A Silence of Mockingbirds (10 page)

T
he next day, Stark attended a meeting with other members
of the Child Abuse Response Team (CART). He briefed the
team, which included Detective Stauder, about the previous
night’s visit with Karly and her parents. The team urged him to conduct
another follow-up visit.

That afternoon Matt Stark paid a visit to Rugrats Daycare. Delynn
had remembered one other thing she thought Stark might need to know:
Karly’s recent haircut. She told him all about the French braid incident.

The braid incident was something even Dr. deSoyza later described
to me as disturbing. Sarah gave the doctor the same story she’d given
Delynn: that Karly woke up with her hair so badly matted she’d had to
cut it short.

“It was a pretty weird story,” deSoyza said. “Why would you cut hair
in that fashion? Instead of trying to untangle it, you cut it off? I thought
it was a strange way of dealing with a problem like that. You don’t cut
off somebody’s hair because it’s too tangled to deal with. It was all too
weird.”

It seemed odd at the time, but it was just one more puzzling thing in a long
list of puzzling things.

Matt Stark hoped that if he visited with Karly in the safe environment
of her daycare provider, the toddler would be less suspicious of him.

The children were sitting around a table, having a snack when Stark
joined them, making small talk. Again, Karly avoided eye contact and
remained quiet.

Stark asked her about her haircut.

She didn’t respond.

He asked her who took care of her hair.

“My daddy,” she said.

He asked if her daddy washed her hair.

“Yes,” she said.

He asked what else she could tell him about her hair.

Karly didn’t respond.

He asked what she liked about her daddy.

Karly began to cry and ask for her father, in much the same manner
as she had night before at Dr. deSoyza’s office.

“As soon as I mentioned him, Karly was immediately distraught
and wanting her dad,” Stark said. “This was more than quiet sobbing
and tears. It was to the point that I had to respect her emotional state
and end the interview.”

Again.

Stark’s methodology frustrated Delynn. She felt he mishandled the
interview. “I was very unimpressed by the way he just bluntly asked
Karly questions,” Delynn said. “She was very distrusting anyway. Karly
cried and said her classic response to any question: ‘I want my daddy!’”

Stark called David and Sarah and left them each a voice message
letting them know he had talked to their daughter. He may have been
baiting them, trying to figure out their level of concern, to see if he
could get a clear read on them.

Sarah made it easy: she was mad and she let Stark know it.

“She sounded like she was pretty upset about this investigation,”
Stark said. “I didn’t notice her crying or anything, but she was concerned.”

Once the state launched its investigation, Sarah promised David she wouldn’t
take Karly around Shawn anymore. They agreed that from here on out Karly would
stay with David.

O
ne happy day during the fall of 2004, David and Karly took
a stroll, kicking golden leaves high off the tips of their boots.
“Karly, why are you so good?” David asked.

“Because I am,” Karly replied.

“Karly, why are you so lovely?”

“Because I am.”

David paused as Karly jumped down hard on a pile of crunchy mulch.
“And precious too?” Karly asked, smirking slyly at her father.
“Karly, why are you so precious?” David asked, accepting the cue.
She gave a dismissive but confident shrug and replied, “Because I am.”

The first week in December 2004, David took Karly to a rodeo
at the Benton County fairgrounds. It was a first for the both of them. Karly
whooped it up for the cowgirls on fast horses making sharp turns around big
barrels and giggled through the antics of the big-footed clown. And every
single time the big bulls came snorting out of the holding pens, Karly let
loose with a loud guttural “ROAR!” sending others sitting nearby into fits
of laughter. But halfway through the show, shortly after she’d finished her
hot dog lunch, Karly grew restless.

David noticed her inching away, exploring the dusty bleachers. He
told Karly to stop rolling around and to sit down beside him. His tone
was firm. Frustrated, Karly responded by slapping at her head, open-handed. David took hold of Karly’s hands and told her that if she didn’t
start behaving properly they were going to leave. Tired and crying, she
continued slapping herself, so David picked her up and took her home.

