GUILTY IN - Skylea Carmack, 10, Gas City, Grant County, 31 Aug 2019 *stepmom arrested* *appeal filed 2022*

[AgeofAquaruis]

I’m reminded of another awful, awful abuse case of a woman who kept her kids isolated at home. There was one older child who tried to run away, wanting to help save her siblings, but iirc the cops brought her back home. The mother then beat and chained her to the kitchen table for the next several years to show the other kids “This is what happens if you try to run away”.

Upstream an article was posted about kids who are sometimes isolated as a scapegoat. In the case I’m mentioning now, the mother forced the other kids to participate in the abuse, which is also sometimes a component in the scapegoat process. I wonder if that occurred here.

The child chained to the table ended up being shot by the mother. Years later the mother tried to remove the bullet so there was no evidence, and the poor girl, living much of her life in captivity, ended up dying from the infection of the home surgery. There was no anesthesia iirc. Another child ending up dying in her “care” from malnutrition after being confined to the closet.

So all the other children were scared to tell anyone and scared to run away. The mother clearly showed them what would happen to them if they did.

If I remember correctly the father left her in the woman's care as he traveled A lot. He sent money for her care. This woman was greedy,and evil,and squandered the money,and abused the girl. I think it's safe to say she was insanely jealous if the girl. Sylvia Lykens.

 

[gitana1]

This is just infuriating. And heartbreaking. Obviously her father saw nothing wrong with a child being confined to a bedroom FOR A WEEK AND A HALF? Or he was too busy to notice? Completely abdicated all responsibility of all these children to this woman. Come on! I would say he should be charged for child neglect and abuse for letting this go on, but we already know that won't happen. It's always the children who pay the price for horrible dysfunctional parents.

ETA: I just read that he was a truck driver. OK maybe he wasn't around a lot, but at least let your mom see them, check on them. You lived with and chose this woman as the mother. Her dysfunction was SO VERY obvious. He should have known it wasn't right! But maybe he was just as dysfunction, I don't know.

If you go on the social media sites devoted to this case people who supposedly know him as a father have a lot to say.

IMO he not only knew what was happening but was part of the problem.

 

[Amster]

Where was this childs bio mother? Had she ever had custody of her? If not, why not? A former stepmother to Skylea says she raised the little girl until she was 8 yrs. old.

 

[Kubirai]

Where was this childs bio mother? Had she ever had custody of her? If not, why not? A former stepmother to Skylea says she raised the little girl until she was 8 yrs. old.

Holly Little, if I recall. Family court rules probably didn't allow her to claim custody. But she could have been allowed to raise her as a foster parent.

 

[beatrixpotter]

This is a thought, and I’m not sure if it is plausible or not, but I think it could be helpful if LE or other agencies could check up on children who’s parents have been arrested for things such as DV and drugs. Of course sometimes an abuser may not have a criminal record, but if they do, perhaps this could help some children who are currently living in abusive and violent households.

And this seems very reasonable to me. These children are usually in homes with a history of violence. But I was shocked to learn here on Websleuths that if a family is reported to CPS all they need to do is move! There is no interrelated system that keeps track of children who have been reported. This seems pretty crazy to me if I'm recalling it correctly. It seems like there needs to be a more organized way of actually tracking children who have a history of their parents being reported, or there is a history of violence among the parents. I'm also highly suspicious of families who just so happen to decide to homeschool AFTER they were accused of abuse.

 

[beatrixpotter]

I do too.

I’m concerned in this case however. JMO, but there seems to be almost no safe and loving adults in their circle. The grandmother, and the ex-husband of a previous wife are the only 2 I’ve read about. And neither of them would be granted custody of all 6 remaining siblings.

So then they’d end up in foster care presumably. Where I doubt they’d be able to stay together. I sure hope there ends up a better outcome.

It's a vicious cycle. Parents grow up in abusive homes. They then have children they abuse. Then even when those children end up in foster care or adopted they deal with attachment issues and trauma from abuse that is likely life long. If they never make it in to better homes they just repeat the cycle themselves. You see it over and over again in these families where children end up dead. These are not stable homes or families. And there is almost always drug use.

