What Really Happened in Nodaway County, Missouri?

WARNING: Possible trigger warnings for SA.



This is another example of why we need to distinguish sex from abuse, why terminology is important, and why journalists need to clarify certain things in their reports.

From Brent Barnett at kmaland.com comes this report...

A Maryville woman is behind bars after she allegedly had sexual intercourse with her son.

"Had sexual intercourse" implies this was consensual. Otherwise, the wording should be "sexually assaulted" or something along those lines.

Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice says 44-year-old Cynthia Kay Hayes was arrested Saturday in Barnard after the Nodaway County Sheriff's Office was informed she was having sexual intercourse with her 21-year-old son, who had been diagnosed with the mental capacity of a 12-year-old.

Here's where we are compelled to ask if this 21-year-old is considered capable of consenting to sex with an unrelated 44-year-old. If so, then he should be free to consent to sex with any adult and it's only an assault if he didn't consent.

Rice says the son told authorities his mother had sexual intercourse with him on four separate occasions.

Hayes has been charged with incest, a Class D Felony. She is currently being held in the Nodaway County Jail on $10,000 bond.

If she forced herself on him or somehow coerced him, she should be charged appropriately.

At the end of the report came this important tidbit...

Nodaway County Sheriff Darren White told KMA News that Hayes was a registered sex offender in Nodaway County prior to the incident.

Since "registered sex offender" can mean a wide range of very different things, it is important to find the information. Since the report didn't provide it, here's a link. It says she was busted for "Child Molest-1st Degree" on "10 November 2008."

So what is 1st Degree Child Molestation in MO? Here's a link to the law.

566.067. 1. A person commits the offense of child molestation in the first degree if he or she subjects another person who is less than fourteen years of age to sexual contact and the offense is an aggravated sexual offense.

2. The offense of child molestation in the first degree is a class A felony and, if the victim is a child less than twelve years of age, the person shall serve his or her term of imprisonment without eligibility for probation, parole, or conditional release.

What is an "aggravated sexual offense" under that state's law? Here's a link.

(1) "Aggravated sexual offense", any sexual offense, in the course of which, the actor:

(a) Inflicts serious physical injury on the victim; or

(b) Displays a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument in a threatening manner; or

(c) Subjects the victim to sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse with more than one person; or

(d) Had previously been found guilty of an offense under this chapter or under section 573.200, child used in sexual performance; section 573.205, promoting sexual performance by a child; section 573.023, sexual exploitation of a minor; section 573.025, promoting child pornography in the first degree; section 573.035, promoting child pornography in the second degree; section 573.037, possession of child pornography; or section 573.040, furnishing pornographic materials to minors; or has previously been found guilty of an offense in another jurisdiction which would constitute an offense under this chapter or said sections;

(e) Commits the offense as part of an act or series of acts performed by two or more persons as part of an established or prescribed pattern of activity; or

(f) Engages in the act that constitutes the offense with a person the actor knows to be, without regard to legitimacy, the actor's:

a. Ancestor or descendant by blood or adoption;

b. Stepchild while the marriage creating that relationship exists;

c. Brother or sister of the whole or half blood; or

d. Uncle, aunt, nephew, or niece of the whole blood;

So having a threesome or sex with a half sibling is treated the same under this wording as seriously injuring or threatening someone.


Based on all of that wording, it appears Hayes was convicted in 2008 of doing anything that ranges from statutory rape of a 13-year-old who came onto her, or she violently attacked a kid in their genital area. Or any other number of scenarios. Whatever happened, she was obviously in of jail for less than eight years since the conviction. Wouldn't she have lost custody of any children? I'd think so.

Oh, but hold on.

We found more details. It turns out the earlier crimes took place in 1999 and 2000. It just wasn't until 2008 that she convicted, which begs questions about why it took so long between the crimes and the convictions. Perhaps it was because the victim was three to four years of age at the time of the crimes. Doesn't that put this case in a whole new light??? If we could find and post this information, why couldn't someone working in a newsroom??? If she sexually abused a child that age and was convicted in 2008, why was she out of custody already? Unless she'd been in custody since 2000 and 2008 is just when the conviction was registered (which would be quite a long time to go between arrest and conviction), she wasn't in custody long enough.

If she was taken into custody in 2000 or even as late as 2003, it is possible her son (who may not even remember what happened to him, if he was the victim) is now experiencing GSA due to having had minimal or no contact with his mother from an early age.

There was additional information to be found at maryvilledailyforum.com in Tony Brown's report...

A Maryville woman was formally charged by Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice over the weekend with felony incest for allegedly committing sex acts with her 21-year-old son, who, according to a probable cause statement filed by a Nodaway County sheriff’s deputy, suffers from a developmental disability.

"Develomental disability" is another vague phrase.

The deputy’s statement claims the Sheriff’s Office responded to information received Saturday that the illicit sexual behavior had occurred, and that the deputy initiated an investigation during which both mother and son were interviewed.

Who made the report?

Following those conversations, Cynthia Kay Hayes, 44, was arrested and charged with incest, a Class D felony punishable by two to four years in prison or a special term not to exceed one year in the county jail and/or a fine of up to $5,000.

Based on that, this sounds like a "consensual" series of encounters.

According to the deputy’s statement, the son, whose identity was withheld, claimed four sexual encounters occurred on separate dates in July. Three of those episodes were said to have taken place in an apartment shared by the two persons involved in the 200 block of Park Avenue in Maryville. A fourth offense allegedly took place at a relative’s house on Morehouse Street in Barnard.

A guess: the relative, who perhaps had custody of the son after the 1999-2000 offenses, made the report.

The statement further alleged that Hayes, after being read her rights, admitted to taking part in two sexual encounters with the victim, one in Barnard and one in Maryville.

Even on release, shouldn't she have been ordered to stay away from her son, if he was the original victim? Why isn't that mentioned?

As noted above, according to the report, he's dealing with some developmental issues. Does that make him unable to consent to sex? If we assume he was also the victim of the earlier crimes, shouldn't she have to stay away from him? Do we take molesting preschoolers seriously or not?!? If he wasn't the victim, and if she's out of custody, should they be free to be together? At least he's chronologically and adult and not a preschooler.

The way the law is written, he violated the law, too, unless he was coerced. This is why the laws need to be reformed so that consensual (to be redundant) sex is not a criminal matter and not lumped along with molesting children. Whatever his mental state, his body 21, and he likely has raging hormones, and this woman has basically been a stranger to him for years.

The bottom line here is child molesters need to spend a lot of time in prison, and consenting adults should be free to be together, and news reports about these issues need to improve!