Callista Springer 16, dies in fire while chained to bed (Mom & Dad convicted)

[misitx5]

CENTREVILLE -- The innocent to the aged gathered in the Norman Rockwellesque town square here Wednesday to ask why.

Teenagers pressed their palms against the charred siding of a burned house that once had offered slaves a chance for freedom and asked why their friend had died there, as if a captive.

For six months, youths who organized Wednesday's community remembrance of 16-year-old Calista Springer have asked parents, ministers, public officials, neighbors and each other why she died in the Feb. 27 house fire while chained to her bed.

Nearly 150 people from across St. Joseph County offered prayers and retold stories about Calista during the service. But the people who gathered outside the St. Joseph County Courthouse, across the street from the house that once served as a stop on the Underground Railroad, agreed that finding peace will require finding answers.

"Perhaps each person present has his or her own private opinion about what occurred across the street," Pastor Karin Orr, of the Centreville United Methodist Church, told the crowd during the hourlong service.

"To some it was a flagrant example of abuse, to others a very unfortunate accident. To some it was the result of parents who were overstressed, without resources and respite. To others it was the horrific outcome of a frightening need for power and control.
"But no matter where you are on this issue, the bottom line is this: No one, no one should die the way Calista Springer did."

Child death also resonated with others who came to Centreville from nearby communities Wednesday. Several were from Constantine, where the November 2007 murder of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack remains unsolved. Others from Sturgis talked about the September 1997 disappearance of Brittany Beers, 6.

Behind the crowd was the burned and boarded home that Calista had shared with her father, Anthony Springer; adoptive mother, Marsha Springer; and two half-sisters.
Officials have said Marsha Springer, who is legally blind, was the only other person in the house at the time of the blaze.

She escaped with minor injuries but said she was unable to aid Calista, whom firefighters later found dead, chained to her bed on the home's second floor.

Calista's friends and some adults have alleged that the girl was victimized by abuse and neglect for years and said they had reported the stories Calista had told them to school and Children's Protective Services officials.

In 1997, a grandmother and two aunts of Calista told police they believed the girl's parents abused her. Child-welfare officials investigated and said they found no evidence of abuse, according to police reports at the time.

Officials in the office of U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, have said they were told in 2004 by child-welfare authorities that the situation in the Springer home was "under control." Upton's office had forwarded correspondence from a constituent who alleged that Calista was being abused.

Suzanne Langdon, Anthony Springer's mother, who was among those who made the 1997 report, addressed the crowd Wednesday.

"During her first three years, we had Calista a lot because Tony was going to Western (Michigan University)," said Langdon, of Three Rivers. "It was about 10 years ago that we saw marks on Calista and we reported it to CPS. We were told to stay out of it, that it was none of our business."

Langdon said she has been estranged from her son and his wife since raising the allegations.

The Springers have said Calista was a "special-needs child" with behavior problems and an eating disorder and required monitoring at night to keep her wandering in check. Anthony Springer has said that Calista had been restrained to her bed for a short time because a tether-and-alarm system used to monitor her was broken.

Neither Anthony Springer nor Marsha Springer has been charged with a crime in Calista's death, although authorities continue to investigate. Last week, Marsha Springer pleaded no contest to charges of child abuse and neglect in a custody case involving the couple's two other daughters, who have been placed in foster care.

Investigations into the state child-welfare system's past dealings with Calista and her family were launched by the Michigan Department of Human Services and the state's ombudsman's office shortly after the girl's death. No public findings have been released.

Norma Swegles, Calista's biological mother, also attended Wednesday's observance, using donations solicited by the young organizers to pay her transportation costs.
Orr said Calista's young friends have asked, "Where was God when Calista, dying in the heat and the smoke, was tied to her bed?

"As a Christian pastor, I believe God was there with Calista, just as God was with the dying Christ on the cross, just as God is with you and me in our time of darkness and despair," Orr said. "Christ's physical death, like Calista's, was a cruelty beyond our imagining, an ugly, torturous way to go from this Earth. And Christ, too, felt abandoned and cried out, just as Calista must have felt abandoned and must have tried to cry out."

Orr said "much hard, truth-revealing work" must be done to assure that the Centreville girl's death brings change.

"We have to ask honestly and deal with them in the most transparent way possible," he said. "What, exactly, happened? Why did Calista die? Where were the parents, the siblings, the neighbors, the police, the schoolteachers and administrators, the social agencies like CPS, and, yes, the church congregations?"

http://www.mlive.com/kzgazette/news/index.ssf/2008/08/god_was_there_with_calista_st.html

[MuffyBee]

Oh, this is just horrific!   

[Bearlyhere]

This one turns me inside out, I cannot believe that anyone does not know better than to tie a child up.

     

[misitx5]

I agree when I read this it was just horrible! Sometimes I just dont know about people anymore, these child abusers dont seem to care or be afraid of anything.

[zanie]

I spent my teen years living in the house across the street from the where this girl died.  One of the teens that organized the memorial is the daughter of a friend.  My much younger sisters used to play at this house with Calista's sisters.  Even though I didn't personally know Calista or her family, my family did.  This is so incredibly horrific and I couldn't sleep for days thinking about how Calista died.

