Forensic anthropologist examine remains of toddler (identified Ariana Payne 4)

[bleachedblack]

Forensic anthropologist to examine remains of toddler found in storage unit

05:49 PM MST on Tuesday, February 20, 2007

By Alexis Huicochea / Arizona Daily Star

Tucson police have decided to bring in a forensic anthropologist to examine the remains of a toddler found in a plastic tub in a North Side storage unit.

Police continued on Tuesday to ask for the public's help in identifying the toddler.

Initially police believed the girl was 2 years old but have since decided she could be between 2 and 4 years old, said Tucson Police Department Assistant Chief Roberto Villaseñor.

The forensic anthropologist will hopefully be able to shed light on the girl's ethnicity, age and health condition prior to death, Villaseñor said.

Because of the child's age, it is going to be extremely difficult to identify the girl without the public's help, he said.

"Anyone with knowledge of a child who suspiciously disappeared in the last quarter of the year or if you know a man or woman who had a child but no longer does, please come forward," he said. "We need help because once we identify the potential parents, it will make everything a lot easier."

>>>>Full Article
http://www.fox11az.com/news/topstories/stories/KMSB-20070220-dsbp-antropologist.1ce89d1d.html

[bleachedblack]

Murder suspect's girlfriend arrested
Didn't try to save girl in storage unit, cops say

http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/172722.php

[Peaches]

Another poor excuse for a human being.

What about the 5 yo boy mentioned in the article.  Sounds like there are 3 children and the boyfriend was disposing of the two that were not his kids.  Nice.

[MuffyBee]

Update:
CPS case files provide timeline of its efforts on behalf of 3 children
Files document CPS efforts, failures
By Josh Brodesky and Daniel Scarpinato
arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.01.2007
http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?action=post;topic=879.0;num_replies=2

[katiekatie2u]

whata sick sick person.. how many people wanting children would have gladly accept this child and her missing brother..
she needs to be executed along with the father for what he did to hs own child..

[Nut44x4]

Girlfriend pleads guilty in slaying of 2 kids; avoids death penalty

August 25, 2008, 12:48 p.m.

A Tucson woman admitted Monday that she could have helped save the lives of her boyfriend's children, yet did nothing.

Reina Irene Gonzales, 24, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Ariana Payne, 4, and Tyler Payne, 5.

"Principally, she exercised extreme indifference by not seeking any kind of care or treatment for the two children during the time they were locked in a closet by Mr. Payne," defense attorney Brick P. Storts III said of the pair's father, Christopher Mathew Payne, 30.

Judge Paul Tang of Pima County Superior Court will sentence Gonzales to 22 years in prison after she testifies January in Payne's trial.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty if Payne is convicted.

Had Gonzales gone to trial, she also may have faced the death penalty if convicted.

However, her attorneys were in the midst of proving whether Gonzales is mentally ill. If she were, that would have taken the death penalty off the table. An expert testified in a June hearing that Gonzales consistently tested within the range of mental retardation.

Storts had said in court and in motions that he believes Payne manipulated and abused Gonzales, putting her in a vulnerable position.

"Obviously, all kinds of problems impacted upon all that," Storts said. "Still, she was aware of what was going on inside that apartment and did nothing to stop it or to rectify it and seek help.

"And that's what she pled guilty to."

Gonzales and Payne were indicted on charges of first-degree murder and child abuse. Payne also is charged with abandonment or concealment of a body.

The case and an unrelated one involving a Tucson mother, Diane Lynn Marsh, were the focal points of a probe into whether state Child Protective Services could have prevented injury and death to three children.

Marsh was convicted earlier this month of child abuse and negligent homicide in the death of 5-year-old son Brandon Williams and is set to be sentenced Sept. 15.

Ariana's body was found Feb. 18, 2007, decomposing in a covered plastic tub at a rented, North Side storage locker.

Tyler's body hasn't been found, and police suspect his remains could be in the Los Reales Landfill on the Southeast Side. Police unsuccessfully searched the site twice.

