Shanda Vander Ark Takes the Stand in Tortured Son Murder Trial Pt 1.

all right Mr Johnson you can call your first witness called Vander all right M Vander if you can come around here please stand in front of that chair raise your hand please raise your right hand please in this matter now pending you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth to help you gu I do all right put your hand down grab a seat please state your name for the record spelling your first name and last name uh Shonda s h a n da a vanderark v n d r space capital a r k thank you Miss vanderark um uh you're being called to testify in your own cases you understand that yes sir and and to do that you have to make sure that everyone can understand you correct yes sir with you uh and knowing as I do I don't think volume's going to be a problem with you probably not sir talking fast maybe yes sir it might okay so this is uh are you nervous yes sir this is stressful yes sir very so you're going to be questions going to be thrown at you fast and furious you you've seen how trials work correct yes sir okay and under those circumstances you may speed up again as I do yes sir okay you you may be reminded from time to time to slow down just a little bit do you understand that yes sir okay all right let's make sure everyone understands you you've been sitting through this this this trial for the since the beginning correct yes sir and you were arrested for these offenses alleged back when July 7th of 2022 okay so you've been living with this thing for more than what 18 months 17 months yes sir 17 months so you know what we're talking about correct yes sir and you understand the allegations against you yes sir and and that it also helps that that you have a legal background correct yes sir okay uh uh the things they said about how well you did in school and and all those things were all those all true uh yes sir okay I I I not just sitting there and regaling this but but the things about kumla and going to law school all that stuff is true it was Magna kumla yes sir okay thank you all right let's start let's go back to the very beginning uh when you it okay when did Timothy come to your care uh May of 2021 prior to that who had physical and legal custody of Timothy my ex-husband okay and when he sent and how how did it happen that you ended up with custody there my ex reached out to me um stating that Timothy was he could no longer handle him that he was pushing his buttons and that he needed to send him to live with me okay and you agreed to that yes sir okay had you ever lived with Timothy uh for during his his when he was younger yes sir okay all right so uh you you agreed to accept him into your home yes sir and who was living in your home at the time myself my husband Adam Paul Ferguson and then my little man g g okay that's what we've been called G correct it's really hard to do yes sir okay do the just do the best you can uh okay so they're all living in your home and then Timothy joins you correct yes sir when Timothy's joining you did the ex-husband ever make any ex any effort to transfer legal custody to you um we discussed it but he never did actually sign anything no sir okay and without legal custody how do you get Timothy into school you can't and without legal custody how do you get medical treatment for Timothy you can't did your husband at least send his I assume he had medical insurance for Timothy did he he sent that he did not send me I requested his medical uh card his insurance card and he never sent it to me now you heard the testimony uh that timoth Timothy saw the doctor in N 2019 did you hear that yes I did that was a year before you received him two years before I received him two years before so in the prior two years before you received him as far as you know based on what you heard here your ex-husband never took him to the doctor as far as I know yes sir how do you know if he had medical insurance for this young man he told me he did okay but he never sent it to you no sir okay um what was your what was your financial situation once Timothy arrived and your husband had a stroke after the stroke we lost my husband's income um and it was paycheck to pay not even paycheck to paycheck almost everything was paid late um I was struggling I I asked Paul for help with groceries sometimes because we were struggling struggling okay and Paul was working full-time he was working parttime he was working at at Applebee's yes sir okay so he's working part-time and so what were you receiving any child support no so the entire financial burden was on you correct could you have per could you have um uh afforded um day care for any of your children absolutely not no and could you have uh um afford any extra expenses other than the ones that you were providing for no what type of expenses were you able to provide for this family just basic living expenses rent yes sir uh utilities yes sir um uh food yes sir okay that least to the next question I have for you you you have monitors and and cameras in your home is that correct yes sir and the impression from the from the testimony I heard is that it was for the purpose the sole purpose of ensuring that Timothy could not get to food was that is that accurate no why did you have all those monitors and cameras in your home when Timothy came to live with us his stepmother informed me that um they had had motion sensors um they weren't as Tech savy as I was I worked in Tech before law school I worked in tchort for several years um but they had