ANGELI CALLENDAR - 17 Months (2010) - Newport News VA

Police are investigating the death of a 1-year-old girl as a possible child abuse case.
Officers were sent shortly after 8 a.m. on March 1 to Bon Secours
Mary Immaculate Hospital where hospital staff told them they believed
the child and her 2-year-old sister had been abused, police wrote in a
news release.
Officers saw injuries on the 2-year-old who was taken to Children’s
Hospital of the King’s Daughters, treated for her injuries and
released, the release said. The child had injuries over a substantial
part of her body.
The 1-year-old was transferred to Portsmouth Naval Medical Center
where she died Thursday night, according to police.
The older sister and a 2-month old brother were in the custody of
Child Protective Services, according to police.
Police are continuing to investigate the case and plan to present
their findings to the Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney for review.
The child’s death is considered the city's fifth homicide this year.

Newport News police started their investigation Monday night after they
got a call from Mary Immaculate Hospital saying a 17-month-old girl and
her 27-month-old sister looked like they may have been abused.

Police say the girls had been taken to the hospital by their mother and her live-in boyfriend.

"Both children had bruises about their face and their body and one
suffered from a burn to their ear," said Sergeant Angela Campbell.

"You had fresh bruises and you had different stages of bruising about their bodies."

Sergeant Angela Campbell is in charge of the Newport News special
victims unit. She says the 17-month-old girl was not awake at the
hospital. She was then taken to Portsmouth Naval Medical Center where
she died last night. The 27-month-old was taken to CHKD where she was
treated for her injuries and released.

"Dark circles under the eyes, they appear dirty like they were not well kept," Sergeant Campbell added.

Sergeant Campbell says the live-in boyfriend is in the military and the
mother is in the reserves. She also says the boyfriend is the caretaker
and stays at home with the children while the mother works two jobs.

The 27-month-old little girl and another 2-month-old sibling are now in
the custody of Child Protective Services. Right now, no arrests have
been made nor have any charges been filed as the investigation
continues.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - Newport News homicide investigators have arrested a mother and her live-in boyfriend in the death of her 17-month-old baby girl and the alleged abuse of the baby's 27-month-old sister.

Lillian Kathryn Callendar, 22, and her boyfriend, Michael Christopher Stoffa, 25, were both charged with one count of murder in the commission of child abuse and two counts of felony child abuse, according to police spokesperson Lou Thurston.

Police told WAVY.com the baby girl, named Angeli, was brought to Mary Immaculate Hospital on March 1 suffering from what doctors believed was child abuse. The child was transported to Portsmouth Naval Medical Center where she died of her injuries on March 4.

At the time doctors at Mary Immaculate said they also discovered substantial injuries over a large portion of the baby's 27-month-old sister, including burns and bruises, and believed she too bad been abused. That child was transferred to Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk where she was treated and released and immediately turned over to Child Protective Services.

Police at the time also said the mother had a 2-month-old boy who was placed in protective custody as well.

Investigators told WAVY.com that Stoffa was previously dishonorably discharged from the Army and Callendar is an active Army Reservist at Ft. Eustis.

WAVY.com discovered a message Stoffa posted on Facebook just three days after Angeli died. He wrote,"Each moment hurts more. I miss my angel. She touched so many lives, but I was too weak to save her. Angeli isn't gone, she fills my heart to this day and I know she is smiling on us from heaven. I love you so much baby."

But police say the only reason the little girl is dead is because of Stoffa and her own mother. "When you are dealing with victims who are so innocent and unable to protect themselves or tell anyone that something is wrong it becomes all the more heinous," said Thurston.

Shortly before Stoffa was arrested this morning he was playing Farmville on Facebook.

Right now Angeli's baby brother and her sister are living in foster homes.

At 22 years old this girl had a 27 month old, a 17 month old and a 2 month old, and of course the obligatory boyfriend. What did her family do about her having all these babies? Or maybe she's just emulating what her mother did and the life she had to grow up in herself.

Kiwimom, I know for a fact that you are absolutely right. I'm glad that someone on one of these forums finally brought it up. She was a product of her environment. I'm not making excuses for her, but she had a f'ed up life from the beginning.

Welcome to the forum Concerned Citizen. There's no doubt that there is a cycle to these things. I wish we had an answer as to how to stop it. We focus on the deceased child and often forget about the siblings who go through this crisis and I fear for their future.

