EMMA THOMPSON - 4 yo (2009)/ Convicted: Lucas Coe - Harris County/Houston TX

In the days leading
to her death, 4-year-old Emma Thompson suffered 80 contusions, a
fractured skull, a brain hemorrhage and a vaginal tear.

About 12 to 24 hours before she died, the Spring girl was hit in the abdomen by an
“unknown object,” causing blunt force trauma that killed her, according
to court records filed by investigators and made available on Tuesday,
the same day Emma's mother, Abigail Elizabeth Young, 33, and her
boyfriend, Lucas Ruric Coe, 27, made their initial appearance at a bail
hearing.

Young and Coe are charged with one count each of injury to a child after their
explanation of Emma's fatal injuries didn't square with the beating and
sexual abuse she apparently endured over the course of several days.

Coe was ordered held without bail. Young was released Tuesday after posting $50,000 bail.

In an arrest warrant affidavit filed by Harris County homicide investigator A.J.
Kelly, Coe and Young gave conflicting statements about what had
happened leading up to Emma's death.

Her bruises, including one on her face, were first noticed in early June by her
father, Benjamin Thompson, who separated from Young in April. At a
court hearing last month, he said Emma's sisters and his estranged wife
told him that Emma caused the bruise by walking into a patio table.

According to Kelly's affidavit, Thompson said he told Young to take Emma to a doctor “or he would.”

The girl's pediatrician examined her June 8. The doctor found Emma had “oral and
vaginal herpes, along with bruising inconsistent with explanations
offered by Abigail Young” and contacted Child Protective Services.
Tests came back positive for herpes on June 11.
No sign of abuse June 12

A CPS investigator contacted Young, who was then a registered nurse at Woman's Hospital of
Texas, and asked if she were the only adult living in the house with
Emma and her sisters. Young said she was, CPS officials have said. She
also told CPS that her daughter might have come into contact with
someone with herpes at a local YMCA.

According to Kelly's affidavit, however, “Lucas Coe began an intimate relationship
with Ms. Young and became a frequent overnight guest at Ms. Young's
residence beginning June 2009.”

After CPS talked to Young, Emma was taken on June 12 to Texas Children's Hospital for a
sexual abuse exam. There was no sign of sexual abuse, and CPS allowed
Emma to remain home. CPS officials have said that herpes does not
automatically prompt a removal because in rare cases genital herpes can
be contracted in a nonsexual manner.

But sometime between that June 12 exam and her death on June 27, Emma suffered more
bruises, a total of 80, according to the Montgomery County medical
examiner, along with the skull fracture and sexual abuse as evidenced
by a “tear and hemorrhaging to the vagina extending from the area of
the hymen, which was not intact.”

The officer's affidavit said that at 8:56 p.m. June 27, Young called 911 to report
her daughter was not breathing. It is believed that she made the call
from her car a few blocks from her home, because the ambulance met
Young at her car at 9 p.m.

Emma was pronounced dead at 10 p.m. at Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands Hospital.

Young stood before a magistrate Tuesday with her arms folded, looking in Coe's direction and shaking her head.

Coe, in an orange jail jumpsuit, sat behind a post out of camera view until his name was
called. He stood solemnly before the judge, head down.
CPS removes children

Calls for comment, made to relatives of Young and Coe, were not immediately returned. It's
not clear whether Young is still working for Trinity Medical Center.

“She's worked one shift,” said John Simms, president and chief executive of the
hospital's corporation, Trinity Health Services.

Emma's sisters, along with two other Montgomery County children Coe has had contact
with, have been taken into custody by CPS. Emma's two sisters, ages 6
and 11, have been placed with her paternal grandparents.

The two other children, a 4-year-old girl and an older boy, are in foster homes.

“The investigation is still going on in both cases,” said Gwen Carter, CPS spokeswoman in
Houston. “We're still doing our investigation and working with law
enforcement.”

There are new details about a mother and her
boyfriend arrested in the sexual assault and beating death of the
woman's four-year-old girl. The boyfriend had been under investigation
for abuse allegations in the past, and Child Protective Services had
been to the home just weeks before the girl's death.
CPS tells Eyewitness News that Lucas Coe, the mother's boyfriend in
this case, has a four-year-old daughter of his own, who was apparently
with them the night four-year-old Emma Catherine Grace Thompson died.
Coe and Abigail Young are facing charges in Emma's death. Even
as the criminal cases against Young and Coe move forward, there are
questions about why Emma wasn't removed from the home weeks before her
death when a medical exam found the little girl had herpes. Child
Protective Services says it's because herpes isn't always proof of
sexual abuse in children.
"In this case, it is possible to get herpes simplex 2 by skin to
skin contact that doesn't involve sexual abuse," explained CPS
spokesperson Estella Olguin. "Our investigation was still ongoing when
we got the second report that she had passed away." Emma died
on June 27, and an autopsy found 80 bruises, a skull fracture, internal
bleeding and signs of rape, which was not found in the earlier medical
exam. CPS says Young, arrested Monday night at a Brenham hospital where
she works, did not tell investigators about her boyfriend, Coe. He has
a violent criminal background and is accused of injuring another
girlfriend's child in 2007. Olguin said, "The mother denied
that she had a boyfriend, denied that anybody else is living in the
home. No one mentioned that Lucas Coe was part of the home, had access
to the children, was even involved at all with this family, because we
know of Lucas Coe." Both Coe and Young are now charged with
felony injury to a child, although the prosecutor in the case says more
charges may be coming. Assistant District Attorney Caroline Barnett said, "There's further investigation being done." CPS is going to court later this week regarding Coe's daughter and her
brother, who is apparently not Coe's biological child. They were
removed from relatives' care last week because Coe had unsupervised
access to them and the little girl was apparently with Coe the night
that Emma Thompson died.
Vigil planned:
On August 13, the Spring community and close friends will be holding a
candlelight vigil to celebrate the life of Emma Catherine Grace
Thompson. The community welcomes everyone who wishes to attend not only
for little Emma, but for all children who are abused and die
tragically. Organizers hope Emma's story will one day save the lives of
others and finally bring peace to her family and friends. Date: Thursday, August 13, 2009
Time: 7:00 P.M to 8:00 P.M
Location: The Church at Creek's End
20010 Kuykendahl, Spring,TX 77379
Contact Tim Seippel at 281-353-7887 or www.creeksend.org for all information as needed.
Info: Candles will be provided by the church.

Abigail Young's attorneys say their client is a mother who just lost
her daughter and has not been allowed to grieve. Young made her first
appearance before a judge in the case of her daughter's death at the
Harris County Criminal Courthouse on Wednesday morning.

Young is charged with first degree injury to a child. Prosecutors say Young and and her boyfriend, 27-year-old Lucas Coe are responsible in the death of 4-year-old Emma Thompson. An autopsy revealed that Emma was beaten and sexually assaulted shortly before her death on June 27.

Young's attorney, Colin Amann, said Young had nothing to do with Emma's death.
He said she was a caring mother who took Emma to Texas Children's
Hospital for a check up one week before she died. Young claims medical staff found no evidence that Emma was being abused or sexually assaulted.

When FOX 26 reporter Andrea Watkins suggested to the attorney that a lot can
happen in one week, Amman said,"Sure. A lot can happen in a week, but
not on her part. I think you should be talking to Mr. Coe." With that,
Amann abruptly ended the interview.

Assistant District Attorney Colleen Barnett said that, according to the autopsy, the
numerous injuries that lead to Emma's death happened within the last 12
to 24 hours of her life. Investigators say Emma died while Young was driving her to the hospital because Emma had vomited and lost consciousness.

