To those who have read this blog entry about Matal’s life over the past months it has come to my attention that some of what was written about Matal’s homelife may not have been true. Susi did not care for Matal herself but she had a nanny that took care of her children and it was that nanny that took care of Matal.
While Trisha’s account of what happened was verified by me and what she wrote mirrored what was written in a local paper in Oregon, there is really no way for myself to know if the paper verified Susi’s story in the first place.
Here is my reason for my retraction of this entry. There is too little known about Matal’s case and it is not fair to have such a negative portrayal of Matal. Much of what was said in the newspaper article could not possibly been based on fact. Diaper rash happens to all children and can worsen if they are taking antibiotics. I personally feel that the reporter was wrong at this paper for publishing this when there is no way he verified this before putting it in print.
The family can not speak because of the upcoming trial and also the nanny of Matal has been asked not to comment.
I apologise to those that this story may have offended.
Child abuse is an ugly thing for everyone involved. I am sure they family has and will have to deal with the pain of Matal’s loss forever. If the family decides that they can share some insight into Matal’s childhood, I promise I will bring it to you. For now I leave you with Matal and I do believe he had a happy childhood. Look at that smile!
Secrets From Within 
July 12, 2005 at 11:04 pm
Rest in Peace Sweetie.. You are now with the angels who will protect you.. Unlike our society who did not here Susies cry for help for you… We can only PRAY for the people who do not respect or protect our children in this world.. Fortunatly we have this website to educate and hopefully help others who are abusing children so they STOP…
July 14, 2005 at 8:26 am
I am Susi, who cared for Matel as an infant. I have some pictures of Matel with me and my other two boys (the three of them were 2.5, 1.5 and 8 months at the time.)
He was such a happy charming child once we nursed him back to health. I am so sorry that I could not have done more to remove him from a bad situation. I tried everything to get CPS’s attention, but they neglected to follow up. Had I not relinquished Matel back to his boilogical family, I would have been charged with kidnapping, they told me.
I am extremely sad and rack my brain all the time wondering what more I could’ve done. I only hope his story motivates people and CPS to intervene. To pay attention. To save an innocent little child’s life.
If you would like a pic of Matel as an infant with our family, let me know where to send it.
I pray that Matel is happy safe, and warm, in a better place. And he is certainly not forgotten.
July 14, 2005 at 8:49 am
Thank you Susi. You could send a picture of Matal to admin[at]nvfc[dot]us If you would like to write an additional story on Matal we would love to publish it for you. His story needs to be told and we can not forget what happened to him.
Thank you very much for your response.
July 14, 2005 at 7:33 pm
Dearest Susi… YOU ARE AN ANGEL HERE ON EARTH.
July 14, 2005 at 8:55 pm
All too often we hear of stories like this. The system could have and should have saved Matel. God Bless you Susi. I don’t doubt you did all you could do. Little Matel…may you fly high with the Angels sweetie.
July 24, 2005 at 2:55 am
I am a firm believe in karma & everything happening for a reason.. It is unfortunate that he was murdered, but this happened for a reason, whatever it maybe.. Don’t know. But, it will eventually come to you overtime. Pisses me off when I see stuff like this. Why have CPS if they aren’t going to get off their butts & DO SOMETHING? Grr. 😦
July 29, 2005 at 9:08 am
When I heard of this horrible incident, I felt a sadness come over me. It was almost like you were a part of MY family. Although I probably shouldn’t have, I wished and hoped that Christine would get the worse possible punishment (she will have to answer to the Almighty when HER time comes). For days your little face remained in my mind. Even now, I still feel the tears coming to my eyes. I hate that this kind of stuff happens to poor, innocent, defenseless children. It’s bad enough that it happens, but to someone so small and defenseless and by someone who is supposed to love you…that’s worse! Matel, when I first heard you were missing, I prayed for your safe return. Although it may be hard for us to accept, you are in a better place now,with those that love you and SHOW their love for you (God, Jesus, and his Angels). I will continue to pray for all the other little ones suffering in this declining world, that they may be freed from the horrors they face (abuse, neglect). CPS is there for a reason and I just pray they can help save more children and not let them go back to the hells they live in. You are not forgotten, nor will you ever be.
