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[00:00:00] Meghan Sacks: This podcast contains sensitive topics and discussions. Listener discretion is advised
[00:00:06] Amy Shlosberg: two weeks before she scheduled for a C-section, a young girl goes missing. Did she run away or did somebody take her? This is the Selena Mays story.
[00:00:36] Good afternoon, Megan.
[00:00:37] Meghan Sacks: Oh, good afternoon, Amy. How’s the summer treating you? I mean, it’s the beginning of the summer really. It’s not even Summer hasn’t hit. It’s just our summer break. That’s
[00:00:44] Amy Shlosberg: true. I’m excited for our camping trip in a few weeks. Looking
[00:00:47] Meghan Sacks: forward to that. Actually, James and I are just searching for a tent right now.
[00:00:50] Amy Shlosberg: Oh, good. Make sure you get one that could sleep for.
[00:00:54] Meghan Sacks: Very
[00:00:54] Amy Shlosberg: funny, Megan, today’s suggestion, it came from a friend of [00:01:00] mine who is a listener of this podcast, so I must give a little shout out to Conta for alerting me to this case. Megan, you would absolutely love her. She’s hilarious. She’s a real spitfire.
[00:01:10] You have to meet her one time. Anytime. You know I’m down. I have to be honest. I was absolutely infuriated by the details of this case more so. I was shocked to find out that I had never heard of this case before, even though it happened so local to me. It happened in South Jersey. Now I’m more in Central Jersey, south Jersey is maybe about an hour from me, but you would still think I would’ve heard of this case, but I never had.
[00:01:33] Have you ever heard of Selena Mays? Nope, I sure haven’t. Yeah, and the lack of coverage is despicable, which is also shocking given the details of the story. Okay, so let’s dig in because I’m really interested to hear your thoughts on this one. It starts when Selena was born on May 21st, 1984 in Miami, Florida.
[00:01:51] Her father, CJ Mays was a musician and her mother, Lynn Vitale, was an exotic dancer. The couple had a tumultuous relationship, riddled with [00:02:00] substance use, and the two never got married, but they were trying to make things work. In fact, in 1986 when Selena was just two years old, the family moved to Burlington County, New Jersey.
[00:02:10] They were looking for a fresh start and probably hoped that the change of scenery to this beautiful town right along the Delaware. With Northeast Philadelphia, just across the river. I mean, maybe this would help them find some stability.
[00:02:23] Meghan Sacks: I mean, it sounds like a good change. You said the Delaware, you mean the Delaware Water
[00:02:26] Amy Shlosberg: gap?
[00:02:26] No, the Delaware River in between Jersey and Philly. Oh, the Delaware River. Okay. Gotcha. However, things didn’t get better for the couples relationship. CJ was often in and out of jail for both domestic abuse and substance usage, leaving Linen and Selena to sometimes have to live in the area’s, local shelters when they couldn’t make ends meet.
[00:02:44] And I would say probably because of this, Selena’s parents broke up in 1990, but despite their difficult life, Lynn worked so hard at being a great mother. She had gotten clean and she was working to provide for her daughter. She had gotten a job as a custodian at a local school, [00:03:00] and she was providing for Selena.
[00:03:02] Now, CJ had also gotten clean shortly after the breakup, but he didn’t get to see his daughter as often as he may have liked to because he was denied visitation. Why he was denied visitation, not because he was abusive or anything towards his daughter, but he had neglected to pay several child support bills.
[00:03:18] So because of that, visitation was cut down. Okay. To add more to Selena’s young life. Unfortunately, her mother Lynn died of an acute brain aneurysm in 1994 when Selena was just 10 years old. Oh, that’s
[00:03:31] Meghan Sacks: awful. Who, who does she go to live with?
[00:03:33] Amy Shlosberg: Well, that becomes a problem because obviously this loss was incredibly difficult for her.
[00:03:38] But not only cuz she was young, but because as I mentioned, her and her mother were really close. And as you ask, where did Selena live? Well, this made things even harder because Selena found herself caught in a custody battle between her dad and her mom’s family. And they did not get along. Got it. At first, Selena was put in the temporary care of one of her mother’s close friends while the [00:04:00] custody battle ensued.
[00:04:01] And although CJ did have a history of substance abuse, he had failed to pay child support and he also had a criminal record. He did win custody with the judge, citing that it’s always best to leave a child with a biological parent. Okay. But also, you know, he had turned things around for himself in the year since his breakup from Lynn.
[00:04:19] Besides getting clean, he had also moved in with his sister Pastor Sarita Smith, who led the Gospel of Church Ministry in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Now this was not far from where Selena had grown up and lived with her mother in Burlington County. CJ had also gotten married to a woman named Yvette, and the couple both worked for the Gospel of Christ Church.
