Dead Boy’s Sister Given to Her Father

One week after her 2-year-old brother was found dead in Mission Viejo, the sister of Cecil “C.T.” Turner was released from a children’s shelter to her father’s custody Wednesday after a closed hearing in which a judge agreed with social workers that he is a fit parent.

Maxwell Turner, the 27-year-old father of the dead boy, left family court shortly after noon to join his 4-year-old daughter, Bryttnie, at an undisclosed location.

The girl was released Wednesday morning from the Orangewood Children’s Home and taken to a meeting place to “avoid being besieged by cameras,” said Lloyd Freeberg, the attorney representing Bryttnie’s mother, Edith Marie Wu, and stepfather, Feilong Wu.

Superior Court Judge Richard F. Toohey ruled Wednesday that Edith Marie Wu and Turner should have joint custody of their child, who will live with her father in Noblesville, Ind. The mother is allowed supervised visits, which are “typical under the circumstances,” Freeberg said.

Turner left the courthouse without making any public statements. Edith Marie Wu, appearing with her husband by her side, said, “All is going as planned.”

“I think this is what’s best for Bryttnie,” the mother said.

She and her husband will join Bryttnie and the rest of the family in Austin, Texas, for C.T.’s funeral services at Cook Walden Mortuary. She said funeral arrangements have not been finalized.

Bryttnie, who turns 5 on Saturday, was placed in protective custody about a week ago after two El Toro Marines found the body of her 2-year-old brother a few hundred yards from the family’s home. Investigators sequestered the boy’s mother and stepfather for questioning and later released the couple without charges.

An autopsy failed to determine how the boy died, and detectives are awaiting tissue and toxicological test results while they determine whether a crime was committed.

Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Wilkerson said Wednesday that detectives are looking for inconsistencies by reviewing forensic information and comparing the data to witnesses’ statements.

“We still don’t have any tips on his whereabouts” between the time the boy was reported missing Aug. 12 and when his remains were found the next day, Wilkerson said.

Feilong Wu, a champion diver from China who was awaiting working papers to start a coaching job with a Mission Viejo swim club, and his wife told investigators the toddler had wandered away when a door accidentally had been left ajar. That sparked a massive search by helicopters, dogs and scores of sheriff’s deputies and neighborhood volunteers. Searchers worked into the night and the next day under a scorching sun.

The boy was found covered in debris under heavy brush near the Oso Creek bank, and there were no signs of blunt trauma on the nude body. Detectives said they have doubts that the toddler could have made it down the steep slope and across a ravine by himself.

C.T. was last seen by his stepfather less than an hour before Bryttnie discovered he was missing from their house, the couple told deputies at the time.

Edith Marie Wu, 30, said after Wednesday’s hearing that she and her husband have “nothing to hide” and continue to cooperate with investigators. She added that she also was awaiting test results indicating how the toddler died, because it might provide some “closure” to the death.

“The hardest part about all of this is not knowing” what happened, C.T.’s mother said.

Turner, who visited the site where C.T. was found shortly after arriving in Orange County last week, has said he is mentally exhausted trying to figure out how his son died.

Turner was expected to be granted custody but the order had been pending while a caseworker this week sought to determine whether he was fit to care for his daughter. Social service workers interviewed Turner and visited his Indiana home before making a favorable determination, Freeberg said.

After sending the little girl off Wednesday with some clothes and toys for her first airplane trip, Edith Marie Wu said, “It’s not so hard to say goodbye when I know that she’s going to a family that loves her.”