commentary by Patrick H. Moore
The case of the two little upstate New York Amish girls is fascinating for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact one of the kidnappers, Nicole Vaisey, not only claims to have been in a submissive “slave” relationship with her boyfriend (head kidnapper) Stephen Howells, Jr, but by apparently “spilling the beans” after turning herself in, Ms. Vaisey has provided an interesting look into the mindset of Howells and herself.
Although the two little girls were obviously very unlucky to be kidnapped and molested by Vaisey and Howells, they were incredibly lucky that Howells’ nature does not appear to be that of a pedophile/murderer. If he was, the two girls would be dead rather than back home at their parents’ farm.
Vaisey appears to have opened up to both the investigators and her attorney, Bradford Riendeau, and her story was recounted, primarily by Riendeau, at her preliminary hearing on August 21st in St. Lawrence County court.
After turning herself in to the police, Vaisey first apparently described her dominant/submissive (master-slave) relationship with Howells. She then explained that on the night of the kidnapping, she and Howells had gone out trolling for “slaves”.
Chillingly, Vaisey described the couple’s expedition as a “shopping trip”, explaining that she was the one who decided on the two Amish girls after previously buying produce from their farm stand. They cleverly brought their golden retriever/Doberman mix with them to use as bait to lure their victims.
Although her “slave” status, if it checks out, may ultimately help Vaisey get a reduced sentence, particularly if she testifies against Howells, the fact that she chose the girls can only work against her. It would be interesting to know if she “volunteered” this piece of information, or if she divulged it in response to prompting on the part of the police.
In any event, when they got to Mose and Barb Miller’s farm in the countryside near Oswegatchie, a St. Lawrence County town of about 4,400, they parked their white car out of sight under a tree, a short distance away from the Miller’s fruit and vegetable stand. Vaisey stayed in the car and Howells got out to do the dirty work. He walked up to the girls, greeted them and asked if they would like to see a puppy he had in the back seat of his car. Howells and Vaisy had tied their dog in the back seat on the driver’s side so that the victim children would have to lean into the car to pet it.
(This is so wicked, an updated version of the DOM luring children to his house with the promise of candy.)
Naturally, the little girls were interested, but according to Vaisey, as Howells and the children neared the car, one of them (probably the 7-year-old) got scared and started to scream.
This was the moment of truth and Howells could have decided these girls weren’t worth the trouble but he did not. Instead of jumping in the front passenger seat (Vaisey was driving) and speeding off to look for more pliable victims, Howells instead physically forced them into the backseat of the car.
The couple then drove to their house in Hermon, a town of about 2,000.
Whatever Vaisey may or may not have told the authorities about the girls’ 24 hours in captivity, little of it was apparently revealed at her hearing. It was revealed that the girls spent most of their time shackled to the couple’s bed (and District Attorney Mary Rain has stated they were sexually abused).
During this time frame, an Amber Alert was issued and much of the countryside was mobilized into search parties. The kidnapping was all over the news and as the kidnappers slowly realized the magnitude of the search, they became increasingly frightened and ultimately decided to release the girls.
The couple then packed up the girls and drove them to an isolated area near Bigelow where they dropped them off. The girls, “who must have been incredibly traumatized by this point, and were barefoot, cold, wet and hungry, somehow found the courage to march up and knock on the front door of Richville residents Jeff and Pam Stinson, who fed them watermelon and reported them to the authorities”. (Richville and Bigelow are apparently adjacent sections of the small town of De Kalb.)
Ashley Collman writes for the MailOnline:
While Ms Vaisey did not testify at her hearing on Thursday, her attorney said that the nature of her relationship with Howells should factor into the trial.
‘She was in a master-slave relationship,’ her attorney Bradford Riendeau said Thursday. ‘I believe she’s not as culpable as he is.’
‘She was the submissive one,’ he said last week. ‘I am currently researching on what happens when prisoners of war go through enhanced interrogation. What torture has done to her personality to determine just how compliant she was? Was it really voluntary? Can you really give consent to be tortured?’
Howells waived his right to a hearing, which means his case may go straight to a grand jury. Both Howells and Vaisey face potential sentences of 25 years to life in state prison.
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I am struck by the fact that according to Vaisey, before going out to hunt for slaves, Howells dropped his kids off at his ex’s house, which may well mean that he was not in the habit of victimizing them. This strange compartmentalizing of victims is not unknown among sexual perverts and serial killers. For example, the Canadian strangler and serial killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson, 
was apparently good to his daughter, and after his arrest, in a sort of poignant serial killer moment, advised her to break off her relationship with him so that she would not be stigmatized in the community.
The other thing I am struck by is the fact that Howells, to some degree, seems almost like an amateur. Had he been an experienced or truly hardened victimizer of children, it seems unlikely that he would have been sufficiently rattled by the massive search to simply release the children, especially considering that they had spent the last 24 hours at his house and thus could presumably lead the authorities straight to his doorstep without too much difficulty.
Click here to view our previous post on the kidnapping of the Amish girls:
The Dark Tale of the Little Amish Rape Victims Has a Happy Ending