Austin James Watkins
November 15, 2003 - November 9, 2008
Was a free $10,000. life insurance policy incentive
to starve a little boy to death? Police were trying to figure that out.
A year before he died, Austin James Watkins was taken to the hospital where
doctors were told he was sick. Police also wonder if that was as cover-up
for the fact that he was was being slowly starved to death.
Who could have tortured this child by making him
watch those around him eat and not giving him so much as a scrap of food
to eat? It wasn't some stranger, it was his aunt and his grandmother. Stephanie
Bell and Janice Mowdy allowed Austin to starve to death. When he was found
by police, they believed he had not eaten at all, for almost two weeks.
Police believe Austin was locked in a room and was only given water and
that he was kept in a cage or tied up. Police say that though some people
knew about it, no one called them:
"No one was contacted here at the Scott County
Sheriff's Department"
Scott County Sheriff Mike Lee
SHOCKINGLY someone DID know and admitted
it saying that she wished she had told someone. Brenda Peterson, who is
the sister of Janice Moody, KNEW what was happening and never called anyone
to get help for Austin:
"They'd let the other children eat in front
of him, make him stand in one place, let them eat and
drink with him just starving to death with
nothing to eat"
What kind of heartless monsters could DO this
to a child? What kind of a heartless monster could KNOW it was being
done, WATCH it and not get help:
"Anyone who did not call could be accountable.
If someone had any knowledge about it,
that this was going on, they should have called
every day. They should have
done anything they could to get law enforcement
and DHS involved"
Administrators at Austin's school had voiced concerns
as to why he was looking so unhealthy, he was immediately taken out of
school by Janice and no one at school reported his sudden absence. The
woman who runs the school, Mabel Odam, who SHOULD have reported
the absence and the possible abuse simply said of the case:
“I don’t want to get involved”
How sad, because if you HAD been involved,
other than to ignore his absence and abuse, Austin might not have had to
suffer the way he did and he might still be alive. In my opinion you, Mabel
Odam, are an accessory to the
killing of this child.
Reporters were telling police about people who had
said they knew what was going on inside the trailer and never reported
it. Austin, who was only four years old, starved to death and when police
found him, he weighed only 19 pounds. Those who saw him said that he was
literally skin and bones and his cheeks were sunken in. Mike Lee said that
they were investigating if Austin had been kept away from the other children
in the home:
"Our speculation is that he was kept away,
possibly locked some where, somewhere else
in the home, or somehow held, without being
able to get out, or get away. Investigators
right now are taking a look at there is some
evidence the child may have been tied up"
Stephanie Bell and Janice Mowdy were charged with
murder and felony child abuse and were held without bond.
The case was being investigated by Laurie Woodruff
a Deputy Administrator of Family And Children's Services for the Department
Of Human Services. Laurie said this was one of the worst cases she has
ever seen:
"This is a social workers' nightmare, we want
these calls before the incidents happen"
Pinned to the wall in his room was the $10,000. life
insurance policy, which was given free from Gerber. Of course, these two
disgusting excuses for human beings deny that they did anything wrong.
Three other children, ages nine, six and two, were removed from the home
and placed in foster care. Not everyone knew what was going on and some
residents in the town were stunned to learn about it:
"It broke my heart. I have three grand babies"
Loretta Herring
"It's horrible. I'm just sick to my stomach.
In fact, it's the worst crime I have heard of"
Billy Frank Alford
The Department Of Human Services admits they received
on call in 2006. An inspection was done in the home and they found nothing
to cause worry:
"I cannot talk about this particular case,
although I would love to. But what we do know is if
DHS had received a call, such as this, in
any county any time we would have immediately responded"
DHS Deputy Director Lori Woodruff
Joe Bradford, the county Coroner said that tests
showed no poison or drugs of any kind in Austin's system, he was not sick
at all. This will help prosecutors who had been told by his killers that
he was sick and that was why he lost so much weight. The coroners report
also said that there was little to nothing in Austin's stomach at the time
of his death. His weight, 19 pounds, was the same as an average one year
old child. The coroner said that he is learning a lot about how Austin
died:
"There was so little in the stomach and digestive
system that you can't tell what, if anything,
the boy might have eaten"
Austin's biological mother said that the DHS was
wrong to take her son away from her. Tammy Watkins admits that she has
made some mistakes in the past and that she had done drugs, she says that
last time she did any drugs was in 2002. Tammy says that her husband, Austin's
father, has a problem is was in jail at the time on drug and statutory
rape charges. Tammy says she lost custody of Austin because CPS thought
her house was unkempt, but, insists she had not done drugs since 2000 and
she had taken drug tests:
"I have not done any drugs, since, I would
say 2000. I had one in 2002, I mean I am willing
take a drug test, tomorrow, any day. I mean
I do not do drugs, I have not done drugs"
Tammy was in a court hearing trying to get custody
of two of the other children from the trailer. Kenney, who was six and
Erin who was nine, were both her children as well as Austin. The other
child who had been placed into foster care was a cousin to the children,
four year old Courtney. Tammy had been the one to make a report in
2006, saying Austin was being abused:
"I heard she was treatin Austin bad back in
'06, you know and I called and DHS said they went
out there, and they didn't see no bruises
on him or anything"
Mike Lee said that the purpose of the hearing was
to see if Tammy would get her children back. Mike also confirmed the presence
of the life insurance policy in the room:
"The mother was going to see about getting
custody back, and pretty much DHS was making
sure that these children stayed in protective
custody. There was a life insurance policy, it may
be another motive, we are searching right
now for anything for answers"
Tammy was told during the custody hearing that she
would need to get a job and prove that she could provide a stable home
for her two children before she could regain custody of them. Tammy said
the pain of what has happened will take a lot of time to heal and that
she is angry at the two women who killed her son, she refers to them as
monsters:
"I'm going to get a job and try to fight for
them. It's the most important thing in the world to me
right now. I'm going to get a job and try
to fight for them. It's the most important thing in the
world to me right now"
Mike Lee said Tammy lost custody of her children
in 2005 due to her drug problems. The children were removed and placed
with the two women and they wouldn't allow anyone to visit:
"We weren't allowed up there. She kept all
of us from there. She didn't like me"
Tammy Watkins
Tammy says that the last time she saw her son, he
had been happy and appeared healthy:
"She could have given him back to me instead
of doing this. If she didn't want him, she could have
handed him back. I would have gladly taken
him"
Tammy is turning her attention to getting her other
two children back. She has spoken to them and is hoping that soon, they
can come and live with her again:
"I'm looking for a job. I will do anything
and once I get the job and I can hold it like six months,
I think DHS will really be interested"
At Austin's funeral, a friend of Tammy's commented
about the case:
"That grandmother is not a human, that can
abuse a child like that. I had people telling me in
that funeral home, that they had seen her
tie this baby up on the porch"
Deborah Scarberry
A bouquet of flowers covered his tiny, white coffin
as he was buried. Tammy said:
"I may not have been the best mama, but I was
a mama. I didn't do this and he was healthy"
Relatives claimed to have called CPS several times:
"They went out there but they never did nothing
about the way the baby was"
A DHS spokesperson did not confirm or deny a case
having been open on Austin, saying only:
"Our people in Scott County are working with
authorities to help gather information on the case"
.
For information about preventing child abuse in the
state of Mississippi, click the links below. If they can't help you, ask
for someone who can. NEVER give up looking for help for an abused
child!
Center For The
Prevention Of Child Abuse
Call this number
to report child abuse ANY WHERE in the United States!
1-800-4-A-Child
1-800-422-4453
   
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