Rapist who left 6-year-old victim in frozen field to be paroled
The (Vacaville) Reporter
VACAVILLE — Almost 19 years ago in Vacaville, a 6-year-old girl in foster care was kidnapped from her home, bound and gagged with duct tape, raped and then abandoned in freezing temperatures in a rural field.
The case shocked the Bay Area, but the girl survived. Today, Dannette Porter, who asked that her maiden name be used, is a married mother of two sons with a daughter on the way.
But her hard-won happiness has been marred since she learned that her attacker, Travis Lee Casebolt, is soon to be released from prison.
Casebolt, who was 19 at the time of the attack and 20 when sentenced to more than 30 years in prison, may be paroled as early as this week, possibly into Vacaville.
"I just want to put it out there for people who are going to be in the area," said Porter by telephone. "I just don't want him to be in that situation where it can happen again. I just want people to be cautious."
Porter rarely talks about what happened to her, but she emphasizes that she has never forgotten.
"I've kind of suppressed it. I don't really think about it a lot. I guess I remember as much as a 6-year-old would," she said. "But I do remember."
In November 1990, Porter was placed with a foster family on Maple Road off Leisure Town Road. Casebolt, who was engaged to Porter's then 17-year-old foster sister, Marcie Moore, who also asked that her maiden name be used, lived across the street.
On Nov. 27, 1990, Porter, Moore and Casebolt were in the barn behind the Moores' home, where Moore remembered training her stallion. Casebolt reportedly left to put air in his tires. Soon after, the family realized that Porter was missing. It was about 7:30 p.m.
For the next 21 hours, Vacaville police, sheriff's officials, other emergency responders and the community began a search for the child.
Just before 4:30 p.m. the next day, a bird dog, pheasant hunting with David Higgins, of Fairfield, sniffed out the scared, crying child in a thicket.
The child's ankles, wrists, throat and mouth were bound with duct tape and she was peppered with bruises.
Police said she immediately identified Casebolt as her assailant, and he was arrested hours later. Forensic and other evidence, along with the child's testimony, helped convict Casebolt.
After 18 years of incarceration, he is set to be paroled from Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad.
Moore also dreads his release. Though her little sister has moved on, Moore confessed it is difficult to forget.
"Dannette was a very strong child. She was strong and came forward and said who it was (who hurt her)," Moore said. "I feel guilty because I feel like, if I had told what he had done to me, then this wouldn't have happened to her."
Moore and Casebolt had been together for four years, since she was 13. He wasn't always nice to her, she said, but she thought she was in love with him. "He was the first boyfriend I'd ever had," she said. "You think you can change somebody, but you can't. I tell that to my kids all the time." Moore said she was in shock when Casebolt was arrested and convicted. Yet, she acknowledged that Casebolt had been jealous of the 6-year-old's presence.
The couple briefly corresponded during his incarceration. "He never mentioned my sister's name," Moore said. "He never mentioned what he had done." Casebolt has always maintained his innocence, including in a letter to the court around the time of his sentencing in 1991. Though in that letter, Casebolt said he was sorry for the child and her family and noted that, "to me, they meant everything." Porter has no desire to confront her attacker, or to see him again.
"Obviously, he wasn't in the right mind. He obviously was very sick," she said. "Do I wish he was in there longer? Yes, I do. But I can't do anything about that."
Vacaville police are awaiting details regarding Casebolt's impending release.
Should he be paroled into Vacaville, he would be required to register with police as a sex offender and fitted with a GPS anklet. Before his arrival, police assured, residents in the area of his release would be notified.