How Could You? Hall of Shame-Dominic Lloyd Lee Elkins case-Child Death and Lawsuit 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 Logan, Iowa, a 17-year-old foster child Cody Metzker-Madsen “has been arrested in connection with the death of a 5-year-old boy whose body was found a western Iowa ravine.
The Harrison County Sheriff’s office says the teen has been charged with first-degree murder in the death that was reported Saturday evening.
The boy’s caregivers found his body in a ravine in rural Harrison County Saturday.
The teen was being held in lieu of $500,000 bond on Sunday. The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify juveniles charged with crimes.
Authorities say the teen and the 5-year-old had been living together in the same foster home since early August.
Authorities did not immediately release the child’s name.
An autopsy is scheduled to be performed Monday [September 2, 2013] morning.
Teen arrested in death of 5-year-old Iowa boy
[Times Union 9/1/13 by Associated Press]
“A day after a child was found dead in a rural Iowa ravine, investigators took 17-year-old Cody Metzker-Madsen into custody. He is being charged with 1st degree murder.
“He’ll be charged as an adult, it automatically bumps him at his age with this type of charge to the adult court,” said Mitch Mortvedt, Iowa DCI Special Agent In Charge.
The sheriff’s office received a 911 call around 7:15 p.m. Saturday regarding a missing and possibly injured child in the Logan area. Caregivers of the boy later notified law enforcement that his body was found in a ravine.
“It’s our understanding the 17 year old, Cody, has been there for almost 3 years, and the five and a half year old young boy, had only been there two to three weeks,” said Mortvedt.
A family friend tells Channel 6 News the boy was in foster care.
The five year old’s grandmother, Stacy Hansen, said the boy was, “very fully of life, full of energy, like any normal five and a half year old.”
She said their family had just seen the boy for a four day weekend.
“She is very devastated, very upset, there is a gaping hole in all of our heart because this little boy was taken away from us,” said Hansen.
The child’s name is not being released pending notification of family.
An autopsy will be done by the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s office.”
Update: Teen Booked For 5-Year-Old’s Murder
[WOWT 9/1/13 by Erin Murray]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update: The child has been named. He is Dominic Lloyd Lee Elkins. DHS claims deaths in foster care are “rare” yet they also state that they don’t actually have any data to prove it is “rare”.
“Dominic Lloyd Lee Elkins, 5, was allegedly killed by Cody Metzker-Madsen, 17. Both were in the care of a foster family who lives north of Logan in rural Harrison County.
DHS is conducting an administrative review in connection with Elkins’ death. During the review, called a child abuse assessment, department officials will interview people who had contact with Metzker-Madsen and Dominic.
The state department’s assessment must be completed within 20 business days.
“Our hearts go out to the families involved in this tragic incident,” said Amy Lorentzen McCoy, department spokeswoman. “This is an isolated incident, and we are following up and cooperating with law enforcement.”
Armstrong said the department was working Tuesday to determine the number of children who had died in foster care in recent years, and noted that some foster children have serious medical conditions that result in death but are not the result of abuse or neglect.
“This is an unusual circumstance,” he said.
The child abuse assessment now under way will include a review of the foster parents’ role, if any, in the death.
As a result of that review, the foster parents could either maintain their foster care licensing or face a range of penalties, including a corrective action plan or suspension or revocation of their license.”
Foster murder case is ‘isolated,’ rare, DHS officials say
[Des Moines Register 9/3/13 by Jason Noble]
Update 2:
“A 5-year-old boy who died while in foster care over the weekend was an energetic youngster who loved to pretend he was racing a car, a family friend said.
But the boy also suffered from such severe behavioral problems that one year ago his mother placed him in a residential treatment center.
Dominic Lloyd Lee Elkins, 5, was found dead at about 7:15 p.m. Saturday near the home in western Iowa where he lived with his alleged attacker. It appeared the boy had suffered multiple injuries to his head and torso, according to a criminal complaint released today.”
“Barbara Kunch, 24, of Atlantic, told The Des Moines Register, that her son, Dominic, was placed in a treatment program at Children’s Square in Council Bluffs. The boy spent several months at the facility, she said. “It’s not something I wanted to do, but it’s something that needed to be done.”
“Dominic would kick, hit, bite and wrestle teachers and students at school, his mother said. He flew into uncontrollable tantrums at home: Dominic once left a hole in her apartment wall after he rammed his head through it, she said.
Dominic’s difficult behavior meant he had been to two different foster homes since his release from the treatment facility, she said.
The boy had recently been showing signs of controlling his behavior, Kunch said. Medications helped. He was being treated for attention deficit disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and a sleeping disorder, she said.
A state hearing was scheduled this month to decide when he might return home, said Kunch, who visited her son on a regular basis after he was placed in treatment in September 2012.
Elkins could now say “please” and “thank you,” and was getting along better with other children, Kunch said. For years she took her son to doctors, she said, who told her he was too young for treatment and would outgrow his worst behaviors.
“It was amazing. There’s no word to describe it,” Kunch said of her son’s progress.
Kunch called her son her “miracle baby.” She said Elkins and a twin were conceived during a rape. Her abuser beat her and one of the twins died while Elkins survived, she said.
Kunch gave her son the last name of her maternal grandmother so Dominic could carry on family name. Elkins, though, looks a lot like her mother did when she was his age.
“I can’t even look in the mirror. I just start bawling,” she said. “He was my world. He really was.”
Harrison County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a home north of Logan at about 7:15 p.m. Saturday on a report of a missing or injured child. Before they arrived, Metzker-Madsen reportedly led family members to Dominic’s body at the bottom of a ravine in a wooded area near the home.
