What WOULD It Have Taken For Child Protection to Help James Dunklee Cruz

What WOULD It Have Taken For Child Protection to Help James Dunklee Cruz

She said she had known this man most of her life, and she said that she never thought this would happen when her little boy was in the care of someone that she trusted. But was she more at fault than she was leading on, and what had really happened that night to the little boy?

Now, today’s case just might be the worst case of child protective services incompetency, and that’s saying a lot, because as you guys know, there’s been plenty of videos that I’ve done already where Child Protective Services has failed these children miserably. So when I say it’s the worst, it’s pretty bad.

The Background of James Dunklee Cruz

This is the story of James Dunklee Cruz. James Dunklee was born on January 17, 2015, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was a caring and sweet little boy; he loved Toy Story and the movie Cars. He also loved playing outside, driving his ride-on toys, and getting dirty like so many other little boys do. His mother, Krista Cruz, was only 17 years old and in foster care when she gave birth to James, who was her second son. There’s not a whole lot of information out there on James’s biological father, so we don’t really know a whole lot about him.

James lived with his mother, Krista Cruz. Krista was selfish, had mental health issues, and was a serial dater, jumping from one relationship to the next with no regard for her son’s feelings or safety. Now, Krista had lost custody of her firstborn son in 2014 when his paternal side filed a civil action suit alleging that she was an unfit parent, and boy, were they right. Now, Krista was just like her own mother; Krista’s mother’s parental rights had actually been terminated in 2009. This is after child services had received 22 allegations of abuse and neglect, so they were failing this girl all the time too. They finally stepped in, but that’s a lot—22—before she was finally taken away for good.

Yet somehow, after James was born, he and Krista were allowed to go live with Krista’s biological mother, the same one that she had been taken away from only six years prior. Child services received three reports of abuse or neglect of James before he was even seven months old. At only three years old, James would often wander outside on his own in the middle of the night outside of the apartment that the family lived in. He was also once found cowering under the dark stairs at the family’s apartment complex holding on to his two teddy bears.

In June of 2019, when he was four years old, there was another allegation of abuse received by Child Protective Services. Krista’s living boyfriend at the time was physically abusing James and Krista as well. James told the social worker that the boyfriend had been hitting him with various different objects. He also said that he would often shower with this man—this man that he was not related to. That’s not normal. When James was later asked if this boyfriend of Krista’s ever touched him, he would say yes.

James was placed with his maternal aunt until soon later a safety plan was made, and James was returned to his mother. According to the safety plan, James was to go to counseling, and Krista was referred to housing assistance and given bus passes to help her. No counseling, though. Great, right?

Escalating Red Flags and the Move to Cinnamon Tree Apartments

Then again on September 18, 2019, Child Protective Services received a report with allegations of neglect of James. They said that his mother was leaving him unattended; the police had actually been called when someone saw James running around outside the apartment at night. Krista’s excuse was that friends had been babysitting him, but then they left without telling her. I don’t think that was the reason why. At this time, Krista also told a social worker that she had been evicted from her apartment and needed to get out within the next two days, but she said that she was going to be possibly moving in with her friends, Pamela Esparza, her boyfriend Zariq Marquez, and their two children. She had known them since they were kids.

The couple lived at the Cinnamon Tree Apartments in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The caseworker asked Krista what the address of the apartment was so that they could do home visits, and she never received a reply back from Krista. The caseworker then attempted to contact her four more times within the next two weeks. The case was just eventually closed as unsubstantiated while Krista and James were living with her friends.

Since the couple had children of their own, they would often babysit James as well. But then, only weeks after moving in, on October 18, 2019, Krista took James to the Duke City Urgent Care because his arm was hurting. It turned out James had a dislocated shoulder. At the time, Child Services as well as the Albuquerque police were called after a doctor had discovered that James had bruised genitalia as well. When a more thorough exam was done of James, it was also discovered that he had even more bruising, along with a black eye, a cut to his face, a swollen hand, an arm injury, and he was still in a diaper.

Meanwhile, James’s mother, Krista, had excuse after excuse. She said that she did not know about any of the abuse that was going on and blamed the bruises on him falling down on the playground.

