ME - Parents and grandmother charged in death of 10-year old - February 28, 2024

[DS2021]

Affidavit sheds light into death of 10-year-old Braxtyn Smith

BANGOR -- Recent court documents shed light on the circumstances leading up to the death of Braxtyn Smith, detailing how the parents and grandmother told detectives about their treatment of

www.foxbangor.com

According to DHHS, Jem Bean has an administrative position at the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Hospital. In a statement, they said her job, "Does not involve direct patient care of interaction with children."

 

[Izzylizzy]

Just a guess on my part that the redacted might be a sibling.

On 02/20/2024, [redacted] was interviewed at the Penquis Child Advocacy Center by Forensic Interviewer [redacted]. Braxtyn’s [redacted] and also resided at 24 B Street with the family. During the course of the interview, [redacted] disclosed that Braxtyn “eats dog food” and that Braxtyn sleeps in the bathroom. [redacted] disclosed that Braxtyn is zip-tied and stated “mom tried to hit in head” and that Braxtyn eats out of the trash can and is bad. [redacted] stated mommy and dad use zip ties and “zip Brody up.” It was confirmed in the interview that [redacted] calls Braxtyn “Brody.” When asked how Braxtyn is zip tied, [redacted] put [redacted] wrists together in front of [redacted] to demonstrate.

Superior Court Criminal Action Docket NO. CR-2024 618
More at: Grim details revealed in affidavit of murdered Bangor boy

Yet the person who told investigators this about the dead child never reported the abuse to authorities while the child was still alive?

Maine home-school laws don't include home visits?



"Latourette and Bean allegedly homeschooled the boy all his life. Text messages between Latourette and Smith reportedly showed conversations in which they called the boy vulgar words and threatened to harm him.

Court documents showed that an unnamed person told investigators that the boy ate dog food and ate out of the trash can. The person also said he was tied up and hit in the head.

An autopsy performed by the state medical examiner in Augusta determined that the boy's cause of death was homicide.

 

[bettyboop]

I am so sorry this happened to you Braxtyn. I hope his sibling is safe from these "things''', because they can't be considered human. JMO MOO edited to add they should not be allowed to be called parents, father, mother or grandmother either. Also, I never met any of my grandparents as they had all passed before I was born, and I was sad about that fact. More and more I see on this website that in some instances, that might have been a good thing. again JMO MOO

 

[Shamrock1]

Yet the person who told investigators this about the dead child never reported the abuse to authorities while the child was still alive?

Maine home-school laws don't include home visits?



"Latourette and Bean allegedly homeschooled the boy all his life. Text messages between Latourette and Smith reportedly showed conversations in which they called the boy vulgar words and threatened to harm him.

Court documents showed that an unnamed person told investigators that the boy ate dog food and ate out of the trash can. The person also said he was tied up and hit in the head.

An autopsy performed by the state medical examiner in Augusta determined that the boy's cause of death was homicide.

Most states do not require home visits. Maine does require an annual notice/assessment. However, if a child was never enrolled in a school, it would be easy to remain off the state’s radar. In general, homeschoolers (and their lobbyists) can be fiercely protective of their freedom to educate as they believe is best, and tend to bristle at increased supervisory oversight. Maine has moderate oversight. My state has none. JMO.

Home Instruction Requirements, Forms & Laws | Department of Education

www.maine.gov

 

[Izzylizzy]

Hopefully investigators are looking into Braxlyn's Maine home school file to see if he fell through all the cracks of the parental academic responsibilities.
I know, too little too late.

imo:
Home schooling is a honey pot for abusive adults/guardians and mandatory in-home evaluations are continuously fought against by the great majority of home schooling parents who have nothing to hide and their kids are succeeding academically.
Every time a horrific child abuse and/or death of a home schooled child hits the media there's a circling of the wagon trying to prohibit any new restrictions applied to home schooling.
These parents are also the enablers of child abuse like so many states with very and very,very lax home school laws.

https://arizonalawreview.org/pdf/62-1/62arizlrev1.pdf

How to Report Homeschool Educational Neglect by State - Coalition for Responsible Home Education

Reporting a homeschool family for educational neglect should not be done lightly. Please read our Recognizing a Problem page for help recognizing educational neglect in a homeschool setting. However, if you have reasonable cause to suspect that educational neglect is... Read More

responsiblehomeschooling.org

Most states do not require home visits. Maine does require an annual notice/assessment. However, if a child was never enrolled in a school, it would be easy to remain off the state’s radar. In general, homeschoolers (and their lobbyists) can be fiercely protective of their freedom to educate as they believe is best, and tend to bristle at increased supervisory oversight. Maine has moderate oversight. My state has none. JMO.