Payne has pleaded not guilty.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/crime/94782.php

[Nut44x4]

The children

[Nut44x4]

http://www.myspace.com/jamiehallam222

[Wyks]

This is so very sad.    

Anyone know anything about the bio mother of these two children, and the circumstances of why they were with their bio father and not with her? 

[bleachedblack]

Jury selection next week in Payne double homicide trial

February 13, 2009, 3:21 p.m.
Prospective jurors will be brought in Tuesday for questioning by prosecutors and defense attorneys in the capital murder trial of Christopher Mathew Payne, 30.

Payne was arrested after the decomposing body of his daughter, Ariana Payne, 4, was found in a North Side storage locker Feb. 18, 2007. The body of his son Tyler, 5, has never been found.

Questionnaires were given previously to 250 prospective jurors and, based on their answers, 87 were eliminated this week.

Some of the prospective jurors were eliminated because they had conflicts with the trial dates or couldn't afford to sit on a panel for weeks at a time.

The trial is expected to extend at least until mid-March.

Others were dismissed because of their strong stance against the death penalty.

One hundred of the remaining prospective jurors will be brought in Tuesday for voir dire, or direct questioning. If there aren't enough jurors for a jury of 12 and four alternates, more prospective jurors will be brought in Thursday.

While the public is allowed in during jury questioning, seating will be tight.

Deputy County Attorney Bunkye Chi said this week she expects opening statements may be delivered Feb. 25. However, it's not known yet how long it will take to pick a jury.

After openings are delivered, prosecutors will begin presenting witnesses, including Payne's former live-in girlfriend, Reina Irene Gonzales. Gonzales, 24, also faced first-degree murder charges and the death penalty, but pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for testifying against Payne.

Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard S. Fields recently allowed prosecutors to use statements Payne made over a five-hour period on March 1, 2007, while he was being questioned by police.

At that time, police had found Ariana's body but didn't know if Tyler was dead or just missing. Payne indicated in his statements that he knew both children had died in his care and he tried to bargain with police to tell them the location of Tyler's body.

Police said they suspect the boy's body was thrown in the trash and dumped in the Los Reales Landfill, but the body was never found and he is presumed dead.

If Payne is convicted, prosecutors will ask the jury to decide whether certain aggravating factors exist to allow them to pursue the death penalty. One factor that would qualify Payne for the death penalty is the fact that the victims were young.

If jurors determine Payne is eligible for death, defense attorneys will present mitigating evidence that they hope will persuade jurors to choose a life sentence instead.

Prosecutors complained this week that they had yet to see a report from the defense's mitigation expert so they could prepare for rebuttal.

Assistant Public Defender John O'Brien told Fields his mitigation expert wasn't preparing a report and wouldn't be available to talk to prosecutors until late next week, which clearly displeased Deputy County Attorney Susan Eazer.

Usually, mitigation experts are called in early on in a death penalty case. They talk to family, friends, teachers, neighbors and others who know the defendant and collect vital records that trace the defendant's life.

Mitigation also can include psychological reports.

Defense attorneys are required to disclose mitigation findings to prosecutors, just as prosecutors are required to disclose possible damning information to the defense.

Over the past year, prosecutors and defense attorneys have constantly bickered over whether they were getting the disclosure required.

Payne's trial was expected to begin late last month, but O'Brien asked for at least a month-long delay to complete mitigation. Fields allowed for a two-week delay, but refused to extend the trial date farther.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/110141.php

[Nut44x4]

Payne houseguest may have heard child's cry

March 05, 2009, 8:53 p.m.
A.J. FLICK
Tucson Citizen
A houseguest who was unaware two children were being kept in a closet and starved to death testified in the capital murder trial of Christopher Mathew Payne that she once heard a boy utter, "Daddy!"

Convicted drug dealer Debra M. Reyes, 42, said she was taking a shower in Payne's apartment, unaware that on the other side of the wall, Ariana
and Tyler Payne were held captive in the bedroom closet.

"I heard a cry, 'Daddy!,' and that was it," Reyes testified Thursday. Payne is on trial in the deaths of his children, Ariana, 3, and Tyler, 4.

