Nashua, NH DCYF handled allegations 3 months ago - NashuaTelegraph.com

DCYF handled allegations 3 months ago - NashuaTelegraph.com

By ANDREW WOLFE
Staff Writer

Nashua boy’s death ruled homicide



NASHUA – State child welfare officials investigated allegations that someone was abusing Christian Jackson less than three months before the toddler was murdered, court records show.
Three-year-old Jackson stopped breathing late Saturday night at his father’s house in Nashua, and was later declared dead. Authorities have deemed his death a homicide, caused by blunt force trauma, and police and the attorney general’s office are investigating.
Authorities had investigated Christian’s parents before, family court records show.
On Nov. 29, Shawn Ganley filed emergency petitions in both Nashua District Court and the Hillsborough County Family Court in Merrimack, seeking custody of his son.
Ganley had been taking the boy on weekends, from Friday evening through Sunday evenings, for about a month at that point, while his mother, Latoya Jackson, cared for him during the week, according to court records.
“Since I have separated from my son’s mother I have been taking him every weekend,” Ganley wrote. “He has come with bite marks on his face, choke marks on his neck and this past weekend he has come with a black eye and the whole side of his head and face bruised. He has also in the past year had a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder.”
Ganley asked the court to let him keep Christian, writing, “I’m afraid she’ll take him back and something bad will happen to him.”
The court allowed Ganley to keep Christian for a week while caseworkers from the Division of Children Youth and Families investigated, court records show, and Marital master Alice Love heard testimony on the matter Dec. 6.
“DCYF confirms bruising but is unable to determine the source,” Love wrote after the hearing. “Based upon the testimony, the court is unable to find that the child should be taken from his mother.”
Love, DCYF and the parents agreed to continue the custody arrangement, that Jackson keep Christian during the week, and Ganley take his son on weekends. The case was scheduled for trial in May.
DCYF officials have repeatedly stated that they cannot comment on individual cases or investigations, and The Telegraph did not seek a comment on this one.
The prosecutor in the homicide case, Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Agati also said he could not comment on the prior DCYF investigation, or whether it had any bearing on the murder investigation.
A friend of Latoya Jackson, Shelly Kendzerski, said she believes Ganley exaggerated Christian’s injuries, and lied about alleged abuse cited in his petition “just to get at Latoya, to hurt Latoya, because she did not want to be with him.”
“That is all a bunch of bull,” Kendzerski said of Ganley’s petition. “Latoya does not beat her children. She may yell at them a little when they are doing something they shouldn’t do.... None of her children are in any danger being with her.”
Kendzerski said she has known Jackson since before any of Jackson’s children were born. Jackson has matured considerably since her arrest as a teenager in 2004, when she was accused and later convicted of helping a boyfriend hide the injuries he’d inflicted on their daughter, Kendzerski said.
Kendzerski said Jackson has always kept a clean home, and kept her children in good health, well-fed and well-clothed.
“Latoya is a great mother, she does everything she can for her kids. She’s a single mother of three. She doesn’t go out, she stays with her kids,” Kendzerski said.
Jackson has been in shock since Christian’s death, and hasn’t been eating or sleeping well, Kendzerski said. Kendzerski recalled at one point she kept repeating, “I want my baby boy back. I want him back.”
“She’s trying her best to keep it together for her other two children,” Christian’s five-year-old brother and infant sister, Kendzerski said.
Family and friends have set up a fund to help pay for Christian’s funeral: donations to the Christian Jackson Funeral Fund can be made at any TD Bank branch.
Andrew Wolfe can be reached at 594-6410 or awolfe@nashuatelegraph.com.