Police have arrested a homeless man they say waited inside a gas station bathroom and attacked a young girl at gunpoint. 40-year-old Christopher Gard was arrested Sunday near I-40 and Meridian. According to Oklahoma City Police, Gard was hiding in the bathroom wearing a pair of women’s underwear when the attack happened. The girl and her family were traveling through Oklahoma when they stopped for gas. A family member took the girl inside the gas station to use the bathroom.  READ MORE HERE

Mother Charged With Killing Children, Faith And Jaelen

SANTA ANA, CA — A mother involved in a contentious custody case was charged Monday with killing her 13-year-old autistic son and 9-year-old daughter in California after a judge ordered them returned to their father in Georgia. Authorities weren’t releasing many details, but one of the special circumstances filed by prosecutors against 42-year-old Marilyn Edge alleges the children were poisoned. READ MORE HERE

Sexual Abuse / Trauma

Many people have a limited understanding of the causes, prevention, and impacts of childhood sexual abuse, probably because it’s still a taboo subject in our culture; as are other sexual and abuse related topics. A common symptom of sexual abuse is post-traumatic stress. Be sure to visit this discussion area for anonymous accounts of sexual abuse, domestic violence, incest, drug abuse, etc.

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Perpetrators

1. Can a child molester be rehabilitated?
2. Do abuser’s feel remorse?
3. How can I identify if someone might be an abuser? What are some identifying features?
4. Why do people sexually abuse children?

Statistics

1. What are the perpetrator statistics on fathers, brothers, neighbors, etc.?
2. How does alcohol play a role?
3. What are the statistics on boys vs girls who are abused?
4. For how many years does abuse usually continue?
5. Is there more sexual abuse in the US than in other countries?

Trauma Recovery

1. What is traumatic dissociation or amnesia of childhood sexual abuse? Is it real?
2. If I have memories of sexual abuse, how do I know if they are accurate?
3. Does childhood sexual abuse affect adult relationships?
4. Can sexual abuse make individuals gay/homosexual?
5. Why do so many people who were sexually abused wait so long to report it?
6. Shouldn’t adults who were abused as children try to let it go?
7. If I, or someone I know was sexually abused, what can I do to help recover?
8. What is it like to tell someone you’ve been abused and not be believed?
9. Is it okay to give support to both the abuser and the abused in a family?

Legal Issues

1. Are there changes in laws that protect children?
2. In what ways are children sexually abused? Is it always physical?
3. Does pornography promote sexual abuse?
4. Is there more sexual abuse than there used to be?
5. I am an adult who was abused as a child, should I tell someone? Should I go to counseling?
6. How can I tell if a child is being abused? Should I investigate? What should I be doing? Call the police? Question the child?
7. What is the age of sexual consent? Is it sexual abuse if a brother and sister about the same age, or a few years apart engage in sexual activity? If there is a line, where is it drawn between experimenting and abuse?
8. Are there national or federal laws that pertain to childhood sexual abuse?

Sauk Village, Illinois – Robin Erwin, a 31-year-old south Chicago woman, was jailed Saturday after she allegedly stabbed her teen son to death during an argument over ice cream. According to police, Erwin and her son were arguing about ice cream that morning when Erwin stabbed her son directly in the heart. The victim, 17-year-old Diontae Erwin, was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12:41 p.m. READ MORE HERE

UPDATE: Missing 10-YO MI Boy Found Dead In Flat River

Dive teams discovered the body of a Michigan boy after an exhaustive two-day search around the Flat River, reported WWMA-TV. Devon Morrison of Belding, Mich., was found dead on Monday, after the FBI joined the operation to find the 10-year-old boy, who was last seen Saturday afternoon with his fishing pole, heading to a nearby river. READ MORE HERE

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10-YO boy goes missing while fishing; prompts large search

Update: FBI joins search; disappearance called ‘suspicious’

BELDING, MI — Authorities in Belding are searching for a young boy who went missing yesterday after telling his parents he was going fishing. A dive team has been called in to search the Flat River for missing Devon Morrison, whom Ionia County sheriff’s dispatchers say went missing Saturday, Sept. 14 in Belding. Morrison left his home near Harrison Street and North York Street on Belding’s northeast side to go fishing alone on Saturday and never returned. His mother reported he was last seen wearing a red hooded sweatshirt and black jeans. READ MORE HERE

