Paradise Homicide

God-fearing people don't beat their children to death. Abuse is easier to hide when children are home-schooled and isolated from mainstream society. Parents do not just start beating children...this cannot be an isolated case of being abusive "just once." This is a horrific tragedy for all the children, the responders and the community at large. Just think of what the children have gone through - so sad...

deepconcern: You are right in that this event should never have happened. It is heartwrenching. You are wrong, however, in believing the Paradie Police Department does not take this seriously. Your comment that you are "sickened by the response of the police......and their diminishment of the gravity of what has occurred in our community" greatly disturbs me as you have come to this conclusion after reading such little information, and long before we, the public, have been given all the facts. If you are truly interested in our community and helping the Police Department better serve it, look into ways you can help the Department. Become a volunteer, or make a donation to the VIPS, instead of taking the easy way out; standing back and hurling accusations. Why don't you take a moment and think about how the first responders are feeling, from the dispatcher who first answered the call of a child not breathing, all the way thru the police officers, firemen and medics who responded to help this beautiful child. Then take a moment to think about the strain on the investigators who have to wade thru evidence and hours of interviews to put together a case that will bring justice for these children.

I applaud the police department for their discernment of the real matter behind the "child not breathing" call. Other officers may have missed what might have been small indicators, or just suspicions of abuse. I further recognize their solid judgment in having all the children removed from the care of the parents/other family or church members. From the dispatcher that took the call, to the police officers and medical personnel that responded, I can't imagine the horror their minds will replay in the next few days that pass. We forget to quickly, that those individuals have hearts as well and they are just as breakable as our own. My prayers go out to them, and without question, the children involved. I can not imagine the loss of a sibling, the fear of losing another and the loss of two parents (horrific as they may be), and that is just what the birth children are facing. It says nothing of the multitude of loses those adoptive kids have to face. Being an adoptive mother myself, it is a mind and a heart that I fail to understand that would do this to a child. The indoctrination of young minds into "faiths" that would teach such horrifying practices should be illegal. I can only hope that they will be placed in homes where they are taught, and more importantly, shown, what it truly means to love. Again, my admiration and thanks to those that have contributed to the improvement of the lives of these children. I know it will continue to be painful for all involved as this case unfolds, but know that you are making a difference for the better. I can only hope that any other children that may be in these circumstances are also found and rescued. Kudos to the first responders. Prayers and love to the kids. May God have mercy on the souls of the parents.

I am so deeply saddened to learn of this incident. This should never have happened were the system working properly. If these children are being home-schooled they are supposed to be visited by teachers from the district who visit homes which home-school children. There is a system to protect home-schooled children from situations like this. Where were the neighbors? For the neighbor who claimed the couple was "God-Loving," child abuse is not God-loving. A child is dead, one is in the hospital from abuse, from being beaten, that is not "God-loving," kind, or considerate. What further sickens me about this incident is the attitude of the policeman who classified this incident as a case of discipline gone too far. That policeman should be suspended and receive serious education on what constitutes child abuse or he should simply be fired. If his attitude is representative of the Paradise Police Department, the children in Paradise are not safe from child-abuse. The attitude of the police provides an invitation for parents such as this to abuse children in our community. Wake-up Paradise police, we live in the 21st century and what happened is now illegal. It was not discipline, it was child-abuse and murder. Beating children is illegal now. I am sickened by what happened and further sickened by the response of the police and neighbor and their diminishment of the gravity of what has occurred in our community. I am almost 55, I was raised in a very psychologically abusive home with a father and step-mother who think abuse is justified because they are such "good christians." The fact I have chosen to not follow their "good christian" path has opened me up to slander and character annilation from these good "God-Loving" people. I still cope with the effects of their abuse as they continue to be revered in the community as "good christians," and as leaders in the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church here in Paradise. Let's wake-up Paradise.