MURDERED 4 YEAR OLD GIRL Emma Thompson/ Abigail Elizabeth Young And Lucas Ruric Coe sentenced

NEW YORK (CBS) It sickens the conscience. Yet another child is dead at the hands of her caregivers. But this time many are pointing fingers at Texas Child Protective Services, who did nothing despite knowing the murdered girl was given genital herpes and living with a man investigated three other times for cases involving children, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Abigail Elizabeth Young, 33 and her boyfriend Lucas Ruric Coe, 27, were arrested Monday and charged with felony injury to a child in connection with the June 27 death of Abigail’s 4-year-old daughter, Emma Thompson. THEY are not the only ONE's responsible for the death of this child!

Investigators have uncovered records that Texas Child Protective Services had begun an investigation into Emma’s care when she tested positive for genital herpes, but she was not removed from the home, according to the Houston Chronicle. The paper also notes that investigators discovered that Coe had been investigated three other times in the past for unrelated cases involving another girlfriend’s children.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/11/crimesider/entry5234084.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Emma Thompson, 4, died as a result of blunt abdominal trauma.



I titled this last picture as "Scum".

That little girl was probably in so much discomfort from that horrible disease...

lindamarie,

your rock! thanks for posting little Emma's picture, she is just beautiful. (thanks for the SCUM pictures too!)

This story is UNBELIEVABLE! How could this happen. SOMETHING needs to be done today before another beautiful child is murdered, jmo!

I will never understand how all these "Child Protective Services" offices NOT remove the kids from horrific living conditions. Is there a fine line they fear they will cross? Is it because the State has nowhere to place the children or are the caseworkers afraid they will lose their jobs. Or, is it that they just don't care??

It is getting to the point that any child worker who allows a child to stay in a home where the child is later missing or murdered needs to be put in jail.

This makes me sick!!

I agree with you wrap, children allowed to stay in a home where a child is later missing, murdered, or HAS an STD should be put in jail.

I am sick to death of reading that CPS are OVER BURDENED, too many cases, there is no EXCUSE for this ABUSE. In this case, they ENABLED the ABUSE to continue until they finally murdered her.

EMMA should have been taken the day they found out she had an STD~!~ That poor baby, I can't stand to think the of the conditions & abuse this child lived in & endured until they finally murdered her w/a blunt instrument.

I am very angry about this case, all of the cases are close to our heart with these children but a child with an STD! UNBELIEVABLE!

:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

Can someone please direct me to the location of the remembrance of Emma Thompson? I haven't been able to locate it.

Don't think so, I am looking for Emma Thomson, a four year old. She has strawberry blonde hair. A beautiful little girl, as if this child, but they look nothing alike.

Is that the correct spelling of her name? I can't find anything except an actress with almost the same name.

UGGG genital herpes is proof of molestation. someone should be fired.

This child's death is hurting me deeply. HOW, could she have been left in the care of these people with the disease. This one is hitting me really hard as I await more information about my friends grand daughters whom have been sexually molested by Mommy's new husband, and the courts have done NOTHING to prevent this woman from having custody of the girls. For now, they are in the care of their Father, who has petitioned the court for full custody, but the courts have elected to keep the joint custody in place as it was originally set up with Mommy as the primary custodian.
I cannot imagine how this monster could have taken the life of this beautiful child.
As Wrap has said.. The excuses of the Human and Child Protective Services just don't cut it any more.
The paper work seems to be the priority with DHS & CPS.
At one time my family was on benefits from DHS. I insisted on seeing my file which was about 500 pages thick. WHAT in the world could take up so much paper. Well I found out. A lot of what was in there was unimportant. One paragraph was devoted to the location of my residence. The town I lived in was all of 3,600 people, so it would have been sufficient to have written, The family resides at 1234 Main Street, Thistown, Ourstate, USA... But it went on to point out that we were living in the same house Client XYZ had lived in X numbers of years ago when she was receiving benefits for 3 children and whom later moved to 4321 Other street, Thistown, Ourstate, USA.
I don't recall all of the extra filler that was in that as I was so shocked that the woman's name and fact she was a recipient, and that her new address was also in my file.
Another interesting entry was that a visiting worker wrote that I had a bag of soiled disposable diapers on my back porch. Yes I did, awaiting garbage day.. I wonder what she thought I should do with them until then? Some things these CASE WORKERS take note of is so unimportant.

