Exactly nine months ago, two three-year-old boys were killed when a parolee with a documented history of meth addiction slammed through Cedar Valley Stables in Eagle Mountain and hit them.
Odin Ratliff and Hunter Jackson were playing with toy tractors inside a round pen with the gate closed for safety reasons in case a horse got loose when they were killed instantly.
A 2News Investigation months in the making has uncovered failures in the supervision of the man criminally charged in this case, Kent Cody Barlow, that could have potentially prevented this wreck.
WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO HIDE?
The Utah Department of Corrections has fought us every step of the way to prevent us from seeing the details of the supervision of Barlow by Adult Probation and Parole which is under UDC.
On June 20, 2022, shortly after the deadly crash, 2News Chief Investigative Reporter Wendy Halloran requested the “Offender Supervision History” on Barlow from UDC.
Those documents detail the supervision efforts and drug testing by AP&P. The request was fulfilled but the records were so heavily redacted we could not see anything. We also requested internal communication from AP&P when it learned of the incident and received several emails that were a sea of black.
We appealed to the State Records Committee over the heavily redacted supervision history for Barlow during a hearing held on November 17, 2022. We partially prevailed in the case.
UDC was ordered to lift the redactions on a May 3rd entry, the day after the crash except for the name of the treatment provider. UDC had thirty days to produce the records but instead appealed to District Court.
LIFTING THE VEIL OF SECRECY
However, 2News Investigates obtained the documents from a whistleblower.
The records show Barlow tested positive for drugs three weeks before the crash. He then stopped going to drug treatment completely. All the while, AP&P claims it had no clue.
DEADLY CONSEQUENCES
The Ratliff and Jackson family have been forever changed by the events on May 2 of last year.
Utah County Sheriff’s officials said Barlow was speeding down 2300 North and 16000 West in Eagle Mountain in a 2003 Infiniti FX45 when he ran a stop sign, drove off the road, through a double fence, through another fence, through an open pen where the boys were playing, hit the boys, then went through the other side of the corral, then hit a large cement post at the edge of the barn and rolled.
Odin and Hunter were found 40-plus feet away under a collapsed roof.
“Odin’s birthday is coming up in two months and we don’t really know what to do. He would be four. He had so much love and kindness and so many things to offer this world that were robbed of him,” said Theresa Ratliff, Odin’s mom who agreed to speak with us for this report. She said her and her husband “have been through hell and back” and that it has been almost impossible to navigate.
Brooke and Jeromey Jackson, the parents of Hunter Jackson said they could not speak with us on camera about this but provided us with many photos and videos of their beloved son, Hunter.
THE TRUTH REVEALED
Barlow was on parole at the time and AP&P was responsible for supervising him. But entries in Offender Track, AP&P’s primary database we obtained from a whistleblower show Barlow violated the terms of his parole agreement multiple times before the deadly crash.
We made several attempts to speak with his parole agent, Regan Ray but he did not return our calls.
April 2, 2022, Barlow did not show up for a random drug test at Wasatch Behavioral Health, his treatment provider in Utah County.
April 11th, 2022, Barlow showed up for random drug testing at Wasatch Behavioral Health and was positive for amphetamines and methamphetamine.
On April 25th, Barlow showed up at agent Ray’s office for what is known under AP&P’s “Standards of Supervision” as an “Office Visit.”
The offender, depending on the level of supervision is required to meet with the agent. Barlow was classified as a “High” level of supervision. The highest is “Intensive” and Barlow was one step below that.
Agent Ray wrote in offender track that Barlow reported as directed and confirmed his address and phone number. The entry indicates that he did not have police contact but that he would be talking to police soon “as he is in the process of reporting his car which was stolen last week in SLC.”
Agent Ray wrote: “He is doing his treatment and drug testing at PATR.” Ray marked that office visit “Successful.”
But that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. The deadly wreck happened one week after that office visit on the evening of May 2.
The next day, on May 3, just before 2 in the morning entries in offender track show AP&P was notified of what happened.
At 1:55 a.m. AP&P on-call supervisor Will Morell wrote that he received a call from Deputy Hall with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office and was told Barlow was arrested and booked into the Utah County Jail for possession of meth, and two counts of automobile homicide.
Morell wrote that a 72-hour hold was placed on Barlow at the Utah County Jail and an email was sent to the supervising agent and his supervisor.
At 9:38 a.m. Agent Ray made his first entry into offender track.
A case update where he wrote, “Early this morning, I was notified by the on-call supervisor Will Morrell about Mr. Barlow having been involved in a critical accident last night. I provided my supervisor, Brooks Jenkins with a critical incident report which he forwarded to Regional Chief Irv Hale. Later that day, at 5:16 p.m. Agent Ray wrote a note regarding Barlow’s treatment provider. It says, “I reached out to his case manager at Wasatch Behavioral Health (WBH) for any additional information from them. We normally meet with WBH staff and review the treatment progress of the individuals on our caseloads on the first Thursday of every month. We are scheduled to meet with them on this Thursday, May 5, 2022.”
“In talking with the case manager I learned Mr. Barlow failed to report for a random drug test on April 2, 2022. He then reported for a random drug test on April 11, 2022. The results of this drug test showed Mr. Barlow positive for amphetamines and methamphetamine."
