How Could You? Hall of Shame-Krystle Tanner UPDATED

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 Houston, Texas, CPS and police have bungled another case. Because police CLOSED the baby kidnapping case of Miguel Antonio Morin due to not being able to determine the exact date that the child went missing  , CPS ended up playing detective for several months in 2011 before police became involved in the case again.

Miguel, now 8 and missing since 2004, has been found alive!

“According to the San Augustine Co. Sheriff’s office the child that was allegedly kidnapped 8 years ago has been found safe.

A woman suspected of kidnapping her neighbor’s then 8 month old baby has been arrested in San Augustine.

According to authorities, at 8:45 p.m., Tuesday, the Houston Police Department homicide division received a call from a woman saying the child, Miguel Antonio Morin, was safe.

HPD said, the suspect’s sister called them and stated the child was safe with her in Houston.

Authorities said Child Protective Services has been notified and arrangement were being made to pick up the child.

Investigators say the kidnapping case has come full circle.

San Augustine County investigators say Krystle Rochelle Tanner, 26, has evaded law enforcement for 8 years. In 2004, Tanner lived in Houston and was babysitting a neighbor’s child when both the child and Tanner turned up missing.

The baby’s mother Auboni Champion-Morin, who still resides in Houston, contacted Houston authorities for help. An investigation was launched to try and locate the missing child who was identified as Miguel Antonio Morin. Tanner’s family was uncooperative with the investigation, according to a report by Houston police.

“The assistant or assistant D-A reviewed the case and asked for clarification of a certain aspect of the case regarding the exact date on which the child was taken. For whatever reason the Houston Police department was unable to pin that information down and in 2006 they closed the case,” Said Cunningham.

For several years there were no new developments in the case. Then in August [2011] of last year, Child Protective Services in San Augustine received a report concerning Krystle Tanner and her relationship with her newborn and 8 year old child. “There were allegations of negligent supervision and a CPS investigation began,” said Cunningham. “The CPS investigation was conducted on Krystle Tanner concerning an allegation, or report of negligence supervision of the children, and, perhaps, physical abuse of this unknown male child that was reportedly living under her household.”

Cunningham said CPS investigators could not locate the 8 year old, believed to be the missing Houston baby. He also said Tanner and her boyfriend provided ‘false and misleading information’ concerning the child. The CPS investigation reached as far as Austin, where Tanner’s mother lived, but there were no leads to the whereabouts of the 8 year old.

In January [2012], a CPS supervisor contacted the San Augustine County Sheriff’s department to conduct a criminal investigation on Tanner. A series of interviews, a joint investigation by the sheriff’s office and CPS led them back to Houston and the 2004 kidnapping allegations against Tanner.

Tanner was arrested Monday [March 12, 2012] afternoon for kidnapping. She is being held without bond. Authorities say she remains uncooperative with law enforcement.

Houston police say this is a very active case. They are still trying to sort out all of the details. They plan to issue a press release Wednesday morning.”

Child missing since 2004 found safe, babysitter in custody
[KTRE 3/13/12 by Samantha Jordan]

“Krystle ,26, remained jailed without bond in San Augustine, about 200 miles southeast of Fort Worth. She was arrested on a kidnapping charge Monday.

The boy’s mother, , told Houston television station KPRC that she may be reunited with her son later this week. Authorities said she must first undergo a DNA test, even though they’re sure of his identity.

“I want to hold him in my arms and let him know who I am,” said Champion-Morin, who lives in Houston. “I hope he can feel the same thing I feel for him.”

Tanner, also the baby’s godmother, was a suspect when the mother reported her 8-month-old son missing in late 2004. But Tanner’s relatives in Houston told police that she and the infant had vanished. The case went cold and was closed in 2006, said Chief Deputy Gary Cunningham of the San Augustine Sheriff‘s Department.

Late last summer, child welfare investigators in San Augustine County — about 150 miles northeast of Houston — received a complaint that Tanner and her boyfriend were neglecting their two children, Cunningham said.

Officials tried to find the older boy. Tanner told authorities different stories about the child: he went by different names and she had been keeping him briefly for a woman that she had met in a park, Cunningham said.

Although sheriff’s deputies had no records for the boy and little information to work with, they began investigating it as a missing child’s case in January. Neither Child Protective Services nor law enforcement knew about the 2004 Houston kidnapping case at the time because the boy had been removed from the national missing children’s database. Even so, they didn’t know his name.

“It was very difficult because we were essentially searching for a ghost,” Cunningham told The Associated Press.

CPS officials recently learned that Tanner was suspected in the 2004 kidnapping, which led to Monday’s arrest. One of Tanner’s relatives led them to the boy but denied knowing that he had been abducted, Cunningham said.

It’s too soon to say whether anyone else will be arrested, Cunningham said.

He said the family will likely go through some counseling. The child apparently has never been in school, and one of the names Tanner called him was “Dirty,” he said.

