GUILTY NY - Cardell Williamson, 20 mos, stomped to death, Bronx, 22 Aug 2014

[Renee110]

I didn't see this posted anywhere. Please remove if already posted.

This is tragic and criminal. A childcare worker threw 20 month old Cardell Williamson down several times, stepping on him and killed him. She is charged with manslaughter. I don't understand that. Seems like it would be at least 2nd degree murder. Here is the article http://news.yahoo.com/cops-nyc-woman-said-she-stepped-tot-died-192639443.html

 

[tlcya]

Athena Skeeter, 40, who also goes by Athena Cross, described to cops the gruesome details of how she delivered lethal blows to 20-month-old Cardell Williamson and put him in a bath of scalding water.

SNIP

The father said city officials forced him to take his son to Skeeter as part of a back-to-work program he qualified for under city welfare rules.

“She took a presence from my life that can never be replaced,” said the father, a recovering drug addict who won sole custody of Cardell about seven months ago.

Williamson, who is being trained as a landscaper after completing a court-ordered drug education program, said he hasn’t seen his son’s drug-addled mother, Tomasina Cheatham, 31, in months.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/bronx-woman-wrestling-baby-died-article-1.1915081

This is horrible. This woman has been a licensed provider for since 05

 

[tlcya]

A child care woman charged with killing a toddler in her home told police she threw the boy to the floor and stepped on him three times to 'toughen him up', and after that he could no longer walk on his own, authorities said.

Athena Skeeter, 40, was arraigned Sunday on charges of manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child.

The city's Administration for Children's Services did not immediately respond to a message seeking information on Skeeter, whom police said was a licensed child care worker.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...oman-said-stepped-tot-died.html#ixzz3BMyCNthk
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[kimi_SFC]

I have no words. Only :tears:

:rose:


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[katydid23]

Manslaughter? How did they come up with that charge? She said herself she assaulted him 'to toughen him up.' Geeezzz. 2nd degree Murder, imo.

 

[Renee110]

snipped from the article I pasted above

"She said she put him in a bathtub and put cold water on his face, and then stepped out for a short time. When she came back, Streeter told police, Cardell's head was in the water and steam was coming up. She said he had burns on his arm and face."

Not only did she stomp on him, she drowned him in water hot enough to leave burns on him. How on earth are they not throwing the book at her???? I don't get it.

 

[Donjeta]

How on earth are they not throwing the book at her???? I don't get it.

They might upgrade the charges later, maybe?

From the article in OP:

Athena Skeeter, 40, was arraigned Sunday on charges of manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child.

Skeeter was in custody and was due back in court Thursday

Wondering if it will be upgraded to murder at some point later.

I don't understand how he got burned if she says she put him in cold water. Could he have changed the temperature of the water himself? Was anyone else there? Or did she lie about the cold water?

 

[Lovejac]

Please God, make it stop!

I am in tears after reading what torture this baby endured

 

[Indy Anna]

NYC mayor: 'Full investigation' of child's death

http://www.morning-times.com/state_news/article_807f13a1-df50-5a3a-86de-97782981e39f.html

This is more than a "tragedy" (as the mayor puts it). I hope his office's investigation will culminate with the charges being upped. It's sickening to think of what that woman did to Cardell. She tortured him, and she robbed his father of a son. I don't believe for a moment she placed him in cold water; she intentionally placed him in scalding water. She said that already he couldn't walk and his head kept tilting. She knew he couldn't keep his head above the water, so why would she place him in the tub and leave him there if that wasn't part of the torture? Was she trying to hide the fact that she had paralyzed Cardell and so she was going to make it look like an accidental drowning? (But the ME would've found evidence of her stomping on him). I can't believe, though, she turned on the cold water -- even if a 2-year-old could turn the handles on the tub, Cardell wouldn't have been able to because he was at least partially paralyzed in the upper extremities as evidenced by his neck tilting side to side.

 

[Indy Anna]

Oh, man. This gets even worse:

She killed the baby — then went shopping.

A child day care provider apparently went grocery shopping after a baby suffered fatal injuries in her Bronx home.

A 12-year-old neighbor said he saw the lifeless body of 20-month-old Cardell Williamson when he helped Athena Skeeter carry grocery bags into her apartment on Friday afternoon.

Read more ....

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...nth-old-bronx-home-day-care-article-1.1916368

 

[SnoopyDawgDawg]

They might upgrade the charges later, maybe?

From the article in OP:




Wondering if it will be upgraded to murder at some point later.

I don't understand how he got burned if she says she put him in cold water. Could he have changed the temperature of the water himself? Was anyone else there? Or did she lie about the cold water?

I'm putting my money on the latter option above.

 

[EvilSoup]

What. The. Actual. Foxtrot?

People just plain suck.

 

[Lovejac]

Oh, man. This gets even worse:


Read more ....

