How Could You? Hall of Shame-Nicholas Lowe, Isaiah Young, and Haley Maher cases-Child Deaths and Lawsuit

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 Riddle, Oregon, a “wrongful death tort filed in Douglas County Circuit Court in connection with a fatal 2017 Riddle house fire is moving forward toward a scheduled jury trial again after multiple delays.

Douglas County Circuit Court Judge Frances Burge will preside over a pretrial conference Tuesday at 1:05 p.m. in room 303. A 12-person jury trial is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan 12, and is scheduled to last five days.

The civil lawsuit comes after a deadly fire on March 1, 2017, killed Tabitha Howell and her five children, resulting in a tremendous outpouring of grief from community members in Riddle and beyond. Her husband, James Howell, spent three weeks in the burn unit of Legacy Emmanuel Hospital in Portland before he was released on March 25 later that month.

Fire investigators determined that the fire was accidental, likely caused by a space heater placed too close to combustible material. In addition to Tabitha Howell, killed as a result of the fire were Andrew Young, 15, Nicholas Lowe, 13, Isaiah Young, 10, Haley Maher, 7, and Gwendolyn Howell, 4.

Rachel Grosdidier, of Roseburg, whose biological son Nicholas was living with James and Tabitha Howell as a temporary foster child at the time of the fire, filed the lawsuit in February 2019.

Grosdidier is seeking damages of up to $5 million against defendant James Howell — both individually and as the personal representative of the estate of Tabitha Howell — as well as the Oregon Department of Human Services.

In the tort, Grosdidier claims negligence on the part of the Howells as the cause of the 2017 blaze. In addition to Nicholas, Isaiah and Haley were all foster children in the Howells’ care.

Prior reports in The News-Review indicated that the Howells had purchased the space heater after the insert blower on the fireplace had malfunctioned.

According to the complaint, the Howell home lacked operational fire extinguishers or carbon monoxide monitors, and that there were no operational smoke alarms to alert the occupants of a possible fire. However, a previous story in The News-Review quoted Riddle Fire Chief Rich Holloway that two people had reported hearing smoke alarms going off in the house.

The complaint further alleges that James Howell first attempted to extinguish the fire with a blanket and then with a garden hose from outside the home, without first warning the other occupants about the fire or calling 911.

The lawsuit also claims that the fire trapped Lowe in his bedroom, where he suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning, smoke inhalation and fire exposure prior to his death.”

Wrongful death tort filed in 2017 fatal Riddle house fire

[NR Today 1/3/21 by Donovan Brink]

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