Ethan Stacy -- Found Deceased 5/11/10

I'll never understand the mindset of people who abuse, neglect, or kill children. Sitemama, I'm glad you did the right thing and got involved. A child's safety comes way ahead of minding your own business and staying out of it. There is no reason children should be locked out of their own house at 9 pm. Their mom locking them out so she could commit adultery with her boyfriend while her husband was at work is reprehensible.

Nathan and Stephanie Sloop: Volatile souls long tempting tragedy
Charged with murder » Pair on the path to trouble long before Ethan Stacy's death, many say.

By Kristen Moulton And Sheena McFarland | The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated:05/30/2010 05:00:07 PM MDT

Orlando, Fla. » Stephanie Stacy and Nathan Sloop saw themselves as soul mates, inscribing the invitations to their July 4 wedding with a quote from Aristotle: "Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."

That verse now chills former friends, neighbors and family of the couple, who connected last year in cyberspace.

For when two volatile, unraveling souls unite, there is no voice of reason.

It's just a matter of time before someone gets hurt.

From the combustible union of Stephanie and Nathan, that someone was Ethan Stacy, her towheaded 4-year-old, a spunky, skinny boy with glasses who arrived in Utah for a summer visit at the end of April.

Within two weeks, his mother reported Ethan missing from the Layton apartment they shared with Nathan. Ensnared by their conflicting stories the next day, police say, the couple admitted killing Ethan and led officers to his body, buried off a trail near Powder Mountain Ski Resort.

Stephanie told police the beatings began May 5, and said the next day they locked the battered boy in his room while she and Nathan went to the old memorial courthouse in Farmington to get married.

After Ethan died, the new Mrs. Sloop went to nearby stores for provisions to conceal his death: lighter fluid for Ethan; slushy drinks for Stephanie and Nathan.

They chose not to burn his body, instead taking a hammer to Ethan's face to make him less recognizable.

As Stephanie tells it, they buried him on Mother's Day, a fine spring day.

--

A perfect storm »Stephanie, 27, and Nathan, 31, had been together just seven months when they were arrested May 11 in Ethan's death.

On Friday, they were charged with aggravated murder, child abuse, obstructing justice and abuse or desecration of a human body. Under those charges, the prosecutor could seek the death penalty.

It's difficult to find people who will speak up for Stephanie and Nathan; most former friends and neighbors already at odds with the pair are even more angry; their parents declined interview requests.

Others, however, describe the two as the worst possible combination: An impatient, narcissistic mother indifferent to her only child, and an unstable, violent man increasingly desperate over limited access to his own 6-year-old daughter, who lives in Florida with his ex-wife.

Michelle Rodriguez of Mount Carmel, Ill. -- an ex-wife of Ethan's dad, Joe Stacy -- says a couple of months ago she phoned Stephanie to tell her to stop calling. When Nathan answered, she warned him that he should never let Stephanie near his daughter.

But Rodriguez had no idea the child in danger would be Ethan, the little boy she often took for weekends and even longer vacations to Los Angeles and New Jersey with her own children, 14-year-old Destrian Stacy and 11-year-old Alisa Stacy, Ethan's half-brother and half-sister.

Nathan "blew up" when Rodriguez suggested Stephanie was unfit.

"I said, 'The two of you are just alike,'" recalls Rodriguez. "He sounded like a controlling freak. ... He called her 'my woman.'"

--

The center of attention »Stephanie Croft was born in Michigan but raised in the Orlando area by her mother. She rarely saw her father -- described as "a rolling stone" -- and met her older half-brother only three years ago when she tracked him down in Michigan. She also has a teenaged half-brother in Michigan.

Stephanie's former friends say she has always been difficult. As a teenager, she would sneak out at night with boys. She once brought a physical abuse charge against her stepfather, a false accusation, according to an ex-friend. The charge was dismissed.

Joe, her ex-husband, says Stephanie's mother once told him she had been diagnosed at age 13 with borderline personality disorder, a diagnosis Joe rejects. "It ain't no disorder. It's just the way she is."

She often bragged that her purse was a pharmacy, say former friends.

"She had a lot of prescription pills from doctors," says Joe. "She'd always know just what to tell them."

She played junior varsity softball her senior year at Edgewater High School in Orlando and graduated in 2001.

Stephanie enlisted in the Air Force, but was other-than-honorably discharged during basic training, says Joe.

