Sent Back To Awful Parents Because of His Race – The Story of Antonio Renova

Sent Back To Awful Parents Because of His Race- The Story of Antonio Renova

Instead of protecting him and nurturing him, guiding him, they tortured him, battered him, degraded him, and starved him.

The story I have for you today is one in which a judge’s uninformed decision leads to a death sentence for a little, little boy. This is the story of Antonio Renova.

Antonio, or Tony Caro Renova, was born on June 15th, 2014, to his mother, Stephanie Byington, and his father, Emilio Renova Sr. He also had five siblings. Tony was raised in Columbus, Montana, but at the time of the story, he was living in Great Falls, Montana. He loved animals, making people laugh, Mickey Mouse, and playing in the mud with his monster trucks and cars. Tony was said to be lovable, kind, and he always had a smile on his face.

Tony’s biological parents, Stephanie and Emilio, who were part of the Crow tribe, had prior criminal histories, and there had also been multiple instances of domestic violence between the two. In April of 2008, Billings police officers would respond to a report of assault at the couple’s apartment. Stephanie, who was pregnant at the time, reportedly had tried to stop Emilio from drinking alcoholic beverages, and he responded to this by kicking and punching her in the stomach. He was charged with assault for this incident.

And then in October of 2009, Emilio was again charged for assault. This time, Emilio had attacked his sister and left bruises and cuts on her face, neck, and hands. Stephanie and one of the couple’s young children were also present during this attack.

Then in August of 2012, Stephanie would be charged with kidnapping after taking off with children in a vehicle. These children were relatives of some sort, and Stephanie was also charged with endangering these same children for bringing them into a hotel room where meth was being used. The kidnapping charge would be dismissed later that year, and in the same year, Stephanie was also charged with stealing money.

In April of 2014, Emilio was charged for a third time with assault. This time, Stephanie was 6 months pregnant, and he had pulled out a pistol on her. She also reported that Emilio had struck her in the head and tried to run her over with his pickup truck. During that particular incident, Stephanie and Emilio actually were not a couple; they had broken up in November of 2013 after Stephanie had given birth to two of their children and was pregnant with their third, Tony. The couple, of course, would later end up getting back together, though.

Oh, and also in 2014, Emilio was charged with felony robbery when he and three other men entered a home where a woman and her 18-month-old child were sleeping. They were all wearing face masks and were armed with rifles after they broke in. However, they asked the woman where the beer was and then proceeded to only steal a phone before leaving. Emilio was ultimately sentenced on that charge of robbery, and he was ordered to undergo anger management training as well as register as a violent offender.

So when Tony was born in June of 2014, he was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, and both of his parents were in jail at the time as well. Therefore, when Tony was only 3 days old, he went into a foster home. Tony’s new foster parents were ironically named Christy and Jeff Foster, and the couple had had foster children in the past. The Fosters had a lot of love to give; however, they had never been able to conceive any children on their own, so they were constantly fostering new children.

The Fosters recently moved from Florida to Montana when they decided they wanted to give yet another child a loving home, and soon after, Tony was placed with them. When Tony went to live with The Fosters, they immediately fell in love with the little boy and knew that they wanted to adopt him as their own. However, even though the social worker had told The Fosters that it was unlikely that Tony’s birth parents would ever regain custody of him, it was also unlikely that The Fosters would be able to permanently adopt the little boy.

While Native American foster children may be placed with non-Native American families temporarily, it is known to be very difficult for them to be adopted by a non-Native American family, regardless of if the child lived on the reservation, regardless of how much or how little Native American DNA the child has, and even regardless of the child’s biological parents’ wishes.

Now, because of this, The Fosters, by the advice of the social worker, would regularly take Tony to powwows and other Native American cultural events, sometimes even traveling long distances to attend them. The social worker had told the couple that they would stand a better chance of being approved for adopting Tony if they showed his tribe’s court system, the Crow Nation, that they would keep in touch with his roots and culture. And it was great for Tony to attend these events as well, as he was said to really love the dancing and drumming.

Now, even though The Fosters loved Tony unconditionally, he could be hard to manage at times. Due to his fetal alcohol syndrome, Tony could be a handful. When he would act out, though, his foster parents would just tightly hold him until he calmed down again. He would then go on like nothing had happened. The Fosters did not believe in spanking or any other kind of violent punishment. Things seemed to be going well with Tony in The Fosters’ home; even their extended family loved him.

But in 2018, The Fosters would discover that the Crow tribal court was moving to have Tony placed back with his biological parents and removed from their home. And due to the fact that The Fosters were not tribal members, they received very little judicial process. They were not granted an appearance before the judge and had to conduct any correspondence through a tribal social worker. Regardless of all their efforts and love for Tony, however, The Fosters were told that they were not going to be able to keep him.

