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"No, that is not how I want to remember my mom," Pelle told his dad. Wall then choked up and said, "I’m sorry," as he left the room.
Pelle said he no longer felt safe with his father. "That isn’t a normal response to [my] statement," the teen said. "What is he apologizing for, if not killing her? That is when I decided to go."
Since the couple’s divorce in 2006, Wall and Uta had been involved in a divisive legal battle over visitation and custody. Following her death, Wall has not allowed the children to communicate with their mother’s side of the family, Pelle said.
"It has always been this alienation of my mom and her side of the family, even all of Germany, just because she was German," Pelle said.
Uta had tried to change the custody situation in court papers filed Sept. 21, 2011.
Six days later, late on Sept. 27, she was found dead by her boyfriend. A knife was in the tub beneath her body, and Xanax in her system, she did not have a prescription for the medicine, court documents state.
Bloody shoe prints were on the floor leading away from the bedroom, according to court records.
A medical examiner report states there was blood in Uta’s bedroom, at the edge of the bathroom sink and on a window sill. The report also noted sharp force injuries to the woman’s left wrist and left leg, "which are not typical of self-inflicted wounds seen in the setting of a suicide." The report said the wounds could be viewed as defensive injuries, if the woman had been struggling with an assailant.
Pelle later learned Wall had written a Xanax prescription for Pelle’s grandmother, who lives in California. But the prescription was filled in Utah, and the grandmother never received the medication, Pelle said.
Wall, after speaking with police on Sept. 28, had asked his children, "Am I a monster? How am I supposed to know what I do when I’m asleep? What if I did it and don’t remember?" according to the juvenile court petition.
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He wanted his children to console him, Pelle said. "Even immediately after [her] death it was, ‘What could you guys do for me?’ " Pelle’s said Wall said he felt his children should support him in his "trial of being accused for murder ... ."
Wall curled into a fetal position and rocked back and forth and cried, saying, "I want my mom," according to the petition.
One of the children called a neighbor asking for help, another child called Wall’s parents in California.
Wall was taken to Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute, but no arrangements were made for the care or custody of the children, who were cared for by the parents of various friends.
When Wall’s children visited him at UNI, he said he was concerned police would "do anything to convict" him, even "plant evidence. ... If they find my phone there, how can I refute that?" the petition states.
After Wall’s release from UNI, Pelle said he didn’t sleep well.
"I slept with my back to the wall every night … so that I wouldn’t get stabbed in the back, I’d get stabbed in the front," said Pelle, adding: "... so I wouldn’t be a coward and I’d be able to protect myself."
The three children remaining with Wall have been left without adequate food or transportation, the petition states. And when the children have asked about food, Wall stated, "Who is going to take care of ME?"
The children have resorted to hoarding food in their backpacks, and dog feces was found by a family friend "all over" the basement and basement steps, according to the petition.
Pelle notified Child Protective Services in March. But when no one ever contacted Pelle about doing anything, he filed his petition with the juvenile court.
Pelle said he hopes to see all the children in the care of new family. He also wants to see justice for what happened to his mother.
"I’d like to see him put away for his actions," Pelle said of his father. "They are unacceptable and they cannot be apologized for."
Twitter: @CimCity
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