Marcia, This IS the correct thread you are looking for!!!

Thank you so much. I don't know why I couldn't locate it. Oh well, thread and I don't get along very well.. I can't even thread a needle any more. Thnx for your help!

This is like another case, where a 2 year old little girl died from blunt force trauma to the abdomen...

and in both cases i dont think they beat their stomach with just any instrument. I think they were too little to be doing what their step fathers were doing to them, and the blunt force trauma is from that.

Horrible to think about, i know..but in both cases they dont mention what caused the trauma to the abdomen, but they do mention in the autopsies that there was sign of sexual molestation..

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6569659.html

Mother of EMMA THOMPSON is FREE ON BAIL!
Video & article

Abigal Elizabeth Young 33, was released on $50,000.00 bail & a judge put STRONG restrictions on her future contact w/surviving children.

Young is charged with INJURY to a child in connection with the death (MURDER,jmo) of her 4 year old daughter EMMA Thompson.

Authorities said EMMA suffered 80 bruises, a fractured skull, a brain hemorrhage, & a VAGINAL tear.

sassybytweet,

Check out EMMA's other injuries. The sad thing is, the injuries listed were the INJURIES at her time of death!!!

Sassy, as mothers, we all are outraged & sickened by how any mother could stand by & watch an innocent child "tortured" & "scared to death" nearly every day of their life until they finally are murdered. It is beyond our wildest comprehension.

I BLAME CPS for her DEATH, she could have been removed the DAY they found out about the STD. That alone told them the child was being MOLESTED!!!!!

I am going to try to contact NG via email w/this story. The HEAT needs to be put on these PUBLIC SERVANTS!

RELEASED... THAT is just insane... The woman had to know what was going on.

IF ANYONE MISSED IT, there is a link at the bottom of the 1st page from the HOUSTON CHRONICLE with an article & a video. thanks.

Marica wrote:RELEASED... THAT is just insane... The woman had to know what was going on.

Marcia,

In the eyes of the LAW, our most precious & innocent commodity, our children, has gone DOWN in VALUE. This mother was released on 50,000.00 bail, & then she pays 10% of that.

She has LIMITED contact with her other children. OUTRAGEOUS! She DESERVES no contact, jmo.

Innocent UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY, should not be the case when a child is murdered. Her other children should not be forced to have contact with her. Whom ever is caring for those children should be able to close and lock the door on her.
Actually, it seems to me there is quite a LOT of value where kids are concerned. The lawyers, bondsmen, and courts are getting filthy rich from the torture of the little children. When will children have RIGHTS, and when will they have REPRESENTATION.
I cannot begin to understand why so many little children are being tortured and murdered. At one time I was opposed to the death penalty, but I am thinking now murder of a child should be an automatic death sentence.

Little Emma Thompson dead at 4 years old. The child was found to have oral
and genital herpes and was NOT removed from the home. She died and
had approximately 80 contusions, a severe head laceration, some scalp hemorrhaging, a skull fracture, internal bleeding, severe tear and hemorrhaging to the vagina extending from the hymen which was not intact. Her so-called "mother"
was a nurse. The horror of this sadistic crime is too much for me. This occurred
in Texas. The mother, Abigail Young and her boyfriend, Lucas Coe were arraigned
on charges but the mother who states she is "innocent" is out on bail . This is an outrage to me. She has given several interviews where she states she wants people to know how "she feels". Shades of Casey Anthony - another sociopathic sadist
who lived with a man who abused his own daughter (who was in the home at the time of little Emma's death and was not allowed to be alone with her father).
Neighbors state that Abigail Young showed no emotion the night her daughter was killed and in fact was coaching the other children in the house to say Coe did nothing to little Emma. Can the horror of what this child suffered be any worse? Im furious
that this woman is out on bail (she says "I dont belong in jail") no she doesnt belong
in jail - she belongs in the electric chair along with her boyfriend.

