Four-year-old Zion McKeown, who died of alleged child abuse, had injuries consistent with hitting a "concrete wall at approximately 65 mph" and likely had been "stomped on" before he was brought to a Maui hospital Tuesday, according to court documents released Friday.
Emergency staff were able to revive the boy, but he died the next day of his injuries, the court documents said.
The boy’s 32-year-old father, Kyle McKeown, and his father’s 27-year-old girlfriend, Grace Lee-Nakamoto, were charged Thursday with second-degree murder in connection with the death. They were being held at Maui Community Correctional Center in lieu of $500,000 bail and were scheduled to appear in Maui Circuit Court on Tuesday.
Court documents said McKeown and Lee-Nakamoto showed up at the hospital at about 10:55 p.m. Tuesday with the boy, who was already unresponsive and gray in color — "meaning he was dead." A surgeon who worked on the boy told authorities that he had trauma consistent with "someone who hit a concrete wall at approximately 65 mph."
An autopsy found Zion McKeown died from blunt-force trauma to his lower abdomen and that the injuries most likely came "from someone stomping on him while he was lying on the ground," the documents said.
He also had bruises and abrasions on his arms, legs, face, back, chest, neck and back of his head. All the injuries were new and caused just before the boy’s death, the documents said.
McKeown and Lee-Nakamoto told police that the boy injured his forehead after falling in the shower and that they don’t know how he sustained the abdominal injuries other than when they performed CPR. Doctors who examined the boy said his injuries were not consistent with improper use of CPR, the documents said.
Maryann Rooney, who said she is the boy’s maternal grandmother, claimed the state failed to protect her grandson by giving him back to his abusive mother after his parents had severely beaten him when he was younger than 1. She said her daughter then left the boy on Maui with his father, the former boyfriend of Rooney’s daughter.
Patricia McManaman, director of the state Department of Human Services, told reporters Friday that reports of Zion McKeown’s death were "gut-wrenching," but she defended the process for returning children to their families.
She said the process involves many experts and doctors who have been working on the case, and the final decision is made by a Family Court judge.
She urged the community to have faith in the process because the experts can only use the information available at the time to make a decision that is in the best interest of the child.
She said the state had a case with Zion McKeown that was closed by Family Court in December 2009 when the boy was 1 year old.
"It’s always difficult," McManaman said. "In hindsight, when we have a situation involving the death of any child, I think it’s much easier to suggest that there was a failure."
Rooney, Zion McKeown’s grandmother, said she called state Child Welfare Services to complain that her daughter should not have custody of her son because her daughter was violent and had lost custody of another child due to child abuse. That child is not Kyle McKeown’s.
Rooney said she was told she couldn’t do anything because she was not a party to the case and did not witness the abuse. She said the state should have followed up with the boy after he was given back to his parents.
"This child fell through the crack, and nobody cares," Rooney said Thursday, adding that she wanted to know why the state gave the boy back to his parents.
"After a case is closed and the child is returned to his or her family, the state really ceases its involvement," McManaman said. "Jurisdiction has been terminated; it brings to a close our ability to intercede upon allegations of new abuse."
She said new allegations must be substantial and meet a threshold before the state can take away children.
She said the department will review McKeown’s case to see whether there was something the state could have been done better.
"Our grief can’t begin to rise to the level that the parents and the family members feel over the loss of a child," McManaman said. "My heart really goes out to the family."