CPS officials in Houston did not return calls Wednesday. The AP’s attempts to reach Champion-Morin were unsuccessful.

Champion-Morin said that she had done everything to find her child.

“I prayed every night that he was safe, loved and he would come home one day,” Champion-Morin said.”
Texas baby missing for 8 years found, will go home
[Associated Press 3/14/12 by Angela K. Brown]

“Long after tiny Miguel Morin disappeared in late 2004, the infant’s family still paused to mark the milestones of his life, holding a celebration every year on his birthday and praying for his safe, swift return.

Now that wished-for reunion may be only days away after police arrested the boy’s former baby sitter on charges she abducted him and began raising Miguel as her own.

“It’s kind of hard to believe,” the child’s mother, Auboni Champion-Morin, said Thursday. “Some of these cases take years and years, and sometimes they don’t come back. It was overwhelming.”

Miguel, now 8 years old, is in foster care in the Houston area while investigators sort out his complicated story. At a court hearing Thursday, a child-welfare investigator testified that he was healthy physically and emotionally but had apparently not attended school.

Lisa Rose, an investigator for child-protective services, said the boy is a normal height and weight and that he’s well-mannered but cannot read or name the school he attends. He believed he was 6 years old and identified a photo of the kidnapping suspect as his mother.

Miguel’s parents agreed in court to provide DNA to confirm that the child is theirs. The whole family is eager to have him back, including the couple’s five other kids ranging from 7 to 14, the mother said.

“They’re anxious,” Champion-Morin said. “They’re ready to see him.”

The former baby sitter, Krystle Rochelle Tanner, had been a friend of Champion-Morin’s and she was Miguel’s godmother. She lived in the same apartment complex.

Police identified her as a suspect shortly after the boy disappeared, but investigators soon lost track of her. Relatives said she had vanished too.

When the boy was reported missing, Houston police declined to issue any sort of alert that might have drawn tips from the public. Champion-Morin said officers told her she would have to pay $500 for that step, and she didn’t have enough money.

Instead, she put up fliers and constructed a website about her son’s disappearance.

“In San Augustine, a community about 140 miles northeast of Houston where Tanner was jailed, police said evidence against Tanner had been presented to Houston prosecutors in February 2005, but no charges were filed because authorities could not verify the exact date the boy was reported missing.

Further complicating matters were unconfirmed claims by Tanner’s relatives that Champion-Morin asked Tanner to keep Miguel indefinitely and may even have had a written agreement to that effect.

With no charges filed, Houston police closed the case in 2006.

Gary Cunningham, chief deputy of the San Augustine Sheriff’s Department, did not know why the case was abandoned.

“I will add, however, that I truly think they did the best they could do with the information that they had,” he said.

The boy’s parents were frustrated that the case was not more aggressively pursued.

Police “kept changing the person who was supposed to be handling this case,” Champion-Morin said.

Victor Senties, a spokesman for the Houston Police Department, said the case was handled as a suspected kidnapping and was therefore assigned to homicide detectives. He said the department is now investigating why the matter was closed, but he would not elaborate.

The case got new life last summer, when Tanner took the boy to the hospital for some kind of leg injury. She could not provide his name or Social Security number, which raised doubts among the hospital staff, who contacted child welfare investigators.” [Why not the police? What PARENT can’t PROVIDE THEIR OWN CHILD’S NAME!!!!!!!!]

“Tanner told authorities different stories about the child: He went by different names and she had been asked to keep him for an extended period of time for a woman that she had met in a park. She told investigators she did not know the women’s last name and had only been given a cellphone to contact her but that the number had since been disconnected, Cunningham said.

Boy who vanished in 2004 might soon rejoin family[Houston Chronicle 3/15/12 by Associated Press, Michael Graczyk and Will Weissert]

“Experts say the child also may experience frustration, though for entirely different reasons. Miguel will be meeting a mother and father who are complete strangers to him, and the woman he has known as is mother is now accused of kidnapping him when he was 8 months old.

Experts: Boy found 8 years later faces confusion
[KTRE 3/16/12 by Michael Gracyzk]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Police and CPS need some accountability. Also, how the reunification efforts are playing out needs to be closely watched. That the media is referring to Miguel’s mother as a BIRTHMOTHER is very disturbing. Just like Anyeli Hernandez was kidnapped from her mother in Guatemala, Miguel was KIDNAPPED from his mother in Houston. The children and their mothers are CRIME VICTIMS!!!!!!

Update: “Texas child welfare authorities learned nearly seven months ago that an 8-year-old boy now alleged to have been kidnapped as a baby “did not know his age or how to spell his name,” according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained Friday by CNN.

Police: Texas boy, 8, allegedly kidnapped as baby, didn’t know age, name
[CNN 3/16/12]

Update 2: “A judge has ruled that a Houston boy who disappeared as an infant eight years ago and who was recently found will remain in foster care while officials determine whether he should be reunited with his parents.

