Found Deceased MO - Titus Tackett, 3, Killarney Shores, 10 Feb 2016

[mommylicious]

Trying to remember my timelines re rigor, etc. If he was placed in the van after passing away elsewhere, how quickly would he have to have been moved for it to not be apparent that he was moved?

 

[AmyPond]

Marking my spot.... No word yet on the condition of his feet ; or official cod ?

Just preliminary cause of death as hypothermia. Still waiting on toxicology, I think.

I don't think they've told us the condition of his feet.

 

[courtneyb]

I am not blaming the family in my recent posts. Or anyone. I am only questioning the whether or not the long walk we were told this scared 3 year old took in extreme temperature in a rural area, likely pitch black, virtually in the nude, not turning and going back in the open door he came from, ending with him having enough manual dexterity, know how, strength and ability to open a van door, climb in, close the door, function despite certain hypothermia and probable frostbite is feasible or not. If what little Titus pulled off was a superhuman feat or if the majority of 3 year olds would be able to complete such a task.

If this is a tragic accident, there is still plenty of blame to go around IMO. Poor communication between Mom and the GP, some poor decisions on the part of the people responsible for making sure he is safe. No one is perfect, but the safeguards that should have been in place, should be in place with all kids, just as a matter of course, ultimately led to the death of this child. I'm sure they feel crushed, guilty, devastated, however, my heart still hurts more for Titus. This is happening to too many children and too often. Do I feel bad for them? Absolutely. I couldn't imagine the horror. But I feel worse for Titus, his life hardly begun, over and wasted because those adults failed him. Having to live with this still, for me, trumps Titus being dead. He shouldn't be "at peace" or "in a better place". That's no consolation to me. He should be running and playing and growing up to be a good big brother to his sister.

 

[Tr.]

I am not blaming the family in my recent posts. Or anyone. I am only questioning the whether or not the long walk we were told this scared 3 year old took in extreme temperature in a rural area, likely pitch black, virtually in the nude, not turning and going back in the open door he came from, ending with him having enough manual dexterity, know how, strength and ability to open a van door, climb in, close the door, function despite certain hypothermia and probable frostbite is feasible or not. If what little Titus pulled off was a superhuman feat or if the majority of 3 year olds would be able to complete such a task.

If this is a tragic accident, there is still plenty of blame to go around IMO. Poor communication between Mom and the GP, some poor decisions on the part of the people responsible for making sure he is safe. No one is perfect, but the safeguards that should have been in place, should be in place with all kids, just as a matter of course, ultimately led to the death of this child. I'm sure they feel crushed, guilty, devastated, however, my heart still hurts more for Titus. This is happening to too many children and too often. Do I feel bad for them? Absolutely. I couldn't imagine the horror. But I feel worse for Titus, his life hardly begun, over and wasted because those adults failed him. Having to live with this still, for me, trumps Titus being dead. He shouldn't be "at peace" or "in a better place". That's no consolation to me. He should be running and playing and growing up to be a good big brother to his sister.

Thank you....so so true and communication is the key.
Makes me wonder if maybe mom was told by baby daddy that papaw was informed and it was cool to leave. That angle should be explored imo.
I feel your anger and sorrow.

 

[Tr.]

Running in freezing temperatures is extremely taxing on the body, and can increase/intensify the effect that the cold has on the muscles and body, making it work much less efficiently in a shorter period of time. Even for fully clothed, experienced runners, who knowingly prepare to go for a run in the cold. For a 3 year old, only wearing a diaper, who is scared, in the middle of the night, and a non-athlete, if he was running, I don't think he'd have made it even close to the location of the van before his muscles gave out and his lungs felt like they were on fire. JMO

http://runneracademy.com/cold-weather-impact-on-running/

This is really interesting. Because I would bet that he did indeed run 6.5 tenths of a mile (per google maps) in a panic after jumping up to find his mom leaving. But I would love to hear what science has to say about a toddler doing this in those temps.
If he had her tail lights in sight for the first 1/2 minute to a minute then the location of the van is about the distance that he would have lost sight of her. I wonder if they turned on that road and he followed and something about that van felt familiar. IDK...just speculating.
Reports have them in Ironton at some point which is the other direction.

