Stephen kerr and jocelyn mcdonald house

Stephen Burrell Kerr of West Rupert VT: Person Of Interest in the disappearance/child homicide of Jaliek Rainwalker. poststar.comopinio...

level 1

Maybe try the Gabby Petito Foundation, the reddit Missing Persons sub, and/or Reddit true crime sub also to bring more attention to this case?

level 1

I just don’t understand how a person murders a kid and goes about their life as if nothing is wrong. How does this guy get up of a morning and look normal. He’s a monster.

level 2

Exactly. Agreed. Oddly enough I spotted him in Salem NY the other day.

level 2

Right on! Thanks for that. Anyone is welcome to join us at Justice For Jaliek on FB.

level 1

You will convince me that Stephen Kerr didn’t kill Jaliek Rainwater. Never. Especially after the story he told about sexual abuse, the couch, etc… That man needs come to Jesus moment.

level 2

Remind me again what the details of that are?

level 2

I’m glad you said this bc I’m convinced SK is responsible. I’m worried that he may have roped others into this as well.

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Written by The Brunette

Thursday, November 1, 2007

10 block of Hill Street, Greenwich, NY

8PM

Stephen Burrell Kerr had a problem. His adopted son, Jaliek L. Rainwalker, a bright and outgoing boy at 12 years old, had begun to lash out at his adoptive siblings. Kerr and his wife, Jocelyn McDonald, occupied the home on the 10 block in Greenwich with their 3 biological children and 2 adopted children, all ranging from ages 8 to 14. Happier times are reflected in photos at the time of Jaliek’s adoption in 2004. At 9 years old, Jaliek beams in candid shots taken with his brothers and sisters. Now in 2007, Jaliek had recently frightened his adoptive parents during a series of violent outbursts against his siblings.

This was not the first reported case of violence from Jaliek in a foster or adoptive setting. Jodi and Larry Schoen had Jaliek in their care prior to Kerr and McDonald. From age 3 to 7, Jaliek was prone to violent outbursts that could last up to an hour by the Schoens admission. Before the Schoens, Jaliek spent time in 4 separate foster homes after being born addicted to crack cocaine.

On the night of November 1, 2007, Stephen Kerr recalls seeing Jaliek in the home of Jaliek’s adoptive grandparents in the 10 block of Hill Street at 8PM. The grandparents were not home at that time. Kerr says had brought Jaliek to this location to spend the night away from his adoptive mother and siblings who were afraid of him. You see, there wasn’t much room for personal space in the Kerr-McDonald home. Each of their children including Jaliek were homeschooled. The Kerr-McDonald home had no running water, outhouse toilets and electricity from a generator. They all slept in one room.

As Kerr himself told authorities, he awoke at 7:30AM to find Jaliek missing. He produced a note left in his home that read:

“Dear everybody, I’m sorry for everything. I won’t be a bother anymore. Goodbye, Jaliek.”

Kerr reported Jaliek missing at 8:57AM. If you’re reading this blog, you’ll recall how the media relentlessly pursued Patsy Ramsey finding her daughter missing at 5:45AM and calling 911 at 5:52AM. Books have been written about that 7 minute window of time. In Jaliek’s case, it was 1 hour and 27 minutes.

Police soon ascertained that all was not well in the Kerr-McDonald house. Records indicate that Kerr contacted a crisis hotline for adoptive parents on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 stating that Jaliek was unmanageable and he and McDonald wanted to reverse the adoption. Unfortunately, children aren’t the wrong size shoes you bought at Target. The crisis worker explained reversing the adoption was out of the question by law, but that the family could pursue respite care. Respite care is temporary emergency care for children or adults. Jaliek was sent to the home of Tom and Elaine Person who had provided respite care for Jaliek during past violent outbursts. When they returned Jaliek to Kerr on November 1, he expressed that Jaliek would be going to another respite care situation the following day. Jaliek never made it there. Law enforcement mounted an extensive search of the surrounding area and found nothing. Within a few days, they announced the likelihood of foul play given Jaliek’s age the unlikely possibility that a child could survive that long on his own. Kerr and McDonald insisted that Jaliek was both suicidal and homicidal at the time of his disappearance. However, his adoptive family gave him no access to therapy, medication or mental health services for his condition.

This is about the time that friends, family, neighbors and acquaintances became suspicious of the behavior of Jaliek’s adoptive parents. Living an alternative lifestyle is one way to alienate yourself from the rest of the world. Another great way to do that is not to participate in the searches for your missing son, and that is precisely what Kerr and McDonald did. Unfortunately for them, they started talking right around the same time. In addition to repeating the same story about Jaliek’s violent tendencies and their inability to control him, both Kerr and McDonald insisted that he just ran away. The media honed in on their lack of concern and how they didn’t seem bothered or worried about what had become of Jaliek.

Again, true crime people: How many cases have we seen where a child goes missing and the police department dismisses it as a runaway? Johnny Gosch quickly comes to mind. This situation presents the exact opposite: the police are investigating foul play and the parents chalk it up to just another runaway kid; a kid who they had recently admitted they wanted gone.

McDonald made the penultimate mistake of taking a polygraph, while Kerr refused. The results of that polygraph have not been established. During their interrogations, both parties maintained their innocence and went as far as to suggest that Jaliek joined a gang. They thought it was important to point out that Jaliek considered himself black, not biracial, and had wanted to live with other African Americans. Yet another jump in logic that I can’t follow: this child has been through more than most people will experience in their lifetime. The desire for community and meeting individuals who look like you, talk like you and represent something you understand is fundamentally human and understandable. Just because you want to be around black and brown people does not mean you want to join a “gang.” If you’re already as pissed as I am, take a few deep breaths before you keep reading.

Tom and Elaine Person, who had Jaliek in their care in the days leading up to his disappearance, told police that the note Kerr presented to authorities as grounds for suicide was actually homework assigned to Jaliek by Kerr himself. Tom Person asserts that Jaliek told him his father had asked him to write a letter to all the people he had hurt. Person saw him write it, but never read it. Elaine started a website publicizing Jaliek’s disappearance and openly accusing Kerr of having something to do with his vanishing.

In 2008, police named Kerr as a person of interest. They obtained surveillance camera footage of Kerr driving his van (of course he has a fucking van) around Greenwich after midnight on the night Jaliek went missing. They also indicated cell phone towers put Kerr closer to South Troy than Greenwich during the early morning hours. Despite this development, it’s July 2020 and we don’t know what happened to Jaliek Rainwalker.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Greenwich Village Police Department at 518-692-9332.