MT - James Hurley, 12, tortured to death, W. Yellowstone, Feb 2020 grandparents & uncle arrested #1

[Diet_Slushie_Monster]

So Alex's paternity was a surprise to many. Tommy (dad) stepped up and welcomed Alex home with him. ( In MT or Texas?) At some point, Tommy becomes ill, and passes. This is devastating to Tommy's mother, PS. She welcomes Alex home to live with her and her family, having a bit of Tommy and hoping to establish/continue a bond with Alex. Alex's mother is okay with this. I am sure initially all was well, but under currents in that home (JS III) were not so accepting.

Yes. All of this. But Alex and Tommy had been building a relationship for years before Alex moved to Montana to be with Tommy. Tommy is actually from Texas.

I wonder why Hurley's surname wasn't changed back in 2012. Since she was splitting with the Hurley person anyway.

His name was chosen as it had a very special and rich history behind it in the Hurley family. Regardless of Alex not being our biological family, we wanted him to carry that name. Alicia and Tommy had no issue with him carrying this name as they knew how special it was to us so it was never changed to Tate.

 

[Yuletide]

By the time the paperwork gets straight, the 6 yo could be going on 9. Just too much in this little guy's life.

Best scenario, is if there is some normal people in this family, Aunt, with kids, cousins, that he could live with and hopefully out of state.

I am not a fan of children visiting parents in prison. And these particular parents, might very well have their parental rights terminated anyway by the court. After all, a minor child was abused, tortured and killed while in their custody.

Who knows what horrors this 6 yo has been exposed to...

Agreed. Horrible. I hope the best for this little guy but fear the worst

 

[Diet_Slushie_Monster]

BBM I don't really buy that as her motive, and I am not convinced Alicia was ok with Alex living there permanently. Her statements since his death indicate she thought it was only going to be an extended stay, as Batts wouldn't let him return and eventually cut off contact. JMO It is ntrely possible she is doing a little damage control, though. I don't really understand why a report for custody interference/request for a welfare check wasn't requested and feel there is more to that whole story, just not sure it is relevant to us here.

JMO
Alicia was not okay with Alex being there permanently. Alex was supposed to come home this past fall. Your questions regarding this particular matter will be answered.

 

[Diet_Slushie_Monster]

I feel the same, but I think it's OK to ask where he lived in Montana when he first got there, etc. And was that the first time he ever saw his father? Because I can't see how he lived with Batts/Sasser et al before Tate died, and how it turned into a torture situation after the death of the father. And to unravel the different names to figure out who is who. The father and the son are dead, and Batts and SasserJr and III are in custody for serious offenses.
I'm also not too comfortable with stories here, saying that there was a "drunken one night stand" that produced Alex. I really doubt that came from the one person alive who could tell that story, if it was anyone's business anyway.

I only know of them living in the West Yellowstone area. Alex didn't live with the Sasser Sadists until Tommy died but he did stay with them when his father was hospitalized from what I know.

Alex met Tommy when he was 5 years old, in Texas, after the paternity results, years before Tommy's accident. Tommy relocated to Montana after his accident, and Alex followed after.
I'm sorry if the story makes you uncomfortable but this is what happened and how it happened.

 

[shotgun09]

@Diet_Slushie_Monster
Thank you for the replies, many questions have been answered. Sadly, many more questions arise, that only the courts will be able to tell. I am sure that those who knew and loved Alex wait for the same. Justice for James Alex Hurley!

 

[MimosaMornings]

Thank you @Diet_Slushie_Monster
for filling in some of the blanks and questions we had about Alex.
Appreciate you being on here.
I’m glad Alex had the opportunity to get to know Tommy.
I just don’t understand why they terrorized Alex. Maybe the Sassers had always been sadistic. And why did they not let him go home or did they hide him from his mother?

 

[NuttMegg]

I only know of them living in the West Yellowstone area. Alex didn't live with the Sasser Sadists until Tommy died but he did stay with them when his father was hospitalized from what I know.

Alex met Tommy when he was 5 years old, in Texas, after the paternity results, years before Tommy's accident. Tommy relocated to Montana after his accident, and Alex followed after.
I'm sorry if the story makes you uncomfortable but this is what happened and how it happened.

The story does not make me uncomfortable, always best to comment on what a poster actually says. I did say that I am uncomfortable with anonymous reports here saying that a "drunken one night stand" produced this little boy. There is only one person in the world who was there. Somehow I doubt that his mother would say something so flippant and cruel, given that the boy has been murdered.

