Tortured Little Girl's Cases Were Dismissed by Social Workers: Report

They found her in the wash. >> Okay. She's been unresponsive. >> We didn't know where else to take her. There's There's no hospital near here. >> New documents from the Arizona. Department of Child Safety reveal a. decade long trail of chilling details. leading up to the death of 10-year-old. Rebecca Baptiste. And this is raising. questions about what more could have. been done to protect this little girl.

from what prosecutors describe as. horrific torture. We are going to break. down the multiple reports and explain. how it ended this way. And we're going. to do it all with a former child abuse. prosecutor who knows the ins and outs of. this system. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. We've been following this horrible story. of Arizona 10-year-old Rebecca Baptiste, whose life ended after what prosecutors. described as prolonged and maybe some of.

the worst abuse we have documented here. on Long Crime Sidebar. Because now, new. documents from the Arizona Department of. Child Safety reveal a history of prior. concerns, alleged neglect, maybe even. missed opportunities to protect her. Maybe after hearing this, you will make. that argument. You will feel that way. And this apparently stretches over a. decade. According to the reports, Rebecca and her siblings were the. subject of multiple calls to DCS over. the years, citing physical abuse, neglect, unsafe living conditions. Many.

of these allegations were deemed. unsubstantiated. There were others that. led to temporary removals and dependency. cases, but ultimately the children were. returned to their father. And the latest. documents also show that at the time of. Rebecca's death, some of these. investigations were still ongoing. We. obtained these reports. We're going to. get into these details, but first, for. anyone who hasn't been following this. case, here's a quick recap. So, prosecutors say Rebecca's life was. marked by prolonged abuse at the hands. of her father, 32-year-old Richard. Baptiste, and his 29-year-old.

girlfriend, Ania Woods. She was found. unresponsive on the ground near a. highway intersection on July 27th and. tragically died from these injuries. three days later on July 30th. That is. what authorities are alleging. Now, investigators say that Rebecca had been. living in this remote home with her. father in Woods and she had apparently. run away multiple times. The body cam. footage from first responders, it is so. hard to watch because it paints a grim. picture of what they encountered at this.

scene. >> They found her in the wash. >> Okay. And she's been unresponsive. >> We didn't know where else to take her. >> Who's your parents? >> Right here. >> Oh, sorry. Don't talk to. >> No, she ran away. She's on medications. >> and she hasn't been she hasn't been on. these medications in about a month. How. long has it been since you found her. unresponsive? >> We don't know. The neighbor brought her. >> When When did the neighbor bring her? >> It's 11:48. It had her probably close to.

11:30. >> Did she have any signs of life when she. brought when she got brought to you? >> She was almost basically like this. She. was slightly responsive. She was still. breathing on her own. And then as we. were driving this way, started seeing. color change in her lips and we were. just hauling it. And you can watch the. rest of that dramatic body cam footage. in one of our previous episodes of. Sidebar. So Rebecca was rushed to a. medical facility and she died three days. later. And investigators, they. documented extensive injuries, including. bruising in multiple stages of healing,

missing toenails, signs of both physical. and sexual abuse. Richard Baptiste. initially claimed the injuries were. accidental, but apparently allegedly. admitted to using excessive force. Woods. reportedly showed minimal concern for. Rebecca's condition despite claiming. experience as a certified nursing. assistant. And now both Baptiste and. Woods face first-degree murder and child. abuse charges. They were initially held. without bond, though a judge later set a. million- dollar bond for each of them. The case, by the way, just raises.

serious questions, serious questions. about prior reports to the Arizona. Department of Child Safety, which had. been reportedly contacted multiple times. before Rebecca's death. And this brings. us to the latest developments, the. official DCS reports that detail. allegations of neglect, abuse, and. unsafe conditions that go back 10 years. We are going to break all this down. To. help me do that, I want to bring on a. special guest, practice professor of law. and former child abuse and sex crimes. prosecutor Marian Brchetta. Thank you so. much for coming on. It's always good to. see you. Um, from your experience, how.

