TAMERIA GREENE - 8 yo/ Accused: Mother; Semeria Greene - Detroit MI

Details emerge in stabbing of 8-year-old girl in Detroit

January 1, 2013
By Gina Damron and Elisha Anderson, Detroit Free Press Staff Writers

When police arrived at the Detroit home of an 8-year-old girl who had been stabbed once in the chest early Sunday morning, they found the child lying unresponsive on her back bleeding in the living room.

The girl's mother was over Tameria Greene performing CPR about 2:30 a.m.

The new details emerged in police reports obtained by the Free Press. They shed new light onto what happened at the Martin Luther King Apartments on the 2200 block of East Larned, east of downtown.

Tameria also had bruises, possible bite marks and deep scratches to her face, based on information relayed to police from Children's Hospital of Michigan, where the child was pronounced dead on arrival, reports indicate.

According to the documents, the girl's mother, who has been arrested but not charged, told police her daughter was making sandwiches in the kitchen when she heard a knock at the door. Details of what happened next are unclear, but the mother told police she then saw her daughter lying lifeless in the living room.

"It happened so fast," the woman, whom the Free Press is not identifying because she hasn't been charged, told police.

According to reports, the girl's 7-year-old brother also told police his sister had been making sandwiches, though he was sleeping at the time.

A police report said there was no evidence that sandwiches were being made.

When an officer tried to calm the woman down, she began yelling and said, "Get the hell out of my house," a report said.

A report said police found a large, bloody kitchen knife by the sink, a butcher knife stuffed between couch cushions and a folding knife on top of the refrigerator.

One report says the mother reached for the knife on the refrigerator, but was blocked by an officer.

The children's mother was uncooperative after her arrest, "refused to walk, pretended to fall asleep, changed ailments throughout arrest and smelled of metabolizing alcohol on her breath" and never asked officers about her daughter's condition, a report said.

The girl's family said they are shocked and at a loss for words over what happened, adding they have minimal information on the investigation.

"At this time we're trying to put the pieces together," Tameria's aunt Latisha Greene told the Free Press on Monday. "We really don't know what the circumstances were at the time."

The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the girl's death a homicide and said she was stabbed once in the chest, county spokeswoman June West said Monday.

Police arrested the girl's 26-year-old mother Sunday. The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office received a warrant request from police Monday but said the woman had not been charged in connection with her daughter's death, officials said.

A steady stream of people, who knew the girl, her mother and four brothers, dropped off stuffed animals and balloons at the home Monday.

Family and friends remembered Tameria, who would have turned 9 this week, as an intelligent, responsible, happy kid with a pretty smile..

"She was just a wonderful kid," Latisha Greene said. "Even if you were down, she would make you smile because she was that full of joy."

Dornecia Helms, 21, lives in the same apartment complex as Tameria's family and tied balloons to the handrail of the home Monday.

"She was a sweet little girl," Helms said.

Helms recalled getting a call from a neighbor about 2:15 a.m. Sunday, who said she heard a noise she thought was gunfire. When Helms looked outside, she said she saw Tameria's mother hitting the window of a van. After that, Tameria's mother stood in the doorway of her home and argued with an unknown man, who was outside, Helms said.

"She slammed the door. He walked away," Helms recalled. "Like 15 minutes later, she was knocking on her neighbor's door, screaming, saying her baby couldn't breathe."

She said the Tameria's mother yelled on the porch "My baby's been stabbed!"

Helms said the woman loved her five children and if she stabbed Tameria, she doesn't think it was done on purpose.

Greene told the Free Press that her sister was in a relationship marked by domestic violence.

According to police reports, the mother had a cut on her lip and a bruise under her eye when taken into custody, but it's unclear how she received the injuries.

Some neighbors who live near the family's home painted a troubled picture of the girl's mother and said she would sometimes leave her children alone. Neighbors said they stepped in to care for them.

According to a report, the mother had previously taken the girl to Children's Hospital in October with bruises on her body and told hospital officials there had been an incident at school. Police have had prior contact with the mother concerning allegations of child abuse, and a Child Protective Services worker was contacted after the stabbing, reports indicate.

The girl's brothers, ages 7, 4, 2 and 1, are in foster care. The family is seeking custody, Greene said.

http://www.freep.com/article/20130101/NEWS01/301010050/Details-emerge-in-stabbing-of-Tameria-Greene-in-Detroit

Boy, 4, tells police mom killed sister, cops say

By Elisha Anderson and Gina Damron Detroit Free Press
Tue Jan 8, 2013 10:11 AM

DETROIT -- After his sister was stabbed and left bleeding on the living room floor, the young boy told authorities what he saw: His mother wielding a knife.

