Ethan Stacy -- Found Deceased 5/11/10

'They need to pay for taking my son away,' Ethan Stacy's father says
Hometown mourns during service

By Pat Reavy
Deseret News
Published: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 1:05 a.m. MDT





GRUNDY, Va. — A town in mourning turned out Tuesday night to pay their respects to Ethan Stacy.

"It's a hard time. We loved little Ethan," said Marshall Osborne, a longtime friend of Ethan's father, Joe Stacy, and one of the pallbearers for Ethan's funeral.

A funeral service will be held this afternoon for Ethan, followed by a procession from the funeral home in Grundy, Va., to the Clinch Valley Memorial Cemetery in Richlands, Va., about 30 miles away.

Stacy was a man who looked in deep despair Tuesday over the tragic loss of his son. As he recalled fond memories of Ethan while wiping back tears, he also called for justice to be served.

"They need to pay for taking my son away," he said.

A church service was held Tuesday night for 4-year-old Ethan on the eve of his funeral. While hardly anyone in Utah knew Ethan in life, he has touched the lives of people in Utah and across the nation following his brutal death, allegedly at the hands of his mother, Stephanie Sloop, and her newlywed husband, Nathan Sloop.

The Sloops remained in the Davis County Jail on Tuesday, pending possible aggravated murder charges.

Story continues below:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700033363/Ethans-dad-They-need-to-pay.html

Ethan Stacy Update: Family Says Last Goodbyes at 4-Year-Old's Funeral

May 21, 2010 8:34 AM
Posted by Edecio Martinez

RICHLANDS, Va. (CBS/AP) Ethan Stacy's father, Joe Stacy, family and friends said their last goodbyes at the 4-year-old's funeral Wednesday in southwest Virginia, reflecting on the good times and the good in people.

"I'm remembering all the good times," the mourning father said, without mentioning his son's violent death. "There were no bad times at all."

Read full post…
http://www.cbsnews.com/8300-504083_162-504083-1.html?tag=hdr%3bcnav

What a cute picture of Ethan in this article.

J4a, these videos are very touching and I couldn't help but cry when his Dad was talking. I have a question though, did ABC pay for these pictures and this interview? If they could give the Anthony's so much money, I certainly hope they gave this bereaved father just as much money as the Ants.

I remember reading they had a fund set up to help pay for his funeral, so I hope ABC gave money so the father doesn't have to worry about that expense. Did this interview actually take place the day of the funeral? Isn't that a little too soon?

Sitemama, I think the interview was the day of the funeral. It looks like it might have even been done in the funeral home. I believe his interview was with a local ABC station and not the national network. I would rather see him receive a payment than the Anthonys. Hopefully they at least helped him pay for the funeral.

That's what I was hoping too J4a. I too thought it may have been at the funeral home, because of the phone ringing and someone answered it real quick.

Formal Charges Filed in Ethan Stacy Homicide Case

Friday, May 28, 2010



Davis County Attorney's Office charges Nathan and Stephanie Sloop with aggravated murder, other charges.

As expected, the Davis County Attorney's Office today filed formal charges against the mother and step-father of Ethan Stacy.

Both Nathan and Stephanie Sloop face counts of aggravated murder, child abuse, desecration of a human body and obstruction of justice. Nathan also faces an additional count of damaging a jail. All of the charges are felonies.

Convictions on the aggravated murder counts could open the Sloops up to a death penalty punishment. By law, prosecutors have until 60 days after the Sloops are arraigned to announce their intent in regards to seeking the death penalty. Other potential sentences on the aggravated murder count include life without parole or 20 years to life in prison.

Nathan is also charged with a felony count of damaging a jail.

Probable cause statements filed with the charges reveal little new information about the case. They do say that Nathan and Stephanie engaged in criminal acts that "included beatings, burning, drugging, isolating, malnourishing, leaving the child alone and unattended while suffering, and refusing to seek vital life-sustaining medical attention."

Stephanie Sloop reported Ethan missing from her Layton apartment early the morning of May 11th. Later that afternoon, Layton Police and Weber County Sheriff's deputies found the four-year-old boy's body in a shallow grave near the Powder Mountain ski resort. Officers arrested Stephanie and her new husband Nathan that day, saying Nathan had spent days abusing his step-son.

http://www.971zht.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=171160&article=7175906

This case just makes me wanna

J4a, can you explain what Shelby's Law is and who it is named for?

Shelby's law is named after Shelby Andrews, a 10-year-old from Syracuse, Utah who died in 2006 as a result of horrific abuse from her father and stepmother.

On the night Shelby was killed, Ryan Andrews described pushing the child into a tiny space in a linen closet that forced her to stand upright, even though she cried out that she could not breathe and was gagging on vomit. He said in his confession that Angela Andrews told him to leave the girl in the closet because "Shelby was just trying to play me," so the couple continued to keep the girl locked up and watched TV together.

"When we later opened the door Shelby was dead, and her lifeless body fell to the floor," Ryan Andrews' confession said.

