Parents Let Disabled Son Rot to Death

Parents Let Disabled Son Rot to Death

Content warning: This video is about a sensitive topic involving loss of life. We’ve removed any graphic content to comply with YouTube’s guidelines. We aim to provide informative factual journalism on a tragic event in the public interest that does not dismiss its seriousness. All clips are used under the doctrine of fair use for news reporting and analysis.

Jared Nicholas Tutco Jr. was born on October 5th, 2004, at Shore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point, New Jersey, to parents Kimberly Tutco and Jared Tutco Senior. Jared Jr. lived with five siblings, some of whom will be referred to using their initials during this story. According to Kimberly, Jared Jr. had serious mental disabilities and was very hard to manage. Allegedly, he would tear up the floor and carpet in his room, spread his feces on the walls and floors, and refused to wear a diaper. Jared Jr. was officially diagnosed with Fragile X syndrome in August of 2005, a genetic condition known to cause developmental delays. Both Kimberly and Jared Senior had been under the radar for a while when Jared Jr. was born.

For Kimberly, it started as early as 1993. There was a case filed against her with the Schuylkill County Children and Youth Services (CYS). The report involved her oldest child from a previous relationship. The child, who was only 6 months old, had suffered two head injuries within a short period of time. Kimberly’s rights to that child were later terminated, and soon after, she gave up her parental rights to her other children from that same relationship.

After that relationship ended, Kimberly married Jared Senior. Still living in Pennsylvania, she had two more children: a daughter named BT, born on August 31st, 2000, and a son named ENT, born on September 15th, 2001. However, the Schuylkill County CYS had concerns about unstable housing. The family was constantly moving, and the children were not getting the medical care they needed. It was noted that on April 24th, 2002, Kimberly made a phone call to the Dauphin County CYS complaining about the Schuylkill County CYS being involved with her family. On October 15th, 2002, there was supposed to be a court hearing about removing BT and ENT from their care, but the hearing never happened. Kimberly and Jared Senior moved out of Pennsylvania before the court date.

So, Schuylkill County closed the case. Later, Jared Senior told a Dauphin County caseworker that they had moved to New Jersey in 2002 because their lawyer told them Schuylkill County was about to take their children. Once the family relocated, the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) was contacted by Schuylkill County on October 11th. Schuylkill County informed them about the open case and the missed court hearing. They also noted that Kimberly and Jared Senior were not cooperating with the safety plan and had refused to give permission for their records to be reviewed. At the time, Jared Senior, Kimberly, and their children were living in a hotel. Police checked in on them, and the children appeared to be safe to them.

That specific referral was closed, but over time, New Jersey’s DYFS received other reports about poor parenting and the parents not following medical directions. Kimberly and Jared Senior soon had another daughter known as ART on August 11th, 2003. However, records show that after being hospitalized for seizures, ART was not given her required medication properly. Her parents didn’t bring her in for follow-up visits either. Her father had reduced her medication dosage even though the pediatrician told him not to. After another emergency room trip in September of 2004, DYFS removed ART from the home, but later returned her to her parents’ care. After all of these cases, neither of Jared Jr.’s parents had a stable life at the time of his birth, because of which the hospital was asked to delay his release to his parents. He was placed in foster care after his hospital discharge and stayed there from October 12th to October 18th, 2004.

In 2005, Kimberly and Jared Senior moved from New Jersey to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Neighbors in that area said they hardly ever saw the mother outside her house. One neighbor remembered seeing Jared Senior slap one of his sons, who was so thin at the time that his ribs were visible. Jared Jr. returned to live with his parents until July 3rd, but by June 21st, DYFS opened another case on him. A home nurse helping the family became worried that he wasn’t gaining enough weight and might not be getting properly fed. At 9 months old, his weight was dropping. The nurse told the doctor that Jared Jr. weighed 14 lb 2 oz on June 30th. By July 1st, his weight dropped once again. By July 3rd, he weighed just over 13 lb. At that point, the doctor called the family and said Jared Jr. needed to go to the hospital. Jared Senior said they didn’t have a car. The doctor suggested calling an ambulance. He refused and hung up the phone. Jared Jr. was admitted to Shore Memorial Hospital on July 3rd through DYFS intervention. He weighed 13 lb 7 oz when he was admitted. By the time he was discharged on July 11th, he had gained over a pound, weighing 14 lb 11 oz. After leaving the hospital, he was placed back into foster care and remained there until April 6, 2006.