motion sensors because and she told me that she didn't sleep at night she only slept when he was at school because he was into everything and so because my my younger child he used to when he was about two he would take all his clothes off so we started putting a camera in his room and then once we moved to the Marshall Road uh location it was B level my husband was born with a disability um my husband was wheelchair bound so he would we had an extra wheelchair that we kept on the upper level that's where the master bedroom was um but that way if the if little man if G was down in his bedroom my husband could talk to him through the camera and have him come up it was much easier my husband could crawl down the steps before the stroke but he didn't we didn't want him to have to crawl up and down those steps okay uh and and again let's go back to the issue of food was food the only reason why you felt you had to monitor Timothy or were there other issues there were plenty of issues sir so first of all the what we've heard some testimony as to uh Timothy's special needs what were his special needs he was on the autism spectrum but he was completely verbal and he was grade level in school he was not behind in school at all um he was diagnosed with attention def hyperactivity disorder he was diagnosed as bipolar and sensory processing disorder um I Heard Paul mention physical disability he didn't have any now Timothy when he first got there said he had a physical disability and I asked his his stepmom about it to make sure and she said no he's he was not coordinated at all um the first summer that he lived with us my youngest was playing baseball and Timothy actually mentioned because we had planned to put him in public high school I'm going to try out for the baseball team and I didn't say anything to him but I remember thinking sorry sweetie there's no way you don't have the coordination for that all and he he liked uh to take well you tell me did he like to take things apart oh yes absolutely can you give some examples um he took batteries apart he took toys apart my my youngest son's toys um he if he could get a hold of anything from Paul's room he would take like mostly it was Legos Paul still had Legos um he at one point um messed with our water heater what do you mean uh he actually turned the gas off to the water heater um he he knocked out the pilot light and then turned the gas off as well at different points okay were you did you have any concerns as to whether or not this his his predilections his his his desire to get into things might be a safety hazard for either him or somebody else in home extremely I was extremely concerned about that yes sir so it is it was your desire to it was it just your desire to monitor Timothy or did you did you also have a younger child in the home that you want to monitor oh we had both okay was it well who's who did you want to monit one of the other or both both okay all right so you set up these these video and audio cameras correct yes sir okay uh and alarms on the doors on those didn't get installed until about 3 weeks before he passed away okay and uh motion sensors yes sir he got around the motion sensors multiple times were you able to were you able to stay home and personally monitor your children no I had to work full-time okay uh how were you were you able to get specifically were you able to get Timothy in the school no we were not we tried to to enroll him in Mona Shores High School and um Mona Shores told me that my my ex I guess Timothy had damaged a Chromebook in Oklahoma and because my ex owed money on that they would not send his records up to us so we were not able to enroll him so I found a online homeschool curriculum that I had to monitor but I I enrolled him in that let me make sure I'm Sam was it your original intention to put Timothy into public schools yes sir we started the process I filled out the papay for workk um because of my work schedule I couldn't actually take papay foror to Mona Shores my my husband did that Adam did that um but yes we did try to to get him enrolled okay the youngest child G was he in public schools no he was homeschooled what about Paul do you know if he was homeschooled or if he when he got to you was he still in school no he had graduated high school okay all right um okay now you you mentioned that you weren't able to stay at home and and uh uh care for your children at home in the home um as as a stayhome parent is that correct that's correct and um what what type of I assume you're in outworking yes sir okay explain to the jury the work that you did during the period of time that Timothy arrived in your home I was when when he first arrived I was still studying for the bar exam so my husband was working full-time um and I was just doing uh I I trained dogs on the side everything from basic obedience up through different types of service dogs for other people and so I had a couple of dog training clients but mostly I was studying for the bar exam I also was an intern here in this Courthouse that pay a lot of money oh it was it was not paid at all sir okay um but uh it was the week of the bar exam um my actually my my judge that I worked for here as a law clerk informed me of this position that was opened in wo County and she knew that judge referred me and that's when I did the interview and and I started work I think it was 3 days 2 days after I completed the bar exam okay was that a paid position yes it was was was it lucrative enough where you didn't have to do any other