(Spotlight) The Murder of Emma Thompson, 4 Years Old **Threads Merged**

[Imthemom]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...g/6551978.html

Two weeks before a sexually abused 4-year-old Spring girl with a fractured skull died in a Woodlands emergency room, Texas Child Protective Services was notified the girl had a sexually transmitted disease, but the agency did not take her into custody because they had no other physical signs the girl was in danger.

The child's official cause of death has not yet been determined by the Southeast Texas Forensic Center in Conroe, but details of the prior CPS abuse investigation and the missed chances to save Emma Thompson's life were presented at a custody hearing Tuesday over the fate of the girl's two siblings. Both have been removed from the home they shared with their mother, Abigail Elizabeth Young.

Emma died June 27 at Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands Hospital after she became unconscious and stopped breathing as her mother was driving her to the emergency room.

Estella Olguin, CPS spokeswoman, said the child had a severed pancreas, a skull fracture and bruising at the time of her death.

Outlining the inquiry
CPS investigator Kimberly Clayton recounted how her office began investigating a complaint of neglect and possible abuse involving Emma on June 8. The girl was examined for CPS by the child's pediatrician who found no signs of sexual intercourse.

He did note to investigators that the child had a 102-degree fever and blisters on her fingers, inside her mouth and in her vaginal area and that he ran a series of tests. The child was referred to Texas Children's Hospital for a more extensive exam, and on June 11, the tests came back positive for genital herpes.

Clayton said she confronted the child's mother about her daughter's condition.

“She had no idea where it came from,” Clayton recalled, though Young, 33, is a registered nurse.

A lawyer representing the interests of Emma's 6-year-old sister and 11-year-old half-sister, pressed Clayton on why herpes wasn't enough to remove a child from a home, but the CPS worker said her agency needed more, a verification of the abuse from the mother or the child.

“There was no information stating where it came from,” Clayton said of the herpes. “We did not have enough information that the child suffered abuse and neglect in that home.”

Because genital herpes can be transmitted through other, nonsexual methods, CPS investigators cannot automatically remove a child who tests positive for it, agency officials said. Infection can be spread by touching an open blister, then another person.

Young had separated from her husband, Benjamin Thompson, 33, and was proceeding with a divorce. Both parents said the child had no other contact with adults, except maybe at a local swimming pool.

When asked if she had anything to do with the death, Young said, “absolutely not.”

Thompson said his wife told him that the type of herpes their daughter contracted had started out as a “childhood” version and had somehow developed into the sexual disease adults contract. He also said his wife told him that their daughter could have contracted the disease from a toilet seat.

The night of her death, Harris County Sheriff's Office homicide investigators were summoned to the emergency room.

No explanation
Homicide division Lt. Rolf Nelson said the child had bruises and cuts on her body.

He said investigators did not receive adequate explanations for how the girl had been injured.

“Either there were no explanations offered, or the explanations offered for the cause of the injuries were not plausible,” Nelson said Tuesday.

Some of the injuries also occurred before the day the child died, Nelson said.

Olguin, the CPS spokeswoman, said that a sexually transmitted disease alone is not enough to put a 4-year-old into protective custody. She said Emma shook her head, “no” when asked whether anyone had touched her inappropriately.

“We had a child without an outcry,” Olguin said. “We didn't know about any perpetrator.”

Harris County Sheriff's Investigator A.J. Kelly testified Tuesday that he believed Thompson, Emma's father, had nothing to do with her death but said Young and her boyfriend Lucas Coe, 27, of Magnolia, have not been ruled out as persons of interest. Coe has been indicted for injury to another child, a 7-year-old boy, in Montgomery County.

Let's start with testing the BF for herpes! Just a hunch, IMO!

[Sick of Sickos!]

Reading that makes me want to vomit! A RN who didn't know where her child got herpes??? What? Did she attend nursing school with Cindy Anthony?

This is outrageous. Another tragic fail on the part of the same agency that is supposed to protect the kids.

[bakerprune64]

Can't herpes be transmitted via vaginal delivery?

[Amraann]

I think it can but most pregnant woman are screened for STD's so the mother and her Dr would have known that the mother and potentially the child had the disease.

I suppose it is possible she got it from another child.
The Article states that it can be passed if someone touches an open blister.
I think that could easily happen with young children.

[Jean]

I think they need to check the mother's boyfriend (Lucas Coe) as he has a history of child abuse. From the article:

"Harris County Sheriff's Investigator A.J. Kelly testified Tuesday that he believed Thompson, Emma's father, had nothing to do with her death but said Young and her boyfriend Lucas Coe, 27, of Magnolia, have not been ruled out as persons of interest. Coe has been indicted for injury to another child, a 7-year-old boy, in Montgomery County.

