JAMES FANSHIER - 3 yo (1/2011) - Taft (SW of Bakersfield) CA

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- The Kern County Sheriff's
Department said a 3-year-old was found not breathing in a home and
died, and now the coroner is determining the exact cause of death.Deputies
said that on Sunday at about 7:35 p.m., they were sent to a home in the
200 block of Van Buren Street in Taft regarding a child not breathing.When
the deputy arrived, they said they were met on the street by the
child’s stepmother who was holding the child, the KCSD reported.
The deputy immediately started CPR, however, the child did not respond
to treatment and was pronounced dead at the home, deputies said.Homicide detectives responded to the scene to investigate.An autopsy is scheduled for Monday to determine the exact cause of death
http://www.turnto23.com/news/26595798/detail.html

Taft, Calif. —

The Kern County Coroner has identified the young boy who died Sunday in
Ford City under suspicious circumstances as James Fanshier, 3.
An autopsy was performed Monday but no cause of death has been established
“It's undetermined at this point as to cause and manner of death,” Sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt said Tuesday afternoon,
The cause is pending further microscopic and toxicological tests which could take up to 90 days, Pruitt said.
The boy was not breathing when Sheriff's deputies, firefighters and
paramedics were called to a small home at 200-1/2 Van Buren Street just after 7:30 p.m Sunday.
The boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
Kern County Sheriff's homicide detectives are investigating the death because of bruises found on the boy's body, Pruitt said.
“It hasn't been ruled a homicide but we are investigating it as a suspicious death,” Pruitt said.
Detectives have interviewed the two adults in the home, his biological
father's ex girlfriend and her new boyfriend, identified as Stormy Roberts, 20, and Dustin Wedel, 24.
Both have been questioned in the case and are persons of interest, Pruitt said.
“We have not classified anyone as a suspect but these are individuals
we have questioned as part of the investigation,” Pruitt said.
Detectives have also talked with the biological father and are
attempting to talk with the mother as well, Pruitt said “to try to find out what happened to this boy.”

http://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/news/x1235861036/Coroner-identifies-boy-who-died-in-Ford-City

I found this update but no information about who has been or will be arrested:

Ford City boy was victim of homicide, coroner rules
Posted Jun 23, 2011 @ 09:40 AM
Taft, Calif. — The young boy who died in Ford City in late January was the victim of a murder, the Kern County Sheriff-Coroner has ruled.
After months of tissue studies following the death, it was ruled the boy suffered multiple injuries that caused his death.
“After completing an autopsy including microscopic and toxicological studies, the cause of death for 3-year-old James Fanshier was determined to be multiple blunt force injuries and the manner of death is Homicide,” the Sheriff-Coroner said in a brief statement released Thursday morning.
Fanshier died in a small bungalow at 2001/2 Van Buren on Jan. 23.
He was staying with the ex-girlfriend of his father and her current boyfriend.
The woman ran into the street carrying the boy's body and flagged down a passing Sheriff's deputy.
Medical aid was summoned but the boy was pronounced dead.
Check Taftmidwaydriller.com for updates on this story as more information becomes available.

http://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/breaking/x2108613587/Ford-City-boy-was-victim-of-homicide-coroner-rules

17 News Investigation, Child deaths: who's protecting our children?

February 24, 2012 - 12:49 AM


Trinity Hanna, James Fanshier, Serenity Gandara and Guillermo
Alvarez... all innocent children law enforcement says were murdered by
those who should have loved and cared for them.

So how do we stop more of these senseless killings from happening?

Bill
Grimm is an advocate for children at the National Center for Youth Law.
He helped write a bill that set out to protect society's most
vulnerable citizens.

"That fact is what happens in Child
Protective Services in the state of California and in most states is
hidden," Grimm said. "The public very rarely gets a glimpse into how
Child Protective Services operates."

In 2008, the California
legislature passed Senate Bill 39. The law allows the public to get a
look into what Child Protective Services did to protect or not protect a
child when he or she dies.

"The response around the state has
been mixed. I think some counties are responding more openly and
producing records more quickly," Grimm said. "I think other counties are
not and are trying to find ways around complying with the law."

In
Kern County, when a child is murdered, 17 News sends requests for
documents under SB-39 and almost every time Child Protective Services
sends back nothing of consequence. The Department and the District
Attorney's office cite an ongoing investigation as the reason not to
release the documents.

"If there happens to be a criminal
investigation that is ongoing, perhaps no arrests, or there is an
arrest, but they have not gone to court, we are often asked not to
provide that information to the media and to the community because it
might jeopardize the criminal case," said Human Services Director Pat
Cheadle.

But, Grimm said there is another motive.

"What
is often times disclosed particularly where the agencies had past
contact in the child death is embarrassing and raises questions about
whether the public agency has done what it should have done to protect
children," Grimm said.

Grimm sites the January death of
3-year-old Trinity Hanna of Taft. Horrific details of the weeks leading
up to her death are outlined in a sheriff's report. Trinity's mother's
live-in boyfriend Eric Foster was arrested in connection with her death.


"In reading through the 46-page police report. I frankly was
startled by the fact that in early January, Trinity was taken to the
hospital with severe burns from her neck to her buttox, inflicted by
Eric. The child, I believe, said Eric burned me," Grimm said. "Trinity
stayed in the hospital for ten days so we know the severity of the burn.
How that child ended up going back to that home after that burn and
hospitalization is simply unfathomable."

