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Christina's Story
- Newspaper Articles
The following links take you to various articles in Christina's story
as it appeared in the South Florida media.
PLEASE DO NOT COPY THE INFORMATION ON THIS SITE BEFORE ASKING.
Thank you!
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In Loving Memory Of May 23, 1987 - September 16, 1994 "Beautiful Child who has found love from the angels...RIP..." |
 (Not her actual headstone) |
These
pages contain all of the articles from the Palm Beach Post and The
Sun-Sentinel throughout the years. |
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Zile Evidence Admissible,
Judge Says (1/24/95)
HRS Panel Criticizes Rebuke (1/28/95)
More True Tragedies in The Making if We Do Not Act Now
(1/28/95)
Murder Charges Stir Debate (1/31/95)
In Court (2/3/95)
John Zile May Get New Attorney (2/3/95)
Ziles To Get Separate Murder Trials, Judge Says (2/7/98)
Judge Rules Ziles Will Get Separate Trials (2/7/95)
Separate Trials Granted For Ziles (2/8/95)
A 'Coffee Klatch' of Accused Moms (2/15/95)
ZILE EVIDENCE ADMISSIBLE,
JUDGE RULES
Sun-Sentinel
January 24, 1995
Author: STEPHANIE SMITH
A judge on Monday denied a request from Pauline Zile's attorney to throw
out evidence the defense contends came from an illegal search.
Zile's attorney, Ellis Rubin,
argued that Pauline Zile agreed to a search of her Singer Island apartment
only because Broward County sheriff's investigators said they needed
hair samples and fingerprints of her daughter, Christina Holt, 7, whom
Zile had reported missing at the Swap Shop near Fort Lauderdale.
But the Oct. 24 search went beyond that when furniture, walls and carpeting
were tested for blood, Rubin said. Based on the findings of the Broward
County deputies, Riviera Beach police followed with search warrants
to gather criminal evidence against Zile and her husband, John, in Christina's
murder.
Prosecutor Maryann Duggan said police were searching for genetic evidence, including blood, which would help identify the child should she turn up dead.
John Zile confessed to the killing, and both Ziles are charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.
- STEPHANIE SMITH
HRS PANEL CRITICIZES REBUKE
The Palm Beach Post
January 28, 1995
Author: SCOTT SHIFREL
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
A grand jury report criticizing the way the state protects children
was called ``irresponsible and untruthful'' Friday by the board overseeing
the county's main social service agency.
The report was misleading and
unfounded, said the local board for the state Department of Health and
Rehabilitative Services.
``There must be an obligation to the truth,'' Health and Human Services
Board Chairman Joseph Orr said in a statement. ``To link HRS with each
of the four children cited in the report was irresponsible and untruthful.''
Up to now, HRS officials have been restrained in their criticism of the report, issued Jan. 13 after jurors reviewed the deaths of four children and charged their parents or guardians with murder.
Those cases included the deaths of Christina Holt, 7; Dayton Boykin, 5 months; Kayla Basante, 8 months; and Pauline Cone, 2.
Pauline was the only one of those children who had been taken away from her parents by HRS, but the jury concluded that children ``are at significant risk for further abuse if they are taken into (HRS) custody.''
The Health and Human Services Board blasted that conclusion.
``To state that children risk further harm once in our custody lacks knowledge of the system, its responsibilities and limitations,'' Orr said.
But the grand jury, which spent months questioning police investigators, HRS officials, foster parents, therapists and school officials, based many of its conclusions on the Cone case.
Records show HRS knew or should have known about problems at the home.
Jurors also found that HRS officials ignored a critical report issued in 1993 after the death of 10-year-old Andrew ``A.J.'' Schwarz, who also had been taken into HRS custody.
Andrew's stepmother has been charged with murder in his death.
The jury said the state should make major overhauls, but board members said changes are not possible without help from state legislators.
``I think we have an organization trying to do the best job we can with very, very limited resources,'' said Sally Chester, board vice chairwoman.
The board scheduled a meeting to discuss the report with the community at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 7 at the Palm Beach County Children's Services Council at 111 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach.