Reyes said she "assumed" it was Payne's 2-year-old son with Reina Irene Gonzales but that "it didn't really sound" like the younger boy.

Reyes testified that she came to live with Payne and Gonzales in late June 2006. At that point, Payne began working full time for her in drug sales, according to testimony.

Up until a few days before Reyes and three other men moved into the one-bedroom apartment, Reyes said Gonzales called Payne constantly to complain about caring for his older children.

Gonzales testified this week that Payne's solution to end her calls was to lock the two older children in the closet around the clock.

Reyes testified that she had previously seen the older children at the apartment and when she asked Payne where they were, was told they were with their mother.

Also on Thursday, jurors listened to a recording of a jail visit between Payne and his stepsister, Deborah Barbone, days after his March 1, 2007, arrest.

Payne sobbed over the absence of Gonzales, accused her of betraying him and threatened to kill himself or perhaps exact revenge on Gonzales and others.

By this time, detectives had told Payne that Ariana's badly decomposed body had been found in a plastic tub in the trash bin of a storage unit on Feb. 18, 2007, but Tyler's body hadn't been found.

Payne told Barbone, as he told detectives, that the children starved themselves to death because they couldn't be with their mother and he'd put both bodies in the plastic tub.

"Debbie, you know what's going to happen to me?" Payne said. "They're gonna put me away forever. I can't deal with that.

"I've got to go to a better place where I don't have to worry about nothing," Payne said. "If something happens, it's in God's hands now."

Payne suspected then that Gonzales had betrayed him, which is why she didn't visit. Gonzales wasn't arrested until March 8.

"I don't think it's fair that I'm stuck in a cage like a (expletive) animal," Payne said.

Detectives had told Payne that Ariana's body was discovered after the rent for the storage unit went unpaid, which Payne blamed on Gonzales.

Payne's voice was strong and clear when speaking of getting revenge on unnamed people.

"My beef with these people goes way back and I think it's gonna happen now!" he exclaimed.

Then Payne broke into whimpers, missing Gonzales.

"I'm so scared," he said.

"You know why?. . . she's probably gone," Payne said clearly. "If that's the case, then they're gonna have to come out in the laundry. All things are gonna have to start coming out in the laundry.

"I'm not going to take this out on my own if she's not going to support me," he said. "This is not my fault."

Defense attorneys say Gonzales was in charge of child care and is most responsible for the deaths of Ariana and Tyler. Gonzales pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for her testimony against Payne. She had been charged with first-degree murder and was facing the death penalty if convicted.

Reyes is expected back on the stand Friday afternoon after morning testimony from other witnesses.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/111583.php

[Nut44x4]

Payne trial: 'It wasn't murder,' Payne told sister

Jurors are listening to a taped conversation between Chris Payne and his stepsister, Deborah Barbone.

Payne was immediately unhappy that Reina Gonzales wasn't with his stepsister.

"I only know what's been on the news," Barbone said.

"What do you mean on the news, man?" Payne asked.

Barbone said the media were reporting that he'd been arrested and Ariana's body had been found.

"Where's the other one at, man?" Payne said, meaning Tyler. "They were together. I put them together. Something's up. Debbie, it's not what you think, man. It's not what you think happened. It wasn't murder, I'm telling you. Those kids starved themselves to death, man. I tried calling for help lots of times."

Payne fretted about what his punishment would be.

"They're gonna put me away forever!" he exclaimed twice.

Barbone said if that was the case, they would deal with it.

"I can't deal with this," Payne said, whimpering.

Payne asked about Gonzales and what she was wearing the last time Barbone saw her.

"Was she dressing all slutty and everything?" he asked.
   
Barbone said she hadn't been. Payne continued to worry about Gonzales's absence.

"Debbie, that's not like her not to show up like this. Something's going on."

Barbone suggested Gonazels was at a job interview, which Payne discounted.

He asked where Gonzales was staying, which Barbone didn't know and suggested she move in with Barbone.

"Debbie, I want her to stay with you. She won't steal from you or anything. She's not a criminal. Deb, I want her to stay with you.

"Why would she do this to me, man?" Payne said, whimpering.

