SERIALously - 122: Shanda Vander Ark: Mother Who Tortured, Starved & Murdered Her Son

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

In July of 2022, a 15-year-old boy was found dead. The police were called to his home, and when officers arrived, what they found was a horrifying scene. The 15-year-old boy was emaciated, weighing only 69 pounds. He was also showing signs of malnutrition, and hypothermia.  Hero Bread is offering 10% off your order. Go to hero.co and use code AE at checkout. Get 20% off your first order when you go to https://www.liquidiv.com and use code AE at checkout. Go to https://www.shopify.com/serialously to start a $1 per month trial Go to https://www.Zocdoc.com/ANNIEELISE and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Then find and book a top-rated doctor today. Shop the Merch: www.shop10tolife.com     Follow the podcast on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@serialouslypodcast        Follow the podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serialouslypod/       Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise      All Social Media Links: https://www.flowcode.com/page/annieelise_      SERIALously FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/SERIALouslyAnnieElise/      About Me: https://annieelise.com/      For Business Inquiries: [e-mail] Sources: WZZM13 Court TV Muskogen County Court Documents CBS FOX 17 West Michigan News WOODTV8 Audio Credits: Court TV Muskogen County Records

This is hours before he dies, right? Yes, sir. You look like that when you put him in the bathtub. Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all-new episode of serialously it's, Annie, your true crime bestie, here to talk all things true crime with you. Guys, guys, guys, guys. Okay, the case we're talking about today is one that has been very, very highly requested. I haven't seen this many requests for a singular case come, singular for a a single case I guess it could either work either way for a single case come in um for a really long time there are so many requests for this case and it's actually one that I've been seeing kind of pop up all over my

YouTube feed more of like the trial footage of it some creators covering it maybe I'm missing a ton I don't know but anyways I wasn't sure if I was going to cover it because I had been seeing it come up in my feed but then I kept getting requests I'm like oh I hate being redundant I hate doing cases everybody else has already covered like not for any reason other than like I feel like you guys are probably bored hearing them um but I don't know there's something about this one it stuck and again with all the requests I was like I am I am gonna cover it because even I was even though I was seeing trial footage too in my mind I was like I don't really know a lot about this case which kind of shocked me because I felt like it was everywhere sorry guys you're probably like okay Annie get to the point tell us what we're talking about today so let me just set

the stage for you a little bit and then I'm going to tell you what we're going to cover. So it takes us back not very long ago to July 6th of 2022, and it was a pretty average and normal day for first responders in Norton Shores, Michigan. There were a mix of calls coming in. They were all varying in the severity of them all, but nothing too crazy that they hadn't really seen before, right? That is until they arrived at one specific house. Now, from the outside, it looked like a lovely home in a neighborhood where neighbors all looked out for one another. But the call that had come in was with concerns about a young boy who was found unresponsive by his mother and his older brother. But when the first responders arrived at the scene, they realized that it was actually much worse than they had been expecting.

And it was clear from the very start of it that something much more nefarious had been happening behind the closed doors of this gray and white suburban home. 15-year-old Timothy Ferguson was found in the home unresponsive. Now, first responders weren't even sure at first if he had been 15, because he was so tiny that his bones were sticking out of his skin, looking as if just the slightest touch could turn them into dust, passing for maybe a 7 or 8-year-old instead, and even that was pushing it. Now, Timothy was unfortunately pronounced dead at the scene, but the responders immediately knew that this wasn't just a case-closed accidental death. It was very clear that his death was something that more than likely had been brewing and coming on for months at that point. So the question now was what happened to Timothy?

So today, we're talking all about Timothy and Shonda VanderArk. Like I said, Timothy Ferguson was a 15-year-old boy living in Norton Shores, Michigan. His parents are Shonda Vanderark and Eric Fergus. Now, while Timothy was living in Norton Shores, he also lived with two of his siblings, his older brother Paul and his younger brother, who is referred to as G because he is still a minor. Paul was 19 years old at the time, and G was only 7, so there was a pretty wide age range in all of the kids. Timothy also had other siblings and is part of a blended family, but Paul and G are the only ones that are mentioned and pertinent to the rest of this case since they were also in the home when Timothy died. So for the most part, they're actually going to be the only ones that we're mentioning in today's coverage. Now, Timothy was diagnosed with autism and had some speech and

motor impairment disabilities throughout his life, and because of those things, he ended up being homeschooled so that he could receive more one-on-one attention. Before that, though, Timothy's parents had been married, but they eventually separated. Now apparently Shonda had been in a bit of trouble and was involved in investigation from CPS between 2009 and 2012. After the investigation, she agreed to let Eric have custody of the kids because if she didn't, her parental rights were going to be terminated. So Eric took custody of four kids, Paul, Timothy, Nolan, and their sister Millie, and court documents show that she was given three hours of supervised visitation per month. Because she didn't have custody of the kids, but her rights hadn't been terminated, she was actually ordered to pay $1,000 a month in

child support. But after that, her instability continued, and she had 18 different addresses that were associated with her name across multiple different states before she finally settled back into Norton Shores in 2021. She also had apparently been studying for the bar exam and was working towards a career in the legal system, which makes the rest of the story all the more ironic as we get further into it. Once she graduated in 2021 and passed the bar, which shows that she was pretty intelligent, she began working as a law clerk for the county circuit court. Now in May of that year, Timothy's father allegedly reached out to his mother and said

that he couldn't keep up with Timothy's needs or care anymore, and said that she needed to take him, or he would have to give Timothy to the state. So she agreed, and Timothy moved back in with her. Interestingly enough, he had actually been the only child living with his father up until that point, and there aren't many details regarding the CPS investigation, but it's pretty clear from whatever had happened in the past that Shonda should probably not have been the caretaker of the kids, and especially not of a child that requires a certain amount of specific care.

So the details of how it went from point A to point B regarding the other kids ending up back in her custody are a little bit foggy, but we know from these cases that things can easily get past CPS. So in January of 2022, Shonda's current husband Adam had a stroke, which ended up causing a lot of long-term issues. The stroke was so bad that he had to move back to his parents' house in Florida so that they could give him better care, and since he wasn't able to make it up and down the stairs in their current home any longer. This change, combined with being away from his father that he had been living with for quite some time, greatly affected Timothy, and as we will later see, Shonda did not show him the empathy, love, or patience that he deserved from his mother. So fast forward a few months to July 6th of 2022,

when first responders arrived at the home and found Timothy in the condition that he had been in. They immediately called the police to look more into what had happened. His mother told the police that Timothy had fallen out of a bunk bed that he was sleeping in, which is what caused him to become unresponsive. But medical examiners in the case quickly ruled Timothy's death as a homicide, and ruled that he had actually died from a combination of malnourishment and hypothermia. He was only 69 pounds at the time of his death, and he was a 15-year-old boy, which the average weight for a boy that age is around 130 pounds, if not more. So clearly, there was a big indication that something

