This Should Have Been Stopped

By Attorney David Engler

I have been an elected official for over 22 years. The past 11 have been with the Board of the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center. I was a Board Member who received a deranged business card from the killer who stalked Stacey Sutera. Please make no mistake about it: Stacey Sutera was a beautiful daughter, mother, granddaughter, teacher, friend and colleague. This was not some boyfriend-girlfriend relationship gone bad. This was a freak ego-maniac; obsessed old man who was bent on revenge once he learned the object of his obsession had rejected him. There was no relationship. It existed in his twisted mind. And then this criminal monster stole this tremendous young successful life from her family, friends and students.

I cannot remember being so sad and angry at the same time over something that has unfolded in the public. It did not have to happen. It could have been stopped. The government paid to protect us should have insisted that if the killer was not going to be in jail for 5 years, he should have worn a GPS tracking device that kept him out of Mahoning County. If he took the bracelet off or came within the County limits the victim and police would be immediately notified. She lived a nightmare of wondering where he was. And I do not know if she approved the plea agreement that got him no monitoring or jail or if that was recommended to her. Often a battered or stalked woman will not want to push too far. They fear retaliation. Stacey did everything right.

She called the police and Canfield PD responded to protect her. She received a restraining order. She filed a civil suit. She installed cameras. She asked for help. So why wasn’t he made to pay for a GPS tracking device? It was available.

The federal government, state government and every person that is elected to represent people should recognize that the answer to this tragedy is to hold those that should have protected Stacey accountable and to make sure it never happens again. Never again should a madman stalk an innocent young woman, put her life in tatters and not be required to wear a bracelet that would protect his victim. Anywhere. Anytime.

Some will argue where to draw the line. I trust the Judges will know that line if they are presented with the facts and threat. But please be sure that the devil that took Stacey was an obvious threat. She knew that and it meant that others knew the danger as well. May her memory be a call to action.

Attorney David Engler
Phone: 330-729-9777
http://www.DavidEngler.com Attorney Engler’s website
Areas of Practice: Family Law, Elder Law, Domestic Relations, Bankruptcy, Criminal

Rest In Peace Mom

Austintown, Ohio and Orono, Maine- Wanda Jane Engler, 84, died February 2nd, 2012, at the Maine Veterans’ Home after battling Parkinson Disease. She was born February 27th, 1927 in Bellwood, PA, daughter of Samuel and Emma (Hostler) Hildebrand. She graduated in 1948 from the Clearfield School of Nursing at Indiana State College with a degree in Nursing. Wanda was proud of her service as Nurse Cadet during WWII and working with veterans at the Cleveland VA Hospital, where she participated in some of the very first open heart surgery as Operating Room Nurse. On January 20th,1951,she married William L. Engler, the father of her four children. She worked as a homemaker and nurse throughout Ohio, finally settling in Youngstown, OH, where she worked as an office nurse for Dr. Tochtenhagen in Girard and as a nanny for her grandchildren until her retirement. She loved working around her home and reading. She loved her grandchildren immensely and was known to everyone as “Nana”. She enjoyed her neighbors and lived next door to the best neighbors ever, Carl and Mary Gump. She moved to Maine in August 2009, to be closer to her youngest daughter and granddaughter who cared for her during her hardest months.

Wanda was predeceased by her loving husband of 39 years, Bill; sisters, Lorraine Fair and Grace Large and brother Eugene “Red” Hildebrand. She is survived by her four children: Patricia Engler of Conifer, CO; William Engler (Wendy)of Minneapolis, MN; David Engler of Canfield, OH; and Amy Engler Booth,(John) of Orono; grandchildren: Mallory Engler of Houston, TX; Elizabeth Engler, of Chicago, IL; Taylor Engler, of San Diego, CA; Emma Engler, of Canton, OH; William Engler, of Pittsburgh, PA; and Molly Booth, of Orono. She is also survived by: sister Thelma McWilliams of Bluffton SC; and brother Ralph Hildebrand of Altoona, PA; and nieces and nephews.

The family would like to express sincere thanks to the staff at Maine Veterans’ Home. Interment and a memorial service will be held in Austintown, OH in the late spring. In lieu of flowers, those who wish to remember Wanda in a special way may make gifts in her memory to the Clearfield Hospital Nursing Alumni Association’s Nursing Scholarship, c/o Rita Thomson, 612 Arnold Ave., Clearfield, PA 16830.