KARLY SHEEHAN: True Crime behind Karly's Law

by Karen Spears Zacharias

  Again.

  Stark’s methodology frustrated Delynn. She felt he mishandled the interview. “I was very unimpressed by the way he just bluntly asked Karly questions,” Delynn said. “She was very distrusting anyway. Karly cried and said her classic response to any question: ‘I want my daddy!’”

  Stark called David and Sarah and left them each a voice message letting them know he had talked to their daughter. He may have been baiting them, trying to figure out their level of concern, to see if he could get a clear read on them.

  Sarah made it easy: she was mad and she let Stark know it.

  “She sounded like she was pretty upset about this investigation,”

  Stark said. “I didn’t notice her crying or anything, but she was concerned.”

  Once the state launched its investigation, Sarah promised David she wouldn’t take Karly around Shawn anymore. They agreed that from here on out Karly would stay with David.

  Chapter Nineteen

  One happy day during the fall of 2004, David and Karly took a stroll, kicking golden leaves high off the tips of their boots.

  “Karly, why are you so good?” David asked.

  “Because I am,” Karly replied.

  “Karly, why are you so lovely?”

  “Because I am.”

  David paused as Karly jumped down hard on a pile of crunchy mulch.

  “And precious too?” Karly asked, smirking slyly at her father.

  “Karly, why are you so precious?” David asked, accepting the cue.

  She gave a dismissive but confident shrug and replied, “Because I am.”

  The first week in December 2004, David took Karly to a rodeo at the Benton County fairgrounds. It was a first for the both of them. Karly whooped it up for the cowgirls on fast horses making sharp turns around big barrels and giggled through the antics of the big-footed clown. And every single time the big bulls came snorting out of the holding pens, Karly let loose with a loud guttural “ROAR!” sending others sitting nearby into fits of laughter. But halfway through the show, shortly after she’d finished her hot dog lunch, Karly grew restless.

  David noticed her inching away, exploring the dusty bleachers. He told Karly to stop rolling around and to sit down beside him. His tone was firm. Frustrated, Karly responded by slapping at her head, open-handed. David took hold of Karly’s hands and told her that if she didn’t start behaving properly they were going to leave. Tired and crying, she continued slapping herself, so David picked her up and took her home.

  The whole incident unnerved David enough that he mentioned it the next day during a phone call with Matt Stark, who made a note of it: “Karly got mad and started tugging at her own hair. Father is convinced she has been pulling her own hair.” Those were Matt Stark’s words and his assessment. David recalls telling Stark that Karly tugged on her hair, but David never saw, or said he saw Karly pulling her hair.

  Stark told David that Karly needed to see her doctor again. Then Stark called Delynn, who told him Karly was much better. She wasn’t crying nearly as often, nor as clingy or tired. Delynn attributed the changes to Karly spending less time with Shawn and more time with David. Stark made a note of that, too.

  During the previous week, Stark had stumbled across troubling information while running a routine background check on the adults in Karly’s life: Shawn Field’s history of domestic violence with his ex-wife, Eileen. The state investigator did not bother to mention it to Dr. deSoyza or Delynn Zoller or even to Dr. Carol Chervenak. Despite the documented history of domestic violence, Shawn wasn’t even on the radar as a suspect for child abuse.

  The same day that David spoke with Stark about Karly’s behavior at the rodeo, Stark called Dr. Chervenak again, seeking her advice. Dr. Chervenak had personally examined more than 1,500 children on suspicion of abuse. But in Karly’s case, Dr. Chervenak relied on two people to provide her with an on-site evaluation: Matt Stark and Corvallis Police Detective Karin Stauder. The fact that Dr. Chervenak did not examine Karly prior to her death indicates that someone suggested such an assessment wasn’t warranted. That oversight would be identified later as one of the first major foul-ups in a case chock-full of them.

  On Monday, December 6, 2004, per Matt Stark’s suggestion, David and Sarah took Karly back to Dr. deSoyza’s for a follow-up exam that afternoon. David told the doctor about Karly slapping herself during the rodeo.

