Charge: Father, Daughter Married (Is it Okay With Sandra Day O'Connor?)

Mobile Register ^ | 07/25/03 | KAREN TOLKKINEN

[nickcarraway]

Authorities accuse couple of illegal incestuous union

A Mobile County grand jury has said that a Theodore husband and wife may really be father and daughter and ought to be tried for incest.

Carrol Eugene Ferdinandsen, 53, and Alice Faye Ferdinandsen, 30, were arrested Thursday and charged with incest and fraud in connection with their May 2 marriage in a civil ceremony in Mobile County. They were indicted in June.

According to Mobile County court records, Alice was the third child of Carrol and Shirley Faye Ferdinandsen, and her mother filed for divorce when Alice was only 4 months old. Her mother said Thursday that she later met and married Charles Stewart, who Alice listed as her father on her marriage license application.

Up to that point, Alice had used "Ferdinandsen" as her last name, according to court records.

Incestuous marriages are forbidden in all states, in part due to fears about genetic mutation and child abuse. They still occur, though rarely, according to a survey of news articles from around the country.

The Ferdinandsens could not be reached for comment Thursday. They were still being held in the Mobile County Metro Jail, with bond set at $8,500 for each, officials said.

Family members said they had heard about the marriage and disapproved of the relationship.

"My father is completely convinced that she's not his daughter, no blood relation at all," David Ferdinandsen, who said he is Carrol's son and Alice's older brother. He's tried to discourage his father from the relationship, he said, but his father won't listen.

Alice's mother, whose last name is now Crayne, said Carrol is definitely Alice's father. She didn't meet Charles Stewart until Alice was 3 or 4 years old, she said.

"I told her she was stupid for marrying her own daddy," Shirley Crayne said. "I told him he was crazy and stupid. I told her I didn't ever want to hear from her again."

Crayne started crying during an interview Thursday. It hurts so bad, she said, because Alice is her youngest child and she worked hard taking care of the children when they were young.

After the divorce, the couple's three children were placed in foster care, David Ferdinandsen said. They were there for five years, he said. They went to live with their mother, and later moved in with their father, he said.

Crayne said Alice sometimes called Carrol "Daddy" and sometimes just "Carrol."

Crayne said she would scold her daughter when she used her father's first name.

During the 1980s, Carrol and Alice went to Illinois, staying for months, David Ferdinandsen said. When they returned, Alice went back to school, he said.

According to Mobile County Circuit Court records, Carrol pleaded guilty to second-degree rape in 1989. The records do not identify the victim and prosecutors could not be reached for comment Thursday. He spent a year in jail.

Alice moved to Texas, where she got a boyfriend and a job at a hamburger stand, her mother said. But in the mid-1990s, Carrol came looking for her and she ended up moving back with him to Theodore, according to her mother and brother. They've been together ever since, relatives said.

Crayne said she never heard that Carrol claimed that Alice wasn't his daughter until just a few years ago. Now Alice believes it, too, she said.

[ClearCase_guy]

Well ... the sodomy ... it happens.
Well ... the incest ... it happens.
Well ... the bigamy ... it happens.

But don't worry -- nobody's EVER going to try to marry their dog! Trust me!

[wideawake]

My mistake.

[johnb838]

I'm waiting for someone to marry a 12 year old and use it for a test case. After all, who are we to judge?

[tru_degenerate]

No, I don't think that's true. Second cousins maybe.

[Phantom Lord]

NC has dodged a bullet here. Now the eventual story from a trailer park in Clayton won't be the first.

[ErnBatavia]

First cousins are borderline ok to marry. I'm not sure if all states ban them or not.

Yeah...this goofball said he checked out the legality of it all. He justified it by saying they'd never breed since "the factory is closed".

[Phantom Lord]

Still a bit distasteful. Inbreeding, even when it doesn't cause overt birth defects, results in weaker, less intelligent, less attractive children. Outbreeding results in the opposite.

I know many "outbreeding" people who are as ugly as they are dumb.

[Naspino]

Doing a google search for "man arrested sex" then insert animal of choice turned up quite a bit. I would post it but one in particular but its too disturbing. Needless to say it will one day be brought before the supreme court as soon as pedophelia is determined a privacy right.

[Phantom Lord]

But don't worry -- nobody's EVER going to try to marry their dog! Trust me!

That story will also come from Alabamastan. Headline will read... A man, his pickup, and his dog

[ClearCase_guy]

Second cousins maybe.

So, you could start by marrying your second-counsin first. Then divorce them. Then you could marry your first-cousin. If anyone says "Hey, is that your first cousin?" well, you just say "Naw, this here's my second cousin."

[sonserae]

Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13 year old cousin. How's that?

[Constitution Day]

LMAO!

"Jes' call me Uncle Daddy."

[twigs]

results in weaker, less intelligent, less attractive children.

Not necessarily. Depends. Most of my ancestors were all related and many of them were first cousins. Longevity and good health (physical and mental) runs through that side of the family.

[tru_degenerate]

LMAO

[Hodar]

Todays she's my sister;
Ta'morrow she'll be my wife!
Gosh, I've known her;
most all of my life.
She's thirteen;
and ah'm thirty-three.
If she's good enough fer 'pa;
then she's good enuff fer me!

[gcruse]

Bob and Carrol and Ted and Alice...

If we don't quit giving guys girl's names,
Mother's and Father's Day are going to have go generic.
Maybe combine them into Other's Day.

[BushCountry]

They were still being held in the Mobile County Metro Jail, with bond set at $8,500 for each, officials said.

He or she can't raise the money required for a $8,500 bond? I guess they don't have the lastest trailer.

[sonserae]

I just read the book "Middlesex".
It's about an hermaphrodite. Apparently, his parents were cousins and his grandparents brother and sister. They came from Greece. They outlawed incestual marriage because of such mutations occurring.

[Conspiracy Guy]

"Incestuous marriages are forbidden in all states, in part due to fears about genetic mutation and child abuse."

That would explain John Kerry's sister mommy.

[Conspiracy Guy]

I posted the bright side of this.