Found without toenails, her murder followed 12 school reports to children’s services – why could no one stop it?

The family of a 10-year-old girl who the authorities believe was “tortured” before they were found who does not respond to the side of a highway says that the children’s welfare officials missed decisive points that could have helped to save the child and now require liability.

Rebekah Baptiste10, died on July 30, three days after she was found respondent at the intersection of two highways, police in Holbrook, Ariz., Sa earlier, Per The familyThe ABC 15 and 12 News.

Her father, 32-year-old Richard Baptiste, and his 29-year-old girlfriend Anicia Woods were arrested in connection with her death, according to Apache County Sheriff’s Office.

Rebekah was found dehydrated and malnourished by defendant officials, said prosecutor in the court on Monday 4 August, according to AZ Family and ABC 15. The child lacked her toenails when found.

The condition she was found in made medical personnel decide that she was “tortured”, with signs indicating that she may have been subjec to physical and sexual abuse, prosecutor said according to the AZ family.

Rebeka’s uncle, Damon Hawkins, told the AZ family that she was “black and blue from her top to toe” and had two black eyes when she was found.

At the same time, Empower College prep, which Rebekah participated together with his two siblings, staff called the department for child safety on behalf of Rebekah 12 times between November 2023 and January 2025 – including three calls in less than one week in January, ABC 15 reported.

An official with DCs disputes the number and told people in a statement that they had only received 5 calls from school in the past year.

In his statement to People, Child Services officials said about the five calls they have on their registers, there was only one occasion when the charges suited the criteria for a statutory report.

“The other four times the department could not investigate the charges because they did not fulfill the statutory threshold for abuse or neglect,” they said in the statement. “We have no records as a relative called Hotline after 2019 to assert abuse or neglect of Rebekah or her siblings.”

The department did not respond to further requests from people about why the allegations made by the school did not fall under their criteria.

DCS’s security analysis review team will conduct a thorough examination of this case, said the agency, with the goal of “identifying and understanding all systemic obstacles that may have affected the result and implementing data -driven systemic changes to prevent such tragedies in the future.”

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Baptiste and Woods have each been accused of murder on the first degree and abuse of children, according to Apache County-judge records reviewed by People.

Court register did not indicate the basis or legal information for any of them.

If you suspect children, call Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline on 1-800-4-Per or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are free of charge and confidential. The threat line is available around the clock in more than 170 languages.