  Dr. deSoyza knew David Sheehan had recently changed jobs and was driving back and forth to Hillsboro, due west of Portland—a three-hour round-trip from Corvallis, even longer in bad traffic. David was also working on his master’s degree at George Fox University one night a week, a seventy-five-minute drive from home. But as David explained to Dr. deSoyza and Matt Stark, on the days Karly was with him David worked shorter days, so that the time he spent with her was the same as it had been before the job change and long commute.

  In Karly’s medical file, Dr. deSoyza made note that Sarah had recently moved in with a new boyfriend shortly before Karly started displaying bruises, thinning hair, and exhaustion. Dr. Chervenak, who had vast experience in identifying child abuse, would have automatically suspected Karly was being abused, given the physical symptoms and all the changes in Karly’s life: her dad’s prolonged absences, her mother’s new boyfriend, and the new living situation.

  Dr. deSoyza, however, wondered if Karly was under too much stress. Maybe all these changes had created anxiety for Karly, causing her to act out. Anxiety in children can sometimes result in hair loss. Maybe Karly was displaying symptoms of trichotillomania.

  Trichotillomania is a hair-pulling disorder, a mental disorder that creates an irresistible urge to yank out hair from the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, or pubic area. Less than one percent of the nation’s population suffers from it. Most often hair is pulled from the scalp, causing unsightly bald patches, the kind observed in Karly during that visit.

  Anxiety, tension, loneliness, fatigue, and frustration are all common

  triggers. Lots of little girls and even some big ones will sometimes chew on long strands of hair, or twirl a strand round and round as a nervous gesture. Sarah did this. Like people who bite their nails, they’ll unconsciously tug at their hair. Someone who suffers from trichotillomania will actually yank the hair out.

  Dr. deSoyza told me she never intended trichotillomania to be a definitive diagnosis.

  “There was never an official diagnosis,” deSoyza said. “It was just one of several possible causes for Karly’s hair loss that were discussed. I found it so bizarre that it was made into such a huge thing. Well, I didn’t even know it was a huge thing until I was testifying in court. I wondered why everyone kept asking about it and talking about it. Like I said, it was very strange to me that they made it a central thing when it never was an official diagnosis.”

  Assumptions can be like poorly packed luggage, always in need of resorting. There was never any material evidence that Karly was yanking out her own hair. There were no reports of globs of hair found on pillows where Karly slept, or hairballs on any of the bathroom counters, or even in front of the television set. There was not indisputable physical proof that Karly was in any form or fashion harming herself. That opinion was all based upon false assumptions and a handful of lies.

  Sarah was adamant that she wasn’t taking Karly around Shawn, wasn’t leaving her alone with him. Everyone assumed she was telling the truth. Why would a mother lie about such a thing? Dr. deSoyza asked.

  Dr. deSoyza has a difficult time reconciling her image of Sarah with the woman who repeatedly put Karly in danger. “One of the reasons the state investigators didn’t pursue things further is because Sarah told us she observed Karly hurting herself. Sarah said she saw Karly hitting herself, pulling her own hair. You just don’t think a mother would lie about something like that,” deSoyza mused. “It was obvious that when Sarah was with her boyfriend Karly wasn’t tolerating the situation very well. When Sarah said she was moving out, we were all very pleased. It didn’t
occur to me that she would go back to him. I don’t know who is responsible to check up, to make sure Sarah kept her word. I’m a doctor, not a policeman.”

  And policemen aren’t doctors, either. If a child’s own doctor doesn’t suspect child abuse as the primary cause of deteriorating health, why should anyone else?

  “When Sarah said she had moved out of her boyfriend’s place, I thought, ‘Finally a good decision. Shoosh! We dodged a bullet there!’” Dr. deSoyza said.

  The relief Dr. deSoyza felt was short-lived.

  Chapter Twenty

  Karly loved the Christmas dress her daddy bought her. With its red-velvet bodice, white satin sash, and white organza skirt, this was a dress befitting a true princess. Karly got all dolled up and twirled around the room, repeatedly calling, “Look, Daddy, look!”