Home Instruction Requirements, Forms & Laws | Department of Education

www.maine.gov

I had read that about the "annual assessment" but it mentions nothing about a home visit being part of it and as we all know these "annual" assessments give leeway to plenty of time for abuses to happen even when it's an onsight visit as noted from the wilderness camps annual inspections.
I'm in Vermont and will check on their laws.
They;re also scheduled so unless there are numerous surprise visits throughout the year kids can never be protected or at the very least try to protect them.

 

[Izzylizzy]

Nothing is mentioned about trying to protect home schooled kids from being abused.

Vermont 2023

Vermont Eases Oversight of Homeschooling Even as the Number of Students Has Grown

The number of kids being homeschooled in Vermont doubled during the pandemic, when lockdowns and remote learning rocked school systems. Now Vermont is relaxing the...

www.sevendaysvt.com

 

[Shamrock1]

Hopefully investigators are looking into Braxlyn's Maine home school file to see if he fell through all the cracks of the parental academic responsibilities.
I know, too little too late.

imo:
Home schooling is a honey pot for abusive adults/guardians and mandatory in-home evaluations are continuously fought against by the great majority of home schooling parents who have nothing to hide and their kids are succeeding academically.
Every time a horrific child abuse and/or death of a home schooled child hits the media there's a circling of the wagon trying to prohibit any new restrictions applied to home schooling.
These parents are also the enablers of child abuse like so many states with very and very,very lax home school laws.

https://arizonalawreview.org/pdf/62-1/62arizlrev1.pdf

How to Report Homeschool Educational Neglect by State - Coalition for Responsible Home Education

Reporting a homeschool family for educational neglect should not be done lightly. Please read our Recognizing a Problem page for help recognizing educational neglect in a homeschool setting. However, if you have reasonable cause to suspect that educational neglect is... Read More

responsiblehomeschooling.org

I had read that about the "annual assessment" but it mentions nothing about a home visit being part of it and as we all know these "annual" assessments give leeway to plenty of time for abuses to happen even when it's an onsight visit as noted from the wilderness camps annual inspections.
I'm in Vermont and will check on their laws.
They;re also scheduled so unless there are numerous surprise visits throughout the year kids can never be protected or at the very least try to protect them.

There probably isn’t a “home school file.” The state probably has nothing because the parents never notified their district of their homeschool status. And I doubt these parents kept their own records/progress reports.

We’re going to see more cases like this. I started homeschooling my youngest before the age of 6 and, if we were a reclusive family with no soccer games and trumpet lessons, no one would notice if he disappeared. The pediatrician would send a reminder or two if we missed an annual check-up, but that’s it.

The problem is that, traditionally, homeschooling has been intertwined with religious practice. This means that proposals for increased scrutiny are often met with Constitutional arguments that the state is interfering with their right to worship. That said, former homeschoolers who did not receive a proper education are now vocal about the need for change. And there’s a big increase in the number of secular homeschoolers who probably won’t argue that a home visit infringes on their religious beliefs. JMO.

 

[Izzylizzy]

There probably isn’t a “home school file.” The state probably has nothing because the parents never notified their district of their homeschool status. And I doubt these parents kept their own records/progress reports.

We’re going to see more cases like this. I started homeschooling my youngest before the age of 6 and, if we were a reclusive family with no soccer games and trumpet lessons, no one would notice if he disappeared. The pediatrician would send a reminder or two if we missed an annual check-up, but that’s it.

The problem is that, traditionally, homeschooling has been intertwined with religious practice. This means that proposals for increased scrutiny are often met with Constitutional arguments that the state is interfering with their right to worship. That said, former homeschoolers who did not receive a proper education are now vocal about the need for change. And there’s a big increase in the number of secular homeschoolers who probably won’t argue that a home visit infringes on their religious beliefs. JMO.

I hadn't thought of religious freedom and the role it plays in home schooling..thank you.
The only parents I knew who home schooled had their kids going to group classes like in math-science a few times a week that were put together by parents, along with some going to the local public schools for sports, then private art lessons etc.
They were part of their community too which may not be the case for most of the parents that have something to hide.
We all ask "where were the relatives/neighbors" who either knew a child was being abused or had suspicions and why hadn't they contacted CPS?
Just about everyone employeed in public schools and schools that receive federal aid are mandated to report suspected abuses/concerning home conditions yet the children being home schooled have no legal protections in place.
Some states have enacted no religious exemptions for vaccines in public schools but I don't know if it's being challenged in the courts.
I do know that there is a lot of money/lawyers available from organizations for legal counsel for religious freedom lawsuits.