Medical/Police Exam Audio Transcript: “All right, now we’re going to take some photos, okay? Oh, it’s hot, oh gosh. Okay, okay, all right, what happened to your arm? It probably just caught me. And then again, oh boy. Okay, all right, so just need you to look right in the camera, okay? It’s plastic, so I’m gonna put this next to your nose so what your alley is, okay? Okay, can you close your eye for me? There we go, sounds okay, that’ll work. Okay, can I see your back? Turn around for me. Can we take your little uh sling off for now? Yeah, I’ll put it right back on. We’re gonna re-look at all your owies you showed me earlier. Yeah, I’ll put it right back on. We’re gonna re-look at all your owies you showed me earlier, okay? Okay, and lift your arm up a little bit, there we go. I don’t want to hurt it. Let me get a picture of your arms. His hand is a little swollen, I think it’s from the injury. Open your hand. Can you open your hand up a little bit? You don’t have to move it, that’s fine. Okay, all right, before we do your shirt, I’m gonna have you turn your head sideways just a little bit, okay? I’m almost around your ear too, that might just come. Okay, can you do me a favor with this hand, can you look up for me there, huh? All right, all right, this way a little bit. Okay, do me a favor with this hand, can you hold your ears forward for me? Forward just a little bit. Oh, not that part, that part, there you go, good job. Okay, try it again. Oh, okay, okay, all right, can I stick behind your other ear? Good job, thank you. Oh, thank you, radio always does, yeah, see, good job. Okay, let’s see your back, can I see your back real quick? You gotta get up, can you do—are you okay? Get up? Nope.”

The Return to an Unsafe Home

James, at this point, had suffered injuries from three different men, including Krista’s new roommate, Zariq. The other roommate, Pamela, soon showed up at the urgent care as well, and she blamed James’s bruises on her two-year-old daughter. James was taken into emergency temporary care. It was suspected that Zariq had caused many of the little boy’s injuries.

Three days later, on October 21st, a home visit was conducted. Now, I don’t know what was seen or what was said; it must have been some kind of magic, because James was released back into his mother’s care. They deemed his case safe with a plan. So, in other words, Krista had a written agreement that she had signed with child services saying that she would take the proper steps in order to ensure James’s safety—October 21st, written and signed, okay?

So even though there was now, on top of neglect, physical and sexual abuse going on, he was still allowed to stay with his mother. The neglect of James by his mother was marked as substantiated, while the physical and sexual abuse was marked as unsubstantiated against the unknown perpetrator. The child services investigator did tell Krista that she was no longer allowed to reside at the apartment with Zariq and Pamela. The caseworker instead set it up so that the two could stay at the Joy Junction shelter.

Two days later, it was confirmed that they were actually living at the shelter. However, the day after that, Krista called and told the social worker that she was no longer going to be living at the shelter and that James was actually staying with her sister in Arizona, but she refused to give any contact information or location information.

Caseworkers called the police to do a welfare check since the only address they had was Pamela and Zariq’s address. Police showed up there, however, nobody was home, so they obtained Krista’s sister’s information and tried to contact her. They couldn’t get through to her, but they texted Krista as well looking for the information as to where James was. Days later, Krista finally texted back saying that she and James were actually in Arizona. After further questioning, though, she admitted that she was in New Mexico and James was still in Arizona. The caseworker tried to reach out to the family member he was supposed to be with and received no response, and from there it seemed to just kind of get dropped. Must have just been, “Oh well.”

The Tragic Night of December 10, 2019

So at this point, Child Services knew about all the allegations. They knew that James slept in a closet at his home and that he called his mother “Miss Krista.” Krista’s former legal guardian was Child Protective Services; she was in the system for years. Given that Child Protective Services knew her mental health history, knew her history of trauma, her involvement in domestic violent relationships, her inability to regulate her emotions, and her inability to parent a young child, they knew James was in danger beginning just days after he was born. But they never sought to legally remove him from his mother’s care.

On the evening of December 10, 2019, Zariq was watching James because apparently he and his mother had moved back in, even though they weren’t supposed to. The other two children were there at the time as well. Around 10 PM, a 911 call was placed from the apartment, and the Albuquerque police were dispatched to the home. The caller said that James was unresponsive. When the EMTs arrived, they said that James appeared unconscious and not breathing. EMTs asked how long James had been unconscious and not breathing, and Zariq said 20 minutes. He was gone.

Zariq also told them at this time to ignore the burn on the little boy’s ear because it was just a little electrical burn from another incident—not the time, dude.

James was transported to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:44 PM. According to Zariq, he had been babysitting James and his two children while Pamela had brought Krista to work. He said that James was laying on the floor while he was looking for underwear in his dresser. Zariq says that he tripped on something and then fell on James, knee first. I don’t know how you would even fall knee first—is that even possible? Anyways, didn’t happen. He said that James started panting, took a couple of steps, collapsed, and then hit his head. At this point, he says he contacted Pamela and told her that her and Krista needed to come home because James was acting weird.

When Pamela and Krista arrived back home, that’s when 911 was called. He didn’t call before that; he could have probably saved James had he called before taking the two of them to get back home.

