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Friday, February 23, 2007

Fed Up With The Kids? Don't Do This.

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posted by Bob at Friday, February 23, 2007

3 Comments:

Blogger Bob said...

Feb. 21: When Crookston couple left town, they left the kids behind
Police say Crookston couple abandoned two teenagers.
By Robert Franklin, Star Tribune
Last update: February 23, 2007 – 12:10 PM

Feb. 21: Couple wanted

In Crookston, Minn., it was the parents who ran away from home.
William Marine Anderson and Jennifer Dawn Anderson left a note saying they were going to work "early" one day and never returned to their apartment or to her two daughters, ages 17 and 15, according to a criminal complaint.

Even before they left in September, the complaint said, food supplies had dwindled, bills had piled up and the landlord was talking about evicting them. Her son and his fiancée took care of the girls for a time, and the couple have been reported to be in Montana or Wyoming.

Now the girls are in foster care and a warrant has been issued for the couple's arrest on gross misdemeanor charges of child neglect.

The son, Aaron Merck, 21, said Wednesday that his mother phoned himin Bagley, Minn., a few days after the couple left Crookston and said, "You won't believe what I did. ... I left."

When Merck asked his mother what she meant, he said that she told him: "I'm in Montana right now," and that she wasn't planning on returning.

When he asked whether the girls knew, Merck said his mother replied: "I told them I had to work late."

Merck, who now lives in Thief River Falls, Minn., said his mother was stressed out by the younger daughter, who had been dating men in their 20s.

He said the girls went into foster care in November after he and his fiancée, who are expecting a baby, decided they could no longer afford to care for them. A third daughter, who is an adult, also helped out, he said.

Jennifer Anderson has been married four or five times, her son said. The family moved around a lot before settling in what police investigator Aaron Pry and neighbors called a "quiet neighborhood" in Crookston.

Criminal complaints and other sources offered this picture of family dysfunction, instability and abuse:

William, 44, and Jennifer, 42, dated for two years and married a year ago. Four months into their marriage, William was charged with terroristic threats for allegedly threatening to kill the girls and their mother. Authorities say he was drinking at the time.

William becomes physically violent only when he drinks, but he can be verbally abusive anytime, a complaint quoted Jennifer as telling police. William Anderson's mother told an officer that he had been jailed for assaulting his ex-wife.

Mom was 'stressed out'

When the Andersons left northwestern Minnesota in September, the older daughter found $20 in her bedroom. Jennifer had talked about leaving the girls earlier, and Merck's first reaction was to wonder whether she had found a foster home for them.

He found the apartment "was a mess," the complaint said, there was little food, overdue bills and one girl was using dish soap for shampoo. Jennifer Anderson called relatives to say that they were working at a fast food restaurant in Sheridan, Wyo., and that they might return in November or at Christmas.

Meanwhile, William Anderson missed two court dates on the terroristic threats charges and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Police Chief Tim Motherway said that his officers have had other domestic-type contacts with the Andersons.

He said paperwork in the case had been submitted "quite a while ago" to the county attorney and that he didn't know why it has taken so long for charges to be brought. Polk County Attorney Greg Widseth did not return a call for comment.

"There's unique circumstances here that you don't run across very often," Motherway said of the couple's leaving home. "It's not very often when the parents do that."

Robert Franklin • 612-673-4543 • rfranklin@startribune.com

1:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Then they wonder why kid end up with a troubled life...

I was at the mall the other day eating at the food court. I noticed an old man watching a teenager sitting next to him. The teenager had spiked hair in all different colors: green, red, orange, and blue.

The old man kept staring at him. The teenager would look and find the old man staring every time.

When the teenager had enough, he sarcastically asked, "What's the matter old man, never done anything wild in your life?"

The old man did not bat an eye in his response: "Got drunk once and had sex with a peacock. I was just wondering if you were my son."

5:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, that's funny, I like that. Let's hope it's not an urban legend, or maybe we should.

5:30 PM  

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