How Could You? Hall of Shame-Sean Paddock case-Child Death

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From North Carolina, adoptive father Johnny Paddock was found by a civil court jury to be responsible for the death of his adopted son, Sean. Five years ago he died via suffocation by his adoptive mother, Lynn.

“The verdict Tuesday against Johnny Paddock and adoption agency Children’s Home Society of N.C. was part of a lawsuit brought by Ron Ford, Sean’s biological grandfather and administrator of his estate.

“The elder Paddock was never charged in Sean’s 2006 death on the family’s remote farm near Smithfield. But throughout the murder trial of his ex-wife Lynn, relatives and others questioned why Johnny Paddock wasn’t held accountable for the child abuse in his home, which went on for years before Sean was killed. Lynn Paddock was convicted of first-degree murder in 2008 and will spend the rest of her life in prison

“It belies all common sense that Johnny Paddock didn’t know what was happening to those children,” said Jay Trehy, an attorney for Ford. “All we’re asking (the jury) to do is say to the world, to Johnny Paddock, you’re a slayer too.”

The attorney for the Children’s Home Society, David Coats, said the evidence didn’t support a judgment that Johnny Paddock participated in the “willful and unlawful killing or the procurement of killing of Sean Paddock.”

“It’s not ‘do you like Johnny Paddock,’” Coats said. “It’s not ‘should Johnny Paddock have done something.’”

In the end, Coats’ arguments didn’t sway the jury, who took just 30 minutes to reach a verdict. But their decision won’t put an end to the lawsuit, and no damages will be awarded yet.

This week’s trial was intended only to determine whether Johnny Paddock was responsible – a step that stops him from being Sean’s legal father. Under state law, that finding is necessary in order to seek damages for the remaining siblings. Attorneys for Sean’s grandfather plan to seek a second trial for wrongful death to obtain unspecified damages from Paddock and the adoption agency.

Paddock wasn’t in the courtroom to hear the jury’s findings. He didn’t attend any of the trial, nor did he send a lawyer. ”

Father found responsible for death of boy, 4
[News Observer 7/19/11 by Colin Campbell]

The complete Sean Paddock Files can be found at PoundPup Legacy

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Some of the details from those articles include the following:

• “Sean Paddock suffocated in February 2006 after he was wrapped so tightly in blankets that he couldn’t breathe” [News-Observer 6/7/08]
• “the youngest of Paddock’s adopted children were starved in the Paddock home. Hannah, David and Kayla Paddock have been gaining weight since they left the home, Cooper said. At the time of Sean’s death, Hannah was 7, Kayla was 8, and David was 9. In the past two years, Hannah has gained 28 pounds, more than four times the weight gain doctors expect to see for a child of her age. Kayla gained 19 pounds, and David picked up 14 pounds.” [News-Observer 6/7/08]
• “urine-soaked blankets and a blood-stained sheet …were in the attic bedroom where Sean had slept the night he died.” [News-Observer 6/5/08]
• “Sean was the youngest of six foster children that a private agency, the Children’s Home Society, helped the Paddocks adopt from 1996 to 2005.”[News-Observer 6/5/08]
• Day-care worker testified that Sean said “”He said his new mom hit him with a long thing,” [News-Observer 6/5/08]
• His sibling testified “”She had like a rod, it looked like metal,” Hannah said. “She would spank me with it. I tried not to cry, because if I kept crying I would get more spankings. Hannah showed jurors how Lynn Paddock made her sit still and face a wall. She crawled down from the witness box, sat cross legged and told jurors she’d rather have been outside playing.Hannah paused as a prosecutor asked her to describe for jurors the time Paddock forced her to eat feces.” [News-Observer 5/28/08]
• His brother testified. “David’s new mother sniffled behind him as David had to talk about being forced to eat his own vomit and going hungry in Paddock’s home.”[News-Observer 5/28/08]
• Trauma of the survivors:”A doctor said the children have plunged into despair since therapists and detectives have forced them to talk about what went on in the Paddock home. Dr. Sharon Cooper, a forensic pediatrician, who evaluated the children, urged the judge to spare them the trauma of saying what happened in front of Paddock.Cooper said Hannah has become terrified that Paddock would try to kill her and that no one would save her because she is a Paddock. Kayla has started biting herself and stabbing herself with a pencil. David’s become irritable, Cooper said, crying uncontrollably and having nightmares.” [News-Observer 5/28/08]
• “Sean’s adoptive mother, Lynn Paddock, 45, faces a murder charge and is accused of wrapping Sean in blankets so snugly that he lost consciousness. The binding was a form of punishment and had occurred several times in the week leading to his death, said Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell. [News-Observer 3/4/06]
• “Sean also had been hit with a plastic plumbing pipe, Lock said. John Butts, the state’s chief medical examiner, found bruises covering Sean’s back and buttocks, but Butts concluded that those injuries did not kill him.Sean’s 8-year-old sister and 9-year-old brother told detectives Sunday that Lynn Paddock punished them by lashing them with a PVC pipe. The 9-year-old boy was beaten so badly he limped.”[News-Observer 3/4/06]
• “Paddock and her husband, Johnny Paddock, adopted six children and have one biological child, deputies said. The couple tends animals at their 12-acre farm at 1490 Grabtown Road outside Smithfield. Lynn Paddock teaches the children at home” [News-Observer 2/27/06]
• “The state paid Sean Paddock’s adoptive parents $390 each month to care for the 4-year-old boy…The money was not offered to Sean’s blood relatives — an uncle and aunt who tried to make a home for Sean, said the uncle, Ron Ford Jr. The Fords couldn’t qualify for the amount of money the Paddocks received until they went through an exhaustive process to be certified as foster parents.As a result, Ford and his wife, Lee Anne, gave up Sean and his sister and brother in 2003 because they could not afford to raise the youngsters plus three children of their own. When the Fords gave up the children, the children went into foster care in Wake County.”[News-Observer 3/7/06]