Christina's Story: Newspaper Articles

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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.

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*In Loving Memory Of* Christina Diane Holt 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.

Mothers Accused of Killing Kids Share Cells (2/16/95)
Two Trials Sought For Pauline Zile (2/25/95)
Slain Girl's Mom Wants Her Trial Moved (2/25/95)
Pauline Zile Won't Claim John Hit Her As A Defense (3/11/95)
John Zile's Trial Changed (3/11/95)
Zile Trial Changes (3/11/95)
In Court (3/15/95)
Ziles Request A Visit With Their Sons (3/15/95)
Jailed Parents Long To See Children (3/16/95)
Give Zile Boys Chance At New Life (3/18/95)

MOTHERS ACCUSED OF KILLING KIDS SHARE CELLS
Miami Herald, The (FL)
February 16, 1995
Author: Associated Press

Four women accused of killing their children are being detained together at the Palm Beach County Jail to protect them
from other inmates.

Pauline Zile and Clover Boykin are cellmates. So are Paulette Cone and Joanne Mejia. The four women also have a separate recreation period from other prisoners.
"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."

Sheriff's Lt. Chris Kneisley said he didn't know of any other jails with a similar group.

"You don't get a lot of mothers accused of killing their children," he said.

Boykin, 20, was 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. Zile claimed her daughter had been abducted from a flea market a month after her husband killed the girl, prosecutors said.

Both women were in protective custody, a form of isolation, and had their own cells but shared time together during recreation period.

By early December, inmates signed a petition complaining Boykin and Zile had manipulated 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."

Kneisley denied the inmates received special privileges, explaining the newspaper was withheld in an effort to limit information about the cases. Officials eventually decided the newspaper didn't provide any more information than the television, and delivery was resumed.

Zile and Boykin decided they wanted to be roommates in early December.

"We just can't stay in a cell by ourselves 24 hours a day. It's depressing," Boykin wrote jail officials. "Being alone isn't very easy to deal with . . . I need someone to talk to."

Zile wrote a similar letter, and officials agreed to let the women move in together.

Three days later, Cone joined them. 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.

The group grew to four when Mejia was charged with first- degree murder in the death of her 9-month-old son Charles, who showed signs of being shaken to death, police said. Mejia, 18, is the youngest mother.

TWO TRIALS SOUGHT FOR PAULINE ZILE
The Palm Beach Post
February 25, 1995
Author: CHRISTINE STAPLETON
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

After winning a separate trial for Pauline Zile, attorney Ellis Rubin came to court on Friday and asked for two.

One trial encompassing first-degree murder and four aggravated child abuse charges would not be fair to Zile since the child abuse charges span three months before the death of her daughter, 7-year-old Christina Holt, Rubin said.
Rubin also asked that one child abuse charge, alleging that Zile failed to send her daughter to school, be dropped because Christina was dead.

``How can you commit child abuse by not sending a child to school when the child is dead?'' Rubin asked. ``It's impossible to pursue that charge.''

Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp reserved ruling on Rubin's motions. Zile's trial is scheduled to begin March 27.

Mrs. Zile and her husband, John Zile, were charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the September death of Christina. John Zile told detectives that the girl had convulsions shortly after he hit her and died, according to court records. John Zile buried her four days later behind a shopping center in Tequesta, according to court records.

Also Friday, Rubin said he intends to ask that Mrs. Zile's trial be moved.

``The only place we can get a fair trial is Mars, and we're having transportation problems,'' Rubin said.

SLAIN GIRL'S MOM WANTS HER TRIAL MOVED
Sun-Sentinel
February 25, 1995
Author: STEPHANIE SMITH Staff Writer

Pauline Zile has been called the most hated mother in South Florida.

Even other inmates at the Palm Beach County Jail have threatened her.
So on Friday, her attorney, Ellis Rubin, asked a judge to move Zile's March 27 trial on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse, saying she cannot get a fair trial in Palm Beach County.

Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp did not make a final decision but indicated he probably will not grant the request. "I think we're going to try it here," Rapp said.

After the hearing, Rubin said an impartial jury cannot be picked in Palm Beach County or anywhere in South Florida.

"Everybody wants her in the electric chair, and they want me strapped to her lap," Rubin said.

