Judge orders decades-old case to be reopened
JEFFERSON CO. (WITI) -- A Jefferson County judge is ordering the district attorney to reopen a decades-old case. 24 years ago, eight-year-old Artis Echoles drowned in a lake near Rome, Wisconsin. Now, officials are trying to find out if the little boy from Racine was murdered.
Carmin White has too few photos to remember her eight-year-old son, Artis. But in the past month, she's had far too many emotions regarding what may have happened to him.
"I turned my son over to the state of Wisconsin legally on my own free will to get help for my son. And in return, I got my son in a body bag," said White.
In 1988, White went to the state for help in raising her son who was hyperactive. The state put Artis in a foster home.
On June 18, 1988, Artis went missing. His foster family took him to a private campground near Rome. The next day, his lifeless body was discovered in a swimming hole. The coroner ruled the death accidental.
White says she turned to drugs to ease the pain and spent years in and out of prison.
"I just tried to move on forward in my life. That's when I turned to drugs because I started feeling guilty that I wasn't there when he drowned. Nobody would help me. They were just brushing it off like it was nothing," said White.
Two months ago, White's daughter discovered the old police report at her grandparents' home. In the report, three children saw a white, heavy-set man with long, brown hair and a mustache. The police report says all three of these individuals stated they saw an individual at the pond area with a young black child -- throwing the person in the water and attempting to make him swim. One reported the man held the boy's head under water.
The names in the decades-old report were blacked out because they were juveniles. White says police told her the old records have since been destroyed.
White did not stop. In mid-December, she wrote a letter to a Jefferson County judge. Four days later, she got a response.
"She said she felt like a crime had been committed and she ordered a John Doe investigation," said White.
That investigation must be completed within 90 days. White believes there is a killer still out there.
"I know the Lord. Even if it's something I don't want to hear, I'm prepared. No matter what it is, I have to know because my heart is torn to pieces still," said White.
The Jefferson County district attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.
In the police report, police did talk to the man the witnesses identified. That man told police he was swimming with the boy but put him on the shore, continued swimming on his own, and the boy disappeared.
The John Doe investigation should be completed by April 30th.