work um well with my husband's income it was okay but your husband's income stopped when he when he got sick when he had the stroke yes okay so at that point was it enough income to provide for you and your family no were you receiving any other outside incomes um my um older brother lives in the home that I used to that I still own in Oklahoma and he paid rent to us okay but it wasn't a lot it was that went towards our house rent child support no my my ex one of the siblings was forgotten yesterday um there's five total we talked about the four boys I also have a daughter um she is now 19 but she stayed down with her dad okay so we each had one so there was no um there was no child support and because of child support on the the other four kids I actually was still paying my ex-child support it was still being deducted from my check okay so you had that that that's another deduction from your income $1,000 a month yes sir okay so um were you also doing tutoring when you went to the judge who was paying you were you still tutoring or doing any other outside work not at that I was doing the dog training okay let let me ask you this what time in the morning did you leave to go to work um I usually left the house about 6:30 and what time on average were you getting home about 6:00 okay so we're talking about 12 12 hours away from the home yes sir okay those those those monitors um uh the video cameras in your home you were able to or to re to view them while at work from my phone occasionally yes sir okay um and you but you were still working yes sir I didn't view them at all until after the stroke I mean cuz my husband was there or we had we had Arrangements where where my husband was off certain days of the week Paul was off one day specifically one day a week so he took care of of Gabriel and Timothy and then um the other two days that I need to care for Gabriel when my husband was working he actually went to my in-law's house down in West Olive may I approach the witness for just a moment mayri uh let's see you you have so you have three children at home yes sir okay and my understanding is you faced other challenges personally in terms of your personal Heth yes sir I did okay uh for let's run down the this you have insomnia severe insomnia caused by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder okay and and uh for those folks who who get a great night's sleep every night don't understand what insomnia does to to your ability to function can you explain to them what impact chronic insomnia has on a person it limits your ability to think clearly um your energy level is is greatly reduced um takes a lot longer to process things um you forget things easier uh it was just it was much harder to function with with so little sleep okay and you talked about your other your other personal disord were you receiving medications for those um I was for um I had I have severe attention hyperactivity disorder combined type um I also have sensory processing disorder and OCD um and then after my husband's stroke as a result of my husband's stroke cuz I viewed him I I I wasn't in the room when he had the stroke but I it was I was there right afterwards and so I developed post-traumatic stress disorder with disassociation from that the only medication that I was on was for the ADHD okay uh and you had you had the service dogs in your presence to I had one service dog for me yes sir okay um what sorts of medical what sorts of interventions were available for for Timothy's disorders um when he came to us he was on medication he was on they gave us a whole like large gallon siiz Ziploc bag of medications for him um I could not refill them because I could not get him to the doctor um we were going to try to adjust his medication cuz when he came to live with this when he took his medicine he was a zombie it was it was just horrific um and when Paul came to live with us cuz he Paul had only been there a year when Timothy moved down or moved up sorry um and when Paul he was on the same big bag of medication um and there were serious concerns that they just instead of handling especially my ex he wanted to medicate them but I never got that option because I couldn't take him to the doctor okay all right um there's been uh some allegation there been some implication let put it that way that you uh tried to keep people from seeing Timothy that you tried to keep them away from public view that he didn't go to school and he didn't go to the doctor Etc that he went to he went outside he was in the backyard you remember that testimony yes sir uh from if if someone's outside in your backyard is he are there trees or fences or other obstacles to keep the neighbors from looking over there and seeing uh who's out in your yard no there was a clearing before there was there was Woods at the back of the lot but there was a clearing and at least the Neighbors on each side they there were pretty sizable windows on the back of their homes um they weren't in the I think the next door was a two Lev but the one on one side was just a a single it may have had a basement I don't know um but there was big windows and they could see into our backyard easily okay um was it ever your intention to keep people from seeing Timothy no my mother-in-law saw him we had a they do rental home inspections I guess the city of Norton Shores um I don't remember if it was late April or early May of 2022 but it was in that neighborhood and so we'd had the inspection that day and my mother-in-law happened to stop by that