was wrong here. Something was afoot here. Now, for someone who studied law and worked in the legal system, Timothy's mother was not the smartest or brightest, because as soon as the police began looking into the home and the conditions that Timothy lived in, it wasn't hard at all to find a trail of evidence that showed everything that had been going on since Timothy had moved back in with her. Cameras, motion sensors, and alarms were all set up throughout the house, which really caught some pretty harsh things that had happened, all on tape. And that wasn't all, though, because there also had been countless text message threads between Shonda and Timothy's older brother Paul, clearly talking about the abuse that they both played a part in against Timothy. The investigators quickly realized that Timothy could not have possibly fallen out of a bunk bed that he was sleeping in because he

wasn't sleeping in a typical bed at all. He actually wasn't in a bed at all. He was forced to sleep in a closet under the basement stairs. Inside of that closet, there was no bed, there was no pillow, there were no blankets. Not that it would have made anything better by any means, but there was nothing. All that was inside of the room was a blue tarp meant to keep urine and feces off of the floor and a small cardboard box. There was also a camera installed inside of that room, if you want to even call it that, as well as motion sensors on the outside of the door to ensure that Timothy didn't get out of the closet without his mother knowing. Now thankfully, the camera inside of the room was able to capture huge pieces of evidence and possibly even the moment that Timothy had passed away.

In one video that was captured on the camera, Timothy was seen only wearing an adult diaper and a shirt. He didn't have on any pants, and it was clear even in the footage just how small and bony Timothy's poor little body was. His hip bones and his knee joints were visible from the angle that he was displayed at in front of the camera. In the video, his mother laid him down on the tarp while telling him how pathetic he was, and how he owed her the biggest apology in the world. She was gone then out of the camera's sight for about 15 minutes before she ultimately came back into the closet. Now at that point, Timothy was pretty unresponsive, not moving, and taking very shallow breaths, which showed that he was clearly struggling to breathe. His mother noticed the way that he was struggling to breathe, but instead of being a concerned mom and, uh, I don't know, getting him help, she covered his mouth shut

with her hands and just yelled at him, saying that he didn't need to breathe through his mouth like that and that he was just being a dummy. So as investigators watched this horrific video, they were able to see the exact moment when Timothy's chest went from barely rising with breaths to not rising at all and no breaths being taken. Now the whole time he had been taking shallow breaths and it was because he was struggling to breathe and he was dying, but his mother had clearly not cared at all that he was fighting to stay alive with literally every single breath he took and had only made it harder by closing his mouth and forcing him to breathe through his nose.

It took 18 minutes from when his mother realized that he was completely unresponsive and not breathing before she and Paul called 911. And Paul claimed that the reason it took so long was because he had been trying to resuscitate him for those 18 minutes. The 18 minutes before Shonda and Paul called 911 were more than likely, though, spent getting their story straight. Now, when Paul was first questioned by authorities, he told them that the reason that Timothy was so underweight was that because he had been on a hunger strike. But he later told them that he had lied, and that his mother had told him to lie about it.

Now, his mother may have been the one who was there during his final moments, but his older brother Paul had also been part of this extreme malnourishment and abuse that took place leading up to Timothy's death. When investigators searched the rest of the home, leading up to Timothy's death. When investigators searched the rest of the home, they found that there were actually fridge locks on the fridge and alarms placed on the pantry doors, all to make sure that Timothy was restricted from food and that his food intake was completely dependent on his mother and brother. Just appalling, disgusting, cruel, and awful. Now, it was also discovered that Timothy had received various different forms of cruel punishment, a lot of the times ordered by his mother, but carried out by his brother. It's like Alex Coxey, Glory Ballow, it's sick. But in one of

these occurrences, Timothy was caught eating pieces of hamburger crust, and as a punishment for trying to find his own food because he was hungry, he was then forced to throw it up. Now this is something we've actually seen a couple of times. I think we saw it in the Turpin case, but don't quote me on that. But there have been different house of horror type cases and abuse cases where the food is so closely monitored and restricted that if a child sneaks the food, they're forced to throw it up as a form of punishment and then eat the vomit as a further form of punishment. Now this hasn't been verified in that case, but I'm just speaking to the tactic that it is a common tactic in households like these. Now another form of punishment that his

mother often enforced was forcing Timothy to eat Carolina Reaper hot sauce, eat this on bread, or she would pour it directly into his mouth. Unfortunately, again, not a tactic that we have not heard before. So there was no doubt that Timothy had been extremely abused, and it was pretty obvious how the malnourishment had played into his death. But what was the hypothermia from? So as investigators continued combing through text messages between Timothy's mother and brother, they found texts that showed one of Timothy's other punishments was actually an ice bath. And it was for extended periods of time, not like a cold plunge, things like that, where you go in for one to three minutes, which my

husband does every day, and I'm very familiar with that. An ice bath is very, very different. And he would have to go into this for extended periods of time. The day before his death, his brother had been texting his mother, saying how annoyed he was with Timothy. And when their mother asked him what Timothy did, he responded, and I quote, the whole shaking and I need support crap. I'm ready to slam him into the ground. He also wet the bed and is covered support crap. I'm ready to slam him into the ground. He also wet the bed and is covered

in urine. Now I'm not sure if the bed that he's referring to is the tarp on the ground in that like basement closet makeshift non-bedroom, but it is just so insane to me that you lock someone up, you're not letting them use the bathroom, then you get upset when they inevitably have an accident because they can't hold it in. But because they are monsters and think this way, Timothy having an accident resulted in him getting an ice bath for a punishment for that day. And he was left in that ice bath for a total of nine hours before he was taken out of it and then shoved back into that closet. I cannot imagine the pain and suffering that he felt for nine hours straight in ice cold water. A five minute ice bath is painful enough. Honestly a two or three minute cold plunge which is not I have no ice in it is

painful. Nine hours is almost unimaginable to think about. So after going through all of the evidence that was just so carelessly left in the open, on July 8th, two days after Timothy's death, his mother was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree child abuse. I've been at this job for over 20 years. And, you know, the things that walk through this door on a day-in and day-out basis are horrific and traumatic. But I can safely say that within my career, this is probably one of the more sadistic and tragic events that I've ever seen and witnessed and been a part of. And I can't imagine any parent treating a child like that, let alone doing it over a period of time that ultimately, allegedly, caused this young man's death. So yeah, I mean, as a parent, I'm just, I can't even put into words how I feel about another parent treating a child like that. That day, she appeared in court virtually, and

for someone who so carelessly harmed their child, she sure was playing it up for the people in the courtroom. She was very emotional, crying, shaking her body back and forth while the things that she had been accused of doing to Timothy were read aloud to the court. I mean, it was a pretty huge performance in my opinion. So the judge quickly ordered that she be held without bail and said that she was considered a flight risk. The denial of food to the child, feeding the child nothing but bread and bread soaked in hot sauce, pouring hot sauce down the child's throat and placing the child in an ice bath, which we believe will be the explanation ultimately for why the child had

suffered hypothermia. And that most notably happened the day before the child had suf and that most notably hap child passed away. This c not only about the safety the community, but also r days later and he was char child. His bond was set a So Paul was also arrested a few days later, and he was charged with first-degree child abuse. His bond was set at $500,000 cash. And he pretty quickly took a plea deal, agreeing to plead guilty to the child abuse charges and testify against his mother, all in exchange for a reduced sentence of six to eight years.

