A Superior Court judge is scheduled to consider petitions today for guardianship over the 8-year-old boy at the center of the custody battle behind the Salon Meritage massacre.
Since his mother died and his father sits in jail awaiting a death penalty trial for the murders of eight people, the boy has been in the care of his adult sister who hopes to gain full custody of him today.
After Scott Evans Dekraai allegedly killed his ex-wife Michelle Fournier and seven others at the Meritage Salon in October, Fournier’s daughter, Chelsea Huff, took temporary custody of her half-brother. However, this month, Dekraai filed an objection to the guardianship proceedings. His mother, Michelle S. Hinmon, has filed her own petition for custody of the child.
Dekraai faces the death penalty if convicted of killing eight people in the deadliest mass murder in Orange County history. According to prosecutors, he walked into the Seal Beach salon where his ex-wife worked and shot her and eight other people after losing a bid to gain full custody of their son. His criminal trial is set for Oct. 15.
I would think that just like some cases of reversed adoption, the judge says the child is better off or should at least have a chance with the biological mother, in which case the 2nd best choice is to have a blood relative as the parent (Chelsea Huff)....I would vote for Chelsea keeping custody.