This is the second request of three:  the woman with the nightmare face.

This is a news photo that appeared in the San Jose Mercury News.  It
could have been 15 or more years ago.  It was a head shot of a woman
whose first name was Ruby.  She had long dark hair and a gaunt face
with hollow eyes.  She looked mad.

She was charged with criminal neglect of her three little girls, who
were found (perhaps by a social worker) living like terrified little
feral creatures among the garbage in an unspeakably foul house
somewhere in, I think, Santa Clara County.  The woman had a boyfriend,
but I'm not sure if he was understood to be the father of the
children.

A link to the photo will answer the question.  Alternately, an upload
to a site from which I could retrieve it would work.

Dates and photo credits would be nice but are not necessary for a complete answer.

Thank you,
Apteryx

---

Clarification of Question by apteryx-ga on 31 Jan 2004 18:16 PST

Bobbie7,

It looks like no one is going to come closer on this one that you did,
so let's call it a partial.  I'll treat the question as a request for
information leading to --, and I'd like you to take it.

Apteryx

Hi Apteryx!

Thank you for accepting my comments as the official answer to your
revised question.

Here is a copy of my findings.

---------------------------------------------------

From the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

Abusive mom declared sane after 8 years
By MAY WONG
Sentinel staff writer

?Ruby Pointer, a former Santa Cruz woman whose young children were
found living in squalor and unable to speak beyond grunts, is a free
woman.

After spending five years in a state hospital and three more in an
outpatient treatment program, Pointer was declared Monday to have been
restored to sanity.?

(..)


?Pointer was at the center of a widely publicized child neglect case
in 1991 after police found her daughters ? then ages 2, 4, and 6 ?
virtually feral. Police found the children living in a filthy Santa
Cruz apartment, with the youngest hiding under a pile of garbage,
cowering from strangers.?

?In the 1991 case, Pointer, was declared innocent by reason of
insanity and ordered to stay in a state hospital for no longer than
eight years ? the same maximum prison term she would have received if
found legally sane and convicted of all the charges.?

(..)

?Pointer?s children have been adopted into other families and some are
under the care of her sister, Symons said.?
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/1999/November/16/local/stories/3local.htm


I also searched the San Jose Mercury News archives and found various
articles about the Ruby Pointer neglect case. There is a $2.95 fee to
view the full-text of any article. Unfortunately photos are not
provided for archived articles.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/


Here are some of the articles I obtained by searching for ?Ruby
Pointer? at the San Jose Mercury News archives. They provide the first
paragraph of the article for free.

D.A. FINISHING PROBE OF FATHER IN CHILD NEGLECT CASE
Source: PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News Staff Writer

?Santa Cruz prosecutors said Friday they are concluding an exhaustive
six-week criminal investigation of Patrick Eggleston, the boyfriend of
child neglect suspect Ruby Pointer and father of her three
daughters.District Attorney Art Danner will disclose investigators'
findings at a news conference early next week and announce whether
Eggleston, 36, will be charged in connection with the incident.His
role in the high-profile case has so far remained unclear. Although
Pointer was?
Published on August 3, 1991, Page 6B, San Jose Mercury News (CA) 
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/


POINTER SENTENCED TO AN 8-YEAR TERM CHILD ABUSER WILL GO TO MENTAL HOSPITAL
Source: PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News Staff Writer

?A judge's decision to send child abuser Ruby Pointer to a maximum
security mental hospital for eight years should mean that the Santa
Cruz woman will never again put children in harm's way, prosecutors
said Monday.Closing the most infamous child neglect case in Santa Cruz
County history, Santa Cruz Superior Court Judge Samuel Stevens on
Friday ordered Pointer, 42, confined to Patton State Hospital until
2001, the maximum allowable sentence."What I hope is that she'll?
Published on May 4, 1993, Page 1B, San Jose Mercury News (CA) 
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/


MOTHER HAS HISTORY OF CHILD NEGLECT
Source: PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News Staff Writer

?A Santa Cruz woman charged with child abuse this week, after police
discovered her three daughters living in filth and unable to speak,
won a court case seven years ago overturning a judge's order
prohibiting her from conceiving children after her son nearly starved
to death.Friday, prosecutors and foster parents familiar with the
background of Ruby Pointer, 40, reacted with outrage that county
social workers had done little to prevent her from abusing a new
generation of?
Published on June 22, 1991, Page 1A, San Jose Mercury News (CA) 
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/

Here is one of the articles that appeared on the front page.