 

[Yuletide]

JMO
Yes, Alex has an older sibling through his mother. He had many brothers and sisters through his family name. Alex did do a small visit at first before it was decided he could stay longer. Alex had known Tommy was his father since he was 5 so by the time he moved to Montana, they weren't strangers. It was only agreed to let Alex stay so that he could spend more time with his father and it was well known Tommy was not well and would not have very long left.[/QUO

The story does not make me uncomfortable, always best to comment on what a poster actually says. I did say that I am uncomfortable with anonymous reports here saying that a "drunken one night stand" produced this little boy. There is only one person in the world who was there. Somehow I doubt that his mother would say something so flippant and cruel, given that the boy has been murdered.

I agree. I, too, am uncomfortable, but not by the story itself. I'm not saying it is the case in this situation, but on another forum someone was cruel enough to offer up information, and it all turned out to be a hoax. It's best to stick to news articles and court documents for actual information. I appreciate Diet Slushie Monster taking the time to post. I'll be back next week because I believe at least one of the accused will be in court.

 

[Crimescenetape]

I blame the mother. You’ve been cut off completely with connections to your under age son for an extended period. Any parent would be remiss in not using every means possible to make a connection with their child. You don’t just check out of their lives. She didn’t injure her son but she could have saved him

This following is pure speculation. The mother was divorcing her husband. She probably took advantage of Alex's biological father wanting to establish contact and attempt a relationship. It served the dual purpose of meeting Dad and freeing hands to start a new life. The Sasser's have said Alex was getting into trouble and stealing things. I don't know how true that is but Mom probably took advantage of the emotional break this "visit" afforded her. What happened to this boy is unimaginable. I don't think anyone could have predicted what evidence shows happened

 

[mickey2942]

This following is pure speculation. The mother was divorcing her husband. She probably took advantage of Alex's biological father wanting to establish contact and attempt a relationship. It served the dual purpose of meeting Dad and freeing hands to start a new life. The Sasser's have said Alex was getting into trouble and stealing things. I don't know how true that is but Mom probably took advantage of the emotional break this "visit" afforded her. What happened to this boy is unimaginable. I don't think anyone could have predicted what evidence shows happened

Agreed. But, no judgment here, seriously I would go full, "Terminator" mode on anyone who wouldn't let me talk to my kid.

And the fact that she wanted to blame the school! She didn't even know that her child had been unenrolled!

 

[Lusitana]

I can’t see myself not putting up a big fight to see my baby niece, let alone my own child. But I can’t judge his mother, I don’t know what she might have been going through and I can’t imagine how much she is suffering right now so, casting judgment on this mother is not going to make anything better.

 

[Yuletide]

I can’t see myself not putting up a big fight to see my baby niece, let alone my own child. But I can’t judge his mother, I don’t know what she might have been going through and I can’t imagine how much she is suffering right now so, casting judgment on this mother is not going to make anything better.

Nothing is going to make this situation better. When the best we can hope for is that four people spend their life in a cage for torturing and murdering a child,...........well, we have missed our chance at making things better. The key is to learn from this experience and pass this lesson on to as many people as possible for future prevention. If it means hurting a few feelings in doing so, so be it. I hold parents and guardians to a very high standard. We are defined as a society, in my humble opinion, on how we treat our most fragile inhabitants. i.e. the very young and the very old. Both should be valued without fail, without complacency, and with selfless ambition. JMHO

 

[mickey2942]

The 14 year old, brings up a lot of questions, regarding sentencing for a "child".

Can he be successfully rehabilitated? How much time in jail should he receive?

There is a lot of rewiring that would have to happen in this kid, he has absolutely zero empathy or regard for the pain and suffering of another person. He actually scares me. That he is that deviant at his age. Empathy is not necessarily something that can be learned or taught, to someone who is already as antisocial as this uncle.

Does he merit life in prison without parole? I don't see prison as the world's greatest place for rehabilitation for this kid.

 

[beatrixpotter]

Nothing is going to make this situation better. When the best we can hope for is that four people spend their life in a cage for torturing and murdering a child,...........well, we have missed our chance at making things better. The key is to learn from this experience and pass this lesson on to as many people as possible for future prevention. If it means hurting a few feelings in doing so, so be it. I hold parents and guardians to a very high standard. We are defined as a society, in my humble opinion, on how we treat our most fragile inhabitants. i.e. the very young and the very old. Both should be valued without fail, without complacency, and with selfless ambition. JMHO

I'm going to try and speak in general terms here and not about a particular mother or father. But we see time and time again where children end up in dangerous situations or dead and their mother or father was absent. Or has no idea their child was missing for a large period of time. I'm sick of hearing excuses about the parent having other things going on in their life that interfered with them keeping up with their own children. We need to stop accepting this as normal!

