Becky Heupel accepts hugs and farewells from her family and friends while waiting for a jail guard to arrive to take her away after sentencing.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – While the man convicted of a torturous death of a Centralia toddler sits in prison for possibly life, the little girl’s mother who failed to protect her daughter will continue her grieving behind bars for a year and a day, starting now.
Becky M. Heupel, 31, was handcuffed and taken into custody this morning, after a 30-minute hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.
Heupel pleaded guilty last month to second-degree criminal mistreatment, not for any abuse she inflicted but for her inaction.
Her short-term live-in boyfriend James Reeder was sentenced in March after pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree rape of a child, second-degree assault and homicide by abuse. And possession of methamphetamine. Two-year-old Koralynn Fister died from drowning and head trauma while in the care of Reeder on May 24 of last year at the home off East Oakview Avenue.
Today it was Heupel’s turn to be sentenced.
The deputy prosecutor stated that Heupel’s inaction was a gross failure of her parental responsibility but he spent more time explaining to the judge why he was not asking for a much harsher punishment.
“I think there’s a lot of people who think she should be charged right along with Mr. Reeder,” Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke said. “There’s simply wasn’t any evidence she knew about the activity of Mr. Reeder or participated in any way.”
O’Rourke noted extensive deliberations with the prosecutor’s office and police on what her level of accountability was.
He spoke of Heupel’s past, her level of intelligence, of naivety and even stupidity. He spoke of her lifetime punishment of losing her child.
“There’s some degree of selfishness on her part perhaps, blindly putting her faith in Mr. Reeder,” he said.
She has no previous felonies, he added.
Defense attorney Paul Strophy went down the same path, only farther.
“She’s already suffered a horrendous loss from someone she let into her life,” Strophy said. “Some would argue that is punishment enough.”
Strophy noted his client’s long mental health history, OCD, PTSD, agoraphobia, major depression, lack of self confidence and a history of abandonment issues.
“With her learning disabilities, and hearing loss, all these things played a role in how she was used,” he said.
Hindsight is 20-20, Strophy said, about the couple of short months in question.
He told the judge that while Heupel was informed Reeder had a history of domestic violence, she never saw it coming against her children.
“None of the injuries gave her any indication what he ultimately did would occur,” he said. “Her biggest mistake obviously was giving his explanations too much credence and that’s why it’s reckless.”
And she was cooperative, he added.
Prosecutors have indicated a lengthy list of injuries found on the child’s body, some old and some new, such as a missing toenail, a missing patch of hair, palm-sized pieces of skin missing from her buttocks, signs of penetration, bruising and more.
Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said outside the courtroom Heupel knew her child was being injured when she was with Reeder, and Heupel did nothing except to continue to leave her daughter with him.
“When you open your home to someone like Mr. Reeder, in this case, you’re going to be held accountable,” Meyer said.
The plea deal worked out was that both attorneys recommended Heupel go to prison for one year and one day.
While the maximum penalty is five years, the standard sentencing range for someone with no criminal history, such as Hepuel, is six to 12 months. They asked for the extra time so she could serve her time in state prison instead of in the Lewis County Jail.
Judge James Lawler said it gave him no pleasure to impose the sentence, but that it was appropriate in the case.
“It’s clear to me you were taken advantage of by Mr. Reeder,” Lawler said. “(But) your conduct constitutes a gross failure as a parent. You did what you did because it was easier to step back and do nothing instead of confronting Mr. Reeder.”
Heupel chose not to make a statement on her own behalf, after a long pause of seemingly considering it.
A crowded courtroom of mostly supporters formed a line to hug her before she was led away. Among them was Koralynn’s father, David Fister.
Fister said he’s forgiven the mother of his only child.
He said he agrees but mostly disagrees Heupel should be locked up.
“I don’t think that’s what should have happened to her, but I understand,” he said.