MORE TRUE TRAGEDIES IN THE MAKING IF WE DO NOT ACT NOW
Sun-Sentinel
January 28, 1995
Author: AVTAR SINGH
While watching CNN, I could not help notice the death of [convicted
murderer) Jeffrey Dahmer referred to as a "tragedy" by someone
from the Department of Corrections.
Do such people know what tragedy
means? Ask the meaning of tragedy of the families and friends of Dahmer's
victims.
Tragedy is what happened to the innocent little Smith children in South
Carolina, strapped in their car seats as their car rolled into the murky
waters and their mother watched. How close she came to fooling the world
into believing her cruel story and how close she came to creating a
phantom monster.
Tragedy is what happened to Christina Holt. Tragedy is what happened to the little girl whose head was wedged under a waterbed mattress by her mother's boyfriend. Tragedy is what is happening to countless other young children who are being abused physically, emotionally and sexually, and who are deprived of their basic rights.
Tragedy is children walking into their schools with guns and drugs. Tragedy is the increasing number of broken marriages, with the victims being the little children who are torn emotionally between their parents. Tragedy is when our defenseless elderly are preyed upon, beaten and tortured for petty things.
Tragedy is waiting to happen unless we all, as a community, realize our responsibilities and become role models for the future generation, investing in their well-being and giving them all the love they deserve.
Death of a monster is not a tragedy by any stretch of the imagination. The tragedy is that our system failed, and it took another convict to deliver the justice Dahmer deserved.
I do not believe in an "eye for an eye" concept, but when there is no doubt of the guilt, the best justice is to spare the taxpayer the burden of the defense and incarceration.
Let the guilty person feel the same pain and suffering as the victims and their loved ones.
The author is a resident of Boca Raton. He wrote this article for the Sun-Sentinel.
MURDER CHARGES STIR DEBATE
PROSECUTION TREND SEEN IN CHILD CASES
Sun-Sentinel
January 31, 1995
Author: STEPHANIE SMITH Staff Writer
No one - not prosecutors, not police - says Pauline Zile laid a hand
on her daughter the night she died after a brutal beating.
No one says Timothy and Paulette
Cone intended for their adoptive daughter to be crushed to death by
the heavy plywood lid attached to her cage-like crib.
Yet these parents are charged with first-degree murder, facing lifetimes
in prison or even the death penalty, just as if they killed their children
in cold blood.
National authorities on child abuse prosecution say there has been a trend toward holding parents and caretakers legally, not just morally, responsible for the deaths of their children even when they did not directly kill the children.
But charging Zile and the Cones with the highest form of murder, capital murder, may be the first such cases nationwide.
"That sounds like it may be precedent-setting, not only for Florida but for the country," said Robert Parrish, assistant attorney general with the Children's Justice Division in Utah.
Scott Cupp, who heads the Crimes Against Children division for the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office, said he does not think the legal concept behind charging Zile with murder is that complex.
"I don't think it's too difficult for the general public to understand that parents have a duty to protect their children," Cupp said.
"In any other type of criminal case, the other person specifically has no duty to act to stop the crime," Cupp said. "But in child abuse, the child is weaker and cannot call for help and the parent or caretaker has the responsibility."
Some states, such as Arkansas, make it a specific crime to permit abuse of children.
Cupp said it was about time that ignoring child abuse is considered a crime.
"It does get some people's attention. It tends to go on a lot. Say a guy knows his wife's at home abusing the children while he's at work. He doesn't do anything about it; he wants to protect his wife instead of his children. Or it can be the reverse, with the husband abusing the kids and the wife not doing anything. They've got to know you just can't turn away," Cupp said.
But in most cases, getting first-degree murder convictions in child abuse cases is difficult even when the accused was the killer.
Parrish, a national authority on child abuse prosecution, said manslaughter charges and convictions were the norm until recently.
"There has been a trend toward charging first-degree murder, but I haven't seen it when there was not a causal relationship," he said.
An example of the difficulty in even getting an indictment for first-degree murder in a fatal child abuse case occurred recently in Broward County.
A Broward County grand jury refused to return a first-degree murder indictment against Carlos Thomas Schenk, 24, who is accused of killing his girlfriend's daughter while punishing her for swearing at him. Sasha Gibbons, 4, died after having her mouth washed out with soap and Tabasco sauce, being wrapped in a comforter and then stuffed under a waterbed mattress.