It is not normal. It is not healthy. It is a symptom of something very wrong with the parent and with the society they are living in that it's excused. I have several children myself and my youngest is 3 yo. I have had multiple health issues myself over the years. Never in a million years would I pass off one of my kids to someone else let alone so long I couldn't follow through on ensuring contact with them.

I do not care how much a mess those parents made of their own lives. They are responsible for the dumpster of a life they offered to their own children. I would have to be dead to keep such poor track of one of my children that I would not know they were being starved and beaten. It's unconscionable. I do feel deeply sorry for the grief a parent must feel having to look back and realize they totally screwed up and this is the result. But I sure hope they are able to responsibly accept and admit the role they played in failing their children. Because unless your children are forcibly taken from you through no fault of your own you are most certainly responsible for what happens to them. We aren't talking about a tragic bus accident for these kids.

 

[Yuletide]

The 14 year old, brings up a lot of questions, regarding sentencing for a "child".

Can he be successfully rehabilitated? How much time in jail should he receive?

There is a lot of rewiring that would have to happen in this kid, he has absolutely zero empathy or regard for the pain and suffering of another person. He actually scares me. That he is that deviant at his age. Empathy is not necessarily something that can be learned or taught, to someone who is already as antisocial as this uncle.

Does he merit life in prison without parole? I don't see prison as the world's greatest place for rehabilitation for this kid.

That entire home was devoid of compassion and protective instinct. Jail is a horrible place to spend your life on earth. I can't think of a worse place for a 14 year old. But he scares me. He's capable of something that has no place in a civilized society. It's a terrible moral decision to have to make. I'm not sure counseling can rehabilitate him. I sure don't want him anywhere near a child ever again. I do also believe that at age 14, you know right from wrong. Certainly, he didn't act this way at school, because he knew it was wrong. He chose to do this. Adult crimes deserve adult time.

 

[Songbird1973]

In reference to various posts about "blaming the mother."

It's possible that I missed some earlier posts on the subject, but I personally saw almost no comments blaming the mother (AD) until she herself was quoted in MSM, accusing James's former school of not "following up" on James, and making "an anonymous phone call" that would have saved James's life.

Her own statement emphasizes the painfully obvious fact that she didn't "follow up" on her own son, or make that "phone call" herself that could have saved his life.

AD also accused the school of allowing the Sassers to "illegally" remove James at the beginning of the 2019/20 school year. She implies that the school officials were negligent in not confirming that the Sasser's were the legal guardians of James.

From my research, Montana public schools are not required to prove legal guardianship of someone enrolling, or removing a child from school.

20-5-503. Caretaker relative educational authorization affidavit -- use -- immunity -- format.

MT.gov › opi › Portals › AIMPDF OPI Home School Information - Office of Public Instruction

IMO, these statutes are saying that if a child lives with you, UNLESS a real parent/guardian shows up to object, you will be allowed to make the child's educational decisions.

So again, AD emphasizes her own lack of action over the past two years. Tommy would have enrolled James for the 2017/18 year. Then the Saasers enrolled him for 2018/19. That's when it would have been HER (James's mother) responsibility to contact the school. She would have had choices (as the legal parent) like denying the Sassers any right to make schooling decisions; letting them enroll him but demanding that the school keep her updated on any changes (like attempting to un-enroll him), etc.

AD simply didn't take steps that she had a right (and responsibility) as a parent to do to at least monitor what was happening in her son's life. (Aside from not taking more action to get her son back, which I don't even want to get into.)

RSBM ... I do feel deeply sorry for the grief a parent must feel having to look back and realize they totally screwed up and this is the result. But I sure hope they are able to responsibly accept and admit the role they played in failing their children....

In my opinion, AD opened herself up to criticism when she not only failed to accept any responsibility, but she wrongly blamed the school system for not doing what she failed to do.

 

[mickey2942]

Hearing set to consider trying 14-year-old boy as adult in West Yellowstone homicide

In this article it states that the family wanted to "get rid of James or send him to a hospital".