With love,
Rebekah Sanchez
September 13, 2005 at 12:11 pm
While I do feel for all of those hurting surrounding this case, I can’t help but be very upset at the irresponbilty of this posting. It is very clear that no one has checked the background of this Susi to find out if her word is relible. I did, when I saw her full name in the paper after she told the world what a horrible person Matals mother was. I did this because I was shocked that ANYONE would go to the press and say things like that (true or not) about a mother whos son was just murdered. The mother did not kill Matal, even if she was a bad parent, (and I doubt it) she did not deserve to have that happen to her son. How would you feel, Susi, if something tragic was to happen to one of your children and someone you had never met said such things? Back to the background checking, I checked, Matal’s mother did have cps called, they checked and said she was a fit parent. Seems cps has been called to your home as well Susi, someone must have felt the same was about you… As far as the picture of Matal with your family, so what, I have lots of pictures with other peoples children with my family, does that make all the parents of those children bad parents? You must have some score to settle but get a life quit trying to make this about you.
September 13, 2005 at 7:59 pm
Jessica, You are absolutely right. Blogs are very opinionated and sometimes are written by different people and sometimes even by ghost writers. I personally did not write the Matal entry. However there are always going to be conflicting opinions when dealing with such a touchy subject such as child abuse.
Pictures can be misleading also as I am sure that most anyone can pull a happy picture out of the bag.
I have not seen any of the CPS reports on either Suzi, if there are any, or on Matal’s own mother.
However, it had to be clear that Christine Coffman had some serious issues. Myself as a parent, I am not perfect but I strive to be better.
I know for a fact that if I had a family member like Christina that that person would not be allowed around my child even for a minute.
I am sure the mother is going through pain and agony but she has to realize her shortcomings as a parent and determine for herself what could have been done to prevent this from happening in the first place.
September 13, 2005 at 10:29 pm
I would like to think that I would not someone like Christine around my child as well, but hindsight is 20-20. I don’t think there is a mother out there who would like to think their childs grandparent (step or not) would murder their child. Matal’s mother was not someone who left her child on a normal basis. She was a stay at home mother who’s husbend worked. They lived in a nice house in a quite neighborhood. They were not in some slum. According to ALL other accounts, (ie neighbors, friends, family, police) Matal as well as his sister were “doted on” No one close to the family has stated anything but shock and horror that Christine was responsible. I am sure Matal’s mother wishes she could change what happened but she can not. All the wishing in the world or trying to figure out what could have prevented it, can not help the situation. All that family can do now is pull together (it would be great if the Susi’ of the world would cease trying to pull them farther apart)watch their other child closly, and try to heal.
October 11, 2005 at 12:20 am
[…] I am sure that the above is what angered this friend of the family. I have received emails from Susi, Matal’s Nanny when he was young and she even sent the photo that I included on Matal’s blog entry. I have not heard a thing from either Laura or Dan, Matal’s parents. It was not hard to find me as Susi did right away when she searched for Matal on the internet. A simple Google search of Matal Sanchez, brings back the National Voice for Children web site in the top two positions. AOL search also has the NVFC in the top two spots. Yahoo has the NVFC at #4 and MSN search, again top two spots. The point I am making it that this blog and the NVFC web site are the easiest to find especially if they search on their own son. I would not care if they were angry, we are suppose to be angry when something like this happens to a child. Court TV has a thread that I just found five minutes ago with a mention to the blog entry about Matal. It is seventeen pages long. I have not read it but I do not read forums. They were discussing the entry about Matal one month after it was written. I should have made sure that we included the link from KATU news. […]
October 13, 2005 at 4:12 am
Susi was not Matal’s nanny. Susi HAD a nanny
October 18, 2005 at 4:32 am
@ Jessica You have left a couple of comments with your email and both comments list the same yahoo email addy and yahoo bounces the email that I have tried to send saying they do not have a user with that name.
