How Do You Plead PA, NY?
February 17th, 2008
Once again, a parent who should have never had contact with his children is charged with murder. This crime is particularly heinous in that it was absolutely predictable and preventable. This was not the first time Miguel Matias attempted to kill one or more of his children. Several years ago, he was charged with trying to set his children ablaze in a car.
Matias was found not criminally liable for that act, but he was given unsupervised visitation with his children after he was released from institutionalized care.
NEW YORK (AP) - New York City police say a father whose daughter’s burned body was found stuffed in the boiler of his apartment building killed the girl because he was upset with her for text-messaging a boy.
Police say 34-year-old Miguel Matias called 911 yesterday morning and claimed he strangled the 14-year-old the night before and dumped her body in the woods.
Police aren’t sure whether the girl was dead before she was stuffed into the boiler. The medical examiner’s office is trying to determine the cause of death.
Matias is separated from the girl’s mother but had visitation rights. The girl lived in Pennsylvania with her mother and was visiting him in New York for the weekend.
Police say the father has a history of emotional problems and was institutionalized after trying to set a car on fire with his children inside.
While some neighbors say that Matias appeared to be a quiet man, others report seeing him beat his fourteen year old child in the halls. It is not clear whether any of these witnesses called DCFS.
In any event, Anna Matias should have been protected from the man who already tried to kill her once. After surviving one terrifying experience of attempted murder by her father, she should not have been subjected to more violence at his hands. That she was not protected, and left defenseless against the rage of a father known to be dangerous and mentally ill, represents an enormous failure in our social service and justice systems, neither of which is held accountable for their decisions, even when the consequences are as disastrous — and predictable — as death.
5 Responses to “How Do You Plead PA, NY?”
Patty G. February 18th, 2008 at 7:35 am #
First, I blame Anna’s mother as she is in the one that let Anna go and visit her father. Anna’s mother clearly knew what happened the last time when Miguel tried to set his car on fire in Pennsylvania with his children in it, only for Miguel to be hospitalized for emotional problems in Pennsylvania for the incident.
Anna has two other sisters (although one report says she has two brothers), who did not go and visit their father. Why didn’t these two other children go with Anna? Did the mother feel something in the core of her soul and not send the other two?
According to an article I found on line, Bronx teenager Anna Matias lived in fear of her father. Anna told friends he would hurt her if she was late getting home. She told them he routinely screamed at her and beat her. But they never thought he would kill her.
Anna’s mother Jocelyn, left Matias after the incident with setting the car on fire. In 2003, Matias was arrested in Brooklyn for allegedly locking his wife inside a bedroom after threatening her with a 12-inch knife.
As a mother, I would have fought the Family Court regarding my children’s father having visitation rights based on what was done with setting the car on fire. If I couldn’t win “no visitation”, then I would have fought hard for at least “supervised visitation” in order to protect my children.
Secondly, I blame Social Services for not doing their job and interviewing the children with regards to their fears of their father, especially after being subjected to almost dying in a car set on fire by their father. I blame Social Services for not fighting on behalf of the children, as Social Services is suppose to be the advocate for the children. I blame Social Services for not doing a complete mental evaluation on the mother since she was subjected to Miguel over the years.
Thirdly, I blame the hospital where Miguel was hospitalized after the fire incident. It is clear that an extentive mental evaluation of him was not performed.
Fourthly, I blame Family Court for not taking the hands of the law in protecting these three children. If Social Services failed, then the Family Court Judge should have interviewed these children in chambers. The Family Court Judge that handled this family whether in PA or NY needs to be held accountable for their actions in allowing “unsupervised” visitation to Miguel.
I personally feel parents need to be more vigilant when it comes to their children. I think of Natalie Holloway and Madeline McCann, it first starts with the parents. If parents didn’t leave their young children alone while they go out to eat, Madeline would still be here. If parents said “NO”, you can’t go there because you are to young, Natalie would still be here.
I may get slammed for my response, but this is how I feel and how I felt when I heard about Natalie, Madeline and now Anna.
I am a mother of a 40 year old son, who I have said “no” to more times then I can remember and more flack from my son because of it in his teen years. I’d rather say “no” and have him hate me then for me to be in any of the positions of having to look for my child or have to bury my child.
Rest In Peace Anna as you are now safe and in the hands of the Lord!
The justice system and social services need to be held accountable for their actions.
Jane Devin February 18th, 2008 at 10:22 am #
More news is coming out by the minute, isn’t it? I didn’t know about the knife incident at the time of this article. It’s always so frustrating when the danger is absolutely known, and parents fail to protect their kids, and this is so often the case. Riley Sawyers’ mother watched her boyfriend beat her child before — yet she chose him, and Riley ended up dead. Some reports says she even helped kill her own daughter. Anthony Buhr’s father sent him back to a mother whose boyfriend had already brutally assaulted the boy. His life ended in torture. The mother even helped clean up the blood.
The choice of a partner is a huge clue into someone’s psyche, and even when an abusive gf/bf is kicked to the curb, the child is left with someone who may or may not be a fully functional, aware, responsible parent.
