How Could You? Hall of Shame-Kentae Williams 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 DeKalb County , Georgia, “10-year-old Kentea[sic… Kentae] Williams drowned in his bathtub Friday [April 28, 2017], his adoptive father was allegedly overheard saying, “You’re going to die tonight.”

DeKalb County police documents released Monday accuse Leon H. Williams, 43, of burning the boy’s feet and holding him underwater while lecturing him about acting out in school. CPR efforts by the father and emergency workers failed at their apartment on Glen Hollow Drive outside Decatur, a police report says.

Williams, who had reportedly been the boy’s foster father before adopting him, is charged with murder and child cruelty.

Warrants say Williams told police he spanked Kentea[sic] about 10 times with a belt and poured hot water on his feet in their home at Serenade Apartments.

“There were visible burns and blistering to the child’s feet,” one warrant says. “The suspect stated that the child was not listening to the suspect as he was lecturing him, and admitted to holding the child under water for 30 to 45 seconds and then repeating the same action again.”

A little while earlier, a woman in the apartment heard the boy “throwing a fit” because he didn’t want to take a bath.

Then there was silence.

Williams called the woman, whose relationship to him isn’t clear, to the bathroom and told her to dial 911.

As the father drained the tub and pulled Kentea[sic] out, the woman could see burn marks on the child’s feet. The water looked hot, she told police.

Kentea was soon rushed by ambulance to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – Egleston, where he was later pronounced dead. The father was booked in the county jail at 2:35 a.m. the next day and remains held without bond, records show.

Defense attorney, Leeanne Lynch, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Mr. Williams maintains his innocence and we’re going to do our best to represent him zealously.”

According to the police report, another woman told police she had seen the suspect and victim in the parking lot earlier Friday. She said Williams grabbed the boy by the neck.

Williams told the woman Kentea [sic]was getting in trouble in school again, the police report says.

The woman offered Williams a drink “because he looked furious.”

She told police she soon heard him tell the boy he was going to die as they were walking toward the apartment.

She could see fear in the boy.

But the first 911 call didn’t come until later, after Kentea [sic] had already stopped breathing.”

Cops: Dad kills DeKalb boy, 10, in bathtub drowning[Atlanta Journal-Constitution 5/1/17 by Joshua Sharpe]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 
Update:“A newly-adoptive father is accused of drowning his 10-year-old son in a bathtub.

Leon Williams Sr., 43, is charged with murder and cruelty to children in the first degree in the death of his son, Kentae Williams.

The incident happened Friday night. Officer and EMS responded to a call of a person drowning at the Serenade Apartments on Glen Hollow Drive.

According to police, Leon Williams called 911 and said that he found his son in the bathtub. He said he drained the water from the tub and began performing CPR while waiting for help to arrive.

The 10-year-old child was transported to Henrietta Egleston Hospital for Children as investigators determined that there was more to the child’s death than the father originally said.

“They did notice there were bruises and injuries that were not consistent with a drowning,” said DeKalb County Public Information Officer Shiera Campbell.

Officers met with a witness who said she saw the suspect earlier that day during a BBQ. The witness said she saw the child and his father in the parking lot where she called the father over to speak with her. She saw that the suspect was walking behind the victim and grabbing the child’s neck.

The witness mentioned to the suspect that he looked angry and he had told her that the child cut school that day. According to the father, the child kicked his teacher and called her a profane word.

She then said she overheard the suspect telling the victim, “You’re going to die tonight” while they walked back to their apartment.

Police are still trying to determine what exactly happened after they returned home.

The child’s grandmother told authorities that she was visiting to help take care of the victim for a week while Williams Sr. was out on a business trip. She said that the suspect told the victim to go take a bath, but the victim made a big fuss saying he did not want to.

She checked periodically on the victim to make sure he was OK and saw that the suspect was in his room changing, then a few minutes later, everything went quiet.

She then said that the suspect called her to come upstairs to call 9-1-1. When she came back upstairs to where the victim was, she stated that the water appeared hot and she saw burn marks on the bottom of the victim’s feet.

It was possible that the child may have had a seizure in the bathtub, she said.

After the child’s death, Williams Sr. was booked in the DeKalb County Jail for murder and cruelty to children in the first degree.

The father had just adopted the child after fostering him.

The child attended Cedar Grove Elementary School. DeKalb County Schools spokesperson Andre Riley released a statement Tuesday saying, “We were saddened to hear about this tragic situation. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the young man’s family friends””

You’re going to die tonight’ | Father allegedly drowned adopted son in bathtub[11Alive 5/2/17 by Catherine Park]

Update 2:“Defense attorney Daryl Queen clasped his hands and spoke to the DeKalb County jury tenderly, like a pastor to a grieving family. He told them about Leon Williams, 44, a former longtime state worker who had a void in his life, who wanted a son and decided he had enough love and patience to handle a 10-year-old with autism, communication issues and myriad mental challenges.

Williams, Queen said, also believed in corporal punishment and on April 28, 2017 – after Kentae Williams allegedly cursed at a teacher and then refused to take a bath – it went too far.

The father, charged with murder, held the boy under the tub water to get him in line, and he drowned.

Queen’s oration Tuesday during opening statements at Williams’ trial was the first time his defense strategy was revealed since Williams’ arrest in a case that drew wide attention and led to several firings at the Division of Family Children Services.

Williams “was responsible for the death of his son,” Queen told the jury as pictures of the smiling father and son flashed on a screen on the wall. “What you’ll also see is that does not make him a murderer.” [Are you kidding me?]

One of the prosecutors, Mirna Andrews, told a far different version of events. She said Williams, who had worked for various state agencies before his arrest including the Department of Administrative Services, made statements that showed he intended to hurt the child.

Williams, who’d adopted Kentae only months earlier, picked him up from school that last day and stopped to buy a belt, Andrews said. On the way into the home outside Decatur, a witness heard him say, “You’re going to die tonight,” said the prosecutor.

In an interview with police, Williams said that was just a joke, that he had only held the boy under water for 30 or 45 seconds twice. But evidence in the trial will reveal the defendant lied to the detective, Andrews said.

The first witness called Tuesday was former DFCS case worker, Jaire Granderson, who said she’d spent a great deal of time with Kentae and helped comfort him when two adoptions fell through. The boy had been in state custody since birth and didn’t understand why. DFCS workers and foster parents reminded him there were many people who loved him.

Granderson said Williams saw Kentae on a website where potential adoptive parents can look for kids who need a permanent home.

Williams and Kentae met at an “adoption party,” which is a gathering of kids and potential parents, in 2016. It was at Stars and Strikes, the family fun bowling center, in Henry County. They hit it off and began slowly building a relationship, under Granderson’s supervision, until the adoption was finalized in November 2016.

Even after a new case worker was assigned, Granderson kept in touch. She last saw him when she visited Williams’ home in January 2017. She didn’t testify about any sign of trouble.

But, as DFCS would later acknowledge, there were other reports that Williams wasn’t treating Kentae well and the allegations weren’t taken seriously enough. The agency fired three workers after the boy died.

Granderson heard about the death through the media. She remembered the boy as troubled but outgoing, loving and adventurous.

One trait especially stood out: Kentae loved water.”

Attorney: DeKalb man had ‘void,’ adopted 10-year-old – then killed him

[Atlanta Journal-Constitution 7/10/18 by Joshua Sharpe]