State District Judge Mike Schneider agreed Wednesday [March 28, 2012] with a Child Protective Services recommendation that 8-year-old Miguel Morin should remain in the state’s care at least until a May 16 hearing.

The judge also accepted a CPS plan to have Miguel and his parents, Auboni Champion-Morin and Fernando Morin, undergo therapy separately to see if the boy is ready for a reunion.”

Texas boy missing 8 years to remain in foster care
[SF Gate 3/28/12 by Juan A. Lozano/Associated Press]

Update 3: “Krystle Tanner and her mother, Gloria Walker, for years had successfully concealed the true identity of the boy that authorities say they kidnapped from Houston in 2004 when he was just 8 months old.

They hid him in homes in Central and East Texas, kept him out of school and didn’t call him by his given name of Miguel Morin, instead renaming him Jaquan. The boy, knowing nothing of who he really was, called Tanner mother and Walker grandmother.

And their secret might never have been discovered if Tanner’s newborn son in April 2010 had not tested positive for marijuana. That prompted an investigation by child welfare officials, who were told by Tanner she had another child.

However, attempts to find that other child, who turned out to be Miguel, would go on for nearly two more years as authorities say Tanner and Walker thwarted their efforts through elaborate lies and by secretly shuttling Miguel between homes.

anner, 27, and Walker, 50, who each face charges of kidnapping and injury to a child, were to make their first court appearances Friday in San Augustine since being indicted last month.

Miguel, now 8 years old, is in foster care as a Houston judge waits to hear next month from therapists on when the boy can be reunited with his parents, who are seeking custody despite allowing their four other children to live with another couple.

Investigators believe that in 2004, Tanner, then 19, wanted a child of her own “very badly,” said San Augustine County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Gary Cunningham. She lived in the same Houston apartment complex as Miguel and his family, and often baby-sat him.

“Krystle Tanner saw an opportunity, as did her mother, to get this little baby,” Cunningham said.

Authorities said that after being taken, Miguel apparently spent much of his time with Walker in a two-story home in Manor, located in the Austin metro area in Central Texas. He also lived with Tanner in a green and white mobile home in San Augustine, a small town nestled in the East Texas woods, about 150 miles northeast of Houston.

During these years, Miguel didn’t learn to read or write and never went to school. His long, dark hair, never having been cut, was braided. He was told his birthday was March 26 when it was actually March 1.

The first word of his possible location came in April 2010, when Child Protective Services in San Augustine County began investigating Tanner after marijuana was detected in her newborn son’s bloodstream, according to Walker’s arrest warrant affidavit. Tanner told CPS she also had a 6-year-old son who lived with her mother in Manor.

Walker denied such a boy existed, and Tanner later recanted her claim.

With no proof of the boy, CPS worked with Tanner, offering parenting classes and other support for her newborn, said CPS spokeswoman Julie Moody.

Nearly a year passed before CPS got another tip, in March 2011, that a half-black, half-Hispanic boy, possibly 5 years old, was living in Walker’s home in Manor under harsh conditions, including physical abuse. The boy’s description matched Miguel’s.

Walker again denied the child’s existence, and CPS closed the case in May.

Authorities say Walker brought Miguel to Tanner and he stayed with her until about August, when Walker told her daughter to return him to Manor.

“According to Tanner, upon arriving at Walker’s residence, Walker ‘turned off the lights and would not come outside’ but directed Tanner’s sister to give her an unspecified amount of cash and instructions to immediately transport the child to (another) sister who resides in Houston,” according to the arrest affidavit.

Meanwhile, CPS and the sheriff’s office continued investigating Tanner. She changed her description of the boy authorities sought, first referring to him as her brother and later saying he was the son of a woman named “Christy” whom she had met at a park in the nearby town of Center, according to the affidavit.

It wasn’t until March 7 that CPS conclusively identified the boy as Miguel. Tanner was arrested March 12 and the next day, one of her sisters called Houston police to say she had the boy.

Cunningham said after her arrest, Tanner claimed she had been brainwashed by her mother into hiding the boy.

Authorities say Tanner and Walker, who remain jailed, do not have attorneys. But Whitney Walker, one of Tanner’s sisters who lives in Houston, said Miguel’s mother gave the boy to Tanner.

“She said she (Tanner) could have him. She didn’t want him,” said Whitney Walker, 20.

Authorities in San Augustine County don’t believe Miguel was given away.

“I have no doubt that this child was kidnapped,” said San Augustine County District Attorney Kevin Dutton.

Miguel’s mother, Auboni Champion-Morin, and her husband, Fernando Morin, have four other children, ages 7 to 14, who are living with another couple under an agreement between the two couples, said Champion-Morin’s attorney Itze Soliz-Matthews. The attorney would not comment on the arrangement, only saying the Morins are very active in parenting those children and want Miguel back.

