Corpus Christi Couple Charged in Death of 4-year-old Foster Child
Man Charged with Injury to a Child, Woman with Capital Murder
The couple has four biological children who have been staying with Hannah Overton's parents under the supervision of Child Protective Services since the day of Andrew's death. The couple has since lost custody of the children.
What was originally described by Hannah Overton as a choking incident that led to his death, was later determined to be something very different. The official cause of death is sodium poisoning, and ruled a homicide.
Police believe the sodium poisoning occurred when the mother forced the child to drink water laced with chili powder, salt, pepper and other spices as a form of punishment, and that it was not the first time. The couple's other children each separately told authorities that this was a common form of punishment, but that Andrew got it worse than all of them because he was "always in trouble." They also told police that their mother often confined Andrew to his bed for long periods of time, that he had to pee and poop in the bed, and that she would watch him through a security camera to make sure he didn't get up. The children also said that Andrew was not ever allowed to go with the family on trips.
Andrew had been removed from the custody of his biological parents in November 2004 by Child Protective Services for reasons not disclosed. His paternal grandmother petitioned for custody of the child for two years, but was ultimately rejected by CPS as a suitable custodian. "Her parenting practices demonstrates some positive aspects. However, she lacks understanding regarding the abilities and needs of a two-year old child. Her approach to discipline lacks basic application skills," CPS stated regarding the boy's grandmother, Bonnie Roy.
Bonnie Roy has been devastated by this tragedy, and to make matters worse, she learned of the news along with the rest of the city on the evening news coverage of his funeral service. No one called to notify her or the rest of his biological family. The family had to actually call the KRISTV news station to confirm that it was Andrew. Bonnie Roy has expressed a great deal of anger toward CPS.
"Last year, when I fought for two years, he should have come to me, not somebody else. If he was here, he would be alive," she says. And she feels the failure to notify her of his death is another example of the dropped ball by this agency.
While "Spaulding For Children" adoption agency oversaw Andrew's care, he was still a ward of the state. CPS turned the child over to Spaulding For Children on June 16 of this year, who then placed him with the Overtons.
CPS spokesperson Regina Garcia said, "I know that everyone was looking forward to this adoption, and it's now sad to know that this child has now passed and isn't going to have a life that he was meant to have." She stated that CPS had contracted with Spaulding For Children, a child placement agency, and they were responsible for finding Andrew a permanent home.
Officials for Spaulding say that they didn't see any problems prior to placing the child with the Overtons. A background check was done, they completed a 16-hour adoption preparatory class and home study, where a Spaulding adoption coordinator reviewed the family. And a coordinator made monthly visits to the home during the six month pre-adoption phase. In addition, a CPS caseworker visited the child twice a week, though CPS could not comment on when the last visit occurred, or how he was doing at the time.
Part of recent court documents is an affidavit containing Hannah Overton's confession to authorities. Her story had changed from the original one, and she stated that on the day of his death, she had been angry with Andrew (for what is unclear) and had made him two sippy cups of water mixed with chili powder: one to teach a lesson, and the other as a punishment. He drank the water, then threw up and fell and bumped his head. She said she then picked him up and beat the s*** out of him. When she discovered he was not breathing, she panicked and called her husband who came home from work. Eventually, the husband took Andrew to a clinic. Authorities say the couple waited hours before taking him anywhere. Hannah Overton's attorney says that everything in the affidavit is a lie.
Prosecutors who have seen photos of Andrew say it's a very bad case of child abuse. "This is very bad. The injuries we've seen are bad, the child suffered quite a bit and you can see the child suffered by the injuries on the body," District Attorney Carlos Valdez said.
Published by Superdork
I am a wife, and a mother of two children. These two roles are my favorite parts of being alive. I'm one of the most imperfect humans I know. And I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. View profile
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49 Comments
Post a CommentJust put them in jail for life, that is both her and her husband. Take her baby away, she is not parent material nor is her husband. They both are to blame. The boy trusted them, the courts trusted them, we the people trusted them! How wrong we were. I believe the some lovinf realative should have got him.
Normally the plea of innocence by someone totally supposedly immersed with Christianity sends up a red flag to me. But having read about and watched this case, Hannah's capital murder conviction is a travesty. She and her husband were definitely wrong in not calling 911 first. The charge of either negligent homicide or the charge of manslaughter would have been more appropriate. I cannot see that Hannah or her husband would have deliberately killed this child. Even at least two juror who commented bear that out.
There are some great new articles on the Hannah Overton case on Lost in Lima Ohio. These are in depth articles. We should all read them.
The Free Hannah Overton fan club should read the Lost in Lima Ohio article. Maybe they could pull their heads out of the sand, or depart from the mother ship and come back down to Earth.
Hannah Overton placed Andrew in harm's way by her odd punishments: making him sleep on exterior plywood, not letting him eat 3 meals a day (he lost 2 lbs with the Overtons and he was only in the 50 percentile to begin with), causing him to fall on a concrete sidewalk, making him drink hot pepper spice mixed only with water from a tumbler. Hannah Overton watched Andrew die for 2 hours- shock, struggling to breathe, drifting in and out of consciousness. To not proseucte Hannah Overton would have been unconscionable. Hannah Overton should not hide behind her religion. A whole team of heroic Doctors testified at trial who actually had knowledge of the case. The media should not rip apart two wonderful jurors by grilling them for 3 hours and only playing 10 seconds of what the jurors had to say. You owe an apology to the jurors who did their civic duty.
Friends and family members are not allowed to be jurors because they are biased. The 12 jurors who decided this case, contrary to how the media has tried to portray them, were hard working and intelligent men and women who listened to 3 weeks of testimony from witnesses and Doctors who were never interviewed by the media, but who had first hand knowlege of the case. Respect our system.
Openminded,
You are not being openminded. You have spent most of your comment cutting down the "other side." Why not have respect for all and let the Court of Appeals decide instead of the media or friends of Hannah Overton, who are biased (and rightly so) in favor of their friend.
In discussing this case with people, it seems as almost everyone thinks Hannah is either 100% innocent or 100% guilty as charged. I have talked with both groups.
It has surprised me that the most tolerant group is the one who believes she is 100% innocent. (I think she is most likely guilty of a lesser charge)
Those who are 100% sure she is guilty have called me stupid & accused me of being a cult member. But the worse I have gotten from the 100% innocent crowd is "I see by some of your posts that you think Hannah is guilty of some crime. That is so sad."
Also, most of those who are 100% certain of her innocent want to discuss the case. Most of those who are 100% certain of guilt would rather compare the lawyers for Overton to the lawyers for OJ.
Thank you for the presence of a thinking and educated person here. The description his teacher gave of him picking at himself, and his behavioral problems, the almond shaped eyes, signs of being chubby, are classic Prader willi Syndrome symptoms. I knew a family years ago with a 3 year old that had the condition. they had to lock the fridge and him in his room at night to protect him from eating himself to death. I hope the defense learns of this condition and how it makes the child unable to stop eating. Their appetite center is always ON. They will literally eat til they throw up or rupture their stomach if not watched constantly as they get older.
or what?????? Answer your own question.....