Mother Gets New Lease on Life After Exoneration

McMINNVILLE, Ore. -- Pamela Reser first heard the terrible accusations at a court hearing, when a longtime friend petitioned to adopt her three young boys.

“Your son has been saying you did things to him,” Reser remembers the friend saying.

Reser, confused and addicted to alcohol and methamphetamines, brushed it off. But the ugly allegations didn’t go away.

Within months, four of Reser’s children -- aged 8 and under at the time of the alleged abuse -- would testify that their mother engaged in sexual acts with them and forced them to have sex with each other. In 1999, a judge sentenced her to 116 years in prison.

Reser endured the stony silence of prisoners who called her freak and monster behind her back. She tried to study, exercise and pray. She got used to keeping to herself, even in her darkest moments.

She told her attorneys that she was innocent. She was sure that someday, when they were older, her children would take back what they said.

She was right.

This summer, all charges against her were dismissed, and Reser was released after spending more than three years behind bars.

In May, an unrelated investigation turned up evidence that some of the four children, who now are ages 13 to 18, had recanted their accusations. State police detectives followed up. One by one, the children took back what they’d said under oath.

Not Mad at Children

Now Reser, 37, is trying to rebuild her life and wondering why her children lied. She insists that she is not mad at them and has tried to find the positive in a traumatic experience.

“It’s sad the way it went, but I’m not angry,” she said, fingering the gold cross around her neck. “It’s a miracle if you stop and think about it.”

Police say they believe that someone brainwashed the children into testifying against their mother, but they have made no arrests.

The five children in all, who have new adoptive parents and new last names, could not be reached for comment. They have different biological fathers, none of whom are involved in their lives, Reser said.

Prosecutors said they were stunned by the children’s admissions.

“There was no indication that this was a memorized story and that this was something they had gotten together and arranged,” said Cal Tichenor, Yamhill County deputy district attorney.

Admissions Comforting

Reser is comforted by those admissions.

“My kids, they knew in their heart, they knew that I didn’t do those things,” she said. “They came forward, and I was just so glad for them.”

Reser is now staying with friends. “I have a second chance at life,” she said.

While locked up, she managed to get sober, take classes, rediscover her religious faith, and physically challenge herself with daily jogging and weightlifting.

“It would be so easy for her to just kind of give up,” said her attorney, Stephen Palmer. “It’s frankly pretty inspiring to see a person turn such a negative thing into a positive thing.”

Reser’s road to prison began with a 1998 custody hearing.

Four years before, her children had been placed in foster homes because of Reser’s addictions and neglect. This time, she was before a judge to try to regain custody of a fifth child, a baby girl.

But at the hearing, she learned that a secret indictment had been filed detailing sexual abuses that she allegedly committed against her children.

On Dec. 17, 1998, police arrested her, and she was charged with rape and sodomy.

The older children said the crimes happened between 1988 and 1994, ending when the state took custody of them. When they accused her, Reser had not seen them for at least three years. She had been living on the street or with friends, lost in her addictions.

Reser insisted that she had never touched her children in those ways. She began to think that God might be punishing her for abandoning her responsibilities.

“I ran, I ran hard. I was on a suicide mission -- it’s sad, but it’s true,” she said.

“I held a lot of guilt for the things that I did to my children, not being there for them. Maybe because of the lifestyle that I lived, one of my boyfriends could have done these things behind my back,” Reser said. “That crossed my mind.”

Still, Reser wasn’t prepared for what happened during the five-day trial.

Jurors cried. Those who originally looked at Reser with sympathy later refused to make eye contact. The court had to take a break during the youngest boy’s testimony because the stuffed animal he clung to was sopping with tears.

‘I Was Traumatized’

Another child read a letter to his mother during sentencing, saying, “I don’t know why they can’t just kill you and get it over with.”

Said Reser: “I was wondering who put those words in their mouth, because I knew I didn’t do those things to them. I was really wondering what was going on. I was traumatized.”

Tichenor called it “the most horrendous case that I have prosecuted.”

On May 15, three detectives arrived at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility to tell Reser that her children had confessed to falsely accusing her.

“They said, ‘Well, your kids recanted.’ I was running back and forth and I said, ‘Say it again, one more time.’ I didn’t even know if I’d get out of prison, but I didn’t care,” Reser said.

A ‘Lost Puppy’

When Reser was freed two weeks later, “she was like a little lost puppy,” said her mother, Millie Reser. “She just stayed close to the wall, she was so scared.”

Tichenor says he is now convinced of Reser’s innocence, but he will not charge the children with perjury.

“I believed very much that she was guilty at the time,” he said. “But I am satisfied that if we had the evidence then that we have now that she never would have been convicted.”

Reser believes that her release is a chance to get her life back on track.

She is learning to enjoy the small things -- having a private bathroom, sleeping in, walking on the beach and wearing civilian clothes.

She savors the memory of her first meal on the outside -- a Burger King Whopper with cheese, an order of fries, a Sprite and chocolate pie.

She hopes to earn a high school equivalency degree, get a job at a fast-food restaurant and move into her own apartment.

“I’ve got to start somewhere,” she said. “I don’t want to take one day for granted anymore.”