Adacelli Snyder
March 31, 2003 - June 29, 2005
There are no words in the English, or any other language,
that convey strongly enough what happened to little Adacelli Snyder. Imagine
a child, face covered with bites and insect eggs, bruises on her belly,
eyes that are discolored, open sores on her bottom and thighs, her lower
body covered in her own feces and urine. Now imagine this child has Cerebral
Palsy and the people who are to blame for her condition, are her parents.
Now, imagine she didn't make it. It's not hard to imagine this, this is
exactly what happened to Adacellie Snyder and the people who did this to
her were her parents, the people entrusted to take care of her, the people
who failed her, along with Child Protective Services.
Living in a trailer in Las Vegas Nevada, little Adacelli
and her siblings were forced to walk among garbage, rotting food, dirt
and what appeared to be animal and human feces. Flies, lice and roaches
were everywhere. What wasn't there were the people who SHOULD have
taken these children away before Adacelli died. Adacelli who was two years
old, weighed only 11 pounds when she was found dead, in her home in June
29, 2005.
Jack Richardson and Charlene Snyder have been booked
on charges of second degree murder, child abuse and child neglect.
This goes FAR beyond the abuse and neglect of a child. Las Vegas Police
Captain, Terry Lesney said:
"This case was horrendous, the worst I've seen
in my 24 years of law enforcement. It's
very rare to see a second-degree murder charge
on a neglect case without physical abuse."
In a broken crib, surrounded by bugs, having a severe
diaper rash and using soiled blankets, Adacelli was kept isolated, with
her two sisters in totally unlivable conditions. With reports dating back
to 2002, Clark County Child Protective Services SHOULD have done something
to intervene. In July of 2003, Charlene Snyder was reported to CPS TWICE
for the filthy conditions in her home as well as Adacelli's weight loss
and neglect of her other children. For a year, CPS had an open home-monitoring
case against Charlene. In June of 2004, Clark County CPS said they had
done all they could and closed the case with Susan Klein-Rothschild, director
of the Department Of Family services stating that the county would not
have any legal grounds to check on the family after the case was closed,
unless another report was made against Charlene.
Terry Lesney said that a police investigation uncovered
several recent reports made to CPS about this family. Questions about this
were referred to CPS. Susan Klein-Rothschild claims they have no records
at all of reports on this family between the time the case was closed and
the time they found Adacelli dead. Claiming the county had given intensive
case management in the case of Charlene and Adacelli, was Ann Rubin, manger
for the county's Department Of Family Services. Ann Ruin claimed that the
social workers met with the family on a regular basis, bringing along a
public health nurse who focused on teaching Charlene how to handle her
child and an early childhood intervention worker.
"The social workers involved in this care are
grieving
for the child, they worked so hard and thought
they
had success with this family."
Police reports show that as little as a year after
the case was close, Charlene had stopped bringing Adacelli for necessary
medical visits. Charlene admitted to the police that she had missed doctors
appointments as far back as seven months prior to Adacelli's death. Charlene
stated that adacelli was often hard to deal with and irritable. She would
sit with at times and calm her, other times she would leave her there and
let her cry, shutting the door behind her, stating it was good to let babies
cry.
Donna Coleman who is President of the Children's
Advocacy Alliance says that as she has read the case, she is finding there
is plenty of blame to go around. The family was provided intensive help
for a long period of time with very little improvement and Donna Coleman
says the children should have been removed from the home under those circumstances.
Police reports show that Charlene file a domestic
violence report against Jack Richardson in April. Donna Coleman said:
"If there's a report of domestic violence in
a home that's
had two referrals to the house by CPS, shouldn't
that
be a big red flag?"
Any sane person would think so, I guess noone who
could do anything before Adacelli died, cared enough to try. The lawyer
who represents the Adacelli's siblings said the children, Annalisa Dees
who is 5, Maryposa Dees, who is 4 and Jack Richardson who is one, will
be released from the county's temporary home for abused and neglected children
and will be able to live with Beverly Snyder, Charlene's mother.
Upon learning that Adacelli was buried in an unmarked
grave, a woman by the name of Jen Critchlow decided to do something about
it. After raising $5,400. for a memorial bench and headstone, in January
of 2006, the memorial bench and headstone were put into place and a memorial
service was held. Jen Critchlow said:
"As a mother it just ripped my heart out to
think not
only that she had to suffer, the suffering
she went
through and then to just be buried in an unmarked
grave with no sort of a memorial or remembrance
of what life she did have."
 
Jen Critchlow's generosity does not stop there. Every
year on March 31st, she plans to collect teddy bears to donate to Child
Haven in memory of Adacilli who was born on March 31st. I give her my own
undying admiration and thanks for what she has done and will continue to
do in Adacelli's memory.
Flowers, teddy bears and other gifts were left at
Adacelli's grave site after a service on August 18th.
January 2007
During her court appearance Charlene said:
"I didn't know how to take care of a special
needs child. I
'Im sorry, that's all I can say. Please give
me mercy."
Where was her mercy for Adacelli and what is her
excuse for not taking care of her other children? Making them live the
way they did? Luckily, Judge David Wall didn't buy her story and said the
following:
"I'm going to sentence you to life in prison
with a
possibility of parole after 10 years has been
served."
Now we can only hope and pray that a parole board
will NOT see fit to let her out, EVER!
Adacelli's Godmother, Keli Cruz was happy about the
verdict:
"I hate to say it but she deserves what she
gets,"
Keli Cruz said she noticed when things started to
change:
"I had her for a couple of nights and then
[Snyder] would take her
back to the house and as soon as she hit that
crib, she just
started screaming. She knew... She knew she
wasn't in a good environment."
Keli Cruz says she thinks Adacelli's death was for
a reason, to stop her brother and sisters from being abused and neglected"
"She died for a reason. She died to save those
other kids,"
Jack Richardson's attorney, Public Defender Timoth
O'Brian asked Judge Wall to choose a lesser sentence for him, asking for
10 to 25 years stating:
"This was a case of not knowing any better"
How could ANYONE with a conscience
NOT
know that this little girl was being abused and her treatment was wrong?
Jack's attorney tried to say that he was abused as a child and was thrown
away as a very small child. He also said:
"This is a guy who was doing the best he could
with what he had,"
Tinmothy O'Brian said that Adacelli was severely
brain damaged and he felt she probably would have died a natural death
by the age of five stating that he doubted the evidence in the case would
have shown that Adacelli was even neglected at all. The words spoken by
Keli Cruz about how Adacelli would begin to cry when she was taken away
from her, speak differently.
If a person is abused, they KNOW how terrible
it feels and certainly they would try NOT to abuse another person.
The defense of "I was abused as a child", is one that is use so much when
someone commits a crime these days, it's a shame and anyone who uses it
needs to be made away that it is NOT okay to abuse someone else
simple because THEY were abuse. Jack Richardson didn't say a word
as Judge Wall imposed his sentence of life in prison with the possibility
of parole after ten years. The Judge added:
"My hope is that Adacelli had no recognition
of what
was happening to her"
What goes through the minds of the judges who impose
such a ridiculous sentence for the suffering and murder of a beautiful
child?
O'Brien said the girl was severely brain-damaged
and probably would have died a natural death by the age of 5. The lawyer
said he doubted that evidence in the case would have shown neglect caused
her death, "but indeed this child was neglected."
For information about preventing child abuse in the
state of Nevada, click the links below. If they can't help you, ask for
someone who can. NEVER give up looking for help for an abused child!
Call this number
to report child abuse ANY WHERE in the United States!
1-800-4-A-Child
1-800-422-4453
   
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