his mom

Stephanie Sloop makes her first appearance at the Second District Court in Farmington, Utah, on May 14, 2010. She is a suspect in the death of her 4-year-old son Ethan Stacy whose body was found buried in a wooded area near Powder Mountain.

Court assignments are nothing out of the ordinary. This one was different. After covering the candle light vigil for Ethan Stacy, I was glad I could shoot the first appearance of his mother and step dad in court as the pool photographer.
I was curious to see them -- as if their presence would reveal a clue about the motivations behind the crime they are suspected of having comitted.

The look on their face told me that these two broken people have been tormented by their own minds in the days they had spent in prison since the arrest. The weight of their actions and the possibility that their lives might have changed to an existence in prison forever seemed unimaginable.