Woman Who Killed Daughters Gets Prison

Los Angeles Times

May 27, 2005

A woman who shot her two daughters in an abandoned quarry and then led police to the bodies pleaded guilty to murder in Stevenson in a deal with prosecutors that is to send her to prison for 63 years.

Charlene Dorcy, 39, killed the girls, 2 and 4, with a rifle last June in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

Dorcy had stopped taking medication for paranoid schizophrenia in favor of herbal remedies because of concern about side effects, her husband said.

Mother guilty of kids’ murder

By Rukmini Callimachi - Associated Press

May 27, 2005

STEVENSON, Wash. – A Vancouver woman who led police to the bodies of her two daughters in a rock quarry nearly a year ago pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of first-degree murder in a plea deal that will send her to prison for 63 years.

Charlene Dorcy had originally been charged with aggravated murder, which could have carried a sentence of life in prison without parole, or else the death sentence. Prosecutors had earlier decided not to pursue the death penalty.

By pleading guilty to the lesser charges, Dorcy, 39, will still spend the bulk of her life in prison, said her attorney, Chris Lanz – but she will avoid the emotional toil of a long trial.

On June 12, 2004, Dorcy led detectives to an abandoned rock quarry deep inside the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, where the bodies of her 2- and 4-year-old daughters were found.

Dorcy later told investigators she had shot her daughters multiple times with her husband’s .22-caliber rifle.

Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic when she was a teenager, Dorcy had been taking medication but had stopped the treatment roughly four years before the murders in favor of herbal remedies, her husband Robert Dorcy has said.

The case against Dorcy was postponed several times because of questions regarding her competence to stand trial. In October, a Skamania County judge ordered her committed to a hospital and treated with anti-psychotic medication for six months. Since the treatment, doctors have asserted that she is competent.

During Thursday’s court hearing, Dorcy – choked by tears – delivered a rambling statement that talked about injustices against animals and Jews, but did not mention her children.

“Unless you are a vegetarian, every time you eat meat you’re a murderer,” she said.

In between sobs, she raged against holding animals in zoos: “I know how they feel,” she said.

Asked to comment on Dorcy’s statement, Skamania County Prosecutor Peter Banks said: “One thing we’ve never heard from her is that she’s sorry.”

“I have no doubt she knew that what she was doing was wrong,” Banks said of the murders.

Roughly one hour after the murder, Dorcy stopped in this tiny town perched above the Columbia River and called her sister-in-law from a pay telephone to confess to the crime, prosecutors and Dorcy’s husband have said. She then drove to a police station in her hometown of Vancouver and asked to lead detectives to her children’s bodies.

Lanz, Dorcy’s attorney, was asked by reporters whether his client felt remorse.

“She did shed tears – the cause of those emotions only she can know,” Lanz replied.

Prosecutor Peter Banks said that the earliest Dorcy could be released is at the age of 95 – effectively a life sentence.

Vancouver mother held in slayings of two daughters

By Hal Bernton, Doug Merlino and Nick Perry - SeattleTimes.com

June 14, 2004

VANCOUVER, Wash. — A 38-year-old suburban Vancouver woman fatally shot her preschool-age daughters Saturday in remote Skamania County, police said, and left their small bodies in an abandoned rock pit in the shadow of Mount Adams.

Police yesterday declined to discuss what may have caused Charlene A. Dorcy to reportedly kill the girls, then call police and lead them to the bodies of Jessica, 4, and Brittney, 2.

But neighbors in a cul-de-sac full of young families in Hazel Dell, a Vancouver suburb, described a woman who battled her temper, spoke of suffering from mental illness, and once suggested she might be thinking about killing her daughters.

"She asked me what would I think of her, as a Christian, if she killed her kids," said next-door neighbor Crystal Cates.

Cates said she reported the conversation to state Child Protective Services, but she said officials declined to intervene.

CPS officials yesterday said they would investigate Cates' report.

Dorcy, who has no apparent criminal record in Washington, was being held in the Skamania County Jail yesterday on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder, said Skamania County Undersheriff Dave Cox. She is due in court today or tomorrow, but as of last night she had not been formally charged.

Dorcy called Vancouver police about 5:30 p.m. Saturday and told them she had killed her two daughters, Cox said. She then led Clark County and Skamania County sheriff's detectives to the rock pit in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, a spot 33 miles north of the Columbia River city of Carson in Skamania County.

The children apparently were killed somewhere inside the Wind River Recreation Area and driven to the old rock pit near Lone Butte.

Detectives yesterday were combing the quarry and interviewing family members, Cox said.

