Lives cut short

First in a four-part series.

These are the stories no one likes to contemplate.

In the end, they are the short stories of 9-month-old Breanna Loveless, 2-year-old Edward Raymond Gularte IV, and Andrew Tilt, who was 5 months old. In police reports and court records, you learn details about the life of little Wyatt Radmall, who didn't live to age 2. You get to know Jeremy Bunting, 4, and Trinity Kale, who was 8 months old.

At least these children have names. Crimes against these young ones — because of their severity, or the gift of enough evidence, or an aggressive prosecutor — have moved into the public spotlight. So, there may be a small tribute to these children, a photograph or a brief in the newspaper.

What is worrisome to child advocates is that for every named child, there are many more who have not drawn the attention of the public or a tenacious detective or an assertive prosecutor. In homes around Utah, there are, by all accounts, defenseless infants and toddlers who are shaken or beaten or smothered at the hands of parents and caretakers and who go to early graves without justice being served.

"People are getting away with killing children," Utah State Medical Examiner Todd Grey said.

For two months, the Deseret Morning News investigated suspicious child deaths and the way they are prosecuted in Utah. These cases raise troubling questions in a pro-family society.

For a variety of culture and evidentiary reasons, Utah prosecutors have a hard time filing criminal charges in child deaths. Furthermore, juries rarely convict in child abuse cases. Some say those who are convicted receive light sentences. And as the state medical examiner and others confirm, some people get away with murder. Child victims fall through the cracks of the criminal justice and child welfare system.

In a four-part series, "Killing Our Children" will outline the complicated factors officials face as they investigate and prosecute these crimes.

First, though, there are the children.

Andrew Tilt was born premature about the time the 2002 Winter Olympics came to Utah. He weighed 1 pound, 7 ounces and was only 12 inches long at birth. He spent his first four months at McKay-Dee Medical Center's neonatal intensive care. As it turns out, he was safer there than at home.

He had underdeveloped lungs and was susceptible to pneumonia like many premature children. He absolutely needed extra attention. His mother called him her Angel Boy, and Andrew grew to 9 pounds.