Faith
04-08-2008, 09:23 AM
DSS: Duncan mother skipped town with child
By Rachel E. Leonard
Published: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 | Updated: 9:03 am
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b315/FaithMS/Help%20Find%20The%20Missing/Ivan.jpghttp://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b315/FaithMS/Help%20Find%20The%20Missing/Donna.jpg
Ivan Karapandzic's home life in Duncan was far from perfect, but at least his family knew he had a home. His mother, Donna Karapandzic, lost custody of her children in July 2007 and skipped town, Ivan and his now 14-year-old brother in tow.
She later abandoned the 14-year-old with a boyfriend in Georgia, police said, but she and Ivan have dropped off the map, leaving behind only worry and speculation for those who love him.
Ivan, 10, is now Spartanburg County's only parental abduction missing child case, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. He is believed to be with his mother, and investigators think he could be in danger because of allegations Donna physically abused another one of her children.
DSS error
More than eight months have passed since he went missing - a disappearance that, through an error by the state Department of Social Services, wasn't reported to police until December. Brian Teal, the Duncan police officer handling the case, said parental abductions are taken seriously, especially when abuse is involved.
"Under these circumstances, to where she's been to court and the children were placed in DSS care, they were taken from the parent for some reason, so we definitely look into this," Teal said.
Family members, who said they weren't certain Donna would abuse a child, said they don't know where the boy or his mother have gone. Donna's grandmother, who would not give her name because she didn't want to get involved in family disputes, said Ivan hates to be separated from his mother.
"I miss him," she said. "We all do. But he loves her to death. He won't go to anyone else. He loves his mother."
Family and acquaintances said Donna, 41, has seven children - two girls and five boys. One is an adult, five are teens, and Ivan is the youngest. Three of the teens live in foster care with the same family in Spartanburg County.
Details on the allegations against Donna are incomplete because the DSS case file on the family is confidential. But one of Ivan's older brothers, now 15, was placed in emergency protective custody by Spartanburg County sheriff's deputies in April 2007 after a Landrum woman said Donna abandoned him.
That woman told officers that the 15-year-old, her son's best friend, had been living with her for two months. The woman said every time she would call the family, Donna would refuse to talk and hang up the phone. Donna also refused to pick up her son. The woman took the boy to his mother's house several times, but she would not let him in.
When interviewed by officers, the 15-year-old said his mother had woken him from his sleep in the past by pouring vodka and baby powder in his eyes or by hitting him in the face with a belt. He also said his mother had locked him out of the house before in cold weather, telling investigators he went to a nearby Wendy's parking lot and slept in a cardboard box. The boy also said Donna would not let him have a key to the residence and was verbally abusive to him.
The boy's friend told officers he witnessed abuse in the home. An officer contacted Donna, who refused to come to the residence to pick up the child.
Donna's family said they don't know whether to believe those stories. It's not clear whether anyone alleged Ivan was abused, and Donna was overwhelmed by the behavior of the rebellious 15-year-old, said Donna's mother, Linda Bridges of Arvada, Colo.
"(The 15-year-old) told a lot of things," she continued. "Some of them may have been true. ... I don't know. I wasn't there."
Efforts by the Herald-Journal to locate Donna also wereunsuccessful.
Missing
According to Duncan police reports, a Spartanburg County Family Court hearing on whether to remove the older child from Donna's custody took place on July 26, 2007. Donna did not show, and a judge removed all minor children from her care.
After that, DSS workers searched different locations but could not find Donna, Ivan and the 14-year-old. Their last known address was 90 Riverside Drive in Duncan, a fairly secluded double-wide trailer at the end of a long dirt driveway. Police, however, didn't know the two boys were missing until five months later, when a DSS employee filed a report with the Duncan Police Department.
Ray Trail, Spartanburg County DSS director, admits his employees made a mistake.
"The original worker that had this left," Trail said. "It was handed off to another worker, so it was delayed. It would not be a normal length of time."
Normally, Trail said, his employees contact police immediately to report a missing child. The delay in the case should not have happened, he said.
A break in the case came in February, when the 14-year-old was located in Georgia, said Teal, the Duncan officer. Donna had dropped off that boy with a boyfriend there, then took off and abandoned the child, he said. But Ivan could not be found. Police are trying to track him through what they believe to be his MySpace account.
