Clues Sought in Boy’s Death

The father of a 2-year-old boy whose body was found near a steep ravine said Thursday that his former wife is not allowed unsupervised contact with their other child, and that investigators have ruled out the possibility that the boy wandered into the ravine alone.

Maxwell Turner arrived in Orange County from Indiana on Thursday with his pregnant girlfriend on his first airplane ride and spoke about his anger at the death of his toddler. Turner last saw his son, who shared the identical gap-toothed grin, five weeks ago when he returned the boy and his 4-year-old sister to their mother and stepfather after a summer stay in Noblesville, Ind.

On Thursday, the 27-year-old truck driver and his girlfriend, 39-year-old Jayne Moore--who helped care for the children earlier this summer--were still trying to find out what happened to Cecil “C.T.” Turner, who was found dead under the heavy brush near Oso Creek Tuesday afternoon.

Turner said he doubts that either C.T.’s mother, Edith Marie Wu, 30, or her current husband, 26-year-old Feilong Wu, would have harmed the child. But he said his former wife called him Thursday to say she is not allowed unsupervised contact with their daughter, Bryttnie. She also told him he could have custody of the little girl, Turner said.

“She told me they had given her a lie detector test,” Turner said of his conversation with Wu on Wednesday. “Then she said they told her she had failed just to see her reaction. She said they also gave Feilong a lie detector test.”

Turner and Moore came to Orange County to help arrange his son’s funeral and search for answers to the toddler’s mysterious death. He also said he plans to take his little girl back to Indiana.

“Originally, I planned to come down here and pick up Bryttnie and take her to her grandparents in Austin. Not any more. I’m going to take my daughter back with me, and that’s going to be the end of it.

“She told me that I could have custody of Bryttnie,” Turner said. “She said she’s beginning to doubt her abilities as a mother. She said she doesn’t know if she can handle it, and it might take her months to recover.”

Turner said he originally allowed his former wife to have custody because with his tattoos and 270-pound girth, he figured he didn’t have “a snowball’s chance in hell” of getting custody in any court in Texas.

The boy’s mother told investigators the toddler apparently wandered from the family’s apartment early Monday while she was sleeping and his stepfather was out jogging.

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C.T., who turned 2 last month, was found dead the next day. An autopsy failed to determine a cause.

Turner said the investigator on the case called him Thursday and assured him that there were no signs of sexual assault and all the little boy had on him were bug bites. C.T.’s body was discovered nude.

Turner plans to attend his son’s funeral in Austin as he anxiously awaits autopsy results.

“We just keep hearing different stories,” said Gina Moore, 21, Turner’s girlfriend’s daughter, as her mother and Turner packed for the trip west Thursday. “I just fell in love with that little boy.”

Particularly painful for the family was not finding out until hours after the boy’s body had been identified, Turner and Moore said.

“That night she told me, I felt sadness, but toward the end of [Wednesday], it’s verging on anger,” he said. “There is no reason a 2-year-old should die.”

Edith Marie Wu did not call Turner until 12:30 a.m. (PDT) Wednesday, hours after the news had been made public in California, Moore said. The father and his girlfriend have gotten most of their details about the death from the tabloid television show “Hard Copy,” Gina Moore said.

Since C.T. disappeared, his sister has been staying at Orangewood Children’s Home, the county’s children shelter.

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Turner talked to his daughter for the first time Wednesday during a call to Orangewood, Moore said. She told him that C.T. was missing and the police were looking for him.

Moore said counselors are being brought in to break the news to Bryttnie, who had discovered her brother was missing and awakened her mother.

This morning, a Juvenile Court judge will hold a custody hearing to consider the girl’s future.

“One of my main concerns right now is what’s best for her,” Edith Marie Wu said from her Via Florecer apartment. “We’re not sure what’s going to happen. . . . She may stay with my parents.”

Orange County sheriff’s investigators questioned Wu and her new husband, a champion diver from China, for 12 hours on Tuesday and returned to the home Thursday with more inquiries.

Detectives are treating the case as a homicide, although they still have not determined how the boy died. Edith Marie Wu said Thursday she believes her son died from exposure.

In addition to speaking with investigators, the mother said she also spent Thursday consulting with caseworkers and family members about her daughter.

Orangewood officials said it’s normal procedure for children to stay at the children’s shelter during a police investigation, especially when other relatives do not live in the area.

Carolyn Morrow, Edith Marie Wu’s mother, said she would be “delighted” to care for the 4-year-old while her daughter “has a chance to recover and heal.” Morrow, who lives in Austin, said that if a judge agrees, the girl will be flown to Texas as soon as Saturday. Edith Marie Wu “doesn’t want to lose her baby,” Morrow said. “But she thinks this is best. . . . She has suffered quite a lot.”

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Wu and Turner were married in February 1992 and had the two children before divorcing in May 1996. The divorce papers were finalized on the same day that she and Feilong Wu were married, according to court papers. The pair met in a judo class at Austin Community College, friends said.

Edith Marie Wu was married twice before that, the first time when she was 18, court records show.

“Marie’s basically a good girl,” Morrow said, crying. “It’s been very hard for her, and she’s done the best she could.”

In Austin, Edith Marie Wu has pleaded guilty to writing bad checks in excess of $750 and was sentenced to four years’ probation. Texas authorities also said that she and her new husband are suspects in a burglary.

“The hot checks, I admit, I did do,” said Edith Marie Wu, who added that she is on probation for that crime. “But I’ve never been arrested, unless you count walking into the police station as an arrest.”

She and her husband, a diving coach for the Nadadores swim club in Mission Viejo, moved to Orange County from Texas about three weeks ago. Although she had told acquaintances earlier this week that she might be pregnant, the 30-year-old woman said Thursday that she is not expecting.

As of Thursday afternoon, authorities had not released the boy’s body to the family pending further toxicology tests, a coroner deputy said.

“Both Feilong and I will be attending the funeral,” Wu said. “At this point, I don’t see any problems with that.”

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Len Hall.