Metzker-Madsen told deputies he was “playing bricks” with Dominic and saw the younger boy hit himself in the head with a brick, the complaint said.
But deputies said Metzker-Madsen, who had had blood on his shirt, changed his story about what happened to Dominic. Metzker-Madsen had also previously been seen with blood on his face, according to the complaint.
Several of Dominic’s closest friends and family were watching dirt races at a track in Harlan when they received news of the boy’s death.
“Dom’s gone,” said a text message sent to Shane Dunckle, a family friend who met Dominic the week after the boy’s birth.
Dunckle, 23, of Manilla, said Dominic was a typical 5-year-old child: Energetic and full of life. The boy loved to hop in a small race car and pretend to drive while a family member gave the play-by-play. Dominic also liked to help with yard work and shovel snow.
One of Dunckle’s strongest memories is of Dominic running up and down the block with a smile on his face.
“He ran these whole streets,” Dunckle said. “He had everything he needed here.”
Authorities said Dominic and Metzker-Madsen had lived together at the Harrison County foster home since August. Both boys were enrolled in the Logan-Magnolia school district. School officials declined to provide other information about the either student.
Metzker-Madsen will be tried as an adult. He appeared before Sunday before a magistrate who ruled that prosecutors had probable cause to charge him with murder.
An initial hearing for the 17-year-old is scheduled for Sept. 9.
No attorney was listed for Metzker-Madsen.”
Update: Murdered boy’s biological mother talks about son
[Des Moines Register 9/3/13 by Jens Manuel Krogstad]
Update 3: “A 12-year-old girl was watching TV on Saturday night as her two foster brothers — one 5, the other 17 — played outside.
She was in charge of baby-sitting the boys, the girl told investigators.
Shortly after the older boy, Cody Metzker-Madsen, came inside, covered in mud and with blood on his forehead, a search for 5-year-old Dominic Elkins was initiated.
The boy was found at the bottom of a ravine near the family’s home north of Logan. Metzker-Madsen has been charged with first-degree murder in Dominic’s death.
The 12-year-old is one of two biological daughters of foster parents Don and Julie Coolman. Her statement was one of the court documents that became public late this week, after investigators executed a search warrant on the Coolman property. Also made public were statements made by Julie Coolman and the responding deputies.
Metzker-Madsen is “mentally challenged,” Ladena Coolman, Don Coolman’s mother, said in an interview. The youth attended a special school in Omaha.
Developmentally, Dominic and the teen were at about the same level, she said.
While the girl said she was alone with the boys at home, there were several adults on the roughly 20-acre property in a wooded valley in the hills north of Logan, Ladena Coolman said.
Don and Julie had visitors that evening, Julie Coolman told investigators. Don Coolman and a friend went on a motorcycle ride, while the friend’s son stayed behind and went with Julie and one of her daughters to get ice cream in Logan. The other daughter was left with Metzker-Madsen and Dominic, who were playing outside.
After Metzker-Madsen came inside the home, he said Dominic thought he wasn’t playing fairly, so Dominic hit himself in the head, hit the teen with a brick and ran to the ravine, the girl told investigators.
The girl phoned her mother, who at that point had been gone about 30 minutes. Julie Coolman had returned from Logan and was at the end of the property’s long driveway, chatting with a sister-in-law, said Ladena Coolman.
The foster mother rushed home and found Cody crying, saying he didn’t do anything. Julie Coolman told him he needed to take them to Dominic. The teen led them to the boy, yelling that he hadn’t done anything.
Dominic’s body was facedown in a creek in a ravine. Mic Coolman, the father of Don Coolman, pulled up on a four-wheeler.
Julie Coolman ran to get Harrison County deputies, who were on the way.
The 12-year-old girl attempted CPR on the boy. His body was limp, his clothes wet and dirty, his face covered in gashes and bruises.
Mic Coolman felt for a pulse, and told the girl there wasn’t anything that could be done.
Deputies arrived at the scene. Metzker-Madsen was taken into custody.
Mic Coolman described the teen as having “anger issues,” but said he seemed to respond well to the guidance of his foster parents.
Metzker-Madsen attended Heartland School in Omaha, which provides services to those with behavioral disorders.
Ladena and Mic Coolman were uncertain about a specific diagnosis for the teen.
“He does not understand how to relate to people,” Mic Coolman said of Cody.
Dominic had a history of behavioral problems as well. His mother, Barbara Kunch, 24, of Atlantic, Iowa, placed her son in the foster care system a year ago, after he had begun hitting and biting others and butting his head against walls.
He had never hit himself with things in the way Metzker-Madsen told investigators, she said.
“I don’t buy my kid hitting himself in the head with anything,” Kunch told The World-Herald this week. “The worst he ever did was claw his face and bite himself. He never took anything in his hand and hit himself in the head with it.”
Kunch and her family have questioned the wisdom of placing Dominic in the same home as Metzker-Madsen. The Iowa Department of Human Services said it is common to pair similarly behaved foster children in the same household.
Don and Julie Coolman had received special training at Boys Town to deal with behaviorally and mentally challenged children. Many, but not all, of the foster children assigned to them had such problems, the elder Coolmans said.
The couple had been foster parents for about 11 years. Metzker-Madsen had lived with the Coolmans for three years. Dominic had been there a few weeks.
Mic and Ladena Coolman, who are former foster parents, said their son’s family shouldn’t have been expected to keep an eye on Dominic and Metzker-Madsen at all times.
In fact, the Department of Human Services does not want them to, they said. The department wants foster children to have as normal a home as possible.
“Those two boys played together a lot,” Mic Coolman said. “The same thing could have happened if Julie had been there. The age of the person in charge isn’t the issue.”
Funeral services for Dominic are set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Pauley-Jones Funeral Home in Harlan, Iowa, the city where the child was born.
