GUILTY CA - Terry Smith, 11, autistic, Menifee, 6 July 2013

[kkdj]

I certainly hope there are more charges coming for more people. :furious:



In an interview with Eyewitness News, Terry Smith's dad said the 16-year-old who was arrested for murder in the disappearance of the Menifee boy was violent, and his mother knew it.

"(The mother) knew that he did get violent with his brother and sister. I begged her to get him the right kind of help," said Terry Smith Sr., who lives in West Virginia. "In fact, I begged her to get the right kind of help for herself, and it just never happened."

The teen was taken into custody on Wednesday, suspected of killing 11-year-old Terry Smith Jr. The suspect is believed to be the victim's half-brother.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/inland_empire&id=9169276

Such a sad and senseless death.
so both mom and dad knew their small 11 year old was in danger? I'm so sad. This should have been avoided and could have imo

 

[kkdj]

Any news today?

 

[MsFacetious]

Any news today?

Just the above about the half brother having a history of violence.
Charges haven't officially been filed yet. The father is talking now.
He is going to try and bring Juju home... but fears the mother will object.
Cremating and splitting the ashes has been mentioned as a compromise.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

Was she the birth mother to all 3 of these children.I will say this.I have 7 children almost all boys from age 28 to age 10.There has been sibling rivalry sometimes with them where I had to step in a few times.I am only 5 '1 and half.But never did I ever ever think one of them would kill each other.I'm a mother and I just didn't think that way.I feel his mother probably didn't think this way either.I feel very sad for her and his sister.My heart really goes out to his mother.Through this selfish act of killing his brother this poor mother lost a few sons and probably other things as well.I just feel bad for the whole family.They are in my prayers.

 

[Amity]

"(The mother) knew that he did get violent with his brother and sister. I begged her to get him the right kind of help," said Terry Smith Sr., who lives in West Virginia. "In fact, I begged her to get the right kind of help for herself, and it just never happened."

"He was rambunctious. He was not autistic. I'll fight that until the day I die," he said. "He was a typical little boy. He loved life. And Thomas the Train set."

Read More Here:
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/inland_empire&id=9169276

 

[MsFacetious]

Yes, she was the birth mother or legal adoptive mother to all 3.
(No indication they are adopted, I'm just saying I can't prove it either way.)

The first 2 were with a previous relationship (don't know if they married.)
Terry was with her ex husband.

 

[gitana1]

I'm not saying this child was autistic, just there isn't enough public information to say his mother sought the diagnosis for financial reasons.

I've read that two teachers said he was not autistic. But I don't remember the article had direct quotes from the teachers or whether that was what Terry Sr. told the reporter. I'll check to see what the MSM has reported about the teachers. It'd be worth noting whether the teachers were in his previous school district in West Virginia or his current district in California. Diagnosis protocols and practices may be different in different districts.

Individual teachers may be attuned to recommend evaluation whereas others may not recognize the symptoms in an intelligent child My child had a elementary teacher who refused to accept another student had Aspergers, even after he had been evaluated and diagnosed by specialists. She continued to state he was just lazy.

I read they were his teachers here in CA, not back East where dad lives. So I sense they didn't base their comments on dad. Also, if diagnosed, it would be part of his school records and he would likely have an IEP.

 

[gitana1]

I certainly hope there are more charges coming for more people. :furious:



In an interview with Eyewitness News, Terry Smith's dad said the 16-year-old who was arrested for murder in the disappearance of the Menifee boy was violent, and his mother knew it.

"(The mother) knew that he did get violent with his brother and sister. I begged her to get him the right kind of help," said Terry Smith Sr., who lives in West Virginia.

"In fact, I begged her to get the right kind of help for herself, and it just never happened."

The teen was taken into custody on Wednesday, suspected of killing 11-year-old Terry Smith Jr.
The suspect is believed to be the victim's half-brother.H

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/inland_empire&id=9169276

Wow, read the comments to your link. Everything is coming out. Family arguing on there. Wow.

 

[sophiebelle]

My niece is Autistic. Moderate to severe and we knew by 2 years old that something wasn't quite right. This was 17 years ago when Autism was more something you read about then actually happened to you. I woul think even mild autisim is evident to both parents,teachers, doctors and by 11 years old there's a definite diagnosis. Some parents may be in denial at first but at 11 year's old? At this point I'm believing Dad

I agree 100%. Like I said, I taught students of the spectrum for so many years, that I could spot somebody with even a very mild form. When you see the mannerisms and behaviors, they are the same ones you see over and over. The students with the lowest levels still had a bit of the behaviors that we associate with autism. I had a friend with a sister who worked, drove a car, and had a child. One day I just asked if she had ever been diagnosed with autism, and she surely had. There was one thing I saw.
Just don't know the background of this child, but no matter, it doesn't change the fact that he was cheated out of his life.

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

Wow, read the comments to your link. Everything is coming out. Family arguing on there. Wow.

Wow, wow, just wow at those comments. I'm sure it will all come out in the wash once this goes to court. Really crazy stuff there.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[MsFacetious]

I think it's definitely possible this child was diagnosed with Asperger's and Dad/teachers didn't realize it.
Especially if Dad also has Asperger's. Someone with undiagnosed Asperger's wouldn't notice it as easily.

You see those behaviors as "normal" and don't realize the rest of society doesn't find them "normal."
Asperger's is not stimming, lack of speech and incapable of caring for yourself.