The tribal judge had said, and this is a quote, “I’ll be damned if I’m the first Crow judge to let a white couple adopt a Crow child.” And this part really blows my mind and aggravates the hell out of me. Why is that okay? Why? She signed his death sentence.

So on this judge’s order, Tony was introduced to his biological parents whom he had never met before. It’s unclear what Tony thought of this, though The Fosters were the only parents that he had ever known. He had been with them since he was 3 days old; that was his mom and dad. And the reason that Tony was being returned to his biological parents now was because they had been recently released from jail. However, Stephanie and Emilio did have to complete a probationary period first. They both had to get jobs and a stable place to live before Tony could be returned to them.

Time with Tony for them started off with a couple of supervised visits where a social worker was present to make sure that nothing happened, like they didn’t take off running with him. These supervised visits then developed into non-supervised visits as well as overnights. So sadly, despite their attempts to adopt Tony, it was soon made clear that Tony would be leaving The Fosters’ home.

And one of the last trips that The Fosters would share with Tony was a vacation to Disney World in February of 2019. The entire family attended, and they spoiled him, knowing that this would probably be the only time that he ever got to go to Disney World, and they wanted him to remember it.

On the day that Christy and Jeff dropped off Tony with his biological parents for the last time in March of 2019, they told him, “If they start hurting you, tell somebody. Tell an adult, they can help you.” The Fosters were both heartbroken and fearful that something would happen to Tony while he was in the care of his biological parents, especially given the interaction that they had had with them just days prior.

The Fosters had told Stephanie and Emilio that they were going to bring Tony’s stuff with him, his bed and his toys, but Stephanie and Emilio told them, “Don’t bring his bed, we don’t have any room for it. Don’t bring his toys, we don’t have any room for those either.” So in his new home, Tony did not have a bed, he didn’t have his toys, he didn’t have a room. He was sleeping on the floor. How is this okay, just because his parents are Native American and living on a reservation?

And while at The Fosters, Tony also had a little tablet of his own. Of course, he was not allowed to bring this with him to his biological parents’ house because he could make phone calls and send emails from it. Instead, The Fosters bought Tony a tiny book, and inside one of the pages, they placed their phone number, an address, and a little note that said, “Mommy loves you.”

Now, Stephanie and Emilio made all kinds of promises to The Fosters, including that they could be Tony’s godparents, that they would be able to go and visit him anytime they liked, that they would be able to take him for weekends as well as vacations on occasion. But as soon as the biological parents got back custody of Tony, they barely even let him call Christy and Jeff on the phone. At first, The Fosters had been allowed to do video calls with Tony, but then that went away, and things went even further downhill from there.

During one rare telephone call with the then four-year-old, Tony was on the phone crying, and Christy could hear Stephanie in the background shouting, “She’s not your mommy, I am!” The Fosters had become increasingly frustrated and disappointed with their attempts to keep in contact with Tony, so when Christy was offered a better job in Nashville, The Fosters decided to move. And even so, Christy still kept in touch with the social worker and told the social worker that if anything at all happened, they would love to take Tony back into their home. But to make things even worse, the social worker broke it to The Fosters that even if Tony’s biological parents were unable to care for him, they would not be able to have him back either; he would just go back into the foster system.

Then in June of 2019, only 3 months after Tony had been placed back with his biological parents, they would take him to Benefis Emergency Room for bruising on his face. The doctor there would describe him as having “sad eyes.” At the time of this visit, emergency department staff also noticed that Tony’s then 2-year-old sibling had pretty much no teeth, as they had all decayed away, and his one-year-old sibling had extremely rotten teeth as well. And all three children were said to be very unclean.

Due to all of this, the doctor had called Child Protective Services. However, by the time they arrived, the family had already left the hospital. They then tried to locate the family but were unable to, so they closed the case. However, they didn’t try very hard, or really at all, because at the time both Stephanie and Emilio were on probation, so they would have had their address as well as their telephone numbers.

Then on November 20th at 9:07 a.m., Stephanie made a call to 911 saying that her son Tony was lying on the floor unresponsive. As first responders were sent to the scene, a 911 dispatcher talked Stephanie through doing CPR, but she reportedly told the dispatcher that there was blood coming out of Tony’s mouth, and she freaked out.

When Great Falls police officers arrived at the apartment building where Tony and his family lived near Valley View Elementary, they found the little boy laying on the floor in his bedroom, and he was unresponsive as well as bleeding from his nose and his mouth. And when the paramedics arrived shortly after, they gave Tony CPR, but he was still unresponsive, and he would then be pronounced dead at the scene.