A memorial fund has been established to help the family with expenses related to Dominic’s death. Checks may be sent to any Bank Iowa branch and should be made out to “Stacy Hansen/Dominic Elkins Memorial Fund.”
12-year-old girl tried to save 5-year-old; foster brother charged
[Omaha.com 9/6/13 by Andrew J. Nelson]
Update 4: “A 17-year-old accused of killing his foster brother is scheduled to stand trial in November.
Cody Metzker-Madsen faces a first-degree murder charge in the Aug. 31 death of Dominic Elkins, 5. Both were foster children. Police say Metzker-Madsen killed Elkins on their foster family’s 18-acre rural western Iowa property in Harrison County.
Family members have said Metzker-Madsen has the mental capacity of a 5-year-old because of a disability.
The court schedule calls for an arraignment Sept. 30, and a pre-trial hearing Oct. 14. A trial is scheduled for Nov. 5.
Metzker-Madsen will be represented by a public defender from Sioux City, because his original public defender in Council Bluffs has a conflict of interests, court documents show. The conflict was not disclosed.
Metzker-Madsen is being held in the Harrison County jail on a $500,000 bond.
On the day Dominic died, Metzker-Madsen told his foster family’s 12-year-old daughter who was baby sitting the boys that Dominic had hit himself and Metzker-Madsen in the head with a brick and then ran into a ravine, court documents show. Dominic had done this because he thought his foster brother wasn’t playing fair, Metzker-Madsen told the girl. Dominic’s biological mother has said her son was prone to violent outbursts.
Metzker-Madsen led his foster mother, Julie Coolman, to Dominic’s body in a ravine on the family’s property. She told police that Metzker-Madsen repeatedly yelled that he didn’t do anything and that Dominic had hit himself with bricks, documents show.
A statement from the girl shows she told police, “Cody had beaten Dominic with a brick and killed him.””
Teen’s trial in foster brother’s death set for November
[Des Moines Register 9/7/13 by Jens Manuel Krogstad]
Update 4:”Two mental health professionals who examined a teenager charged with killing his 5-year-old foster brother testified Wednesday that, though the youth is emotionally immature, they think he is competent to stand trial.
Whether Cody Metzker-Madsen, 18, does stand trial on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Dominic Elkins remains to be seen.
Metzker-Madsen’s attorney questioned the two, a psychologist and a psychiatrist, during a hearing at the Harrison County Courthouse.
Both acknowledged that the teen has extensive problems.
“He certainly has abnormal brain function in a number of areas,” said Dr. Arnold Andersen, the psychiatrist.
Andersen said Metzker-Madsen exhibits symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and fetal-alcohol syndrome.
His mother, whom The World-Herald has been unable to reach, used methamphetamine while pregnant with him, Andersen said.
District Court Judge Kathleen Kilnoski will decide whether Metzker-Madsen stands trial.
Authorities believe that Metzker-Madsen, then 17, killed Dominic as the two boys played outdoors Aug. 31 at the rural home north of Logan where they were staying.
The child’s body was found in a wooded ravine. An autopsy by the state medical examiner determined that Dominic died as a result of blunt-force head injuries and drowning.
Don and Julie Coolman were the foster parents of the two boys. The teen is “mentally challenged,” Ladena Coolman, Don Coolman’s mother, told The World-Herald a few days after the incident.
Developmentally, Dominic and the teen were at about the same level, she said.
Metzker-Madsen has pleaded not guilty and is being held at the Harrison County Jail in Logan.
Andersen and John Bayless, the psychologist, both interviewed him Feb. 11 at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville, a State Department of Corrections facility.
Michael Williams, Metzker-Madsen’s lawyer, requested the evaluation in December. Williams said at the time that Metzker-Madsen’s ability to help in his own defense was “compromised by certain mental health disorders.”
Metzker-Madsen was present at Wednesday’s hearing. He wore a plaid short-sleeve shirt and green slacks, his legs in shackles.
Andersen and Bayless testified separately, via phone, and were questioned by both Williams and Denise Timmins, an assistant state attorney general.
Both men said Metzker-Madsen had mental problems, but that did not mean he didn’t understand the seriousness of the matter and couldn’t participate in his own defense.
“His behavior when answering questions seemed logical and goal-oriented,” Bayless said.
But under questioning, they also spoke of him being unemotional, considering the situation he was in. “He never showed sadness,” Andersen said.
He also demonstrated behavior immature for his age, they said. He often lowered his head under the table during the examination, forcing them to ask him to sit up. He also had an active imaginary life.
“He gave fantastical tales of having great gifts of being able to go to other universes, but then switch and be able to answer direct questions,”Andersen said.
Testing showed Metzker-Madsen’s IQ to be 86, well below average, and his capacity for judgment extremely weak. But mentally, he was strong in some areas, too.
“Very likely he has one of the strongest memories of the room you are in,” Bayless said.
During the hearing, Metzker-Madsen sat next to Williams at a wooden table, constantly shifting in his chair, whispering to Williams and laying his head on the table before moving around again.
Kilnoski also questioned Metzker-Madsen, who told the judge that he understood the seriousness of what he was charged with.
“In Iowa, it would be a long sentence in jail,” he told Kilnoski. “But in other areas, it would be a death sentence.” Iowa, unlike Nebraska, does not have the death penalty.
But when she asked about his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, Metzker-Madsen said he did not understand that. But he did say he felt comfortable working with Williams on selecting jurors, should he face trial.
“Maybe some of them I might know about,” he said of the potential jurors. “I might be able to tell him more about that person.”
The judge did not say when she would issue her decision.”