The entry then says “His case manager made multiple attempts to reach Mr. Barlow to discuss this positive UA, to no avail. Mr. Barlow failed to make any further contact with treatment and discuss this positive test. WBH health did not notify me of this positive UA until I reached out to them today, May 3, 2022. This information would have been provided to me on this coming Thursday, had I not reached out to them today.”
That means Barlow tested positive for amphetamines and meth and for twenty-one days wasn't going to drug treatment. AP&P claims it had no clue and Agent Ray’s entry indicates no one checked to find out.
WASATCH BEHAVIORAL HEALTH RESPONSE
2News Investigates reached out to the executive director of Wasatch Behavioral Health. During a couple phone conversations Juergen Korbanka, Ph. D. explained that confidentiality laws prohibit him from commenting on any particular case, including even verifying whether a given individual is or has been a client at Wasatch Behavioral Health. He offered some general comments which helped shed light on whether treatment providers such as WBH have a contractual obligation to report compliance when it comes to drug testing and attending drug treatment when they are on probation or parole. An excerpt from an email he sent read, “Wasatch Behavioral Health has no formal agreements, contracts, or obligations to report treatment compliance to other agencies.”
In cases where a treatment compliance obligation exists for the client with another agency, we would expect that the agency tracking the individual and/or the client assumes responsibility to verify and document treatment compliance for the other agency. As a treatment provider, WBH typically does not, sua sponte, report treatment compliance. Rather, we respond to inquiries from allied agencies, provided a ROI is in place. As mentioned, the treatment compliance monitoring is typically entrusted to the monitoring agency and, unless specifically arranged for, WBH, as a treatment provider, would not routinely report out compliance of treatment.
UDC DECLINED REPEATED REQUESTS FOR INTERVIEWS ABOUT BARLOW'S SUPERVISION
2News Investigates has repeatedly requested on-camera interviews with AP&P Director Dan Blanchard and UDC Executive Director Brian Nielson about Barlow's supervision but they have all been denied.
We received an email from UDC Information Specialist Liam Truchard on January 23rd that said, "As court proceedings for both the documents, referring to UDC's appeal against KUTV and the State Records Committee in District Court, and the case against Mr. Barlow are still ongoing, the UDC will not be commenting at this time."
However, we were able to get some of our questions answered about compliance reporting and whether UDC has contractual agreements with treatment providers.
On Wednesday January 31st, UDC Communications Director Kaitlin Felsted responded to our inquiry about this. In an email she wrote, "Generally, UDC does not maintain contractual agreements with specific treatment providers for services."
The email went on to say in part, "If an individual participates in treatment through a private or county program, a release of information is requested so the provider can coordinate and share information with AP&P. With the appropriate release of information, providers typically provide monthly treatment reports to AP&P for individuals on probation or parole. The frequency of the treatment updates is determined by the provider. We work with providers to maintain communication and also utilize UDC case workers through our TRC locations to connect individuals to services available in the community."
"THIS LOOKS LIKE A COMPLETE SUPERVISION FAILURE"
Paul Cassell, Presidential Professor of Criminal Law, and University Distinguished Professor of Law at the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah agreed to be interviewed for this report. He said, “It's absurd that the people doing the drug testing wouldn't be contractually obligated to immediately report when they see a positive drug test.”
Cassell, a former federal judge did not mince words. “So, the idea that somehow the testing agency would know that the supervisee is in non-compliance, but the supervisors don't know, I mean that's just absolutely ridiculous."
When asked what he thought about AP&P not knowing that Barlow had stopped going to drug treatment he said, “I think it’s outrageous that AP&P didn't know immediately when there was a failed drug test or even not appearing to be drug tested at all, I mean those are huge red flags that should have led to more aggressive responses.”
We asked Cassell if it appeared judging by the records UDC tried to keep secret that Barlow was properly supervised. His response, “This looks like a complete failure of supervision here.” Additionally, he added, “This looks like a case where the system has failed the victims, the families and the two little boys who were killed. So, essentially when dangerous people like this are out on the streets being supervised that's a situation, it's a situation of playing with dynamite and so you've got to be extremely careful to make sure that all the procedures for supervision are followed."
Cassell was made aware of our fight to obtain records in the Barlow case and the heavy-handed redacting and knew that we had taken it all the way to the State Records Committee. He had this to say: "I think it's critical that state agencies like AP&P be subject to the light of day. I think it's critical that we know exactly how AP&P is supervising the people under its charge, if they screw up that can have deadly consequences."
"I HELD MY SON DEAD IN MY ARMS, NO PARENT SHOULD EVER GO THROUGH THAT"
For Theresa Ratliff what happened on that May night is unfathomable. She said there are days when she and her husband wake up and look for Odin because he was their life. She described it as if a whole lifetime has passed. "Things are moving so quickly but yet standing still at the same time."
She wants accountability so that, "We can grieve, we can start to live our lives because every day that this is unresolved is just a slamming reminder of the past."
She also wants answers.
"That night was I mean; I don’t even have words to describe it."
She said, "With everything that happened you know; the end result is I held my son dead in my arms and no parent should ever have to go through that. No one and if there are people who should be held accountable, they should be held accountable. Always. It does not matter the consequence that is what accountability is."