How Could You? Hall of Shame-Josie Ann Abney 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 Salem, Missouri, adoptive parents Randall Lee Abney, 51, and Susan Abney, 44, “have each been charged with abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death, according to court records. They are being held in the Dent County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bond each.”

“Josie Ann Abney looked “like a Holocaust victim” when she died on Oct. 3 [2020], one Missouri sheriff’s deputy said.

The 10-year-old girl was emaciated and so dehydrated that when emergency room doctors at Salem Memorial District Hospital tried to treat her that evening, they could not draw blood. According to Dent County court records, she had a blood sugar reading of 10, far below the normal blood sugar range of between 80 and 180 mg/dL in children.

Josie did not have diabetes or any other known health problems, according to KSDK in St. Louis, which obtained the court documents related to her death.”

“A deputy coroner for Dent County later told investigators the girl weighed just under 40 pounds, counting the weight of the body bag holding her remains, a blanket and the medical equipment that remained attached after doctors’ fruitless attempts to save the girl’s life. A child Josie’s age should weigh close to twice that amount, the court records show.”

“Josie’s exact cause of death was still under investigation.

Susan Abney told authorities a total of 12 or 13 foster children had gone through their home over the years, and Josie was their first. They adopted her in 2013, at the age of 3, KSDK reported.

According to the news station, the Abneys called 911 shortly before 6:30 p.m. Oct. 3 to report that Josie had collapsed, unresponsive, as the family sat down to dinner. Just over an hour later, the girl was pronounced dead.

The probable cause affidavit in the case states that deputies who went to the Abney home found that Josie looked almost skeletal. She had bruises on both of her temples, on her chest, arms and hands, and she had a wound on the bridge of her nose, according to the Salem News.

The girl’s bedroom door locked from the outside and there was an alarm on the top of the door, the newspaper reported. Inside the room was a single mattress, a lamp and a clothes basket.

There was also a child lock on the Abneys’ refrigerator. Randall Abney told investigators Josie could open the lock but a Kent County detective wrote that the lock was tight and difficult for him to open, KSDK reported.

He didn’t believe Josie would have been able to manage in her weakened state, the court documents allege.

Non-perishable canned and powdered goods, which required cooking, were found in the family’s kitchen but all those items were stored in cabinets too high for Josie to reach.

In her parents’ dresser drawers were cookies, brownies, candy, crackers and other snacks, the news station reported.

When questioned, Susan Abney admitted that it “wasn’t fair” that they had the junk food hidden in their bedroom. She told detectives she felt bad that Josie was so thin and thought about taking her to a doctor.

She never did.

When asked why she failed to do so, she replied, “I don’t know.”

“My own stupidity,” Susan Abney told detectives at one point in the interview, according to KSDK. “I was too scared of what they would think.”

Randall Abney told investigators Josie was thin because she chose not to eat, the court records show. He also claimed that he and his wife never locked their daughter in her bedroom and that the lock on the outside of her door was there when they bought the house.

Susan Abney admitted that they did lock Josie in the room “while they were outside gardening or getting mail because they have a gun in the house,” KSDK reported.

When asked who was responsible for the girl’s death, her mother answered simply.

“Me and Randy,” she said.

On social media, Kristin Ann Abney, who describes herself as Josie’s sister, mourned the girl’s death earlier this month.

“You sweet, sweet girl. I’m at a loss for words, other than, ‘How could they,’” Abney wrote on Facebook. “You were so happy and always so full of life! You never turned down an adventure or even silly coloring with ya big sis.

“Josie Ann, you didn’t deserve this to happen.””

Adoptive parents charged after emaciated, dehydrated 10-year-old girl collapses and dies
[WSB Radio 10/13/2020 by Crystal Bonvillian]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:“44-year-old Susan Abney and 52-year-old Randall Abney of Dent County will have separate murder trials.

The Abneys are both facing the charges of second degree murder and abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death in relation to their daughter’s death.

Susan’s jury trial will be in Crawford County on a change of venue and it will begin March 7th of 2022.

Her plea hearing is scheduled for this December 14th.

Earlier this week, Randall Abney had his jury trial set for July 11th through 15th of next year at the courthouse in Salem.

His last chance to plea bargain will be April 22nd.

The Abneys are accused of killing their 10-year-old adopted daughter.

The Abney’s were arrested on October 3rd of 2020 at their rural home between Salem and Boss, after police found young Josie Ann Abney in an extreme starving condition.

She died the next day from severe cachexia and protein calorie malnutrition.

Josie weighed only 34-pounds.

The Abney’s adopted the girl in 2013.”

Murder Trial Now Set For Both Parents In Adopted Daughter Starvation Case In Dent County
[My MO info 6/23/21]

“Susan Abney, 46, was sentenced to life in prison Oct. 11 for neglect or abuse of a child resulting in death following the 2020 starvation death of her adopted daughter, Josie Ann Abney. The sentencing hearing took place in a Steelville courtroom due to an approved change of venue request from Abney’s legal team.

Abney and her husband, Randall, were both initially charged with second-degree murder and abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death after their adopted daughter, Josie, died at Salem Memorial District Hospital Oct. 3, 2020. At the time, Josie weighed only 34 pounds, had a blood sugar level of 10 (a healthy blood sugar would be between 70 and 120 for someone Josie’s age) and was so dehydrated that a blood sample could not be drawn. Her protruding bones and emaciation were described by law enforcement as though she “appeared like a Holocaust victim.”