Iowa teen competent to stand trial in foster brother’s death, 2 experts testify[Omaha.com 4/17/14 by Andrew J. Nelson]
Update 5:“A judge has declared an Iowa teen competent to stand trial for the murder of his 5-year-old foster brother.
District Court Judge Judge Kathleen Kilnoski said an evaluation of 18-year-old Cody Metzker-Madsen showed that he understands the charges against him and can actively participate in his defense.
The Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil reports that Metzker-Madsen is charged with first-degree murder for the death of Dominic Elkins. Authorities say Dominic was killed while the boys were playing outdoors on Aug. 31 at their home near Logan, in western Iowa. Dominic died as a result of blunt-force head injuries and drowning.
Metzker-Madsen has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Psychology experts who examined the teen say he has developmental problems. Metzker-Madsen’s mother used methamphetamine during her pregnancy with him. ”
Judge: Western Iowa Teen Competent for Murder Trial [KCRG 4/22/14 by Associated Press]
Update 6: “An 18-year-old man accused of killing his foster brother in 2013 north of Logan, Iowa, will use an insanity defense when his case goes to trial later this month, according to court documents filed in September.
The trial of Cody Metzker-Madsen will begin Oct. 28. Metzker-Madsen has waived his right to a trial by jury; his fate will be decided by a judge.
Metzker-Madsen has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder. He is being held at the Harrison County Jail in Logan.
Authorities believe Metzker-Madsen, then 17, killed his 5-year-old foster brother, Dominic Elkins, as the two were playing outside on Aug. 31, 2013, at the rural home north of town where both were staying.
Dominic’s body was found in a wooded ravine. An autopsy determined that he died from blunt-force head injuries and drowning.
Don and Julie Coolman were the boys’ foster parents.
In December 2013, the public defender assigned to the case, Michael Williams, asked that his client be evaluated to determine whether he was competent to stand trial. In court documents, Williams said Metzker-Madsen’s ability to help in his own defense was “compromised by certain mental health disorders.”
On Feb., 11, a psychologist and a psychiatrist interviewed Metzker-Madsen at the State Medical and Classification Center in Coralville. Dr. Arnold Andersen, the psychiatrist, said in a hearing in April that Metzker-Madsen exhibited symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and fetal alcohol syndrome. His mother used methamphetamine while pregnant with him, Andersen said.
Both Andersen and John Bayless, the psychologist, said at the hearing that Metzker-Madsen had mental problems, but that did not mean he didn’t understand the seriousness of the matter and couldn’t participate in his own defense.
“His behavior when answering questions seemed logical and goal-oriented,” Bayless said.
But they also spoke of him being unemotional, considering his situation, and cited other concerns.
“He gave fantastical tales of having great gifts of being able to go to other universes, but then switch and be able to answer direct questions,” Andersen said.
Phone messages left at Williams’ office in Sioux City were not returned.
The insanity defense is rarely used and is rarely successful, said Robert Rigg, director of the criminal defense program at Drake University Law School in Des Moines.
Rigg said Metzker-Madsen’s attorney would have to show that his client did not know the difference between right and wrong or that he did not appreciate the nature of the acts authorities accuse him of committing.
The defense recently has been used successfully in Iowa. Thomas Barlas Jr. was found not guilty by reason of insanity on Aug. 6 for the 2013 stabbing death of his father. Barlas was transferred to Cherokee Mental Health Institute for treatment.
But it has been invoked unsuccessfully on many other occasions. In the 2009 killing of Aplington-Parkersburg football coach Ed Thomas, attorneys for defendant Mark Becker argued their client was insane. A psychiatrist for the defense testified that Becker believed that Satan possessed the coach and that he was doing the community a favor by killing him. A jury still found Becker guilty.
“The defendant in Iowa is presumed to be sane,” Rigg said.
Defense attorneys who use the insanity defense prefer trials before a judge because juries tend to be unsympathetic to mentally ill suspects, Rigg said.
If the judge finds him not guilty, Metzker-Madsen would likely be placed in a mental institution within the Iowa Department of Corrections system.
“Not guilty by reason of insanity is not a ‘Get out of jail free’ card,” Rigg said.
The reasons to pursue it, he said, are because one day Metzker-Madsen could be determined to no longer be a threat and be released. And he’s likely to get better treatment in a mental institution than in a traditional prison.”
Iowa teen plans insanity defense in 5-year-old foster brother’s death[Omaha 10/2/14 by Andrew J. Nelson]
Update 7: “A teen accused of killing a 5-year-old boy and leaving his body at the bottom of a ravine will likely face years in state care, regardless of the outcome of his trial, legal experts said.
Cody Metzker-Madsen, 18, will enter the Harrison County Courthouse in Logan on Tuesday to face a murder charge in the death of Dominic Elkins, a child who was placed in the same foster home as Metzker-Madsen.
The teen’s attorney will offer the rarely used insanity defense to argue that Metzker-Madsen couldn’t understand the seriousness of his actions at the time of Elkins’ death.
Using the insanity defense, often misunderstood by the public, will not mean a release for Metzker-Madsen if he is found “not guilty,” said Robert Rigg, the head of the criminal defense program at Drake University’s law school. If Metzker-Madsen is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he will be taken into state custody for a psychiatric evaluation.
Once in state custody, Metzker-Madsen will remain in a facility until he’s no longer deemed a threat to himself or the public, Rigg said.
“Under either circumstance, the outcome for him is not going to be good,” Rigg said. “He is probably going to be institutionalized for the foreseeable future, whether it’s in a hospital or a prison setting.”
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
Proving that a person is not guilty by reason of insanity in Iowa requires proof that a defendant could not tell the difference between right and wrong and could not appreciate the seriousness of the act, Rigg said. It becomes the defendant’s job to prove insanity, he said.
