GENESIS SIMS - 9 yo (2010) - Monument (N of Colorado Springs) CO

Poor child. I can't imagine how sad her life was and then to finally be murdered breaks my heart. Her mother needs to stop raving on to the media as though Genesis was so precious to her.
Jopetia Garretson says she wants her daughter back — even if that
means
waiting for a coffin.

The Newark resident fears that her
eldest daughter, Genesis Sims, 9,
may be the dead girl construction
workers found in a basement crawl
space in a vacant house in
Monument, Colo. on May 14.

“Whoever was responsible for this, I
want them to pay,” Garretson
said. “I can’t believe they took her
away from me.”

Hey useless mother. You didn't take care of your daughter. You didn't fight to get her back before and you would have been able to be a part of Genesis's life if you wanted to but you weren't for 2 years. You don't have far to look if you want to know who's responsible. Look in the mirror and then crawl back under the rock you finally came out from under.
Sorry for the rant Tom. Just makes me so angry.

A couple who had custody of a girl whose body was found in a vacant
Colorado home have been arrested in Nevada, authorities said Wednesday.Lt.
Lari Sevene of the El Paso County, Colo., sheriff's department said
Hanif Sims and his girlfriend, Monique Lynch, were in custody in
Henderson, Nev. She said investigators had just learned of their arrest
and had few details.Sims is the father of 9-year-old Genesis
Sims, whose body was found May 14 in the crawl space of a vacant town
house in Monument, about 50 miles south of Denver. Construction workers
doing renovations found the body.Authorities said Tuesday that
tests showed the body was that of Genesis, who had lived in the town
house with Sims and Lynch.Investigators had been looking for the
couple, who moved out of the home early last year. An arrest warrant was
issued for Hanif Sims on child abuse and second-degree assault charges
on June 4 as part of the investigation, Sevene said. The warrant was
sealed, and Sevene said she couldn't provide any further details.Investigators
believed that Sims and Lynch lived in the Union Rescue Mission homeless
shelter in Los Angeles from March until December 2009.A couple
claiming to be Hanif Sims and Monique Lynch told the media that they found
Genesis unconscious in the bathroom and hid her
body after having a ceremony with prayers and flowers.
A local TV station reported the couple called Monday, saying they wanted to
give their side of the story before turning themselves in. The station
said it confirmed their identities using details from the investigation
into the case.The woman claiming to be Lynch said the couple
moved Genesis to a bed and tried giving her mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation. She said they decided to bury her in the crawl space two days later.

The El Paso County Sheriff's Office says Hanif Sims and
Monique Lynch were extradited from Henderson, Nevada to the El Paso
County Criminal Justice Center over the weekend.



Sims is being held on the charges of Child Abuse Resulting in Death and 2nd Degree Assault with a total bond of $750,000.00.Lynch is being held on the charge of Child Abuse Resulting in Death with a bond of $500,000.00.The couple is being investigated in the death of nine year old Genesis Sims.The little girl's body was found in mid-May in the crawl space of a townhome in Monument where the family once lived.