CPS was called repeatedly to come in and help this girl and only the barest minimum of investigation was done.  Teachers used to keep toothbrushes at school for her and would help her clean up when she would come to school.  If action had been taken when this case was reported, this girl would not be dead. 

It is a travesty that something like this would happen in America.

[MuffyBee]

Report in the death of Calista Springer released
October 10, 2008 - 5:57PM

CENTREVILLE, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Friday, we learned more about the life of Calista Springer, and how some say her death could have been prevented.

16-year-old Calista Springer died in February when her home in Centreville caught fire. The teenager was unable to escape because she was chained to her bed.

Friday, the Office of the Children's Ombudsman released its report into her death.

That report criticizes St. Joseph County Child Protective Services for violating policy and improperly screening out complaints about her treatment that go back 11 years.

The report also says the Child Protective Services also failed to refer allegations of her abuse to the prosecuting attorney's office.
http://www.wwmt.com/articles/calista_1354406___article.html/springer_death.html
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Report: Changes needed after Springer death
by Rex Hall Jr. | Kalamazoo Gazette
Tuesday October 14, 2008, 1:00 PM
LANSING -- The state's watchdog for the Michigan Department of Human Services has criticized the agency's handling of abuse and neglect complaints involving Calista Springer and her two sisters.

The state's Office of Children's Ombudsman recommends training and policy changes in the report released Friday, more than seven months after Calista, 16, was killed in a Feb. 27 fire at her Centreville home while chained to her bed.
The report makes four recommendations, including that DHS identify steps it will take to complete "thorough investigations" in the future. DHS officials, the report said, have agreed to comply with the recommendations and, in some instances, have already made changes.

The report states ombudsman officials reviewed DHS case files and police reports and interviewed DHS workers as part of their investigation of the agency's involvement with Calista, her two sisters and parents, Anthony and Marsha Springer.

The children's ombudsman office said DHS should train its staff on current definitions of mental injury and child maltreatment while amending policies "to define the circumstances in which tying a child to a bed or other stationary object would constitute mental injury," according to the four-page report.

Investigators also recommended that DHS officials amend an existing policy by including the statutory definition of "serious mental harm," and a statement that says "an act or omission causing serious mental harm may constitute criminal child abuse."

The amendments, officials said, would assist DHS workers "in determining what acts may constitute criminal child abuse and thus mandate a referral to the prosecuting attorney."

In its final recommendation, the ombudsman office said DHS should identify what actions it will take "to ensure that that the agency conducts thorough investigations in all future cases."

Police reports indicate that complaints of abuse about Calista and her sisters began at least as far back as 1997. While the ombudsman's office has completed its investigation, DHS spokeswoman Colleen Steinman said Monday that an internal investigation of the agency's handling of the Springer case continues.

The ombudsman's office report said the DHS employees who investigated complaints in the Springer case are no longer employed by DHS.

A criminal investigation of Calista's death continues.

The St. Joseph County Probate Court recently took jurisdiction over the Springers' two surviving daughters when Marsha Springer entered a no-contest plea to abuse and neglect charges in the case involving Calista. The plea means Marsha Springer neither admitted nor denied responsibility. Calista's two sisters have been in foster care since the fire.

Anthony Springer has entered no plea in the custody case, but did offer a statement to the court last month that said there was no abuse and neglect involved when Calista died. The statement also said Calista suffered from several mental disabilities that required her to be monitored closely by the Springers to ensure her safety.
http://www.mlive.com/kzgazette/news/index.ssf/2008/10/report_changes_needed_after_sp.html

[Nut44x4]

Murder case moving to Kalamazoo County
Couple charged with killing their daughter

Updated: Friday, 13 Nov 2009, 4:34 PM EST

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) - Officials say the trial of a St. Joseph County couple charged in the death of their 16-year-old daughter will move to Kalamazoo County.

Anthony and Marsha Springer face charges of murder, first-degree child abuse and torture in the death of their daughter, Calista. Her body was found chained to a bed in an upstairs bedroom in the family's burned-out home on Feb. 27, 2008 in Centreville.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

The trial will be Jan. 26 in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court. The same judge and prosecutors from St. Joseph County will still be involved.

They will use the different courtroom and jurors because, after interviewing 125 potential jurors in two days, St. Joseph County Circuit Judge Paul Stutesman was unable to seat a jury8. Too many would-be jurors answered that they were aware of the case and they would be unable to render an unbiased and fair decision, Stutesman said. The judge had denied an earlier change-of-venue motion.

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/sw_mich/murder-case-moving-to-kalamazoo-county

[Nut44x4]

[Nut44x4]

OLD ARTICLE......worth the read....

'Isolated' Calista Springer slept without sheets, blankets or pillows

by Rex Hall Jr. | Kalamazoo Gazette Wednesday March 12, 2008, 7:11 AM

CENTREVILLE -- Calista Springer slept her last night in a T-shirt and thin sweatpants, chained to a bed with no sheets, blankets or pillows, a Michigan State Police trooper testified Tuesday.