I totally agree with you. As a mom, I would go underground and defy court orders before I allowed my kids to be near an abuser. This mother, though she will spend her life with regrets, was partly responsible. The problem is that the entire family was in the system — and the system failed. If Anna’s mom was incapable of making good choices, then the system, which has the responsibility for protecting children, should have made the choices for her, and kept Anna out of Matias’s reach.
I feel for the McCann’s in that their tragic mistake cost them their daughter. Would I, you, or most parents, have left a toddler and a baby alone in a hotel room? No. It’s really something most of us don’t understand, especially given that these people were intelligent.
As for Natalee, she was a young adult, but still an adult, and she was going on a trip with a large group of 124 other HS graduates. Many parents, including me, would have felt that there was safety in those kinds of numbers. Thousands of graduates take these kinds of trips every year without incident. Unfortunately, Natalee got separated from her friends and chose to trust — someone. Tragic.
jimi February 18th, 2008 at 11:55 am #
DEAR JANE, THIS IS TRAGIC!! IT IS AN ONGOING PROBLEM IN THE MEDICAL, JUSTICE AND SOCIAL SYSTEM. WHY, WHY, WHY???? I ASK MYSELF THIS SAME QUESTION OVER AND OVER, WHEN I WORKED IN A BUSY EMERGENCY ROOM. THIS NONSENSE IS RAMPENT. WHEN WILL IT STOP????? WHEN PEOPLE START SPEAKING OUT, DEMANDING FOLLOW UP OF INAPPROPRIATE DECISIONS. THE MOTHER OF THIS GIRL WAS AND IS AS SICK AS THE FATHER. WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD SEND A YOUNG GIRL INTO THIS KIND OF DANGER. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR OF LOCAL NEWSPAPERS, CONTACTING REPERSENTIVES AND SENATORS OF THAT STATE,OFTEN GETS THE BALL ROLLING. SCREAM YOUR THOUGHTS AND ACT ON THEM. IN MY HONEST OPINION….. WE NEED MORE HANDS AND VOICES TO SPEAK AND WORK FOR THE VICTIMS. SOCIAL SERVICES IS EXPECTED TO F/U ON THESE CASES…THEY DON’T. HALF THE PEOPLE WORKING IN SS ARE OVER WORKED OR ILL PREPARED TO DEAL WITH THIS SORT OF DISFUNCTION…PLUS PEOPLE MOVING AROUND..ECT. BELIEVE ME…AT ONE POINT IN MY LIFE I STAYED IN TROUBLE. I WAS AN ADVOCATE AND STILL AM. I OFTEN HEARD”OH, ITS HER AGAIN” I DIDN’T CARE. A LOT OF PEOPLE NEED TO BE SHAMED INTO DOING THEIR JOBS OR THREATHENED. IT STARTS AT THE TOP !!
Laurie February 18th, 2008 at 12:36 pm #
Jimi, I agree about the shame part. Look what publicity does in some of these cases. Changes happen, investigations are sped up, justice happens when no justice before was close.
Then there are laws named after victims. Megan’s Law. Jessica’s Law, etc. It’s not as if they were the first victims, they just got the most publicity.
I can’t remember the name of the little girl whose father got tougher sentences for sex offenders in his state, but all that came from shaming the judges and publicity.
Patty, totally agree with your post. Parents don’t say no. Here where I live, there was a 14 year old girl who was reported missing. She was pregnant with her 23 year old boyfriend’s child. They had a picture of the girl in the paper. She had grown up makeup, revealing clothes, and dyed hair.
She was found, she had just runaway and wasn’t abducted, but sheesh……the mom was all indignant and made out like she was a victim. The 23 year old went to jail, but the girl went back to her mom.
I’;m not a mom, so maybe I don’t have a clue, but seriously…….no way in hell I’d let a teen of mine dress that way, wear that kind of makeup, and there’s no way I’d give her the kind of freedom that let her have sex with a man nine years older. She’d be in a boot camp or counseling center of some sort.
I feel sorry for Beth Twitty. And I wonder how the parents of all those other kids, and the kids themselves must feel. A graduation trip is supposed to be happy.
I got to take a road trip for my graduation. 20 miles away, LOL! We stayed in cabins for the week and drank lots of beer. We canoed and blasted music and were pretty wild up until about the 3rd day when the charm wore off.
Patty G. February 18th, 2008 at 3:26 pm #
When I was in high school and right after the Senior Prom a group of us went to the Jersey shore for the day. This was our limit and no further. Some of us were 18, and according to the law an adult (barely), but clearly not wise enough to follow the rules that were in place as we left for the shore. Once adult children (18), still living at home get out in the world they lose all their sensibility. We had older adults buy the beer and booze and we clearly got drunk and stupid! This was 43 years ago, and things were not nearly as bad as they are now.
Parents need to visit “Spring Breaks” here in Florida or any other state that has a shoreline and what teenagers are doing. Actually just watch “Ocean Beach” on TV and this will show you exactly what is happening to our teenage children here in the USA and other countries where American teenagers visit.
It’s the same with the young lady that is a transfer student to Italy and now a murder suspect. She is classified as a sweet, innocent young girl who did no wrong and basically has a halo on top of her head. But now she is part of a murder of her roommate.
Parents “wake-up”!