GUILTY FL - Phoebe Jonchuck, 5, dropped from 60' bridge, St Petersburg, 8 Jan 2015

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  • #61
loveisthemovement said:
That lawyer is going to have to deal with some mighty regret.
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She did everything she could. I'm sure she blames herself, but there's no way she could have forced him to leave the child with her. She called the police and dfacs - they are the ones that dropped the ball, not the lawyer.
 
  • #62
loveisthemovement said:
That lawyer is going to have to deal with some mighty regret.
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She isn't the one who dropped the ball. She reported it to LE.
They are the ones who decided this guy passed their mental evaluation.
 
  • #63
one of the attorney's quotes indicates she is already feeling horrible guilt. She wishes she had somehow managed to keep Phoebe from being taken with him when he left her office. But she had no legal means to intervene or interfere. I feel awful for her. She truly did try to save this child.

A lawyer for Family First Law Group called 911 on Wednesday morning, saying that Jonchuck -- who was a new client of hers -- came to her office and claimed he was God and the creator. He then wanted her to read him the Bible in Swedish.

"He's nuts," attorney Genevieve Torres tells the 911 dispatcher. "He's out of his mind, and he has a minor child with him, [and is] driving to a church now. I should have kept the child [here]."

She goes on to say, "I was supposed to file his paperwork for a case. And he's like, 'Well, don't file the paperwork. It's not going to matter any more.'"

http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/local/2015/01/08/child-dead-after-thrown-off-bridge/21430139/
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Officers who later saw both he and Phoebe said he seemed perfectly rational. Had the attorney attempted to keep the child he could simply have called LE, put on his little rational show and LE would have handed the child over to him.
 
  • #64
  • #65
rosie_lee said:
By age 5, Phoebe Jonchuck already had a significant history with Florida child protection authorities: Her father, they were told, was habitually violent with his domestic partners, and had been accused of “smacking” his daughter in the face. Phoebe’s mother, according to reports to the agency, was a meth user who had been charged with cruelty to another child in 2008.

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2015/01/09...tampa-bay.html?sp=/99/100/&rh=1#storylink=cpy

This article just breaks my heart. The system definitely failed this precious little girl, repeatedly!
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Breaks my heart, too...and that lawyer did everything she could to try to help Phoebe and she still fell through the cracks...ugh!
 
  • #66
tlcya said:
one of the attorney's quotes indicates she is already feeling horrible guilt. She wishes she had somehow managed to keep Phoebe from being taken with him when he left her office. But she had no legal means to intervene or interfere. I feel awful for her. She truly did try to save this child.



Officers who later saw both he and Phoebe said he seemed perfectly rational. Had the attorney attempted to keep the child he could simply have called LE, put on his little rational show and LE would have handed the child over to him.
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And she could have been the one arrested.
Since police decided that father was mentally stable.
 
  • #67
It seems to me that a lot of people think it would be a "better" alternative if Phoebe was dead when she was thrown from the bridge. I don't really understand that. It's not like she would have died in her sleep. If she was already dead, it means that she was likely horribly abused and tortured. I've seen comments on other sites that are basically like "Okay, maybe she was already dead, maybe this story isn't as horrific as it sounds". What? It's like people are totally desensitized to child abuse.
 
  • #68
Her mother apparently suffered from MS but wasn't too sick to party, get her hair done, date new men and get engaged. Excuses excuses excuses. Disgusting excuses for parents is what they were the both of them.

The poor lawyer did exactly what she was supposed to. What an incredible tragedy.
 
  • #69
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-girl-dies-thrown-florida-bridge-28076918

"Police found him a short time later at a church, and everything seemed fine. He told officers he was once on 37 different medicines for a variety of ailments, but none this week." BBM

" ... none this week"?! This comment, alone, should have been a red flag to the officers. Did Jonchuck need some of these meds for a psychotic condition? Or was he suffering from withdrawal symptoms because he went cold turkey? Either way, the statement should have been more than enough reason to get him checked out by a physician before letting him walk off with a child.
 
  • #70
That lawyer first called police (and when they wouldn't do anything), she called child abuse hotline.
But DCF wouldn't even take the report. I fail to see what else she could have possibly done. She isn't the one who should be feeling regret.

"As far as child protective services they didn't accept my report. But they said it didn't meet the criteria that they were going under as far as when they should go out to check on a child," she said."

http://www.wfla.com/story/27797470/lutz-lawyer-called-abuse-hotline-about-phoebe-dcf-vows-change
 
  • #71
I
rosie_lee said:
By age 5, Phoebe Jonchuck already had a significant history with Florida child protection authorities: Her father, they were told, was habitually violent with his domestic partners, and had been accused of “smacking” his daughter in the face. Phoebe’s mother, according to reports to the agency, was a meth user who had been charged with cruelty to another child in 2008.

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2015/01/09...tampa-bay.html?sp=/99/100/&rh=1#storylink=cpy

This article just breaks my heart. The system definitely failed this precious little girl, repeatedly!
Click to expand...

I pray Phoebe is in a better place.
 
  • #72
My heart goes out to this attorney. She did everything right in reporting this man. The LE dispatcher took her seriously enough to dispatch the info and LE tracked him down.