This is unreal..yet..people who possess or grow pot are thrown in the slammer for years with no bond. WTF??????

So true. Some are doing life for having grown massive quanities of pot, or have had three convictions for possession, and sometimes only small quanities. Absolutely insane.

omg! this is terrible!! sassy.. what you say make a lot of sense.. so terrible.. i am BEYOND pissed off all the cps people must be fired and CHARGED with her death! i cannot believe she had herpes and let her stay there! i'm sure she she had family that would've taken her in! she was molested and for sure not treated for the std. also what about the doctors that knew of her std!! ugh!!!

Marica wrote:Innocent UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY, should not be the case when a child is murdered. Her other children should not be forced to have contact with her. Whom ever is caring for those children should be able to close and lock the door on her.
Actually, it seems to me there is quite a LOT of value where kids are concerned. The lawyers, bondsmen, and courts are getting filthy rich from the torture of the little children. When will children have RIGHTS, and when will they have REPRESENTATION.
I cannot begin to understand why so many little children are being tortured and murdered. At one time I was opposed to the death penalty, but I am thinking now murder of a child should be an automatic death sentence.

OMG who are they joking?? her child had an STD, any mother would know if her child had HERPES!! it's a clear sign of sexual abuse! sentence her and hang her!

Its not the doctor's fault. It was probably the doctor that contacted the right people saying "This isnt normal, no 4 year old little girl should be brought in to my office and diagnosed with this STD"

The doctor cant MAKE CPS do their job right, and the doctors themselves cannot remove children from the home, the doctor did however TRY to get the little girl help, eve when her mother wouldnt do so

sick sick sick...I agree with Sassy, the dr can only do so much, the rest is up to LE. Poor little darlin'

they belong in hell.

sassybtsweet wrote:Its not the doctor's fault. It was probably the doctor that contacted the right people saying "This isnt normal, no 4 year old little girl should be brought in to my office and diagnosed with this STD"

The doctor cant MAKE CPS do their job right, and the doctors themselves cannot remove children from the home, the doctor did however TRY to get the little girl help, eve when her mother wouldnt do so

so true.. thanks for talking sense in to me.. i'm just so mad i wonna blame everybody...

Everything has been said....this is just so heartbreaking and incomprehensible! How can the caseworker live with themselves...how can anyone do this to a child? It NEVER sinks in....

Heike, agreed.

Also, very good to see you!!!!!!!!!! stripper

who lived with a man who abused his own daughter (who was in the home at the time of little Emma's death and was not allowed to be alone with her father).
Neighbors state that Abigail Young showed no emotion the night her daughter was killed and in fact was coaching the other children in the house to say Coe did nothing to little Emma. Can the horror of what this child suffered be any worse?

wow! makes me feel like we have no justice system..

The penalty for killing and/or torturing children is not on the par of doing so to an adult. That has to change.
I feel that as we all share a common interest that we possibly could work on some kind of law that can help us to get equal penalties for killing a child as an adult.
If the crime is heinous enough, the accused if convicted do get stiff sentences. But too many of them like Robert Manwill's fathers first wife - get very easy sentences. She stabbed his first son to death and plea-bargained down to 9 years. I also think as a body that we should at least be able to start using letters written for instance to the childrens services in Houston as a start, where this child lived, and was allowed to be returned to her home with oral and genital herpes. Meaning this abuse occurred over time until the last abuse killed her. Her mother was a nurse
for gods sake - and she KNEW.

Nice pole dance, Wrap...hehehe

xoxo
:-)

Another reason I loathe Texas. Just added to my list with this heinous crime!!!

I will contact our governor (who I never heard from reference what I discussed on the "What's On Your Mind" thread) and our State Representative, who I DID hear from.

wrapitup,

Is there anyone that we can contact as a group, or, as individuals. I am so pissed about this it has just made me sick!! Is the LOCAL level that needs to be contacted or the GOVERNOR.