  Then she perched on the couch, ankles crossed daintily, so David could take her picture to send to the family back in Ireland. Her blonde hair, cut in a long pixie style, framed her sweet face. She playfully put a shiny silver tiara, replete with fake jewels, atop her head. All the while Karly smiled coyly, like a girl who knows she’s pretty and oh so loved. Like a little girl who knows that as long as she’s with her daddy, she’s safe.

  David noticed the gun as soon as he walked into Matt Stark’s office.

  It was Monday, December 6, 2004, the same day that David and Sarah took Karly for a follow-up visit with Dr. deSoyza. Matt Stark asked David to come by his office for a little chat. David was unaware that Detective Karin Stauder was going to be there as well.

  It was her gun David noticed right off the bat. The cop kept it holstered at her hip. The room was business bleak. Cheap chairs, a sturdy table, and a whiteboard.

  From a purely physical standpoint, Detective Stauder wasn’t imposing—not particularly tall or broad of shoulder or hip, but with the tomboy look of a girl who played softball. Her dark brown hair was thick and cut efficiently short. Around kids, Stauder has an engaging and kind smile. Around adults, however, she could appear stone-faced. But it was the gun that put David on alert, gave him a chill.

  David naïvely thought Stark wanted to meet with him privately to discuss the problems created by Sarah’s ongoing relationship with Shawn. Given the chance to tell investigators, David would say that though he had nothing specific to blame on Shawn, he had his suspicions. He would say it was evident to him that Karly’s emotional and physical deterioration could be traced back to the appearance of Shawn in Sarah’s life.

  He would let detectives know that when he attempted to ask Karly anything about Shawn, the child would get visibly upset. David was sure something bad was going on. He hoped Stark and Stauder would be able to get to the bottom of it—they were the experts after all, right?

  Stark offered David a chair and made it clear his position was to act as an advocate for Karly. He told David the reason he and Detective Stauder had called him in was that he was under investigation for child abuse.

  Allegations of child abuse?

  David wasn’t sure he’d heard them correctly. How could he be under investigation? Nobody loved or cared for Karly better than David. Everyone knew that, didn’t they?

  David outwardly kept his cool but inside he was angry with both Stark and Stauder.

  “I spent the next thirty or forty-five minutes defending myself, drawing diagrams on the whiteboard recounting recent travel dates, answering their every question,” David recalled. “I mentioned Sarah’s moving in with Shawn but Stauder quickly responded that she had talked with Shawn and he had insisted Sarah had not moved in. Later that afternoon, when I was driving back up to Portland, I remembered Sarah had told me herself she was paying Shawn’s rent. I called Stark and pointed out that discrepancy.”

  But Stark remained wishy-washy. He told David that he and Detective Stauder were “on the fence” about him.

  David didn’t have to ask a second time what that meant. He understood that as far as Stark and Stauder were concerned David was guilty of something; they simply lacked proof to charge him.

  Following their visit with David, Detective Stauder wrote up the following report:

  I asked David if he has any ideas to the reason why Karly suffered from hair loss. David told me he first thought it was from stress due to the change in her visitations with him and Sarah. David said Karly is very regimented with regards to her schedule and when things change, she has a difficult time. David gave me an example of when he was scheduled to pick up Karly up from daycare. David was unable to pick her up, so Sarah picked her up instead. Karly yelled and screamed, throwing a temper tantrum and wanted him instead of her mom. David told me since about mid to end of October 2004, Sarah has moved in with Shawn and that Karly has sporadically stayed the night. David believes this change in Karly’s routine has caused her stress. I asked David if he suspects Sarah is abusing Karly and he said absolutely not. I asked David about Shawn and he said he did not have any reason to believe Shawn was hurting Karly.

  David takes issue with Detective Stauder’s report. “I would never have described Karly as being regimented. If anything she was quite the opposite, and was very easygoing.”

  Detective Stauder’s report also bothered me. Why would David tell the investigating officers he didn’t suspect Shawn? David may not have known all the ways in which Shawn was terrorizing his daughter, but David was sure Shawn was the source of Karly’s distress. I asked David why he told Detective Stauder otherwise.

