EZEKIEL MATHIS - 13 Months (5/2011) - Tampa FL

TAMPA --

Before Ezekiel Mathis was thrown across the room, before his
13-month-old body was beaten badly enough that his spleen ruptured and
his liver bled, there were warning signs.
His 2-year-old sister had been removed because investigators
suspected physical abuse and medical neglect. His mother was dating a
man, Damarcus Kirkland-Williams, with a criminal history.His
presence around a toddler was enough of a worry that child welfare
agencies managed to have him banned from being around Ezekiel – yet
caseworkers noticed him in the home with the toddler twice in the past week.
Wednesday night, 21-year-old Kirkland-Williams was with Ezekiel one
last time. Investigators say he threw the toddler against a dresser,
then put him on the bed and beat him with enough force to lacerate his spleen and liver.
Paramedics rushed the toddler to the hospital,
but Ezekiel was pronounced dead at University Community Hospital.
Kirkland-Williams has been charged with murder and two state agencies
are promising vigorous reviews of whether they acted properly or if
something else should have been done to prevent Ezekiel's death.
A key question: Why was Ezekiel left in a home deemed unsafe enough
that his 2-year-old sister was removed from her mother's care?
"The decision for Ezekiel to remain in the home was based on the
information available at the time," Florida Department of Children &
Families Secretary David Wilkins said in a statement. "Had there been
any signs of abuse, Ezekiel would have been removed from the home immediately.''
"While every party involved in this tragic case had the best interest
of Ezekiel in their heart, a lack of urgent communication prevented all
of us from having a timely and complete assessment of the situation,"
Wilkins said. "Clearly the presence of Williams in Ezekiel's home should
have triggered a crisis response.''
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office recommended Ezekiel be
removed from the home, said DCF spokesman Joe Follick and sheriff's
spokeswoman Debbie Carter. The judge in the case did not order Ezekiel's
immediate removal, saying more information was needed.
"We apparently met with the attorney general three times trying to
have the child removed," Carter said Friday afternoon. She refused to
elaborate on why the agency made that argument.
Jenn Meale, spokeswoman for the State Attorney General's Office, said
in an email to the Tribune that there were no signs at the time Ezekiel
had been abused. She said the mother had agreed to keep
Kirkland-Williams away from the toddler and "to comply with an
agreed-upon safety plan that was then monitored by another agency."
Late Friday afternoon, Attorney General Pam Bondi asked for a
comprehensive review of her agency's role and procedures in child
protection services. Bondi asked former regional DCF director Nick Cox
to review the case and "whether any policy or law changes are necessary
to prevent similar tragedies in the future."
The attorney general's office's children's legal services bureau
litigates child abuse, abandonment and neglect cases for DCF in
Hillsborough, Manatee and Broward counties.
The case already is causing changes at DCFas well.
Wilkins said in the wake of Ezekiel's death, he is "requiring that
department leadership be immediately notified of situations where the
complexity of the case requires our direct involvement."
Wilkins has ordered a "thorough review" of the circumstances of
Ezekiel's death; the investigation is to be completed within a week. He
said the agency will make corrective actions where necessary.
"We are reviewing the critical procedures in place to help ensure
that all of our partners are fully aware of the details of a safety plan
before making a visit to a home and the need to act immediately when a
safety plan is violated," Wilkins said.
Family members said they knew having Kirkland-Williams around the children was a problem.
Ezekiel's uncle, Nathaniel Seabrook, said he knew something about Kirkland-Williams "wasn't right."
According to the sheriff's office, Kirkland-Williams told deputies he
became angry at his girlfriend and intended to throw the child onto the
bed, but the boy struck a dresser. He told deputies he then put the child onto the bed.
When the boy wouldn't stop crying, Kirkland-Williams struck him twice on the back, deputies said.
The child's mother, Swazikki Davis, , who is being treated for
cervical cancer, said she was in the bathroom Thursday night when
Kirkland-Williams banged on the bathroom door, saying something was wrong with Ezekiel.
He held the child, who appeared lifeless, she said. She ran for help and neighbors unsuccessfully performed CPR.
Doctors noted multiple bruises on the child's face and body and an
autopsy concluded he died from blunt trauma to the head and torso and
lacerations to the spleen and liver.
Ezekiel's grandmother, Mary Davis, said the boy had just learned how
to stand and she had taken him to church and tried teaching him how to pray.
While hugging Ezekiel's first stuffed animal, Swazikki Davis, said
Kirkland-Williams had previously treated the child well, helping with
bottles and acting as a father.
She and Kirkland-Williams had been together "a while," breaking up
but getting back together a month ago at Ezekiel's first birthday party,
she said.
Kirkland-Williams' aunt, Shirley Sanders, said she was shocked by the arrest.
"Knowing my nephew, I just don't believe it," she said.
In addition to murder and child abuse charges, Kirkland-Williams, who
is listed as an automobile detailer, is being held on warrants charging
him with burglary and petty theft and violation of probation.
In September, he was arrested on burglary and petty theft charges,
accused of stealing a $100 mountain bike from a shed.
Kirkland-Williams, who is 6-foot-10, told police he had received his
high school diploma from Brunswick Job Corps and hoped the bike incident
wouldn't affect his scholarship to play basketball at Hillsborough
Community College, an arrest report states.
But he never played basketball for the school. He wouldn't have been
academically eligible, though he did take some GED classes there in 2009
and 2010, community college spokeswoman Ashley Carl said.
He pleaded not guilty in October to the burglary and petty theft
charges. The case was reopened this month when his involvement in a
pretrial intervention program was rejected, records show. An arrest
warrant was issued when he didn't appear for a hearing May 5.
In March, Kirkland-Williams pleaded guilty to burglary, dealing in
stolen property and providing false information on a pawnbroker form.
Police said he broke into a garage on West Virginia Avenue on Dec. 17
and stole a $150 Schwinn bicycle, which he pawned for $40.
Kirkland-Williams was sentenced to 18 months of probation; adjudication was withheld.
On April 4, he told a probation officer he was working for his father
detailing cars and being paid cash "under the table," a probation
report states. He was told to get a lawful job, as well as a copy of his
birth certificate or Social Security card.
During a home visit five days later, Kirkland-Williams told his
probation officer he didn't have time to get the identification because
he had been hanging out at his father's shop, the report states.
That was the last time he reported to the probation officer;
Kirkland-Williams missed an April 14 appointment.
He was supposed to be living with his grandmother. But she told the
probation officer April 21 that she hadn't seen her grandson for days
and didn't know where he was staying.
"She stated she doesn't know why he isn't doing the right thing and
she doesn't like him staying there when he isn't making the right
choices," the report states.
http://www2.tbo.com/news/news/2011/may/20/6/deputies-tampa-man-killed-girlfriends-toddler-ar-208838/

