Chapter 11 - Vivian says Nora wanted to stay
Vivian’s defense started with consent.
“Nora begged me not to take her back.”
Did she?
Partly.
Nora had said Friday afternoon:
“Can I sleep at your house?”
Children say things.
That did not authorize Vivian to override placement.
Then:
“Nora told me Marlene was mean.”
She had complained about rules.
Then:
“I was trying to document what she wanted.”
That explained the requested video statement.
It did not explain confinement.
Vivian claimed Nora entered the service corridor voluntarily at first.
Possible.
Nora liked exploring old parts of the house.
But the door was locked from outside.
No dispute.
Vivian said:
“I locked it because Nora kept trying to run out of the house.”
That was worse.
The corridor was not a safe child bedroom.
No proper toilet.
No window.
No emergency egress.
Then she insisted:
“I checked on her constantly.”
Door-camera logs contradicted the word constantly.
There were periods of forty to seventy minutes without Vivian opening the access door.
Was that abandonment?
Not legally in the extreme sense.
She remained in the house much of the time.
But Nora could not exit.
Then Vivian’s attorney said:
“She believed she was preventing a vulnerable child from running into the street or being removed by people the child feared.”
The second part had a problem.
Nora did not fear the Ellises.
Vivian wanted her to.
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That was why she needed the video.
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