The grand jury, after debating between first- and third-degree murder for several hours, returned a third-degree murder indictment, said Chuck Morton, homicide division chief for the Broward County State Attorney's Office. Third-degree murder is punishable by a maximum of 15 years in prison.
The grand jury thought there was child abuse, but not aggravated child abuse, Morton said. State law defines aggravated child abuse as willful torture, malicious punishment, unlawful caging or aggravated battery.
"They decided he didn't intentionally try to kill this child; it was real stupid but it wasn't aggravated child abuse," Morton said. The child's punishment progressively got more severe because she kept swearing and fighting Schenk, Morton said. When Schenk discovered Sasha wasn't breathing, he called 911 and was in hysterics, Morton said.
The same logic could have been applied to the Cones' case, that it was "real stupid" to put a 40-pound plywood lid over a crib shared by two toddlers. Pauline Cone, 21/2, suffocated when the lid fell on her upper chest, pinning her to the side of her crib. But the Cones are accused of not reporting their daughter's death and hiding the crib lid from police.
Prosecutors got first-degree murder indictments against the Cones using the felony-murder rule, which does not require proof of intent to kill. Under the rule, when a killing occurs as a result of another felony such as aggravated child abuse, then it becomes first-degree murder. Felony murder most frequently is applied in cases of armed robbery killings.
In the Cone case, caging is specified as an act of aggravated child abuse, which then was combined with the child's death to become a first-degree murder charge.
In the Zile case, prosecutors are relying on a 1991 Florida case, Leet vs. State, in which a boyfriend who did not intervene was convicted of child abuse and third-degree murder when a mother killed her 2-year-old son.
The mother and child lived with him, he took care of the child at times and knew his girlfriend was abusing the child, a district court of appeal found.
Similarly, Pauline Zile is accused of standing by while her husband, John Zile, beat her daughter until the child fell to the ground and died. Later, police say, Pauline Zile tried to cover up her daughter's death. She reported that Christina Holt, 7, her daughter from a previous marriage, was abducted from a flea market near Fort Lauderdale.
Michael Salnick, a West Palm Beach criminal defense attorney with 17 years of experience, said the felony murder rule has never been applied in such a way as in these cases.
"The state is certainly stretching the limits of the felony murder rule. I've never seen this approach. I think there's a history of hysteria in these cases. I think it's a theory they're hoping the jury will go along with," Salnick said.
Ryan Rainey, senior legal counsel with the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse in Alexandria, Va., said he is heartened that these cases were charged as capital crimes.
Too often, society dismisses a child's beating as a family disciplinary matter, Rainey said.
"We don't give the same benefit to children that we give to adults. Do we say when an adult is killed, well he was obnoxious so therefore it wasn't first-degree murder, it was discipline?" Rainey said.
IN COURT
The Palm Beach Post
February 3, 1995
WEST PALM BEACH
John Zile, facing first-degree murder and child abuse charges in the
death of his wife's daughter, 7-year-old Christina Holt, will remain
shackled in court. Zile's attorneys asked Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp
to order deputies to remove the waist chains and ankle shackles because
they bruised Zile. Rapp refused after a corrections officer reminded
the judge of Zile's outburst in court in December. Also Thursday, Zile's
attorneys asked to be removed from the case, citing conflicts caused
by their office representing four state witnesses in unrelated cases.
JOHN ZILE MAY GET NEW ATTORNEY
Sun-Sentinel
February 3, 1995
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer
The public defender for John Zile wants to be taken off the case because
of a conflict of interest.
The conflict will arise in March,
when prosecutors plan to bring Zile to trial in the killing of his stepdaughter,
Christina Holt, 7, said Iola Mosely, assistant county public defender,
on Thursday.
Several witnesses expected to be called by the state have been represented
by the Palm Beach County Public Defenders' Office in the past, causing
the conflict, Mosely said.
Zile, 32, and his wife, Pauline, 24, are charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. Trial is scheduled to begin on March 27.
Pauline Zile is represented by Miami attorney Ellis Rubin.
Mosely has asked Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp to declare a conflict and have a court-appointed attorney represent Zile.
Rapp is not expected to rule until Monday, Mosely said. If he grants the request, the trial could be delayed. "Anyone who is assigned the case will have to review all that we have done," Mosely said. "Even we're not ready for trial at this point."
