Warning Body Cam Added: Parents Arrested For Death Of Child After Months of Reports of Abuse & Poor Living Conditions

[Sugar Cookie]

The parents of the 5-year-old girl found dead in Silver City this March are now facing felony charges. Music Adame, 34, and 38-year-old Matthew Bynum have each been accused of multiple child abuse charges for the death of their child.

On Sunday, March 10, just after 11 a.m., the Grant County Sheriff’s Department responded to reports of a non-responsive child at a property in Silver City. Lapel videos from the Grant County Sheriff’s Department show deputies arriving on the scene and running to a tiny home on the back of the property.

Deputy: What’s going on?
Caller: Some of those people in the home right here aren’t responding.
Deputy: They’re not responding?

When deputies arrived at the tiny home, they found two minimally responsive adults and a responsive 7-year-old boy, but the non-responsive child the caller had reported was nowhere to be seen.

Deputy: Who’s not responsive?
Bynum: Not responsive?
Caller: The girl in the middle.

Videos also show the moment deputies realized where the 5-year-old girl was – underneath the sleeping parents in a room filled with clutter. When deputies saw the pale 5-year-old girl they ordered the parents to get up, but they were out of it, and their response was slow.

Deputy: Did ya’ll smoke dope? Fentanyl? What is it?
Adame: No. It’s not fentanyl.

Once deputies finally reached the child, they carried her out of the house, performed chest compressions, and administered Narcan, but she could not be revived. The 7-year-old boy was also carried out of the house, complaining of leg pain.

Neither Bynum nor Adame offered any help. The pair learned of their daughter’s death later at the sheriff’s office. Adame admitted that she had smoked weed and methamphetamine, but not since noon the day before – the day they celebrated the girl's fifth birthday at the park.

Adame: I’ve done a lot of drugs in my life, and I’ve never felt like I did last night.

Adame said the kids woke up in the middle of the night.

Adame: They weren’t responding. If you asked them a question, there was no yes or no, there was just crying.

According to the criminal complaint, the primary cause of the girl’s death was carbon monoxide poisoning. Court documents and interviews with the parents revealed that the tiny home was without running water and a stable source of heat, so the parents would burn coals in the home to keep it warm – a method that got them in trouble in the past when the boy got sick. According to court documents, the parents had been instructed to open the windows when burning coals; however, the investigation revealed that on the night of March 9, the only ventilation in the tiny home was a small gap in one window, allowing a cord to run outside.

The complaint states that the 7-year-old boy was checked into the hospital overnight on March 10 due to dehydration and pneumonia, referring to a “lack of overall parental care.” The complaint adds that the children were “left to habitate in an extremely filthy tiny home which was unsafe for human occupancy.” Additionally, a hair follicle test showed that the 7-year-old had been exposed to methamphetamine.

Adame: They are the best thing that ever happened to me. And I’m not the best thing to ever happen to them.

The 7-year-old boy was taken into the custody of CYFD, which had received callouts to the property in response to the concerning state of the children prior to this incident. According to CYFD documents provided by the sheriff’s department, the majority of callouts resulted in failure to make contact with the parents or a lack of responsiveness from the parents.

In August 2023, during a traffic stop, police reported to CYFD that the children were extremely dirty and had not showered in a while, noting that the kids were not in car seats. In November 2023, another report was filed because the property did not have a working toilet or running water and because the kids were constantly truant from school.

In January, a school employee reported to CYFD that they had physical and emotional abuse concerns for the 7-year-old. The parents admitted to drug use and domestic abuse; concerns were raised about where they were living. In March, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office issued a temporary custody order because they felt the children were in danger. It is not known if that was granted.

https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/video-deputies-find-dead-5-year-old-during-silver-city-callout/

 

[BuffettGirl]

JFC! At least (the very least) they actually 'celebrated' the little girl's birthday before they killed her...

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Xaqueline Shaden

 

[slovakianrenner]

So Sad ,, R.I.P. Cutie ,, We all know that you're in a Better Place


These 2 need to be thrown into a Wood-Chipper a little at a time feet first

 

[agm8478]

View attachment 110185View attachment 110186

View attachment 110184
Xaqueline Shaden


“Xaqueline”?? What an odd name!

 

[notausername]

I believe it's "Jaqueline", a French name. I don't know if they pronounced it like the X in Xavier, or the same a the S in "measure" (which would be faithful to the original pronunciation).

Why would the letter X ever be pronounced that way?

Well, it's one of the rarest sounds within the English language, only showing up in the middle of words like "treasure, pleasure" etc, or loanwords like "deja-vu" .

Because this sound doesn't have its own letter in English, it is sometimes represented with the letter /z/ or /zh/, so using an /x/ isn't that far off.

Just my two cents.

Rip Xaqueline. You deserved better, little one.

 

[Busy Bee]

There was a time when people didn’t have running water or working toilets. People still managed to wash and keep their home and children clean. These people knew it was dangerous to burn coal without proper ventilation, it’s as if they didn’t believe that or they just didn’t care! Driving in a car, their children were not in child safety seats. Mrs. Adame, don’t have anymore children! You are too busy with your drugs / social activities to really care for your childrens feeding, hygiene, school & education! They need your care, it’s obvious that you are not providing that to the extent that one of your children died!

