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

[Kinpa4]

Ahh. Our children are so precious! Like I mentioned, I have several family members with adhd.
I was wondering if his mother was collecting state aid for his disability. (Autism) according to his mother...

I'm not sure how it works in CA, but here in PA the only aid I can get for my son is Medicaid. Social security is not available because they said we made too much money...ha freaking ha! That was years and years ago, and I was not working, only my husband was.

 

[KALI]

I am confused! How big is their yard? I live 25 minutes from Menifee. It's been damn Hot here all week.
Would the family not smell decomposition? Heck-there's something dead in the park behind my house (animal of some sort) that is making me noshious sitting in my backyard.
Houses in So. Cal normally have small yards. If your yard is bigger then 7000 square feet, that's considered a large yard.
How could this family not have seen him-or, smelled the decomposition?
Something is wrong here.

 

[Amity]

A neighbor .....6 doors down, worked rather hard at finding a doctor who would dx her step-son as autistic.
A few of us wondered why it seemed that the woman 'wanted' her ss to be autistic.

It wasn't but a couple months later when another neighbor found out the child had been dx as autistic and turns out if you have a disabled child, you get help from the state? government? in the form on $$$.

Just sayin'

ETA: My sister in the pic below, the one in the wheel chair, lived for years in San Jacinto. Many of her friends lived and still live in Menifee.
I went with sis many a time to her friends' homes, neighborhood park birthday parties, etc.
It's like old stomping grounds to me.
Wonderful people. Always helpful, always willing to say "Hi !" even though they didn't know you.

 

[momma73]

All I am going to say which moo,jmo,IMO and all that jazz is that we see on here more than I can handle is an autism child wandering away and ending up deceased.

So if some family says he has "autism" maybe people will believe he just wandered away.

And maybe he was high functioning and his dad and teachers never knew.

I am so sad and angry right now I don't know whether to cry or scream.

RIP Terry sending prayers to those who love you and will miss you!

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

I still haven't seen any independent verification of the last time he was seen by someone other than the family and ive followed this one pretty closely.

This is one. Of three cases I am following closely where the last siting of the deceased/missing .... Independent of family members... Is glaringly NOT being reported...

I do not know why this seems to be the protocol of these cases...

And it leads to a great deal of speculation... Both as to who last saw the person and when... And why the information is being withheld...

I wish there was an answer for this practice...

JMO

 

[kkdj]

I have NO idea. I'm trying to play catch up with the video media and the SB's friend who spoke in one video stated he might be aggressive without his meds and misc other things. I'm curious if she was simply repeating what she was told?

Im going to believe the teacher, who would totally be aware if he was autistic. Granted the mother could have withheld that from the school, but I sincerely doubt it. If he was as severely autistic as stated by mother, SB and others non-related - the teacher would have noticed based on his interactions with fellow peers.

I, at this point do not believe Juju was autistic.
I think it was something to cause some to think he wandered.
it is a lie imo

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

I think his teacher and his father both stated he was not autustic.
did the mother think he was, albeit undiagnosed?
Why would she say that?

Unfortunately... She may use it as an excuse when in court...

"Blaming" the fact that he had unruly behaviors that would warrant strong reactions...

Of course... That is NOT excusable... As all of us on WS knows...

but she may be an opportunist...

All just a theory of mine...

 

[kkdj]

All I am going to say which moo,jmo,IMO and all that jazz is that we see on here more than I can handle is an autism child wandering away and ending up deceased.

So if some family says he has "autism" maybe people will believe he just wandered away.

And maybe he was high functioning and his dad and teachers never knew.

I am so sad and angry right now I don't know whether to cry or scream.

RIP Terry sending prayers to those who love you and will miss you!

I hear you!
I am livid with the manipulations and outcome of this case tho!
jmo

 

[kkdj]

So, the mother must have known what happened!!!
Is she protecting her other son or is he protecting her?jmo
jms

 

[sophiebelle]

I worked with students within the entire spectrum of autism for 25 years. You don't diagnose your own child for one thing. If he had this, his teacher would have known and he would have had an individual plan drawn up just for him.
What a terrible thing happened to this child, and I hope it's acknowledged properly by the household, and there are no excuses given for what happened.

 

[SCHMAE]

Well Terry's mom is not the other boy's mom, right? Is he the son of her live in gf? Or is that still who knows ? I was wondering if the livein gf is the step sons' bio mom, then she may have stepped in to protect her son......

