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A Death in Custody, Part 1: Where did it go wrong?
First in a series
Rick and Diane Sherman of Bella Vista, longtime foster parents to some 150 Shasta County children, are looking for answers — and a lawyer.
They say Shasta County Jail officials knew that their daughter, an inmate since 2005, was a suicide risk with mental disorders yet failed to properly monitor her, isolated her, inconsistently medicated her and allowed a deputy to hound and humiliate her.
On July 22, Victoria Sherman, 21, hanged herself with a bedsheet in her cell. It was her third attempt, medical records show. Her first was at age 15. The second was about year ago, in jail. But this third time it worked. She was taken to a local hospital, where within 38 hours she died.
The Shermans say their daughter, whom they adopted out of foster care, would be alive today if not for the county jail.
But it must also be said that, if not for the county, she would have been dead before her first birthday.
To understand anything that goes wrong, we must begin at the beginning.
She was taken away from her birth mother at 6 months old and placed in foster care. She came to the Shermans at 10 months old.
They were told she was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, which is caused by a mother’s drinking during pregnancy, and mild cerebral palsy caused by birth trauma.
“In 30 years as foster parents, we’ve seen over 150 kids and some real bad situations,” Rick Sherman says. “Vikki’s was the worst. She was a little vegetable. It was the worst case of abuse they’ve ever seen in this county.
“She was nothing when she came here,” he says. “She didn’t move around. She slept in the same position all night. In the morning the covers would be unmoved.
“We had to teach her everything,” he says. “Everything.”
Eventually she began to walk.
“We even had to teach her how to put her hands down (to catch herself) when she fell,” he says. “But to see her begin to blossom was unbelievably gratifying.”
The Shermans have been married for 45 years. He had a car repair shop for years. She is a lifetime foster mom. “We love kids,” Diane Sherman says.
Of all the children who came into their care, they adopted two — a boy, Danny, and Vikki.
After that early rough start, Vikki became a reader and a runner. “Such a pretty little figure,” Diane 
says. She liked to read mystery stories, especially long Harry Potter novels, gobbling them up quickly. She had a little pug dog named Chow.
”She was really smart,” Rick Sherman says, but because of the brain damage from birth, “she was never an adult. Emotionally she was 10 or 12.”
Two significant characteristics of people born with fetal alcohol syndrome are inappropriate behavior and being in trouble with the law, both stemming from damage to the brain’s frontal lobe, which governs judgment and impulse control.
That’s not to say Sherman didn’t know right from wrong. She did.
And it’s not to excuse her from personal responsibility for wrongdoing. Far from it.
But it might partly explain some behaviors that led over time to a questionable friends and activities and why, at age 18, their Vikki landed in jail, accused of murder.
Check back soon for A Death in Custody, Part 2: Trial and tribulation.
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There, but for the grace of God, go I….what a tragedy for Vikki and those who loved her.
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Kelly…
Thank you for telling a story that needs to be told.
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You caught my interest…oh yeah, I already know the next part. Her life was tough and it is very sad. She began as an innocent victim of someone else’s mistakes. And she fell into the same habits. The choice to kill oneself must be difficult and it is a personal action. However, the choice to take the life of another is the ultimate crime. You will interview the parents of her victim? That sounds callous because my heart breaks for any parent…I’m sorry for your loss.
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Mrs. Beans,
Judging from your comment, it sounds like you have had the good life–all of your life. How lucky for you! But people like you get hit hard when the good life turns on you. Probably because you have been fed with a silver spoon since birth. If I read the tone of your comment wrong, forgive me.
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Mrs. Beans, thank you for writing what a lot of readers will be thinking. It’s true that anytime we look at a criminal’s life we run the risk of it appearing to be a bleeding-heart sob story about someone who should have made better choices and is certainly responsible for setting in motion a human horror.
It’s not my job or intention to make readers feel sorry for her.
I find it interesting, though, to look deeper than the surface if only to gain an understanding about the people I live among - and if I do my job right, to offer that understanding to others.
While reporting this story, I learned things about mental illness, brain function, the inner workings of the Shasta County Jail, the suicide rate in jail, and life behind bars. Pretty interesting stuff. I hope to share glimpses of those with you, if you’ll stay with me.
I have a feeling you like to know what makes people tick, too.
I haven’t yet interviewed the victim’s family — am wondering if it would be too intrusive. I think his parents live in other states. I’m open to reader thoughts.
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I’m sorry my response made me sound like a “silver spoon” brat. In fact, total opposite. But this isn’t about me and my life.
Sevices for the mentally ill and other social services are top on my list of what we need to concentrate our efforts. I truly feel our society should provide help for those who are in need - and this family and Vikki were in need.
And Luweezy, trust me, you don’t need to apologize for reading my tone wrong. This is about freedom of speech. I have been hardened the last few years to some things, and I’ve sort of become a victim advocate (Nancy Grace-like, I could only hope), and sometimes I lose sight of the other side.
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Oh, and KJB, my question about interviewing her parents was rhetorical. The intrusion would be unspeakable. And I love your style of writing. It is the kind that can get both sides going. Good work…
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Mr and Mrs Sherman did one of the most noble things I can think of, giving foster children a safe haven. I can imagine that they feel really great when one of the many children they have had a hand in saving does good, but I am sure their hearts hurt unbelievably when they hear of the one they couldn’t help save.
Shasta County has so many children that need saving. You have only to go shopping to hear parents yelling at their kids in cruel words or grabbing them a lot more strongly than needed to see what the problem might be behind closed doors.
Our hearts are with you Mr and Mrs Sherman and hope that this is a wake up call for mental health for people behind bars (but the dollars it cost will win out and this too shall die.) The law suit will probably die with a dollar amount put on her life and nothing will change and that is probably the whole purpose of the law suit.
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It comes home to know that people with mental problems, and commit crimes, do not belong in jail. But, then, where do we put them? The County hospital closed and other help for them doesn’t seem to be available. We spend money on frivolous things here, and no help for those with mental problems. Really sad! There has to be many folks out there who are seeking help with their problems, and the emergency rooms do nothing to correct those kinds of problems. Very unfortunate.
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pmarshall,
I think you hit the nail on the head. Although I don’t live in Shasta County, the lack of appropriate and available help for those with mental problems is, sadly, a national as well as local issue. I salute those who work to correct that problem and those who bring such problems to light. It’s a community issue at every level - from the home to the feds. Let’s hope our leaders will step up to the plate and address it.
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Kelly, A thought-provoking start to, as you say, a very complex situation. We, as a concerned public don’t have to have quick answers to social dilemmas. We do have to articulate them, face them squarely, and search for a human response and a long- term humane resolution. Thank you for bringing the care of the mentally ill in this community forward into stronger light.
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Interesting point about the county also being responsible for her making it to her 1st birthday. I wonder if, subconsciously, there is the vein of thought that suggests anything else beyond that deserves gratitude. This would allow for an easy pattern of neglect because, after all, those around her should just be grateful that she was alive past Year One.
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