Jada Justice, 2 Abducted From Parked Car, Gary Indiana 6/16/09 (Body found)

[Northern Rose]

Prosecutor: Drug-using baby sitter beat Jada to death

CROWN POINT | Jada Justice's 18-year-old baby sitter and the young woman's boyfriend took drugs and schemed a desperate cover story after killing her and trying to get rid of her body, prosecutors allege.

Engelica Castillo, 18, and her boyfriend, 24-year-old Timothy Tkachik , both of Hobart, were charged Friday with murdering the 2-year-old Portage toddler. They also were charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent, battery and false informing.

"This tragic ending is not the outcome we were all hoping for," prosecutor Bernard Carter said Friday in a statement. "The relentless efforts by all involved shows that Northwest Indiana has a big heart."

Prosecutors accuse the two of abusing heroin and marijuana in the hours leading up to the girl's death, only to try more than once to dispose of her body and concoct a story about her disappearance.

In his testimony to police, Tkachik blamed the girl's death on Castillo, saying the girl died hours after Castillo beat her in the head with her knuckles and after the girl struck her head against a table.

Tkachik said Castillo spanked Jada in an attempt to potty train the girl, but that it escalated June 13 into harsher beating that he claimed to have tried to stop Castillo.

That night, the couple realized Jada wasn't breathing in a car seat in the back of Tkachik's car, on the way to Porter County to buy heroin, Tkachik told investigators.

The two stopped the car, tried administering CPR to the girl, but realized she was dead, court documents state.

"I told you to stop," Tkachik told investigators he told Castillo. "I told you enough is enough."

They returned to Hobart where they left Jada covered in the back seat of Tkachik's car for hours while driving Castillo's car back to Porter County, then to Chicago, and back to Hobart, records state. Back in Hobart, Tkachik placed Jada -- covered in bumps and bruises -- in garbage bags in the home's basement before he and Castillo went to sleep, court records state.

The next day, in the couple's attempt to burn Jada's body in a hole in the ground in rural Westville, Tkachik badly burned himself trying to ignite the fire, he told police. The couple drove back to Hobart, leaving Jada's body exposed in the burned-out hole, he said.

The next day, after purchasing materials from a Merrillville hardware store, the couple drove back to Westville where Tkachik placed Jada into a blue plastic tub, poured concrete in and waited for it to harden, records state. After it had dried, he chipped away the tub, dropping her concrete-encased body into a nearby swamp, records state.

He later directed police to the spot, records state.

A Lake County coroner's spokesman said Friday that Jada's death was a homicide by blunt force trauma. Numerous skull fractures were revealed during the girl's autopsy, charging documents state.

She was positively identified Friday by a family member by a photograph, LaPorte County Coroner John Sullivan said. Sullivan said he wanted to spare the family from seeing Jada's body in person.

Sullivan said he could not determine when the girl had died, based on the autopsy.

Castillo's lawyer, T. Edward Page, said Castillo planned to plead not guilty to the charges.

"We believe that once all of the evidence is presented to a fair and impartial jury at trial, she will be cleared of responsibility for her cousin's death," Page said. "She is distraught over her cousin's death and distraught that she has been accused of it."

It was unclear Friday if Tkachik has retained a lawyer.

Both Castillo and Tkachik each could face up to 65 years in prison if convicted. Castillo and Tkachik both are being held in Lake County Jail without bond.

They are expected to appear in court Monday.

http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2009/06/26/updates/breaking_news/doc4a452d88851ca193114268.txt

[no rose colored glasses]

I am physically ill, RIP little Jada 

[Northern Rose]

It is horrible what they did to this child.  I am also glad they are investigating the welfare of the other children.

[no rose colored glasses]

It is horrible what they did to this child.  I am also glad they are investigating the welfare of the other children.

My God, they better take those kids away, there is no way that mother didn't know the cousin was a heroin addict, no way.

[no rose colored glasses]

Very Disturbing            http://www.nwi.com/extras/pdfs/JADAAFFIDAVIT.pdf

[Northern Rose]

Very Disturbing            http://www.nwi.com/extras/pdfs/JADAAFFIDAVIT.pdf

It kept giving me an error when I tried to open it.  I think I already know more than I wanted to - Cousin beat her in head with knuckles, then cousin and boyfriend went to go find drugs. Found her dead, tried to burn her, then put her in concrete and threw her in the swamp.  This was over several days.

[cookie]

It is horrible what they did to this child.  I am also glad they are investigating the welfare of the other children.

this poor little child! how can anyone be so cruel? where was Mom and why did she leave her with these idiots? where were her other kids? I am sick over this..

[no rose colored glasses]

It is horrible what they did to this child.  I am also glad they are investigating the welfare of the other children.

this poor little child! how can anyone be so cruel? where was Mom and why did she leave her with these idiots? where were her other kids? I am sick over this..

