NY - Charkendra Baker, 13, shot to death, Rochester, 26 Feb 2005

Charkendra Baker kept her relationship with her 21-year-old boyfriend more or less a secret.

Her friends and family knew he existed, but they say they were never properly introduced to Isaac Allen Jones, whom 13-year-old Charkendra called by his street name, Severe.

When she came home with new clothes and shoes — gifts from Jones — Charkendra led her mother to believe the items were from her cousin, Dana Usher. When she told family members that Jones was only 16, or 18, they say they expressed concern and even outrage about her dating someone so much older, but they never guessed he was eight years older.

When she disappeared for days at a time, family members say they could only assume she was with Jones. Charkendra rarely divulged where she was going. She was just "on the go all the time," her father, Charles Baker Sr., says.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050816/NEWS01/508160335/1002/NEWS

Assuming is one of the many mistakes this family made with this girl.

Can't someone, anyone access the services this child so desperatly needs and actually save her from this horrible situation called "her life".

Every experience, both good and bad imprints and affects a person to a verying degree.

I don't think any adult could have coped with what this "child was going through", someone has to step up to the "plate" and instead of saying, or commenting about this child's behaviour and her experiences, they should actually care and do something for her.

What a waste of a life and the pain and suffering she had to go though defies my logic.

It is like everyone gave up on her and allowed her to self-destruct, when there are obvious signs.

I know DCS and DCFS which is called Children's Aid in my province, would have been altered to this behaviour and placed this child in care in a stable home.

There would be no doubt, even if they went to court. This "family" cold not properly raise this child and sat back and did nothing. But given their history........

It is too late for Charkendra Baker. She had run away to her boyfriends again, she died due to a gunshot from a gun in his hands. He has been charged with second degree murder, but claims the shooting was accidental. There is no mention of Children's services in this article, but they do mention the family and school were working with her.
It is a very long article, but very much worth reading. It covers the child's life, the challenges she faced, the challenges that her parents and the school faced with her. The events that led to her death.
The article is well written and provides an illustration of the challenges of raising a child under difficult circumstances. Yes there are things that could have been done, things that should have been done. But there was also the challenge of the child herself. There is no blame to anyone in the article. Just an explanation of what happened.

mysteriew said:

It is a very long article, but very much worth reading. It covers the child's life, the challenges she faced, the challenges that her parents and the school faced with her. The events that led to her death.
The article is well written and provides an illustration of the challenges of raising a child under difficult circumstances. Yes there are things that could have been done, things that should have been done. But there was also the challenge of the child herself. There is no blame to anyone in the article. Just an explanation of what happened.

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I agree that the article was well written. The whole thing is just way too sad.

She was just a throw a way child. People claimed to care about her, but in the end, no one did nothing.

The child is the child. The adults SHOULD have stepped in well before it got to the point of this child dying at the hands of an adult.

Again, where where the services, not lip services, but real services to help and gide this child thorugh all of the trama in her life.

Exactly. I could tell that her family cared about her....but what happened to parenting? I wouldhave held my kid down if I knew she had a habit of leaving for DAYS or called someone. I willfully turn her over to someone to help her. It seems as if they just let her roam around and "just bo on the go". My DD is 14. I just don't see he out and about on her own for days. Not without doing more than just talking to her about it.

Just so sad. Everyone failed her....the school, her family, everyone.

I have to agree ... what parent lets their 13 year old stay gone for days at a time? First time it happens to my kid, he or she will be grounded and I don't think the child would do that again after what I would tell him or her.

Edited to add:
I just finished reading the whole story and I am in fact very sad for CharKendra's mother and her siblings. They didn't have much of anything except each other and now they've lost one of their own.
It's sad that sure, things could've been prevented, but then maybe this was the plan that was set for her life ... to move on a little sooner than we all get to, to a better place

I pray for all of their family and hope that Charkendra is at peace in Heaven.

It is so sad to hear and see that one's life can't be accelerated to a higher goal. That one can be so bogged down that hope is redeemed from an irresponsible boyfriend. And that others would be virtually silent to allow this to happen as if he was a savior of some sort. There is parental irresponsibilty even though I recognize they were not equipped.So, don't have children if you can't accept the responsibilty for them and make sure that they have an adequate foothole in society.

Totally dysfunctional family. That's the kindest thing I can say. Yes, she really is in a better place now, poor child.

