Murder Suicide and False Allegations at the Hands of Female Perpetrators
By Joan T. Kloth-Zanard
December 9, 2021
The statistics don’t lie, and nor do these three stories. Men are abused at the same rate as women, the difference is that women are more likely to use a deadly weapon or poison to do it, while men are more likely to use physical abuse. The one thing they have in common, is they both use psychological abuse at the same rate. But this article is not about psychological abuse but about how women are just as likely and capable of harming their male partners and their children.
John Mast
John Mast was an alienated father who was murdered by his ex-father-in-law after being awarded joint custody of his children. He spent years fending off false allegations of abuse and many other charges. Finally, the courts found him not guilty and awarded him back joint custody. On February 5, 2021, the day he was to pick his children up, he was gunned down by his ex-father-in-law. John’s ex-wife had convinced her father that John was unsafe and a danger to his children. John was gunned him down, in the back, in a parking lot, in front of his children and family. [04-23-2021, PASI (PAS Intervention & ISNAF (International Support Network of Alienated Families) Panel Discussion with Attorney Kevin Hickey]
Rod McCall
Like John Mast, Rod McCall, was a targeted father who spent years defending himself from false allegations of abuse and neglect. Rod is a survivor of Parental Alienation but his son was not. In the course of his divorce, his ex-wife attacked his name, his reputation and accused him of a false crime. This resulted in his losing his job, getting arrested and having his publicly ridiculed on the local Dallas/Ft. Worth news stations. He was proven not guilty and after a weeklong jury trial, the mother was stripped of her parental rights. The three attorneys, Father’s, Mother’s and the Child’s, begged the judge to make the custody exchange at the courthouse, but the judge insisted on allowing the mother to go home and say her goodbyes. Before they realize it, the mother had left and gone home to do more than just say goodbye. On October 21, 2011, she killed their son and herself less than an hour after the jury verdict was handed down. (04-23-2021, PASI & ISNAF Panel Discussion with Rod McCall)
Ray Reynolds
Now, let’s consider the case of Ray Reynolds, whose ex-wife and the female Guardian Ad Litem Attorney (GAL) for the child, accused him of sexually abusing his toddler daughter. It cost him $250,000, the loss of his business and severe complex emotional trauma to prove his innocence and win back sole custody of his daughter. But before he could get his daughter back, the GAL assisted the mother in illegally leaving the USA and going to Costa Rica with the child. But his case could have gone seriously sideways if he had not had the funding to fight for his rights, along with the support of family and friends. He also took the unprecedented brave step to go after the GAL by filing a massive grievance against her. He had a massive amount of evidence which may have prevented him from being attacked with another false criminal allegation by the GAL. Sadly, he still has not got his daughter back despite being awarded sole custody. And the GAL was not held accountable for her actions because of her strong connections. And while she has not taken any new GAL cases, this has not stopped this GAL from continuing to have parents and anyone who crosses her path falsely arrested and jailed. (Personal Conversations with Ray Reynolds since May 2015).
Conclusions
These three cases are nothing new, nor are they rare. But for many parents, they know how dangerous the other parent can be and so they just give up because they fear being murdered or harmed or that their children will be. They realize that the other parents’ wealth, political connections, and intense hatred for them, can buy them. So, these parents back off to save themselves and the children they love.
This leaves us with a huge concern. After all these decades of cases of coercive control and domestic violence by proxy, these horrific events are still occurring. There seems to be a serious lack of proper training, education and understanding of the psychological dynamics involved in custodial interference cases, where incessant allegations of abuse occur. And there seems to be a strong underworld like current with “Good Ol’ Attorneys” network to control family court cases. With the majority of cases of alienation involving false allegations, this is a serious issue because it wastes time, money and resources necessary for true cases of abuse. It also means that true victims end up being ignored or harmed.
How can this be in a Child’s Best Interest? How can this be considered okay or even normal? We need to fix our dysfunctional family courts and the agencies around them. We need to stop the corruption and buying of officials. We need to stop the Mob Mafia Good Ol’ Attorneys network that allows much of the false allegations and criminal charges. But most important, we need to be able to better recognize which parents are a danger to themselves and others.
Citations for General Reference:
1. Coalition to End Domestic Violence, 2021, Thirty-Years of Domestic Violence Half-Truths, Falsehoods, and Lies Coalition to End Domestic Violence. www.EndtoDV.org A pre-publication copy of this Special Report was provided to the DOJ Office on Violence Against Women to assure the report’s factual accuracy. No reply was received from the OVW.
2. Harman, J. J., & Matthewson, M. (2020). Parental alienating behaviors. In D. Lorandos and W. Bernet (Eds.), Parental Alienation– Science and Law, pp. 82-141. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas Publisher.
3. Hines, D. A., & Douglas, E. M. (2018). Influence of intimate terrorism, situational couple violence, and mutual control on male victims. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 19, 612-623.
4. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2013). SF3.4: Family violence. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/els/soc/SF3_4_Family_violence_Jan 2013.pdf
5. Tolan, P., Gorman-Smith, D., & Henry, D. (2006). Family violence. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 557-583