Doug Brannon, a Spartanburg attorney who practices family law, said it's not uncommon for parents to disappear when criminal charges come into play.
"In the cases where the parents disappear, it's where there may be charges resulting from the abuse," Brannon said. "And it may be easier to cut ties with the child than stay here and fight the criminal process."
Family court cases are rarely, if ever, simple affairs, Brannon said, and elements found in Ivan's case frequently pop up throughout the criminal justice system, he said.
"It's very common to have, if there's more than one child in a family, to have one child allege to have been abused and the other child not abused," he said. "It's very common that children involved in a DSS action with the same mother have different fathers. And it's almost always present in a DSS case there's some family members, some acquaintance, making an allegation of abuse and other family members saying it didn't happen, or that's not how it happened."
Troubled background
The allegations of child cruelty were not Donna's first run-in with the law. According to criminal records, she was charged at least three times with driving under the influence - twice accused of sipping orange-flavored vodka while behind the wheel - but appears to have been convicted only once.
In June 2001, Donna was charged with possession of Xanax and possession with intent to distribute the painkiller Roxicodone. The charges were later dismissed. A Spartanburg County deputy had stopped the vehicle she was riding in after the deputy witnessed what appeared to be a drug deal and found the drugs under her seat, according to sheriff's office reports. Four of her children were in the vehicle.
When stopped for DUI and open container in July 2005, Donna also told officers she had taken a prescription medication earlier that day that caused impairment, on top of drinking alcohol. The children were not in the car at the time. She also has an active warrant for her arrest in Spartanburg County on child cruelty charges.
Bridges, Donna's mother, admits her daughter struggled with substance abuse. She claims it began after her daughter met a drug dealer who would father her first four children. He later abandoned the family, Bridges said, as Ivan's dad later would.
"She's tried to fight it," Bridges said. "She's done well at times, but now I'm not sure."
Ivan was born prematurely and was known for his gentle disposition, Bridges said. He was so small at birth that the family didn't think he was going to live.
"He's a sweet child; he really is," she said. "He's always been such a survivor."
Anyone with information on Ivan's whereabouts is asked to call Duncan police at 949-6600.
Source (http://www.goupstate.com/article/20080408/NEWS/804080332/1051/NEWS01http://)
By Rachel E. Leonard
Published: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 | Updated: 9:03 am
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b315/FaithMS/Help%20Find%20The%20Missing/Ivan.jpghttp://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b315/FaithMS/Help%20Find%20The%20Missing/Donna.jpg
Ivan Karapandzic's home life in Duncan was far from perfect, but at least his family knew he had a home. His mother, Donna Karapandzic, lost custody of her children in July 2007 and skipped town, Ivan and his now 14-year-old brother in tow.
She later abandoned the 14-year-old with a boyfriend in Georgia, police said, but she and Ivan have dropped off the map, leaving behind only worry and speculation for those who love him.
Ivan, 10, is now Spartanburg County's only parental abduction missing child case, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. He is believed to be with his mother, and investigators think he could be in danger because of allegations Donna physically abused another one of her children.
DSS error
More than eight months have passed since he went missing - a disappearance that, through an error by the state Department of Social Services, wasn't reported to police until December. Brian Teal, the Duncan police officer handling the case, said parental abductions are taken seriously, especially when abuse is involved.
"Under these circumstances, to where she's been to court and the children were placed in DSS care, they were taken from the parent for some reason, so we definitely look into this," Teal said.
Family members, who said they weren't certain Donna would abuse a child, said they don't know where the boy or his mother have gone. Donna's grandmother, who would not give her name because she didn't want to get involved in family disputes, said Ivan hates to be separated from his mother.
"I miss him," she said. "We all do. But he loves her to death. He won't go to anyone else. He loves his mother."
Family and acquaintances said Donna, 41, has seven children - two girls and five boys. One is an adult, five are teens, and Ivan is the youngest. Three of the teens live in foster care with the same family in Spartanburg County.
Details on the allegations against Donna are incomplete because the DSS case file on the family is confidential. But one of Ivan's older brothers, now 15, was placed in emergency protective custody by Spartanburg County sheriff's deputies in April 2007 after a Landrum woman said Donna abandoned him.
That woman told officers that the 15-year-old, her son's best friend, had been living with her for two months. The woman said every time she would call the family, Donna would refuse to talk and hang up the phone. Donna also refused to pick up her son. The woman took the boy to his mother's house several times, but she would not let him in.