We are not talking about "typical" autism. We are talking about Asperger's.
Very few people who meet my daughter realize she has Asperger's. Nobody realized I did in school.

Not defending Mom here, just stating that the two are very different and it's certainly possible.

Wow, read the comments to your link. Everything is coming out. Family arguing on there. Wow.

I've been looking at Dad's facebook, so I already knew all of that. :facepalm:

 

[Ms Suzanne]

I have ADHD and I regularly talk with my psych about how we believe ADHD is a more functional version of autism.

I can see how the doctor could have mistook his ADHD for a more functional version of Autism. IMHO

I can see how the doctor could have mistook his ADHD for a more functional version of Autism too.I had ADHD when I was little too.My 12 year old son lives with his dad.They diagnosed him with autism.When you talk to my son.He does not really seem to sound or look like he has autism at all.He doesn't seem real bad at all.I guess it's very mild.My ex husband believes he has Autism.I am not in denial.I feel very strongly my son has a very mild form of ADHD like I did (Mine was more severe.I was very hyper LOL)Not autism.I assume someone in the schools or somewhere diagnosed Terry with Autism.If he is in middle school now.The teachers might not know.My son went to middle school last year and I'm not sure the middle school even knows now.He's apparently not going to special classes or anything now like he did in elementary school.

 

[gitana1]

I think it's definitely possible this child was diagnosed with Asperger's and Dad/teachers didn't realize it.
Especially if Dad also has Asperger's. Someone with undiagnosed Asperger's wouldn't notice it as easily.

You see those behaviors as "normal" and don't realize the rest of society doesn't find them "normal."
Asperger's is not stimming, lack of speech and incapable of caring for yourself.

We are not talking about "typical" autism. We are talking about Asperger's.
Very few people who meet my daughter realize she has Asperger's. Nobody realized I did in school.

Not defending Mom here, just stating that the two are very different and it's certainly possible.



I've been looking at Dad's facebook, so I already knew all of that. :facepalm:

I had no idea about all of that with the dad's comments. New twists.

 

[Donamena]

I read they were his teachers here in CA, not back East where dad lives. So I sense they didn't base their comments on dad. Also, if diagnosed, it would be part of his school records and he would likely have an IEP.

I taught in California as well, many years ago. I agree, he would have had an IEP after his CAT-Competent Authority Testing.

My son is 44 & is a high-functioning austistic. A teacher in Mississippi diagnosed him correctly 38 years ago. There were no CAT or IEP programs then, just one smart teacher. He just learned to focus on what he truly loved & get tutors or help for the rest.

 

[ADoyle]

I can see how ADHD could be mistaken for Aspergers or high functioning autism, as the criteria are relatively similar. In the second grade, the teacher I had at the time told my mom to get me on Ritalin or something else for ADD, but what actually happened instead was that I was put in another second grade class, and there were no more issues. I was eventually diagnosed with high functioning Asperger's, but I had always been in regular classes when I was in school. The only people who had IEP's when I was growing up were those whose autism or other disabilities were more severe than mine was.

 

[katydid23]

Is the son covering for someone else? I am not convinced either way yet.

 

[MsFacetious]

Is the son covering for someone else? I am not convinced either way yet.

The opinions on that seem to be split 50/50.
Though I see that turning a bit since Juju's father talked about the brother having a violent history.
Now people are a bit more willing to believe the brother did it alone...

I guess we will see. I definitely see some neglect charges even if he did it alone.
You shouldn't leave a boy with an older sibling who has been violent with him. :twocents:

 

[nikb]

The impact would be different yes. Enclosed head trauma is always a tricky subject. There are a million variables that could effect the injury as far as how, where, the angle of impact, and force to name the major ones.

The end of the day does it really matter? No matter what the intent was it's a child, and another child that is accused of doing it.

Thanks. Yes, figured the impact physically would be different. I guess what I wondered is how it changes the definition (legally speaking) of intent. If the kid's irritated and throws a rock at his brother with unintended consequences, it seems to me like a pretty different story than the kid intentionally grabbing a rock and doing whatever he did.. if he did.

 

[katydid23]

It is hard to imagine a thrown rock killing an 11 yr old. I threw a rock really hard one time, trying to 'skip it' in the water. I threw it as hard as I could, and my brother had a slight scar on his temple, because he ran in front of me as I let it go. :angel: But even though he bled a lot and it hurt, it was not life threatening. I guess it had to be a much bigger rock to be lethal.

I think in this case the rock was slammed onto the head, like a bashed head, not a thrown rock, imo. JMO

 

[2Hip2BSquare]

It is hard to imagine a thrown rock killing an 11 yr old. I threw a rock really hard one time, trying to 'skip it' in the water. I threw it as hard as I could, and my brother had a slight scar on his temple, because he ran in front of me as I let it go. :angel: But even though he bled a lot and it hurt, it was not life threatening. I guess it had to be a much bigger rock to be lethal.

I think in this case the rock was slammed onto the head, like a bashed head, not a thrown rock, imo. JMO

Ive seen some cases where kids will get hurt fighting/playing and out of fear of "getting in trouble" one child will hide the injured/killed child. Depends on the emotional IQ of the 16 year old half brother. If he is 16 then he's a Juvi and will be tried as such.

We will see from the condition of the remains and trauma Terry endured to figure out just how brutal his injury/injuries were.