Source: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695229042,00.html

Authorities couldn't charge the couple with aggravated murder and seek the death penalty because they couldn't prove that Shelby's murder was intentional. That spurred lawmakers to add amendments to the law that broadened the scope of aggravated murder. This is known as Shelby's law.

Prosecutors can now get a special verdict if they can prove certain crimes such as child abuse, child rape or child kidnapping are committed with "reckless indifference to human life" and if they can prove the person was a major participant in the commission or attempted commission of those offenses that ended in the death of the victim.

Source: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700034120/Changes-wrought-by-Shelbys-Law.html

The amendments meant prosecutors would no longer have to prove that a killing was intentional to seek the death penalty if a child died during an act of abuse, sexual assault or kidnapping.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_15142745

Thanks for the information, J4A. These poor children that suffer this horrific abuse just tears me up inside.

Thank you J4a, you are the best.

McEntee: A courthouse full of grief and anger

The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 05/28/2010 08:06:51 PM MDT

Much like everyone else in the packed courtroom, I went to court to see Nathan and Stephanie Sloop, who face aggravated murder charges in the death of 4-year-old Ethan Stacy.

Nathan, shackled and wearing red jail clothes, appeared first, grim-faced and clean-shaven. He answered a few mandatory questions, and turned his head to tell his mother he loved her before being led out.

Stephanie followed, her hair in a tidy bun, her jaws clenched as a few tears fell from her eyes. When she turned to leave, she too grew stone-faced. Former friends in Florida told one of my colleagues Stephanie could cry when she needed to.

Neither stayed long. The charges were filed Friday morning, and because of the possibility of a death sentence, the proceedings were continued until next week.

The homicide charges themselves are chilling and thorough. The aggravating circumstances include child abuse or child sexual abuse; desecration of a body, administration of a lethal substance in a deadly amount. Physical torture. Mutilation showing "actor's depravity of mind." A victim younger than 14.

The next three counts are child abuse, obstructing justice and abuse or desecration of a human body.

Ethan was beaten to death over several days. A photo that circulated on the Internet shows the boy with Nathan, playing video games, with what appears to be a large and livid bruise on his left jawline.

The couple, who were married during those days, brought along lighter fluid and a hammer to the place where they buried Ethan.

After the hearing, I walked out with the crowd, many of them members of Bikers Against Child Abuse. Others who came wore red T-shirts bearing the words, "Justice for Ethan." Others wore purple shirts saying "In loving memory of Shelby," meaning Shelby Andrews, who was beaten and abused to death by her stepmother and father.

I spoke briefly with Connie Turner, clad in stunning black leather motorcycle garb -- but not a part of BACA -- who came to court from Roy. She told me she baby-sits often, and has children, grandchildren and a couple of great-grandkids.

She said she " just wanted to get a look" at Nathan and Stephanie. "I don't know how people can be so cruel."

And, since the prosecution could seek the death penalty, I asked her what she thought of that.

"I have mixed emotions," Turner said. "But in this case, yes. We all have long memories of Shelby."

Tammy Russell came to the courthouse in Farmington from West Jordan with her 13-year-old daughter. She said she was drawn there by "Ethan's beautiful face," and to support him and his family.

"Ethan spoke to us the first time he was on the 10 o'clock news," Russell said.

So I asked her about the death penalty, too. She told me she also had mixed emotions, but in this case, it would be an eye for an eye. "I don't want to pay for them to eat and breathe."

And Russell brought up the possibility of an insanity defense by the couple, and how she felt about that.

"It's all an act," she said. "They knew exactly what they were doing, over and over, for four days."

There was true anger in that courtroom Friday, mixed with grief and a measure of despair. It's a story we hear all too often, and nothing will ever erase it from our collective memory.

All I can do is light a candle and think of Ethan, the funny little guy with such a sweet smile.

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_15185723

I just don't understand the mind set of these people who neglect and abuse their children...Surely they don't derive pleasure from it, or do they???

You know, I think people just don't see lots of things going on around them today like we used to. I don't think there is such a thing as a neighbor. Back when I was in my late twenties, and had 4 children already, I knew or knew of all my neighbors. There was one family, a dad, mom and 3 kids. The dad worked at night, and the mom would have a male visitor around 8 pm and she always locked her kids out of the house.

They always came to my house to play with my kids. Around 9, I would tell them it was time to go home as my kids had to get ready for bed. The oldest boy, around 8 y/o said they couldn't go home as they couldn't get in the house until 'that car is gone'. I asked who it was and he didn't know.

I immediately called the police and they were there within 15 minutes. When they left my house, they took the kids home, knocked on the door and the mom, thinking it was the kids, screamed out for them to go away. When the cops identified themselves, mom opened the door with nothing on but a robe. She was charged with child neglect, and both adults were taken off to jail, and the kids were placed with a foster home.

Sometimes, I think, people just don't want to get involved. But I will everytime I see a child in danger.