“That’s a big hurdle,” he said. “It’s the only defense where the defendant has the burden of proof.”
The insanity defense is also extremely unpopular among members of the public and is met with skepticism from jurors, Rigg said. An example is John Hinckley Jr., who successfully used the defense, to the public’s dismay, after an assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan in 1981, Rigg said.
In Iowa, the defense was used in the first-degree murder trial of Mark Becker, who is serving a life sentence for the 2009 shooting death of Ed Thomas, a popular football coach at Aplington-Parkersburg High School. Jurors dismissed Becker’s insanity defense, despite evidence of his deteriorating mental health; since going to prison, Becker has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Metzker-Madsen has opted to have Judge Kathleen Kilnoski decide the case, rather than a jury. That may prove helpful to his defense, as a judge will likely have a better understanding of the law than a juror, said Susan Flander, an attorney who defended Becker.
“I think one of the challenges is the population as a whole doesn’t like the defense and they want a person to be responsible for their actions,” she said. “I don’t think it’s necessarily easier, but it is more of a technical legal defense and the court itself might have a better grasp on what insanity is under the code.”
Metzker-Madsen and Elkins were both in the care of a foster family in Harrison County, a western Iowa county of 14,928 residents 30 miles northeast of Council Bluffs, when the younger boy died on Aug. 31, 2013. Elkins had boundless energy but suffered from attention-deficit disorder, his biological mother told The Des Moines Register last year.
Elkins was prone to throwing temper tantrums, and after his release from a residential treatment center, he was in two foster homes. On the day of his death, authorities were called to his foster family’s rural house on a report of an injured boy, according to the criminal complaint.
When they arrived, sheriffs’ deputies found Elkins at the bottom of a ravine with injuries to his head and torso. Metzker-Madsen, who was then 17, led family members to the ravine and told authorities that he and Elkins had been “playing bricks.”
The teen told a deputy that Elkins had hit himself with a brick, the report said. But Metzker-Madsen had blood on his shirt and had been seen with blood spattered on his face. He gave inconsistent accounts of what happened while the two had been playing.
Court documents paint a picture of Metzker-Madsen, who was enrolled in the Logan-Magnolia school district, as a teen with clear developmental problems and the mindset of a much younger child. Family members said after his arrest that he had the mental capabilities of a 5-year-old.
Experts said during hearings that Metzker-Madsen’s biological mother used methamphetamine while she was pregnant with him.
Like Elkins, he suffered from attention-deficit disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, a mental health problem that causes children and teenagers to lash out at authority figures. The disorder, which may be caused by a combination of inherited and environmental factors, can cause teens to become violent, according to the Mayo Clinic.
In April, Kilnoski ruled that despite his “significant mental challenges,” Metzker-Madsen was competent to stand trial on the first-degree murder charge.
If convicted of murder in Elkins’ death, a judge will have to consider Metzker-Madsen’s history of mental health troubles at sentencing, Rigg said.
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who commit murder cannot automatically be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the punishment for first-degree murder under Iowa law. Instead, judges must consider a defendant’s maturity and individual circumstances to determine a sentence.
In light of the ruling, Metzker-Madsen’s documented problems may be grounds for him to avoid a life-without-parole sentence if convicted and to someday have an opportunity at release, Rigg said.
“You’ve got the fact that he was a juvenile when this happened and that he’s very, very low functioning,” he said. “Does this mean he gets to take a walk on this, absolutely not.”
Insanity defense on tap for teen in foster child’s death/a>[USA Today 10/28/14 by Grant Rodgers]
Update 8:”The foster mother of an Iowa teenager charged with first-degree murder told a judge today that the teen had trouble “telling right from wrong” while playing with other children.
Logan woman Julie Coolman, her husband and one of her teenage daughters testified this morning in the opening day of Cody Metzker-Madsen’s trial.
The now-18-year-old was charged with first-degree murder in the August 2013 death of Dominic Elkins, a 5-year-old boy who also had been placed in foster care with the Coolmans in rural Harrison County.
Tuesday’s testimony was the first public recounting of how Julie Coolman and her twin daughters found Elkins’ body at the bottom of a wooded ravine behind the family’s home where the kids often played. The family also detailed problems they’d had with Metzker-Madsen’s volatile temper.
At the time of Elkins’ death, Coolman had left the boy and Metzker-Madsen at the house alone with one of her daughters, Rebecca Coolman, while she went to buy ice cream in nearby Logan, she said in court. The two boys were outside playing while the then 13-year-old girl stayed inside and watched television.
At one point, Metzker-Madsen came into the house and said Elkins ran away after the two had an argument, Rebecca Coolman said in court. Rebecca Coolman said that she immediately telephoned her mother, who was within a minute of the house.
“He looked panicky and he was all muddy,” Rebecca Coolman said in court of Metzker-Madsen.
Coolman, her mother and twin sister began searching for Elkins within minutes of the phone call. In a 9-1-1 call played in court, Coolman’s twin sister reported Elkins’ disappearance to a dispatcher, saying, “Cody said (Elkins is) bleeding out of his head.”
Metzker-Madsen led the group to one entrance into the ravine, but Julie Coolman testified that she saw that the weeds and grass in the area were undisturbed. She questioned Metzker-Madsen about whether the two had been in the area, she said in court.
The teen then took the group to a second spot, near a barn where the family kept miniature horses, Julie Coolman testified. There, the twin girls found Elkins’ body lying in the bottom of the ravine, she said. Photos of the scene showed Elkins with wounds to his head.
Metzker-Madsen screamed, “No,” when he was asked in the ravine if he caused Elkins’ death, Harrison County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Killpack testified. The teenager was “visibly shaken” and crying in the ravine, he said.