Child protection investigators worried all month that 13-month-old
Ezekiel Mathis might be in danger in his mother's home. In early May,
they tried twice to put him in foster care. Each time, the state
Attorney General's Office wouldn't allow it.On May 9, a
Hillsborough County circuit judge also tried to rescue Ezekiel, after
the baby's 2-year-old sister appeared in court covered head to toe with
bruises and was put in foster care.Judge Tracy Sheehan issued a
written order for deputies to immediately check on Ezekiel's well-being.
She didn't want him left behind. The next day, investigators made a
third request to the office of Attorney General Pam Bondi for authority
to remove the baby, the Sheriff's Office said. The request was again
denied.Ezekiel died Wednesday night. Caseworkers had just checked
on him that day and found him with Damarcus Kirkland-Williams, 21, the
mother's boyfriend. The mother, Swazikki Davis, also 21, was under state
order to keep him away from her child. Authorities say the boyfriend beat Ezekiel to death only hours after caseworkers left. On
Friday, the state Department of Children and Families, which contracts
for services from the Sheriff's Office and the attorney general, took
responsibility for failing to save the little boy."While every
party involved in this tragic case had the best interest of Ezekiel in
their heart, a lack of urgent communication prevented all of us from
having a timely and complete assessment of the situation," said David
Wilkins, DCF secretary. "Clearly the presence of Kirkland-Williams in Ezekiel's home should have triggered a crisis response."Kirkland-Williams,
who is 6-feet-10, was charged on Thursday with first-degree murder and
aggravated child abuse. Deputies say he admitted that he attacked the
child while angry with Ezekiel's mother.She wasn't in the room
when he threw the child, he said. He aimed for the bed, but the baby
struck a dresser, he told investigators.Next, he said, he put the
baby in bed on his stomach. Ezekiel would not stop crying, so the
boyfriend hit him twice on his back, deputies reported.Judge
Sheehan remembered seeing Ezekiel's battered sister on May 9. The mother
wouldn't explain her bruises, Sheehan said, and the child was placed in
a foster home.During the hearing, the judge discovered that the
baby still lived with his mother. Sheehan ordered the Sheriff's Office
"in no uncertain terms" to immediately determine whether Ezekiel needed
to be taken out of the home, too. She said she put the order in writing.Jose
Docobo, chief deputy for the Sheriff's Office, said child protection
investigators had tried repeatedly to remove Ezekiel. That was
corroborated by DCF. But in each case, the state Attorney General's
Office ruled it could not find "legal sufficiency" to do so.The
attorney general's media director said by e-mail Friday that Ezekiel had
shown no signs of physical abuse. Jenn Meale said the mother had agreed
to remove Kirkland-Williams from the home and to comply with a "safety
plan.""We requested additional information from the Sheriff's
Office," she said, "and no further information was provided to us. The
Sheriff's Office did not elevate the issue to the regional director of
DCF, which is an option in all cases."In jail records,
Kirkland-Thomas listed his occupation as an auto detailer at his
father's shop on Florida Avenue. He was in violation of probation, which
he was recently given after pleading guilty to burglary and dealing in
stolen property. He had no record of violent offenses.He and his
girlfriend, Davis, were to have traveled to Jacksonville Friday to
celebrate his mother's graduation with her master's degree in criminal
justice. His mother, Angel Williams, said she is a child protection
investigator there. She got a call from Davis, telling her about the
murder charge."He would never hurt a child," Williams said of her son.But Davis' family members were long suspicious of Kirkland-Williams.Yyoni
Bunkley, 31, sister of the baby's mother, said she saw bruises on the
older sister. She could tell the girl was afraid of him. "You can
just tell when a child has been abused," Bunkley said. "I don't
understand why they would take one child and not the other."Bunkley
said the boyfriend had previously been questioned by the Sheriff's
Office after he was observed being aggressive with the girl at a park. "He should have been arrested."The
baby's mother at first said the allegations about her boyfriend and
Ezekiel couldn't be true. She said he cared for Ezekiel and played with
him. Ezekiel called him "Da Da." The night Ezekiel died, she remembers that Kirkland-Williams tried to give him CPR.On
Friday, Davis sobbed and ran to her bedroom when she found out her
boyfriend had admitted to investigators that he threw the baby. Mary
Davis, her mother, remembers picking Ezekiel's name from the Bible when
her daughter was only two months pregnant. She didn't know
Kirkland-Williams well, but at one point she kicked him out of her
daughter's apartment on N 21st Street."He really didn't have
nothing going for himself," she said. "I think he was threatening my
daughter and she wasn't saying anything."An autopsy of the baby
by the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office showed the cause of
death to be blunt impact trauma to the head and torso with lacerations
to the liver and spleen. Officials ruled the death a homicide.Kirkland-Williams was held in jail without bail Friday.DCF
Secretary Wilkins announced changes in procedures on Friday. "I am
requiring that department leadership be immediately notified of
situations where the complexity of the case requires our direct
involvement," he said.Attorney General Bondi announced that she
has asked her statewide prosecutor, Nick Cox, to find out whether any
policy or law changes are necessary. She said she assigned Cox because
he is a former DCF regional director.http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/hillsborough-judge-had-ordered-protection-for-baby-now-dead/1170761

