GUILTY IN - Christian Choate, 13, starved, beaten to death, Gary, April 2009

[Cubby]

Boy who died after being locked in cage wrote about his desire to die



Confined to a cramped dog cage in his family’s Gary-area mobile home, 13-year-old Christian Choate would ask why he couldn’t go outside with the other kids.

According to documents made public Friday by a Lake County, Ind. judge, his stepmother, Kimberly Kubina instead would give him paper and assign him a topic to write about.

“Christian wrote of why nobody liked him and how he just wanted to be liked by his family. Christian stated that he wanted to die because nobody liked the way he ‘acted,’” according to one of the documents. “Christian’s writings detail a very sad, depressed child who often wondered when someone, anyone, was going to come check on him and give him food or liquid. Christian often stated he was hungry or thirsty.”


Full article and much more info at link:

http://www.suntimes.com/6159623-417...ed-in-cage-wrote-about-his-desire-to-die.html


The above article is heartbreaking. No child should wish to die.

 

[Wondergirl]

Poor Christian didn't have a chance in this world. His family was being investigated for abuse, before he was even out of the womb.

Christian alleged that his own mother sexually abused him in 2005.

There were allegations of abuse by his mother, and that's why his abusive father had the right to look after him? Where is the justice, and what is wrong with the system that absolutely horrific tragedies happen like this?

The child lived a life of hell on earth. I hope his soul is resting peacefully now, as nobody can harm him now.

Christian lived with 11 other siblings and cousins with Kubina and Choate after his mother, Aimee Eriks Estrada, lost custody of her three children in 2004. According to an internal Indiana Department of Child Services report, there were allegations that his sister and his half-sister were molested by their mother’s live-in boyfriend. Aimee Eriks Estrada was cited for neglect and lack of supervision. In February 2005, Christian alleged that his mother may have touched him inappropriately.

Meanwhile, documents show the Lake County Department of Child Services’ first involvement with the Choate family came in August 1995, four months before Christian was born, when they were contacted about unsanitary condition of his future stepmother’s home. The allegations were unsubstantiated.

http://www.suntimes.com/6159623-417...ed-in-cage-wrote-about-his-desire-to-die.html

 

[MorenoI]

My heart breaks knowing the horror this monsters put Christian through...This poor boy, just a child, why does this happen to the innocent?

 

[KindraLore]

I was reading one of the newer articles today about the letters and someone commented on the article about a book and how it sounded just like Christian's story. So I googled and read it (Its a free read here: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CGsQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pauladaunt.com%2Fbooks%2FDave%2520Pelzer%2520-%2520A%2520Child%2520Called%2520%2527It%2527-1.pdf&rct=j&q=the%20boy%20called%20it&ei=adEITojEBeXk0QGNvLnACw&usg=AFQjCNF_HOEF8DKnHklqCD3PID1c86rS6A&cad=rja )

Its a true story about a boy that lived through horrific abuse and torture called "A child called IT". It reminds me so much of Christian, down to the starving and cold baths, the isolation from the family, etc... I cried.. it made me understand even more what this little boy had endured, except he didnt make it. The only good thing I can say is that he doesnt have to endure one more second of such tremendous torture and emotional and physical pain, and that hopefully these monsters will be punished for what they did to him.

 

[STEADFAST]

Poor Christian didn't have a chance in this world. His family was being investigated for abuse, before he was even out of the womb.

Christian alleged that his own mother sexually abused him in 2005.

There were allegations of abuse by his mother, and that's why his abusive father had the right to look after him? Where is the justice, and what is wrong with the system that absolutely horrific tragedies happen like this?

The child lived a life of hell on earth. I hope his soul is resting peacefully now, as nobody can harm him now.

This is the case that upsets me the most on WS. I want investigations and punishment for whatever DNS workers let him down; for Lake Juvenile Court Judge Mary Beth Bonaventura, who granted Riley Choate custody; for the physician whom Christian told about being locked up and who did nothing; and any other adult who, like the above, had enough information to strongly suspect Christian was in great danger. I want his father and stepmother to die, and I also want his sister to answer for her actions.

I just can hardly stand that this happened.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/gary/article_b1fdc580-8a7d-50f4-b9a7-0503202d0f9f.html

 

[deelytful1]

"He just fell through the cracks, unfortunately," he said. "How can a child just disappear and no one follow up?"
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/...dy-unearthed-in-gary-20110504,0,5955702.story

Now there's a question that goes unanswered daily. I am so sorry for your loss Mary and I cried as I read this.
The devil is all around us.....
I won't comment further due to TOS and all....So so sad when the people a child is supposed to trust and depend on are the very ones that hurt and kill them.
I'm feeling broken right now....

 

[bessie]

Oh, nooo... I didn't see this Sunday afternoon. I've been checking foe news and checking Christian's thread practically everyday, and feeling so bad that he wasn't getting attention. But this is awful. These letters! Poor, poor boy.

 

[bessie]

Prosecutors want DNA of dead boy's father

The Lake County prosecutor's office wants a judge's permission to collect genetic material with a cotton swab from the mouth of 39-year-old Riley Choate.

http://www.wxix.com/story/15000995/ind-prosecutors-want-dna-of-dead-boys-father

I take this to mean there is physical evidence they're trying to link back to RC. But what?