MOTHER HAS HISTORY OF CHILD NEGLECT
Source: PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News Staff Writer

Published on June 22, 1991, Page 1A, San Jose Mercury News (CA) 

?A Santa Cruz woman charged with child abuse this week, after police
discovered her three daughters living in filth and unable to speak,
won a court case seven years ago overturning a judge's order
prohibiting her from conceiving children after her son nearly starved
to death.Friday, prosecutors and foster parents familiar with the
background of Ruby Pointer, 40, reacted with outrage that county
social workers had done little to prevent her from abusing a new
generation of?


"Reprints, or copies of newspaper pages, are not available through
NewsLibrary. Please contact the newspaper directly to inquire about
the availability of this type of reprint."
http://nl.newsbank.com/nlsite/faq.htm#hard_copy

Here are a few phone numbers for the San Jose Mercury News


1-800-870-NEWS

San Jose Mercury News
305 Mayock Rd
Gilroy, CA 95020-7017 
Phone:  (408) 846-6710 

San Jose Mercury News

8010 Wayland Ln
Gilroy, CA 95020-4158 
Phone:  (408) 847-1617 
 
San Jose Mercury News
1215 K St Ste 920
Sacramento, CA 95814-3951 
Phone:  (408) 920-5111 

San Jose Mercury News
111 Ellis St
San Francisco, CA 94102-2130 
Phone:  (415) 434-0370 
 
San Jose Mercury News
Santa Cruz News Bureau  
750 Ridder Park Dr
San Jose, CA 95131-2432 
Phone:  (408) 917-4400


Best wishes,
Bobbie7

Thank you for your work on this, Bobbie7.  It turned out to be more of
a quest than I'd thought, so I'll give you full marks for what you did
find.  Next time I'm in Santa Cruz, I'll see if I can follow through.

Apteryx

Hi Apteryx,

Although I was not able to find the photo you want, I did find some
details of the case.

From the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

Abusive mom declared sane after 8 years
By MAY WONG
Sentinel staff writer

?Ruby Pointer, a former Santa Cruz woman whose young children were
found living in squalor and unable to speak beyond grunts, is a free
woman.

After spending five years in a state hospital and three more in an
outpatient treatment program, Pointer was declared Monday to have been
restored to sanity.?

(..)


?Pointer was at the center of a widely publicized child neglect case
in 1991 after police found her daughters ? then ages 2, 4, and 6 ?
virtually feral. Police found the children living in a filthy Santa
Cruz apartment, with the youngest hiding under a pile of garbage,
cowering from strangers.?

?In the 1991 case, Pointer, was declared innocent by reason of
insanity and ordered to stay in a state hospital for no longer than
eight years ? the same maximum prison term she would have received if
found legally sane and convicted of all the charges.?

(..)

?Pointer?s children have been adopted into other families and some are
under the care of her sister, Symons said.?
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/1999/November/16/local/stories/3local.htm


I also searched the San Jose Mercury News archives and found various
articles about the Ruby Pointer neglect case. There is a $2.95 fee to
view the full-text of any article. Unfortunately photos are not
provided for archived articles.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/


Here are some of the articles I obtained by searching for ?Ruby
Pointer? at the San Jose Mercury News archives. They provide the first
paragraph of the article for free.

