FlutterbyeWings

When Amaya was taken to the hospital last year by her aunt who suspected that the toddler had been abused, hospital personnel could not verify any sexual abuse but there were other signs that she was not being properly cared for.  Despite their concerns, Alice Watson, Amaya’s grandmother, continue to care for the child.  After the three year-old died of an overdose of her Watson’s powerful painkiller, questions have arisen as to why Wisconsin Department of Children and Families didn’t act on the police report.

The state reopened a review of the Walker case in May after learning of police reports that say a detective warned Human Services in September 2007 that Amaya’s home situation appeared “transitory and risky” and asked for greater oversight of the child. The warnings came after a report of possible sexual assault of the child, which could not be proven.

The police reports also expressed concerns that Walker was allowing the alleged abuser — a man who had a history of physical abuse of a child — to stay at her mother’s home, where Walker and Amaya also stayed, in violation of his probation rules.

But Human Services released a statement Thursday saying, “Our records indicate no receipt of any subsequent written or verbal reports or referrals from the Madison Police” after the agency faxed police a copy of its intake report on the alleged abuse on Aug. 22, 2007.

Capt. Cameron McLay of the Madison Police Department said he believes the detective’s reports were sent to Human Services, but added, “I believe Human Services did nothing wrong.”

Monroe-Kane said the information provided to Human Services on Aug. 16, 2007 “constitutes a report of alleged abuse or neglect of a child that should have been screened in by the agency” for further investigation.

While Human Services was correct to refer the matter to police, Kane said, “This does not, however, replace action on the part of (Human Services).”

In its statement, Human Services said, “Because there was no medical evidence of sexual abuse, the allegation was not substantiated. Given the medical conclusion the Department did not believe there was a basis for a finding of maltreatment.”

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This finding was despite the fact that Walker sometimes co-habitated with a man who had a history of abusing children.  Records showed that Amaya and her grandmother did not have a cotinual residence but stayed with two different relatives as well as a homeless shelter.  It was at the shelter that the child was observed lifeless in the arms of her grandmother who reported that she was taking her to the hospital.  Instead, however, she took Amaya to her own mother’s house before calling 911.

Amaya had been living with Walker, 39, after her mother was sent to prison for forgery.  Walker had a history of abusing prescription drugs and admitted that both the oxycondone and Valium which were found in Amaya’s system were hers.  She had a valid prescription for the oxycodone, a painkiller, but had obtained the Valium illegally.  Residents at the YMCA where she was staying reported that she had been high the day before Amaya’s death.  She also complained that she was incapable of taking care of the girl.

Erika Monroe-Kane, spokeswoman for the state agency, said Thursday the county has “demonstrated a willingness to closely examine their practice and make necessary improvements.”

Too bad the agency didn’t demonstrate a willingness to closely examine the circumstances surrounding the care of Amaya before she died.

Eight days prior to the beating death of Cesar, Jose Maurice Castenada, 24, memorialized his brutal handiwork by videotaping the evidence of the torture that the twenty-eight  month-old had endured.

When the toddler died, he had 304 injuries on his 34-inch-long body that included bruises from head to toe, lacerations to his liver and penis, and pattern loop marks from the yellow cord the defendant allegedly used to torture him, prosecutor Keith Watanabe said outside court.

“In the video, the child is standing nude and emaciated,” Watanabe said. “He looked liked a war crimes survivor.”

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In the trial, Castenada’s lawyer tried to blame Cesar’s mother, Maria Razo, for his death.  Testimony from Dulce Razo, Cesar’s older sister, described the torture to which both she and her brother were subjected by his mother’s boyfriend.

The girl testified at a hearing more than three years ago that Castenada and her mother used hangars, cable wire and belts to beat her and her brother.

Razo, who had previously plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter in Cesar’s death, also testified against her boyfriend corroborating her daughter’s testimony. The last beating was said to have began when Cesar cried out from the closet where he was forced to sleep awakening Castenada from a nap.  Court records indicate that her son called out to her during the final beating, but she did not come to his aid continuing, instead, to braid Dulce’s hair.

Autopsy results revealed that Cesar had a torn liver and a fractured skull and those injuries caused his death.

The jury has not only found Castenada  guilty of first degree murder in the death of Cesar but also of abuse against Dulce.  They are currently deadlocked over whether he will receive a death sentence of life imprisonment.  If the deadlock is not resolved, a mistrial will be declared and prosecutors will have to decide whether to retrial the Guatamalan illegal immigrant.