So on January 4th, 2023, he took the stand in a hearing that was held for his mother, and he described how in the week leading up to Timothy's death, he began to notice changes in Timothy, and those changes apparently began to worry him. I took pictures of it and sent them to her and told her that I wouldn't say that I said to stop, but I was trying to hint at it. To stop what? To stop feeding him so horribly, give him something nutritional, give him what he needed. He didn't deserve this. According to her, the incoherence was fake. And what do you mean by the incoherence? He was incapable of moving, incapable of responding. He wasn't speaking or

anything. A series of text messages between Paul and his mother were also read during the hearing, showing just a small glimpse of the things that we would be hearing during her trial, which was set for December 13th, 2023. So months passed, and Shonda's trial officially began on December 13th, 2023. Now day one started out strong, with the prosecution bringing Paul up as their key witness. Before his testimony, a series of text messages between him and his mother had been read, which really gave the jury a clear understanding of some of the awful things that they had said back and forth to each other, as well as the punishments that their mother had very clearly been instructing Paul to give.

While the text messages were being read, Shonda's lawyer went over and talked to the judge. Now, no one could tell what they were discussing, but when the camera panned over to Shonda, she was clearly having some sort of physical reaction, which the media has been referring to as a possible panic attack. uh about five maybe ten minutes so i'll have you retire the jury during paul's testimony later in the day he gave more in-depth details about life at home such as who was living in the home during the time that Timothy had been abused and he also shared way more about what Timothy's day-to-day life looked like including the various ways that he had been abused in the home. Paul told the jury that when Timothy moved back in with their mother in 2021

she made the decision to stop giving him his medications and as far as he knew Timothy was never even taken to a doctor during the time that he was back in the home with his mother. Timothy was allowed to even leave the house or go outside, was occasionally to walk the family dogs in the backyard, or if his mother felt like he deserved a more physical punishment, like running up and down the patio stairs in the backyard. And that punishment was something that Timothy faced often, apparently. and the patio stairs were in an area where nobody from the front of the home or walking on the sidewalk could see. But apparently, it also wasn't just good enough for him to run. Paul claimed that their mother wanted him to run faster

so that it would be more of a struggle and more of a punishment, which was what they referred to often in their text message exchanges to each other as chasing style, where one of them chased him and it was all to make him go faster. Paul testified that when Timothy first moved in, he wasn't underweight at all. He even described him as having a little bit of chubbiness to his body, and he claimed that their mother began locking the pantry and the refrigerator doors to restrict his eating right around February after moving in, right after Adam had a stroke and moved out of the house. He also confirmed that that hunger strike that their mother had told the authorities about and told him to lie about as well was not at all true. There's been some testimony already about Timothy going on a hunger strike around the

time of Adam's stroke. To your knowledge, did Timothy ever go on a hunger strike when Adam had his stroke? No, sir. There's also a reference in going on another hunger strike about two weeks before he passed away. Excuse me, did that happen? No, sir. We are taking a quick break in today's case to hear from our first sponsors. Now, guys, it's no secret. I love turkey sandwiches, okay? It is like going to be my death row meal if I'm ever on death row, which let's hope I'm not, but I would eat them every single day if I could. However, it's a lot of bread, and I try to be mindful of carbs whenever I can be, but in enters Hero Bread to the chat. See, Hero Bread makes those same delicious favorites that are free of consequences or compromises. They've remade that carby, empty calorie bread products into this fluffy,

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like I'm finally on my hydration game. Rehydrate yourself for the new year. Grab your Liquid IV hydration multiplier sugar-free in bulk nationwide at Costco or get 20% off your first order when you go to liquidiv.com and use code AE at checkout. That's 20% off your first order when you shop Better Hydration today using promo code AE at liquidiv.com. Apparently, the cameras that were placed in Timothy's room weren't just making sure he didn't leave the room. the cameras that were placed in Timothy's room weren't just making sure he didn't leave the room. They were also to make sure that he was completing the punishments that he was given by his mother and his brother. One of the punishments forced Timothy to face the far corner of the closet on his knees with his hands above his head and to stay in that position for several hours. The two of them would then monitor him and make sure that he hadn't stopped, and if he did, they would just force him to hold that position even longer.

He was also forced to do wall sits against the wall for several hours and sometimes even overnight. And that would be extremely hard for anybody to do, let alone somebody with motor impairment disabilities. So Paul also testified that Timothy was often handcuffed and zip-tied, all in efforts to make sure that he couldn't move at all. He was literally being treated worse than some of the most awful criminals in prison. And was there something placed on his wrist as well at any point? Handcuffs and before that zip ties, zip cuffs. When you say zip cuffs, so those put together with zip ties? Yes. And what and those were designed to restrict what? Movement. Of

what part of his body? His hands. I think there's a text exchange that the jury's heard a couple of times where it's referencing him tightening those zip cuffs on his wrist. Do you recall that? Yes sir. And so those what was happening that caused you to send that text message and had that exchange with with your mother about those zip cuffs? He was complaining about them being too tight. So when Timothy had to use the bathroom he had to ask one of them to use it whichever one was watching him at the time. He had to ask them to be let out of the closet and then if he did get let out on that rare occasion, he was apparently timed. And if he didn't ask them and had an accident on the floor or in his diaper that he wore, he would face even more cruel punishments.

It's sick and extremely clear that every aspect of Timothy's life was set under these strict and very unnecessary rules, for no purpose other than to have complete control over him. At some point in time, there was a tarp placed in there, is that right? Yes, sir. And what was the reason there was a tarp placed in that room? Due to Timothy's bladder problem, Shonda didn't want him urinating on the floor. Would that be something that he would do? Yes.

Did he wear some type of adult diaper? Adult diaper, yes. And let me ask it this way, if Timothy had to go to the bathroom, what was, how would he go to the bathroom? He would have to ask and he would be timed. And who would do the timing? Whichever one of us was there. So he'd ask, may he still be asked to ask permission to go to the bathroom? Yes, sir. And what time was he allowed to go to the bathroom? For urinating, it was a minute.

For urinating, it was a minute. For taking a poop, it was two minutes. And who set those time limits? Shonda. Now, possibly one of the most difficult parts of Paul's testimony was when it came time to discuss what they called the hot sauce punishments. As a form of abuse and punishment, Timothy would regularly be forced to ingest hot sauce in various ways, not being given any water or other food and essentially having to sit and endure the pain of hot sauce in his mouth. At some point in time, were you asked to start feeding him bread with hot sauce on it? Yes.