[00:04:39] So he was working, he was clean, and you know, he was ready to, to be a father to Selena. Mm-hmm. Now, Lynn’s family was extremely upset that they had lost custody and they also knew that Lynn wanted Selena to stay away from her father and his family. You see, Lynn’s family felt that the church was a cult, as Serta was [00:05:00] known to quote, rule the congregation with an iron fist.
[00:05:03] So it was clear to Lynn’s family that Lynn would’ve never wanted her daughter to be in the care of these individuals. Okay? But regardless, Selena moved into her Aunt Serta’s house. Now there are many people living in this one house, so stick with me here. You have Serita, who is CJ’s sister and Selena’s aunt, her husband, their children, and their grandchildren, and then Yvette, who is married to cj Selena’s husband.
[00:05:30] Their children, which would be Selena’s step siblings. There were also a few cousins in and out. So in total there are about 15 to 20 people living in this house at any given time, and they were all members of the Gospel of Christ Church. Amy,
[00:05:44] Meghan Sacks: how
[00:05:44] Amy Shlosberg: big is this house? Yeah, that was my first question. So I did some digging and I found a picture of the house online and.
[00:05:51] It’s a modest house. It, it appears to be a ranch, if I had to guess, maybe a three bedroom, maybe four bedroom. It’s not a house [00:06:00] large enough for that many people, but it’s unclear how cramped they were. Maybe there was like an addition onto the back of the home that you can’t see from the Google map. So we can’t be, you know, we can’t be certain what the living situations were.
[00:06:14] Okay. But we know that everyone in that home was a member of the congregation. Okay. How did
[00:06:19] Meghan Sacks: Selena take this, this change, this adjustment? How did she take to living with her father and all of this extended
[00:06:24] Amy Shlosberg: family? That’s a good question and one that I don’t know the answer to because there are mixed reports about how she felt.
[00:06:31] Now, Lynn’s family says she was very unhappy and she did not like the strict religion in the home, or the fact that she wasn’t allowed to socialize with kids outside of the church. And this included school because she, along with the rest of the congregation who lived in a few homes nearby. They were all homeschooled by other members of the gospel of church and they were not permitted to socialize with others.
[00:06:53] There are some reports that say that there were a couple of occasions. When the children were allowed to go to a local [00:07:00] roller rink, but this seemed rare. So for the most part, they were a pretty insular group. And then something else happens to Selena. In the late summer of 1996, it became known to those in the home and those in the church that 12 year old Selena was pregnant.
[00:07:17] In fact, she was four months pregnant indicating that she had conceived when she was just 11 years old.
[00:07:24] Meghan Sacks: Oh my gosh.
[00:07:26] Amy Shlosberg: How, yeah, Megan, I think everyone was shocked. You know, how does an 11 year old child end up pregnant? So our shock is probably different than the shock that came from the church and those around Selena, because their shock centered around Selena’s virtue as opposed to the horrific nature.
[00:07:45] And the criminal nature of the situation. Serita felt that Selena had betrayed the church by becoming pregnant, and also felt that Selena couldn’t have been raped because she had hidden the pregnancy for four months. And according to Serena, if [00:08:00] Selena had been raped, she would’ve told someone right away.
[00:08:02] Meghan Sacks: So Selena was claiming though that she was sexually assaulted and they’re just saying they don’t believe
[00:08:06] Amy Shlosberg: her. There’s mixed reports because we don’t know exactly, because all we have is secondhand accounts of what Selena had told people. Okay. Now Selena refused to tell anyone who the father was. She was probably scared.
[00:08:20] Yes, she was probably scared, or maybe she was protecting someone. Maybe she was threatened by someone that if she exposed who the father was, that they would harm her. Yeah. You know, she told a few select people that it was a 16 year old boy that she had met at the roller rink, but this is very unlikely given the restrictions on her.
[00:08:40] And even if. The children did go to the roller rink with which some say they had, there was no time for her to have met this person and had a sexual relationship. Right? No. This has
[00:08:51] Meghan Sacks: to be someone in the home.
[00:08:52] Amy Shlosberg: Some something has to be going on. Like someone inside that congregation is either responsible or knows something, right?
[00:08:59] Yeah. I mean, some [00:09:00] reports also speculated that the family knew who the father was and they were keeping the identity silent to protect him and possibly others. And this seems like a very viable option to me. Mm. But at this point, Megan, whoever he was, whoever this offender was, is less important than Selena’s situation.