Metzker-Madsen’s attorney indicated before the trial that he would use the insanity defense, which requires proof that a defendant could not tell the difference between right and wrong and could not appreciate the consequences of an action. Defense attorney Michael Williams questioned Julie Coolman during her testimony about Metzker-Madsen’s past troublesome behavior.
In March 2011, Julie Coolman sent an email to a teacher of Metzker-Madsen’s saying, “Cody doesn’t understand what is right and what is wrong when he is playing.” She sent the email after an incident in which Metzker-Madsen had choked another child in foster care.
Metzker-Madsen and other boys in foster care with the Coolmans watched professional wrestling on TV and believed they could mimic the grandiose moves on one another without hurting themselves, Coolman said.
Metzker-Madsen had been in foster care with the Coolmans for around three years before his arrest, Coolman said. Elkins was new to the household, having moved in only three weeks before his death. The two seemed to enjoy playing with each other, she said.
Throughout the day, assistant attorney general Denise Timmins asked witnesses whether they’d ever heard Metzker-Madsen talk about goblins. The teenager enjoyed reading science fiction and fantasy books, said Donald Coolman, Julie’s Coolman’s husband.
Julie Coolman also acknowledged in court today that Elkins’ biological mother, Barbara Kunch, filed a lawsuit against her and her husband. The lawsuit, filed earlier this month, claims that Elkins’ death could have been prevented if Coolman and her husband hadn’t left him alone with Metzker-Madsen.
“The Coolmans knew that both Dominic and Cody Metzker-Madsen had significant behavioral, developmental, emotional and mental issues, including the tendency to act out in violent and aggressive fashion,” the lawsuit said.
Metzker-Madsen, who has a history of attention deficit disorder, fidgeted throughout the trial this morning. He often put his head on the table or in his hands during testimony. Before the trial began, Judge Kathleen Kilnoski questioned Metzker-Madsen about the decision to waive his right to have a jury trial.
“I think it would be best for myself,” he said in response to the judge.”
Testimony: Teen had volatile temper[The Des Moines Register 10/29/14 by Grant Rodgers]
“In a video recording shown to the court, Cody Metzker-Madsen said a mysterious figure that stared at him would sometimes appear near the wooded area surrounding his rural home in Logan.
The 18-year-old, being tried for first-degree murder in the death of his 5-year-old foster brother Dominic Elkins, also said that the figure would appear when bad things happen and that only he could see it.
His remarks were part of a video dated Sept. 1, 2013, when special agents Phillip Kennedy and Laura Meyers of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation interviewed Metzker-Madsen about Dominic’s death.
Metzker-Madsen has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Dominic, whose body was found in a ravine near their home in Logan.
On the video, Metzker-Madsen said a tree branch fell, injuring Dominic. However, the teen later said Dominic hit himself in the head with a brick.
An autopsy determined that the boy died of blunt force head injuries and drowning.
But when Kennedy asked whether his account of Dominic’s death actually happened, Metzker-Madsen became defensive.
“He started smashing his face,” Metzker-Madsen told Kennedy. “Have I ever seen him hit himself like that? No. Not that I know of.”
When Kennedy asked for more details about Dominic’s death, Metzker-Madsen became more frustrated.
“I don’t kill,” Metzker-Madsen said. “I’m not a killer.”
However, Metzker-Madsen also told investigators that he was getting better about telling the truth. “Sometimes I lie about telling the truth,” he said. “I’ve been working on that for a while now.”
The state rested its case Wednesday after testimony from criminalists with the Iowa DCI and a state associate medical examiner who performed Dominic’s autopsy.
Michael Halverson, a criminalist with the Iowa DCI, said heavy rain the day of Dominic’s death could have destroyed fingerprints and other evidence. Halverson examined blood spatter on Metzker-Madsen’s clothing and positively identified the blood as that of Dominic.
Jonathan Thompson, an associate state medical examiner who conducted Dominic’s autopsy, ruled the death a homicide.
Dominic had hyperinflated lungs, an indication of drowning, Thompson said. He did not identify what caused Dominic’s injuries, but he said there was evidence that Dominic was likely struck multiple times. Dominic also had rectangular bruises, which he said were likely caused by a rectangular object.”
Teen accused of killing 5-year-old foster brother told police he could lie, but not kill[Omaha 10/30/14 by Kurby Kaufman]
Update 9: “Educators described a young Cody Metzker-Madsen, now 18, as a boy who immersed himself in fantasy games and who didn’t realize when he had hurt people.
“His reality is not our reality,” Michelle Armitage, the teen’s academic adviser at Rabiner Residential Treatment Center in Fort Dodge, said in her testimony at the Harrison County Courthouse.
Metzker-Madsen’s defense attorney, Michael Williams, called teachers who had worked with the defendant as he began his case Thursday as part of an insanity defense.
The teen pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder in the death of his 5-year-old foster brother, Dominic Elkins.
Authorities believe Metzker-Madsen attacked Dominic with a brick. The child was found Aug., 31, 2013, in a ravine near his foster parents’ home in Logan.
Metzker-Madsen once lived and attended school at the Fort Dodge treatment center, a facility serving at-risk youths.
While Metzker-Madsen attended the treatment center, witnesses said, staff members had to snap him out of “staring episodes.”
Armitage testified that she sometimes told Metzker-Madsen: “Cody. Earth to Cody. Come back to us.”
Deb Chaney, another of his teachers at the treatment facility, described Metzker-Madsen as “impulsive” and “aggressive.” He always had to be the first in line or he would kick, hit or push people, she said.
Armitage said Metzker-Madsen became flustered and would apologize after hitting someone. “It was almost like he didn’t know he’d actually hurt you,” she said.