 

[Rebooto]

In old Egypt it was a common way of suicide burning coals in the room and closing the windows. And for these parents it seems to be common to celebrate their kid's birthday doing drugs.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

 

[Sugar Cookie]

It’s hard to say which is worse: the death of a five-year-old near Silver City, the horrific conditions in which she died, or the fact that family, teachers, and police all tried to help her with calls to the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department. There were five different investigations into the family over the course of two years. But, another lawsuit filed on Monday against the state accuses workers of lying on reports, ignoring abuse and neglect claims, and just taking the word of two drug-addicted parents.

An autopsy revealed that five-year-old Xaquie Bynum died of carbon monoxide poisoning on the floor of a filthy shack with no running water or heat near Silver City in March 2024. It was a result of coal burned inside the tiny home for heat. She tested positive for meth. Her seven-year-old brother survived and also tested positive for meth.

Attorney Sara Crecca has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against CYFD and its workers in this case. It alleges that Xaquie died as a direct result of CYFD’s incompetence. “Well, she deserved much better. And the way she died is so horrific. I can’t imagine what she went through,” said Crecca.

Two years before the death, in 2022, CYFD’s first investigation went nowhere. A Grant County Sheriff’s Deputy found Xaquie’s brother, who was five at the time, lying in the back of a truck in a store parking lot with no supervision. A CYFD caseworker was called in and tracked down his parents, Adame and Matthew Bynum. First, at a motel, where the general manager told her, they left the room filled with ankle-high trash, and the company had to deep-clean the room several times.

Despite knowing that, according to the lawsuit, the case worker didn’t check inside the trailer the family was now staying in, to make sure it was safe. Instead, attorneys said the case worker just took the word of the parents, who also lied about no longer having drug or domestic violence issues.

It stated that the case worker knew the boy wasn’t enrolled in school, but attorneys said CYFD told Adame to just rely on “family or friends” if she needed help with the children. The investigation was closed.

According to the lawsuit, a second investigation in August 2023 was also a failure. This time, Silver City police called CYFD, saying Adame had the two young kids in the car with no seatbelts or car seats. He reported that the kids hadn’t bathed in a while, and the car smelled horrific.

Another CYFD case worker was called in, and a report said he had a face-to-face meeting with Adame at her mother’s home. Attorneys said that is just not true. Adame later told CYFD she was living with her mother, and the case worker believed her lie, and once again, no one checked to see how the kids were living. Investigation closed.

“The integrity of each and every investigation is so critical because when there’s no integrity in the first investigation, then by the fourth, you’re relying on three other investigations where facts were left out. Nobody laid eyes on the home.

The allegations against CYFD go on and on. In November 2023, the lawsuit laid out a third and fourth failed investigations, including a family member reporting the kids didn’t have a toilet and couldn’t bathe. The lawsuit states CYFD didn’t check. School staff reports to CYFD were made on serious abuse and neglect concerns, saying the kids were coming to school so dirty, they had to clean them up. They claimed the mother showed up with bruises, again the state didn’t visit the home.

A CYFD supervisor stated in a report that there are no drug or domestic violence issues with the family, and the parents provided a safe and stable home in the past year. A month later, another school employee called CYFD again, saying the boy showed up with a black eye, and kids made fun of him because of his poor hygiene. Attorneys said CYFD finally visited the home. The case worker would tell the family to clean their home, but never checked if they did. Two more investigations closed, declaring the abuse and neglect allegations were unsubstantiated.

“The one worker that actually bothered to step foot in the home identified issues with the heater and no running water. And that by itself is not a reason to take a child in. It’s together with the bruises on the child. The concerns from the school, the parents having different stories that don’t match each other,” said Crecca.

In January 2024, a fifth investigation was launched after a person from the kids’ school called CYFD, saying they’re worried about the kids not having running water. Adame had told her that Byunum beat her, and Xaquie had more than 19 absences during the past four months.

It would take a month before CYFD did anything. The case worker wrote that the parents wouldn’t talk to her, so they declared the allegations unsubstantiated, and the case was closed. That case worker never went to the home and checked on the family.

Two weeks later, deputies found Xaquie dead. Her death would come just 23 days after Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham promised change within CYFD. “The number one priority of that department is protecting children and improving their well-being. That is not what is occurring in the State of New Mexico,” said Gov. Lujan Grisham.

The lawsuit states the entire staff at CYFD in Silver City was fired. But it’s not known if it was because of this case. CYFD and the governor would not answer KRQE News 13’s questions, saying, “Due to pending litigation on this case, it would be premature to comment.”

The children’s biggest advocate is their grandmother, who also begged for help from the state. After the death, CYFD placed Xaquie’s brother in her care. But, CYFD was making plans to place the boy back with his parents, who are charged with intentional abuse of a child resulting in death. When the grandmother raised concerns, the state sent her this letter saying they were taking him away from her because she spoke out. That alleged retaliation is also part of the lawsuit.

Read complete article here

MSN