Tameria Greene was killed Dec. 30, authorities say, at the hands of her mother, Semeria Greene, in their apartment on Detroit’s east side.

After the stabbing, Tameria’s 4-year-old brother told authorities at a children’s advocacy center that his mother “had a big knife and cut his sister and his mother killed ‘Ti-Ti,’” according to an amended petition released Monday by the Department of Human Services in a child neglect case involving Greene’s children.

Greene, 26, has been charged in her daughter’s slaying.

DHS is seeking to terminate Greene’s parental rights to her four other children, all boys, officials said during a hearing Monday. Child Protective Services investigator Wanda Dexter told the court the plan is to have the children placed with relatives and adopted.

Cupping her hands to her face, Greene, wearing green jail garb and cuffs around her wrists and ankles, sobbed during the hearing.

She is facing felony murder and first-degree child abuse charges in Tameria’s death, who was found early Dec. 30 with a stab wound to her chest.

Before the stabbing, Greene had been accused of abusing Tameria in October and, at times, leaving her children alone and unsupervised.

Greene reportedly was living with Jovan Mull, the father of three of her children. It’s unclear whether Mull was home at the time of the stabbing.

Mull told authorities Wednesday that in the evening before the stabbing, Greene had a knife in her hand when she chased him out of her home at the Martin Luther King Apartments about 11:30 p.m., according to the petition.

“Mr. Mull,” the petition filed Friday says, “stated a neighbor witnessed Semeria Greene sitting outside on the stairs saying, ‘I can’t believe I did this.’ “

The most recent neglect case involving Greene’s children dates to October, when Child Protective Services received a referral, alleging she had abused Tameria, who was found to have bruises and bite marks.

At a hearing in November, a juvenile court referee repeatedly told state workers they could file an emergency order to take Greene’s children out of the home. But DHS disputed that on Friday, saying an emergency removal order did not apply. Instead, the agency filed a standard petition to remove the children from their mother’s care, but said the court refused to remove the children.

A month after the petition was filed, DHS again was alerted that the children were being neglected.

According to the amended petition released Monday, the agency received a referral Dec. 23 alleging Greene was improperly supervising her children and neglecting them. When Child Protective Services attempted to verify the well-being of the children that day, Greene reportedly was uncooperative.

On Dec. 27, a CPS specialist saw the children and noted they were “clean and dressed appropriately” and on Dec. 28, a CPS worker saw no injuries on the children, according to the petition.

On Dec. 30, DHS was notified that Tameria had been stabbed.

Deborah Carley, division chief of the Children and Youth Services Division at the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, argued Monday that reasonable efforts no longer were required to work with the parents because of Greene’s alleged actions and because Mull, who court records show has a criminal history that includes a drug conviction, had his parental rights terminated to three other children born to a different woman, according to DHS.

Loved ones will gather Wednesday to say good-bye to Tameria, whose funeral is to be held at the Muslim Center in Detroit.

But her brothers may grieve privately.

Carley asked that the children not have any contact with family members during the funeral and asked they be allowed to have a private visitation. There is concern that the children would be asked to change their story about what happened, she said.

Greene’s attorney, Joseph Bastianelli, said his client objected. He said he thinks it would be detrimental to segregate close families members at a difficult time.

“I think it’s outrageous,” Bastianelli said.

He asked that no discussion be allowed about the girl’s death, but Wayne County Juvenile Court Chief Referee Kathleen Allen said DHS is the authority over the children and would determine what is appropriate in terms of the funeral.

A pretrial hearing is scheduled before Wayne County Juvenile Court Judge Frank Szymanski on Jan. 24, but a DHS spokesman said the agency plans to file a motion Wednesday asking for him to be taken off the case because he made comments in the news media about the case last week.

Through his administrative assistant, Szymanski declined to comment Monday.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/free/20130108detroit-boy--tells-police-mom-killed-sister-cops-say.html

these ppl were more concerned with the act of breeding than they were taking care of their children. animals are more selective.

Tameria Greene burial delayed over funeral bill

January 10, 2013 at 7:15 pm
By George Hunter, The Detroit News

Detroit — An 8-year-old girl allegedly killed by her mother wasn't buried Thursday because her family hadn't paid the bill.

