How Could You? Hall of Shame-Javier Bolden 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 Los Angeles, California, foster child Javier Bolden,19, was arrested at the private home of his social worker and charged on Tuesday May 22, 2012 with “two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of electrical engineering students Ming Qu and Ying Wu, both 23.”

“Police investigators said they believe Bolden and [the other suspect Bryan] Barnes came across the pair talking in a parked BMW on April 11 and decided to rob them. At some point, police allege, Barnes opened fire.

Prosecutors also charged the pair with two earlier shootings at parties that they allegedly attended.

At one party in South L.A. in December, officials say, they pulled out guns and opened fire, wounding a man. Then in February, authorities allege, Barnes fired numerous rounds at another party, severely wounding a man and injuring a woman, both in their 20s.

Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Pat Gannon told the Los Angeles Times that shell casings found at those two parties were a match for ones found in the street where the two USC students were killed.”

Javier was living in a foster home in Palmdale contracted by the Teens Happy Homes.

“A Department of Children and Family Services social worker was assigned to help Bolden get a job, pursue an education and eventually live independently. In turn, DCFS hired a contractor, Teens Happy Homes, for about $1,600 monthly to help him achieve these goals and to house him in a foster home in the Palmdale area, even though friends and family said his life increasingly centered in South Los Angeles.

DCFS Director Philip Browning said he could not discuss Bolden’s case specifically, but he noted that the department has a limited number of adult foster care recipients who have remained in the system because of a judicial order.

He said that Teens Happy Homes undergoes regular reviews by the county, and “we’ll have to look at that with a heightened sense of scrutiny.”

In a 2009 audit by the county, Teens Happy Homes was faulted for poorly preparing its foster children for adulthood. Beautina Robinson, its chief executive, declined to comment on her agency’s handling of Bolden’s case.

Bolden was arrested Friday at a Victorville home owned by a woman who was recently listed on a staff roster as a Teens social worker. County officials were unable to say why he was there. Browning said he was not aware of the arrest location but said a social worker having an adult ward at his or her home would seem “inappropriate to me.”

Javier “is the father of one child with a second on the way, his [biological] mother said.

“He was a good kid, he was going to college, he worked,” said Lashanna S. Green-Chaskley, adding that her son was working at a grocery store and attending classes at a community college.

“He’s just telling me he wants to be free,” she said, after visiting Bolden in jail Monday. “He looked me in my eyes and said, ‘Mom, I need you to believe me when I say I didn’t do it.’ ”

Green-Chaskley spoke repeatedly about the grief the parents of Qu and Wu must be experiencing. “I feel for the parents,” she said. “I don’t know what happened. I don’t know the motive.”

Bolden has lived in the county’s foster care system for years and spent time under probation supervision because of a property crime committed while he was still a juvenile, county officials said.

The Probation Department’s supervision of Bolden lasted a year, from June 2010 to June 2011, and was terminated during a period when he finally appeared to be getting his bearings. He was receiving intensive counseling through the county and was working full time, according to probation records.

Even as an adult, however, he was still in the foster care system at the time of his arrest under a program that provides extended benefits to vulnerable young adults. “He stayed a dependent ward because he had no other place to go,” said Cal Remington, deputy director of the Probation Department.”

USC slaying suspects portrayed themselves as party boys

[Oregon Live 5/22/12 by McClatchy/Tribune MCT Information Services]

REFORM Puzzle Pieces

Update: “The men charged in the deaths of two University of Southern California students have pleaded not guilty to murder charges.

Bryan Barnes, 20, and Javier Bolden, 19, are accused of shooting Ying Wu and Ming Qu April 11 during what’s believed to be a botched robbery.

The two engineering international graduate students were sitting in a BMW about a mile from campus in the West Adams District when they were shot and killed.

Police say shell casings tie Barnes and Bolden to the shootings, as well as other crimes committed in the area.

The case has attracted a lot of attention in China and has raised questions about the safety of the neighborhoods around the USC campus.

In court Wednesday, friends of the victims said they miss the two students, but they also had some sympathy for the suspects’ families.

Friend Julia Liu said the suspects’ parents may lose their sons as well, and that makes it hard for everyone involved.

“It’s going to be sad for four families,” Liu said.

Both men were ordered to return to court Sept. 20 for a hearing to determine a date for a preliminary hearing. They are being held without bail. They could face the death penalty if convicted.

Wu and Qu’s parents have filed a lawsuit against USC, claiming the school made false claims about safety. The lawsuit accuses the university of hiding behind the word “urban” in its online application form and not saying the school is in a high-crime residential area.”

Suspects in USC student killings plead not guilty

[ABC Los Angeles 7/18/12 by John Gregory]

“A judge set a May 2013 trial date Wednesday for the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of two USC students who were killed during a botched robbery in April.

The parents of graduate students Ming Qu and Ying Wu filed the suit against the university on May 16.

The 23-year-olds were fatally shot around 1 a.m. on April 11 while they were sitting in Qu’s car off-campus in the 2700 block of Raymond Avenue.

Bryan Barnes, 20, and Javier Bolden, 19, are facing murder charges in the incident.

If convicted of the charges, the suspects could be eligible for the death penalty.

The lawsuit trial will begin May 28.

The judge also set a March 21 hearing to see how setting the case through mediation was progressing.”

Trial Date Set For Wrongful Death Suit Filed By Parents Of 2 Slain USC Students

[CBS Los Angeles 9/5/12]

“A decision on scheduling the preliminary hearing date in the case of a pair of suspects accused of shooting to death two Chinese graduate students at USC in April was postponed on Tuesday until Dec. 12.

