Michelle Parker: A Mother Remains Missing

The case of missing Mother of three, Michelle Parker, still remains unsolved.  She vanished on November 17, 2011 from Orlando, Florida.  The last person to see her alive, estranged boyfriend Dale Smith who is also the father of twin boys from their relationship.  And Dale Smith is the sole target of the Orlando Police Department's investigation.

Law enforcement continues to work this case.  But, the media attention has all but faded. The spotlight needs to return on this case. Michelle is out there somewhere and deserves to be found.

Ever stop and think why the last person to see their wife or girlfriend alive never assists in searches or makes a plea for their safe return?  Why does the only suspect in cases of intimate partner homicide almost always lawyer up, refusing to cooperate with police?  That's because if it walks and talks like a duck, it is!

The family needs the public’s assistance more than ever before to  pass out information and posting flyer’s. Please get the information on your social networks. Visit the face page link set up by the family http://www.facebook.com/michelleparkermissingperson and if you live in the area have your local community groups and churches assist where directed by the Parker family.

Police are urging anyone with information about the case to call Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477.

• Police name missing Michelle Parker's ex-fiancé primary suspect; family's pleas
• Michelle Parker missing: Swat team swarms ex's home, names him a suspect
• Adam Clifford: Happy ending to missing person's case, 19-yr-old is safe 
• Michelle Parker’s ex-fiancé has violent history, told her ‘your day is coming’

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/video/videoplayer.swf?dppversion=11212

Police Search Home in Michelle Parker’s Disappearance: MyFoxORLANDO.com

Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education as a educator and
 specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies directing prevention for high risk situations and cases.

A national trainer to law enforcement, training officers, prosecutors, judges, legislators, social service providers, healthcare professionals,

 victim advocates and the faith based community and author.. In partnership with Management Resources Ltd. of New York addressing 

prevention and solutions within the community to the workplace. Host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show,"Time'sUp!" . She is a regular 

contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host onCrime Wire. Online contributions: Forbes : 

Crime, She Writes providing commentary about the hottest topics on crime, justice, and law from a woman’s perspective, as well as Time's Up! 

a blog which searches for solutions (SOS) for victims of crime Susan is also the daughter of a Chicago Violent Crimes detective who murdered her mother before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide.

The Latest on Forbes:Murder in the Courts & Parental Rights

Murder in the courts isn’t the image by which I would want the world to remember 7-year-old Charles and  5-year-old Braden Powell.

Read more click below:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/crime/2012/02/13/murder-in-the-courts-all-in-the-name-of-parental-rights/



Did outrageous agency blunders lead to the deaths of Charlie and Braden Powell? 


Reporter Isabelle Zehender has been covering the Susan Cox Powell case since she went missing in 2009, the link is below. 

http://www.examiner.com/missing-persons-in-national/did-outrageous-agency-blunders-lead-to-the-deaths-of-charlie-and-braden-powell#ixzz1m1wNczSV


Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education as a educator and specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies directing prevention for high risk situations and cases.

 A national trainer to law enforcement, training officers, prosecutors, judges, legislators, social service providers, healthcare professionals, victim advocates and the faith based community and author.. In partnership with Management Resources Ltd. of New York addressing prevention and solutions within the community to the workplace. Host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show,"Time'sUp!" . She is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host on Crime Wire. Online contributions: Forbes : Crime, She Writes providing commentary about the hottest topics on crime, justice, and law from a woman’s perspective, as well as Time's Up! a blog which searches for solutions (SOS) for victims of crime. Her new book Holding My Hand Through Hell published by Ice Cube Press will be in book stores in September.

Crisis in Family Court: A Mother's Mission and Lifting the Silence

Duncan                                    Jack  

Back in September of 2009, just 5 months after Amy Leichtenberg's 2 boys Jack 7 years old and Duncan  9 years old were savagely murdered by their father during a court forced visitation, Amy gave an hour long interview.  During the show Amy discussed the steps taken to protect her children. Although her boys are gone, Amy's voice is not, she is shouting to stop the bloodshed of innocent lives.

