The battle over Sidney Watkins dates to 2008, when her father, Steven, fi led for divorce from Jennifer Watkins after less than two years of marriage. The couple met in a Springfi eld parking lot between two buildings where Steven and Jennifer worked, he for the state Department of Healthcare and Family Services, she for AT&T, and they were married within months. Sidney was just 11 months old when her dad fi led for divorce and asked for full custody – he already had custody of a nine-year-old daughter from a prior relationship.

After Steven fi led for divorce, Jennifer Watkins accused him of sexually abusing Sidney, an accusation that state investigators determined was unfounded. Steven’s visitation rights were subsequently expanded by a judge, who signaled in November 2008 that he would grant Steven the right to overnight visits that never happened. Two days before Thanksgiving in 2008, Steven was shot in the back of the head when he went to the Ashland home where Jennifer lived with relatives – he’d gone there to pick up Sidney for a court-ordered visit. Shirley Skinner, Jennifer’s grandmother who also lived at the Ashland house, confessed to killing Steven as soon as Ashland police chief Jim Birdsell arrived at the home, but there was no physical evidence, and Birdsell had never before handled a homicide case.

After state police took over, Skinner was charged and convicted of fi rst-degree murder in 2010. During her trial, prosecutors called Jennifer Watkins’ family a clan that considered Sidney their property and would do anything to prevent Steven from taking his daughter out of their control. Prosecutors offered to reduce Skinner’s bond so that she could be free pending trial if Jennifer would allow visits between Sidney and Steven’s parents, but Jennifer refused.

After Skinner’s conviction, Cass County Circuit Court Judge Robert Hardwick granted visitation rights to Steven’s parents, Dale and Penny Watkins, but Jennifer did not produce Sidney for visits as ordered by Hardwick, who found her in contempt of court. By then, Jennifer Watkins was living in Florida, and a 2011 extradition attempt failed. A 2013 arrest warrant issued by Hardwick went unserved until September, when Jennifer Watkins was picked up by police in Massachusetts and Sidney was placed in the care of her late father’s relatives.

–Bruce Rushton