[ad_1]
June 21 A Clark County judge set bail at $ 1 million each for the adoptive parents of a 15-year-old Vancouver boy who died of hunger and neglect in November.
Felicia L. Adams, 52, and Jesse C. Franks, 56, appeared in Superior Court Monday morning for domestic violence, second degree murder and abusive homicide in the death of Karreon Franks.
In response to the charges read, Franks said, “I don’t know why I’m being charged with all of this.”
Senior Deputy Prosecutor James Smith called the allegations “extremely concerning” and said the evidence in the case was overwhelming. He noted that Karreon’s condition at the time of the autopsy was shocking.
Adams and Franks each face a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted, Smith said.
The couple were extradited from San Joaquin County, Calif., Where they had been in fugitive custody since June 4 following court warrants issued by Clark County. The arrest warrants were issued on May 28, but their whereabouts at the time were unknown.
Vancouver attorney Jeff Sowder, who represents Adams, said on Monday that she and her husband surrendered to police in Stockton, California.
Adams had been in contact with a lawyer about a child dependency proceeding, Sowder told the court. He was then contacted about the criminal case through the Clark County Indigent Defense earlier this month, he said.
Sowder said the couple left their Vancouver residence after a reporter showed up at their door and neighbors learned of the criminal case, which led to their home being vandalized.
He has asked to be formally named for the Adams case and has said he will wait to plead for bail until they are before the presiding judge.
Justice John Fairgrieve granted Sowder’s request and also appointed Vancouver attorney David Kurtz, who was not present, to represent Franks.
The couple are expected to be arrested on July 2.
Weighed 61 pounds
Adams, also known as Felicia Adams-Franks, legally adopted Karreon and her two younger brothers in June 2012 in California; she is their maternal aunt, according to court records.
The story continues
Karreon is said to have had a rare genetic condition that affected his development and severe autism, to the point that he was almost non-verbal. He was also legally blind and used a cane to move around, court records show.
The Vancouver Police Department had been investigating the circumstances of Karreon’s death since early December.
On November 27, the couple took Karreon to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead 14 minutes later. Bilateral pneumonia was originally listed as his cause of death, according to a search warrant affidavit.
However, when the boy’s body was transferred to a Vancouver funeral home, staff reported “concerns about Karreon’s appearance,” the search warrant affidavit reads.
The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy, which found Karreon weighed 61 pounds and showed abnormal bone and hair growth, as well as lesions, likely caused by starvation. When he was last seen by his doctor in 2019, he weighed 115 pounds, court records show.
Adams told the medical examiner’s office that Karreon was taking a bath when he became unconscious, the likely cause of the affidavit.
A PeaceHealth Southwest emergency nurse had contacted child protection services when Karreon was brought in. SPC employees and law enforcement attended the family’s residence the next day and placed Karreon’s brothers in preventive detention, according to the affidavit.
This was the second time that the SPC had intervened at the residence in about a week. Adams’s sister Letricia Brown contacted the agency on November 20 to report that Adams routinely refused to eat the boys as punishment, court records show.
[ad_2]
picture credit