I haven’t written about this yet, but started now. I think I needed to sleep on it some more because I found this so profoundly upsetting and disturbing .
First up: a wrong place, wrong time. A woman in Berwyn murdered by an out of his mind lunatic….whom police had dealt with just a couple of hours before he shot this woman. This was a mom. She was a sister. She was a friend. she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time when someone decided to have a psychotic break. I hope they lock that guy up for a really long time.
According to the timeline laid out, Tredyffrin Police HAD Steven Jahn IN CUSTODAY earlier that evening and perhaps if they had kept a hold of him, this woman might still be alive?
It also speaks to the need for mental health evaluations to be added to requirements for carry permits etc.
I hate to refer to her as just “a woman” or “this woman” but out of respect for her family I am while they try to adjust to something anything but normal.
This woman is known to friends of mine. I have woken up thinking about her these past couple of days. This was about a quasi homeless man on a psychotic break and maybe some sort of substance abuse (who knows?) who murdered a woman who will never wake up again to see the sun rise or take joy in her family, smile at her kids, go for a walk, kiss her husband goodnight. This is a woman with kids and a husband who have to try to make sense of something utterly senseless.
And this piece of crap who shot her? Here is the police comnplaint thingy:
Now was Jahn truly homeless or unhoused? He went to Conestoga and supposedly grew up around Midland in Berwyn? People I spoke to indicated he had lived in Florida, New Jersey, and Maryland before coming back to PA in the beginning of the year? Someone said he had been at some place called the “French Creek Inn” which is some sort of no tell meets meets flop house in East Pikeland? Did anyone check that out? I never heard of that place and someone said it actually came up recently at an East Pikeland meeting?
Anyway, this guy was picked up with his guns at his cousin’s house on Conestoga Road? Look at him? Is that just a full mental break or something else as well? Why do I ask? Because I figured out WHY his name was familiar. 2013. Crazy car accident after hit and runs in East Goshen on North Chester Road. Like 3 hit and runs and his own car upended in the woods.
And next we go to the death of that poor State Trooper Corporal Timothy O’Connor. Fatally shot while performing a traffic stop by one Jesse Nathan Elks. This happened out in West Caln. Another guy who snapped who owned a gun. Elks then ate his own gun.
Timothy O’Connor leaves a wife, daughter, and other family like his beloved parents behind. I literally started crying at one simple comment on the Chester County District Attorney’s Office Facebook Page from his namesake father. All it said was “I love you son.”
So I can’t really find the social media of Jesse Elks but obviously they are out there somewhere because people are posting about it.
Screenshot
When you dig into Elks you find he fathered kids by two women, married one who later divorced him. He was living in a mobile home park in Honey Brook, not sure if it was the township or West Caln area. He seemed to me to be a POS with anger issues and a coward. He took the life of Timothy O’Connor and then killed himself depriving the State Troopers and O’Connor’s family of justice. At least the women who bore his children are free of him…and I hope his kids do okay through this as innocents in his act of murder.
So why did Jesse Elks have a gun?
Look I am not debating the right to own arms. I am asking when the f*ck are they going to add mental health evaluations to the ownership process? It’s the people with the guns doing the killing, so it’s a different conversation to the regular or more typical gun control conversation.
It’s like the fact that sometimes when people have these mental health breaks, law enforcement needs to confiscate weapons sooner, rather than later.
Corporal O’Connor and currently unnamed wife, mother, sister, friend both were taken to Paoli Hospital. What a terribly sad duty for those who work at Paoli. Two tragedies that were random acts of senseless violence. I hope they met on the way to heaven.
I am not particularly eloquent about these senseless acts and I so want to be because these two victims whose souls left their human form at Paoli Hospital deserve that….from all of us.
We live in an awful world right now that needs more happiness. Pray for these families and for these two people murdered through random acts of violence and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This could happen to anyone, and that is the most gut wrenching thought of all.
I close with what Timothy O’Connor’s mom posted. It was public. Mrs. O’Connor, I don’t know you either, but like the currently unnamed murder victim in Berwyn, we share people in common and I am just so damn sorry.