Young has posted $50,000 bond, but Coe, her co-defendant is jailed without
bond. He did not appear before the judge as scheduled on Wednesday
because he asked for time to hire an attorney.

While at the courthouse this morning, Young asked the judge for permission to have
contact with her other daughters who are ages 6 and 11. Prosecutors
have not wanted that because the children are potential witnesses to
the crime, but on Wednesday, the judge granted the family to exchange
letters. Those letters will be screened by Child Protective Services
and the Harris County District Attorney's office.

It sickens the conscience. Yet another child is dead at the hands of
her caregivers. But this time many are pointing fingers at Texas Child
Protective Services, who did nothing despite knowing the murdered girl
was given genital herpes and living with a man investigated three other
times for cases involving children, according to the Houston Chronicle.


Abigail Elizabeth Young, 33 and her boyfriend Lucas Ruric Coe, 27,
were arrested Monday and charged with felony injury to a child in
connection with the June 27 death of Abigail’s 4-year-old daughter,
Emma Thompson. But more evidence is coming to light that while they may
be directly responsible for Emma’s death, they are not solely
responsible.

Investigators have uncovered records that Texas Child Protective
Services had begun an investigation into Emma’s care when she tested
positive for genital herpes, but she was not removed from the home,
according to the Houston Chronicle. The paper also notes that
investigators discovered that Coe had been investigated three other
times in the past for unrelated cases involving another girlfriend’s
children.

This is one more death of a defenseless child at the hands of the
very people who were supposed to protect her that has authorities and
family members asking how and why this was allowed to happen. And this
time it's shining an unflattering light on the watchdogs.


In
these photos taken by James Nielsen of the Houston Chronicle, Abigail
Elizabeth Young, 33, and Lucas Ruric Coe, 27, leave a Houston courtroom.


Questions will be raised. Why Coe was allowed near children with
the kind of history he had with Child Protective Services? And why
wasn't Emma removed immediately from the home when evidence surfaced
that she was being sexually abused – for what other possible reason
could a 4-year-old have genital herpes?

Some will say that Child Protective Services can’t remove every
child, or that the system is overwhelmed and undermanned to handle the
volume of cases. Questions will be asked about home much state funding,
or lack thereof, contributed to the understaffing of a very important
agency.

But one has to wonder if all this finger pointing, while justified
and arguably necessary to affect change, is just a way for us to avoid
asking the hardest and possibly the only question that will never be
answered: how does a parent do this to their own flesh and blood?

For some reason.....this one just totally breaks my heart! Why didn't anyone see the "red flags". This child had genital herpes :shock: :shock: They didn't look closer :shock: A week later she was dead..........just makes me sick And her mother was an RN This case really pisses me off...........where was DCF and what the hell were they doing to protect this chid?????????????

kygirl09 wrote:For some reason.....this one just totally breaks my heart! Why didn't anyone see the "red flags". This child had genital herpes :shock: :shock: They didn't look closer :shock: A week later she was dead..........just makes me sick And her mother was an RN This case really pisses me off...........where was DCF and what the hell were they doing to protect this chid?????????????

I agree. Very sad. These woman need to stop bringing home these low life boyfriends. Why cant their children be their priority instead of these perverts..

The community came together Thursday night to celebrate the life of a little girl beaten to death. The
prayer vigil comes days after four year old Emma Thompson's mother and
her mother's boyfriend were arrested and charged in the case.

Dozens of people gathered at The Church At Creek's End on Kuykendahl in Spring. Some
were family and friends, but most never knew Emma. They say they can't
seem to get her sweet, innocent face out of their minds. Mourners wept
as they watched a slides how of Emma with her sisters, sang hymns and
lit candles.

"She was a wonderful child," said Amanda
Mathews, Emma's aunt. Mathews joined the grieving crowd and thanked
them for their support. In an interview with FOX 26, Mathews
says she fell apart when she heard the horrifying details of her
niece's June death. Emma suffered 80 bruises, a fractured skull and
signs of sexual abuse. "To have somebody you love hurt so badly, and you couldn't do anything to change it was a horrible feeling," said Mathews.

Emma's
mother, Abigail Young, and Young's boyfriend, Lucas Coe, have been
charged in connection with the death. Prosecutors say the two have
given conflicting statements. "I'm trying to put myself in
Emma's father's position. I would be freaking out," said Chris Davis, a
single father who didn't know Emma or her family but came to the vigil.


A pastor read a statement from Emma's father, who did not attend the vigil. "He said he wanted to thank everyone for remembering his precious Emma tonight."

Young, who is out of jail on a $50,000 bond, also did not attend. "I really do not want to comment on my sister at all. It's about Emma. This whole thing is about Emma," said Mathews.

Mathews
doesn't want what happened to Emma to be forgotten. She says she hoped
the vigil would shed light on child abuse and encourage others to look
for warning signs inside their loved ones' homes.

CPS under fire in death of Emma Thompson
By RANDY BURTON

The death of 4-year-old Emma Thompson has enraged the Houston community.
According to news reports, Emma's mother ignored the abuse of her own
child, denied it to the authorities and attempted to hide it by
super-gluing her baby's skull together. This “gifted nurse” claimed
Emma's injuries were self-inflicted and that she had contracted genital
herpes from a dirty toilet seat. Neighbors and others who suspected
abuse should have notified the authorities, something required of all
Texans over the age of 18. But, judging by their comments on the story
on the Houston Chronicle's Web site, Houstonians have reserved their
strongest criticism for Child Protective Services. The agency, which
was fully aware that Emma had contracted a sexually transmitted
disease, failed to remove her from the home.

This tragedy is not an isolated example of poor judgment but the result of a conscious
decision by CPS to leave this child in the home. CPS spokesperson
Estella Olguin explained that “a sexually transmitted disease alone is
not enough to put a 4-year-old into protective custody.” If Emma's STD
and her mother's inconsistent stories about its origin weren't enough
to trigger a thorough investigation and removal by CPS, what sort of
evidence does it need?

Some historical context. In May 1987, following the murder of 2-year-old Jesse Wheeler,
a poster boy for how the system has failed victims of child abuse,
Justice for Children was formed by a group of concerned citizens tired
of seeing preventable deaths of the very young in our community.

Later that year, these same Houstonians convinced the Texas Senate to conduct statewide
hearings into the problems at CPS. The 1989 Senate report stated that
“70 percent of the confirmed cases involved children who were left in
their homes and who needed ongoing supervision and assistance from the
department. In reality, only about half of these cases were assigned to
a caseworker. The remaining 49 percent, or 9,800 confirmed cases, were
closed immediately after the investigation … ”

In 1991, the Texas Senate Finance Committee found that “[y]ears of studies costing
millions of dollars have been devoted to this program without tangible
results. The immense problems and substantial improvements required
cannot be achieved realistically in an agency with so many competing
priorities.”

Also in 1991, a report by the Texas Performance Review Team found: “The mission of the
social worker is to rehabilitate and preserve the family.” It went on
to say, “on the other hand, the mission of an investigator is to
determine if the abuse occurred and remove the victim from the
situation if necessary. Maintaining the functions in the same agency
makes … a nearly impossible situation in which to maintain objectivity
and focus.”

