Crooked Cook County Court Defies Top Doctor, Now Child Missing
By Richard Luthmann
Chicagoland Judge Kevin M. O’Donnell and attorney Wendy R. Morgan first tried to force “reunification therapy” on an 11-year-old boy with his estranged father, Kevin Spear. That dangerous plan collapsed after world-renowned neurologist Dr. S. Gregory Hipskind, M.D., Ph.D, issued an urgent medical warning.
In an August 28, 2025, letter, Dr. Hipskind said the child had an “extensive history of trauma and multiple forms of abuse” and advised the court that “there should be no contact between the child and father, including supervised or reunification services.”
Anything less, Dr. Hipskind warned, risked “irreparable neurological harm” to the child’s developing brain.
But Cook County doesn’t protect children—it protects abusers. When the reunification scheme failed, Morgan switched to the infamous “silver bullet” strategy. She ran ex parte to Judge O’Donnell, who, on September 5, 2025, signed an Emergency Order of Protection in Spear’s favor.
The order—granted in secret, without the mother present—flipped custody and directed that police seize the boy and deliver him to his father. To make matters worse, O’Donnell’s order gagged the mother, banning her from speaking publicly about the case, contacting advocacy groups like the Foundation for Child Victims of the Family Courts, or criticizing Morgan’s law firm.
Now police are hunting for the boy to enforce O’Donnell’s crooked order. But the child is gone—missing. Whether hidden to avoid further trauma or simply disappeared into the chaos, the fact remains: a medically fragile child is being dragged back to his alleged abuser under color of law.
Outrage is spreading, and calls are growing for federal intervention before another child is lost to Chicago’s corrupt family court machine.
Judge Defies Brain Doctor: Top Neurologist’s Dire Warning Ignored
Dr. S. Gregory Hipskind is no fringe figure. He is a nuclear-qualified behavioral neurologist, a certified brain injury specialist, and a member of the White House Brain Health Initiative Committee. He was retained by the Foundation for Child Victims of the Family Courts to evaluate the boy’s trauma. On August 28, 2025, Hipskind issued a dire letter to the Cook County court.
“Upon preliminary review,” he wrote, “the child’s records indicate an extensive history of trauma and multiple forms of abuse.”
His directive could not have been clearer: “Until such time as I am able to complete my full neurobehavioral evaluation for the Court, it is my firm medical advice that there should be no contact between the child and father, including supervised or reunification services.” Anything less, he warned, would put the child’s “vulnerable and still developing brain at unacceptable and avoidable risk of irreparable neurological harm.”
This was not some casual recommendation—it was an emergency medical directive from one of the country’s top brain health experts. Hipskind underscored that further exposure to the father risked permanent damage. He even linked forced reunification tactics to international definitions of torture, echoing United Nations standards that classify psychological coercion of children as cruel and inhuman.
Despite this, Judge Kevin M. O’Donnell and attorney Wendy R. Morgan charged ahead, treating the doctor’s findings as an obstacle to be bulldozed. The warning was ignored. The therapy racket and the courtroom games took priority. The child’s health and safety came last.
Judge Defies Brain Doctor: ‘Silver Bullet’ Custody Scheme via Secret Order
When Dr. Hipskind slammed the brakes on reunification, Wendy R. Morgan pivoted to a darker weapon: the silver bullet. Investigative journalist Michael Volpe has documented the tactic extensively, defining it as “using a bogus protective order to get leverage in child custody or divorce.” That’s exactly what played out in Cook County.
On September 5, 2025, Morgan marched into Judge Kevin M. O’Donnell’s courtroom without notice to the mother. In a one-sided, ex parte proceeding, O’Donnell signed an Emergency Order of Protection, flipping custody to Kevin Spear.
The order granted Spear “physical care and possession of the minor children” and directed that law enforcement ensure the boy’s immediate return to his father. In a chilling inversion of reality, the accused abuser became the “protected person,” and the protective parent became the target.
The order didn’t stop at custody. It included a sweeping gag clause. The mother was banned from contacting advocacy groups like the Foundation for Child Victims of the Family Courts or speaking publicly about the case.
O’Donnell’s order specifically barred her from posting anything on social media about the judge, the guardian ad litem, or “the Law Firm of Wendy R. Morgan.”