Sometimes I feel like you can just look at a child and see how their future has been laid out before them, before they even have a chance to change it. Hopefully the children that have survived this tragedy are able to break the cycle. Hopefully they will end up together in a loving home. As for the mother, I only knew her as a child/preteen. She was sweet and loving then, but her own mother and family had many deep rooted problems. I have no doubt that mental illness plagues the family. I hate to say it, but the matriarch of that family really messed her kids up and I still carry a lot of anger about it.

Feel free to join us on the Main Blog where we have a laugh and cheer ourselves up when there's nothing happening in Caylee's case. There's a great bunch of friendly people here.

Noone knows what was going on in her mind, but to refer to her family is wrong Concerned Citizen.

apollymi wrote:Hi I joined this group because I typed in my neices name. Yes I am Angeli's aunt and yes Lillian had a problem childhood and yes it was screwed up but people make their own decisions.
All I know is that it is hard to deal with the fact that our neice is gone because of her actions. Please don't judge just hear our side to what we are going threw.

Welcome to the blog. I'm very sorry for your loss. I wasn't trying to make excuses for her, just talking about the cycle, wondering what we can all do to stop it. I completely agree, she had choices and constantly made bad ones. Just because someone has a bad upbringing doesn't mean their future is set in concrete and they must behave in the same dysfunctional way. I really believe so many babies are being born to fulfill some need or agenda the mother has or because of psychological issues. It's like a disorder where they are addicted to having babies even though they really don't want to care for them. It needs to be treated like bulimia and other psychological disorders IMO. Maybe it's not actually the babies they are addicted to having but the chaos. So many young girls seem to love a life of constant drama and chaos.

Hello I am sorry if I offended you, I did not mean to and it was never directed at you. Again I am so sorry about my clarity in my writing.

What I learned in Pychology/Criminal Justice course was that many times as we believe is behavior when it comes to abuse either learned or made by choice. I truly believe that even if you had the worst experiences as a child when you become a parent you make sure that the cycle does not repeat itself. No, I am not referring to this case.

Its unexcusable to harm a child in any way shape or form. Children are brought into this world to know nothing but love and never to know fear. The trauma that the child faces will last a life time and many times can not be repaired.

The trial for both of them should be sometime this year, as for the verdict, I will post it. All I can say is justice will be served.

Many people who knew my family are blaming us for what has happened and many have made numerous hateful and untrue blogs about my siblings and I.

Thank you for welcoming me to the group.

Welcome to J4C apollymi! It is never our intent to berate or embarrass neither victim or suspect, or their family and friends for that matter.
Our main objective is the truth. Sometimes it takes another, closer, perspective to get that side of the story.
Old Native American saying (paraphrased):
Never criticize a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins.

NEWPORT NEWS — The mother of a 17-month-old toddler who died in March
2010 was found guilty Monday of second-degree murder for standing by
and watching as her boyfriend physically abused her children.Lillian
K. Callender, 23, was convicted of all three charges she faced —
second-degree murder and two counts of felony child abuse — in a bench
trial before Newport News Circuit Court Judge H. Vincent Conway Jr.Angeli
Callender, 17 months old, died March 3 after being taken to a hospital
two days earlier with difficulty breathing. The cause of death was
listed as inflicted head trauma "with medical neglect contributing,"
with medical examiners pinpointing Feb. 27 as the likely date of the
inflicted injury.Callender was not charged with inflicting the
physical abuse on Angeli, but was accused of permitting it to take
place. Prosecutors said she did nothing as her boyfriend, John C. Stoffa
Jr., 25, choked, punched, kicked and otherwise abused Angeli and her
2-year-old sister.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/crime/dp-nws-mother-murder-0125-20110125,0,7934322.story

Man pleads guilty in baby's death
Thursday, 26 May 2011
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - A man living in Newport News pleaded guilty to second degree murder and two counts of felony child neglect.

Michael Stoffa pleaded guitly in Newport News Circuit Court on Thursday.
His girlfriend Lillian Calender was found guilty in January 2011 of murdering her own baby.

Investigators said the couple brought 17-month-old Angeli to Mary Immaculate Hospital on March 1, 2010.

Doctors were suspicious that the child had been abused and called police.

They also believe the child's 27-month-old sister had suffered abuse as well.

Three days later, Angeli died in the hospital.

Stoffa's sentencing hearing is scheduled for August 19.

http://www.fox43tv.com/dpps/news/local/newport_news/man-pleads-guilty-in-baby's-death_3827903