She Heard Him Ask His Dad “Why Are You Hurting Me?” The Story of Noah McIntosh
They lived in a luxury apartment complex in Southern California. It was a safe and quiet complex, and not much happened there. So it was a huge surprise when one day the police showed up, and along with them was the SWAT team. They were gathered outside of apartment 2011 with their weapons drawn when finally out came walking a man along with his young daughter.
So, the case that I have for you today is one about a little boy who lived in the same area as Gabriel Fernandez, Noah Cuatro, and Anthony Avalos. This little boy was failed by his parents as well as Child Protective Services, just like the other children were. This is the story of Noah McIntosh.
Noah Thomas McIntosh was born on March 31st, 2010, to his parents Bryce McIntosh and Jillian Godfrey. When he was born, it was discovered that Noah had a birth defect called bladder exstrophy, which resulted in his bladder being on the outside of his body. While the condition was surgically corrected, it did affect Noah’s ability to control his bladder. Since the time he was born, Noah lived in Anaheim, California, with his grandparents, Douglas and Maggie Godfrey, along with his older sister, Chloe. And why the children were living with their grandparents, I was unable to find, but given the story, there’s probably a good reason.
Growing up, Noah was described as a happy child who wanted everyone around him to feel the same way. He was a third-grade student at Todd Academy in Corona, California. Most of his neighbors recalled seeing him walk his dog around the apartment complex, and Noah was known to wait by the complex’s gate each day to make sure he wished everyone a good morning.
So when Noah was about 7 years old and Chloe was around 9, they moved out of their grandparents’ house at the request of their mother, Jillian. Jillian wanted the children to live with their father, Bryce. So when Noah and Chloe moved out of their grandparents’ house, they went to live with their father at the luxury Encanto Apartments in Corona, California. Now, rent at this apartment complex for a two-bedroom starts at $2,800 a month and goes up to $3,100 a month, so it’s a pretty nice place. At this time, Bryce worked for American Medical Response as an emergency medical technician. So while the children lived in the apartment with Bryce, it was said that Jillian was living outside the complex in her car. Even though she lived in her car, Jillian was still sure to see her children every Tuesday in Bryce’s home.
Both Noah and his sister faced constant abuse, but Noah was the main target for Bryce’s anger, as Bryce believed that Noah was just being lazy in regards to his bathroom habits. Bryce didn’t believe that he had a problem anymore; he thought he had just outgrown it and he was being lazy. At this point, since Bryce refused to believe that his son was still suffering with medical problems, he thought that it was appropriate to punish him not only physically but psychologically as well for his incontinence. Honestly, this guy gives me serious Adam Montgomery vibes. He kind of looks like him in my opinion, and he’s getting pissed off at his kid because he’s having accidents. There’s a lot of parents apparently that I talk about that do that exact same thing, but I don’t know, this guy just reminds me of Harmony Montgomery’s dad, Adam, and I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.
The Department of Public Social Services started receiving reports that Noah was being abused back in 2013. At the time, Noah’s body showed numerous bruises, including an adult-sized handprint on his buttocks and a black eye. Both Bryce and Jillian were investigated twice in regards to these claims; however, the case was closed in October of 2013 after they said that the reports of abuse were unfounded. And since they were living with their grandparents during this time, I’m guessing that it was during visitations with Mom and Dad that Noah was getting these bruises.
So by August of 2017, Social Services had received over 10 reports of Bryce being abusive towards the children and Jillian failing to protect them from Bryce. And on at least one occasion, a social service worker acknowledged that Bryce had caused Noah serious physical harm, but nothing was done.
Another time, Noah had told a police officer and a social worker that one time Bryce had zip-tied his ankles and wrists, blindfolded him, and then put him into freezing cold water for a long period of time all because he had soiled his pants—something he couldn’t help, keep in mind. You know that, though Bryce didn’t. He also told officers that he had been handcuffed in a bathtub full of freezing cold water before. And he also recalled one time that Bryce force-fed him a bunch of laxatives, and then when the poor little boy soiled his pants, he made him sit in it for the entire day. And then after that, Bryce made him clean it up himself. Now, Bryce would later admit to this, but he said he was just teaching Noah how to properly use the toilet.
On August 24th, 2017, a social worker and a police officer from the Corona Police Department tried to make contact with Bryce in regard to these claims. However, he was unreachable via phone, and he refused to open the door to police officers when they went to his apartment. The following day, a police officer went to Bryce’s apartment again to conduct a safety inspection; however, once again, Bryce would not open the door. Three days later, a social worker was able to finally complete the safety assessment, and this was one of the times that they had noted that the caregiver had caused serious harm to Noah, but he was “safe.” Like, what the hell does that even mean? How the hell is he safe?