A 9-year-old girl whose decomposed body was found in the basement of a Monument
home in May had been beaten with a belt for soiling herself and then
allowed to linger near death for two days before possibly being buried
alive, an arrest affidavit states.
Monique Lynch was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the death of Genesis Sims. Lynch faces a possible life sentence.
Lynch and the girl’s father, Hanif Sims, were arrested in early July after months on the run. Both initially were accused of child abuse resulting in death.
Sims still faces that charge along with concealing a body and
tampering with evidence and faces up to 51 years in prison. Lynch also
has been charged with child abuse resulting in death, concealing a body and tampering with evidence.
The cause of the girl’s death has not been determined, but if it is eventually ruled a homicide, it could be the first ever in Monument, authorities have said.
According to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office arrest affidavit, Monique Lynch
allegedly beat Genesis with a belt because the girl had soiled herself,
then the couple let her linger for two days without getting her medical
help. Genesis may have still been alive when Sims and Lynch placed her
in a plastic bag and buried her in the basement, the affidavit states.
The affidavit gave the following account of Genesis’ death:
“Hanif Sims told sheriff’s Detective (Ralph) Losasso that on the day of her death, Genesis had soiled herself and Monique Lynch became upset and began beating her with a belt. Hanif said he told Monique to stop, she had disciplined Genesis enough.
"Monique then took Genesis upstairs to clean her up.”
Sims then left to buy cigarettes returning about a half hour later to find Lynch in the bathroom with Genesis in the tub.
“Hanif Sims said Monique Lynch
was yelling at Genesis, telling her to get her ass up and quit faking.
Hanif said he picked Genesis up and took her to the bed and gave her
mouth to mouth because she didn’t seem to be breathing. Hanif said it
appeared Genesis was breathing, but shallow.
“According to Hanif Sims,
he told Monique to call 911, but that Monique told him no because she
was wanted on a warrant for her arrest and she was pregnant with another
child and could not afford to go to jail. Hanif admitted to detectives
that he believed that if medical had responded when they should have
called, Genesis would be alive today."
Hanif told the detective that he and Lynch stayed in a bedroom with a
shallow-breathing Genesis for two days before placing her in a bag,
digging a hole and burying her, the affidavit stated.
Lynch and Sims are each being held in the El Paso County jail on $500,000 bond. Kathleen Walsh,
spokesperson for the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, said
prosecutors will be requesting that Lynch be held without bond. Their
next court date is Aug 12.
The couple was arrested in Henderson, Nev., after months on the run and brought back to Colorado in early July.
Genesis’ remains were found May 14 by construction workers renovating the town home in the 700 block of Century Place in Monument where Sims and Lynch and two children had lived.
The girl’s identity was determined by DNA tests and authorities in several states, including California and the couple’s home state of New Jersey, began searching for them.
According to Lewis-Palmer School District 38 records, Genesis was
enrolled in the second grade for about six weeks, but was removed to be
home-schooled.
After moving out of the Monument town home, Lynch and Sims are believed to have gone to California, where they lived at the Union Rescue Mission homeless shelter in Los Angeles from March until December.
A few days before they were caught, a local TV station reported that the
couple contacted them and denied killing Genesis, claiming they
had found her lifeless in the bathtub and buried her in the basement.
When Genesis’ body was discovered in mid-May, news of Monique Lynch’s possible involvement came as a shock to her sister, Cassandra Lynch.
“We know her and it’s very hard for us to accept what the media is saying about her,” Cassandra Lynch said. “She could not hurt a child, she just couldn’t. It’s not in her.”
Cassandra Lynch said her sister, formerly of Newark, N.J., has been with Sims for about three years, though the two never married while living in New Jersey.
They both had children when their relationship began, and eventually had a child together after moving away from Colorado.
Monique Lynch entered the relationship with a son, Davon, who is now about 13. Hanif had Genesis, whose mother, Jopetia Garretson, still lives in New Jersey.
They moved to Colorado
around December 2008, she said, to “start a new life and give her son a
better chance of growing up because things in the neighborhood were
getting out of control and too violent,” Cassandra Lynch said.
While living at the homeless shelter in Los Angeles, Monique Lynch
was featured in a promotional video for the shelter holding her and
Sims’ newborn son. Both the older son and infant were left with friends
and then placed with relatives after the couple left the homeless
shelter and went on the run.
“The only thing I have to say is I’m hurting right now,” Garretson
said Wednesday. “I was expecting that they would be saying that about
her (Genesis’) dad right away, not so much her (Lynch).”
“If they say she’s guilty of that, then I have to go by that,”
Garretson said. “But I think they both have something to do with it one
way or another.”
Garretson said she still hasn’t received Genesis’ body and wants it back soon.
“I don’t think it’s right for them to be holding on to her like that,
I don’t think it’s right,” she said. “Me and her sisters have to suffer
because we can’t have her.”

Separate Trials Set For Couple In Girl's Death

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.
(AP) -- A man and woman charged in the death of a 9-year-old girl whose
body was found in the crawl space of a vacant Colorado home will be
tried separately.

The judge reportedly has ordered separate trials for
30-year-old Hanif Zarif Sims and 30-year-old Monique Alisa Lynch in the
death of Genesis Sims. The girl's body was discovered last May in a
vacant home in Monument.

Lynch is charged with first-degree murder. Her trial is set for June 14.

Sims is charged with child abuse resulting in his daughter's death and his trial is set for May 31.

