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
absense. 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.
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 husbands,
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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