[00:09:18] Of course, because we have a pregnant 12 year old here. Yeah. Now she planned to have the child, although a child herself.
[00:09:25] Meghan Sacks: I mean, was this her plan that she wanted to, or, you know, were, was there pressure from c. Others in the household to have the child.
[00:09:32] Amy Shlosberg: I think given their strict religious background, there was never any option presented to Selena, and she also hid it for the first four months.
[00:09:40] So even if she was presented with the option, you know, she was already right further along and she’s a child, she might not even be aware that there’s any options for her. Right. You know, she could have been in denial that she was even pregnant. Oh yeah, definitely. Serita did take her to see an obstetrician and she was given prenatal vitamins.
[00:09:58] Now, some say that [00:10:00] she was really excited about motherhood and she was looking forward to giving birth, but she is a child, her herself, and I don’t think it’s possible that she even was able to wrap her head around what was going on in her body. No. Something that’s shocking that we need to just mention here.
[00:10:16] She went to a doctor. The doctor knew how old she was. And how is there not mandatory reporting when a 12 year old child shows up pregnant in your office? Apparently the doctor she saw had asked Selena, who’s the father, and Selena said It’s a 16 year old boy. And that’s all she said. And the doctor claims that.
[00:10:36] She seemed excited about having a child, and I guess maybe that there was no reason to suspect anything, but I would hope that most doctors would raise the alarm if a 12 year old pregnant child came into their office.
[00:10:49] Meghan Sacks: Well, do we know if there’s mandatory reporting?
[00:10:51] Amy Shlosberg: This is not something I know. We’ll talk about that during the discussion.
[00:10:55] Okay. All right. Yes. That’s something I wanna explore when we. Dissect this case a [00:11:00] bit, whether or not Selena wanted to have a baby. I don’t know. Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t. I would imagine again, that she felt like she had no other options due to the staunch religious beliefs of the family. So maybe for her, it just made life easier to pretend like she was happy about this because she knew she didn’t have a choice.
[00:11:18] But just two weeks before her due date, Selena disappeared. Oh boy. The night of December 16th, 1996 was typical for the household. After returning home from a long day at church, the family had dinner and ice cream before retiring to bed sometime around 11:00 PM Reportedly, Selena said goodnight to her cousin and said thanks for everything before heading to her room.
[00:11:42] As I said, Selena was about two weeks away from the end of her pregnancy. She had a C-section scheduled. Given that her body was not matured enough to handle a natural birth, The next morning, Selena’s four-year-old stepsister went to wake her up as instructed, but the girl came downstairs to tell the family that Selena was [00:12:00] not in her room, sorry,
[00:12:01] Meghan Sacks: who came down and said that she wasn’t in
[00:12:03] Amy Shlosberg: her room.
[00:12:03] Her four-year-old
[00:12:04] Meghan Sacks: stepsister, even though she probably shares a room with tons of people.
[00:12:08] Amy Shlosberg: Okay, that’s a very good point, because given the size of the home and given how many people lived there, you would think that she had to share a room with. Someone, but from all their reports it’s, it makes it sound as though she had her own room, which seems very strange though.
[00:12:22] I’m not really sure. But if this child did go missing in the middle of the night, you would think if she had other people in the room, someone would’ve heard something. This is a
[00:12:30] Meghan Sacks: house full of 12 to 15 people. I find it very hard to believe. No one in the house would know if she went missing, but okay, I’m just stating that.
[00:12:38] Amy Shlosberg: Yeah. And. Selena’s bed had been arranged to look like someone had been sleeping in it. So you know, like the age old trick where you stuff pillows under the bed to make it look like you’re under there and you sneak out. Now, this is according to the family. The family reports that Selena was not there when they woke up and that pillows were arranged under her bed.
[00:12:57] But everything in the room seemed to be in place. Her [00:13:00] pocketbook with cash was there. Her prenatal vitamins, which she always made sure to take, and her beloved CD player were all in her room just where she had left them. The only thing anyone could find missing was Selena’s Red Coat. So where could this child have gone?
[00:13:16] Of course she didn’t drive and she was eight months pregnant and it was December. It was cold and snowy. She could not have gotten too far on her own. This is really
[00:13:24] Meghan Sacks: alarming. Did the family report her missing immediately? Are they calling 9 1 1? I mean, you have an eight month pregnant
[00:13:30] Amy Shlosberg: child missing.
[00:13:31] Megan, cj. Her father did not report her missing until the next day. He told police that he felt like his daughter had planned her disappearance. Because she was afraid of a blood test after the baby was born. So CJ apparently was very angry that Selena would not say who the father was. And he told Selena, after that child is born, we will be doing a blood test and the father will be revealed.