Shortly after Jared Jr. was returned to his parents, another referral was made. On July 7th, DYFS reached out to Dauphin County. They worried the family wasn’t getting the same kind of support in Pennsylvania as they had in New Jersey. Dauphin County decided not to investigate the report, saying they didn’t have enough information about where the family was living. The next time the family came to the agency’s attention was on January 9th, 2008. Steele Elementary School staff submitted a report about BT, the oldest daughter, who was seven at the time. The report said BT had poor hygiene and often looked dirty. She said she was scared of her father and claimed her mother touched her inappropriately. Her teacher said Jared Senior called every week and came off as intimidating. The other child, ENT, told the school staff his dad was scary like a monster. The case was open for investigation and was supposedly completed by February 8th, 2008. But according to grand jury testimony, none of the documents from that investigation were filed and they couldn’t be found, so the outcome of that case is unknown.

Another referral came in on February 3rd, 2010, again from Steele Elementary School. Court documents refer to this child as DT, but I think this is a mistake and that they are actually referring to BT, who was one of Jared Jr.’s older sisters. The reason we believe this to be the case is because after he was born, his parents had two more daughters. One was born in 2008 and another in 2011. Only Jared’s sister BT would make sense to be the one referred to by an elementary school because she was the only sister who was in school at the time. The other two children have never been referred to by their initials in court documents, and one wouldn’t have even been born yet at the time of this referral. Also, I know all these initials are confusing, but we’re not going to name these surviving children. All other official sources have also redacted their names. Furthermore, the goal should be to protect these children’s identities. I know there are plenty of cases where the media names all the surviving children or that one of the surviving children was in the spotlight for some reason, but the goal should be to protect these children’s identities, and I’m glad the media has not named these children either.

That said, when we have a case that has a ton of abbreviated names or aliases, we will have a “who’s who” up on the screen multiple times throughout the video so you can better follow along. Now, BT was hearing impaired and used sign language. She had a fever the day before and when the school tried to contact her father to pick her up, there was no response.

The next day, BT still had this fever. When asked if her dad had done anything, she signed the word “slap.” She seemed upset and school staff were scared to send her home. The agency assigned a caseworker to look into it. On February 8th, the caseworker went to the school and spoke to BT with help from a teacher who could interpret sign language. BT didn’t share anything and didn’t say whether her dad or anyone else had hurt her. A few days later on February 12th, the caseworker went back to the school to talk to ENT. He said he didn’t know anything about his sister being hit. He did mention that their younger brother, Jared Jr., sometimes got his hand smacked, but said there was no other physical discipline.

On February 18th, the caseworker made a planned visit to the family’s home on Green Street in Harrisburg. During that visit, she saw BT and ART. Kimberly said ART had severe brain damage from a seizure back in 2007 and was now confined to a hospital bed at home. The caseworker noted that BT showed behavior similar to what she had seen before in children with autism and suggested Kimberly take her to a doctor for evaluation. Kimberly also explained in regards to BT’s fever that BT had felt better the next morning, that she had checked her temperature at home and it was normal, so she sent her to school. Before closing the investigation, the caseworker wrote in her report that she still needed to observe Jared Jr. Kimberly said he was at a friend’s house.

There’s no record showing whether the caseworker checked every room in the home that day. The next day, February 19th, another caseworker went back to the house. This time, they saw Jared Jr. who appeared clean and had no visible issues. The report said he seemed slightly mentally delayed, but they didn’t feel that there was any concern. Based on that, the agency closed the investigation. On December 9th, 2010, Dauphin County CYS got another report about BT. The person making this report said BT had been showing up to school dirty for the past year or more and often wore the same clothes for several days. Despite this, the agency did not investigate this report. It was marked as information only. The caseworker passed it along to a supervisor. Nothing else was documented about this report. It’s also unclear whether the caseworker reviewed any of the earlier referrals or was aware of the family’s history with child services in New Jersey or Schuylkill County.