Under SB-39, 17 News has
requested the CPS file on Trinity Hanna. Again, the District Attorney's
office refuses to provide the documents to 17 News even though law
enforcement already made an arrest.

"I totally agree with the
rationale behind SB-39, but I think most people would say if it's
between the public getting to know every salient detail, every salacious
part of the case or being able to prosecute successfully someone who
did this so they won't do it in the future and then later being able to
be given every detail of the case, I think most people would say that's a
small price to pay," Deputy District Attorney Andrea Kohler said.

But,
prosecuting a case can take years. Meantime, the public is left without
answers and those charged with protecting our children aren't held
accountable for those like Trinity, who many have fallen through the
cracks. For that, CPS said it does an internal investigation into each
child death.

"If you are asking me 'Are we afraid to release the
information because we are afraid that a social worker may have not
done their job?' My answer would be 'no' that's not the reason," Cheadle
said. "I would say I am proud of the work our social workers do here,
and that in the review of the cases there have been very few incidents
that involved something that could have been done better."

But, that's CPS reviewing CPS, and SB-39 was enacted to let the public decide if children are being protected.

"The
intent of SB-39 was to have an informed discussion about whether this
was a preventable death and whether there is a way of preventing other
Trinitys from happening in Kern County," Grimm said. "Without that kind
of information from the agency files it's not possible to have an
informed debate about it."

In one case where the county was more
forthcoming and gave us a lengthy file, documents show a social worker
did make an error. The child was left in the home when he should have
been more closely monitored or even removed. Two-year-old Guillermo
Alvarez died, murdered, police say, by his mother's boyfriend.

The
Los Angeles times filed a lawsuit in September asking a judge to order
L.A. County child welfare officials to release child death records. The
Times said after it began reporting on social worker errors, the release
of the documents slowed.

Kohler at the Kern County District
Attorney's office said she will review SB-39 requests more closely to
determine if any additional information can be released.

17 News wants to work with county officials to make the system more transparent.

17 News also wants to look into changing the ambiguity in the law that allows counties to interpret it differently.

Several states are attempting to pass legislation that would force the agencies to release the names and other information about child deaths. The system is allowed to hide their mistakes, much like a doctor buries his mistakes.

Man arrested in murder of Taft child

Published: Jun 23, 2011 at 5:58 PM PST

TAFT, Calif. — The death of a little boy in Taft has been ruled a homicide, and 25-year-old Dustin Wedel has been arrested in the case.

James Fanshier, 3, died on Jan. 23, and Thursday the Kern County coroner's office ruled the child died from multiple blunt force injuries.

Wedel is being held on charges of murder, torture and abuse. When he was killed, James was living with his father's ex-girlfriend, Stormie Roberts.

Glenda Porter told Eyewitness News her daughter was happy to care for the child, and the family had taken James in as one of their own when his father put him in Stormie's care.

"When he came to us, we just opened our arms, home and heart to him, and gave him love," Porter said. "And he was happy."

Porter said her daughter had a relationship with James' father, Eavan Fanshier. The father had gotten sole custody of the child from the biological mother.

Glenda Porter said her daughter started caring for James a couple years ago. Stormie would work, and Eaven Fanshier would mostly stay home with his son. But, at some point, the couple broke up, and Fanshier left his son in Stormie's care.

"The father left, and left him with Stormie, because he knew that was a good place for him," Porter said. "She gave the baby her whole heart."

In late January of this year, Stormie moved into a small house in the 200 block of Van Buren in Taft, along with her new boyfriend Wedel and James.

"(James) was in the care of someone that we thought loved and cared for him," Porter said.

She said on Jan. 23, Stormie came home from work, and James said he was sick.

"He wasn't showing any sign of hurt anywhere," Porter said. "Just laying, and looking and watching."

Porter said James had thrown up, but she and Stormie thought the child had the flu. Porter said she didn't see any injuries.

Porter left the house, but about an hour later her daughter called.

"She woke up and got (James), and he was already dying, he died in her arms," Porter said.

Sheriff's reports say when officers were called out, they were met by a woman who was holding the child. A deputy starting giving CPR, but the boy was unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene.

Eyewitness News obtained search warrants in the case. Those documents show investigators looked for any evidence at the house, including "any weapons which could inflict blunt force or any trauma to the child. Any and all items
possibly used in the child's death, which might cause any injury."

The warrant also states that officers found "the child had obvious injuries on his body, bruising on the chest, ribs and arms."

Porter said her daughter and James' father are too upset to talk about the child's death. She said the couple got back together after the boy's funeral. Porter added that her heart goes out to the child's other relatives.

Sheriff's deputies say Wedel was arrested Thursday afternoon at his mother's home in Bakersfield without incident. He faces one charge of murder, one count of torture and one count of abuse of a minor resulting in death. Sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt also told Eyewitness News no additional arrests are expected in the case.

Porter said James' life was cut too short.

"James' birthday is coming up on the 30th of this month," she said.

Porter said her family wants answers. They were not blood relatives to James, but considered themselves his adoptive family.

"He was just like my own," she said. "We want justice."

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/124465979.html