[00:13:58] So he claims [00:14:00] that she ran away because she did not want the father revealed.
[00:14:03] Meghan Sacks: Fine. Even if you thinks she ran away, she’s 12 and she’s eight months pregnant, so you still call the
[00:14:07] Amy Shlosberg: police. I would agree, Megan, and, but honestly, if she ran away, why would she leave her wallet With her money? Yeah. Her prenatal vitamins.
[00:14:15] She didn’t take any spare clothing. And who could she be with? Right. She doesn’t have any outside contacts. All of her contacts are within the church. Right. She
[00:14:23] Meghan Sacks: could be with someone in the church, but,
[00:14:24] Amy Shlosberg: okay. So at first the family seemingly cooperated with police. They would provide a few interviews.
[00:14:30] Although Megan, they refused a search of the house and get this, a search warrant was denied by a judge citing that the Mays family was the victim in the case and not the suspect. Get out of here. Have you
[00:14:42] Meghan Sacks: ever heard of that? No. That’s not standard at all. That doesn’t make any sense to me. There would definitely be a search.
[00:14:49] They always start with the people who know you best and. They would’ve been granted a search. The family should have granted a search. This is all
[00:14:56] Amy Shlosberg: wrong. In fact, the whole family and the church congregation became [00:15:00] uncooperative cuz police had asked them to take polygraphs and they refused. And then they kind of just stopped talking.
[00:15:05] And I think this is partially because the church, it itself was coming under scrutiny as the investigation of Selena’s disappearance unfolded. Now there were allegations of the Gospel of Christ Church being a cult, and many members began voicing complaints about serta’s authoritative leadership and how she dictated that the members remain cut off from communication with non-church members.
[00:15:28] And that she would control their relationships. There were also allegations of brainwashing and financial indiscretions that included Serta forcing members to work for over 16 hours a day selling pretzels and Mary Kay cosmetics to fund the church. How if we never heard of this case, don’t know. But although Serita was under some heavy scrutiny about her church, and tips started coming in about the church and its operation, none of this led to any information on the missing child who was just days away from giving birth.
[00:15:58] Selena’s due date was [00:16:00] December 29th, 1996, and it neared with no news of her whereabouts. Concerns grew. Again, Selena needed a C-section and would’ve required medical care, which for police ruled out the possibility that she had had the child on her own and had fled with the baby. Mm-hmm. No hospitals in the area or in the family’s former home city in Florida reported anyone fitting Selena’s description, giving birth there.
[00:16:26] And again, she was so young that I think it would’ve been fairly easy to track her down had she. Sought out medical help? Yeah, I think so. Remember I mentioned that CJ and Lynn’s family did not like each other? Well, members of Selena’s maternal family, which is Lynn’s family, they suspected that CJ’s family had something to do with her disappearance.
[00:16:44] But CJ and his family believed that Selena had been taken back to Florida by her mother’s family. Now this was totally unfounded because police checked on this tip and they were able to very quickly rule this out as there was absolutely no evidence that she had even been in contact with [00:17:00] anyone in her mother’s family anytime within, you know, the months leading up to her disappearance, because how
[00:17:05] Meghan Sacks: would she even have contact with them that closely monitored in a house of 15 people not having access to communication, you know?
[00:17:11] Yeah, and this isn’t,
[00:17:12] Amy Shlosberg: there’s no cell phones. There’s no burner phones at this point. Right. Serta also floated the idea that possibly a disgruntled member of the congregation may have taken Selena. I mean, this motive remained unfounded in the investigation and seemed unlikely, but it is curious that Serta brought up this possibility.
[00:17:30] Meghan Sacks: I don’t think this looks good for Serita, but Okay. It’s gonna look a little
[00:17:33] Amy Shlosberg: worse. Okay. On the one year anniversary of Selena’s disappearance, CJ publicly said that quote, she was a strong girl who just wanted to leave the church. Didn’t have anything to do with this. I want my daughter to be happy, I want her to come back.
[00:17:46] But if she is big and grown, I am behind her whatever decision she makes. I’d just like to point out he is saying this about a 13 year old girl who, if she had successfully given birth, would have a one-year-old [00:18:00] child. How does this make her groan or an adult? Everything
[00:18:03] Meghan Sacks: is all wrong about this. Just everything.
[00:18:05] But
[00:18:05] Amy Shlosberg: CJ also wanted to clear something up in his public appearance. You see, rumors had started to swirl that maybe he had raped his daughter and he was actually the father of the child. Mm-hmm. So part of this public appeal was really for CJ to submit medical evidence of a vasectomy that he had had years prior to when Selena had gone missing.