Prosecutor Lucy Weismantel described Castenada as having a Jekyll and Hyde personality.

“When things don’t go his way he turns to evil,” Weismantel said.

“This man enjoyed torturing this little boy and was fixated on him,” Weismantel said.

Like the Robert Lewis Stevenson dual personality character, justice for his crimes will only come with his swift, sure death.

When fifteen month-old Ava developed a cough, her parents didn’t take her to the doctor, but instead called on their faith to heal the toddler.  Within a few days, a doctor was called, but not to treat the child but to sign her death certificate.

In the first detailed public accounting of the night Ava Worthington died, deputy medical examiner Jeffrey Mayer described arriving at the Worthington home to find as many as 200 fellow church members and sacraments from a faith-healing session.

The house was jammed, with relatives and other members of the Followers of Christ church lining the hallway to the master bedroom. The body of 15-month-old Ava rested on her parents’ bed.

“It was standing room only,” said Mayer, testifying Tuesday in Clackamas County Circuit Court as the first witness in the trial of Ava’s parents, Raylene and Carl Brent Worthington. The couple are charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminal neglect for failing to provide their daughter with adequate medical care.

Mayer, who works for Clackamas County, was the first investigator to arrive March 2, 2008, the night Ava died. The Worthingtons and others filed out of the bedroom as he entered.

Ava, dressed in pajamas, lay on the bed on her right side. Her head was resting on a pillow. Next to the bed was a tray that held a bowl of Cheerios, a bottle of olive oil and a baby bottle with red liquid. Mayer suspected it was wine, which church members often used as a sacrament during sessions of spiritual healing.

Ava’s face was shiny, likely from being anointed with oil, Mayer said.

He immediately noticed a large discolored growth, “approximately the size of a baseball,” on the right side of her neck. The child also appeared to be malnourished, with her ribs protruding, he said.

Prosecutors displayed a photo for jurors that showed a swollen area from the girl’s ear to her collarbone.

“I had never seen anything like that,” said Mayer, who has investigated more than 1,000 deaths, including 40 or 50 involving children.

Mayer is often the first person called when a church member dies.

“I always respond to Followers of Christ deaths because they don’t have a primary care physician involved in their life,” he said. State law requires a doctor to sign a death certificate, a service the doctors Mayer works with can provide.

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Mayer’s testimony was part of the evidence presented in the trial of  Ava’s parents, Carl and Raylene Worthington.  They faced charges of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment of the toddler.  They contended that prayer for their daughter was guaranteed to them under the Constitution and that their prosecution was a vindictive act by the prosecution.  Another case involving other relatives and members of their church for Ava’s death as well as the death of another child is awaiting trial.

Ava’s death could have easily been avoided had only simple medical treatment been sought.  The Worthington’s right to their religious beliefs is guaranteed but only to the point where it doesn’t interfere with the safety of others.  Their daughter should not have been a sacrifice to the test of their faith.

According to his obituary, Nicholas loved to be outside, play in the sandbox, and be with his brother and sisters.  Sadly, his time to play was cut short after being beaten to death by his stepfather.

Tylar Hokanson, 22, is accused of abusing the child multiple times up until his death on June 23. An autopsy by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office found that the toddler, Nicholas Miller, had recent injuries to his brain and body, as well as old injuries that were in various stages of healing, said Dave Bellows, chief deputy for the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office.

Bellows said an investigation found that the boy’s injuries occurred in southern Dakota County and that he then had been taken to Durand in Pierce County, Wis., where he died.

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Although Nicholas’s death was initially thought to be due to natural causes, autopsy results revealed not only recent trauma but previous abuse as well.   Hoskanson has been charged with second degree murder in connection with Nicholas’s death.

Details regarding the boy’s abuse and death came from Hokanson’s own daughter.

On Saturday, Dakota County sheriff’s investigators interviewed relatives of the boy, as well as Hokanson. Among those with whom they spoke was Hokanson’s 6-year-old daughter, relatives said.

Before Nicholas died, the girl had told his maternal grandmother that her father, Hokanson, had been beating the boy, according to Herman Ohmann, Nicholas’ great-grandfather. Nicholas often had a bloody face and he had two broken collarbones in recent months, Ohmann said. He said the girl’s claims about her father had not been reported to officials before the death because the grandmother hadn’t taken the claims “to heart.”

It is tragic that those who saw Nicholas on a regular basis did not ask more questions or be more proactive in questioning how the toddler was being injured so frequently.