The life of a single parent is never easy. Even if one has a support system of friends and family in place, the struggle of having to work full time and take care of multiple children consumes all of your time and energy. That said, strong determined men and women have been making situations like this work for centuries.
The modern day, however, holds new challenges for even the most determined single parent. Many of them have to do with the fact that children have just as much access to cell phones and social media as everyone else. The connections that our children make over the Internet can not only prove to be dangerous to themselves but also everyone around them…
Featured Photo Credit: www.click2houston.com
Welfare Check
The police had been called in to check on 44-year-old Tanya Bates. The single mother-of-two was supposed to show up for work earlier that day but never arrived. She also hadn’t bothered to call out either. Considering how punctual and responsive she always was, her coworkers were understandably worried; and for good reason.
Missing Kids
The investigating officer arrived on his welfare check to find Tanya dead on her living room floor. She had suffered blunt force trauma to her skull, was knocked out, and left for dead. Even more disturbing than her grisly murder was the fact that her two girls, ages 7 and 14, were missing as was their mother’s car…
Two Girls and Their Mother
Tanya Bates and her two girls had lived in a duplex in Round Rock, Texas. Like most single mothers, Tanya struggled but not overtly. Tanya’s daughters were well-fed, cared for, and most importantly of all, loved. Then, one day, someone new came into their lives and changed everything.
Not Alone
Tanya’s eldest daughter had actually met her mother’s killer a few years before her death. The then 12-year-old had been visiting her father in Louisiana when she’d run into the much older, very charming, Terry Miles. After that initial meeting, Miles proceeded to do most child molesters have done throughout history; he began to groom her…
Lavishing Attention
Miles paid particular attention to the older daughter. He made her feel special, made her feel important, and by the time she had returned back to mother’s home in Texas, he’d gotten her to be infatuated with him. From August to September of that year, the two exchanged nearly 1,000 phone calls and texts to one another.
A Manny
The girl even managed to convince her mother to allow Miles to move into their home to serve as a male nanny for her and her sister; both of whom were being home-schooled. Over the next five months, a number of allegedly illegal things occurred between Miles and the 14-year-old. All of this seemingly happening under their mother’s nose, but no one seemed worried. Until that fateful day…
Days Later
Tanya’s girls and the car were gone only a few days before police finally caught up with them at a traffic stop near La Vera, Colorado. Sheriff’s deputies had already been on the lookout for the stolen vehicle and as soon as they discovered that the girls appeared unharmed, brought Miles into custody.
Out of Fear
The subsequent trial began several months later and Terry Miles’ defense attorneys began by admitting that Miles’ reasons for fleeing with the two girls were not rational. They argued that this decision was made out of fear but that it was a necessary one. Miles hadn’t killed Tanya Bates, your honor, someone else had…
Another Killer
The suggestion was that Tanya had many enemies and that is was one of these unnamed, unknown killers who had done away with her. According to Miles, he had taken the girls out of state in order to protect them. There were, of course, more than a few problems with this theory. The first of which had to do with physical evidence.
Gobs of Evidence
The police found DNA from Miles both on the teen’s clothing on one of the girls’ personal towels. In addition, they found Tanya’s blood on his shoe. Much of this could be attributed to the fact that Miles lived in the girls’ house. Nevertheless, even if they couldn’t pin the murder on Miles, his “closeness” to the girls was still questionable…
Possible Charges
Indicted
Miles had been indicted on 2 counts of kidnapping as well as transporting minors for the purpose of eliciting and engaging in sex. There was much evidence to support these charges, but one that initially could have cost the prosecution their case. That dad to do with the diverging accounts of the two girls he’d allegedly kidnapped.
The Girls’ Take
Initially, the older girl testified that she had seen Miles punch her mother and knock her to the floor on the day she died. She added that Miles had approached her soon after with blood on his clothing. For some reason though, neither of the girls saw Miles as any sort of threat, so they came with him willingly…
Gone Willingly
This willingness to go with their potential kidnapper has been the main point of contention throughout the course of the trial. Though they stuck with this story after their initial recovery, they changed their account a few weeks before the trial began. The eldest sister now had some very different opinions on her “friend” Mr. Miles.
Changed their Tune
Now 15, the girl testified that Miles had not only sexually abused her, he’d also killed their mother before they left for Colorado. The working theory was now that she’d only gone with him in order to protect herself and her little sister. Her emotion was difficult to fake, but the change of story did present some problems…
Little Liar
Obviously, Miles’ defense attorney’s urged the jury to believe the teen’s original story. They also implied that the teen was something of a liar and that she might have changed her story in order to make herself appear more innocent. Regardless of their assertions, there was evidence that Miles’ intentions with her might have caused the whole situation in the first place.
The Real Reasons
The theory is that the fight between Terry Miles and Tanya Bates began when the former admitted that he wanted to marry her teenage daughter. Tanya had not seen this coming, but her daughter’s father, a Mr. Griffith, knew right from the start that something was wrong. Miles had done some work for him on the Fourth of July and had quickly become “friends” with his very young teenage daughter…
Degree of Separation
Griffith, who lives in Sulphur, Louisiana remembered the meeting. “They had just met and the next thing you know they were like best friends…” Griffith had known Miles because his mother was Griffith’s cousin’s girlfriend, but he hadn’t known him to be any sort of pedophile; at least at first glance, anyway.
Inappropriate
“He was putting his arms around her and hugging her and not leaving her alone, and he had to have her right beside him,” Griffith explained after finding out that his daughter and her sister had been kidnapped by the man he’d trusted. He had known it was inappropriate but thought it would stop once she went back home to her mother’s in Texas. Obviously, he was wrong…
Safe and Sound
While the jury deliberates on Miles’ ultimate fate, the court has granted temporary custody of both sisters to child protective services. Since the untimely death of their mother, they have been receiving medical care and any other help they might need, but Griffith is determined to have his daughter and her sister come live with him in Louisiana when it’s all done.
Scant Deliberation
If he is declared guilty, Miles faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years to life. Many believe that this mandatory sentence will send a clear message to other would-be predators that the FBI and law enforcement agencies are coming for them. In the end, it took the jury only about two hours to hand down a verdict, which you can see below…
