Calista Springer
May 22, 1991 - February 27, 2008
Calista had told friend and teachers at
school that
was beaten and chained to her bed at night and was forced to use a
bucket
instead of the bathroom. She ate glue and water and didn't take a bath
for days and she wore the same clothes over and over, sometimes for up
to a week.
Friends, neighbors and even teachers
tried for years
to get help for her. They gave her food, they took her for showers and
gave her clean clothing to wear. Reports showed that at least 15
complaints
had been made on behalf of Calista:
"Someone needs to help her.
Does she need to
die before anyone listens"
Sue Gest wrote in a 2004 letter to
U.S. Rep.
Fred Upton - R-St. Joseph
Fred Upton did contact the Michigan
Department Of
Human Services and was falsely told that Calista was being cared for in
the proper way. Apparently, Sue Gest was correct, Calista
DID have
to die in order for someone to pay attention.
Child Protective Services had warned
Calista's father,
Anthony and her stepmother, Marsha, NOT to tie Calista's to her
bed, they even said "in case of fire". These two adults ignored the
warnings
and using a dog choke collar and zip ties, they changed her to her bed
because they said they were tired of getting up every time the alarm
went
off to signal that she was leaving the house.
On her last night of life, Calista
went to bed without
sheets, blankets or a pillow, sleeping in a t-shirt and thin sweat
pants.
Calista was a special needs child, apparently living with parents who
were
not able to handle her. So they kept her tied to her bed, to control
her
at night.
As it turns out, in 2004, a Sheriff's
Deputy had
been told that Calista's parents were tying her to the bed using a
velcro
strap and a dog chain. Deputy Dan Riggs had forwarded the case to The
Michigan
Department Of Human Services. A letter written in 2005 to a woman who
had
made a complaint similar to the one the Deputy had already forwarded,
said
that her complaint of abuse or neglect was not going to be investigated
because it was similar to a complaint that they had already checked
into.
It was reported that the woman, who
had asked not
to be identified, filed the complaint after her own daughter had shown
her letters and pictures from Calista which told about and showed how
she
was tied up and chained to her bed. The letter she received back in
June
said:
"This notice is being sent to
you to inform
you that your complaint of child abuse or neglect has
not been accepted for
investigation. The reason
is: The allegation was essentially the same
instance as an allegation
previously reported
and investigated"
Children's Protective Services
Supervisor
Cindy Bare
NOT investigating it again and
putting a stop
to it would have tragic results when on February 27, Calista, 16, was
chained
to her bed in her second floor bedroom when she died Feb. 27 in a fire
that heavily damaged the Springers' house which would later be
demolished.
In 1999, Marsha Springer went to
court seeking a
personal protection order against her husband, Anthony. Marsha told the
judge that he had threatened her and often took his anger out on their
three girls.
In a letter to the judge Marsha said:
"Tony never has a kind word to
say to the girls
and has never told them that he loves them.
It's just constant yelling to shut
p, get
out of my way and get out of my sight"
In her four page letter, Marsha said
that her home
life was dreary and that the atmosphere was one of anger and rage. She
claimed that Anthony was a husband who bounced from job to job and
spent
the little bit of money the family had on his collections of model
airplanes
and Civil War memorabilia. Anthony suffered from Bipolar Disorder,
Attention
Deficit Disorder and severe depression and Marsha said that he rarely
took
his Prozac and Ritalin which were prescribed to him:
"He doesn't see any need for
counseling for
himself or our marriage"
Marsha asked the judge to prevent
Anthony from threatening
to kill or physically injure herself and the three children:
"My children and I need help
getting out of
this vicious cycle It is only a matter of time before
the children and myself become the
physical
targets in these rages. The fact that I am blind,
having very limited sight in one
eye I feel
without a protection order in place Tony will do
great bodily harm to me or my
children"
Marsha said that there were violent
instances in
the home where he had put his hand through a window in 1997 and then in
1998 he had ripped the phone out of the wall after an argument they
were
having about where to put a Christmas tree. In the letter she outlined
times when Anthony would force her to have sex when she didn't want to
and said that he had told her if she ever tried to leave, one of them
would
have to die. Marsha noted in the letter that Anthony collected road
kill
and would boil the meat off of the bones and then reconstruct the
skeletons:
"This is not just a hobby, this
has become
an obsession with him. You can't have a conversation
with him unless it has to do with
this subject"
The Judge, Thomas Shumaker, granted
the protection
order on June 28. Two months later, at Marsha's request, the order was
terminated. Marsha wrote another letter and said:
"There has been no problems. We
are seeking
counseling. The counselor feels that with the
children we both need to be
involved"
The protection order was terminated
on August 20,
1999.
Records show that in 1997, Norma
Swegles, the biological
mother of Calista, had tried to get custody of her. Norma had not been
involved in the life of Calista since she was an infant. In custody
papers
she claimed that Calista was malnourished and that she had been abused.
Anthony denied the claims and a month later filed papers to have
Norma's
parental rights terminated totally. A judge ruled in favor of Anthony
and
in May of 1997, Calista was placed in his home as an adoptee.
