We’ve said it before: when the institutions built to protect us fail, it falls on community, persistence, and truth-telling to fill the gap.
In August 2024, 12-year-old Zohe Pierce disappeared in what should have been an open-and-shut parental kidnapping case. A court order was in place. A child was at risk. And yet, the Michigan State Police (MSP) Wayland Post Troopers Cody Tucker and Eric Desch shrugged it off as a “civil matter.”
The Failure of Law Enforcement
According to the father, Eric Pierce, he repeatedly begged MSP for help. He told them his daughter’s mother had relapsed, had threatened to flee the country, and had already cut Zohe off from critical medication. He provided court orders. He asked for welfare checks. Each time, he was met with excuses, delays, and outright refusals.
The press release and statement make it painfully clear: MSP troopers including Sgt. Eric Desch, a familiar face here at Clutch for painful incompetence, dragged their feet, dismissed evidence, and ignored Michigan law. Desch even told the father that parental kidnapping charges couldn’t apply because the mother still “had rights.”
That’s not what the statute says.
While law enforcement stalled, Zohe remained in danger.
Clutch Justice Steps In
When mainstream institutions stall, citizen power matters.
The Clutch Justice team refused to let Zohe’s story fade into bureaucratic limbo. We published her father’s plea, shared images, and circulated critical details that MSP either buried or ignored.
One picture provided to the team in particular, a simple photo of a house tied to Zohe’s abduction, cracked the silence.
Clutch Justice Research Team members, advocates, and community members connected the dots. The house photo helped pinpoint the location where Zohe was being kept and generated tips on her whereabouts.
Information that law enforcement and the courts could have, and should have, tracked down days earlier. Allegan County Courts had not kept up on records and had old addresses on file, making the search harder.
What police failed to do with badges and databases, our readers and researchers did with open-source investigation and persistence.
A Familiar Pattern of Neglect
This isn’t the first time MSP has looked away when accountability mattered. And it isn’t the first time Trooper Eric Desch’s name has surfaced in our reporting. From FOIA stonewalling to outright negligence, Desch has become a repeat character in Clutch Justice investigations, one of those “frequent fliers” of failure.
Just as Judge Margaret Bakker has made a career of mishandling FOIA cases, and former prosecutor Myrene Koch let a drunk man dictate what counts as child abuse, MSP’s handling of Zohe’s case is part of a larger ecosystem: institutions designed to protect families instead leave them in harm’s way.
Why This Matters
Clutch Justice is not the police (thank goodness). We don’t have sirens, search warrants, or sworn authority.
What we do have is community, persistence, common sense, and a refusal to look away.
And when a missing girl’s safety depended on it, that was enough to outdo the Michigan State Police.
Zohe’s case should be a turning point. If law enforcement can’t enforce clear statutes, honor signed court orders, or act when a child is missing and endangered, then it’s left to citizens and independent watchdogs to step in.
At Clutch Justice, we shouldn’t have to do the work of the State Police, but as long as they continue to fail, we will.
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