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CHICAGO - A man walked out of jail Wednesday after serving more than 10 years for contempt of court in a dispute
over the whereabouts of his daughter.
Odell Sheppard, 50, left Cook County Jail without saying if he knew what happened to his daughter, Deborah Sanders,
who would be 15 now if she is still alive.
He was held under a contempt order obtained by Deborah's mother, Norell Sanders. That order became invalid after
she died Saturday of kidney failure.
Norell Sanders said Sheppard came to her apartment in September 1984 and took the child during an argument. The
two were not married and did not live together. The girl was just shy of 2 at the time.
Ms. Sanders talked to Deborah once on the telephone shortly after the abduction, then Sheppard called and warned
her she would see the child next in a pine box, she said.
Sheppard claimed he returned Deborah that December after taking her to a family funeral in Tennessee. But Ms. Sanders
relatives testified they never say the girl.
Sheppard was convicted of child abduction, served 1 1/2 years and was released in October of 1987.
Three days later, when ordered to return to court with the child, he came alone and was jailed. Legal experts said
Sheppard was subjected to what may have been the longest civil contempt jailing ever in the United States.
Cook County Circuit Judge Marjan Staniec said he believed Sheppard knew what happened to Deborah - that he may
have abandoned the child, or even sold her.
Let me make it clear that the incarceration of the last 10 years was not done to punish, Staniec said, It was only
done to coerce the person to tell the truth.
The ABA Journal covered the case in its February 1995 issue ("Seven Years for Keeping Mum: Illinois court
upholds civil contempt jailing for child abductor," pg. 16)
Excerpt with case cite:
In November [1987], the Illinois Supreme Court upheld an appeals court's ruling, saying Sheppard will remain
in jail until he cooperates. Justice Benjamin Miller wrote in the opinion that he "may win his release at
any time by complying with the order of the court." Sanders v. Sheppard, 258 Ill. App. 3d 626.
Dr. Wolfgang Hirczy de Mino
Oklahoma State University
81 S. University Pl. #9
Stillwater, OK 74075
Tel: 405-744-5606
Tel: 281-315-1036
Present condition of most Family Courts in America
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