This is another sad tragedy. Another POS mother. Another POS boyfriend.

I'm somewhat puzzled. DCF does not need permission from the Attorney General of Florida to remove a child from an unsafe environment. This puzzles me.

A child can be removed even upon suspicion that they may be in an unsafe place, or be at risk. They can remove the child and do a through investigation.

What was different about this case?

Swazikki Davis held up a photograph of her slain toddler, asking passing motorists to donate money for the funeral.None of this, she said, feels real."I never thought nothing like this could happen to me," Davis said. "It's very hard."Davis,
21, sat in a lawn chair this morning at the entrance of a shopping
plaza on North Florida Boulevard holding a cardboard sign with
neon-colored letters that read, "Help Murdered Baby Burial Cost." Her
mother, Mary Davis, stood across the street with another sign, telling
drivers that a "Murdered Baby Needs Funeral Donations."The baby
is Swazikki Davis' 13-month-old son Ezekiel Mathis, who died last week
in her apartment. Deputies say Davis' boyfriend, Damarcus
Kirkland-Williams, beat the toddler to death.The case put into
question which agency was responsible for allowing Ezekiel to stay in a
home with a man wanted on a warrant for burglary, especially since
Davis' 2-year-old daughter had been removed because investigators
suspected child abuse and neglect.At the center of it all is
Davis herself, who said she has been in and out of foster homes
throughout her adolescence and has struggled with depression and anxiety
since a family friend sexually abused her when she was 7."I've been through a lot," she said.Ezekiel's
death is the breaking point, she said, an event that has not only
shocked and numbed her but sent her spiraling into a deeper depression.
Still, she mustered enough energy today to turn to the community for
help.The family said they need $1,500 to pay for Ezekiel's
funeral on Saturday. Mary Davis first stood on a curb Tuesday to collect
money. The Davises have about $500 so far."I don't want to just
throw him in a hole and say goodbye," Mary Davis said about her
grandson. "I want him to have a good-time, hallelujah service. Ezekiel
was special to me."Trouble first surfaced earlier this year when
caseworkers contracted by the Florida Department of Children &
Families noted that Swazikki's Davis' daughter showed signs of abuse. Davis'
older sister blamed Kirkland-Williams. Davis said her boyfriend had
always been kind to her children. Her daughter got hurt because she's
accident-prone, Davis said."My daughter is very clumsy," Davis
said. "When she started walking, she was clumsy." The only aggression
Kirkland-Williams ever showed her daughter was when he grabbed her by
the arm."He didn't pop her," Davis said. "He didn't hit her."The
girl's injuries were enough for caseworkers to take her away from
Davis. Investigators with the Hillsborough County sheriff's child
protection services recommended that Ezekiel be removed from the home,
but the Attorney General's Office denied the action because
investigators found no indication at the time that the toddler was being
abused.A judge ordered Davis to keep Kirkland-Williams away from
the toddler and "to comply with an agreed-upon safety plan that was
then monitored by another agency," said Jenn Meale, spokeswoman for the
attorney general.Kirkland-Williams didn't go anywhere. On the day
Ezekiel died, caseworkers visited and noted that he was in the
apartment with the toddler."They saw him and took no action, signed no papers," Mary Davis said.Swazikki
Davis said she trusted Kirkland-Williams and wanted him there. Issues
of trust have haunted Davis since she was a child.Davis said
Tommie Reeves, a family friend, sexually abused her from the time she
was 7 until she was 10. Mary Davis said she wasn't aware of the abuse
