A young girl from Illinois had died in the hands of her stepfather and mother. According to the neighbors of the victim, the incident could have been prevented if the police had heeded their warnings about the abuse and neglect.
Child abuse
According to WBBM-TV, on July 2 the police in Montgomery, Illinois were called to the home of Kerri Rutherford, the 6-year-old victim. However, what they saw was a horrifying situation.
The police found the girl bleeding from the nose, turning different colors and was "possibly not breathing" according to records obtained by WBBM-TV. It was revealed that the child had been dead for some time.
Kerri's cause of death was initially listed as unknown. However, toxicology tests later found a lethal amount of olanzapine in her system. It is a drug that is usually used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in adults.
Prosecutors issued involuntary manslaughter charges the child's 29-year-old stepfather, James Davidson, and the child's mother, 32-year-old Courtney Davidson. The police allege that the home is not fit for human habitation.
One police officer said in the report that the living conditions in the home were horrible, with a very foul stench in the house and feces on the floor. The documents also showed the home had been the subject of more than dozen calls to police since the family moved in.
The neighbor of the family, Monica Alexander, told the television station that when she saw the police at the house, she immediately thought of the child. She assumed that the child was hurt or was gone and that the police did not take her away.
Alexander told the television station that she had called the authorities multiple times in the past about her concerns, and said that the police failed the victim. She said that the police never went inside the house.
Another neighbor of the victim, Debbie, told the television station that she also had asked the authorities to check on the children of the family. She said that she was scared for the children.
The children were usually left unsupervised at the home and the neighbors sometimes witnessed physical abuse and screaming. One of the teachers of Kerri also called the Department of Children and Family Services, according to records that the television station obtained.
A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Family Services told the television station that the agency had been in contact with the family before the death of Kerri.
The mother and stepfather have also been charged with endangering the health or life of a child, according to WSPY News. The couple had been jailed on $250,000 bond each.
Rate in the US
According to National Children's Alliance, 700,000 children are abused in the United States every year. Around 678,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect in 2018. That means around 1% of children in a given year is abused. However, this data may not be complete because not all abuse cases are reported.
Child welfare authorities make sure that more than 3.5 million children are safe. More than 3.5 million children received an investigation or alternative response from child protective service agenesis. Around 1.9 million children received prevention services.
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