New ICE app tracks sexual predators and alerts public

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has launched a smartphone app to track sexual predators. The app is part of a federal effort called “Operation Predator.” It aims to protect children from sexual predators, including child traffickers and those who travel overseas for sex with minors. READ MORE HERE

A jury on Thursday exonerated him of 12 charges of child sexual abuse

Michael Le Vell has said he forgives the teenager who falsely accused him of rape, but revealed that he believes the girl’s mother is ‘hell bent’ on destroying him. The Coronation Street star, 48, who was dramatically cleared of rape and indecent assault this week, told his family he believes his two-year ordeal was the result of a vindictive campaign. But he added: ‘I know I am a good man and an innocent man, now the world knows that too. In time I do think I will be strong enough to forgive.’ READ MORE HERE

PHOENIX — A Phoenix woman has been arrested after two young children she was babysitting were found to have severe bruises when their parents picked them up. Shan Marie McDonald, 36, is facing two felony counts of child abuse and one count of aggravated assault. READ MORE HERE

Father charged with son’s death after 18-month-old was left in car for 5 hours

PONTIAC, Michigan – An Oakland County man is facing a felony charge after he allegedly left his 16-month-old son in a hot car on Thursday. The young boy was killed by the intense heat. Henry Ogene has been charged with Child Abuse – Leaving a Child in a Vehicle Resulting in Death. Police have determined the boy was in the car for 5 hours. The child has been identified as Odeshi Ogene. His family released the following statement: READ MORE HERE

SANTA ANA, CA — Two children were found dead in an Orange County hotel room on Friday after police said an apparently suicidal woman made remarks that led authorities to them, authorities said. Officers found the children dead in a third-floor room at about 9 a.m. at the Hampton Inn & Suites. Police in nearby Costa Mesa had called to request that Santa Ana officers check on the childrens’ welfare, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said. READ MORE HERE

Proud mom, model student among 4 found killed in Tennessee

(CNN) — They were sons and daughters, with their whole lives ahead of them. Until — for reasons no one has yet explained — their lives came to a horrific, bloody halt on a rural road on Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau. While authorities didn’t detail why or how the four victims were shot dead, they did release their identities on Friday. READ MORE HERE

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Suspect detained in Tennessee

Jacob Allen Bennett: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Jacob Allen Bennett: Tennessee murder suspect knew victims

Police named Jacob Allen Bennett as the lone suspect after four people were found shot dead inside a vehicle in Tennessee

Fugitive wanted for repeated rape of child

The Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force is offering a reward for information which would lead to the capture of fugitive Roy Young Jr. Young is wanted by the U.S. Marshals and the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office.  Young is wanted for rape, sexual assault, and gross sexual imposition.  It is alleged that Young has continually raped and sexually assaulted a young child for the last ten years. READ MORE HERE

Man twice convicted of sexually assaulting children raped girl, 6, with her mother’s consent

A 42-year-old man twice convicted of sexually assaulting children has been accused of repeatedly raping a six-year-old girl with her mother’s consent. Seattle’s Jeffrey Johannes Evenson, a Level III sex offender, was arrested yesterday after the girl, now aged nine, told a family friend she was sexually abused for at least two years. Police allege the unidentified girl’s now-dead mother allowed Evenson, who she lived with from 2008 to 2010, to fondle her young daughter. Evenson was released from prison on child rape charges just two years before he and the girl’s mother moved in together.  He was under Community Supervision until January 2008. READ MORE HERE

Teen Sentenced to LIFE for Killing 13-MO Baby

A Georgia teenager convicted of shooting dead a baby was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday, with no parole.   Baby Antonio’s mother had asked the judge to punish 18-year-old De’Marquise Elkins for ‘taking the love of my life’.  Her 13-month-old son was shot in the head in his stroller, as Elkins tried to rob Antonio’s mother, Sherry West, in March. READ MORE HERE