Girlfriend of custodial dad arrested in murder of 17-month-old boy; what happened to Mom? (Seattle, Washington)

LOTS of unanswered questions here.

FIRST, who decided to give sole custody to a father, AT MINIMUM, who was neglectful and very possibly physically abusive himself? Let's see the name of the judge, please. Along with all the social service people who went along for the ride.

SECOND, why wasn't Daddy arrested for failure to protect? Mothers are routinely arrested for this when their boyfriends hurt or kill their kids, even if the POS was beating and threatening them as well.

But no. At minimum, Daddy dumped caretaking responsibilities on a suicidal, self-cutting woman with drug addiction issues. What could possibly go wrong?

THIRD, There was previous evidence that abuse was taking place. Why didn't Dad intervene? Maybe because he was also an abuser and he and his enabler family were happy for the girlfriend to take the hit? Why did CPS let a custodial dad off the hook, as they so often do?

FOURTH, why has the murdered boy's mother been completely erased from the story?

UNNAMED DAD

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/crime/article/Police-arrest-woman-after-West-Seattle-baby-s-6545882.php

Police arrest woman after West Seattle toddler's death
By LYNSI BURTON, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Updated 10:10 pm, Friday, October 2, 2015

Seattle police arrested a 20-year-old woman Thursday in connection with the death of a 17-month-old boy in West Seattle.

Court records indicate the woman, after her arrest, admitted kicking the baby twice in the abdomen the day he died.

Officers responded to the 6500 block of California Avenue Southwest last Sunday after the woman found the baby -- her boyfriend's child -- unresponsive in his crib, police reports say.

The baby's father attempted CPR and called 911, court records say, but medics declared the boy dead at the scene.

The King County Medical Examiner ruled Tuesday that the child's death was a homicide.

The couple lived together in West Seattle with the father's 17-month-old child and the woman's 2-year-old boy.

The baby was examined at Children's Hospital on Sept. 20 for an unrelated matter, when doctors noticed suspicious-looking cuts and bruises on the child and referred their concerns to Child Protective Services, according to the probable cause affidavit. The boy was nonetheless released to his father.

The boy's father and his father's girlfriend were his sole caregivers.

A week after the doctor visit, medics responded to the family's home about 4:12 p.m. and found the boy pale, cold to the touch and covered in vomit. The boy had no known medical conditions, court records say.

Police examining the boy in the back of an ambulance noticed blood coming from his left ear and bruises on his face and body, documents say. They alerted the Homicide Unit to the case.

An autopsy determined the boy died of severe abdominal trauma.

Initially, neither the 20-year-old woman nor her boyfriend appeared to know what happened to the child.

The woman told police the boy had been mopey in the week before his death, according to the probable cause. The day he died, his father went to the store while the woman was giving the boy a bath and later put him down for a nap because the boy was "wobbly" as he walked.

She denied she or her boyfriend ever assaulted the boy, but said her own son sometimes abused the child.

A couple that stayed at the family's home for a few days in September told investigators that the woman struggled with drug addiction and became angry and agitated toward the 17-month-old boy when she was on drugs or suffering withdrawal symptoms, reports say. The couple said the woman would spank or flick him, but nothing forceful. However, they expressed concern about her screaming at him when he cried.

A forensic search of the woman's phone indicated that her boyfriend and his family accused her of killing the boy, court records say.

Authorities served a warrant at the family's home about 1:30 p.m. Thursday, only to find the boyfriend reporting that his girlfriend had tried to kill herself the previous night by cutting her legs, the probable cause states. She reportedly did not admit to killing the boy, but he and his family thought she did, he told police.

Police detained the woman and took her to police headquarters. There, she admitted to kicking the boy twice after he and her son fought over a toy, police reports say. She claimed the first kick knocked the child down and then she delivered a second blow. She then said she put the boy in his playpen and noticed he stopped breathing a short time later.

Cops booked her into King County Jail for investigation of homicide and she remains held on $1 million bail.