GUILTY TX - Gerren Isgrigg, 6, disabled, left to die in Wylie park, 12 April 2010

[cakegirl0905]

Right Cubby-but I think she disproves herself by telling her husband that she left Gerren with a social worker. That means she knew what the best option was, but chose to dump him by a lake anyway. Why else would she do that, unless Gerren was dead?

 

[Cubby]

Since Gerren's father was in the military, Gerren should have been enrolled in the Exceptional Family Member Program. He would have been provided with medical, educational, and respite services for his caretaker. Enrollment is mandatory. Gerren's father would also have been assigned only to duty stations where Gerren could receive the care he needed.
http://www.mccscp.com/home/Family-Services/efmp.aspx

According to news articles Gerrens mother was awarded sole custody of Gerren after she and his father divorced in 2006. He was paying child support. Normally, when child support is awarded the father is responsible for also providing medical insurance for the child.

Do you know if a military father with no custody would still be allowed to enroll a child in this type of program? I know for regular medical insurance, providers can not discriminate if the person providing the insurance does not have primary custody of the child. Just wondering if Gerren would have still qualified for such a program if his dad had no custody of him.

Also, the article isn't very clear stating mom got sole custody. Was that sole physical custody or both physical and legal custody? Usually when one parent wins sole physical custody, legal custody is still shared. The courts don't normally take legal custody away from either parent in a divorce situation.

 

[STEADFAST]

According to news articles Gerrens mother was awarded sole custody of Gerren after she and his father divorced in 2006. He was paying child support. Normally, when child support is awarded the father is responsible for also providing medical insurance for the child.

Do you know if a military father with no custody would still be allowed to enroll a child in this type of program? I know for regular medical insurance, providers can not discriminate if the person providing the insurance does not have primary custody of the child. Just wondering if Gerren would have still qualified for such a program if his dad had no custody of him.

Also, the article isn't very clear stating mom got sole custody. Was that sole physical custody or both physical and legal custody? Usually when one parent wins sole physical custody, legal custody is still shared. The courts don't normally take legal custody away from either parent in a divorce situation.

Custody would in no way effect Gerren's eligibility for military medical benefits. It might affect parts of the Exceptional Family Member Program -- for instance, the assignments the father might get, since he wouldn't necessarily have to be assigned close to where Gerren was getting treatment -- but not the medical benefits.
It wouldn't matter if Gerren's father was never married to his mother -- it wouldn't even matter if Gerren's father had never seen him and had no contact with him, Gerren would still have the right for his medical needs to be taken care of by TriCare. But, the father would have to enroll him as a dependent. It was on the father to make sure Gerren was getting his benefits.

 

[RubyRed]

I read in one of the links that the paternal grandparents said they last saw him 2 years ago. He has been with the maternal grandparents for 3 1/2 years so they knew he was with him then. Maybe they thought it was for a short time?

In my opinion, several people let this boy down. It takes two to create a child.I think both of his parents let him down. They both had a responsibility to raise him.

 

[RubyRed]

http://www.the33tv.com/news/kdaf-shana-wylie-kid-jpeg,0,1807485.photogallery

 

[Cubby]

How heartbreaking those pictures are. Especially the first next to the big bush and sticks. how on earth can anyone believe gma left Gerren in a place she thought he would be found quickly? I just see zero possibility in that statement.

RIP Gerren. Run, play, laugh, sing and look at all of the beauty in Heaven. You are whole now; no longer neglected or abandoned.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Wow, just saw this thread was updated to identified.

After reading, I am so saddened. How could a grandmother do this to this baby????

Rest in peace Gerren.

 

[justthinkin]

I am so glad this dear child has been identified. Someone else mentioned that the GM looked much older than 63. I couldn't agree more. She appears to be in ill health herself.

I wonder if the GM actually called social services, and was told they couldn't accept a child from someone who didn't have legal custody? I can just see that happening. Still it wouldn't excuse what she did. She could have taken him to a hospital and left him there.
And as horrible as it is, I think I am just as angered by the bio parents of little Gerren, esp. his mother dumping Gerren on her parents. Disgusting.