When interviewed by officers, the 15-year-old said his mother had woken him from his sleep in the past by pouring vodka and baby powder in his eyes or by hitting him in the face with a belt. He also said his mother had locked him out of the house before in cold weather, telling investigators he went to a nearby Wendy's parking lot and slept in a cardboard box. The boy also said Donna would not let him have a key to the residence and was verbally abusive to him.
The boy's friend told officers he witnessed abuse in the home. An officer contacted Donna, who refused to come to the residence to pick up the child.
Donna's family said they don't know whether to believe those stories. It's not clear whether anyone alleged Ivan was abused, and Donna was overwhelmed by the behavior of the rebellious 15-year-old, said Donna's mother, Linda Bridges of Arvada, Colo.
"(The 15-year-old) told a lot of things," she continued. "Some of them may have been true. ... I don't know. I wasn't there."
Efforts by the Herald-Journal to locate Donna also wereunsuccessful.
Missing
According to Duncan police reports, a Spartanburg County Family Court hearing on whether to remove the older child from Donna's custody took place on July 26, 2007. Donna did not show, and a judge removed all minor children from her care.
After that, DSS workers searched different locations but could not find Donna, Ivan and the 14-year-old. Their last known address was 90 Riverside Drive in Duncan, a fairly secluded double-wide trailer at the end of a long dirt driveway. Police, however, didn't know the two boys were missing until five months later, when a DSS employee filed a report with the Duncan Police Department.
Ray Trail, Spartanburg County DSS director, admits his employees made a mistake.
"The original worker that had this left," Trail said. "It was handed off to another worker, so it was delayed. It would not be a normal length of time."
Normally, Trail said, his employees contact police immediately to report a missing child. The delay in the case should not have happened, he said.
A break in the case came in February, when the 14-year-old was located in Georgia, said Teal, the Duncan officer. Donna had dropped off that boy with a boyfriend there, then took off and abandoned the child, he said. But Ivan could not be found. Police are trying to track him through what they believe to be his MySpace account.
Doug Brannon, a Spartanburg attorney who practices family law, said it's not uncommon for parents to disappear when criminal charges come into play.
"In the cases where the parents disappear, it's where there may be charges resulting from the abuse," Brannon said. "And it may be easier to cut ties with the child than stay here and fight the criminal process."
Family court cases are rarely, if ever, simple affairs, Brannon said, and elements found in Ivan's case frequently pop up throughout the criminal justice system, he said.
"It's very common to have, if there's more than one child in a family, to have one child allege to have been abused and the other child not abused," he said. "It's very common that children involved in a DSS action with the same mother have different fathers. And it's almost always present in a DSS case there's some family members, some acquaintance, making an allegation of abuse and other family members saying it didn't happen, or that's not how it happened."
Troubled background
The allegations of child cruelty were not Donna's first run-in with the law. According to criminal records, she was charged at least three times with driving under the influence - twice accused of sipping orange-flavored vodka while behind the wheel - but appears to have been convicted only once.
In June 2001, Donna was charged with possession of Xanax and possession with intent to distribute the painkiller Roxicodone. The charges were later dismissed. A Spartanburg County deputy had stopped the vehicle she was riding in after the deputy witnessed what appeared to be a drug deal and found the drugs under her seat, according to sheriff's office reports. Four of her children were in the vehicle.
When stopped for DUI and open container in July 2005, Donna also told officers she had taken a prescription medication earlier that day that caused impairment, on top of drinking alcohol. The children were not in the car at the time. She also has an active warrant for her arrest in Spartanburg County on child cruelty charges.
Bridges, Donna's mother, admits her daughter struggled with substance abuse. She claims it began after her daughter met a drug dealer who would father her first four children. He later abandoned the family, Bridges said, as Ivan's dad later would.
"She's tried to fight it," Bridges said. "She's done well at times, but now I'm not sure."
Ivan was born prematurely and was known for his gentle disposition, Bridges said. He was so small at birth that the family didn't think he was going to live.
"He's a sweet child; he really is," she said. "He's always been such a survivor."
Anyone with information on Ivan's whereabouts is asked to call Duncan police at 949-6600.
Source (http://www.goupstate.com/article/20080408/NEWS/804080332/1051/NEWS01http://)