The last time Amy saw her two boys alive, something was not right. Her estranged husband was acting out-of-sorts when they met at the police station. Amy refused to hand over her boys on March 7, 2009 an officer threatened her if she didn't give them to their father, she would be arrested according to her lawyer.

In 2007, Amy was awarded full custody of the boys with Connolly given supervised visitation. According to court reports from the family visitation center, Connolly's behavior was dangerous enough to temporarily cease all visits with the boys. In my experience, when a family visitation center terminates interaction between parent and child, it sends a red flag of danger. Connolly, the ever witty and clever abuser, was able to resume visits when his psychiatrist sent a "sympathy letter" to the judge "if my client is able to spend more time with his sons, Mr. Connolly's depression and outbursts would lessen."

The judge responded by setting a series of "behavioral guidelines." This included obtaining employment, housing and continued therapy.

In family court the two parties are presumed to be on a level playing field--law abiding individuals who have a disagreement over a private family matter. A core assumption of family law is that family disputes are not criminal disputes. As such, there are few safeguards built into the family court system to protect against the criminal dynamics that dominate family disputes in cases of family violence. In addition, the accusations the victim makes in family court, no matter how serious, carry no more authority than one person's say so. One of the most serious consequences is that when a family violence victim opens a case in family court against her abuser, the abuser is given equal opportunity to fight back against the victim's accusations, often because the abusers past is not an issue. Unless, of course, he is brought in from county or state prison sporting an orange jump suit and leg shackles.

There are lawyers and men’s groups who argue using domestic violence with a broad brush is not a reason to deny fathersvisitation with their children. Accusing mothers of lying or making up stories to keep fathers’ from their children.

Under the current laws, a parent without custody is entitled "reasonable visitation." There is a high burden of proof as evidenced in this case when a court refuses to take into account dangerous abusers pose to their children.

Until we place the issue of labeling these cases as a "private matter" or an isolated incident, expect the death toll among children to rise. And rise it has, with the recent murders of Charles 7 years of age and Braden 5 years of age on Sunday in the State of Washington.  Their father Josh Powell was the only person of interest since the boys mother Susan Cox vanished from the marital Utah residence on December 6, 2009.  Last week a judge ordered permanent placement of  Susan's children too her parents Chuck and Judy Cox.  However, as if this were a contestant game show Josh was given supervised visitation.  Josh Powell took an ax to each of his own children, doused gallons of gasoline in the home before lighting a match and blowing up the home.

If you are a judge, prosecutor, victim, mental heath provider, download the interview below and listen to Amy Leichtenberg.  Amy speaks for thousands of  other mothers across the country who are living the same fears.  If the abuser does not get their way from the victim and or the family courts, the children will die.  In many cases, they are all dying. Both men and women are murdering entire families before turning the gun on themselves and committing suicide.

Listen to internet radio with Susan Murphy Milano on Blog Talk Radio

Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education as a educator and specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies directing prevention for high risk situations and cases.

 A national trainer to law enforcement, training officers, prosecutors, judges, legislators, social service providers, healthcare professionals, victim advocates and the faith based community and author.. In partnership with Management Resources Ltd. of New York addressing prevention and solutions within the community to the workplace. Host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show,"Time'sUp!" . She is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host onCrime Wire. Online contributions: Forbes : Crime, She Writes providing commentary about the hottest topics on crime, justice, and law from a woman’s perspective, as well as Time's Up! a blog which searches for solutions (SOS) for victims of crime

 http://documenttheabuse.com/

The Roth Show: Asking the Questions-In Graham, Texas Missing Mother Candice Shields Case

As he does every night, Grandpa secures both the front and back door says goodnight to everyone in the house and heads to bed.