On July 2, 2004, Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order requiring the Office of the
Inspector General of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to
conduct an investigation of CPS. The inspector general's report noted
that: “When abuse or neglect was indicated in the file, only 30 percent
of the time did CPS caseworkers implement the appropriate safety steps
for the short-term protection of the child, only 71 percent of the time
were the steps appropriate to protect the child from further abuse and
neglect and only 27 percent of the time, when there was imminent threat
to the health and safety of any child in the home, was the child
actually removed from the threat to prevent further abuse, neglect, or
physical abuse, neglect, or physical harm to the child.”

Twenty-three years after Jesse Wheeler's death, innumerable studies, and adverse
reports, we are still fighting the same fight. I could not care less
that CPS feels they are damned if they remove a child and damned if
they don't. According to the last National Incidence Study of Child
Abuse and Neglect, of the 1 million annual cases where CPS confirmed
abuse and neglect, 72 percent were closed without ever removing the
children. By comparison, the number of children who have been murdered
as a result of being removed from a home subsequently deemed safe is a
big fat zero.

CPS is not in a popularity contest. Under federal law, “the child's health and safety
shall be the paramount concern” in all child abuse and neglect
investigations. The federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997,
written with the help of Justice for Children, states that CPS is not
required to use reasonable efforts to keep families together where “the
parent has subjected the child to … abandonment, torture, chronic abuse
and sexual abuse” or has “committed a felony assault that results in
serious bodily injury to the child.”

No government agency is perfect, but I'd much rather have a police officer
investigating a crime against a child than an agency that acknowledges
that it doesn't perform criminal investigations. Law enforcement's
priority is to protect its complaining witness, the crime victim.
Otherwise, it has no case. CPS's priority continues to be preserving
the family unit which, in cases like Emma's, is an experiment at the
child's expense. If Emma's case had been investigated by law
enforcement officers, I believe she would be alive today.

Like Jesse Wheeler, the death of defenseless little Emma is an object lesson in
system failure. She compels us to try something new, so we don't read
about another tragic, preventable child's death in the newspaper
tomorrow.

Burton is the founder of the national child advocacy group Justice for
Children and a partner at the Houston law firm of Burleson Cooke, LLP.

Before Lucas Coe was accused of inflicting the injuries that may have killed 4-year-old Emma Thompson, there were at least five chances to keep him behind bars in two different counties.

The last opportunity came just three months before Emma turned up in a Houston area emergency room, sexually abused and fatally beaten. Both Coe, 27, and his girlfriend, Emma's mother, Abigail Young, 33, have been charged with injury to a child in Emma's June 27 death. No trial date has been set.

But a closer look at Coe's criminal history reveals some troubling facts — any of which might have altered the turn of events that led up to the Spring girl's homicide.

While Coe was serving six years probation for a 2002 Harris County aggravated assault, records show, he was convicted for DWI, pled guilty to a Montgomery County assault, failed to meet with a probation officer, got behind in his restitution to the Harris County victim and was indicted on a child abuse charge in Montgomery County.

Four motions to revoke his probation in the Harris County case were made: two in 2005 and two in 2008.

Two of those were overruled by state District Judge Marc Carter. Two others were dismissed by the judge at the request of prosecutors in the case.

At least twice in that period, Coe was jailed for violating the terms of his probation.

But his probation was never revoked, which could have forced him to serve the remainder of his sentence in prison.

And when he missed a Montgomery County court date on a 2007 charge of injury to a different child, his bond was not revoked in that case — it was reinstated. Turns out he missed court because he was in the Harris County Jail serving time for violating terms of his Harris County probation.

Yet this overlapping criminal history, which had Coe ping-ponging from one county to the next, was not enough to keep him from being released from his probation in March when Carter signed the form announcing Coe had “satisfactorily fulfilled the conditions of supervision imposed by the court.”

Attempts to reach Carter, Montgomery County prosecutors and Coe's attorney for comment were unsuccessful. A Harris County prosecutor in Coe's case referred questions to spokeswoman Donna Hawkins, who would only say that “it's not unusual through the course of a six-year probation that issues might arise with compliance.”

Emma first came to the attention of Texas Child Protective Services on June 8 after her pediatrician reported the little girl had blisters in her mouth and on her vagina that appeared to be genital herpes. After tests proved the diagnosis correct, Emma was given a sexual abuse exam at Texas Children's Hospital.

No abuse was confirmed, and because genital herpes in rare cases can be spread in a nonsexual manner, the little girl was not removed from her home.

“The system failed Emma, bottom line.” said Andy Kahan, Houston's Victim Assistance coordinator. “None of this should have ever happened. He should have been locked up in a prison.”

Coe's criminal history through two courthouses, two jails and a probation department raised other questions no one seemed to be able to answer.

The Chronicle was unable to verify whether Coe completed all 800 hours of his community service, or who made most of his $40,000 restitution to the victim in the 2002 case, considering that as of last December, he was behind in completing both tasks.

The Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department will not give information out about a probationer's case without approval from a judge. The department forwarded the Chronicle's request for information to Judge Carter last week.

By Monday, there was no approval from Judge Carter to release that information. Several Chronicle attempts since Friday to reach Carter regarding the four motions to revoke the probation went unanswered.

Attempts to reach prosecutors in the 2007 Montgomery County child abuse case now pending against Coe, including why the case was reset at least 15 times, and how Coe was able to get bond when he was on probation for a felony in Harris County, also were unsuccessful.

Messages left Monday for Montgomery county prosecutors about Coe's case, along with Coe's attorney Chris Warren, were not returned.

Texas Child Protective Services will use more aggressive procedures when investigating allegations of abuse in children with sexually transmitted diseases, following the beating death of 4-year-old Emma Thompson in June.

The Spring girl turned up in an emergency room on June 27 with signs of sexual abuse and a fatal beating three weeks after she tested positive for genital herpes.

CPS officials examined the investigator's work in Emma's case, and although they determined she did nothing wrong, the agency has issued new guidelines.

“The review identified additional steps that could be taken in future cases where the only evidence is a sexually-transmitted disease of unknown origin,” said Patrick Crimmins, CPS spokesman in Austin. The recommendations from the review will be given to all caseworkers.

If a suspected child abuse victim tests positive for a STD, all children in that victim's household will be tested as well. Any child who tests positive will have a sexual abuse exam and a more thorough “forensic” interview with child abuse specialists at a Children's Assessment Center.

A forensic interviewer, according to the center's Web site in Houston, is someone “specifically trained in working with sexually abused children and skilled in obtaining information necessary” for police, child safety and prosecutors. The interviews are videotaped.

Emma was originally scheduled to be examined at Children's Assessment Center but no interviewer was available. Instead, CPS and the child's pediatrician referred her to Texas Children's Hospital. Also, investigators have been told to aggressively pursue potential witnesses by interviewing neighbors in cases where a child tests positive for a STD. The CPS investigator in Emma's case did not.

Later, in a custody hearing involving Emma's sisters, a neighbor testified that she had confronted the girls' mother, Abigail Young, after seeing blood on Emma's panties the day before she died. Young told the neighbor Emma had scratched her vagina getting out of a pool.
Not removed from home



Emma's pediatrician first contacted CPS in early June after the doctor suspected blisters in the little girl's mouth and on her vagina were genital herpes. Subsequent tests proved the doctor right. But a physical exam at Texas Children's Hospital found no evidence of sexual abuse. And because the disease, in rare cases, can be transmitted in a non-sexual manner, Emma was not removed from her home.

As the investigator later told a judge, Emma shook her head “no” when asked if anyone had touched her inappropriately.

A CPS investigator told a judge last month that because the mother misled her and because Emma herself did not complain she had been abused, there was nothing she could do to remove her.

