NY - Jewell Ward, 6, Michael, 5, & Innocent Demesyeux, 1, 24 Feb 2008 *Insanity*

[RhondaIL]

http://www.1010wins.com/Three-Children-Found-Dead-in-Long-Island-Home/1708377

Nassau County police responding to a 911 call found three children under the age of seven dead in a New Cassel, Long Island, apartment.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-nass0224,0,3036204.story

A New Cassel woman was charged Sunday with killing her three young children, after three years of family members' efforts to remove them from her care.

Friends and family members said the children had difficult lives with a mother who they called erratic, troubled and in need of help.

 

[philamena]

Both said the Nassau County Department of Social Services had declined repeatedly to remove the children from Brewer, who they said desperately wanted to keep them.

From the article. When the family is begging to take the children in the best interest of the children, I can't understand why CSS wouldn't listen. 3 young lives could have been saved.

 

[Bobbisangel]

In the videos it seems that the people who were close to her are blaming CPS for not helping the mother. I wanted to yell out "if she was having such a hard time did you help her?" The godmother of the 6 yr old girl said that if she had known that the mother was having such a hard time she would have tried to intervene. Why didn't she know? Was she ever around the mom and kids? I wonder if CPS ever did an investigation? How many times? I didn't learn much from the videos at all. Did this single mother become overwhelmed and no one that cared noticed or she didn't say anything to her family and close friends? I wonder what condition her home was in...depression?

The neighbors all seemed to be aware of what was going on at the apt. The mom would leave the kids alone for an hour or two often. "There was something wrong with her." If I saw a mother pushing a stroller down the road without a baby in it I would wonder what was going on and as snoopy as I am I probably would ask her where the baby was. I also worked for years with addicted/mentally ill people so that probably would have gotten my attention. I wonder if any of the neighbors ever called CPS? They would have had the first hand knowledge about what was happening there. Did they talk to her to see what was going on in her mind or just ignore her and talk about her?

I wonder what kind of men the fathers of the children are?

 

[froggierintexas]

'The system let her down'. That makes me angry. What happened to family taking care of their own? I can remember when my aunt had a hard time with her 5th child, my parents bringing him home to stay with us so she could have a break. For a year and a half, I had a brother. There was no 'well if I had known', or 'the government should step in'. There was just doing what we could be done to get her to a place where she was able to care for all of her children. In the meanwhile other family members helped with bills, childcare, took her to get help. They didn't call someone and sit around and do nothing. I just don't get the world today.

 

[MeoW333]

I think in this case the woman is mentally ill; and the system failed to respond and investigate calls from her family and others who were trying to get the children.

"Another cousin, Robin Brooks, said Brewer saw conspiracies everywhere.

"She is a woman that needed help," said Brooks, of Westbury. "She felt everyone was against her.""

(from the above article Newsday)
Coupled with her drug abuse, it would make her symptoms of mental illness worse.

 

[SewingDeb]

The fact that CPS had reports on Friday that she was using pot and cocaine in front of the children and threatening to kill them, yet CPS still did not remove the children, makes me so angry! This could have been easily prevented.

When a family is dealing with a member who is paranoid, it is hard to talk that person into letting them help with the children so it is probably unfair to blame her family. They did what they could by reporting the abuse.

The neighbors had called 911 repeatedly to get help for the children and that did not work.

CPS and police fell down on the job, plain and simple.

 

[Brefie]

"GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — Three young children found dead in a bed after their mother called police claiming she killed them appeared to have been drowned, although one's throat was cut and all showed signs of possible poisoning, a homicide detective said."


More at link:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332390,00.html

 

[philamena]

"They almost looked as though they were sleeping," said Lt. Michael Fleming, commander of the Nassau homicide squad. "It almost looked like they were cuddled up together for the night."

Unbelievably sad. Those poor babies.
The article says the dad tried to get custody. There must be a lot more to this story.

 

[Brefie]

I'm sure there is...there ALWAYS is, but as always, no EXCUSE!!!!

 

[Filly]

This woman's brother is telling the press his sister is not crazy. Perhaps he should shush up for now.

 

[Brefie]

Looks like heads are rolling at SS because of this...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/02/26/2008-02-26_caseworker_suspended_after_mother_kills_.html

A social services supervisor in Long Island was suspended without pay today for failing to send a caseworker to the home of three children the day before their mother drowned them.

"I don't know if we will ever know whether we could have prevented this crime from happening," Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi said. "I believe that the system has failed in this case."

 

[Native New Yorker]

The funeral yesterday...........


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/n...b9405c6d84fc21&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

 

[LorinMarie]

That last article made me cry. The description of the 6 year old with her arms around the 2 babies, that vision is unbearable for me. I really hope this woman gets what she deserves, although I can honestly not think of a punishment severe enough for what she has done

 

[OkieGranny]

From October 2013:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/leatric...children-in-2008-wants-a-cut-of-their-estate/

Leatrice Brewer drowned her three young children in 2008 thinking she was saving them from the deadly effects of voodoo... Now the 33-year-old suburban New York woman who was found not guilty because of mental disease or defect in the deaths of her children, ages 1, 5 and 6, wants a portion of the children's $350,000 estate...

New York's Son of Sam Law... was designed to prevent criminals from profiting from their crimes, such as by selling their stories to book publishers or moviemakers. The judge in Brewer's case, though, has noted the unique aspect: Brewer wasn't convicted...

Lawsuits against the county filed by the father of Brewer's 1-year-old son, Innocent Demesyeux, and 5-year-old son, Michael Demesyeux, were settled for $250,000. A lawsuit filed by the father of Brewer's 6-year-old daughter, Jewell Ward, was recently settled for $100,000.