GUILTY WI - Christopher Thomas, 1, killed, 2yo sister tortured, Milwaukee, 10 Nov 2008

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SewingDeb

SewingDeb

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Christopher Thomas case opens with photos of abuse
Trial begins for aunt in beatings that killed boy, hurt his 2-year-old sister

Perhaps in years to come, jurors will forget the horrific story they heard Monday during opening statements in the Christopher Thomas murder trial.

It is less likely they'll forget the pictures.

There were six of them, projected on a large screen left of the defendant, Crystal Keith, who slumped in her chair, her arms crossed on the defense table.

The first photograph was of 13-month-old Christopher shortly after his death on Nov. 11. His head inclines to the right, an angry red welt raised on his forehead. The second is of the back of his head, swollen from the beating police say Keith inflicted on the boy the day before.

Four were of Christopher's 2-year-old sister.


http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/44308947.html
 
Warning: graphic description of child abuse.

On tape, aunt recounts abuse
Jurors hear detectives' interview with Thomas' caregiver the night of beating

It starts with the sound of handcuffs unlatching and the scraping of chairs on a police station floor: the three-hour recording of Crystal Keith's confession, which prosecutors played for a jury Tuesday in the Christopher Thomas reckless homicide trial.

Jurors winced, rubbed their faces and shook their heads as they followed along with the 117-page transcript of the interview with detectives.

Keith, 24, charged with beating 13-month-old Christopher to death and torturing his 2-year-old sister for months, sat at the defense table seemingly unable to lift her head as the recording recounted one horrific incident after another.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/44423522.html
 
**WARNING _ VERY DISTURBING*

http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/44423522.html

Keith, 24, charged with beating 13-month-old Christopher to death and torturing his 2-year-old sister for months, sat at the defense table seemingly unable to lift her head as the recording recounted one horrific incident after another.

"So I couldn't feed him and he wouldn't shut up," Keith told Milwaukee police Detectives James Hutchinson and Jeremiah Jacks about the beating she said she gave Christopher on Nov. 10.

"It made me madder so I started punching him in the legs. And he got louder and then I start slapping him in the face. And I, um, put his legs, I grabbed him by the legs and I put him down on his - you know, how you put a body weight on his head? I did that. And then he was still going and then I slapped him again and that's when I saw his eyes turn over."
Click to expand...


Why isn't she facing the death penalty?
 
Lovejac,

I am wondering the same thing. She faces up to 75 years. If she had tortured two adults and killed one of them, she would be facing LWOP or the Death Penalty. It makes me wonder what worth we place on very young, innocent children.

The uncle is also charged with not protecting Christopher Thomas' sister. Why isn't he charged with not protecting Christopher as well? He was the foster father of both and lived in the household.
 
This makes my heart hurt. I just don't know what to say, bless their hearts.
 
This article is from February 2009:

Foster father charged with failing to protect Christopher Thomas' sister

The man whose wife has been charged with the beating death of 13-month-old Christopher Thomas was charged Friday with failing to report months of abuse endured by Christopher's 2-year-old sister.

Reginald Keith is the children's uncle. He and his wife, Crystal Keith, became the children's kinship foster parents in June 2008, several months after the state-run Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare removed the siblings from their parents' home and placed them in temporary foster homes.

Crystal Keith told investigators that she miscarried within days of the children's arrival and that she began hurting the 2-year-old almost immediately.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/39600132.html
 
I am NOT a violent person, by any means, but, I do believe that if this evil monster was in front of me.....................let's just leave it at that.

As she is describing the torture she inflicted on these children, it's as if she is describing making dinner.

I need to leave this thread for a while, I'm afraid I might lose it and say something that will get me banned!

God Bless the sister, I pray she is in the care of a loving, wonderful family.
 
Kat, it hurts my heart too. One of the articles lists the visits by DCF...they were going to the home regularly up to 11 days before Christopher's death and reported no signs of physical abuse. How could the miss the injuries to his sister?

This case is reportedly a catalyst for change in the department. I hope they make some real changes that will head off deaths.
 
