Rimer deserves prison; his children, pity

Nine years after his disabled 4-year-old son died in the family SUV because no one noticed he was missing and no one looked for him for 17 hours, Stanley Rimer is still blaming his wife, Colleen.

To this day, Rimer refuses to take any responsibility for the death of his son.

If you lived in Las Vegas in 2008, you probably remember the Rimer case. It was a heartbreaker. A tale of a filthy home where females were treated like servants and the patriarch acted as a cruel king.

The family went to church on a hot day in June 2008. Stanley did not feel well and came home early. When Colleen came home about 3 p.m. she and various children piled out of the SUV and entered the house. The parents went upstairs to their bedroom, where they kept their own food, and didn't check on their children.

No one noticed that Jason stayed inside the locked car. He was unable to figure out how to unlock the doors because of his disability, myotonic dystrophy, which affects body and brain. His mother also has it.

No one noticed Jason was missing until the next day about 8:30 a.m.

Jason died a painful, tortuous death, which officials estimated took three to five hours.

Testimony from two older children portrayed a control freak father who manipulated his wife to his own ends, at the expense of his children, who lived in filth and hunger.

From the start, Colleen Rimer always took responsibility for Jason's death. In letters between her and her husband, he ordered her to stick to the story that Jason's death was solely her fault.

And she did.

But in grand jury testimony, two of his older children described a lifestyle that had to be the responsibility of both parents, although the father insisted — and still insists — it was his wife's job to care for the home and the children. Two of their children were diagnosed with disabilities.

Ernest Rimer, Stanley Rimer's oldest son from another marriage, wrote to District Judge Douglas Herndon, saying he first visited the Rimers in 2003.

He wrote the couple "locked themselves in their room upstairs and simply let the kids exist downstairs, like dogs in a kennel." He described Jason smelling so bad that Ernest couldn't stand to hold him and how tragic that the other children didn't know they needed to bathe and wash their clothes.

There was a constant infestation of lice. Animal and human feces were scattered throughout the home. Photos show unbelievable chaos but couldn't capture the smells.

The only daughter, Crystal Davis, left the ghastly home in 2006 when she was 16. In testimony before the grand jury and during the trial, she told of the father beating the boys, the disgusting home, the lice and feces. Jason's dirty diapers were seldom changed by her mother and never by the father, the daughter said.

Jason was bathed once a week before going to church, where his father was a Mormon church leader.

Food wasn't always available for the children.

"If there was no bread downstairs or anything, they (the brothers) would have to go upstairs and ask for some bread, and sometimes my dad would say yes, and sometimes he'd say no," Crystal told grand jurors in 2008. "We also had my grandmother living with us, and she would soil the carpets, and her living there made it even worse because she has dementia and Alzheimer's."

Over 20 years, child protection authorities recorded 21 contacts with the Rimer family, including five after Jason was born. Only twice were neglect allegations substantiated, and neither of those involved Jason.

Both parents surrendered their parental rights after their convictions in 2011.

The Rimers were convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Colleen also was convicted of three counts of child abuse and neglect, two involving Jason and one involving another mentally challenged son. She was not convicted of child abuse involving the three brothers who were not disabled.

Herndon sentenced her to five to 20 years. She was paroled in July 2014 after three years, which didn't count more than 600 days in jail waiting for trial.

Stanley Rimer was convicted of seven counts — manslaughter, two child neglect and abuse charges regarding Jason and four more counts of child abuse and neglect regarding four other brothers. He received a sentence of eight to 30 years. Judge Herndon described him "an overbearing bastard of a husband."

In December, Stanley Rimer sued because he hadn't been paroled and his wife had. He named 17 defendants, but essentially, he's suing the Nevada Parole Board, top government officials and various government entities, claiming he's the victim of "animus" and his civil rights were violated.

Representing himself, he claims he's the victim of sex discrimination because his wife was paroled and he was not.

It was hard to stop laughing while plowing through his handwritten complaint that his civil rights had been violated by the parole board members because he was a male and and they bore him "invidious discriminatory animus."

The two-week trial had shown this was a man who dominated his entire family, treated his wife and daughter like serfs and used his wife as a breeding ground to prove his own manhood.

He wants to reinstate communication with his wife of 28 years so she can manage his inheritance, he wrote in his complaint.

Rimer alleged the parole board wants to keep him in prison to keep him from "his inheritance, business plans and marketing of publications."

He wants out is so he can resume writing "literary works based on religion, fiction, political, prisoner rights, legislative proposition, and government corruption."

The defendants, including Gov. Brian Sandoval, want to keep him in prison so he won't be able to do this, Rimer wrote, presumably with a straight face.

I pity the government attorneys who have to defend their clients against this drivel.

But I pity even more Colleen Rimer and her eight children, while hoping they can make a normal life despite having a sick mother and a manipulative father.

Jane Ann Morrison's column runs Thursdays. Leave a message for her at 702-383-0275 or email her at jmorrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @janeannmorrison.