Autopsy, Evidence, and Cover-Up

James had numerous observable injuries, and this is not even all of them. He had bruising all over his entire body, including places you wouldn’t even expect to see bruises, like the top of his foot and the back of his knee. He also had a bloody upper ear, an abrasion to his chin, abrasions to his right knee, a bump to his head, the inside of his bottom lip was cut, and he had a large scratch on his neck. The doctor found that many of these injuries were not consistent with Zariq’s story.

The autopsy then confirmed that the boy also had massive internal injuries. On top of all that, James’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and torso. He also had a healing jaw fracture and a healing subdural hemorrhage. Officers noticed that Zariq had a bruised and swollen hand; when they asked him about it, he said that he was in a fight at work weeks ago, but then changed his story to say that he punched a door after hearing about James being dead. Security footage shows him punching nothing.

Zariq’s two-year-old daughter also told investigators that her father jumps on James too hard when he’s angry. The girl said that James was hurt and would cry, and she was worried about him. Detectives also found text messages between Zariq and Pamela that went back months talking about beating the children, lying about a bruise on James’s leg, and talking about hating James and Krista. In one text, Pamela said that she told a crying James to shut up and nobody cares; this was in regards to a leg injury that the poor little boy had. The text also asks Zariq to lie to her mother about how the little boy received the injury, saying maybe they should blame the other child instead. Pamela told the police that when the couple had brought James over for Thanksgiving, the poor little boy could barely even walk, and she said he was really in pain, but Pamela said that he just had a weak leg.

The only child services caseworker that had ever investigated the home while James was living with Zariq and Pamela had been begging her bosses to do the right thing and to take him into custody. They said no and told her to calm down.

After the little boy’s death, Krista tried to say that she did everything to save him. She said that James always came before herself; she said that when she lived in Rio Rancho, she would walk back and forth to work just so that she could support him. Yeah, that’s your job as a mother; you’re not doing anything special or out of the ordinary.

At a vigil that was held for James days after his death, Krista got up and spoke, and she said she believes that the man hurt James, but she doesn’t know how. And she said, “I trusted this person with my life, and like any mom, you think you’ve known this person for so long, they’re not gonna hurt your child or do anything like this.” Krista also claimed that she was working with child services to get child care at the time. Bullshit.

However, James’s grandfather said that when he had taken the little boy last spring when Krista was homeless, James was always hungry, and he could tell that he was not well taken care of. He had begged child services to not give him back to his mother.

Arrests, Legal Proceedings, and Lawsuits

Search warrants were issued for the apartment as well as the three adults’ phones. All evidence pointed to Zariq—not that the women were necessarily innocent, they just didn’t actually cause his death directly. On February 18, 2020, Zariq Marquez was arrested and charged with intentional abuse of a child resulting in death. Over a year later, on December 13, 2021, finally, Krista Cruz and Pamela Esparza were charged with reckless abuse of a child resulting in death.

Zariq is also trying to withdraw the plea that he made in March of 2020. He had pleaded guilty to intentional child abuse resulting in death, but he was asking to back out of the plea, saying that he didn’t understand that he was going to be spending life in prison; he thought that he was going to be getting out after 30 years. What the sentence actually outlined in the plea deal was that he would be serving life and would be eligible for parole after 30 years. He read this and signed it; it was in exchange for avoiding other charges. He thought that he was just going to be automatically released after 30 years, and he says he misunderstood it. The judge quickly denied the motion, even reminding him that back in March, he asked Zariq if he had any questions about the plea deal, and Zariq remained silent.

James’s grandfather has filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the family. They say that James’s child services caseworker fought to get him out of his mother’s custody, however, her supervisors were the ones that told her no and to calm down. It alleges that child services had an obligation under law and the U.S. Constitution to remove James from the unsafe home and to place him into a safe environment. The lawsuit also includes allegations that child services tried to cover up how they handled the case: the child services manager had instructed the caseworker to delete her notes from her phone before they even got entered into the system; they believed that all picture evidence was destroyed. The caseworker also turned in the phone where it was reset to factory settings. This lawsuit that’s filed on behalf of James’s estate seeks unspecified damages, but also wants to see change in the policies and procedures at child services that are intended to prevent the failures that happened in James’s case. A federal lawsuit was also filed with many of the same allegations as the lawsuit that James’s estate had filed, stating that child protective services had failed in protecting James as well as covered up important information.

Conclusion

Well, thank you for listening to all of James’s story today. It’s unbelievable that with all the allegations and reports of abuse and neglect and the proof that was behind it, that James was never removed from his mother’s custody. Not only did she hurt that little boy and treat him like he didn’t matter, she let numerous other people hurt him as well. Even though he kept a smile on his face, that little boy lived a terrible life. She’s a terrible human being, and I don’t know how anybody could let a child stay with a monster like that.