Couple Held In Torture Death Of 4-Year-Old

Cops: Washington State Girl Was Forced To Wear Shock Collar, Was Beaten And Bitten

(CBS/AP)  A Spokane couple was ordered held Monday on $500,000 bond each in the death of the man's 4-year-old daughter. Detectives said the child had been forced to wear a shock collar, beaten with belts and suffered human bite wounds.

Jonathan Lytle, 28, and Adriana Lytle, 32, the girl's father and stepmother, were arrested Sunday for investigation of first-degree murder after Jonathan Lytle took the girl to Deaconess Medical Center with bruises from head to toe.

The girl apparently drowned, but her injuries were so extensive that investigators were awaiting autopsy results to determine the cause of death.

"This is the worst case I've ever seen and my detectives feel the same," said Sgt. Joe Peterson of the department's major crimes unit. "It's probably the worst case of abuse that any of us in hundreds of combined years in this unit have ever seen."

The victim, who apparently was developmentally disabled, was made to wear a shock collar, typically used for training dogs, in attempts to discipline her, court documents indicated.

The girl apparently drowned in a bathtub in which she had been forced to wash urine-stained clothing, court documents said. According to the documents, the child also had injuries from beatings with belts and spoons and had human bite marks on her body.

The family lived in an apartment less than two blocks from the Public Safety Building.

A second child, an 8-month-old boy, was taken from the home and placed in foster care.

[rmstrongarm]

This story makes me as sick and outraged as anyone, but when did it become the fault of the government?, or God as so many of you sugest?? The fault lies soley in the family and the community for not protecting these sweet children. Anger doesn't solve anything however.... You want things to change?? CHANGE THEM!! Become a foster parent. Teach classes to the community on signs and symptoms of abuse, and report suspicions to authorities. Make all families go through aggressive child care classes. This child died because noone stood up for her. Killing her so called parents is not enough.. We need to learn how to prevent it from happening again. God bless these babies.

[ecuadoriana]

"And by the way, the Bible has been checked out thouroughly and its quotes are accurate..."
Posted by dovestar at 11:34 AM : Mar 14, 2007

How is it that the accuracy of the biblical quotes were checked for accuracy? What, did the researchers do some googling, make a few phone calls, set up a some interviews with those quoted in the bible? Wow, I thought that those people were long dead. Imagine, Adam & Eve are still kicking around. Hopefully they're wearing more than fig leaves or they'll be getting arrested for indecent exposure! Noah! Good grief, I thought he kicked it years ago! Moses, Abraham, Martin Luther, Paul, Mark, John Boy,...

Hey, god just told me to write all that, I didn't make it up of my own free will. He beamed down into my living room, set my potted fern ablaze, wrecked havoc with the bath water, then told me to go forth & question all that which makes no sense at all.

How are you going to disprove me? This is all fact & can be proven. Unfortunately for you the key player in this scene has left the building. But you'll just have to take my word on it...

[teeus]

"That's one of life's unanswered questions" Aww, nertz. You people always fall back on that. "It SEEMS horrible and it SEEMS not to make sense, but YOU just don't understand the grand plan."

"Does the fact that society has asked God to leave directly cause crime to go up? I never said that it did" Oh, yes you did. At least that's how I interpret: "The bottom fell out on June 25, 1962, when the Supreme Court, in it's not so infinite wisdom, decided that 33 million schoolkids would no longer offer the...."

Say what you want. I have a moral structure, and I am secure enough in my beliefs that I don't feel the need to tie them to religion, or to insist that others worship and believe what I believe.

I think everyone who has posted here can agree that these two horrible people had no right to do what they did, and should be severely punished. We don't all need to acknowledge God in the same way, (or at all) and worship the same way to have morals.

[dovestar]

The point to all this is that we need Him. Why would he answer a prayer from someone to pass a math test and not someone from Ethiopia to save her children? That's one of life's unanswered questions. But that doesn't change the fact that we need God.
Does the fact that society has asked God to leave directly cause crime to go up? I never said that it did. God created us with free will, however, He instilled His values in us. We are free to ignore His values at our own peril. Stop splitting hairs. You need Him. So do I.

[teeus]

""That's faulty logic"

Ummmm, yeah. That was kind of the point. I'll simplify it for you:

Prayer in public schools is banned. Crime rates go up. Therefore, the crime rates went up because prayer was banned.