New child welfare agency will hire almost all of La Causa staff

Integrated Family Services, the agency that will replace La Causa this month and provide services for abused or neglected children and their families in the southern third of Milwaukee County, has hired virtually the entire La Causa staff, including the supervisor who was in charge of the Christopher Thomas case, agency officials said Friday.

That supervisor, however, will be in an administrative position and will not work directly with children or families, said Ann Umhoefer, chief administrative officer for St. Aemilian-Lakeside.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/44202302.html
 
This is from last year:

Another couple tried to help abused baby
Grandparents say agency rebuffed them

Two months before police say 13-month-old Christopher L. Thomas Jr. was beaten to death by his foster mother and his 2-year-old-sister was rescued from months of torture, the state approved placing the children in their biological grandmother's home, their grandfather said Monday.

The children, however, were never moved.

and

Altogether, three couples have now said they tried to adopt Christopher or have him and his sister placed in their homes after they were taken from their birth mother in March. Two of the couples have said they alerted the child welfare bureau to possible abuse.



http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/35043119.html
 
This is also from last year:

Boy who was abused laid to rest
Grief succumbs to anger as family, friends of boy's parents clash; father injured

The emotional funeral of Christopher L. Thomas Jr. erupted in violence Wednesday as family and friends of the child's mother and father clashed with each other in bitter frustration.

Christopher's foster mother, Crystal P. Keith, was charged last week with beating the 13-month-old boy to death and with torturing his 2-year-old sister, who remains hospitalized. Keith is married to the brother of the child's father, also named Christopher Thomas.

Thomas, 22, who is serving a work release term on a drug conviction, attended the service with several friends and family. He sat in the first row of the Serenity Funeral Home chapel near the baby's 23-year-old mother, Candace Glover.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/34747279.html
 
I'm speechless. Nothing that could be done to this woman that would befit the crime she's committed. Dragging her behind a truck on her way to hell wouldn't be enough.

JMO
 
SewingDeb said:
This is also from last year:

Boy who was abused laid to rest
Grief succumbs to anger as family, friends of boy's parents clash; father injured

The emotional funeral of Christopher L. Thomas Jr. erupted in violence Wednesday as family and friends of the child's mother and father clashed with each other in bitter frustration.

Christopher's foster mother, Crystal P. Keith, was charged last week with beating the 13-month-old boy to death and with torturing his 2-year-old sister, who remains hospitalized. Keith is married to the brother of the child's father, also named Christopher Thomas.

Thomas, 22, who is serving a work release term on a drug conviction, attended the service with several friends and family. He sat in the first row of the Serenity Funeral Home chapel near the baby's 23-year-old mother, Candace Glover.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/34747279.html
Click to expand...

I find it hard to be sympathetic to Christopher's parents. They failed him and his sister, just as child services did.
 
WHY??? WHY???? There is no excuse for this. WHY did the caseworker not see this abuse? They are supossed to see the children once a month. It does not matter if they are in kinship care or not. They have to be checked on. They are supossed to speak to the children away from the caregivers to make sure everything is ok.

they was failed by their parents then by their aunts and uncle and the state. More people need to start breaking the cycle of abuse and walking away from their evil family members. NOT easy I know because I've done it. I'll never ever understand how someone can abuse a child in this way or anyway. They will have to pay for their crimes if not on earth then in after life. SHAME On everyone that failed these children.
 
I feel the same way lizzybeth.
 
6angels, the records show the worker visiting regularly. I have to wonder if the worker actually made those visits or just put dates in the file.
 
She looks MEAN

abused-111608-3.jpg


So she miscarried her own baby then went on to abuse these children so terribly? Doesn't make sense--most people would treasure the little ones entrusted to their care if they couldn't have their own babies.
 
SewingDeb said:
SNIPPED: "... Grief succumbs to anger as family, friends of boy's parents clash; father injured

The emotional funeral of Christopher L. Thomas Jr. erupted in violence Wednesday as family and friends of the child's mother and father clashed with each other in bitter frustration....
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/34747279.html"
Click to expand...
I really wish that these family and friends had cared enough to help little Christopher when he was alive.

Why is it that people wait until it is too late???
 
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