Kendall
Layton Hunt
Died
September 1,
1998
On
September 1, 1998,
Kendall Hunt was held under running water by an 18 year old man, Gary Layton
Shadron, who was the boyfriend of his mother. Kendall was
held
under the water
in the bathroom sink until he drowned.
The
Brunswick, Georgia
Child Protection Services had been investigating this case. Kendall had
been treated twice by a pediatrician for suspected child abuse, he said
state agencies could have prevented Kendall's death.
Kendall's
mother, Mindy
Jean Hunt, who was also 18 at the time of his death, was living with Gary
Shadron at time the child was murdered.
Frances
Owen, a pediatrician
asked for an investigation of the state agencies that left Kendall in
the home where Devena Lee, Kendall's Grandmother had been documenting
incidents
of abuse on the child. Several times she attempted to do the
right thing:
May
15, 1998 - Devena
brought Kendall to Owen's office to examine bruises on his body. The
bruises
on his stomach resembled fingerprints.
June
9, 1998 - Devena
brought Kendall to Owen's office with suspected burn marks that were
supposedly
accidental. Kendall was first taken to the Department Of Family And
Children's
Services and had them take pictures of the burns as documentation.
There
were three round burns on Kendall's right hand and it was obvious that
they had been put there on purpose.
''Somebody
took a cigarette and held it against this child's skin long
enough
to
make three perfectly round holes,''
At a
hearing in mid
June, Juvenile Court Judge Donald Manning listened to Owen testify about the
bruises and burns and STILL
ruled that Kendall could stay with his
mother and her
boyfriend. Frances Owen did the right thing by reporting the
child
abuse she
had seen, however, in this case, it did her no good.
Kendall's
Grandmother
said"
"Negligence
and indifference also killed Kendall."
"My
grandson
was betrayed, by the people entrusted under law and
paid
by taxpayers
to protect all of Glynn County's abused or
neglected
children."
"the
public
will never be fully aware of that betrayal because
people
responsible
for protecting children hide behind state
confidentiality
laws."
''They'll
cover
it up and they'll lie about it,''
"The
most glaring
weakness in Kendall's case is that people didn't act on obvious abuse
and
that nobody listened to me."
''There
were
so many times I took Kendall up there, to the children's
services
department.
I've told I don't know how many people. I've
told
cops.
I've told judges. Everybody acts like it's nothing.''
"I
implored
one caseworker to keep Kendall out of the home."
''I
begged
that lady to not let Kendall go back in that home. I knew my grandson
was
going to
be killed.''
''I
regret
not taking that baby and running somewhere with him,''
She
made a promise
to Kendall:
''Your
grandmama
promises you nobody will ever, ever hurt you again"
"I
broke that
promise to that little boy because he's dead.''
Tony
Kreimborg, director
of the state Department of Family and Children Services in Glynn
County,
said he feels his agency did NOTHING wrong in this case and
also
had the following to say"
''We
did everything
by the book and provided a great deal of services
to
Kendall's
household. I'm comfortable with the way this
agency
handled
this case.''
He
also stated that
he has investigated the case and plans no action.
Kendall's
pediatrician
said:
''That's
totally
unacceptable. They're covering their tracks,''
In court, Gary rocked
back and forth holding a doll and said that he had held Kendall under
running water for
about 1 1/2 seconds and several times, in the sink. Gary claimed that
he had taken Kendall and laid him on
changing table and left him alone thinking that would calm him down and
when he checked on him, Kendall
was no longer breathing.
Chief Medical Examiner, Chris Sperry said:
"Just
putting a baby briefly under a stream of running water would not drown
him. The
child would have to be held under the stream of running water to drown"
Chris
also said that if Kendall was alive when he was removed from the sink
that he would have been able to
cough and NOT able to cry. Based on medical and toxicology evidence,
Chris had ruled Kendall's death a
homicide by drowning.
On
February 18, 2000,
Gary Layton Shadron was sentenced
to
life in prison for the felony murder and an underlying cruelty to
children
charged merged together. Mindy
Jean Hunt
was not charged with anything even though she had been ordered by the
court
not to leave Gary alone with Kendall.
For information
about preventing
child abuse in the state of Georgia, 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!
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