12-08-2010, 07:05 PM
DEBLASE "THINKS" THE BOY WAS DEAD WHEN HE THREW HIM IN THE WOODS IN A TRASH BAG.
there are simply no words.
WHAS news11
Police aren't ready yet to charge Leavell-Keaton with killing either of the children, but Levy has said that both suspects shared responsibility for their deaths.
The couple's families echo each one's allegations. Leavell-Keaton's mother said her daughter had tried before to leave a lying, controlling man, and they suspect he poisoned the children. DeBlase's parents, however, said they believe it was a violent and unpredictable stepmother who manipulated their son into helping cover up slayings she committed.
Still, they're not excusing DeBlase.
"I can't believe John is responsible for this, but I know he could have prevented it," Deblase's mother, Dorothy, told The Associated Press before the boy's body was found. "But if Heather told him to go jump off a bridge, he would go jump in a river."
DeBlase was arraigned earlier Wednesday on the lesser charges. A judge set a preliminary hearing for Jan. 4. His court-appointed attorney didn't immediately return a telephone message.
Levy said witnesses told authorities both suspects beat the kids on numerous occasions.
"We have some incidents where people observed them striking the children with objects," Levy said, adding investigators are disturbed no one came forward sooner. "The children had some injuries that warranted medical attention which they never properly received."
DeBlase and Leavell-Keaton had been together since 2008, but they were not legally married. The couple met on the website MySpace while DeBlase and his children were living with his parents and Leavell-Keaton was attending nearby Spring Hill College in Mobile.
Her mother, Helena Keaton, said her daughter was legally blind and dependent on DeBlase because of her limited eyesight.
"She does not know really what happened to the kids. We suspect he poisoned them," Keaton told the AP, adding that her daughter smelled really bad breath on both children.
"They had the same symptoms. They were not eating, they were not drinking. They were beginning to use the bathroom on themselves although they were potty trained," she said. "John would not take those children to get medical care."
In the spring, Keaton said, DeBlase forced Leavell-Keaton to go on a long ride. DeBlase finally stopped and got something out of the vehicle, Keaton said, but Leavell-Keaton -- who was pregnant at the time with DeBlase's third child -- was unsure what it was.
Keaton described DeBlase as a controlling, "habitual liar."
"She has tried to get away from John before, and he has tracked her down," Keaton said.
The couple moved to Kentucky without the children this summer, and Leavell-Keaton had DeBlase's child in August.
DeBlase's parents gave a very different account in an interview before the bodies were found. They say Leavell-Keaton controlled the relationship, wouldn't allow DeBlase to take his children to church and forced him to move out of their home with the kids.
They told the AP they suspect Leavell-Keaton killed the kids during a fit of rage while DeBlase attended night classes to become a personal trainer, then manipulated him into getting rid of the bodies.
The grandparents last saw the children in February when they tracked down their son and Leavell-Keaton at a trailer park in the rural Alabama town of Citronelle.
Leavell-Keaton's family never met the kids, and DeBlase's parents didn't even know the woman was pregnant.
They say the pain of losing their grandchildren is unbearable. They described Chase as a rambunctious little blonde-haired boy and Natalie as "the princess," with penetrating big blue eyes who loved baking cookies with her grandmother.
Chase was wearing only a diaper when his father placed him in a black trash bag, tied the red draw strings and dumped his tiny body in a wooded area off Miss. 57 about 12 miles north of Interstate 10, Byrd said.
"He told us he parked on the side of the road, stepped in the woods, but could still see the headlights of his car," Byrd said. "He put some straw and stuff over the bag and left. We think little Chase was already dead when he left him."
Byrd and a team of about 40 officers discovered numerous bones and bits of black and white plastic.
there are simply no words.
WHAS news11
Police aren't ready yet to charge Leavell-Keaton with killing either of the children, but Levy has said that both suspects shared responsibility for their deaths.
The couple's families echo each one's allegations. Leavell-Keaton's mother said her daughter had tried before to leave a lying, controlling man, and they suspect he poisoned the children. DeBlase's parents, however, said they believe it was a violent and unpredictable stepmother who manipulated their son into helping cover up slayings she committed.
Still, they're not excusing DeBlase.
"I can't believe John is responsible for this, but I know he could have prevented it," Deblase's mother, Dorothy, told The Associated Press before the boy's body was found. "But if Heather told him to go jump off a bridge, he would go jump in a river."
DeBlase was arraigned earlier Wednesday on the lesser charges. A judge set a preliminary hearing for Jan. 4. His court-appointed attorney didn't immediately return a telephone message.
Levy said witnesses told authorities both suspects beat the kids on numerous occasions.
"We have some incidents where people observed them striking the children with objects," Levy said, adding investigators are disturbed no one came forward sooner. "The children had some injuries that warranted medical attention which they never properly received."
DeBlase and Leavell-Keaton had been together since 2008, but they were not legally married. The couple met on the website MySpace while DeBlase and his children were living with his parents and Leavell-Keaton was attending nearby Spring Hill College in Mobile.
Her mother, Helena Keaton, said her daughter was legally blind and dependent on DeBlase because of her limited eyesight.
"She does not know really what happened to the kids. We suspect he poisoned them," Keaton told the AP, adding that her daughter smelled really bad breath on both children.
"They had the same symptoms. They were not eating, they were not drinking. They were beginning to use the bathroom on themselves although they were potty trained," she said. "John would not take those children to get medical care."
In the spring, Keaton said, DeBlase forced Leavell-Keaton to go on a long ride. DeBlase finally stopped and got something out of the vehicle, Keaton said, but Leavell-Keaton -- who was pregnant at the time with DeBlase's third child -- was unsure what it was.
Keaton described DeBlase as a controlling, "habitual liar."
"She has tried to get away from John before, and he has tracked her down," Keaton said.
The couple moved to Kentucky without the children this summer, and Leavell-Keaton had DeBlase's child in August.
DeBlase's parents gave a very different account in an interview before the bodies were found. They say Leavell-Keaton controlled the relationship, wouldn't allow DeBlase to take his children to church and forced him to move out of their home with the kids.
They told the AP they suspect Leavell-Keaton killed the kids during a fit of rage while DeBlase attended night classes to become a personal trainer, then manipulated him into getting rid of the bodies.
The grandparents last saw the children in February when they tracked down their son and Leavell-Keaton at a trailer park in the rural Alabama town of Citronelle.
Leavell-Keaton's family never met the kids, and DeBlase's parents didn't even know the woman was pregnant.
They say the pain of losing their grandchildren is unbearable. They described Chase as a rambunctious little blonde-haired boy and Natalie as "the princess," with penetrating big blue eyes who loved baking cookies with her grandmother.
Chase was wearing only a diaper when his father placed him in a black trash bag, tied the red draw strings and dumped his tiny body in a wooded area off Miss. 57 about 12 miles north of Interstate 10, Byrd said.
"He told us he parked on the side of the road, stepped in the woods, but could still see the headlights of his car," Byrd said. "He put some straw and stuff over the bag and left. We think little Chase was already dead when he left him."
Byrd and a team of about 40 officers discovered numerous bones and bits of black and white plastic.