The following site's info. is pretty much what my friend, who has herpes, told me. She has three children and none of the three are infected with herpes. In case anyone is wondering, her husband has never been infected either. http://pregnancy.lovetoknow.com/wiki...th_With_Herpes

From the article, the mother told the father-- "Thompson said his wife told him that the type of herpes their daughter contracted had started out as a “childhood” version and had somehow developed into the sexual disease adults contract. He also said his wife told him that their daughter could have contracted the disease from a toilet seat." Total bull crap, IMO. I think the mother is protecting her boyfriend.

I say the mother is not telling the authorities or her former husband the truth--I bet you she knows exactly what happed to that poor little girl.

I would love to hear what Emma's 6-year-old sister and 11-year-old half-sister might have to say--especially the 6 year old.

I live not too far from the Woodlands and Conroe so I will keep my eyes open for articles and news on this case. I would like to know what the father's occupation is--anyone know?

[Amraann]

Thanks Jean!
Even if its local news and you can't find a link online we would appreciate it.

I agree the mother knew. I am worried that she was beaten because the DR discovered it and CPS was investigating.
Maybe they beat her to keep her from telling who did this to her.
Maybe she was to terrified to tell CPS.

Idiots I can't believe they did not remove her!

[maryjane]

OMG, that poor liitle girl . To die, in part, of a severed pancreas (sepsis, septic shock) is horribly painful. IMO, the "mother" and her POS boyfriend know exactly what happened .

[BeerButt]

Originally Posted by maryjane

OMG, that poor liitle girl . To die, in part, of a severed pancreas (sepsis, septic shock) is horribly painful. IMO, the "mother" and her POS boyfriend know exactly what happened .

Without being overly wordy I agree 100% with you. One's pancreas doesn't sever without extreme due force. The herpes infection is only one aspect of this case. RN and BF are my chief targets for this cruelty. Never think that because one is a RN that it couldn't happen especially when they are apt to please the BF....women need to grow balls! And, PUT THEIR CHILDREN FIRST!!!!!

[kandykisses]

I read shit like this and want to become a vigilante and just kidnapped these pieces of shit-chop them up freeze them and put them through a wood chipper. What the fuck is wrong with the world that we let people who do this shit keep breathing?

[kahskye]

This is just too sad to even read. Sometimes I just don't understand why children suffer, but I guess it's due to being in a fallen world. Another child gone too soon.

[nanandjim]

Abusing children is the worst of the worst. Both the mother and the perpetrator should get life in prison, at the very least.

[Jean]

OMG is all I can say. I am going to see if I can find more on this. This article is dated Thurs., 7/29/09

Neighbor says mother blamed falls for girl's death

A distraught neighbor of Emma Thompson, the 4-year-old who died last month after being beaten and sexually assaulted, testified Wednesday that the child's mother repeatedly blamed the fatal injuries on two separate falls — and that she tried to save her daughter's life by using super glue to close the wound on her head.

“She told me … that Emma had fallen in the morning on a table while trying to get a kolache … and that afternoon in the bathroom,” said Christine Frazier, who lived next door.

Frazier told the court her conversation with Abigail Elizabeth Young, a 33-year-old registered nurse, took place hours after the child died after being rushed to Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands Hospital on June 27. Her account came in family court proceeding in which Young's two former husbands are asking state District Judge Judy Warne for custody of Emma's surviving siblings, who live with Young's grandmother in Brenham.

Frazier also noticed blood on Emma's flowered underpants the day before she died. When Frazier confronted Young about the blood, Young said it came from a scratch.

“She said she (Emma) scratched her vagina when she got out of the pool,” Frazier said.

Frazier's testimony also detailed the frantic moments before and after Emma's death and how no one, not Frazier or even the little girl's grandmother, has gotten a complete explanation about how Emma died.

Margie Young, Emma's grandmother, told incredulous attorneys that she had not pressed her daughter for details surrounding the little girl's death.

“My daughter was unclear about what happened to Emma,” Margie Young said. “She didn't know.”

Frazier cried as she described her futile attempts to get answers from Young, her estranged friend and next-door neighbor, just hours after the girl was declared dead.

Throughout the dazed conversation, snippets of what sent Emma to the hospital began to emerge, Young's Spring neighbor of six years said. Young mentioned Emma's two falls earlier that day; she told of bite marks on Emma's stomach, which Young claimed had been made by the young daughter of her 27-year-old boyfriend, Lucas Coe.

“She's kinky like her father,” Frazier recalled Young telling her.

Young also told Frazier how she “super glued” Emma's skull fracture before she took the little girl to the hospital. “She said it was not abnormal (to use glue to prevent infection),” Frazier said.

When she pressed Young for more details about Coe, Young told her, “He would never hurt me or my children.”

