Part 1 - The First Wave Of A Mother's Panic

My name is Cheryl Stepnioski.
I am a mother of 7 and now a grandmother of 11.

In the Fall of 2000. My 18 year old son, Jon, was arrested along with two of his friends, for a murder they did not commit. We live in a small lakeside community outside of Detroit. According to the media, there hadn't been anything like that here in 30 years. It was highly publicized in our area and around the US. You may or may not, have heard about it. It was in New Baltimore, Michigan. A 16 year old young man was shot execution style, in a walk in cooler at a local Pizza Shop in town.

A week later they arrested our son and his two friends. It was the very worst time of my life to say the very least. I remember all too well...

I had come home from work around midnight and went to check on the children as I always did. I noticed Jon wasn't home and questioned my daughter who was awake at the time. My daughter then told me he was at the local police station. That the police had come earlier that evening and had asked my husband if he minded that they brought Jon in for some "routine questioning". My heart sank. I had a very sick feeling, I had grown up in Detroit. I knew there was no such thing as routine questioning. I ran and I woke up my husband. He told me that the police had said they were talking to and questioning all the teens who frequented the Pizza Shop.

My husband had lived here for over 30 years and knew some of the police officers. He said he had offered them something to drink and asked them to sit. And one had actually asked him how his mother was doing. What he was not aware of, was at that very moment they had already picked up Jon and taken him to the station, while he had been out walking with his girlfriend.

I ran to the phone and called the Police Dept. And demanded to speak to my son. The officer that came to the phone told me ..."Not to worry Mrs Stepnioski,your son is fine. You should be very proud of your son. He has been very helpful with this investigation. And As Soon as we're done here. We will be giving him our own personal "Taxi" ride home, right to his very own front door" and he chuckled and hung up.

Now as I write this I can see where he had been messing with my mind and making his own sick joke at my son's and mine expense.I called several times after, to no avail.Each time I called the officer got more agitated. So I finally called my Ex, Jon's father. I told him the situation. He then called the station.They fed him the same line of BS. he finally asked them if he needed a lawyer. the officer told him.."Absolutely not, this is just some routine questioning".

So I called the station again and told them I didn't care what they said I was coming down there. The officer told me it wasn't necessary and that the station was just too crowded. That I didn't need to be there. I told him again I was coming anyway, that I felt my son needed me. He then asked why I thought my son needed me. I told him ..."call it a mother's intuition..." He then chuckled again and made a comment about my son being 18 and not needing his 'mommy'.

My Nightmare was just beginning....