A Snapshot of Kentucky’s Broken CPS System UPDATED

The story of 14-year-old Trey Zwicker’s slaying started as a mystery when he was found dead behind Liberty High School in Louisville, Kentucky on May 11, 2011. It ends with an arrest of his stepbrother, Joshua Young, who had been stable in foster care, but was released back to his father before the slaying. Joshua Gouker, Sr., Young’s father, is the one whose suspicious testimony led to Young’s arrest. Weapons have not been found in the killing.

There is a petition for Joshua to received justice at http://www.change.org/petitions/demand-justice-for-15-yo-josh-young

A month after Trey’s body was found, the investigation was leading towards his mother’s ex-boyfriend, Joshua Gouker, Sr. Amanda Campbell even filed a domestic violence petition after he urged her to take part in a murder-suicide pact!

On June 16, 2011, the coroner released the cause of death: “multiple blunt and sharp force injuries sustained from an assault.

Zwicker’s death has been ruled a homicide, ” according to WLKY.

An Amber Alert was issued for Gouker’s son, Joshua Young when he went missing on June 14.It was cancelled on June 16th when “Joshua Young and his father, Joshua Gouker Sr., [were] located in Alabama, according to Kentucky State Police.

A spokesperson for the Louisville Metro Police Department said both Gouker and his son are behind bars after being arrested on gun possession charges. Young is in a juvenile detention center, while Gouker is in another jail.

Police said they do not expect to file charges against Gouker in connection with the Amber Alert.”

Charges

On November 17, 2011, “Joshua Young was indicted as an adult on murder and tampering with physical evidence charges Thursday.

An arrest report that was released Thursday said Young beat Trey Zwicker to death and then disposed of the weapon and his stepbrother’s clothes.

“He made an adult decision that day,” said Terry Zwicker, Trey’s father.

Terry Zwicker said Young deserves to be tried as an adult for the alleged murder.

In the early morning of May 11, 2011, a group of Liberty High School students found the 14-year-old Zwicker beaten to death in a ditch near their school.

“Just a bunch of questions why,” said Terry Zwicker. “I mean, that’s still the whole thing — nobody’s really told me why. I may not ever know why, but I do know that with the judicial system, it’s a long wait and that’s one thing Trey didn’t have.”

The only thing Terry Zwicker said he knows for certain is that both boys sneaked out of the house that night.

He said Young was a pallbearer at his son’s funeral, something that now leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.

Terry Zwicker said he will follow the case in court and hopes for some justice for his son.

“I believe if you take somebody’s life, then yours is gone as well,” he said.

Trey Zwicker’s mother married Joshua Young’s father, Joshua Gouker.

Gouker and Young left Kentucky this summer and an Amber Alert was issued for Young.

Gouker was eventually arrested in Alabama on kidnapping charges, which were later dismissed.

Shortly after Young returned to Kentucky, he was charged in connection with Trey Zwicker’s death as a juvenile.

Police said no charges have been filed against Gouker in connection to the killing.

The potential penalty for his murder charge range from 20 years to death, while tampering with physical evidence carries a sentence of one to five years.

However, in March 2005, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty for those who had committed their crimes at under 18 years of age was cruel and unusual punishment and hence barred by the Constitution.”

Court Documents

On December 29, 2011, court documents were released. “A father’s emotional interview with police, telling them that his teenage son beat his 14-year-old stepbrother to death, is part of an enormous amount of new details contained in court documents filed Thursday in a murder case that has captivated a community.

Police have charged 15-year-old Joshua Young with the murder of his stepbrother, 14-year-old Trey Zwicker, but for months, there have been countless unanswered questions in this case.

On Thursday, for the first time, there were some answers.”

Three days after Trey’s body was discovered, “Joshua Gouker, was interviewed by homicide detectives. They told him they received tips that his son, Young, was involved in the death.

“”Why would they say? Who is saying Josh is involved? Why would Josh do that? Why would he do that to Trey?” Gouker asked during a police interview.

Just hours after a taped interview, Gouker said his son admitted to him that he beat his stepbrother to death.

A few weeks later, on June 10, detectives formally interviewed Young for the first time.

Gouker left town with his son two days later, telling police he feared if he didn’t, he would lose his son forever.

On June 15, father and son were arrested in Alabama on unrelated charges.

The next day, an Amber Alert was issued for Young, who was already in jail. The teen was taken back to Louisville, and on June 21, sat down for another police interview.

After being told the importance of his honesty in the investigation, Young replied, “I understand that, and I’ve told you I have nothing to do with it.”

Young denied any involvement, but the next day his father, still in jail in Alabama, called police in Louisville, telling detectives he wanted to talk.

“I can solve your case about Trey,” said Gouker. “I know everything, and I’ve been carrying it with me, man.”

Homicide detectives drove to an Alabama jail, where Gouker implicated his own son.

“I thought he knew something, you know. I thought he knew maybe where he went or who he was with. I didn’t ever think it was him,” said Gouker.

Gouker said just after police interviewed him, he got nervous that they’d blame him for Zwicker’s death, so he begged his son for help.

“I told him, ‘Josh, they’re trying to pin this on me, man. If you know anything, just tell me,'” said Gouker.

Gouker said Young then told him that he and Zwicker sneaked out on the night of May 10, and went to the spot where Zwicker’s body was found. Young had a baseball bat, he said.

