Jessiesgirl1108
Chameleon
I've read a lot of child abuse/neglect stories and although they all tear into my heart there are always those few stories that really make me wish I wouldn't have read them. This story is about Nadine Lockwood. I really don't ever remember hearing about Nadine's story till today, and even though it happened more then 10 years ago I felt that it had to be brought to this forum. If you've heard Dave Peltzer's story of "A Child Called It" then this story will really strike a nerve...the only two differences being that Nadine actually showed no signs of physical abuse, and that she didn't make it out alive.
Article dated September 2, 1996:
Article dated March 8th, 1997:
Article dated September 2, 1996:
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/02/nyregion/girl-4-is-dead-in-manhattan-and-her-mother-is-charged.html?pagewanted=allAn emaciated 4-year-old girl who had apparently been systematically starved was found dead by the police in a Washington Heights apartment Saturday night, and her mother was charged with murder yesterday after confessing on videotape that she had not fed the child regularly for a year and had not sought medical help even after it was obvious that she was dying.
Prosecutors said in a criminal complaint that the mother, Carla Lockwood, had acknowledged mistreating the girl, Nadine Lockwood, because she did not want or love her, and had admitted that she knew she was mistreating her by withholding food and medical attention.
The case -- in which child welfare authorities apparently had contact with the family, and the dying child was singled out for mistreatment while six other siblings were not -- was starkly reminiscent of that of Elisa Izquierdo, the 6-year-old who was beaten to death by her mother last year and who became a posthumous symbol of the need for reform of the city's child welfare system.
In the latest case, explanations were sketchy at best. But there were some indications that it had unfolded in a family wracked by hardships. One neighbor said the mother had a cocaine problem; another said the family had been cut off welfare several months ago and had borrowed food and money from neighbors.
And others said city caseworkers had visited the family regularly until about a month ago. If so, they apparently failed to detect the malnourished girl being kept in a locked back bedroom, and once may have been duped into assuming that a neighbor's ''borrowed'' daughter was the missing girl.
As Nadine Lockwood deteriorated from malnutrition over the last few months with sunken cheeks, protruding ribs, patches of hair falling out and limbs withering to skeletal frames, Carla Lockwood told the authorities, she kept the child in a crib in a locked bedroom and watched her weaken to a point where she could no longer stand or even sit up.
On Saturday night, the police said, the mother called her husband, who lives elsewhere and who went to the family's apartment at 961 St. Nicholas Avenue, near 158th Street in Washington Heights in Manhattan. The man, who was not identified, called 911 shortly after 8 P.M. to report that Nadine was having difficulty breathing.
Officers from the 33d Precinct went to Apartment 23 on the second floor and found Nadine dead in her crib. In depositions, the officers told of a body wasted by malnutrition, of arms and legs so thin and small that Nadine looked younger than 4. They said she had been kept in a crib with a blanket over it.
The mother was taken into custody and her other children -- three boys and three girls, ranging from 1 to 14 years old, were taken to a hospital, found to be unharmed and turned over to authorities for placement in foster care. The apartment left behind, glimpsed through a window, was in disarray: a heap of clothing in a corner, a battered dresser, dirty mattresses askew on the floor and the crib where the child died.
About 4 A.M. yesterday, after preliminary questioning, Ms. Lockwood was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, the police said. By midday, after she gave a videotaped statement acknowledging her role in the death, prosecutors charged her with second-degree murder. She was arraigned in Criminal Court early this morning on these charges, said Randi Rothenberg, an assistant district attorney in Manhattan.
''We are going to inform the court that the defendant said she did not want or love this child, and she said she knew she was neglecting and mistreating the child,'' Barbara Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, said last night. ''She admits to not feeding the child.''
Maggie Lear, a spokeswoman for the city's Administration for Children's Services, declined to discuss the case immediately, citing possible privacy concerns. But law enforcement officials and neighbors of the Lockwood family said there had been contacts between the family and child welfare caseworkers.
Nicholas Scoppetta, the Commissioner of Children's Services, said: ''This is a sad and mournful day for all of us. I have ordered a full investigation into the history of this family. The other siblings that were in the home are safe in protective custody. We are making every effort to place them together.''
Because of their number, however, it was doubtful whether all six could be placed together in a foster-care home, other officials said. The children were identified by neighbors as Nicole, 14; Nathan, 8; Natasha, 6; Nicholas, 5; Noel, 2, and Nyesha, 1.
