NEWARK, N.J., Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Newark Mayor Sharpe James announced Thursday that fugitive Sherry L. Murphy was taken into custody on charges of child endangerment in the case of two boys in her care found last week starving and abused in a locked basement, and a third boy who was found dead.
"Sherry Murphy, the woman wanted in connection with the death, starvation and abuse of three young boys was arrested this morning at 5 a.m. by Newark Police,” James said during a late morning news conference. “Ms Murphy was arrested without incident."
Murphy was taken to the police department's homicide squad for questioning and will likely be arraigned on three counts of child endangerment and one count of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, James said. Further charges in the case are pending, officials said.
A five-day nationwide manhunt for Murphy was launched after Raheem Williams, 7, and his brother, Tyrone Hill, 4, were found malnourished and suffering from abuse in the basement of a home in Newark. The body of a third child, Faheem Williams, Raheem's twin brother was found stuffed in a trunk.
The two boys are in a New Jersey hospital in stable condition.
Murphy allegedly befriended a Newark cab driver Jan Claude Dessources who later turned her in to authorities after seeing media reports of the case. Dessources became suspicious, called police on Wednesday evening and notified them of her whereabouts.
"We can now get some answers about this tragedy," James said.
Sharpe said Murphy complained after her arrest about a headache and high blood pressure and was being transported to a hospital for treatment.
Murphy, 41, had been responsible for taking care of the children while their biological mother, Melinda Williams, was in jail. Murphy and Melinda Williams are cousins. The FBI had joined the search for Murphy.
Williams was en route to pick up her children Saturday when she was involved in a car accident. She is listed in serious condition in a Newark hospital.
Authorities in New Jersey released a summary of the agency's dealings with the family that dates back to 1992. The document details 11 complaints before Faheem was born and related to an older sibling who did not live with the three boys.
The complaints included allegations that the home was dirty with feces on the floor, no food, presence of drug trafficking, burns on the children and a home with no heat. Many of the complaints were not substantiated, the agency said.
Authorities said the family had been known to the department for 10 years.
The case sparked controversy and criticism around the state's Division of Youth and Family Services after it was revealed that child protection caseworkers closed an investigation of abuse allegations without having any physical contact with the children in a year.
The New Jersey Department of Human Services Commissioner Gwendolyn L. Harris said Wednesday the DYFS supervisor who authorized the closing of the Williams case had been suspended.
Gov. James McGreevey's office told United Press International that holding people accountable for the incident would not stop there. Micah Rasmussen, McGreevey's spokesman, said the investigation was in its early stages and to "make no mistake" it was "only the beginning" of holding people accountable for what he called "a case of human error."
"Where mistakes were made, people will be fired," Rasmussen said.
On Wednesday, Harris declared a state of emergency within DYFS and placed a moratorium on caseworkers closing cases where a child cannot be located.
She also ordered that caseworkers must make face-to-face contact with the 280 cases statewide where an abuse allegation has been made but the child has not been seen and caseworkers must see those children by the end of the week.
In cases where the children cannot be found, the district offices have been ordered to launch "extraordinary investigative measures" to find them.
Child advocates in New Jersey were upset with McGreevey whom they said had been an avid champion for children, supporting legislation in the state for child abuse reporting. Zalkind said McGreevey had protected DYFS from budget cuts, but said advocates believed his first year in office would be a time to take a critical look at the agency.
"This is a problem that needs more than a Band-Aid right now," Zalkind said. Staffing, keeping caseloads down, and looking at personnel turnover are problems common in the agency, she said.
Randy Burton, founder of Justice for Children, said the problem with DYFS is centered on the desire of state agencies to reunify families despite the risk to children's safety. He also said the failure to treat crimes against children as crimes with an immediate response from law enforcement has placed the lives of children at risk.
"If law enforcement had been involved, they would have responded much quicker and their focus would have been on the complaining witness -- the child," Burton said.
Burton said children are subjected to violence every day, saying that as many as 1,500 youngsters die each year from abuse and neglect. Because those numbers are often under-reported, Burton said, it is likely double those figures -- as least as many as those who died on Sept. 11, 2001, in the terrorist attacks.
"These children are the victims of terrorism every day," Burton said.
(Kathy A. Gambrell reporting in Washington.)
