Neighbors complained to police at least five months before custodial dad, girlfriend charged with torture killing of 2-year-old daughter (Stockton, California)

The typical bungling by the authorities. Notice that the article is extremely vague as to why the mother lost custody of this baby, though there is evidence that she acted in a protective way and tried to contact the authorities about her concerns. I'm thinking this was an unmarried couple where the control freak father and his family took possession, and there was nothing she could do since mothers no longer have automatic custody rights to their own children anymore. I have known many cases like this, where the authorities refuse to retrieve the kids if they are in the father's possession.

Dad is identified as DWIGHT SLAY.

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140624/A_NEWS/140629952

Multiple abuse reports before tot's death

By Zachary K. Johnson
Record Staff Writer

June 24, 2014 12:00 AM

The first recorded instance that something was amiss with Tafari Sarai Barris came in October, about 5 months before the 2-year-old was found dead and her father, Dwight Slay, and his girlfriend, Latima Coleman, were accused of child abuse and torture.

Case documents and court records show when concerns about the child’s safety began, and when they increased and prompted increased attempts from investigators to find the child that, ultimately, came up short.

On Oct. 24, Stockton police got a call from a cellphone during an argument between Slay and his family over who should have custody of Tafari.

His family thought Tafari looked too small for her age, and Slay wasn’t taking her to a doctor for medical care, according to a police call log. But Slay had legal custody, and he told police a doctor’s appointment had been scheduled.

Police told the family they couldn’t take the child away from her father, but if they wanted custody, they should call CPS. The information from the police call log was not shared with CPS at the time.

But somebody did call CPS, at 11:40 that night, county records show.

The caller said Tafari looked small and unhappy and mentioned the conversation with police. She wanted to make a report, so somebody could check on Tafari, but she didn’t have the address or names of those involved.

The social worker who took the call reported asking the woman to get the information and call back.

She didn’t.

On Dec. 18, somebody called 911 to report hearing a neighbor striking Tafari, according to a call history included in a search warrant filed by law enforcement after the child’s death.

A police officer went to the 11th Street address and talked to a “Latima Corona,” who said her children were running around and yelling. Officers checked the home and said “everyone in the house appeared to be OK,” according to the warrant.

These kinds of “welfare check” calls happen frequently, according to police.

Prosecutors had said Tafari had suffered abuse since at least January, but records do not show another call until March.

On March 9, a neighbor called CPS to say it sounded like a child had been locked in a closet as punishment and that the child had cigarette burns on her face. The caller provided the 11th Street address and the nickname of her neighbor, but not the name of the father or the child, according to the county.

The social worker taking the call determined there was not a danger that required immediate intervention, but that there should be a response within 10 days.

The social worker found information about Coleman’s family by using the address to search county records, but it led to the conclusion that a different child, not Tafari, was the victim. It becomes clearer in later documents that Slay and Coleman have more than one child together, and there is another 2-year-old girl related to the case.

On March 17, a social worker made an unannounced visit to the 11th Street home, finding a 6- or 7-year-old girl and a woman who said she was a relative of Coleman’s. The social worker reported that the home seemed to be clean and free of safety hazards.

The woman said she didn’t know the child the worker was looking for, but she said that Coleman’s significant other “Dwight” had a 2-year-old named Tafari. The woman called an unknown person in an attempt to reach Coleman, then provided the social worker with numbers for Slay and Coleman, though Coleman’s phone was turned off.

Later that day, the social worker visited a different home. It is unclear how it was related to the case, but the woman who answered the door did not allow the investigator inside, which looked dirty and smelled bad. There were two children inside.

Coleman left a voicemail at CPS on March 19 but left no return number.

On March 23, police got another call requesting an officer to find and check Tafari for malnutrition and a possible broken arm. The call listed in the warrant doesn’t identify the caller, who told police to check a home on the 8700 block of Kelley Drive. Police contacted the residents of the home, who said nobody with the name Tafari lived there.

On March 26, one of Slay’s relatives called 911 to say Tafari suffered from malnutrition and that she was in the custody of Slay and his girlfriend at the 11th Street address, according to the search warrant.

Officers came to the house, reporting there was no sign of abuse or neglect inside. They noted there was food, electricity, running water and that the children “were in good spirits and were very well fed,” according to the search warrant. But Tafari wasn’t there, police said.

A caller told police on March 29 said Tafari was either at a home on Plantation Place or at an address on 11th Street. However, the caller gave a different 11th Street address. That call went to the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, which talked to CPS and sent the call back to Police Department with the correct address.

The police again visited Colemen, who said she hadn’t seen Slay “in a while.” Tafari wasn’t there, either, but the children who were appeared to be uninjured and in good health, police reported, according to the warrant.

Coleman also told officers that somebody kept making false reports and sending police to her house, according to the report.

On March 31, a social worker requested police look for Tafari at a different address on Plantation. Police found Slay’s relatives but reported they were uncooperative and argumentative. A man demanded to know who made the allegation, and told police get off his property, the report said.

“Why would I tell you where (Slay) is at? So you could take him to jail?”

Police visited another home that day. It was an address connected to Coleman. The home was vacant.

On April 2, a new caller reported to police that she hadn’t seen Tafari for 10 months but that Slay’s family members had told her that the child had a broken arm and burns and was malnourished.

This caller provided some insight into how Tafari was passed from one person to another during her short life.

The child was in the care of her mother, then one person, then another before ending up in the care of Slay. One of these interim custodians was uncooperative when police visited the person’s home two days earlier, according to the documents.

The search went to another address provided by this caller, too. It was supposed to be home for a relative of Coleman’s, but responding police found the relative had moved.

From March 23 through March 31, police patrol officers handled a total of seven calls related to Tafari from both the public and from CPS, said Officer Joe Silva, a Stockton police spokesman. It was enough of a red flag to prompt detectives to investigate, he said. About the same time, Tafari’s biological mother called the county’s child-abduction team.

Police investigators decided sometime after March 31 that it was time to upgrade the case to an “at-risk” missing person case, and the missing persons unit took over.

By April 2, photos of Slay and Tafari had been sent to other agencies in San Joaquin County and to the state Attorney General’s Office.

On April 6, Tafari was dead.