[00:18:25] So to me, this feels more like CJ trying to clear his name than trying to bring awareness to his daughter’s case. Yeah, his public appearance didn’t really bring in any new tips or leads anyway. Okay. Almost two years after her disappearance in January of 1998, another rumor began swirling after Selena’s cousin Shawn.
[00:18:45] Now Shawn also lived in the home and Shawn was Serita’s child. Serita’s grown son. Okay. He was charged with child molestation and sexual assault. The victims he was charged with assaulting were two young members of the church who were [00:19:00] 13 and 14 when the assaults
[00:19:02] Meghan Sacks: began. Wow. So there’s a very strong possibility that he could be the father of Selena’s baby because he might have sexually assaulted her, and that’s why they’re covering this all up.
[00:19:13] Amy Shlosberg: Yeah. So there’s a history of child molestation by Sean who lived in the home with Selena. It’s not looking great. No, unfortunately I could not find any evidence if he was ever taken to trial or if he served any time for these charges and I looked hard. Okay. I mean, it could be cuz his name is Sean Smith.
[00:19:32] It’s a very common name. Well, he was a
[00:19:33] Meghan Sacks: minor too, right? So there might be No, I’m sealed. He was
[00:19:36] Amy Shlosberg: in his twenties.
[00:19:38] Meghan Sacks: Oh, thought you said teenage. I, I must have misunderstood. Oh my
[00:19:40] Amy Shlosberg: gosh. Okay. Yeah, no, he was in his twenties and he was married with several children of his own. In fact, he had five children with four different women, and they were all living in the same house at the time.
[00:19:52] Selena went missing. Oh, so this Shawn guy does not have a great reputation in the community. It’s just
[00:19:58] Meghan Sacks: such a recipe for [00:20:00] disaster. But where’s
[00:20:01] Amy Shlosberg: Selena? Well, I don’t think it’s surprising that after these charges, many started suspecting that perhaps Shawn fathered the baby and perhaps Shawn and or Serena did something with Selena to protect Shawn because again, CJ threatened to get a blood test to see who the father was.
[00:20:18] Oh gosh. Now Shawn denied that he had fathered Selena’s child and he was interviewed several times by the police, and while there was a lot of speculation that perhaps Serita was covering something up for her son, Investigators never had enough evidence to officially implicate Sean for anything, and Selena remained missing and the case went cold.
[00:20:37] There was very little movement in the case over the years. In December of 2002, there was a tip sent to investigators of somebody seeing a woman who resembled Selena, who was caught on C C T V, but unfortunately, they were never able to find the woman’s identity, and it turned out to be a dead end anyway.
[00:20:55] When was that? Amy? 2002. And when did she go missing?
[00:20:58] Meghan Sacks: 95 in [00:21:00] 2002. Are you gonna tell me this is an unsolved case?
[00:21:03] Amy Shlosberg: Unfortunately, to this day, Selena and the child that she gave birth to are still missing, but investigators haven’t given up hope. In 2021, they put out the following statement quote In 1996, we had limited resources to communicate with the public and acquire details regarding missing persons.
[00:21:24] Social media has evolved greatly and we can now reach a wide variety of people quickly through many platforms. We are using social media to distribute information about Selena to raise awareness of her case. We are hopeful that social media will be a beneficial tool in finding new information about the disappearance of Selena Mays.
[00:21:44] Now, the department reported that they had been working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children since 1996 to find Selena. Now, Selena would be almost 40 years old and her child would be around age 27. This is
[00:21:57] Meghan Sacks: unbelievable. I did not know this. You [00:22:00] were going in this direction. Ugh.
[00:22:01] Okay. Yeah, and
[00:22:02] Amy Shlosberg: you know, over the years the case had been passed to a handful of officers as a result of retirements and just general turnover. But officials say that throughout the years it still remains very active and they are committed to finding out what happened to Selena and her baby. Now there are no known leads and some people involved are now deceased, such as Selena’s father, cj, who died in 2019, and many others are just simply off the map.
[00:22:29] There are very few leads to follow. Is Certa still alive? I do believe Certa is still alive. The church is no longer in operation as far as I know. Okay. She’s pretty much under the radar. The only other renewed interest just last year in September of 2022, the case was featured on an episode of In Pursuit with John Walsh.
[00:22:47] Oh yeah. This was hoping to garner new leads, but as far as I know, they haven’t released publicly if any new tips have come out of this show. So I wanna hear your theories, but before I let you go, With your theories. I’m gonna just [00:23:00] tell you what I’m thinking. Okay. I think it’s very unlikely that she left on her own accord, although she wasn’t happy and she probably wanted to leave her situation.