Three weeks later, Emma died after her sexually abused and battered body arrived at a Houston area emergency room. She had 80 bruises, a fractured skull.
Mother also had disease



Testimony at a hearing last month revealed that Young had also recently contracted genital herpes, but CPS officials did not know that, nor did they interview any of Emma's neighbors about whether any other adult was living in the girl's house or if they noticed Emma having any problems. Young, a registered nurse, never disclosed she had a new boyfriend, Lucas Coe.

Young and Coe have been charged with injury to a child and await trial. Young is out on bond. Coe remains jailed. Emma's two sisters have been placed with grandparents.

Attorney Bert Steinmann, Coe's lawyer, said his client “vehemently” denies causing any of Emma's injuries and also denies he is the source of Emma's genital herpes.

Steinmann said he's confident the case “will exclude Lucas as the source of Emma's STD, determine the mother's actual role and/or knowledge of the child's injuries, and correct the so called facts and innuendos in Lucas' case.”

There seems to be concern that your local newspaper has not provided enough coverage regarding the tragic death of 4-year-old Emma Thompson.

It is a gut-wrenching story.

The story centered around the child’s death and the subsequent charges filed against her mother, Abigail Young, and her mother’s friend, Lucas Coe. Both have been charged with felony injury to a child, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The horrible treatment and subsequent death of Emma has been told many times, and there is no need to repeat it here.


Keep in mind that all of this sordid affair occurred in Montgomery County, near The Woodlands.

The connection to Brenham is this: the mother grew up here. Her grandmother still lives here.

That alone doesn’t make it a local story. We have Brenham natives who move away and do great things — and bad things — and we don’t cover it in The Banner-Press.

There are many reasons. First, Washington County is our beat. We don’t have the personnel to gather the necessary facts from areas outside our community.

What did make this a local story was when the child’s mother, a registered nurse, returned to Brenham and went to work for Trinity Medical Center for a brief period of time.

Shortly after she went to work for Trinity, we carried a story. It happened the day after charges were filed against Abigail Young and Coe.

Keep in mind that until Aug. 10, no charges were filed against anyone. Most would agree they were coming, but no one knew for sure.

This issue is further complicated by the fact that Emma’s grandmother works as executive director of Trinity Medical Center Foundation, the fundraising arm of the hospital.

The naysayers are quick to assume the hiring was an inside deal.

The hospital’s chief executive, John Simms, issued a statement following the arrest of Emma’s mother saying: 1) her record was clean when checked by the hospital, 2) normal hiring procedures were followed and 3) she had been in orientation for the short period of employment.

However, the newspaper, in representing the community, is seeking more information regarding the hospital’s hiring of Abigail Young during the tumultuous time of the investigation that led to charges being filed against her.

The question most asked is not whether the hiring was legal, but was it the safe and appropriate thing to do. Should someone who obviously had many gut-wrenching and heart breaking issues crossing their mind minute by minute, the most obvious is the horrible death of her daughter, be on the front line of delivering health care.

In full disclosure, this writer is a member of the hospital board, and has been off and on for the last 25 years. Also, this writer knows John Simms and Emma’s grandmother, Margie Young. And, without reservation, one can say they have given their all in making Trinity the wonderful community hospital that it is.

They are the kind of folks you want on your side when times are tough.

However, that does not entitle anyone to a free pass.

When it comes to the start-to-finish coverage of this story, The Houston Chronicle is doing an outstanding job. They are able to review the facts of Emma’s death, but the efforts of the Child Protective Service and the Montgomery County court system. What happened with Emma is not an isolated case in this state. It is a state-wide issue, and the Chronicle is seeking to make it a state-wide concern. And, rightfully so.

However, our attention is focused on our hospital, an institution that has been widely supported by the community through the years.

Residents need to know there was no undue influence regarding the hiring and of Emma’s mother as a nurse at Trinity. And, even if there was none, whether it be explained that she even should have been working in the area of nursing at that time.

All that marks Amber Maccurdy's short 66 days on earth is a vacant space for the mobile home where the 2-month-old baby once lived and later died an excruciating death.

By the time paramedics arrived on April 9 to her grandmother's Katy mobile home, the infant had a large gaping abscess on the right side of her chest, the result of a brutal, untreated staph injection. Autopsy results would later find she had broken ribs and a fractured arm, compromising her immune system even more.

Amber's parents — Hobert Maccurdy and Melissa Menkes — along with maternal grandmother Linda Menkes, have been charged, accused of failing to seek medical attention leading to Amber's death. They didn't seek medical care, her mother told authorities, because she was afraid Texas Child Protective Services would take Amber and her two brothers away from them.

After all, CPS investigators had been called to the mobile home a total of four times since 2003, including one time nearly a month before Amber died.

But not once were Amber or her brothers taken from the home, despite several warning signs.

Not in 2003, when her oldest brother, then 3, wandered away from the home and was found with a soiled diaper standing on a median in the middle of a four-lane road.

Not in 2006, when a caseworker was called to the home after it was reported the same boy exhibited signs of poor physical hygiene and his mother could not be located.

Not in 2007, when another of Amber's brothers, then 1 month old, had a fracture to his right arm.

And definitely not in March, when a caseworker came to check a report that Amber's oldest brother, now 9, had been hit with an open fist. All the children were fine, the caseworker reported back to her superiors, according to CPS officials. The caseworker noted she saw no “marks or bruises” on Amber.

But the caseworker never examined Amber. The mother refused to let the caseworker see her closely, a fact confirmed by Patrick Crimmins, CPS spokesman in Austin.

“The mother only allowed the caseworker to examine Amber while holding her, so the worker saw the child's face, arms and legs,” Crimmins said. “To the worker, Amber did not appear to be in any distress and did not appear to be injured or harmed in any way.”
‘We ... are human'



He had no immediate answer as to why the caseworker seemed to violate policy by allowing the mother to prevent her from examining the child. “If an examination cannot be conducted because the parent, caretaker, or child objects ... The caseworker discusses with a supervisor or (CPS) attorney any questions or concerns about: the need to obtain a court order; and the authority to take photographs under these circumstances,” the agency's policy reads.

“What I will tell you is that the job of a CPS investigator is one of the toughest imaginable. What those workers are required to do, and trained to do, is described as “risk assessment,” but what it really entails is the ability to predict human behavior. We are imperfect at that because we, ourselves, are human,” Crimmins said.

Luci Davidson, attorney for Melissa Menkes, would say only that she will “zealously represent my client and present the evidence as we see the evidence should be presented. I don't have any comment on what CPS says to the press.”

Menkes, who wrote the court, denied she had anything to do with her daughter's death.

“I'm not guilty of hurting my child,” Melissa Menkes said in a letter she dictated on May 31 while in the Harris County Jail and sent to State District Judge Jim Wallace. “If I would have know (sic) she was sick I would have taken her to the doctor right away.”
Another tragedy



Amber's death came just two months before another child known to CPS died after caseworkers may have failed to look at the sum of the factors pointing to trouble.

Four-year-old Emma Thompson of Spring died June 27 in an emergency room with 80 bruises covering her body, a skull fracture and signs of sexual abuse.

A few weeks before her death, CPS was notified the little girl tested positive for genital herpes, but the caseworker decided against removing her because no other possible signs of sexual abuse could be found.

Both Emma's mother and the mother's boyfriend have been charged in the injuries that caused her death: severe abdominal trauma.

“It's unfortunate, any way you look at it,” said Robert R. Scott, attorney for Hobert Maccurdy, Amber's father. “He's not guilty of this.”

