CLAY CO.—After effectively having his daughter abducted from him following a weekend visit with her grandmother in early May, Zephrum Jones has his little girl back.
On Wednesday, July 17, an order was entered in Clay County circuit court for Sherrie Kittle to return Lily Jones to her father Zeph Jones by 9 a.m. Thursday morning, July 18.
That order, and the return of the three-year-old to her father, brought an end to a battle that began in the days following the death of Lily’s mother, Andrea Weiler, 25, in mid-April after a four-wheeler accident on the 14th of that month fatally injured Weiler.
This left Lily, who has just turned three years old, rightfully in the custody of her father, with whom she was staying that weekend, as it was his visitation on their regular schedule (the couple had split just six months prior, having never married, but Jones was on the birth certificate as Lily’s father, and he and Weiler had been together for several years prior to the breakup).
As a result of the loss of her mother, it was assumed that Lily would just stay with Jones, and he began reworking his life to be full-time father instead of every-other-weekend.
Overheard intentions
At Weiler’s funeral. however, her sister, Jesteen Weiler, 27, was overheard by many in attendance stating that it was her intent and the intent of her mother, Sherrie Kittle, of Flora, to “take that baby away from Zeph.”
This they did, after prevailing upon Jones to allow Lily to visit with her grandmother during the first weekend in May. On May 6, when Lily was to be returned to her father at McDonald’s in Flora, Kittle, her husband Gary, Weiler, and Weiler’s boyfriend Jon Billingsley showed up without the little girl and advised him that they were “keeping her.”
Kittle filed a probate case against Jones in order to have the court establish that he wasn’t her parent and to award guardianship to Kittle.
Weiler, who had originally planned to take baby Lily as her own to join her two kids and Billingsley’s two kids, backed down from that plan after haranguing Disclosure online, then being met with force in return that she couldn’t match, due to the fact that she’s a convicted drug felon.
Kittle, despite Jones’ presentation of Lily’s birth certificate and an affidavit of paternity from Knox County, Indiana (where Lily was born), proceeded to state in court documents that she didn’t believe Jones was actually the father, and in derogation of her own deceased daughter, demanded a DNA test.
She also continued to keep Jones away from the little girl (who continually asked for her daddy), even disallowing phone calls, using a 14-year-old felony out of another county as reason to infer that Jones was “unfit” as a parent.
The only exception that was made was when Lily had her tonsils taken out (a surgery that was planned before Weiler’s death, since the baby has had asthma and sleep apnea, and the surgery was supposed to improve those conditions) on June 12, and Jones was allowed to attend at the hospital, along with his family. It was the first time they had been able to have contact with Lily since early May. Lily, said family members, “cried for daddy when leaving the hospital.”
When the DNA came back…
Jones had attempted to get his daughter back on May 7 by filing an Order of Protection against Kittle and Weiler, but was told that since there had been no paternity established in Illinois, he was at the mercy of a court decision.
In the meantime, the attorney Kittle had hired, Mary Beth Welch Collins, continued to cloud the case with multiple filings requesting Jones’ criminal history from various entities, and subpoenaing a host of people from across three counties to come and testify to this thing or that thing.
A three-day block of time was scheduled for July 17-19 to litigate the probate case in Clay County circuit court in Louisville.
But with the DNA test coming back on July 15 showing that there was a 99.99 percent probability that Jones was the father, the balance of power shifted.
Collins counters, to no avail
On July 16, Collins filed a motion to continue the case, set to be litigated the next day.
As well, she filed a motion for a substitution of judge.
She was allowed to argue her motion on that day, in a last-ditch effort to stall what was the inevitable, as Kittle was now faced with not only the birth certificate and paternity affidavit, but the DNA proof…and the Illinois law that states that a child must, upon the death of one parent, go to the other parent unless valid proof can be shown that that parent is completely unfit to care for that child on his or her own.
Judge Michael D. McHaney denied the motion for a continuance, and Collins withdrew the motion for a new judge. The case was set for argument the next day.
That same day (the 16th), Jones’ attorney, Bart Zuber, made an offer to Kittle: Jones would get complete and sole custody of Lily, and Kittle would be allowed to be guardian over any settlement she would receive in a wrongful death suit she would file—on behalf of her deceased daughter, Andrea—with the settlement ultimately going to Lily upon reaching majority age.