And who asked you to do that? Shonda. Why were you giving him bread with hot sauce on it? Because he was supposedly misbehaving. And how would you, I mean, describe to the jury what you would do to do that and to make him eat the bread with hot sauce? I would put it on bread, have him stand in the kitchen area near the back door and watch him eat until he finished. And was he required to eat it until it was all gone?

Yes, sir. Did it ever look like he wanted to eat the bread with hot sauce? No. Were there times where you were told that he could have something besides bread with hot sauce on it if he ate the bread with hot sauce first? Regular bread, yes. So he had to eat that bread with hot sauce first, and then he could have some regular bread? Yes. Did he have to wait a period of time before he could eat the regular bread yes so we need to eat that bread with hot sauce first and then you could have some regular bread yes did he have to wait a period of time before he could eat the regular breath though yes well do you remember about what that was

about 30 minutes with taking out the bread out of the equation was hot sauce used in some other fashion as a form of discipline for him? It was poured directly into his mouth. And who would do that? Me or Shonda, me under her orders. And it's just like what you sound like? You just, how did you do that? I had him open his mouth and put it, poured it in.

Text messages between the two of them showed that at one point, Timothy's mother had considered even having Paul pour the hot sauce onto Timothy's genitals as another form of punishment. Although Paul denied that he had ever carried out the punishment like that. Now, once again, this is actually a tactic that has been used, punishment although Paul denied that he had ever carried out the punishment like that. Now once again this is actually a tactic that has been used and we just talked about in another case like this that happened here in Orange County not very long ago where it was a little girl though and they took hot sauce and put it inside and on the outside of her genitals. It is sick. Now the text message

that was sent to Paul read, and I quote, I wonder how it would feel to have that hot sauce on your private parts. I'm not saying touch him there, not at all, but dripping a little bit there? Is that horrible? Yes, yes it is horrible. Like, what are you even talking about right now? Just a few weeks before Timothy's death, Paul had sent a photo to their mother expressing his concern for how small Timothy had become, how small he looked now.

And the text message thread was shown to Paul, and the actual photograph was shown to the jury, but not to the viewers. But Timothy's body in that photo was described as looking extremely thin and frail. extremely thin and frail. And Paul testified that after he sent that text to their mother, he made Timothy a meal of scrambled eggs and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But he made sure that he hid that from their mother because that would have just angered her. Was he eating regular meals at that point? Yeah. Were you still administering the hot sauce on the bread as a form of punishment for him during that time period? Yes. And did that continue all the way up until the time of his death? Yes. Did he ever eat any normal type of meal leading up to his death after you took that photo

and sent it to your mother? That day I made him an actual meal, an actual peanut butter and jelly sandwich as well as scrambled some eggs and put cheese in them. Did you tell your mother you made that meal for her? No, sir. Why not? Because I didn't want her to be upset with me. Paul had been adamant throughout the case and the trial that he followed his mother's instructions and that he only did the things that he did because she told him to. During cross-examination, he testified that he would

have done anything to make their mother happy and to make her proud, and he even explained that his relationship with her could be sort of described as more of like a Stockholm Syndrome type aspect. He even said, quote, I desire to find a role model that, due to my low self-esteem, I would do anything to make them proud of me. Now, towards the end of the cross-examination, he was asked what seemed to be a very tough question for him. He was asked, do you love Timothy? At some point in time, were you asked to start feeding him bread with hot sauce on it? Yes.

And who asked you to do that? Shonda. Why were you giving him bread with hot sauce on it? Because he was supposedly misbehaving. And how would you, I mean, describe to the jury what you would do to do that and to make him eat the bread with hot sauce. The following day, Shonda herself testified, and we learned a little bit more about how Timothy ended up in her care. She testified that Timothy's dad had said that he was pushing his buttons, quote unquote, and that he could no longer handle him, which resulted in her supposedly gladly

taking him into her home. So she testified that since she didn't have legal custody over him, she couldn't enroll him in any school, which was the reason that she ended up homeschooling him. She also claimed that since her ex-husband never sent Timothy's medical card, she couldn't take him to the doctor, which was why he hadn't received any medical care in the time that he was residing in her home. When Timothy had moved in, he had been on a long list of medications, which stopped because she said she couldn't refill them since she didn't have his medical card, Which makes absolutely no sense to me because you can take people to clinics, you can get free health care aid, you can get all of these things, or you could just call ask for the medical card. I mean excuse after excuse after excuse. Now a lot of the emphasis was placed on the fact

that she had been living paycheck to paycheck, or as she described, not even paycheck to paycheck, that most things were actually turned in late. So she claimed that after her husband's stroke, his income was lost, and she had to often ask Paul for money to even feed the family since he was working part-time at Applebee's. She said that there was no extra money for the family, and especially no extra money for any kind of child care. And honestly, I kind of feel like these questions were asked specifically to make it seem as though she did what she had to do in a pinch when she couldn't afford someone to be Timothy's caretaker, but it honestly just missed the mark. A lot of people we know live paycheck to paycheck and take care of disabled children

without abusing them. Now, Timothy's exact disabilities were another aspect that she testified about, claiming that Paul's testimony had actually been incorrect. She said that Timothy was on the autism spectrum, but was verbal, and had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as well as bipolar disorder. But she claimed that he did not have actual motor impairment, and that he was just not coordinated. She even brought up the fact that when Timothy had originally planned to go to public high school before he was eventually homeschooled, he had wanted to join the baseball team, though she said in court that she remembered

thinking, sorry sweetie, there's no way that you have the coordination for that. Well, we've heard some testimony as to Timothy's special needs. What were his special needs? He was on the autism spectrum, but he was completely verbal and he was grade level in school. He was not behind in school at all. He was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He was diagnosed as bipolar and sensory processing disorder.