[00:23:08] She has very little. I would go as far to say, had no means, and she was just a child herself. Furthermore, she would’ve needed medical assistance to have her child, and as I said, there is no record of her seeking such help. Is it possible that she went to some sort of underground doctor? I guess it’s possible, and if that’s the case, then I think it’s possible that Selena and her baby are alive and well.
[00:23:32] But unfortunately, so much time has passed with absolutely no evidence of her or her baby’s existence. And unfortunately because of that, along with the fact that she did have a little bit of inheritance that was left to her from her mother that she would’ve been able to access at the age of 19, and that money has never been touched.
[00:23:53] And I believe if Selena was alive, she probably would’ve claimed this money. What do you think could have happened here? I [00:24:00] mean, some people say maybe she died by suicide, but I’m not sure that I, I think her body would’ve turned up. I think someone would’ve seen something. First
[00:24:09] Meghan Sacks: of all, I think I’m very frustrated at the end of this and I understand why you were as well.
[00:24:13] Second of all, I would love to hope of, all hope to me would be that she did somehow secretly get in touch with her mother’s side of her family and they squirreled her away somewhere. You know, they hid her, they protected her, they sheltered her and her child, and gave her a new hope. That would be my hope.
[00:24:34] I don’t think that’s the reality, unfortunately, but I sincerely hope that I’m wrong in this case. I think in the reality here, What happened was that someone very close to home sexually assaulted this child. Impregnated her and once it was going to be revealed, who the identity was, knew that this was gonna be a problem.
[00:24:54] They were going to be arrested and incarcerated, and so getting rid of her and her baby was the [00:25:00] only chance this person had at not being caught and detected. And I would very well bet this person was aided by someone else very close to home as well. And that would be my. My best guess.
[00:25:13] Amy Shlosberg: I think the hope here is that it’s not too late to get answers because there is no statute of limitations for sexual assault in New Jersey.
[00:25:21] So even if alive, the father could still be charged because clearly this person had an incentive. So if there is some way that this case can be solved, Amy, there’s no
[00:25:31] Meghan Sacks: statute of limitations on homicides, so. If the person, you know, who’s the father is involved in the homicide as well, we’re talking about both
[00:25:38] Amy Shlosberg: crimes.
[00:25:39] No, I know, but I’m assuming, let’s assume that it wasn’t the father of the child. I see. So if, let’s say Selena did leave on her own accord and she turns up and the baby turns up, okay, it’s not too late. So in the criminal justice system, a statue of limitations is a deadline on the amount of time that the prosecution.
[00:25:57] Or the state have to file charges, [00:26:00] and if they fail to bring charges within the designated time period, then the defendant can assert statute of limitations as a defense and have the case dismissed. Every state has different rules, but in New Jersey you have murder, terrorism. And sexual assault without a statue of limitations.
[00:26:17] I was surprised that many states have a statute of limitations on rape and sexual assault charges. Some states I knew that you did, some states having as few as five or less years. It is different for child victims. A lot of states will make the exception that if it is a case that involves a child, but the states that have a statute of limitations, most of them are between five and 10 years for sexual assault.
[00:26:40] Yep. I understand the
[00:26:41] Meghan Sacks: statute of limitations on sexual assault, but we also don’t know the age of. The father, which would come into play as well, because if it is someone who is under, I don’t know, 18 or 16, then there is no culpability in terms of for sexual assault. Correct.
[00:26:57] Amy Shlosberg: Yes. I’m glad you brought that up because [00:27:00] you know this is statutory rape no matter what.
[00:27:02] A, a child can consent. Every state has a different age of consent in New Jersey. It’s currently 16 at the time of Salina’s pregnancy. I’m not positive that that was the age, but it was somewhere around that. But basically the point is that an individual is legally incapable of consenting if they are under the age of consent.
[00:27:22] So statutory rape is what’s considered a strict liability offense. So, We talk about this in my class all the time because we talk how you need two elements, the men’s rea and the Actis Reyes. Strict liability means even if you lack the men’s rea, meaning that if you didn’t have the intent, if you didn’t know that the child was a child or a minor, You will still be charged under statutory rape,
[00:27:47] Meghan Sacks: but what, at what age?
[00:27:48] What if the father of the baby is 14?
[00:27:50] Amy Shlosberg: So some states have what’s called Romeo and Juliet laws. These reduce or eliminate the penalty if the age difference is slight. Now what does [00:28:00] slight mean? It depends on the state. Mm-hmm. And so we’re talking about if you have a 14 year old having sex with a 16 year old, The laws say, okay, so this, they’ve recognized that the 16 year old is not as culpable as a 25 year old.
