here it is...
Suitcase Yields Grim Answer To Boy's Fate
December 30, 2003
By GARY LIBOW, JOSH KOVNER, And COLIN POITRAS Courant Staff Writers
NEW LONDON -- Two years ago, child welfare authorities in Rhode Island asked Connecticut to help them determine the well-being of toddler Alquan White.
On Monday, the boy's father, convicted felon Allen Lamont James, 38, was arraigned in New London Superior Court on capital felony and murder charges after a child's dismembered remains were found in a suitcase that he had tried to hide from police. The state's medical examiner Monday tentatively identified the remains as those of Alquan White.
Sources close to the investigation said the child, who would be about 5 now, had been dead for two to three years, and a spokeswoman for the medical examiner said the child was approximately 3-years-old at the time of death.
In 2001, Rhode Island officials asked their counterparts in Connecticut to check on Alquan's well-being.
"During the course of our involvement with the boy's mother, Charleah White, the question of the whereabouts of Alquan came up," said Thomas Dwyer, associate director of the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families.
Connecticut Department of Children and Families caseworkers ended up speaking with James' lawyer, who reported that Alquan was healthy. Rhode Island officials also spoke to the lawyer and were satisfied that the boy was not in danger, Dwyer said.
"The child had apparently been living with the father since birth," Dwyer said.
James, of 259 Elm St., New London, who has a lengthy record of criminal convictions, was arrested in Waterford early Sunday morning after police found human remains in a putrid-smelling suitcase that James tried to ditch in a wooded area while fleeing from police.
James was ordered held Monday with bail set at $1 million. The case was continued to Jan. 12.
"As far as I knew, he never had any children living with him," said James' landlord, Holly Perez, who rented the Elm Street ranch house to James and a male roommate nine years ago. "I'd been in the house to paint and have the boiler fixed, but I never was in his room."
James' former wife, Charleah White of Rhode Island, attended the arraignment and expressed concern for their son, Alquan, whom she hadn't seen in years.
White said she last saw her son when he was 18 months old, after agreeing to let the boy live with James because she lacked a permanent residence.
"I want to know [whose] body that is," White said. "I want to know where my kid is."
Rhode Island child protection officials became involved with Charleah White in late 2000.
Gary Kleeblatt, spokesman for the Connecticut DCF, would say only that the agency acted on a request to visit the father's home. Kleeblatt said the attorney was "acting as an intermediary for the father" and told the caseworker "that the child was healthy." It was not clear whether social workers were denied access to James' home or why Connecticut DCF accepted the word of the attorney.
Dwyer said his agency had no further involvement with the family until Waterford police detectives contacted his office on Sunday.
"We assisted Waterford police with contacting the mother in Rhode Island," Dwyer said.
James was arrested after a patrol sergeant observed him speeding in a 1996 Cadillac in the Quaker Hill section of Waterford at 3:40 a.m. Sunday.
Joseph D. DePasquale, commander of the police detective division, said the officer pursued James briefly before James abandoned the car near Old Norwich Road and fled into a wooded area. James was apprehended within 15 minutes, police said.
A small-caliber pistol was recovered, as well as the suitcase, found about 200 feet from where James had parked the Cadillac.
New London Police Chief Bruce Rinehard, who confirmed that Waterford police discovered the body of a "young child," said James was charged Monday with capital felony and murder. New London police are overseeing the investigation with help from the state police Eastern District Major Crime Squad and the office of the state's attorney.
An autopsy conducted on the remains by the medical examiner's office concluded that the child died of multiple, blunt trauma.
Public defender Joseph Segal said James did not speak during a 5-minute proceeding before Superior Court Judge E. Curtissa R. Cofield. Segal said he had a conversation with his client, the details of which Segal declined to divulge.
James has a record of five felony convictions between 1985 and 1992, for offenses such as larceny, assaulting an officer and possession of narcotics. Records show he was sentenced to several years in prison during that period.
James also had two other children by two other women. . Lillian N. Cruz of New London and Monica Francis of Norwich filed custody or paternity actions against him, court records show.
On Monday, Francis went to Superior Court in Norwich and obtained a restraining order against James, alleging that he had threatened to harm her on more than one occasion during the last six weeks. Waterford police said James' two other children have been accounted for.
Search warrants were executed on James' vehicle and his residence, a yellow and brown raised ranch in a quiet residential neighborhood of New London. Numerous people drove by the house late Monday afternoon.
Josh Smith, who lives next door to James, was shocked to learn that his neighbor was charged with murder.
"He was a real quiet guy," Smith said. "... He had a couple of girlfriends that came and went. I figured when police were here, it was drugs. I'm surprised."
Other neighbors said they saw a young girl at James' house recently."I saw her playing in the back. He said it was his daughter," said a neighbor who requested anonymity. ... "It's kind of sickening."