First responders at the scene noted that Stephanie would be very upset for a little while, and then she would calm down completely. And Emilio did not seem very upset at all, not reacting at all the way a parent should after such a tragedy. Originally, the police believed that there was brain matter found on Tony’s clothing; however, they later discovered that it was some sort of glue that had previously been used to close up some sort of laceration to his head. This injury was about the size of a silver dollar.

Tony was also covered in bruises, and his legs appeared abnormal and possibly broken. He was also very thin and malnourished. Tony had gone to the doctors in February of 2019 when he was still at the foster home, and at that time he was a healthy 44 lbs. However, when he was found dead, he was a mere 31 lbs. Tony had been starved and beaten to death; it was no accident.

When police officers looked through the apartment after Tony’s passing, they discovered smeared blood on the inside as well as the ledge of the bathtub. Along with Stephanie and Emilio, two other adults had been in the apartment the night prior: Rasco Birdtail and Tiana Small.

One police officer who had arrived to the scene spotted Rasco carrying a trash bag out of the apartment into the dumpster. Upon inspection of the trash bag, the officer found a bloody rag with gory stuff on it. Alcoholic beverage containers and clothing were also found. When questioned about bringing this trash out, Rasco would tell police that he had cleaned up the apartment because he did not want it to appear dirty when the police arrived—like they give a [__].

The other visitor from the previous night, Tiana Small, also spoke with police. She reported that the night prior, the group had drank several cases of beer and Twisted Tea. She said at one point, Tony had gotten out of bed and he had gotten in trouble for this. As punishment, Stephanie and Emilio took the little boy into the bathroom. There they gave him a cold shower. Emilio stayed in there with Tony, and Stephanie would come out to call her sister.

And then apparently Rasco went into the bathroom with Emilio, because Tiana says that she then heard Emilio and Rasco beating the child, with Rasco egging Emilio on and calling Tony terrible names. Tiana then told police that she later needed to use the bathroom, and Emilio told her that Tony was still in there. When she went in, at first she didn’t see Tony; she just noticed that the shower was still running and there was no steam, meaning that it was still cold water. Tiana then saw Tony, who looked very sad, as she said, and was holding very large, heavy bottles over his head as punishment. Tiana also told police that this was a punishment that Stephanie would often use on the little boy, and she would record it for her own sick pleasure or something.

At one point during the night, Tiana and Stephanie would leave the apartment to go visit a friend, and it was then that Stephanie told her that she was worried and stressed out because she was not supposed to have Tony and Child Protective Services was looking for him, which was not true.

Emilio Renova, Stephanie Byington, and Rasco Birdtail were all arrested and charged in connection with Tony’s death. All three were then each held on a $500,000 bond at the Cascade County Detention Center. Tony’s siblings were placed with Child Protective Services.

Rasco Birdtail was charged with deliberate homicide and tampering with evidence. Stephanie was charged with deliberate homicide, assault on a minor, criminal child endangerment, and endangering the welfare of a child. Emilio was charged with deliberate homicide, criminal child endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child, and assault on a minor. He also then later faced two more charges of assault on a minor after videos were found on his phone. In these videos, Emilio and Stephanie can be seen abusing Tony for wetting his pants. In one of them, you can see Tony being taken to the bathroom and hit over and over again, even after he’s already on the floor.

When Emilio was interviewed by police, he admitted that he had been drinking the night prior, and when he had woke up that morning, he had gone outside to smoke a cigarette. Shortly after, his wife Stephanie came outside to tell him that their son Tony was not breathing. He claimed ignorance as to why Tony had any injuries or to his cause of death. And while Emilio admitted that he was the last person to touch Tony, when police questioned him further on this, he got agitated and began swearing at them.

There were also discrepancies in Emilio’s statements to police. There was blood found on his pants that he insisted was nail polish, but he also said he did not touch his son or assist in the CPR after he had been found unresponsive, so there would be no reason why he would have blood on his clothes. Emilio also appeared to have blood on his face and lip when police arrived that he had been trying to wipe off. In addition to that, the injuries that occurred on Tony’s body could not have happened in such a short period of time while he was outside smoking a cigarette.

When police spoke with Stephanie, she told them that she had heard Emilio and Rasco beating Tony. She said that she also knew that Emilio had used glue on one of Tony’s wounds. Stephanie also reported to them that a few weeks prior, Emilio had actually kicked his son into an object, injuring him. She also admitted that she and Emilio had, on previous occasions, beat Tony with belts and electrical cords.