The treatment center’s staff said Metzker-Madsen would not be able to live on his own after graduating from high school.
Before attending the treatment facility, Metzker-Madsen was a student in the South O’Brien Community School District, located in Paullina, a town of about 1,100 people in northwest Iowa.
Lisa Wiese, an elementary principal for the district, said the defendant attended the district between August 2006 and spring 2007.
He was placed in a foster home within the district’s boundaries.
At first it was recommended that Metzker-Madsen be kept away from other students, because school officials didn’t know how he would interact with others.
An “explosive episode” caused Metzker-Madsen to leave the district and his foster home in the area.
Metzker-Madsen became violent and started throwing chairs in the special education room, said Wiese, who called the police.
“We could not deal with him in our setting,” she said.”
Testimony portrays teen charged with foster brother’s slaying as out of touch with reality[Omaha.com 10/31/14 by Kirby Kaufman]
Update 10:”The teenager accused of killing his 5-year-old foster brother last year took the stand in Logan, Iowa, on Wednesday.
Cody Metzker-Madsen, 18, said he beat Dominic Elkins with a brick, but said he was lost in a fantasy at the time.
On the stand, a new story unfolded — one told to Metzker-Madsen’s psychiatrist months after the Sept. 1, 2013, killing.
“It looked like there were goblins, per se, a lot of them,” Metzker-Madsen testified. “Green, ugly little creatures.”
He said he finally told the truth to his doctor because he had come to trust him.
Metzker-Madsen likened the goblins to characters from popular video game “Skylanders.” Claiming the goblins were attacking him, he fought back with a brick.
“I remember attacking him with it and smashing it in his face,” Metzker-Madsen said.
Metzker-Madsen said he battled a goblin commander into a ravine and killed it with a sword and brick. He said he worried the goblin would come back to life, like in the video game.
Defense attorney Michael Williams: “At that very moment, did you realize it really was Dominic?”
Metzker-Madsen: “No, I did not.”
Prosecutor Denise Timmins questioned the story, saying it was at least the third one he has told authorities about the killing.
Metzker-Madsen got defensive.
“Well first off, the way you’re saying it is kind of hurting my feelings in a way because I’m figuring that you don’t really believe me, do you?” he said.
Timmins pushed harder, asking him how he felt about killing Dominic.
“I feel like a regretful little punk,” Metzker-Madsen said. “I never even wanted to hurt Dominic. I would’ve never hurt Dominic. He was like a brother that I haven’t had for a long time.”
Metzker-Madsen’s biological mother also testified Wednesday. She said she used meth every day during the first three months of her pregnancy with Metzker-Madsen.
On Thursday, the defense will question the doctor who first heard the goblin story. The state is expected to produce its own doctor to argue the story is not true.”
Teenage murder suspect says he thought he was attacking goblins
[KETV 11/6/14]
Update 11: “The teen accused of killing his 5-year-old foster brother was found not guilty Friday by reason of insanity.
Cody Metzker-Madsen, now 18, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Dominic Elkins.
District Court Judge Kathleen Kilnoski found Metzker-Madsen not guilty by reason of insanity on Friday.
Prosecutors say Metzker-Madsen, then 17, killed Dominic as the two were playing outside Aug. 31, 2013, at a rural home north of town.
Dominic’s body was found in a wooded ravine. An autopsy determined that he died from blunt-force head injuries and drowning.
Metzker-Madsen’s attorney used an insanity defense. Public defender Michael Williams contended that his client suffers from “certain mental health disorders.”
Metzker-Madsen testified that when he killed his foster brother, he was in a fantasy world and thought he was killing a goblin.
He said he visits a world only he can reach whenever he plays with someone. He said he didn’t realize until afterward that what he thought was a goblin was actually Dominic.”
Teen accused of killing 5-year-old foster brother thought he was slaying a goblin [Omaha.com 11/7/14 by Andrew J. Nelson]
Update 12:”The Iowa teen found not guilty by reason of insanity in the death of his foster brother poses “a great danger to others” and will need lifelong monitoring “to help minimize his risk to the public and to himself,” according to a judge’s order.
The order commits Cody Metzker-Madsen, 18, to a psychiatric unit within the Iowa Department of Corrections for an indefinite period of time.
Metzker-Madsen killed 5-year-old Dominic Elkins as the two played outside at a foster home north of Logan, Iowa.
Dominic’s body was found in a wooded ravine with a stream. An autopsy determined that he died from blunt force head injuries and drowning.
The two boys had been staying at the home of foster parents Don and Julie Coolman, who were not home at the time.
During his seven-day trial in late October and early November, Metzker-Madsen testified that he remembered killing a goblin with a brick while in a fantasy world. He said he didn’t realize until later that it was Dominic he had killed.
During the trial, Metzker-Madsen’s mother testified that she used methamphetamine during her first three months of pregnancy.
District Judge Kathleen Kilnoski found Metzker-Madsen not guilty of first-degree murder by reason of insanity on Nov. 7. She ordered him committed to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center at Oakdale and ordered the chief medical officer there to report to her a diagnosis and also an opinion on whether Metzker-Madsen was a threat to others.
The report was not made public. But Kilnoski’s order, filed Thursday, quotes from it.
Metzker-Madsen’s provisional diagnoses include oppositional defiant disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, psychotic disorder not otherwise specified and personality disorder not otherwise specified, with anti-social traits. The order describes him as having “borderline intellectual functioning.”
According to the judge’s order, Metzker-Madsen “poses a great danger to others, and indirectly to himself, because of his limited functioning and mood instability. The evaluating psychiatrist said it was her opinion that the defendant requires ‘continued long-term placement in a highly structured and secure environment. … (H)e will need lifelong monitoring and structure to help minimize his risk to the public and to himself.’ ”
The judge concluded that Metzker-Madsen is “seriously mentally ill and dangerous to himself and others.”
