How Could You? Hall of Shame-Callen Lee Mullins case- Child Death UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Franklin County, Virginia, foster mom Hope Perdue “was arriagned [sic] Wednesday [May 13,2015] morning in Franklin County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court” “facing charges of second degree murder and felony abuse and neglect after the death of a [3-year-old] toddler in her care.”

“Sheriff’s deputies say that Hope Perdue was found in a garage of a home near the one she shared with her husband David Perdue.

The sheriff’s office tells CBS 6 that David Perdue is not a suspect. Perdue told deputies he saw his wife walk out a backdoor and into the woods after he called 911 to report the unconscious child, according to a report from WDBJ7.

Investigators are trying to determine the toddler’s cause of death.

The child’s name has not been released.”

Police find foster mom who is connected to toddler’s death[WTVR 5/12/15 by Scott Wise]

“According to the Sheriff’s Office, Perdue’s husband called 911 reporting that the child had been severely beaten.  When EMS crews arrived, they found the boy not breathing.  He was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Hope Perdue is being transferred to the Western Virginia Regional Jail where she will be held without bond.  ”
“The body of the 3-year-old boy is at the medical examiner’s office.

Right now, it is unknown whether the child’s death was a homicide or an accident.

The boy’s sibling is now with social services and the children of Hope and David Perdue are with family.”

UPDATE: Woman Now Facing Charges After Death of Toddler[WSET 5/12/15]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update:“Hope McVey Perdue, the custodial guardian of a 3-year-old boy who was found dead Tuesday morning in Franklin County, has been charged with non-capital second-degree murder and felony child abuse and neglect in connection to the child’s death.

Family and friends have identified the boy as Callen Lee Mullins.

Perdue was arraigned Wednesday morning in Franklin County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. She is being represented by David Furrow, according to the clerk’s office.

Perdue was the subject of a 12-hour search Tuesday in the Glade Hill area of Franklin County after the child was found dead in her home.

Perdue’s husband, David Perdue, said the child “appeared to have been severely beaten” when he found the boy, according to a news release from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

Before investigators arrived at the home, Hope McVey Perdue walked out the back door. The child was pronounced dead a short time later.

After an anonymous tip, Perdue was found in a garage at a residence in the 500 block of Byrds Mill Road in the Glade Hill area.

Perdue is being held at the Western Virginia Regional Jail where she is being held without bond.

Perdue’s arraignment hearing was held at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Investigators have not released the name of the child.

Franklin County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Patrick Nix would not comment on the charges.

“We are in the very early stages of this case,” Nix said.

The biological grandmother of the boy says Perdue and her husband had temporary custody of the child while the biological mother was dealing with a medical issue. The Perdues had been babysitters for the child and another sibling prior to the temporary custody arrangement, according to the biological grandmother.

Here is the news release from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office:

On 5/11/15 at 3:56 AM, David Perdue placed a 911 call from his residence located in the 7000 block of Old Franklin Turnpike to the Franklin County Emergency Communications center in reference to an unconscious child. Mr. Perdue advised that the child appeared to have been severely beaten. Emergency medical personnel were dispatched to the scene as well as Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies. Rescue personnel arrived on the scene and determined that the child was not breathing. Before law enforcement officers could arrive on the scene, Hope McVey Perdue, custodial guardian of the three year old boy, fled the scene on foot. Deputies arrived on scene and began a search for Hope Perdue. Rescue squad members continued to attempt to revive the toddler. Despite their efforts, the child was pronounced dead at the scene.

Numerous law enforcement agencies were called to the scene and began a twelve hour manhunt for Mrs. Perdue. Acting on an anonymous tip from a Franklin County citizen, deputies responded to a sighting of Mrs. Perdue in the 500 block of Byrd’s Mill Road. Mrs. Perdue was located in a garage at a residence on Byrds’s Mill Road and taken into custody without incident.

Hope McVey Perdue has been charged with murder in the second degree as well as felony abuse and neglect of the three year old. Mrs. Perdue is being transferred to the Western Virginia Regional Jail where she will be held without bond.

Sheriff Bill Overton would like to thank the many agencies that have assisted in dealing with this very tragic event. Sheriff Overton would like to especially thank the deputies and investigators within the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Virginia State Police, Franklin County Department of Public Safety, Franklin County Search and Rescue team, Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office, Bedford County Sheriff’s Office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the United States Marshall’s Service.”

Perdue charged with second-degree murder, felony child abuse and neglect in connection to death of 3-year-old boy [WDBJ7 5/13/15 by Nadine Maeser]

Update 2:”David Perdue told police that his wife, Hope McVey Perdue, was the last person he saw holding Callen Lee Mullins before the boy died last week in Franklin County, according to a search warrant filed in Roanoke County Circuit Court.

The search warrant provides few details about the evening before David Perdue called 911 at 3:56 a.m. May 12 to tell police that Callen, 3, appeared to have been severely beaten. The boy died at the home in the … in Glade Hill.

Husband says Hope Perdue was last person seen with 3-year-old boy[Roanoke 5/18/15 by Amy Freidenberger ]

“The medical examiner’s office in Roanoke has determined that 3-year-old Callen Mullins died of blunt force trauma.

 

The toddler died May 12 at a residence on … in Glade Hill after being found unconscious by his male caretaker, David Perdue, according to Lt. Phillip Young with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

 

Perdue called 911 just before 4 a.m. that morning and told the operator the child appeared to have been severely beaten and was unconscious. When paramedics arrived, the toddler was pronounced dead.

