Caleb Stewart's Case After Eighteen Months

How long does Kansas take to investigate a complaint about a daycare? How many reports of abuse, injury, or untimely death do they need in order to justify the expenses involved in gathering information and making a quality decision about who gets a license to operate a daycare, and who does not? According to the latest information, brought to us by WIBW, the death of a child will bring an investigation and a decision in about a year and a half. That's how long it took Child Protective Services in Kansas to substantiate the charges, concerning a wrongful death, finally brought against Tara Johnson, the home daycare provider; and Destiny McClusky, a random friend of Tara's who had no real business in Tara's workplace.

In February of 2013, five month old Caleb Stewart was dropped off at daycare by his mom, Misty Durham. Later that day, he died. Tara Johnson was not on the premises, which she should have been, and her boyfriend, Russel Morris and the aforementioned friend, Destiny McClusky, were watching the children. Anywhere besides Kansas, this would lead to charges and a lawsuit. As is stands, Johnson, Morris, and McClusky probably do not have the assets to settle a lawsuit for wrongful death, and since Kansas was allowing this daycare to operate without a license and failing to substantiate the complaints that led to the situation that cost Caleb his life, Johnson's daycare was not covered by insurance, either. But then, about ninety-five percent of public schools in Kansas did not have insurance when school started in 2013, either.

Chad Taylor, the prosecutor in Topeka, Kansas, has declined to press any charges at all in this case. He presses charges when the children of richer, better connected parents die in daycares, but not Caleb Stewart's death. Taylor even retaliated against Misty Durham by having her arrested for an old traffic violation when she called his office to ask about the status of the case! Does he think that forcing different social classes to exist in Kansas and denying justice to people he simply doesn't like are going to get him elected again? And is child protective services in Kansas really attempting to protect children? Or do they only respond when they find children who are alive and marketable, and whose parents don't know their rights and cannot afford legal representation?  How many other children have been in harm's way during the eighteen months it took them to glance at Caleb Stewart's case?

Spanish Fork Utah And Frankfort Kansas

 

Kiplyn Davis, or Spanish Fork, Utah, was last seen Spanish Fork High School some time after lunch, on May 2, 1995. She was fifteen years old, and when she did not show up for her afternoon classes, no one batted an eyelash. In fact, no one even considered her absence odd, until her parents couldn't find her. They reported her missing at 5:00 that evening, but it took police about three weeks to start looking for her. To this day, she has not been found.

Because of the publicity the case receives from time to time, law enforcement and the local prosecutors occasionally speculate about what happened, and a former classmate is serving about fifteen years for manslaughter in the case; a guilty plea was accepted without the requirement that he name the person he "saw" murder Kiplyn or reveal her location. Such is justice when children disappear from small Midwestern schools.

But what does that have to do with Frankfort, Kansas? There is a small school there, too. There was also an incident involving a child who disappeared; thankfully, that child was found. But some of the elements are very similar to the Spanish Fork case. The child who disappeared from Frankfort High was a female freshman who had been abandoned by herself alongside of a highway by a guidance counselor who doubled as a track coach. When she disappeared, he looked for her a little bit, but gave up after awhile. He did not bother to call her parents or the police. After about three or four hours, someone noticed her walking on the shoulder of the highway and gave her a ride back to Frankfort. And now for the most disturbing similarity: Frankfort is largely populated by humanoid creatures who call themselves "people" who actually do not think that a coach or teacher "losing" a student and failing to call law enforcement or let the appropriate people know she is missing is dangerous or criminal! Had that child not been offered a ride by a person with good intentions, but found by someone with bad intentions, or had remained missing, the above mentioned humanoid creatures probably would never have tried to find her, or even tried find out what had happened. The fact that this freshman was not a native "Frankforter" disentitled her to basic safety and consideration. Tom Schroeder, the coach in question, is still employed at the school. Laura McNish, the Marshall County prosecutor, apparently does not have a problem with teachers who turn children into statistics.

On February 11, 2011, Timothy Brent Olsen entered a guilty plea to manslaughter in the disappearance of Kiplyn Davis. This was sixteen years after the last time Kiplyn was seen alive. The court did not require that he name his accomplices, and the court did not require that he reveal the location of Kiplyn's body. Had the child who was "lost" by Frankfort High School, in Kansas become a statistic, the faculty at Frankfort High School and the county attorney would probably not care about justice, or about finding her, either. They certainly didn't care about finding her during the first three hours she was missing.