Utah Custody Battle: Adopted Baby’s Mom Wants Tot in Good Home

Woman Revived After Avalanche Burial in Utah Backcountry

Jan 172013

Obtained by ABC News(SALT LAKE CITY) — A 43-year-old backcountry skier revived after she was buried in an avalanche is now in fair condition at University of Utah Hospital, hospital officials said.

On Saturday, Jan. 12, Elizabeth Malloy and a male friend were in Millcreek Canyon, Utah, a popular spot near Salt Lake City with no designated ski resorts but well-known for snowshoeing and cross country skiing.

At approximately 5 p.m., police believe Malloy and her friend triggered an avalanche while backcountry skiing.

“When the avalanche happened, she was completely buried,” Lt. Justin Hoyal of the Utah Unified Police of Greater Salt Lake told ABC News. “The male party that she was with had the necessary equipment. He was able to locate her and get her out.”

Once the male dug out Malloy from the snow, he noticed she was unconscious, Hoyal said.

“She was not breathing,” Hoyal added. “He was able to resuscitate her to where she was conscious and speaking. There is no cell service in that canyon and, fortunately, they were in an area where he was able to move and get a signal and call for help.”

When the rescue team located the two via helicopter at approximately 8 p.m., they were 1.7 miles from the trailhead and approximately 9,000 feet in elevation on the slope. At that point, both were air transported to the bottom of the canyon and taken to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. Malloy’s condition initially was classified as serious, but has been upgraded to fair, hospital officials said.

According to the Utah Avalanche Center, the avalanche measured 800 feet vertically and 700 feet in width.

“Seven hundred feet wide is over two football fields, and I would think that [in] anything that is that wide and several feet deep you would feel like a toothpick in a hurricane,” said Craig Gordon of the Utah Avalanche Center. “That is a large piece of snow. The lady that was caught in that avalanche is lucky to be alive.”

In backcountry skiing areas that are not controlled, Hoyal said, there is a high risk of an avalanche.

“One of the big messages here is people don’t have necessary avalanche equipment and can’t get them out,” Hoyal said. “It takes us time to get up to the backcountry and get to them. In this particular incident, this gentleman was prepared, had the necessary equipment and, essentially, saved her life.”

When skiing in undesignated areas, people should be prepared and check with the Utah Avalanche Center before heading out, Hoyal said.

Missing Utah Teen Found; Police Call Disappearance ‘Suspicious’

Jan 112013

ABC News(SALT LAKE CITY) — The frantic search for a missing 13-year-old girl in Utah came to a close overnight when police found the teenager at a local Walmart after she’d disappeared with no mobile phone, shoes or even a coat.

But what looks like a case of a teen runaway is being called suspicious by police.

Brooklyn Gittins’ family said the young girl went to bed Tuesday night wearing her pajamas. When they awoke, she was gone, and even her eyeglasses were left behind. She contacted her family late Thursday night.

Lt. Justin Hoyal of Salt Lake Unified Police told ABC News that she is safe at home now.

“We believe that she did leave her house on Tuesday evening, and somebody picked her up and harbored her for the last two and a half days. We’re going to investigate,” Hoyal said. “She’s 13 years old, and for someone to hold her is wrong. We’ll do everything to find the person and bring [that person] to justice.”

Gittins was unharmed and was still wearing her gray T-shirt and black pajama pants. She had no shoes or coat.

“Brooklyn called her grandmother about 11:30 p.m. and told her that she was at the Walmart in South Jordan,” Salt Lake police said. “Her grandmother then called Utah police department. We responded to the Walmart and located Brooklyn. The disappearance is suspicious and we are still investigating where she went and who she was with.”

Police say there were no signs of forced entry in her home outside Salt Lake City, and none of the straight-A student’s friends had heard from her after she vanished.

“There are elements of this case that are extremely concerning. We are hopeful that, however, that this is simply a runaway,” police said on Thursday.

Gittins has gone missing before. Her family says she ran away last summer, but soon returned

More than 500 volunteers, as well as dog teams, fanned out Thursday to search the area near Gittins’ home. However, authorities sent the volunteers home overnight, saying the storm that brought all the heavy snow was too dangerous.

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Fired Utah State Trooper Accused of Falsifying DUI Arrests

Jan 042013

Thinkstock/Getty Images(SALT LAKE CITY) — A class-action lawsuit has been filed against a former Utah Highway Patrol trooper and her superiors alleging that she filed false DUI charges during her career.

The department fired Lisa Steed in November for alleged misconduct related to her duties.