 

[EllieBee]

I am not blaming the family in my recent posts. Or anyone. I am only questioning the whether or not the long walk we were told this scared 3 year old took in extreme temperature in a rural area, likely pitch black, virtually in the nude, not turning and going back in the open door he came from, ending with him having enough manual dexterity, know how, strength and ability to open a van door, climb in, close the door, function despite certain hypothermia and probable frostbite is feasible or not. If what little Titus pulled off was a superhuman feat or if the majority of 3 year olds would be able to complete such a task.

If this is a tragic accident, there is still plenty of blame to go around IMO. Poor communication between Mom and the GP, some poor decisions on the part of the people responsible for making sure he is safe. No one is perfect, but the safeguards that should have been in place, should be in place with all kids, just as a matter of course, ultimately led to the death of this child. I'm sure they feel crushed, guilty, devastated, however, my heart still hurts more for Titus. This is happening to too many children and too often. Do I feel bad for them? Absolutely. I couldn't imagine the horror. But I feel worse for Titus, his life hardly begun, over and wasted because those adults failed him. Having to live with this still, for me, trumps Titus being dead. He shouldn't be "at peace" or "in a better place". That's no consolation to me. He should be running and playing and growing up to be a good big brother to his sister.

Best.
Post.
Evah.

 

[Beesknees]

Cut short for brevity and boldded by me.

Thank you for your post, courtneyb.

He shouldn't be "at peace" or "in a better place". That's no consolation to me. He should be running and playing and growing up to be a good big brother to his sister.

SO TRUE!

 

[said_it_and_meant_it]

I am not blaming the family in my recent posts. Or anyone. I am only questioning the whether or not the long walk we were told this scared 3 year old took in extreme temperature in a rural area, likely pitch black, virtually in the nude, not turning and going back in the open door he came from, ending with him having enough manual dexterity, know how, strength and ability to open a van door, climb in, close the door, function despite certain hypothermia and probable frostbite is feasible or not. If what little Titus pulled off was a superhuman feat or if the majority of 3 year olds would be able to complete such a task.

If this is a tragic accident, there is still plenty of blame to go around IMO. Poor communication between Mom and the GP, some poor decisions on the part of the people responsible for making sure he is safe. No one is perfect, but the safeguards that should have been in place, should be in place with all kids, just as a matter of course, ultimately led to the death of this child. I'm sure they feel crushed, guilty, devastated, however, my heart still hurts more for Titus. This is happening to too many children and too often. Do I feel bad for them? Absolutely. I couldn't imagine the horror. But I feel worse for Titus, his life hardly begun, over and wasted because those adults failed him. Having to live with this still, for me, trumps Titus being dead. He shouldn't be "at peace" or "in a better place". That's no consolation to me. He should be running and playing and growing up to be a good big brother to his sister.

I wish I could ~Thank~ this post 100 times!!! VERY well said Courtneyb!!!

 

[Tulessa]

I just wonder if they said anything about His feet and toes suffering frost bite?

I had it when I was in 1st grade, and let me tell you, it sure wasn't a picnic. We walked to school (we lived in a hollow). Walking to school one morning I noticed my fingers started tingling, and my oldest brother had to carry me home. It was three weeks Before I could be around an open fire trying to get warm. The pain is excruciating and PAINFUL. I couldn't stand my hands to be around fire to even get warm, and I couldn't have my hands in water. It was a quarter of a mile. I'm not sold on the *they are guilty*. I just wanted to explain frost bite to you guy, I cannot see Titus walking a mile!!! My brother had to carry me home in his arms.