“They took her child,” she said. “They never had any kind of authority to keep him.”
Lies, homes helped hide kidnapped boy’s identity
[Seattle Post-Intelligencer 4/12/12 by Juan A. Lozano/Associated Press]

Update 4: Therapists feel Miguel is still not ready to visit with his parents!

He will remain in CPS care until at least the next hearing that is scheduled for September 12, 2012.

Auboni Champion-Morin and Fernando Morin are “cooperating” and have received photos of Miguel.

“The father’s attorney says the parents “are holding up well.”

Child welfare officials say Texas boy kidnapped 8 years ago not yet ready to meet his parents

[Washington Post 5/16/12 by Associated Press]

Update 5: “A Texas boy who was found in March after having been kidnapped eight years ago as an infant has begun getting to know his parents through weekly joint therapy sessions with them, attorneys and child welfare officials said Wednesday.

The attorneys said they hope this is another step that will eventually lead the boy to be permanently reunited with his parents. Authorities allege Miguel Morin, now 8, was taken as an infant, and his baby sitter and her mother remain jailed on kidnapping charges.

State District Judge Mike Schneider ordered after a court hearing Wednesday that the boy remain in foster care until the next court hearing on Jan. 9.

William Thursland, a court appointed attorney for Miguel, said the boy has been told who his biological parents are and the joint therapy sessions that began about a month ago are being used as a way for the boy and his parents to get to know each other.

“It’s just barely begun so he’s cautious,” Thursland said. “It’s going well but it’s just going to take time.”

Auboni Champion-Morin and Fernando Morin, Miguel’s parents, who live in Houston and are both 29, declined to comment after Wednesday’s hearing.

Mark Cooper, Fernando Morin’s attorney, said Miguel is being carefully reintroduced to the “real people in his life.”

“It’s going gently and slowly and appropriately and progress is being made and it looks good,” he said.

Champion-Morin’s attorney, Itze Soliz-Matthews, said the joint therapy sessions were going “very well.”

All attorneys in the case declined to offer more details about the therapy sessions.”

[Sacramento Bee 9/12/12 by Juan Lozano/The Associated Press]

Update 6: “A  boy who was snatched from his Houston home when he was 8-months-old and moved  around Texas for eight years before he was found will be removed from foster  care and reunited with his siblings, a judge ruled Wednesday.

State  District Judge Mike  Schneider ordered that 8-year-old Miguel Morin be placed in the custody of a  couple caring for his four siblings, Juanita and Joseph  Aguillard. Miguel has been in foster care since authorities found him at the  Houston home of his former baby sitter’s sister in March. Authorities say Miguel  spent most of the time he was kidnapped in East and Central Texas.

Miguel’s  former baby sitter, Krystle Tanner, and her mother, Gloria  Walker, have been charged with kidnapping and injury to a child in his 2004  disappearance. The women have pleaded not guilty and are jailed in San  Augustine, about 140 miles northeast of Houston.

Estella  Olguin, a spokeswoman for Child  Protective Services in Houston, said the ultimate goal is for Miguel’s  parents, Auboni  Champion-Morin and Fernando  Morin, and the Aguillards have joint custody of him “so that Miguel can  still have a relationship with his parents and stay with his siblings.”

Miguel  is expected to be reunited with his siblings by Friday after paperwork is  completed, Olguin said. CPS and the boy’s parents have declined to say why the  Aguillards — friends of the family — have custody of the four other children,  citing privacy issues.

Authorities  say Tanner snatched Miguel from his home when he was a baby and, along with her  mother, concealed the boy’s true identity for years, moving him from one home to  another to avoid detection. After Tanner’s March arrest in the kidnapping, her  sister called authorities to say Miguel was staying at her home in Houston.

Miguel’s  parents will be allowed to visit the boy at the Aguillards’ home and have  requested that Miguel be allowed to visit them on weekends. CPS officials plan  to see the Morins’ home before deciding whether to approve the request for  weekend visits.

Olguin  said everyone involved will meet in mediation before the next court hearing in  March to see if they can wrap up the matter.

She  said Miguel, who had never gone to school and couldn’t read or write when he was  found by authorities, has caught up with other students in his second-grade  class and is excelling in school.

“Considering  his life has really changed as he knew it, he’s doing really well,” Olguin  said.

William  Thursland, a court appointed attorney for Miguel, said he wants to see how the  boy adjusts to living with the Aguillards before determining what will  ultimately happen in his case. But he said he’s pleased with Miguel’s progress  so far.

“He’s  a very well-adjusted, happy guy,” Thursland said. “I think it’s gone as well as  we could have hoped.”

Miguel  has been told about the true identity of his parents and his siblings, and he  has been having weekly joint therapy sessions with his parents. He also has been  visiting his siblings at the Aguillards’ home and stayed with them during the  Christmas holiday, Joseph Aguillard said

“He  bonded with his brothers and sisters from day one,” Juanita  Aguillard said. “He loves the family.”

Miguel’s  parents, who live in Houston, said after Wednesday’s hearing that they were  pleased with the judge’s decision.