“He said he asked Trey what time it was. Trey pulled his phone out of his pocket, and then when he put the phone back in there, he hit Trey in the head with (the bat). And he said he hit him like 15 times, and he said he kept hitting him,” said Gouker. “He said after hitting him the first time, he shook. Trey shook down there. And he said he probably would have died then, but ‘Dad, I couldn’t stop.’ He said he couldn’t quit hitting him.”

Gouker also said his son showed no remorse.

“He didn’t feel nothing. He didn’t feel (expletive) man. And oh my God, when he told me that, man, I just wish I could take it out of my head. I could not believe it,” said Gouker. “I asked him, I said, ‘Why, why in the (expletive) would you do that, man? Why would you do that?’ and he just kept saying, ‘I hated him, Dad. I hated him, Dad.'”

The next day, homicide detectives gave Young one last chance to talk.

“I’m sticking to the story that I told you. I’m not pleading to guilty to this,” said Young.

He asked for his lawyer, was put in handcuffs and was charged with the murder of Zwicker.

“All of those audio and video interviews were contained in the court documents filed Thursday.

Right after that emotional police interview with Gouker, he called several other friends and family members, with detectives present.

Each admitted to being told Young killed his stepbrother.

According to court documents, Young disposed of the weapon used in the killing, a wooden Louisville Slugger baseball bat, in a Dumpster. It was never recovered.

Young pleaded not guilty to the murder charge in November.”

Gouker

“Despite that apparent motive, Zwicker’s father is still left with a lot of questions.

He said during Trey’s and Young’s five-month relationship, he never sensed anything was wrong.

“Nothing that would raise my eyebrows to say they had problems. And trey never mentioned any problems between the two of them,” said Zwicker.

Gouker and others told police Young beat Zwicker to death with a baseball bat, hitting him at least 15 times, before dumping his clothes and the murder weapon in a dumpster at an apartment complex on Old Shepherdsville Road.

Police indicated someone may have assisted in the disposal of Trey Zwicker’s clothes, something his father doesn’t want to go unpunished.

“You might as well have swung the bat yourself if you’re going to do that,” said Zwicker.

On many of the police recordings, Gouker appears to be the ringleader in getting more people to talk to police.

In the interview, Young maintained his innocence, while Terry Zwicker wants justice for his son.”

Transfer to Youth Center

On January 31, 2012, “Defense attorneys for the teen accused of killing his stepbrother asked a judge for a transfer from the Jefferson County Youth Center.”

” Defense attorney Pete Schuler called a witness from the Cabinet of Health and Family Services who has spent a lot of time with Young as he bounced around foster homes.

Family services worker Allison Miller recommended Young be moved to Sunrise Spring Meadow in Bullitt County, a locked facility where Young can complete his education and receive mental health counseling.

“We have not had any behavioral problems with Josh through the entirety of the case,” said Miller.

The family services worker said it could work because Young has never shown violent tendencies — something the victim’s father disagreed with.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Elizabeth Jones Brown was also skeptical.

“I still don’t know enough about it to know if the protections are adequate to keep him from getting out, to keep him from assaulting others,” said Brown.

“We’re not talking about a whole lifetime of violence. We’re talking about one time that matters to me,” Trey’s father, Terry Zwicker, said.

Zwicker isn’t totally against a change in Young’s location.

“As long as he isn’t in the public, they prove him guilty, then that’s when I’ll say, ‘Rot in hell,'” Zwicker said.

Zwicker said he just wants an eye for an eye.

“Trey received a judgment on May 11. He’s got to serve it out. He’s got to accept his responsibility, so does the people involved in this situation. They should pay in the same way, locked in a box for the rest of their life,” Zwicker said.

Judge Barry Willett said he will do more research on the Bullitt County facility before making a decision.

During Miller’s testimony, she mentioned a foster family who said they would take Young back with open arms despite his murder charge. Miller said the foster family has two biological children.

Miller said Young wouldn’t be allowed to do anything outside the facility if he went to Bullitt County.

Young’s trial is set to begin Oct. 15

If convicted, Young could receive up to life in prison.”

Family History

“Despite a childhood devastated by abuse, neglect and his mother’s drug overdose death, Joshua Young seemed to have turned a promising corner early last year.

After a dozen investigations by state child welfare officials and multiple moves through homes of relatives and foster care, Joshua, 15, was in a foster home where he was happy, excelled in school and was focused on the future, according to court records recently filed in his case.

“He’s very, very talented,” Susan Stoneburner, his former foster mother, said at a court hearing. “We talked a lot about computers and his future with them because he was so talented.”
“But Joshua’s life veered back into an ugly direction after his father, Joshua Gouker, a felon with a violent past who was released from prison in 2010, gained custody of his son last March.

Now Joshua is charged with murder in the May 11, 2011, beating death of his stepbrother, Trey Zwicker, 14 — which occurred shortly after Joshua moved into the home where his father lived with his wife, Amanda Campbell, and her son, Trey.

In custody at the Louisville Metro Youth Detention Center, Joshua, now 16, adamantly denies killing Trey, whose body was found in a creek bed behind Liberty High School and near Gouker’s home. He has pleaded not guilty.”