 

[Tulessa]

I have a question. Did Titus run in the direction of said vehicle? If not That needs to be checked out.\

 

[courtneyb]

This is really interesting. Because I would bet that he did indeed run 6.5 tenths of a mile (per google maps) in a panic after jumping up to find his mom leaving. But I would love to hear what science has to say about a toddler doing this in those temps.
If he had her tail lights in sight for the first 1/2 minute to a minute then the location of the van is about the distance that he would have lost sight of her. I wonder if they turned on that road and he followed and something about that van felt familiar. IDK...just speculating.
Reports have them in Ironton at some point which is the other direction.

Was the person they were returning the car to in Ironton, or the store they went to? Was anywhere they say they went in the direction of the van? Cannot reconcile (a lot) him running after the car, but then ended up in a van .7 a mile in the opposite direction mom took when leaving.

Did said person drive them back home or did they take two cars? If they got a ride back home, I'm assuming the baby girl was in a car seat. Did they have to move the baby and car seat (no task for the faint of heart) in the middle of the night into the car they got a ride home in? If so, was there an additional person not mentioned thus far there when they drove up to see the door open and Titus gone? Or did they take two cars to bring the car back? If so, why did they need to borrow it in the first place, if they had two?

If moving baby and car seat after midnight wasn't too much trouble that they would leave her with GP, then why leave Titus?




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[Tr.]

If moving baby and car seat after midnight wasn't too much trouble that they would leave her with GP, then why leave Titus?

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Yep. And I can see not wanting the kids out in that night air in those temps to take care of an errand but especially a baby.
And why wait for Titus to go to sleep if someone's watching him? Unless he was being difficult maybe..IDK
Once again more questions than answers.

I just hope all of the questions you pose are being asked by LE and they don't just call it an accident without a thorough analysis of the timeline and facts.

 

[2Hope4]

OT to Titus, but on topic about media.

This weekend I worked a hoarding situation involving cats. Over 100 inside a home. The media reports, and reports among rescues have been horrendous! NONE of the media were there, NONE of the rescues commenting were there!!! YET, they all have a story to tell....stories not based in facts, not witnessed with their eyes, and certainly NOT what I relayed to them as I reached out for resources to help! Even had a meeting today with one of the rescues because of several reasons, first being the hoarding in their county, and they offered no assistance, second they somehow had a story to tell about it. Even at that meeting, where all their board members except two were present, they continued to spin, and spin, and lie and lie, until....I pulled out my lap top, PROVED they each were lying as they HAD read the updates in the group private message chat I was having with them, and it showed as each person read the message! There was no further denying the lies.

Now if that can happen in a situation involving cats, that all were saved, and that rescue wasn't even a part of the rescuing of the cats....imagine what happens in a child's disappearance where truth or lies could affect the outcome.

I was blown away.

Titus is running in the grassy fields, and enjoying all the kids, and animals. Hopefully getting a horse back ride and laughing all day long! I have to believe it to be true!!! You enjoy your ever life, Titus, we'll take it from here!

 

[2Hope4]

On the article with the LE stating the child followed the vehicle, trying to find Mom. I don't like it, it wasn't professional, it was stated as fact and unless he was there and witnessed it, or a camera was there to witness it, it should have never been stated! Stick to the known, proven facts! Nothing more, nothing less! If this is a crime and ever goes to court, the defense will have a field day with that 'theory' stated as fact!!! SMH....I don't get it at all!!! You can't blow off steam, throw out theories etc to media!!! They can be your friend, or worst enemy! Choose your words very carefully when dealing with them!!!

 

[Hatfield]

On the article with the LE stating the child followed the vehicle, trying to find Mom. I don't like it, it wasn't professional, it was stated as fact and unless he was there and witnessed it, or a camera was there to witness it, it should have never been stated! Stick to the known, proven facts! Nothing more, nothing less! If this is a crime and ever goes to court, the defense will have a field day with that 'theory' stated as fact!!! SMH....I don't get it at all!!! You can't blow off steam, throw out theories etc to media!!! They can be your friend, or worst enemy! Choose your words very carefully when dealing with them!!!