Zile, 24, was the first in a series of South Florida mothers accused of killing their children in the past five months.

The group now includes Clover Boykin, accused of killing two infants; Paulette Cone, accused of killing her adoptive daughter; and Joanne Meija, accused of killing her infant son.

In October, Zile reported her daughter, Christina Holt, 7, was kidnapped from a restroom at the Swap Shop near Fort Lauderdale.

Police investigating the missing child case learned Holt had died after a beating and was secretly buried after her body had been hidden in closet for four days.

Public sympathy for the young mother turned to outrage.

Rubin said hatred for his client has not abated since October, that newspapers still are filled with letters to the editors villifying his client, and he still receives just as much hate mail for representing her.

If the trial is moved, it will be the first time in Palm Beach County since 1986, a case involving a contract killing of a former West Palm Beach assistant city manager, Anita Spearman, county officials said.

Not even the internationally publicized 1991 rape trial of William Kennedy Smith was granted a change of venue.

If a change of venue is granted, the trial could still be held in Palm Beach County because of a change in the law last year.

A jury from another county could be imported instead of the entire trial being moved, Chief Judge Jack Cook said on Friday.

"If you're going to sequester the jury, it's much less expensive housing the jury instead of housing all the witnesses and trial staff in another county," Cook said of the option.

PAULINE ZILE WON'T CLAIM JOHN HIT HER AS A DEFENSE
The Palm Beach Post
March 11, 1995
Author: CHRISTINE STAPLETON
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Pauline Zile, facing the electric chair for her role in the death of her daughter, will not pursue a battered-spouse defense during her first-degree murder trial, attorney Ellis Rubin said Friday.

Rubin, who pioneered the novel defense, initially laid the groundwork for such a defense for Pauline Zile, describing her husband, John, as a domineering husband and Pauline herself as an abused child.
Defense attorneys who seek to use the defense must tell prosecutors they intend to do so at least 30 days before the trial. Rubin has not done so. Pauline Zile's trial is scheduled for March 27.

``The defense is flexible depending on the charge and what the witnesses have to say,'' Rubin said.

Also Friday, a judge agreed to allow prosecutors to obtain Pauline Zile's medical records.

``We believe it may be raised that (Pauline) has epilepsy and so did Christina,'' Assistant State Attorney Scott Cupp said.

Christina Holt, 7, was beaten in her family's Singer Island apartment about Sept. 16 and suffocated, according to police reports. John Zile told police Christina had convulsions after he hit her and choked to death on vomit. He buried her several days later behind a shopping center in Tequesta.

John and Pauline Zile both have both been charged with first-degree murder.

In other action in the case:

John Zile wrote a letter thanking Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp for allowing him to have a contact visit with his mother at the Palm Beach County Jail.

``It was so nice to hug my mother for the first time in four years,'' Zile wrote in the letter dated March 1. ``I really needed a visit from her, especially considering my current situation.''

A social worker at St. Mary's Hospital who counseled Pauline Zile after the birth of a baby that she put up for adoption said it seemed Pauline Zile cried a lot and acted as though she ``had other things going on.'' Pauline Zile told the social worker that she had just gotten custody of Christina and couldn't handle another child. Christina had been dead three weeks when she talked to the social worker.

JOHN ZILE'S TRIAL CHANGED
Sun-Sentinel
March 11, 1995
Author: Sun-Sentinel wire services

The trial of John Zile, charged in the September death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, has been delayed until Aug. 14.

The trial, originally set for this month, was postponed on Friday to give a new attorney assigned to the case more time to prepare.
Zile had been represented by a public defender, who in February withdrew because of a conflict of interest. The conflict arose because the state planned to call several witnesses who had been represented by the Public Defender's Office in earlier, unrelated cases.

Zile and his wife, Pauline, each face first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of Christina, who police say was beaten by John Zile and died after falling into convulsions.

Pauline Zile's trial is scheduled for March 28.

Her defense attorney, Ellis Rubin, said on Friday he would not use a battered spouse defense.

ZILE TRIAL CHANGES
Sun-Sentinel
March 13, 1995
Author: Staff reports

The trial of John Zile, charged in the September death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, has been delayed until Aug. 14.

Zile and his wife, Pauline, each face first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of Christina, who police say was beaten by John Zile and died after falling into convulsions.