An internal review is under way in Amber's case, Crimmins said, in response to questions from the Houston Chronicle about it.

“The Legislature has been more than generous with CPS in terms of resources, including money, employees and innovative tools such as special investigators,” Crimmins said. “CPS will continue to make the best possible use of those resources while constantly seeking to improve its own performance.”

HOUSTON — The deaths of three Houston-area children from abuse since April have prompted a state review of Child Protective Services' investigations in that region.
The children — Katy infant Amber Maccurdy, David Tijerina, 3, of Conroe, and Emma Thompson, 4, of Spring — were killed by abuse after they were reported to CPS as possible victims. CPS investigators saw Amber and Emma within weeks of their deaths.
David, who died Monday from blunt trauma to his abdomen, was seen by a CPS worker just six days before he died. Noah Herrera, 30, a man described as like an uncle to the child, was charged Friday with capital murder in his death. Three others — David's grandmother, an aunt and a family friend — have been charged with injury to a child.
Anne Heiligenstein, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services commissioner, told the Houston Chronicle she has asked a review team from the department to "take a good look at investigations."
The Austin-based team, which arrived in Houston late Thursday and will be there until October, also will look at how CPS investigators hand off their cases to Family-Based Safety Services staff after investigations are done and how caseworkers follow up with families.
"I've been concerned about (Family-Based Safety Services) and the need for more information about cases," Heiligenstein said.
The team will review a random sample of the nearly 200 open cases in the Houston CPS district, which includes Harris and 12 surrounding counties. It also will conduct random, 90-minute interviews with some of the nearly 1,750 CPS workers in the region to get a sense of how people are doing their jobs.
The Houston-area district is the largest among CPS regions. According to agency records, more than 21,500 abuse and neglect investigations, involving almost 35,400 possible victims, were completed during the year that ended Aug. 31, 2008. Of those, the agency was able to confirm neglect or abuse involving 6,365 children.
In 2005, lawmakers approved the hiring of about 1,830 more CPS workers, including almost 850 more investigators. The additions, coupled with the agency's resolve to take fewer children out of their homes, has resulted in more cases being sent to safety services staff. Texas lawmakers recently agreed to add 116 safety services workers statewide. On Friday, Heiligenstein announced that all 116 would be hired immediately.
Estella Olguin, CPS spokeswoman in Houston, said one thing being looked at is how to let investigators know a complaint involves a family the agency has dealt with before.
Some caseworkers don't have time to read a family's case file before knocking on their door, she said.
___

A convicted felon charged with causing the injuries that led to the death of his girlfriend's daughter was released Friday from the Harris County Jail after posting bail.

Lucas Coe, 27, had been in the jail since his Aug. 10 arrest in connection with the beating death of Emma Thompson, 4.

Last week, Coe's lawyer asked District Judge Mary Lou Keel to set $100,000 bail for Coe. The request was granted Thursday with the provision that Coe has no contact with any children.

Both Coe and Emma's mother, Abigail Young, 33, were charged with one count each of felony injury to a child. They were living together at the time.

On June 27, Young took Emma to Memorial Hermann — The Woodlands Hospital, but she died shortly after arriving. Doctors noted the child had 80 contusions, a fractured skull and a brain hemorrhage. There were also signs of sexual abuse, officials said.

Three weeks before her death, Emma tested positive for genital herpes. Child Protective Services didn't remove her from the home because the disease can be transmitted in a non-sexual manner and Young insisted no other adults were living there.

Young was released from the Harris County Jail Aug. 11 after posting $50,000 bail.

kygirl09 wrote:A convicted felon charged with causing the injuries that led to the death of his girlfriend's daughter was released Friday from the Harris County Jail after posting bail.

Lucas Coe, 27, had been in the jail since his Aug. 10 arrest in connection with the beating death of Emma Thompson, 4.

Last week, Coe's lawyer asked District Judge Mary Lou Keel to set $100,000 bail for Coe. The request was granted Thursday with the provision that Coe has no contact with any children.

Both Coe and Emma's mother, Abigail Young, 33, were charged with one count each of felony injury to a child. They were living together at the time.

On June 27, Young took Emma to Memorial Hermann — The Woodlands Hospital, but she died shortly after arriving. Doctors noted the child had 80 contusions, a fractured skull and a brain hemorrhage. There were also signs of sexual abuse, officials said.

Three weeks before her death, Emma tested positive for genital herpes. Child Protective Services didn't remove her from the home because the disease can be transmitted in a non-sexual manner and Young insisted no other adults were living there.

Young was released from the Harris County Jail Aug. 11 after posting $50,000 bail.

---Totally Editorial: What is this pervo-sicko doing out on the streets? What kind of Justice System allows ALLEGED perps like this walk among society?

Neighbors are reacting with outrage after a man charged in the death of
a four-year-old girl was allowed to walk out of jail Friday.
Lucas Coe was already out on bond, accused of seriously injuring a
young boy when Harris County homicide detectives say when they arrested
him for Emma Thompson's death. Now, a local crime victim's advocate
says he has been given yet one more chance to re-offend. At Coe's home in Magnolia, there's no sign of him. But neighbors are wary he could now be in their midst. "I'm amazed he got out of jail," said neighbor Bobby Hartman Coe and his girlfriend Abigail Young were arrested and charged last
month for felony injury to a child after her daughter's death.
Investigators say the four-year-old had dozens of bruises, a fractured
skull and a brain hemorrhage. A medical examiner also found evidence of
sexual assault. A judge initially ordered Coe held without
bond at the Harris County Jail, but Thursday, Judge Mary Lou Keel
reconsidered that decision. And Friday, Coe walked out of jail after
posting $100,000 bail. The news of his release outraged crime victims advocate Andy Kahan. "Whatever little strands of hair I had left shot up. I was absolutely
floored, stunned, I just thought it was preposterous," said Kahan. Kahan says Coe should never have been released. At the time of Emma's
death, he was already out on bond awaiting trial on allegations he beat
another girlfriend's young son. Kahan says this repeat offender just
got one more chance to strike again. "From my perspective, I'd certainly hope and pray that no other child meets the same fate," said Kahan. As a rule, judges don't comment on ongoing cases. But legal analyst
Joel Androphy believes the judge may have set a $100,000 bond,
believing Coe would never be able to pay it. Or, he said, the judge may
have doubts about the strength of the evidence.

Lucas Coe, the 27-year-old Magnolia man accused of injury to a child in the death of 4-year-old Emma Thompson, now faces a new charge: that he also raped the young girl before her death in June.

Coe and Emma's mother, registered nurse Abigail Young, were arrested and charged with serious bodily injury to a child after the girl's June 27 death. At the time, Emma had a skull fracture, vaginal tearing and more than 80 bruises covering her body. She died two weeks after Texas Child Protective Services discovered the girl had tested positive for genital herpes.

On Oct. 29, Harris County grand jurors returned an indictment against Coe, accusing him of Emma's sexual assault. If convicted, he would face a minimum of 25 years in prison because the victim was under the age of 6.

The indictment comes about a month after the Harris County District Attorney's Office secured a sample of Coe's blood. It is not known if DNA from the blood ties Coe to the girl or whether prosecutors are using other evidence to support the indictment.

Emma was one of 91 children who died of abuse in Texas this year whose families had been previously investigated by CPS, according to a Houston Chronicle review. Roughly half of those children also were living with families known to CPS as having potential problems.

Coe's attorney says there is no evidence that connects his client to the sexual assault.

