i didn't even know this child was missing until her body was found. :(
i hope heads roll. this tragedy could have been prevented.
full story at link below.
Daily Mail
A schoolgirl was raped and strangled by her neighbor, just three weeks after he was reported to police for allegedly locking her in his apartment and threatening to expose himself.
The badly-beaten body of nine-year-old Skyler Kauffman was found wrapped in a blanket and thrown into a rubbish bin behind her apartment block in Souderton, near Philadelphia, after she failed to come home for dinner. on May 9.
Police arrested 24-year-old James Lee Troutman when a detective spotted blood on his shoes, and allegedly found blood-soaked clothes stuffed into a hamper in his bedroom.
Yesterday Skyler's mother, Heather Gebhard, said she believed the tragedy could have been avoided if police had listened to her. She said: 'They blew me off.'
She called police on April 18, after her daughter and a friend came home saying Troutman had locked them in his apartment, and only let them go when they started screaming.
Surrounded by hundreds of mourners at a vigil for her daughter yesterday, Miss Gebhard wept as she said police 'twisted everything my daughter said, they didn't believe her.'
She described Skyler as outgoing and friendly, and said 'it's like a nightmare. She was loved by everybody.'
Troutman was arrested yesterday and charged with murder, kidnapping, rape, deviant sexual intercourse with a child and abuse of a corpse after luring Skyler to a shared basement in the apartment block.
(05-11-2011, 06:36 PM)Lady Cop Wrote: Daily Mail
A schoolgirl was raped and strangled by her neighbor, just three weeks after he was reported to police for allegedly locking her in his apartment and threatening to expose himself.
Time for this guy to get locked in the Chimpanzee cage at his nearest zoo. Leave him there 'til he's torn limb from limb.
I have to question WHY Skyler was not under constant watch by her parents after the first incident. Was she with anyone to supervise her at all? Since it was stated that she was late for dinner, I have to assume she was not being watched. Just basing this on the information I read.
After James Troutman allegedly raped and strangled 9-year-old Skyler Kauffman, he took a shower and calmly ate dinner with his fiancee, police claim.
Troutman, 24, confessed to killing the girl Monday night at the Souderton Gardens Apartment Complex in Pennsylvania and tossing her body in a dumpster. He was charged with murder Tuesday.
Troutman's arrest and confession are little comfort to the Skyler's distraught family.
"Last night, while I was having dinner she was being strangled. So where is the justice in that?" Skyler's father, Eric Kauffman, told ABC Affiliate WPVI.
The little girl lived in Troutman's apartment complex along with her mother and grandmother. When Skyler didn't show up for dinner Monday night, her mother and grandmother became alarmed. They called police and an Amber Alert was issued.
Skyler's family had become alarmed by Troutman's behavior as recently as three weeks ago. Police were called to the building after Troutman allegedly locked Skyler and one of her friends in his apartment. The two girls managed to escape.
Heather Gebhard, the girl's mother, told the Associated Press that police "blew her off." Police would not comment on those accusations.
Bloody Trail Led to a Dumpster and Skyler Kauffman's Body
Troutman mentioned the April 18 incident when allegedly confessing to Kauffman's murder, but described the events differently. He claimed that "one little girl accidentally locked herself into his bathroom, she panicked and started yelling and causing a commotion," according to court documents.
Troutman lives with his fiancee, Heather Clemens, at the complex. Clemens came home Monday and found Troutman on the couch, according to court documents. At around 5 p.m. on Monday, Troutman left to play cell phone video games outside, Clemens told investigators.
Clemens said that she heard a female voice wailing and screaming, "no," according to court documents. Clemens also told investigators that she heard "crashing sounds and that it sounded like someone was being thrown to the ground."
Clemens called her fiance and Troutman told her that he was working out at a local track. Souderton Police found a pool of blood in the apartment complex's basement and later found a trail of blood that led from the basement to a dumpster. In the dumpster, wrapped in a plaid comforter, was Skyler.