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...nth-old-bronx-home-day-care-article-1.1916368

The boy said he ran into Skeeter about 2 p.m. on Friday, when she returned to her College Ave. building with bags of groceries. He said Skeeter’s mother, Cora Cross, 65, was sitting in a rocking chair in the kitchen when he entered the apartment.

“I went to help her (Skeeter) with groceries,” Isliel said. “I went into the kitchen and put the bags away and looked into the living room. I saw my little cousin on the couch.

“I went over to him. He wasn’t moving,” he said. “He didn’t move his arms. He was cold and stiff. He had a scrape on his face. He was butt naked and he was wet. He had masking tape on his mouth. He had bruises on his head

.”

This monster's mother was in the apartment when she killed that baby?!?!

 

[Indy Anna]

This is all just unbelievable it's so horrible. I feel so bad for the 12-year-old after seeing his cousin dead like that and then being threatened by Skeeter. Bless the young man's heart.

If there in fact had been no prior problems with Skeeter abusing children, what on earth caused her to suddenly, one day, do all of those horrendous things to an innocent little baby?!!!

 

[Hejlena]

This is all just unbelievable it's so horrible. I feel so bad for the 12-year-old after seeing his cousin dead like that and then being threatened by Skeeter. Bless the young man's heart.

If there in fact had been no prior problems with Skeeter abusing children, what on earth caused her to suddenly, one day, do all of those horrendous things to an innocent little baby?!!!

She was just never caught, IMO. Bless this twelve year old for doing the right thing.

 

[Indy Anna]

She was just never caught, IMO. Bless this twelve year old for doing the right thing.

BBM Yes! And his mother, too. They were family, the young man was threatened, but still they both did the right thing.

 

[kimi_SFC]

Oh, man. This gets even worse:


Read more ....

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...nth-old-bronx-home-day-care-article-1.1916368

(snip)

He (the young 12 year old witness) said Skeeter, 40, yelled at him for snooping around.

“She screamed at me,” IHB (redacted) recalled, “She said, ‘Why are you in my living room, you stupid b----? You’re supposed to be in the kitchen.

“She told me if I ever told anyone she’d kill me,” IHB said. “I hit her with my shoulder and ran out and went to my mom. I told her what happened.”

His mother said she immediately called 911.

“When he came to me it was like he saw a ghost,” SHB said of her son. “He kept saying to me, ‘He’s not moving, mommy.’ He said it was Cardell. He said, ‘He's not breathing, he’s not moving.”

-----

I had a physical reaction reading this story. Cardell's father entrusted his son to this monster, to look for a second job! He was doing the best he could, definitely trying to do right by his boy, and what did it get him? He's lost the most precious thing in the world and that poor child suffered so very much! I shudder to think of how she killed him in such a heinous and brutal way. :no:

The fact that Skeeter had "multiple minor violations" but was allowed to remain on the approved City Childcare provider list is flat out unacceptable. What does this say about the system and its stance on the safety of the children it is mandated to protect?

I am certain the system is far more broken than can be fixed with band aids. It will take the kind of overhaul that requires real courage, real funding, a likes of which I don't know even exists. Human Services professionals (my mom being one of them) do tremendous work. However, I've seen firsthand how work within City and County agencies (aka "The System") are driven by bureaucracy and "red tape." The people who write the policy and laws aren't the ones who have to work on the front lines with the clients on a day to day basis. That disconnect is something that workers deal with every day, and it isn't always positive.

If something doesn't fundamentally change, more lives will be lost.

This applies across the nation.

jmo...

I pray for change, for the Cardell's (and the Omaree's) and the others.

No more.... Enough is enough....

lease:

:moo: :moo: :moo:


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[OkieGranny]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/murder-charge-child-care-worker-boys-death-25167773#disqus_thread

A New York City child care worker was indicted Thursday on a murder charge in the death of a 20-month-old boy in her care. Prosecutors said she admitted throwing him down and stepping on him.

District Attorney Robert Johnson said a grand jury charged Athena Skeeter, 40, with second-degree murder and first- and second-degree manslaughter in the death Friday of Cardell Williamson...

Skeeter's next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 20. If convicted of murder, Skeeter could be sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

 

[katydid23]

OH MY LORD. They better up the charges, I say capital murder. I'd flip the switch myself. :furious:

 

[kimi_SFC]

From the witness statements, this is felony murder. IIRC, NY doesn't have the death penalty unless the crime involves a LE officer (but I'm furious and posting through my insomnia, so I could be wrong).

If true, this case is an example of why their law should be changed. If someone who is part of their "system" and mandated to serve and protect the public, especially children, and murders a child so heinously, then the DA should have the ability to prosecute it as a capital crime.

Second degree murder my :censored: !

verreaction:
:stormimgmad:

All I can do is hope that the Prosecutor is diligently working towards higher charges. lease:

This little boy - and his family - deserve justice!


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