typical how typical is it for a child. welfare agency like DCS to receive. multiple reports over what, a decade, without substantiated findings, even in. cases that tragically result in a death? Because I think a number one question a. lot of people have is obviously whatever. happened here, could it have been. prevented? Could they have stepped in? Could something have been done? What's. your take on this? So I I I don't have statistics on.

nationwide statistics or certainly. statistics from Arizona specifically on. the the the number or the rate of. reporting that's done to DCS and and. then eventually if there are fatalities. that result. What I will say is that in. cases like this and in cases of severe. child abuse, it is rare that there be no. documented history with DCS or with a. department of welfare for child safety. And so the fact that there is such a. robust and documented history of.

concerns being expressed of reports. being made of essentially calls for help. to DCS from school officials is not. uncommon. I think what unfortunately is. uncommon or singular and tragic in this. case is is the fact that of course a. fatality resulted. >> All right. So, this is definitely a. story that we wanted to bring to you. And the reason we could do that is. because of the amazing support that we. get from our sponsor, Morgan and Morgan. This is America's largest injury law. firm. This is a firm with over a. thousand attorneys. You know why they. have so many? Because they win a lot.

They have recovered over $25 billion for. more than 500,000 clients in the past. few months. Listen to this. A client in. Florida received $12 million after the. insurance company offered just $350,000. Out in Pennsylvania, a client was. awarded $26 million. That is 40 times. the insur's $650,000 offer. Another. client in Pennsylvania received $29. million. That was after being offered. only $500,000. And even if you think. your case isn't worth millions of. dollars, why not just start a claim and.

fight for what you deserve? Morgan. andorggan makes it so simple. You can. start a claim from your phone in just. eight clicks. So if you're injured, you. can easily start a claim at. forthepeople.com/lcsidebar. by clicking the link below or scanning. the QR code on screen. And in this case, in the Rebecca Baptist. case, there were these prior allegations. that were deemed unsubstantiated, but. you had others that led to temporary. removals, dependency cases. How do we. think about that? How should. prosecutors, how should child welfare.

officials, how do they interpret. unsubstantiated findings? I mean, what. does that tell you? >> Yeah, unfortunately, that is something. that is is um a matter of statute. So. that's not necessarily something that. prosecutors would have any input on or. prosecutors would have any. decision-making authority on. So DCF is. regulated by certain statutes and by. guidelines that dictate that child. removal from from a home or from. parental supervision is a a means of.

last resort. It is something that can. only be done if there is clear and. imminent danger to the child. there is. an ongoing risk of harm of ongoing abuse. to the child that is present that is. imminent. And so there is um a standard. that that needs to be met to find that. those claims are substantiated. Not just. that a report was made unfortunately not. even if there is evidence that there is. bruising or there is injury that is. healing. Uh it needs to be a present. danger to the child. And according to.

the DCS records, every time case workers. went out and responded to the to the. reports and checked on the children, there was not a present danger. happening. Now, of course, an argument. can be made that there is ongoing abuse, then the child lives in present danger. >> And by the way, isn't there is this idea. that that you want to make sure that you. keep the family intact as much as. possible and you don't want to interfere. unless you absolutely have to, right? >> I think that is the philosophy behind. the behind the guideline. Yes. Now, we.

have I want to talk about this legal. case. So, Richard Baptiste, Nia Woods, they now face first-degree murder. charges, child abuse charges, and from a. prosecutorial standpoint, could these. prior DCS reports, these unsubstantiated. allegations, could they be used at. trial? Could they factor into proving. intent, recklessness, knowledge, whatever have you? Could it actually. come in? >> I I think maybe. Um, you know, the the. quintessential law school professor.

answer is it depends. So, we ordinarily. think about any case, any incident, whether we're in criminal court. prosecuting someone or civil court where. two private citizens are suing each. other, we think about those cases as. just case specific, as this particular. incident. And we don't want to go all. corners of the earth to to talk about. other incidents. It's called other acts. evidence. There are specific. circumstances and specific exceptions. that apply in the rules of evidence that. will allow for that other act evidence. to be considered by the factf finder. In.