“I’m  happy with everything right now,” Champion-Morin said.”

Kidnapped Texas boy to be reunited with 4 siblings

[Beumont Enterprise 1/9/13 by Juan A. Lozano/Associated Press]

Update 7:

The trial began February 11, 2013. San Augustine Co. trial begins for duo charged in 7-year-old kidnapping case [KTRE 2/11/13 by Michelle Reed]

“The prosecution in the case said Miguel’s mother had told the Houston Police Department that she had left her baby with Tanner, who lived in the same apartment complex and was a good friend. When she went to go pick up her baby, Walker told her that Tanner had taken the baby and was gone.

The defense countered, saying that the baby’s parents would leave him with Tanner for weeks at a time without any notification of when they would be back.

Tanner was arrested in San Augustine County by the San Augustine Sheriff’s Office in August 2011 after reports came in concerning negligent supervision of children and abuse involving Tanner. Deputies realized one of Tanner’s children was Miquel.

Chief Deputy Gary Cunningham said he visited Tanner’s son at his school in 2011 with supervision from the school’s principal about an unidentified boy who lived with him. Tanner’s son told Cunningham that the boy was bi-racial and had never gone to school and had been given to his mom by a friend. Cunningham interviewed Tanner about the unidentified child. Tanner said she met a woman named Kristi in Center who asked her if she would babysit her child. Cunningham said after exhaustive efforts he never found a Kristi and a child in Center. He said at this time he suspected something illegal was happening. Cunningham found a report from the Houston Police Department about a missing child report filed in November 2004 out of Harris County.”

Trial Day Two

“According to authorities, Tanner and her mother, Gloria Walker, have been on the run from law enforcement since they kidnapped the child, Miguel Morin eight years ago. For eight years, Tanner allegedly hid Miguel Morin in homes all over central and east Texas without letting him go to school or go by his birth name.

San Augustine County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Tanner in August 2011 following reports of negligent supervision of children and abuse that centered on Tanner. During the investigation, one of the SACSO deputies realized that one of Tanner’s children was Miguel.

Tuesday afternoon, the prosecution called Lindsey Van Buskirk, the investigative director for Austin’s Child Protective Services, to the stand. Van Buskirk testified that in March 2011, CPS received a report that a five-year-old boy was living with Walker at her residence in Manor, Texas, right outside of Austin.

Van Buskirk said the report stated the boy had been sold to Walker in Houston, and since then, she had fled with the child. The report also said he currently had the flu and wasn’t receiving medical attention. Van Buskirk said they had to close the case because everyone at the Walker residence denied there was a five-year-old boy living at the house.

Andy Wells, an employee of Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, was called to the stand. Wells said he received a report that an unknown child was living with Tanner and was being hit. Wells said they investigated the abuse in August to December 2012 and discovered there was an unknown child in the Tanner residence. Wells said he asked Tanner about the child. On the stand, he said she told him the child was her brother, and then once they asked him if he was Miquel Morin, Tanner changed her account to say he was a child of a friend she was babysitting.

Gary Cunningham, the chief deputy of the San Augustine Sheriff’s Office again took the stand Tuesday morning, continuing where he left off Monday afternoon. Cunningham revealed he had interviewed Tanner four or five times after his initial interview with her.

He said Tanner continued to deny the baby in her care was the missing child, Miguel Morin, and insisted he was actually the child of a friend of hers named Kristi, who lives in Center. During Monday’s court proceedings, Cunningham testified that after exhaustive efforts, he never found Tanner’s friend or her child in Center.

Recounting an interview he conducted with Tanner on March 26, 2012, Cunningham said, “[Tanner] expressed to me that her mother, Gloria Walker, had instructed her to make up a name for Morin and explained to her if she used his correct name, his real name, she would be in trouble.”

During the interview, Tanner did come clean about lying to Houston Child Protective Services about Morin because her mother told her to, Cunningham said. He added that even though she also admitted to lying about Miquel’s identity because she was afraid she would get in trouble, she never conceded to kidnapping the boy.

Cunningham said he spoke to Tanner’s father, Willie Tanner, on March 19, 2012 and learned that Tanner had told her father that Miguel was actually her mother’s adoptive son, but she liked to call Morin her son as a term of endearment. Willie Tanner said Krystle had resided with him for six or seven years, and that his ex-wife, Walker, had brought a 6-year-old boy to his home in San Augustine County in the spring of 2011.

Willie Tanner told Cunningham that Walker told him the boy was her son, and that his name was Jaquan. Willie Tanner told Cunningham he had known a report had been filed by the Houston Police Department about his daughter and a missing child in February 2005, but he did not know law enforcement was still trying to identify the missing child. He never contacted authorities because he had no idea his daughter was being investigated for kidnapping, Cunningham said.

Cunningham referred to a CPS report where Mariah Tanner, identified as a grandchild living in the Tanner home, told CPS that the child named Jaquan was Walker’s son, and she was told the child’s father was a man named Eric.