El Paso County investigators say Sims and Lynch have blamed each other.

http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/Judge_Ordered_Separate_Trials_In_Couples_Trial_114318104.html

Our partners at The Gazette are reporting that Monique Lynch is
taking a plea deal. She is the woman accused of murder after the corpse
of a 9-year-old girl was found in the crawl space of a Monument home.
Lynch has reportedly pleaded guilty to child abuse causing death. In
exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors will drop a 1st degree murder
charge against her.
A sentencing hearing for Lynch is set for June 30. She faces 10 to 32 years in prison.
Further details about the plea agreement are not available, including
whether Lynch will testify against the girl's father, Hanif Sims. His
trial is set for May 31 on charges of felony child abuse.
The body of 9-year-old Genesis Sims was discovered May 14, 2010, by
two contractors who were digging a pit for a sump pump in the crawl
space beneath a duplex where Sims and Lynch had once lived.
http://www.newsfirst5.com/news/woman-accused-in-monument-girl-s-death-takes-plea-deal/

A recent plea bargain will pit a former Monument woman against her
boyfriend, who is charged with murder in the death of his 9-year-old
daughter.
Monique Lynch, 30, agreed to testify against Hanif Sims as part of a
deal with prosecutors last week in which she pleaded guilty to child
abuse causing death, according to the 4^th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
While Lynch’s charge of first-degree murder was tossed out, charges against Sims were upgraded to murder.
“Basically, it’s because of evidence that has been uncovered – that’s
why this changed,” said Shelly LaGrill, a spokeswoman for the District
Attorney’s Office.
Lynch faces 10 to 32 years in prison when she is sentenced June 30, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors are expected to outline their case against Sims during a
preliminary hearing set for Tuesday. District Judge G. David Miller will
decide whether there is enough evidence to go to trial on the murder
charge.
Sims is set for trial on May 31.
Sims and Lynch have been the targets of an investigation since May
14, 2010, when the body of Sims’ daughter, Genesis, was found in a
laundry bag in a crawl space under the Monument duplex where they had
lived in 2008.
An autopsy concluded the girl died as a result of homicide, but the El Paso County Coroner’s Office couldn’t pinpoint the cause.
Sims and Lynch, meanwhile, pointed fingers at each other after they
were tracked down in Henderson, Nev., where they had gone after spending
time at a homeless shelter in California.
Sims told investigators that Genesis died sometime between his
birthday on Sept. 9, 2008, and Dec. 25, 2008, after a confrontation with
Lynch.
He said he tried to resuscitate her and wanted to call 911, but that
Lynch, who was five months pregnant at the time, had an outstanding
arrest warrant in New Jersey and didn’t want police involved.
The couple left the dead girl in her bed for two days before wrapping her in a plastic bag and burying her, authorities said.
Afterward, the couple told neighbors in Monument that Genesis had
been sent to New Jersey to live with her biological mother, authorities
said. Relatives who called from New Jersey were told that the girl
couldn’t come to the phone.
Attorneys for Lynch and Sims have argued that prosecutors lack evidence of foul play in the death.
Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/death-117764-girl-monument.html#ixzz1Luudfedq

UPDATE: 27-year sentence in girl's death

June 30, 2011

A former Monument woman was sentenced to 27 years in prison Thursday for her role in the death of Genesis Sims, a 7-year-old girl whose body was found wrapped in plastic in the crawl space under a vacant duplex.

Monique Lynch, 31, kept her head bowed as 4th Judicial District Judge G. David Miller imposed a penalty near the top end of the 10 to 32 years she faced under a May plea agreement with prosecutors.

Miller told Lynch it was “intolerable” that she failed to get medical help for Genesis after she was allegedly beaten unconscious by her father, Hanif Sims, and left to die in December 2008.

“There were many circumstances, if not thousands of circumstances, in which you could have helped this girl,” Miller said, referring to allegations that Lynch stood by while Genesis endured years of beatings and abuse by Sims.

Under the plea agreement, Lynch pleaded guilty to child abuse causing death and agreed to testify against Sims, who faces an Oct. 11 jury trial on a first-degree murder charge. In exchange, prosecutors dropped a first-degree murder charge against Lynch.

Sims’ charges were upgraded to murder after the deal.

The sentencing came after a plea for leniency by public defender Cindy Hyatt, who said Lynch had become trapped in a cycle of abusive relationships that began in childhood. She was beaten by an abusive stepfather, who later murdered a school teacher, and was routinely raped by her biological father in Newark, N.J., Hyatt said.

Lynch, in an orange El Paso County jail jumpsuit, briefly addressed the court during the sparsely attended sentencing hearing, telling the judge in a soft-spoken voice she was ready for her punishment.

