Found Deceased MI - Venus Stewart, 32, Colon, 28 April 2010 - # 7 *D. Stewart guilty*

[Calliope]

He went into family court in St. Joseph County Friday petitioning to gain custody of his two daughters and walked out stripped of his visitation rights and facing possible civil action for neglect.

A social worker testified that one of the children claimed that Stewart sexually abused her, but he has never been charged with that either. Stewart was greeted by protests outside the courtroom and refused comment coming out.

http://www.wtvbam.com/news/articles/2010/may/29/venus-stewarts-husband-lost-custody-rights/

How can he be charged with neglect if the children were in Venus' custody---and she had left him to move to another state?

 

[believe09]

??

After all he's been called and accused of and the implications made about what he allegedly did to Venus and could possibly do to the kids, making fun of his clothes is bashing? Serious question.

DS is a POI in his wife's disappearance. He is fair game for sleuthing, he is fair game for discussion in how he is handling the investigation. So I guess if you think he has been unfairly called a name, alert the post.

 

[pufnstuf]

My daughter was an Army sharpshooter (or whatever the highest level is)

That is impressive, Calliope. You must be very proud of her.

 

[Calliope]

DS is a POI in his wife's disappearance. He is fair game for sleuthing, he is fair game for discussion in how he is handling the investigation. So I guess if you think he has been unfairly called a name, alert the post.

It's not that. Just that I've seen him (and other POI's on other threads) called much worse than poor dressers. So I didn't quite understand why that would be considered bashing, while the other stuff was ok to post. Kim explained it and I guess I understand now.

 

[pufnstuf]

How can he be charged with neglect if the children were in Venus' custody---and she had left him to move to another state?

I was wondering the same thing. Civil action for neglect?

The interesting thing from the article to me was that CPS had a social worker there to testify that the children had been interviewed about the molestation.

If there were nothing to it, why would the judge even allow that testimony?

I've seen several articles reference the testimony of the DHS social worker, but nothing else at all about civil action.

 

[Calliope]

That is impressive, Calliope. You must be very proud of her.

Indeed I am. They told her women couldn't be snipers and she showed them lol /OT

Did we ever find out if that's what DS was? I read here he was a "sniper" but haven't seen anything other than he was in the Marines and stationed at Lejeune. Not that I understand how that would fit into what happened to Venus. It appears to have been a face to face struggle.

 

[Calliope]

I was wondering the same thing. Civil action for neglect?

The interesting thing from the article to me was that CPS had a social worker there to testify that the children had been interviewed about the molestation.

If there were nothing to it, why would the judge even allow that testimony?

I've seen several articles reference the testimony of the DHS social worker, but nothing else at all about civil action.

Civil action, rather than criminal. That's a bit confusing to me. Is CPS filing that? The only thing I can think of is if he was behind in his child support payments. I suppose that could be construed as neglect. I've not read anything to that effect in all the accusations against him.

 

[pufnstuf]

Civil action, rather than criminal. That's a bit confusing to me. Is CPS filing that? The only thing I can think of is if he was behind in his child support payments. I suppose that could be construed as neglect. I've not read anything to that effect in all the accusations against him.

All of what is ongoing regarding custody is civil action. The hearing yesterday was civil. I just didn't know that it was CPS vs. Doug.

I think it was CPS in the interest of B and R. But was it vs. Venus or vs. Doug?

Ahhhh.... these things that having documents would help!

Hmmm... I wonder if we can at least see the name of this case on the Michigan website??

 

[thinkaboutthis]

How can he be charged with neglect if the children were in Venus' custody---and she had left him to move to another state?

IMO, they didn't...the whole neglect thing is related solely to the State's interest in blocking DS from regaining custody. The children are obviously most likely not being neglected by the McCombs, but they do not have legal custody either. So in order that the State can decide where the children are to be kept, they declare that VS is missing and hence unable to take care of her children (NEGLECT) as a formality and the State swoops in and blocks DS temporarily from custody. Basically bought themselves about 3 weeks worth of time to try to figure this whole thing out.

 

[Calliope]

All of what is ongoing regarding custody is civil action. The hearing yesterday was civil. I just didn't know that it was CPS vs. Doug.

I think it was CPS in the interest of B and R. But was it vs. Venus or vs. Doug?

Ahhhh.... these things that having documents would help!

Hmmm... I wonder if we can at least see the name of this case on the Michigan website??

In most places, domestic relations courts are private.

 

[Calliope]

IMO, they didn't...the whole neglect thing is related solely to the State's interest in blocking DS from regaining custody. The children are obviously most likely not being neglected by the McCombs, but they do not have legal custody either. So in order that the State can decide where the children are to be kept, they declare that VS is missing and hence unable to take care of her children (NEGLECT) as a formality and the State swoops in and blocks DS temporarily from custody. Basically bought themselves about 3 weeks worth of time to try to figure this whole thing out.

Ok, that makes sense. They filed neglect against Venus.

 

[Natal]

As of April 2010, the Michigan State Police Crime Lab operates a backlog of forensic samples ranging from 15,000 to 17,000 at any given time. With the Detroit Crime Lab shut and budget restrictions limiting the staff, the Lab cannot keep up with demand.

The processing time for a case may range from 20 minutes to two weeks, and an average of three months elapses before samples are shipped to Lansing—where the DNA analysis takes place.

