Boy, 3, Dies of Burns Suffered in Foster Home

A 3-year-old boy whose mother said she repeatedly complained about the foster home where he had lived has died from “massive” burns as his mother was fighting to regain custody of him, authorities said Wednesday.

Elijah J. Johnson, who lived in a foster home in the 1400 block of West 49th Street, had burns over 46% of his body, a spokesman for the coroner’s office said.

The boy was placed in or climbed into a bathtub of scalding water April 25, investigators said.

Elijah died Monday at County-USC Medical Center while a hearing was underway that could have allowed him to be returned to his mother.

The child had massive burns on his back, legs and arms, Los Angeles Police Department homicide investigators said.

“There is no way this was accidental,” a physician who examined Elijah immediately after the incident wrote in his notes, according to a report obtained by The Times. “I would treat this as a murder. His [chance of] survival is less than 25%.”

The Department of Children and Family Services remains one of the county’s most troubled agencies, nine years after the state almost placed it in receivership for, among other things, failing to check up on foster children.

At that time the county turned to Peter Digre, the high-energy and, critics complained, high-maintenance chief of Florida’s child welfare agency. After he arrived in Los Angeles, Digre insisted that social workers check foster parents’ criminal backgrounds and make at least one monthly home visit to each foster child.

Yet despite many programs subsequently instituted, problems persisted in an agency that is responsible for 75,000 abused and neglected children. The Board of Supervisors designated an inspector general to look into child deaths.

Calls to the child abuse hotline were going unreturned, and social workers were griping about increasing paperwork and caseloads.

A series of critical audits led supervisors to search for a new second-in-command, and they allocated money to hire 481 more caseworkers next year.

Then, last week, Digre unexpectedly resigned, effective June 30, leaving supervisors searching for his replacement as well as the new second-in-command.

Although some welcome the impending departure of Digre, who was unpopular in the agency and with members of the county board, others wonder where the department is now headed.

In the case of Elijah, his mother, Connie Lawrence, 24, said she had told her social worker numerous times that the boy was in danger.

“There were always scratches and bruises all over his body,” Lawrence said Wednesday, choking back tears. “Once he had a black eye. He always had big old hickeys and stuff on his head. I told [the social worker] on many occasions about things.”

Hospital officials interrupted the hearing Monday to summon Lawrence and the boy’s foster mother, Brenda Craney, to County-USC, where they were told that Elijah had died.

That news triggered a physical altercation between the two women, officials said.

Children’s department officials declined to discuss details of the case, citing confidentiality requirements under state law.

But a department official who asked not to be identified said “there are no words to adequately explain or justify what happened to this little boy. Everyone here is deeply upset, but we have to wait for the police and [the children’s department’s] inspector general to finish their work. If this child was murdered, there should be no limits on the penalty imposed on those responsible.”

Four other children ages 1 through 10 lived with foster mother Craney, 36. Three are her biological children, but all of them have now been placed in protective custody, investigators said.

Although officials would not discuss details of Elijah’s death, the report obtained by The Times said Craney’s daughter Leona Hightower, 23, told social workers that Hightower had run a tub of hot water about noon April 25 so she could take a bath before going to work.

Elijah asked her if he could use the bathroom, and she allowed him to go in alone, Hightower said. Wondering why he had been in the bathroom so long, Hightower told a social worker, she returned to find that he had undressed and climbed into the tub.

She said she pulled him out and wrapped him in a towel. Hightower said she then called Craney, who she said returned home and called her social worker. The social worker arrived 15 minutes later and told the women to call 911.

“I can’t explain the delay in calling paramedics, but somebody should,” said the children’s department official who requested anonymity. “It’s incomprehensible.”

LAPD Homicide Lt. John Dunkin said investigators are trying to determine if a crime occurred.

“The manner in which the act was described to us” does not match the evidence, he said, adding that detectives are “leaning toward” seeking criminal charges against Hightower and could do so by today.

Lawrence said her son went to live with Craney in September 1996 after his father was accused of beating Elijah’s half sister. Lawrence said the county gave her the opportunity of choosing someone to take care of the boy outside the home.

So she turned to Craney for help, because she did not want Elijah in the care of a stranger.

“We thought we could trust her, you know,” Lawrence said. “She was a friend of the family.”

But shortly after Elijah went to live with Craney, Lawrence said, she began to suspect that something was wrong. “He was always hungry,” she said. “I could feel his ribs. And he was always dirty, from head to toe.”

When she complained to her social worker, Lawrence said, “she would try to justify it and would take up for [Craney]. After we would tell her things, she would run back and tell this lady, instead of investigating it, instead of doing her job. I told her a lot of times. I complained to the courts and everything.”

Craney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Lawrence said she did not learn of the burning until two days later, when the social worker sent her a certified letter saying she could not reach her by phone.

“This lady lived three or four blocks away, and she couldn’t come over and knock on the door,” Lawrence said of Craney. Lawrence had retained a lawyer to help her fight for custody of the boy.

“As soon as I got the letter, I went straight to the hospital,” she said. “He was all bandaged up. They had him on a lot of medication.”

A children’s department official who asked not to be identified said Lawrence “had completed everything we had wanted her to complete. This kid should have been returned.”

Times staff writer Matt Lait contributed to this story.