I've thought before if there is a ONE chance you lose your kid over drug use maybe more of these parents would permanently stop. If not then the children are likely removed at a younger age and permanently given to adoptive families. I feel like fostering in and of itself is traumatic. It's traumatic for a child to be removed from their home even when it's a bad one. But to spend years being moved from one home to the next, returned to parents and then taken away etc. Wasted years with no real stability or love. Then you end up a teen foster child with serious trauma and no one wants to adopt you.

If moms who tested positive for drugs with infants just lost their kids with no chance of recovery then at least those children would get the chance of some stable families from infancy. I get that the whole situation has the potential for serious abuse. But gosh this whole cycle of years of attempts to reunify children with their drug addicted parents does NOT seem to be helping them at all. The abuse and trauma is not easily answered by them just eventually making it into a good home. :/

 

[claudianunes]

When Skylea was first reported missing, a man that had dated her mother for several years made a comment on Facebook saying that Skylea was a great kid, so she spent some significant time with her mother at some point. Her mother also said that Skylea had spent a week with her recently. It looks like mom didn't have custody but got to spend some time with her. She has more siblings on her mother's side, not just that teen boy/young adult that spoke to the media, she has at least a sister and another brother.

 

[beatrixpotter]

According to the affidavit, an autopsy showed that clothing, apparently a pair of pants, was found “tied very tight” around Skylea’s neck. A pillow, blanket and backpack were found inside two bags within the trash bag containing the body.
Indiana woman formally charged in stepdaughter’s killing

Makes me wonder how the pillow, blanket and backpack fit in. She made her take them and was going to make her sleep in the shed? She only put them with her after she killed her so she could say truthfully those items were missed? Or Skylea really did take them to run away and she caught her and it was part of the motivation of her rage to kill her?

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Makes me wonder how the pillow, blanket and backpack fit in. She made her take them and was going to make her sleep in the shed? She only put them with her after she killed her so she could say truthfully those items were missed? Or Skylea really did take them to run away and she caught her and it was part of the motivation of her rage to kill her?

Good instinct. Idk but I personally think you may be onto something. I’ve been trying to figure out how stupid can this criminal be? (and that’s the nicest word I can come up with) to hide her in the shed and then report her missing.

 

[unicorns&rainbows]

Had Skylea been homeschooled her entire life?

Had she always lived with her father and stepmom?

When did the other 3 children come to live with them? And wouldn’t DPS/CPS have been checking on those children if they had been taken away from their parents (in jail or wherever)?

And what happened to the 3 year old that Amanda used to baby sit? How long ago was that?

She went to traditional school in kindergarten and 1st grade

 

[margarita25]

And this seems very reasonable to me. These children are usually in homes with a history of violence. But I was shocked to learn here on Websleuths that if a family is reported to CPS all they need to do is move! There is no interrelated system that keeps track of children who have been reported. This seems pretty crazy to me if I'm recalling it correctly. It seems like there needs to be a more organized way of actually tracking children who have a history of their parents being reported, or there is a history of violence among the parents. I'm also highly suspicious of families who just so happen to decide to homeschool AFTER they were accused of abuse.

Wow...

I remember from the “Evil Lives Here” episode about the Turpins last week that, according to Louise Turpin’s sister, LT researched very meticulously where she could go and have the least amount of oversight from the schools, etc., so that is why they moved to California.

 

[Charlot123]

This is just infuriating. And heartbreaking. Obviously her father saw nothing wrong with a child being confined to a bedroom FOR A WEEK AND A HALF? Or he was too busy to notice? Completely abdicated all responsibility of all these children to this woman. Come on! I would say he should be charged for child neglect and abuse for letting this go on, but we already know that won't happen. It's always the children who pay the price for horrible dysfunctional parents.

ETA: I just read that he was a truck driver. OK maybe he wasn't around a lot, but at least let your mom see them, check on them. You lived with and chose this woman as the mother. Her dysfunction was SO VERY obvious. He should have known it wasn't right! But maybe he was just as dysfunction, I don't know.

You know, he might have traded the welfare of daughter for the stability of his own relationship with the stepmother. Either loved the stepmom, or was afraid of her, or both, likely. Of course he should be charged with neglect. At least.

 

[margarita25]

You know, I’m trying to imagine if I were in a relationship with a mate who didn’t care for my children, I think I would notice. You can tell if someone is being caring or not, imo.

Of course I would never be in that situation to begin with, because if someone didn’t like my kids (or my dogs), well then he’d be the one to hit the road. I wouldn’t pursue the relationship further.

