9 charged in death of disabled Philly teen

[flyinglilypad]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25970609/

PHILADELPHIA - For days before Danieal Kelly died in a fetid, airless room — made stifling hot by a midsummer heat wave — the bedridden teenager begged for something to drink until she could muster only one word: water.

Unable to help herself because of her cerebral palsy, she wasted away from malnutrition and maggot-infested bedsores that ate her flesh. She died alone on a putrid mattress in her mother’s home, the floor covered in feces. She was 14 but weighed just 42 pounds.

The nightmare of forced starvation and infection that killed Danieal while she was under the protection of the city’s human services agency is documented in a 258-page grand jury report released this week that charges nine people — her parents, four social workers and three family friends — in her ghastly death.

And that's just part of the story. In the article on Fox News, the maggots were described as being "bone deep", and also that the same human services agency was responsible for the deaths of over 50 other children.

The mother, Andrea Kelly, has been charged with murder, although I cannot find it said anywhere what degree of murder, premeditated or otherwise, and I've also found no mention of a chance of a death sentence.

I went on prodeathpenalty.com and found that Pennsylvania allows for the death penalty for first-degree murder, with 17 aggravating circumanstances. Now since I've had no prior interest in their death penalty laws, I wonder if someone more familiar with the state's workings would hazard a guess at whether she could be sentenced with the death penalty.

Also, why do people accept all these Social Services agencies allowing so many children to die? I've heard of countless children murdered by abuse or neglect in my own state, in state homes or because of the failure of social workers to remove them from dangerous homes.

My own parents were investigated by social services after they left my medicine at the hospital as a baby. Returning shortly after for the medicine, they were informed that they'd already been reported.

So why are innocent people allowed to be harrassed and persecuted, but truly disgusting, evil people are allowed to keep and murder they're children? Have you seen these social workers salaries? Because I have. And it's all paid for with our money.

Discuss.

 

[ferrari-kun187]

just terrible, not only in a hot room, but being eaten by maggots. that is painful and tourture. I have two question: where did the maggots come from and why are they eating her flesh?

 

[flyinglilypad]

where did the maggots come from and why are they eating her flesh?

Where do maggots come from? Don't flies generally lay eggs that hatch into maggots? And they eat old meat and food, and I guess that counts for human's flesh.

I might be wrong. Biology has never been my strong point.

 

[evkl]

Yeah, this is huge local news--very sad. When stuff like this happens, it's because of ineptitude across the board.

 

[Lethal Carnivine]

Only 42 pounds? How can any half-witted Social worker not notice this kind of malnutrition. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that he parents didn't WANT this child and planned to do nothing to help her out.

I wonder if she was allowed to go to school, because if she was there is absolutely no reasaon why any teenasger, teacher, custodian, cafetria staff could NOT notice how grossly underweight she was and say it was her choice. IF that's how it is, than why aren't they all charged for murder.

 

[Silverwynde]

I have two question: where did the maggots come from and why are they eating her flesh?

From what I've heard, the poor girl had bedsores which is where the maggots got in and starting eating. Supposedly, she hadn't been moved from that bed; her imprint was on the mattress when she was finally lifted up.

The behavior of some humans truly disgusts me.

 

[Wonder Happiny]

That poor little girl...

How can those parents and the others that are charged live with themselves now that an innocent and very sick child has died because of their negiligence(spelling?)

 

[flyinglilypad]

Only 42 pounds? How can any half-witted Social worker not notice this kind of malnutrition. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that he parents didn't WANT this child and planned to do nothing to help her out.

I wonder if she was allowed to go to school, because if she was there is absolutely no reasaon why any teenasger, teacher, custodian, cafetria staff could NOT notice how grossly underweight she was and say it was her choice. IF that's how it is, than why aren't they all charged for murder.