The evening of December 10, 2011, was no different.  When he got up in the early morning hour of December 11th, making sure the house was secure, the backdoor was not.  Immediately he checked in on all the bedroom doors.  His granddaughter, 19 year-old Candice Shields was no where in sight.   Nothing in the home was out of place, broken or taken.  Grandpa knew something was wrong.

Candice Shields, who lived in Graham, Texas is the mother of a toddler she also is pregnant, expecting her second child.

There is a lot involved with this case.  Candice Shields, did not vanish into thin air!

Tonight, Monica Caison Founder of the CUE Center for Missing Persons is in Graham, whom is inTexas searching For Candice and a family member will join Dr. Laurie Roth and I on The Roth Show, tonight at 7:00 PM Eastern time -6:00 PM Central, to discuss this disturbing case.

To Listen Live go to www.therothshow.com

Details about Candice Shields from CUE Center for Missing Persons:

Missing From: Graham,Texas
Missing Since:12/11/11
Classification: Missing
Age at Disappearance:21
Date of Birth: 09/19/91
White Female
Height: 5’3
Weight:130
Hair:Brown
Eyes:Green
Clothing:Black Hoodie sweatshirt – Pajama pants (May have an X-Box 360 logo on them)

If you have any information on this case please contact CUE Center For Missing Persons using the contact form below or contact Cue Center at (910) 343-1131 24 hour tip line (910) 232-1687.

All information submitted to CUE Center For Missing Persons is confidential.

You Can also Follow the case here on Websleuths

'Tis the Season to be Safe in Your Home'

Every year my mother made a big deal about Christmas from planning out what color to make the eyes on the gingerbread cookies, to the day she, my brother, and myself would go downtown to Marshall Field’s department store for our annual Santa visit and photo. The bright lights and holiday decorations lining downtown store windows and street lamps always made me forget, if only for a moment, our lives were anything but bright and hopeful.

I have to give my mother credit, as difficult as our daily fight for survival she created happy memories for us. Sometimes, the holiday did not turn out as planned and we ended up on Christmas morning in the emergency room as she received medical attention from injuries caused by my father. My little brother and I viewed stuffing every pocket in our coat and pants with candy canes while at the hospital as a cool thing. Instead of opening presents, we went back to the house with a cup of hot chocolate and whip cream prepared with love.

Hope was always a magical illusion it did not matter if it was Christmas or not. The days and months always felt as if they were continuous in a never ending road of unpredictable behavior by a man authorized  to carry a gun and a badge to protect the streets of Chicago, while hiding behind the closed door of our home like a coward, terrorizing his own family. In our house you told time by the changing of seasons and what you needed to wear before heading out the door. During the holidays it was the one time of year that I didn't wish anything from the Sears catalog that would arrive sometime after Thanksgiving. If Santa was real, perhaps he would find us a nice safe place like I remembered watching in the movie Miracle on 34th Street, where we could hang our stockings behind a tree tacked to the wall and live happily, far away from my father, forever.

Growing up, my brother and I never really counted on much.  Making plans for anything was wishful thinking. More than fifty years later, I have no closure, just an acceptance of the violent events that would eventually hijack my mother’s life. The last memory of her is 10 feet away from the oven where we baked Christmas cookies, throughout the kitchen her blood spilled over onto the once bright yellow pattern on the floor tiles where my brother and I once sat anxiously waiting for the Christmas cookies to finish baking. In the bedroom; a couple hundred feet away, dead from a self inflicted gunshot, my father.  Although not visible to the human eye, there is a tattoo etched deep inside as it is for all those whom survive homicide; a permanent scar from a battle I would rather erase from my memory.

The effects of the violence would follow me into my own world as an adult, a secret I kept hidden from friends, colleagues and relationships. Suddenly, my secret was out, unwillingly I was a victim and a survivor of a life I did not ask for nor chose as my life's journey. In 1988, my parents divorced and the holidays were around the corner. My mother and I spent the Christmas holidays together, the first without my father and the last one with my mother.

