It is unclear why an official search for the child didn’t begin sooner.
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DCF has been part of a series of scandals during the past few years, most recently after two children from Bradenton and North Port were found dead days apart. It appears a child was removed from her home as a result of these concerns and returned after Thomas completed a case plan. The grandmother and aunt say they didn’t realize what was inside.
Keishanna Thomas appeared in a Manatee County Courtroom Tuesday for approximately the eighth time since questions first arose about her daughter Janiya’s disappearance.
Thomas is no longer being held for contempt of court but is facing charges of abuse of a corpse.
It’s unclear how the child died. Radzilowski said more medical testing is needed to determine the cause of death and for a positive identification.
Child protective reports suggest that investigators had not seen Janiya Thomas since a home visit in July 2014, but had interviewed other children in school about their mother this year. “Admittedly, the mother is sometimes overwhelmed with being a single mother to five children, and she is now pregnant”.
“The children have become increasingly fearful of their mother and frequently feel unsafe in their home environment”, an investigator wrote in a report last updated earlier this month.
But for years, investigators dismissed safety threats. “Anytime something horrific happens to an innocent child, we have to stop and think about what we can do to make sure it doesn’t happen again”, Scott said in his announcement. But the girl was afraid to talk to investigators and said only that she fell, according to the report. A doctor who examined the child also found the marks were “abusive and consistent with being hit with an electrical cord”.
“I’m not here to comment on Keishanna Thomas or what’s going on”.
Family members have said little about Janiya’s death, telling The Associated Press only that they were speechless and heartbroken.
Thomas refused to go, choosing instead to stay in her jail cell.
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DCF records show that Janiya’s oldest sibling was removed from the home in 2004.