The whole incident unnerved David enough that he mentioned it
the next day during a phone call with Matt Stark, who made a note of it:
“Karly got mad and started tugging at her own hair. Father is convinced
she has been pulling her own hair.” Those were Matt Stark’s words and
his assessment. David recalls telling Stark that Karly tugged on her hair,
but David never saw, or said he saw, Karly pulling her hair.

Stark told David that Karly needed to see her doctor again. Then
Stark called Delynn, who told him Karly was much better. She wasn’t
crying nearly as often, nor as clingy or tired. Delynn attributed the
changes to Karly spending less time with Shawn and more time with
David. Stark made a note of that, too.

During the previous week, Stark had stumbled across troubling
information while running a routine background check on the adults
in Karly’s life: Shawn Field’s history of domestic violence with his ex-wife, Eileen. The state investigator did not bother to mention it to Dr.
deSoyza or Delynn Zoller or even to Dr. Carol Chervenak. Despite the
documented history of domestic violence, Shawn wasn’t even on the
radar as a suspect for child abuse.

The same day that David spoke with Stark about Karly’s behavior
at the rodeo, Stark called Dr. Chervenak again, seeking her advice.
Dr. Chervenak had personally examined more than 1,500 children
on suspicion of abuse. But in Karly’s case, Dr. Chervenak relied on
two people to provide her with an on-site evaluation: Matt Stark and
Corvallis Police Detective Karin Stauder. The fact that Dr. Chervenak
did not examine Karly prior to her death indicates that someone
suggested such an assessment wasn’t warranted. That oversight would
be identified later as one of the first major foul-ups in a case chock-full
of them.

On Monday, December 6, 2004, per Matt Stark’s suggestion,
David and Sarah took Karly back to Dr. deSoyza’s for a follow-up exam that
afternoon. David told the doctor about Karly slapping herself during the rodeo.

Dr. deSoyza knew David Sheehan had recently changed jobs and
was driving back and forth to Hillsboro, due west of Portland—a three-hour round trip from Corvallis, even longer in bad traffic. David was
also working on his master’s degree at George Fox University one night
a week, a seventy-five-minute drive from home. But as David explained
to Dr. deSoyza and Matt Stark, on the days Karly was with him David
worked shorter days, so that the time he spent with her was the same as
it had been before the job change and long commute.

In Karly’s medical file, Dr. deSoyza made note that Sarah
had recently moved in with a new boyfriend shortly before Karly started displaying
bruises, thinning hair, and exhaustion. Dr. Chervenak, who had vast experience
in identifying child abuse, would have automatically suspected Karly was being
abused, given the physical symptoms and all the changes in Karly’s life: her
dad’s prolonged absences, her mother’s new boyfriend, and the new living situation.

Dr. deSoyza, however, wondered if Karly was under too much
stress. Maybe all these changes had created anxiety for Karly, causing
her to act out. Anxiety in children can sometimes result in hair loss.
Maybe Karly was displaying symptoms of trichotillomania.

Trichotillomania is a hair-pulling disorder, a mental disorder that
creates an irresistible urge to yank out hair from the scalp, eyebrows,
eyelashes, or pubic area. Less than one percent of the nation’s population suffers from it. Most often hair is pulled from the scalp, causing
unsightly bald patches, the kind observed in Karly during that visit.
Anxiety, tension, loneliness, fatigue, and frustration are all common
triggers.

Lots of little girls and even some big ones will sometimes chew on
long strands of hair, or twirl a strand round and round as a nervous
gesture. Sarah did this. Like people who bite their nails, they’ll unconsciously tug at their hair. Someone who suffers from trichotillomania
will actually yank the hair out.

Dr. deSoyza told me she never intended trichotillomania to be a
definitive diagnosis.

“There was never an official diagnosis,” deSoyza said. “It was just
one of several possible causes for Karly’s hair loss that were discussed. I
found it so bizarre that it was made into such a huge thing. Well, I didn’t
even know it was a huge thing until I was testifying in court. I wondered
why everyone kept asking about it and talking about it. Like I said, it
was very strange to me that they made it a central thing when it never
was an official diagnosis.”

