08-07-2010, 05:06 PM
it's another white trash soap opera like the cummings case.
FLAGSTAFF - The world may never learn what became of Sylar Newton or understand the chaotic life of the 2-year-old Flagstaff boy who disappeared from a northern Arizona campground last month.
Family members have said little about the mystery, even less about Sylar's life story.
Yavapai County Sheriff Steve Waugh says only that the missing child is presumed dead and that his disappearance is the subject of a criminal investigation. Waugh has not divulged why investigators believe the boy is a victim of foul play.
Flagstaff court records and police reports suggest that, in his short life, Sylar had moved from one troubled home to the next, sometimes caught in a custodial tug-of-war.
The dysfunctional background has generated a whirlwind of speculation on Internet sites and blogs about missing children, including a Facebook page dedicated to Sylar. But investigators have disclosed no evidence that the boy's home life had any bearing on his disappearance.
According to the Sheriff's Office, Sylar is the birth son of Charity Newton, a Flagstaff woman who voluntarily gave custody of the child to an acquaintance, Christina "Tina" Priem, a single mother with two other children. Priem told investigators that she was in the process of adopting the boy.
During a July 24 outing with the Priem family at Beaver Creek Campground near Rimrock, Sylar went to sleep in a tent about 9:30 p.m. and was discovered missing shortly after midnight. Over the next 10 days, deputies and FBI agents, as well as hundreds of searchers using bloodhounds, helicopters, sonar and scuba equipment, could not find the boy.
As the search subsided, a criminal investigation developed. Family members were interviewed and, in some cases, given polygraph exams. Warrants were obtained to check vehicles driven by Priem and her mother, Nancy Collins, who also was on the camping trip. Detectives have not divulged any criminal evidence, nor have they discussed the troubled family history revealed in public records.
"I just want the little guy found," said Carroll Newton, Sylar's great-grandmother. "It's been two weeks from hell. It just has torn us all up."
This week, another 2-year-old boy, Emmett Trapp, disappeared from his home in Yavapai County and was later found dead near Dewey-Humboldt.
Adults have run-ins with police
In June 2008, Sylar's birth mother, Charity Newton, 26, was arrested after a domestic incident involving Priem's sister, Sandra Shoemake. According to a police report, a fight "started over a custody issue - suspect gave custody of her son to RP (reporting party, Shoemake). Suspect is now saying RP is trying to kidnap the child."
The report says a teenage girl at the apartment tried to protect the baby while the two women struggled. Flagstaff Municipal Court records show Charity Newton pleaded guilty to five counts of disorderly conduct and fighting.
Priem, 35, has had about a half-dozen contacts with Flagstaff police during the past decade involving misdemeanor offenses and traffic violations, according to the court.
In 2007, she was found guilty of making false statements about a domestic dispute between her roommates.
In June 2009, police records say, Priem got into an altercation with her sister, Shoemake. Priem was arrested during a subsequent traffic stop with her two children in the vehicle and was accused of resisting arrest when an officer attempted to place her in handcuffs. A similar incident occurred when she was arrested a second time for failure to appear in court. The disorderly conduct/fighting charge ultimately was dismissed, according to court files.
Shoemake also has an extensive court record that includes convictions for forgery, custodial interference and theft. An arrest tied to narcotics possession was dismissed.
State wasn't involved in custody
Carroll Newton, Sylar's great-grandmother, said Charity has given birth to four children in the past six years, each of them adopted out. Carroll said she last saw the boy at Christmas and was told he was living with Charity in Texas, even though that apparently was not true.
"She bald-faced lied to me," Carroll said of her granddaughter. "I'm so angry. If you don't want children, don't have them."
Carroll said that she was contacted by the FBI and provided a DNA sample but that she has no idea what became of Sylar.
FLAGSTAFF - The world may never learn what became of Sylar Newton or understand the chaotic life of the 2-year-old Flagstaff boy who disappeared from a northern Arizona campground last month.
Family members have said little about the mystery, even less about Sylar's life story.
Yavapai County Sheriff Steve Waugh says only that the missing child is presumed dead and that his disappearance is the subject of a criminal investigation. Waugh has not divulged why investigators believe the boy is a victim of foul play.
Flagstaff court records and police reports suggest that, in his short life, Sylar had moved from one troubled home to the next, sometimes caught in a custodial tug-of-war.
The dysfunctional background has generated a whirlwind of speculation on Internet sites and blogs about missing children, including a Facebook page dedicated to Sylar. But investigators have disclosed no evidence that the boy's home life had any bearing on his disappearance.
According to the Sheriff's Office, Sylar is the birth son of Charity Newton, a Flagstaff woman who voluntarily gave custody of the child to an acquaintance, Christina "Tina" Priem, a single mother with two other children. Priem told investigators that she was in the process of adopting the boy.
During a July 24 outing with the Priem family at Beaver Creek Campground near Rimrock, Sylar went to sleep in a tent about 9:30 p.m. and was discovered missing shortly after midnight. Over the next 10 days, deputies and FBI agents, as well as hundreds of searchers using bloodhounds, helicopters, sonar and scuba equipment, could not find the boy.
As the search subsided, a criminal investigation developed. Family members were interviewed and, in some cases, given polygraph exams. Warrants were obtained to check vehicles driven by Priem and her mother, Nancy Collins, who also was on the camping trip. Detectives have not divulged any criminal evidence, nor have they discussed the troubled family history revealed in public records.
"I just want the little guy found," said Carroll Newton, Sylar's great-grandmother. "It's been two weeks from hell. It just has torn us all up."
This week, another 2-year-old boy, Emmett Trapp, disappeared from his home in Yavapai County and was later found dead near Dewey-Humboldt.
Adults have run-ins with police
In June 2008, Sylar's birth mother, Charity Newton, 26, was arrested after a domestic incident involving Priem's sister, Sandra Shoemake. According to a police report, a fight "started over a custody issue - suspect gave custody of her son to RP (reporting party, Shoemake). Suspect is now saying RP is trying to kidnap the child."
The report says a teenage girl at the apartment tried to protect the baby while the two women struggled. Flagstaff Municipal Court records show Charity Newton pleaded guilty to five counts of disorderly conduct and fighting.
Priem, 35, has had about a half-dozen contacts with Flagstaff police during the past decade involving misdemeanor offenses and traffic violations, according to the court.
In 2007, she was found guilty of making false statements about a domestic dispute between her roommates.
In June 2009, police records say, Priem got into an altercation with her sister, Shoemake. Priem was arrested during a subsequent traffic stop with her two children in the vehicle and was accused of resisting arrest when an officer attempted to place her in handcuffs. A similar incident occurred when she was arrested a second time for failure to appear in court. The disorderly conduct/fighting charge ultimately was dismissed, according to court files.
Shoemake also has an extensive court record that includes convictions for forgery, custodial interference and theft. An arrest tied to narcotics possession was dismissed.
State wasn't involved in custody
Carroll Newton, Sylar's great-grandmother, said Charity has given birth to four children in the past six years, each of them adopted out. Carroll said she last saw the boy at Christmas and was told he was living with Charity in Texas, even though that apparently was not true.
"She bald-faced lied to me," Carroll said of her granddaughter. "I'm so angry. If you don't want children, don't have them."
Carroll said that she was contacted by the FBI and provided a DNA sample but that she has no idea what became of Sylar.