Custodial dad arrested in choking death of 2-year-old son (Putnam, Connecticut)

Read this account carefully, and its pretty evident that dad DAVID MAHAN must have had custody. After all, if he and the gal pal had the kids on March 26, that would be a Wednesday. So we're not talking about weekend visitation.

So who thought it was a good idea to give this neglectful father and his drug addicted girlfriend custody of two very young children (there is a 1-year-old son too)?

And what happened to the mother of these children? Why has the media erased her existence?

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/article/20140408/NEWS/140409521/1998/NEWS

Father arrested in Putnam toddler's death

By John Penney
Posted Apr. 8, 2014 @ 7:21 am Updated at 8:09 AM

DANIELSON – A second person was arrested Monday in connection with the death of a Putnam toddler late last month.

David Mahan, 30, of 129 Mechanics St. in Putnam, was transferred to the custody of state police at 10:10 a.m. on Monday. He is due to be arraigned this morning in Danielson Superior Court.

Mahan was arrested last week in Massachusetts on a fugitive from justice charge.

Mahan is the father of a 2-year-old child who choked to death after he was left unattended, according to police.

Renee Peterson, 32, Mahan’s live-in girlfriend, was arraigned Thursday on charges of two counts each of first-degree reckless endangerment, risk of injury to a minor and cruelty to persons.

According to an arrest warrant, Peterson told police she left Mahan’s two children alone twice on March 26. She first left their first-floor apartment at 7:40 a.m. with her own two children, ages 6 and 4, while Mahan’s two children, including the victim and a 1-year-old, were left in a locked bedroom, police said.

After returning and giving Mahan’s children bowls of dry cereal, Peterson again locked the bedroom door and left, driving herself and her youngest daughter to a methadone clinic in Willimantic, according to the warrant.

After returning two hours later, Peterson said she discovered the 2-year-old victim “slumped over, next to his little table which had his cereal on it,” not breathing, according to the warrant. After Peterson called 911 and began CPR, emergency personnel arrived and took the toddler to Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam where he was pronounced dead. An emergency room doctor observed what appeared to be food in the victim’s airway, police said.

According to Peterson’s statements to police, Mahan told her to “keep the boys locked in their room” while she went to the clinic.

Mahan on Monday was accused of the same crimes Peterson faces. He was initially held on $25,000 cash bond and paid it to get released at 1:05 p.m., according to police records.