 

Perdue’s wife, Hope Mcvey Perdue, 28, is charged with second-degree murder and felony child neglect and abuse in connection with Mullins’ death.

 

Hope Perdue fled the residence on foot before the ambulance arrived.

 

Perdue was taken into custody after a 10-hour search on May 12. She was discovered hiding in a garage on Byrd’s Mill Road in Glade Hill.

 

Perdue is being held without bond in the Western Virginia Regional Jail.”

Police: Toddler died of blunt force trauma[Franklin New post 5/29/15 by K A Wagoner]

Update 3: “A Glade Hill woman charged in the death of the 3-year-old boy she was caring for was denied bond Tuesday in Franklin County Circuit Court.

Hope McVey Perdue, 29, has been in custody for the past three months and is currently being held at the Western Virginia Regional Jail.

On May 12, she was charged with second-degree murder, child abuse and neglect in the death of Callen Lee Mullins. Her husband, David Perdue, called 911 about 4 a.m. and told dispatchers that a child they were keeping appeared to have been beaten, according to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. That child, later identified by his relatives as Callen, was treated by emergency crews but died at the scene.

Hope Perdue was missing for nearly 12 hours after that, and investigators later found her hiding in a garage about a mile from her home.

At Perdue’s bond hearing, Franklin County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Patrick Nix told Judge William Alexander that David Perdue had been awakened that morning to “thumps,” and when he went to check on the children, Hope Perdue was carrying Callen into the bathroom. David Perdue followed, Nix said, and discovered the child had “numerous bruises from blunt force trauma,” which ultimately proved to be the cause of death.

A search warrant filed in May in Roanoke County Circuit Court said urine, blood and hair samples had been taken from Hope Perdue after her husband claimed she had smoked marijuana and consumed mixed drinks in the hours before Callen died.

David Furrow, Hope Perdue’s defense attorney, called both her sister and a former employer to the stand as witnesses on her behalf, but then took a more aggressive stance.

“You will note there is no forensic evidence” from the prosecution, Furrow said. “There is no statement by my client.”

Furrow further argued that David Perdue, who has not been charged and is caring for the couple’s two daughters, “should be a co-defendant” in the case.

“There’s two people in the house. He said she did it,” Furrow told Alexander. “I don’t think that’s the strongest case.”

Nix said that additional evidence would be brought forward, including video footage from the ambulance that responded to the scene, and that because of the nature of the charge it was her burden to overcome the presumption against bond.

“The thing that throws this case for me is that when the child was discovered, you left and were not found,” Alexander told her and ordered her held without bail.

The Perdues were keeping Callen Mullins through a temporary guardianship, members of the boy’s family have said, but details of that arrangement remain unclear and they declined to discuss them on the record Tuesday. They said Callen had been with the Perdues since December.

“I’m glad they denied her bond,” Callen’s grandmother, Carol Bates, said afterward. During the hearing, she and her daughter, Cheryl Bailey, who is Callen’s mother, sat in court close to the defense table and displayed a white sweatshirt that bore Callen’s photograph.

“We wanted everybody to look at his face and know the light that she extinguished,” Bates said.

“We wanted her to see that,” Cheryl Bailey added.”

Perdue denied bond in child death case [The Franklin News Post 8/14/15 by Neil Harvey]

Update 4:”Disturbing details are out about the day 3-year-old Callen Mullins died.

Unsealed search warrants recount the events that happened last May when Franklin County investigators were called to the home of Hope and David Perdue.

They were the custodial parents of the toddler.

Last May, a medical examiner ruled that little Callen died from blunt force trauma – but exactly how that happened investigators aren’t saying.

According to the documents David Perdue heard a “thump thump” noise after he went to bed the night of May 11th at approximately 10:30pm.

The warrants say she said to him the child was “he’s fine, he’s fine” and then shut herself in a bathroom.

Perdue then forced his way in to take Callen from Hope Perdue’s arms.

He says he saw blood on both of them.

That’s when he called 9-1-1.

EMS responders who later arrived on scene declared the little boy dead.

According to the warrants investigators say they saw “O” shaped marks on the child’s body.

An investigator also said he found blood on a bedroom door and floor.

Investigators recovered among many other items, a water hose nozzle and a hammer.

Items the search warrants refer to as “blunt instruments.”

Hope Perdue is charged with second degree murder, felony child abuse and neglect.”

Unsealed warrants reveal disturbing details about Franklin County child’s death [WSET 11/6/15 by Suri Crowe]

Update 5:“A Franklin County woman was sentenced to 40 years in prison Friday, after being convicted of charges connected to the death of a 3-year-old child in her care.

Hope Perdue entered an Alford plea to second degree murder. She was accused of having a role in the 2015 death of Callen Mullins.

Perdue accepted a 20-year active prison sentence. Her official sentence was 40 years in prison, with 20 years suspended on the condition that she doesn’t violate terms of a 5-year probation and maintains good behavior for 40 years. Her sentence begins immediately.

“My office thanks the family for their ongoing cooperation and attentiveness to these proceedings, as well as the assistance provided by more than 50 intended witnesses,” Commonwealth Attorney AJ Dudley said in a statement.

Under the terms of an Alford plea, Perdue did not admit guilt but acknowledges the evidence against her is sufficient for conviction.”

Franklin County woman sentenced to 20 years for child’s death

[WDBJ7 3/9/18 by Katherine Richardson ]