Saturday, September 03, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Mother agonizes over son's suicide

She says judge partly to blame

Maria Wells talks about the suicide of her 12-year-old son, Syber, who shot himself to death. She blames a Family Court judge for not heeding warnings that the boy was surrounded by unsecured weapons at the home of Maria Wells' estranged husband. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

The video doesn't lie.

In the home where 12-year-old suicide victim Syber Wells lived, the unsecured guns are pictured throughout, perched up against walls, next to the couch, and next to the front door.

The video of the home of Geoffrey Wells, Syber's father, was filmed in January by Maria Wells, Syber's mother, to show Family Court officials that her three children were in danger while in the custody of her estranged husband.

"A couple of days before I left him, I took the video, and I took it to every court hearing," Maria Wells said. "Guns everywhere."

But during her custody case in the courtroom of Family Court Judge Cheryl Moss over the past several months, Maria Wells and her attorney, Randall Roske, said Moss never even bothered to watch the tape.

Instead, Moss took Geoffrey Wells' word that the guns were secured, and she gave the couple joint legal custody.

On Aug. 26, Syber shot himself to death at his father's home, and the death has officially been ruled a suicide by the Clark County coroner's office.

"She (Moss) shouldn't be a judge," Maria Wells said through tears Thursday. "Sloppy. She is partly responsible for this."

Moss has declined comment on the case through court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer, who said Moss is prevented by judicial cannons from commenting on pending cases.

Geoffrey Wells' attorney, Gerard Bongiovanni, did not responded to requests for comment on the Wells case.

Maria Wells and Roske said ignoring the tape wasn't the only mistake made during the Family Court proceedings. Roske said at one point during the hearings that delved into the custody of Syber and his two brothers, ages 10 and 8, Moss requested a referral to Child Protective Services to inspect Geoffrey Wells' house.

But Roske said somehow, Moss' courtroom lost the referral, and Child Protective Services was never contacted.

"A slip-up occurred and there was no contact to CPS to have the home inspection or contact with dad," Roske said. "The home environment was never evaluated."

In an interview Thursday at her Henderson home, Maria Wells said her son was a promising child traumatized by the custody dispute.

"Honor roll, accelerated classes, flag football, of course, he loved Xbox," she said. "Pretty much what all 12-year-old boys like to do.

"He was the one who had the hardest time with this, going back to his father," she said.

Maria Wells said she first met her husband when he was a Marine in Twenty-nine Palms, Calif.

The marriage was troubled from early on. She accused him of being controlling, and both spouses accused one another of financial mismanagement and domestic violence.

Maria Wells said she only called the police once regarding domestic violence when Geoffrey Wells was a Marine in California. Nothing was done by the military police.

"I was scared," Maria Wells said.

Holding back tears, she said, when Henderson police inspected her estranged husband's home after the suicide, they told her the place "was a pig sty" and guns were everywhere.

During the interview, Maria Wells' 10-year-old boy -- who found his brother's body -- repeatedly broke down in tears, convulsing in grief over the loss of his sibling.

"He buys too many guns," the crying boy said of his father. "He doesn't even lock them."

Maria Wells, who said she manages a heart clinic in town, said she is overwhelmed by guilt because she relied on the Family Court system to protect her children.

"I feel like I failed them," she said, crying. "I could have just ran off with them, but I tried to go through the court system. They (the courts) failed all of us."