Neal and Jesse Eldridge are two young men on trial. For over ten years, they suffered severe physical, emotional, and psychological abuse at the hands of their father. It ended the day they shot and killed him. Now Neal and Jesse are charged, as adults, with first degree murder; they face the possibility of life in prison. All this because Arkansas Department of Health Services, DHS, did nothing to step in and save these young lives. On January 24th, 1998, Rick Eldridge was supposed to take his sons, Neal and Jesse, to ?Buckarama?, a deer hunting show at the Little Rock Expo Center. Before they left that morning, Rick caught the two teens smoking cigarettes. He told them they could not go to ?Buckarama?(?Neal & Jesse Eldridge: Child Abuse Tragedy? 1), then tried to suffocate them. ?Neal said his father picked him up and threw him headfirst into a wall? (Haddigan 1).
As he left, Rick told Neal and Jesse that when he returned ?he would beat them to death.? He also gave them an ?impossible list of household chores? to do before he returned, and said that he would kill them if they didn?t.
Fearing for their lives, the boys, ages 14 and 15 at the time, decided they had to protect their mother and sisters, as well as themselves, from the monster they called Dad. So the brothers loaded their .22-caliber, semi-automatic, Marlin rifles. Jesse stood behind the corner of the family?s house, and Neal stood atop a ?shed next to the house.? When Rick got out of his truck, the boys began to fire. Jesse shot once, but he lost his nerve and lowered his aim to his father?s legs(?Neal & Jesse Eldridge: Child Abuse Tragedy? 1).
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Neal shot four more times aiming for Rick?s head and neck. They then retreated into the ?wooded area near the house and unloaded their rifles?(Shull 1).
Neal and Jesse?s mother, who worked nights at Wal-mart and slept during the day, woke upon hearing the gunfire. She came to the porch, and saw Rick lying there. Rachel, the boys? sister, ran to Larry Plummer, a neighbor, for help. Both Mrs. Eldridge and Rachel assumed that Rick had a seizure, and hit When the police arrived, Neal and Jesse stepped out of the woods. ?Jesse told State Police Cpl. Jerry Roberts that they had killed their father because of child abuse?(Haddigan 1).
Roberts stated that both Neal and Jesse ?were calm, collected, very precise, and respectful to the officer?. Sgt. Aaron Duvall is the ?Pope County Sheriff?s Department criminal investigator in charge of the case.? He said that Neal asked ?if his father was dead?, and then began to cry when he Neal and Jesse are now charged as adults with first degree murder. The Arkansas state prosecutor said, ?This was an ambush–definitely first degree murder.? This means that ?they could spend the rest of their lives in prison?(?Neal & Jesse Eldridge: Child Abuse Tragedy? 1).
An expert on family violence at the University of Pennsylvania, Richard Gelles, talked about this case during a ?20/20? interview. He said ?he was convinced the boys ?had a credible fear of their lives,?? and feels that the DHS failed these boys(?Neal & Jesse Eldridge: Child Abuse Tragedy? 1).
Many psychologists agree that exposure to physical abuse causes children, especially boys, to become aggressive and violent. It has also been proven that ?26 percent of incarcerated delinquents who had committed murder had experienced physical abuse; they were also more likely than those who had not suffered abuse to have directed their violence toward members of their immediate family.? Abused children often choose one of two options. They either fight or flee. ?They become involved in crime, especially violent crime. Almost half of violent teenage crimes occur in homes during family arguments?(Fagan 1).
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The Effects of Substance Abuse on Unborn Children Substance abuse is a problem that many pregnant women in the United States struggle with. Substance abuse is defined as the overindulgence in and the dependence on an addictive substance, especially alcohol or a narcotic drug. Generally, pregnant addicts abuse multiple substances, using a combination of drugs to self medicate themselves. In ...
Neal and Jesse?s history has been filled with traumatic abuse. They stated that Rick ?was an explosive, domineering abuser who savagely beat them, their sisters, and their mother for years?(Haddigan 1).
Mrs. Eldridge described her husband ?as a gun toting, pot-smoking 6?4? brute who punished his four children — including his young daughters — in bizarre ways.? The first incident Jesse remembers, took place at the age of five. He said, ? I was holding my spoon wrong when I was eating my jelly. And he slammed me down on the floor and stuck the handle of the spoon on my ear and it started ringing and bleeding.? Rick Eldridge ?wrapped soiled underwear around their heads, and took photos to humiliate them?(?Neal & Jesse Eldridge: Child Abuse Tragedy? 1).
Rick many times carried a pistol around his waist. He beat the boys with his fists, as well as an ammunition belt, or a stick(Haddigan 1).
Many times he threatened to ?pull a Ronald Gene Simmons. Simmons was convicted and executed for the December 1987 murders of 12 members of his family and two other people.? Rick had a book written about the case. Both Neal and Jesse were aware of what a ?Ronald Gene Simmons? would be(Shull 1).
