DCF looks into girl's abduction
It wants to know why it took four months for a toddler's caseworker to report her missing.
By MELANIE AVE
Published June 19, 2007
Something clearly went wrong in the case of Courtney Alisa Clark, the 2-year-old Pinellas County girl abducted from foster care by her mother last fall.
Less clear is why it took the girl's caseworker four months to report her missing to law enforcement, or what happened in the nine months before Wisconsin authorities finally found her on Thursday.
Courtney was safe but living amid a grisly scene in a two-story rental home where authorities discovered a scalded and starving 11-year-old boy and the buried body of a 37-year-old woman.
On Monday, the Florida Department of Children and Families launched an internal review of the case and asked the inspector general to investigate.
To many, the case echoed that of Miami foster child Rilya Wilson, whose body was never found, but who police believe was dead more than 15 months before DCF realized in April 2002 that she was missing.
DCF spokesman Al Zimmerman said Courtney should have been reported missing within 24 hours.
"Obviously something went wrong somewhere along the way on this, " he said. "We want to know what went wrong, why it went wrong, so it won't go wrong again."
The Safe Children Coalition, the private foster care agency responsible for Courtney's care, had little explanation about the delay in reporting the disappearance.
Lee Johnson, executive vice president of the Sarasota Family YMCA that oversees the coalition, originally said the agency reported the girl missing to DCF on Oct. 2.
But when told DCF actually received notification from the coalition more than two months later, on Dec. 28, he admitted the error.
It took almost another month for someone to alert any Florida law enforcement agencies that the girl was missing.
Despite the delay, Johnson said he did not think "there was any ball dropped."
"As far as we know, nobody did anything wrong, " he said.
The case began July 21, when Courtney was placed in the Lake County home of a family friend. Her mother, Candice Farris, 23, also known as Candace Clark, had been arrested on identity theft and fraud charges in Seminole County.
The Safe Children Coalition asked a Pinellas County judge to keep the girl at the Sorrento home belonging to Cynthia Martell, 42, even though she was not a state-licensed foster parent.
On Sept. 23, Farris convinced Martell that it was okay to return the girl to her, said Lake County Detective James Vachon.
"The foster parents didn't think they had any authority to keep them from their mom, " Vachon said. "I don't think there was any evil intent on their part."
On Oct. 5, the coalition issued a juvenile pickup order, similar to a warrant, and sent it to authorities in Colorado where Farris was scheduled to appear in court the next day.
Farris did not show up, Vachon said.
Little more happened with the case until Dec. 28, when the Safe Children caseworker, submitted the girl to the state's computer child tracking system, HomeSafeNet.
On Jan. 25, Vachon was on call when the case worker finally notified the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
"It's real curious why she went missing in late September, and we were just hearing about it in late January, " he said. "I never got a clear answer on that."
Vachon, a 33-year-old rape and child abuse investigator, said he immediately registered the girl with the National Crime Information Center, available to law enforcement agencies nationwide.
He checked on the case regularly. Finally last Thursday, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement notified him that a Portage, Wis., address showed up on a credit report for Farris' boyfriend, Michael Sisk, 25.
Vachon contacted the Portage police, who arrived at the home that day and found Farris, another woman and four children - Courtney, a 15-year-old girl, a 1-year-old girl and a 3-month-old baby.
The next day they found the 11-year-old boy, covered with blisters on his face, hands and feet from boiling water, hiding in a closet. They also discovered the woman, who they think is the boy's mother, buried in the back yard.
"The child looks very similar to the pictures ... that you see of people that are coming out of concentration camps, " said Columbia County District Attorney Jane Kohlwey to the Daily Register in Portage.
Columbia County, Wis., Medical Examiner Marc Playman said an autopsy showed the dead woman had been strangled and physically abused. Police said the woman, who was not identified, disappeared around Memorial Day.
Farris and the other woman, Michaela Clerc, 20, who are in the Columbia County Jail, face charges of obstruction of justice and criminal abuse of a child, according to the Daily Register.
Authorities arrested Sisk on Friday at a Greyhound bus station in Milwaukee. He had not been formally charged Monday.
The 15-year-old girl, believed to be the daughter of the dead woman, was taken into custody by juvenile authorities. The other four children were placed in protective custody with Columbia County Health and Human Services. Courtney is expected to return to foster care in Florida.
Vachon said the case will be a career highlight for him.
"This little girl was in a bad situation, " he said. "With a lot of help I was able to track her down and get her safe and if I hadn't, that little boy probably would have ended up dead.
"In this case, you get to see an outcome. I just wish things would have been reported a lot sooner."
Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Melanie Ave can be reached at mave@sptimes.com or 727 893-8813.
Time line of missing Florida girl
July 21, 2006: Courtney Clark's mother, Candice Farris, 23, is arrested on identity-theft and fraud charges by the Sanford Police Department in Seminole County. The girl is placed with family acquaintance, Cynthia Martell, in Sorrento in Lake County. At the recommendation of the foster agency overseeing her case, the Safe Children Coalition, a Pinellas County judge okays her continued placement with Martell. The family lived in St. Petersburg in 2006.
Aug. 30: The Lake County Sheriff's Office makes a safety visit at the Sorrento home where the girl is staying.
Sept. 23: Farris persuades Martell to hand over the child.
Oct. 3: Martell reports the girl missing to the coalition.
Oct. 5: The coalition issues a juvenile pickup order, or warrant, and sends it to Grand Junction, Colo., authorities, where Farris has a court date the next day in which she does not appear.
Dec. 28: The coalition places the girl on the Florida Department of Children and Families missing children list.
Jan. 25: The caseworker notifies the Lake County Sheriff's Office the girl is missing, and she is placed in a national crime information system.
June 14: FDLE alerts the Lake County Sheriff's Office of a Portage, Wis., rental address where Farris' boyfriend is living. The girl and her mother are found along with another woman and three other children. The next day they discovered a scalded 11-year-old boy. His mother's body is found buried in the back yard.
Sources: Florida Department of Children and Families, Lake County Sheriff's Office, Safe Children Coalition and the Associated Press