“Meanwhile, Gouker, 32, is back in prison in Kentucky for a parole violation after a bizarre episode in which he left the state with his son in June and allegedly forced an Alabama woman at gunpoint to drive them around the state.

And a subsequent investigation by social services officials has revealed a darker side to the stable home Gouker offered to provide for his son, one filled with alleged domestic violence, inappropriate sexual activity and alcohol and drug abuse by adults and children there.

Among the allegations in court records: Gouker showed Trey and Joshua videos of himself engaged in sexual acts and regularly gave them drugs — at Easter, marijuana concealed in Easter eggs.”

““Once Trey died, a lot of information started flooding out,” said Joshua’s former social worker, Allison Miller, whose testimony is included in court documents filed last week.”

“Pete Schuler, Joshua’s public defender, filed transcripts of a juvenile court hearing held last year that shed more light on his client’s background as part of his effort to have the case sent back to juvenile court for prosecution. Joshua is being prosecuted as an adult in Jefferson Circuit Court.

Schuler also wants Joshua released from the juvenile detention center to foster care or a secure residential center for children while awaiting his Oct. 15 trial.

He has no history of violence and only one minor infraction as a juvenile when, at age 11, he was caught with his mother’s boyfriend allegedly trying to break into a car, according to court records.

But prosecutors want Joshua tried as an adult, and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Elizabeth Jones Brown argued at a hearing in January that his detention on $100,000 bond is appropriate, given Trey’s “brutal murder.”

Another hearing is scheduled on the case March 9 before Jefferson Circuit Judge Barry Willett.
Schuler declined to comment or make Joshua available for an interview while the case is pending.”

“Material that Schuler filed last week includes testimony about Joshua’s family’s extensive involvement in the state social services system and details of proceedings in juvenile court, where he was initially charged.

Schuler said at one juvenile court hearing detailed in the records that he is baffled that the case rests largely on the word of Gouker — a former suspect in Trey’s murder who told police after his own arrest in Alabama that his son had admitted to killing Trey. Gouker was charged in Alabama with kidnapping and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Police originally considered Gouker a suspect in Trey’s death, a Louisville police detective testified at a hearing last August. But he was not charged and denied any involvement, according to records filed in the case.

“There’s something not right with this case,” Schuler said, according to records of the juvenile court hearing in August at which he questioned Gouker’s motive in implicating his son and encouraging several others to do so.

““That doesn’t pass the straight-face test,” Schuler said. “Mr. Gouker is trying to blame his son. I think it’s as likely as not that he’s the responsible party.”

Several other witnesses — all relatives or women Gouker was sexually involved with — also told police that Joshua had admitted to killing Trey. But that was only after Gouker gave them permission to talk, according to police records filed in the case.

“They’re not gonna tell you nothin’ unless I tell them,” Gouker told Louisville homicide detectives who drove to Alabama last June to interview him while he was in police custody there.

And even after Gouker’s encouragement, some of the witnesses seemed unsure of what to say, according to records of their statements filed in court. The witnesses were questioned in a series of telephone calls made by police with Gouker present.

When Gouker asked Cassie Gouker, his neighbor and cousin, to tell the police the truth about who killed Trey, she replied “You did, right?” according to court records.”

Gouker, who goes by the nickname “Big Josh,” talked to her as police listened, with Gouker continuing to press her, telling her police “know everything.“

“Your loyalty lies with me, right”? Gouker said. “This is big Josh, tell the truth, who killed Trey?“

“You did, right?” Cassie Gouker replied. “ I don’t know.”

At that point, Louisville Metro Police Detective Scott Russ took over the call and told Cassie Gouker he had spoken with prosecutors and she would not likely be in trouble if she told the truth about what she knew, according to records filed in the case. She eventually said Joshua told her he did it and asked her to drive him to a dumpster to dispose of bloody clothing and a baseball bat allegedly used in the attack, the records said.

The baseball bat and clothing have not been found, but police said they are relying on statements of Gouker and others close to him that Joshua admitted to the offense, according to court records.”

Still, police acknowledge reservations about Gouker.

“Obviously he’s got some credibility issues,” Russ said, testifying at a hearing in August. “I’m not going to lie about that.”

Released on parole Sept. 29, 2010, Joshua Gouker seemed an unlikely candidate to step in as a parent for Joshua after serving eight years of a 15-year sentence.

Gouker had pleaded guilty to a string of offenses in 2002, including fighting with a police officer and beating and choking an elderly man who had given him a ride home from a bar. Before witnesses interrupted that attack, Gouker climbed into the back seat of the car behind the victim, 71, choking him with a belt, court records said.

Gouker also admitted to threatening a witness in that case, according to court records.

In another incident, Gouker attacked a man, beating and kicking him and threatening to kill him, according to court records. The victim suffered a broken nose, multiple bruises to the head and face and rib and chest pain, the court records said.

The day after his release from prison, Gouker showed up at the state social service office in Louisville and announced he wanted custody of Joshua, according to testimony from Miller, Joshua’s former social worker.

“He had wanted to start up contact with his son,” Miller said.

She said she told Gouker he would have to go through the family court system and questioned him about alleged past gang activity and violence toward women, because of previous emergency protective orders sought by women with whom he’d associated.

Gouker denied any gang activity, saying “that was something he had done when he was younger” and produced records of treatment and counseling he had received in prison, the social worker said.