Pauline Zile is scheduled to go to trial on March 28.

Her defense attorney, Ellis Rubin, said on Friday he would not use a battered spouse defense. Rubin has said Pauline Zile complied with her husband's order to cover up Christina's death because she lived in fear of her husband.

IN COURT
The Palm Beach Post
March 15, 1995

WEST PALM BEACH - Attorneys for John and Pauline Zile and the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services agreed on Tuesday that the couple's young sons should be evaluated by a psychologist before the children are allowed to visit their parents at the Palm Beach County Jail. The Ziles have not seen or spoken to their sons in more than four months, but write letters to the boys regularly, their attorneys said. The couple, who each face a first-degree murder charge for the death of Pauli ne Zile's daughter, Christina Holt, are fighting HRS efforts to terminate their parental rights.

ZILES REQUEST A VISIT WITH THEIR SONS
Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 1995
Author: STEPHANIE SMITH

Pauline and John Zile asked to see their sons on Tuesday, the first request for face-to-face contact since the Singer Island couple's arrests on murder charges in October.

The state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services will have Chad, 3, and Daniel, 5, psychologically evaluated to determine whether visiting with their parents will cause any harm, HRS attorney Bob Fallon said.
The requests came at a mediation hearing on HRS's request to end the Ziles parental rights of the two children. The Ziles refused to meet with the mediator on the advice of their attorneys, Fallon said.

The Ziles are accused of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse of Christina Holt, 7, Pauline Zile's daughter from a previous marriage.

Christina died after a beating by her stepfather, prosecutors say. The Ziles later staged a hoax that Holt was kidnapped to cover up her death.

Pauline Zile's trial in her daughter's death is scheduled for later this month. Fallon said even if Zile is acquitted, HRS may still seek to end her parental rights based on allegations she abused one of her sons.

JAILED PARENTS LONG TO SEE CHILDREN
The Palm Beach Post
March 16, 1995
Author: CHRISTINE STAPLETON
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

John and Pauline Zile - awaiting their trials for first-degree murder in her daughter's death - haven't seen or talked to their young sons in 4 1/2 months but desperately want to, their attorneys say.

``He loves his children very much,'' said Craig Wilson, John Zile's attorney. ``Let's face it, they're not the kind of parents you'd find in a Walt Disney movie, but he loves his children very much and wants to see them.''
Paulette Cone, facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of her adopted daughter, worried more about her 7-year-old son and

4-year-old adopted daughter after her arrest than she did herself, according to her attorney.

Right from the start, ``all she was concerned about was how this was going to affect them,'' Cone's attorney, Jack Goldberger said. ``She went three months without seeing them or talking to them.''

The parents at the Palm Beach County Jail charged with murdering their children are fighting two legal battles, the high-profile courtroom fight for their lives and the emotional, closed-door battle for their children.

``Removing the parents from a child is harmful in most cases,'' said George Rahaim Jr., a West Palm Beach psychologist and consultant for the Child Protection Team. ``The question is, how do you lessen the amount of harm?''

For example, the Zile boys - Chad, 3, and Daniel, 5 - lost their entire family during a six week period in the fall.

Their stepsister, Christina Holt, 7, died after John Zile, the boys' father, allegedly beat her. Two weeks later, the brothers lost their new baby brother when their mother, Pauline Zile, gave up the baby for adoption.

A month later, their parents were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. The Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services placed the boys in a shelter home. The agency then filed court papers seeking to terminate the Ziles' parental rights.

``Thanks for nothing,'' Pauline Zile wrote her husband. ``I've now lost five children since I met you.'' She also had claimed he forced her to have an abortion.

The Zile brothers' only communication with their parents has been through letters, delivered by the Ziles' attorneys.

The Ziles have tried to persuade HRS officials to let them see their sons' report cards and prog-ress reports from school.

During a mediation hearing on Tuesday, attorneys for the parents and an HRS attorney agreed on another psychological evaluation for the boys to determine whether a visit with their parents at the jail would traumatize them.

``I'm tired of the criminal justice system inadvertently punishing the children of perpetrators by depriving these children of their parents,'' said Rahaim, who evaluated the boys. ``Children need their parents in almost all cases.''

HRS officials also have filed papers to terminate the parental rights of Joanne Mejia, also charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 8-month-old son. Court records show the baby died of Shaken Baby Syndrome.