Attorney Michael Studebaker, who is one of the lawyers leading the class-action lawsuit, says he has been contacted by at least 40 people claiming Steed wrongfully arrested them on DUI or drug charges.

“Culture of corruption. The stories are just rampant,” said Studebaker, who filed the lawsuit on Dec. 14 in District Court in Salt Lake County.

Lawyers have yet to determine exactly how much the plaintiffs will seek in monetary damages.

One of the alleged victims was Michael Choate, who says Steed pulled him over for speeding with his wife in the car.

“She said she clocked me at 73. I was going about 50, 52 at most,” Choate said.

Choate was arrested and charged with DUI, but the charge was reduced to having an open container of alcohol in the car after a blood test showed he was not drunk. Choate says he was forced to pay $3,000 in fines to get his car back.

Choate was also upset that his wife was forced to find her own way home after his arrest.

“They dropped her off at a Burger King,” he said. “She didn’t have any money, she didn’t have her cellphone with her. She had to borrow a quarter from a lady to make a phone call.”

Steed and her attorney have not responded to requests for comment. Utah Highway Patrol says it cannot comment on pending litigation.

Steed is under investigation by the FBI.

Utah Boy Brings Gun to School and Gets Arrested

Dec 192012

David De Lossy/Thinkstock(KEARNS, Utah) — Prosecutors in Kearns, Utah, are preparing criminal charges against an 11-year-old boy who brought a .22 caliber handgun to school with him on Monday, which he claimed was in response to last week’s shootings at Newtown, Conn.

However, while the boy apparently told Granite School District administrators that he brought the firearm and ammunition to West Kearns Elementary School to protect himself, others are alleging that the youngster had more nefarious intentions.

Mandee Doyle, whose daughter goes to the school, says the principal called to tell her that her child was threatened by the gun-wielding boy, who reportedly held the weapon to the girl’s head.

Doyle then angrily told reporters, “I’m taking my kids out of school. They ain’t coming back here.”

Meanwhile, Isabelle Rios, a classmate of Doyle’s daughter, alleged the boy “pulled out a gun and he put it to my head — me and my friend — (and) said he was going to kill us. I told him I was going to tell, but he said, ‘If you tell, I’m going to kill you.’”

Rios later told a teacher who quickly disarmed the boy. He’ll learn the extent of the charges against him later in the week.

Utah Custody Battle: Adopted Baby’s Mom Wants Tot in Good Home

Dec 062012

ABC News(NEW YORK) — Tira Bland, the Utah mother who gave up her baby for adoption, only to have a judge order the girl returned to her biological father, says that she feels sorry for the couple who adopted her daughter.

A judge ordered Utah couple Jared and Kristi Frei to return the adopted toddler to her biological father, Terry Achane, after it was revealed that Bland gave up the child without the father’s knowledge or permission.

“Her well being is all that matters to me,” Bland told ABC News referring to her child. “I want to see her successful. I want to see her in a home, a good home.”

She is sorry that her ex-husband is challenging the adoption.

“I’m hurt for the Fries,” Bland said. “They’re great people.”

Achane, 31, a staff sergeant in the Army and Bland’s ex-husband, was transferred from Texas where he lived with Bland to South Carolina. The staff sergeant claims that in 2010, without his knowledge, Bland put the child up for adoption through a Utah agency.

When Achane learned last year that the child, who he calls Teleah, was being raised by the Freis, he asked a court to give him custody. Last month, a judge did just that.

The Freis now have less than 60 days to return the 21-month-old girl, who they call Leah, to her father. But a lawyer for the Freis told ABC News earlier this week that they don’t plan to return the toddler, and will appeal the judge’s ruling.

Bland says the Freis took her in, and agreed to the adoption after Achane left Texas and moved to South Carolina with the Army. Both sides agree he knew Bland was pregnant, and that he still had to move for work.

Bland says that she and Achane had discussed adoption, but in the end, she says, he abandoned her and that’s why she turned to the Freis.

“They cared about me and the well being of Teleah when he wasn’t there, when he didn’t care,” Bland said. “He showed no interest in me being pregnant. When he left me, he didn’t leave me with an address. I didn’t have a home address on him.”

Achane’s lawyers deny that, saying he was paying Bland’s bills, and wanted to take care of their unborn daughter.

“The judge heard [Bland'] story, and completely ruled against her. He did not find that her story was credible,” Wiser said.

Bland now says that she wants what she thinks is best for the baby.

“My heart was comfortable with her being with the Freis,” she said. “I’d rather see her with me struggling first before she goes with him.”

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