Abruptly, in 1989, after their deaths, I left a successful business career for a world that provided little, if any, hope or assistance to abuse victims and their children.

I did not realize when I began working with victims of intimate partner abuse my world would be an important life raft for safety in keeping others alive. Over a decade of running a national agency and providing direct services, I began to incorporate strategies like no other in the country, as social service agencies were not familiar with the battleground I knew intimately.

Service providers and agencies layered by politics and paperwork with government forms and numbers instead of thinking outside the box; a box that never belonged there in the first place if lives were to be saved.

This rigid box of "rules and restrictions" is what often kicks the safety and services of a victim to the streets and back to the violence. Yes, a woman returns to the abuser numerous times before she leaves but it’s also because the family courts and services are either limited or dysfunctional.

Far too often services are based on income either too much, too little or there is not enough funding available for what is required. Ironically, the funding issues in my world were never an obstacle in keeping victims alive. With little or no resources, each person I assisted did not die. Instead, they moved forward with their lives, most went back to school to obtain degrees others found paying jobs as the sole support of the household turning their lives around minus the threat of violence. I think it was because I took the time with them, something I noticed from the  onset that was not happening when a victim reached out for help.

I learned from being in the trenches and providing hands on services combined with making time to explain to victims-- meant the difference between life and death. I would go beyond the sterile basic information and red tape of guide lines set by funders and various government agencies, people who were and continue to do so today, more concerned with tabulating stats of human lives that amounted to nothing more then entering useless garbage into a data base that had nothing to do with safety or leaving and never returning to the abuse or the system for help. One cannot effectively assist a victim of intimate partner by sitting behind a desk when they have never left the comfort of their offices, when they have never been inside the real world of sheer terror and violence that victims endure daily. Often placing victims in something labeled a shelter, government funded that does not in many ways meet the needs of victims. As I have always said like our own DNA no two cases of abuse are alike.

The days of placing a bandage on intimate partner violence, as though it were a boo-boo, are over. When a system does what it has always done, the results will be the same. It did not work out for women like my mother, unable to speak today, because they were silenced in the prime of their lives, murdered in cold blood.

As we enter the year 2012, know that the death toll across the country for those who lose their lives because of intimate partner violence does not have to be a predictable outcome in some hardwired data base, ultimately marked by a cemetery headstone as in years past. A child no longer has to acompany their mother to the emergency room on Christmas morning filling their pockets with candy canes in a cold waiting room as medical staff stitch their mothers head or set a broken limb and sent back out into uncertainty and fear that the next time they might not be so lucky.

In the New Year I would like everyone who reads this to join me in ending the abuse. How, you ask? Each time a news story about a victim who was killed comes across your facebook page or you read about a case in the Huffington post, AOL News, Google, News vine, USA Today, the Examiner, Forbes, The Washington Post, New York Times or see it on Nancy Grace, Fox News, Good Morning America, MSNBC, the Oprah Show, Dr. Phil, NPR Radio or any number of news programs send them a brief paragraph about the book Time's Up and that these cases no longer have to be tragic. That women such as Susan Powell, Stacy Peterson, Jacque Waller, Michelle Parker, Venus Stewart, Angel Downs, Renee' Pernice, Kathleen Savio and others if killed their words will speak from the grave in a court a court of law. The person responsible will be arrested.

The upside is that this book saves lives. The mothers, sisters, girlfriends and children currently living in fear who live in harm’s way each and every day need this book the most. It is up to us to see that the information and knowledge is in their hands.

And to ensure every domestic violence agency, court building, library, church, community center, hospital, business and school has a copy of the book Time's Up: A Guide on How to leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships. And for a domestic violence provider, social worker, first responder, government agency, school, business or individual who says that cannot afford it? You cannot afford not too!