People, we need to strive for a better world. And heaven has two new angels way before they should have been there. And can we also put in a plug for Chester County officials to get a hospital back in the area of where the other two closed with a trauma center?
I am sad to acknowledge that as is just like the case with any other part of society where us regular “English“ live, apparently Amish communities have their own issues.
Today a post I keep seeing shared on Facebook by people from the areas further out in the county about something that happened in the West Caln section of Honey Brook which took me down a rabbit hole that needs attention.
Here are screenshots of the post I originally saw :
The Amish are broken down into various sects in various areas of the country where they have settlements.
Different sects have different Bishops and other elders for each community. I have heard before from people that are either related to Amish, who left the fold so to speak or who know Amish that not all of the sects are the same. As a matter of fact, can it be said that some of them are more cult- like the others? And basically, if you are in an Amish community, you can’t blow your nose without the Bishop’s approval or disapproval.
Katie Zook, 40 and her children Daniel, 10 and Elizabeth, 6 were taken May 28th, 2024. The details are on the screenshot of the flyer I posted. The Zook farm is located on Compass Road and the children were scooped up off of essentially a next door neighbor’s farm on the same lane of their parent’s farm from where Katie the wife was taken.
There are no photos because they are Amish, who keep to traditional Amish ways. And yes, you’re right if you’re thinking, it sounds like a Lifetime movie filmed in Canada and supposed to be like Pennsylvania Ohio or whatever, it does. 
One source said to me that they could have possibly been moved to either an Amish settlement somewhere in Ohio or a settlement near Clare Michigan if not in PA any longer. Now this is just supposition because I have and they have nothing concrete. I am not in or near an Amish community. but I have verified that this wife and these children were indeed removed at the end of May.
The husband and father is named John Zook. He is Amish, so he’s not about going to the English authorities, and in case you don’t know, we all are the English. I’m sure John Zook also believes given the fact he is Amish that God will provide. I don’t think in this situation God is going to provide unless man helps with the tools they have available. So here we are.
What I have been able to piece together from those who know John‘s family and some who have left the Amish sects that this was a happy family unit, and this boils down to religion when religion turns ugly.
Family members say there was no abuse or discord. Family members and friends also say there  was nothing wrong except John Zook from what I have been told by someone who knows his brother wanted to leave this Amish sect and church they were currently in and go to another church.
What I was told is he and his son were indeed going to a new church, but the wife and the daughter were going to the old church. I don’t know what the issue was but apparently John Zook had not been happy with this church for a few years. and the thing about being Amish is you can’t just up and move church just like you can’t just up and move house. I mean, it happens when Amish from one community married Amish from another community. John Zook’s wife Katie, who is missing with her children actually grew up in Quarryville and someone said that her father is a church elder of her birth sect.
I have been told that Katie Zook did not wish to be relocated so what happens now? Are they trying to pressure John Zook into doing what they want by this cruel act? And they might have their own laws that they live under but is that really OK given the world in which they live? So what happens if John Zook doesn’t do what they want? Do his wife and children live elsewhere under different names and will she have to marry someone else entirely? Or would she then live a life of some kind of indentured servant somewhere and raise her children?
I think the other problem that this church has with John Zook is some of his family members, his close family members, were shunned by this sect for leaving. I don’t know if they left Amish life all together or what the story is, but I do know that Amish orders are really tough on those who leave their communities for whatever reason. 
And all of these folks basically live in the same area :
I also pulled the property information from the two addresses on the flyer :
I am not trying to be disrespectful of the Amish people. But this post just made me sit up and take notice and people are sharing it all over, especially people in Chester County who live fairly close to these various Amish communities.
I have been told that these kidnapping things happen. Sometimes it’s for good and sometimes it’s for things like this which in my humble opinion are mean and selfish reasons. Families should not be torn apart for ungodly reasons should they? And seriously if this is all true? I wouldn’t stay in this church either. It’s wrong.