this case, as you mentioned, the fact. that there might be evidence of intent, might be evidence of preparation or plan. or absence of mistake to show that. whatever happened to Rebecca was not. accidental. It was in fact intentional. and to show that she had been. traumatized, harmed, physically abused. in a certain way over a period of time. goes to show that there was no mistake. or accident in this particular case, that it was actually an intentional um. injury inflicted that resulted in the.

death. >> So, let's dive into this. Let's dive. into these reports because as we can. clearly see straight from the Arizona. Department of Child Safety, this was not. the first time that DCS had been. involved with this family. According to. the documentation that was obtained by. Law and Crime, the very first report. came on August 29th, 2015, alleging. neglect by Rebecca's parents, citing. concerns about the condition of the. home, possible drug use. However, I will. tell you the report notes, quote, "The. DCS investigation did not result in.

evidence to support the allegation. The. allegation was unsubstantiated." And. according to DCS, that case was still. open when a second report came in on May. 5th, 2016, claiming Rebecca had a severe. diaper rash and an ear infection. And. DCS again says they found no supporting. evidence and referred the family to. support services, closing that case a. week later. Then you go to October 31st, 2017. Another report alleged a 10-month. old child was left alone for several.

hours. DCS noted the family was provided. a list of community resources and. daycare which they declined. So that. case was later closed as well. And then. finally there was a substantiated. intervention, an instance where DCS. actually removed the children from the. home. And we're going to get there. But. first, professor, now that I've kind of. laid out a little bit more detail, what. are your thoughts on this? um how when. you see multiple reports here, I know. there's the they're limited in what they. can do, but you know, anybody watching.

this is going to say, I I don't get it. I and I think that reaction is perfectly. reasonable. And I think that um they it. goes against common sense to hear all of. these instances of third party actors. being so concerned that they're picking. up the phone and calling DCS and and. saying that that there is there is. something a myth in this household. this. child is not safe, this child is not. being cared for and repeatedly. repeatedly repeatedly. Um these these. reports are being found uh un.

unsubstantiated. So I think your your. your listeners would be reasonable to. say something was a miss. Some someone. missed something pretty significant. here. But again, DCS is going to rest on. the language in their statute and the. language in their governing regulations. that say that the the danger to the. child needs to be imminent and present. And um those factors according again to. their case workers were missing in this. case. >> So after four years of reports right. from 2015 to 2019, there was no.

meaningful intervention that actually. occurred. Now, that changed on March. 14th, 2019 when, according to the. report, Rebecca and her siblings were. removed from the home following. allegations that Rebecca's birthother. had exposed a child to substances during. pregnancy. And it is important to note. here that Ania Woods, Baptist. girlfriend, was not Rebecca's. birthother. Okay. But a dependency. petition was filed in Maricopa County. Superior Court and services were. provided to the family and this process. eventually led to Richard Baptist being. granted full custody of the children in.

2022 with the children reunited with. their father and the dependency cases. were dismissed in 2023 and 2024. Now, by. the way, we're actually talking about. something happening here, professor. So, when you have a substantiated. intervention, you're talking about. removal. How does that work exactly? What should we be thinking about that? So it's it is a a very high level um. intervention. So we're talking about. taking children away from their home, taking children away from their their.

parents, either their biological parents. or their legal guardians. And it is not. a a permanent removal certainly. I. believe in Arizona that the removal. period is 72 hours to do an. investigation to do an investigation of. the home to have the children placed in. emergency placement with a licensed. foster home or foster site. And so there. is always and and frankly frankly more. likely the possibility that after that. 72hour evaluation that the children will. be returned to their home the place from. which they were removed. But if there is.

a finding after that 72-hour period that. the home is not safe to go back to that. if the children were to be returned that. the danger would be present and ongoing. then the children can be more. permanently placed in in a foster in. foster care. So then you go to 2023 and. the report shows the first claims. involving Baptist girlfriend, Ania. Woods. And it starting in November 2023, reports began surfacing alleging that. Woods had scratched a child on the neck. However, the DCS investigation.

determined that that allegation again. unsubstantiated. According to the. report, community supports were provided. to the family and all other services. were declined by the family. So just. real quick, professor, they don't have. to take services, right? And is that not. a warning sign? If they're being. offered, if there if there's an. allegation that something's going on, they offer them services. They decline. those services. That can't be, you know, I don't know the best way to say that. can't be used against them. That can't. be evidence to to remove the children or. anything of that nature.

