A 10-year-old girl tragically died after alleged abuse from her father and his girlfriend, having pleaded with teachers not to send her home. Rebekah Baptiste was discovered unresponsive by police on a highway in Holbrook, north Arizona, on July 27, according to reports citing the Apache County Sheriff’s Office.
She was rushed to Little Colorado Medical Centre in Winslow in Arizona, US, by emergency services and then airlifted to Phoenix Children’s Hospital where she passed away alone on July 30.
During a court hearing on Monday, prosecutors detailed that she had endured severe injuries, was malnourished, exhibited bruises across her body, and was missing toenails.
Prosecutors, referencing one doctor’s statement, described the ordeal Rebekah suffered as “torture”. AZ Family reports that prosecutors indicated Rebekah’s condition bore signs of “child physical abuse, sexual abuse and torture”, reports The Mirror.
Her father, Richard Daniel Baptiste, aged 32, and his girlfriend Anicia Woods, aged 29, have been arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and three counts of child abuse.
Two of these child abuse charges relate to the alleged mistreatment of Rebekah’s younger brothers. The two boys are currently under state care. Both Baptiste and Woods are detained with a bond set at $1million (£750k).
Since the girl’s death, a dispute has ignited with Rebekah’s uncle and a school official claiming the state could have intervened more effectively to safeguard her. School personnel reported that the children pleaded not to be sent home.
“They didn’t do enough to protect her,” Rebekah’s uncle Damon Hawkins stated as per AZ Central. “They absolutely failed.”
Damon Hawkins further commented to WCSC: “She was black and blue from her head to toe. She had two black eyes, and they’re thinking the cause of death was because of a haemorrhage.”
Rebekah’s school disclosed it had contacted Arizona’s Department of Child Safety (DCS) 12 times between November 2023 and January this year. However, the DCS contested this figure, with a spokesperson informing ABC15 that Empower College Prep had reached out to their hotline five times in the last year.
The spokesperson also noted that only one of the allegations met their statutory criteria for investigation.
On the remaining four occasions, the DCS could not pursue the allegations as they did not reach the threshold for abuse or neglect, explained spokesperson Darren DaRonco.
“We take every call to our hotline seriously, but we only have the authority to initiate an investigation if the call meets statutory report criteria,” Mr DaRonco remarked. “Rebekah deserved love, safety and a chance to thrive. There are no words that will make sense of the pain she endured or her life that was tragically cut short.”
But Empower’s Executive Director Brian Holman expressed bafflement, stating it “cannot explain why DCS is missing records of our calls” and that the school was left in the dark about the complaints it raised not meeting the statutory threshold for abuse. He also highlighted that at least 20 additional reports to DCS were made by outside agencies, as per the ABC15 report.
A team at the DCS will now review the case.
Mr Holman revealed: “Our staff was told four times that the report was assigned to the same DCS Supervisor for further investigation. She only visited the school once to further investigate.
“We were promised a follow-up that never occurred, even though each of the 12 reports included clear and observable signs of abuse, neglect, and ongoing harm of a young girl and her two younger brothers.”
Natalia Mariscal, the school’s director of student services, chimed in: “I’ve had social workers concerned, students make statements that they were concerned about their classmate, as well as teachers, administration, [and] outside service providers that work with the students – all concerned that there was abuse and neglect happening at home toward all of the children.”
In a heartfelt GoFundMe appeal for Rebeka’s funeral costs, Damon Hawkins described Rebekah as a “bright light”. He fondly remembered Rebekah for her “known for her infectious laughter, unwavering kindness, dedication to her family and her positive attitude”.
He stated: “She touched countless lives with her generosity, wisdom, and her passion for life and will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved her.”