Little Ethan Stacy’s life was torn apart by a divorce in which his mother had run off to Utah to be with Nathan Sloop, a man who has allegedly murdered the boy. His mother, Stephanie Stacy, was described by Joe G. Stacy, the boy’s father, as “unstable” and likely to disappear with the child.
Last November, Mr. Stacy informed the court of his fears, but judge Maura T. Smith claims never to have read the filing. Mr. Stacy also said that Ethan had expressed reservations about leaving to visit his mother in Utah.
Nevertheless, Mr. Stacy complied with the court order and sent Ethan to stay with his mother in Utah, upon which Mr. Sloop immediately began abusing the boy, locking him in his room and beating him about the face and head. Soon, Ethan began suffering from symptoms of a brain injury, but despite his grave condition Mr. Sloop continued and escalated the abuse.
When the boy’s mother and her boyfriend went to get married, Ethan was locked in a room in which the doorknob had been removed because his mother and her boyfriend didn’t want anyone to see him in his battered condition.
During this time Joe Stacy tried to call his son on a daily basis, but the boy’s mother made up excuses as to why he could not speak with the boy. Finally, on Mother’s Day, Stephanie found the little boy dead in his bed, upon which she and her new husband drove his corpse up to a mountain, where Nathan Sloop took a hammer to the child’s face in an attempt to render him unidentifiable.
After Stephanie reported her son missing the next day, police began to search for him, and in the meanwhile her story fell apart under questioning, and the tragedy was revealed.
This is every parent’s worst nightmare, and it is made all the more tragic because the judge could have paid closer attention to the fears of Ethan’s father.
When women accuse fathers of violence or neglect, judges almost always take it seriously. Men are forced to attend classes and seek “treatment,” even in cases where they have done nothing wrong. Where men are concerned, the system prefers to err on the side of caution. Perhaps this explains why children are significantly more likely to die in the custody of mothers than biological fathers.
The free pass and benefit of the doubt given to women in our society can have deadly consequences for the most vulnerable among us. Assuming that women are always a safe choice has been a grave error, as has removing paternal oversight of children. Most fathers care about their children, and will protect them if given the chance. Unfortunately, courts all too often sever that protective influence at the behest of mothers who would rather exclude fathers from their children’s lives.
Ethan paid for the errors of the American family law system with his life. It is time we started holding those in power accountable for the countless tragedies – both large and small – that play out every day in the fractured families of America.
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