KXLY.com Staff
Last updated: Monday, March 12th, 2007 05:53:04 PM
KXLY4 Staff
Jonathan Lytle appears in court on charges he murdered his four-year-old developmentally disabled daughter.
Detective: 'This is the worst case I've ever seen'
Couple make first appearance in child's death
SPOKANE -- The parents of a four-year-old girl who was murdered over the weekend appeared in court Monday in a case that one veteran police detective has called the worst case of abuse he has ever seen.
Jonathan Lytle, 28, and Adriana Lytle, 32, the father and stepmother of the victim, appeared in court Monday after they were arrested Sunday and charged with the young girl's death. Both are being held on a $500,000 bond.
They were arrested after Jonathan Lytle had taken his daughter to Deaconess Medical Center late Saturday night bruised from head to toe and had varying degrees of bruising that revealed a potentially long-term cycle of abuse.
The victim, who was apparently developmentally disabled, was also allegedly made to wear a shock collar, which is typically used for dogs, in her parents' attempts to discipline her.
"There was the use of a electric dog training collar used on this girl," Sergeant Joe Peterson of the Spokane Police Department said. "And what's even more dreadful is that isn't even nearly the worst of it."
The child allegedly suffered a variety of other injuries brought on by beatings with belts and spoons and had human bite marks on her body. According to court documents, Jonathan Lytle admitted to police after being told of his rights to remain silent that the girl had kicked Adriana in the chin and Adriana had responded by biting the girl.
Peterson added the girl had injuries "from her feet to the top of her head" and investigators would have to wait until the conclusion of an autopsy to determine the full range of injuries the child sustained.
On Saturday a nurse was paying a visit to the Lytles' apartment to look at their 8-month-old son and Jonathan Lytle took his daughter out of the apartment so as not to disturb the nurse while she checked out the infant boy. Later after the nurse left he returned and his daughter was made to wash clothes and towels soaked in urine in the apartment's bathtub while she was standing inside of it.
Adriana later told police during an interview that the child frequently wet herself and that she resorted to both dunking the child in water and forcing her to wash her clothes while standing inside of the bathtub with her feet together, bending over at the waist while she washed her soiled clothes.
"My house, my rules," Adriana reportedly told police during her interview. "You're not at mommy's house anymore."
At one point, according to the affidavit of probable cause, Adriana - who had been cooking a dinner to celebrate the couple's first wedding anniversary on Saturday - went into the bathroom and found the girl unresponsive and lying on her back in the bathtub filled with water and urine.
Adriana allegedly tried to perform CPR "using her hands and feet"; Jonathan came into assist but at one point left the room to go have a cigarette. While trying to revive the girl Adriana repotedly said, "We might have killed her" and Jonathan took his daughter to Deaconess Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead shortly after she arrived.
"They had concocted a story the child fallen down one time to cause these injuries," Sergeant Peterson said.
Doctors and nurses informed investigators as soon as they arrived at Deaconess Saturday night the child had been abused. Nurses who were attending to the child went into the room to help and almost universally came out crying.
Once investigators got an opportunity to see the child for themselves, a single cursory glance was all it took to see the four-year-old girl had suffered abuse over a long period of time.
"This is the worst case I've ever seen and my detectives feel the same," Peterson said. "It's probably the worst case of abuse that any of us in hundreds of combined years in this unit have ever seen."
"It's beyond abuse ... it's abuse by torture."
The family lived in unit 25 at the Dresden Apartments, located at 707 North Monroe in downtown Spokane. The child had only been living with her father and stepmother since last August. Lytle told investigators that the girl's biological mother had asked if she could live with Jonathan and Adriana for a month but never made an attempt to regain custody of the child.
The second child in the Lytle's home, an eight-month-old boy, was taken and placed in foster care Saturday night.
SPOKANE -- Spokane's medical examiner says the death of four-year-old Summer Lytle was not an accident and an autopsy shows she died of homicidal violence.
Summer's parents, Jon and Adriana Lytle, said it was an accidental drowning but Spokane's medical examiner is calling her death a homicide. Doctors say the child, driven to Deaconess Medical Center Saturday night by her father, was the victim of weeks - if not months - of abuse.
The investigation into Summer's murder has revealed so far that someone held the four-year-old down in a filled bath tub with so much force that they ripped her red hair out of this little girl's head. The hair was later recovered along with other evidence from a dumpster near the Dresden Apartments where the Lytle family lived.
Detectives say after Adriana Lytle found her step daughter lying on the bathroom floor she told her husband, "I think I may have killed your daughter." Court documents depict Adriana as being frustrated with her new step-child's behavior and an unwelcome burden in their very small apartment and both parents have allegedly admitted dunking the child as a form of discipline.
"Certainly we know her head was underwater, her hair's torn out multiple injuries all over her body from her feet to the top of her head," Sergeant Joe Peterson of the Spokane Police Department said.
Police say Summer was brought to the Dresden Apartments by her biological mother last August. With her son born in July and then a four-year-old step-daughter moving in, police say Adriana became the unemployed, stay-at-home step mom and primary disciplinarian and lost control of the situation in more ways than one.
"Beyond a doubt it's out of control," Sergeant Peterson said. "I don't know what excuse you could possibly have for doing this to another human being much less your own child."
