WA WA - Sky Metalwala, 2, Bellevue, 6 Nov 2011 - #15

[~n/t~]

I love your optimism, but I would hope that LE is smart enough to be watching Grandma and brother VERY, VERY closely for any signs of Sky. Let's hope anyway! I can't imagine as high profile as this case is that they would miss someone so close to JB hiding him.

Nothing would surprise me in this case. Grandma may not even be in Washington State. Or Julia for that matter.

Yes they can trace IP addresses but LE is convinced Sky is in their "own backyard".

I'm hoping LE doesn't have blinders on. I think Sky is alive.

 

[~n/t~]

Reporters found the brother.....why not grandma? Where is she? Is she in hiding?

 

[SassyBenton]

I think Sky is alive and being kept by someone JB possibly met online, perhaps out of state. I think she may have convinced someone that Sky was in danger and needed to be taken away from the situation. LE is onto this but is still trying to figure out who it is.

 

[EGirl]

NOTE: NOT AN EXPERT! The evidence used to prosecute her for neglect cannot then also be used in a separate trial to prosecute her for murder. The state basically gets one shot at it.

What exactly would preclude evidence in one trial from being used in another?

The state can absolutely charge crimes separately so that they get more than one shot if more than one crime is committed.

JMO and all that jazz.

 

[jjenny]

I think Sky is alive and being kept by someone JB possibly met online, perhaps out of state. I think she may have convinced someone that Sky was in danger and needed to be taken away from the situation. LE is onto this but is still trying to figure out who it is.

I think the chances of that are slim to none. Considering her daughter is now with her husband, I don't believe there is any way she would be hiding Sky with someone because of some "danger."

 

[Rougelatete]

Rougelatete: I wonder if you would care to weigh in on the mentally ill who seem to be able to "control" their illnesses, versus those who cannot?

I do not doubt that JB had mental health issues, but from what I have seen thus far, it seems she was able to tightly control those issues when it behooved her to do so. And that furthermore, by "not controlling" the issues, as in, allowing the OCD to escalate to the point where that her family was not allowed to sleep in their beds, or to eat inside their own home, she used those "out of control" times to conversely maintain heavy control over those in her life.

I think where I am going with this, is in wondering if she is ever charged with anything regarding Sky, would she be able to use a plea of insanity defense? If it could be proven that she has a record of being able to control the "uncontrollable"?

The phrase "crazy like a fox" runs through my head when I think of her.

I love Hambirg's answer to your question and fully agree with it. I guess the only thing I would add is that I have seen some people with a mental illness "rally" when necessary. That might be what you're referring to. It's kind of like if you had a serious injury to your knee and could barely walk day to day but one afternoon you found yourself in a life threatening situation and could suddenly muster it up to run for your life. But, it's only temporary. Your knee will give out eventually and be a bum knee again. The mental illness will resurface eventually after the rally.

All of that said, I doubt JB was legally insane at the time of the crime -- I think she knew right from wrong; in fact, I think she knew exactly what she was doing. To hide a body this well (as I think she did) and have the wherewithal to concoct a story to cover it up and then follow her lawyer's advice to not cooperate with LE tells me she's calculating and fully aware of what she did and why. So, she can have a mental illness like OCD or depression and still be cunning and criminally responsible.

Btw....people with OCD appear on the outside like they're exerting control either over themselves or others precisely because they feel incredibly out of control inside.

 

[Rougelatete]

I am not in WA but here it would be pretty difficult to successfully use the insanity defense if you "only" have OCD and no symptoms of a psychotic break during the time the crime happened.

Agreed. And, it would be pretty hard -- if not impossible -- for JB to prove a psychotic break at this point since there was no professional assessment of her at the time by LE or psych professionals. Not even witness testimony, from what we know, of someone seeing her behaving irrationally. So, it would just be JB's words and we all know what those are worth. I think it would be a really hard defense to prove, given how much she's already lied to LE (no gas in the car, etc).

 

[Rougelatete]

I think Sky is alive and being kept by someone JB possibly met online, perhaps out of state. I think she may have convinced someone that Sky was in danger and needed to be taken away from the situation. LE is onto this but is still trying to figure out who it is.

How do you know LE is onto this? Just curious.

 

[Adrienne37]

I think Sky is alive and being kept by someone JB possibly met online, perhaps out of state. I think she may have convinced someone that Sky was in danger and needed to be taken away from the situation. LE is onto this but is still trying to figure out who it is.

If your theory is correct, I have to wonder why she didn't arrange the same for M, which by all that we have seen, is the child that she cared the most about. This makes no sense considering M has ended up with the person that Julia has stated abused her.

