *two* monsters facing charges.

ok..........unless i just read this wrong..........the mother just blamed poor alexis for her own starvation. :furious:

 

[Missizzy]

Thank you for posting that Texas Mist. Remember, last month when Jeanette Maples of Eugene, OR was found murdered? The authorities advised the step-grandma (who had called DHS numerous times to no avail) not to look at her dead grandbaby as she only weighed 50 lbs. at age 15. That angered me to no end.

Yes, I know these photos and images are devastatingly shocking. But we, as citizens and parents need to see these images. We need to bear witness to what evil is. I don't think we should be "protected" from these images at all. By not showing us these photos, we'll never know the real condition of these precious children.

We all know how photo-journalists turn the tide of history. It's with photo images etched in our brains. Why do we send money and aid to Africa, Haiti, Bangladesh? It's because we respond to children who are hungry and needing comfort. We ache to reach out.

On a highly personal note, I held and cuddled my very disabled grandbaby after she passed two years ago. She was born alive but died soon afterwards from complications of Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome. To me, she was perfect and already an angel but her little human body was very unique and misshapen. Her face was far from what many would call beautiful. I remember the nurses preparing me. I just wanted my baby. Holding her, cleaning her, singing to her...helped me to understand on a visceral level that she'd moved on to where she needed to be. I wish Jeanette's grandma had not been talked out of that. Even in death, a disabled or murdered little one is filled with grace and beauty and innocence. We need to be allowed to see so we can grieve.

Images are so powerful and when it comes to changing laws, we need to have a visual memory of what abuse and starvation look like. We're a lot stronger than the state of Oregon recognizes. I'm afraid that they worry that we might rise up and say "Enough!!"

 

[Hopeful One]

So sick and so sad. I don't understand how the grandparents didn't notice anything. They had to have known what what going on if they lived in the same house!!!! I sure hope the other children get good counseling and are adopted into loving homes so they can have a chance at a normal, happy life. I hope these two losers rot in prison.

 

[Missizzy]

Exact same story four weeks apart!! DHS is putting pressure on LE and the courts to limit what we can see. I don't approve.


http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2010/01/sandy_girl_died_from_assault_t.html

"A Clackamas County judge found photos of a 3-year-old Sandy girl who died from abuse and malnutrition so "graphic and disturbing" that he had them sealed in an envelope that can be opened only with the court's permission."



http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cm...3629-41/jeanette-mcanulty-angela-lynn-son.csp

"Lynn McAnulty was at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield on Dec. 9 &#8212; the night Jeanette died. She said she wanted to see her stepgranddaughter&#8217;s body, but law enforcement officials at the scene convinced her otherwise.

&#8220;They said, &#8216;You don&#8217;t want to do that,&#8217;&#8201;&#8221; she said. &#8220;They told me she weighed 50 pounds.&#8221;

 

[Recovering-Lurker]

Poor, sweet Alexis. R.I.P.

 

[kbl8201]

Exact same story four weeks apart!! DHS is putting pressure on LE and the courts to limit what we can see. I don't approve.


http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2010/01/sandy_girl_died_from_assault_t.html

"A Clackamas County judge found photos of a 3-year-old Sandy girl who died from abuse and malnutrition so "graphic and disturbing" that he had them sealed in an envelope that can be opened only with the court's permission."



http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cm...3629-41/jeanette-mcanulty-angela-lynn-son.csp

"Lynn McAnulty was at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield on Dec. 9 — the night Jeanette died. She said she wanted to see her stepgranddaughter’s body, but law enforcement officials at the scene convinced her otherwise.

“They said, ‘You don’t want to do that,’&#8201;” she said. “They told me she weighed 50 pounds.”

dhs better pray the judge doesnt let anyone see dhs's records on this case.

 

[TaylorJ4]

HOW can anyone starve a child?

 

[Missizzy]

Taylor--I hate to even write this, but it's one of the most insidious types of child abuse. Think about it. Food is everything. A parent who is unstable or cruel and unloving will withhold food from a baby, child, or teen. This action typically makes the child act out (obviously) which in turn gives the parent/caregiver a "legitimate" reason to discipline the child. Sick and sad, that's what it is. It becomes a cycle as the hungry child will do anything to get food which infuriates the adult. Often, but not always, there really isn't enough money for food as parents use it all for drugs--even trading their food stamps for more drugs as the little ones go hungry. To be really blunt, we're not talking poverty here, as in an empty pantry. We're talking systematic abuse.

Children who have come through the "system" almost always have eating disorders and issues. Often times, people will think that they've gone without food. That's not always the case. Many times, they've developed food issues because they had a lack of love and bonding and food was all they had so they obsess over it.

It seems in the two recent cases in Oregon, though, that food was actually withheld. Alexis was starved and so was Jeanette Maples of Eugene last month. Jeanette was taken out of school and her mother abused and tortured her. She also starved her even though many people called to report the abuse. When her body was found, in the bathtub, she weighed only 50 lbs. at age 15.

After parenting about 18 children, let me assure you, food is everything. The very first thing we ever do when a new child arrives home (or a rescued dog, for that matter) is to feed them. We'll pop food in their mouths ourselves, if they will let us get that close to them. It builds trust and love for any creature. That's central to the parent/child relationship.

 

[Missizzy]

http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2010/01/sandy_woman_could_face_death_p.html


Sandy woman could face death penalty in child's torture death


"A Clackamas County grand jury boosted charges to aggravated murder Tuesday for a Sandy-area woman accused of fatally torturing her fiance's 3-year-old daughter.

That means Michelle Nicole Smith, 24, could face the death penalty if convicted in the death of Alexis "Lexi" Marie Pounder, whose battered, emaciated body was found Jan. 9 in a home owned by her parents south of Sandy......"

