“Hat tip to Tiffany for this find”
By Holly WiseThe Cove Herald
Five years after young Jade Allsop was pronounced dead at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center on Jan. 27, 2005, her father, Joseph Allsop, confessed to performing sexual acts on the 5-month-old that resulted in her death.
Allsop, 27, was arrested Aug. 27 in Pierce County, Wash., on charges of capital murder in connection with a complaint filed Aug. 20 in Coryell County Justice of the Peace Judge John Guinn's office.
Allsop is being held in the Pierce County Corrections facility. He was arraigned Monday in the Pierce County Superior Court and is waiting extradition back to Texas.
According to a press release from the Guadalupe County Sheriff's Office, Allsop is in the Army. Lt. Gregg Hastings, Oregon State Police public information officer, confirmed that Allsop is a registered sex offender but, according to information from the Copperas Cove Police Department, Allsop never registered in Texas.
Hastings said Allsop was convicted in 1997 when he was 14 years old.
According to the complaint filed in Guinn's office, at approximately 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 27, 2005, emergency medical personnel were dispatched to 406-C N. Main St. in reference to an infant who was not breathing.
The subsequent investigation determined that Jade was placed in her crib at approximately 11:30 p.m. and at 12:45 a.m. Allsop discovered her not breathing.
The body was sent to the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Technology for an autopsy. According to the complaint, the medical examiner ruled the cause and manner of death were "undetermined."
The autopsy report is not available, pending a judge's release.
More than five years later, on June 3, Shaina Allsop, Jade's mother, reported to the Guadalupe County Sheriff's Department that her now 8-year-old son told her Allsop touched his genitals three years ago.
Allsop was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., and Guadalupe County Sheriff's Department Investigator Scott Humphrey requested that he be questioned by the Army's Criminal Investigations Division.
Allsop was questioned Aug. 17 and confessed to sexually abusing numerous young children, according to the complaint.
When the investigator questioned Allsop about the events surrounding Jade's death, Allsop confessed to performing sexual acts on the infant the night of Jan. 27, 2005. When he returned to the infant from the bathroom, he found her not breathing and staged her in bed with a bottle so Shaina would not suspect something was wrong.
Allsop told Shaina the baby was sleeping and when Shaina checked on her, she didn't notice the infant wasn't breathing. After Shaina left to go to a friend's house, Allsop grabbed Jade and ran outside yelling that she wasn't breathing.
"This case came together as a result of like-minded professionals working together as a team," Humphrey's supervisor, Sgt. Craig Jones said. "While the sad loss of innocence and life can never be restored, Humphrey would tell you the true warriors in cases like this are the victims and the families willing to make a stand against people who prey on children."
Coryell County District Attorney David Castillo said once it is proven that Allsop is the individual being charged, he will be transported to Coryell County where he will face indictment.
Contact Holly Wise at hwise@kdhnews.com or by calling (254) 501-7474. more here: http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=44089