After a brief early marriage, Stephanie met Joe in Orlando via a mutual friend and married when she was 21.

Except for the three years the family lived in Savannah, Ga., when Joe finished a stint in the Army, the Stacy family lived near Orlando.

Over the years, Stephanie sometimes worked as a dancer at strip clubs in Cocoa Beach and Daytona Beach, according to friends. She also dabbled in modeling from a young age, she says on her Model Mayhem website.

She claims to have been a Bud Girl and a Jager Girl in bar promotions, and was trying to get into the "Playboy Hot Housewives" special edition last year. But whether that was a real possibility is up for debate.

"She is a pathological liar," says Carla Jones, a former friend.

Rodriguez, the mother of Joe's two older children, had a ringside seat for the drama that surrounded Stephanie. Her children lived with Joe and Stephanie for four years; a flight attendant, Rodriguez visited often.

Stephanie pulled all kinds of shenanigans to try to make Rodriguez's life miserable, she says. She tried to get her fired, falsely accused her of neglect and bad parenting in custody court and with child services; and cracked into her employee account at Continental Airlines, as well as her MySpace, Facebook and eBay accounts.

"Stephanie is not a stupid woman. She's very clever," says Rodriguez. "She always seemed to cover her tracks."

Stephanie insisted Destrian and Alisa call her "mom" and their real mom by her first name, says Rodriguez. She monitored the few phone conversations she allowed between Rodriguez and her children.

"She always had to be Number One," says Joe. "She was so narcissistic."

Rodriguez says she didn't know, until much later, how much her children disliked their stepmom.

Destrian says Stephanie expected him to take care of baby Ethan from the start. Their father was often gone for two weeks at a time, working as a roustabout on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. "She really never changed his diapers," says Destrian.

Stephanie would spank Destrian and Alisa with a metal spatula, and whack the backs of their heads with the back of her diamond-ringed hand, the siblings say.

"We felt we were back in the slave days," says Alisa. "She used to make us make her alcohol drinks, clean the pool, clean the bathroom until it was spotless white."

Alisa went to friends' houses rather than invite them to her own. "I was afraid she would yell at me in front of my friends," says Alisa. "She yelled for stupid reasons.

"She threatened my dad so much it got me mad."

When a relative gave Destrian and Alisa laptops for Christmas, Stephanie sold them, says Rodriguez. When their mother sent clothes, Stephanie threw them away. When she sent cash, the kids got empty envelopes.

Stephanie wanted people to think of her as the perfect mother, Joe says. "But behind closed doors, it was a whole different story."

"I tried to get her to be more of a mother," he says. "But she was not cut out to be a mother....She just is a person with no patience."

After Joe slipped on an oil rig in late 2008, a fall that required surgery to insert two titanium rods in his neck, things got rocky, he says.

Stephanie began commuting to Las Vegas to dance at a strip club, and eventually moved there in late spring 2009.

Joe intended to move the family to Las Vegas in August, but Rodriguez fought the move because she could not easily fly in and out to see her children.

In August, there was an especially ugly fight in which Stephanie accused Joe of choking her and for which he spent a few hours in jail, though charges were never filed. Joe returned to Orlando with Ethan, and late last year to his home state of Virginia. Destrian and Alisa went to live with their mother in Illinois.

Joe filed for divorce in October, and in a motion for temporary custody in November he said Stephanie had abandoned Ethan and was "unstable," and that he feared she would take Ethan and never return him.

By February, though, Stephanie's badgering and threats wore him down and he agreed to a divorce settlement that allowed Stephanie to have Ethan each spring break and summer. They were to alternate holidays. She was to pay no child support.

Joe also agreed to give her half of the money he expected from a lawsuit settlement for his injury. If he gets nothing, the agreement said, Stephanie gains custody of Ethan.

"She said, 'I sold my son,'" says Jones, recalling a phone conversation with Stephanie this spring.

"The only reason she wanted Ethan for the summer was because she knew Joe didn't want her to have him," Jones says.

The divorce was final on April 28 in Orlando, the same day Stephanie flew back to Utah with Ethan for the summer.

Ethan, Joe says, "was a pawn; someone she could use to get what she wanted."

"Stephanie is the kind of person," says Rodriguez, "who could spit on the ground and drown her own mother and not think twice about it."

--

A loose cannon »Nathanael Warren Sloop was raised in a tight-knit Orlando family. His father, Warren Sloop, often coached his and his brother's teams.