If the chicken scenario is faulty, so is the prayer scenario.

My parents created me. And if there is a god, He also created free will and a questioning intellect. I don't think He fiddles around with the minutiae of my day to day life. Why would He answer a prayer for, say, passing a math test and not answer a prayer from the mother in Ethiopia to save her child from starvation?

" have that quote from Lincoln..." Actually, the quote referenced in the article I looked at was from James Madison, and even that's definitely not true.

"And by the way, the Bible has been checked out thouroughly and its quotes are accurate" Oh, you mean someone else says they talked to God and THEY said that God said that the bible is accurate?

Dude. Where I come from they call that schizophrenia.

[dovestar]

It's a common trap: It's dark. The rooster crows. The sun comes up. Therefore, the rooster made the sun come up.

That's faulty logic. The fact that man needs God has been proven beyond any doubt. The Bible declares that the fool has said in his heart there is no God.
We need God today. We need His standards as our guide. We need His Son as our Savior. And we need His Spirit as our companion. I don't know if you think you need Him, but I know I sure do. And I also know that if you don't think you need Him, there will come a time in your life when He will definitely get your attention and you will acknowledge your need for Him. Silly arguments over quotes do not eliminate the fact that we need God. He created us that way.

[dovestar]

"Actually, it sounds very likely that your Mr. Barton made up his facts".

I have that quote from Lincoln from a number of different sources besides Barton. This quote is taken from a proclamation he issued in 1863. In other words, it was written. It is also consistent with other things spoken and written by the 16th President.
One fact, however, remains. The frequency and the severity of these kind of acts have increased (gotten worse) since the removal of prayer from our public schools and the overriding attitude that we just don't need God.

Recent history ought to tell us just how much we do.

And by the way, the Bible has been checked out thouroughly and its quotes are accurate. Let's not try to defend the expulsion of God on a technicality.

[teeus]

However, the years since 1962 have brought an INCREASE in the SEVERITY and frequency of such crimes

So...the increases in crime and severity of those crimes in the middle ages can be traced to.....? And the bettering of children's lives in the beginning of thise century by passing the Child Labor Law protections were because....?

It's a common trap: It's dark. The rooster crows. The sun comes up. Therefore, the rooster made the sun come up.

Not so much.

[teeus]

Actually, it sounds very likely that your Mr. Barton made up his facts. After all, he has been exposed for making up lots of other things:

"A few years ago, with the quote popping up increasingly in the mass media (including Rush Limbaugh's daily radio show), Robert S. Alley, professor emeritus at the University of Richmond and author of James Madison on Religious Liberty, undertook a dogged effort to track it down.

Enlisting the help of the editors of The Papers of James Madison at the University of Virginia, Alley scoured reams of documents, books and writings. After coming up empty-handed, the Madison scholar concluded that the quote was probably fictional.

Now the major purveyor of the quote, Texas-based Religious Right propagandist David Barton, has admitted it's bogus. Last year Barton's group, WallBuilders' issued a one-page document titled "Questionable Quotes," a list of 12 statements allegedly uttered by Founding Fathers and other prominent historical figures, that are now considered to be suspect or outright false."

[dovestar]

"Really? That's when the bottom dropped out? 'Cause of the absence of that little prayer? So, there were no abused handicapped children before this date?"

I didn't say that. Of course there has been crime throughout history. We didn't just start having a police force since 1962, you know.
However, the years since 1962 have brought an INCREASE in the SEVERITY and frequency of such crimes. Remember, the police chief in Spokane, WA in this story has said this is the WORST CASE HE HAS EVER SEEN. And his detectives agree. That represents a lot of police experience. I didn't put those words in his mouth either.
There is plenty of evidence to support the contention that things have gotten far worse since God has been kicked out of society on His Ear.

"It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness." Abraham Lincoln-March 30, 1863

[dovestar]

"In the 1963-64 school year, SAT scores plummeted and have never recovered" Wow. It's pretty easy to make a point when you MAKE UP FACTS."

These facts are not made up. This one and many others to back it up were compiled by author David Barton in a book, "America to Pray or Not to Pray". By the way, Mr. Barton didn't make them up either. These statistics are from the US Government, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, which has since been changed, but the stats are still there. You might check out wallbuilders.com for yourself.
By the way, I don't have to go build a church. Jesus Christ has already done that.