because she was working three jobs and caring for three other children.Reeves, 42, was convicted of three counts of rape in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison. The abuse caused Swazikki Davis to become depressed, a condition she still lives with and takes medication for. "I
don't go outside. I'm a stay-at-home person," she said. "It made it
hard to trust people. Meeting friends and getting close to friends was
hard." But there was something about Kirkland-Williams that convinced her to trust him, she said. He
prepared baby bottles, changed diapers and cleaned the apartment.
Kirkland-Williams was sweet to her, she said, writing her notes and
serving her breakfast in bed."I was on medication for anxiety and anti-depression," Davis said. "I had to depend on him to help take care of my baby."Mary
Davis said she was suspicious of Kirkland-Williams, who her daughter
had dated on and off for several months before getting back together
with Swazikki Davis at Ezekiel's first birthday party.Davis said she confronted her daughter's boyfriend on the morning Ezekiel died."I
told Damarcus, 'She wants you here, but I don't. If anything happens to
Ezekiel, I'm going to know who did it,'" Mary Davis said. "I pleaded
with Swazikki to please, please love Ezekiel and take him everywhere she
went. Then, in the run of the day when I'm telling her this, he was
dead the same night."Kirkland-Williams told deputies he became
angry at his girlfriend on May 18 and intended to throw the Ezekiel onto
the bed, but the boy struck a dresser, the sheriff's office said. He
told deputies he then put the child onto the bed, and when the boy
wouldn't stop crying, struck him twice on the back.The blows
Ezekiel suffered ruptured his spleen and liver, according to deputies.
Swazikki Davis said she was in the bathroom when Kirkland-Williams
banged on the door and told her Ezekiel stopped breathing. Paramedics
rushed the toddler to the hospital, but Ezekiel was pronounced dead at
University Community Hospital.Kirkland-Williams was arrested May
19 on charges of murder and child abuse at Davis' apartment. He is also
being held on warrants charging him with burglary, petty theft and
violation of probation.DCF officials took the blame for the lack in communication that prevented Ezekiel's removal from the home."It's
human nature to keep families together," DCF spokesman Joe Follick
said. "Ultimately, the department is responsible. If a child is in this
situation, their safety is paramount."Follick said DCF has made
changes to prevent miscommunication from happening again between the
main office in Tallahassee and contract workers in the field. If a
recommendation comes in that a child needs to be removed from a home,
DCF will now "step in and be prompt" to do so, Follick said.Attorney
General Pam Bondi has also asked her investigators to look into Davis'
case. Bondi has appointed her statewide prosecutor Nick Cox, a former
regional director of DCF, to look into her agency's role and procedures
in child protection services.While those changes are discussed,
Swazikki Davis said all she can do is grieve and hold up a cardboard
sign with a photograph of her baby. She said she still can't believe her
boyfriend would harm her child."I can believe it if I hear it
out of his mouth," she said. "I want to ask him, 'Is it true you did
that to my baby, that you did that to my child? Just tell me the
truth.'"For now, she said, she has to endure the upcoming funeral and life without her son."I
know Ezekiel wants me to be happy," she said. "He wants me to be strong
for his sister. I'm going to go to college and move on with my life."The
family of Ezekiel Mathis says donations for the toddler's funeral can
be made at Aikens Funeral Home, 2708 E. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Blvd., Tampa, 33610. The funeral home can be reached at (813) 232-8725.
http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2011/may/25/mom-of-slain-toddler-was-sexually-abused-as-child-ar-232601/

