Home Page Table of Contents Update Page Ryon Smith

- Six-year-old White Boy Beaten to Death ! -

Lee D. Crutchfield - Age 33

- Black Male & White Woman Arrested -

 

- Total National Media Blackout ! -

Lee D. Crutchfield - "I'm Innocent"

 

 

The Accused Killer - Lee D. Crutchfield

 

Sometime on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day in Cahokia, Illinois (a small town of 16,000 people), Ryon Smith, age six, died as a result of beatings that he had suffered over the course of at least several weeks, if not months. An autopsy is pending. Although Ryon was living with his mother, Starr Lohman, during this period, the likely assailant was her live-in boyfriend, Lee Crutchfield. Both Starr Lohman and Lee Crutchfield have been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Starr Lohman's father, Robert, is now serving a life sentence for murder at the Jefferson City Correctional Center (see below). He went to prison in 1982, when Starr was one year old.

 

A long-time neighbor and family friend from St. Louis said that Starr was trapped in an abusive relationship in St. Louis, with a different man, other than Lee Crutchfield, whose name and race she did not give, and that this was the reason that she fled to Cahokia, Illinois with Lee Crutchfield in October of 2005. This former neighbor said that Starr often had bruises when she saw her, and the last time that she saw her she had two black eyes. These injuries were evidently not inflicted by Lee Crutchfield, but by the man she fled St. Louis to get away from. Lee Crutchfield was Starr Lohman's new boyfriend, and he was supposed to help her get away from the abusive man in St. Louis. [Comment: It looks as though she jumped from the frying pan into the fire.]

 

This is not the first time that Lee Crutchfield has been violent and abusive. No less than five people have filed for orders of protection against Crutchfield since 1995, including his own older brother, Gregory, who claimed that Lee had threatened him and that he feared for his safety because Lee was using drugs and was unstable.

 

The following report came from the St. Louis Post Dispatch of December 28, 2005:

 

In April of 1995, Crutchfield's former girlfriend asked a judge for an order of protection. She said they'd had three physical arguments in the last three years, "but he has threatened me many times."

Two weeks later, Crutchfield agreed to stay away.

Gregory Crutchfield filed a request in May 2000 for a protective order against his younger brother, accusing Lee Crutchfield of making threatening telephone calls. Gregory Crutchfield wrote in his petition that his brother had been using drugs and was unstable. The protective order was dropped when deputies couldn't find Crutchfield to serve him notice.

That September, a 24-year-old woman asked for an order of protection against Crutchfield a year after they separated. Crutchfield abused her in 1998, she said, and called her repeatedly. She dropped her request in October 2002.

In May 2002, another woman filed a request for protection against Crutchfield. She wrote that he "put his hands on me more than once" and "he has also bit me." The order was dropped when neither Crutchfield nor the woman showed up for a court hearing.

In September 2004, a woman said that Crutchfield cursed at her and choked her for a couple of seconds before smacking her in the mouth, causing a swollen lip. That order was also dismissed when Crutchfield couldn't be found.

The same woman obtained an order of protection from Crutchfield in December 2004.
 

Ryon's mother, Starr Lohman, 24, and her live-in boyfriend, Lee D. Crutchfield, were charged Tuesday with three counts each of first-degree murder in Ryon's death. Lohman's relatives say that she is innocent. Crutchfield, who was not at home with Ryon and Lohman when authorities were called, told reporters after his arraignment that he was not responsible for the boy's death.

Lohman and Crutchfield are being held at the St. Clair County Jail in Belleville on $1 million bond each.

The Story below was reported by KSDK News Channel 5, Television Station:

In a case that the coroner calls one of the worst cases of child abuse he's ever seen, a woman and her boyfriend are charged in the beating death of a 6-year-old boy.

Ryan Smith, 6, was beaten to death on Christmas day. Medical examiners say nearly every part of his body was bruised.

Police arrived at the home in the 1300 block of Upper Cahokia Road to find the Ryan's lifeless body on the floor of a bedroom. Investigators say he lived a "horrific existence" and was at times kept in a closet.

His mother, Starr Lohman, 24, is charged with three counts of first degree murder. Police say she called 911 Christmas day.

Her boyfriend, Lee David Crutchfield, 33, is also charged with three counts of first degree murder. The couple moved from St. Louis to Cahokia, Illinois in October.

A 20-month-old child that was also living at the home is now in the care of other family members.
 