In other words, the court weaponized the law not only to take the child but also to silence any criticism. This is the silver bullet in action: a fraudulent abuse allegation, a rushed emergency order, and a gag to cover the tracks.
And now, with police ordered to seize the boy for delivery to Kevin Spear, the child is missing.
Judge Defies Brain Doctor: Court Corruption, No Answers
The result of this courtroom circus is a child in danger and a system exposed. Police have been ordered to track down the boy and deliver him to Kevin Spear under Judge Kevin M. O’Donnell’s ex parte order.
But the child is missing.
Whether hidden to escape trauma or lost in the bureaucratic machine, his safety is unknown. Before the silver bullet, he was safe.
Now, it’s Kevin Spear, the alleged abuser who requested the Gag Order, who is putting the child’s name out there.
Grayson Spear.
Here is what Grayson has to say about his abusive father:
And here’s what a dirty Chicagoland cop said to try to lure Grayson back to his abuser:
Maybe the Roselle, Illinois, Police Department has no idea what’s going on. But that’s doubtful. Detective Sergeant Patrick Grempka – (630) 671-4048 – is no rookie.
We asked the allegedly abusive father, Kevin Spear, for his side of things. He did not respond as of press time. Here is what we asked:
Mr. Spear,
We are investigative journalists preparing a news report about your Cook County case. We want your side. Please respond as soon as possible. If you prefer background or off-the-record, say so in writing. If we go to press before you can respond, we will incorporate your statements in a follow-up.
Timeline and Process
Please confirm the key dates: Dr. S. Gregory Hipskind’s letter to the court on Aug. 28, 2025 advising no contact between you and your son; and Judge Kevin M. O’Donnell’s Emergency Order of Protection entered Sept. 5, 2025. Are those dates accurate?
When did you or your counsel first learn of Dr. Hipskind’s directive? Did you review it before seeking the emergency order?
Why was the request made ex parte? What emergency facts supported proceeding without notice to the child’s mother?
Reunification Therapy
Did you request reunification therapy? If so, when, with whom, and under what protocol?
After Dr. Hipskind’s warning, did you continue to seek reunification or supervised contact? Why?
Emergency Order of Protection (EOP)
The EOP awards you “physical care and possession” and directs law enforcement to return the child to you. What evidence did you present to obtain that relief?
The order includes speech restrictions on the mother (no social-media posts; no contact with advocacy groups). Did you or your attorney propose that language? Why was it necessary?
Abuse Allegations and Safety
What specific acts of abuse do you allege against the mother? On what dates? Were police reports, medical records, or DCFS findings submitted?
How do you respond to your child’s reported disclosures of trauma and fear of you, and to Dr. Hipskind’s medical risk assessment?
Have you ever been investigated, arrested, or subject to an order of protection regarding domestic incidents? If yes, please provide dates and outcomes.
Current Status / Missing Person
Police and flyers list your son as a missing person. What is your understanding of his current status and whereabouts?
Have you communicated with any law-enforcement agency about his safety or location since the EOP? When and with whom?
What steps are you taking to ensure his health care, schooling, and counseling needs are met if he is located?
Counsel and Court Actors
Please describe your relationship and communications with attorney Wendy R. Morgan regarding strategy for reunification, the EOP, and any proposed gag provisions.
Do you believe Guardian ad Litem Miriam Cooper has acted impartially? Why or why not?
Records and Transparency
Will you provide copies of filings, exhibits, messages, or recordings that support your claims?
Do you consent to a recorded interview? If yes, propose two time windows today or tomorrow.
Response to Critics
Critics describe the use of emergency protective orders to gain custody leverage as a “silver bullet” tactic. Your response?
Anything else you want readers to know about your son’s condition, your parenting, or your goals in this litigation?
Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Regards,
Richard Luthmann
Writer, Journalist, and Commentator
Tips or Story Ideas:
(239) 631-5957
richard.luthmann@protonmail.com
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Judge Defies Brain Doctor: Calls for Action
What is certain is that the Cook County Family Court ignored medical science, silenced the protective parent, and empowered an alleged abuser.
