Child Fatality Summary C-15 2018
Child's Name: County: Palm Beach
Date of Birth: - Date of Death: 12/9/2018
Family Composition Chart Report Number: 2018-776880
Name Relationship with Deceased Child
1. Circumstances Surrounding Death
On 12/9/18 a report was received by the Hotline alleging - was found hanging in the grandparents' garage.
On the evening prior to the incident, it was said the family had gone out to dinner and - behaved normally. He went to sleep around 10:30 PM in the grandparents' room where he sleeps on a couch. Soon after the grandparents went to sleep themselves. The grandparents woke up around 6:45AM at which time they noted - was no longer in bed. The grandfather checked the garage after the grandmother noticed the light was on and found hanging. He grabbed him however it was said - was unresponsive and cold. 911 was contacted however- was pronounced dead on scene at 7:21AM.
At the time of the incident the grandparents had custody- through the Department since December 2017 due to issues of medical neglect and substance abuse on behalf of the pa was diagnosed - s medications. It was said .,,,.,,.. ,,.,,.,"",.,.,. behavioral
An autopsy was performed on 12/9/18 by Dr. Michael Bell from the Office of the District Medica , Palm Beach County. Dr. Bell listed the cause of death as "hanging" and the manner a "suicide." Toxicology was run with no abnormal findings.
The Child Protection Team completed a case consult on the family with no indicators of neglect towards- - They recommended grief counseling for the family.
- Pagelof4 Palm Beach Sheriffs Office has jurisdiction over this case. Detective Sean Oliver was the lead investigator and the case number is 18-153566. Once the final autopsy report was received in February 2019 deeming the death a suicide, their case closed with no evidence of any criminal activity.
Based on the information indicated above, the report was closed with "no indicatorsu for inadequate supervision and death as there is no evidence to suggest anything the grandparents did or didn't do caused or contributed to -~he grandparents were supervising - as best as they ~ was receiving a plethora of services. Regardless, he took his own life.
2. Other Children in the Family
At the time of his death,- had one adult sibling, age 19.
Summary of Prior Agency Involvement with Family
a. Within 12 months of the child's death during the following time period:
Two reports were located within this timeframe with the most recent closed J 2018 with "not substantiated" find for
. At the time of case closure he was still receiving services rough case management. A second report was located in December 2017 which generated a CIRRT response (please see separate report). This report was closed with "verified" findings for medical neglect and substance misuse-illicit drugs and "not substantiated" findings for environmental hazards and inadequate supervision with - parents the perpetrators. Subsequently. - was removed from their custody and placed with the paternal grandparents whom he was residing with up until his death.
b. All other investigations and services during the following time period:
Nine additional prior reports were located on this family dating back to 2001
- Page2of4 - Page3of4 Signature Page:
Rebecca Karvols, Child Fatality Prevention Specialist Date
F /batet
Mark Holsapfel, SER Family Safety Program Manager
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