Deputy United States Marshals found the dead and decomposing bodies of the four girls ages 5 to 17 when they came to serve an eviction notice on the apartment. Karen Lopes, a social worker at the oldest daughter’s school tired to raise alarm about the family twice in April.
Adrian Fenty played the tapes of two calls made by Kathy Lopes after Brittany Jacks stopped attending school. She tried to get the city agencies to investigate. The social worker described the house visit with the mother Banita Jacks refusing to let her in.
Banita Jacks said that she did not want Brittany going to school out of fears she would run away. Lopes also reported seeing two or three children that were also not in school. She made a follow-up call expressing frustration at being transferred among several department agencies.
“It appears the mother is suffering from some mental illness and is holding all the children hostage,” Lopes said on the tape.
A social worker from Child and Family Services made at least two subsequent visits to the house. But nobody had answered the door. The case was closed in less than three weeks after. This was after receiving an unconfirmed report that the Jacks family might have moved to stay with relatives in Maryland.
All six employees who are being fired work for DC’s Child and Family Services Agency. As the investigation continues, there could be more workers that would lose their jobs as a result according to Fenty.
“Unfortunately, she stands out really because so many other people didn’t do their job in the way they’re supposed to,” Fenty explained. He adds: “The sense of urgency that she showed should be shown in every case and every call that comes through our hot line.”
However, this is not the first time someone tried to alert city officials about the family’s situation.
A nurse contacted the hotline back in July 2006 to say that the family was living in a van with both parents going through substance abuse. The agency did not follow up when the nurse could not provide an address.
Banita Jacks has been charged first-degree murder on four counts. She said that the children were possessed by demons and died in their sleep.
Leave Your Comments