Documents: Tampa mom hindered abuse investigation

Story Created: May 24, 2011 at 10:54 AM America/Chicago


TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Authorities say a Tampa mother hindered a child-abuse investigation leading up to the beating death of her year-old baby last month, allegedly by a live-in boyfriend.

Hillsborough County court documents show the baby's 21-year-old mother, Swazikki Davis, didn't tell child protective investigators about a new boyfriend living in the home. That man, 21-year-old Damarcus Kirkland-Williams, is now accused of fatally beating Davis' infant son, Ezekiel Mathis, on May 18.

Documents showed that a judge had ordered the mother to stay away from Kirkland-Williams, and child protective investigators had already removed Davis's 2-year-old daughter after they suspected the man was beating her.

Davis, who has not been criminally charged, told the St. Petersburg Times that despite the warnings from court, she couldn't have seen this happening.


Information from: St. Petersburg Times, http://tampabay.com



http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2011-05-24/Documents-Tampa-mom-hindered-abuse-investigation#ixzz1NQoKkVqR

This woman needs to be arrested. At the very least she is guilty of negligence, and IMO much more.

If she gets by with this, she will have more babies and bring more men home to abuse and/or murder them.

The mother was sexually abused by a family friend from the time she was 7 to 10, then was placed in foster care where she lived in 19 different homes until she was 18. Not to excuse her negligence, she needs to be charged, but I can see why she would make poor choices when it comes to trusting men.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/long-before-a-baby-died-a-tampa-girl-knew-fear-and-confusion/1171540

Yes, it does Plaid. However, any woman of any intelligence would know better than to allow a man to mistreat her baby. She knew it or she would not have tried to deceive DCF.

Women with her background should be mandated to attend child rearing classes.

To grow up like that, being abused and then punished for it by being taken away from her home and shifted from place to place for 10 years must certainly have scarred her deeply. Yet, surely she knew she had had an abnormal upbringing and that life was not supposed to be that way. Yet still, she put her baby in harms way.

I still don't know if the Attorney General's office was really involved in this before the baby's death. And if so, why. Her offices isn't involved in the thousands and thousands of other cases with the same set of facts.

This is just sad, sad, sad.

That's just it, I think that kind of dysfunction is 'normal' in a lot of these situations. They don't know anything else. Very sad for a child to be born into it. Again, I think she should be held accountable and has no business raising children. Emotionally she is a child herself.

i get so tired of hearing these egg donors pull the "i am a poor victim" when the monster they allowed in the home abuses their children. They r NOT victims; the children r!

The mother needs to be arrested too. She's a real piece of cake and is guilty as hell. First the monster abuses her older child and she looks the other way. I don't buy it. She knew what was going on and I hope they prosecute her. And as usual CPS needs to be investigated. Utitmately the baby's death is the result of the POS boyfriend and stupid mother, but since CPS was involved, they should have never allowed that baby to stay with this negligent mother.

Not only did she bring the POS into her home and allow him to abuse her baby, she lied to DCF and protected her p e n i s, not her baby.

With her background she should have been more vigilant, not less.