GUILTY FL - Josiah DeJesus, 9, & Ovila Plante, 76, murdered, Deerfield Beach, 9 Feb 2012

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/23/10487071-florida-agency-returned-kids-to-monster-dad

The two children of a Florida man who stabbed his entire family in a Deerfield Beach RV park earlier this month were allowed to return to him and his wife despite a troubled history, according to the Department of Children and Families.

There wasn't enough evidence to meet the "very high burden of proof" required to permanently remove the children from their parents, Joe Follick, the DCF's communications director, told NBC 6 in Miami on Wednesday.

In February 2008, William DeJesus’ wife, Deanna Beauchamp, told authorities that they both had been molesting their two sons, newly released DCF documents show.

"When the mother made allegations of sexual abuse, we immediately asked for permanent removal of the children from the family. She recanted," Follick said.

He said the agency had no physical evidence, and it was difficult to get clear statements from the two children, including the older son, who barely spoke.

On the night of Feb. 9, DeJesus, of Port Orange, drove his family into the Highland Woods RV park in Deerfield Beach, where he shot a Canadian man twice, killing him, before he went into the man’s home and ultimately stabbed his wife, his sons and himself, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office. His standoff with a SWAT team lasted six hours.

Beauchamp, 37, and their 7-year-old son survived and are recovering, and DeJesus, 41, and their 9-year-old son died.

Hundreds of pages of documents the DCF released on the case Wednesday reveal that DeJesus was previously accused of stabbing and assaulting his wife, and that his youngest son called him “Monster Jackson.”

Much more with a link to the full DCF file....this and so many other Florida tragic cases are due to "very high burden of proof" the legislature has set in the child welfare laws in the name of preserving the family. I'm sure workers make mistakes but proving abuse to this level is an impossible job to begin with, plus with privitization the workers are not well trained or experienced. The turnover is enormous. I'm glad I worked CPS when we could do what we were supposed to do: protect the children.

The "burden of proof" policy is state mandated, tragically. CPS and even the judge are forced to follow the letter of the law. Caseworkers can only stand by as their hands are often tied. This MUST change as children are put in the path of danger time and again.

Write to your legislators if you want stricter child safety laws....PLEASE!!!

Mom of Broward boys stabbed by their dad may face charges

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/24/2658701/mom-of-broward-boys-stabbed-by.html

Police investigating a Feb. 9 hostage standoff in Deerfield Beach that left two men and a disabled child dead — and another child badly injured — now believe the mother of the two boys may have been involved in events leading to the rampage.

Based upon the testimony of Broward Sheriff’s Office homicide Detective Valerian Perez — and the testimony of the boys’ mother, Deanna Beauchamp — a Broward County judge imposed a no-contact order between Beauchamp and her surviving 7-year-old son.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Gillespie, who presides over child welfare cases in Fort Lauderdale, said he rendered the decision based upon “evidence of unlawful acts that constitute child abuse.” The acts, he said, involve Beauchamp’s “failure to act” in ways that would have protected her sons from the abuse of their father.
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Ashton had sought to elicit testimony from Beauchamp that she had done little to protect her sons when she knew their father was molesting them.

When asked by Ashton if Beauchamp had sought to shield the boys from their murderous rampage on Feb. 9, she replied simply: “I was a victim.”

And when Ashton pressed Beauchamp to describe in great detail her role in events of that night, her attorney, Paul Perrin, announced she would invoke the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination.

“I’m going to have my client assert her Fifth Amendment rights,” Perrin said.
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Beauchamp’s mother, Janet Evans, has asked for custody of the boy while the proceedings take place, and Gillespie said he would consider the request after ChildNet completes an exhaustive study of the grandmother’s home and background.

This case has me scratching my head.

How was there not enough evidence to keep these innocent boys away from those parents?

Lovejac said:

This case has me scratching my head.

How was there not enough evidence to keep these innocent boys away from those parents?

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Here's another article that explains some of the reasons...I haven't had a chance to read all the DCF records but there is a link above if anyone is interested in seeing their involvement with the family.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/24/2661099/the-wife-of-monster-dad-hes-threatened.html

Basically, what was reported by the mother was domestic abuse but when LE or DCF began to take steps to get her and the children away from the father, she either recanted, failed to show for court or dropped the charges. DCF did have the children in foster care at one time but had to release them with no evidence and most likely due to court order.

The only actual direct child abuse (other than witnessing domestic abuse which I feel is child abuse but the law doesn't) was when the mother reported that she and the father had molested the 2 children. Then when DCF went to move on it, again she recanted. This was shortly before the tragic events detailed above.

Now the mother might be charged also...maybe more will come out of her involvement in enabling this father and contributing to the death of her son and the other man.

The wife of a man called the “Monster” by his 7-year-old son has been arrested in connection with a February rampage in Deerfield Beach that left the couple’s older son dead, along with a Canadian snowbird.

Deanna Beauchamp, who also was severely stabbed, was charged Friday with manslaughter in connection with the Feb. 9 bloodbath. Her surviving son is in foster care after being released from the hospital.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/02/2671863/wife-of-monster-dad-arrested-in.html#storylink=cpy

Thankx daisy - I read that and was going to post it here.

