Police searching for woman seen beating child

WNDU ^ | 9/19/02

[TomB]

The Mishawaka Police Department recently received a surveillance video taken from Kohl's Department Store on Grape Road in Mishawaka. The video shows a young girl, approximately four-years-old, apparently being severely beaten. Police are asking for the public's help in tracking down the woman and young girl. They say they are very worried about the girl's safety and believe she needs to get medical attention immediately.

Police say the two women caught the attention of security personnel at Kohl's. Detective Chief Mike Samp of the Mishawaka Police Department reports, "They had some items that they took into Kohl's to try to receive monies for and for whatever reason they were refused. They exchanged and they were asked to leave the store." The cameras followed them to the car and caught the incident on tape.

The assault

The girl, who police believe is just four-years-old, got into the car. Her mother looked around and then for some unknown reason the assault began. According to officials, the little girl received at least five initial blows before the she was hit and shaken several more times. At one point during the assault the woman grabbed the child by her hair. Once in her car seat, she was punched in the face more than a dozen times. The assault lasts just over 25 seconds.

Immediate concern is for child's safety

"Oh my God!" That was the response of Dr. Arnold Del Pilar of the Ironwood Medical Center upon reviewing the surveillance tape. "Punching her?I mean, [this is] blunt head trauma. This child needs to be medically evaluated," he stated. Dr. Del Pilar consulted with police and police agree with his statement. That is why police are asking for the public's help. Deputy Prosecutor of St. Joseph County, Maggie Jones stated, "Our immediate concern, as Chief Samp has stated, is to locate the child and to get the child out of that environment. It made me sick to think that that child is still with that mother and, quite frankly, if that mother is willing to do that in a parking lot, what is she doing at home?"

Family is "less than helpful"

The video camera was able to get a picture of the Texas license plate on the white SUV. Police found the car and talked to family members, but they called the family less than helpful. Chief Samp reported, "We spoke with family members. They have indicated to us that the suspect and the victim have left the state." However, police believe the woman and her daughter may still be in the area and are searching for the little girl to make sure she is okay. Police describe the family as mobile and not cooperative. They are not releasing a name at the time because they do not know if the name they have been given is correct.

The mother's description is as follows:

* Blond hair

* 5' 6" or 7"

* 135 pounds

* 24 or 25 years old

Anyone with any information on their whereabouts is asked to call the Mishawaka Police Department at 258-1684 or you may also contact them via email at Police@Mishawakacity.com.

[r9etb]

CLUE: Police describe the family as mobile and not cooperative.

It seems pretty odd for an extended family group to travel around together. Sounds to me like there are some pretty dark family secrets there. Criminal past, perhaps? Or something more unseemly (e.g., daddy == grandpa)?

[Howlin]

Like I said, could be gypsies!

[Dianna]

I've gone to the store a few times alone at night. I'm not wussy about much, but parking lots at night will do it.

Saw the video...that poor little girl.

[Dianna]

Sounds like a swell group of folks. Maybe they'll change their minds after they've seen the video.

Doubt it, sounds like they are shielding her. Sick people. My mother would be the first to kick my ass if this were me.

[strela]

Can you believe this callous remark?

Judging from the following little snippet found on tomakaze's personal page, he/she/it apparently doesn't confine callousness to simple remarks ...

22 MAR 02
Whose up for a friendly little Cockfight?
We used to do this when we were kids (before it became akin
to genocide or exploding a nuclear warhead in a crowded
theatre, on the Cultural Marxist moral outrage scale)

[Cultural Jihad]

That individual seems to only have a problem with moral outrage.

[mutejesseJ]

PHYSICAL discipline sucks! i am as conservative as they come, and hate an adult using their strength to be physical with and on a mere child!

[mutejesseJ]

EVERY child is a sweetheart ;-)

[mutejesseJ]

AND what's really sad is all the people doing this to children and it's NOT caught on video! Dear God help the children! Imagine this poor child wailing and crying - did no one driving next to them see a distraut child, this freak woman driving on the open road after beating a child. The pure act of cowardice!

[Calico Cat]

I'll go out on a limb and bet that Tomakaze is a wife-beater and child abuser, as well as someone who gets a kick out of watching animals slashing each other to death. Scum.