Assumptions can be like poorly packed luggage, always in need of
resorting. There was never any material evidence that Karly was yanking
out her own hair. There were no reports of globs of hair found on pillows
where Karly slept, or hairballs on any of the bathroom counters, or even
in front of the television set. There was not indisputable physical proof
that Karly was in any form or fashion harming herself. That opinion
was all based upon false assumptions and a handful of lies.

Sarah was adamant that she wasn’t taking Karly around Shawn, wasn’t leaving
her alone with him. Everyone assumed she was telling the truth.
Why would
a mother lie about such a thing?
Dr. deSoyza asked.

Dr. deSoyza has a difficult time reconciling her image of Sarah with
the woman who repeatedly put Karly in danger. “One of the reasons
the state investigators didn’t pursue things further is because Sarah told
us she observed Karly hurting herself. Sarah said she saw Karly hitting
herself, pulling her own hair. You just don’t think a mother would lie
about something like that,” deSoyza mused. “It was obvious that when
Sarah was with her boyfriend Karly wasn’t tolerating the situation very
well. When Sarah said she was moving out, we were all very pleased. It
didn’t occur to me that she would go back to him. I don’t know who is
responsible to check up, to make sure Sarah kept her word. I’m a doctor,
not a policeman.”

And policemen aren’t doctors, either. If a child’s own doctor doesn’t
suspect child abuse as the primary cause of deteriorating health, why
should anyone else?

“When Sarah said she had moved out of her boyfriend’s place, I
thought, ‘Finally a good decision. Shoosh! We dodged a bullet there!’”
Dr. deSoyza said.

The relief Dr. deSoyza felt was short-lived.

K
arly loved the Christmas dress her daddy bought her.
With its red-velvet bodice, white satin sash, and white organza
skirt, this was a dress befitting a true princess. Karly got all
dolled up and twirled around the room, repeatedly calling, “Look,
Daddy, look!”

Then she perched on the couch, ankles crossed daintily, so David
could take her picture to send to the family back in Ireland. Her blonde
hair, cut in a long pixie style, framed her sweet face. She playfully put a
shiny silver tiara, replete with fake jewels, atop her head. All the while
Karly smiled coyly, like a girl who knows she’s pretty and oh so loved.
Like a little girl who knows that as long as she’s with her daddy, she’s safe.

David noticed the gun as soon as he walked into Matt Stark’s office.

It was Monday, December 6, 2004, the same day that David and
Sarah took Karly for a follow-up visit with Dr. deSoyza. Matt Stark
asked David to come by his office for a little chat. David was unaware
that Detective Karin Stauder was going to be there as well.

It was her gun David noticed right off the bat. The cop kept it
holstered at her hip. The room was business bleak. Cheap chairs, a
sturdy table, and a whiteboard.

From a purely physical standpoint, Detective Stauder wasn’t
imposing—not particularly tall or broad of shoulder or hip, but with
the tomboy look of a girl who played softball. Her dark brown hair was
thick and cut efficiently short. Around kids, Stauder has an engaging
and kind smile. Around adults, however, she could appear stone-faced.
But it was the gun that put David on alert, gave him a chill.

David naïvely thought Stark wanted to meet with him privately
to discuss the problems created by Sarah’s ongoing relationship
with Shawn. Given the chance to tell investigators, David would say
that though he had nothing specific to blame on Shawn, he had his
suspicions. He would say it was evident to him that Karly’s emotional
and physical deterioration could be traced back to the appearance of
Shawn in Sarah’s life.

He would let detectives know that when he attempted to ask Karly
anything about Shawn, the child would get visibly upset. David was
sure something bad was going on. He hoped Stark and Stauder would
be able to get to the bottom of it—they were the experts after all, right?

Stark offered David a chair and made it clear his position was to
act as an advocate for Karly. He told David the reason he and Detective
Stauder had called him in was that he was under investigation for child
abuse.

Allegations of child abuse?

David wasn’t sure he’d heard them correctly. How could he be under
investigation? Nobody loved or cared for Karly better than David.
Everyone knew that, didn’t they?