"That was my sweet pea," said Skyler's maternal grandmother, Pam Gebhard, told WPVI.
When police questioned Troutman, he initially denied his involvement. Police found blood on his right sneaker and a hamper full of bloodied clothes.
Troutman "related a story about going to a football field, doing exercises, getting really dirty and muddy and then coming home and showering and changing," according to court documents.
Eventually, Troutman admitted to strangling Skyler, saying that he "snapped" and it was like a "white out," according to court documents. He admitted that Skyler's head hit the floor "a couple times at least," according to court documents.
Troutman told investigators he killed the girl because once he took her down to the basement, he knew he would get in trouble, according to court documents.
"It was something I never expected - not him, or the person I thought he was," she said. "Had I known he was vicious at heart, I would have done everything to make sure he was not out in society."
"How this poor family can cope with something like this," she said nervously, fingering a lit cigarette. "They didn't deserve this."
Clemens, 21, spoke from the living room of her sister Mandy's apartment in Sellersville. She has been staying there since Tuesday's arrest of Troutman, trying to make sense of the man she was planning to marry.
Since the body of Skyler was discovered and Troutman was arrested, Clemens said, she has barely slept. She has spent the days pacing, occasionally crying or hyperventilating, and barely touching food.
While she does not question that Troutman, as police charge, raped and strangled Skyler, she said the man she knew was kind and caring, if a bit childlike and socially awkward.
She said he had Asperger's syndrome, a disorder characterized by difficulties in social interactions.
The two met at her mother's apartment in Souderton, where Troutman was a neighbor. Her first impression was that Troutman was a very gentle guy but a bit introverted.
"I never met anyone so sweet," she said.
They would take long walks to check out the scenery, go out for pizza, and joke together.
"Every day was a date," she said.
The two moved in together three weeks to a month after they met. He was soft-spoken and protective, Clemens said. He treated her well.
Still, "I knew something was a bit off about him," she said. He had trouble communicating. When she asked about it, he told her he had Asperger's.
"He had a hard time understanding things," Clemens said. "You have to break it down and tell it again."
Her sister said "he became frustrated when he was not understood. He can't articulate as well as the rest of us."
Unemployed, Troutman spent his days playing games on his phone, eating, sleeping, and occasionally doing favors or errands for others.
"He is a favor-doer," Heather Clemens said.
Troutman kept a tote full of Legos and enjoyed making buildings, taking them apart, and then making something else. "He made me a heart once," she said.
He would also do odd jobs and yard work for friends and family, she said.
She was so blinded by her view of him, she said, that she never thought to connect him to the screams she heard coming from the basement of the apartment complex Monday.
"None of us suspected something of this nature," her sister said, calling Troutman a "monster."
After he was arrested, Clemens quickly accepted the police version of the man she knew. Among the first things she did was remove her engagement ring.
"He didn't just break my heart; he pretty much killed it," Clemens said. "He broke and killed the heart of this poor family and this community."
(05-12-2011, 11:01 AM)Lady Cop Wrote: well there's the defense case. Aspergers.
As soon as I read that, I immediately knew that would be his defense. Then counsel would try to say his confession was inadmissible. BUT the fact that he was accused JUST 2 weeks prior to locking Skyler and another little girl in his apartment, and speaking sexual to them. The police made a report, but nothing was done at that time.
I have seen just about every type of case, its not very often a case touches me like this one. It breaks my heart to hear what he did to her, and how he just had to "get rid of her".
Thank you LC for letting me have a venue to share this, ALL PARENTS need to speak to their children about safety and strangers. And how to defend themselves, even a little kick or punch can stop a person for a second to get away.
no, i thank you for contributing. i've been following/reporting these horrible crimes against children for many years, and i appreciate anyone who helps share the messages and warnings. parents should not live in fear and make their kids fearful. but they do need to train and educate them, to try to help make them predator-proof.