I heard Paul mention physical disability. He didn't have any...now, Timothy, when when he first got there said he had a physical disability and I asked his stepmom about it to make sure and she said no, he was not coordinated at all. The first summer that he lived with us, my youngest was playing baseball and Timothy actually mentioned because we had planned to put him in public high school, I'm going to try out for the baseball team and I didn't say anything to him but I remember thinking, sorry, sweetie, there's no way you don't have the coordination for that. She testified that the cameras throughout the house, as well as the motion sensors on the cabinets and the refrigerator weren't at all for the reasons that Paul had testified they were

there for. She added that her husband, Adam had been born disabled and that even before his stroke, he had to use a wheelchair. She said that since he was in a wheelchair, being able to use the cameras to talk to people in other rooms, such as the youngest boy, G, was the easiest for their family. She claimed that Adam could just easily talk to G through the camera to tell him to come upstairs or to bring him something instead of dragging himself down the stairs. She also testified that the motion sensors and the alarms hadn't been an idea that came to her naturally. She claimed that Timothy's stepmom had actually recommended them to her after Timothy moved in, and that the cameras weren't even just to monitor Timothy, but to monitor her youngest son as well while she was

working full-time. Which, okay, maybe all of that could make sense in some twisted alternate universe. Maybe. I have cameras in my house. Okay, sure. But that doesn't explain the hot sauce. That doesn't explain the text messages. That doesn't explain the ice baths. That doesn't explain the tarp, the basement, the no bed. None of that makes sense. The monitoring, okay, maybe it makes sense. sense the intercom possibly I could see that maybe but you're not making the other math math so another thing that was hugely emphasized during her testimony was that she suffered from disassociation from her PTSD after Adam had a stroke and that that caused her not to remember a lot of things that she had done or that had been done and happening to Timothy in the home. Okay. Okay. Like, honestly, I'm like, eye roll. Like, you're going to try to say that

this makes it so that you can't remember anything? Very convenient. Okay. It's, what is it? Like, what do they call it? What's the other term? Select amnesia? Is that what it is? So this was obviously a bit of a controversy in the courtroom as well, because the prosecutors believed that this was almost sort of becoming like an insanity defense. But her lawyer greatly disagreed. He actually argued that it wasn't at all insanity defense, and that it was perfectly acceptable to ask her about things that she did or didn't remember, not placing the blame on the disassociation. Now the judge ended up ruling that the foundation hadn't been laid by a doctor for

her to say that she had been truly disassociating due to PTSD, but she was able to describe the physical issues that she had been having. So with that, she shared that she felt similarly to when you're about to pass out and have like tunnel vision and things start blacking out and going fuzzy. But then it would apparently affect her memory after these events would occur. I started experiencing episodes where if you've ever passed out like the world closed you get tunnel vision the world closes in on you until you completely black out. It felt like I was blacking out but I didn't actually pass out and the events that happened after that I have no idea of what happened I don't remember it I I don't know okay and this happened anytime I got even a little stressed so

now something that I enjoyed about her testimony was that her educational background was brought up which I think is important since she keeps trying to come from the angle that she can't remember things that had happened and that she suffered from insomnia, which made her out of it, as she described, because the bottom line is she is an extremely educated woman, and there is no excuse good enough for what she did or any excuse good enough that would make me, and I'm sure anyone else, believe that she truly had no idea that Timothy was that sick or that malnourished. She herself worked in law and would literally be responding to Paul's text messages telling him to do all of these awful things to Timothy while she was in court working. In fact, she graduated

magna cum laude, which she mentioned during her testimony. And according to her LinkedIn account, she graduated from Liberty University with a 3.7 GPA and graduated from Cooley Law School with a 3.9 GPA. So nobody earning an almost 4.0 GPA in law school is just straight up ignorant enough to not notice that a 15-year-old boy is 69 pounds soaking wet and in pretty critical condition. But that's just me. I'm not a lawyer. I rest my case. I've been watching a lot of suits. So the hot sauce topic was also a big discussion

during her testimony. When asked why she bought that specific hot sauce, she claimed that it was because it was the hottest that you could buy and that she personally had been the one to buy at least one of the bottles, not as a form of punishment, but because Timothy loved spicy food and could handle even the hottest of sauces. Now the hot sauce that he was given literally has a warning label for how spicy it is, and it isn't exactly something like mild sauce that people would put on their tacos. So I find that he was a huge, huge fan of it, something that's pretty hard to believe, but that's just my own thoughts on all of that. Now, she even tried claiming that his love for spicy foods started before he was even born. She testified that she had never liked spicy foods before, but while she

was pregnant with Timothy, she would constantly crave spicy foods and would even outspice her ex-husband, who also loved spicy foods. She said that even when he was just two years old, he loved it to eat flaming hot Cheetos and wouldn't even take a break or ask for a drink of water. I mean, listen. Hot Sauce has a particular label I've never seen at Meijer. Did you see the label? Did you see the Hot Sauce itself? Did you order it? I believe I ordered at least one of the bottles, yes. Okay. Why did you order this particular hot sauce or these particular hot sauces? What did they have in common? Because I think it was the same brand, the same one,

because it was hotter than what you could usually get and because Timothy could, he liked spicy food. Okay. He loved spicy food. All right. How do you know you like spicy food? That actually started before he was ever born. Before I got pregnant with Timothy, I didn't like spicy at all. I mean, nothing. No heat, nothing. When I got pregnant with him, I started craving.

My ex liked spicy foods, but I didn't. And I started craving like I would outspice my my ex. It was amazing. I still like not to the extent when I was pregnant, but I would outspice my eggs. It was amazing. I still like, not to the extent when I was pregnant, but some of that remained. But Timothy, as early as age two, he could eat a whole bag of the Flaming Hot Cheetos without a drink. I mean, just he could down, he loved spicy food.

It was, it used to scare the heck out of me. But you were aware that these spices were hotter than what you needed higher? Yes. And that there was four disciplinary issues, is that correct? Yes. Did you ever, the testimony was that you did childcare while Paul was at school or at work. Did you ever administer any of the hot sauce yourself?

If I remember, I might have done some on bread a couple of times. But usually by the time I got home, that either we were cooking food, I had to cook, or I had had Paul cook something, so... In regards to Paul's testimony about Shonda considering pouring hot sauce on Timothy's genitals, as well as the text threads that showed her message, she said that she did recall the testimony from the previous day claiming that, but as far as recalling her

actually saying or considering to have Paul do that, she conveniently couldn't remember. It makes sense that you wouldn't remember when there's a paper trail of proof, right? Right? So the only time she ever seemed even emotional during her testimony was when she was asked about the day that Timothy died. But it was not because of the fact that her child had died, but because of how she had lied to the police that day when they arrived at her home. Listen. And once the police get there, do you tell them the truth? I was so freaked out. I was, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I've got one. I'm sorry. Thank you. You're welcome. Why didn't you tell them the truth? Why were you so freaked? I don't remember what my line of thinking was at the time.

I was so, I don't know. my line of thinking was at the time. I was so tired. I don't, I don't know. I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't. Were you tired at that point? I was exhausted. I, the night before he passed, I had less than an hour of sleep. Were you frightened at that point? Absolutely. I just lost my sight. Do you need a moment? I'm okay.

Okay. my son. You need a moment? I'm okay. Okay. Once again, she testified that her memory of that day, as well as her reactions and things that she said to police after Timothy had passed away, were spotty. She testified that she remembered that she had been performing CPR on Timothy, but couldn't give a good reason as to why they waited so long to call 911. Now she pinned a lot of the plan on Paul, saying that she was so busy with work and out of it due to her insomnia that she had to trust him to take care of Timothy. She said that she relied on Paul to make sure that he was okay and had been eating enough, and when she was asked how she didn't realize that he was in that bad of condition, she didn't have an excuse or any sort of answer whatsoever. How could you not know?