Nathan was a standout lacrosse player, a top scorer his senior year at Cypress Creek High School, which today has nearly 3,500 students.

The Rev. Jim Henry was their pastor at First Baptist Church, a mega-church in Orlando, but is now retired. He remembers that the Sloops would wait in line after Sunday services to greet him at a reception.

"They were very positive, encouraging people," he says, recalling that Nathan's brother, a high school baseball star, once gave him an autographed bat.

"Their family seemed to be close-knit. They loved their boys. They were just the kind of people you wish you had a church full of."

His recalls Nathan as "clean-cut and sharp."

Nathan graduated from Cypress Creek in 1997, and it wasn't long before his parents and brother were in the insurance business in Utah's Davis County.

Nathan, too, got his Utah license to sell property and casualty insurance in early 1999, adding other lines later that year.

He and Jennifer Freeman, from the old Florida neighborhood, were married in October, just weeks before his father died at age 46.

Although Nathan would later claim during their divorce that he had sold insurance for nine years in Utah and was licensed to teach insurance classes, he never renewed his license after it lapsed in 2001.

The couple bought a home in Roy, where they lived when their daughter was born in May 2004.

Even before that, Nathan was evidently having drug and mental health issues.

He was charged in several cases with drug possession in 2002 and 2003, and ultimately spent a month in the Weber County Jail, was on probation for 18 months and paid a $500 fine. He was also required to get mental-health and substance-abuse counseling.

But in 2009, he was charged with trespassing at Walgreen's because he had already filled prescriptions for Percocet from three different doctors in a week and was trying to fill a fourth. When the pharmacist refused, he became belligerent and threatening. The pharmacist called the police.

Former neighbors describe him as volatile and moody.

"One minute he'd be a good guy and then he'd just as soon want to whip you," says Don Fernelius, who lives across the street from Nathan's house.

Nathan would never get his hands dirty doing home maintenance, says Fernelius, adding that Roy City twice had to order him to cut his grass last year.

Rheta Phillips, a 70-year-old neighbor, recalls a series of encounters -- some violent -- with Nathan.

Once, Nathan screamed at her for making the four dogs in his basement -- a Great Dane, an English bulldog and two pitbulls -- bark by knocking on his back door.

Another time, he threw all of his wife's clothes and shoes onto the driveway and was screaming that he wanted her out of the house.

A confrontation in December 2008 was the most violent. It began when Nathan's dogs jumped on one of Phillips' relative's new car. Nathan went on to punch her grandson, and he swung a knife at her 47-year-old son so close it cut his shirt.

"He called me an [expletive] bitch," recalls Phillips. "I'm 70 years old. I'd heard this term before, but not right in my face, and I'm wondering 'What the hell's wrong with you?'"

Nathan is, by all accounts, fiercely attached to his daughter. He proudly shows her picture to people he meets, and once told Phillips about blowing his top and striking out at his father-in-law and new stepdad.

His daughter, then a baby, had fallen down a step after a holiday meal. Nathan accused the others of not watching her closely enough.

His mother, Phillips says, promised he'd get mental help after that incident.

In 2006, he got into a fistfight with a former friend outside a Roy store because nine months earlier the man had verbally threatened Sloop's daughter when he and Nathan got into a fight, Nathan told police.

Jennifer left Nathan in 2007, claiming she and their daughter were going to Florida for a visit.

In the divorce, finalized the next year, she accused Nathan of abusing her by punching her and pulling her hair. He had been diagnosed, she wrote, with multiple-personality disorder, a claim Nathan rejected. He wrote in court papers that he had obsessive compulsive disorder.

As part of their settlement, Nathan was to get his daughter each summer, spring vacation and alternate holidays.

But then, in a series of profanity-laced and threatening phone calls in September, he berated Jennifer for going on vacation the same week their daughter started school. That tirade led a judge to order him in March to have no contact with his ex-wife for two years. He was allowed only phone contact with his daughter, and no more web-cam sessions, in which each party can see the other as they converse via the Internet.

Only his mother, Pamela Sloop Taylor, was allowed to collect his daughter for her summer visit.

In February, Jennifer told a judge Nathan was more than $11,000 behind in child support and had never paid her $15,000 for her share of the Roy house.

--

The fantasy unravels »To ex-friends who talked or exchanged e-mails with Stephanie and Nathan in recent months and who visited social networking websites where Stephanie posted, it appeared the two were living in a fantasy world.