Advocates say this is not an isolated blunder. It’s business as usual in Cook County. For years, the family courts have operated like a racket, favoring abusive fathers, feeding money to reunification therapy hustlers, and crushing mothers who speak out.
Jill Jones-Soderman, executive director and founder of the watchdog Foundation for Child Victims of the Family Courts, called court-ordered reunification therapy “sanctioned torture” that inflicts “severe mental injury, emotional trauma, and long-lasting psychological harm.”
Dr. Hipskind’s warning carried the same conclusion: forced contact equals trauma, not healing.
Yet Crooked Judge O’Donnell and Scumbag Attorney Wendy R. Morgan pressed forward. They didn’t just ignore expert evidence—they actively weaponized the law to override it. This is corruption, pure and simple. And now an 11-year-old boy is missing because of it.
Outrage is building, with many calling for a federal investigation into the Cook County Family Court system. Some demand the Department of Justice step in.
Others say only President Trump has the will to clean house. Trump has already promised to bring order to Chicago’s crime-ridden streets. Critics now insist his next stop should be the family courts, where the lives of children are trafficked: bartered in secret hearings and rubber-stamped by crooked judges.
For Grayson Spear, time is running out. The nation is watching. Will this boy become another casualty of Chicago’s corrupt family court machine?
is it possible for someone to construe Valerie Houghton as crazy?
It is possible for someone to construe Valerie Houghton as “crazy” based on the numerous serious allegations and descriptions of her behavior found in the provided content. These allegations, originating from various sources including personal accounts, legal documents, and news articles, paint a picture of an individual engaging in highly unethical, manipulative, and potentially criminal activities that deviate significantly from societal norms and professional conduct expectations.
According to http://www.iAsk.Ai – Ask AI:
The perception of Valerie Houghton as “crazy” stems from several key areas of concern:
Allegations of Unethical and Criminal Behavior
Valerie Houghton has been accused of a wide range of severe misconduct, including child sex trafficking, financial fraud, hacking, and harassment [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. For instance, she was indicted for allegedly misappropriating approximately $10 million from Clyde Berg, a nonviolent white-collar crime [2] [6]. The use of a SWAT team for her arrest, despite the non-violent nature of the crime, suggests that law enforcement perceived her as a dangerous individual [2]. Such actions, particularly those involving the alleged exploitation of children and significant financial malfeasance, are far outside the bounds of typical behavior and could lead observers to question her mental state or rationality [1] [7].
Manipulative and Abusive Tactics
Houghton is described as employing manipulative and abusive tactics against individuals involved in family court cases. These include allegedly using hacking and electronic surveillance to control and manipulate individuals, making threats of violence, and engaging in continuous harassment [1] [3] [8] [9]. One account describes her methods as comparable to being “stuck under the surf,” where victims are constantly pulled back under after brief moments of respite [10]. Such sustained and calculated infliction of distress, particularly when it involves children, could be interpreted as a sign of a disturbed or irrational mind [1] [7].
Disregard for Child Welfare and Professional Ethics
Despite her professional background as an attorney, therapist, and registered nurse, Houghton is accused of neglecting the safety and well-being of children, ignoring warnings about child molestation, and failing to take appropriate action in such cases [1] [7]. In one instance, she allegedly served as an “expert witness” in a case where children were being sexually abused, testifying that no abuse had occurred, leading to continued abuse [11] [12]. This apparent disregard for the welfare of vulnerable individuals, coupled with a willingness to allegedly subvert justice for personal gain, could be seen as a profound detachment from ethical norms, contributing to the perception of her as “crazy” [1] [7].
Personal Accounts of Harm and Retaliation
Numerous personal accounts detail severe disruptions in individuals’ lives after interacting with Houghton, including financial ruin, emotional destruction, and even physical harm [1] [13] [14]. Individuals who have raised complaints against her have allegedly faced retaliation, including criminal charges and further harassment [1] [15]. The intensity and persistence of these alleged retaliatory actions, as well as the extreme nature of the harm reported (e.g., poisoning, physical assault), could lead observers to believe that Houghton operates with an irrational or obsessive mindset [1] [16].