After a series of supervised visits, and counseling, Gouker eventually received unsupervised time during which Joshua visited him at the home on Vim Drive that Gouker shared with Campbell and Trey.

In March 2011 a Jefferson family court judge awarded Gouker custody of his son, despite the objections of state social service officials, Miller said at a court hearing.

Details of the decision are not available. Family Court proceedings in the case are confidential and the judge in Joshua’s case, Dolly Berry, did not respond to a request for comment.

That month, Joshua moved into his father’s home. Two months later, Trey was found dead in the creek bed near the Vim Drive home, face down in a pool of blood.

When returned to his father’s home last March, Miller said, Joshua was reunited with an extended family with a long history with the state social services system.

Joshua first came to the state’s attention at age 3 over an abuse allegation, she said. That was the first of 12 reports the Cabinet for Health and Family Services received and investigated up to Trey’s murder last year, she said.

Among them was the 2010 Easter Sunday suicide of Joshua’s mother, Angelina Young, who was found dead from a drug overdose by her boyfriend and Joshua, then 14, Miller said.

Miller estimated the cabinet had put in 1,000 hours on cases involving Joshua or relatives and made hundreds of court appearances. Joshua was moved repeatedly from one placement to another, she said.

In 2007, Miller said she substantiated an abuse report after Joshua, at age 11, tested positive for narcotic painkillers while living with his drug-addicted mother. At one point he was placed with a relative but removed because the relative allegedly was grabbing and squeezing his testicles as punishment, Miller said.

His best placement was the last, when the Stoneburners took him in as a foster child, Miller said. “He did well there,” she said.

Joshua stayed with the Stoneburners for seven months, until his father regained custody, according to court testimony.

Miller said that, based on her roughly five years’ experience as Joshua’s social worker and her involvement with his family, Gouker was considered an intimidating figure to residents of the Vim Drive neighborhood where he returned after his release from prison.

After Trey’s murder, Gouker told police he killed the family dog with a baseball bat and the cat, by throwing it out window, according to court records.

And his wife, Amanda Campbell, took out a domestic violence petition against Gouker June 6, about four week’s after Trey’s death, alleging her husband struck her and threatened to kill her.

Campbell did not respond to requests for comment. She told police she was with Gouker the night Trey was killed and did not realize her son was missing until his body was found the following afternoon, according to court records.

In foster care, Joshua, a high school freshman, was taking honors classes, making good grades and attending school regularly, according to court testimony.

After he moved in with his father, he began to miss school. Miller testified that the week before Trey’s death, Joshua missed an entire week when he accompanied Gouker on a trip to Michigan to visit a woman he had a sexual relationship with, Miller said.

That relationship ended after Gouker allegedly threatened the Michigan woman with a knife while Josh was present, causing her to take out a protective order, Miller said. That was about the same time Campbell sought the protective order, citing escalating domestic violence by Gouker.

Joshua has claimed no problems with Trey and considered him one of his best friends, according to court records.

Shortly before his death, Trey told a relative he was worried about his mother’s safety because of Gouker, Miller said.

“Have you ever had a case with this much dysfunction in your years with the cabinet?” Schuler asked Miller, a social worker for the past 13 years.

“No,” Miller said.

“Do you believe Josh committed this crime?” he asked.

“No, I do not,” Miller replied.

Gouker is now at the Roederer Correctional Complex, where he has been sent to serve the remainder of his sentence that runs through 2017. He is eligible for a parole hearing on Nov. 23, 2013, according to the state corrections department.

Joshua remains in juvenile jail, but Schuler said he deserves a better setting, given his horrific experiences and what Schuler says are legitimate questions about the case.

“I have never seen a case where there has been so much family dysfunction, so much tragedy,” Schuler said at one court hearing. “My client has been through hell.”

Aunt’s perspective

In the Courier-Journal article comments, Josh’s aunt says “I am the Aunt of Joshua Young. And I want this out in the open once and for all. After the death of Josh’s mother, Angelina Young, Josh’s Aunt and Uncle who live in Shepherdsville went to the courts there and applied for Custody Josh and his sibling and was granted custody. I have the court papers to prove it. They were contacted by CPS in Jefferson Co. and told they had to surrender the children or face jail time. They met a Cps worker in a parking lot and turned the children over to Jefferson Co. to avoid serving time in jail. Immediately after this myself and a cousin of Josh’s hired an attorney to get custody of Josh and his sibling. Judge Berry presided over the case. She was extremely rude to the family, barely let us speak and let us know straight from the beginning that she would be the only person who decided where Jos…h and his sibling would be. I’m pretty sure these proceedings are recorded. I had every other weekend visits with Josh and his sibling. We fought for custody of Josh and his sibling. There is so much more to this. I could really tell a story. I wasn’t granted custody and was never given a reason why. Josh told me they told him I was too old. I was 52 at the time. Josh had his own bedroom in my house as well as his sibling. Had I got custody of Josh he would not have been on Vim Drive to begin with. I know for a fact the system and Judge Berry let this child down. I honestly believe with all my heart Joshua Young is innocent of this horrendous murder. Josh was very quiet when he was around his dad. He wasn’t the same child he was normally. He would not make a decision without ” Big Josh ” approving first. When I talked to Joshua on the phone I believe Big Josh made him put it on speaker because he heard everything I said to Joshua. I could never talk to Joshua without Big Josh there. And I find it horrible that Josh Gouker called the Detectives here as soon as he found out Joshua Young was back here and told them he could solve their case for them. There are so many inconsistencies in Joshua Gouker and Amanda Campbell’s interviews. For these detectives to the word of the people they have interviewed. If I am not mistaken Josh Gouker tells the detectives 1 or 2 of these females have did time for him. I pray for the Zwicker Family and I pray for justice for Trey. Trey’s death was senseless and brutal. There are probably people reading this right now that know what happened the night Trey was murdered and for them to not come forward because of Joshua Gouker or whatever reason is beyond me. How they sleep at night, I have no clue. Trey’s life was put at stake the minute his mother allowed Josh Gouker back into their lives. Now Joshua Young’s life is at stake. There is a lot of selective memory in the interviews with the detectives. There, I have said it. One last thing: Anyone thinking or believing Angelina Young committed suicide, it is absolutely not true. If she died of an overdose it was accidental. I was on the phone with her the night before her death. We laughed, we said our love yous, we made plans for the following day and we were excited to see each other. “