October 20, 2005 at 8:27 am
Sorry I may have left the incorrect mail, Here it is again. Jessicaroselee@yahoo.com It is a fairly new address so once agian sorry if I left the wrong one.
December 6, 2005 at 1:58 am
Thank you very much, this latest update is a far better portrayal of things. Matal was a great person and was very happy, and I hope he is always remembered that way.
December 8, 2005 at 7:50 pm
Wishing Matal a very Merry Christmas and keep smiling.
January 28, 2006 at 9:57 pm
[…] Remembering Our Children Filed under: Stories, Taylor Behl, 12 Days of Christmas, Child abuse, Murder, Ricky Holland, Evelyn Miller — Steve @ 8:40 pm [Chorus] And when I’m gone, just carry on, don’t mourn Rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice Just know that I’m looking down on you smiling And I didn’t feel a thing, So baby don’t feel no pain Just smile back And when I’m gone, just carry on, don’t mourn Rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice Just know that I’m looking down on you smiling And I didn’t feel a thing, So baby don’t feel no pain Just smile back… […]
March 8, 2006 at 7:48 am
I did not write the original entry. It was written based on a newspaper that wrote about diaper rash that Matal supposedly had as a baby, that had nothing to do with what happened to him and his death. Also there is no way that the newspaper could possibly verify diaper rash and what child does not have diaper rash at some point. Antibiotics can cause diaper rash, I just felt this was unfair to the parents as Matal I believe did have a happy childhood as seen in several pictures of him at the beach and many other photos. He was not like Nixzmary where you could see the pain in her eyes from her Halloween photo. Christine Coffman is the grandmother who killed Matal, she obviously has mental problems and this I believe was not able to be predicted.
I see several sad cases where children are abused and neglected and not taken care of. Matal does not fit into this category IMO, from everything I have seen it looks like Matal was a very happy child. Some things there are not clear answers. How could Matal’s parents possibly predict what Christine did if she had never done anything like that before>
June 29, 2006 at 7:29 pm
It’s been one year little man and your still pulling at my heart. Much love, sweet boy. Sleep tight.
June 29, 2006 at 8:21 pm
I thought about Matal earlier today but was not aware that it had been a year. I hope Matal and his family are remembered for all of the good times they shared. Condolences go out to Matal’s parents and friends.
Rest in peace Matal
June 30, 2006 at 2:53 pm
I have just returned from Matal’s grave. Such a tradgedy, and the delay of the trial can only cause more pain for Laura and Dan. I have read the previous posts, and it is nice to know that Matal is remembered and loved by so many people.
July 25, 2006 at 9:05 am
[…] Evelyn Miller and Matal Sanchez have been the hardest cases for me. With both Evelyn and Matal, I had so much hope that they would be found alive, the same hope that I had for David Gonzales. We want and hope every child is found alive but there are some cases that reach out and pull hard at our heart strings. Every person is different and certain children grab different people in different manners. Maybe it is because they remind them of someone or it is the look in the child’s eyes. Many of you know here that I have written a great deal on Brianna Lopez, if I was asked to come up with a reason as to why….. I would probably say that she reminds me a lot of my son and that my wife had three miscarriages before we had him, so Brianna looks like she could have been our child. […]
August 16, 2006 at 8:43 pm
[…] I hate to say it but I am batting 100%, not once have I been wrong about a case. I have made a lot of speculation early on in the Evelyn Miller case and it appears that I nailed that case and Raven Jeffries I also made speculation recently and time will tell if I have to lower my 100% any. Matal Sanchez was another case in which I felt that his parents (Laura and Dan) did everything they could to give Matal a happy life, what happened with Christine Coffman could not have possibly been predicted by his family. I pegged Susan Schorpen way before I even wrote about her. […]