If you have any knowledge of where Katie Zook and her children Daniel and Elizabeth are please call any of the following numbers:
610-273-7102
717-442-5115
717-587-9952
I think this also bothers me because you know we were all raised that the Amish were God-fearing simple folk who did things with faith and tradition in mind. I am having a hard time with this because this is anything but God-fearing and lovely, it’s barbaric and horrible. And it’s sad that the religion of this sect seems to have torn a family apart and I think that’s wrong, don’t you?
If you know where Katie Zook and her children are, please let somebody know. And here’s hoping police somewhere take an interest in this if all of this is proved true.
Malinda Hoagland. Say this poor child’s name. Remember it. She didn’t have to die. In my opinion the state, the county, the very system that was supposed to protect her, in fact failed her. Adults failed her.
How is it nothing was done to save this child? What is the deal with “Child Line” in PA? What is the deal with Children and Youth services in Chester County Pennsylvania? Why didn’t the school district also call the police? Are they not allowed to call the police? Or did they call the police? What is the point of having a system to protect kids if it doesn’t protect the kids?
Below is a statement from the woman who is the Superintendent of the Coatesville School District. Sorry, not sorry those are hollow words and it’s too little too late. Wearing blue sounds nice, but it would’ve been better if this child had actually been paid attention to and was safe, not dead.
But I can’t quite get my head wrapped around is how people do this to their own children? 
It is with an extremely heavy heart that I share with you the devastating and tragic news that one of our former students, 12-year-old Malinda Hoagland, was found dead over the weekend, a victim of inhumane abuse by her father and his girlfriend. While this horrific news was shared in a press conference and is making headlines in the media today, the district just learned of this child’s death late this morning, and we have been working to get details, understand and process this information, and communicate with our entire school community. Malinda Hoagland was enrolled at King’s Highway Elementary in April 2022 and continued on to Scott Middle School and then North Brandywine Middle School. Our staff diligently reported concerns about Malinda’s care to Childline, the state agency that receives and manages concerns regarding child abuse. Shortly thereafter, her family withdrew her from our schools in December 2023, and enrolled her in another cyber charter school. Her younger brother remained a student at King’s Highway. He is now in protective custody and is expected to be relocated to another county and school district. This news shakes our entire school community, and we are deeply saddened and upset by the horrific details of the abuse this child suffered. Counselors trained in grief and trauma support will be available at King’s Highway Elementary, Scott MS, and North Brandywine MS tomorrow for both staff and students who may need to speak with someone or want some help processing this tragedy. I know we join collectively in mourning the life of this child. No matter the length of time a child is a student in our school district, every child matters deeply and their welfare and well-being is critically important to us. We will collaborate in the coming days on ways in which we can honor Malinda’s life as a school community and support our students as they cope with this tragic information.
With care and support for all, Dr. Catherine Van Vooren Superintendent, Coatesville Area School District
Wearing blue does not unring this bell. And court records show she did this BEFORE?? In Pennsylvania no less ? Monroe County?
Monroe County Children and Youth Service’s handling of the McKinley Warren child abuse allegations has earned high praise from a frequent agency critic.
Angela and Bruce Bayer of Stroud Township have a lawsuit pending against C&Y based on allegations the county agency improperly handled a 2003 investigation involving two of the Bayer children.
But the Bayers and the board of a child advocacy organization they founded — Heads Held High — say C&Y did everything possible to protect the children of McKinley Warren.
Warren, 41, was arrested Jan. 5 and accused of torturing his 3-year-old son. His wife, Cindy Bird Warren, 28, was charged with child endangerment.
“What happened that particular day they followed to a T,” Angela Bayer said of C&Y’s handling of the case. “I know a lot of people in the public are upset. ‘Why didn’t they do something.’ They couldn’t until neighbors said they knew something was going on. Children and Youth didn’t know.”
Another Warren child, 2-year-old Jessica Marie Bock, died from head injuries in 2000 after the Warren’s brought her to Pocono Medical Center. McKinley Warren said the child tumbled out of his car and accidentally hit her head. She died in Philadelphia’s Children’s Hospital. A Philadelphia coroner ruled the death a homicide, though no criminal charges have ever been filed.
