MI - Calista Springer, 16, chained to bed, dies in fire, Centreville, 27 Feb 2008

[ljwf22]

I found a link re: foreclosure:
"Tony Springer said he had his eye on the Federal-style house, which was built in the 1830s, for several years before he bought it in 2003. He said he had been trying to restore the structure but he lost it recently to the bank when it went into foreclosure.

The family is in the process of moving into an apartment, where they will now stay, Springer said. He said he will likely move his family out of Centreville at the end of the school year.

"There's too many bad memories here," he said."

Link:http://blog.mlive.com/kzgazette/2008/02/tearful_dad_visits_home_where.html

 

[Linda7NJ]

States doing a bang up job
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/J/JUVENILE_DETENTION?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

 

[Linda7NJ]

i have always found your post to be from your heart and i know you have a child with special needs so i hope you can help me understand something about how people feel about this case. i am sure you have read me say i love a debate but i am not looking for that here because i know how personal this issue is for many of our posters. i am just looking for insight into how other see this issue.

i have read posters say not to judge the parents, they have suffered enough, or until you have been in there shoes you can not understand. i had a child with colic and i understand lack of sleep. i understand not following logic when you are in that situation. i would beg a 3 month old to stop crying and just sleep. promise her anything as we both cried. i never taped a pacifier over her mouth so i could sleep. i understand why parents have done that but it is neglect and can lead to the death of your child.

what i dont understand is why the fact people understand the parents frustration would make the parents not guilty of neglect. i will never really understand what a parent of a special needs child deals with.

these parents had been warned of the danger of doing this but did it anyway. isnt that the very definition of neglect? knowing your child is in danger if you do something and doing it anyway. if understanding their pain does not lead to justification of their actions then how would it lead to them not facing punishment for the actions they knowingly took?

EDT:i have a amazing respect for the trials parents like you and Amra face daily. if this is to personal i am sorry. no insult was intended.

Have a colicy child for 12 years straight

 

[sherri79]

Have a colicy child for 12 years straight

i was not in any way comparing a colic child with a disabled child. i was saying how i can identify with parents of small babies that cry for hours and out of frustration those parents do something stupid like tape a pacifier in the child's mouth. while i understand the frustration of colic parents i never think they should receive mercy when they neglect a child to the point of death and was asking how understanding the suffering of the parents in this thread equates to thinking they should not be judged for their actions.

 

[MeoW333]

http://southernsassoncrime.com/?p=1049;
“I didn’t see any handicap but fear and hunger. I wanted to put food in her backpack when she went home. She said she couldn’t take a banana because she couldn’t hide the peel. So she took an apple because she said she could eat the core. She ate like she was absolutely starved. “She was spilling her guts to us, trying to get out as much as she could about what was happening to her. It sounded completely horrific.”
People who filed the 2004 report said they received little response from DHS, prompting them to contact Upton’s office to ask for further inquiry.
Several months later, sources said, Upton’s office responded, providing a copy of Children’s Protective Services’ written response. In it, DHS officials alleged Calista’s problems — first reported to them in 1995 — were the result of “compulsive eating” of nonfood items like wood, paper and soil.

"Mr. Springer has stated his daughter was a “compulsive liar” and he could prove it with documents in the home ."

In the home that burned down, i presume.


http://blog.mlive.com/kzgazette/2008/02/details_emerge_in_fatal_fire.html
"One source said Calista looked "absolutely starved" when the person saw her on one occasion in 2004. Slenk on Friday disputed assertions that Calista was undernourished, however, describing her physique as that of "a little kid" with a small frame. The autopsy showed she weighed 91 pounds."

IMO, this is a case of serious child neglect. Children should not be kept in confinement at all. It sounds like they may have been limiting what Calista had been eating also. Isolated or confined children suffer severe abuse emotionally do to their situations. Calista was small for her abnormally small for her age. Failure to thrive?
Calista's problems included PICA, the eating of nonfood items compulsively as she was probably lacking nourishment at home.
It would be interesting to see what her two stepsisters looked like and if they were the normal height weight for their age.
Also, the family having a foreclosure on the home, possibly the parents burned it down and left her in there. The step mother was the only other person in the house and was able to escape the blaze at the time.
It sounds like a case of child confinement; it's surprising they even let her go to school.

