How Could You? Hall of Shame-Skyler Wilson case-Child Death 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 Mt. Airy, North Carolina, adoptive parents Joseph Wilson, 41, and Jodi Wilson, 38, ” were arrested for the murder of Skyler Wilson[4] on January 13, 2023. Joseph and Jodi Wilson are currently being held at the Surry County Detention Center under no bond. A court date for Joseph and Jodi Wilson was set for February 2, 2023.”

[Surry County Sheriff’s Office January 13, 2023]

“In alleged timeline, Skyler sustained injuries on Jan. 5. EMS took him to a hospital, where he died on the 9th. Authorities did not detail the injuries or suggest a motive.

From deputies:

On January 6, 2023, the Surry County Sheriff’s Office received a call from Child Protective Services regarding a four-year-old child. The four-year-old child, Skyler Wilson, had been transported to Brenner’s Children Hospital by Surry County Emergency Medical Services after suffering from a medical emergency on January 5, 2023. Skyler Wilson succumbed to injuries he sustained on January 5, 2023 and passed away on January 9, 2023. The Surry County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigative Division initiated an investigation into the death and have requested the assistance of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. The investigation revealed that Skyler Wilson passed away from injuries related to the abuse sustained by his parents, and his death is being investigated as a homicide.”

North Carolina Parents Abused 4-Year-Old Son, Who Languished in Hospital for Days before Dying: Deputies
[Law and Crime 1/15/23 by Alberto Luperon]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:“New details are emerging in the death of 4-year-old Skyler Wilson.

According to warrants, Joseph Wilson, who is charged along with his wife Jodi in the death of their adopted child Skyler Wilson, got a text from his wife that there was a “problem” with “swaddling” Skyler on Jan. 5. She also sent a picture of Skyler, wrapped in a sheet or a blanket face-down on the Wilsons’ living room floor with duct tape attaching him to the floor.

Skyler Wilson died on Jan. 9.

According to the warrant, on Jan. 11, a detective interviewed a former foster parent of Skyler and his brother. According to the warrant, the former foster parent “advised that Jodi Wilson had told her about the ‘pouching,’ swaddling, food restriction, refusal of [Skyler’s brother] to walk by himself, the gating of Skyler in a room for excessive ‘alone’ time, and the exorcisms of both children.”

The warrant does not provide additional details on the alleged “exorcisms.”

The foster mother talked to a care worker with the Surry County Department of Social Services on Dec. 7, worried for the safety of the children. She was told to make a formal report, which she told detectives that she did on that same day. The warrant says that phone records corroborate the timing of when she filed a complaint.

Skyler and his brother were placed with the Wilsons in September of 2021 and the Wilsons had “fostered” three children prior to the two boys.

The warrant states that Jodi was using techniques learned from Nancy Thomas, a self-described “professional therapeutic parent.”

When reached for comment on the death of Skyler Wilson, Nancy Thomas provided the following response:

“I am shocked and saddened to hear the sad news of this little one passing away. Since I have no knowledge of the incident, I am unable to give a comment. I am willing to assist law enforcement if they have any questions.”

n Jan. 6, while Skyler Wilson was in the hospital, the Department of Social Services contacted the Surry County Sheriff’s Office.

A detective with the sheriff’s office spoke with a doctor, who explained that Skyler had a hypoxic brain injury, which happens with a restriction that prevents oxygen to the brain. The doctor, who had previously spoken with Joseph Wilson, told the detective that Skyler’s brain injuries were consistent with “too much restriction” used during this so-called “swaddling” technique.

Swaddling is a technique used to comfort and help babies sleep with a blanket wrapped snuggly around the baby’s body. Rolling over while swaddled has been correlated to an increased likelihood of SIDS deaths, and swaddling is not encouraged for an infant that is old enough to roll over on its own.

The sheriff’s office executed a search warrant at the home on Rosecrest Drive in Mount Airy. While in the home, they observed “wrist and ankle support strap/braces” and cameras in a tote in the basement of the home, Joseph Wilson told an SBI agent and a detective that the straps were for restraining Skyler during swaddling, and that Jodi Wilson took the cameras down and potentially removed SD cards from them during the “incident” with Skyler on Jan. 5.

The Wilson’s home on Rosecrest Drive was searched a second time, looking specifically for the SD cards in the cameras. They list the following items:

• Three white surveillance-type cameras
• Mueller sport wraps
• Handwritten documents
• USB drives
• Books
• SD card from Wii
• Notebooks & binder
• Cameras containing SD cards
• 3 tablets from a playroom
• Dell Optiplex 7020 tower with power cord
• Hitachi laptop

On Jan. 13, Joseph and Jodi Wilson were charged in Skyler Wilson’s murder and taken into custody with no bond. Their three biological children and Skyler’s brother were taken into custody by social services, where they remain.