Ten years later, Calista died in a
fire while chained
to her bed. Trever Slater, the Trooper who had been there and assisted
the investigators from the fire department said that he had seen
Calista's
body, in the bed, with a dog collar around her wasted and she was tied
to the bed railing with plastic ties:
"I don't believe a person could
actually break
free of that on their own power"
Anthony and Marsha's other two
children were taken
away from them and placed with family members. It was noted that though
Calista had been sleeping in a bed with no sheets, blanket or even a
pillow,
the other two girls had sheets, pillows comforters on their beds.
A hearing was held to determine if
Calista's sisters,
who were 12 and 14 at the time, were going to remain in the temporary
custody
of family members. The result of the hearing could either be returning
the children to their parents or terminating their parental rights
out-right.
The goal of the Michigan Department Of Human Services was
to reunited the children with their
parents. I guess
they didn't so much care that these parents had abused and caused the
death
of one child already. They didn't care that Anthony had a bad temper
and
didn't pay much attention to his children other than to yell at them
and
tell them to shut up.
Annegret Remmert, a social services
specialist with
the Department Of Human Services said that the agency had been
providing
services to this family since 1995 due to a high lead content in the
blood
of Calista and one of her sisters. Counseling, transportation to
doctors
appointments and money was offered.
Anthony has admitted that the family
has had at least
five visits or contacts with child welfare workers, he says though,
that
his children have never been removed from their home, in the past.
Anthony
and Marsha both had nothing to say at the hearing. The outcome and
further
hearings were postponed in April of 2008, until May of 2008.
Judge Thomas E. Shumaker said there
needed to be
done before a decision could be made:
"I understand that as time
passes, it raises
anxieties and emotions. But, sometimes it's necessary"
The judge also ordered that the
remaining children
would have supervised visits with their parents, during two hour,
weekly
visits:
"Unsupervised is not a good
idea at this point"
In August of 2008, Marsha Springer
plead no contest
to charges of child abuse and child neglect. This plea was to be
considered
separate from charges she could face in the death of Calista. After her
plea, her two other children became temporary wards of the state. That
took care of the need for a trial to determine what would happen to
the two girls.
Judge Shumaker ruled that there was
enough evidence
to support the claims that the Springer home is an unfit place for
children
to live. A picture of Calista, in her bed, after the fire, was shown to
the judge as well as transcripts of testimony from a State Trooper:
"At the time of the fire,
Calista Springer
was in the care of the mother, who is legally blind.
Calista was chained to her bed and
unable
to escape the fire or to be rescued
by fire and police personnel"
Court petition to remove the two
remaining
girls
The two sisters, who were not home
when the fire
happened had been removed from the home and placed with family. They
had
been moved to foster care and after court, the Family Court was given
custody
over them.
Pleading no contest meant that Marsha
was not denying
or admitting to charges that she abused or neglected Calista. Anthony
continued
to deny any allegations that he had abused and neglected his daughter
at
all. Police had already said that he was not home at the time of the
fire,
which was around 8:30am. Police are not sure if he knew that Calista
was
tied to the bed upstairs or how long she had been there. Anthony said
that
Calista was a special needs child and she had often wandered off in the
middle of the night. The bed restraint was put in place, for a short
time
only, according to him, because an alarm that had been used to monitor
Calista, was broken.
Michigan law says that if a court
finds abuse and
or neglect in the home, with even just one child, that is enough reason
to remove any other children who live in the home even if it is found
that
only one of the parents was abusing or neglecting the child. The Judge
set a court date of September 9 for dispositional hearing in which St.
Joseph County Department Of Human
Services are expected
to talk about services and other measures that are aimed at reuniting
the
family. The proceedings within the family court had no connection at
all
to criminal charges that could be filed against Anthony and Marsha in
the
death of Calista.
The cause of the fire was listed as
unknown, though
speculation has pointed to an overheated vacuum which was being used in
the home shortly before the fire started. Marsha said she had been
vacuuming
when she smelled smoke. She stopped vacuuming and then started up
again,
when she again smelled smoke, she stopped and went into the kitchen.
When
she went back into the living room, she saw flames where she had left
the
vacuum. She says she went to the kitchen to get the fire extinguisher,
but, she claims she couldn't remove the pin
in order to make it work. By that point,
the flames
had become too intense and she had to leave the house. The police
didn't
find a fire extinguisher and reports show that Marsha told at least one
person how she had tried to put out the fire with a pitcher of water
and
the vacuum blew up in her face.
Calista was found upstairs in her
room, by firefighters
who said she appeared to be small for her age. An autopsy showed that
Calista
had died with long hair on her legs and under her arms. There was a
mark
around her waist from the dog chain and she had soot in her esophagus
and
trachea, she had died of smoke inhalation.
In September of 2008, Anthony
submitted a paper in
which he told the court that there was no abuse or neglect when his
daughter
had died in the fire. He claimed that in 1997, a therapist had said
that
Calista would never develop judgment and impulse control. He also used
a report from the state Children's Protective Services case worker who
said that Calista had to be restrained in her room to prevent her from
causing injury to herself and to others. The report claimed that she
would
destroy everything in her room and put nails and razor blade into her
mouth.