Charlene Dorcy lived with her husband, Robert, 45, and their two daughters on a cul-de-sac ringed with duplexes filled with children who often gathered in the dead-end street to ride their bicycles and tricycles, neighbors said.

The Dorcy home was a favorite gathering place, with a back yard full of plastic swings, see-saws, cars and other outdoor toys.

Neighbor Earl Eshleman, 21, who lives two houses away, said he often saw the Dorcys playing with the children in the cul-de-sac. Charlene Dorcy always wore sweat pants, and the girls were often on tricycles.

"Every day, all the kids (in the neighborhood) run around and play, and the (slain girls) were in the midst of them," Eshleman said.

The slayings shocked neighbors, he added. "There's really no words to say about it," he said. "It's surreal right now."

But several neighbors said they detected potential trouble in Charlene Dorcy.

Some said she could be difficult, flying off the handle over the mundane hassles of suburban life, such as the position of a parked car or a noisy fence-repair project.

Neighbors also said she appeared controlling and very protective of her daughters.

Once Charlene Dorcy insisted that Jessica wear not only a helmet but also knee pads while riding her bike, said Angela Traylor, who lives several houses up the tree-lined street.

By contrast, neighbors described Robert Dorcy as a quiet, doting father who returned home every day at the same time from his job across the Columbia River in Oregon.

Robert Dorcy was at home yesterday but declined to comment.

Eshleman said Charlene Dorcy once called the police on Eshleman's 7-year-old brother because the boy called her "fat." Police officers lectured the boy on manners.

Robert Dorcy apologized the next day, saying his wife was high-strung, Eshleman said.

Neighbors said Charlene Dorcy had recently spoken of being mentally ill, a condition she described as social-anxiety illness and her "disability."

"She said she didn't want her illness to affect them (her daughters)," Traylor said. "She wanted her kids' life to be better than her life."

Neighbors said they didn't know if she had been receiving treatment. Most said they had never been invited into the Dorcy home.

When Charlene Dorcy spoke to Cates, her neighbor, about killing her children, Cates said she immediately reported the conversation to CPS.

According to Cates, the state official she spoke with said the agency couldn't do anything unless Cates witnessed physical abuse.

The official advised her to call police if she saw such behavior, Cates said. She never did, so she never called.

But Cates said she decided to end her children's visits to the Dorcys' back yard.

Kathy Spears, a CPS spokeswoman, said the Department of Social and Health Services would investigate to determine whether there are any records on the children, and what exactly was reported to CPS staff.

"To send a CPS worker out and start an investigation, it usually requires some sort of incident," Spears said. "It's just very difficult to act on an allegation about a threat, even though it can be very serious."

She said legally "the child has to be at immediate risk of harm," to trigger a CPS investigation.

"Either he's at risk of serious bodily harm or death," Spears said. "That could be someone seeing severe marks, broken bones or violence."

At the same time, CPS takes threats seriously, particularly with multiple incidents, or a pattern of problematic behavior.

Neighbors say police came to the family home twice early Saturday evening. The second time, when nobody was home, they broke down the door, possibly in an attempt to locate the children.

Mother leads police to bodies of 2 girls

Spokesman.com

June 14, 2004

CARSON, Wash. — Detectives found the bodies of two young girls at a southwestern Washington rock pit after their mother called police to say she had killed them, authorities said.

Charlene A. Dorcy, 39, told officers Saturday evening that she had taken her two children — 2-year-old Brittany and 4-year-old Jessica Dorcy — to the Wind River recreation area, where she shot and killed them, Skamania County Undersheriff Dave Cox said Sunday.

Cox said Dorcy led detectives to an abandoned rock pit off forest road 30, approximately 33 miles northeast of Carson, Wash., where they found the bodies. The Carson area is near the north banks of the Columbia River about 40 miles east of Vancouver.

Authorities believe Dorcy had driven her daughters nearly two hours from their home in Hazel Dell, near Vancouver, to the deserted rock pit, KGW-TV in Portland reported.

Dorcy was being held in Skamania County Jail in Stevenson on Sunday for investigation of two counts of first-degree murder. She was on suicide watch, KGW-TV reported. Cox said no court appearance had been scheduled.

Autopsies were expected for the girls.

“Our hearts are ripped out like anybody else’s. We have children, we are parents and cannot fathom for a moment ever doing something like this … it digs deep inside and tears us up,” Skamania County Sheriff Dave Brown said.

Sheriff’s officers planned to speak with Dorcy’s husband before commenting on her mental state.

Investigators asked that anyone who was in the Lone Butte area of Skamania County on Saturday afternoon and has information about the case call (509) 427-8783.