In Lansing, a DNA logjam swells, and on average, it’s another six to nine months before results are delivered to the investigator.

An estimated $10 million in additional funding would be necessary to hire enough employees to reduce DNA analysis wait-times to 60 days from about 320 days presently.



SOURCE: http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2010/04/dna_caseload_backs_up_as_michi.html

The lab for St. Joe County appears to be Lansing:

That is for routine samples. High priority samples would get done a lot faster than that.

A current unresolved possible kidnapping/murder case is going to have a much higher priority than a burglary case or a case that has been resolved and the tests are confirmatory. The latter is what the backlog is, because LE investigations across the state are flooding the lab with samples to reinforce their cases. The vast majority of that is to confirm what they allready know.

 

[Natal]

Depending on how viable the samples are and where they have to be sent, sure it does. If the stuff is going to the Univ of Texas, the backlog is huge. If the samples were treated with anything that might interfere with determining whose blood it is and how much, it might make for a complicated analysis. The FBI has their own labs of course, but their role here appears to be limited. So I think this is a fair statement and I am willing to bet money they have a preliminary result on all of it anyway.

JMO.

If the stains are from the alleged crime they would be fresh and viable enough. If they were not, and are old, degraded and heavily contaminated, they are irrelevant to the investigation.

 

[Natal]

I get what you are saying calliope, but we are here to discuss the crime that may have been committed. He is the POI. So, we can discuss what he may have done to VS. Making fun of his clothes and fashion, while I agree it's funny, does nothing for the case. Saying he may have worn long sleeves to cover scratches or bruises, yes. But, where he got the clothes and how they look on him or his weight does not.

I think that's what believe means.

It is verging on bashing.

ETA: Unless of course he did buy those closthes at Wal-Mart in Ohio and they were on the receipt. In that case, it would be a link! lol
And it would be totally ok to talk about.

I believe that some of those posts were being sarcastic, and were actually mocking other posters, not DS himself.

 

[lilcatt]

:cat:
I read where DS moved back to Michigan? Did he quit his job? Did LE search his house in Virginia? Maybe that is where she was killed and he doesn't want to stay there. Have they used luminol. I wish LE would be more open as to what measures they have taken.
Has DS parents been interviewed as to what they might know. Venus's dad mentioned DS sister, saying Venus could be there. Has LE checked her house. Maybe these are two many questions at one time, but these are questions I have been asking my self.

 

[Natal]

He went into family court in St. Joseph County Friday petitioning to gain custody of his two daughters and walked out stripped of his visitation rights and facing possible civil action for neglect.

A social worker testified that one of the children claimed that Stewart sexually abused her, but he has never been charged with that either. Stewart was greeted by protests outside the courtroom and refused comment coming out.

http://www.wtvbam.com/news/articles/2010/may/29/venus-stewarts-husband-lost-custody-rights/

That may be the case, but at that age you cannot exclude the possibility that the child had been coached, given the poisonous atmosphere between VS and DS. Young children are very easily to manipulate, and it is simple to turn fiction into fact in their minds if you have enough time.

This allegation presumably was not made at prior court hearings otherwise DS probably wouldn't have been allowed daily telephone visitation in the short term. The charge of sexual abuse had been made by VS when she first left, and it was investigated by LE. Social services would have interviewed the child at that point, so why wasn't that brought up in the initial hearings? Is this an allegation made by social services based on conversations they had after VS dissappeared, or is it based on conversations after her initial complaint?

 

[Natal]

He went into family court in St. Joseph County Friday petitioning to gain custody of his two daughters and walked out stripped of his visitation rights and facing possible civil action for neglect.


http://www.wtvbam.com/news/articles/2010/may/29/venus-stewarts-husband-lost-custody-rights/

This is just a tempory resolution, they will be back in court at a later date. Given the circumstances it was highly unlikely that anything else would have happened.

He is not the one accused of neglect by the way, since he had neither physical nor legal custody of the children. Technically the charge is being made against Venus, since she has custody and is missing. It is a mechanism that allows the court to step in and make new custodial arrangements for the children.

 

[Natal]

The interesting thing from the article to me was that CPS had a social worker there to testify that the children had been interviewed about the molestation.

If there were nothing to it, why would the judge even allow that testimony?

You can provide any testimony you like at court, it is up to the judge to believe or disbelieve it.

In this case their objective was to deny visitation, so even though they knew that the allegation wouldn't hold in a criminal trial, they can still make it and at least in the short term it would create enough doubt to achieve that objective.

 

[Natal]

Civil action, rather than criminal. That's a bit confusing to me. Is CPS filing that? The only thing I can think of is if he was behind in his child support payments. I suppose that could be construed as neglect. I've not read anything to that effect in all the accusations against him.

Not possible, since the custody ruling was made a few weeks prior to VS dissappearing, there isn't enough time.

 

[Natal]

IMO, they didn't...the whole neglect thing is related solely to the State's interest in blocking DS from regaining custody. The children are obviously most likely not being neglected by the McCombs, but they do not have legal custody either. So in order that the State can decide where the children are to be kept, they declare that VS is missing and hence unable to take care of her children (NEGLECT) as a formality and the State swoops in and blocks DS temporarily from custody. Basically bought themselves about 3 weeks worth of time to try to figure this whole thing out.

Well, since family members were apparently appealing to their church for toys and clothes for the children after VS dissappeared, the children may very well be in a state of neglect.

We don't know what child services are thinking here.