Something I don't get and they didn't clarify in the article was that the child that died had cocaine in his system - well, HOW DID IT GET THERE???????? They don't say. Did the dad force it on him? I did see something about how momma knew (or saw) dad put things in the kids drinks but.......................most addicts will not give up their drugs - even to their children. AND since the child had coke in his system at the time of death - then they had coke THAT DAY - where did they get it? And when did daddy give it to him? They were in that car all day - close quarters - she had to have know something.

And the other thing was the child and daddy were dead and she never called for help. That throws me too. From what I'm seeing and reading - she should be charged. Its awful convienent to blame the dead spouse. He's not here to speak up. I really do believe that she was complicit in ti all.


JMHO

daisy7 said:

The wife of a man called the “Monster” by his 7-year-old son has been arrested in connection with a February rampage in Deerfield Beach that left the couple’s older son dead, along with a Canadian snowbird.

Deanna Beauchamp, who also was severely stabbed, was charged Friday with manslaughter in connection with the Feb. 9 bloodbath. Her surviving son is in foster care after being released from the hospital.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/02/2671863/wife-of-monster-dad-arrested-in.html#storylink=cpy

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This is what I have been waiting and hoping for.

Killer's wife threatened to slit my throat, says escaped Deerfield Beach hostage

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-deerfield-rv-violence-20120306,0,733648.story

With a knife pressed to her throat, Pierrette Beauchemin had every reason to think she was the next to die.

Her 76-year-old boyfriend, Ovila Plante, had already been shot dead, and she was being held hostage in her own motor home by a madman who would later kill his own son and himself.

But the person threatening to slit Beauchemin's throat, she told police, was not William De Jesus, but his wife Deanna Beauchamp.

That threat was repeated to Beauchemin's daughter, who spoke to Beauchamp on her mother's cell phone during the ordeal. "She said to me, 'We killed [Plante], but I'm not going to hurt your mother if she does what we say,'" said Johanne Beauchemin.

Yet it wasn't until Friday, three weeks after the Feb. 9 bloodbath at Highland Woods RV Park, that Beauchamp, 37, was arrested and charged with child neglect and aggravated manslaughter.

"We don't know why it took so long for her to be charged. I was shocked by this," said Johanne Beauchemin, 49, of Pompano Beach.

In several conversations with both De Jesus and Beauchamp during the five-hour seige, Beauchamp seemed to be an active participant in the mayhem, said Beauchemin. "She was definitely not a panic-attack person when I spoke to her," said Beauchemin.

At one point, Beauchemin said, Beauchamp asked her how to start the motor home. "She said, 'Tell the red light to go away. We're tired and we want to go home,'" said Beauchemin. "They were both incoherent."

More at link....

Boy describes father's killing spree, mother's inaction

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/br...na-dejesus-discovery-20120515,0,6563781.story

FORT LAUDERDALE—
The little boy who survived his father's murderous, suicidal rampage at a Deerfield Beach RV park three months ago told investigators that his dad tried to kill him so he wouldn't be fed to a SWAT team waiting outside.

"I was saying, 'Please, no, please.' Then he, he said, 'Sorry, son, because I don't want you to get killed and get eaten,' " said the boy, 7, in an interview with a Broward Sheriff's Office detective just hours after his father's suicide. His mother, he said, did nothing but promise a future in heaven.

The Sun Sentinel is not naming the boy at the request of his Legal Aid attorneys.

A transcript of the interview was contained in nearly 200 pages of documents released Tuesday by the Broward State Attorney's Office in response to a public records request. The documents help explain why prosecutors brought criminal charges against the boy's mother, Deanna De Jesus.
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In her statement to investigators, Beauchemin described Deanna De Jesus as a full participant in the hostage situation, holding a knife to Beauchemin's neck and promising that no harm would come if everyone listened to her husband.

Beauchemin said she got away when William De Jesus began kissing his children goodbye.

Phyllis Kotey, a retired judge from Gainesville who teaches law at Florida International University, said the inaction attributed to Deanna De Jesus lead her to question whether a battered spouse defense will work in her case.

"Usually, they're injured trying to protect the child," Kotey said. "That's the line that they draw. The protection of the child is paramount."

On the other hand, she said, a battered spouse can be so paralyzed by "learned helplessness" that a failure to act could be the result, even in such an extreme circumstance.


More at link.....

I don't know why this case hasn't been publicized more but just happened to find this today from 10/1:

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/Jury-D...erfield-RV-Park-Standoff-Trial-172123961.html


The jury came back with a split decision on Monday in the trial of a of a Florida woman charged in a deadly Deerfield Beach RV park standoff that ended with her husband stabbing his entire family.

Deanna DeJesus, 38, had pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated manslaughter and child neglect related to the Feb. 9 incident at the Highland Woods RV Park. The aggravated manslaughter charge ended in a mistrial, but the jury found her guilty of the child neglect charge.

Prosecutors will have to later decide whether to retry her on the first charge.

From September 2013:

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/...ldren-and-Families-Contractors-225103152.html

Lawyers have sued Florida child welfare administrators for negligence on behalf of a 9-year-old boy who was almost killed by his own father during a deadly SWAT standoff in Deerfield Beach in 2012...

n February 2012, the younger boy, then 7, was left in critical condition in after his father nearly stabbed him to death. His older autistic brother, who was 9 at the time, died after the attack.

Deanna De Jesus was sentenced to 10 years in prison for doing nothing to intervene during her husband’s stabbings.

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