Kittle took the offer on deadline of court commencing the next day, rather than to walk into court, spend three expensive days in testimony and litigation, and lose due to the fact that there was nothing she could present that showed Jones unfit (he had a home, a job, is discharged from any further responsibility in a 2012 DUI which was the only recent criminal event on his record, and Lily had been in his presence for the majority of her three years on earth) and everything to show that the judge would order the toddler returned to her father right away.
Follow the money
And the acceptance of the offer, after everything she did to block Jones from having his daughter in his custody, proved what Disclosure said in the July Special Edition: Sherrie Weiler Kittle was in it for the money all along, not only the wrongful death settlement (should it ever be reached), but any Social Security benefits Lily would realize from her mother’s death.
The stance Jones took on the matter showed exactly where his heart was, as well: He advised that he was completely disinterested in any money realized from a wrongful death suit, and it was not his intent to file any such thing against Derek Stanciu, the Jasper County man who was operating the ATV on April 14—and allegedly under the influence of alcohol when he was doing it—when it crashed on a county road, fatally wounding Weiler.
He did agree to accept the Social Security benefits (such as they are; which is to say, not much) for the toddler, as, technically (being her sole guardian) that’s the way it’s supposed to work.
Further, it was ordered that Kittle would get what’s probably going to turn out to be too much visitation—one week on, one week off, until Lily starts school in two years, at which time it gets cut to every other weekend.
Nevertheless, the establishment of the father-daughter relationship was back where it belonged: Active and ongoing.
Daddy-daughter birthday
Baby Lily was court-ordered to be returned to her father at 9 a.m. the morning of the 18th, taking her from the custody of a grandmother who, family members state unequivocally and to a person, had hardly anything to do with Lily while her mother was still alive.
Family advised Disclosure that the look on the toddler’s face was priceless when she was turned over to her father.
“That look said ‘I missed you so so so much, daddy!’” a family member told Disclosure. The photo on page 1 was reported to have been taken at that event, and indeed, the happiness on the toddler’s little face says it all.
Despite fighting a moneyed family in Flora, Zeph Jones won his court battle to get his daughter Lily back on July 17, with presentation of DNA proof, a birth certificate…and unfailing conviction that the 3-year-old needed to be with her only surviving parent, not a greedy grandmother. Story begins on page 17.
Jones’ family (who had also been kept away from the girl) had a spaghetti dinner for the little family, and on Sunday, the 21st, there was a Hello Kitty Party at grandma Lesa Taylor’s (Jones’ mother’s) house to celebrate Lily’s third birthday. Jones’ 31st birthday, incidentally, was on the 24th, so it was, as family members described it, a daddy-daughter birthday…with the court case outcome having been decided just in time for them to celebrate it together.
Jones family members reported that Lily wouldn’t let her father get out of her sight.
And one more thing…
Family reported to Disclosure that Kittle had the audacity to ask to see Lily on her birthday for a few hours. It’s unknown if that took place.
However, what is known is that Kittle has been grumbling about a little codicil that came as late news following the court outcome.
As it turns out, even if Sherrie Kittle wins any wrongful death suit filed, she won’t own it or come to benefit from it at all.
Since Andrea Weiler had a child survive her following the accident, that child is considered the sole beneficiary of any ensuing estate of the decedent, not just a closest relative who speaks up the loudest (Kittle).
If Kittle prevails, any money received cannot be utilized by Sherrie Kittle in any way; she can only spend it for Lily’s needs, and has to prove it (as manager of the ‘estate’) annually until Lily is 18.
“Sherrie ended up with nothing really,” a relative told Disclosure, “nothing but the headache of having to keep records of all the money spent on Lily. Well, that and being able to see Lily, all of it offered to her by Zeph, take that or nothing…so Sherrie took it.”
There is no word yet on the suggestion that Zeph Jones might sue Sherrie Kittle and/or Jesteen Weiler for what they put him—and his daughter—through between May and July. A civil Child Abduction count might prevail, given all the evidence.
However, being that Jones refuses to have any part in the civil wrongful death suit Kittle is intent on filing, the likelihood that he would do such a thing is slim, once again proving that all he wanted to begin with was his daughter with him…as it should be.