 

[Angel4u2Whisper2]

I have something to say, I need to get this off my chest! It appears that his mother did collect probally a good amount of child support for the care and special needs of this child. She continued to collect this money. I do not believe that she shared the payments with the grandparents. They were getting by in hotels, did they have the medical cards at least? I feel that grandma wanted to take of him, they just couldn't.

No excuse. She knew enough to tell her husband that she took him to social services, she just didn't do it! She probally was trying to save her daughters a%% because she would be charged for his abandonment and fraud! Too bad so sad and I feel she still should be charged with both of those things and additionally with felony child neglect resulting in death!

The mother is guilty in my opinion. She left him. She didn't make sure that his needs were met, financal, medical or emotional.

:rose::rose::rose::rose:

Precious child..Garren may you dance with the angels, laugh like you never laughed before. The glow in your eyes will no longer hold tears of pain or sorrow but only of joy.

Rip Garren.

 

[mysticrose]

Man blames caretaker stress, says wife hoped grandson would get help in park

12:00 AM CDT on Monday, April 26, 2010

The woman who cared for "Wylie's Angel" told her husband from jail Sunday that she left 6-year-old Gerren Joseph Isgrigg in the park hoping that somebody would pick him up.

Nobody did.

And the boy – who was physically disabled, had seizures daily and was fed through a tube in his stomach – was found dead.

The caretaker, Darlene Phillips, the boy's 63-year-old grandmother, is charged with murder in his death. She was taken into custody late Friday, eight days after Gerren's body was found near Lavon Lake.

Phillips' husband of 30 years, Patrick, said that his wife cried and expressed regret during the 25 minutes he spent with her Sunday morning at the Collin County Jail. He said that stress from around-the-clock care for the boy was probably too much for his wife to take.

"From our conversation today, she knows it was a big mistake," Patrick Phillips said. "She never planned on this to happen.

"She thought somebody would come along right away and he would be taken care of," he said. "Stress does terrible things."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...renfolo_26met.ART0.State.Edition2.d84278.html

 

[milkymama]

What the grandma said in that last news article doesn't add up. If he had no use of his arms or legs, and she left him, alive, in the park - how did he get under the brush pile? He didn't crawl under there and die.

 

[NewMommy09]

I wonder if the GM actually called social services, and was told they couldn't accept a child from someone who didn't have legal custody? I can just see that happening. Still it wouldn't excuse what she did. She could have taken him to a hospital and left him there.
And as horrible as it is, I think I am just as angered by the bio parents of little Gerren, esp. his mother dumping Gerren on her parents. Disgusting.

ITA about leaving him at a hospital. If she'd tried social services and they wouldn't take him because GP's didn't have legal custody, then I don't see how they could be charged with abandonment or anything for leaving him at a hospital. Not that I really agree with anyone abandoning their children/grandchildren. But realistically, this would be one of those circumstances that I would be able to understand that decision.

I'm so torn about this case. Little Gerren has been tugging at my heartstrings since he was first found. I'm overjoyed that he now has his name and a voice. I'm so sad that he was never a little boy who got to enjoy being an innocent child. I'm horrified at the amount of people who have let him down.
If his father truly was making payments, good for him for being involved financially. But how anyone could go 3 and a half years without seeing their child, especially one in Gerrens condition who was not expected to live to 4 years old, is beyond me. His mother, I don't even know what to say. I would starve to make sure my son ate, I would go without ANYthing if my son needed it. I'm not suggesting mom had it easy. I will hopefully never know how hard it was. But I just know that as a mother, my son ALWAYS comes first, no matter what my sacrifices might have to be. I'm torn because it does seem that Gma loved little Gerren. But under no circumstances can I agree with what she did. I keep picturing this little angel being set down out there and left. He could not see, or move around, or hear anything. There are coyotes out there, what if one had attacked him? He had NO way to defend himself or even know it was coming. There are so many horrible things that could have happened to him. It makes me so sick. I pray that God took him quickly, and that he didn't lay there for days frightened, alone, not feeling a human touch which was his only way of being a part of this world.