•••
For background, read:
• “Mother of dead Centralia 2-year-old admits some responsibility in case” from Friday April 19, 2013, here
• “Centralia man gets maximum prison term for sexual abuse, death of toddler” from Wednesday March 6, 2013, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
I lived in unit 13 and had no Idea of what happened one Street up…..omg…..I’m a Mother of 3 ……that Bitch is just as guilty as her Bf…..she deserves the Death Sentence
This makes me sick!! As a single mom for 10 years I have personally lived with the fear of trusting people around my kids. But I set ground rules. My kids never even met any of my boyfriends but 2. They only met the first one as we knew him through church and they had been friends with his son for 5 years. The other bf I had known for16 years and they were 15. He even asked them if he could marry their mom before he asked me. He is now a wonderful step dad and they will be the first to tell you that.
I say this so that the grouping of all single moms will stop. Some of us choose our kids before ALL else. But you never hear about us cuz we are too busy with soccer and PTA and Girl Scouts and basketball and cheer leading and piano lessons and orchestra concerts and keeping up the house. Not to mention the 2 or 3 jobs it takes. We keep our head down cuz our nose is to the grindstone. I’m not tooting my horn, my reward will be when they are grown and successful productive members of society. There are a lot of us out there. So please don’t group all single moms in the same club as this woman.
Thank you.
Ugly people with ugly lives, that poor child had no chance! just look at them in the court room, un-kept, obese and haggered. Too much child abuse in the USA, too many mothers & families overlooking abuse and crying for themselves in pity. Too many disgusting parents using their own abuse histories, drug & alc habits and disgraceful upbringings as an excuse to continue the cycle on their own…messed up poor excuse for humans, yukkkkkkkkkkk just want to puke when I see these people. Throw them all in Walmart and lock the doors.
Yeah, Becky’s a real peach. If anyone needed a life, it was her now-dead daughter. But “who are we to judge?” Instead of insight, hotrodmom, you roll out the standard comment from enablers. What a surprise.
God you people need to get a life. And no that doesnt mean take somebody elses it means who the f are you to judge?
Can’t we all just get along.?!
“Strophy noted his client’s long mental health history, OCD, PTSD, agoraphobia, major depression, lack of self confidence and a history of abandonment issues.
“With her learning disabilities, and hearing loss, all these things played a role in how she was used,” he said.
Hindsight is 20-20, Strophy said,”
Well, at least her hindsight is working for her. I’m glad that they at least gave this terrible excuse for a mother the extra day, so that she will sit in prison rather than local jail. She deserved the max, in my opinion, but we reserve that for non- violent offenders, like drug addicts and the like. May she suffer in misery for the rest of her God-forsaken life for what she allowed to happen that poor little girl.
By the way, many people who suffer from agoraphobia can not even leave their homes because they are too scared to do so. Tell me again, how she wasn’t home to see any of this happening…..
I understand the frustration a precious innocent baby was horrificly murdere. The details of this case enrage,sadden,sicken,and horrify. I’ve heard now that Koralynn ‘s father was involved and not fond of this Reeder guy. If he suspected abuse which I’m not sure of some reports say he did others. say he just didn’t like him If he had suspicions he also had a responsibility to protect her..I disagree that Becky deserves as much time as Reeder. He made the choices to inflict enormous pain and suffering on that chil ld. I completely agree that its an enormous tragedy and completely outragous that NO ONE in this child’s life had the will or want to stand up for her and to be aware.
. I’m not shocked one bit that no one in the family noticed what was happening. All they saw in Reeder was a new daddy for one of their kin. It really makes me sick how they all, Becky, included have tears in their eyes crying for Becky’s 1 years sentence. Where are the tears for the life Koralynn will never have? That’s what’s sad, not Becky’s 15 mins of white trash fame and the oh so hard 7 months she will do (most of which she will serve in work release). This whole family and their lackadaisical parenting and selfishness makes me sick.
Let’s all be honest….I HATE bad moms. I believe children deserve better.
Becky was, and probably will be again, a horrible mom. Yet Becky was just “looking for love” and allowed a man she hardly knew to care for her child without even a care in a the world. In fact, she wasn’t doing anything that a lot of women don’t do themselves. The ONLY difference is that her baby got raped and murdered.