[00:28:12] Right? Right. So there’s gonna be these reduced culpability, but it also depends on if both were able to give legal consent, would they have consented? So in other words, if you have a 14 year old and a 16 year old, they have to both say they consented before Romeo and Juliet laws can be applied. So you’re saying
[00:28:31] Meghan Sacks: in some states it’s okay for underage.
[00:28:35] Kids basically to consent and there’s not gonna be legal consequences. But in other states, there could be consequences. Yes,
[00:28:41] Amy Shlosberg: but again, if you have two people under the age of consent, they both have to say that there was consent. Okay. So if the 14 year old says, no, the 16 year old raped me, then no, the laws don’t apply.
[00:28:53] So both parties have to say, no, it was
[00:28:55] Meghan Sacks: consensual. Well, that, that makes sense. Anyway, given sexual assault, both parties have to [00:29:00] consent, but.
[00:29:00] Amy Shlosberg: Okay. Noted. Well, no, but in statutory rape, it doesn’t matter if a child consents or not, they got it. They can’t consent. Right. Okay. So you asked before about mandatory reporting.
[00:29:08] Yeah, because I think that’s one of the biggest issues in this case, cuz it seems to me that this whole tragic situation could have been avoided if only that doctor. Called the authorities and said, I have a 12 year old pregnant girl in my office. I mean, I asked
[00:29:23] Meghan Sacks: you about it, but I, I think I know the answer.
[00:29:25] I think it’s discretionary healthcare workers and, you know, healthcare, medical personnel, doctors. Um, they are mandatory reporters, but I don’t think they have to manly report every underage pregnancy if they don’t suspect outright
[00:29:38] Amy Shlosberg: abuse. Well, in New Jersey, Any person who has a re who has reasonable cause to believe that a child has been subjected to abuse, has to report it to me.
[00:29:48] If you’re under the age of consent, that’s considered statutory rape, which then means you’re the victim of abuse.
[00:29:55] Meghan Sacks: Unless, as the doctor said she seemed excited about her pregnancy, she was saying it’s a [00:30:00] teenage boy. I, I agree with you. I would err on the side of caution. But I do see that there is some discretion, but I, I tend to agree with you.
[00:30:07] Yeah. That I would err on the side of caution in this case when you’re talking about a child like this.
[00:30:11] Amy Shlosberg: Yep. And we can’t blame any one person for this tragedy, but I truly believe that if that doctor had reported it, then. We wouldn’t be talking about this case today. So it’s really tragic when something seems so avoidable.
[00:30:26] Megan, what further complicates this is we wanna be able to protect children who get pregnant, and we don’t want children to, to terminate pregnancies that themselves. So if doctors have mandatory reporting, then that means that. Teenagers who are pregnant may not seek medical assistance because they don’t want their parents or others knowing about the pregnancy.
[00:30:48] Right. So I can see both sides of it.
[00:30:50] Meghan Sacks: Yeah, no, definitely. Th this is not a, a straightforward issue for sure.
[00:30:54] Amy Shlosberg: No. The doctor that saw. Selena was Serta’s doctor and [00:31:00] the family didn’t have insurance, so they would pay cash. So maybe they had some sort of agreement to keep things quiet. Oh, I don’t know. It just,
[00:31:08] Meghan Sacks: yeah.
[00:31:09] Had you told me that before that he was serta’s doctor? I would feel very differently about this. There’s an incentive here. You know, I would not wanna accuse someone here of anything, but there’s certainly an incentive and that changes the landscape a little bit for me as well. Mm-hmm. The
[00:31:23] Amy Shlosberg: reason I didn’t focus on it is because sometimes it’s hard to know what is just gossip and what is true, right?
[00:31:29] There were some reports of some people saying that this doctor was Sarita’s doctor, but I didn’t see any official documents that corroborate that. Okay. Got it. So I know you just did your, not long ago, you did your book club with Daniella on the book on Culture. Sure did. And I don’t know about you, but as I’m reading this case, I can’t help but see similar themes to Daniella’s episode.
[00:31:52] Yeah, I can
[00:31:53] Meghan Sacks: certainly see the themes when we’re talking about insulated members protecting each other, the possible sexual [00:32:00] assaults. There are some similar themes here, even
[00:32:02] Amy Shlosberg: how Serta would force them to fundraise for 16 hours a day. That sound very familiar? Yes. Yes, it does. And then the other theory that gets floated around is.
[00:32:12] You know, did members of the church do something to harm Selena? Maybe they were ashamed of her and trying to cover something up, but if that was the case, why would they have taken her to the doctor?
