As the years wore on, it was said that Angie dabbled in drugs and ultimately developed an addiction. She loved her little boy but people said she also loved to get high. Those around her began to worry. What started initially as a recreational drug habit was slowly beginning to affect Angie’s life negatively in many ways.
Later, in the clutches of drug addiction, Angie was caught stealing and passing bad checks. When a neighbor reported her checkbook missing, it didn’t take long for the authorities to track it to Angie. She had written checks to several businesses on the account. The total amount of the stolen checks was thousands of dollars. When confronted by the police, Angie admitted her involvement in passing the stolen checks and was charged with several counts of felony forgery. The case wound its way through the legal system and all but one count of forgery were dropped. Due to her limited criminal history, Angie was initially given a diversion. A diversion is a felony case resolution that operates much like probation. The defendant is given a certain amount of prison time but the imposition of that sentence is withheld for a period of years. If the defendant successfully completes the diversion, the charge can be wiped from her record as if it never happened.4
The diversion was a good chance for Angie to come out of the charge without a permanent felony conviction and she did well for a few months. However, she eventually violated the terms of her supervision and the judge revoked her diversion. She was sentenced to two years in prison. Learning that she would have to leave her son for years was a shock to Angie’s system and she knew that it would be hard for Little Josh.
She had to make arrangements for her little boy, so she turned to her brother and sister-in-law. The couple lived in Bullitt County, Kentucky. They were willing to take Joshua into their home while Angie served her prison sentence and Joshua was familiar with those relatives and loved them.
Angie entered into an agreement with the couple in September 2003 which gave them voluntary, temporary guardianship of Little Josh. While she was incarcerated, they would care for Joshua and he would attend a nearby elementary school. Angie hoped that once she was released from custody, she would get back on her feet and reacquire possession of Joshua. By this point, Gouker was already serving his long prison sentence, so at the age of seven both of Little Josh’s parents were serving felony prison terms and he was forced to acclimate to a new life, in a new town, with a new family. This kind of change was something that Joshua became accustomed to over the early years of his life.
His aunt and uncle had two teenage children living in the home, his aunt’s children from a previous relationship, and they began to view Josh as a part of the family, affectionately referring to him as their “cousin.” However, any amount of familiarity in the household could not substitute for the day-to-day presence of his mother and her absence took a toll on the boy. He became quiet and withdrawn, but he was intent on doing the best he could. He focused on studying hard in the hopes of making his mother proud of him when she did return.
He began to attend his new school and excelled academically. The school placed him in advanced classes and he made friends. He entered the school spelling bee and won, going on to the county and later statewide competition. He didn’t cause trouble for anyone and it was a joy for his aunt and uncle that he lived in their household. He could be quiet and introverted but was quick to break into a wide smile when speaking with people he trusted. Unfortunately, those people were few and far between.
When Angelina was eventually released from the penitentiary almost two years later, she attempted to get her life back in order. By that time, Joshua was nine years old and still living with his aunt and uncle outside of Louisville, in Shepherdsville, a small city in Bullitt County. Angie decided that she wanted her son with her and she invited a friend to make an impromptu trip to the household so that she could retrieve Little Josh. They quickly made the twenty minute drive to the home.
As Little Josh played in the backyard that day, he was surprised and excited to see his mother approach. She beckoned him to the side of the yard and motioned him to come with her. Within minutes, she had loaded Josh into her vehicle and they were on the road headed out of Kentucky.
Josh was confused and excited when his mother told him they were going to Florida to live. He didn’t have any of his things and he wondered if his aunt and uncle had any idea where he was. Angie had unexpectedly popped back into his world like a tornado and everything was beginning to change again. It turns out that Josh’s aunt and uncle did not know that Angie had taken him and very shortly thereafter they realized he was gone. They notified the Shepherdsville Police Department via a frantic 911 call and within minutes officers arrived at the home. Suspecting that Angie was responsible for Little Josh’s disappearance, his aunt gave the officers her name and description.
Angie Young and the friend who accompanied her were charged with kidnapping and bench warrants were issued for their arrest. An Amber Alert was broadcast in regard to Joshua. By then the trio were well on their way to Florida, unaware of the craziness that was brewing back home. All Angie wanted was to have her son with her. Glancing back at him in the back seat of the car, she was happy. She had what she wanted.
Eventually, they noticed the blue lights of a police cruiser behind them and after a short pursuit the police gained control of the two women. Josh was returned to his aunt and uncle and officers arrested his mother and her friend and took them directly to the Bullitt County Detention Center where they both remained incarcerated pending trial. When Angie was booked into the Bullitt County Detention Center, she got into even more trouble. She was carrying some marijuana and tried to hide it at the jail. Officials claimed that she dropped the marijuana in a wastebasket prior to a search of her body. They claimed that they then observed her trying to retrieve it later. Angie was charged with promoting contraband in the second degree. She served two weeks in custody for that offense.5
However, the more serious kidnapping charges against Angie and her friend were ultimately dismissed and she was released from custody on that charge. The whole fiasco is just another example of the chaotic world where Joshua lived as a young boy.