Now, if you can somehow read into my post that I somehow hate “all women” or all “single women” or whatever, then you need to take reading comprehension and learnd how to interpret the meanings within language.
I’m sorry if my complete dislike of moms who put sex and boyfriends above their kids offends anyone.
“However this isn’t the first time I’ve seen you paint women with a very broad brush stroke.”
You freaking liar.
I paint women who let their children be raped and murdered as the horrible mothers they are. Nothing more, nothing less.
So take your hatred of men somewhere else.
Slow down there OLJ… I actually agree with much of what you are saying here, as I said you often make valid points. However this isn’t the first time I’ve seen you paint women with a very broad brush stroke.
It’s one thing to comment on poor choices made by a few parents, quite another to make judgements on all (or most) single moms or to make bizarre speculations about why women choose to get pregnant. Didn’t mean to offend, had tongue in cheek with the “Psycho” reference, but I do think you come across a bit misogynistic at times.
“touch a nerve did we? lol”
Yeah, that’s obviously all you want to do here. Just troll for reactions. Do everyone a favor a quit your bs.
Defend your right to put yourself above your children all you want, but you are going to have to face fact:
When you put yourself and your own selfish needs above those of your children’s needs, then you are leaving the door wide open for a Jimmy Reeder to rape and kill your own babies.
touch a nerve did we? lol
I understand where you people are coming from. When you spend your life putting your own personal needs ahead of your child, then any suggestion that you should put your child’s needs above your own would sound horrible and hateful.
I’m so so very sorry.
Oh great, out come all the town clowns defending thier rights to put their own personal sexual needs above their own children.
You sickos really need to find something else to attack.
Yeah, I think mothers should put thier children above sex. Shame on me!!
You sicko people.
Just because I want to see mothers place their children above their own personal sexual needs, does not make me a hater of all women.
The fact you would confuse the caring for children with the hatred of women is what borders on the creepy.
“B.L. Zebub”, your comment was spot-on!! It is nice to hear from OLJ once in awhile when his mother let’s him. Maybe he wasn’t breastfed enough as a child.
A.Z. I must have misunderstood you.
No, I would have been a lot happier with the max. Yes, I would would prefer (and so do most) that she would get the same as Reeder, BUT, 5 years would have been better than the 1 pathetic year she did get. Is that all Koralynn’s life was worth to the prosecutor? Who cares if she has no record… NEITHER DOES REEDER! 5 of Koralynn’s Birthday’s to pass her by, while she lays awake for 5 years and considers all the ways she could have saved her daughter’s life, would have been about right. Then again, she will find a group of shit mothers to coddle her and tell her it wasn’t her fault. The only comfort I can take away is, the fact she’s going to have to answer to God one day when he asks her why she didn’t watch over the little life he gave to her, and why she let her daughter come to such a horrid and untimely death.
For once I agree with OLJ. Don’t care much for him or most of his B.S. but he’s right… single “mothers” like this one (and many I know and more I have seen) never think of their babies as they bounce from one BF to another, exposing their children to each one and their whims. I am so sickened and disturbed by this kind of “parenting” I can scarcely put it into words Sharyn would post.
OLJ, while you do often make valid points, I can’t help but picture you sitting in in a wig consulting “Mother” before you reply at times. Your misogeny borders on the creepy. One can only hope its just to get a rise out of people.
“Not every single mom is a terrible mother.”
I agree, not all single moms are bad. Some moms are forced into single parenthood through death.
I however have no sympathy for women who play “musical chairs” with different daddies like this woman did, which resulted in the rape and murder of her daughter.
I’m sure having a “man” around is important to you ladies, but your child should be more important.
sorry I ment that he wouldn’t be eligible for parole. I won’t be voting for this prosecutor next time round mostly because of this case.
