Atlanta police are currently investigating the reasons behind the failure to conduct welfare checks on a family, despite receiving three requests from social services.
Two weeks before Christmas, 4-year-old Treasure McWeay passed away from starvation. Her father, Rodney Weaver, 31, who appeared at a hearing Thursday at the Fulton County Magistrate Court, is now facing multiple felony charges for Treasure’s death and the alleged abuse of her siblings.
The incident unfolded on December 11, when Atlanta Police Department homicide detectives arrived at Hughes Spalding Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, following the child’s death. Detectives learned that the victim was extremely malnourished, with sunken cheekbones and eyes. A responding detective described the child as “just pure bone” at the time of death,
During an interview at the hospital, the defendant told investigators that the children “are not allowed outside and stay in their rooms unless he allows them out,” detectives wrote.
“If his kids need something, he will take it to them. Mr. McWeay stated his kids have toys to play with in their rooms.”
Arrest affidavits indicated Treasure and her brothers, aged 3 and 5, were found living in squalor, in a lower-level duplex on Renfrew Court, after their father physically assaulted their mother and half-sister before she fled to Maryland with her older children.
McWeay wasn’t supposed to have legal custody of the three children, according to the state’s Division of Family and Children Services. He’s accused of going to Maryland in July, grabbing the children from their mom, and bringing them back to the same duplex DFCS had taken them out of less than two weeks before.
According to a state DFCS file obtained by the FOX 5 I-Team, DFCS workers then unsuccessfully tried getting help from the police to find the children.
The affidavits further revealed that McWeay confined the three younger children, keeping them isolated and locked in their rooms. Security cameras were reportedly directed at their beds, and they had no access to necessities such as food, water, or bathrooms.
The only available food inside the residence was described by detectives as expired eggs and milk.
During Thursday’s hearing, Detective Summer Benton with Atlanta’s homicide unit testified that, in one particular instance, police failed to respond to a call from DFCS, made 11 days after the reported kidnapping.
Atlanta police told FOX 5 that an investigation has now been initiated into the calls to determine what happened.
“Officers were dispatched to the home, but it does not appear officers had contact with Mr. McWeay or the children during these calls,” Atlanta police said in an emailed statement. “In an effort to ensure these calls were handled properly, the Atlanta Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards has initiated an investigation into these calls.”
After Thursday’s hearing, Judge Ashley Drake added a malice murder charge to McWeay’s long list of 14 felony charges, including, in part, kidnapping and child cruelty.
He remains behind bars without bond. Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Treasure McWeay/Family Handout via FOX 5 News Atlanta]