HRS officials removed Mejia's 17-month-old daughter from the home after the boy's death. Mejia's husband, Carlos, who has not been charged in connection with the baby's death, is fighting for custody of his daughter.

Jacqueline Caruncho, a mother charged with third-degree murder in the shaking death of a baby she was baby sitting, found herself in a similar situation. Caruncho was released on bond after her arrest, free to go home and care for her 13-month-old daughter.

HRS officials ordered Caruncho and her husband to turn over the baby, but they refused. A judge ruled that the baby should live with her grandparents until Caruncho's case is resolved.

Kyle Cone, 7, recently got to see and hug his parents for the first time since they were charged three months ago with first-degree murder in the death of their 2-year-old adopted daughter, who died when a plywood lid on her crib slammed shut.

Kyle was separated from his 4-year-old adopted sister and sent to a shelter home after his parents' arrest. The parents lobbied for a contact visit until a judge agreed to a supervised visit. The Cones cannot discuss the case with their son, a key state witness.

The custody cases of these children are not open to the public. Family court judges make the final decisions after deciding what is in the child's best interest.

Because jail inmates can make only collect calls and the parents do not know where their children are, they cannot call their children.

Jail visits also pose special problems. Inmates charged with first-degree murder are not allowed to have contact visits, meaning a glass wall separates them from visitors while they speak over a phone.

Seeing a parent in a jail uniform behind glass can be traumatic for children, Rahaim said.

Young children who suddenly lose their parents to the criminal justice system often feel abandoned, he said. These children build fantasies about their parents and what happened to them.

GIVE ZILE BOYS CHANCE AT NEW LIFE
The Palm Beach Post
March 18, 1995
Author: EMILY J. MINOR

Some things you just know. And one of them is that Pauline and John Zile should never get their little boys back.

The Ziles made all of us heartsick with their staged abduction last fall. She cried on television, clutched her daughter's doll and then, five days later, collapsed and told the truth: Her 7-year-old daughter had not been stolen from a flea market.
She was dead. Beaten and then buried behind a Kmart by her stepfather, John Zile.

In the following months, many similar horrors delivered at the hands of parents came to light. Susan Smith in South Carolina, who rolled her car into a lake with her children strapped inside. The Cones with their plywood-lid crib. Clover Boykin in Wellington, her strangled baby dead in bed as she ran off to work.

But somehow, little Christina Holt stuck in our minds.

Her long braids. Her pretty eyes. Her sweet smile.

Her certain fear.

The Ziles are now involved in a court fight to stop the state from taking custody of the boys, ages 3 and 5, one of whom prosecutors think saw Christina die. No ruling yet, but the boys will be evaluated to see if jail visits with their parents would harm them psychologically.

There is a chance Pauline Zile will not be convicted of first-degree murder in her daughter's death. The prosecution has very little evidence against her. No one will testify that Pauline saw Christina die. No evidence suggests she dealt the fatal blows.

The case against John Zile is strong. It seems likely he'll be in prison for some time. But Pauline Zile could be convicted of a lesser crime, serve a short sentence and be out fairly soon. She may even be acquitted.

Can she be good mother?

But she still should not get those boys back.

Zile, 24, was but a child herself when she had her children. It is easy to understand the frustrations of young motherhood and how an upbringing absent of values, love and security can leave a woman ill-prepared to raise children of her own.

But could this mother - who calmly drove to her daughter's elementary school and withdrew her from enrollment, knowing full well Christina was dead - be a good mother? Could she give the boys love and stability? Could she keep them safe?

Even if we believe John Zile is the monster - what's to say she doesn't meet another one, or become one herself? Authorities already say they have evidence that at least one of the boys was abused by one or both of their parents.

Too late for Christina

Could these two young boys be better off without their mother? Christina would have been.

Every night, when I hear the snap as my husband takes off his leather belt, I think of Christina Holt, beaten until welts covered her helpless body.

And every night my husband looks at me, reads my thoughts, and says, ``I'm sorry.'' Which is more than anyone ever said to Christina Holt.

Pauline and John Zile's boys have a chance, a small one. With love, professional help, and the security of caring parents, they could wrestle some happiness from life.

They deserve, at least, that chance.