Finally, Frazier said, she grabbed Young, began shaking her and demanded, “Don't lie to me.”

Police suspect Coe and Young know more about the girl's death, but neither has been charged. Harris County investigators are waiting for results of the girl's autopsy.

Attempts by The Chronicle to reach Coe were unsuccessful. A phone number listed for him is out of order.

Margie Young said she did not ask her daughter whether Coe killed Emma, nor did she ask her daughter about her role: “No sir, I wouldn't have to ask her that.”

Frazier said Coe came to her house in a panic the night of Emma's death.

He asked Frazier if she would keep Emma's two sisters, ages 6 and 11, and his own child, overnight because Young had taken Emma to the hospital.

“I can't be here, Christie,” Coe allegedly told Frazier, explaining that he had recently been ordered by CPS to stay away from his own child. Records show and officials confirm that Coe has been indicted for injury to another child and as a precaution, custody of his child had been transferred to his own parents.

Coe then pointed down the street to what appeared to be an ambulance, which had been called by Young as she was driving Emma to the hospital.

“It's not a wreck,” Frazier said Coe told her. “It's Abbey and Emma.”

No explanation was offered during the hearing as to why Emma's mother did not call 911 from the family's home, instead of down the street from her car.

[Amraann]

What pisses me off is CPS said they could not remove her simply for an STD since the child did not say she was touched.

Its a known fact that plenty of children protect their abusers.
If she was covered in bruises and said no one hit her would they have left her in the home?

CPS failed and then tried to give some lame ass excuse.
The worker should be fired.

I personally think when CPS fails in this type of magnitude they should be charged.

[bella]

Originally Posted by kandykisses

I read shit like this and want to become a vigilante and just kidnapped these pieces of shit-chop them up freeze them and put them through a wood chipper. What the fuck is wrong with the world that we let people who do this shit keep breathing?

Now I remember why I love ya so much.

[Jean]

Update---

"The paternal grandparents of a 4-year-old Spring girl who died last month after being beaten and sexually assaulted have received temporary custody of her two sisters.

State District Judge Judy Warne directed Children's Protective Services to retrieve the girls, ages 6 and 11, and deliver them to the paternal grandparents. The father of the slain girl, Emma Thompson, and the surviving 6-year-old also lives there. The 11-year-old has a different father.

The girls' mother, 33-year-old Abigail Elizabeth Young, is restricted to two one-hour visits per month at CPS offices during the temporary custody period, Warne said.

Two of Young's former husbands are seeking custody of the surviving siblings, who currently live with Young's grandmother in Brenham."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...g/6553916.html

I bet the mother and boyfriend will be arrested when the autopsy results come in.

[Amraann]

Now that article confirms she was sexually assaulted.

So let me get this straight they skank whore mother who let all this happen still gets visitation? Lovely.

I am not thrilled with the notion of the grandmother who raised this loser getting custody either.

[kandykisses]

Originally Posted by bellabliss

Now I remember why I love ya so much.

[kandykisses]

Originally Posted by Amraann

Now that article confirms she was sexually assaulted.

So let me get this straight they skank whore mother who let all this happen still gets visitation? Lovely.

I am not thrilled with the notion of the grandmother who raised this loser getting custody either.

That's the system for ya Grandma fucked up mom and dad now she get's a new generation to fuck up. I see it all the time. The system is broken.

[Amraann]

Originally Posted by kandykisses

That's the system for ya Grandma fucked up mom and dad now she get's a new generation to fuck up. I see it all the time. The system is broken.

Exactly!

[Imthemom]

Just sickening, now mom can visit and talk the kids into not telling what happened to Emma! I think bite marks might have been enough to take her away on top of the STD! I'm just so mad right now!

[Jean]

WOW--how could this have happened!! Update--And also a picture of the creep boyfriend. I wonder what happened to his face? Probably someone beat him up or else he is on meth--doesn't that cause sores on your face/body?

Boyfriend of dead girl's mom has dark past--CPS had investigated him before little girl's death

Small Snip:

The boyfriend of the Spring woman whose 4-year-old daughter died after being beaten and sexually assaulted has a lengthy history with Texas Child Protective Services as well as criminal records for assault with a deadly weapon, criminal mischief and injury to a child, records obtained by the Houston Chronicle show.

Before Emma Thompson's June 27 death, CPS officials had investigated him not once but three times in unrelated cases involving another girlfriend's child.

But child abuse workers said they never knew Lucas Ruric Coe, 27, had been in the same house as Abigail Young and her three children.

It would take Emma's death before CPS learned the truth from Young: that she had been dating Coe since last December. The revelation came this week during a custody hearing in which Young's other two daughters were placed with her estranged husband and his parents.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/6555444.html

I do feel better that the children are living with Young's "estranged" husband and his parents--not the mother's parents!