Not only did he torture the family through the physical abuse, he also put them through emotional and psychological pain. Mrs. Eldridge said ?Rick Eldridge also killed family pets in the children?s presence while the children screamed in Although the DHS did not feel anything was wrong in the Eldridge house, many teachers at Hector Elementary School realized that there was something amiss in the home. Mrs. Honey Bewley is the clerk for the school?s migrant education program. She saw signs of physical abuse on Jesse. She also saw that Neal had a strong fear of his father.
A fifth grade teacher, Pam Killings, said ?the brothers were good boys? and ?she had no discipline problems with either? one. Pam also said Jesse ?was very quiet and withdrawn a large part of the time.? Judy Aday, a first grade teacher, had a face-to-face confrontation with Rick Eldridge in the hallway outside her classroom. She said he ?was a large intimidating man and that she was afraid of him and afraid for her students.? After Rick left, Aday went into her classroom and locked the door; she told another first grade teacher to do the same. If Rick returned she planned to get the children out through the window. The Hector School nurse, Sharon Bartlett, said she found extensive bruises on one of Jesse?s legs. ?Jesse told her his father would kill him if he told about how he got the bruises?(Shull 1).
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By definition, child abuse is the deliberate and willful injury of a child by a caretaker hitting, beating with an object, slamming against a wall, even killing. It involves active, hostile, aggressive treatment. The key word in the definition of child abuse is deliberate. Why would anyone deliberately harm a child The physical destruction of a child is the extreme reaction of parents to the ...
The bruises were reported to the state DHS(Haddigan 1).
Neal had cut his head at school one day. Rick ?cursed at yelled at his son when he arrived at the school to get Neal.? Bartlett was Annette Henderson is the Hector Elementary principal. She corroborated Bartlett?s story and added that Rick ?was loud, abrasive, and profane towards Neal after the playground accident.? Henderson was also there during Aday?s incident with Rick. She said he was ?very condescending? and had a reputation of being physically abusive(Shull 1).
Muriel Dean Blaylock is the retired school counselor. Neal and Jesse had both been referred to her because of the suspected abuse(Shull 1).
Jesse ?told her he was afraid to go home.? The state DHS was called one of many times(Haddigan 1).
There was also a report that Rachel had been abused. Mrs. Blaylock spoke with her, and Rachel said, ?I take Agatha and hide her.? Agatha is the youngest Eldridge(Shull 1).
Rachel said her father beat her brothers sometimes. Blaylock reported this incident to the DHS as well. A few days after Muriel Blaylock had reported these last few incidents, Rick Eldridge removed the boys from school. He said ?he wanted to school them at home?(Haddigan So what do the DHS officials say about how they handled the case? During one interview they said ?there was never enough evidence to remove the children. We have concluded that we did not drop the ball as far as case work is concerned?(?Neal & Jesse Eldridge: Child Abuse Tragedy? 1).
Joe Quinn, the DHS spokesman, would not detail the DHS actions. He said ?the agency investigated abuse complaints, and a social worker visited the Eldridge home before the killing.? He continues to insist ?DHS handled the case properly.?
Should Mrs. Eldridge have left? She tried several times. According to Jesse, each time they left, Rick ?ended up finding us and telling us he was going to hunt us down and kill us, and kill my mom?s mom?(Haddigan 1).
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The impact of abuse reaches all levels of a childs emotions. The two most common emotions are confusion and guilt. Confusion is usually the initial reaction of the child. They will usually wonder what is going on or if this is right or wrong. For a young child these types of questions can be a huge burden on their physcological development. Once the abuse begins the victim experience a tremnedous ...
Mrs. Eldridge told one reporter, ?He said we belonged to him and nobody would These boys had no other option. If they had not killed their father, he would have killed them. It was said best by Neal and Jesse?s attorney, Tom Furth. ?These boys basically lost their childhood. They?re not murderers. There?s such a thing as justifiable homicide?(Haddigan 1).
If ?justifiable homicide? does in fact exist in this country, this is the perfect example of it. In cases of women killing their abuser, some were acquitted only because they were abused. But adult women can just pick up and go to a shelter or a relative?s house. In the small backwoods town were Neal and Jesse lived, where were they to go? They were fourteen and fifteen. They could not just pack up their belongings and leave. If these women can be found not guilty, then it should be impossible to convict these two boys of first degree murder.
Bibliography:
Works Cited Fagan, Patrick F. ?The Child Abuse Crisis: The Disintegration of Marriage, Family, and the American Community.? 1999. Apr. 12, 2000. . Haddigan, Michael. ?Justifiable Homicide.? Nov. 26, 1999. Apr. 12, 2000.
. ?Neal & Jesse Eldridge: Child Abuse Tragedy.? Feb. 17, 1999. Apr. 12, 1999.
. Shull, Laura L. The Courier. June 23, 1998. Apr. 10, 2000.
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