She ordered him committed to the Iowa Department of Corrections for placement at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital at Oakdale.
She also ordered the chief medical officer there to report to her within 30 days, and then at intervals of not more than 60 days, on Metzker-Madsen’s progress.
Robert Rigg, director of the criminal defense program at Drake University Law School in Des Moines, said Metzker-Madsen will probably never be released, unless some way is found to successfully treat him.
“They have to have periodic reports because (state) code requires that they do that,” he said. “He is probably going to be at Oakdale, or some institution like Oakdale, the rest of his life.”
Last month Dominic’s mother, Barbara Kunch, withdrew a lawsuit that she had filed in October accusing Don and Julie Coolman of failing to properly care for and supervise Dominic and Metzker-Madsen. Court documents did not list a reason why, and neither Kunch nor her attorneys could not be reached Monday”
Judge commits Iowa teen who killed foster brother to psych unit[Omaha.com 12/8/14 by Andrew J. Nelson]
Update 13: “Iowa will pay $175,000 to settle a lawsuit involving a foster child who was bludgeoned with a brick and drowned by another foster child.
Dominic Elkins was 5 and in foster care at the home of Donald and Julie Coolman of Logan when in 2013 another foster child, 17-year-old Cody Metzker-Madsen, used a brick to beat him and force his head under water.
Metzker-Madsen was later found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity and required to remain in state custody until a judge rules he is no longer a danger to himself or others.
Elkins’ birth mother, Barbara Christo of Lewis, filed a lawsuit against the state in 2015.
Christo alleged that both boys were known to have significant behavioral, developmental and psychiatric issues and should not have been placed together in the same home by the state.
The Iowa Appeal Board on Monday agreed to pay the $175,000 settlement for what Deputy Attorney General Jeff Thompson called “a very difficult and unfortunate incident.”
“It was our estimation that it was not the kind of case to risk taking to a jury,” Thompson said.
Iowa in October additionally agreed to pay $300,000 from the state’s foster home insurance fund, a separate state account used to pay for foster care claims.
Christo’s attorney Robert Stahle declined to discuss the case other than to say, “I feel from the standpoint of my client that, yeah, justice was done.”
The Iowa Department of Human Services has faced recent scrutiny regarding the separate deaths of Sabrina Ray and Natalie Finn, two girls who were adopted out of foster care and died in the last year following allegations of starvation and abuse.
Amy McCoy, a spokeswoman for DHS, said she was immediately unable to answer questions of how or if the foster care system had changed as a result of Dominic’s death in 2013.
“Our foster families open their homes to children who are neglected, abused or can’t get the support they need at home, and this was a heart-wrenching and unique circumstance where tragedy struck two vulnerable children and the family that was trying to support them,” McCoy said in a statement.”
Iowa pays $175K after foster child beaten with a brick and drowned
[Des Moines Register 6/5/17 by Jason Clayworth and Grant Rodgers]
I want to comment on the mishandling of this whole investigation. It makes me sick that there is a boy with the abilities of a 5 year old sitting in solitary confinement awaiting his fate with few if any advocates. There is no sure way to know what happened that day. The deceased child’s mother was quoted saying that her son had put his head through a wall in their apartment while in a fit of anger. So why is it so hard to believe that he would hit himself with a brick. Also the autopsy report hasn’t even been made public how does anyone know that the other injuries couldn’t have occurred from falling down a 20 plus foot ravine. Especially if he was unconscious or dazed from the brick to the head. This is so messed up where is the outrage and childrens advocates in this country? Cody Metzger Madsen needs a group of good lawyers not one public defender. And Why such a fast trial date? Does this time even allow his lawyer to properly defend him? He (The lawyer) needs to find experts to testify as to his clients ability level and capabilities of even understanding what he being accused of. This makes me furious that because Cody has no voice he is being railroaded. Anyone reading this just for a moment, think to when you were 5 years old which is basically how old mentally this 16 yr old is, just think what you would have been able to do to defend yourself or even accurately be able to describe what happened and make others understand? You wouldn’t have been able to, especially if you were mentally handicapped. Whats going to happen here? Is this trial going to take place to convict a mentally challenged juvenile as an adult and if found guilty, What then? Sentencing him to prison with adults. Sickening!! This would not have gone this far in a larger community I don’t believe. It sounds like there has been NO special consideration of the actual circumstances and this is just a way to quickly deal with it and get passed it asap. Without going to any trouble or expense deemed unnecessary by the powers that be and no one really making any noise about the injustice of it, I truly shudder to think what might become the final outcome. Also the local news stations and paper have done a terrible job of reporting on this in my opinion. They should be interviewing experts in the fields of child development and child welfare and gathering information on other similar cases such as this throughout the rest of the country and then report about how they were handled and what the outcome was. That’s what they should be reporting on and talking about.
I knew Dominic personally, and yes he had anger issues. Usually getting upset and charging at others or biting himself even scratching himself in fits of anger. He has not hit himself in the head with objects. And as an update to this post, The teen who murdered Dom was put through psych evals. The doctors deemed that he was capable of understanding what was being done. He had adhd and ODD. He was also very immature, but his brain was not that of a 5 year old. No we do not know what happened on that horrific day, but my theory is they were playing Dom upset the teen and possibly got into a physical alteraction. The teen grabbed a brick and hit Dom in the head. Once he realized what he did and Dom was not responding to him he probably rolled him into the ravine. The article states his lips were blue. That means he hadnt taken a breathe in a while. so sometime had passed before the teen went for “help”.