The families and friends of the two suspects — Bryan Barnes and Javier Bolden — attended the hearing. Several Chinese students and Chinese media also went to the courtroom.

The whole process lasted about 20 minutes before Judge Shelly Torrealba announced the next setting date for the preliminary hearing. Whenever the preliminary hearing is held, the judge will decide whether there is enough evidence to move the case forward to trial.

“it may be one of the strategies of defense attorneys and defendants have the right to ask for more time to prepare,” said Deng Hong, a Chinese attorney in the courtroom. “After such a long time witnesses may not remember what had happened as clearly as months ago and this can be one advantage for the defendants. Since for a major criminal case, like this one, if convicted, the defendants can be sentenced to prison for life or even death penalty.”

One USC graduate student also expressed his feelings.

“I feel helpless…. I hope there will be a result as soon as possible…I will come here on Dec. 12th and follow the updates,” said Haowang Wang.”

Another Delay For Suspects In Shooting Of USC Chinese Students

[Neon Tommy 11/20/12 by Xueqiao Ma and Shunqi Lin]

Update 2:“One of the two men accused in the shooting deaths of two USC grad students from China pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder on Wednesday, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s announced.

Bryan Barnes was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty in the deaths of Ming Qu and Ying Wu, according to a news release from the DA’s office. Barnes also admitted to special circumstances that included murder during the commission of a robbery.

The 21-year-old was spared the death penalty in exchange for the guilty plea, the Los Angeles Times reported. Prosecutors also asked the court to drop an attempted murder charge that was unrelated to the case, officials said.

The two engineering students, both 23, were shot to death while sitting in Qu’s parked BMW in the early morning hours of April 11 in the 2700 block of Raymond Avenue (map), not far from the University of Southern California.

The crime was the result of a botched robbery attempt, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The case drew international attention, in part because USC draws many students from abroad.

Barnes and the other defendant, 21-year-old Javier Bolden, were arrested in May 2012 after LAPD detectives connected the pair to Wu’s stolen iPhone, the Times reported.

The fathers of both victims, Wanzhi Qu and Xiyong Wu, flew in from China and attended Barnes’ sentencing. Addressing the court, they talked about the devastation and loss their families have suffered since their children were killed “for no reason,” according to the release.

Bolden was scheduled to return for a pretrial conference on March 21.

Prosecutors said they have not yet determined whether to seek the death penalty against Bolden, who was still being held without bail.”

Man Pleads Guilty to Murder of 2 USC Grad Students[KTLA 2/5/14 by Tracy Bloom]

Update 3: “A man was convicted Monday of first-degree murder for the “ambush-style” killings of a pair of USC graduate students from China during a robbery.

Javier Bolden, 22, faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for the April 11, 2012, killings of Ying Wu and Ming Qu as they sat inside a car that was double-parked on a street near the USC campus in the 2700 block of Raymond Avenue.

In his closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Dan Akemon told jurors that “the evidence of guilt in this case is overwhelming.”

The 23-year-old graduate students were “helpless victims” inside a BMW that presented an “attractive target,” the prosecutor said. He said Bolden and a friend, Bryan Barnes, were “essentially ambushing” the couple and “counting down the seconds of the lives of these victims” as they approached the car from behind while communicating on cell phones.

Bolden was charged with two counts of murder and special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a robbery in the deaths.

Barnes pleaded guilty in February to first-degree murder charges. Barnes was spared a death sentence when he was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

urors began deliberations in the Bolden case late last week after about one week of testimony. Deputy District Attorney Dan Akemon told jurors that “the evidence of guilt in this case is overwhelming” and that the attackers saw the two students as an “attractive target” as they sat in the car on a rainy spring night.

The two men approached from the rear of the vehicle and communicated on cellphones as they coordinated the ambush, prosecutors said. Barnes fired two rounds into the locked car. Qu, shot once in the head, crawled from the vehicle and across the street in search of help. Wu was shot once in her side and once in her right arm, investigators said.

During opening statements, the jury saw video of a recorded statement during which the Bolden said Wu and Qu seemed like easy targets and heard what prosecutors said were recorded conversations between the defendant and an undercover jail cell informant.

“It was easy, and they’d most likely have more money than somebody that stays in Watts, Compton,” Bolden could be seen saying in video recording.

Prosecutors said Bolden confessed to the slayings in recordings with the informant, but defense attorneys claimed the defendant was intimidated in his jail cell and “had to make things up” because he was not at the scene of the shootings.

Prosecutors called the recordings part of a “mountain of evidence” against Bolden, who was arrested in Victorville and brought by helicopter to Los Angeles for questioning.

Bolden was “scared out of his mind” when he was told that he could face the death penalty and provided details about the shooting that were “completely inconsistent” with testimony and forensic evidence presented during the trial, his attorney said.

Cellular phone records prove Bolden and Barnes were in the area at the time of the killing, prosecutors said. Bolden’s attorney, Andrew Goldman told jurors Bolden’s phone was in the area, but “that doesn’t place him next to the BMW.”

The shootings prompted calls for increased safety around the USC campus. Two years later, a 24-year-old USC graduate student was beaten to death as he walked home from an off-campus study group.

Xinran Ji’s roommate found his body in his apartment.

Two men, a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl were charged with capital murder in the Ji slaying. The DA’s Office said that after attacking Ji, the suspects went to Dockweiler Beach where three of them were involved in another robbery.

The family of Wu and Qu filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit, which was dismissed.”

Man Convicted in Shooting Deaths of 2 USC Students[NBC Los Angeles 10/27/14 by Jonathan Llyod]