The Death of Peter Munck

This is the sad story of two brothers, Shawn and Peter Munck. On February 12, 2008, Shawn age 22 killed his little brother Peter age 12 in their home in Endwell, NY. Sometime during the day, Shawn, according to a witness, was rough housing with his little brother and stepped on Peter's mid-section with enough force to cause internal bleeding. Peter went to bed that night and died. Police didn't find out about this for three days. Whether this was on purpose or not will be for the courts to decide but Shawn is charged with 2nd degree manslaughter and is currently in the Broome County Jail without bail. This story is not only about Shawn and Peter, but about the breakdown of the Department of Social Services and Child Protective Services.

Now let me give you a little background on the Munck family, if you could call it that. The boys' father, Erik Munck has been in and out of prison his whole life for violent crimes starting in 1984. Their mother, Carol Thomas (now Carol Wilber) isn't much better and while this story is still in its infancy and all the details aren't out yet, reports say she also did time in prison though that hasn't been proven yet. Shawn and his younger sister Cara were placed in foster care when Shawn was 5 and Cara was 3 for about 6 months. This was because Erik had stabbed their mother but being the loving spouse, she declined to press charges. In 2000, after Erik goes to prison for the third time, Carol decided she could not provide a stable home for her 3 children and releases them to their grandmother Carolyn Munck. Now let's fast forward to early February 2008. Carolyn goes into the hospital for heart surgery; Erik Munck is doing 8 - 12 years for assault, burglary and possession of stolen property and Carol Munck is out of the picture. This leaves a 22 year old "kid" to take care of his little brother.

OK let me give you timeline on what happens now. This is taken from The Press & Sun Bulletin which is why it may sound redundant:

Feb. 12, 2008: Maine-Endwell school officials contact the Broome County Department of Social Services to express concern about Peter Munck's well-being, knowing his caregiver is in the hospital. After two unsuccessful attempts to reach the proper DSS official, the school's social worker talks to a DSS employee who says there is no incident and the case cannot be sent to the abuse hot line, according to M-E Superintendent Joseph Stoner. No child protective service workers go to the house. Sometime after school that Tuesday, sheriff's deputies believe Shawn Munck put his foot on Peter's midsection with enough force to cause internal injuries. Joe Menard, a friend of Shawn's, said he was in the house at the time of the incident, but in a different room. He said he heard the commotion, which he called "horseplay." Peter Munck dies in his bed that night. His death is not reported.

Feb. 13: Snow day; schools are closed.

Feb. 15: After Peter fails to show up at school on Thursday and Friday, M-E officials bypass the Broome County DSS and call the state abuse hot line, prompting a visit from a Broome County Child Protective Service social worker that afternoon.
* 4 to 5 p.m.: A CPS social worker arrives at the Munck home at 228 Hastings Ave. and is let into the house by Shawn Munck. The CPS worker does not notice that Peter is dead. CPS contacts the children's aunt, Carol Mitrus, who arrives at the house at approximately 7 p.m. She discovers Peter in his bed.
* 7:15 p.m.: Mitrus calls 911. Broome County sheriff's respond and begin their investigation into a suspicious death.

Feb. 16: An autopsy reveals the nature of Peter's injuries. Sheriff's deputies go to Menard's Endicott apartment, where they find Shawn Munck and arrest him. Munck is arraigned and charged with second-degree manslaughter. He is sent to Broome County Jail without bail.

There are just too many questions here to ask so I'll stick to the important ones. Why didn't Shawn call 911 when he realized his brother was in serious trouble? My thinking is he hit every panic button he could find and had no idea how to handle this situation.

How the hell can a CPS worker be let in to the house for the sole purpose of checking on the welfare of Peter and not know that he's dead? This to me is just plain negligence, pure and simple. While I understand that they have rules and guidelines they must follow, they should have been much more aggressive in finding out why Peter wasn't at school and to make sure he was alright. It would not have saved his life but it would have shown they at least tried.

My hat goes off to the Maine-Endwell Schools for watching out for their students. The school tried to contact CPS as soon as they realized the grandmother was in the hospital and had they been successful and gotten more cooperation out of Broome County DDS, Peter may still be alive. There are a lot of people here who need to take responsibly for what happened and I'm sorry to have to say this, but the grandmother herself should have made arrangements for those boys to be protected and safe.

I will follow up on this story as new details become available. One thing I want to say is I don't believe that Shawn meant to kill his brother or at least I hope that's not the case. I don't know if Shawn was into drugs and alcohol but it wouldn't surprise me a bit knowing the "role models" he had as a kid. I also believe that Broome County DSS and CPS has better do a major overhaul on their procedures so something like this can be prevented.