>> To remove the children, unfortunately, I. think not. um in in a courtroom during. this prosecution, it probably could to. be shown that there was every. opportunity to avail themselves of. services, of assistance, of help, of. social services that perhaps were needed. in this household and they specifically. chose not to and and to continue. disciplining the children in a. particular way or caring or not caring. for the children in a particular way. So, I think that in terms of um the. homicide prosecution, it is actually. pertinent there. I'm not sure can be so.

used against them in terms of DCS's. actions. >> Then you go to February 13th, 2024. Okay, so DCS received another report. alleging abuse by Ania Woods and that. investigation too was deemed. unsubstantiated and the case was closed. Now, later that year, September October. 2024, there were new reports that. emerged alleging physical abuse and. neglect, specifically that Rebecca had. marks on her hands and her feet and that. the children were being disciplined. through exercise. Once again, DCS found.

no evidence to support the allegations. According to the report, the DCS. investigation did not result in evidence. to support the allegation. The. allegations were unsubstantiated. The. case closed on November 18th, 2024. Professor, I'm not trying to cast blame. here, but I have to ask. Have there have. there been lawsuits? Has there been. legal action taken against child. protective services in the past? I'm not. saying that's what should happen here. I'm not saying they're at fault. Just. asking the question.

>> Oh, there certainly have been, Jesse. There certainly have been. I don't know. about Arizona specifically. It is. entirely possible to sue a social. service agency civily. Soviet state or. the survivors of Rebecca Baptist would. certainly be within their right to. investigate legal action or cause of. action against DCS. I know very. specifically in Pennsylvania. A. heartbreaking case from almost a decade. ago involved a young girl, a 14-year-old. girl named Danielle Kelly and the social. workers from our Department of Human.

Services uh who were supposed to be. caring for her um essentially falsified. their records and were not checking on. her, were not ensuring that she was. being fed and cared for medically. She. was 14 years old and she was 42 pounds. when she died. And those two social. social workers were prosecuted and. convicted of involuntary manslaughter. So, it is entirely possible for there to. be both civil and criminal remedies um. when it comes to the neglect of social. services. >> I'm glad you clarified that. Yeah, I'm. glad you expanded upon that. Again, I'm.

not saying that's what should happen. here, but when you're looking at these. multiple reports and at least one. instance where there was a substantiated. uh intervention. I'm just wondering. Now, we go to January 16th, 2025. Okay? So, a few months ago, and there was a. report alleging that Richard Baptiste. had made Rebecca run as punishment. without, by the way, bathroom or water. breaks. And on May 19th, 2025, Woods was. alleged to have spanked Rebecca and her. siblings. So, DCS attempted to engage. the family, but they lost contact when.

they moved to Koncho, Arizona. And that. investigation was still ongoing when. Rebecca's injuries, which would. eventually, according to prosecutors and. law enforcement, be fatal, were reported. on July 27th, 2025. Following Rebecca's. death, DCS took immediate action, saying, "Following an assessment of. child safety, the other children were. removed and placed in a licensed foster. home. A joint investigation was. conducted with the Apache County. Sheriff's Office. The department. continues to provide services to.

Rebecca's siblings." Well, I guess. professor that was the time they needed. to. I mean, after something like this. happens, they had no choice. But at the. same time, it's uh yeah, I don't know. What do you make of that response? >> It it is it is certainly troubling. Um. to say the least, right? Um I think. though that what what DCF again would. rest on is that listen these are the. statutes, these are the regulations that. we are governed by and if there is to be.

any change in what we can do um in terms. of removal in terms of intervening uh. more aggressively in terms of um having. more or uh more aggressive contact with. the family when there is a report that. comes through then these regulations and. these guidelines, excuse me, these. regulations and these statutes need to. be amended. and they need to be amended. administratively, they need to be. amended legislatively. Um, but until. that time, DCS will always claim that. they are bound by their governing rules.

