LAYTON — Joe Stacy was concerned that if his 4-year-old son Ethan went to Utah, he would never see him again.

"The mother has abandoned the child and I'm afraid the mother will come and take him and I'll never see him again," Joe Stacy, who then lived in Apopka, Fla., wrote in the November 2009 custody petition filed in the Circuit Court of the 9th Judicial Court of Orange County, Fla. "The mother is unstable."

Despite the repeated warnings, Ethan was sent to Utah and was killed less than two weeks later and his body buried in a remote area near Powder Mountain.

Nathan Sloop was booked Tuesday into the Davis County Jail for investigation of aggravated murder. He and Stephanie Sloop were both booked for investigation of child abuse, obstruction of justice and desecration of a corpse.

The Sloops are accused in a horrific crime that has shocked the nation. Police believe Ethan died following a "systematic and progressively more violent pattern of abuse" from Nathan that eventually led to head trauma that went untreated, and ultimately his death. After he died, Nathan used a hammer and lighter fluid and matches to try and disfigure Ethan and burn potential evidence before burying him in Ogden Valley.


As prosecutors plan for a scheduled news conference Friday, at which time they are expected to announce formal charges against the Sloops, more disturbing information was revealed Thursday, leading many to question why Stephanie Sloop was allowed visitation rights with Ethan.

"Joe absolutely did not want him to go (to Utah), and she threatened to sue him for kidnapping, threatened him with this and that. He had no choice," Freida Stacy, Joe Stacy's stepmother, told the Deseret News.

"Ethan did not want to go. Ethan did not want to even talk to (his mother) on the phone. She'd call and he'd say, 'I don't want to talk to her,' " Freida Stacy said from her home in Hurley, Va.

Joe Stacy filed for divorce from Stephanie C. Stacy in October, according to records from the Florida court. Both were required to undergo parenting classes and the Uniform Child Custody Act was invoked, which deals with children of divorced parents who live in different states.

Judge Maura T. Smith handled the Stacys' divorce. She told the Deseret News Thursday, however, that the couple had already reached a marital agreement settlement on their own, which was signed in front of a mediator, by the time the divorce was finalized in her courtroom.

The divorce was uncontested by both parties, she said. During a brief 10 minute hearing to finalize the divorce, she said only Joe Stacy was present.

Because the case was still active, meaning the court had jurisdiction over the divorce to make sure all stipulations were being met, Smith said she could not talk about specific details regarding the case. She said she heard the news about Ethan but could not comment on the matter.

She noted that the Orange County courthouse sees hundreds of cases similar to the Stacys' divorce every few days.

The Davis County Attorney's Office said it had received numerous calls from angry members of the public on the eve of announcing charges. Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings said his office was going through an extensive amount of evidence and promised, "We will seek the maximum penalty allowed by law for the crimes we can prove."

At the Sloops' Layton apartment Thursday, the sunny spring day did little to lighten the mood.

A steady stream of friends, neighbors and complete strangers continued to visit the site Thursday as a small makeshift memorial to Ethan continued to grow.

The pile of gifts included stuffed animals, flowers, candles, balloons and even a Happy Meal signed by the "Layton McDonalds staff."

Many messages bore the telltale signatures and pictures of neighborhood children.

"I'm sorry your (sic) gone," read one message, scrawled in a child's handwriting.

Other letters and cards offered messages of hope.

"God is watching and waiting. … You'll know you're in a much better place," read another letter addressed to Ethan.