Christina was killed on Sept. 16 after she was beaten and collapsed in seizures. Zile told police he buried her three days later behind a Kmart in Tequesta.
Pauline Zile, 24, who reported her daughter kidnapped from the Swap Shop west of Fort Lauderdale on Oct. 22, also is charged because police say she failed to protect her daughter from the fatal beating.
ZILES TO GET SEPARATE MURDER TRIALS,
JUDGE RULES
The Palm Beach Post
February 7, 1995
John and Pauline Zile will be tried separately on charges that they
murdered Pauline Zile's 7-year-old daughter, Christina Holt, a judge
ruled Monday.
Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp also
ruled that Pauline Zile's attorney, Ellis Rubin, may take limited statements
from prosecutors, including State Attorney Barry Krischer, who were
either present when the Ziles gave statements or who participated in
questioning Pauline Zile.
Rubin had attacked what he characterized as Krischer's unusually prominent
and inappropriate role in the Ziles' interrogation on Oct. 26. He had
argued Krischer should be removed from the case.
Rapp rejected that request, but in his ruling Monday he noted that ``the defense is entitled to have as complete and accurate a record as possible of what was said to his client and what reply if any was made by his client.''
Rapp added, ``the defense is NOT entitled to question prosecution lawyers about what they know about the case, their motives, (or) their choices of investigation techniques.''
Rapp deferred ruling on another argument raised by Rubin - that the indictment charging Pauline Zile should be dismissed because it is based on statements she made under a promise of immunity, meaning statements cannot be used against her.
- Val Ellicott
JUDGE RULES ZILES WILL GET SEPARATE
TRIALS
Sun-Sentinel
February 7, 1995
Author: MIKE FOLKS
John and Pauline Zile, charged in the September death of Pauline's daughter,
Christina Holt, will be tried separately, a judge ruled on Monday.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge
Stephen Rapp issued the ruling after attorneys for both defendants asked
to sever their trials during a hearing in December.
The Singer Island couple is facing first-degree murder and aggravated
child abuse charges in connection with Christina's death. Police say
Christina collapsed in convulsions and died after her stepfather beat
her.
Rapp on Monday issued several other written rulings, denying requests by Pauline Zile's attorney, Ellis Rubin, to dismiss indictments based on immunity promised to his client and to disqualify the prosecution based on statements made to the media.
Rapp, however, granted Rubin the right to question Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer and other prosecutors who were present on Oct. 27 when Pauline Zile was granted limited immunity at the Riviera Beach Police Department.
SEPARATE TRIALS GRANTED FOR ZILES
Miami Herald, The (FL)
February 8, 1995
Author: Associated Press
Separate murder trials will be held for the mother and stepfather charged
in the beating death last September of 7- year-old Christina Holt, a
judge has ruled.
John and Pauline Zile of Singer Island are charged with first-degree
murder and aggravated child abuse in Christina's death.
According to police, Christina died after she was beaten by her stepfather and collapsed in convulsions.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp ordered separate trials Monday for the husband and wife. Attorneys for both had asked that they not be tried together.
Rapp also denied requests by Ellis Rubin, Pauline Zile's Miami attorney, to dismiss her indictments -- and to disqualify the prosecution based on statements made to the media.
Rubin had argued his client was promised immunity by detectives before she gave an account of her husband beating Christina and the child's subsequent convulsions.
But the judge granted Rubin the right to question Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer and other prosecutors present on Oct. 27, when Pauline Zile was granted limited immunity at the Riviera Beach Police Department.
Krischer has said Pauline Zile's indictment was based on evidence investigators developed independently from her statement that night.
Rapp also granted a request by John Zile's public defender to withdraw from the case because of a conflict of interest. A new attorney will be appointed because the public defender's office has represented five witnesses the state might call at trial.
A `COFFEE KLATCH' OF ACCUSED MOMS
The Palm Beach Post
February 15, 1995
Author: CHRISTINE STAPLETON
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Pauline Zile and Clover Boykin asked to be cellmates. Paulette Cone
sometimes feels like the mother hen. And then there's Joanne Mejia,
the newcomer.
Welcome to south 3-D at the Palm
Beach County Jail, home to four mothers charged with killing their children.