David outwardly kept his cool but inside he was angry with both
Stark and Stauder.

“I spent the next thirty or forty-five minutes defending myself,
drawing diagrams on the whiteboard recounting recent travel dates,
answering their every question,” David recalled. “I mentioned Sarah’s
moving in with Shawn but Stauder quickly responded that she had
talked with Shawn and he had insisted Sarah had not moved in. Later
that afternoon, when I was driving back up to Portland, I remembered
Sarah had told me herself she was paying Shawn’s rent. I called Stark
and pointed out that discrepancy.”

But Stark remained wishy-washy. He told David that he and
Detective Stauder were “on the fence” about him.

David didn’t have to ask a second time what that meant. He
understood that as far as Stark and Stauder were concerned David was guilty
of something; they simply lacked proof to charge him.

Following their visit with David, Detective Stauder wrote up the
following report:

I asked David if he has any ideas to the reason why Karly suffered
from hair loss. David told me he first thought it was from stress due to the
change in her visitations with him and Sarah. David said Karly is very regimented
with regards to her schedule and when things change, she has a difficult time.
David gave me an example of when he was scheduled to pick up Karly up from
daycare. David was unable to pick her up, so Sarah picked her up instead.
Karly yelled and screamed, throwing a temper tantrum and wanted him instead
of her mom. David told me since about mid to end of October 2004, Sarah has
moved in with Shawn and that Karly has sporadically stayed the night. David
believes this change in Karly’s routine has caused her stress. I asked David
if he suspects Sarah is abusing Karly and he said absolutely not. I asked
David about Shawn and he said he did not have any reason to believe Shawn
was hurting Karly.

David takes issue with Detective Stauder’s report. “I would never
have described Karly as being regimented. If anything she was quite the
opposite, and was very easygoing.”

Detective Stauder’s report also bothered me. Why would David tell
the investigating officers he didn’t suspect Shawn? David may not have
known all the ways in which Shawn was terrorizing his daughter, but
David was sure Shawn was the source of Karly’s distress. I asked David
why he told Detective Stauder otherwise.

“I clearly remember answering the question,” David said. “And
diplomacy definitely played a part. I’d spoken with a good friend the
weekend prior to the interview and he told me I was coming across as
very angry about the whole thing. He suggested I should tone down my
rhetoric, because ‘they’ would pick up on it.”

Once Matt Stark told David at the beginning of the interview that
he was under suspicion of child abuse, David immediately went on the
defense. “I felt the interview changed from how to protect Karly to how
to get me.”

David worried Detective Stauder and Matt Stark were setting a trap
for him. He was not being paranoid. Detective Stauder did, indeed, ask
Sarah the next day if she believed David was abusing Karly. But state’s
investigators never singled Sarah out as a suspect for child abuse and
neglect the way they did David.

If anything, the system granted more protection to Sarah than
it did to Karly. Too many officials who implement family law in our
states cling to an archaic belief that mothers are good, and any mother’s
failure is more likely the result of ignorance than intent. Even when,
as was the case with Karly, there is reason to warrant charges of willful
negligence, if not downright abuse, many people in the system are
loathe to recognize some women are unfit mothers.

David was guarded in speaking about his dealings with Sarah.
It seemed to David that those charged with protecting Karly viewed Sarah more
as a victim than as a perpetrator.

David entertained thoughts of taking Karly and running with her,
perhaps back to Ireland. But he worried running would make it look
like he had something to hide. And suppose law enforcement officials
caught him? He risked being deported and losing Karly forever.

Believing he was trapped, David could only trust the system. It
failed him—miserably. The state’s investigation did little to resolve
the issues confronting Karly. On the other hand, it fueled David’s
fear of deportation. He thought about it constantly. “Blithely saying
‘deportation crossed my mind’ downplays the reality of it for me. I was
acutely aware of it,” he said. In truth, David was terrified of being sent
away from Karly.

We usually associate the term “deportation” with illegal immigrants,
dark-skinned people with dark eyes, not the blue-eyed blonds among
us.

