Krystal Scurry
 February 1989 - November 2, 1991

Theresa objected to her children being taken from them and so did Jessie Scurry, Krystal's father who told the women:

The women told them that if they didn't cooperate, the police would be called.
The children were taken and in their report, they said the trailer was cold, 
smelled of urine and milk had gone bad and they had tried to contact Police 
who were unavailable at that time. The two children had never had shots nor
had they been seen by a doctor, since their births. Krystal, who was 11 months old and Debarge, who was three years old, were placed in the foster home of
Clarissa Bell Bates.

For about a year, the children saw their parents rarely and their social worker
was also scarce. Their parents would say that the department did little to help
reunite them with their children and the department would claim that the their
parents had made no effort to see them.

While the children were in her care, Debarge said that Clarissa shook him
violently, slapped him, yanked on him, forced food into his mouth and made
him sleep on the floor. Debarge said that worse was done to his sister. Stacy
Brown, another foster child who was 19 years old and one of the six foster
children who lived there, backed Debarge up on his claims:

This wouldn't prove to be the worst thing that Clarissa was doing.

Mary Craft, a child services coordinator with the support group, Babynet, said
that the signs of abuse were obvious. Krystal was 22 months old and at that 
time she was just starting to walk and she couldn't talk very well. One of her
arms hung down by her side and she wouldn't allow anyone to touch it in
order to check it. A knot could be seen on her forehead. Mary reported what 
she had seen to the the Department Of Social Services on more than one
occasion. She would later state that five different names were given to her for
social workers. None of them knew anything about Krystal at all and they all
would say:

Mary said when she finally did get ahold of the real caseworker, he said he had just took over the case and didn't know much about it.

On February 15, 1991, Clarissa took Krystal, Debarge and two other children 
to the Aiken Community Hospital. A hospital social worker made a report that
said Clarissa had pinched one of the children on the buttocks, grabbed one of
the children by the throat and Clarissa had left without anyone having treated
Krystal. Clarissa then took Krystal to the Medical College Of Georgia where Dr.
Rebecca Jean Atha admitted her and kept her there for almost two weeks. Dr.
Atha would later say that she kept her there because she was afraid to send
her back to the foster home.

Krystal seemed depressed for a two year and had a paralysis on her right side
that could not be explained and she had a broken arm. She was suffering from two healing leg fractures. Dr. Atha said that she had called the Department
several times and had talked to Bill Perkins, the caseworker:

Dr. Atha said that Bill told her he understood what she was saying and that he
was going to take full responsibility for Krystal. Bill was going to put her into
the best foster home he knew of, that would be the home of Clarissa, which 
was where Krystal had been injured in the first place.

Eventually, Clarissa's son, John Bell, who was 44 at that time, moved into the
home with them. He was a transient and and ex-convict. Debarge told the
people at DSS that he didn't like John, that John had kicked him in his belly,
hit him with a belt and also hit him in the head with a hammer. Debarge also
told them that John had kicked Krystal and two of the other children living in
the house and that Clarissa had known about it.

On November 2, 1991, John took Krystal and left the home in the car. Four
days later, Krystal's naked and bruised body was found in the woods outside
of Aiken. Workers who were gathering pine straw for bailing, found her. John
Bell admitted that he had been smoking crack cocaine on the day of her
murder. He was prosecuted and sentenced to 30 years for the rape and killing
of Krystal. What a ridiculous sentence!

After her death, the extent of the injuries that Krystal had suffered at the hands of Clarissa were finally out in the open. In November of 1993, Clarissa was
arrested and charged with multiple offenses including assault and battery as
well as physical and medical neglect. The postmortem x-rays revealed that she
had fractures to her right shoulder, both of her knees and her right pubic 
bone. By the time she died, Krystal was partially paralyzed and she could no
longer walk at all.

Barbara Morgan, a Solicitor of Aiken said that she didn't know how to describe
the foster home other than to say it was a hellhole where a child was tortured
for over 20 months and had almost every major joint in her body, broken. The DSS workers who took these children from their mother, simply because they
had colds, placed her with the foster parent and then either didn't notice that
the children were being abused or they did notice and they chose to ignore it
and refused to provide protection.

In December of 1993, the two caseworkers who had removed the children,
Ruby and Louise were arrested. Ruby, who was the supervisor of the county
child protective services unit, was charged with illegally using DSS control over the children when she removed them. Also among her charges was her failure
to investigate the neglect allegations against the parents of the children, ill
treatment of a child and failure to perform her state mandated child protective
duties.

Louis, the supervisor of the county treatment unit,  was charged with illegally
removing the children by forcing the parents to voluntarily place the children
in the custody of DSS. The two caseworkers were also charged with illegally
taking $50. from Krystal's father. The money was given to pay for the medical
care of the children, the two women used for themselves instead.

For what these two disgusting women did to this family, they were suspended
with pay, in December of 1993. Their suspensions were to remain in affect
until the outcome of the proceedings. They enjoyed their paid vacations until
they returned back to work in May of 1994. The charges were still pending
against them. They both worked desk jobs until in February of 1995, they
were both let go due to falsifying the records in the case. They had reported
that it was snowing and that the house was cold due to a lack of heat. It was
later learned that it had actually been warm outside that day.

The two child protective workers most responsible for Krystal's tragic death would be suspended, with pay, in December of 1993 pending the outcome of the proceedings. Ruby Chambliss and Louise Blount would enjoy their paid vacation until the Department would call them back to work in May of 1994, with the charges still pending against them in court. In all, six social workers,
that included the director of foster care, would be charged in connection with
the death of Krystal. The charges included ethics violations, falsification of
records, embezzlement and neglect of duties.

A settlement with the Aiken County Department Of Social Services was settled
and Krystal's parents received $467,000., not nearly enough to compensate for what they lost. Between February 1991 and January of 1992, there were
five foster children killed in South Carolina.

Clarissa Bell bates was charged with assault and battery of a high, medical
neglect for failing to get medical attention from May of 1990 to November of
1990, for Krystal, after a doctor told her to. Physical neglect charges from 
February 1991 to November 1991 and failure to provide nutrition. Records 
show that Krystal's weight went up and down and right before her death, she
only weight 22 pounds 3 ounces.

Charges against the Social Workers, other than Ruby and Louise included:

Cassie Scott Wilson, who supervised the caseworkers in charge of Krystal, 
unlawful neglect, 23 counts of embezzling funds set aside for 13 foster care
children. Reports say that Cassie took over $9,000., spending about $6,000.
for her own personal use.

Marie A. Moore, the former director of foster care was charged with ill treat-
ment and unlawful neglect of a child and failure to report child abuse.

Clarence H. Graham and William Perkins were also charged. William had been
the caseworker who was called by the Dr. at the hospital and ignored her 
warnings and placed Krystal back in the foster home.

This case seems to stop here. Repeated attempts made by me, to find out
what the final outcome was, to find out what people were prosecuted for and
what sentences were handed down, have been unsuccessful. This case seems
to have dropped from sight.