“I saw nothing in the file that would indicate how he could have perpetuated the crime he was indicted for,” said Bert Steinmann, Coe's attorney. “I am clueless as to how they are connecting him with committing the sexual assault.”

Donna Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors, declined to comment on the case.

Young, Coe's girlfriend, also has genital herpes, according to the 33-year-old's attorney, Colin Amann.

“She does not know where she got it,” he said. “She may have gotten it from Emma.”

Neither Amann nor Coe's attorney would say whether Coe also has genital herpes, though Steinmann said “medical records from previous doctors” don't indicate that he does.

Coe is in the Harris County Jail in lieu of $300,000 bail. No trial date in this case has been set.

Steinmann has asked that state District Judge Mary Lou Keel remove herself from the trial because the defense team believes there is a perception of bias in the case. A hearing on that motion is tentatively set for Nov. 12.

On Wednesday, state District Judge Suzanne Stovall in Montgomery County set a Feb. 1 trial date for Coe in an unrelated 2007 case involving a child related to a previous relationship.

In that matter, Coe is charged with injuring another child.

Young, free on $50,000 bail, has said that before she left her three girls with Coe so she could go shopping at a supermarket, Emma was fine. Young said when she returned, Coe met her at the door with Emma in his arms. He said that Emma was sick, Young said.

She has said she took the girl, put her in the car and began driving to the hospital. When Emma became unresponsive, Young said she called 911 and an ambulance met her car, down the street from her house.

As soon as Young and Emma left for the hospital, Coe took Young's other two children and his daughter to the next-door neighbor, where he left them and then left the family's Spring home.

A Magnolia man accused in the June beating death of a 4-year-old
Harris County girl also has been indicted on an additional charge of
sexual assault.

But Woodlands attorney Bert Steinmann, who
represents Lucas Ruric Coe, 27, said he has “no idea” why Coe was
indicted Oct. 29 of raping Emma Thompson.

“Upon reviewing the
file, I found no evidence that shows he sexually assaulted her,”
Steinmann said. “There was no evidence of any DNA or any object found.”

Coe
and Thompson’s mother, Abigail Young, were arrested and charged with
felony injury to a child after Emma died June 27 at Memorial Hermann
The Woodlands Hospital. Young had called 9-1-1 after her daughter
vomited before losing consciousness.


After
hearing the results of Thompson’s autopsy in August, Montgomery County
Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Edie Connelly ruled her death a
homicide and also that the girl died from blunt abdominal trauma. There
were bruises to Thompson’s body and stomach.

Young and Coe
bonded out of the Harris County Jail, but Coe was sent back to jail two
days later, Sept. 14, when he failed to provide a urine sample and
232nd state District Judge Mary Lou Keel revoked his bond. Steinmann
previously said his client had a medical condition that prevented him
from urinating on command.

Coe remains in jail on a $300,000
bond, Steinmann said. Coe also is charged with felony injury to a child
in Montgomery County, stemming from a 2007 incident when he allegedly
struck a boy on the head.

A trial date of Feb. 1 has been set in
that case in the 221st state District Court, an official with the
Montgomery County District Clerk’s Office said.

Coe and Young
each face five to 99 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000 on the
injury to a child charges. Coe also faces up to life in prison, with a
minimum sentence of 25 years based on Thompson’s age, in the
first-degree felony charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

About
three weeks before Thompson’s death, Harris County Child Protective
Services received a call from Thompson’s pediatrician saying that she
had blisters on her mouth, fingers and genitalia area, a CPS
spokeswoman previously said. On June 12, doctors confirmed that the
blistering was a result of genital herpes, a sexually transmitted
disease.

Young told officials she didn’t know how her daughter had contracted the disease and that she did not have it.

“All previous medical records do not show he (Coe) has herpes,” Steinmann said.

Steinmann
has filed a motion to recuse Keel from the case, citing bias. He claims
Keel specifically told prosecutors what language they should use in the
search warrants for the case and what objections they should make
during court proceedings.

He also said Keel, feeling pressure from the public in the case, decided Sunday to set a hearing the following day.

A hearing on Steinmann’s recusal request has been set for Nov. 12, he said.

No
date has been set, he said, for a hearing regarding a subpoena
Steinmann filed Aug. 27 seeking names and electronic websites of 35
people who commented on Thompson’s death on The Courier’s website.

Attorneys for Houston Community Newspapers, The Courier’s parent company, have filed a motion to quash the subpoena.

Caseworkers for Texas Child Protective Services have regularly missed warning signs that Houston-area children were in danger, including failing to thoroughly investigate a family's previous history of abuse or neglect, according to a report released on Monday.

“In only half the cases, risk and safety were evaluated appropriately,” the report's investigators — a review team from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin — concluded. “Investigative caseworkers are reviewing and utilizing CPS history in only about half of the cases.”

The team's report is based on a review of 95 randomly selected child abuse investigations, a fraction of the 16,107 investigations completed between February and July in Harris and 12 surrounding counties.

The review was part of several regional reviews scheduled this year. However, the review here was expedited following the deaths of three Houston-area children who died of child abuse: 4-year-old Emma Thompson, of Spring, David Tijerina, 3, of Conroe and Katy infant Amber Maccurdy.

All three died either during or shortly after CPS investigated complaints of abuse involving their care and the children were allowed to remain in their homes. In the Maccurdy and Tijerina cases, there had been several visits to their families regarding abuse or neglect.

The caseworker in the Amber Maccurdy case walked away after the girl's mother refused to let her examine the child. Amber died of a staph infection shortly after that visit.

In David Tijerina's case, CPS workers had visited his home at least four times. He died of a beating.
Passing cases



In Emma Thompson's case, the girl's doctor called CPS after finding what appeared to be a genital herpes outbreak on her. Three weeks later, she was dead. An autopsy determined she had been sexually abused and suffered a skull fracture and more than 80 bruises.

The report also noted that child abuse cases in this region were passed too quickly from investigators to Family-Based Safety Services caseworkers — those assigned to help the family eliminate risk of abuse — leaving “the child potentially unsafe.”

With the exception of the removal of 439 children from their polygamist parents in 2008, CPS officials have strived to remove children from abusive households only when there is immediate risk to the child.

“We've always tried to keep children safely in their own homes or with their extended family, if possible,” CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins said.

But at least one children's advocate says this latest report shows once again that CPS's goal of keeping families together often runs counter to keeping the child safe, which is the agency's ultimate mission.

“Investigative and (Family Based Safety) have different focuses,” said Randy Burton, executive director of Justice for Children. “And these coordination challenges of keeping families together has led to the deaths of these children.”
No surprises



CPS insists the issue is not that clear-cut.

“Whether a child is removed from the home, whether or not there is a voluntary placement with family members or not, those are decisions made to ensure a child's safety, not decisions made solely to keep families together,” Crimmins said.

Monday's review offered several remedies, from reallocating workers from investigations to the family caseworker unit to using more of the agency's “special investigators,” those workers with a law enforcement background, to help locate families more quickly, thereby getting the child help more quickly.

Burton said none of the findings were a surprise.

“These are things we have known for a long time,” he said.

Monday, January 18, 2010 1:59 PM CST
A Montgomery County grand jury has added another felony indictment against a man accused in the beating death of a 4-year-old girl.

Lucas Coe, 28, now faces a charge of serious bodily injury to a child, stemming from a 2007 incident in which he is accused of hitting a boy on his head. He was re-indicted last week by a grand jury.

The re-indictment was sought “based on the re-evaluation and realization that there were additional counts we could add,” Chief Assistant District Attorney Phil Grant told The Conroe Courier newspaper. “We wanted to file on him on every charge we possibly could.”