[Jean]

8/1/09 Update....

I don't get this--do the children mentioned below belong to another family (not Young's children)? The article isn't clear, at least to me.l

Snip:

CPS' action on Friday came after the 4-year-old Montgomery County girl told medical staff she had been touched inappropriately, according to an affidavit filed with a Montgomery County court. An exam confirmed the girl had been sexually abused, Carter said. The other child, a 9-year-old boy, had not been sexually abused but was living in the same home.

Both children were taken late Friday and placed into a foster home. CPS' investigation is continuing.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/6556702.html

[Imthemom]

Originally Posted by Jean

8/1/09 Update....

I don't get this--do the children mentioned below belong to another family (not Young's children)? The article isn't clear, at least to me.l

Snip:

CPS' action on Friday came after the 4-year-old Montgomery County girl told medical staff she had been touched inappropriately, according to an affidavit filed with a Montgomery County court. An exam confirmed the girl had been sexually abused, Carter said. The other child, a 9-year-old boy, had not been sexually abused but was living in the same home.

Both children were taken late Friday and placed into a foster home. CPS' investigation is continuing.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/6556702.html

That is confusing, I wonder if the other 4 year old was his daughter? I hope the cops got a couple good licks in and tasered him in the balls.

[TexasMom]

This is happening in Houston. I'm so angry. God Bless this sweet little angel. She is in Heaven now where no one will ever hurt her again.

Mother Released on Bond
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...o/6569659.html

A Spring woman charged in the death of her 4-year-old daughter has been freed on $50,000 bail and a judge today placed strong restrictions on her future contact with her surviving children.

[TexasMom]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/moms/6569342.html

In the days leading to her death, 4-year-old Emma Thompson suffered 80 contusions, a fractured skull, a brain hemorrhage and a vaginal tear.

About 12 to 24 hours before she died, the Spring girl was hit in the abdomen by an “unknown object,” causing blunt force trauma that killed her, according to court records filed by investigators and made available on Tuesday, the same day Emma's mother, Abigail Elizabeth Young, 33, and her boyfriend, Lucas Ruric Coe, 27, made their initial appearance at a bail hearing.

Young and Coe are charged with one count each of injury to a child after their explanation of Emma's fatal injuries didn't square with the beating and sexual abuse she apparently endured over the course of several days.

Coe was ordered held without bail. Young was released Tuesday after posting $50,000 bail.

[TexasMom]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/moms/6556702.html

Two more children who had contact with Lucas Ruric Coe were taken into protective custody Friday after Texas Child Protective Services confirmed one, a 4-year-old girl, had been sexually abused.

Coe is the boyfriend of a woman whose 4-year-old daughter Emma Thompson died in June after being beaten and sexually assaulted.

The 27-year-old Coe has been investigated by CPS three times in recent years in the physical abuse of another girlfriend's child. As a result of one of those cases — unrelated to Emma's death — Coe has been indicted in Montgomery County on one count of injury to a child. He has not yet gone to trial.

[TexasMom]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/moms/6555444.html

The boyfriend of the Spring woman whose 4-year-old daughter died after being beaten and sexually assaulted has a lengthy history with Texas Child Protective Services as well as criminal records for assault with a deadly weapon, criminal mischief and injury to a child, records obtained by the Houston Chronicle show.

Before Emma Thompson's June 27 death, CPS officials had investigated him not once but three times in unrelated cases involving another girlfriend's child.

But child abuse workers said they never knew Lucas Ruric Coe, 27, had been in the same house as Abigail Young and her three children.

[TexasMom]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/moms/6551978.html

Two weeks before a sexually abused 4-year-old Spring girl with a fractured skull died in a Woodlands emergency room, Texas Child Protective Services was notified the girl had a sexually transmitted disease, but the agency did not take her into custody because they had no other physical signs the girl was in danger.

The child's official cause of death has not yet been determined by the Southeast Texas Forensic Center in Conroe, but details of the prior CPS abuse investigation and the missed chances to save Emma Thompson's life were presented at a custody hearing Tuesday over the fate of the girl's two siblings. Both have been removed from the home they shared with their mother, Abigail Elizabeth Young.

Emma died June 27 at Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands Hospital after she became unconscious and stopped breathing as her mother was driving her to the emergency room.

Estella Olguin, CPS spokeswoman, said the child had a severed pancreas, a skull fracture and bruising at the time of her death.

[Crim]

How sad little Emma had to go through all that - my heart cries for her. At least now she is with the angels and is no longer in pain.

[TexasMom]

Thanks for responding Crim. I'm heartbroken and so angry over this case.

That stupid so called mother allowed this man in to her children's lives and he brutally abused and murdered this precious little girl.

Do people not have any sense? I'm so sick and tired of this.