Tameria Greene was scheduled to be laid to rest at Sunset Hills Cemetery in Ypsilanti, one day after hundreds gathered Wednesday for funeral services at the Muslim Center in Detroit. As of Thursday afternoon, the girl's family hadn't paid the $1,700 funeral cost, said Helen Rahman, director of the Rahman Funeral Home in Hamtramck, which handled the arrangements and donated a $2,000 casket.

She said the girl's relatives received $900 from a fund through Chase Bank to pay for the services but didn't come up with the money.

"The burial was postponed," Rahman said. "The family apparently was under the pretense that the service was for free, even though they signed a contract which said how much it was going to cost. They haven't given us a dollar.

"They told us they were going to give us the money (this week), and the burial was supposed to be (Thursday) at 10, but we told them as soon as they give us the money, we can have the burial."

Tameria Greene's aunt, LaTisha Greene, said Thursday afternoon the family is "trying to handle this right now."

Rahman said the family planned to pay the balance Thursday night. She said there may have been "miscommunication" among some family members and the girl could be buried today.

Prosecutors say Tameria was fatally stabbed Dec. 30 by her mother, Semeria Greene, who was charged with felony murder and is in jail awaiting trial.

Wayne Circuit Court officials and the state Department of Human Services have launched separate investigations to determine why Tameria and her four brothers were allowed to stay in the home, despite allegations of neglect and abuse two months before her death.

Court documents indicate Tameria's four brothers have been sent to two separate foster homes, and that the children haven't yet received counseling, "although those services will be in place shortly," said a petition filed Wednesday by the Department of Human Services seeking to stop the father of two of Greene's children, Jovan Mull, from visiting them.

Also Thursday, agency officials said they won't plan to seek a petition asking the presiding judge in the abuse case, Frank Szymanski, to recuse himself for speaking to the media. Officials concluded that he only spoke about what was on the public record, which did not taint the case.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130110/METRO/301100478#ixzz2HgJWDWvP

Detroit mother charged with daughter's murder to undergo competency exam
26-year-old Semeria Greene is charged with felony murder, first-degree child abuse

Published On: Jan 16 2013 01:40:59 PM EST
Updated On: Jan 16 2013 04:24:25 PM EST

DETROIT - The Detroit mother accused of stabbing her 8-old-daughter to death will undergo a competency exam before her case moves forward.

The exam was ordered Wednesday during a hearing for 26-year-old Semeria Greene.

Greene is charged with felony murder and first-degree child abuse in the stabbing death of her daugher Tameria Greene.

Her next court date is March 1.



--Tameria Greene


http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/Detroit-mother-charged-with-daughter-s-murder-to-undergo-competency-exam/-/1719418/18153236/-/format/rsss_2.0/-/uyakwmz/-/index.html

Autopsy: Detroit Girl Was Stabbed In Heart, Had Bite Mark

January 18, 2013 9:30 AM

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - An autopsy report says an 8-year-old Detroit girl who authorities say was killed by her mother was stabbed in the heart and had a bite mark on her body.

The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office report obtained Thursday by the Detroit Free Press says Tameria Greene also appeared to have been “poorly nourished.”

The report says the young girl had injuries on her left arm “consistent with a bite mark.” It also says she had abrasions on her head and right shoulder, as well as small scars on her arms and legs.

Police say Tameria was found dead in her home on Larned Street, near downtown Detroit, on Dec. 30. Her mother, 26-year-old Semeria Greene, has been charged with first-degree murder. A judge on Wednesday ordered a mental evaluation for her.

Investigators say at least one of Tameria’s siblings witnessed her death. Her 4-year-old brother told authorities his mother “had a big knife and cut his sister and his mother killed Ti-Ti.” According to court documents, the young boy also continues to re-enact Tameria’s death.

A neglect case against Greene began in October, after Tameria was found to have bruises and bite marks on her body. A court official who was asked to remove Tameria and the other children from the home, however, turned down the state’s request because he believed there was no immediate danger.

“They’re in no more danger today than they were yesterday. And no one came to court yesterday to ask for the children to be removed,” Richard Smart, a referee in the family division of Wayne County Circuit Court, said on Nov. 23, referring to Tameria and her four siblings — all boys ages 7, 4, 2 and 1.

Smart told the department that it could appeal his decision to a judge, but the state declined. Instead, the removal request was set for a January 24 trial. Five weeks later, Tameria was found dead.

The state now wants to end Greene’s parental rights to her other children, who are currently in the care of Child Protective Services.

Read more about the Greene case, here.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/01/18/autopsy-detroit-girl-was-stabbed-in-heart-had-bite-mark/