[teeus]

"The bottom fell out on June 25, 1962, when the Supreme Court, in it's not so infinite wisdom, decided that 33 million schoolkids would no longer offer the following prayer: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee and we ask Thy blessing upon ourselves, our parents, our teachers, and our posterity." " Really? That's when the bottom dropped out? 'Cause of the absence of that little prayer? So, there were no abused handicapped children before this date?

"In the 1963-64 school year, SAT scores plummeted and have never recovered" Wow. It's pretty easy to make a point when you MAKE UP FACTS.

Take your "pillar" of society and go away. Build a church or something.

[dovestar]

We have 3 pillars of society: the family, the government, and the church. For much of our history these three pillars have taught essentially the same values. The bottom fell out on June 25, 1962, when the Supreme Court, in it's not so infinite wisdom, decided that 33 million schoolkids would no longer offer the following prayer: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee and we ask Thy blessing upon ourselves, our parents, our teachers, and our posterity." In the 1963-64 school year, SAT scores plummeted and have never recovered. Each of the groups mentioned in the above prayer has suffered. Problems in our schools read like a police blotter. With prayer removed, Bible reading would soon follow. Today any mention of God is banned. Christmas vacation became the Winter Break and Easter vacation has become Spring Break, now known for its hedonistic activities. Face facts: God has held this country together, and the lack of him will tear us apart. Return to Him vbefore it is too late.

[haliebugg]

Why are we blaming God? Why do we blame God for everything? People choose to do horrible things. God didn't murder anyone. But God did choose to end the little girl's suffering. Don't you think that when we hurt each other, it hurts God? Of course it does. But if you're going to blame anyone, anyone at all....Blame the ignorant individuals that committed the crime.
The bible does have a lot of things written in it. Keep in mind one thing.....The Bible is Man's interpretation of God's word.

[haliebugg]

It's not about what God or the Great Spirit can or cannot prevent. In a religious sense, God gave us Free Will. These monsters chose to do this to an innocent child. These *** chose to harm a baby in a way that no person or human being should ever have to endure.

The punishment is simple- EYE FOR AN EYE. Obviously they have no conscience, so life in prison wouldn't do them any good. They don't care about the child, or else they would have never harmed her. No long wait on death row. Broadcast to the general population of the prison they're sent to what they've been convicted of...it's almost guaranteed that the inmates in the prison will take care of and distribute justice as it should be.

[monwar-2009]

i think they should do to these two morons is the very same thing they did to that poor little angel who could not take up for herself. just look at them, they are pathetic looking and they make me sick. wait until they get to prison. that is the very disgusting part of humans.

[nothappyatall]

" be wrapped in the gentle arms of the Great Spirit and loved through out all time
Posted by cntrygrllst"

Sure, the same "great spirit" who COULD have prevented or stopped this from the start, but the fact is this was planned murder or an accomplice tomurder by your "great spirit" who caused or let it happen and stood by, did nothing.

[nothappyatall]

"What is the world comming to? It's starts when we take GOD out of everything and our children out of church..."
Posted by mlaborde1968

Oh right, take the murderous god out and everything will just decay into oblivion, maybe you should read your murderous god's "good book" it's chock full of great things like stoning children to death for "cursing their parents" condoning owning slaves, killing by stoning to death people who commit adultry and so on, oh yes let's leave god in and that'll fix everything LOL

[kailumego1]

This isn%u2019t the worst I%u2019ve heard by no means, statistically one-in-four will succumb to abuse, my anger reaches beyond these two parents, but onto the family, community, the church, and legal system.

We as citizens should be fed up with institutions that support abusive parents such as: churches, communities, and families [those who know but sit idly by and do nothing are just as guilty].

I%u2019m sick of religious institutions proselytizing nonsense to abused children/or adults abused as children, spouting, no matter what God says, %u201CHonor thy Father and Mother%u201D.

I%u2019m also tired of family members turning the other cheek when they are well aware of what%u2019s going on, to only defend the abuser and argue, %u201COh your mother and father loves you%u201D.

Likewise, I sick and tired of this legal system, i.e. the Child Protection Agency, for repeatedly placing children back into abusive environments to only be re-abused over and over again, and eventually murdered by his/her abuser.

[amorris1980]

I believe they should be done the same way as that little girl. My son has ADHD, and if anyone would even be mean to him because of it I would go off and hurt someone.