Rest In Piece little Gerren. All your pain and suffering and limitations are gone now for good. You will always be Wylie's Angel. I know so many of us will never forget you.

 

[debloree]

I am so glad this dear child has been identified. Someone else mentioned that the GM looked much older than 63. I couldn't agree more. She appears to be in ill health herself.

I wonder if the GM actually called social services, and was told they couldn't accept a child from someone who didn't have legal custody? I can just see that happening. Still it wouldn't excuse what she did. She could have taken him to a hospital and left him there. And as horrible as it is, I think I am just as angered by the bio parents of little Gerren, esp. his mother dumping Gerren on her parents. Disgusting.

I wondered that too justthinkin. What a terrible mess this has turned out to be.
The creators of Gerren's facebook (Malorie & Donna) have now created a new fb to get petitions to change the "Baby Moses Law" here's the link if anyone is interested. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000711333363#!/group.php?gid=117037504990941

 

[NewMommy09]

Right Cubby-but I think she disproves herself by telling her husband that she left Gerren with a social worker. That means she knew what the best option was, but chose to dump him by a lake anyway. Why else would she do that, unless Gerren was dead?

ITA, this detail is extremely important. It shows that she was of sound mind, she knew what she SHOULD have done but chose to abandon him in a place where it was unrealistic of anyone to assume any child could survive for long, let alone Gerren in his condition. If the Defense goes for a temporary insanity plea, I'm sure this detail will destroy that.

 

[NewMommy09]

Father of Wylie's Angel says he's devastated. (With Video)

http://www.wfaa.com/news/Father-of-Wylies-Angel-says-hes-devastated-92058664.html
Snip (I knew they were probably local)
The Phillips recently lived in a Garland home 10 miles from where Gerren was found. Within the past week, they moved to a motel in The Colony.

Snip:
According to Sgt. Isgrigg, the terms of his divorce from Gerren's mother made it difficult for him.

"I would have done anything to get him in a heartbeat if they would have called," he said.

Isgrigg said he didn't want to comment on the arrest of his ex-mother-in-law. He is waiting to sit down with detectives to discuss the case.

 

[cakegirl0905]

Just saw the GM lived in The Colony. That is across the Metroplex-a drive that I would say takes 45 minutes to an hour if not a bit longer. There is a lake right near there that is much more populated that East Fork. Why take him so far? To distance yourself from the murder?
Ugh.

 

[mtrooper]

So are we really sure that when she left him there he was alive? I wouldn't think that the area she left him in would be a frequently traveled place, why not a gas station bathroom or somewhere, where she would have KNOWN someone would have found him. This was a child, not a stray dog. I think that she placed him there after he had already passed away. How else did he end up under the brush pile? I would also like to see a more recent photo of him.

 

[NewMommy09]

Just saw the GM lived in The Colony. That is across the Metroplex-a drive that I would say takes 45 minutes to an hour if not a bit longer. There is a lake right near there that is much more populated that East Fork. Why take him so far? To distance yourself from the murder?
Ugh.

They only moved to The Colony last week. They lived in Garland before that and were only 10 miles away.
http://www.wfaa.com/news/Father-of-W...-92058664.html
Snip (I knew they were probably local)
The Phillips recently lived in a Garland home 10 miles from where Gerren was found. Within the past week, they moved to a motel in The Colony.

 

[cakegirl0905]

Ah-OK gotcha. That makes more sense.

mtrooper-no we don't know for sure YET if he was left dead or alive. But with everything we've discussed so far I would say he was probably already dead. He was hidden under brush in an isolated area, at a lake in the middle of the week. He wasn't on a playground bench or something.

 

[alwaysonmymind]

Abandoned by his father, then his mother, then abandoned in a park, alone, by his grandmother. Absolutely heartbreaking.


He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. Revelation 21:4