This just can't go on any longer. Life in prison would be too good for EMMA's scumbag mother.

I would say, Kathie, that playing politics is the way to achieve results, unfortunately. We need to know who has the most to lose by the valid accusations to be made and who has the most to gain by getting tough on this issue?

I would expect local efforts would have the most impact as (aside from those like us), such events tend to outrage those in closest proximity the most. Then upward to those in charge on the state level.

Here is a link that may prove useful. I have not perused it thoroughly, so cannot attest to its merit, but it looks to be the real deal.

http://www.fightcps.com/2004_07_18_archive.html

Cheers friends,

xoxo
Heike

Heike,

you make an excellent point, THE ONE THAT HAS THE MOST TO LOSE!

If anyone comes up with any ideas, please share.

I will have to ponder this. Give me some time here. Also, Tish and NiteSpinner are in Texas. I know once they read this thread, they will respond and maybe between the three of us, we can figure something out.

Heike, thanks for the link. I have no time to do anything now as Noah is on his way to go swimming. Let me ponder this tonight when it is quiet.

This case makes me just sick to my stomach!

I am with you, Art, Wrap...my heart says that somehow this is a path to enforce a change...one step at a time....

xoxo
Heike

REMEMBERING EMMA THOMPSON, Members of Community gather for service & candlelight vigil to honor the slain 4 year old.

http://www.chron.com/common/special/07/templates/listpop.html?mcVideo=33752603001

Painful to watch.

UPDATE: THE SYSTEM FAILED EMMA!

Before Lucas Coe was accused of inflicting the injuries that may have killed 4-year-old Emma Thompson, there were at least five chances to keep him behind bars in two different counties.The last opportunity came just three months before Emma turned up in a Houston area emergency room, sexually abused and fatally beaten.

But a closer look at Coe's criminal history reveals some troubling facts — any of which might have altered the turn of events that led up to Emma's MURDER!

While Coe was serving six years probation for a 2002 Harris County aggravated assault, records show, he was convicted for DWI, pled guilty to a Montgomery County assault, failed to meet with a probation officer, got behind in his restitution to the Harris County victim and was indicted on a child abuse charge in Montgomery County.
Four motions to revoke his probation in the Harris County case were made: two in 2005 and two in 2008.

At least twice in that period, Coe was jailed for violating the terms of his probation.But his probation was never revoked, which could have forced him to serve the rest of his time in prison.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/moms/6576234.html

Art, here is yet another child who is gone for no reason. How many children have to die needlessly because CPS turned a blind eye????????????????????

jmho, there is a LOT OF BLAME to go around, people that were in a position to save this child's life.

I am sick to death of the LEGAL SYSTEM that does not protect children or adults for these repeat OFFENDERS! jmo! I am beyond mad after reading this article, I am mad as H E L L as CPS.

Coe.. Well known in the judicial & LE system... so much swept under the rug. Was he an informant? I have seen people in my own community who should be locked up, but never do time.. NEVER.. I am pretty sure they are in bed with LE. Everyone these two worthless people know, are busted on all sorts of charges, yet these two never spend any time in jail. When I read this it sounded so familiar to me.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6574076.html

UPDATE 8/26/09

PROTECTIVE SERVICES !CPS under fire in death of Emma Thompson!

The death of 4-year-old Emma Thompson has enraged the Houston community. According to news reports, Emma's mother ignored the abuse of her own child, denied it to the authorities and attempted to hide it by super-gluing her baby's skull together. This “gifted nurse” claimed Emma's injuries were self-inflicted and that she had contracted genital herpes from a dirty toilet seat. Neighbors and others who suspected abuse should have notified the authorities, something required of all Texans over the age of 18. But, judging by their comments on the story on the Houston Chronicle's Web site, Houstonians have reserved their strongest criticism for Child Protective Services. The agency, which was fully aware that Emma had contracted a sexually transmitted disease, failed to remove her from the home.

