How Could You? Hall of Shame-Khloe Williams case-Child Death

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 Clearwater, Florida, Lynnie, the extended foster family’s dog killed 7-month-old foster child Khloe Williams.

“Homicide detectives are investigating the death of a 7-month-old who was killed by a dog while at a foster home in Clearwater over the weekend.

“We evaluate all animals that go through our adoption program for aggression toward food, for toys and treats, with people and with other animals and she did not show any signs of aggression through any of those assessments,” Pinellas County Animal Services Director Doug Brightwell said about Lynnie.

After Lynnie passed every test, Pinellas County Animal Services adopted her out to Khloe’s extended foster family seven months ago. Khloe’s foster dad, a Clearwater police detective, is not Lynnie’s owner and wasn’t at home when the incident occurred.

Her biological mother released this statement saying in part, “There were multiple agencies that were tasked with the care of the child, including the Florida Department of Children and Families.”
It goes on to read “Khloe’s tragic death could have and should have been avoided, and was the direct result of inexcusable neglect.”

Brightwell said Lynnie is being kept by Animal Services until the organization hears from the family. If the family chooses to relinquish ownership, Pinellas County Animal Services will move forward with euthanizing the animal.

The Clearwater Police Department released the following statement on the death investigation:

“The Clearwater Police Department’s homicide unit is conducting a thorough and objective investigation into the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of 7-month-old Khloe Williams. The detectives are collecting evidence and conducting interviews to determine exactly how this horrible dog attack occurred,” said Deputy Chief Eric Gandy. “This is a heartbreaking situation for everyone involved. We are committed to conducting a fair and impartial investigation. In order to ensure the integrity of the investigation we will not be releasing details or discussing the circumstances with anyone outside the investigation until it is complete.”

The Department of Children and Families released the following statement:

The Department of Children and Families is committed to ensuring the safety of all children, especially those in the care of foster parents. Any time a child dies in foster care, the department will conduct a thorough review to ensure the highest quality of care for children in the child welfare system.

Understanding of the high levels of trust and responsibility placed upon them, we are forever grateful to the thousands of wonderful families across Florida who support vulnerable children and make the choice to bring a child into their homes and their hearts.

DCF will support the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office as they investigate this child’s death and the department has also initiated a multidisciplinary review team to review this child’s history with the child welfare system.”

Homicide detectives investigating death of 7-month-old killed by foster family’s dog

[ABC News 8/8/18 by Melissa Mahedeo]

“Last Friday, Shavon Grossman spent the morning with her infant daughter, Khloe Williams, before giving the baby back to her foster family.

“She let out a big smile, and she rattled her toy, and I just expected to see her again,” she said. “I just don’t understand it.”

Grossman was set to start unsupervised visits this week and planned to bring the 7-month-old home next month. But about an hour after dropping Khloe off, the baby was mauled by a dog.

This was not a simple bite, this was an attack and the dog did serious traumatic injuries to Khloe,” Clearwater Police Chief, Daniel Slaughter said.

Slaughter says the foster parents, Melissa and Jonathan Maser dropped Khloe off at Jonathan’s parent’s house in Clearwater so Pamela Maser could babysit.

Their nearly 2-year-old rescue dog was home and put into its crate when the infant arrived. We’re told Khloe was in her car seat on the couch, and Pamela was getting a bottle ready when things suddenly went wrong.

“This dog that’s in this kennel was acting a little energetic like he wanted to go outside or something, opens up that door and the dog immediately goes and attacks Khloe,” said Slaughter.  “Pamela Maser tried to intervene with this dog and get the dog separated from the child.

Documents released Friday by Eckerd Connects reveal Melissa got to the house shortly after the attack and did CPR on Khloe. The baby was rushed to the hospital, but she didn’t make it.

Police started investigating immediately, and The Child Protection Investigation Team is also doing a separate inquiry.

Still, Grossman and her attorneys are calling for another independent investigation by the FDLE.

“Something like this doesn’t happen without someone making some kind of mistake,” Attorney Nioti Koulianos said.

Khloe’s foster father is a detective with the Clearwater Police Department, and his dad, Paul Maser, is a former Deputy Chief for the agency. The lawyers say this is a clear conflict of interest.

“We believe that any investigation coming out of this department would have some shadow cast on it with all those conflicts, glaring conflicts that we’ve just pointed out,” said Koulianos.

Slaughter disagrees, saying his investigators can conduct an impartial and thorough investigation despite the department’s ties to the case.

He tells us they plan to turn everything over to the State Attorney’s Office to determine if criminal child abuse or neglect charges are warranted.

“The fact that I’m gathering evidence that I’m taking to the State Attorney’s Office that could potentially result in a criminal charge demonstrates that no one’s getting any preferential treatment,” Slaughter said.

Grossman says her baby should still be alive, and Khloe’s death was absolutely preventable.

“I want justice for this, somebody needs to take accountability for it,” she said.

FOX 13 News also learned the dog had a previously documented bite incident. It happened back in March when the Masers were beginning the adoption process. Pinellas County Animal Control tells us the dog was euthanized.

Khloe will be laid to rest at a private ceremony next week.”

Mother wants justice for baby killed by dog while in foster care

[Fox 13 News 10/12/18 by Catherine Hawley]

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