The child abuse hotline is a mess in itself! Again the attorney reached out for help for this little girl. It does not surprise me there was no help from there as the attorney could not report any actual abuse. Sorry, but cases with abuse reported are not always followed up on. IMO.

I would like to say to the attorney if she ever reads here, "Thank you for following your instincts and calling the police and the child abuse hotline. You did more than many people would have done. It is not your fault that this man could act rational and slip past the police. You tried! You cared! Thank you."
 
  • #73
Cracka*Jaxx said:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-girl-dies-thrown-florida-bridge-28076918

"Police found him a short time later at a church, and everything seemed fine. He told officers he was once on 37 different medicines for a variety of ailments, but none this week." BBM

" ... none this week"?! This comment, alone, should have been a red flag to the officers. Did Jonchuck need some of these meds for a psychotic condition? Or was he suffering from withdrawal symptoms because he went cold turkey? Either way, the statement should have been more than enough reason to get him checked out by a physician before letting him walk off with a child.
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37 different meds??? I take FOUR for bipolar disorder/severe depression/panic and anxiety disorder. At my worst, I took five, and that was a dangerous time, but only to myself. Add the blood pressure and thyroid stuff, it's six. 37??? The man should have been in the hospital, not given custody of his daughter. We see how that turned out... grrr.... This angel deserved so much better, including a better mother. IMO.
 
  • #74
From your link Jjenny.....

"He left the building with his daughter. One of the investigators noted, she turned and waved to him as she walked off with her father."

Ugggg.....this makes me so sad.
 
  • #75
  • #76
The DCF has announced that all warning calls will now be investigated within four hours, and a notice will be issued to law enforcement, Click Orlando reported.

DCF Secretary Mike Carroll said: 'The horrible nature of this little girl’s murder at the hands of her father is heart wrenching and demands our most immediate and thorough response.'

His statement added: 'We have to do more for the children, like Phoebe, who depend on us to protect them.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...r-old-daughter-60ft-bridge.html#ixzz3OPh9pxWa
 
  • #77
eileenhawkeye said:
It seems to me that a lot of people think it would be a "better" alternative if Phoebe was dead when she was thrown from the bridge. I don't really understand that. It's not like she would have died in her sleep. If she was already dead, it means that she was likely horribly abused and tortured. I've seen comments on other sites that are basically like "Okay, maybe she was already dead, maybe this story isn't as horrific as it sounds". What? It's like people are totally desensitized to child abuse.
Click to expand...

Here's a link to a report by the Miami Herald, published March 16, 2014, entitled, Innocents Lost and a subtitle of,
"Preserving Families but Losing Children." I am going to try to read it, but I may not be able to do it.

http://media.miamiherald.com/static/media/projects/2014/innocents-lost/

It's not too tuff -- but it is sad. At least the report may have helped the child protective service to boost-up the no. of caseworkers, etc.
 
  • #78
borndem said:
Here's a link to a report by the Miami Herald, published March 16, 2014, entitled, Innocents Lost and a subtitle of,
"Preserving Families but Losing Children." I am going to try to read it, but I may not be able to do it.

http://media.miamiherald.com/static/media/projects/2014/innocents-lost/

It's not too tuff -- but it is sad. At least the report may have helped the child protective service to boost-up the no. of caseworkers, etc.
Click to expand...

Nope, can't do it. I will try to read it at another time. I read the first five paragraphs an can NOT stomach any more. Thank you for the link though.

What the h3!! is wrong with florida!
 
  • #79
Police say girl was alive when father tossed her over bridge - Yahoo News

(snip)

Phoebe's death led state's child welfare agency to revamp how it handles calls to its abuse line, requiring officials to respond within four hours if a caregiver is believed to be experiencing a psychotic episode. Jonchuck's attorney called the Florida Department of Children and Families hotline at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday, saying Jonchuck was "depressed and delusional."

The lawyer, G. Torres, also called Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies. Torres told the 911 dispatcher she had asked Jonchuck if he wanted her to file paperwork in his custody case during a meeting Wednesday in Tampa.

"It's not going to matter anymore," she recalled him saying.

"That really scared me," Torres told the dispatcher, her voice trembling. He was "out of his mind."

Embedded video including short interview with victim's mother & MuchMore@Link

Screengrabs of Phoebe from segment:

12b83cc553e8dab4d3a2d126d5baa0db.jpg

7897c3b11179196e1057553b15b5c8e0.jpg


via http://news.yahoo.com/dad-accused-throwing-girl-bridge-had-police-run-094328188.html

:rose:




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  • #80
Dave AHFB said:
I find it odd that they say the child fell 62 feet, the skyway is actually over 200 ft in the middle. Seems that if the end result was to kill the child you would go to the top and not throw her from such a low height.

In 1997 while fishing the old skyway I hooked into a teenagers body who had jumped a couple of days before. His body was spotted by a trooper floating towards me and he began screaming for somebody to catch him before the tide took him back out.
Click to expand...

He threw her from the smaller bridge which leads up to the larger Sunshine Skyway bridge.

My BIL's dad committed suicide of the main bridge years ago. :tears:
 
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