 

- Fatal Relationship With a Black Male -

Lee Crutchfield - Age 33

Starr Lohman - Age 24

 

 

 

Starr Lohman - A Young Woman who made Some Bad Choices

We don't know much about Starr Lohman, other than that she was 24 years old and had two children. Since Ryon was six years old, this would mean that she conceived at the age of seventeen. Starr's younger son, Ron Tre Simmons, is 20 months old. Ryon was Caucasian, but we don't know the racial makeup of her second child. Starr was evidently born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and if Lohman is her maiden name, is of German heritage. She moved from Alaska Avenue in St. Louis in October of 2005, with Lee Crutchfield and her two children to the small town of Cahokia, Illinois, which is close to East St. Louis, IL.

 

The following report was in the St. Louis Post Dispatch on December 28, 2005

Lohman's mother, Brenda Watts, said that her daughter called her in a panic on Sunday night, telling her that Ryon wouldn't wake up.

"She said, 'Mom, I need your help,'" said Watts, 46. "'I'm trying to wake Ryon up, and he won't respond.'"

Keeping her daughter on the line on her cell phone, Watts got in her car and drove to Lohman's house. When Watts arrived, the sight of Ryon's bruised body came as a shock, she said.

"I've never seen anything like it before in my life," Watts said. "I heard the paramedics say Ryon was gone."

Watts said that Lohman was a good mother who fled St. Louis to get out of an abusive relationship with a former boyfriend.

"She's not the monster that everybody thinks she is," Watts said. "She didn't drink or smoke. What led her into this, I will never know."

Watts said that Lohman, whose father is in prison, had survived a difficult childhood. Lohman was just a year old when her father, Robert W. Lohman, was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a 22-year-old woman from south St. Louis whose body was recovered from a lake in Washington County, Mo., in August 1982.

Authorities alleged that Robert Lohman and his older brother, Gene, killed Donna A. Roberts because she had refused to pose for pictures showing her engaging in sex acts with the Lohman brothers.

Robert Lohman later was charged with the 1975 fatal stabbing of Sabrina Cattron, 16, whose body was found in a deserted barn near Bonne Terre, Mo., in October 1976. In a plea deal, Lohman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for a promise from prosecutors not to seek the death penalty. He is serving a life sentence at the Jefferson City Correctional Center.

Watts said that she had taken Starr Lohman to visit her father "once or twice," but that she had chosen not to maintain a relationship with him as an adult.
 

 

 

 

Beaten to Death by a Brutal Black Male ? !

Ryan Smith

Ryon Smith - Age 6

 

 

The Victim - Ryon Smith

 

Starr Lohman called her mother on Christmas day and told her that she was trying to wake Ryon up, but that he was not responding. Her mother told her to call 911. When the paramedics got there they saw that Ryon had been dead for some time. Authorities believe that Ryon died on Saturday, Christmas Eve.

 

St. Clair County Coroner Rick Stone said the boy was "badly beaten and clearly emaciated." This indicated that Ryon was also being starved. An autopsy showed that Ryon, who was not enrolled in school, died from blunt trauma to the head and torso. Starr Lohman's mother, Brenda Watts, who lives in St. Louis, told police that drugs must have been involved. Ryon was buried on December 30, 2005.

 

 

 

(See original articles)

http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=89885

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/8C2AA65621886B5C862570E40001829D?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2C%22starr%22+AND+%22lohman%22

http://www.ksdk.com/news/illinois_article.aspx?storyid=89885

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/local/13506163.htm

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/metroeast/story/09A0FA746E93DD8F862570E500572146?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2C%22starr%22+AND+%22lohman%22

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stcharles/story/B7BE1ED87EE4C341862570E6001AED76?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2C%22starr%22+AND+%22lohman%22

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisstatenews/story/E34A44143DADF164862570E600203C4E?OpenDocument

 

 

 

 

This Scientific Study is Very Revealing

 

The following article, which appeared in the Belleville, Illinois, News-Democrat, is about a scientific study, just released in November 2005, which focuses on the risk of death children are placed at when one of their biological parents (usually the mother) gets involved in a cohabitation relationship with a person, who is not their biological father. The study revealed that when a child is living together with an adult, who is not a biological parent, the risk of death (and logically, injuries of all kinds) for the child increases dramatically. The study, funded by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD), found that young children living in a home with an unrelated adult were 50 times more likely to suffer a fatal, inflicted injury than children living with two biological parents.

 

Although the study probably recorded the race of the non-biological live-in partner, this very vital information has been withheld from the public. However, this study clearly indicates that biology and, therefore, genetics, plays a role in the way we human beings relate to one another. One can easily infer from this study that if a non-biological, Caucasian, live-in adult, would behave aggressively toward his girlfriend's child, then it only logically follows, that a live-in, adult male of the Negro race, would behave even more aggressively, since this individual is even further removed biologically (genetically ) from the child than a Caucasian male. The strictures of "political correctness," of course, preclude any government organization, such as the NICHHD from presenting all of the facts on race, or from even mentioning race, for that matter.