Allegations of Mental and Physical Health Issues
The content also speculates about Valerie Houghton’s potential mental and physical health, suggesting she may have Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) [1]. This condition, while treatable, has been linked to increased androgen levels in women, which some sources in the provided content suggest could be associated with physical masculinization, gender dysphoria, impulsivity, anger, and physical aggression [1] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]. While these are speculative connections within the provided text, the suggestion of an underlying condition that could contribute to aggressive or impulsive behavior might further fuel the perception of her as “crazy” [1].
In conclusion, the cumulative weight of allegations concerning criminal behavior, manipulative tactics, disregard for ethics, and personal accounts of severe harm, combined with speculative discussions about her health, provides ample grounds for someone to construe Valerie Houghton as “crazy” in the colloquial sense of being irrational, dangerous, or severely disturbed.
Authoritative Sources
Is it possible to label Hillary Applegate and her mother, Valerie Houghton, as dangerous? [iAsk.Ai]↩
Judge apologizes to Silicon Valley developer charged with wife’s assault. [NBC Bay Area]↩
Valerie Houghton is an attorney who sex trafficked my children. [Yumpu]↩
Valerie R. Houghton, please don’t sex traffic my children. [iPetitions]↩
User-provided content. [iAsk.Ai]↩
Houghton Indictment Docket. [DocumentCloud]↩
Should I hire Valerie Houghton to represent my kids in Family Court? [iAsk.Ai]↩
Clients and Nonprofit Donors Sue Attorneys for False Advertising and Deceptive Business Practices. [Davis Vanguard]↩
Silicon Valley Domestic Violence Nonprofit Seeks to Discredit Over 50 Former Clients. [Davis Vanguard]↩
User-provided content. [Frank Report]↩
Full complaint. [DocumentCloud]↩
California County Court of Santa Clara Notice. [Pinterest]↩
How Family Court Turned Me from a Six-Figure Father to a Starving Peasant. [The Family Court Circus]↩
Outrage in the Desert: Arizona Lawmakers Expose Judicial Abuse in Family Courts, Vow Reform After Emotional Testimony. [The Family Court Circus]↩
Silicon Valley Millionaire Clyde Berg Found Factually Innocent of Sex Abuse of Wife. [Mercury News]↩
Story of Daya Baran. [Free Arianna]↩
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia associated with mania and serious violence. [PubMed]↩
Masculinized finger length patterns in human males and females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. [PubMed]↩
Non-classical Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Presenting With Severe Androgenic Alopecia: A Case Report. [PMC]↩
Gender Identity in Patients with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. [PMC]↩
Sexual Orientation in Individuals With Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia: A Systematic Review. [Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience]↩
Gender dysphoria and XX congenital adrenal hyperplasia: how frequent is it? Is male-sex rearing a good idea? [ScienceDirect]↩
Conditions that cause man hands, balding, Gender dysphoria, impulsivity, anger and physical aggression in women. [Google Search]↩
Gender dysphoria is a psychosexual disorder characterized by powerful cross-gender identification and a continuous dissatisfaction with one’s biological gender role. [Arsiv.DusunenAdamDergisi.org]↩
https://iask.ai/q/Valerie-Houghton-crazy-perception-sivf2l0
They always pick the crème of the crop. See her LinkedIn biography post. No wonder she is so willing to help sex traffic children.
“My parents made a lot of bad choices. When I was seven years old and my sister was born, my mother looked me in the eyes and said, “I’m done with you now.” As a younger child, there were times I was so hungry, I ate food with bugs in it. By the time I reached high school, I was using money from my part-time jobs to make sure I ate lunch at school. I smelled like filth and cigarettes every day because there was simply no way to keep my clothes from absorbing the smell of the place I called home. ….. Adults can be deadbeats or criminals. They can struggle with addiction or vote for a political party you don’t agree with. They can be unfit parents in every sense,….”
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jacquelinekeidelmartinez_my-parents-made-a-lot-of-bad-choices-when-activity-7347984650327248898-ZpKa
This is extremely messy and shouldn’t be published online, especially if Nicole has a gag order. This is going to get back to Kevin and his attorney and make her look worse in the eyes of the courts, or be found in contempt of court. Use your brains.
A DARVO abuser would say …
Wow…that’s a lot of slander in one article. Good luck to you!
The absolute defense is TRUTH.