Candice Diaz and Brad Fields indicted: A Sumpter Township, Michigan couple are charged with murder in what a medical examiner described as one of the worse case of child abuse ever.
A Sumpter Township, Michigan couple have been indicted on what a medical examiner has described the ‘worst child abuse death in decades.’
Indicted was 24 year old woman, Candice Diaz, and her 28 year old boyfriend, Brad Fields who were on Saturday charged with the murder of Diaz’s four year old daughter, Gabrielle Barrett.
The couple who were arrested January 9th, after being tracked down on a highway in Lake Park, Georgia are alleged to have caused the girl’s death on January 1 after leaving her in a burning bath while Diaz was allegedly making pancakes in the next room.
Officials told of finding the abandoned girl in the bathroom of a mobile home with Gabrielle’s seared skin discovered in the drain and her big toe having fallen off as a result of the alleged abuse.
Diaz told authorities, Gabrielle ran her own bathwater on Dec. 31, causing burns to her skin but admitted not seeking medical care for her daughter. The decision not to seek help for the child likely hinged on Diaz having been afforded child custody despite controversial evidence which put into question Child Protection Services decision.
Following the couple’s court appearance on Saturday, presiding Magistrate Elizabeth DiSanto declined issuing bond, saying that the couple would remain behind bars pending trial.
Candice Diaz and Brad Fields indicted: A history of severe mental illness.
Sumpter Township Police Department reported that both parents have a history of severe mental illness.
Court documents cited by the Detroit Free press earlier this month told of Diaz, having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. Fields, 28, said he has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, social anxiety, agoraphobia, which is a type of anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Diaz told DiSanto she last met with her psychiatrist last month. Fields said he wasn’t sure when he was last treated by a psychiatrist.
Fields is not Gabrielle’s father, but he and Diaz have a one-year-old child that also lived in the home.
Sumpter Township couple arrested as Gabby’s father says Candice Diaz didn’t kill her
Gabrielle Barrett child care, between a rock and a hard place:
Kyle Barrett, Gabrielle’s biological father told the Detroit Free Press he was ‘homeless’ and ‘jobless’ at the time of custody having been given to Diaz and Fields and had failed to pay child support for his daughter, having turned himself in the fall – the last time he got to hold Gabrielle.
He was released from jail two days following the death of his daughter.
Told Gabrielle’s father, Kyle Barrett, via clickondetroit, ‘It’s just hard for her being gone,’
Adding, ‘She in the right place, where God needs her. But it’s hard.’
Gabrielle’s paternal grandparents said they didn’t get to see her often.
‘This should have never happened to my granddaughter,’ Jerry Barrett said.
Whenever the grandparents wanted to visit, Diaz always had excuses, Jerry Barrett said.
Both Fields and Diaz have a probable cause conference scheduled on Jan. 31.