"She don't love me no more, does she?" he said, sobbing. "If she did, she'd be here.

"I want to marry that girl, man. She don't want to marry me no more? She don't want to marry me no more?"

"She didn't say that," Barbone said.

"Can we get married if I'm in jail?" he wondered.
 
Payne also worried about his lawyer not visiting him and then again where Tyler's body was.

"Where the f--- is Tyler at, man?" he said.

Barbone thought he meant his son with Gonzales, which Payne stressed it wasn't.

"They were together, man," Payne said, referring to Ariana and Tyler. "They were together. Somebody f---ed me up. I don't know what's going on, man. Somebody, somebody lied. They know more than they're leadin' on that they know."

Barbone said she didn't know what was going on.

"Debbie? If this happened like murder, it wasn't murder, I know it wasn't murder. Those kids were eatin' their own feces. Something was going on with those kids, man when they found out they was staying with me permanent. They were shutting down on me, acting real lethargic. I couldn't bring them out of it. I tried to give them whatever I could, cream of wheat, whatever, they wouldn't eat, man.

"I couldn't call (for help," Payne said. "I tried calling Dad. he wasn't getting it, man, he wasn't getting it. I'm so upset, man. I love those kids, man, till they died, I held them in my arms till they both died. I gave CPR on their dead bodies all day, they woudn't come back.

"It's f---ed up man, f---ed up. Debbie, you know what's going to happen to me. They're gonna put me away forever. I can't deal with that. Debbie? I want to go to a better place where I don't have to worry about nothing. I love you so much. If something happens, it's in God's hands now."

Payne began to cry and say he wanted to join his Uncle Tony in death.

"I'm gonna be with Tony. I'm gonna be with Tony," he said, sobbing.

"Hold on," Barbone urged him.

"No, I don't want to hold on no more. I don't want to hold on no more. I'm going to Tony. I wanted to see Reina one last time. I'm going to Tony. I wanted to see Reina one last time and tell her I love her but she couldn't show. What happened? She was supposed to stay with you."

Judge Richard Fields called for the afternoon break after this point, with jurors to hear the remaining of the tape later.
http://tucsoncitizen.com/blog/view/1286

[Nut44x4]

Defendant said two of his children starved themselves to death so they could be with their mother  

No copy and paste allowed
http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=87946&catid=60

[cookie]

OH MY GOD! I feel like puking after reading this...
Where was the mother, grand parents of these kids? People let these kids down big time!

[Nut44x4]

Payne found guilty of murdering his two children

03:15 PM MST on Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A Pima County Superior Court jury spent just over a half day in deliberations before deciding that Christopher Payne brutally murdered his two small children in 2006.

Ariana, 3, and Tyler, 4, died while in Payne's custody, the prosecution argued. There was testimony the two starved to death in Payne's closet.

Ariana's body was found in a storage locker on Tucson's north side. Tyler's remains have never been found.

Payne was separated from the children's mother at the time. He had gone to Jamie Hallum's home in Catalina and picked up the children for a visit, but never returned them. She testified she tried to retrieve them, arguing she had legal custody, but said Payne refused because Child Protective Services had told him Hallum was using meth and was an unfit mother.

Payne faced two counts of first degree murder, multiple counts of child abuse and two counts of concealment of a dead human body.

At his sentencing, he faces the death penalty.
FRY you useless piece of crap.......SIZZLE then FRY!

Child Protective Services was roundly criticized for its' handling of the Payne case and it, along with the case of another Tucson child under CPS watch who died in 2006, led to new laws in the 2007 Arizona Legislature.

Payne's former girl friend, Reina Gonzales, testified in the trial about the children at Payne's apartment. She told the jury that Payne lost his job in April of 2006 and shortly after that locked the two children in a closet and refused to feed them.

She was originally charged in the case, but struck a plea agreement with the state and testified against Payne in return for a 22 year sentence.

The trial featured a lengthy videotape of Payne being interviewed by a Tucson police officer following his arrest. He denied the crime at first, but then admitted killing the children and putting both bodies in a container in a storage locker.

