Albuquerque PD release body cam after allegations of a cover-up with CYFD prior to the childs death

A former state Children, Youth and Families investigator has testified that she tried in vain to remove a 4-year-old boy from an abusive and life-threatening home situation, and was directed by her supervisors to erase and edit her case notes after he was killed by his mother’s roommate.

The allegations of a cover-up are the latest in the ongoing civil lawsuit filed against CYFD by the estate of James Dunklee Cruz. The boy had been the subject of 10 referrals of child abuse or neglect before he was found unresponsive Dec. 10, 2019, in an East Central Avenue apartment shortly after his mother left for work

He was beaten to death by a man they were staying with, Zerrick Marquez – a man CYFD warned the mother not to live with. Marquez pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death on May 5; he has since indicated he wants to withdraw his plea.

At issue in the civil case is why child welfare workers never filed for legal custody of the boy, even after he had suffered a shoulder injury, sexual abuse and told police and social workers that he was being hurt by men in his mother’s life.

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A video taken while James was being interviewed by police and the social worker shows him sitting on a table at an urgent care center, his arm in a sling, politely answering questions and engaging with the adults. Two months later, he was dead from new injuries.

Instead of taking James into CYFD custody in the last three months of his life, CYFD workers relied on his mother to adhere to a series of “safety plans” to direct where he would live with his mother without ensuring his long-term safety and well-being, states the lawsuit.

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“His body spoke for itself. The injuries speak for themselves. On top of the physical proof, the doctors’ concerns, the injuries, the stories that don’t add up, we had a four-year-old saying to the adults, he was being hurt. What more does it take to know that he needs to be taken away from that environment?” said Sara Crecca, one of the attorneys who filed suit against CYFD.

A CYFD spokesman said Friday that the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

The Journal has reported extensively on the case and the lawsuit’s claims. But new details of the CYFD investigation and allegations of a CYFD cover-up surfaced during an April 25 sworn deposition of the lead investigator on the case, Jessica Etoll.

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Now a licensed social worker in private practice, Etoll was named as a defendant in the wrongful death lawsuit, which was filed by Crecca and attorney Rachel Berenson of Albuquerque.

The new revelations prompted the attorneys to file a motion in court Thursday to amend the state district court lawsuit. A copy of the proposed amended lawsuit was filed as an exhibit.

“Ms. Etoll knew James was being severely abused and believed CYFD should immediately take custody of the child,” according to the exhibit. But Etoll needed her supervisors to ask the CYFD legal division to initiate the paperwork to file legal custody.

One supervisor told her to “calm down,” and another, a county case manager who had the authority to approve taking him into custody, dragged her feet, but finally relented, the exhibit alleges. By that time, James couldn’t be located.

At the time of his death the boy was in Albuquerque living with Marquez, Marquez’s girlfriend Pamela Esparza, and his mother, Krista Cruz, who was 22 years old at the time.

Cruz, who herself had been in CYFD foster care, was homeless and had been staying with different friends for months.

The Office of Medical Investigator determined the boy died of blunt trauma to his head and his torso. An autopsy also revealed healing jaw fractures and other healing head trauma that occurred “at a time much earlier (weeks) than the acute injuries,” the exhibit states.

Upon learning of the boy’s death, Etoll’s supervisors decided to change her investigative notes “to eliminate direct evidence of CYFD liability,” the exhibit states.

According to Etoll, supervisors Marvin Paul and Melissa Garcia asked where her notes were regarding the Dunklee Cruz investigation. She told them she hadn’t yet formally entered them into the CYFD information system but had them on her work computer, the exhibit stated.

She alleges she was told to provide the supervisors with copies of the notes and then was directed to “make a number of specific deletions and edits prior to entering them into the formal (CYFD) system,” the exhibit states..
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