Skyler’s former foster mother described him as a social butterfly with a big heart.

“He was so tiny and small but had a heart three times bigger than he was,” she said. “I want to love unconditionally and remember his smile and the little things.”

His speech therapist said that she was shocked at what happened, noting he had been making big strides.

“He had been improving so much, and even if a child did have certain behaviors, there’s still no need for something that drastic at all,” she said. “That’s why it’s so heartbreaking and confusing.”

“They were always a phone call away, they were always a visit away, so it was good until it wasn’t,” Skyler’s former foster mother said Tuesday. “I want justice to be served.”

According to Nancy Thomas’s website, “Nancy Thomas is not a doctor, psychiatrist or therapist. She is an amazing mom who has, through years of search, study and experience, found solutions to parenting challenging children.”

Nancy Thomas advocates for “Attachment Therapy,” which Psychology Today describes as “unconventional, unproven, and potentially harmful,” as a treatment for “Reactive Attachment Disorder.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, reactive attachment disorder is “a rare but serious condition in which an infant or young child doesn’t establish healthy attachments with parents or caregivers. Reactive attachment disorder may develop if the child’s basic needs for comfort, affection and nurturing aren’t met and loving, caring, stable attachments with others are not established.” This rare disorder primarily impacts infants and toddlers, who will show symptoms like listlessness, not seeking comfort or unexplained withdrawal.

On her website, Nancy Thomas says that, for children experiencing RAD, “everyone becomes the enemy. They learn to manipulate and use and abuse people to get what they want. The true child may [have] never been seen by anyone except the mother figure they unleash their deep-seeded (sic) rage on.”

Psychology Today differentiates between “attachment-based therapy” and “attachment therapy.”

Attachment-based therapy is described in Psychology Today as looking “at the connection between an infant’s early attachment experiences with primary caregivers, usually with parents, and the infant’s ability to develop normally and ultimately form healthy emotional and physical relationships as an adult.””

“The “attachment therapy” that Nancy Thomas promotes involves “holding therapy” where a person or sometimes multiple people will forcibly restrain a child.

The Daily Beast wrote that the treatments popularized by this so-called attachment therapy “revolve around asserting parents’ absolute control over their children, through strict regulations on children’s movements and eating habits. Sometimes children are put on extremely limited diets of bland, unappetizing food; assigned hours of pointless, repetitive chores; forced to sit in one location, facing the wall, for hours at a time; and endure “holding therapy,” wherein children may be forcibly held down by parents or therapists to induce first a feeling of rage and powerlessness, then catharsis and acceptance when they finally submit.””

“Nancy Thomas’s “therapies” were highlighted in HBO’s 1990 documentary “Child of Rage” following her experiences with her adoptive daughter Beth Thomas, who she claims had RAD. Thomas’s parenting advice was also at the center of the case of an Arkansas State Representative in 2015 who adopted and then gave up sisters with serious behavioral issues, at one point accusing the girls of being possessed.

In 2000, a North Carolina 10-year-old named Candace Newmaker died under the care of attachment “therapists” in Colorado and the two unlicensed therapists were found guilty of her death.

Newmaker died after she was “wrapped in a blanket meant to represent a womb, the little girl was sat on by four adults until she could no longer breathe,” during a process called ‘rebirthing’ according to a Guardian article published at the time. This inspired “Candace’s Law,” which bans the “re-birthing” therapy in Colorado and North Carolina.

The Wilsons will be back in court on Feb. 2. Skyler Wilson’s funeral will be on Saturday, Jan. 28.”

Family accused of ‘exorcisms,’ food restriction before 4-year-old died in Surry County, warrants reveal
[Fox 8 1/25/23 by Emily Mikkelsen]

Update 2:“On Oct. 9, 2024, a grand jury indictment was handed down to Jodi and Joseph Wilson for charges of felony child abuse inflicting serious injury. According to court documents, these do not appear to be superseding indictments.

Jodi and Joseph Wilson were charged, and subsequently indicted, in Jan. 2023 for one count of murder each after the death of their adopted 4-year-old son, Skyler Wilson.
Skyler Wilson was hospitalized suffering from a hypoxic brain injury, which happens when oxygen is restricted from the brain. The doctor, who had previously spoken with Joseph Wilson, told the detective that his brain injuries were consistent with “too much restriction” used during this so-called “swaddling” technique.

Swaddling is a technique used to comfort and help babies sleep with a blanket wrapped snuggly around the baby’s body. Rolling over while swaddled has been correlated to an increased likelihood of SIDS deaths, and swaddling is not encouraged for an infant that is old enough to roll over on its own.

He was in the hospital from Jan. 5 until he died on Jan. 9.”

Parents indicted by grand jury for child abuse almost 2 years after Surry County boy dies of brain injury
[QC News 10/26/24 by Emily Mikkelsen]