Gloria Walker’s attorney Rudy Velasquez, grilled Cunningham about discrepancies in testimony the child’s biological mother, Auboni Morin, gave to CPS and the HPD. There are three different dates in November where Auboni Morin says her son was missing. Those dates were November 10th, 16th, and 19th of 2004. Cunningham admitted he was surprised by the discrepancies in the reports and confirmed that there had been gaps in Auboni Morin’s story based off of what he read in the original report filed by CPS.

However, Cunningham said he isn’t sure if Auboni Morin gave inaccurate information on purpose. He also said he didn’t know if she was intentionally being uncooperative with law enforcement.

Cunningham confirmed that the Morin’s didn’t have custody of their other children and that a Juanita Aguilarrd had custody of those children. He did not identify Aguilarrd’s relationship to the Morin family. Cunningham addressed reports filed by HPD that this case was a civil matter, but added he does not consider this a custody matter and considers this a kidnapping case because there is significant evidence that shows that this was a kidnapping.

Cunningham says that he feels HPD lost focus investigating this case and overlooked discrepancies and gaps from both sides in this case.

Cunningham said that Miguel Morin had lived with Tanner for several months in San Augustine but had lived with Walker at her residence in Travis County near Austin for some time. When Velasquez asked Cunningham why Walker was being indicted for kidnapping in San Augustine when she lives in Travis County, the chief deputy said he could not answer because he did not prepare the documentation.

The defense asked Cunningham what his specific evidence is to say this is a kidnapping case. Cunningham says he has statements from others  to show Walker was the one who kidnapped Miguel Morin and that Tanner had participated. But he says he has  no proof to show Miguel Morin was abused by Walker or Tanner.”

CPS investigator: Report said San Augustine kidnapping suspect bought boy in Houston

[KTRE 2/12/13 by Michelle Reed]

Trial Day Three

“Auboni Morin, Miguel’s biological mother, recalled her relationship with Tanner, saying they had been friends since 1998 when Morin’s sister-in-law introduced them. She said that friendship ended shortly after Tanner disappeared with Miguel.

“On November 16, 2004, I went to go pick up my son,” Morin said. “They weren’t there. Krystle and Miguel were gone.”

Defense attorney Rudy Velasquez asked Morin about the discrepancies in the dates she reported her son missing. Morin replied that she has no idea why government officials are reporting she filed the missing person’s report on three different dates – November 10, November 16, and November 19. She said she filed the report on November 16 adding, “This day is etched in my mind.”

Morin said she had allowed Tanner to babysit all of her children multiple times and trusted Tanner. She said her electricity had gone out on November 15 because her husband, Fernando Morin, couldn’t pay the energy bill. Morin said she didn’t want to keep her children in the dark, so she dropped off her youngest child at the time, Miquel, at Tanner’s. Morin says she returned to the Tanner apartment the next morning and was told by Walker that Tanner and Miquel had gone to the store.

Morin said she decided to wait for them to return from the store and went back to the Tanner residence an hour later. Walker told Morin that they were gone, and she didn’t know where they went. Frightened, Morin called the police. Once an officer arrived from the Houston Police Department, Morin went back to Walker’s apartment. As soon as Walker saw the officer, she became very aggressive and tried to close the door in their faces, Morin said.

During her testimony, Morin said she grew very angry at this time and began kicking Walker’s door. Morin says she didn’t speak to Walker again for three months until March 2005. Morin said she asked Walker if she had heard anything about Miquel. Walker looked Morin in the eyes and said, “Leave me the hell alone. Your kids are going to end up missing or dead.”

Under cross examination by Velasquez, Morin became very upset. She was breathing heavily as the defense questioned her about telling Walker in March 2005 that she was happier without her son and was sorry she had caused problems for the Walker and Tanner family. Morin denied every saying any of this to Walker.

Morin said she moved out of her apartment shortly after Walker threatened her children. She decided to leave her children in the custody of the Aguilar family for their safety and lived inside her car for several months until her husband could afford another apartment.

Morin said she didn’t see Miguel again until June 18, 2012. She said he recognized her as his mother but didn’t know anything else about their family. She said during the eight years her son was missing, no one from the Houston Police Department or the Tanner family contacted her about the whereabouts of her son. Morin said in 2006 she looked into the National Missing Person’s network and noticed a missing person posting for Krystle Tanner. She said Miguel was not listed.

The prosecution addressed concerns from the defense that Morin had given up on looking for her son. Morin said she did not and called HPD 13 times during the first year her son was missing. She said she did not receive any updates from the police and only spoke to three people in the department briefly. She said she had no idea HPD had dropped the case in February 2005. She said the first time she had heard the case had been dropped was two years later in 2007 when she searched the case on the Internet. This was also the first time she heard HPD had found her uncooperative. She says she does not know why they thought she was uncooperative because she would keep in touch with them every week.