After the kidnapping charges were dropped, Angie worked to regain custody of Joshua and she began to get her life together again. When Joshua returned to her care, Angie decided that a move to Florida would be the best for everyone. Her mother had relocated and was living in Florida at the time. Angie likely believed that it would be productive for her to move away from the bad influences that surrounded her in Kentucky. It could be a fresh start for her and Little Josh, so, as Joshua prepared to celebrate his tenth birthday, they traveled to Florida for the second time, this time without police officers trailing them.
Their new life in Florida didn’t last long. They moved in with Angie’s mother there and Angie enrolled Joshua in school. However, a month later they decided that they did not like living in Florida so far away from family and friends. Within a few days of that decision, they packed up their bags and returned to Kentucky.
As they settled into a home back in Louisville, Josh became used to new a routine and began taking karate classes. He had a great time practicing his karate moves and loved how several members of his extended family attended his karate ceremonies. Angie could not have been prouder as she watched her son excel. It seemed like the hard times were a distant memory and that the Young family of two was moving forward in a positive direction. Things started to settle down and life became a little more stable for Joshua. He was excited to learn that he and his mother were expecting a new addition to the family.6
By the time Josh was twelve, Angie had given birth to another child. Like Joshua, the little girl was a spitting image of her mother, with long white-blond hair that fell in soft curls. From the start she became Joshua’s absolute favorite person in the world. Once he laid eyes on his sister, he quickly abandoned any notion that a baby brother would be best. He was so happy to have her in his life.
Joshua was ve
ry protective of his sister and she became the one constant in his life. Wherever she went, Joshua went and she loved her big brother. Little Josh was in a caretaking role for his sister from the start but by the time she was a year old, his responsibilities became even more heavy. Angelina was diagnosed with hepatitis and she became very ill. Doctors did what they could to prescribe medicine for the young mother, but the medicine made her extremely lethargic.
Joshua noticed that his mother was sleeping most of the time and had difficulty caring for his younger sister. She could sleep throughout the entire day when she was feeling especially sick. He stepped into the “adult” role in the house and practically raised his little sister by himself. He was the one who got up early in the morning to feed the baby and he was the one who changed her diapers when they were dirty. He made sure that his sister had formula to drink and, as she grew older, solid food.7
During this time, Joshua rarely attended school. He was supposed to ride the bus but he did not feel comfortable leaving his sister home alone with his mother. She was always so sick and Joshua was afraid she would sleep through his sister’s cries or that his sister would get hurt if his mother’s medication made it too difficult for her to care for the baby or to stay awake.
As Joshua continued to miss school, the Jefferson County School System finally took notice and he and his sister were temporarily removed from his mother’s custody. It was a scary situation. Joshua was no stranger to moving around and over the years he had stayed in many different homes when his mother was unable to care for him. However, this would be the first time Joshua was placed in a foster home that was not a relative’s residence.
In the past, when his mother wasn’t able to take care of him, Joshua had always stayed with family members, people whom he knew. However, this time when they were removed from Angie, they were placed in the temporary custody of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (known commonly as Child Protective Services or simply “The Cabinet”), then were placed in a foster home with complete strangers. The saving grace was they were together and Joshua continued to act as the “parent” to his sister. He wanted to minimize the trauma to her and he hoped that she wasn’t as scared as he was. They both missed their mother and Joshua worried about her. He knew she wasn’t well and he wanted to get home quickly. He was used to taking care of his mom. He knew she needed him.
It was a horrible situation for such a young man. For years, Joshua was the caretaker for his sister and his mother. Especially during his mother’s illness, he did not get a lot of time to just be a kid. It was hard and that experience left an imprint on Little Josh. As Angie’s health improved, the children were eventually returned to her and she tried to do better. She loved her children and she wanted to be a good mother, so for the next two years she really began to turn things around.
By 2010, Angie was engaged to her fiancé and she had just given birth to a third child, a boy. Joshua finally received the baby brother he’d hoped for years before. He and his sister were excited when they visited their mother in the hospital after their new brother was born and they climbed into the hospital bed to hold the baby. Joshua smiled for the camera as family members took pictures of Angie’s three children. He beamed as he held the baby firmly in his arms and wrapped his other arm around his sister.
Angie was doing very well and the kids were happy. In the four months following her youngest son’s birth, she had stayed out of trouble and stopped abusing substances. She was taking methadone to help her stay clean. Easter was coming and she had purchased “Easter Bunny” gifts for the kids. She was excited about what the future held.
On the day before Easter, Angie had a great day arranged for her children. She planned to take Josh and his sister to the mall so that her daughter could sit on the Easter Bunny’s lap.