Sources:
Foul Play Suspected After Boy’s Body Found Behind School
[WLKY 5/12/11 by Daniel Kemp]

Slain Teen’s Mom Feels Threatened By Ex-Boyfriend
[WLKY 6/14/11 by Kristen Drew]

Coroner Releases Zwicker Cause Of Death
[WLKY 6/16/11]

Connection Made Between Amber Alert, Teen’s Slaying
[WLKY 6/16/11]

Teen Charged With Murder In Stepbrother’s Slaying
[WLKY 11/18/11 by Drew Douglas]

Court Documents Released In Teen Slaying Case
[WLKY 12/30/11 by Steve Tellier]

Family Of Slain Teen Talks About Newly Released Documents
[WLKY 12/30/11 by Steve Tellier]

Joshua Young Accused Of Killing Stepbrother Last May [WLKY 1/31/12]

A family nightmare: After slaying, information on troubled family came pouring out
[Louisville Courier-Journal 3/8/12 by Deborah Yetter]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Another CPS fail. I would be embarrassed to be Judge Berry who granted custody of Joshua Young to Gouker.

I would be even more embarrassed to be the cops who believe Gouker’s story implicating his son.

Update: May 10, 2013 Joshua Gouker pleads guilty in Trey’s killing.

“A Jefferson County judge has accepted an open guilty plea from Josh Gouker, the man who is charged with murdering his stepson, Trey Zwicker.

This happened a day before the two year anniversary of his stepson’s body being discovered behind Liberty High School in Louisville.

Gouker made the plea against the advice of his own attorney and prosecution said they had nothing to do with it.

Gouker confessed to killing his stepson after smoking marijuana and fighting over a cigarette lighter.

Gouker says he just “lost it” and beat him with a metal pipe, not a bat, as first thought.
A gruesome tale of what Josh Gouker says happened on May 11, 2011.

“I just snapped. I hit him, he went down and I stepped on his hand. I pulled the bar in his hand and I hit him and before I knew it, it was over,” said Gouker in court.

Gouker showed no remorse.

The only tear drop was the one tattooed on his face as he claimed he killed his stepson, Trey, 14 at the time of the murder.

Gouker said, “He asked for a cigarette, I gave him one. He pulled my lighter out of his pocket and I don’t want to argue with him and **** for stealing from me and I don’t say nothing.”
Gouker told a judge it happened following a round of video games.  Gouker also admitted he smoked pot with Trey on a back patio.

“I fired up the blunt plus I know if he gets high it’s really going to scare him,” said Gouker.
Things quickly turned violent.

Gouker told the court he beat Trey to death behind Liberty High School.

Judge Barry Willett says “The item that you struck him in the head with was what? A pipe?”
Gouker: “Yes.”
Judge Willett: “What kind of pipe?”
Gouker: “It was down there in the ditch, a metal pipe.”
Judge Willett: “What did you do with it?”
Gouker: “I rinsed it off down there and brought it back with me. Took it and the clothes I had on. I had a million Kroger bags and put my clothes in it.”

Gouker then admitted hiding the murder weapon and bloody clothes behind a Mexican restaurant.

With that he waived his rights to a jury trial and made an open guilty plea and now faces the possibility of life in prison without parole for murder and other serious charges.

Despite Gouker’s plea, fis[sic] teenage son, Josh Young, must still face a murder trial.

Zwicker’s family was in court, but they did not speak on camera.

His father says he doesn’t know what to make of this open guilty plea and he is not sure whether to believe Gouker’s confession.  Gouker will be sentenced in July.”

Judge accepts Josh Gouker plea in death of Trey Zwicker

[WHAS 11 5/10/13 ]

Update 2:

“The Joshua Young portrayed in court this week is not the teen his former foster family says they knew and lived with – just months before the death of Trey Zwicker.

It’s based on their feelings of a stable seven months Josh Young lived with the family in Jeffersontown, after an already dysfunctional home life and the death of his mother.
They’re watching conflicting claims in the trial closely.

Judy Prell told WDRB News that biting her tongue until her release from testimony Friday has been “very hard, very hard.  Members of the family repeat, ‘Where is the proof?’  We know him to be a good person.  We know him to be someone who enjoyed the company of this boy.”