Time's UP !!!

www.documenttheabuse.com

• Other Stories on the Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit:
• 
  http://courtwatchbrevard.org/drupal/?q=node/176  (example of site using EAA)
  
  
  http://www.forbes.com/sites/crime/2011/10/30/new-technology-for-domestic-violence-and-stalking-victims/
  
  
  http://www2.scnow.com/news/grand-strand/2011/nov/15/cell-phone-app-help-domestic-violence-victims-spea-ar-2692274/  (media Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit) 
  
  
  http://www.wgntv.com/news/coverstory/wgntv-evidentiary-abuse-affidavit-new-tool-gives-abused-women-a-voice-in-courtroom-20111109,0,2614298.story (Media on EAA)
  
  
  http://www.okcfox.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/kokh_vid_4220.shtml (Media)

****

Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education as a educator and specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies directing prevention for high risk situations and cases.


A national trainer to law enforcement, training officers, prosecutors, judges, legislators, social service providers, healthcare professionals, victim advocates and the faith based community and author.. In partnership with Management Resources Ltd. of New York addressing prevention and solutions within the community to the workplace. Host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show,"Time'sUp!" . She is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host onCrime Wire. Online contributions: Forbes : Crime, She Writesproviding commentary about the hottest topics on crime, justice, and law from a woman’s perspective, as well as Time's Up! a blog which searches for solutions (SOS) for victims of crime

www.imaginepublicity.com

Susan Cox (Powell) Father-In-Law-Arrested: Children Removed

On December 6, 2009, Susan Cox (Powell) vanished from her Utah home. Her estranged husband, Josh, was allowed to leave the State of Utah with their two boys, then ages 2 and 4, moving in with his father, Steven Powell, in Washington.

In November of 2010, Steven Powell, along with his son Josh, broke their silence, a month shy of the one year anniversary of Susan Cox's (Powell) disappearance. The interview was laced with both men's words, screaming, in my opinion, answers.

Over the summer came a break in the case as both father and son sat down with ABC's Night-Line for an extensive interview. The result of that began, in my opinion, the unraveling of the world of the Powells. The father-in-law's remarks sparked a long awaited investigation at the Steven Powell residence. FBI agents and investigators took computer hard drives and other evidence from the home.

Late Thursday, Steven Powell, who many believe has direct knowledge in Susan Cox's (Powell) disappearance, was taken into police custody and charged with multiple counts, including child pornography. The boys, Susan's children, now ages 4 and 6 were removed from the home and taken into protective custody. Susan's parents went to court in hopes of gaining custody of her two sons.

In court today, there were two hearings, one as it relates to the children, the other for Steven Powell's bond hearing where bail was set at $200,000.

If Steven Powell remains in jail, will Josh Powell, who depends on his father, finally crack? Will the children be able to provide important insight for investigators about their mother?

Let's hope and pray the current search efforts for Susan Cox are successful!

On a side note: Curious if the jail cell Steven Powell is occupying has room for one more, occupant?

Latest on the case from journalist, Isabelle Zehnder:

http://www.examiner.com/missing-persons-in-national/steve-powell-arrested-former-friend-shocked-charges-involve-children

Statement Analyst, Peter Hyatt:

http://seamusoriley.blogspot.com/2011/09/chuck-cox-seeks-to-save-children.html

http://murphymilanojournal.blogspot.com/2011/07/susan-powells-killer-plays-game-of.html

http://murphymilanojournal.blogspot.com/2011/08/susan-powell-case-obsession-leads-to.html

http://murphymilanojournal.blogspot.com/2010/11/susan-powell-to-be-chewed-up-like.html

****

Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education. She is a specialist with intimate partner violence cases and prevention strategies and high risk cases and available for personal consultations through the Institute. She is also part of the team atManagement Resources Limited of New York.

Susan is the author of "Time's Up: A Guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships,"Moving out, Moving on, and Defending Out Lives. Susan is the host ofThe Susan Murphy Milano Show, "Time'sUp!" . She is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host on Crime Wire.