Honestly, I just, I was barely functioning. I missed a lot. There's, I mean, I hate it because, I mean, I feel like a complete failure, but there was things that I just didn't see. There was a lot that I didn't see, unfortunately. Those, all those, in those texts, you... During the cross-examination, she was getting absolutely grilled.

And one specific point in the cross-examination was unlike anything I have seen in court before. Because when pictures of Timothy's frail and malnourished body were slammed onto the podium in front of Shonda while on the topic of the ice bath punishments that he was forced to endure, she actually became extremely ill and didn't seem like she had been able to stop at all. Now trigger warnings for those of you who have issues with sounds, you can't see anything gross in this clip, but you can definitely hear some of it. Testified that you gave Paul, you gave Timothy a warm bath the night before he passed away, that last night, July 5th. Do you recall that?

Yes, sir. That was the first time you've told anybody connected to this case that you'd done that, isn't it? Yes, sir. You never told the police officers you did that, did you? No, sir. I imagine a warm bath sounds just like, it's just what it sounds like, right? You got him, you took him to the bath, you grew a warm bath for him, and you put him in the bathtub, right? Yes, sir.

This is hours before he dies, right? Yes, sir. You look like that when you put them in the bathtub. MS. Sorry. CHAIRMAN BRYANT LISERY. MS. You've got to make the all moment. CHAIRMAN BRYANT LISERY. MR. Yes. CHAIRMAN BRYANT LISERY. MR. Ms. VANDER, I'll keep.

CHAIRMAN BRYANT LISERY. MR. Do we have a trash can? MR. I did. CHAIRMAN BRYANT LISERY. MR. You did? MR. Yes. CHAIRMAN BRYANT LISERY. MR. All right. MR. Could you let the chair move? MR. JUST A JUROR. YOU NEED TO REMOVE?

ALL RIGHT, PLEASE RISE. In comparison to some trials, this trial was extremely quick, and it only lasted two days before coming to an end on December 15, 2023, and it only took the jury one hour before they had reached a verdict. But when the verdict was read, Shonda was not present in the courtroom to hear the verdict due to her medical issues. It's pretty uncommon, but her lawyers claim that the law does not require her to be present for a verdict. All right, that's okay. The people of the state of Michigan versus Shanda Van Ark, count one, charging open murder involving the death of Timothy Ferguson.

We find her guilty of first-degree felony murder. Count two, first-degree. We find her guilty of first degree thank you court will record the verdict for the record mr. Johnson would you like the jury pulled please all right all right juror number two please rise is that your is that your verdict juror number five no excuse me four is that your verdict okay and you don't have to say you can say yes or no so juror number actually this was that was

journal before German number five is that your verdict yes all right you can sit down juror number six please is that your verdict? Yes. All right, you can sit down. Juror number six, please rise. Is that your verdict? Yes, sir. All right, juror number seven, is that your verdict? Yes. All right, juror number eight, is that your verdict? Yes. Juror number nine, is that your verdict? Yes. Juror number 10, is that your verdict? Yes. Juror number 11, is that your verdict? Yes, Your Honor. Jury number 12, is that your verdict? Yes. Jury number 13, is that your verdict? Yes.

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and download the ZocDoc app for free. Then find and book a top rated doctor today. That's Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash Annie Elise. ZocDoc dot com slash Annie Elise. On Tuesday, January 23rd, Shonda headed back to the courtroom for sentencing. Prior to the judge sentencing her, Timothy's older siblings took to the stand to give impact statements. The first sibling to take the stand was his older sister Millie.

I'm Millie. I'm Timothy's youngest older sister. I'm two years older than him. One of my earliest memories I have was being taken away from my parents by CPS. My two older brothers rode in a car ahead of us and me and Timothy rode together in the second car and in every picture we have as a family, Timothy was always right by my side. We were the two youngest, the two smallest. We were the two that sat in the middle in the backseat car rides with the two small car. The last two to get hand-me-downs,

the two that never had to worry about not getting homework help from an older sibling. He was always two years behind me, so every time I got to the next level in school, that's how many years I had to wait for him to follow along. When I was in eighth grade, he was in sixth, and there was a student in my science class that started talking about him, trying to start rumors. I stood up right as class was starting, as people were quieting down, and I shouted at him to never talk about my little brother. People could say whatever they wanted about me, I didn't care, but not about him, and never about him, because I was his big sister. It was my job to protect

him. I like to say I don't regret things in my life, that every mistake I've made has made me who I am today, but when Timothy died, I couldn't stop regretting. I regret not hugging him more and teasing him so much instead of telling him that I loved him every once in a while. I regret not putting aside my differences with Shonda and Paul just to check in on him. I regret not dancing with him the last time I saw him at our brother's wedding. These are the things that I can't remedy now. There's no fixing what's been done. No way do we do it all over again and that's my regret that I couldn't protect him when he needed me most.

Timothy was so smart. He could take anything apart with any tools or none at all. He had trouble focusing but when he did he was just as smart as the rest of his class. He made people angry, yes, but then he would look at you with those big baby blue eyes and you could never stay mad at him. It took me six months of therapy after he died to even properly feel the emotions of his death. And I'm still in therapy today. I've been trying so hard since he passed away just to try to let people know

of him, let people know that he was loved, that there are people out there grieving for him. I'm here today for him because I was asked to speak for him, because I was given a victim impact statement form instead of a witness one, because the victim of this crime can't speak for him because I was given a victim impact statement form instead of a witness one because the victim of this crime can't speak for himself. I knew him his whole life. I held him the day he was born and I continued to try to hold his hand as long as he was in by my side until he wasn't. I want the woman who killed my little brother to face the highest punishment possible. I want her detained for the rest of her life so she can't hurt anyone else. And I want the world to know that Timothy was wanted, if not by her, then by me. After Millie spoke, Nolan spoke. I'm Timothy's oldest brother and unfortunately the oldest child of Shonda Vander Ark. I live with my wife 900 miles from here and in July of 2022 I was working 60 hour work weeks trying to build a career when I received a phone call that I never

thought I would get. My baby brother Timothy was gone. For two days I reeled with no explanation until I was informed that our own mother was in jail for his murder. Somehow making an entirely unexpected and deeply awful situation worse. I thought the things were different than when I was younger. I thought my mother had changed for the better. Not one day has been easier since then. I've had to leave my career behind. My wife has to watch helplessly as I struggle, day in and day out,

wondering how none of us knew what was going on, wondering if I told Tim Tim I loved him enough times for him to remember up until the very end. I have to wake up every day pretend that I am who I was before Timothy died. I have to pretend to be Nolan so that my friends and co-workers and family won't worry about me more than they already do. I'm surrounded by people who love me and care about me, but not a single person besides my sisters will understand how hard it is. Timothy wasn't surrounded by people who loved him when he died. that nothing could have stopped me from rescuing him and holding him in my arms and telling him I love him that his big brother's got just like I did the day he

was born but because of Shawn Devandrack's actions I instead got to cradle the bag of his ashes in my arms just like I did the day he was born in all my life I only knew one thing that my little brother didn't like he hated goodbyes. If he had to say goodbye to anyone, he would cry, and he would hold you, and he would say, don't go. But now I'm the one crying, but I never got to say goodbye. I will always love Timothy like I always have, and it kills me to think about him. But I know he loved even his abuser and killer up until the very end because unlike me, that's all he was capable of, love.