This case would officially be closed on September 6th of 2017. But just a few months later, in November, there was another report received of Bryce abusing Noah. This time it was psychological abuse. Bryce forced Noah to go to school in just a T-shirt and a diaper. Of course, Bryce would say that this was in an attempt to teach him how to use the toilet better, but all he was doing was humiliating the poor little boy. When the school called Bryce about this, he told them that Noah had clothes in his backpack. The clothes he was speaking of were pink girl shorts and a butterfly sweatshirt, so of course, the poor little boy was being teased. In an attempt to quell the teasing, the teachers decided to buy Noah some clothes from Target that day.
And there were numerous other calls made in that same month, November of 2017, to Social Services saying that Noah’s parents were again abusing him. But after multiple attempts by Social Service workers and police officers, neither one of Noah’s parents would speak with them. And as a result, on December 17th, 2017, the investigation was closed, citing the reason as “parents refuse to cooperate.” Of course parents who are hurting their kids aren’t going to want to cooperate! That shouldn’t even be an option, and I don’t understand why they’re acting like they have no legal way to make these parents cooperate.
Between August 2017 and March 2019, all but two reports were closed with the reason stating unfounded or inconclusive. The two allegations that had not been closed were marked as substantiated in March of 2019, but since the investigating social worker was ultimately unable to substantiate the accusations of abuse, Noah was unable to be removed from the home. And only a week later, he would go missing.
In early March 2019, Noah’s sister Chloe, who was 11 at the time, was staying with her paternal grandfather, Steven McIntosh. Now, when Steven went to drop her back off at home on March 10th with her father, he noticed that Noah was nowhere to be seen. He asked Bryce about this, and Bryce told him that Noah was missing. He asked Bryce, “Well, did you report him as missing?” and Bryce said no. And Steven had just spoken to Bryce 5 days prior, and Bryce told him that both he and Noah were in bed suffering from food poisoning. And even though Steven McIntosh now knew that his grandson was missing, he made zero attempts to reach out to authorities.
Then on March 12th, 2019, Jillian reached out to Social Services and requested that a welfare check be done on her son because, remember, she was living in the car at the time. And she only called after Bryce’s sister had urged her to call and report her own son as missing. Jillian said that she hadn’t seen Noah since March 4th when she had dropped him off at Bryce’s apartment. On March 8th, Bryce told her that Noah was missing, but he would handle it himself. Officers were dispatched to check on Noah; however, once again, Bryce refused to open the door for them. So they made plans to return the next day with backup.
At 8:00 a.m. on March 13th, the Corona Police Department’s Special Response Team returned to Bryce’s apartment to execute a search warrant on the unit and on Bryce’s vehicle. They brought with them the SWAT team, as they believed that Bryce would possibly be in possession of weapons and he was also in an unknown mindset. This resulted in a standoff until Bryce finally came out of the apartment with his daughter. The only words he spoke were, “I want a lawyer.” And Noah was nowhere to be seen.
Bryce was placed under arrest that same day, and Jillian was later arrested. They were both charged by the district attorney with willful child cruelty, to which they both pled not guilty. Of course, do they ever plead anything else right off the bat? No. They were both held at the Robert Presley Detention Center, and neither one of them had any previous arrest records.
The authorities seized Bryce’s electronic devices, including his computer and cell phone. Police also found handcuffs, zip ties, purple latex gloves, and yellow-stained towels. They also found a manual for a Ninja brand blender but were unable to find the appliance in the house. Upon receiving the electronic devices, the FBI conducted a thorough analysis of Bryce’s online search history. On the computer, they found that he had searched: “what exactly is sulfuric acid,” “what does sulfuric acid do to aluminum,” “what kind of plastic can stand muriatic acid,” “can you buy sulfuric acid,” and “Clean Shot drain opener.” Sulfuric acid searches in his cell phone revealed searches for: “normal heart rate for an 8-year-old,” “what is the normal heart rate for an 8-year-old when they are running,” “how sodium hydroxide works,” and “sodium hydroxide to water.”
Once under questioning, Jillian changed her story and said that she had lied about when she had last seen Noah. She said that it was actually March 2nd that she had last seen him, and she claimed that from March 1st to the 3rd, she was actually living in Bryce’s apartment. Apparently, on March 2nd, Bryce had taken Noah into the bathroom at the apartment, and Jillian remembers hearing Noah asking his father why he was hurting him. But did she do anything? Nope. To her recollection, she never remembers seeing Noah after that. And when she left on March 3rd, she said that Bryce was also leaving, and he said he had to make a trip to Home Depot for some supplies.
Upon this admission, investigators went to review the surveillance footage from the Home Depot that Bryce had visited. Upon reviewing the surveillance footage, investigators were able to confirm that Bryce had purchased multiple items of interest in the days surrounding Noah’s disappearance. He had purchased two long-cuffed gloves, 24-inch bolt cutters, muriatic acid, and a 128-ounce bottle of drain opener. He had then headed to the nearby Lowe’s Home Improvement and bought a 32-gallon Brute trash can and a 32-ounce bottle of sulfuric acid drain opener before finally heading on to Target to get some more drain cleaner.
