GRIM DETAILS REVEALED IN BELITZ SLAYING

 

Prosecutors Say Boy’s Mom Got Caught Disposing Of Body

 

http://www.ketv.com/news/20082041/detail.html

 

 

OMAHA, Neb.–Details of murder charges against Angela Manns in the death of her son, Michael Belitz, 12, were revealed during Manns’ court appearance on Thursday.

“There was a hatchet, a boning knife and goggles on the counter,” said Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine. “Circumstantial evidence tells us there was premeditation in this case.”

He said Manns got caught while she was in the middle of getting rid of her son’s body. He said that when officers found Belitz in her house, he was in a bathtub with duct tape holding his legs and wrists together. Cat litter was covering his decomposing body to help cover the smell.

Kleine said police believe Belitz had been there for up to two weeks.

“I don’t know how anybody can do that to their own children,” said Michael’s father, Lenny Belitz.

He said Manns would drink herself into fits of rage.

“She lost it and she was probably drunk or something,” he said.

A Community Mourns

As a memorial set up near the house where Belitz’s decomposing body was found on Monday continues to grow, even small children are working to pay respects. A 5-year-old named Persia placed a plush duck at the memorial.

“That’s one of her favorite stuffed animals,” said Persia’s uncle, Michael Johnson. “She said, ‘I’m going to miss it,’ but she still wanted to put it down. She just knows that something bad happened to the little boy.”

Belitz just finished sixth grade at Minne Lusa Elementary School. Grief counselors were scheduled to be at the school on Friday to help children cope.

A community candlelight vigil is also planned for 6 p.m. at the school.

How Could This Happen?

Experts said it was an improbable case in which everyone from neighbors to the child welfare system were found lacking.

 “Red flags were all over the place,” said Peg Harriott of the Child Saving Institute.

State officials confirmed that Manns called a child abuse and neglect hot line.

Kleine said that Manns was afraid that something bad would happen to her or her son if she didn’t get help. He said there was no record of abuse, neglect or concern over Michael’s safety.

Harriott said the state was only one of several entities that could have spotted something wrong.

“There’s so much positive going on where systems are working closely together, specifically for domestic violence and child abuse, that it just saddens my heart to know that this family didn’t get what they needed,” Harriott said.

In Lincoln, officials with the Health and Human Services Department declined to go on camera to discuss the case. In a statement, it said, “As a result of this incident, we’ll review our processes to make sure they are working as intended to respond to concerns about a child’s safety and well-being.”

Harriott said the case should give the entire community pause.

“It’s our responsibility to figure out what happened here and how this does not happen to another child,” she said.

She said that she wasn’t sure whether the old Safe Haven Law might have helped in Manns’ situation with her son.

State Sen. Gwen Howard said she’d recently asked the new HHS director to put a priority on seniority and experience in case manager positions. She said that’s helpful in dealing with cases like Manns’.

Help Is Available

Agencies are available for any family in need of help. The Boys Town National Hotline can take calls at 800-448-3000. Families can also call the Child Saving Institute at 866-400-4CSI or Heartland Family Services at 800-523-3666.Copyright 2009 by KETV.com. 

 

Update: Mother Denied Bond in Son’s Murder

 

http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/50957632.html

 

Posted: 1:30 PM Jul 16, 2009

Last Updated: 1:30 PM Jul 16, 2009

Reporter: WOWT

Email Address: sixonline@wowt.com

A Douglas County judge has denied bond for Angela Manns. She is charged with first degree murder in her 12-year-old son’s death.

Michael Belitz was found dead inside their home near 28th and Ida Sunday. Police made the discovery after being called to the home by neighbors due to odors. Police say they saw Manns drive by. They followed her and arrested her some distance away from the home.

The Douglas County Attorney says the body was found in the bath tub. The boy’s wrists and ankles were bound with duct tape.

Don Kleine says the boy had been dead at least two weeks. “It appeared that there were attempts to mask or hide the odor. There was quite a bit of kitty litter that was placed over the body and then bags covering the body,” Kleine said.

“There were also bags, garbage bags that were placed in five gallon buckets in that area of the bathroom and there were tools there that appear to be those that might be used at some point in time to dispose of the remains.”

Those tools, Kleine said, also included a hatchet, a knife and goggles on the bathroom counter.

At this point, Kleine says, he has no reason to believe anyone else was involved in Belitz’s death.

Those close to Belitz tell investigators he and his mother had argued in mid-June. He allegedly wanted to got to a College World Series game, but his mother refused to let him. Kleine says this is the most recent tiff his office knows about between the two, but whether it sparked the violence is unclear.

Due to the state of decomposition, the cause of death has still not been determined.

Channel 6 News has learned his older sister and possibly his mother, Angela Manns, made calls to child protective services concerning Belitz’s welfare.