Makeshift memorial apologizes for child's suffering
People who never knew Summer Lytle have started a makeshift memorial for her, their generous and heart-felt reaction much the same as the outpouring of support for young Shasta Groene the day she was rescued from confessed killer Joseph Duncan.
Upset by what happened inside her family's apartment at the Dresden Apartments in downtown Spokane, people have been dropping off presents apologizing for the child's suffering. It started with one balloon left at the doorstep of the apartment where police say Summer Lytle endured weeks if not months of abuse.
Connie Hardan wanted to say she was sorry this young girl never knew parents who would protect her instead of allegedly torturing Summer with a number of devices including a shock collar.
"I just felt I needed to come down and I brought a balloon just in remembrance of the little girl," she said.
Hardan is at a loss to understand why someone didn't notice the abuse, but some residents at the Dresden Apartments remember seeing Summer running down the hallways crying and saying she wanted to runaway from home.
Now Connie Hardan wishes someone had taken the child's complaint seriously.
"That little girl, from what I understand, whenever they had company they put her in another room and when that happens more than once you need to ask why can't she come out and visit or why does that child have a cast on or why does that child have a black eye," she said.
Police say murder could have been prevented
Residents in the apartment building where the Lytle family lived reported hearing noises and feared she may have been abused but Spokane Police are saying that one simple phone call could save a child's life.
Spokane Police Officer Jennifer Deruwe says if police knew what was happening in the Lytle's apartment Summer would not have been living there, adding that if anyone suspects a child is being abused there's only one number to call.
"Call the police. Call us. That's what we're here for," she said. "As a police officer we have the power to remove children from homes."
Deruwe says spotting abuse is not always easy. The signs extend beyond loud voices and bruises which she says are often hidden.
"There are times when kids are in these situations and parents will hide the bruises, they'll keep quiet," she said.
In fact in court documents police say Jon Lytle intentionally avoided taking her to stores so people wouldn't see her bruised little body and earlier in the day before she died he took her out of the home while a nurse was checking on her 8-month-old little brother.
According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway if a person spots a child who lacks adult supervision, who is overly watchful preparing for something bad to happen or is overly compliant, passive, or withdrawn those may be signs of child abuse or neglect.
Signs of an abusive parent include showing little concern for their child and considering them burdensome or worthless.
Deruwe believes Summer endured months of abuse and she's certain if officers had performed a welfare check her death would have been avoided.
"Children are so delicate. They're helpless victims. There's no reason why this child had to die this way," she said.
While many assume to call Child Protective Services if they fear child abuse, Deruwe says instead that she believes 9-1-1 should the first person to call.
CPS is a huge agency and Deruwe says the rules and regulations are extensive. In addition, only police can remove a child from a home and often, she says, if a family knows CPS is coming they might hide things or act differently.
However a surprise visit from a police officer is often the best chance to see a family in their normal, everyday life.
Prosecutors amend charges against couple in Summer Phelps' death
Jeff Humphrey / KXLY4 Reporter
Last updated: Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 09:21:03 PM
CPS: Lytle family 'didn't merit investigation
SPOKANE -- Prosecutors amended the charges Wednesday against Jon and Adriana Lytle, the Spokane couple accused of killing four-year-old Summer Phelps Saturday night.
Jon and Adriana Lytle, Summer's father and step-mother, were arrested for premeditated murder, a sign they allegedly planned to kill Summer for more than a moment in time.But now they're charged with homicide by abuse and as it applies to this case a person is guilty of the crime
"if the person causes the death of a child and the person has previously engaged in a pattern of assault or torture."
Doctors at Deaconess Medical Center said Summer had both fresh injuries as well as others that were in the process of healing at the time she was admitted to the hospital for treatment Saturday night. By their own alleged admission the suspects used a shock collar to discipline the child and even dunked her head underwater in the bath tub as a form of punishment.
There were also indications she was beaten, bitten and burned inside the family's Monroe Street apartment.
While an autopsy has been completed, the exact cause of Summer's death is still unknown although the medical examiner confirms it was not an accident. Dr. Sally Aiken's findings during the autopsy will be important to supporting the prosecutor's new charges against the Lytles in this case.
Sister not surprised by Adriana Lytle's arrest
Adriana Lytle's sister, Doloree Staton, says she's not surprised her sister is facing murder charges.
Staton says she had to kick Adriana out of her home because she was abusive to Staton's children and the two have had little contact since.
She didn't know Adriana was living in a Spokane apartment with Jon Lytle and a four-year-old step-daughter, adding that the last time they spoke it was on bad terms.
"I had hidden myself from her," Staton said. "After I kicked her out I moved, disconnected my phone so she wouldn't know where to reach us anymore."
Doloree Staton doesn't want to make excuses for Adriana but says she has led a difficult life. She claims her father introduced Adriana to drugs at the age of nine; to everything from Speed to Heroin and Acid. Since then Staton claims Adriana has fought addiction.
Staton claims her father was also physically and sexually abusive toward Adriana.
"They had a sexual relationship with each other, she tried to get pregnant by him, the drugs … the abuse by him," she said.
Staton says despite her abuse, Adriana knew the difference between right and wrong and had to have known, from personal experience, the pain she inflicted on Summer. Staton says she has no desire to talk to her sister but says she has plenty to say to investigators.
"The only thing I'm going to do is help the prosecutors office," Staton said, adding she did speak to investigators Wednesday afternoon.
In the meantime, neighbors here are planning a candle-light vigil to remember Summer Phelps.
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