The new details emerged during a court hearing to assess whether Anthony and Marsha Springer should get custody of their two other daughters following Calista's death in a Feb. 27 house fire.

The hearing provided a new glimpse into Calista's life as police continue to investigate the fire and the circumstances that led the Springers to chain Calista to her bed. Anthony Springer has said the confinement was for Calista's safety because she was a "special-needs" child prone to wandering at night.

Trooper Trever Slater, who assisted fire investigators on the scene, testified he saw Calista's body in the bed with a dog choke collar around her waist that was secured to the bed rail with a plastic tie.

"I don't believe a person could actually break free of that on their own power," Slater said.

At the conclusion of the hearing in St. Joseph County Probate Court, referee Terry Evans ordered that Calista's sisters, ages 12 and 14, remain in the temporary custody of relatives. Anthony and Marsha Springer are scheduled to be back in court for further proceedings on March 20 before Probate Judge Thomas Shumaker.

The proceedings will ultimately determine the placement of Calista's sisters, which could range from returning them to their parents to terminating the Springers' parental rights.

The order entered Tuesday said reuniting the girls with their parents is the goal of the Michigan Department of Human Services "at the present time."

The purpose of the hearing was to determine custody of the sisters, but the testimony revolved around Calista and how she was treated.

The "abuse and neglect" petition filed by the county prosecutor's office alleged the Springers had "a long history" of confining Calista to her bed and that they "had a pattern of isolating Calista from those who made reports" to child-welfare workers.

After the hearing, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Chuck Herman would not say specifically how long Calista's parents confined her to her bed other than to state it was going on for "several years or more" before her death.

The Kalamazoo Gazette reported last week that a county sheriff's deputy contacted DHS in October 2004 after he received information that Calista's parents were tying her to a bed using a Velcro strap and a dog chain. DHS declined to say what action the agency took.

"When you secure a child to a bed that isn't able to get out, you better have a safety plan," Herman said in court Tuesday. "Apparently there was not. Something's rotten in Denmark."

Some of Tuesday's testimony revealed that Calista was treated differently than her two sisters.

For example, while her bed was devoid of comforts such as blankets, Slater testified Calista's sisters' beds were outfitted with sheets, comforters and pillows.

Annegret Remmert, a social-services specialist with DHS, testified Tuesday that the child-welfare agency began providing services to the Springers in 1995 because Calista and one of her sisters had high levels of lead in their blood. Since then, Remmert said DHS has offered counseling, money, transportation to doctors' appointments and "assessments" of Calista, among other things.

Anthony Springer has said his family had four to five prior contacts with child-welfare workers, but that his children have never been removed from the home. He also has acknowledged that the family turned down assistance from the agency in the past.

Anthony and Marsha Springer attended Tuesday's hearing but they did not speak.

Anthony Springer's attorney, Michael Mestelle, of Sturgis, and Marsha Springer's attorney, Kevin Kleidon, of Centreville, declined to comment for this story.

Slater said Tuesday the cause of the fire is undetermined. However, he said police believe the blaze started near a vacuum cleaner Marsha Springer said she was using just prior to the blaze. Police have no evidence the fire was intentionally set.

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/read_more_here_are_some.html

You guys are gonna love the comments at that link 

[Nut44x4]

Anthony Springer sentenced to 25 to 50 years for torture of daughter Calista; wife Marsha gets 18 to 50 years

April 16, 2010, 2:01PM

The Springer's hearing comes nearly two months after a jury convicted the Marsha and Anthony of torture and first-degree child abuse of their daughter Calista. At 16, she died Feb. 27, 2008 in a fire that destroyed the family’s Centreville home.

CENTREVILLE — Anthony Springer was sentenced today to a minimum of 25 years in prison for torturing his daughter Calista.

This photo taken in June of 2005 and provided by Calista Springer's grandmother, Suzanne Langdon, shows Calista Springer, at a party for her grandmother's 65th birthday.

His wife, Marsha, was sentenced to a minimum of 225 months -- or 18.75 years -- for torture.

Circuit Judge Paul Stutesman handed down the sentences Friday afternoon.

A jury convicted the Springers of the charges on Feb. 23. They were acquitted of murder.

Calista Springer died Feb. 27, 2008 in a fire in the family’s Centreville home.

Her body was found in her bed in her upstairs bedroom. A dog choke chain was wrapped around her waist and secured to the bed.

The courtroom was full of spectators who watched the proceedings.

On the conviction of torture, Anthony Springer was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison. He was sentenced to 10 to 15 years for first-degree child abuse.

Marsha Springer was sentenced to 225 months to 50 years for torture, and 95 months to 15 years for first-degree child abuse.

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/04/anthony_and_marsha_springer_se.html

[MuffyBee]

Callista's parent were charged with crimes and sentenced, but it seems like a very hollow victory.     It doesn't really feel like justice to me.  Rest in peace Callista.   

[Nut44x4]

No, it doesn't. No justice here, imo.