Jessica Bock’s death came about 14 months after she was returned to the Warren home after Monroe County Children and Youth placed her in foster care. State law requires families be reunited if at all possible and for children to be returned home if conditions improve.
C&Y acted again in 2003, when the three Warren children were placed in foster care for about three months. Another placement happened last year, according to court records.
STROUDSBURG — Cindy Warren, 30, of East Stroudsburg, was sentenced Wednesday to three to seven years in state prison after pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of her son, Isaiah, now 5.
A concerned neighbor’s phone call led police in January 2007 to discover Isaiah had been physically abused by his father, McKinley Warren Jr., 43.
Warren in December pleaded guilty to both abusing the boy and causing a head injury that led to the December 2000 death of his daughter, Jessica Bock, 2, who was Isaiah’s half-sister. Warren was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in state prison for both crimes.
On Wednesday, Cindy Warren’s friends and brother asked Monroe County Court Judge Margherita Worthington to show leniency. They described Warren as a “kind, loving, fun” mother who herself was abused by a controlling husband and whom no one would help.
“Unless you’ve walked in Cindy’s shoes, you can never understand what she’s been through,” said her friend, Diane Silver. “Three times, she was denied a protection-from-abuse order for herself and her children.
“Whenever she called police to her home, she would always be the one who ended up being taken away in handcuffs, not her husband,” Silver said. “He knew how to twist the truth. The day she lost her children is the day her sentence started.”
Monroe County Children And Youth Services has placed the children with McKinley Warren’s relatives.
“I’ve known Cindy for 20 years,” said a tearful Natasha Eddinger, Warren’s friend. “She was a very good mother. But, when her husband was around, she had no voice. Nobody knows what she went through.”
Warren’s older brother, Raymond Coons, said, “Cindy has been a very loving person ever since she was a little girl. She’s never done anything to take away my respect for her.
“She kept calling the authorities, who did nothing, until finally it took an outsider calling for them to do anything,” Coons said. “Just being away from her husband is a good thing for her, but for her to now lose her freedom is unfair. She doesn’t deserve this.”
Stroud Area Regional Police Capt. William Parrish, who investigated both Jessica’s death and Isaiah’s abuse, struggled with tears as a parent himself when refuting certain statements made by Warren’s supporters.
“To say she did all she could to get the authorities involved is erroneous,” Parrish said. “At any time, she could have identified her husband as the one who caused her stepdaughter’s death and abused her son, but she refused to do so. Instead, she lied with her husband about how Jessica got hurt and left it to a neighbor to report Isaiah’s abuse. Whenever neighbors complained about her and her husband being drunk, loud and boisterous and we responded to their home, she would be the one who remained loud and disorderly while her husband calmed down, so she would be the one taken away,” he said.
So I would love to know how someone like this was able to be around kids after the first time she went to jail ? And “Child Line”? What do they do all day ? Of course, should we be surprised that this thing that falls under the department of human services in Pennsylvania is problematic? Look at who is at the helm – former useless Montgomery County Commissioner and gubernatorial buddy, Val Arkoosh. In Chester County, someone named Eve Large runs the department known as Children, Youth, and Families.
So I think these people running these departments have blood on their hands. Obviously, there’s something very broken about a system that seems to let kids fall through the cracks, let alone let someone who went to jail for abusive kids, access to kids ever again and of course, you have to wonder what’s wrong with this guy that he would participate in this? I wonder where the natural born mother is in all of this? I found a custody/visitation case in Monroe County that seems like it has been active since 2019:
Adoptive parents of the surviving older brother of child murder victim Scott “Scotty” McMillan were horrified last week to learn that another child had fallen victim to fatal physical abuse at the hands of adults in the same Chester County town and under similar circumstances as what their son endured almost 10 years ago.
“It shocks me that this abuse can happen in our county, and that schools don’t pick it up,” said the father of Scotty’s older brother, who will turn 16 later this year. “I don’t understand how this can happen.”……A preliminary hearing for both defendants has been scheduled for 9 a.m. July 8 before Magisterial District Judge J. Timothy Arndt III of Honeybrook. Hoagland is represented by defense attorney Stuart Crichton of West Chester, while Warren is represented by the Chester County Public Defender’s Office. Neither Crichton nor Public Defender Nathan Schenker would comment on the case last week.