>> And and two challenges that I wonder. here are one, how do how do DCS officers. do they know, hey, something is. discipline, something is parenting. versus something's abuse, right? Maybe. exercise can be there could be a benign. reason for that. And two, if you have a. family that relocates, I'm sure that's a. complicating factor as well. I. >> I I think you're right on both those. counts. I think there is uh plenty of of. case law out there that distinguishes. between corporal punishment as uh as.

child discipline and when it rises to. the level of abuse. I think in this. instance, there was a documented. interview with the the father. He did. admit to hitting Rebecca with a belt, but it wasn't supposed to do the the. harm that it did. it wasn't supposed to. leave such deep bruises as as it did. And so he acknowledges that he was using. the belt for discipline, but it may have. crossed the line. So an instance like. that is is a good example of how states. do recognize that parents are within. their rights to discipline children um.

as they see fit. And if that means in. certain families that corporal. punishment is accepted, the states are. respectful of that of that decision. Um, but are always mindful that corporal. punishment can always cross the line. into abuse very quickly. >> Now, in response to Rebecca's death, the. Arizona Department of Child Safety. issued the following statement. In the. wake of this tragedy, the department is. working closely with law enforcement to. ensure that those who committed this. heinous act are held fully accountable.

The team is conducting a review of. Rebecca's case to determine what factors. may have affected the outcome of this. case. While no action can undo this. devastating loss, we will continue to. strengthen our efforts, learn from this. tragedy, and honor Rebecca's memory by. keeping our commitment to protecting the. children of Arizona. And DCS also. described its process, its limitations. when responding to an allegation of. abuse or neglect. The department first. determines if the child is in present. danger. Present danger is something that. is observable, out of control, and. happening in the present moment that.

makes the child unsafe without immediate. intervention. The immediate intervention. could be one of several options to. control the safety threat, with removal. being the last and most extreme option. If the child is not in present danger, the department through its investigation. determines if the child is in impending. danger. This means they're likely to be. unsafe again in the near future without. intervention. State law provides that. the department can only take custody of. a child for up to 72 hours. A finding. may be substantiated without a removal. This means that the department has. evidence to believe by a.

prepundonderance of the evidence that. something occurred that meets the. definition of abuse or neglect, but that. the taking of temporary custody was not. required in order to keep the child. safe. And this is exactly what we've. been talking about about the limitations. about what the guidelines are. Now, per. reporting from KTVK, Maricopa County. prosecutor Rachel Mitchell apparently. told reporters she is outraged over the. way that this case was handled and her. office is investigating this. >> I'm talking about what information came. in, who was it given to, what steps did.

they take. I mean, I'm talking a. stepby-step analysis of what happened. and what the breakdown was here. And. it's really only then once we have that. like thorough understanding of where the. breakdown was that we can start to fix. it. I don't want to start to fix. something when I don't know exactly what. was broken. Clearly something was. broken. >> Now meanwhile Rebecca's school empower. college prep which was responsible for. making these calls. They issued the. following statement. The question. remaining before us is what is the. department willing to change in its.

policies, criteria, and procedures to. ensure that when multiple mandated. reports are made, they are acted on with. urgency, consistency, and adequate. follow-through. So, according to school. officials, they reached out a dozen. times to CPS about the Baptist family. And as for Richard Baptiste and Ania. Woods, they face first-degree murder. charges, child abuse charges. There's a. preliminary hearing scheduled for. September 4th in Apache County. Professor, before we wrap things up, what do you think about their uh their. charges, their legal case? >> Well, I I think that's probably a.

follow-up conversation. Uh and maybe. we'll have that after the preliminary. hearing, but without um information on. the specific cause of death, without. information on who had access to the. child before she went missing, before. her body was found, um and what the. condition of the body was afterwards. I. I am I don't think well equipped enough. to address um the the strength of the. charges against them. I think the fact. that to equal caregivers. Uh we'll. certainly go in favor of the. prosecution, but we'd need to know the. specifics of the date, time, and.

location of how the eventual fatality. occurred. >> Fair enough. Professor uh Marian Brcher, thank you so much for taking the time. Good seeing you. >> Thank you. Same to you. >> And that is all we have for you right. now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank. you so much for joining us. And as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse. Weber. Speak to you next time. [Music].