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/13528102.htm

Posted on Sun, Jan. 01, 2006

Live-in situations may put kids at risk

Study: They're more likely to be abused

By Beth Hundsdorfer

News-Democrat

On Christmas Eve, when other children lay in their beds dreaming of what Santa might bring, 6-year-old Ryon Smith lay dying from injuries inflicted, police say, by his mother and her boyfriend.


But was Ryon at increased risk of death based on the decision of his mother to live with a man who was not his father?


Child advocates say yes.


"The risk of death is much higher when there's a non-biological parent, usually a male, living in the home," said Roy Harley, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Illinois.


The lack of a natural, biological bond between man and child are factors in the higher rate of mortality in children who live with the parent's lover, Harley said.


Ryon Smith's mother, Starr Lohman, and her live-in boyfriend, Lee Crutchfield, have pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder in his death.


The economic situation of some single mothers also make them vulnerable to men who abuse, Harley said.


"The child can be the target of the emotional, violent outbursts of these men," Harley said.


A study published in November found that young children living in a home with an unrelated adult were 50 times more likely to suffer a fatal, inflicted injury than children living with two biological parents.


The majority of perpetrators were unrelated male members of the dead child's household.


The study, funded by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, reviewed the deaths during an eight-year period of 901 Missouri children less than 5 years old who died as the result of an injury.


"We are starting to see that trend," said Kate Tegtmeier, director of the Madison County's Child Advocacy Center. "With more single parents, divorces and blended families, more and more children are being injured or neglected by non-family members."


Another factor in the deaths of children is isolation from people who might have been able to intervene.


Ryon moved to Illinois from St. Louis in October. He previously attended school in the St. Louis City Public School, but wasn't attending in Illinois.


Brenda Watts, Ryon's grandmother, said she hadn't seen the boy since early November. Neighbors said they didn't know the family.


Families with abused children "bounce from hospital to hospital, town to town, school to school in an effort to hide the abuse," Harley said. "It's a way to cloak the abuse. If anybody starts asking questions, move on."


Ryon's failure to attend school also may have contributed to his death, Tegtmeier said.


"I think it would have been much more likely that Ryon would have gotten some help," Tegtmeier said. "If a teacher would have seen injuries, they are required to report it to the state."


Ryon also suffered from malnutrition and was "clearly emaciated" when he was found fatally beaten in his home at 1311 Upper Cahokia Road in Cahokia on Christmas night.


There were no presents or a Christmas tree at Ryon's house.


"There's a difference between being poor and intentionally neglectful," said Melissa Jonson-Reid, an associate professor and researcher at Washington University in St. Louis.


"Usually once a poor or under-educated parent receives access to programs or information, they make the changes in feeding, clothing and educating their children. In neglectful homes, those changes don't happen."


While it is difficult to understand why a 6-year-old child would starve, Jonson-Reid said there may have been established behavioral patterns in the household.


"I may be aware that there are crackers in the cupboard, but it may not be worth eating if I am going to be beaten for taking it," Jonson-Reid said.


Contact reporter Beth Hundsdorfer at bhundsdorfer@bnd.com or 239-2570.
 

 

 

 

Comment:

The national news media has once again blacked out a very important homicide case. A Yahoo News Search came up with only nine articles. A Google News Search came up with 14 articles: one in Peoria, one in the small town of Benton, Illinois, and one on the website of a Chicago TV station - the rest were in Belleville, Illinois (which is the county seat of St. Clair County, where the homicide took place) or in St. Louis, Missouri (which is where Starr Lohman was born and raised). This story was not even covered in Springfield, Illinois, the state's capital. St. Clair County is part of the St. Louis, MO and East St. Louis, IL metropolitan area.

 

Here we have a case where a young White mother with two children became involved with a jobless, drug-addicted, abusive, Black male, and paid the price for this extreme error in judgment. Both Starr Lohman and Lee Crutchfield face life in prison and possibly capital punishment for this crime.

 

As the study on children in live-in situations with a non-biological parent-surrogate indicated (see article above), Ryon Smith was not just at risk, he was at very high risk. And, although all of the facts were not revealed to us, logic only tells us that Ryon was at such a high risk, because the live-in adult in this case was a Black male. I would maintain that had Starr Lohman been living together with a Caucasian male, Ryon would have been at much less risk, even if both had been using drugs. But, as stated above, the scientific study proves that biology and genetics do make a difference, which is a major point that must be made.

 

Concerning the possible sentence for Starr Lohman and Lee Crutchfield, presuming that they are found guilty: The State of Illinois has capital punishment, although there is presently much controversy in Illinois on this topic. On January 10th, 2003, Governor George Ryan pardoned four men from Illinois’ death row. The Illinois Coalition to Abolish The Death Penalty (ICADP) claims that this makes 17 men who had been sentenced to die for crimes they did not commit, who have been exonerated after years of wrongful imprisonment. The next day, Governor Ryan, historically a proponent of capital punishment, commuted 167 death sentences to life without parole.