They hooked up shortly after meeting on Facebook -- Stephanie knew his ex-sister-in-law in middle school -- and almost immediately were engaged to be married.

Myriad pictures of the happy couple were posted, including on The Knot, a site for betrothed couples.

Stephanie talked of Nathan as her soul mate and began discussing a big wedding at a relative's Golden, Colo., home on the Fourth of July. They were registered at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Macy's.

By spring, she was alternately begging former friends to be bridesmaids or acting as if they'd already agreed to be.

Carla Jones, her friend in Orlando, has a note she received from Stephanie in April prescribing a mid-calf black dress, gray snakeskin heels as her bridesmaids' attire. The note told Jones to arrive in Colorado on July 3 and that she and Nathan were leaving for Seattle on July 6, presumably for a honeymoon.

It ended with a sentence Jones now finds jarring: "Ethan will be there."

"I never even said I would go to her wedding!" says Jones.

Rodriguez says she ordered Stephanie to stop e-mailing her about the wedding in March.

Neighbors say Nathan and Stephanie stayed in his Roy home until about the time Ethan arrived, when the sewer backed up. That's evidently when they moved to the Layton apartment where Ethan died.

In a call to her half-brother in Michigan on May 5, Stephanie explained they were getting married in Utah the next day so they could qualify for public aid, but that the "real" wedding was still on for July Fourth in Colorado.

The next day and the next, she left increasingly frantic phone messages for Jones, saying she couldn't handle Ethan.

Destrian and Alisa say they wrote letters to Stephanie in jail, although they didn't immediately mail them.

"I hate you because you killed your own son and my brother," Alisa wrote.

Destrian says he, too, expressed his anger.

He wants his former stepmother punished to the fullest.

"I hope she gets the death penalty."

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_15190371

Nathan and Stephanie Sloop still searching for qualified attorneys for potential death penalty case

Couple is charged with killing 4-year-old Ethan Stacy

By Pat Reavy
Deseret News
Published: Friday, June 4, 2010 3:39 p.m. MDT

FARMINGTON — Saying "the process is not yet complete," attorneys for the couple accused of killing 4-year-old Ethan Stacy asked a judge Friday for more time to find new attorneys to represent them in the potential death penalty case.

Stephanie and Nathan Sloop appeared separately before 2nd District Judge David Connors, each standing before the judge for only a minute. Stephanie appeared first, wearing a red Davis County Jail jumpsuit, her blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. Sloop seemed more composed than in previous appearances and did not cry Friday.

Nathan Sloop, wearing a cross around his neck along with his red jumpsuit, began looking around the courtroom when he reached the podium, as he has done in previous hearings, apparently looking for his mother. A court bailiff appeared to tell him to look forward at the judge. Sloop spotted his mother while being led out of the room and mouthed the words, "I love you," as he has in his previous hearing.

Pam Sloop, Nathan's mother, wiped away tears as she left the courtroom.

The Sloops are charged with capital murder, child abuse, obstructing justice and abuse or desecration of a body. Nathan Sloop, 31, faces an additional charge of damaging a jail.

Although prosecutors have not said officially whether they intend to seek the death penalty, Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings has said the case is headed in that direction.
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Prosecutors say Ethan was subjected to "beatings, burning, drugging, isolating, malnourishing" and was left alone and unattended while suffering from his injuries. In addition, the Sloops refused "to seek vital life-sustaining medical attention" for Ethan, according to the charges.

Only a limited number of attorneys in Utah are qualified to handle death penalty cases. To be eligible to work on a capital murder case, attorneys must meet a number of requirements. They must have taken six felony cases to a verdict within the past four years, at least one of the two appointed attorneys must have worked on a capital or a felony homicide case that went before a jury and ended in a verdict and they must complete or teach a legal class dealing with the trial of death penalty cases. They must also have at least five years experience practicing law.

As of Friday, the Sloops' current attorneys said the effort to find a person to take their cases was still ongoing.

The atmosphere at the Farmington courthouse was much less of a circus than in previous hearings. The courtroom was not filled with members of the public as in earlier appearances.

About a dozen members of Bikers Against Child Abuse were present.

"We're committed to making sure Ethan has a voice in all this," said BACA member Ish.

Ish said the delays and continuances in child abuse cases are frustrating, but his group has become accustomed to them.

"I'm not a fan of it, but it's something you have to do," he said. "Eventually Ethan will have his justice."