 

[hambirg]

I think Sky is alive and being kept by someone JB possibly met online, perhaps out of state. I think she may have convinced someone that Sky was in danger and needed to be taken away from the situation. LE is onto this but is still trying to figure out who it is.

I would love to believe this, but I just can't. . .not this scenario anyway. Who would do that? It would have to be somebody she met since fishing for a man online. . so that is what, July? This case has received some national attention. . .and you can't Google Julia's name without learning about it. So if she did convince somebody to take Sky, they would fully understand, I think, what a hunk of doody they got themselves wrapped up in (not to mention with a nutcase). I think they would come forward and claim ignorance to the scenario. JMHO

 

[cluciano63]

The first thing LE would have done (well, one of the first things) is begin checking all computer and phone activity. If she was in a conspiracy to "hide" Sky, I believe they would have found the evidence by now-it has been 6+ weeks. They can get IP address locations almost instantly, IMO. And she didn't cover her tracks well as far as her dating preferences and efforts, I find it difficult to believe she is such an expert as to be able to hide other online actions. Also, what motive would she have? Yes, to "punish" Daddy...who now has her preferred child. I just don't see it. I think Sky came to harm prior to the incident with the car. JMO

 

[Rougelatete]

I've posted a blog on WS about these "kidnapped" baby cases and how similar they all are. These stories just keep piling up -- now with Ayla Reynolds in the news, it seems like there's a new missing baby case every week. We need to bring the real perpetrators to justice so parents can't just disappear their babies and say someone stole them out of a crib or the car and then go on to live their lives like their child never existed. It's sickening.

 

[cluciano63]

I've posted a blog on WS about these "kidnapped" baby cases and how similar they all are. These stories just keep piling up -- now with Ayla Reynolds in the news, it seems like there's a new missing baby case every week. We need to bring the real perpetrators to justice so parents can't just disappear their babies and say someone stole them out of a crib or the car and then go on to live their lives like their child never existed. It's sickening.

The most striking thing, to me, that all of these children have in common is their living situations. Almost all of them were living with only one biological parent, and often with steps or lovers of that parent, and many were in the throes of custody or divorce situations and/or lived with other children from one or the other parent. No traditionally "intact" families.

Haleigh, Hailey, Kyron, Hassani, Sky, Aliayah, Bianca, Lisa, Baby Kathleen, Baby Zahra, the Skleton boys, Jhessye, Ayla,the list goes on.

I don't know what this means, if anything. I know that probably 50% or more of homes are no longer the "traditional" mom, dad and kids, but it seems the percentages are WAY off for these missing little ones.

JMO

 

[Yellow]

I cannot help but wonder if there is a Casey effect here, that is, people were educated wrongly about reasonable doubt where apparently hiding a body does not mean murder.

I mean seriously, so many missing babies, many go missing in the night or like Sky go missing in broad daylight, all in the last 6 months since Casey? This did not happen before, maybe one missing baby, but not all these babies!

They all have in common that they were in the care of the parent who was the last to see them alive...

 

[bendrn]

I've posted a blog on WS about these "kidnapped" baby cases and how similar they all are. These stories just keep piling up -- now with Ayla Reynolds in the news, it seems like there's a new missing baby case every week. We need to bring the real perpetrators to justice so parents can't just disappear their babies and say someone stole them out of a crib or the car and then go on to live their lives like their child never existed. It's sickening.

Thanks so much for answering the insanity vs. mental illness and the "rally when necessary" phenomenon questions. Great analogies...

In response to this post of yours, you guys may remember many threads ago when I posted about a book called "Mothers Who Kill", which was a remarkable study of women in prison for killing their children. A very interesting read, and it DOES cover the similar living situations as someone else here mentioned. Lower socioeconomic status and lower levels of education and a parental childhood exposure to violence being common contributors.

And in my own experience when I worked in PICU, was that our severe child abuse cases also typically sprang from that same general type of environment. Sadly enough, child abuse is no surprise from that front, even abuse extreme enough to cause the death of a child.

ETA: The majority of deaths secondary to child abuse that I witnessed back in the day WERE accidental. A hot-blooded crime, usually in which a frazzled/inebriated/unprepared/inexperienced/list goes on and on young parent lost control and beat or shook the child to death.

BUT the creepy thing to me is this seemingly newly emerging pattern of (evidently) pre-planned events surrounding killing babies! Good god! I have never seen such an awful phenomenon. It seems to go like this: Kill the baby, hide the body, get all worked up and call 911 to say it was kidnapped or carjacked or just vanished into thin air, then stop talking to the police, oh well, life goes on, might even get lucky and get a book deal or a movie out of it. AAUGH!:banghead:

WHAT is going on here???