Dominoe, all I was saying is that if the PROSCUTOR believes she was this mentally ill she honestly believed his explanations, I also said that she has responsibility in this. I really wonder if you would have been happier with the max, that was only 5 years and a lot of people seem to believe she should have gotten the same or longer than the Reeder. I’m disgusted with the plea and the deal that Reeder got, he has the ability to get out of prison in his lifetime and possibly do this again. She will never get her children back, and more likely than not if she were to have another baby it would be removed from her immediately especially if she doesn’t move out of this state. As it should be, Mom_NW what I was saying from my perspective, I would rather die a violent, horrible, death than for it to happen to one of my children and have to live with the knowledge and all the horrifying details and live with the guilt and the what did I miss.. for me I’d rather be dead. I can’t imagine what that little angel endured, makes me sad and sick. Outraged that this man was allowed to plea the way he was and he tried to appeal it and plea not guilty to the court would go to trial and he would’ve been eligible for parole and the death penalty would’ve been an option, the county didn’t want to pay for it!!!
Not every single mom is a terrible mother. Most of the ones I know are the opposite. This is a tragic case, one that happens over and over in our nation. It is incredibly sad that this baby had to loose her life, because not a single person in her life stepped up. It is too bad her mother did not get a longer sentence. She is not paying the ultimate price, her baby did.
DIDN’T WANT TO***
OF ABUSE IN HER DAUGHTER*
AZ no matter what she was or wasn’t told about him, and no matter what his past said about him the fact is SHE IGNORED PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SIGNS OF ABOUTIN HER BABY DAUGHTER BECAUSE SHE DIDN’T WANTED TO ROCK THE BOAT. Her saying anything to Reeder could have spooked him into leaving and she couldn’t have that.
I was really hoping the judge would give her the max…. It was within his power n he just rolled over. I hope she lays awake at night and thinks of all the things she could/should have done to save her daughters life. Also I hope she’s barren now and never gets her other daughter back.
I think what was being said was if the bio father had cared as much about his daughter when she was alive maybe this could have been prevented, instead he crawls out of the woodwork AFTER the fact.
Secondly, it seems that that she had many problems “abandonment issues” being the LEAST of them. The other mental and physical issues are major and would prevent her from spotting said Leopard and his true spots, even the prosecutor said ” though there was domestic violence in his past there wasn’t anything that would leave her to believe he would do what he did.” That was a listed reason for not going for a harsher sentence, What that means is there was no reason a normal person would believe he’s be so sadistic and violent to a child and definitely someone with her intelligence.
I also want to say that she has paid the ultimate price for her lapse in judgment with this man she does has responsibility, but she was also used due to her lack of comprehension. I would rather die a violent horrible death than for anything to happen to my children and spend the rest of my life knowing that it’s my fault to a degree.
I have a HUGE issue with the fact that the son of a b–ch who committed this crime has the option of getting out of prison and that to save money the prosecutor actually accepted the I didn’t do it but I won’t get a fair trial plea that is known as Alfred.
are you kidding me right now.. im faceing 29 months for a class 3 felony and this chick gets a year and a day for allowing some sick man hurt and abuse and kill her child,,,,,, omg thats all i can say omfg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Really? Never the sperm donor? I understand your anger and yes fathers are accountable too but in this case the biological dad had nothing to do with the death.
Don’t get me wrong , I think the puishment was extremely light. I do however know that there was only one immaculate conception. Which means that all these single women didn’t create a life on their own. Where was the childs biological father, was he any better? If the abuse had been on going why didn’t the DAD do anything?
Oh yeah, because we all know that only the single moms are to blame !!! Never the sperm donor.
She was warned about what type of man he was and was told if you don’t heed this warning its going to be your funeral!!! Unfortunately it was her poor innocent childs funeral instead 1 year is not sufficient punishment for this woman!!!
I’m sure many single moms with “abandonment issues” can sleep easier at night knowing that they will only get a year and a day in jail in lewis county for letting their live-in penises rape and kill thier kids.
Hang in there single moms! Don’t let anybody take your right to switch daddies on your kids.