``It's kind of like a little coffee klatch,'' said Cone's attorney,
Jack Goldberger. ``They're all sitting up there doing jigsaws and watching
Rescue 911.''
Among inmates, crimes against children are generally loathed. Especially highly publicized crimes. To protect the mothers from other inmates and to ensure they don't hurt themselves, jail officials have decided to house the women together, away from other inmates.
Still, Goldberger wonders about the logic of putting the mothers together.
``It just doesn't seem to make any sense,'' Goldberger said. ``It's just not healthy to have them together.''
Most women inmates spend their time at the Palm Beach County Stockade, a smaller jail near the fairgrounds. But the mothers and women with mental health problems are housed in a special unit at the all-male Palm Beach County Jail.
From 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. the mothers socialize in a multipurpose room near the day room where other women inmates spend their days. From 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. all the women are locked in their cells. Three times a week, for one hour, the mothers are escorted to a recreation area, where they can exercise away from the other inmates.
Boykin, 20, is the veteran. Arrested on Oct. 29 and charged with killing her infant son and a friend's baby, she was isolated from other inmates until Nov. 4, when Pauline Zile was arrested and charged with first-degree murder for her role in the death of her 7-year-old daughter, Christina Holt.
Both were in protective custody, a form of isolation, and had their own cells but shared time together during recreation period. Other women in the same unit weren't happy with ``special treatment'' given to Boykin and Zile.
By early December, tempers flared among the other women inmates, who signed a petition on Dec. 2, complaining that Boykin and Zile had ``manipulated certain deputies'' to get extra time in the multipurpose room.
``We are being denied the local news section of The Palm Beach Post due to articles pertaining to the trials of Clover Boykin and Pauline Zile,'' the women wrote. ``They even receive special treatment from certain deputies who treat them as if they are celebrities.''
Sheriff's Lt. Chris Kneisley denied that Boykin and Zile received special privileges, explaining that the newspaper was withheld in an effort to limit the amount of information about the cases. Prisoners have since begun receiving the newspaper again because officials decided they weren't getting any more information there than they were from television news.
``They're treated differently because of security concerns,'' Kneisley said. ``I don't think anybody is putting them on a pedestal.''
Meanwhile, Zile, still in her own cell, filed a request for a mirror. In a letter to jail officials on Dec. 3, Zile said she preferred a cell with bunk beds, normally used for two inmates, because those cells have mirrors.
``I have been informed that it may be inconvenient due to the fact that there are two beds and only one of me,'' Zile wrote. ``P.S. As the saying goes, if you think you look good, you feel good!''
The next day, Zile and Boykin decided they wanted to be roommates, fulfilling their desire for companionship and Zile's need for a mirror.
``We just can't stay in a cell by ourselves 24 hours a day. It's depressing,'' Boykin wrote in a request to jail officials on Dec. 4. ``Being alone isn't very easy to deal with . . . I need someone to talk to.''
Zile wrote a similar letter the same day.
``We both get along with each other,'' Zile wrote. ``P.S. The protective custody lockdown for my safety does not effect (sic) me. It's the long, lonely days and nights I don't like!''
Jail officials agreed and allowed the women to move in together, freeing up a bed in the mental health ward for another inmate.
Three days later, Paulette Cone joined the group. Cone, 46, also faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of her 2-year-old adopted daughter, who died when a homemade, plywood lid slammed shut on her crib.
``It's especially difficult for my client because she's 15 to 20 years older than these kids,'' Goldberger said. ``She like a mother to these kids.''
The group grew to four when Mejia was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 9-month-old son Charles, who showed signs of Shaken Baby Syndrome, police said.
Mejia, 18, the youngest mother, now shares a cell with Cone. Jacqueline Caruncho, charged with third-degree murder in the shaking death of a 4-month-old girl she took care of, joined the women briefly on Tuesday before she posted a $20,000 bond. Boykin, Zile, Cone and Mejia are being held without bail.
The mothers are well-behaved and haven't been disciplined or caused any fights in jail, Kneisley said. However, a mental health worker on the unit has received two anonymous messages on her voice mail threatening the mothers.
``You don't get a lot of mothers accused of killing their children,'' Kneisley said. ``I don't know if any other jails are going through this.''