Laura Ackerson: A Heated Custody Battle and Intimate Partner Homicide

Laura Ackerson, from North Carolina, walked away from a violent and controlling relationship. The father of her two children kept her from friends and family during their time together. As with most victims of intimate partner violence, she was isolated from the world, and she was in a heated custody battle.

The last time she was ever seen was on July 12, 2011; then in a blink of an eye taken away. Her life abruptly ended, and the news confirmed, when law enforcement traveled to Texas on a tip and retrieved parts of her dismembered body that were scattered in a pond.

This beautiful mother of two will never again be able to kiss her children good morning or tuck them into bed at night, ever again. Sadly, we don't have to look very far for answers in these cases of intimate partner violence who "suddenly" goes missing that leads to homicide.

Two people were arrested and charged with her murder, the father of her children along with the person to whom he is currently married. They planned out the murder, how she would be killed, to the rental of a Uhaul trailer driven from North Carolina across state lines to Texas. The names of these 2 people, in my opinion, have no significance. They are simply cold blooded killers.

The solution to these crimes, before they turn deadly, is a prescription that incorporates the support of communities and a nation. We do not view intimate partner violence as a crime, even though laws were passed in every state making domestic violence and stalking a crime. Victims lives were lost in order for the law to get passed in each state. This means the ink used to sign the legislation by Governors across the country had a cartridge filled with the blood of those who died. A lot of victims had to die for proposed bills to be passed into law, including my mother, murdered by her Chicago violent crimes detective husband on January 19, 1989.

Not a lot has changed since I began working with victims and keeping them alive. The exception is more lives have been taken. How is that possible when we have so much in place? Services, shelters and tough laws are not enough for the victims of intimate partner homicide in today's world.

Those who abuse and take the threat further to murder believe they, the abuser, are invincible; often playing a clever game of "catch me if you can." Personally, living for 18 years in a crime scene allows you to witness firsthand the silence of the crimes, the offenders and the dynamics that take place behind closed doors.

Isn't it rather strange that the victim is often the mother of their children estranged wife or former girlfriend? And, more often than not, they are going through a divorce or custody battle. Where are Lisa Stebic, Susan Powell, Gail Palmgren, Kelly Rothwell, Angie Denise Tucker, Kimberly Langwell, Ida Dean Richard, Rachael Conger, Tracie Resiner, Stacy Peterson, Michelle Rust, Sandra Travis, Mary Badaracco, Star Boomer, Venus Stewart, Patty Vaughhan, Hope Meek, Tabitha Franklin, Jeri Duvall, Karen Joe Smith or Jacque Waller to name only a few?

Each of the aforementioned are currently missing, in my opinion, victims of intimate partner homicide.

Approaches to this deadly epidemic must be implemented if lives are to be saved. When a system continues to do the same old thing, the outcome will not change. As it relates to intimate partner violence, the prescription can begin with a training to prosecutors, law enforcement, mental health professionals, judges, hospitals and the community. The methods being taught in conjunction with the information located in the book "Time's Up" is not only saving counties across the country tax payer dollars, it is saving lives.

Know that if you are in a relationship that has a history of violence, simply mustering up the courage to confront the person and say it is over, without the proper tools, can cost you, your life!

The book "Time's Up A Guide on How To Survive and Abusive and Stalking Relationship" is the prescription, if you will, that every person must obtain before they announce they are leaving. Below is an example from Chapter 4, one of many unique tools provided in the book. It is available onAmazon.com, or you can purchase via e-book or on a cd. If you have questions, the email address is: timesupforjustice@gmail.com

Before you decide that you have had enough and are ending the relationship create for yourself the "Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit" and video (shown below).

Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit by Susan Murphy Milano from the Book "Time's Up" from Courage Network on Vimeo.

******

Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education. She is a specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies and high risk cases and available for personal consultations through the Institute.

Susan is the author of "Time's Up: A Guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships," Moving out, Moving on, and Defending Out Lives. Susan is the host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show, "Time's Up!" . She is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host on Crime Wire.