I think what he might remember is the second incident, I believe, was with Charm, a stray we’d adopted, but this was after we closed the shoe store. For some reason, we were taking Charm to Michigan–maybe because she’d just had to have her tail amputated–and stopped at a rest area along the Ohio Turnpike. James was with us. When we stopped, I specifically asked James if Charm was in her cage because I didn’t want her getting loose in a busy parking lot. He said she was, but when we opened the sliding door on the minivan, Charm bolts out of the car. James thought he would be able to hold her. No one saw where she went, and we spent a long time looking for her. This situation was a nightmare and the one I was very much trying to avoid. The kids were all distraught and crying. Rita and I are trying to figure out how to tell the kids that we’d have to abandon her if we didn’t find her. Finally, James that found her in the wheel well of the car next to ours.
Q. Whose cat was it?
A. Theirs. I was taking care of their cats and getting them out of the house for the shoe store — or, the house rental weekend, and I stayed at the shoe store with the three cats and to watch the shoe store on Saturday.
All of the cats were outdoor cats, but I’m guessing we had asked James to keep them inside while he had them at the shoe store so they wouldn’t get lost. I have no recollection of James losing a cat at the shoe store. If he did, he found it because they all died of old age at our home, although Roxy did die at the shoe store, but not because she ran away. Nothing about this makes sense.
Q. So how long did you live in the trailer park?
A. A year.
Q. Is that from 2007 — give me a year.
A. 2007 to like Christmas time of 2008.
Q. From that — from 2007 to 2008, were you involved in helping Rita and the kids at all?
A. I kind of separated because I thought Eric didn’t want me around anymore. I felt like I shouldn’t come around until he’s either at work or gone on one of his teaching trips or whatever he has to do, which was rare, but I just felt unwanted.
If he wasn’t more of a burden than help, he might have felt wanted. But James was a person that cut corners all the time with usually bad outcomes. He didn’t get the cat in the cage because that would have been difficult, and he thought he could hold her. He busted a hole in the wall because it was too burdensome to use the garage door next to the utility room. It was nice that he wanted to help, but…
Q. I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this, but you testified that your Aunt Rita broke her legs?
A. Yes.
Q. When did she break her legs?
A. In the fall of 2004, around November.
Q. Who was taking care of the kids and Rita?
A. Me, and then Debbie and grandma got there. Because Uncle Eric kind of checked out, because he — when she broke her legs and he was right behind her on the stairs, he really like went white and just stood there, and I had to come up and carry the kids in the house, and she was the one that called the ambulance.
This event happened on election day in 2004 when Bush got reelected. I wasn’t right behind her when she fell. I was in the house, and Rita was taking Amanda out to the car for an appointment. I have no idea what happened because the front steps were in no way hazardous. However, somehow Rita seriously messed up her lower leg; her foot pointed in the wrong direction. I heard Rita screaming and went out to see what was wrong, and I think I probably called for James to come to get Amanda. I don’t recall if Caleb was outside at the time. I don’t recall him being there; he may have been at school. I don’t remember who called the ambulance, but I seriously doubt it was Rita. I admit it was a little hard to look at, and doing so would have made anyone cringe. Our neighbor at the time was an ER doctor, and he was outside and came over when he heard the screaming. I still remember him saying, “That looks pretty bad, Rita.” Fortunately, he was there and was able to give the order for the EMTs to provide Rita with morphine, so she was not in so much pain riding to the hospital.
Q. So when did you move back into the residence?
A. After the — when I moved out, like in 2007?
Q. Yes.
A. Back in like — it was right in Christmas time of 2008.
Q. From Christmas time 2008, how long did you reside there?
A. Until I left there November 15, 2011.
Q. So from Christmas 2008 to November of 2011
A. Yes.
Q. — you lived back in the house with them?
A. Yeah. I almost died in 2008.
Q. What happened to you in 2008?
A. I had congestive heart failure for the first time. I worked myself to death basically.
No, James, you ate yourself to death. I hope he has finally figured out that all of his health problems are not because of working too much, having blood pressures over 200 is not cool, and having an enlarged heart is not a good thing. I wasn’t aware he’d had more heart problems, but I can’t say I’m surprised.
Q. So tell me, did you observe any change in Mr. Mockensturm’s depression, interactions with the kids —
A. Not really, it’s about the same.
Q. Did anything get worse or better, to your recollection?
A. No. Everything was diminishing from, like, it was you could just tell it was not working.
Q. What was not working?
A. Their marriage.
Q. Let’s talk about his interactions with the kids.
A. It was very seldom that he was actually doing anything with them. I mean, he would help Caleb with math, but it would be from a different room on a different computer.
How would I help Caleb with math from a different room on another computer? That makes no sense.
Q. What about getting the kids up and on the bus and that kind of stuff in the morning?
A. No, no, it’s not going to happen. I think he would take Amanda to school occasionally on the scooter, but that was —
Rita would indeed typically get the kids ready for school while I was getting ready for work. We only had one car at the time, so we would all leave together. We would drop them off at school, and Rita would take me to work. This route was about a five-mile round trip for her. Caleb did ride the bus in middle school, but it wasn’t like he needed someone to get him on the bus. Although we did have to make sure he didn’t “accidentally” miss it. At this point, I had a small scooter and would ride that to work if the weather permitted. Since Amanda’s school was on the way, she would ride with me. I think she enjoyed it, and I think she liked carrying her helmet into school with her.
Q. He would take her to school on a scooter?
A. Yeah. She wore a helmet.
Q. During that period of time, were there any babysitters that came in?
A. Oh, yeah. There were a few, yeah. Some moved on. Some still live in the area, but they would still have to be there even though he was there just to help out.
Rita did hire a few babysitters so she could work at the shoe store more. However, they rarely stayed after I got home as I rarely ever saw them.
Q. What were you doing during this time that you moved back in; did you have a job?
A. Yes. I was working at Papa John’s Brothers Pizza. I had several different jobs because they couldn’t — they were going to pay for all this stuff so I had to work to pay it.
I’m not sure, but maybe Rita was making him pay rent. I don’t remember and certainly didn’t see anything that looks like rent payments deposited in the bank during this period.
Q. How’s your relationship with the kids?
A. Pretty much like a dad to them. I mean, even Caleb has said something like, thanks for helping me do this, and I don’t have nothing else to do. Amanda is like always on me. I’m a big part of their life; that’s all I can tell you. Amanda calls me all the time, and Amelia steals her phone and does it.
James was like a big kid, a much older brother who never got his life together enough to move on. The kids enjoyed him because he always brought home new toys like remote control cars and bought new video games and movies. Maybe James thought he was playing the role of a father because he never really had one. James certainly did not play this role, and unless he’s gotten his life together, I cannot imagine him being a parent. While I have no idea what James has been doing for the last seven years, I don’t think he has any kids, or my kids would have probably mentioned it.
They seem to have very little to do with him even though he lives very close to them. I have asked them how he’s doing a few times because I hope he’s figured things out. However, they always say they rarely ever see him. I suspect that Rita has finally figured out that he’s not a good influence.
Q. So since you’ve moved out of the home, you still maintain contact with your cousins?
A. Yes.
MS. TORQUATO: I have nothing further, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Cross, Ms. Kauffman?
MS. KAUFFMAN: I have nothing.
THE COURT: Thank you. You may stand down.
I wanted Rose to rip James apart after this, but I understand the legal maneuver here. She essentially said, “I have nothing.” in a way that said, “I don’t even know where to start with this idiot.” It was also apparent that Judge Ruest could see what was going on, and I’m sure she dismissed everything James said.
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