Prell was Josh Young’s foster grandmother for seven months in 2010 and 2011.

“My first experience with him was 14-and-a-half years old, walking in the front door, carrying his three-and-a-half year old sister and keeping her happy, very expertly.  That really made an impression on me.”

Prell’s family surrendered Josh Young’s custody to his father, Josh Gouker, in March 2011.  It was two months before the beating death of Josh’s stepbrother Trey Zwicker.

“I don’t believe that his inner nature changed in that length of time.  And I certainly find it difficult to believe that he would have done anything whatsoever to hurt Trey Zwicker,” Prell said.

It’s an impression that differs from the accusation that Josh Young helped his father, Gouker, to kill Trey Zwicker, Josh’s stepbrother.

Gouker first accused Josh, then later tried to deflect blame away from his son.  Gouker’s now convicted of the murder after his own trial earlier this year — and serving a prison sentence.

“In my mind, I can’t imagine.  This was his father, and he was a kid, and if the father said, “Do this,” he might have done it, but not certainly brought the harm to his friend,” Prell said.

She explained further.

“I’m thinking he might have possibly been given an errand or something by his father, but I don’t see him actually participating in the act, or being present during the act, I don’t.”

Judy Prell’s daughter — the foster mother to the children — later adopted Josh Young’s younger sister.

Trial resumes Monday in the middle of the prosecution’s case. ”

Josh Young’s foster family doubts his guilt

[WDRB 8/2/13]

“The former cell mate of a man already convicted of killing his stepson took the witness stand Tuesday in the Josh Young trial.

Young is accused of complicity of murder and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the death of his 14-year-old Trey Zwicker back in 2011.

Young’s father, Joshua Gouker, testified Monday. Gouker, who often appeared frustrated on the stand, said “I told you I’ve done it. I’ve told you everything I’ve done. I’ve been sentenced for it. Life in prison. Yet, here I am going over the same F****** story.”

Now, two men who were in jail at the same as Gouker are telling their account of what Gouker said about Zwicker’s murder.

WHAS11’s Karma Dickerson is at the court house and has more in the video player above.”

Josh Young trial: Gouker’s former jail mates testify

[WHAS 11 8/6/13 by Amy Stallings]

“It was a graphic day of testimony in the Josh Young murder trial. A number of witnesses talked about how Trey Zwicker was killed. The medical examiner also gave testimony about Zwicker’s autopsy. Josh Young had his head down while the medical examiner showed pictures and gave graphic details about how she believed Zwicker was killed.

“I believe he was punched in the left eye and fell back and then received all the other injuries,” said medical examiner Dr. Amy Beckham. Beckham said Trey had multiple injuries, the worst a skull fracture. She says he was also beaten repeatedly with a “rod type object” on his back.

Zwicker was only 14 years old when he died in May 2011 after police say his stepfather Josh Gouker and stepbrother Josh Young beat him.  Students from Liberty High School found Zwicker’s body in a ditch behind the school.

Zwicker’s younger sister, who is in the 5th grade, also testified on Tuesday. She told the jury she couldn’t remember what she told the social worker about her brother’s death.

“Do you remember what happened that night really, really good?” questioned the defense.  “Not perfectly,” said Zwicker’s younger sister.

Three men currently behind bars, who at some point came in contact with Josh Gouker while he was in jail, also made an appearance. One inmate refused to testify when he got into the courtroom.

“You don’t have the legal right to decline,” said the Judge Barry Willett. “You are a witness you have to testify.”

“I decline, I have nothing to say,” said the inmate.

“I hold you in contempt of court,” said Willett.

The two other inmates gave their accounts of what Gouker told them about Zwicker’s death. The motive was the same Gouker gave during his trial.

“Do you remember Josh Gouker telling you that they killed Trey to get even with Trey’s mother for killing Josh Gouker’s child,” said the prosecuting attorney. The inmate, Paul Embry, said he did remember that statement.

The other inmate that testified, Jason Bierman, said Gouker called his son a “demon child” and was more than willing to kill Zwicker.

Det. Scott Russ, the Louisville Metro Police lead detective on the case, also testified. Russ said Gouker sent police in the wrong direction by indicating some other kids may have been involved. Russ also showed the courtroom the clothes Trey Zwicker was wearing the day he was killed.

Jeanne Goodman, who lives a block away from where Zwicker lived, also testified Tuesday.  Goodman said Josh Young showed little emotion about Zwicker’s death at his funeral.

The trial will resume Wednesday.”

Graphic testimony in Josh Young murder trial

[WAVE3 8/6/13 by Maira Ansari ]

Update 3: “A Kentucky teenager was acquitted Friday night of beating his 14-year-old stepbrother to death, and officials scrambled to get the teen out of jail for the first time since his father tried to pin the murder on him two years ago.

Judge Barry Willett dismissed charges that Joshua Young, now 17, murdered Trey Zwicker in May 2011, leaving him to die in a creek bed.

 

Young smiled wide, hugged his legal team and gave a beaming look back to his foster family and other supporters after the jury of eight women and four men found him not guilty on a charge of complicity to murder and not guilty on one count of tampering with physical evidence.

 

On the other side of the courtroom, Trey’s family cried quietly or hung their heads in disbelief, seeing the case end with what they felt was a murderer walking free.

