BRANDON ROBERT WHITING - 2 yo (2009)/ Charged: Stepmother; Chiara Anton-Williams - Albuquerque NM

Albuquerque police said foul play could be involved in the death of a 2-year-boy.The child was found Thursday after his stepmother called 911 saying the boy was unresponsive.Authorities said that woman could be responsible.The
child was brought to University of New Mexico Hospital on Thursday
afternoon and died hours later. Officials said he suffered massive
internal trauma.Emergency responders showed up to Sy Jackson
Elementary in northeast Albuquerque Thursday afternoon. Police said a
mother was waiting in the school parking lot to pick up her child when
she pulled her 2-year-old stepson out of the car after noticing he
wasn't breathing."A few hours later the child was pronounced dead," said Nadine Hamby, with APD.According
to police, the stepmother told investigators the child was at daycare
hours before they arrived at the school, but a spokesperson with CYFD,
the agency that licenses daycares in the state, said they have no
record of that child being enrolled in a program."We need to do a lot more talking to people find out where this child was throughout the day," said Hamby.Albuquerque
police said the child could have been beaten. They said doctors at UNM
Hospital said he suffered from blunt force trauma, but right now
investigators can't conclude anything."We did call out the
crimes against children unit to the hospital to investigate this case
if the child died of natural causes the case will be cleared. If there
was foul play we will investigate further," Hamby said.Police said autopsy results on the child are key to finding answers. Results for the autopsy should be ready sometime next week.The name of the stepmother has not been released because police said she is not a suspect and has not been arrested.A CYFD spokesperson said this family does not have any history with the agency.

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Police have charged an Albuquerque woman in the death of her 3-year-old stepson who died from being hit hard enough to tear his small intestine.

The boy died Aug, 27, and police arrested Chiara Anton-Williams after the Office of the Medical Investigator ruled the boy's death a homicide cause by internal injuries. Anton-Williams, 27, was charged with child abuse resulting in death.

“That child suffered blunt trauma,” Albuquerque Police Department Officer Nadine Hamby said.

Police reported the case began when an Albuquerque Public Schools officer spotted a frantic Anton-Williams in the parking lot of the S.Y. Jackson Elementary School just after classes dismissed. She was with her stepson, whom the officer said looked gray and was having trouble breathing.

He called for an ambulance, and the boy died at University of New Mexico hospital later that day.

An autopsy showed the child died from blunt-force trauma to the abdomen that resulted in several tears in his small intestine. Investigators said the fatal injuries happened within that hour.

Police began questioning Anton-Williams who was with the child an hour before he died. The stepmother told police during that time she had been rough with the child after he defecated on the floor in their home as they were leaving to pick up her biological children from school.

The stepmom told police she grabbed him put him in the shower but said that was all she did. Police said her story doesn't match up with the boy's injuries.

“Somebody had to actually have seriously put some trauma to this kid, and it didn't happen by you just grabbing his arm and taking him somewhere,” Hamby said.

The state Children, Youth and Families Department reported there is no record of prior abuse allegations against Anton-Williams. However directors at the daycare the boy went to told police the child showed up once with a black eye and another time with a swollen eye.

Anton-Williams told the daycare directors the boy fell the first time, and the second time she said he was sick, according to a criminal complaint.

The daycare’s director declined to comment. The boy's father is not being investigated.

The child had two step-siblings. It is not known who is caring for them.

Anton-Williams was being held on a $150,000 cash or surety bond. She posted that bond just after noon on Thursday.http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/crime_krqe_albuquerque_stepmother_charged_in_childs_death_200909031224

Attorney: Medical issue in boy's death
Stepmother jailed after bond increased

Updated: Saturday, 05 Sep 2009, 12:00 AM MDT
Published : Friday, 04 Sep 2009, 5:59 PM MDT

* Reporter: Michael Herzenberg
* Web Producer: Bill Diven

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The attorney for Chiara Anton-Williams, accused of child abuse in her stepson's death, told a judge Thursday there are "significant medical issues" related to the death that police are not investigating.

Anton-Williams, 27, is charged with child abuse resulting in death after her 3-year-old stepson died from what medical investigators called blunt-force trauma that left tears in his small intestine. The child died Aug. 27 at University of New Mexico Hospital.

Anton-Williams posted a $150,000 bond Thursday and was released from jail.

Investigators quoted Anton-Williams as saying she became upset when the little boy soiled his pants and was rough with him as she put him in the shower. However she said she didn't know how he got injured.

In court her lawyer claimed there's a lot more to this story and warned against hastily judging his client

"There are very significant medical issues we're going to tell the court that have not been investigated by the police, and this is an accusation alone," attorney Jason Bowles said.

However, Judge Brianna Zamora raised the bond to $500,000, saying the suspect poses a danger to the community.

Anton-Williams was then rearrested. If she bonds out again, the judge said she may not have contact with children.

Anton-Williams is a secretary for a federal magistrate judge in Albuquerque. Her mother, who is caring for her daughter's two other children, also works in federal court.
http://fwix.com/albuquerque/share/6239ef61ed/bond_upped_for_stepmother_of_slain_boy

CYFD deals with spike in abuse cases

Updated: Friday, 04 Sep 2009, 10:44 AM MDT
Published : Friday, 04 Sep 2009, 10:44 AM MDT

* Reporter: Maria Medina
* Web Producer: Todd Dukart

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A spokesperson for the Children, Youth and Families Department said Thursday the agency is looking into the recent spike of extreme child abuse cases and child abuse resulting in death to see whether there's more they can do to reach out to parents.

The most recent case involves 27-year-old Chiara Anton-Williams. Albuquerque police said she beat her 3-year-old stepson so badly he had tears to his small intestines.

"I'm shocked," said Danita Lopez, who lived across the street from Anton-Williams and her family. "I would've never guessed, never would've known.

"They were really good people. They talked to us all the time, our nephews and nieces played with their children."

She said from the outside it seemed Anton-Williams loved her stepson.

"She had mentioned to us that they were happy that he was with them and that he could be with her children and that they could grow together as brother and sister," said Lopez.

But investigators said what happened inside the home was obviously a much different story.

Police said Anton-Williams told them she became upset when the 3-year-old soiled his pants and was "rough" with him as she put him in the shower, but said she didn't know how he got injured.

An hour later, the child was dead.

The father of the boy was also questioned. He told police Anton-Williams was less tolerant with his son than her own children. He was not charged with any crime.

Police said during a search of their home they found several pictures of Anton-Williams' biological children, and only one of her stepson.

It's the latest of many other child abuse cases CYFD is looking into that have happened this summer. They're compiling statistics of just how many cases have occurred.

In May, Albuquerque police said Tiffany Toribio suffocated her 3-year-old son then buried him in a playground at Alvarado Park.

Los Lunas police said Raymond Gabaldón and Ashley Tafoya tortured and molested their two-week old baby.

In Albuquerque, police said 21-year-old Stephanie Ledford suffocated her eight-month old son with a pillow.

A grand jury Thursday indicted her for child abuse resulting in death.

CYFD investigated Ledford in March but never found any evidence of abuse.

In Anton-Williams case there's no record of CYFD ever investigating the mother.

Still police said there were signs.

The boy's teacher reported he once had a black eye and a swollen eye another time. Anton-Williams always had an explanation.

"From what we understood she loved that child as her own," Lopez said.

Anton-Williams bailed out of jail Thursday.
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/crime_krqe_albuquerque_cyfd_deals_with_spike_in_abuse_cases_200909041042

(note, i found this story after i posted the above story) her bail was increased )

someone has posted on several sites that his name was brandon - i can't confirm and i am still not finding anything about her trial - or if she is in jail.

http://www.bernco.gov/custodyandrelease/CustodySearchInter.aspx?submitted=true

i searched these jail records and can't find her

Answers Elusive in Boy’s Death


Defense attorneys for Brandon Whiting's stepmother, Chiara Anton-Williams,
say tumors around the 2-year-old's intestines caused his death.
(Courtesy Of Jerry Lopez)

UPDATED: Friday, June 15, 2012 at 12:43 pm
PUBLISHED: Friday, June 15, 2012 at 12:05 am

On Aug. 27, 2009, Brandon Whiting died of what appeared to be a bludgeoning so fierce his intestines burst.

He was 10 days shy of his third birthday.

The state Office of the Medical Investigator pronounced it a homicide caused by blunt-force injuries. Albuquerque police arrested stepmother Chiara Anton-Williams, who told them she had been rough with him earlier that day for soiling his pants.

But not that rough.

She was portrayed in the media as a monster and a menace and joined the nefarious pantheon of sick and twisted adults accused of killing or torturing the children they were supposed to love and care for. A Metro Court judge raised Anton-Williams’ bail from the $150,000 she had already posted to $500,000, calling her a danger to society, particularly to children.

Anton-Williams, then a secretary to a federal magistrate judge and the daughter of a federal judge’s paralegal, posted that bail, too, and hired one of the top law firms in town to launch a vigorous defense even before a grand jury hearing.

Days later, charges against her were dropped.

And that was that, or so it appeared to those who had loved the little boy with the vivid imagination and a fondness for all things “Cars.”

Nearly three years later, it still seems that way to them.

“All we ever hear about is postponement after postponement of this case going to the grand jury. The story keeps changing,” said Krystal Lopez, Brandon’s mother, who lives in Vallejo, Calif. “Meanwhile, Chiara is walking around scot-free, raising her own two kids.”

But the case hasn’t been forgotten.

Brandon hasn’t been forgotten.

“The case is still under investigation,” said Deputy District Attorney Lisa Trabaudo. “It’s a really complex medical case.”

That’s because emergency room physicians trying to save Brandon that day discovered a profusion of lesions growing throughout the folds and arteries of his intestines.

The lesions, called reactive myofibroblastic tumors, are noncancerous growths that occur mostly during childhood and can be found nearly anywhere in the body. Medical journals indicate the lesions can be “locally destructive” and should be dealt with promptly.

But research is scant as to whether such tumors can or have caused a child’s death.

Not surprisingly, defense attorneys Jason Bowles and Monnica Garcia believe the tumors exonerate their client and have enlisted out-of-state experts to prove it.

“Tragically, Brandon had invasive tumorous growths which caused serious, complicated medical issues that several medical professionals examined and confirmed. His untimely passing was a result of those medical issues alone,” they said in a statement. “Chiara Anton-Williams is innocent of any wrongdoing.”

The district attorney, they added, has thoroughly reviewed the case and is “refusing” to prosecute Anton-Williams, now 30, for what was a “heartbreaking, unavoidable medical tragedy.”

Trabaudo, however, said no such decision has been made.

“I still believe this is an abuse case,” she said.

Lopez, Brandon’s mother, is more blunt.

“It just shows you that if you know the right people and can afford good attorneys you can get away with any story,” she said. “The truth is Chiara did not like my son, and she did not like me.”

Lopez said Brandon was a healthy boy with no intestinal issues since undergoing surgery at 3 months old to repair a double hernia – the result of being born prematurely.

Like Trabaudo, Lopez said she wants to feel confident that when her son’s case goes to the grand jury – if it goes to the grand jury – prosecutors are prepared to rebut the tumor-as-killer evidence they are obligated to present.

That will likely mean the state will have to seek its own experts to counter the defense experts – and that comes with a high price tag.

“I would hate if they went before the grand jury and came back with no charges,” Lopez said. “I want justice for my son, but how long are we supposed to wait?”

There is no statute of limitations for felony child abuse.

— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal


http://www.abqjournal.com/113014/news/answers-elusive-in-boys-death.html