Boy Who Starved Was Returned to Parents by Reluctant Judge

A 5-year-old boy who died of starvation under his parents’ care had been reluctantly returned home after a social worker said the child’s grandparents would protect him, court records show.

Alameda County Judge Jeffrey Horner said he did not want to release Jory Daniels from court custody because the father, accused of beating the boy, shared the same Fremont home the child lived in with his grandparents, who were appointed his legal guardians, according to court records viewed by the San Jose Mercury News.

“We have parents that aren’t doing their counseling. They live with the guardians,” Horner said, according to hearing transcripts. “The injuries are serious. . . .”

Jory was found dead on the floor of his parents’ Milpitas apartment in April. He weighed 19 pounds. The parents, Sonya and Brian Daniels, have been charged with murder and felony child endangerment. The maternal grandparents, Robert and Maxine Hicks, have been charged with felony child endangerment.

Jory was first taken from his parents in January, 1989, after he was brought to a Fremont hospital with a fractured skull at the age of 4 months.

Through counseling and parenting classes, the Danielses made progress after that, according to 1990 court documents. But then a foster mother, Bonnie Williams, reported changes in Jory’s health.

“I told them not to send him back, because I felt that it was a dysfunctional situation and that he was going to end up dead,” Williams said.

Nonetheless, the judge returned Jory to his guardians, the grandparents, in May, 1991.