I'll say it again, there is no way mom didn't know the cousin was a heroin user. And the excuse of leaving Jada with this 18 year old to potty train, are you kidding me? One of my daughters trained very easily, one didn't, and it was frustrating at times. Can you imagine this girl, stoned, trying to potty train, or do anything worth while with this child? I have followed tons of cases, and I'm just crazy with this one. Not that I haven't been horribly upset with every case, but I'm so mad with this, and this mother I hope loses her other kids.

[Cappuccino]

This is horrific!  I knew it, I just knew it but the details are just diabolic, their consequence should be a burning at the stake...pure evil, and no I dont give a dang about their chosen drug abuse as a crutch defense excuse.   Poor poor precious babygirl!

[Fanny Mae]

It is horrible beyond belief. My relative who is a pilot moved to Crown Point so he could be closer to the airport in Chicago. We tried to tell the family that it was not the place to be. Not that it couldn't happen here too, but something like this is not what his kids would have been exposed to, so far, where we live. It is horrible and breath-taking that it could take place anywhere. 

[no rose colored glasses]

And Indiana is trying to save money, so the death penalty won't be a factor, unless there is complete and utter outrage by the people, but probably then isn't going to happen  That vicious, stupid fool, too bad he didn't burn up, when it all exploded, brain dead drug addicts, and the mother left Jada with people that I believe she knew were drug addicts. But, and I have no idea, maybe she is one also.

[Fanny Mae]

It is horrible what they did to this child.  I am also glad they are investigating the welfare of the other children.

this poor little child! how can anyone be so cruel? where was Mom and why did she leave her with these idiots? where were her other kids? I am sick over this..

I'll say it again, there is no way mom didn't know the cousin was a heroin user. And the excuse of leaving Jada with this 18 year old to potty train, are you kidding me? One of my daughters trained very easily, one didn't, and it was frustrating at times. Can you imagine this girl, stoned, trying to potty train, or do anything worth while with this child? I have followed tons of cases, and I'm just crazy with this one. Not that I haven't been horribly upset with every case, but I'm so mad with this, and this mother I hope loses her other kids.

Why did the mom have a babysitter anyway, and be gone from her child for so long?

[no rose colored glasses]

It is horrible what they did to this child.  I am also glad they are investigating the welfare of the other children.

this poor little child! how can anyone be so cruel? where was Mom and why did she leave her with these idiots? where were her other kids? I am sick over this..

I'll say it again, there is no way mom didn't know the cousin was a heroin user. And the excuse of leaving Jada with this 18 year old to potty train, are you kidding me? One of my daughters trained very easily, one didn't, and it was frustrating at times. Can you imagine this girl, stoned, trying to potty train, or do anything worth while with this child? I have followed tons of cases, and I'm just crazy with this one. Not that I haven't been horribly upset with every case, but I'm so mad with this, and this mother I hope loses her other kids.

Why did the mom have a babysitter anyway, and be gone from her child for so long?

She was taking a vacation with her boyfriend. So why couldn't the estranged husband or whatever he is take Jada? Does anyone have any idea where the other kids were? Because I don't think mom took the other kids with her.

[Grumbles]

This is too sad and too sick to bear - that poor wee baby girl

[Northern Rose]

The horrific murder of Jada Justice

June 27, 2009

BY JON SEIDEL Post-Tribune
The gruesome details of Jada Justice's death were revealed Friday when prosecutors charged the 2-year-old girl's cousin and her boyfriend with murder.

Engelica Castillo, 18, and her live-in boyfriend, Tim Tkachik, 23, of Hobart, also are charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent, battery and false informing. Both were being held without bond in the Lake County, Ind., jail.

Jada's mother, Melissa Swiontek, said Friday that she never thought Castillo or Tkachik would harm her daughter. Prosecutors said Jada's body was burned, encased in concrete and left in a LaPorte County swamp. "They should have the same fate she had, if you ask me," Swiontek said.

T. Edward Page, Castillo's attorney, said his client is devastated by her cousin's death and distraught because she's charged with killing her.

Police said Jada was already dead when Castillo, her baby-sitter, reported her missing June 16.

In an interview with police the next day, an officer accused Castillo of lying and held up a picture of Jada. Castillo became angry and tried to hit the officer, according to reports. "God is taking care of her," Castillo told police. "God is watching over her."

Tkachik went to a Portage hospital to be treated for burns on June 18, claiming he suffered the injuries when a propane tank blew up, police said.

Tkachik eventually led police to Jada's body Thursday, according to court documents. Tkachik told police that Castillo spanked and beat Jada repeatedly on June 13, causing the girl to hit her head on a table, according to court documents. At one point, Tkachik told police, he tried to stop Castillo, but when he couldn't, he went to another room to watch TV. That night, while they were on their way to buy heroin, the couple realized that Jada was dead.