Coe has also been charged with injury to a child, a first-degree felony, in the death of 4-year-old Emma Thompson last June in Harris County






Authorities said Thompson had a fractured skull, bruising over her body, signs of sexual abuse and genital herpes.

Thompson is the daughter of Abigail Young, who has also been charged with bodily injury to a child.

Woodlands attorney Bert Steinmann, who is representing Coe in both his Montgomery County and Harris County cases, said his client is innocent.

“We’ll vigorously defend our client,” he told The Courier. “We believe the evidence will show he is innocent.”

Young’s attorney has also maintained her innocence.

A new judge will be appointed to hear the case of two people accused in the death of a 4-year-old girl.

An administrative judge has granted the request of an attorney representing one of the defendants that a new trial judge be appointed.

The Houston Chronicle reported that Regional Administrative Judge Olen Underwood granted a motion by defense attorney Bert Steinmann to recuse Judge Mary Lou Keel of the 232nd District Court after reviewing a series of events involving a bond — then the revoking of that bond — for defendant Lucas Coe.

Coe, and his girlfriend Abigail Young, 34, have been charged in the death of Young’s 4-year-old daughter, Emma Thompson, last June 27. Young is a Brenham native.

Authorities said Thompson had signs of sexual abuse, 80 bruises, genital herpes and a skull fracture.

Steinmann raised questions about Keel’s ability to be fair in the high-profile case.

According to The Chronicle, on Sept. 10, Keel approved a $100,000 bond for Coe. Two days later, Coe posted the bond and was released.

The next day, a Sunday, Keel’s court coordinator contacted prosecutors and Steinmann, asking them to be in court on Monday at 8 a.m. because Keel wanted to place some additional conditions on the bond.

The Sunday call came following a flood of faxes and e-mails to the judge’s office by those who disagreed with her ruling to allow Coe’s tentative release.

Keel ordered that Coe submit to a urine drug test and when he said he couldn’t urinate on demand for testers, she had his bond revoked.

Underwood reviewed the series of events and granted the recusal request from Steinmann.

“What he said was recusable was the irregular procedures she followed when she notified the parties on a Sunday of an 8 a.m. Monday hearing,” Steinmann said. “Judge Underwood recused Judge Keel to avoid any appearance of partiality and unfairness.”

Steinmann said his client is innocent of Emma’s assault and death.

Donna Hawkins, spokeswoman for Harris County District Attorney’s office confirmed Underwood’s actions and said both Coe and Young will be tried by another judge.

Coe, 28, is charged with Thompson’s sexual assault and injury to a child. Young is charged with injury to a child.

Underwood has yet to appoint a new judge in the case. No trial dates have been scheduled and it is not known whether the couple will be tried together or separately.

Coe, 28, faces trial on Feb. 2 in Montgomery County on an unrelated case of injury to a child involving the son of a former girlfriend.

A year after a suburban 4-year-old's gruesome death helped force a state review of
child abuse investigations in Houston, there's little else to show that
Emma Thompson passed through this world. She's buried next to a
grandfather she never met and no formal headstone is placed on her tiny
grave, which features a humble funeral home marker and half-dead petunias.

That changes today as prosecutors begin jury selection in the first of two trials to
determine how Emma — a sexually abused child found with 80 bruises, a
severed pancreas and fractured skull — died on June 27, 2009, and if her
mother, registered nurse Abigail Young, 34, failed to prevent the
injuries that ultimately killed the preschooler.

"Emma was a precious 4-year-old girl and she deserves justice, and that's what we hope to
get," said Colleen Barnett, the Harris County prosecutor trying the case.

Young faces up to life in prison if convicted on the one count of injury to a child by
omission. Her boyfriend at the time, Lucas Coe, 28, is scheduled to be
tried in September in Emma's aggravated sexual assault.

"From all I have seen she loved Emma as much as any parent could love any child," said
Colin Amann, Young's defense attorney. "It's just a violation of the
natural order of things when kids precede their parents."

CPS contacted
From the start, there's been nothing textbook about this child's homicide on Haverford
Road in Spring.

Three weeks before Emma died, her pediatrician notified Texas Child Protective Services
that she had tested positive for genital herpes, a sexually transmitted
disease. But because there was no sign of sexual intercourse and there
are rare cases where the disease is transmitted by nonsexual contact,
Emma was not removed from her home. Unknown to CPS at the time was the
fact that Coe, who was facing an unrelated child abuse charge in another
county, was Young's paramour and frequent house guest. The agency has
since said had it known that at the time, Emma would have been taken
into custody immediately.

But CPS' missed chance with Emma isn't the only unusual aspect of this case.

The sequence of events on the day of Emma's death has prompted questions about whether
Young was duped by a boyfriend or was a willing participant in her own
daughter's death. Young did not call 911 when her daughter apparently
cracked her skull after supposedly falling off a toilet. Instead, Young
placed the girl in her car and drove her to the hospital herself.
Meanwhile, Coe and his own daughter, who had been at the house that day,
left the scene shortly after Young left with Emma for the hospital.

According to testimony at a hearing last year and records released since the death,
Young stopped the car shortly after she left when Emma apparently passed
out in the backseat. She called 911 from her car, and first responders
came to the car. But Emma was already believed to be dead. The girl was
taken to Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital, where she was declared dead.

Then Young returned to her two-story home on Haverford to face a team of police
investigators and neighbors huddled near her home.

Explanation to neighbors
Julius Villarreal, who lives across the street, remembers the night well.

Instead of ducking into her two-story home to grieve the loss of her youngest, he said a
dry-eyed Young talked to investigators and then addressed the group of
neighbors, almost as if she was trying to "set up" the story they would
hear later of her daughter's violent injuries.

Villarreal said Young told them in great detail that Emma had fallen off the toilet in
the bathroom, cracking her skull and splitting her lip. She also told
them how she theorized it was a diabetic seizure. She then talked about
how there was a lot of bruising on the girl caused by CPR attempts by
emergency responders. Young even told how there was bruising on the
little girl's thighs because of the great force she used to pull Emma
from the car once she passed out.

Villarreal said he was struck by how everyday Young's demeanor was despite losing a child
that night. "To me, she acted calm, like she had lost $5," Villarreal said.

Young made a great show of telling the group that Coe was good to her and her girls, that
he never harmed anyone, Villarreal said. And after investigators left,
Young told neighbors they could come over to the house. There was
nothing disturbing to see, she told them, because she had cleaned up the
bathroom before she left for the hospital.

"'I bleached the bathroom,'" Villarreal recalled Young telling them.

Nursing license revoked
Young's actions after her daughter's death could have been her way of grieving or
perhaps altered by her own physical state, her attorney said.

In the week leading up to Emma's death, Young reportedly had been taking prescription drugs.

"She (Young) had been sick the week before Emma died," said Amann, who did not provide
further details other than to say that his client is innocent of the
charge and had nothing to do with Emma's death.

For the past year, Young has been free on bond, living in Brenham - where Emma is buried -
and where her mother lives.

Young has a job in a local plant nursery. She has had no contact with her other two girls,
who have been placed with her second ex-husband.

Houston nurse Abigail Young went on trial today on charges she
failed to prevent the death of her 4-year-old daughter whose body was
battered with 80 bruises, had a severed pancreas and a fractured skull.
There were also indications that the girl had been sexually abused.
Young, 34, faces up to life in prison if convicted on the one count of
injury to a child by omission. Jury selection began today in Young's
unusual case.
Her daughter, Emma Thompson, died June 27, 2009.

