Custodial dad, girlfriend "not suspects" -- even though Dad's dead daughter found in crawl space (El Paso County, Colorado)

I had to look up other articles to make sense of what was going on here.

Dad HANIF SIMS is CUSTODIAL, despite having a history of child allegations against him back in his home state of New Jersey. New Jersey officials had filed a neglect and dependency case against him for physical and emotional abuse, and were in the process of taking the girl away from "her parents" (in reality, Daddy and his girlfriend--NOT the biological mother, who is still in New Jersey), when Daddy and his gal pal hightailed it out to Colorado. Then the family moved again to Los Angeles last year. Except the move was without the little girl, whose remains were found in the crawl space of the home they had rented while in Colorado.

It seems that the folks in New Jersey contacted the El Paso Department of Human Services, but the El Paso people sat on their bums and did not open a case. Oh yes, they sent out a "child protection worker" who did respond to a complaint. The little girl apparently told the worker "she wasn't supposed to talk about them." And that response didn't alarm anybody? The usual CPS bumbling and incompetence.

But even now, Daddy and the gal pal are not "suspects" in this little girl's death. Yea, right. We'll be posting some more on this one, you can be sure.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/23684840/detail.html

NJ Officials Reported Abuse Of Monument Child
CALL7 Investigators Raise Questions About Why El Paso Human Services Didn't Act
Arthur Kane and John Ferrugia , CALL7 Investigators

POSTED: 1:18 pm MDT May 26, 2010
UPDATED: 10:55 pm MDT May 26, 2010

DENVER -- New Jersey authorities investigated a complaint of child abuse by father of a child who police believe could be the decomposing body found in an abandoned Monument house.

CALL7 investigators have learned that despite the information, El Paso County Department of Human Services did not open a case on Genesis Sims.

Sources confirm the New Jersey child protection authorities filed a neglect and dependency case against Genesis’ father, investigating whether he was physically and emotionally abusing her.

Sources told Ferrugia that the father was putting the child's own feces and mouse droppings in her back pack before sending her to school, and the father told authorities it was to “teach her a lesson.”

New Jersey officials were about to take Genesis away from her parents but they moved to Colorado. The details of the New Jersey actions were reported to El Paso County, but it is unclear why El Paso County did not act.

There was also an Oct. 2, 2008, complaint of abuse against Genesis’ father in El Paso County. According to sources, a child protection worker went to the house and interviewed two children there. Genesis told the worker she wasn’t supposed to talk about them and her brother also said nothing.

The complaint was deemed “inconclusive” and El Paso County officials did not open a case.

Ferrugia also talked to Genesis’ biological mother Wednesday, confirming the New Jersey complaint. She said New Jersey officials told her they notified El Paso County about their abuse investigation.

After the October 2008 contact, El Paso County did not have any further interaction with the family and the family moved to Los Angeles in 2009.

El Paso County officials declined comment, citing privacy rules.

Earlier this month, Genesis’ body was found by workers remodeling a house where her parents previously lived, police have said.

Police are looking for the couple, Hanif Sims and Monique Lynch, who are believed to have left the state in March 2009 but police have said they are not considered suspects. Police want to talk to the couple about Genesis. Sims and Lynch have outstanding arrest warrants in New Jersey but neither is related to child abuse, authorities said.

The coroner is awaiting lab results before determining how Genesis died.