Ariana's body was found there, but Tyler's body has never been found. Volunteers spent days going through area landfills searching without success.

In closing arguments Monday, John O'Brien, the assistant Pima County Public Defender representing Payne, asked the jury to consider second-degree murder charges against his client, saying Gonzales was more responsible for the deaths than Payne.

More details on today's verdict tonight on Fox 11 News at 9.
http://www.fox11az.com/news/topstories/stories/KMSB_20090317_br_payneverdict.4548938f.html

[cookie]

what an ugly person he is, inside and out...he looks mean and menacing...any child would be afraid of him...poor babies...
I hope he has a horrible rest of his life...

[Nut44x4]

Co-defendant in Payne child-killing case to be sentenced today

Reina Gonzales
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.27.2009
A Tucson woman is set to be sentenced today to 22 years in prison for her role in the deaths of two children. Reina Gonzales was the live-in girlfriend Christopher Payne, who was sentenced to death earlier this month for starving his two children to death in a bedroom closet.

Payne locked up and began starving Ariana, 3, and Tyler, 4, following the loss of his job in April 2006, according to prosecutors.

Once they died, Payne stored the children's remains in garbage bags for months before placing them in a 25-gallon plastic tub and taking them to a storage unit on East Prince Road. An autopsy revealed Ariana had suffered 12 broken ribs and a broken shoulder bone in the weeks or months before she died.

On Feb. 18, 2007 a storage facility manager decided to clean out a unit that hadn't been paid for for months. Inside the unit, the manager found a foul smelling 25-gallon plastic tub that she dumped into a trash bin. She called police and they found Ariana's remains stuffed inside.
Payne was linked to the storage unit two weeks later. Tyler’s body was never found.

Jurors convicted Payne of two counts of first-degree murder March 17 and decided that the age of the children, the way they died and the fact there was more than one victim warranted a closer look at the death penalty.
Payne will be sentenced April 30 on three child abuse and two concealment of a dead human body counts by Judge Richard Fields of Pima County Superior Court.

Gonzales, who has a child with Payne, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in exchange for a 22-year sentence.
Her sentencing is set to occur at 11 a.m. today in Pima County Superior Court.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/290482.php

[Nut44x4]

Child-killing dad must begin serving child abuse term; also faces execution

April 30, 2009, 10:27 p.m.

Christopher Matthew Payne, sentenced in March to die for the premeditated murder of two of his children, must begin serving 51 years in prison.

That includes two consecutive terms of 23 years on child abuse and other charges in the deaths of Ariana and Tyler Payne.

Payne, 30, is appealing his death sentences. His prison term is concurrent with the death sentences, the judge ruled, so it will begin while his murder convictions are under appeal.

Pima County prosecutor Susan Eazer asked Superior Court Judge Richard S. Fields on Thursday to give Payne aggravated sentences on three felony child abuse charges and two charges of concealing and abandoning a body.

Fields gave Payne 23 years, one year less than the maximum, on the child abuse charges.

The judge cited the "especially heinous, depraved and cruel" manner in which Ariana and Tyler were murdered, that there were two victims and that both were under age 15.

Fields said the mitigating factors cited in a presentence report - current family support from his father and stepmother, and no earlier felonies - do not outweigh the depravity of the crimes.

Payne must also serve "substantially aggravated" sentences of 2.5 years each on two counts of abandoning and concealing a body. That time will be served consecutively.

Payne was given credit for 791 days served in the Pima County Jail while awaiting trial and sentencing.

His attorney John O'Brien said at the sentencing hearing Thursday that Payne should not face prison time on child abuse charges. He said Payne has already been sentenced "on conduct contained in the charges of child abuse."

They include the 12 broken ribs Ariana, 4, sustained; his failure to feed her and Tyler, 5; and his failure to to get the children medical care when he saw they were dying, according to court testimony.

Payne locked them in a closet and starved them, then put their bodies in a plastic tub in a storage locker. Tyler's body was never found.

Their mother, Payne's ex-wife Jamie Hallam, asked the court to sentence Payne to consecutive terms on the child abuse charges.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/fromcomments/115597.php