In December of 2008, it was decided
that Anthony
and Marsha would face charges of manslaughter, and first degree child
abuse.
In January of 2009, the Prosecutor John, McDonough, who had taken the
office
on January 1, 2008 said that he brought the tougher charges after
reviewing
the case with his assistants and Detective Sergeant Mike Scott of the
state
police. The new charge will be felony murder and torture. If found
guilty,
they could both face lie in prison. The original charges were filed by
Prosecutor Doug Fisher and the original charge
of first degree child abuse will stand:
"I think we just had different
opinions on
some of the evidence. Myself and the three
assistant prosecutors, as well as
Detective
Scott agree on the charges that we brought
yesterday afternoon"
It is going to be left up to a jury
to decide the
fate of Anthony and Marsha. They are both free on bond and are trying
to
regain custody of their other two girls. It is expected that lawyers
will
try to blame things on Calista by saying that she was a troubled child
who had injured herself in the past, lied about how her parents had
treated
her
and acted the way she did due to an
eating disorder.
Reports from some case workers are said to support these claims.
A letter sent from Chris Kadulski,
director of the
DHS, in response to the questions asked by Fred Upton, said that the
department
had been involved quite extensively with the family since 1995 and that
Calista suffered from a disease known as Pica, which caused it's
victims
to crave and eat things other than normal foods:
"Most of the complaints we
receive center around
Calista's behavior caused by her disease
and her parents' efforts to
control her. It
is our belief that Calista is cared for
adequately by her parents;
however, if we
receive any new allegations of abuse
and/or neglect,
we will conduct an
investigation"
Fred Upton did nothing to check out
the complaint
he had received based on that letter from Chris. Police interviews
state
the frustrations of the people who had tried to help Calista when they
contacted school officials, police and social service agencies.
The
reports hint that the abuse Calista went through, started in the second
grade:
People told police:
* Calista was forced to stand
or sit in a
square marked by tape in the living room; if she didn't, she was forced
to place her nose on a piece of tape on a wall, sometimes having to
stand
on her tiptoes to reach it.
* She ate dinner sitting on
the floor and,
when fed, was given small portions. One friend said she was treated
"lower
than the animals."
* Calista was rarely allowed
outside of her
home. When she was outdoors, she was often required to sit on her front
porch with her head between her knees -- sometimes for more than an
hour
-- while her sisters and other children played nearby.
* Though teachers viewed
Calista as a pretty
normal girl, who could read and write, her parents said Calista was a
special-needs
child.
* Calista attended school
outside of the home
through sixth grade before her parents began teaching her at home. A
police
detective described the home schooling as a possible "ruse" to keep
Calista
"out of the public eye."
Preliminaries were set for March 24,
2009, for Anthony
and Marsha.
Ironically, that is the same day I am
finishing
this page and loading
the story of Calista to my site.
UPDATE: Thank you to
the person, who
did not leave a name, who sent me this update.
Springers guilty of torture,
abuse
Couple found not guilty on murder
charges
Published : Tuesday, 23 Feb 2010
CENTREVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) - The jury
in the murder
and child abuse trial of Marsha and Anthony Springer reached a verdict
Tuesday afternoon. The Springers were found guilty of child abuse and
torture,
but are not guilty of the murder charges.
Anthony and Marsha Springer were
tried on first-degree
murder and Anthony faced an additional charge for second-degree murder.
Torture carries a sentence of up to
life in prison
and first-degree child abuse carries up to 15 years.
Judge Paul Stutesman revoked the
Springers' bond
and they were taken into custody. The couple is set to be sentenced
April
16.
Marsha and Anthony Springer stood in
the courtroom
hugging for a few minutes before deputies led them out.
The couple's 16-year-old daughter,
Calista, died
chained to her bed when the house caught fire. The Springers contend
they
chained her to keep her safe at night because she was a troubled child.
The jury made its decision in St.
Joseph County on
the ninth day of deliberation. Last week, jurors told Stutesman they
were
deadlocked.
Tony and Marsha Sentenced
Friday April 16, 2010
CENTREVILLE-- Anthony and Marsha
Springer have been
sentenced to long prison terms for chaining their troubled 16-year-old
daughter to her bed. He got 10 years for child abuse and 25 to 50 years
for the most serious charge, torture. She got a little less time, 8 to
15 years on the abuse count and 19 years minimum on the torture count.
The jury found them not guilty of
felony murder.
If they had it would have been mandatory life without parole.
Judge Paul Stutesman gave Anthony
Springer more time
because he felt that he had come up with the idea of chaining her to
the
bed and implemented it. The judge felt Marsha just went along
with
it.
The Judge noted it might never have
come to this
if social service agencies had done their job. It might
have
all flown under the radar, after all it appeared as though child
protective
services and welfare agencies had signed off on the case. But
Calista
Springer was chained to the bed when her house caught fire and it
killed
her. An appeal is expected.
Read
Calita's Story
Read
About And See Pictures From Calista's
Funeral
And Memorial Vigil
Read
Newspaper Stories
For information about preventing child
abuse in
the state of Michigan, 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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