This tragedy is not an isolated example of poor judgment but the result of a conscious decision by CPS to leave this child in the home. CPS spokesperson Estella Olguin explained that “a sexually transmitted disease alone is not enough to put a 4-year-old into protective custody.” If Emma's STD and her mother's inconsistent stories about its origin weren't enough to trigger a thorough investigation and removal by CPS, what sort of evidence does it need?

Some historical context. In May 1987, following the murder of 2-year-old Jesse Wheeler, a poster boy for how the system has failed victims of child abuse, Justice for Children was formed by a group of concerned citizens tired of seeing preventable deaths of the very young in our community.

Later that year, these same Houstonians convinced the Texas Senate to conduct statewide hearings into the problems at CPS. The 1989 Senate report stated that “70 percent of the confirmed cases involved children who were left in their homes and who needed ongoing supervision and assistance from the department. In reality, only about half of these cases were assigned to a caseworker. The remaining 49 percent, or 9,800 confirmed cases, were closed immediately after the investigation … ”

In 1991, the Texas Senate Finance Committee found that “[y]ears of studies costing millions of dollars have been devoted to this program without tangible results. The immense problems and substantial improvements required cannot be achieved realistically in an agency with so many competing priorities.”

Also in 1991, a report by the Texas Performance Review Team found: “The mission of the social worker is to rehabilitate and preserve the family.” It went on to say, “on the other hand, the mission of an investigator is to determine if the abuse occurred and remove the victim from the situation if necessary. Maintaining the functions in the same agency makes … a nearly impossible situation in which to maintain objectivity and focus.”

On July 2, 2004, Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order requiring the Office of the Inspector General of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to conduct an investigation of CPS. The inspector general's report noted that: “When abuse or neglect was indicated in the file, only 30 percent of the time did CPS caseworkers implement the appropriate safety steps for the short-term protection of the child, only 71 percent of the time were the steps appropriate to protect the child from further abuse and neglect and only 27 percent of the time, when there was imminent threat to the health and safety of any child in the home, was the child actually removed from the threat to prevent further abuse, neglect, or physical abuse, neglect, or physical harm to the child.”

Twenty-three years after Jesse Wheeler's death, innumerable studies, and adverse reports, we are still fighting the same fight. I could not care less that CPS feels they are damned if they remove a child and damned if they don't. According to the last National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect, of the 1 million annual cases where CPS confirmed abuse and neglect, 72 percent were closed without ever removing the children. By comparison, the number of children who have been murdered as a result of being removed from a home subsequently deemed safe is a big fat zero.

CPS is not in a popularity contest. Under federal law, “the child's health and safety shall be the paramount concern” in all child abuse and neglect investigations. The federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, written with the help of Justice for Children, states that CPS is not required to use reasonable efforts to keep families together where “the parent has subjected the child to … abandonment, torture, chronic abuse and sexual abuse” or has “committed a felony assault that results in serious bodily injury to the child.”

No government agency is perfect, but I'd much rather have a police officer investigating a crime against a child than an agency that acknowledges that it doesn't perform criminal investigations. Law enforcement's priority is to protect its complaining witness, the crime victim. Otherwise, it has no case. CPS's priority continues to be preserving the family unit which, in cases like Emma's, is an experiment at the child's expense. If Emma's case had been investigated by law enforcement officers, I believe she would be alive today.

Like Jesse Wheeler, the death of defenseless little Emma is an object lesson in system failure. She compels us to try something new, so we don't read about another tragic, preventable child's death in the newspaper tomorrow

Emma case spurs new CPS guidelines

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6587297.html

By TERRI LANGFORD

Aug. 25, 2009, 9:34PM

Texas Child Protective Services will use more aggressive procedures when investigating allegations of abuse in children with sexually transmitted diseases, following the beating death of 4-year-old Emma Thompson in June.

The Spring girl turned up in an emergency room on June 27 with signs of sexual abuse and a fatal beating three weeks after she tested positive for genital herpes.

CPS officials examined the investigator’s work in Emma’s case, and although they determined she did nothing wrong, the agency has issued new guidelines.