Most neighbors in the six-story building said they were aware of only those six children in the family and were surprised to learn there had been a seventh named Nadine. ''I knew all the kids, but I never heard of no seven kids,'' said a young woman in the building.
But Tureetha Lewis, 32, who lives in Apartment 47 and said she had three children who sometimes played with the Lockwood children, said she was aware of a seventh child in the family. She said Carla Lockwood told her about a year ago that she had another child ''down South.''
At that time, Ms. Lewis said, Ms. Lockwood told her that a child welfare caseworker was coming to inspect her apartment because, she said, the oldest child, Nicole, had not been going to school. She said Ms. Lockwood asked to ''borrow'' one of her children so that there would be seven at home for the inspection.
Ms. Lewis also noted that there was a bedroom door in the Lockwood apartment that was always locked, but she offered no interpretation. She also said that about three months ago, Ms. Lockwood was cut off from welfare payments and had borrowed money from neighbors.
''She was a good mother,'' Ms. Lewis said. ''She loved kids, all kids.'' As for Nadine, she said, ''I can't understand why this child was never visible.''
Esther Ortiz, 53, who lives on the fourth floor, said Nicole Lockwood was often sent by her mother to borrow money or food from neighbors. Ms. Ortiz said she knew all the Lockwood children except for Nadine. She said she occasionally gave food to the family and once lent Ms. Lockwood $10, which was not repaid.
Santos Martinez, 15, from the second floor, said: ''I don't believe she starved her kids. I always used to see her buying Chinese food for her kids. She always had food in her hand and she was giving food to her babies.''
A high school student who lives in the building said he saw Nadine two months ago: ''She looked skinny. She looked like she needed food. She looked like she was sick.'' He said he saw someone from the city coming to check every week on the Lockwood children but had not seen any caseworker for the last month or so.
Wanda Torres, 27, a neighbor and friend, said she often lent money to Carla Lockwood. She said that the Lockwood apartment was always a mess and that Nicole was the only child who went out regularly. She said Nicole did not attend school but stayed home to care for her siblings. ''I was always on her case,'' Ms. Torres said of Ms. Lockwood. ''I did not like the way she was feeding the kids. She used to come to my sister's house, eat and go back downstairs, but she never took food for the kids.''
Martha Medina, 30, said she grew up with Carla Lockwood in Washington Heights, where they attended Intermediate School 10 and George Washington High School. She said Ms. Lockwood had a cocaine problem, adding: ''The last time I saw her, she looked bad. You can tell a person does drugs. Her face looked bad. I knew she'd do it because a couple of my friends sell it around the corner and she'd stop by.''
Vanessa Bailey, 31, who lives on the third floor, told of an impoverished family beset with problems. ''Everybody slept in the big front bedroom,'' she said. ''The back two bedrooms were locked. She used to say her case was closed and she couldn't get the right amount of money. She used to borrow money, food stamps and food.''
In her statement to the authorities, prosecutors said, Ms. Lockwood admitted she had not fed Nadine regularly for the last year and in recent months had watched the child weaken to a point where she could no longer walk, then no longer stand and finally not even sit up. She said she confined the girl to a crib in a locked room, where she lay lethargically day after day.
Though aware that the child was dying, the authorities said, she did not seek medical attention, even on Saturday, apparently Nadine's last day of life. While the police and prosecutors said the child apparently had starved to death -- autopsy results were incomplete yesterday -- there were no signs that she had been beaten, the authorities said.
''There were no indications of abuse or neglect in the other children,'' Ms. Lear, speaking for the Administration for Children's Services, said. While not acknowledging that the agency had had contacts with the Lockwoods and apparently referring to police reports, she said, ''We will begin by reviewing in detail the case record.''
In many respects, the case echoes that of Elisa Izquierdo, whose battered body was found last Nov. 22 in her mother's apartment in a housing project in lower Manhattan and whose death exposed many failings of the city's child welfare system.
Elisa was one of six children in the care of her mother, Awilda Lopez, who was recently sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for beating her daughter to death. The girl had been struck and sodomized over a two-year period and then, after her head was slammed against a cement surface, she was left by her mother to die, prosecutors said. While Elisa was brutalized, none of the other Lopez children, showed signs of abuse, the police said. In Elisa's case, investigations found that the city's child welfare system had been repeatedly notified of the dangers the girl was facing but did little to stop the abuse.
