(Re-Release) Episode 65: Lucas Call

Suffer the Little Children

Suffer the Little Children Pod

True Crime, Social Sciences, Science, Society & Culture

4.6 • 937 Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2023

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

**This episode was originally released in June of 2021. I am re-releasing it due to the recent arrest of Lisa Jo Vanderlinden, the woman who spent less than a year in jail for Lucas's murder, on charges of abusing another child.**

In 2017, Lucas Call and his baby sister were removed from their biological mother’s custody, in part because she had a learning disability and was unjustly deemed an unfit mother. They were placed in the care of a woman who had previously fostered upwards of 40 children. She was also a trained nurse who worked with the county government’s child abuse investigation team. Sixteen months later, in August of 2018, that woman called 911, reporting 2-year-old Lucas was unresponsive.

After Lucas’s death was deemed a homicide caused by blunt force trauma, his foster mother, Lisa Jo Vanderlinden, was charged with his murder. After accepting a plea agreement, Lisa, who claimed to accept responsibility for Lucas’s death but never confessed to causing his injuries, received a sentence so shockingly inadequate that many have called for the judge’s removal from his position.

In this episode, I’ll tell you Lucas’s story, and you’ll also hear my interview with Lucas’s great-grandma, Peggy Thompson, who shared with me her anger over the injustice of Lucas’s case, as well as some of her fondest memories of this sweet little boy.

This is the infuriating story of Lucas Call.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Ah, she's brilliant. Miss, I finally got plans out the group chat. We get it. Four votes for a festival,
0:05.9	three for a city break. It's hard to adhere to everyone's needs. There's Betty with her
0:09.6	oversized tent. Sarah and her six foot eight boyfriend.
0:13.0	All right.
0:14.0	Roger Junior and his dog, Roger Senior.
0:16.0	And don't get us started on Mel.
0:19.0	But, like a marriage counselor, she's the one keeping things together.
0:22.0	All aboard, Miss I finally got plans out the group. a marriage counselor, she's the one keeping things together.
0:22.6	All aboard Miss I finally got plans out the group chat.
0:25.6	Keep everyone's plans alive when you travel with us.
0:28.0	P and Dau Ferris, there is another way.
0:30.0	This podcast contains descriptions of violence against children and adult language and is not suitable for all audiences.
0:37.0	Listen or discretion is advised. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Hi everyone and welcome to suffer the little children the true crime
1:21.9	podcast giving voices back to the victims of child
1:24.2	abuse and shining a harsh spotlight on the parents guardians and caretakers who silenced them.
1:29.3	I'm your host Lane and this is episode 65 Lucas Call in 2017 Lucas Call and his baby
1:36.7	sister were removed from their biological mother's custody in part because she had
1:40.3	a learning disability and was unjustly deemed an unfit mother.
1:43.9	They were placed in the care of a woman who had previously fostered upwards of 40 children.
1:48.5	She was also a trained nurse who worked with the county government's child abuse
1:51.9	investigation team.
1:53.0	16 months later, in August of 2018 that woman called 911
	...

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