  “I clearly remember answering the question,” David said. “And diplomacy definitely played a part. I’d spoken with a good friend the weekend prior to the interview and he told me I was coming across as very angry about the whole thing. He suggested I should tone down my rhetoric, because ‘they’ would pick up on it.”

  Once Matt Stark told David at the beginning of the interview that he was under suspicion of child abuse, David immediately went on the defense. “I felt the interview changed from how to protect Karly to how to get me.”

  David worried Detective Stauder and Matt Stark were setting a trap for him. He was not being paranoid. Detective Stauder did, indeed, ask Sarah the next day if she believed David was abusing Karly. But state’s investigators never singled Sarah out as a suspect for child abuse and neglect the way they did David.

  If anything, the system granted more protection to Sarah than it did to Karly. Too many officials who implement family law in our states cling to an archaic belief that mothers are good, and any mother’s failure is more likely the result of ignorance than intent. Even when, as was the case with Karly, there is reason to warrant charges of willful negligence, if not downright abuse, many people in the system are loathe to recognize some women are unfit mothers.

  David was guarded in speaking about his dealings with Sarah. It seemed to David that those charged with protecting Karly viewed Sarah more as a victim than as a perpetrator.

  David entertained thoughts of taking Karly and running with her, perhaps back to Ireland. But he worried running would make it look like he had something to hide. And suppose law enforcement officials caught him? He risked being deported and losing Karly forever.

  Believing he was trapped, David could only trust the system. It failed him—miserably. The state’s investigation did little to resolve the issues confronting Karly. On the other hand, it fueled David’s fear of deportation. He thought about it constantly. “Blithely saying ‘deportation crossed my mind’ downplays the reality of it for me. I was acutely aware of it,” he said. In truth, David was terrified of being sent away from Karly.

  We usually associate the term deportation with illegal immigrants, to dark-skinned people with dark eyes, not the blue-eyed, blonds among us.

  Yet, despite his whiteness and the fact that he was in this country legally, David was keenly aware that when it came to matters of the state, he was an immigrant, an outsider, a person of suspect.

  “The authorities have significant leverage over immigrants,” David said. “I think being an immigrant di
minished the fact that I was a law-abiding, taxpaying, economically active responsible parent. I was unlike Shawn in every way. I was the stability in Karly’s life. I was very concerned about never seeing Karly again. I could not bear to think of her growing up thousands of miles and a border away from me.””

  Sarah had nothing to fear the following day, December 7, 2004, when she met with Matt Stark and Detective Stauder at the state offices in Albany. Stauder kept notes about that meeting as well:

  I asked Sarah if she has any ideas to the reason why Karly suffered from hair loss. Sarah believed it was due to stress. Sarah told me that after she moved in full-time with Shawn, Karly would ask her where “daddy” was and why he didn’t live with her. Sarah mentioned Karly was fine as long as they were just visiting at Shawn’s, but once she moved in full time it really seemed to bother Karly.

  Sarah mentioned that Karly gets used to a set schedule and when it changes she has a difficult time coping. I asked Sarah if she thought David was abusing Karly and she told me no. Sarah told me David is a “terrific dad.” When I asked Sarah about Karly saying David hits her in the head she told me she did not know why Karly said that. She does not believe he does.

  I told Sarah sometimes an abuser will pick the pulling of hair to abuse their victim because there are no visible signs of injury, just the complaint of the victim. Sarah told me she spoke with Karly’s doctor at length and she said the doctor told her about a disorder called “Trichotillomania”—the pulling of hair and that Karly may suffer from the disorder.

  Sarah clearly said that the problems with Karly didn’t arise until after she moved in with Shawn. That should have been a red flag for investigators. Following the interview, Matt Stark filed the following report:

  12.07.2004

  Sarah indicated that Karly’s hair loss was due to stress around changes to her schedule and spending more time at Shawn’s house. Ms. Sheehan said Karly can’t accept that her mom and dad are not together and she is not happy sharing her mother with Shawn and Kate.