 

Neb. agency say suspect asked about foster care

 

http://www.kcautv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10744863&nav=1kgl

Associated Press – July 17, 2009 2:55 PM ET

Corrected Version

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – An Omaha woman charged in the homicide of her 12-year-old son had called a caseworker in March to ask about placing the boy in foster care.

An official with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services on Friday confirmed the call placed by 46-year-old Angela Manns. Manns was arraigned Thursday in Douglas County Court on a first-degree murder charge in the death of 12-year-old Michael Belitz.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine says investigators found the boy’s body in a bathtub with his wrists and legs bound together with duct tape.

Health and Human Services says Manns left a message at the end of March asking about foster care and other options. The agency says the caseworker called back and left a message but didn’t hear back from Manns.

 

 

WESTWEGO COUPLE RELOCATES AFTER THEIR 3-MONTH-OLD DAUGHTER COVERED IN RAT BITES FOUND DEAD

 

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/_the_westwego_couple_whose.html

by Allen Powell II, The Times-Picayune

http://videos.nola.com/times-picayune/2009/07/ratbitten_babys_mother_tells_h.html

Friday July 17, 2009, 9:00 PM

All Casey Laine remembers seeing when she looked in her daughter’s crib Thursday morning was a pool of blood and the 3-month-old baby’s disfigured face.

She doesn’t remember the “hundreds” of bite marks Westwego police officers and paramedics later described, and she didn’t notice the tiny footprints left behind by some animal on the bloody crib sheet. Laine didn’t even see the girl’s mangled right leg.

All she saw was the sweet face of her “little butterfly” before she ran to find help. The same face that had just begun to smile.

But Natalie Hill was dead. Authorities still were investigating Friday whether rats were responsible for her death or other circumstances. The Jefferson Parish coroner’s office isn’t expected to determine the cause of death until next week.

While Laine’s 14-month-old son was taken into protective custody by the state Thursday, she and her fiance, Robby Hill, stridently insisted they are not neglectful parents. They have moved from the rented house and now are living with relatives.

Still, the pain was as raw Friday as the moment when the couple found their baby.

“It hurts . . . It feels like a piece of me is just gone now, ” Laine said. “That was my little butterfly.”

Caught off guard

Laine said she woke up Thursday around 2 a.m. to give her daughter her scheduled bottle, before getting the baby back to sleep about an hour later. She said she returned to her own room, leaving Natalie in her crib.

When Hill woke up for work and checked on the girl about four hours later, he stumbled upon the horrible scene and ran to tell Laine, she said. When authorities arrived at their home in the 700 block of Central Avenue around 7:30 a.m., Hill was standing in front of the house yelling that his daughter was dead inside.

On Friday morning, he told WRNO 99.5-FM that he believes his daughter was dead before she was bitten; otherwise, she would have screamed.

“If a rat was to get to that baby’s nose, we could have heard if that baby would scream. That baby had to be dead before them rats got to her, ” Hill said. “If a rat was to crawl up in your crib and bite you on the nose one time, my little girl would have jumped, possibly swung her arms, and the rat should have ran.”

Rick Dietz, general curator at the Audubon Zoo, said it is entirely plausible that a large rodent would attack a 3-month-old baby and even kill it.

In the reptile field, researchers are taught never to feed live mice to snakes because rodents have been known to chew up their predators if given enough time, he said.

“They can be very destructive to other animals or even humans, if put in a situation where they’re hungry and there’s nothing else to feed on, ” Dietz said.

Typically, mice and rats will seek out their food in garbage dumps or pantries, rather than attack and feed on other animals, he said. Rodents would sooner attack dead creatures than live ones because the dead make for easier targets. But Dietz believes a large rat could kill a baby, saying infants would have a harder time fending it off.

“I’d say it’s possible, ” he said. “We have some big rats around here that could do damage in a short amount of time.”

On the defensive

Laine, Hill and their children had lived in the house at 721 Central Ave. for two years, paying $500 rent to Hill’s stepfather. The house was damaged in Hurricane Katrina, and there were holes in the building’s walls and floor. However, from the outside, the house doesn’t appear to be in poor condition. It had no visible holes, although a small addition on the side of the house lacks exterior siding. Neighbors also said there is a collapsed shed in the backyard.

Laine said they tried to cover the holes in the walls and floors with salvaged drywall when they moved in, and they thought they had done enough.

“When we first got there, they barely had walls in that house . . . I thought we did a good enough job to save my babies, ” said Laine, sobbing. “I just wish they would leave me alone, especially the radio . . . I didn’t want this to happen.”

Charles Dufrene, who is listed in tax records as the house’s owner, could not be reached Friday.

Laine said they heard rats in the house but had never seen them near the children. She said they had placed traps and pellets around the house.

“You can hear them in the walls, ” Laine said of the rats. “We did everything we could to protect our baby. I would never ever hurt my children.”