In March 2012, Morin received a phone call from Chief Deputy Gary Cunningham from the San Augustine Sheriff’s Department saying he had picked up the case and believed he had identified her son. Morin testified that she had never spoken to Cunningham before the phone call. She said three to four days later, Cunningham told her they had picked up Miquel, and he was currently safe with Child Protective Services.

Morin said Miguel is currently with his siblings at the Anguilar’s house. She added Miguel is doing great and is in the second grade at a public school in Houston.

A contracted clinical psychologist for CPS in Harris County testified that he performed psychological evaluations on Miguel Morin on March 12, 2012. He said he was called to determine Miguel’s intellectual, physical, and mental functions.

“First of all, he thought his name was Jaquan. He thought he was six years old, and he was frightened and confused,” the psychologist said. “He didn’t understand why he was living in a shelter, and he didn’t understand why he wasn’t living with the people he had been staying with,” the psychologist said.

The psychologist said Miguel seemed underdeveloped intellectually and had trouble reacting to situations. Miguel told the psychologist he had lived with his mom (Tanner), father and papaw. He said he had recently gone to live with his grandmother because his mom had been arrested and gone to jail. The psychologist said Miguel did not act as if he was in any danger. He also said Miguel’s IQ was at the very end of average and that his skill level was very low for an eight-year-old. In addition, he said Miguel is having difficulty in school. He doesn’t understand the instructions and he is older than his classmates.

The psychologist said Miguel appeared to be anxious. He asked Miguel to draw a picture of his family and he drew a picture of his mom, dad, and papaw. He didn’t show any responses to trauma, meaning the psychologist determined Miguel has no evidence of suffering from psychological problems. The psychologist felt if he took Miguel out in the public that it would cause him distress. The psychologist is allowing Miguel to continue to think his name is Jaquan until he is able to comprehend who he really is, and who his family is.

“This case is very interesting because there’s no idea how he is going to react when he finds out the truth about what happened to him,” the psychologist said. “When he begins to understand it, he might have some adverse effects. Assuming he was kidnapped, and he can’t be with his parents, and he thinks these people are his parents and he can’t go back to them. He might want to go back to them so we are going to have one confused and anxious child.”

The psychologist said he wants Miguel to go under psychotherapy but he doesn’t want to do it until Miguel has a support system from family. He needs Miguel to understand who his family is before he can undergo this therapy. He said that if it turns out the Morin’s had given Miguel away, Miguel would be very stressed.

“Whatever the truth is for this child, it could cause negative and adverse effects,” the psychologist said. “He believed the people he was living with was his true family. He expects to go back to them and it looks like he is going to find out something different.”

Tanner’s grandmother, Ann Rawlings, testified Auboni Morin wrote Tanner a letter saying she was giving Miguel to Tanner. Rawlings said this letter was destroyed in a fire in 2010. In addition, Rawlings said Morin gave Miguel to Tanner because she didn’t want him. Rawlings told Tanner she needed to get this in writing, and Morin wrote the letter. Rawlings claimed Morin told her she was going to make a career out of having babies and giving them to women who couldn’t have kids for various reasons.

Tanner’s husband, Timothy Jason Taylor, said he first saw Miguel in 2006 at Walker’s residence in Manor, Texas. Taylor said he lived with Walker at her residence in 2008 and saw Miguel during those two months. He said Miguel came to San Augustine in June 2011 because Walker brought him to Taylor and Tanner’s residence. Taylor says he did knot know Miguel was a missing child. CPS came to his home investigating reports about Taylor smoking marijuana with his newborn son in the house when they noticed Miguel. He said in October 2011, Walker told Tanner to bring Miguel back to her house in Manor.

“I didn’t know what was going on; why we had to go from here to there. No one was telling me anything,” Taylor said.

More witnesses are expected to take the stand Thursday morning at 9 a.m.”

Day 3 of San Augustine trial: Mother of allegedly kidnapped boy takes stand

[KTRE 2/13/13 by Michelle Reed]

“During day four of the ongoing kidnapping trail against Krystle Tanner and Gloria Tanner, an officer with the Houston Police Department’s Special Crimes Division-Sex Crimes Unit said that, based on the facts as she knew them, she thought the case wasn’t a kidnapping; it was a matter of interference with child custody.

Jennifer Kauffelt, an officer with the HPD’s Special Crimes Division-Sex Crimes Unit, said Thursday that she took over the case after an Officer Coleman retired from the force and transferred the case. Kauffelt said she has been a police officer for 18 years and worked in the juvenile division for 9 years.

Kauffelt testified that she sent a certified letter to Auboni Morin. She said this is standard procedure when they can’t reach someone in person or over the phone. She said she did receive a receipt from Morin saying they had received the letter. Kauffelt visited Morin at her apartment, and Morin said she had never read the letter, even though she had received it. She testified that Morin was very uncooperative and left a voicemail several weeks later, saying she wanted a different officer assigned to the case.

