I love my job, I really do. I love my job as a mother, I love my job as a wife, and I love my job as a dispatcher. Some days are harder than others though, and when it comes to work, this was one of the hardest...
Taken from KHSL TV, Channel 12 at www.khsltv.com after receipt of the Paradise Police Department press release:
Paradise Homicide
Crime, Arrests, Police news
Police are investigating an unthinkable crime in Paradise; The death of an eight year old child and the beating of her eleven-year old sister. Police have arrested their adoptive parents for murder and abuse.
Officers responded to a home on Crestwood Drive at one Saturday morning where the eight year old had stopped breathing.
Emergency personnel performed CPR and revived her, but she died on the way to the hospital.
Investigators also discovered an eleven year old child with major injuries who was rushed to Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento. Seven other children were removed from the home. Officers say six of the nine kids were the biological children of Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz. The three others, including the deceased and the injured eleven year old, were adopted.
Sgt. Steve Rowe from the Paradise Police department is still unsure of a motive. "I think they were disciplining the children and went simply too far than what they should have done," Rowe stated.
Neighbor Elisha Barlet says she is shocked to hear the allegations. "They've always been sweet people and I know they're very God-loving and they're caring and considerate."
The children were being home schooled. Officers say the parents had no prior history of abuse. Both Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz were arrested and remain in Butte County Jail. The seven other children have been placed in protective custody.
This is the town's third homicide in three years.
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As horrific as this case is turning out to be, I cannot even begin to put my emotions to words on this page. It is to fresh, to raw. I can say, however, that it has rekindled the spark for foster care and adoption that has long smoldered in my heart.
Honey, we need to talk....