Laine said she was angered by the accusations that she was negligent and stressed that she loved her children and that she and Hill did their best to provide for them.

The couple, who have been together since middle school, knew the house was in bad shape, but it was the only place they could afford, she said. Hill works at Alario Brothers Marine Supply building crab traps, while she stayed at home with the children.

The couple’s young son was placed with a foster family in the New Orleans area by the Louisiana Department of Social Services, said Trey Williams, the agency’s spokesman.

Williams could not provide specifics about what caused officials to take the child from his parents, saying only that officials are continuing to investigate the matter.

“Removing a child from home is never an easy decision and one we take seriously, ” he said. “It’s also one never done alone, but in conjunction with law enforcement, courts and community partners.”

Laine said she expects that she will have to go to court next week to see whether the state will return her son. While the couple has tried to shield the boy from news about his sister’s death, they will tell him all about the sister he barely knew, she said.

“I won’t keep that from him, ” said Laine, who added that she’s struggling to stay calm so the boy won’t be alarmed. “I have to really be strong for my little boy.”

Taking precautions

Westwego authorities planned to inspect the couple’s home Friday, and they were seeking permission from the property owner to look inside as well.

Mayor John Shaddinger said the city already has contacted Jefferson Parish’s Environmental Affairs Department to get help on assessing the neighborhood for rodents. In addition, the city next week plans to place rodent pellets and traps, and its code enforcement officers and firefighters will go door to door on Keller Avenue, Central Avenue and West Drive offering free rat poison to residents. Residents will have to sign a release to receive the poison.

Shaddinger said any residents concerned about rodents can come to City Hall to receive the poison. He said he expects the community to band together to assist the Laine-Hill family.

“This is a close-knit community, a loving and caring community, ” Shaddinger said.

Laine said they need the community’s support to help them pay for her daughter’s funeral, and to help them as they attempt to find a permanent place to live. Until then, they’ll move back in with relatives.

“Please help us, anything helps, ” she said.

Jenny Hurwitz contributed to this report.Allen Powell II can be reached at apowell@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3793.

SUSPECT IN EAST BAY TODDLER’S DEATH PLEADS NOT GUILTY

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12853685?nclick_check=1

Sophia Kazmi

Valley Times

Posted: 07/16/2009 04:47:28 PM PDT

Updated: 07/17/2009 06:54:57 AM PDT

PLEASANTON — A Livermore woman accused of killing a 23-month-old toddler in her care has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mary Katherine Downing, 54, appeared in Alameda County Superior Court on Thursday. The toddler, Heaven Hernandez, is the granddaughter of Downing’s fiance.

Downing was arrested in March after the death of the girl.

On March 21, police say Downing called 911 from her home in the 2100 block of Percheron Road to report that the toddler was unresponsive. When police arrived, they noticed the girl had injuries indicating that she may have been abused.

According to court records, the toddler had multiple skull fractures and bruises, blood on the brain, internal bleeding and trauma to her chest when she was taken to Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland. She was declared brain-dead March 23 and taken off life-support two days later.

Downing originally told investigators that the girl hurt herself when she fell a few days earlier, but officers did not believe that account because the injuries were not consistent with a fall, according to court records. She later told police she had accidentally dropped the girl once, and then violently shook and dropped the child at least three more times after that.

Heaven also had two untreated bone fractures that were beginning to heal, indicating prior abuse, according to records.

Downing is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on suspicion of murder and assault on a child that led to injury or death.

Emma Puc, who was Heaven’s foster mother, said she has been devastated by the death.

Puc, who lives in San Bernardino, learned just a month ago that Heaven had died.

Puc said she and her husband had wanted to adopt Heaven, who had been taken from her mother at birth.

During the adoption process, Heaven’s biological family was notified, Puc said. And that’s when the girl’s grandfather claimed the baby.

“It’s still like a dream to me,” said Puc. “I keep thinking they will come back and say, ‘We got the wrong little girl’ … I can’t imagine this. I cannot picture this.”

Heaven was born in Riverside County and lived with another woman until she was three months old, when she came to live with Puc’s family.

“She was a happy little girl,” Puc said.

Puc and her husband threw Heaven a huge first birthday party. This year, when the girl’s birthday came around, she and her husband wondered what Heaven’s family was doing for her special day, not knowing the little girl was dead.

The toddler’s first words were “hi, baby,” Puc said, because that is how Puc greeted Heaven each time she picked her up from her crib.

“I keep having dreams and keep hearing her say ‘hi baby,’ Puc said. “It kills me.”

Reach Sophia Kazmi at 925-847-2122 or skazmi@bayareanewsgroup.com.