“I want to take full responsibility,” she said. “Because I know I could have (done) something more to save her.”

Prosecutor Margaret Vellar said she saw little genuine remorse in Lynch.

“Nobody cared about Genesis — not Hanif Sims, not Monique Lynch,” Vellar said. “It’s almost like she was in the way, and now that she’s gone, that’s the way it is.”

In a phone call from Newark, Genesis’ mother, Jopetia Garretson, fought back tears while asking the judge to impose the maximum sentence.

“I’m looking at my daughter’s urn right now,” she said. “This is not how I wanted my daughter back home with me.”

Sims and Lynch were living together with two children in December 2008, when authorities suspect Genesis was beaten to death, placed in a laundry bag, and buried in a shallow grave under a duplex in the 700 block of Century Place.

The family moved out in early 2009; the girl’s body was found in May 2010 by workers digging a pit for a sump pump.

An autopsy couldn’t determine how Genesis died, but ruled her death a homicide.

The grisly discovery launched a nationwide search for Lynch and Sims, who prosecutors say moved to Colorado to avoid the scrutiny of New Jersey’s child welfare workers, who had accused Sims of child abuse.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office — which investigated the death at the request of Monument police — determined that the couple spent several months in a Los Angeles homeless shelter after leaving Monument.

They left their two remaining children — Lynch’s son Davon, and a boy who was born after Genesis’ death — with a family friend before leaving California.

The children were later placed with Monique Lynch’s mother in New Jersey, according to an El Paso County sheriff’s official.

Authorities tracked them down last July at a motel room in Henderson, Nev.

From the beginning, the couple sought to pin the death on each other, authorities said, each accusing the other of hitting Genesis.

After agreeing to the plea bargain, Lynch told detectives that Sims was angry at Genesis for using too much water when he pushed his way into a bathroom and punched her in the chest as she showered.

The girl collapsed in the bathtub and went limp, Lynch claimed. Rather than call for help, Sims proposed dissolving her body in acid, burning her in a friend’s fire place and burying her in the backyard, she told authorities.

Her account — summarized by a detective at a June court hearing — will likely form the core of the prosecution’s case against Sims.

Sims’ attorney, Matthew Werner, has argued that prosecutors lack physical evidence revealing how Genesis died or who killed her. Werner said there’s no way to rule out a claim the girl slipped and drowned in the bathtub.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Sims would receive a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.



Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/death-120719-year-prison.html#ixzz1QsMMt8Cq

kiwimom wrote:Just as a husband who abuses his wife will alienate her from family and friends, some parents who abuse their children will do the same and will take their child or children out of school on the pretense that they are going to home school them. Home schooling needs to be thoroughly investigated before it is allowed and carefully monitored to ensure the child is learning at an appropriate level and is safe and well. Authorities should err on the side of caution and assume the worst until they are satisfied that all is well.

I wrote a letter to my state senator and representative bringing this to their attention.

At least this time they prosecuted the mother also. That should be done more often.

Sims trial rescheduled for January

For the second time in four months the trial of Hanif Sims — the father who allegedly beat his daughter to death and buried her in a crawlspace — has been postponed and rescheduled.
Jury selection was set to begin Oct. 11 but the trial is now scheduled for Jan. 30, 2012 to allow Sims’ attorney more time to prepare for the trial according to Lee Richards, public information officer for the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s office.
Sims was initially charged with Child Abuse Causing Death, Tampering with Evidence and Concealing Death in the death of his daughter, Genesis Sims. However, a First Degree Murder Charge was added after Sims’ girlfriend Monique Lynch accepted a plea bargain in early May and agreed to testify against Sims.
Lynch was originally charged with First Degree Murder in Genesis’ death but after she pled guilty to the lesser charge of Child Abuse Causing Death, the murder charge was dropped. Lynch was sentenced on June 30 to serve a 27-year sentence.
Genesis Sims’ body was discovered buried in the crawlspace of a Monument home located at 764 Century Place, Unit A by construction workers who were working on the house in May 2010. During an investigation it was discovered that the body was that of Genesis, who was last seen alive in Dec. 2008.
Sims and Lynch had fled to California shortly after Genesis was last seen and were later apprehended in Henderson, Nev., in July 2010.
The couple has since blamed each other for Genesis’ death. Both parties agreed, however, that she had been beaten to death and buried in the crawlspace. Additionally, during the investigation authorities learned there had been a history of physical abuse on Genesis by her father.
Sims is scheduled to appear in court for a motion hearing Dec. 14. Richards said the trial is expected to last four weeks.

http://www.ourcoloradonews.com/trilakes/news/sims-trial-rescheduled-for-january/article_31d33238-5cc1-590d-97c0-dbe304a94651.html

A former Monument man accused in the murder of his 7-year-old
daughter pleaded guilty to a lesser count Monday, a week after a judge
cited what he called “stunningly sloppy police work” on the case.