I, on the contrary, want to stand here and express the anger and hatred that I feel, but if I'm honest, all that's just a mask, a bandage. I try to put over the hole in my heart that was reserved for Timothy, but is now just filled with pain and remorse for every hug, high five, and I loved you that I might have missed in the time that I had with my sweet baby brother. So now I turn to the justice system in hopes that in addition to serving the maximum penalty, that there will be no appeals or second chances. If I can't have my brother back, she shouldn't have her freedom back. And lastly, I want everyone to know that to those who knew him, even that wouldn't feel like justice. Because the life of one sweet little blue-eyed boy is not equivalent to that of a murderer. After Nolan spoke, the prosecutor for the case spoke, and he really reminded people of what a true monster Shonda is. I wanted to stand here for two reasons. I wanted to stand here, up here at this podium, next to Millie and next to Nolan

as they gave their statements for two reasons. One, to show that we support them, that we support whatever statement they wanted to make here today, but I also wanted to see Ms. Van Der Ark. She didn't look over at her kids once. Not once during this entire process did she look over at her children. And that speaks volumes. Because this case has always struck me that it's impossible as a parent, let alone as a human being, to understand the depths of the depravity that it took for us to come here today.

All of the things that she did, or all of the things that she withheld, or all of the things that she directed her other son to do, are so, so callous and so cold that they just defy explanation. And I convinced myself that the only thing that could make any sense is that on some level she had stopped thinking of her children as human beings. And frankly her not looking over and not even wanting to express some type of emotion or some type of remorse or some type of recognition of those two older children that she had a hand in raising and who spoke so eloquently and so beautifully and so passionately here

today just reflects what I guess we already feared and already knew about Miss Randa Ark by a long margin this case has been the most difficult case that I've ever worked on as prosecutor. There are few people that have had any contact with this that wouldn't say the same thing, whether it's police officers, whether it's the first responders, whether it's the paramedics or the firefighters who were on the scene, who all needed counseling to get through it, to the prosecutors that have looked at this, to the other attorneys that have looked at this, to anyone you talk to.

Nobody can look at this and understand any of this. And certainly nothing in Ms. Van Ark's testimony, we know it wasn't persuasive for the jury, and nothing in her testimony can provide any real insight into what was going on here again other than my what I feel is the conclusion here is that her children were just not people to her that she just stopped thinking of them as that they were certainly Timothy was just an obstacle to her he was a challenge that she was going to win she was not going to let

Timothy win and she said it over and over again in the text messages. And it's just unfathomable. Hearing him angry honestly just made me angry all over again. But then, of course, Shonda's attorney came up and had to argue. And look, I'm not faulting him by any means. His job is to defend his client. And, well, I'm pretty sure it's hard to defend a client like Shonda. But I want you to just listen to what he had to say for a minute here in my client's case judge uh as you've read the pre-sentence and people have read it and it's

been admitted um her father her biological father my client's biological father, died when she was eight years old. And he also sexually and physically abused her, which means he began before she turned eight. And as the court is aware, we don't catch these guys the first time, and especially when force and violence is used, they can hide their transgressions for years. Once this man is out of her life, another man comes into her life, her stepfather, who does the same thing until she's old enough to move out of the house. The court is also aware that my client has also been, had the burden of mental health issues. And quite frankly, the reality is when people are conditioned to believe that that's the sort of treatment that they deserve by their father and their stepfather

and their mother's not going to protect them, they tend to seek out that sort of abuse in the spouses. So the abuse continues all through the youth of her life until she finally frees herself of this man. And what does she do when she frees herself? She puts herself, without resources, she has no wealth, without resources, she puts herself through college. She puts herself through law school. She not just puts herself through she's second in a class in

college and she's second in class in law school and she has with an eight book eight books from which she's you know don't please honest twice when her stepfather had they talked about sex she can goes on and she provides a home for her three children and her ailing husband without while going to school full-time or being a mother full-time while working full-time she does all these things but she makes a mistake she makes one decision she shouldn't have made she says yes. She has no criminal history.

I couldn't find a speeding ticket. She raised dogs. She did Herculean stuff. When she got that phone call telling her that Timothy is either going to come to her or he was going to go into foster care she says yes has she said no I already have a house full of people I can't afford I don't know the resources has she said no my husband's sick I have a 20 year old son still live in office living sleep on the couch had she said no would be alive today and

he would probably be in the loving care of a false family right who someone could take care of his special needs has someone who could take care of kids with special needs. Had she said no, with her academic backgrounds, and quite frankly, given the fact that she has a relative in the legal profession who's highly regarded in the profession, she would now be practicing law and probably be doing very well given her academic abilities. But she didn't say no. She did what moms do. She said, that's my thing, I'm taking him home and I'm bringing him into the house.

She brought him in knowing that she shouldn't have him there because she doesn't have custody. She brought him in knowing that she couldn't get him into schools and couldn't get him into med school because he didn't have custody. Her ex-husband was not going to assist her in that. She brought him in knowing she wasn't going to get any more financial assistance. It wasn't her intention for us to be here. It was never her intention. There is a lot to unpack within that statement.

First off, many, many, many people grow up in physically and sexually harmful homes, and they go on to not kill their kids. Second of all, the education component to all of this blows my mind. Like, yeah, we get it, she's well-educated, but that really doesn't make her look any better. In fact, it makes her look worse because it proves that she is absolutely competent and without a doubt would have known what she was doing was wrong. Thirdly, Timothy's case was not just one decision. This was a series of decisions that Shonda made that led up to this point. She intentionally chose to do things to him daily that would ensure that he was miserable, felt unloved,

and had no way out of the situation. So yes, her attorney is right that Timothy should have never been with her. He would have been much better off without her, absolutely. After everybody was done speaking, it was time for the judge to speak and sentence her. It was very clear through what the judge said that he has been significantly impacted by the evidence presented. You know, Mr. Johnson makes the same argument today that he made at the trial, that this was just negligence. This was her not understanding what was going on. She was really trying to do the punishment.

