Mom was 'minimally cooperative' with DCFS before 2-year-old son's death, report says
The state child welfare agency responsible for protecting children closed the case for 2-year-old Kane Friess-Wylie, of Belleville two months before he was taken to a hospital with a skull fracture, severe brain bleeding and bruising that led to his death.
The report to the Governor and Legislature by the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Children and Family Services detailed the assistance given to Lindsey Friess, Kane’s mother, beginning when Kane was a year old.
Prosecutors said Kane died from a beating from his mother’s live-in boyfriend, Gyasi Campbell, at their apartment at 2622 Eastview Drive near Belleville on April 13, 2017.
The report said Friess was "minimally cooperative" with DCFS. Friess said said she was never offered a service plan and called the report "lies."
"I didn't know what to do. I called 40 times a week. They failed my family," Friess said.
The report chronicles DCFS' involvement with the deaths of 104 children that year statewide. The investigations are anonymous, but details contained in the report matched the circumstances of Kane's death.
The report stated that DCFS involvement with the family began in November 2015. An anonymous caller reported to the DCFS hotline that trash covered the floor of Friess’ home, spoiled food was left out and the gas was shut off.
Lindsey Friess told the caseworker she was "overwhelmed."
DCFS paid the gas bill, but Friess said she was still having trouble keeping the house clean, according to the report. DCFS opened a case to help the young mother.
But despite the assistance, the report said Friess could not keep the house up to minimal cleanliness standards, failed to cooperate with caseworkers and did not have stable housing.
In February 2016, the report stated that Friess, who was then staying with her mother, sent Kane and Eli, her older son, to their respective fathers, cleaned the house and told the caseworker she wanted to move out on her own.
“By April 2016, the mother had been more consistent in maintaining the home, but often avoided the worker, not responding to calls, being gone for scheduled visits and shortening unannounced visits,” the report stated.
Friess requested her case be closed, but changed her mind. Friess’ caseworker helped her enroll in a food program, get housing assistance and arranged to have someone come to her house to help her with daily tasks, the report stated.
In February 2017, after a year of minimal cooperation from Friess, the report states the case was closed.
At the time the agency closed the case, Friess, then 23 and twice indicated for child neglect by DCFS, and Campbell, then 24, had a newborn daughter named Arabella, plus 3-year-old Eli and 2-year-old Kane in their care.
In early April 2017, they all moved into the apartment on Eastview Drive.
Kane was taken to a hospital on April 13, 2017. Campbell told the hospital social worker that Kane climbed out of the bathtub while he attended to Arabella, according to the DCFS report. He put Kane back into the tub and left the room.
“He said he then heard a thump and saw the child lying on the floor unable to stand or keep his balance. Then, just as the mother was returning home the toddler began to vomit,” the report stated.
Later that day, Joellan Wylie, Kane’s paternal grandmother, got a call from Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, telling her that Kane was injured.
Surgery was performed to relieve the pressure on the child’s brain from a large subdural hematoma. Kane did not survive the surgery.
“I remember the surgeon coming out. He looked so angry,” Wylie said.
T.J. Wylie, Kane’s father, had asked Friess if he could have Kane earlier that day, Wylie said. But Kane’s parents had argued over Campbell earlier, so Joellan Wylie said Friess declined the visitation.
A forensic anthropologist was brought in to review Kane's head injury. The autopsy showed Kane had two skull fractures in the lower back portion of the skull. The injury was caused by blunt force trauma, according to the autopsy report.
"Both sources site that complex fractures like this one are not associated with accidental injury in infants," stated MariaTeresa Tersigni-Tarrant, the forensic anthropologist who examined the body.
Eight months after Kane's death, Campbell was charged with first-degree murder in the child's death.
His bail was originally set at $1 million, but was lowered to $150,000. Among the letters supporting the bond reduction was a former East St. Louis police captain, Carl Brinkley, a prison minister, his best friend and Kane’s mother, Lindsey Friess.
“Gyasi (Campbell) put his needs last to take care of us. He stayed with us after I lost my grandma. Every day I asked my sons if Gyasi was ever mean to them. They never gave me any sign of fear or hurt,” Friess wrote in a letter to the judge supporting his bail reduction.
In the motion to reduce bond, Campbell's lawyer, Justin Kuehn, wrote that the state's case was based on medical testimony that Mr. Campbell's rendition of how the young child sustained his injuries does not comport with the nature of the wounds.
The DCFS report detailed those injuries by stating Kane suffered from brain bleeding, a skull fracture and bruises and contusions and a ruptured vein in his eye.
The bond reduction sparked a group that is called "Justice For Kane" lead by Kane's maternal grandmother, Lori Friess. The group placed yard signs across the metro-east. There are also Facebook and Twitter groups. Currently, there's a petition to remove St. Clair County Circuit Judge Zina Cruse from the case.
The other two children are no longer in Lindsey Friess' care.
Travis Crouse, the father of Lindsey Friess’ oldest child, Eli, got custody of his son. In the case, Crouse wrote in an affidavit that Eli told him that Campbell hit him with a belt and Eli “ducked his head and acts as through he fears being hit when anyone raises their voice to him.”
He further stated Campbell “upon information and belief ... is a drug user and dealer," according to the affidavit.
Campbell also faces felony charges for possessing more than two pounds of marijuana and drug paraphernalia in Arizona. Those charges are pending.
Campbell’s mother has custody of Arabella, who is now a year old.
“I have lost every one during this. I hadn’t gotten the chance to say how I felt or what I believed happened to Kane before people and my family abandoned and criticized me. I was left standing alone. My children were ripped from me moments after losing my precious son,” Friess wrote in her letter to the judge.
The state is trying to collect child support from Friess and Campbell for the support of Arabella. Friess’ case is pending, but in Campbell’s case, the court found that he should not be ordered to pay child support because he is incarcerated on first-degree murder charges. That order came before he posted $15,000 bond.
This story was originally published May 18, 2018 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Mom was 'minimally cooperative' with DCFS before 2-year-old son's death, report says."