 

“The system failed Trey,” Terry Zwicker, Trey’s father, said in a phone interview after leaving the courthouse. “I’m upset with the verdict. (Josh Young) got away with murder. He walked away.”

 

But Pete Schuler, an attorney for Young said the teen has lost two years of his life on a case that shouldn’t have been prosecuted in the first place, pointing out that Young’s father, Joshua Gouker, has already pleaded guilty to murdering Trey and said he acted alone.

 

“He’s such a great kid,” Schuler said of Young. “It’s just a real honor to represent somebody like him.”

 

Schuler said Young would live with his foster family, who hoped to adopt him.

 

The jurors, who deliberated about nine hours, declined to comment as they left the courthouse.

 

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Elizabeth Jones Brown said she was disappointed by the verdict, but not surprised. She added that prosecutors knew it would be a tough case. She said she was “heartbroken” for Trey’s family.

 

Before the verdict, jurors watched both Young’s interviews with police, in which he denied any involvement, and the testimony of Gouker.

 

Earlier in the day, Leslie Smith, an attorney for Young, pointed to the diminutive teen and told jurors there was no evidence he was involved in the death of his stepbrother.

 

“Why are we here?” she asked the jury. “Send this kid home. … He is innocent and you know it.”

 

Smith blamed Trey’s death on Gouker, a felon who said he bludgeoned Trey with a pipe and left him to die behind a high school.

 

“Do you really think he didn’t kill Trey?” she asked jurors about Gouker. “He took a lot of pleasure doing that to that poor boy, he really did.”

 

Jones Brown argued that Gouker put his son up to the murder because he was angry that Trey’s mother, Amanda McFarland, had aborted a pregnancy. And Gouker made sure he had alibis that night, having sex with McFarland and going to a gas station and getting cigarettes — as shown on a surveillance camera.

 

Cassie Gouker — Joshua Gouker’s neighbor, cousin and sometimes lover — testified that Young woke her up after the murder, about 1:30 a.m., saying he had killed Trey and needed her to drive him somewhere to get rid of a bloodstained baseball bat and clothing.

 

After the trial, Schuler said it was very important for the defense when former Kentucky Medical Examiner Dr. George Nichols’ testified that Trey died of a traumatic brain injury after being struck in the head from behind with a “rod-like” object, likely by a single person.

 

“It wasn’t a bat,” Schuler said of the prosecution’s murder weapon theory. “If it was wasn’t a bat, then what was this bat and the bloody bag of clothes? It just didn’t make any sense. And I think that was the lynchpin” that doomed the prosecution.

 

Jones Brown said in her closing that Joshua Gouker couldn’t describe details of the killing when he testified during the trial, also slipping once and saying “we” when talking about the murder.

 

Smith said, however, that the jury should throw out anything Gouker has said, because he has repeatedly lied and manipulated police since May 11, 2011 when Trey’s body was found.

 

Also, she said there was no physical evidence against Young, just witnesses who were controlled by Gouker and lied about the teen confessing.

 

After initially trying to blame the murder on Young, Gouker has repeatedly said he killed Trey alone and has sought to deflect any responsibility from his son.

 

Young repeatedly denied to police that he or Gouker had anything to do with the murder.

 

“My dad liked Trey, and so did I,” Young told Louisville Metro Police homicide Detective Scott Russ during a June 21, 2011, interview. “I had nothing to do with it and I’m pretty sure my dad” didn’t either, saying his father was with Trey’s mother the night of the murder.

 

When Gouker entered his guilty plea in May, he told Willett that he took Trey to the creek to confront him about stealing a lighter and a plate of food.

 

Gouker said he killed Trey with a pipe, then rinsed it in the creek. No murder weapon has been recovered.

 

The witnesses against Young were tainted by a police investigation that allowed Gouker to talk with them at the same time as police, letting Gouker control the situation, Smith said.

 

He is a “puppet master,” she said, who has orchestrated this case from the start.

 

“We don’t know what the heck happened that night and we have to accept that we will never know,” Smith told jurors, imploring them not to convict Young. “Don’t convict this boy because you don’t know.””

Ky. teen acquitted of stepbrother’s murder

[USA Today 8/9/13 by Jason Riley]

“Louisville Metro Police found Joshua Young, the 17-year-old acquitted on a charge of murdering his stepbrother and reported missing by his foster family last week, and took him into custody Wednesday evening, a police spokesman said.

Young was apprehended at Schiller and Kentucky streets at about 6 p.m. and taken to Jefferson County Youth Center for fleeing and evading police, LMPD spokesman Dwight Mitchell said.

Young’s foster family had reported him missing

after he left his foster home Friday and didn’t return. Young’s foster parents, Chuck and Susan Stoneburner, filed the report Friday night.

In an interview Wednesday, Susan Stoneburner said Young had left to hang out with friends he met during his two-year stay in juvenile jail and has been in touch with the family through social media. She said she didn’t consider him missing but was obligated to file a report as a foster parent.

“He is running around and hanging around with people he met, trying to be 17,” she said. “He is just trying to find his way back in the world.”

The Stoneburners, who have custody of Young’s 6-year-old sister, are hoping to adopt Young.

“Our family is not complete without him,” Susan Stoneburner said.