"But Charkendra, at 13, was responding to more than raging hormones; she was reacting to the chaos that was her life: her parents' separation, her mother's nine-month prison stint, her father's addictions and habitual absence, a house fire, an armed home invasion, alleged molestation by her grandmother's one-time boyfriend, and an abortion. "



This poor girl never had a chance.........

A 22-year-old man convicted of second-degree manslaughter in the death of his 13-year-old girlfriend drew the maximum sentence of 7 1/3 to 22 years in prison Wednesday.

Isaac Jones apologized for the Feb. 26 shooting that killed Charkendra Baker.

"I feel for her family. I messed up," Jones said. "I wish I could do something to bring her back. I want her family to forgive me for what I did."

Jones was acquitted of second-degree murder at his trial. He was convicted of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local...ec21,0,4942915.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

Am I reading this right? The parents didn't have any problem with her dating what they initially thought was her cousin?

BillyGoatGruff said:

Am I reading this right? The parents didn't have any problem with her dating what they initially thought was her cousin?

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Billy, They never thought that she was dating her cousin. They thought that her cousin, Dana, was buying her new clothes and gifts. But, she wasn't. The boyfriend was.

mysteriew said:

A 22-year-old man convicted of second-degree manslaughter in the death of his 13-year-old girlfriend drew the maximum sentence of 7 1/3 to 22 years in prison Wednesday.

Isaac Jones apologized for the Feb. 26 shooting that killed Charkendra Baker.

"I feel for her family. I messed up," Jones said. "I wish I could do something to bring her back. I want her family to forgive me for what I did."

Jones was acquitted of second-degree murder at his trial. He was convicted of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local...ec21,0,4942915.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

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I, I, I, I. I read over and over and over what this criminal wants. Seems to be his M.O. Selfish prick molests and then murders a child and her family gave her to him on a silver platter.

Shame on her family for letting her come and go as she pleased. :banghead:
I'm sorry for their loss, but maybe they should've thought about her as 'their baby' when she was still alive. For the simple fact that she was still a child.

It sounds to me like there were several people involved in trying to get Kendra going down the right road.

I would bet that this family was pretty poor....sounds like three families living together with lots of children. Lots of problems in the home and sounds like an awful neighborhood.

With some children it doesn't matter what you do to try and help them...it doesn't matter how many rules you have in your home and what you do to try and make a child follow those rules. It is easy for us to sit back and judge this family and to say what we would have done if we had been in their shoes. If we have never been in their shoes or had a strong willed child that did what they wanted...no matter what...then we really don't know how we would have handled this young girl.

If you have money you can send a child with problems like Kendra to many different places for help. There are places all over that are great places to send your child if you are able to pay up to $3,000 a month. I've checked them out. I sure couldn't afford something like that. If a child hasn't broken the law you have a problem getting help. Poor people can't afford counseling as it cost anywhere from $80.00 an hour on up.

I don't doubt that this mother loves her daughter. We heard a part of the story here but I'm sure we only heard a portion. We don't know how long this little girl had been living her life her way. We don't know everything that was tried to help her. Maybe this mother did the best that she could with what she had to work with. We know this mother spent some time in jail or prison but that is all we know about her. We don't know why or what she has done with her life since then. Nothing was said about her being a bad mother. It just sounds like there were a whole lot of problems and one of those problems was this little girl wanting to do her own thing. You try to stop a strong willed/determined child and they will run circles around you...believe it or not. I know that for a fact.

I believe that this mother smelled her daughter's hair. That had to be comforting to her. Things like that happen and I believe that it is real and is meant to bring comfort to grieving loved ones. I feel bad for this mother and her children. I hope that they do move and that things improve for them.

I understand what you're saying sweetie, but with all due respect, her family let her down in a big way. One doesn't need to be wealthy to take care of their children. If your child does't come home for days at a time, you don't simply say "oh well." There ARE programs in place to assist low income families. In fact, low income families have access to a lot of programs that families who are middle class don't have access to. I don't know exactly what happened in this case, but it sounds an awful lot to me like they were letting this child be raised by the streets.

Jeana (DP) said:

I understand what you're saying sweetie, but with all due respect, her family let her down in a big way. One doesn't need to be wealthy to take care of their children. If your child does't come home for days at a time, you don't simply say "oh well." There ARE programs in place to assist low income families. In fact, low income families have access to a lot of programs that families who are middle class don't have access to. I don't know exactly what happened in this case, but it sounds an awful lot to me like they were letting this child be raised by the streets.

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That's the way it sounds to me Jeana. It sounds like there were no consequences for her behavior when she did come home. They were treating her as if she were grown when she was only 13.