Slated to begin trial Monday, Hanif Sims took a last-minute plea to
child abuse resulting in death, averting courtroom battles over a tape
that proved Sims never made a confession that authorities said he did.

Sims, 31, faces 27 to 40 years in prison rather than the automatic life term he would have received with a murder conviction.

Prospective jurors were thanked and released from their subpoenas
Monday — marking an unexpected end to a trial that was expected to last
up to a month.

Whether “sloppy work” by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office led
prosecutors to sign off on Sims’ 11th hour plea deal wasn’t clear
because prosecutors Margaret Vellar and Sharon Flaherty declined to
comment, citing a gag order.

Sims will be sentenced April 14 by 4th Judicial District Judge G. David Miller.

Sims’ former girlfriend and co-defendant Monique Lynch has already
been sentenced to 27 years in prison. She also eluded a first-degree
murder charge in the case — by agreeing to testify against Sims at
trial.

After Lynch made the deal with prosecutors last year, they dropped
the murder charge against her and filed a first-degree murder count
against Sims, citing new details that Lynch provided as a condition of
the plea.


The couple have blamed each other for causing the girl’s death,
leaving investigators with disputed accounts of what happened. An
autopsy found that the girl, Genesis, died as a result of a homicide
but didn’t determine how, with an El Paso County coroner saying her
body was too decomposed. Genesis had been wrapped in plastic and left in
the crawl space months before Sims and Lynch were arrested.

Sims and Lynch both were implicated in child abuse documented by New
Jersey child welfare workers, who testified at pretrial hearings.
Prosecutors alleged that Sims and Lynch left New Jersey to avoid the
agency’s scrutiny.

According to testimony on the stand, New Jersey authorities
determined Genesis was once made to carry her fecal matter to school as
punishment for soiling her bedroom. The girl reportedly said she was too
afraid to make it to the bathroom.

At Lynch’s sentencing, Miller said there were “many circumstances” in which she could have intervened in acts of abuse by Sims.

The case against Sims was weakened before trial by the revelation
that El Paso County sheriff’s detectives made a series of false
statements about a confession from Sims.

The proof came in December, when a missing tape turned up and
established that regardless of what the detectives said, Sims didn’t
confess to leaving his injured daughter to suffer for two days on a bed
before she was possibly buried alive.

Sheriff’s detectives Ralph Losasso and Sgt. Robert Jaworksi, who
conducted the interview after Sims and Lynch were arrested in Henderson,
Nev., and who stood by their claims, were cited by Judge Miller for
“stunningly sloppy police work.”

Confronted with the evidence, lead detective Losasso said on the
stand he was sleep-deprived when he misinterpreted one of Sims’ answers.

Losasso and Jaworski had previously said they inadvertently destroyed notes of the interview and didn’t record it.

After Miller ordered a review of evidence-gathering practices by the
sheriff’s office, a District Attorney’s investigator tracked down a copy
of the interview from a Nevada police detective who was in the room at
the time — even though Losasso said no one else was present.

After reviewing the record, Miller directed harsh words at the
detectives but said he couldn’t determine if they were lying or
mistaken.

Miller tossed out other evidence from the interview and ordered that
Sims’ attorneys Matthew Werner and Tracey Eubanks would have “wide
latitude” to question investigators over the errors.

Eubanks earlier this month offered a glimpse of what a jury might
have seen as a result — by pushing Losasso on the stand until he was
visibly shaken.

The judge said that dismissing the case would be too extreme a penalty for police misbehavior.

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/sims-132598-murder-first.html#ixzz1l0qO0dWK

Stupid LE. How is justice supposed to be served for this poor abused murdered child when they act like idiots. I hope the monster gets the full sentence.

This isn't perfect justice but it is better than a conviction being overturned and these monsters getting off Scot free.

I hope these POSs receive daily beatings in prison. They should both be neutered and spayed with a hacksaw and rusty scalpel.