FL - Justin Polk, 2, strangled, beaten to death in Orlando motel, 2 June 2014

According to newly-released Department of Children and Families documents, Seminole County investigators were called to a home where Merissa Anderson and her boyfriend, Paul Charapata, were living in March.

They described the home and the children as filthy and expressed concern that Anderson had violated an injunction by allowing her ex, who has a history of violent behavior, to have contact with their children. Investigators said Anderson's current boyfriend Charapata did "not appear to pose any threat"...

In 2012, Anderson told DCF investigators that Justin's biological father had battered her more than 10 times in the year they had been together. Once Justin Polk Sr. was out of the house, DCF concluded that the "overall risk to child safety is low."

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On June 2, Justin Polk was found unconscious inside the Countryside Inn in Orlando, where he lived with his two siblings, his mother and her boyfriend. A medical examiner ruled Justin's death a homicide caused by multiple blunt impact injuries with evidence of strangulation.

No one has been charged in his death, but his mother, Merissa Anderson, and her boyfriend, Jonathan Charapata, face other charges. Anderson faces three counts of failing to report child abuse and two counts of child neglect. Charapata faces two counts of child abuse involving Justin's surviving siblings. They remain in the Orange County jail...

Deputies on the scene noticed "all three of the children had visible bruising marks on their bodies and faces." Doctors found signs of "severe physical abuse" on the two surviving children, including one child who "had a few fractured ribs."

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baltolady said:

Merissa (Anderson) Charapata's FB page

https://www.facebook.com/merissa.anderson.98?fref=browse_search

Those poor children. Rest in peace, Justin.

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Merissa Anderson, the mother of a toddler who was found dead at an Orange County extended-stay motel last year, has pleaded no contest to a charge of child neglect in a separate case and was sentenced to eight years of supervised probation, records show...

Her boyfriend at the time, Jonathan Charapata, pleaded no contest to the same charge and will spend five years in prison.

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No one has been charged in his death, but his mother, Merissa Anderson, and her boyfriend, Jonathan Charapata, face other charges. Anderson faces three counts pf failing to report child abuse and two counts of child neglect. Charapata faces two counts of child abuse involving Justin's surviving siblings...

When Justin died, Anderson was at work and Charapata, who was unemployed, was watching the children.

Deputies on the scene noticed "all three of the children had visible bruising marks on their bodies and faces."

Doctors found signs of "severe physical abuse" on the two surviving children, including one child who "had a few fractured ribs."

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