MONEY ALONE DOES NOT SOLVE SOCIAL PROBLEMS

 

http://www.valleynewsonline.com/viewnews.php?newsid=86306&id=2

by Vincent R. Caravan

It’s no fun being a county legislator, especially if you’re lucky enough to be assigned to the Health and Human Services Committee. That is anything but fun.

The Health and Human Services Committee oversees the Department of Social Services—the department that endured relentless criticism for its handling of the horrible living conditions of a Palermo family’s home and the subsequent death of an 11-year-old child living there.

The child—Erin Maxwell—was undernourished, underweight, unclean and, obviously, fated to live in a filthy environment with cats and cat feces.

Her living conditions apparently were not responsible for her death, however. Her older step-brother has been charged with murder and is awaiting trial.

The deplorable conditions at the Maxwell home in Palermo had been reported to the Department of Social Services numerous times, but no drastic action was taken. Yet, school teachers and unrelated community residents helped Erin with temporary hygiene and nourishment aid.

After her death, the DSS came under attack as being negligent for not removing the girl from her home. The sheriff’s department, State Police, county legislature, and the State of New York conducted separate investigations, as did a special committee from Cornell University. None of the findings laid full blame on the DSS. Yet, many critics demanded the resignation of the DSS commissioner.

Following a recommendation of the Cornell study, the state sent $500,000 to the county legislature to add 16 positions to the DSS staff. The funding will last about two years. After that, the additional staff becomes the expense of the county.

Throwing money at a problem (which New York does quite well) does not always fix a problem. It won’t this time, either. The commissioner must use her best instincts in hiring the most potentially career-minded individuals and oversee them through their probationary period.

We definitely do not want to see another Erin Maxwell case. So, the onus is on the DSS to recognize abuse before it becomes an unmanageable problem. Five hundred thousand dollars will not prevent problems from escalating beyond control; only well-trained, dedicated caseworkers with constant vigilance will.

 

 

- Valley News

CPS: CRIMINAL’S R US

Sentencing for former CPS worker involved in adoption scam adjourned until August 4

 

http://www.examiner.com/x-14537-Albany-CPS-and-Family-Court-Examiner~y2009m7d16-Sentencing-for-former-CPS-worker-involved-in-adoption-scam-adjourned-until-August-4

July 16, 10:39 AM

According to the Erie County Court clerk’s office, sentencing for former Child Protective Services investigator, Anthony Noble, has been adjourned until August 4. Noble was to have been sentenced on July 14 for his part in an adoption scam.

Anthony who is the son of retired Erie County Child Protective Services director, Joyce Noble, pleaded guilty on March 20, 2009 before Judge Michael D’Amico to criminal contempt for his involvement in the adoption scam.

Arkim Godfrey, the adopted child’s mother, has already been sentenced to probation for her part in the scheme and must perform 100 hours of community service.

While the adoption was initially legitimate, Surrogate Court Judge Barbara Howe invalidated it following a violent domestic incident between Noble and his former wife, according to the Buffalo News.

Noble was charged after not complying with the judge’s order to return the child to its mother.

 

 

Woman charged with stealing money from child abuse prevention charity

 

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=7187712

July 16th, 2009 @ 2:31pm

By Ben Winslow

OGDEN — A woman has been charged with stealing thousands of dollars from a charity devoted to preventing child abuse in Utah.

Weber County prosecutors charged Teresa Burns, 40, on Monday with communications fraud, theft and forgery, all third-degree felonies. She is accused of stealing money from Prevent Child Abuse Utah, where she worked as an administrative assistant.

According to a police affidavit filed with the charges, a bookkeeper at the nonprofit discovered forged checks and documents after Burns had given notice in April that she was quitting her job. Police said two checks were on the books as being made out to the Worker’s Compensation Fund, when in reality they had been made out to a law office to pay off a pair of garnishments.

“Burns had disguised the checks in the QuickBooks accounting program, making the checks appear to have been issued for legitimate Prevent Child Abuse Utah business and forged the signatures of the PCAU staff and board members to the checks and garnishment documents,” Ogden police detective Rick Childress wrote.

When confronted by her bosses, Childress said in the affidavit that Burns told them “it is something I did.”

“When asked why, Burns said ‘tough times’ and there was nothing else she could say,” Childress wrote. “Burns was fired and escorted off the property.”

Reed Richards, an attorney and volunteer with Prevent Child Abuse Utah called the case “unfortunate.”

“All of these nonprofits struggle day-to-day to survive in economic times like this,” he said, adding praise to the accountant who discovered the financial discrepancies

In an audit, Prevent Child Abuse Utah said it discovered additional forged checks and fraudulent credit card charges. Prosecutors leveled eight felony charges against Burns, who was arrested late-last week and booked into the Weber County Jail.

According to court records, during an appearance Wednesday in 2nd District Court, Burns was told to hire an attorney and bail was set at $5,000. She is due back in court on July 21.

E-mail: bwinslow@ksl.com