How Could You? Hall of Shame-Alexis Baxter 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 Mansfield, Ohio, “a 14-year-old foster child [Alexis Baxter] who was found unresponsive in a bathtub early Friday morning [1 AM on November 27, 2015].

“Alexis Baxter was taken to OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital by squad where she was later pronounced dead, according to the Mansfield police report.

Gary Mills, who is Alexis’ legal guardian along with his wife, Theora Mills, told police he heard the bathtub water running for a period of time and then observed water running through the basement ceiling. Upon checking the bathroom, they discovered Alexis in the bathtub unresponsive, according to the police report.

Mills told the News Journal he and his wife had temporary custody of Baxter, who is a family friend. She was a freshman at Mansfield Senior High School, he said.

On Thursday around 5 p.m., Mills said he allowed Alexis to go to her mother’s home for Thanksgiving.

“Her mother and her grandmother wanted her to stay overnight but Alexis didn’t want to,” he said. Mills said his wife went to pick her up at 10:30 p.m.

“She had been texting my wife come and get me, I want to come home,” he said.

Mills said his wife and Alexis also stopped by Alexis’ sister’s house to take her some diapers for her baby.

“Alexis ran in the house and was in there only three minutes and she got back in the truck and they came home,” he said.

“I talked to her when she came upstairs,” he said.

After she got home, Mills said he heard Alexis go downstairs and he thought she was watching television. He went downstairs because she wasn’t allowed to watch TV due to a recent punishment.

“I went in the kitchen by the bathroom and I heard running water so she’s taking a bath then,” he said. “Then I heard water coming from my basement and I thought did water lines break? So I go down there and look and I notice it’s just pouring through the floor.

“And the wife heard it and she goes ‘What’s that?’ I said ‘I think the water lines broke,’ so she went in there to tell Alexis because she heard the bath water running and she found her… .,” he said.

The wife performed CPR compressions, Mills said.

Mills said Alexis was supposed to be going back to her mother’s house to live on Dec. 17 after a court hearing.

Mills said Alexis’ mother and his wife were friends growing up. The Mills, who have been married 20 years, do not have children of their own, but they enjoyed having Alexis at their home, Mills said.

Bob Ball, investigator for the Richland County Coroner’s Office, Friday said her body will be taken to Summit County for an autopsy. He said the girl was pronounced dead at 1:40 a.m. Friday at the hospital.

A police news release Friday asked that anyone with information in reference to this incident call Mansfield police Detective Frank Parrella at 419-755-9470.

Police were not able to release the 911 call Friday due to the supervisor being off work for the holidays.

Mills said said he and his wife are devastated. He said Alexis seemed just fine when she came home Thursday night.

“She was just a kid,” he said.”

Police investigating death of teen [Mansfield News Journal 11/27/15 by Lou Whitmire]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:“Authorities still don’t know how Alexis Baxter died as they await her autopsy results from the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office.

But her lab report, which the Richland County Coroner’s Office received Tuesday more than five months after her death on Nov. 27, 2015, shows she tested positive for AB-Chimnaca, one of many synthetic cannabinoid drugs (synthetic marijuana) typically sprayed on botanical material and smoked. A street name for such drugs is “posh.”

Richland County Coroner’s Investigator Bob Ball Wednesday said the lab report was done at NMS Labs of Willow Grove, Pa. via toxicology testing on a postmortem blood sample.

“They’re one of the only labs in the country that tests for synthetic marijuana,” Ball said Wednesday. “Now we’re waiting for her autopsy.

The final autopsy report will reveal the final cause of death, whether it was cannabinoids or that she drowned since she was found in the bathtub, Ball said.

Baxter’s mother Kesha Frye said Wednesday she is hoping the person who gave her daughter the drugs is charged.

Frye said she has had more than enough tragedy in her lifetime.

Alexis is buried in Little Washington Cemetery near her other child Autumn Carter, who died at age 6 months in 1998, she said.

Frye’s then boyfriend, Steven Smith, 46, was executed at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility on May 1, 2013, having raped and killed Autumn in 1998; she died of trauma and compression asphyxia, according to News Journal archives.

Frye said she spent nine months getting clean from heroin so she could regain custody of her 14-year-old daughter Alexis Baxter.

She was 21 days away from possibly achieving that goal when Alexis unexpectedly died at the home of her interim guardians. Mansfield police are investigating whether drug abuse by Alexis played a role in her death.

Officers collected “substances” found near Alexis’ body, which was discovered submerged in the bathtub around 1 a.m. Nov. 27 at the Franklin Avenue home approved by Richland County Children Services. In a Mansfield police call log, Alexis is listed as the owner of what is described only as “drugs.”

There was a rash of suspected “posh” overdoses that week across Mansfield.

One of Alexis’ custodians, Gary Mills, said it wouldn’t be the first time the teen had an adverse reaction to drugs when the News Journal reported her death.

What is clear is that Alexis had used drugs before, once ran away for months, and according to Children Services, had improved her behavior since moving to the Mills’ home.”

Mansfield teen tested positive for ‘posh,’ lab report shows [WKYC 4/13/16 by Lou Whitmire]