Kauffelt testified she spoke to Walker and was told she had not spoken to Tanner in over two years. Walker said Auboni Morin had sold her baby, Miguel, to Tanner for $200 when he was only two months old. She said Auboni Morin wanted to make a career out of being a surrogate and give babies away to people who could not have children for various reasons.

Kauffelt said she got in touch with Juanita Aguillard, the godmother of the Morin children, who told her she was planning on formally adopting the four Morin children at the time. Kauffelt said Aguillard already had several children of her own and was very cooperative. Aguillard told Kauffelt that Auboni Morin had given Miguel to Tanner saying “Ms. Morin never asked for money. She just gave (the babies) away.”

Defense attorney Rudy Velasquez asked Kauffelt if she felt Auboni Morin had been truthful in her statements.

“I have an overwhelming feeling that no one has been truthful in this case,” Kauffelt said.

Kauffelt said she was instructed by a district attorney to close the case on April 6, 2006, despite earlier testimony in the trial stating the HPD investigation was closed in February 2005. The Houston Police Department had to close the case because they were receiving conflicting statements, and there was a lack of cooperation from the Morins. Kauffelt said the case was no longer going to be considered a criminal case and was now considered a civil matter at that time period.

Prosecutor J. Kevin Dutton told Kauffelt that the SACSO investigators able to identify Miguel in only three days. He asked Kauffelt if she would’ve contacted the San Augustine County Sheriff’s Office if this case had happened today. Kauffelt replied she did the very best she could with the experience she had.

“I’m the low man on a very high totem pole. I did what I was told,” Kauffelt said.

Dutton asked Kauffelt if she felt like this was a kidnapping case, given the facts. Kauffelt said she does not agree this is a kidnapping case and still believes it is a interference with child custody case because she thinks the Morin’s and Tanner’s had an agreement about who would have custody of Miguel.

Kauffelt said she found it odd that the Morins had not contacted the police department at all between the months of March 2005 to June 2006. She did admit that sometime between December 2004 and June 2006 the case file went missing.

Earlier Thursday morning, Sgt. Michael K. Peters, a sergeant with the Houston Police Department with 31 years of experience, told jurors in a San Augustine County district court that he initially investigated the kidnapping case in 2004. He testified that Auboni Morin, the biological mother of Miguel, came into his office and reported a kidnapped child on Nov. 16, 2004.

Peters testified he interviewed Miguel’s father, Fernando Morin, at the apartment complex in Houston, and that Fernando Morin’s behavior was inappropriate. He said Fernando Morin had just returned home from Florida where he was working a job for several weeks and had recently learned his newborn son was missing. Peters said Fernando did not show any concern his child was missing. He said the circumstances of the alleged kidnapping were confusing and he was under the impression Miguel had been staying with Tanner and Walker for an extended period of time.

Peters told the defense he has never seen a case like this since his first day on the force in 1981. Dutton asked Peters if he had been concerned with the case when two weeks passed and Tanner and the baby had not returned home. Peters said he did think at the time that this was probably an abduction. Dutton asked Peters what he would have done if this had been his son. He answered saying he would’ve used every resource he could to find the child.

The defense countered by saying “You are not the father of this child. In your report, the child’s father did not seem upset. Did that not give you reason to believe this is a matter between families and not an abduction?” Peters said Fernando Morin’s reaction was strange, so he transferred the case to the juvenile division because he felt they could handle the case more efficiently.”

Day 4 of San Augustine kidnapping trial: HPD officer says ‘no one has been truthful’

[KTRE 2/14/13 by Michelle Reed]

Closing arguments occurred on February 19, 2013.

”

An East Texas woman and her daughter were sentenced to prison Tuesday after being convicted of kidnapping a Houston boy when he was an infant and hiding him for eight years.

Jurors in San Augustine sentenced 51-year-old Gloria Walker to concurrent terms of 30 years for injury to a child and eight years for kidnapping. Her daughter, 27-year-old Krystle Tanner,  received concurrent sentences of eight years for kidnapping and eight years for reckless injury to a child.

They were convicted earlier in the day for the 2004 abduction of Miguel Morin when he was was 8 months old.

Walker could have been sentenced to life in prison; Tanner faced a maximum 20 years.

Prosecutors said Tanner used to babysit the child and took him from his Houston apartment complex when he was 8 months old. She and Walker then renamed the boy Jaquan, moved around and kept him out of school to avoid being discovered.

Authorities began investigating Tanner in April 2010 after her newborn son tested positive for marijuana. She and her mother were arrested in March 2012.

Jurors rejected defense arguments that the boy’s biological mother had  actually sold him to Tanner or that it was a child-custody case, as a Houston police investigator testified.

Miguel has been placed with a Houston foster family that has taken care of his four siblings for nearly 10 years under an agreement with their parents.”

2 Texas women sentenced for taking, hiding baby 8 years

[USA Today 2/19/13 by  Michael Winter]