As always, Angie ensured that her children looked nice. Josh dressed himself in a red collared polo shirt and Josh’s sister, always the diva, was decked out in head-to-toe pink, down to the pink ponytail holders that held her bouncy blonde curls in place. Everyone was having a great time as they settled into the long line of people waiting for the Easter Bunny. By that point, Josh’s sister had picked up a pair of pink plastic sunglasses and Angie bought them for her. In love with her new shades, she wore them as she waited in the line to see the Easter Bunny.8
Josh made sure that he was there any time his sister needed him. When she decided that she wanted to have her ears pierced that day, it was Little Josh who sat in the chair with her perched atop his lap when the earrings were put in. Comforted by her brother, she did not even cry.
It really was a perfect afternoon and they ended their excursion with a meal at a fast-food restaurant. As they traveled home later in the evening, everything seemed great. Easter was the next morning and it seemed that things were really falling into place.
When Josh woke up the next day, he and his mother’s fiancé found Angie dead in their apartment from an apparent methadone overdose. It was Josh who walked into the room and first located his mother, cold and lifeless, and the boy was devastated. The coroner would later rule the death a suicide. It seemed that Angie’s demons had finally overtaken her life.
In the wake of her death, Angie’s family was left to determine what would happen to the children. Each of Angie’s three children had a different father. In the days following Angie’s tragic death, the baby went to live with his father. Josh and his little sister went to their aunt and uncle’s household for some time and the Cabinet For Health and Family Services eventually intervened. On July 8, 2010, Joshua and his sister were committed to the custody of the Cabinet and taken from their aunt and uncle, a home with which they were familiar and comfortable.
Several relatives stepped forward in an attempt to gain custody of the children, including the aunt and uncle. However, a background check on Josh’s uncle revealed a criminal conviction years prior and he was deemed an inappropriate custodian. Joshua’s other aunt also sought custody of her niece and nephew, but her request for custody was also denied and she did not understand why. Rather than place the children in the home of a relative, the court felt it was more appropriate to place the kids in the custody of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
They were placed together in a foster home in July. Several months later, on September 22, 2010, they were taken to a new foster home, that of George and Debbie Walsh. It was a loving home. Debbie was a middle school teacher and had spent her life caring for children. Joshua and his sister joined the Walsh’s other children and settled into a routine at their spacious and comfortable home. It was a relaxed two-parent household and both Walshes encouraged Josh in his studies.
Josh was a high school freshman that year. The school was not far from his new home in Jefferson County with the Walshes. Despite the recent tragedy in his life, Josh did well there. He was the recipient of constant encouragement from his foster parents. Debbie noticed that he had a natural knack for working with computers and they discussed how he could develop that talent into a possible career once he graduated from high school and college.9
Josh also thrived in the high school social scene. He met a cheerleader at the school and she became his girlfriend. Josh joined the wrestling team and began training with the squad. He excelled at everything he tried and had no shortage of friends. For probably the first time in his life, Josh was in a completely stable environment where he was allowed to just be a kid. He did not have the pressure of acting as a parent to his sister. He was finally able to function solely as a big brother. He did not have to miss school to care for the adults in his life. Education and extracurricular activities were his focus and he made the most of every opportunity that he had on that front. Josh was still recovering from his mother’s recent death and the pain from that traumatic event continued to weigh heavily on his mind. However, he derived comfort from the fact that his mother would have been so proud of the goals he was accomplishing. When he experienced feelings of sadness from the loss
of his mother, he buckled down and worked even harder.
The Walshes enjoyed the new additions to their family and made arrangements to adopt Josh’s sister, hoping eventually to adopt Josh as well. At that time, Joshua Gouker’s custodial rights to his son had not yet been terminated. Josh was in the custody of the Cabinet, but his father still held legal claim to him. Until Gouker’s parental rights were terminated by the court, Little Josh was not eligible for adoption. Even if the adoption eventually occurred, Josh was confident the Walshes would continue to foster a relationship between him and his mother’s family. They kept the family informed of the children’s progress and always treated them with respect, which made the transition much easier for everyone involved.
As Josh settled into life with the Walshes, no one could have imagined what would happen over the next few months. It seemed that the children were adjusting very well to their new foster home, a foster home that could quite possibly turn into a permanent arrangement. While Gouker was in prison, Josh had virtually no contact with him. He did not realize that with his biological father’s sentence coming to an end, there was a very real possibility that the parole board would grant parole to Gouker. In October 2010, within months of his foster placement, Little Josh’s world would be turned upside down once again.
Chapter 5
Coming Home
After nine years, one month and fifteen days, Joshua Gouker sauntered out of the penitentiary and back onto the streets of Louisville. He was aware that Angie had died the previous Easter and that his son, Josh, had been placed in a foster home. He didn’t waste any time. The day after his release, he reported to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. He knew that a caseworker was assigned to his son’s case and he asked to speak with her immediately.
Seated in the caseworker’s office, Gouker was the picture of a contrite and caring father. He admitted that he had made mistakes in the past, but his years of incarceration had compelled him to become a changed man. He told her that he loved his son more than anything and he was willing to do whatever it took to get him back.
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