 

[MorenoI]

Hmmm wonder what is going on?

 

[bessie]

Gag order issued in Indiana fatal abuse case
By Andy Grimm
Tribune reporter
4:17 PM CDT, June 30, 2011

The ruling came from Lake County Judge Diane Boswell as reporters gathered in Crown Point for a 2:30 p.m. news conference with Indiana Department of Child Services Director Charles Payne.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...fatal-abuse-case-20110630,0,36019,print.story

Interesting timing.

 

[Kat]

This is why I can't be here on this subforum. I just want to scream. and scream and scream. I just can't take it.

 

[kskiska]

I just learned about Christian today and what happened to him -- am absolutely heart sick.

This poor young boy, what he endured from his so-called 'family' and how not a soul was there for him in life -- I cannot even put into words the horror I am feeling and cannot sleep due to.

How is it there is only that one wistful photo of him? How is it there are no stories of him from classmates or friends or teachers? He was a lost boy to us even before they killed him and I am completely haunted by what I've read.

 

[tlcya]

Christian haunts me. I cannot imagine a time when he stops haunting me. The atrocities this child was subjected to for his entire brief 13 years is the stuff of nightmares.

I'm so sorry Christian, so sorry we didn't know, didn't see what was happening in time to do more for you in life. rest assured the members here will not forget and will not stop til we've seen justice in you name child.

 

[Hamsterdance]

Caged and doomed, boy leaves sad account of his life
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/07/03/greene.boy.missing/index.html?hpt=hp_p1&iref=NS1

"Christian's writings detail a very sad, depressed child who often wondered when someone, anyone, was going to come check on him and give him food or liquid."

He never knew it, but the letters to no one that he wrote while locked in the dog cage, fearing that he was forgotten by the outside world, may turn out to be his most powerful and far-reaching legacy. His words are like a prayer. His words should be a reminder that when there are allegations that a child is being confined and tortured, extra, maximum, tireless effort must be exerted before those claims are permitted to be checked off as "unsubstantiated."

(((Christian)))

 

[Wondergirl]

This just breaks my heart.

According to police, his father had "punched him with full force several times in the front, side and back of his head" in April of 2009 because the boy was too ill to eat; when Christian, back in the cage, stopped breathing, police said, he was put into a garbage bag, covered with cement and hidden beneath the ground.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/07/03/greene.boy.missing/index.html?hpt=hp_p1&iref=NS1

 

[goatman]

First, and foremost I want to make it absolutely clear that what this child went through is inexcusable, and that his torturers will be held accountable in this life, or the next.

Christian, I know that you are in a better place playing touch football with a whole slew of friends. In this I am able to take comfort.

Now on to C.A.; I will not excuse her actions; but would like to mention these couple examples of WHY she may have done what she did, at the time that this took place she was a child.

Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Milgram experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stockholm syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Again, I am not excusing ANYONE's behavior, it is repulsive and unconscionable; however at the beginning of this she was but a child herself, may the divine (whichever, if any you happen to believe in) have mercy on her soul. IMO

 

[bessie]

You're right, Goatman. We should remember that the sister was a victim herself, to some extent. If I ever hear her whole story, I might weep for her, too. But for now, whatever abuse she might have suffered pales greatly in light of poor Christian's tortured existence.

You're caged no more, Christian. Fly home, sweetheart. Fly home free.

 

[Cubby]

Goatman makes a good point. Not to excuse anyone's behavior here either, one of the previous MSM articles indicates Riley and Kimberly threatened the children with being taken away by CPS. None of us know what they were told about CPS and they had already had previous 'unsubstantiated' (at least according to CPS) encounters with CPS. Leaving those kids to see what should have been help come and go.

I can't help but think of the false accusations of abuse tossed out when couples split and how that affects those children who really need to be removed from an abusive situation. Based on what has become available via the media in this case, I am of the impression this may have been taken as a 'he said/she said' scenario over a break up when in fact NEITHER parent was fit to care for these children. It's sad that so many adults around these children either looked the other way or were ignored with their concerns.

Christian was a beautifully handsome young man with an amazing smile. I know he has a world of friends in heaven and no more pain.

I pray justice comes swiftly in this case to ALL who failed this child.

 

[goatman]

You're right, Goatman. We should remember that the sister was a victim herself, to some extent. If I ever hear her whole story, I might weep for her, too. But for now, whatever abuse she might have suffered pales greatly in light of poor Christian's tortured existence.

You're caged no more, Christian. Fly home, sweetheart. Fly home free.

RBBM

I agree, I do have empathy for her however because I feel like she never had a chance to see the beauty in life, or in her brother's life. To be raised to be so callous, hardhearted, and unfeeling...for the rest of her life she will have to live with the fact that she tortured her brother, that she had a hand in killing him, and in the coverup of his death... May Christian and the Divine have mercy.
She was a child raised to believe that that was acceptable behavior.

 

[bessie]

[video=youtube;u7gL02ddzDw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7gL02ddzDw&feature=youtube_gdata[/video]