This one was quite hard to see. Any brackets indicates a spot I was uncertain what it said. Apologies for errors ahead of time, as it's quite distorted, and worse the more I tried to blow it up. It was actually easier to read when small, but only barely readable even then.
When it says (m/c) inside brackets, it's because part of the paper is missing from the corner and I put it together with what I know and also the context. It may be incorrect, for the record. [sic] means spelling is correct for the article but not necessarily correct spelling (such as my brother is the third, not the fourth).
Pair asks custody of missing daughter's children
by RICH MAUER The Idaho Statesman
Monday, April 17, 1978
CALDWELL-- The parents of an Emmett woman who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in November have asked a [3rd] District judge to award them custody of their daughter's children.
In a petition filed late Thursday afternoon, Leon and Lucille Baxter, [Stockton, Kan.,] allege that their two grandchildren may have been severely abused by the couple they now are living with.
The Baxters also said the couple, Michael and Dorothy Rogers, have been uncooperative in the attempt to [find (m/c)] their missing daughter Marie [Ann (m/c)] Watson, 28.
[The private (m/c)] investigator hired by the [Baxters, said (m/c)] in an affidavit filed with [the court (m/c)... said in their (m/c)] petition that Dorothy [who is Lucille (m/c)] Baxter's half-sister, [is the last person (m/c)] to have seen Watson alive before she disappeared Nov. 21.
Official sources in Gem County confirmed that statement.
The petition charged that Rogers may have physically abused the Baxter's [sic] two grandchildren, Jack Hamilton Roach IV [sic], 8, and Sandi Kay [sic] Roach, 6, "and have physically abused other minor children which were in their care and custody."
Michael Rogers was alleged in the petition to have engaged in sexual activity with other minor children 'and may have engaged in sexual activity, or acts of a lewd and lascivious nature" with the two Roach children.
The petition also charges the Rogers "have actively participated in these acts, transactions, or occurrences resulting in the disappearance of Marie Ann Watson."
In a sworn statement filed with the petition, the investigator, H.D. Burr, Boise, said Dorothy Rogers told a confidential informant in reference to Watson, "Aren't we all better off without her?" Through the informant, Burr also quoted Rogers as saying in reference to the disappearance, "If you had a chicken-stealing dog, or a dog that sucked eggs, you would get rid of it."
Dorothy Rogers and her husband Michael are believed to have separated, according to official sources and investigators working with the Baxters and Watson's husband, Jimmy. Dorothy was served with papers at a house north of Caldwell ordering her to appear before 3rd District Judge Edward J. [Lodge] on May [5], Burr said.
A phone number listed under Michael Rogers in Emmett was answered by a recording saying the telephone was not in service.
Watson's disappearance was first reported in the press Nov. 30. She had failed to pick her paychecks [sic] and had left her purse and identification behind.
Gem County Sheriff [Bill] McConnel described the case as "weird" when told of the court action Thursday.
McConel said the Watsons and the Rogers have been feuding for years, partly as a result of several previous unsuccessful attempts through the courts by Marie Watson to regain custody of her children.
He cautioned that ["yammer"] between the two families has passed back and forth throughout that time, "There are allegations that you wouldn't believe," he said.
The sheriff said he isn't as sure as the Baxters that Marie had run into foul play. She has had a history of brief disappearances, he said. "We [got] a disappearance, we know this. But we don't have a body, so we don't have a crime," he said.
State Health and Welfare officials placed the children in the Rogers' home two years ago, McConnel said. The family, which has a strong fundamentalist faith, has other adopted children, he said.
H&W officials in Emmett and Payette refused to comment on the case, citing federal confidentiality regulations.
Burr, in his affidavit, charged that Dorothy Rogers once verbally abused the daughter of a teacher's aide when one of the Rogers' adopted children came home with "PTO" stamped on her hand. The stamp was to remind the Rogers' of a Parent-Teacher Organization meeting.
Burr said Rogers called the teacher's aide at home. When the aide's daughter answered, Rogers told her that her mother "put the mark of the devil" on the child. Rogers then threatened to go to the meeting and "blow everybody's head off with a shotgun," Burr said.
According to the court papers, Watson had visitation rights to the children.
Burr said in an interview that Dorothy Rogers changed the names of the two children to Rodney and Joanne, and made them call their mother "Aunt Marie."
An official source in Gem County who asked that his name not be used said both sides in the case harassed each other. State investigators were once called in when Jimmy Watson began showing up at the Rogers' residence, occasionally dogging them when they drove off from home.
McConnel said the entire case is in "such a state of turmoil, I would have very little to say about the custody case other than it falls right in line with the rest of what's happened. It's weird."