"Slenk said evidence at the fire scene is consistent with the restraints described by the parents, but the lieutenant added: "I firmly believe that she was tethered in that manner longer than three days."
http://blog.mlive.com/kzgazette/2008/02/details_emerge_in_fatal_fire.html

How do they think Calista felt when she had to be chained to the bed while her two step sisters were able to sleep peacefully in the same room?
Now the flames didn't reach to her bedroom, so COD would be smoke inhalation.
I really think this is a case of child confinement, whether or not the house fire was really an accident, i don't know. Yet from what we've heard they were keeping this teenager of small stature "as that of a little kid"
http://blog.mlive.com/kzgazette/2008/02/details_emerge_in_fatal_fire.html

It sounds like she had failure to thrive due to parental neglect. That would explain the psychosocial dwarfism that Calista showed physically, the PICA, the desire to escape. They had let her out to go to school; this is probably what caused her to have the desire to escape. She knew that there was better out there. If she was completely confined without seeing anyone aside from her family, then i doubt the desire to escape would have been there; as she never would have seen the greener grass on the other side.

 

[ISPTRAX]

FWIW where I live if you chain your dog up outside even in your OWN back yard it is against the law!

Why in the world would you roll the eyes in sarcasm about chaining a dog up? And I'm sure if you check the laws, it's only in the case where there is not proper food/shelter provided as well.

 

[browneyes]

Wow, this is all so sad.

I can't imagine how horrible that child's last few moments were...knowing she was going to die.

 

[ISPTRAX]

Wow, this is all so sad.

I can't imagine how horrible that child's last few moments were...knowing she was going to die.

Hopefully she went due to smoke inhalation (even though that's awful, too -- but it's better than burning to death).

 

[browneyes]

Hopefully she went due to smoke inhalation (even though that's awful, too -- but it's better than burning to death).

That's what I was thinking too.

 

[ljwf22]

She did die from smoke inhalation (coroner's report).
From an article about her funeral:
"CENTREVILLE -- It was a drizzly day nearly devoid of color. Gray skies and haze seemed a perfect backdrop for a saddened city to say goodbye.

The memorial service Monday for 16-year-old Calista Springer, who died last week in a house fire while chained to her bed, was billed as a private affair for friends and family. But visitors filled all 14 pews at Centreville Baptist Church while others sat in folding chairs in the overflow section behind the congregation."

Link: http://blog.mlive.com/kzgazette/2008/03/centreville_community_remember.html

 

[NanaMcZoo]

FWIW...this was in comments :

I am closely related to the Springer family by marriage…and am absolutely horrified by what has happened to poor Calista. She was no more “special needs” than any other teenager I’ve ever met. Her parents are directly to blame for this and Marcia often told her own mother as well as other family members that she wished Calista had never been born. She treated her own children better…..and was jealous because Tony had stepped out on her and got Calista’s mother pregnant for Calista. She constantly told Calista she was unwanted. I hope therre is a hell and tony and marcia burn there for eternity.

Comment by disgusted — Yesterday @ 10:35 pm




http://southernsassoncrime.com/?p=1049

 

[SewingDeb]

I haven't read everything yet so this may have been posted already. I apologize if it is a repeat but the article gives a lot of information:

http://blog.mlive.com/kzgazette/2008/02/girl_who_died_in_centreville_f/print.html

 

[ljwf22]

This is from an article about the family:
"CENTREVILLE -- Anthony Springer was prone to fits of rage and violence, often throwing objects and punching walls and doors, according to a court document filed by his wife in 1999 seeking a personal-protection order.

Marsha Springer, then 29, told a St. Joseph County judge in a four-page letter that her husband threatened her at times and often took out his anger on their three young daughters."

Link:
http://blog.mlive.com/kzgazette/2008/03/calistas_mother_grieves_as_doc.html

It also shows a picture of the birth mother at the site of the fire, after the funeral. The church where the funeral was held is diagonally across the intersection from the house.