The failures prompted the reorganization last January of the Child Welfare Administration, now called the Administration for Children's Services, and brought about a changed focus for city investigators. Instead of emphasizing keeping familes together, the agency now concentrates primarily on criminal justice and the protection of childen. In addition, Gov. George E. Pataki signed a law intended to streamline confidentiality rules that hamper public oversight of abuse cases.
In Elisa's death, a caseworker was dismissed for mishandling the case, and the city has recommended the dismissal of his supervisor.
Article dated March 8th, 1997:
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/08/nyregion/from-jailed-mother-s-lips-how-child-lived-and-died.htmlCarla Lockwood told her terrible story to the police early on Sept. 1, 1996, the morning after her daughter's tiny body was discovered inside her Washington Heights apartment.
The officers who found Nadine and carried her from her crib could not determine her age because she was so small and emaciated. Although a week shy of her fifth birthday, she weighed only 15 1/2 pounds.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office said that Ms. Lockwood isolated and mistreated the little girl, who finally died of starvation. They have charged the mother with murder.
Yesterday, the court released statements and other evidence in the case, including the account that the police say Ms. Lockwood gave at the 33d Precinct station house. It begins with Ms. Lockwood's own troubles, the abuse during her childhood, her absent husband, her seven children and a lack of money. Ms. Lockwood told Detective Peter Moro that she had blamed the little girl as her own life slowly disintegrated and had stopped caring for her because she ''could not take it anymore.''
''I didn't love Nadine,'' Ms. Lockwood told police. ''I hated her. Because of her, my kids had to sleep in a shelter.''
Ms. Lockwood's lawyers had fought to seal the statement, claiming it would prejudice the public. But Justice Budd Goodman of State Supreme Court ruled that it should be made part of the public court file. The Legal Aid Society, which represents Ms. Lockwood, declined to comment after the ruling, but offered a general statement instead.
''Ms. Lockwood is a deeply disturbed woman who has endured a lifetime of abuse,'' the statement said. ''She suffers from overwhelming and debilitating mental illness. Those who are truly interested in understanding how and why this catastrophe occurred should wait until the facts and issues are appropriately explored in a court of law.''
Ms. Lockwood, who is awaiting trial in city jail, recently gave birth to twins. An investigation by the child welfare agency found that its caseworkers failed to check on repeated reports of neglect, that a private doctor never followed up on the girl's condition or reported it, even though she was badly malnourished, and that school officials did not report their knowledge of chronic health and attendance problems involving other children in the family.
In Carla Lockwood's statement, the birth of her daughter Nadine was a turning point. With six children already, Ms. Lockwood said, she tried to give the child up for adoption, but her husband, Leroy Dickerson, begged her to keep Nadine. Ms. Lockwood said that her father told her to leave the apartment, because he could not live with so many children.
On her own, and with infrequent visits from her husband, Ms. Lockwood said, she could not cope. She lived for a time in a shelter, later in a rent-subsidized apartment.
She kept Nadine in a crib from the time she was 2, and refused to let the child leave. ''She started to place a folded bedsheet over the back of the crib to cover the side that was not against the wall,'' Detective Moro noted. ''This way, she wouldn't see Nadine.''
When her husband, during a visit, asked why Nadine was in the crib, Ms. Lockwood said: ''You wanted her, you take her,'' the statement says.
From her crib, in a backroom of the apartment, Ms. Lockwood said: ''Nadine would peek out from behind the sheet and watch the other kids play.'' I don't know why, but reading this statement is what really brought tears to my eyes...
By August, Nadine was very ill and crying in her crib. Ms. Lockwood said she gave her a turkey and cheese sandwich, but the child just picked it apart.
''Why didn't you eat this damn sandwich,'' Ms. Lockwood said.
Nadine lay on her back, whining with her eyes closed. Ms. Lockwood said she brought the little girl some milk, but Nadine could not hold the glass. She drank a small amount while her mother held the cup.
''Then Nadine sighed loudly and her eyes just stared straight ahead,'' said the statement taken by Detective Moro. ''The milk now starts coming out of her nose and mouth.''
Detective Moro's notes conclude: ''Subject further states she knows what she did was not right. How she treated Nadine was not right. She is asking for help in every way.''