day and I invited her in we we sat and talked and Timothy wanted to come say hi so he he came up and said hi to her okay um now you're you're a uh MOS County transplant correct you're yes I'm not from around here so and where's and I'm assuming that your your your bi your direct biological family there's not a lot of them in this County there's no bi I don't have other than my children I don't have any biological father biological family here oh okay how far away are they uh my older brother is in Oklahoma City and then I have two sisters that I have not talked to in over 20 years and they live in Alabama where I'm from okay so how how often do those folks your bio family stop by and to see how sister is doing um the last time I saw my older brother was when we all we went down to North Carolina for my oldest son's wedding in October of 2021 and then my my brother and sister-in-law drove over from Oklahoma for the wedding as well well we facetimed a lot we watch football games on FaceTime but um I didn't get to see them after we moved up here okay do you have a lot of friends in the area that will come by will stop by on maybe on does happen to be in the area that sort of thing they'll come by and and and visit your home most of my friends were from work and they actually because I worked in noo County they lived in noo or oceanana County or even further I don't know I'm not from here I don't know what county is next to noo East um but I know at least one person from work lived in I think it's Big Rapids yes um so no they didn't stop by because they were too far away did you have a lot of time for social interactions at your home no not at all and how about Paul did he have friends that he bring by or no he talked about people at work but he never asked to bring anybody over did was there any was he ever given any instructions you can't have people in this house absolutely not and what about uh the youngest child G did he have any friends that for sleepovers or anything like that we didn't have any any friends over for no um he had he played baseball um because of me not being able to get out he didn't get out a lot I mean I wish I could have gotten him out more that's why we put him in baseball so he could get around other kids more um I had been looking into hom School co-ops but with my schedule I just couldn't do that okay what in your op what which would you say was more impactful in terms of your you know get Timothy out of the house was it was it your desire he not get out of the house or your work requirements um it was work requirements in his choice um there was I want to say it was April the weather was halfway decent I guess people here were I mean there was kids down the street there was teenagers playing basketball when I came home from the grocery store one weekend and I I stopped and rolled my window down and said hey I've got a 15-year-old at home can he come play with y'all even though I knew he wasn't coordinated I knew he I thought he would enjoy it and they said yeah sure absolutely and he did not want to go play okay did he ever request to go play and you denied him no no no he never did actually Paul we had um Mom and Dad my my in-laws got Timothy a bike for his 15th birthday and Paul and he we were on a culdesac and um Paul had tried to teach him to ride the bike um okay I know I know they had a few sessions I don't know how many okay so those on those occasions he'd be outside he was out in the C in front of the house and went okay all right okay let's talk about some of the things that have come up in this case uh there there were um okay they're leg irons discovered in your home were you aware of those I I was aware that Paul had them um you actually could look on Amazon Paul had the option to do a payment on the Amazon as well as mine and Paul had actually ordered those under his his account okay you did not order the leg iron I did not no did you did you ever use them no sir no I never instructed let's be in specific did you ever use them with Timothy no sir okay uh did you ever notice any uh bruising on Timothy's wrists or legs uh that might be attributable to the use of leg IRS no sir I never saw anything with that uh you heard Paul talk about plastic ties what was that about I honestly don't remember okay um I I don't know why we would order I mean I saw the ties I don't I don't remember ordering them I don't know what happened there you're going to say I don't remember a lot aren't you unfortunately yes because of the dissociation okay explain to explain to the jury what that means um well I guess there's different forms somebody told me this I did not find out about the PTSD and the disassociation until about seven months after my husband's stroke even though it had been going on since the stroke I need to place an objection on the record and I think we're going to have to excuse the jury well excuse you back to the Jury Room

Channel: COURT TV

Views: 142,594

Keywords: tortured Son Murder Trial Day, Shanda Vander Ark Takes the Stand, court tv, court tv live, court tv live stream, court tv live stream free today, court tv live stream today, court tv trials, live court tv full trials, court tv full trials live, court tv on the docket, court tv full trials, court live, court tv investigation, shanda vander ark, MI v. Shanda Vander Ark, Timothy Ferguson, Paul Ferguson, Victim's Brother, bread soaked in hot sauce, Defendant testifies

Id: qbBcflcghb4

Length: 22min 57sec (1377 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 14 2023