Outside the courthouse, at least one vehicle had "We Love U Ethan" and "Justice 4 Ethan" drawn on the windows by supporters who came to the hearing.

Contributing: Emiley Morgan

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700037750/Nathan-and-Stephanie-Sloop-still-searching-for-qualified-attorneys-for-potential-death-penalty-case.html

Sloop attorneys appointed / Hearing Monday for Nathanael, June 18 for Stephanie

By Loretta Park (Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau)
Last Edit: Jun 11 2010 - 12:05am

FARMINGTON -- Judge Thomas L. Kay has appointed two attorneys to defend Stephanie and Nathanael Sloop.

The orders were filed in 2nd District Court on Thursday. Court hearings for the Sloops, which were scheduled for today, have been canceled.

Kay appointed Richard P. Mauro to defend Nathanael Sloop and Mary Corporon to defend Stephanie Sloop.

A hearing for Nathanael Sloop is set for 1:30 p.m. Monday before 2nd District Court Judge Michael Allphin in Farmington. Stephanie Sloop is to appear before Allphin at 1:30 p.m. June 18.

The Sloops are both charged with aggravated murder, second-degree felony child abuse, second-degree felony obstruction of justice and third-degree felony abuse or desecration of a body in connection with the death of 4-year-old Ethan Stacy.

Nathanael Sloop has also been charged with third-degree felony damaging of a jail.

Ethan Stacy's body was found buried near Powder Mountain on May 11. Ethan had come to Utah on May 1 to spend the summer with his mother, Stephanie Sloop, and his stepfather, Nathanael Sloop, following a divorce settlement.

Both Sloops could receive the death penalty if they are convicted of the aggravated murder charges.

Both are accused of abusing Ethan for days in their Layton apartment before he died May 9, which was Mother's Day.

The next day, the couple took the child's body to a wooded area near Powder Mountain, desecrated it and buried it, according to court documents.

They then called Layton police to report that the boy had wandered off.

http://www.standard.net/topics/courts/2010/06/10/sloop-attorneys-appointed-hearing-monday-nathanael-june-18-stephanie

Sloops make first appearance with newly appointed attorneys

by Melinda Williams
Jun 17, 2010



FARMINGTON — Nathan and Stephanie Sloop each stood in front of Judge Michael G. Allphin with their newly-appointed attorneys for the first time at a Tuesday hearing.

The pair, charged with aggravated murder in the death of Stephanie’s 4-year-old son Ethan Stacy last month, were appointed Rule 8-qualified attorneys, that is attorneys able to handle a death penalty case, should it come to that. However, both lead attorneys must still select co-counsel.

Nathan, 31, will be represented by Richard Mauro. Mauro has worked on two death penalty cases, Ralph Menzies and Von Taylor.

Stephanie, 27, will be represented by Mary Corporon, who also worked on the Menzies case.

Both attorneys said they will need to go over the information in the case before the next hearing, set for July 14.

On Tuesday, Nathan Sloop was led into court first, at one point looking around the courtroom. He has made a habit of locating his mother and mouthing “I love you,” to her as he leaves the courtroom. Tuesday was no different.

Stephanie appeared next. After the hearing, she quickly turned to leave, but was stopped by a bailiff who needed her to sign some papers.

Following the hearing Mauro spoke briefly to members of the media. He reiterated that his client is innocent until proven guilty. He said there is a process which must be followed in the case which he hoped would be followed, “and I believe it will be.”

The aggravated murder charge the two face could result in 25 years to life with the possibility of parole, life in prison without parole, or the death sentence. While prosecutor Troy Rawlings has not yet decided whether to pursue a death sentence, the couples’ attorneys are qualified to handle their cases.

The couple is accused of killing Ethan and burying his body near Powder Mountain in Ogden Canyon, after about a week of abuse, investigators said.

Stephanie reported the boy missing, saying he had a habit of wandering off, and an endangered person alert was issued.

However, after several hours of searching and questioning the couple, investigators said they found inconsistencies in their stories, leading to their arrest.

Both Nathan and Stephanie are charged with aggravated murder, child abuse and obstructing justice, as well as abuse or desecration of a body.

While the crowds attending the hearings have dwindled, eight members of Bikers Against Child Abuse were at the hearing, along with a few others. Two women were passing out plastic wristbands in support of Ethan.

http://www.clippertoday.com/view/full_story/7966580/article-Sloops-make-first-appearance-with-newly-appointed-attorneys

This bothers me on a level that I just can't put into words. I can relate to Ethan's father more than I care to think about...