She was trying to be a good parent, and she just didn't realize that Timothy was in such a horrible condition. And I found myself, especially during the And afterwards, after the trial, I sat in my car after leaving that day trying to understand why I could feel that way. And what I realized is that I wanted to feel that way because I didn't want to accept the reality of the situation here and the reality of the situation here is that

this person, Ms. Van Der Ark, you intentionally engaged in these acts. This wasn't negligence, this is not understanding why, but you intentionally did this with a goal. And I think Mr. Johnson's correct. I don't believe there was an intent to kill here because you would have lost the very thing that you wanted to torture. Without him, you have no one to torture, except maybe the younger children. So I don't believe you intended to kill him. I think you

intended to continue on torturing him for as long as you possibly could. Why, I don't know. But all the information that I have in front of me, and I sat down, I really thought about this, and I looked over my notes from the trial demonstrate that this wasn't negligence, this wasn't you not understanding what was going on. You look through, I read through every single text message of the exhibit, 2,000 plus pages to try to understand what the heck was going through your mind. And what became entirely clear to me is that you knew exactly what you were doing immediately afterwards and police live at the home you're you immediately you know concoct this lie about he's been on

a hunger strike he's you know he was in the bed and I checked on him and I gave him some food and all this stuff you got Paul involved in it you know at one point in time you know you're you're putting you know put baggy clothes on him you know put clothes on him to make sure you know to make sure I guess that he looks like he was actually wearing him that he was hiding his his poor condition even though you already received text messages weeks earlier of how bad he looked. You testified yourself of highly intelligent. In fact, that's the only thing that you testified to that I think was actually true. You were quite proud of that, boasting how intelligent you were.

And not only that, but your actions in hiding this child. You hid him from his grandparents. You made sure that your other son, G, or little man, as you call him, didn't see him. You know, those text messages talk about not wanting anyone to see him. I want to see him in that condition. made sure that the garage was closed when he was when you sent him out there was no pants on to clean out the garage I don't want to believe it because I don't understand I can't wrap my mind I've been trying now for this entire case to wrap my around around how somebody could do something so horrific, not only to another human being, but to their own child.

them with unconditionally. But quite frankly, there's a mother's love that I've seen that is striking. And anybody who's a parent who's married, most mothers, not all, but most mothers have such a strong love for their children. And to see what you did to your own child, I don't know if there's a word in the English language to describe how to describe it. I only can come up with just horrific. You intentionally and systematically tortured this child. And let's call it what it is. It's torture. You tortured this child. This wasn't punishment. This wasn't trying to curb his behavior. You tortured him. This wasn't punishment. This wasn't trying to curb his behavior. You tortured him. It seemed like the judge had more respect and care for Timothy than nearly anybody in his life, which is just heartbreaking.

I didn't allow pictures to be shown in open court of Timothy as he was when he died because I didn't want people to remember him like that. Of all the things you took away from him, one thing I didn't want you to take away from him was at least some shred of dignity. And then I also thought, well, I'm a judge. I'm a human being. I don't know how to, I don't know how to right this wrong. We try to do that. I try to do that from the bench every day. There's no way to write this wrong except impose a sentence that essentially takes away your freedom. And I thought to myself, what do I do? And I will tell you this, and I will tell you this I'm choosing not to remember your son dead looking like a Holocaust victim but I'm choosing to remember like that and you can't even look at him that's how he was A beautiful child with a lot of life in his eyes. That's who your son was and you took that from him. I'm choosing to remember him as a happy

individual with life, not as an individual and that's the picture I want people to remember of your son. You took that from him. You took it from him. For what reason, I don't know. Mr. Johnson's right. There is something broken in you. I don't know what that is, but it doesn't negate what you did here. After he was done speaking on the case and the impacts of it, he moved into sentencing.

Shonda was sentenced to 50 to 100 years for the abuse charge, which exceeded sentencing guidelines due to just how absolutely awful what she did was. Then she was handed a mandatory life sentence for the murder charge. This case was an awful one, and it is one that is very hard to research, it's hard to comprehend, and it is just so difficult to talk about. But hopefully the more that people talk about these things, the more children will get rescued before it's too late. And maybe people will think twice before ever harming a child, knowing what the implications might be for their actions. And above all of that, Timothy deserves to be remembered for who he was, not what was done to him. Now this case is tough

for so many different reasons. It's heartbreaking that Timothy wasn't even supposed to be in his mother's care at all, and would most likely still be alive today if he hadn't been. And it's also heartbreaking under the circumstances that a mother could easily do the awful things that she did and had done to her child even in the final hours of his life. As the prosecutor described, justice has somewhat been served. Not fully, but somewhat. Paul and Shonda will have to own up to what they did and will be punished accordingly, but true justice would mean that Timothy would still be here with us and still be here to tell

his version of what happened and the full truth. I think as much as can be found, sure. I mean, the justice would be that Timothy is still here, and unfortunately, we can't do that, and sadly, a large part of what we have to do is to speak up for people who are no longer here, who can't be here. While Timothy's father, Eric, wasn't around to see what was happening, I can't help but feel the same way I feel about the Ruby Frankie case in this one. Even if Timothy was allowed to be in his mother's care, which he wasn't, as a parent, he had a duty to ensure that his son was safe and that he wasn't. As a parent, he had a duty to ensure that his son was safe and that his needs were being met, especially when he knew that there had been

a CPS case in the past. It just truly feels like every single adult in Timothy's life failed him, from his mother to his father, even to his older brother. It is heartbreaking because what do you do when those who are the closest to you and the ones who are supposed to love you and guide you and help you are the ones that not only turn their back on you but the ones that inflict such horrific horrific things to you. It really just is awful when you think about all of these cases and all of these families and siblings who participate parents and just the cruel actions that they put their own children through it's appalling it's a lot guys um sorry it's a lot I appreciate you listening to

Timothy's story today I don't know if you guys have been fully caught up on the trial again I know so many requested it so I hope that I was able to do it justice and summarize um what went on in the trial and what poor Timothy went through at the hands of his own family members. I know these cases are difficult to talk about, but by talking about them, I genuinely believe that that's the way that we are going to generate awareness and evoke change hopefully in the future. And I just think that as difficult as it is for us to hear about these cases

or for me to talk about them Timothy's story deserves to be heard what happened to him deserves to be shared deserves to be heard his story deserves to be told you know um so many of these cases are hard but their voices still I think I believe deserve to be heard and um I I that expression, voices for the voiceless, or voice, you know, things like that. I know that's the name of some podcasts as well, and I'm not trying to hate on them at all. I just don't love the cliche expression of being a voice for the voiceless, but it is so true. Like, that statement, there is a lot of truth rooted in that statement that their voice does so much, in my my opinion deserve to be heard and their stories

be told so I know that's a long-winded way of saying thank you for tuning in but honestly thank you for listening and for tuning in and hearing these cases because I know it is not easy it's not easy for me to tell and I know it's not easy to hear so I appreciate it all right guys and before we go don't forget to hit up those amazing deals I will put it all in the show notes below we've got hero bread liquid ivy shopify and zocdoc so make sure to snag that before it is gone thank you so much I will be seeing you back bright and early on Thursday for headline highlights and then of course every Monday morning with a deep dive on a brand new case all right guys thank you so much for tuning in and I will talk with you very soon. Signing off. Bye. Thank you.