Girl: I was fed up with father's abuse of sister

[samanthajane13]

By ANDALE GROSS, Associated Press Writer Andale Gross, Associated Press Writer – 52 mins ago

HARRISONVILLE, Mo. – The sister of a girl who was allegedly molested and impregnated four times by their father says she waited until she turned 18 to come forward because she was afraid of being placed in state custody.

"My dad was doing all this crazy stuff," the 18-year-old told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday. "I got fed up with it until I finally ran my mouth. ... I couldn't see my sister suffer anymore. That's why I wanted her out."

She said her sister, now 19, was 13 when their father started molesting her. The 18-year-old said her sibling confided in her about the abuse after becoming pregnant the first time.

"But I already knew," she said.

The 18-year-old told police in October that her sister was being molested by their father and had given birth to four of his children. The tip led to a search of a rural property in Harrisonville where the family used to live. The property's new owners found two sealed coolers with the remains of two infants on Jan. 1.

Their 47-year-old father was charged with second-degree murder in the death of a baby born in November 2006 and believed to have died months later after not receiving medical treatment for pneumonia.

He also was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, statutory rape and two counts each of incest and abandoning a corpse. He was being held in the Cass County jail in lieu of a $500,000 bond.

Two of the other babies he is accused of fathering with the daughter also are dead, while the surviving child, a 3-year-old boy, is in state custody.

The suspect's wife, also 47, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child because authorities claimed she did little to stop her daughter's sexual abuse. She was free on bond and due in court next week for a case review.

The Associated Press is withholding the names of the suspects and other family members to protect the identity of the daughter, an alleged sexual assault victim.

A cousin of the suspect's four daughters said the girls were afraid of their father and that's why none of them sought help sooner.

"He threatened to kill them if they ever said anything," she said Thursday. "They were petrified."

Janeal Matheson, the public defender representing the man, declined to comment when reached by the AP on Thursday. No attorney was listed for the man's wife in court records, and calls to multiple phone numbers for her went unanswered.

A preliminary hearing for the father was scheduled for March 5.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090129/..._infant_deaths