Exactly.

I really had liked the sheriff but he made some serious errors with the media when he began telling them assumptions like that which were probably things that was told to him by the parents or others.

Nobody saw the boy running after the parents. Nobody. That was just an assumption someone must have told the Sheriff. The article I saw indicated the sheriff had relayed that because the article was talking about things they were hearing from the Sheriff. The Sheriff probably heard it from someone else. I don't think he made it up himself. I believe he was told that.

He did good by coming out later the next day I believe and saying the investigation is just beginning and the autopsy was just preliminary. I haven't seen any updates much since then though. I hope they are doing more investigating and not just waiting for the final lab tests because even if lab tests show boy did not have any chemicals in his system I think there is plenty of other investigating that needs done.

 

[Hatfield]

This case has really hit a nerve with me because there are so many cases like this and the reason we do get suspicious is because a lot of times the parents do end up doing harm to the child or are trying to coverup something.

And when the story that is told to us in the media doesn't sound quite right then valid questions begin to be asked. And there are very valid concerning questions and concerns in this case. Very valid.
We have gone over them many times already.

I think the public is owed more information when someone ends up dying and it begins to affect others in the community. The people who own that Van may be affected by this for the rest of their lives with always thinking they should have locked the Van door and maybe the boy would have come to the door and be saved. Others in the community could still be worried that maybe someone took the boy out of the home. If GP really doesn't know what happened then they are feeling guilty as well and maybe they don't need to feel guilty if things about the story end up changing after LE finds out more.

So I think the public and community is owed the final results of the investigation and have questions answered.

It can help prevent the next tragedy and it can help give piece of mind and rest to people like the owners of that Van and others in the community. As well as us the public who truly care about what happened to the boy.

 

[Hatfield]

If I was an investigator on this case one of the things that could be done would be to pick the same day and time window and put one of those car counter clickers across the road and count how many vehicles pass over that road during that 1 or 1 1/2 hours they were gone.

It would be interesting to know how many cars were likely to pass on that road during the time window.

Probably not many at that hour but I would think at least a few cars would probably go by that route. So if the boy had been walking on the road then you would think a car would have spotted him.

Its nothing definite but it could be used to help direct the investigation.

 

[white rabbit]

i not only agree with you hatfield but applaud your insight (and posts).

my recommendation would be for all LE to employ interrogation experts. clearly (once again, consider the human factor folks) most local LE, especially in these rural areas, are only educated and/or trained to a certain extent and certainly not for these types of crimes (and yes in this case i consider titus's death a crime). to no fault of their own.

the FBI, called in to so many of these cases (jonbenet, caylee, et cetera) can't extract a hint of doubt in the parents' "stories"??? they're not trained in detecting false confessions and faked innocence?

c'mon. and when, or if, they do, they're not further trained to find hard evidence to back it up? realizing we're not on this board to be "criminal minds" or "law and order", i would hope that our law enforcement has equal if not better training.

apologies for the rant. so sick and tired of these cases.

 

[zencompass]

CourtneyB:
"Was the person they were returning the car to in Ironton, or the store they went to? Was anywhere they say they went in the direction of the van? Cannot reconcile (a lot) him running after the car, but then ended up in a van .7 a mile in the opposite direction mom took when leaving.

Did said person drive them back home or did they take two cars? If they got a ride back home, I'm assuming the baby girl was in a car seat. Did they have to move the baby and car seat (no task for the faint of heart) in the middle of the night into the car they got a ride home in? If so, was there an additional person not mentioned thus far there when they drove up to see the door open and Titus gone? Or did they take two cars to bring the car back? If so, why did they need to borrow it in the first place, if they had two?

If moving baby and car seat after midnight wasn't too much trouble that they would leave her with GP, then why leave Titus?"

Excellent questions CourtneyB! I hope these are asked by L.E.

 

[moonriverfarm]

Has there been any word from the autopsy regarding his feet being dirty from being barefoot? If he really walked that far, his feet would confirm this.