When Jillian’s cell phone was taken into evidence, it was discovered that she had made notes on her cell phone about his abuse. Some of the documented examples include: Noah being placed in hot water, Noah being placed in freezing cold water for around 2 and a half hours, him being placed in a bathtub for over 6 hours with freezing cold water, and him being left in the bathroom with his feet tied up.
When investigators spoke with Noah’s sister while she was in the care of Child Protective Services, she said that she knew Noah was missing because her father had told her so. She also shared that Noah’s abuse often involved freezing cold water and handcuffs. She had also once helped Bryce to hold Noah’s legs underwater.
The local police teamed up with county, state, and federal law enforcement in order to search for Noah. Areas of interest searched by investigators included Lee Lake and the surrounding hills near the 15 Freeway, as well as the city of Murrieta. Data from Bryce’s cell phone revealed that on March 4th, 2019, he had made a trip to Squaw Mountain Road in Temescal Valley around 9:27 p.m. A day later, his cell phone had pinged on Wilson Valley Road in Aguanga, which is a remote and unincorporated area that’s more than 50 miles away from his apartment. It had pinged between 9:29 p.m. and 9:50 p.m.
The resulting pings led investigators to search Aguanga on March 16th where, with the help of the K9 unit, they discovered a trash can matching the one purchased with traces of human blood on the inside. There was also homework with “Noah M” written on it, numerous purple latex gloves, a single blue long-cuffed glove, parts of a Ninja blender, numerous blankets and yellow towels, a plastic bag with human blood residue on it, and empty drain cleaner bottles. Then, when Squaw Mountain Road was searched, investigators found even more items of interest. Another purple latex glove was found, a soiled yellow towel, used cleaning wipes, and a wooden spoon handle. Then, when the police searched Bryce’s BMW, they also found another purple latex glove in there.
On March 18th, 2019, investigators visited the McIntosh apartment along with the FBI, a forensic team, and a plumber. The plumber brought with him camera equipment and is said to have removed the P-traps from the apartment’s bathtubs, bathroom sinks, and the kitchen sink. When the plumber analyzed the P-traps, he found that the ones removed from the bathtubs appeared cleaner than the others, considering the age of the apartment. Along with searching the drains, investigators also searched the apartment’s garage unit, and they were observed removing several boxes of evidence. And while they wouldn’t tell exactly what the items that had been removed were, observers said that they looked large and bulky and were wrapped in a blue tarp.
Bryce was charged with first-degree murder with a special circumstance of torture on March 28th, 2019. For this charge, he could either receive a life sentence without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty. Investigators shared that they had found trace evidence that left them with no doubt that Noah had been the victim of a homicide, and they accused Bryce of trying to conceal the evidence through the use of acid and other products. Given the charge, the case moved from a missing child investigation to a “no-body” homicide. And in April of 2019, Bryce pled not guilty to both the murder and child abuse charges.
A year before his grandson had gone missing, Douglas had said that he contacted Child Protective Services. He was in fear that Noah was being abused by Bryce, which was something that Noah later confirmed to him. He said that Bryce was definitely responsible for the murder; he had a violent temper and was known to be very aggressive in the past. And Noah’s grandfather said had they been given the chance, he and Noah’s grandmother would have taken him back in a heartbeat.
In October of 2019, a civil attorney filed a claim against Riverside County on behalf of Noah and his sister. It alleged that the county’s Department of Public Social Services had dropped the ball when it came to Noah’s case. They had failed to take action regarding the numerous claims about Noah and his sister facing abuse. The claim says that the social workers violated their duty to protect the two from abuse, which in turn violated the children’s civil rights. They’re currently seeking an undisclosed amount in regards to Noah’s death.
In December of 2019, Jillian took a plea deal and pled guilty to two counts of child endangerment, and she was released from prison on personal recognizance. Bryce, however, is still awaiting his trial. Noah’s body has yet to be found, but investigators believe that he was murdered sometime between March 3rd and March 4th of 2019. They say a possible motive has been determined, but they have not yet released it since the case is still ongoing.
Towards the end of March 2019, the residents of Riverside County held a candlelight vigil for Noah and hung blue ribbons around the county, which symbolized awareness for child abuse. The vigil was held at Spyglass Park, and local community members and city officials were in attendance. Noah’s maternal grandparents also held a memorial for him out of state for those within the family, and they’ve also shared that there will be no closure for them until Noah’s body is found.
Well, thank you for listening to all of Noah’s story today. Noah’s mother completely failed to protect him and his sister from their violent father. She knew what kind of man he was but still let her children stay in this dangerous environment. I absolutely think that she knows more about Noah’s disappearance than she’s leading on, and it makes me wonder if she knows where Noah’s body is as well. Social Services made clear observations that the children were in a dangerous environment, and they did nothing to remove them. Everyone involved should be held accountable; things need to change. There have been way too many children, especially in this area of California, who have lost their lives because not only their parents but Social Services—the service designed to protect them—let them down.