 

[Tulessa]

Everyone, please be very careful with you're questioning of the family. Terry's mother and the rest of his family (aside from the 16-year-old) are still considered VICTIMS at this point.


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SheWhoMustNotBeNamed , Thank you for posting this! Until you are a crime victim, you can't even imagine walking in their shoes. They tried to dig up dirt on my family, when I was going through my ordeal. That was SOOOO painful, but there was no dirt to be found. Again, I humbly thank you, and appreciate your hard work and dedication here. :blowkiss:

 

[momma73]

I worked with students within the entire spectrum of autism for 25 years. You don't diagnose your own child for one thing. If he had this, his teacher would have known and he would have had an individual plan drawn up just for him.
What a terrible thing happened to this child, and I hope it's acknowledged properly by the household, and there are no excuses given for what happened.

This is what I was trying to say sarcastically in my post that how would his dad who he lived until I believe in this last year not know? Plus the teachers at his school? I would like to know if the Autism diagnoses was just made up recently or if they had been telling people that for awhile since he has been living there? If very recently like when they reported him missing then that would suggest they were trying to get people to believe he wandered off.

I hope I am making sense.... I have ADD and the later it gets the less my brain works.

 

[Newton]

Why phrase it like that, he has questions to answer? Sounds like he is the one to be questioned.

I thought that at first, too. Maybe someone with twitter should tweet at him to clarify. The situation is going to be hard enough for the dad without the media mucking it up.

 

[Scanner]

Hypothetically speaking, what medications are prescribed for autism? Are these meds something that can be ‘abused’?

 

[SCHMAE]

This boy has broken my heart Tks everyone for stepping in and sticking with him. You guys and your map making and diligence are truly astounding. I feel it's time for me to go now because I do not want to know what happened that night. My mind can dream up all kinds of things but sometimes you read one little detail that you cannot UN read and I don't want that to be the case here. Prayers for his heart broken family. I'm sorry your time was short with this smiling angel.

 

[nikb]

I'm still on the fence about Mom...have had an odd feeling about her from the start. There's more to this story because how could a partially covered body not be discovered in any of the searches? If it's because the family did not allow the property to be searched....then, that's a BIG question to find out an answer to.

BBM: yeah this bothers me a lot too. I mean, wouldn't the first place the family looked be around the house in case he wandered off or hid somewhere? Gruesome thought but wouldn't one of them been likely to stumble across him even before volunteer/LE searchers?

 

[nikb]

I believe it is considered a disability, but I'm not 100% sure. Maybe it depends on the level in the spectrum?
All of the photos of Terry do not appear to show a child with autism; what I mean by that is his engaged smile and eye contact with the camera. Often times children with severe autism (as it was reported regarding Terry)- will not engage in either. They were making it sound pretty bad. "doesn't respond to his name" "is aggressive" "too nervous around strangers". Apparently he was NONE of these.

Re: disability I would think it'd have to be considered one, if it's anything beyond very, very mild. Also depends on who you're asking I suppose - school district, government agency, etc. but in most cases I'd think so.

Re: the photos I totally agree with you. The first pic I thought maybe they just found a great pic of him where he happened to be very engaged, then I thought maybe it's just a very mild form, but "severe" - no way. I've worked with children with severe autism doing behavior therapy, and I've made many many items for an annual fundraiser for FEAT (Families for Early Autism Treatment) that involved photos. Granted it was years ago, but I've met many children with autism and seen many beautiful, gorgeous, angelic photos, but none with that same smile and eye contact as this boy's. Even when they're trying really, really hard to smile "normal." (the girl I worked with would say that sometimes, that she was going to "smile normal")

 

[Newton]

It's strange how we know what's coming yet still feel horror and even shock when the announcement is made.

I knew Terry was dead once they began digging at his house, but logging on and seeing it confirmed that a little body was found caused me to involuntarily say, "Oh no." Why is that? Why does that happen?

Perhaps we just want so much for there to be a different ending that we grasp on to even impossible hope.

I felt from the beginning that this one would probably have a sad ending with family involvement. I don't know of many mothers that would not check on a child that young when they returned home from a night out. Even so, I tried to hold onto some hope and shared the missing poster on fb. I had that same why and how feeling regardless. In a way, I hope I always find things this horrific to be shocking (if that makes sense).

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

So, the mother must have known what happened!!!
Is she protecting her other son or is he protecting her?jmo
jms

I am not saying this is true here...

but I have heard where children are encouraged to "take the fall" for a crime as

minors do not get as heavy prison sentences as adults...

Just some thoughts...