Onslow County DSS Sued for August 2003 Poisoning Death of Seven-year Old Kayla Allen
Lawsuit Issue: Whether DSS Negligent in Kayla Allen - Carolyn Futrell Matter
Tuesday, August 23, 10:00 am ET
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Aug. 23, 2005 - Yesterday a lawsuit was filed which puts at issue whether the Onslow County Department of Social Services ("DSS") was negligent regarding its involvement with events leading up to the August 2003 alleged forcible poisoning of Kayla Allen by her legal guardian Carolyn Futrell, who now awaits trial for this child's murder.
The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court in Jacksonville, Onslow County, NC on behalf of Heather Baker, who is the court-appointed Personal Representative of the Estate of Kayla Yvonne Allen, by Wilmington, NC attorney Tom Lamb. The defendants in the lawsuit are the Onslow County DSS, its Director, Roger E. Penrod, the Child Protective Services Manager, Loretta Keelin, and three Social Workers who were involved with several reports of abuse regarding Kayla Allen. The lawsuit alleges the failure of the DSS to protect Kayla Allen from abuse by Carolyn Futrell during the three-year period leading up to the child's fatal poisoning on August 24, 2003. Despite mounting evidence of abuse, the Onslow County DSS permitted Carolyn Futrell to keep custody of Kayla right up to the time of the child's alleged murder by this woman. Notably, the lawsuit alleges that the Onslow County DSS failed to take appropriate protective measures for Kayla during the period of time when the DSS was doing its investigative assessment of the allegations of abuse by Carolyn Futrell that were made by Kayla and others in the summer of 2002. Instead of protecting Kayla from the woman whom she said had physically abused her, the Onslow County DSS returned Kayla to Carolyn Futrell and permitted Carolyn to keep custody and control of Kayla during the four-and-a-half months when the department was investigating the allegations of the child's abuse by Carolyn that were made to law enforcement officials by Kayla, herself, in June 2002 as well as related abuse reports that were made to the DSS by her aunt and two other people later in the summer of 2002. Upon completing their investigation in October 2002, the DSS ultimately determined that these reports of abuse made by Kayla, her aunt, and the two others were "unsubstantiated", and closed the matter.
Kayla was allegedly forcibly poisoned by her legal guardian Carolyn Futrell on August 24, 2003 in their Richlands, NC home - fourteen months after the child, at age six, had made her allegations of abuse by Carolyn to law enforcement in June 2002. According to a press release from Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown issued on May 20, 2004,when Carolyn Futrell was arrested for the homicide of Kayla: “The method of murder was an insecticide poison imploded into the body of 7-year-old Kayla Allen.” Earlier, an autopsy report completed in January 2004 stated that the cause of Kayla’s death was insecticide poisoning.
During the three-year period leading up to Kayla’s death in August 2003, no less than six reports about Kayla being abused and/or neglected by Carolyn Futrell were made to the Onslow County DSS or law enforcement officials in Onslow County and Taylor, MI.
The lawsuit is brought under North Carolina’s Wrongful Death Act. The lawsuit seeks to recover damages from the defendants for the various injuries inflicted on Kayla by Carolyn Futrell during the three-year period before her death, as well as for the child’s death.
For additional information, or to obtain a copy of the 33-page Complaint for this lawsuit, contact attorney Tom Lamb, or the Law Offices of Thomas J. Lamb, P.A.
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Contact: Tom Lamb
Law Offices of Thomas J. Lamb, P.A.
Lumina Station, Suite 225
1908 Eastwood Road
Wilmington, NC 28403
Tel: 910-256-2971
Fax: 910-256-2972
[email protected]
Lamb Law Office
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"Hold your childs hand every chance you get"
Aunt Heather loves and misses you Kayla baby!