“The review identified additional steps that could be taken in future cases where the only evidence is a sexually-transmitted disease of unknown origin,” said Patrick Crimmins, CPS spokesman in Austin. The recommendations from the review will be given to all caseworkers.

If a suspected child abuse victim tests positive for a STD, all children in that victim’s household will be tested as well. Any child who tests positive will have a sexual abuse exam and a more thorough “forensic” interview with child abuse specialists at a Children’s Assessment Center.

A forensic interviewer, according to the center’s Web site in Houston, is someone “specifically trained in working with sexually abused children and skilled in obtaining information necessary” for police, child safety and prosecutors. The interviews are videotaped.

Emma was originally scheduled to be examined at Children’s Assessment Center but no interviewer was available. Instead, CPS and the child’s pediatrician referred her to Texas Children’s Hospital. Also, investigators have been told to aggressively pursue potential witnesses by interviewing neighbors in cases where a child tests positive for a STD. The CPS investigator in Emma’s case did not.

Later, in a custody hearing involving Emma’s sisters, a neighbor testified that she had confronted the girls’ mother, Abigail Young, after seeing blood on Emma’s panties the day before she died. Young told the neighbor Emma had scratched her vagina getting out of a pool.

Not removed from home

Emma’s pediatrician first contacted CPS in early June after the doctor suspected blisters in the little girl’s mouth and on her vagina were genital herpes. Subsequent tests proved the doctor right. But a physical exam at Texas Children’s Hospital found no evidence of sexual abuse. And because the disease, in rare cases, can be transmitted in a non-sexual manner, Emma was not removed from her home.

As the investigator later told a judge, Emma shook her head “no” when asked if anyone had touched her inappropriately.

A CPS investigator told a judge last month that because the mother misled her and because Emma herself did not complain she had been abused, there was nothing she could do to remove her.

Three weeks later, Emma died after her sexually abused and battered body arrived at a Houston area emergency room. She had 80 bruises, a fractured skull.

Mother also had disease

Testimony at a hearing last month revealed that Young had also recently contracted genital herpes, but CPS officials did not know that, nor did they interview any of Emma’s neighbors about whether any other adult was living in the girl’s house or if they noticed Emma having any problems. Young, a registered nurse, never disclosed she had a new boyfriend, Lucas Coe.

Young and Coe have been charged with injury to a child and await trial. Young is out on bond. Coe remains jailed. Emma’s two sisters have been placed with grandparents.

Attorney Bert Steinmann, Coe’s lawyer, said his client “vehemently” denies causing any of Emma’s injuries and also denies he is the source of Emma’s genital herpes.

Steinmann said he’s confident the case “will exclude Lucas as the source of Emma’s STD, determine the mother’s actual role and/or knowledge of the child’s injuries, and correct the so called facts and innuendos in Lucas’ case.”

http://stopcorruptdss.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/emma-case-spurs-new-cps-guidelines/

wrapitup,

thanks for the link. This case has really gotten under my skin, it makes my heart hurt. Emma was such a beautiful little girl, this story is CPS at its worst.

wrap, a lot of the kids I see are "crack babies." they have assorted disabilities from hyperactivity, from tubes in their bellies to be fed by because they were "failure to thrive babies when born, (no sucking ability), some have neurological problems, difficutly walking & speaking. When we call CPS when we see cigerette burns on a child or physicial harm, they come out, maybe take the child a couple of days & then give it back to "Crack Mama." The little SSI check, this disable child gets should be used of therapies, speech, pt, & to feed then, but the crack Mama smokes it up. They never drug test the parents.

I agree that IMO, I think the POLICE could do a better job of protecting these children, jmo. I am so disillusioned with the WHOLE CPS system, imo, HUGE WASTE!

Boy, really turns your stomach, doesn't it?
To me that is CPS "101"--child w/ STD...duh...how does one get an STD? Remove child from home. What is the problem? Another child ...gone.
Makes you wonder just how many kids you see out and about...at the library, stores, malls, etc...that are victims of abuse/neglect. I think of this sometimes. So very upsetting. :mad: