Tag Archives: dead russian adoptees

; Cross posted from Nikto Ne Zabyt–Nichto Ne Zabyto  According to the Iowa City Press-Citizen and the Daily Iowan, the trial of Brian Dykstra, accused of the August 2006 beating death of his adopted Russian son  Isaac Jonathan Dykstra (birth name unknown) will start October 24. A pretrial was held on Thursday to discuss “specifics of how technological issues would be dealt with, especially in reference to the handling of redacted footage,which caused a mistrial in the Charles Thompson homicide trial in September.”  (unrelated to the Dykstra case)  Dykstra, apparently still in  South Carolina, where he lives with his wife, an assistant professor of Spanish  at Clemson University, listened in on the hearing by speaker phone  Earlier this  year prosecutors and defense said they intended to call eleven doctors and 39 witnesses to testify.  The trial is expected to last about eight days. To read more about the case,  including In Memoriam  (Summary of all cases) and Summary of Killers and Sentences,  go to Nikto and click on Isaac’s name in the  “Labels”sidebar at the right..

This is cross-posted from my Russian blog, Nikto Ne Zabyt — Nichto Ne Zabyto. Eastern Iowa News Now reported yesterday that lawyers have narrowed down Brian Dykstra’s trial date to the week of October 24 or the week of November 28, 2011. Dyskstra is charged with 2nd degree murder in the August 2005 death his Russian adopted son, Isaac Jonathan Dykstra. Due to scheduling conflicfts, proceedings maybe be forced to occur in non-sequential order. A definite trial date will be announced soon. Eleven doctors and 39 witnesses are expected to testify. More information on the case can be found on Nikto, in the righthand sidebar, including In Memoriam and Summary of Killers and Sentences.

I’m starting to catch up on some old stories I neglected over the last few months. This is one of them. This is cross-posted from my Russian blog Nikto Ne Zabyt — Nichto Ne Zabyto Over a year ago I reported that Brian Dykstra, charged with 2nd degree murder in the death of his adopted Russian son, Issac Jonathan Dykstra, 21 months, had waived his right to a speedy trial. He wasn’t joking. According to May 13, 2011 DesMoines Register, Dykstra’s trial, scheduled to begin May 23, has once again been postponed. (Trial delayed for former Iowa City man charged in infant death) On May 5, 2010, just days before his trial was to begin last time, (after at least one earlier postponement), the prosecution and defense filed a joint motion requesting a new trial date due to the complexity of the case. According to their motion, more than 130 witnesses may be called. No reason for the latest delay has been given, and no new trial date set. Isaac died on August 14, 2005 the day after he was admitted to the hospital with severe brain injuries. Brian Dykstra, however, was not charged until August 7, 2008. Dykstra remains Continue Reading →

I have obtained new information on the Ivan Skorobogtov/Nathaniel Craver murder case. Ivan/Nathaniel was adopted from Dom Rebyonka #9 in Troitsk, Chelyabinsk region. He was placed through Lutheran Social Services of the South, Austin, Texas. LSS lost its accreditation on May 20, 2005 and closed its Russian program. The adoption took place when LSS was accredited. These changes are in the updated on Forever Family – Forever Dead. On June 14, the Michael and Nanette Craver pled not guilty to all charges at their arraignment hearing. Defense attorney Gerald Lord says he has no idea when the case will go to trial. It may start as late as next year.In May, York County Senior deputy prosecutor Jennifer Russell, citing Vanya’s age and the state’s contention that his death constituted torture, said she would seek the death penalty. The Russian government is watching the case closely.

In October 2003 Liam Thompson born Dmitry Sergeyvich Islankulov,was torture-murdered by his Forever Parents of six months, Gary and Amy Thompson of Galloway, Ohio. He died on his third birthday. Liam had a slightly older sister, adopted at the same time and from the same agency, Tree of Life in Portland, Oregon. We heard little about his sister then, not even her name, only that she had been placed in care and would probably be adopted by a new family. On April 26, the Columbus Dispatch published a story about Liam’s invisible sister, Ira: Russian girl survives awful first adoption to find love in a new home. Once, a long time ago, Ira was Irina Alexandrovna Pavlova. Then she was Irina Thompson, neglected, but not abused, by Gary and Amy Thompson. Now she is Irina Elizabeth Jean Palmer daughter of Don and Nadine Palmer and sister of Jessica and Cache. She lives in Powell, Ohio, just north of Columbus. Ira likes Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus, and she’s a gymnast. Pink is her favorite color. She wonders about her family in Russia. She remembers Liam. One of the key tools in the prosecution of Liam’s death was Amy Thompson’s computer Continue Reading →

Due to my trip to the ASAC conference at MIT, I’ve g0t catching up to do. I’m starting with some Russian follow-ups and then on to ASAC. This is cross posted from my Nikto Ne Zabyt – Nichto Ne Zabyto blog Please go there for my complete Russian collection. ****** The trial of Brian Dykstra, charged with second degree murder in the death of his adopted sonIsaac Dykstra (original name unknown) has been held off indefinitely. The trial was scheduled to start on May 10. The prosecution and defense filed a joint motion Friday requesting a new trial date due to the complexity of the case. According to their motion more than 130 witnesses may be called. You can read about Isaac on my Summary of Cases page and a little about Brian Dykstra on my Summary of Cases – Killers page. Comments from a member of the Dyskra family are here.

Go to Nikto Ne Zabyt – Nichto Ne Zabyto for my collection of Russian posts. Mirah Riben, author of The Dark Side of Adoption and The Stork Market appeared on the English language Russian Television (RT) yesterday to discuss international adoption corruption and the death of Russian adoptee Nathaniel Craver, born Ivan Skorobogatov. Vanya, 7, died on August 25, 2009 after being taken off life support. In 2003, he and his twin sister Dasha (now known as Elizabeth) were adopted from an orphanage in Chelyabinsk. His forever family, Michael Craver, 45 and Nanette, 54 Craver have been charged with homicide, conspiracy and child endangerment. The autopsy revealed Vanya suffered 80 external injuries, including 20 to the head. The Cravers are currently being held in the York County Jail with no bond. The case has been handled very badly by authorities in Carroll Twn, Pennsylvania where the boy lived. This is a big story in Russia and it won’t’ go away. I have been collecting information on the case, and have gotten behind in posting due to other work. I’ll have something shortly.

NOTE: Please go to Nykto Ne Zabyt for a dedicated page for all my entries on Russian adoption. This collection includes posts on all known Russian adoptees who have been killed by their US “forever families,” as well as the case of Masha Allen. Go to “labels” on that blog’s sidebar for individual cases. Russian language readers can translate the entire page with the Google Russian translator at the top of the page. Reverso translator is right below it for Russian and other languages. I especially want to thank the hundreds of Russian-language readers who are reading Bastardette and Nikto Ne Zabyt regarding Dima. . Thank you very much for your friendship and support and caring about adopted Russia’s adopted children in the US. ****** MORE RUSSIAN REACTIONI still can find no official statement regarding the Harrison verdict on the Russian Embassy or the Foreign Ministry pages. A press release from the Ministry of Education and Science is now on the ministry’s English-language page: Excerpt:The justificatory verdict casts doubt on effectiveness and reliability of the protection of adopted children’s rights system in the USA and will result in toughening the requirements to Russian children’s adoption by USA citizens. We must Continue Reading →