Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog

Officials have publicly identified the foster mother who was housing two young girls in an Auburn, Massachusetts home that one of them died in. Kimberly Malpass was caring for six children at the time of the heartbreaking discovery of two girls, aged two and younger, found unconscious in their home. Malpass is the biological mother of two sons, as well as the adoptive mother of a daughter, and the foster mother to three other children, all of whom were living in the house at the time. Malpass was the one who called 911 in near hysterics when she discovered the two young girls.

The investigation into the matter is still ongoing, but initial reports released for this case have indicated that upon arrival at the home in Auburn, police discovered two young children unconscious. One of the girls, a child identified as Avalena Conway-Coxon, had been cradled in the arms of Malpass prior to police arriving on scene. A neighbor said that she heard Malpass screaming at some point during the afternoon and that Malpass had run out of the house holding the young girl in her arms before she called for help. The second child, who has not yet been identified by police, was found lying by the door when they entered the premise. Both children were rushed to the hospital—Avalena was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later. The second girl remains in intensive critical care and an immediate update on her condition was not made available.

An autopsy has been performed on Avalena, but an exact cause of death has not been determined at this time. Reports have shown, however, that the young girl that has remained hospitalized showed signs of overheating as well as bruising consistent with that of a seat belt harness. Investigators are looking into the temperature inside the house as a possible contributing factor in this case.

A man from Hardwick, Massachusetts who is facing charges for severe child abuse is being held on $200,000 bail following his hearing in East Brookfield District Court this Wednesday. Randall E. Lints is accused of abusing and starving his 7 year old son Jack Loiselle, who has remained unconscious in a long term care facility since police were called to the family’s home last month. The public defender appointed to the case to assist Randall Lints says he believes the court ordered a high bail for the situation because they knew that Lints would be unable to pay the $200,000 amount. The public defender, Michael S. Hussey, called the decision a “forgone conclusion” after the announcement had been made official in court on Wednesday.

Michael Hussey also believes that the blame for what happened to this innocent child does not just lie with his client Randall Lints. Following the bail decision yesterday, Hussey spoke to reporters and said that “There may be plenty of blame to go around in terms of what lead to this terrible tragedy. The actions, decisions and choices made by previous caretakers, maybe judges, DCF workers, their supervisors, other people and certainly Mr. Lints himself.” Attorney Hussey went on to say that Lints only has a 5^th or 6^th grade level of education and that he feels as though this was a contributing factor in how Lints viewed discipline for his child. Hussey also believes that Randall Lints may have been receiving mixed messages from those around him, including DCF officials, about the proper way to punish children. Though there is no concrete evidence as of yet that DCF officials did in fact provide Lints with any sort of support in terms of how he handled punishment for his son Jack, Hussey still believes that Lints remained confused as to what was appropriate. According to statements provided by Randall Lints, he had indicated in the past that Jack suffered from behavioral issues, and that the punishments he inflicted were in retribution to these actions. And while Lints may not have fully understood how to properly deal with the behavioral issues his son was enduring, the general consensus is that the punishments were too severe for the crimes.

Among other things, Lints is being accused of locking Jack Loiselle in his room for unknown periods of time with very little food and water. Jack was unable to do things that the other children in the house were allowed to do, such as watch TV and play games. Jack loved school and was on his way to becoming a star student—but if he were to act out in any way, Lints would punish him by taking away his ability to do homework or even to go to class. Reports have also stated that Jack suffered chemical burns on his hands and feet after Lints would make him wash the floors with bleach for having an accident where Jack urinated on the floor. All of these punishments came to an end when Randall Lints had to call the police to his home upon finding Jack unresponsive in his room. At the time that law enforcement officials arrived on scene, Jack was dehydrated and weighed approximately 38 pounds. According to reports, he had allegedly lost 10-15 pounds over the period of a few short weeks. Those weeks happened to include visits from DCF—something that is generating outrage from those on the outside of the situation looking in. If DCF officials, who are supposed to be providing care and safety to children under their supervision, could not detect that something seriously wrong was taking place here then what were they doing?