So one of Emilio’s attorneys would ask for a 60-year sentence for his client with 20 of those being suspended. He said that Emilio had been classified as uncaring and unemotional; however, there had been times after Tony’s death that he had been visibly upset. He said that his client could not fathom how he had woken up to Tony not breathing and dead. Really? This same attorney also said that Stephanie had never made up any excuses for her involvement in the crime, and she had been in an abusive relationship with Emilio that inhibited her ability to stand up to him.

In February of 2021, Rasco Birdtail would plead guilty to charges of assault of a minor by accountability and tampering with evidence. The deliberate homicide charge had been dropped after there was no evidence or any DNA evidence found on Tony’s body suggesting that Rasco had killed the little boy; he had been egging on Emilio instead. Rasco had no criminal history up to this point; however, after Tony’s death, he had been accused of strangling a family member as well as aggravated burglary.

However, in relation to Tony’s murder, he was sentenced on one count to 5 years at the Montana State Prison and on the other count 10 years. These sentences are to run consecutively, and he will at one point be eligible for parole. In court, Rasco would apologize for not doing anything the night of Tony’s murder; however, he said that he was worried that Emilio would go after his family if he did. Right, that’s why you were also actively encouraging it too, huh?

Around the same time that Rasco took his plea deal, Stephanie also took a plea deal. Her plea agreement amended the initial deliberate homicide charge to accountability to deliberate homicide, assault on a minor, criminal child endangerment, and endangering the welfare of a child. In addition, she was also to testify against her husband at trial. The judge gave Stephanie Byington 100 years with no chance of parole for 30 years on the charge of homicide. On account of criminal child endangerment, she received 10 years, which are to run consecutively.

And Emilio Renova was scheduled to go to trial as well; however, he also decided to take a plea deal. In his plea agreement, he was allowed to plead no contest, and in return, the state agreed to not make a sentencing recommendation; it was completely left up to the judge. And in court, Emilio would say, “I know everyone thinks I’m a monster or whatever, but I did love Tony. I miss him every day. I don’t care what anybody says, he’s my baby.” Emilio said that Tony’s death has ruined their family and his whole life. Yeah, that’s what happens when you kill a child. What did you expect?

Emilio would also end up receiving 100 years in prison with no chance of parole. During their sentencing hearing, the judge would say that despite the trauma that the defendants had been through in their lives, nothing can excuse the crime against Tony. The two most responsible for his murder were his parents. The judge said, instead of nurturing him, they tortured, battered, degraded, and starved him as part of a pattern of abuse leading up to his death, and only the heaviest punishment was appropriate for them.

The judge also said that Rasco did more than just ignore it or walk away; he instead encouraged it and tried to protect the murderers.

Tony’s aunt and grandfather spoke to the court asking that both Emilio and Rasco receive the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole. And Quincy Bad Moccasin Sr., Stephanie’s father, also addressed Emilio and Rasco. He said, “What kind of person beats a child? What kind of monster could do what Emilio did to baby Tony?” Bad Moccasin said he’s also hoping that Emilio is given prison justice for his crime, and in his mind, Rasco is just as guilty of Tony’s murder as Emilio is. However, he had nothing to say about his daughter Stephanie, who admitted to beating Tony on a few occasions.

On November 24th, 2019, a candlelight memorial vigil was planned outside the apartment building in Great Falls where Tony’s body was found. People stopped by to drop off flowers, toys, cards, and hold candles. They also collected donations for Toby’s House Crisis Nursery in memory of Tony.

And sadly, Christy and Jeff Foster only learned of Tony’s death a few months after it happened. Somebody who lived in Montana and was a friend of Christy and Jeff’s had seen it on the local news and recognized the name and called them to tell them. The Fosters no longer held any legal privileges for information about Tony. No official involved with the investigation called them, no caring social worker reached out to them.

And a final wish of The Fosters was that they could claim Tony’s body. Since his parents were in jail and guilty of murdering him, The Fosters wanted to bury Tony in Tennessee, giving him a proper service and being able to visit the little boy anytime they wanted. However, Tony’s biological family was instead given custody of his remains, and a funeral was held on November 26th, 2019, at the Lodge Grass Cemetery in Lodge Grass, Montana.

Well, thank you for listening to all of Tony’s story today. I am appalled at the fact that this judge gave Tony back to his biological parents solely based on the fact that they were Native American and belonged to that tribe. His foster parents adored him. They had had this little boy since birth; that was their child. And they weren’t trying to keep him from any of his culture; they were actively bringing him to powwows and other events. It makes no sense, and it’s not only unfair to The Fosters, but it’s extremely unfair to Tony, who knew nobody else as his mom and dad but them.