Then on October 23rd, 2013, a new report came through Pennsylvania’s Childline. According to the report, one of the children told the person making the referral there was ongoing family violence at the home between his parents. He said he often got dragged into their arguments and felt pressured to choose sides. He explained that whenever he sided with his mother, his father would yell, curse, and get in his face or even hit him. The child said his father would pick fights with him and used him as a target for his anger. Though he couldn’t say exactly when these things happened, he admitted to wanting to run away on October 21st because of all of the fighting. He said that when his dad found out, he went off on him. The child didn’t report any injuries or pain, but he said he was scared to tell anyone what went on at home because he thought his dad would hurt him.

A caseworker was eventually assigned to investigate. On October 24th, she visited the home and told the parents she needed to see all of the children. In response, Jared Senior went upstairs to the third floor. About 15 minutes later, he came back down carrying Jared Jr. to the second floor. His head was wet. When asked, Jared Senior said the boy had poured iced tea on himself. Later, on October 31st, the caseworker met with ENT at his school. He was 12 years old at the time. He told her that the iced tea story wasn’t true. He said that Jared Jr. had feces all over himself from his diaper and that their dad had been trying to clean him up. He added that his dad didn’t care about Jared Jr. anymore.

As the caseworker continued looking into the family, she learned several things that stood out to her. Both parents were unemployed and stayed home with the children. The family would mostly survive on government benefit checks, which were being received monthly. ENT didn’t have a bedroom or even a bed; he slept on the living room couch. He also said that his dad would punch holes in the walls during fights. The caseworker saw patched-up areas in the walls and confirmed with both parents that Jared Senior had done this before. ENT also said his dad smashed phones during fights. Kimberly denied it, but Jared Senior confirmed that it happened. The caseworker also found out that both ART, who was 10, and Jared Jr., who was nine, were not enrolled in school at all.

During a home visit on November 1st, the caseworker asked both parents to sign release forms so she could access the kids’ medical records and talk to their doctors. Kimberly got upset and asked why those were needed, saying, “This is how things get twisted.” She insisted she took the kids to the emergency room when they were sick, then threw the release forms and started yelling at the caseworker. She asked if she should get a lawyer. Neither she nor Jared Senior ever agreed to let the agency see their children’s medical records.

The family became more and more difficult to work with for the caseworker. At one point, an emergency meeting was held at the agency. They were adamant about getting Kimberly and Jared Senior to agree to a family plan. When asked how serious she thought this situation was, the caseworker rated it a 9 out of 10. The plan included trying again to get the medical release forms signed, making sure the two school-aged children were enrolled in school, checking with Schuylkill County and New Jersey agencies about past involvement with the family, and contacting law enforcement about any domestic violence reports. They also decided to assign a different caseworker to take over. They thought that assigning a male caseworker from a rural background similar to Kimberly and Jared Senior might help get better cooperation from the family. Kirsten Johnson, who was a high-ranking official at the agency, later testified that the new caseworker had a completely different take on the family situation than the first caseworker.

This new caseworker didn’t seem to share the same level of concern. There was no discussion between the old and new workers or their supervisors about why their views were so different or how they were supposed to even resolve that. Even though the first caseworker wasn’t handling the case anymore, she did visit the home again with the new caseworker during the handover. She also wrote up a full report summarizing everything. Despite knowing all of the concerns, this new caseworker and his supervisor did not follow up to make sure that the children were enrolled in school. They also couldn’t get the parents to sign the medical release forms, which meant the agency had no way to check whether the children were really getting the care that they so desperately needed.

They continued making visits to the home. They saw the children during those visits and also checked in with BT at her school. During one visit, the supervisor again asked Kimberly to sign medical releases. She refused, but said they could look through the binder she had created with her kids’ medical records. Instead of requesting those records directly from the doctors, the agency accepted the binders. Neither the supervisor nor the new caseworker went up to the third floor of the house. In fact, the supervisor later admitted she never went beyond the first floor, and the caseworker didn’t even know the house had a third floor.

Because they never got access to the medical records and couldn’t verify anything the parents were saying, the agency decided to close the case on December 20th, 2013. They also never followed up with the school district to see if the two children who weren’t in school had ever been enrolled, even though they had asked the family to do so.