Complicit

Murder In The Rain

True Crime

4.2 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2020

⏱️ 107 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Three-year-old Karly Sheehan was being abused. Despite multiple investigations into her home life and several people who loved her trying to intervene, her young life was stolen from her. In today’s episode, Emily will describe what happened to little Karly. Joining us in the episode is Karen Spears Zacharias, the author of Karly Sheehan: True Crime Story Behind Karly’s Law. Her book offers a unique perspective from someone who was very close to the Sheehan family. If you want to show your support for little Karly and help other kids who need us, please consider donating to ABC House or a similar child advocacy center in your area. For additional information and sources visit this week’s MITR blog If you are clamoring for more MITR, join us on Patreon! You’ll get social media shout-outs, access to additional episodes, more bloopers, and more! Sources Interview with Karen Spears Zacharias 07.31.2020 | Public Court Records for Benton County Court Case #CM0520645, State of Oregon vs. Shawn Wesley Field | Karen Spears Zacharias - Karly Sheehan: True Crime Story Behind Karly’s Law | Researcher paper by John E. Baughman | Representative Gelser - Karly’s Law (part 1) | Representative Gelser - Karly’s Law (part 2) | Oregon Live - House Endorses Karly’s Law | Oregon Department of Justice - Karly’s Law | Gazette Times - Karly’s Nightmare | Gazette Times - Field’s Child Testifies | Gazette Times - Testimony in field Trial Reviewals Frantic Call | FindLaw - State v. Shawn Wesley Field | Democrat Herald - Man Sentenced | Gazette Times - Expert Girl Died of Blows to Head | Gazette Times - Man Charged in Toddler Death | Democrat Herald - Man Sentenced to 46 years in Beating Death of Child | East Oregonion - Karly’s Legacy| Corvallis Gazette Times - A Toddler’s Last Days | Democrat-Herald - Prosecutors say abuse was part of scheme | Statesmen Journal - Bill to Strengthen Karly’s Law | Oregon Department of Human Services - 2009 Child Welfare Data Book | Our Sponsors: * Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Transcript

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0:00.0	The following episode contains graphic descriptions of child abuse.
0:05.0	Listener discretion is advised.
0:07.0	I'm Emily Rowney and I'm Alicia Holland.
0:11.0	This is Bill Camp, the voice of Forensic Files 2 on H.L.N.
0:16.0	And you're listening to Murder in the Rain.
0:20.0	According to the 2009 Oregon Child Welfare Data Book, there were just over 55,000 reports of child neglect and abuse made to Oregon DHS in 2005. Many of those reports were
0:36.8	investigated. Some of them were confirmed while others were closed, but by the end of that
0:41.9	year 18 of those children were dead.
0:45.6	Today's case is about one of those deaths, the horrendous abuse that led to the death of
0:50.1	three-year-old Carly Sheehan from Corvallis, Oregon.
0:53.2	If she were alive today, Carly would be 18 years old.
0:57.0	Maybe she'd be planning for college or traveling to Europe to see her family.
1:01.3	But she's dead and her death was prolonged. It was painful and it
1:06.1	was avoidable. Thanks to Carly and the law that followed her death, maybe other
1:11.2	children will be removed from their situation before the same fate befalls
1:15.4	them.
1:16.8	There are a lot of people who may turn away from today's episode because it involves the
1:20.6	repeated abuse of a child.
1:23.0	Perhaps they feel they're too sensitive and they want to avoid the trauma that those around
1:26.9	them endure on a daily basis, or maybe it's just too sad and too hard to hear.
1:32.4	To paraphrase Karen Spear Zacharias, the author I interviewed for today's case, imagine how hard
1:38.4	it would be to have lived through it if it's that hard to listen to it. The truth is, those of you who are listening are likely not the people who need to hear it.
	...

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