Police said the couple returned to their home and put Jada's body into garbage bags. The next morning, they allegedly tried to burn the body. When that didn't work, the documents say, Tkachik dumped Jada's body in a tub and poured concrete over it. The couple drove to a swamp in LaPorte, where they dumped the concrete slab, the documents said. Then they returned home, took some heroin, and decided to report Justice's abduction the next day.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1642262,CST-NWS-jada27.article

[Northern Rose]

LOCAL MAN ARRESTED IN CASE OF DEAD TODDLER
Girlfriend arrested as well

Derek Smith
For The News-Dispatch

CROWN POINT - Jada Justice's baby sitter and her boyfriend were charged Friday in the 2-year-old's murder.

Engelica Castillo, 18, and her boyfriend, Tim Tkachik, 23, both of Hobart, face charges of murder, two counts of neglect of a dependent, battery and false informing, Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter announced Friday.

Castillo and Tkachik are being held in Lake County Jail without bond and face up to 65 years in prison.

Castillo, who had been baby sitting Jada since June 8, reported her missing on June 16, and told police the toddler had been abducted from a gas station in Gary.

Instead, according to a probable cause affidavit, the pair allegedly took Jada with them to purchase heroin in Porter County on June 13 when they noticed that she wasn't breathing. Later that day, they allegedly wrapped the body in garbage bags and placed it in the basement of their Hobart home.

They are accused of trying to dispose of the body on June 14 by burning it in a hole in La Porte County, but caused an "explosion" which only burned the garbage bag that contained Jada, and gave Tkachik second degree burns on his face and arms in the process, according to court documents.

They left the body there but returned on June 15 to retrieve it and transported it back to Hobart. There, the pair allegedly placed the body in a blue tub and encased it in concrete. They transported the tub with the body back to La Porte County and, using a saw, Tkachik removed the tub from around the concrete and pushed the cement into a swampy area where it sank below the surface, according to the document.

The toddler's remains were recovered on Thursday in La Porte County west of U.S. 421 in Otis and transported to the Lake County Coroner's office in Crown Point. An autopsy was conducted at 8 a.m. Friday and revealed the manner of death as homicide, La Porte County Coroner John Sullivan said.

Sullivan was unable to comment on the cause of death and said it is not known how long she had been dead.

Prior to the autopsy, Jada's uncle, Larry Sharp, identified the body as his niece based on a photograph taken of the girl's face.

Jada Justice would have turned 3 in August.

Boyfriend no stranger to murder
OTIS - Tim Tkachik was 16 years old when murder first touched his life.

On Feb. 12, 2003, his father, Barry Tkachik, shot his wife, Tim's mother, Michelle Tkachik, 39, and her sister, Jean Dakin, 38, of Portage, outside the family's two-story home at 10833 W. Division Road north of Otis. The 41-year-old then turned the high-powered, 12-gauge shotgun on himself in an upstairs bedroom.

At about 1:35 p.m., La Porte County Sheriff's deputies found Michelle's body slumped inside a silver minivan in the driveway of the home, while her sister's body laid beside the vehicle in the driveway.

La Porte County Deputy Coroner Mark Baker pronounced the victims dead at the scene, and remembers the double murder-suicide took place early in his career at the coroner's office.

"At that point in time it was horrendous," Baker said Friday. "Any time someone is killed, the coroner's office takes it to heart."

The home sat on five acres, approximately one mile northwest of where the body of 2-year-old Jada Justice was recovered Thursday near a set of railroad tracks off of West Snyder Road in Otis. Six years after his father committed murder and suicide, Tim Tkachik is being charged in the toddler's death.
 
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=24219&TM=39820.56

[Northern Rose]

Yup her got burned

[Northern Rose]

Charges Made In Jada's Death

The babysitter of Jada Justice has been charged in the death of the toddler as has the babysitter's boyfriend. Engelica Castillo, 18, and Tim Tkachik, 23, both of Hobart, were charged with Jada's death. Jada's body was allegedly found encased in concrete and placed in a plastic bin, according to CBS 2.

Police say Castillo killed little Jada by beating her with her fists so severely that her skull was fractured multiple times.
Sources say the beating started over a soiled diaper. Castillo's boyfriend, who's also charged with murder, says Castillo became enraged when Jada wouldn't cry.

In an affidavit, Tim Tkachik is quoted as saying he "grabbed Engelica but she continued to strike Jada and continued to hit her harder when she wouldn't cry. He said that because Engelica wouldn't stop beating Jada he went to the other room to watch TV."

http://chicagoist.com/2009/06/27/charges_made_in_jadas_death.php

[no rose colored glasses]

T. Edward Page, Castillo's attorney, said his client is devastated by her cousin's death and distraught because she's charged with killing her.
(Well, you evil witch you wouldn't be devasted and distraught being charged with killing her, if you would have taken good care of her and tended to her needs.) And I'm not buying the poor heroin addicted crap either.

[no rose colored glasses]

"He said that because Engelica wouldn't stop beating Jada he went to the other room to watch TV."                              Now that just sums it up nicely, doesn't it? And I'm not going to listen to heroin addicted, my father killed my mother and aunt and himself crap from you. What a man