So, how long was he with this woman? There were obviously flags everywhere.

Emily Glass much?

 

[kay74]

What's it going to be like for her when she goes to jail and the inmates ask her what she is in for, "I killed a 10 year old little girl."

 

[Heaven Leigh]

This poor sweet girl.
To think that angry Monsters face was the last image she saw. I just cant even...

 

[margarita25]

The “noodle spilling incident” really bothers me....a lot. When I was pregnant years ago another mother mentioned in passing that she never got upset when her kids spilled anything because she said “We are all human. We all spill things. It’s just not anything to get upset about. I spill things, you spill things, we all do.” I’m thankful she planted that seed! Kids are kids.....they spill, make a mess, get dirty. It just happens.

Also those few earlier photos of Skylea are so hard to look at - dang she was so much healthier then. I never knew “parents” would withhold food from their kids until I started reading here years ago. What cruelty. And it seems to be done by the “parents” who never seem to miss a meal. How can u despise an innocent kid so much?

When I saw this I immediately remembered a similar incident with little Lucas.

 

[margarita25]

It's a vicious cycle. Parents grow up in abusive homes. They then have children they abuse. Then even when those children end up in foster care or adopted they deal with attachment issues and trauma from abuse that is likely life long. If they never make it in to better homes they just repeat the cycle themselves. You see it over and over again in these families where children end up dead. These are not stable homes or families. And there is almost always drug use.

I've thought before if there is a ONE chance you lose your kid over drug use maybe more of these parents would permanently stop. If not then the children are likely removed at a younger age and permanently given to adoptive families. I feel like fostering in and of itself is traumatic. It's traumatic for a child to be removed from their home even when it's a bad one. But to spend years being moved from one home to the next, returned to parents and then taken away etc. Wasted years with no real stability or love. Then you end up a teen foster child with serious trauma and no one wants to adopt you.

If moms who tested positive for drugs with infants just lost their kids with no chance of recovery then at least those children would get the chance of some stable families from infancy. I get that the whole situation has the potential for serious abuse. But gosh this whole cycle of years of attempts to reunify children with their drug addicted parents does NOT seem to be helping them at all. The abuse and trauma is not easily answered by them just eventually making it into a good home. :/

I know I keep mentioning the Turpins.

On this recent episode I saw about that case, Louise Turpin’s sister outlined the ongoing sexual abuse that LT suffered at the hands of her grandfather as a child. She seems to attribute that as part of want went wrong with her sister.

It seems like everyday I log in here and there is another horrific case about child abuse and murder.

My question is, is this occurring more frequently, or are we just more aware about it now with the internet?

 

[imstilla.grandma]

You know, I’m trying to imagine if I were in a relationship with a mate who didn’t care for my children, I think I would notice. You can tell if someone is being caring or not, imo.

Of course I would never be in that situation to begin with, because if someone didn’t like my kids (or my dogs), well then he’d be the one to hit the road. I wouldn’t pursue the relationship further.

So, how long was he with this woman? There were obviously flags everywhere.

Emily Glass much?

Shudders! The horror!

 

[imstilla.grandma]

An impromptu bake sale has been set up for Saturday afternoon outside Roses Discount Store at Five Points Mall in the county seat of Marion. The bake sale goal is to raise money to help Skylea’s family and possibly set up an organization to help curb domestic violence, organizers said.

Tim Eckstein, the Gas City police chief, poured out his heart to the community in a Facebook post on Friday afternoon. Thank-you’s to businesses, residents and fellow police officers were abundant in his message, but he also reached out to the surviving family members.

“On behalf of the Gas City Police Department, I would like to express our sincere thoughts and prayers with Skylea’s family during this time. There is no greater loss than that of a child. I would like to ask the community to give them this time to grieve and start the healing process.

“As a community this is also our time to start the healing process and allow the criminal justice system to do its job. There were hundreds of people that responded when asked to help in searching for Skylea and words cannot express the gratitude we have for all of you. As always in our community when we need you the response is overwhelming. We could not have covered the areas we did without you.”
Gas City residents who found missing girl dead start healing

 

[Kubirai]

Makes me wonder how the pillow, blanket and backpack fit in.

Those items were probably placed in the shed just before her visit to police. She planned to put them in the trash too, so if the dump was searched it all matched her description.