[BJungNan]

It was a store that took the pictures and it had good reason. Nothing wrong here...except of course for the child. I hope they find her soon.

[FreedomPoster]

I could just see the shootouts in the Walmart parking lots.

I live in an upmaket north Atlanta suburban edge city. Generally a really safe area. Our local Walmart parking lot had a shootout 2-3 years ago. Carjacker pulled a gun on a guy getting into his car. Guy pulled his own, shot the carjacker in the neck. The carjacker lived, but probably won't be carjacking again soon.

I talked to a cop from the precinct at length, the citizen was shaken up by the experience, and naturally so. He was reassured by the cops, who were high-5'ing him while he was at the precinct making his statement.

So that citizen shouldn't have had a gun, eh?

[Libloather]

...the solution is for people to mind their own damned business.

Can you believe this callous remark?

I just witnessed the full tape playback. The perp was nailing the kid in the head with a clenched fist so fast that I couldn't count the number of blows.

The report also included the fact that the perp tried to scam some loot from the store by attempting to turn in clothes for cash. The perp was asked to leave. She was being watched for further criminal behavior.

The security folks did a great job...

[Libloather]

I want so much to hear they have caught this woman.

Apparently, they haven't. They did get the plate numbers and traced it down to the owner. I think it belongs to some family member and the police mentioned that they weren't very helpful in giving up any information on her whereabouts.

Sounds like a family of perps...

[SunnyUsa]

"Honestly, I can't tell a darn thing with those pictures. I'd have to see the film, .....:

I saw the video, she's definitely beating the child - the pictures don't capture the "action" of her hits.

This story reminded me of something disturbing we dealt with when I worked in a dept.store in college.

This mother in her twenties (very pretty blonde) came in and was drunk/staggering drunk ...and with her was her beautiful little daughter who was about 6 yrs old.

This "mother" stumbled around our dept, the little girl just looking at all of us with her big soulful eyes. We called our security guy who was also very handsome - we devised a plan where he would "flirt" with this drunk mother and find out how she got there, if she was driving etc....We were all so afraid for this child and her safety.

She had no idea what we were up to (I had never seen a woman so drunk in public before) - he managed to convince her to call someone to pick them up from the mall. He made sure thats what happened, our alternative plan was to call the police to stake her out once she got in her car to drive..

It was always haunting to me the life that poor child was going to lead...now I would imagine she's in her twenties. I will never forget how sad she looked.

This mother should get scrutinized and possibly charged on her beating this kid, probably because she was mad she didn't get some $$$ back for her store return etc....

[apillar]

I noticed on the second frame of this tape that the date it occured was the 13. It has been a week since the incident occured.

At this late a date even if she is caught it will be difficult for the prosecutor to build a case as any bruising to the child would have disappeared. I use to work for a law firm and it is very hard to build a case from a grainy surveillance tape. Which is why if I read the article correctly she hasn't actually been charged with anything and is just wanted for questioning.

Don't get me wrong I not saying I condone what she did or think she should get away with it.

The thing that bothers me is that she may have seriously injured the child and that is the reason she fled. Why would she even had reason to think the police would even be looking for her and be worried enough to flee?

[dagtaggart]

"I can't imagine a mom treating her child like that unless it is learned behavior"

While it can be a learned behaviour, we need to remember that evil exists when we have free will. It is a choice some will always make. We need to hold individuals responsible for THEIR actions. I get so tired of hearing that evil only happens when the perp was abused. Some people are just evil by choice. Sadam comes to mind.

[twigs]

hate an adult using their strength to be physical with and on a mere child!

Not if it's done properly. Physical discipline should be no more than a firm crack across the legs or rear. The purpose is not to hurt the child! It should also be followed by having the child verbalize what they did (even a small child who swatted their sibling can say "hit") and resolution ("I'm sorry"). I once went through a politically correct phase to see if I was wrong about physical punishment (as I just described). It was excruciating and was much more cruel than getting the child's attention by a smack. Small children do not reason. A physical smack gets their attention. It's not cruel, if it's done correctly. What this woman did was abusive. There's a difference!