D.A. FINISHING PROBE OF FATHER IN CHILD NEGLECT CASE
Source: PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News Staff Writer

?Santa Cruz prosecutors said Friday they are concluding an exhaustive
six-week criminal investigation of Patrick Eggleston, the boyfriend of
child neglect suspect Ruby Pointer and father of her three
daughters.District Attorney Art Danner will disclose investigators'
findings at a news conference early next week and announce whether
Eggleston, 36, will be charged in connection with the incident.His
role in the high-profile case has so far remained unclear. Although
Pointer was?
Published on August 3, 1991, Page 6B, San Jose Mercury News (CA) 
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/


POINTER SENTENCED TO AN 8-YEAR TERM CHILD ABUSER WILL GO TO MENTAL HOSPITAL
Source: PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News Staff Writer

?A judge's decision to send child abuser Ruby Pointer to a maximum
security mental hospital for eight years should mean that the Santa
Cruz woman will never again put children in harm's way, prosecutors
said Monday.Closing the most infamous child neglect case in Santa Cruz
County history, Santa Cruz Superior Court Judge Samuel Stevens on
Friday ordered Pointer, 42, confined to Patton State Hospital until
2001, the maximum allowable sentence."What I hope is that she'll?
Published on May 4, 1993, Page 1B, San Jose Mercury News (CA) 
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/


MOTHER HAS HISTORY OF CHILD NEGLECT
Source: PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News Staff Writer

?A Santa Cruz woman charged with child abuse this week, after police
discovered her three daughters living in filth and unable to speak,
won a court case seven years ago overturning a judge's order
prohibiting her from conceiving children after her son nearly starved
to death.Friday, prosecutors and foster parents familiar with the
background of Ruby Pointer, 40, reacted with outrage that county
social workers had done little to prevent her from abusing a new
generation of?
Published on June 22, 1991, Page 1A, San Jose Mercury News (CA) 
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/


Best regards,
Bobbie7

Thanks, Bobbie7.  That is most definitely the case.  My time estimate
was off (and may be off for the other two photo requests as well), but
it seems that my memory of the details was still pretty sharp.

What was the date on that first article, the one that said "declared Monday"?

And so then:  what would it take to find a photo that appeared, I
think, on the front page of the Merc during the time that this case
was first being investigated and reported?

Apteryx

Hi Apteryx,

"What was the date on that first article, the one that said "declared Monday"?"

November 16, 1999  

"And so then:  what would it take to find a photo that appeared, I
think, on the front page of the Merc during the time that this case
was first being investigated and reported?"

Here is one of the articles that appeared on the front page.

MOTHER HAS HISTORY OF CHILD NEGLECT
Source: PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News Staff Writer

Published on June 22, 1991, Page 1A, San Jose Mercury News (CA) 

?A Santa Cruz woman charged with child abuse this week, after police
discovered her three daughters living in filth and unable to speak,
won a court case seven years ago overturning a judge's order
prohibiting her from conceiving children after her son nearly starved
to death.Friday, prosecutors and foster parents familiar with the
background of Ruby Pointer, 40, reacted with outrage that county
social workers had done little to prevent her from abusing a new
generation of?


"Reprints, or copies of newspaper pages, are not available through
NewsLibrary. Please contact the newspaper directly to inquire about
the availability of this type of reprint."
http://nl.newsbank.com/nlsite/faq.htm#hard_copy

Here are a few phone numbers for the San Jose Mercury News


1-800-870-NEWS

San Jose Mercury News
305 Mayock Rd
Gilroy, CA 95020-7017 
Phone:  (408) 846-6710 

San Jose Mercury News

8010 Wayland Ln
Gilroy, CA 95020-4158 
Phone:  (408) 847-1617 
 
San Jose Mercury News
1215 K St Ste 920
Sacramento, CA 95814-3951 
Phone:  (408) 920-5111 

San Jose Mercury News
111 Ellis St
San Francisco, CA 94102-2130 
Phone:  (415) 434-0370 
 
San Jose Mercury News
Santa Cruz News Bureau  
750 Ridder Park Dr
San Jose, CA 95131-2432 
Phone:  (408) 917-4400