 

[Missizzy]

I hadn't seen this:

"Both Cockrell and Smith worked in 2008 as security guards for DePaul Industries, which provides security services for other agencies and businesses."



What is it with security guards these days? We've had multiple murders and familicides recently involving security personnel. Any profiling available on this?

 

[Missizzy]

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-ci...n_beating_starvation_death_of_3-year-old.html

Sandy [OR] woman pleads guilty in beating, starvation death of 3-year-old

"Michelle Nicole Smith of Sandy pleaded guilty to aggravated murder today in Clackamas County Circuit Court in the beating, torture and starvation death of her fiance's 3-year-old daughter. The plea agreement spares Smith, 25, the possibility of the death penalty.

She will serve a minimum of 30 years in prison. Smith also agreed to testify against her fiance, Donald Lee Cockrell, 28, who faces trial next year...."

and

"Alexis "Lexi" Marie Pounder was found dead in her home of "blunt force trauma and acute starvation," according to court documents. Investigators said it was one of the most brutal child deaths they have seen....."

more at link


Hope you are resting peacefully, Little Lexi. Fly high.

 

[Missizzy]

The story just gets more hideous.

http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2010/12/sandy_man_faces_new_charges_po.html

Sandy [OR] man faces new charges, possible death penalty in death of daughter


"A Sandy man accused of starving and torturing his 3-year-old daughter was reindicted Tuesday and now faces the death penalty as well as charges that he gave narcotics to his children and those of his girlfriend.

Donald Lee Cockrell, 28, had been charged with murder by abuse of his child, Alexis "Lexi" Marie Pounder. Clackamas County prosecutors added a charge of aggravated murder and five counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance to a minor. The drug Cockrell allegedly gave the children, oxycodone, is a commonly abused synthetic opiate.

Cockrell's girlfriend, Michelle Nicole Smith, 25, pleaded guilty to earlier this month to aggravated murder. Smith agreed to testify against Cockrell and will serve a minimum sentence of 30 years in return for her plea and cooperation. She will be sentenced when the case against Cockrell is completed. Smith appeared before a grand jury this month. Her statements apparently led to the new charges against Cockrell.....

and

"....Several law enforcement sources familiar with the death said it was the most brutal child murder they have seen."

more at link

 

[LCoastMom]

"blunt force trauma and acute starvation, ....Several law enforcement sources familiar with the death said it was the most brutal child murder they have seen."

We see this comment everyday anymore WTH is wrong with people?? :furious::banghead::furious::banghead::furious:

 

[Missizzy]

Can someone explain the possible motive for giving the child oxycodone. If they would have just wanted her quiet, Benadryl or Nyquil would have done that--God forbid. Isn't oxycodone quite expensive and hard to come by? We have thefts and burglaries daily, here in Oregon, by addicts looking for this drug.

Even if either of the parents had a valid prescription, every pill is still counted out. It's hard for me to imagine that they would give those precious pills to the children. I'm guessing that the reason the children had no food is that the parents were trading their food stamps for the drugs. Possibly, oxycodone causes a child to not feel hunger. It just doesn't make sense to me. And I have to reiterate a question that Shamrock posed, upthread, how could the grandparents and neighbors have seen nothing?

But then abusing and murdering children never does.

 

[LCoastMom]

A thirty day supply from the pharmacy is $1200.00 - here they sell for $20.00 and up per pill - on the street. I don't know what the new formulation has done to the street value - if you break or cut into the coating they don't work.

I'm guessing they were using it to keep the kids quiet - little Lexi was starved and beaten not sure if OTC could help those pains.

 

[Missizzy]

That's what I thought, LCM. It literally makes me sick to consider what the motives were here--and if there even were any motives. Could he have been drugging her to sexually abuse her or to photograph her? If so, wouldn't alcohol have the same effect? Far cheaper and easier to come by. You'd think that there would be charges reflecting that, though, and also that he'd want her looking healthy. How could so many people have missed a child that was both beaten and starving? I wonder if this child was challenging due to her prenatal drug exposure and the couple couldn't handle her behaviors or spirited manner. If she had any sort of diagnosed disorder, she'd be in Early Intervention and I don't recall seeing that. If he wanted her quiet and out of the way, an Early Intervention preschool would do it. But I guess that would also lead to questions being asked.

One of our children, adopted here in Oregon, was born to a mom who abused meth. She admitted to "hot-boxing" with the baby in his car seat. They'd sleep the day away that way. He lived, thank God, but will forever by disabled. And FWIW, meth is far far cheaper than oxycodone.

I know that there's not always a reason but I always try to uncover what went wrong and what lessons can be learned.

Bless you little Lexi. You can have double helpings now.

 

[Missizzy]

I checked and oxycodone is given to children as young as the toddler years for severe abdominal pain and for the pain related to lymphoma and leukemia. I think that this monster must have been a control freak with this child and kept food from her. When she tried to sneak it, he beat her. My guess is that when it was obvious that she was in tremendous pain, he "shared" some of his drugs with her in a last ditch effort to keep her out of the hospital and to keep the house of horrors from being discovered.

They lived in an apartment. I cannot imagine how her cries went unnoticed.

I think we've already seen these but I enjoyed looking again. Note that most of these are of Lexi when she was much younger. Only a few seem to have been taken shortly before her death.

http://www.kgw.com/news/slideshows/Alexis-Pounder-81205322.html?gallery=y&c=y

http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-504083_162-6093960.html

It's so hard to see a seemingly loving and caring father cuddling his daughter and to know that he killed her.


ETA: I thought they lived in an apartment but the CBS news report above states that they lived in an "isolated house at the end of a dead end street" in Sandy, OR (a suburb of Portland). Lexi's step-grandparents lived in another level of the home.