Young's boyfriend at the time, Lucas Coe, 28, is to be tried in
September on charges of aggravated sexual assault. At the time of Emma's
death, Coe was facing an unrelated child abuse charge in another
county.
The prosecution of a mother for not protecting a
child is rare, legal experts said.

Sandra Guerra Thompson, a criminal law professor at the University of Houston
Law Center, has said that the prosecution of a parent,
especially a mother, for causing harm to a child by omission were highly
unusual.

"Most of the times when a child is harmed by a parent, the other parent
is usually found to be also a victim of the abusive parent," Guerra
Thompson said. "Although technically, like in this case, the mother has
an obligation to protect the child and report the abuse, because of her
status as a victim as well and really her psychological helplessness,
prosecutors generally exercise their discretion not to charge."
Guerra Thompson called the Abigail Young case "eye-opening."
"The facts in this case may have indicated that the mother was not a
victim herself and that she really was in a position to help her child,"
she said.
Colleen Barnett, the Harris County prosecutor trying the case, was quoted as saying, "Emma was a precious 4-year-old girl and she
deserves justice, and that's what we hope to get."
Investigators said Young did not call 911 when her daughter allegedly
cracked her skull after falling off a toilet. Instead, Young carried her
daughter to her car and drove her to the hospital. Coe and his own
daughter, who had been at Young's house, were seen by neighbors leaving
the home shortly after Young left with Emma for the hospital.
Young stopped the car shortly after she left when Emma apparently passed
out in the back seat, according to pre-trial testimony. She called 911
from her car and first responders attended to the girl there. Emma was
believed to be dead already.
After Emma was declared dead at a hospital, Young returned to her
two-story home on Haverford Road as neighbors and police investigators
assembled outside.
Julius Villareal, a neighbor, observed that Young appeared
unusually calm given the circumstances and that she gave neighbors
contradictory versions of what had happened.
"She told one group one thing and then told another group of neighbors a
totally different story," he said. "She was cool, calm and collected.
She seemed kind of normal for someone who just lost a child."
Villareal said Young told neighbors that Emma had fallen off the toilet
in the bathroom, cracking her skull and splitting her lip. She described
in detail how the girl suffered extensive bruising from CPR attempts.
Young said extensive bruising on the girl's thighs was caused when she
pulled Emma from the car once the girl passed out.
"The most surprising thing I saw was her reaction when officers were
getting ready to enter her house," Villareal said. "She
seemed nervous. She tried to stall them and said she said she didn't
have a key."
Villareal said Young went out of her way to mention that Coe was good to
her and her girls. "In front of everyone, she was telling her oldest
daughter that her boyfriend never hurt any of you girls and that he was
nice to everybody," he said. "It was like she was coaching her."
It has also been revealed that Emma's pediatrician notified Texas Child
Protective Services that the girl had tested positive for genital
herpes, a sexually transmitted disease, just three weeks before her
death. But she was not removed from her home because there was no sign
of sexual intercourse and there are rare cases where the disease is
transmitted by nonsexual contact.
Investigators also did not know that Coe was Young's boyfriend and spent
time at her house.
Young's attorney told the Houston Chronicle that the mother's unusual
behavior may have been her own way of grieving the unexpected death. In
the week before Emma's death, Young had been on unspecified prescription
drugs.

"She (Young) had been sick the week before Emma died," attorney Colin
Amann told the newspaper, without elaborating.

"From all I have seen she loved Emma as much as any parent could love
any child," Amann told the newspaper.
Young has been free on bond since the death and living with her mother
in Brenham. She works at a plant nursery and has had had no contact with
her other two daughters, who have been placed in the custody of a
former husband.
"Hopefully, other children will not have to suffer her fate, but that
still doesn't take away from the pain she must have gone through in
those final hours," said Villareal, whose wife is expected to testify at
the trial.

Abigail Young's husband and sister had the same information, saw the same signs of
possible abuse on the licensed nurse's 4-year-old daughter and had the
same opportunities to alert authorities, but they did not, Young's
defense lawyers said Friday.

"There weren't red flags for them either," said defense attorney Julie Ketterman. "Her
sister and her husband at the time had the exact same information that
she did about everybody, including Luke, and they didn't voice any
concerns either."

That, her lawyers say, shows that Young should not be blamed in
Emma Thompson's assault and rape — which
authorities say was at the hands of her boyfriend, Lucas Coe, last summer.

Young, 34, is charged with serious bodily injury to a child by omission, accused of
failing to protect her daughter, who arrived dead at an emergency room
on June 27, 2009, with 80 bruises and a fractured skull. If convicted,
Young faces up to life in prison.

Prosecutors disputed Ketterman's assertion and said testimony showed that neither Young's
former husband nor her sister knew as much as she did. They also
elicited testimony in the two-week trial that Young lied to
investigators and medical providers about dating Coe.

"We feel we proved our case," said Assistant Harris County District Attorney Colleen Barnett.

The prosecution rested its case Thursday. Young's attorneys began putting on her defense
Friday and expect to finish Monday.

At the heart of the allegations is whether Young lied to authorities about secretly living with Coe.

Coe trial coming up

Coe, 28, has been charged with super aggravated sexual assault of Emma Thompson and is
expected to be tried later this year. The recently created charge
carries a minimum of 25 years in prison and a maximum of life. T here is
no chance of parole or early release, potentially making it a stiffer
punishment than that allowed for murder.

According to prosecutors, Young began having an affair with Coe in 2008, while
married to her second husband and Emma's father, Ben Thompson. Coe was
facing a pending and unrelated child abuse charge when the two began
seeing each other.

Prosecutors have said that as Emma began showing signs of sexual abuse, including a
diagnosis of genital herpes three weeks before her death, Young lied to
authorities, including denying she was seeing someone.

During two weeks of trial, more than two dozen witnesses testified for the prosecution to
give jurors "the complete picture" of Young, Barnett said.

Young's defense team called three witnesses Friday and said they have yet to decide whether
the registered nurse will testify in her defense before resting Monday.

Ketterman said she plans to remind jurors that Thompson
suspected Young was dating Coe when he met with investigators
from Texas Child Protective Services before Emma's death on June 27,
2009. However, she said, he did not broach the subject with the investigator.

Young's sister testified that she had at least four occasions to talk to authorities about any suspicions she may
have had about Coe.

CPS was notified by Emma's pediatrician after she discovered the girl had tested positive
for genital herpes, a sexually transmitted disease. Emma also told her
doctor, "Luke holds me tight."

However, because there did not appear to be signs of sexual intercourse and because in
rare cases the disease is transmitted by nonsexual contact, CPS
investigators did not remove the child from the home.

'Confusing as hell'

Ketterman and her partner said they will
argue that Young was confused because medical providers at Texas
Children's Hospital did not seem concerned about the herpes. "The
situation was confusing as hell," said attorney Colin Amann. "There are
people saying 'sexually transmitted disease' and there are people saying
they did a full medical exam and her daughter's OK. How would you deal
with that conflict?"

A social worker from Texas Children's Hospital testified Friday that when she examined the
girl she was not concerned about abuse.

However, she said, she would have been concerned if Young had told her about Coe or if she
had known that Emma's doctor had seen unusual bruising around her waist.

The mom/boyfriend/husband all need to be charged. The mother was a nurse for God's sake and, the bio dad had suspicions enough that he should've been taking his daughter to the doctor. The boyfriend should fry, no free meals/clothing/education etc, etc. for this loser, death is all he deserves.