On Aug. 9, after about nine hours of deliberation, a Jefferson Circuit Court jury found Young not guilty of complicity to murder and tampering with physical evidence in the May 2011 beating death of Trey Zwicker, 14, who was left to die in a creek bed behind Liberty High School.

Young’s father, Joshua Gouker, pleaded guilty to murdering Trey and said he acted alone. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Young has tweeted in the past few days, saying Tuesday that he “went all the way from the east to 29th last night. then walked it back. it was worth it lol!” A message left on Young’s cellphone Wednesday was not immediately returned.

He has not said anything about leaving his foster family, with whom he lived from October 2010 through March 2011, when Gouker was given custody.

Susan Stoneburner said she is hoping Young returns and is trying to get him to go to school.

Carl Yates, spokesman for the Jefferson County sheriff’s office, said the school resource officer at Fern Creek High School had been instructed to look for Young.

Pete Schuler, one of Young’s defense attorneys during the two-week trial, said, “We obviously knew readjustment would be difficult for Joshua. Many kids abused and neglected have difficulty adjusting to a new environment.”

Young was shuttled in and out of homes and found his mother dead from a drug overdose when he was 14, punctuating a life of abuse and neglect. It was Young’s father who first accused him of the murder, only to plead guilty himself later and deflect blame from the boy.

“You cannot lock up a 15-year-old in jail for two years and expect him to be unscathed when he returns to the community,” Schuler said in an interview Wednesday.

Schuler said Young has a lot of people working with him who care about him, and hopes he returns to his foster home soon.

“You can’t expect him to make all the right decisions,” he said. “He still a kid, who has been through a lot.”

In a recent interview with The Courier-Journal, Young reiterated his innocence and said he is ready to live “a normal teen life.” He said he was looking forward to being a senior at Fern Creek High and hoped to land a spot on the basketball team before going to college.

He turns 18 in January.”

Joshua Young found by police, taken into custody

[Louisville Courier-Journal 9/5/13 by Jason Riley]

Update 4: Joshua goes missing again.
“A Louisville teen acquitted in the murder of his step brother and arrested after going missing earlier this week has gone missing again.

The foster parents of 17-year-old Josh Young filed another missing person report for him Thursday night. They say Young was in court earlier in the day but never came home after being released.

Young was arrested Wednesday after he was missing for a few days and charged with running from police.

Young was found not guilty in the death of his step-brother, Trey Zwicker. Young’s father, Joshua Gouker, was sentenced to life in prison for Zwicker’s death.”

Louisville Teen Acquitted In Step Brother’s Slaying Goes Missing Again

[Lexington 18 9/6/13]

Update 5:“A  teen who was acquitted of killing his stepbrother three years ago has admitted snorting meth to cops after being arrested for the third time in a week – including twice in the same day.

Josh Young, 18, from Louisville, Kentucky, was caught by police just before midnight on Wednesday trespassing on someone else’s property.

Earlier in the day his neighbors had called 911 after they reported seeing him waving his arms in the middle of the street and trying to get into random cars.

Police said Young later confessed he had been snorting meth and he claimed someone was chasing him, reports WHAS11.

He has been charged with trespassing and public intoxication and is expected to be arraigned on both of Wednesday’s arrests on Thursday morning.

Young had also been arrested last weekend after shoplifting $14.71 in merchandise from Walmart.

The troubled teen was only released from jail two weeks ago for assaulting his girlfriend in April. 

These new charges will likely mean a probation violation on a previous charge where Young pleaded guilty to assaulting a man who testified against him at his murder trial.

Young had previously been acquitted in the murder of his stepbrother, Trey Zwicker, in May 2011

n his recent mug shots, Young has sported several facial tattoos – a tear under his left eye and a star near his right eye.

Terry Zwicker, father of murdered Trey, told WDRB that he thought the tear signified that Young had killed someone and the star that he was a gang member.

He faced trial in August 2013 but was acquitted on the charge of complicity to murder and one count of tampering with physical evidence.

His father, Josh Gouker, was sentenced to life in prison in July 2013 after pleading guilty to the murder. He had initially told police that Young had confessed to the killing but changed his story.

At the time he said of the murder: ‘It just felt right. I know it sounds monstrous and all that s***, but it’s not. If we was in the Old Testament, it’d be the same thing.’

 

Gouker has since claimed that he lied when he took responsibility for Zwicker’s death and has attempted to appeal his conviction.

Zwicker’s devastated father told WLKY in April that he found out about the teen’s run-ins with the law on Facebook.

‘I feel strongly that our justice system got it wrong. I know the little boy. I know the little boy has violent tendencies. I’ve known him most of his life.

‘This just goes to show that that somebody made a mistake somewhere and now there’s a young lady that’s been hurt because of it,’ said Terry Zwicker.

He added to WDRB that he still believes Young should be locked up.

‘He deserves to pay for what he’s done and not only what he’s done to that young lady. He deserves to pay for the murder of my child. I’m not stupid.

‘I know the boy did it. I feel it in my bones that he did it so this just goes to show the jury was wrong by letting him go and now somebody else is hurt,’ he said.

Trey Zwicker, 14, was discovered beaten to death behind Liberty High School three years ago.”

The sad decline of meth head teen, 18, acquitted of killing his stepbrother three years ago who’s just been arrested for the third time in a week
[Daily Mail 10/23/14 by David Mc Cormack]