So, why didn't they call his mother to come get her child? Or, they could have easily picked up the phone, put James in Foster care, and the system would have had to deal with his Mother for child abandonment.

Why didn't they do these things? Probably because of the Social Security benefits. James was more than likely receiving the death benefits from his father's SSDI.

 

[Songbird1973]

Hearing set to consider trying 14-year-old boy as adult in West Yellowstone homicide

In this article it states that the family wanted to "get rid of James or send him to a hospital".

So, why didn't they call his mother to come get her child? Or, they could have easily picked up the phone, put James in Foster care, and the system would have had to deal with his Mother for child abandonment.

Why didn't they do these things? Probably because of the Social Security benefits. James was more than likely receiving the death benefits from his father's SSDI.

RBBM. Certainly the Sasser's had better options than torturing James, as you point out. But just on your one thought that I bolded, is it truly "easy" to pick up the phone and have a child in your care "put in foster care?"

 

[mickey2942]

RBBM. Certainly the Sasser's had better options than torturing James, as you point out. But just on your one thought that I bolded, is it truly "easy" to pick up the phone and have a child in your care "put in foster care?"

Yes, because it appears that James was not in their legal custody. Physical custody, yes. But from what we know, AD had not relinquished legal Permanent custody to the Sasser family.

Even a biological parent can legally relinquish their child to foster care, but if the state makes a determination that a parent can legally support the child, they will garnish the parents wages for child support.

It isn't quite that "simple", there are assessments, paperwork..and very rare. After all, who would relinquish a child voluntarily to the state? And involve officials into investigating their personal business.

But, in this situation, the Sassers could have dropped James off at the police station, literally, told them that his Mother abandoned him, and left. Cold, yes, but legally, they could have done it. If they had follow up with the Social Worker, Sasser could have said that his older son was jealous of James. The friction between them was unsafe. That was apparent.

The state would have followed up with the Mother, and charged her with child abandonment.

 

[Yuletide]

In reference to various posts about "blaming the mother."

It's possible that I missed some earlier posts on the subject, but I personally saw almost no comments blaming the mother (AD) until she herself was quoted in MSM, accusing James's former school of not "following up" on James, and making "an anonymous phone call" that would have saved James's life.

Her own statement emphasizes the painfully obvious fact that she didn't "follow up" on her own son, or make that "phone call" herself that could have saved his life.

AD also accused the school of allowing the Sassers to "illegally" remove James at the beginning of the 2019/20 school year. She implies that the school officials were negligent in not confirming that the Sasser's were the legal guardians of James.

From my research, Montana public schools are not required to prove legal guardianship of someone enrolling, or removing a child from school.

20-5-503. Caretaker relative educational authorization affidavit -- use -- immunity -- format.

MT.gov › opi › Portals › AIMPDF OPI Home School Information - Office of Public Instruction

IMO, these statutes are saying that if a child lives with you, UNLESS a real parent/guardian shows up to object, you will be allowed to make the child's educational decisions.

So again, AD emphasizes her own lack of action over the past two years. Tommy would have enrolled James for the 2017/18 year. Then the Saasers enrolled him for 2018/19. That's when it would have been HER (James's mother) responsibility to contact the school. She would have had choices (as the legal parent) like denying the Sassers any right to make schooling decisions; letting them enroll him but demanding that the school keep her updated on any changes (like attempting to un-enroll him), etc.

AD simply didn't take steps that she had a right (and responsibility) as a parent to do to at least monitor what was happening in her son's life. (Aside from not taking more action to get her son back, which I don't even want to get into.)



In my opinion, AD opened herself up to criticism when she not only failed to accept any responsibility, but she wrongly blamed the school system for not doing what she failed to do.

Indeed, Songbird1973, it was AD's own words that inspired my posts. This particular victim was surrounded by, not only violence, but complete complacency. As more interviews come out, we find out that various people in the town knew of the problems in the home, but stood by silently. There were four adults in the home that knew and/or participated in the violence who never had a moment of compassion to assist. There were two children in the home that potentially kept it silent as well. The father was no longer there to protect his son. The Mother was. Long distant parenting can be difficult, at best, but there are ways to communicate and the school systems are more than willing to provide your child's report cards, discipline records etc. And if you raise a valid red flag about their home life, the school will respond immediately and turn it over to the proper authorities. I accept that the town and surviving family will mourn this child forever. During that mourning process, I hope all of these people use every power possible to reach out to as many people possible in educating how easy it would have been to save this child so that the mourning process would not be taking place.