 

[tlcya]

Friday, a judge granted a $300,000 cash bail for Bean, Smith and Latourette, who are each charged with depraved indifference murder. They were not asked to enter a plea during the hearing.
This Day in History: US begins war in Iraq in 2003 with explosions in Baghdad

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - The three family members charged with the murder of a child in Bangor went before a judge Friday afternoon.

Joshua Smith, 33, Jem Bean, 35, and the child’s paternal grandmother, Mistie Latourette, 56, were all arrested Wednesday.

All three are being held on $300,000 cash bail each.

Friday morning, the Office of the Attorney General released the name of the child.

According to the affidavit, around 8 a.m. on Feb. 18, 10-year-old Braxtyn Smith was taken to St. Joseph’s emergency room in Bangor by Bean and Latourette.
Court documents: murdered Bangor boy malnourished, underweight, badly bruised

Little is publicly known about Braxtyn Smith. He was never enrolled in Bangor schools, and his parents appeared to keep him out of the public eye. When a neighbor saw Braxtyn outside once, she assumed he was only visiting.

There is a blindspot in homeschooling laws that allow abuse like this to happen without anyone noticing, said Samantha Field, the government relations director for Coalition for Responsible Home Education.
[snip]
“Parents can hide the fact that they murdered their children, sometimes for years.”
How could a Maine boy be abused for months with no one noticing?

RIP Braxtyn

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I wonder whether drug testing, cognitive testing, and psychological evaluations of the parents would be revealing.

It's interesting that they cared so little about him that they couldn't give him a normal social life nor education and abused him, but then they did bring him to the hospital when their abuse turned life-threatening.

 

[pizzawonder]

I was homeschooled in Maine and there was never any home visits. I never saw anyone from the school district at all.

We were part of a homeschool "co-op" of sorts through which our required annual testing was submitted to the state, but we never got together with any of the other families involved or attended any of their group activities.

My parents also never took us to the doctor, so we were effectively isolated from any and all mandated reporters.

 

[DoctorRose]

Sometimes younger siblings mispronounce a name and it sticks. I can see a toddler making a portmanteau of “brother” and “Braxtyn” or Brody coming from a toddler saying “brudder.”

Yes, half our town called me “sassy” growing up. That’s how my little sister said my name. It stuck and then some lol. My dad still calls me that sometimes and I’m almost 30. I could see the x t sound being hard to pronounce for a little kid.

 

[DoctorRose]

There's a vid in this MSM. Pics below are taken from the vid. Looking at those pics it's hard to wrap my head around someone looking so happy and cared for came to an end like he did. I wonder what went wrong? And I don't think what went wrong had anything to do with Braxton. It's just all so sad.

The community is still reeling after court documents revealed months of abuse and neglect that 10-year-old Braxtyn Smith endured before he died in February.

His parents and paternal grandmother are facing murder charges for his death.

A memorial has been set up at the house he lived in, and a candlelight vigil is scheduled for this weekend to honor his life.

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Bangor vigil being held for 10-year-old boy

Members of the community are planning a vigil as they continue to mourn the death of a Bangor child.

www.wabi.tv

He’s so cute. I think we need legislation for homeschooled kids to get wellness checks. It’s too easy to hide a kid who doesn’t go to school.

 

[SluethingStayAtHomeMom]

How many children in the U.S.A have to die before we make it MANDATORY to ensure all children with United States birth certificates are enrolled in school by age 5 or 6. That way, upon finding children being home schooled we can do the following:
1.) Do a minimum of 1 home visit per semester by 1 or multiple state employees in which the employees have a face to face interaction INDIVIDUALLY & ALONE with each child in the home. Preferably at least one of the employees would be the one doing it for the same family each & every time that way they can not only build a rapport but they can also learn family dynamics & catch anything out of the ordinary. They also could then catch the parents/guardians in any lies since they will have gone through the same conversation topics previously.
2.) When turning in the "annual assessment" that the state already requires to check on academic progress we should be REQUIRING the parents to also include a certified pediatric doctors assessment of the child's health & a certified pediatric psychologists assessment **that the child would do without parental supervision*** to check on the child's mental wellness.
I understand every state is in their own version of financial Hell right now. HOWEVER, I think it's also safe to say our CHILDREN need the funding more than MANY of the things our tax dollars go to every year.

 

[tlcya]

Thu, May 2nd 2024 at 7:09 AM
His parents, 33-year-old Joshua Smith and 35-year-old Jem Bean, as well as his grandmother, 56-year-old Mistie Latourette, have all been charged with depraved indifference murder.
[snip]
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Braxtyn’s death a homicide and said his injuries showed evidence of sodomy, and that his condition was consistent with “battered child syndrome.”
Parents, grandmother indicted in the murder and abuse of 10-year-old Bangor boy