 

[sherri79]

FWIW...this was in comments :

I am closely related to the Springer family by marriage…and am absolutely horrified by what has happened to poor Calista. She was no more “special needs” than any other teenager I’ve ever met. Her parents are directly to blame for this and Marcia often told her own mother as well as other family members that she wished Calista had never been born. She treated her own children better…..and was jealous because Tony had stepped out on her and got Calista’s mother pregnant for Calista. She constantly told Calista she was unwanted. I hope therre is a hell and tony and marcia burn there for eternity.

Comment by disgusted — Yesterday @ 10:35 pm




http://southernsassoncrime.com/?p=1049

alot of debate on this thread has been based on the belief the child was disabled in some way. if medical evidence does not show that during the investigation i would say this is child abuse and child endangerment. the parents would have needed to see a doctor to label this child with a disability and if they never saw 1 but called her disabled anyway perhaps the parents need to be evaluated. one of the problems in this case is the nature of the disability. some disabilities can not be seen. a child with pica may look normal to every one but can endanger their own health. then after looking at if the child had a medical condition there are other issues. if your child is blind you do not tie them in bed so they dont bump the wall in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom. if your child tries to kill themselves when left alone but the local county hospital does not have any in-patient rooms available, who could blame a parent for strapping there child into bed.

in this case we know the parents bought a alarm and cps had warned them of the danger of strapping her into bed. had she not been disabled in some way i can not see spending the money on the alarm and i would hope cps would have thought it abuse to tie her down for no reason. this would not be the first case where a parent abused a child then claimed a medical condition the child did not have. it would not be the first case where a parent abused a child and cps did not act. i find more evidence of abuse in the area of teachers saying she had to clean up at school. if it turns out the parents treated her more like a pet than person throw the book at them. until that is shown i will stick with my feelings in this case. it was a case of neglect by frustrated parents. it is a crime so punish them with probation and let them live with the knowledge their actions contributed to her death.

 

[ljwf22]

Vigil this Wednesday and house to be razed.

"CENTREVILLE -- They still talk about Calista Springer in the present tense. But welling tears that threaten to spill down their cheeks betray how profoundly the Feb. 27 death of their friend and classmate haunts them.

Cristen Glick and Katie Ganger, both 16, and Ian Bungart, 14, have made it their personal mission to poke the community's conscience and prod the legal system ``not to forget'' the young girl they believe lived in abuse and died in a house fire, restrained in her bed.

The Centreville teenagers are organizing a public vigil at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the St. Joseph County Courthouse parking lot, located across the street from the fire-gutted structure where 16-year-old Calista died six months ago."

Link: http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-30/121955161363420.xml&coll=7


Also: Springer home to be razed:

"CENTREVILLE -- The burned-out shell of a historic Centreville home, now infamous as the site of a teen's death, could begin to be transformed into a government parking lot later this week.

The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners acquired the property at 105 W. Burr Oak St. for $6,000 in a bank foreclosure sale Aug. 7. It plans to demolish the structures, remove some trees and pave the lot to provide 24 additional parking spaces to serve the courthouse located across the street."

Link: http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-30/121955161163420.xml&coll=7

 

[coltsgal]

I have a question, did the parents even try to save her, before running out of the house to save their OWN lives??

 

[ljwf22]

I have a question, did the parents even try to save her, before running out of the house to save their OWN lives??

Dad & sisters weren't home, mom claims she tried.:behindbar

 

[NewMommy09]

While I can't even imagine the hard work, patience and dedication it takes to care for a troubled child, I don't feel that chaining her to her bed at night is appropriate AT ALL. From what I've read, these people were offered help from different organizations and did not want it.
I feel that if the child was chained up because she was a danger to herself or others, than she probably needed to be somewhere that people could focus on her individual needs.

I am not automatically suggesting that these parents are guilty of abuse or neglect. Nor am I denying that I empathize for their loss in this tragedy. But...plain and simple, this girl is GONE now because of how they chose to "remedy" a problem.

 

[jeepgirlva]

hate to say it but IMO they were probably getting a SS disability check for this child and that is why they kept her if they would have put her in a home for special needs children the home would have gotten her check.... and they didn't want to give up the money so make things easy on themselves they just tied her up all

 

[Salem]

From other info gathered, I venture to guess there was nothing wrong with this child except parents who did not like/want her. She probably did have some emotional problems because her parents didn't want her. They should have let her live with her bio mom or a grandparent.

I don't feel sorry for them.

Salem