In 2009, Warren, 45, was sentenced to three to seven years in state prison in the case of the assault on her son, who was 3 years old at the time of the incident. She was charged with endangering the welfare of a child in that 2007 case, after having escaped being charged with homicide in the earlier death of her 2 1/2-year-old stepdaughter because she cooperated with investigators against her then-husband, McKinley Warren Jr., who was later sentenced to 25-to-50 years in jail.
News of her criminal past left the father of Scotty’s brother outraged.
“Why on earth would (the county Department of Children Youth and Families) not have been more involved and why would they even allow her to have her son again after she got out of jail?” he asked.
There are no clear answers.
A spokeswoman for the county, Rebecca Brain, said officials at CYF were cooperating with the police investigation and could not comment on the matter because of confidentiality concerns.
In her statement, Brain said nCYF staff, “are working closely with law enforcement to provide support and services, as the death of Malinda Hoagland is investigated. We remind everyone in the community to call ChildLine should they suspect or witness child abuse or neglect.
The ChildLine number, 1-800-932-0313, will be answered any time day or night.
On Wednesday, Coatesville Area School District Superintendent Catherine Van Vooren said in a written statement that the school district, where Malinda was enrolled from spring 2022 through December 2023, had had some concerns about Malinda’s welfare.
“Our staff diligently reported concerns about her welfare to the state agency that receives and manages concerns.” The superintendent then said that “shortly thereafter” Malinda withdrew from school and enrolled in a cyber charter school. The victim’s brother remained at King’s Highway Elementary School and is now “in protective custody and is expected to be relocated to another county and school district,” Van Vooren wrote.
Scotty’s brother’s mother said that abusive behavior can in some cases be hidden by the perpetrators when they isolate the child from the outside, much like Malinda’s father did by entering her in cyber school.
Authorities agreed.
In his written arrest affidavit for Hoagland and Warren, Chester County Detective Bernard Martin, who is leading the investigation, wrote that, “Warren and Hoagland secluded (the girl) from mandatory reporters and others who may have offered her assistance in order to physically abuse and torment the child and used her seclusion to facilitate their crimes on an ongoing basis over a period of several months.
“They acted in concert with the intention of terrorizing and abusing the child and continued their actions until the child’s death,” he said.
I just don’t understand it. How could NO ONE have followed up since this girl was pulled from school? I mean didn’t the school district at a minimum have an obligation to check? If they couldn’t follow-up could a social worker have gone to the house given the suspicions and the calls about issues?
This child experienced hell for a good part of her life it seems like. Why couldn’t anyone have done something? If not in Chester County what went on in Monroe County? This girl will never go to high school. She will never go to her prom or see life after high school whether it’s college or something else and she’ll never have her own family she’ll never be loved as a living being.
Wasn’t Scotty McMillan enough of a wake up call? Both of these people are monsters. Just monsters, and they deserve worse than what that little girl experienced.
And the state and county agencies who were supposed to protect are also responsible. And I also can’t help but wonder if school districts were not constantly overrun by distracting bullshit if they would have been less out of site out of mind. And cyber charter schools should have some sort of a system too shouldn’t they?
And let’s talk about these monsters, now, sitting in jail: Cindy Warren and Rendell Hoagland. If they didn’t want this child, why didn’t they just turn the child over to her birth, mother, or grandparents? Cindy already had other charges pending from 3/14/24:
Harassment – Course of Conduct W/No Legitimate Purpose False Alarm To Agency Of Public Safety
So what are those charges about and will the attorney on that docket named Gail Nicolina Marr, Esq out of Bensalem be handling the new even more heinous charges?
I have been struggling with this post all day. And part of the reason I am struggling is because I just don’t understand how someone can do this to a child?
All photos courtesy of John Hashem. He happened to be in West Caln driving on Cedar Knoll Road when it was occurring.