 

[bendrn]

The most striking thing, to me, that all of these children have in common is their living situations. Almost all of them were living with only one biological parent, and often with steps or lovers of that parent, and many were in the throes of custody or divorce situations and/or lived with other children from one or the other parent. No traditionally "intact" families.

Haleigh, Hailey, Kyron, Hassani, Sky, Aliayah, Bianca, Lisa, Baby Kathleen, Baby Zahra, the Skleton boys, Jhessye, Ayla,the list goes on.

I don't know what this means, if anything. I know that probably 50% or more of homes are no longer the "traditional" mom, dad and kids, but it seems the percentages are WAY off for these missing little ones.

JMO

Just read your blog! Very well done! I recommend it to everybody here.

 

[RT51]

Thanks so much for answering the insanity vs. mental illness and the "rally when necessary" phenomenon questions. Great analogies...

In response to this post of yours, you guys may remember many threads ago when I posted about a book called "Mothers Who Kill", which was a remarkable study of women in prison for killing their children. A very interesting read, and it DOES cover the similar living situations as someone else here mentioned. Lower socioeconomic status and lower levels of education and a parental childhood exposure to violence being common contributors.

And in my own experience when I worked in PICU, was that our severe child abuse cases also typically sprang from that same general type of environment. Sadly enough, child abuse is no surprise from that front, even abuse extreme enough to cause the death of a child.

BUT the creepy thing to me is this seemingly newly emerging pattern of (evidently) pre-planned events surrounding killing babies! Good god! I have never seen such an awful phenomenon. It seems to go like this: Kill the baby, hide the body, get all worked up and call 911 to say it was kidnapped or carjacked or just vanished into thin air, then stop talking to the police, oh well, life goes on, might even get lucky and get a book deal or a movie out of it. AAUGH!:banghead:

WHAT is going on here???

I am currently half way through this book, purchased upon your referral.

Compared to those referred to in the book and the new emerging pattern, it is a new and awful phenomenon. Almost like children are disposable, and "I" can get away with it and go on with my life. The subjects in the book came from bad backgrounds, where it seems the majority of the "new" missing children had parents from somewhat normal backgrounds, but their current adult life does or did not meet their expectations.

 

[BritsKate]

It's what I call the Veruca Salt phenomenon. Among maternal filicides committed over the last quarter century more and more often the perpetrator is entitled, selfish, demanding, and narcissistic. The stereotypical spoiled brat - children who grew to be parents that were never held responsible for their actions or inaction.

Shelby Dasher wanted to sleep. Casey Anthony and Stacey Barker wanted to party. Susan Smith and Diane Downs lusted after men who didn't want children. China Arnold wanted to get back at her boyfriend. As complex as these cases are the motive is strikingly simple - these women wanted something, when they wanted it, and their children got in the way.

However, often in the course of history over centuries, women have been thought to be less culpable than men in murdering their children. Society looks to 'excuse' their crimes by blaming substance abuse, domestic violence, and mental illness. The court has the same bias and while acquittals may be rare so too are the same sentences afforded both men and women who kill their children.

JMO

 

[UKgirl]

I cannot help but wonder if there is a Casey effect here, that is, people were educated wrongly about reasonable doubt where apparently hiding a body does not mean murder.

I mean seriously, so many missing babies, many go missing in the night or like Sky go missing in broad daylight, all in the last 6 months since Casey? This did not happen before, maybe one missing baby, but not all these babies!

They all have in common that they were in the care of the parent who was the last to see them alive...

I have to say I totally agree with you. It seems like parents can just cause harm to their children, fob LE off with the most outrageous stories and in the sense get on with their lives.

 

[~n/t~]

The first thing LE would have done (well, one of the first things) is begin checking all computer and phone activity. If she was in a conspiracy to "hide" Sky, I believe they would have found the evidence by now-it has been 6+ weeks. They can get IP address locations almost instantly, IMO. And she didn't cover her tracks well as far as her dating preferences and efforts, I find it difficult to believe she is such an expert as to be able to hide other online actions. Also, what motive would she have? Yes, to "punish" Daddy...who now has her preferred child. I just don't see it. I think Sky came to harm prior to the incident with the car. JMO

I don't think her plan involved M being taken from her and placed in foster care and daddy getting custody of M. She may have felt everyone would believe her abduction story.

Think about it. If it had gone as she planned, she'd still have M with her. IMO, she still thinks they'll eventually reunite and that's why she's going along with it probably at the advice of her attorney.

If LE has nothing on her, they can't charge her. She won't get arrested. She got supervised visitation. She'll eventually get custody of M.

It's gotten eerily quiet since dad got custody for some reason. I can't find any updates since Dec. 5th.