Did any of you catch this statement made by Stephanie after she supposedly lost her twins in December - that she could always have more babies - like eh, oh well - and then basically says at least I have my man... I think that is a picture into the deepest part of her soul - that her children are expendable... like her ex husband says repeatedly, she used Ethan as a pawn to get what she wanted from her ex.

You'll remember in the Haleigh Cummings case that many speculated that Ron and Misty might have gotten married so their testimony would be protected in a court of law, meaning that they could not be forced to testify against each other - and I'm wondering if any of you know in UT if they have a law similar to that? I'm thinking that is why this evil couple ended up marrying so much sooner than planned and before they actually killed him - I full well believe that they both knew that they would never send the child back home to his father after what they had done - because he would of course tell on them. So I'm wondering if they will find that this was premeditated? They refused to let his father speak with him - at which point he probably should have called in for a well-check visit from LE - but I bet he didnt' think about that.

Another thing - when will judges LISTEN to well meaning parents who truly complain that their child is at risk??? I know there are some that would intentionally lie to get revenge on the other parent - but gracious - this is TWICE just recently that this has happened!! Remember Debra Jeter - her husband had a restraining order in place against her but then a judge came in and ordered a visitation - that very first visitation - she slit her girls throats - one died, and the other one almost did. That was just a few miles from my home. And I KNOW it's happened more than twice - but my question is WHEN - WHEN are the judges going to listen - they are THE last stop to keep these situations from happening!

Woman Charged in Son's Death Seeks Annulment

June 27, 2010

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A woman charged in the death and mutilation of her 4-year-old son is seeking an annulment from her new husband. Stephanie Sloop, 27, filed the annulment petition Friday in Farmington's 2nd District Court. She married Nathanael Sloop on May 6 - five days before her son Ethan Stacy's disfigured body was discovered by police buried on a northern Utah mountainside. She claimed in the court papers that the marriage "was not voluntary, and was the result or product of physical duress by" the 31-year-old Sloop. Nathanael Sloop could fight the petition, which does not detail how he may have coerced his bride. Mary Corporon, Stephanie Sloop's defense attorney, declined to comment on the annulment petition.

A wedding website said the couple had been engaged for several months and had planned an Independence Day marriage ceremony at a relative's home in Golden, Colo. But in a call to her half-brother on May 5, Stephanie Sloop said she and Nathanael Sloop would marry in Utah the next day so that they could qualify for public aid. The couple was married at Farmington's old memorial courthouse. Police say the Sloops left Ethan Stacy alone and locked inside a bedroom in their Layton apartment during the ceremony.

On May 10, Stephanie Sloop reported the boy missing to police. A search was called off within hours after the story the Sloops had told police began to change during questioning. The Sloops face charges of aggravated murder and other felonies related to the boy's death. Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the death penalty. The couple remained held without bail in the Davis County jail. Stephanie Sloop's annulment petition also asks that her name be changed to a previous surname. No specific surname is indicated, but she formerly used the name Stephanie Stacy. Ethan Stacy's father, Joe Stacy, of Richlands, Va., said Friday that he did not want his ex-wife using his surname.

http://connect2utah.com/news-story?nxd_id=96425

That B!otch wouldn't use my surname either?????

Ethan would still be with his father, alive and well, if it weren't for her.

Accused child killers get more defense attorneys

July 14, 2010





A judge on Wednesday appointed additional attorneys to represent Nathan and Stephanie Sloop.

Lawyers Scott C. Williams and Heather Harris will assist Richard Mauro in defending Nathan Sloop. Attorney Mark Flores will assist Stephanie Sloop’s lawyer, Mary Corporon.

The Sloops each are facing aggravated murder charges for the early May beating death of Stephanie Sloop’s 4-year-old son, Ethan Stacy. The two could each face the death penalty.

The Sloops were scheduled to appear back in 2nd District Court on Sept. 10. Nathan Sloop could be heard yelling “I love you Stephanie” in the holding area just before his court appearance.

Sheena McFarland

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/49928241-76/sloop-stephanie-nathan-assist.html.csp

They sure do have her looking alot younger than her age w/ her hair pulled back and curled like a pig's tail...

Every time I see a picture of a child abuser/killer I get sick to my stomach...I just dont understand why they think they can do terrible things to kids and get away with it...