 

When announcing the pardons, Ryan called the criminal justice system under which these men and women were sentenced to die “deeply flawed,” “arbitrary,” and “haunted by the demon of error.” One wonders how the jury in the case of Ryon Smith will decide, in light of this controversy. There isn't much room for error in this case, since only two people had access to Ryon.

 

I find it curious that there is no mention of Mr. Lee Crutchfield being employed at any time during his life. Surely, by age 33, he must have had some kind of employment record. Nor is there any mention of Starr Lohman being employed. This notwithstanding, Starr's mother told reporters that Ryon had all the toys and everything else that he wanted. Starr was likely living on welfare and ADC (Aid to Dependent Children), and Lee Crutchfield was more than likely living off of her. It is also not unlikely that he was not only using drugs, but also dealing in drugs.

 

And, I find it more than curious that the police were not able to find Lee Crutchfield, not just once, but twice, when "orders of protection" were filed against him - once by a woman who he had assaulted in September of 2004! Since 1995, four different women filed orders of protection against Crutchfield because he had assaulted them; why didn't these women file assault charges against him? Why didn't Starr Lohman file assault charges against him? Are Black males somehow above the law? Or do women just expect to get beat up when they have a relationship with a Black male? Or are these women perhaps afraid that the police and courts wouldn't take them seriously if they were to report Black males for abusive behavior?

 

After Ryon's funeral on Friday, a retired correctional officer from St. Louis named Art Jackson stood outside the funeral home hoisting a sign for passing motorists to read. It read: "No reprieve for a child even on Christmas Day." Mr. Jackson, 67, who didn't know Ryon, said he had read news accounts of Ryon's death and decided to attend the funeral to support the boy's family, and to draw attention to the dangers of child abuse and domestic violence. "It's another sad story of abuse in America," he said. "We don't have to fight roadside bombs. We don't have to worry about insurgents. We have to worry about the people closest to us."

 

What Mr. Jackson did not say, more than likely because of the "constraints of political correctness," is that when the people "closest to us" are Black-male drug addicts, our chances of suffering violence, assault and abuse increase greatly. Mr. Jackson compares this case directly to the terrorists in Iraq, and this is a valid comparison, because, as I have pointed out in previous reports, we here in America are repeatedly the victims of terrorism at the hands of Black males. And the police can't even find them to serve orders of protection on them, and their victims are afraid to file assault charges against them. How long are we, as a nation, going to go on living in fear and terror at the hands of Black males, before we take a stand on this grave problem - which, by the way, is a problem for all of the people of America?

 

And, as I have pointed out in earlier reports, the problem of Black male violence and terrorism will not be solved with the incarceration of Lee Crutchfield, because there are countless other Black males who are ready to take his place. As long as we have such a permissive society that allows easy drug dealing, and a society in which women are not encouraged to file assault charges against abusive males, these males (and they are often Black males) will continue to prey on vulnerable women. And, furthermore, as long as we have a society that, for whatever reason, delusion, denial, or ignorance, refuses to recognize the extent of Black-male crime - all of America will continue to be victimized.

 

It is time that we, as a society, encouraged women to stand up for their rights and to speak out when they are being abused. Starr Lohman made a fatal mistake; one of her sons is dead and she faces a lengthy prison sentence. Don't let something like this happen to you or someone you know. If you or someone you know is involved in an abusive relationship, call the police and file charges today - you may not get another chance. And don't let "political correctness" stand in your way - our laws apply to everyone, and everyone, no matter what their race, must be held responsible.

 

Because many people know that it is part of the Black mentality to be, not just aggressive, but also violent and abusive, people just accept this behavior as normal Black behavior, and they are reluctant to report Black males to the police for what, for every other male in America, would clearly be seen as criminal behavior. Many people figure that this is just the way Black males are and there is nothing that can be done about it. They believe that we just have to accept this behavior. The same situation exists concerning crimes other than child or partner abuse, such as robbery, theft, and even rape: women figure that that's just the way Blacks are, and additionally, that such crimes are so pervasive, that the police won't do anything about it anyway, or the police will play it down, because they have much more important things to do, and the jails and prisons are full to overflowing with Black males anyway.

 

We cannot accept any of these arguments; we, as a society, must report all crime that Blacks commit. As I said above: the laws apply to everyone, and everyone must be held responsible for their actions - even the Black males of America. No one is above criticism and no one is above the law. Don't be afraid - call the police and report Black crime.

 

Yours Faithfully, Liberty

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