Yet, despite his whiteness and the fact that he was in this country
legally, David was keenly aware that when it came to matters of the
state, he was an immigrant, an outsider, a person of suspect.

“The authorities have significant leverage over immigrants,” David
said. “I think being an immigrant diminished the fact that I was a
law-abiding, taxpaying, economically active responsible parent. I was
unlike Shawn in every way. I was the stability in Karly’s life. I was very
concerned about never seeing Karly again. I could not bear to think of
her growing up thousands of miles and a border away from me.”

Sarah had nothing to fear the following day, December 7,
2004, when she met with Matt Stark and Detective Stauder at the state offices
in Albany. Stauder kept notes about that meeting as well:

I asked Sarah if she has any ideas to the reason why Karly
suffered from hair loss. Sarah believed it was due to stress. Sarah told me
that after she moved in full time with Shawn, Karly would ask her where “daddy”
was and why he didn’t live with her. Sarah mentioned Karly was fine as long
as they were just visiting at Shawn’s, but once she moved in full time it
really seemed to bother Karly.

Sarah mentioned that Karly gets used to a set schedule and
when it changes she has a difficult time coping. I asked Sarah if she thought
David was abusing Karly and she told me no. Sarah told me David is a “terrific
dad.” When I asked Sarah about Karly saying David hits her in the head she
told me she did not know why Karly said that. She does not believe he does.

I told Sarah sometimes an abuser will pick the pulling of
hair to abuse their victim because there are no visible signs of injury, just
the complaint of the victim. Sarah told me she spoke with Karly’s doctor at
length and she said the doctor told her about a disorder called “Trichotillomania”—the
pulling of hair and that Karly may suffer from the disorder.

Sarah clearly said that the problems with Karly didn’t arise until
after she moved in with Shawn. That should have been a red flag for
investigators. Following the interview, Matt Stark filed the following
report:

12.07.2004

Sarah indicated that Karly’s hair loss was due to stress around
changes to her schedule and spending more time at Shawn’s house. Ms. Sheehan
said Karly can’t accept that her mom and dad are not together and she is not
happy sharing her mother with Shawn and Kate.

Karly was only three months old when her parents first separated.
How could she not be adjusted to her parents living apart?

Stark made a similar record of the interview.

Ms. Sheehan does not suspect abuse by Shawn or David. She indicated
that David is a good dad. She could not explain why Karly said her dad hits
her head and does not believe it is true. Ms. Sheehan indicated that she talked
with Karly’s doctor regarding a condition called Trichotillomania and that
Karly may have suffered from the disorder. Ms. Sheehan agreed to contact the
Old Mill Center to get Karly into counseling.

If Sarah believed David was a good dad, and not abusing Karly, why was she
keeping a detailed journal to the contrary?

11.19.04. Friday

Karly woke up in a good mood, having had a good night sleep.
She had a bath and breakfast. While helping me put laundry away, Karly began
to cry & told me she did not like it when her daddy pulled her hair. I
said, “Who pulls your hair Karly?” & she said, “Daddy David pulls my hair
like this.” She then grabbed a small strand of hair & lifted up, but did
not pull it out. I asked her to stop crying & told her it was okay. She
stopped crying, but said she was scared of her daddy several times. Later
this morning, again Karly saying she is scared of her daddy, that he pulls
her hair. I ask why & she said, “It’s not fair, Mommy.”

This whole entry is a total fabrication that Sarah later admitted to in
court. Karly wasn’t with Sarah that night or the next morning; she was
with her father the entire time. Sarah said Shawn forced her to make
these journal entries targeting David as Karly’s abuser.

Most every failure in this case is tethered to some lie, some
deception, and some denial. The question must be asked: why would
a woman who has only been in a relationship with a man for less than
three months go to such great lengths to construct elaborate lies? What
would compel Sarah to frame her ex while allowing her child to be
abused by a man she barely knew?

Addressing Shawn before a crowded courtroom, Sarah identified
who she considered responsible for Karly’s death: “I’m angry at God for
allowing you into our lives, only so you could take hers.”

We blame God when children die as a way of deflecting the truth, a way to shift
responsibility away from the real source: ourselves.