Sloops "on track" for death penalty, prosecutor says

Ben Winslow, Reporter FOX 13 News
11:56 AM MDT, September 10, 2010

 

FARMINGTON, Utah - The couple accused of killing 4-year-old Ethan Stacy waived their right to a speedy trial, delaying the case briefly while attorneys go over thousands of pages of evidence in the child homicide. Meanwhile, Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings told Fox 13 the case was "on track" for the death penalty, if Nathan and Stephanie Sloop are convicted.

The Sloops are facing aggravated murder charges in the death of Ethan, who was staying with his mother and stepfather when he died. His body was found in a canyon near Eden. Prosecutors allege he had been abused so severely, he died as a result.

In Farmington's 2nd District Court on Friday, Nathan and Stephanie Sloop both agreed to a delay. Prosecutors said that to date, they had provided defense attorneys with 3,200 pages of evidence and another 182 CDs of data.

Read more: http://www.fox13now.com/news/ethanstacy/kstu-couple-accused-in-4-year-olds-death-agree-to-delay-case,0,3704384.story

x

Good, they both deserve it and it can't come quickly enough in my opinion.

Couple to be tried separately in killing of Ethan Stacy

Published: Friday, Oct. 22, 2010 11:14 p.m. MDT
By Emiley Morgan, Deseret News

FARMINGTON — Prosecutors plan to try separately the mother and her boyfriend charged with murder in the slaying of 4-year-old Ethan Stacy, whose body was mutilated and buried in the mountains.

"We feel like it is to our strategic advantage to focus on the individual conduct," said Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings said Friday. "We believe it's the fairest way to do it."

Stephanie and Nathan Sloop are charged with capital murder in connection with the death of Ethan, whose disfigured body was found buried in a remote area near Powder Mountain on May 9.

Police say Ethan died as a result of "a systematic and progressively more violent pattern of abuse."

Rawlings said prosecutors are still planning on pursuing the death penalty for the pair but will re-evaluate after upcoming preliminary hearings.

Read more: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700075677/Couple-to-be-tried-separately-in-killing-of-Ethan-Stacy.html

Bet it wont take 2 years for this trial to happen...What's the matter with these parents??? So many childless couples who would give their eye teeth to have one...I just don't understand...

Jailhouse Letters from accused killer: Stephanie Sloop

November 2, 2010 - 6:13 PM

~Snipped~

DAVIS COUNTY, Utah (ABC 4 News) - "If I could trade places with Ethan...I would," words written to ABC4 News from a mother accused of killing her own child.

It came as a letter addressed to ABC4's Kelli O'Hara from none other than accused killer, Stephanie Sloop. For six months, Sloop has been sitting in a Davis County Jail without bond. Stephanie and her husband, Nathan, are accused of beating, torturing then killing her 4-year-old son Ethan Stacy while he visited Utah during his summer vacation.

For months, Sloop has been silent in court and silent in the press... until now. In a series of letters, Sloop reveals to ABC4 what, she says, really happened those days leading up to Ethan's death.

~Snipped~

Stephanie also addresses the circumstances leading up to her son'sdeath, "He never showed signs of being sick but he died of pneumonia and Nate giving him Xanax. Nate already admitted to abuse when I wasn't there."

She continues, "It's obvious that they haven't released the medical examiner's report yet but Ethan's death was ruled ACCIDENTAL, that go public with."

Read more: http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top_stories/story/Jailhouse-Letters-from-accused-killer-Stephanie/P5MEKNUuTU-NLueRRuoFLg.cspx

Stephanie Sloop withdraws annulment request

Updated: 12/06 5:28 pm


SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Stephanie Sloop has withdrawn her request for an annulment from Nathan Sloop.

The couple is charged in the murder of her son, four year old Ethan Stacy.

Today a judge denied a request to seal the case. In response to that decision Stephanie’s attorney asked for the annulment request to be dismissed.

http://www.abc4.com/mostpopular/story/Stephanie-Sloop-withdraws-annulment-request/kgs31PWpq0mhtmUnxConjw.cspx

~Snipped~
In letters Stephanie wrote to ABC 4 from jail she talks about her love for Nathan saying, "The one thing I can say about Nathan is this awful situation has shown his love for me is unconditional."

In another letter she said, "I can now write Nathan, so that's helped a little."


This awful situation????? His unconditional love for her???? Oh