Randall was found guilty of these charges by jury trial in August. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 18.

Susan had earlier pled guilty and did not undergo a trial. Abney also accepted a plea deal with the prosecutor to testify against her husband, Randall, at his trial in August at the Dent County Courthouse. The prosecutor’s office dropped the murder charge and agreed to ask for 29 years during sentencing instead of a life sentence.

Dent County Prosecutor Andrew Curley acknowledged that it’s possible that Abney testified against her husband in order to save her own skin or her own soul but, regardless, Curley characterized Susan’s testimony as having played a crucial part in the state’s case against Randall.

With tears in his eyes, Curley said to the judge that Josie can’t be brought back, but that Randall and Susan can be brought to justice.

He also acknowledged that, unlike her husband, Susan did not cling to the long-held lie that somehow Josie had starved herself.

Curley also said that it’s clear that the pair had come to despise Josie.

Judge Michael Randazzo, who presided over the sentencing hearing, stated from the beginning that he was not going to be limited in his judgment by promises or deals made by the prosecutor; he planned to at least consider the full range of possible punishment.

Randazzo addressed Abney, saying that sentencing was his chance to speak on Josie’s behalf. Randazzo said that Susan had a chance to give Josie life, but instead took that from Josie. Randazzo sentenced Susan Abney to life in prison.

During her hearing, Dent County Sheriff’s Deputy Sergeant Chris Robbins took the stand. Robbins was the first responder to the scene when the Abney’s called 911 after Josie collapsed and was nonresponsive.

Robbins testified that he was able to identify a faint pulse at that time and he attempted CPR. Once the ambulance arrived, Robbins drove the ambulance while EMT staff worked on Josie.

Robbins testified that he has been involved in well over 100 death investigations during the 12 years he has been in law enforcement, all of which he has worked for the Dent County Sheriff’s Office.

“This is the only death investigation that, after, I went home and cried,” he told Curley.

Curley asked Robbins if he still spends much time thinking about that night.

“I regularly have nightmares where I’m working on her again,” Robbins also said.

The correspondence between Susan and Randall from winter 2019 to fall 2020 reveal them referring to Josie repeatedly as “it,” “stupid” and a “little bitch,” among other insults. They also mockingly reference physical punishments Josie received for trying to sneak food away from the refrigerator or from vehicles. They further mock Josie over increasingly desperate attempts to find nourishment. Among the incidents referenced is Josie eating pudding off a school-bus floor, consuming a tube of toothpaste, eating dog food and drinking water from a toilet. At one point, Susan sent Randall a text stating of Josie, “She will eat shit, LOL.”

According to Susan Abney’s testimony at her husband’s trial, the idea of punishing Josie through food deprivation was Randall’s, when Josie didn’t do chores such as cleaning or laundry. She told prosecutor Curley, during Randall’s trial, that these punishments escalated in time and were eventually handed down for not doing chores fast enough, then finally for Josie trying to eat food. Josie was also punished by having her blanket taken away and locking her out of her closet, keeping her from accessing clothing to keep warm at night.

Public Defender Chad Picker, who represented Susan Abney, spent much of his time speaking about the remorse Abney felt for her choices. During his argument, Picker read a letter Susan had written while incarcerated detailing her own personal account of a hard life. In the letter, she referenced being raped when she was a teenager and living a life where, prior to marrying Randall on Oct. 11, 2011, many of the men in her life had physically, verbally, or sexually abused her or some combination of the three. Susan’s letter also included how at one point, while in jail after Josie’s death, she had secretly been hoarding her prescribed medication one at a time until she had 25 pills—Susan planned to kill herself, but then, according to her letter, had a dream. In this dream, she saw Josie speaking to her, telling Susan that she forgave her and that she was an angel now. When Susan woke up, she flushed her hoarded pills down the toilet in her cell. Susan also wrote that she had since been attending Bible study while in jail.

Josie Ann Abney was born in Poplar Bluff as Jocelyn Abrianna Chadwell on Feb. 6, 2010. Her biological parents were a teenage mother and father from Shannon County. She was placed with Susan and Randall Abney as a foster child when she was only 22 months old. The couple had acted as foster parents to more than a dozen children over four years. They later legally adopted Josie and had her name changed.”

Susan Abney sentenced to life in prison
[The Salem News online 10/18/22 by Caleb Brubaker]

Update 2:“A Dent County man has been sentenced to life in prison for the starving death of his adopted daughter in October 2020.

Randall Abney was found guilty in August of second-degree murder and neglect of a child and was sentenced to life in prison on both counts. His wife, Susan Abney, was also sentenced to life in prison last month.

In October 2020, Dent County sheriff’s deputies responded to the Abney house for a report of a girl unconscious. Deputies noticed Josie Ann Abney was very thin. Susan Abney told them the child hadn’t been eating much. Josie Ann later died at the Salem Memorial District Hospital.

Investigators say the girl, ten years old, weighed about 39 pounds. A typical child at this age weighs around 70 pounds.

According to investigators, Susan Abney told them she was too scared to take Josie Ann to the doctor sooner. Investigators found a lock on the refrigerator, and food was kept out of Josie Ann’s reach.”

Dent County father sentenced to life for the starvation death of his adopted daughter
[Kentucky 3 11/18/22 by Chris Six]