Apparently she'd been out of school for 5 years, and everyone who saw the girl-including her siblings-begged the mother to take care of her. I only quoted part of the article, since it's so long, but here's the rest of it:

he report describes a mother, Andrea Kelly, who was embarrassed by her disabled daughter and didn't want to touch her, take her out in public, change her diapers or make sure she had enough fluids. It portrays Daniel Kelly, the father who once had custody of Danieal, as having no interest in raising her.

And it accuses the city Department of Human Services of being "uncaring and incompetent."

"It was this indifference that helped kill Danieal Kelly," an angry District Attorney Lynne Abraham said. "How is it possible for this to have happened?"

The report should "outrage the entire Philadelphia community" and bring about "earth-shattering, cataclysmic changes" at the Department of Human Services, Abraham said.

Andrea Kelly, 39, the only defendant charged with murder, was ordered held Friday without bail. The social workers — suspected of falsifying home visits and progress reports in the case — face charges ranging from child endangerment to involuntary manslaughter. The family friends are accused of lying to the grand jury about the girl's condition before her death.

None of the lawyers for any of the defendants had any immediate comment.

Human Services Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose, in office only a month, said Thursday that she is intent on improving child safety and worker accountability in an agency that has repeatedly been accused of failing to protect children.

Late Friday, the city announced the resignation of Assistant Health Commissioner Carmen Paris. The grand jury had accused Paris of interfering in the investigation of the girl's death while she was acting health commissioner, but found insufficient evidence to charge her with obstruction of justice.

The report on Danieal's death in August 2006 documents a downward spiral from the early years that she spent in Arizona with her father and his girlfriend.

Though Danieal attended special-needs classes only sporadically, a school report described her as an active learner and "one of the sweetest students ever enrolled in this program." But allegations of parental neglect soon surfaced, and following Daniel Kelly's breakup with his girlfriend in 2001, Danieal never again attended school.

Daniel Kelly and his children moved to Philadelphia in 2003. He eventually asked his estranged wife to move in, even though she had several other children and he knew she was incapable of caring for Danieal, authorities say. He then moved out.

"Daniel Kelly was well aware what deserting his daughter meant to her safety and welfare," the grand jury report said. "He just did not care."

The Department of Human Services received at least five reports of Danieal being mistreated between 2003 and 2005. All described a "helpless child sitting unattended, unkempt and unwashed, in a small stroller in her own urine and feces," her screams ignored by her mother, the grand jury report said. The stroller, which served as a wheelchair, apparently never left the house.

Agency employee Dana Poindexter, assigned to investigate, also ignored Danieal, authorities say. Already having been suspended after a 3-week-old baby died on his watch in 2002, Poindexter continued his "slovenly, neglectful and dangerously reckless work habits" after being assigned the Kelly case, the grand jury said. He did not file a single report, authorities said.

The Kellys finally were assigned help from a private agency in 2005. Employee Julius Murray was required to visit the family twice a week, but authorities believe he may have come to the house only once — to have Andrea Kelly sign predated forms attesting to future visits.

The grand jury report said Laura Sommerer, a city social worker, failed to hold the now-defunct company accountable when, months later, Danieal still was not enrolled in school or receiving medical care.

And after Danieal died, authorities say, company director Mickal Kamuvaka held a "forgery fest" in her office where she had employees "concoct almost a year's worth of false progress reports."

But authorities say Andrea Kelly, whose other children are now in foster care, is primarily responsible for her daughter's death.

The report said she was confronted repeatedly by her own mother, uncle, friends and even two of her sons about Danieal's deteriorating health. She would lie or put them off by saying she would seek help, or banish them from the house, authorities say.

In the meantime, the report said, she entertained friends, attended classes and fed her other children.

"This behavior indicates that Andrea Kelly did not merely allow Danieal to die," the report said. "She may have even wanted her disabled daughter to die."

When an ambulance responded to a 911 call for Danieal on Aug. 4, 2006, the girl had been dead for several hours. Authorities said she was so emaciated she looked like the victim of a concentration camp.

She had been lying on the filthy mattress for so long that her body outline was imprinted on it