[00:32:22] Meghan Sacks: I do believe it could be members of the church, but I don’t believe it was outside members. I believe they were much closer to the home,
[00:32:27] Amy Shlosberg: so potentially.
[00:32:29] I tried to see if the doctor was a member, a, a member of the congregation, and I could not find that information, but I guess it is possible that the doctor was in cahoots with the congregation.
[00:32:40] Meghan Sacks: Anything’s possible in this case. I seem, but I, I would not lay blame at the necessarily the doctor’s feet.
[00:32:46] Right now, I don’t know enough about him. Mm-hmm. I would simply say that there is someone who assaulted this, this girl who. Couldn’t have it getting
[00:32:52] Amy Shlosberg: out there, although it doesn’t seem probable that Selena and her baby are still alive. There is always the possibility [00:33:00] that she changed her name and her and her child are living.
[00:33:03] We’ve heard of cases where people go missing and reemerge decades later. So, you know, I think there is reason for the family and for her loved ones to hold that hope, and that’s what I’m hoping for. Before we get to action items, I just want to mention something I found while researching this case that I think everyone needs to check out.
[00:33:22] You recall Sola Asylum’s 1993 Song Runaway Train? Of course, yes. Are a lot of our listeners are young, so they may not, but I think it’s a classic for those of you who recall, those of you who never saw it look it up, but basically it was a song that would flash. Pictures of missing children. And did you know that the location and recovery of 21 Outta 36 children came as a result of that video?
[00:33:47] I did not
[00:33:47] Meghan Sacks: know that. That is
[00:33:48] Amy Shlosberg: incredible. Speaking of incredible, on the 25th anniversary of that song, they made an updated version in collaboration with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. [00:34:00] So, The website is runaway train 20 five.com. Now, listen to this, Megan. This is mind blowing to me.
[00:34:07] They use something called geotargeting technology. So based on your location, it changes the pictures you see in the video. So when I watch it, I see missing children in New Jersey. When you watch it, you’re gonna see missing children in Pennsylvania. The purpose of doing this, of course, is that individuals who watch the video.
[00:34:26] May have a higher likelihood of recognizing a child who maybe went missing from their area. I think this is so brilliant. And then you can click the icon for more information on the Missing Child. That includes age progression, photos, and information about their disappearance. Absolutely brilliant. And as if that’s not brilliant enough, you can create a video for a missing child that you know or love that could be featured in these videos.
[00:34:51] Well,
[00:34:51] Meghan Sacks: I’ll tell you, sometimes I complain about technology, but in this case I’m so grateful for it. That’s incredible.
[00:34:56] Amy Shlosberg: It will give you chills and you’ll probably cry. These [00:35:00] videos are, first of all, that song itself makes you so emotional, but watching it with, you know, these missing chill children and you know, I was trying to find updated information on, cuz it came out in 2019.
[00:35:13] So I was trying to see if I could find information on how many additional children were recovered from the updated videos, but I haven’t found that information, but I urge everyone to check it out. And in addition, if you have any information about Selena Mays, please contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children 24 hours a day, seven days a week, one 800.
[00:35:33] The lost. 1-800-843-FIVE 6 7 8. You can also view photos of Selena when she went missing and age progression photos as well. On the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s website, since some people say, and I would tend to agree that Selena was trapped in a living situation, that probably wasn’t great for her.
[00:35:55] I also want to add that if you or a loved one need help or wanna [00:36:00] find resources on how to detach from a destructive group, you can check out the website, freedom of Mind Resource Center. Or encourage survivors of cult and abuse. So there’s some action items for you today. Again, I urge you all to go to runaway train 20 five.com and check out those videos and share them with everyone you know.
[00:36:21] Meghan Sacks: I know. I’m gonna do that right now, Amy. Oh my goodness. Thank you so much for today’s
[00:36:26] Amy Shlosberg: episode. Thank you all so much for listening, and we’ll catch you next time on Women in Crime. Women in
[00:36:32] Meghan Sacks: Crime is hosted by Megan Sachs and Amy Schlossberg. Our producer and editor is James Varga. Music composition is by Dessert Media.
[00:36:41] If you enjoy the show, please remember to subscribe and leave a review. You can also support the show through Patreon where you can get access to additional ad-free content, such as virtual happy hours, and an extra full length episode each month for more. Information visit patreon com slash women pride[00:37:00]
[00:37:13] Amy Shlosberg: Sources for today’s episode include the Trenton Times. A S P e.hhs.gov. The Philly Voice, the Charlie Project, the Burlington County Times Child Find of america.org, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.