State mishandled report of abuse before Evan Brewer was killed, records show

The state admits it made mistakes in the handling of the Evan Brewer case and acknowledged that a document in Evan’s file was altered, according to the family of the 3-year-old boy whose body was found encased in concrete in September.

The state mishandled a report of an allegation of severe abuse made just a few months before the child’s body was found and determined that no action was needed, according to documents the state released Friday. The report had not been forwarded to the main investigator as required, according to the documents.

Gina Meier-Hummel, the secretary of the Department of Children and Families, along with an attorney for the state met with the boy’s father, Carlo Brewer, and his cousin, Shayla Johnston, for about an hour late Friday afternoon.

“They just made it sound like it was human error,” said Johnston, who is also an attorney.

Meier-Hummel and the state attorney said mistakes occurred and a form was altered, Johnston said. State officials told her “there was dishonesty” in the “alteration of a document.”

The family had complained for more than a year that Evan was being abused by his mother and her live-in boyfriend and that the state was doing nothing to protect the child. The mother and boyfriend are now charged with first-degree murder.

“I told them quite frankly, I need to know who to sue,” Johnston told The Eagle.

The state officials said there were personnel changes because of the mistake, Johnston said.

Meier-Hummel assured them that DCF was self-regulating and spoke of “a culture change at DCF... to be more responsive,” Johnston said.

My impression was that Bill Gale lost his job because of what they found in this internal investigation,” she said.

Gale, Wichita’s top DCF official, was removed from his job this week.

According to records The Wichita Eagle obtained after extensive legal efforts, some reports made on May 14 were left out of the child’s file. That was about four months before his body was found encased in concrete.

In May, DCF received reports of severe abuse, the records indicate.

People had called numerous times before, each time with more alarming allegations, according to the records.

This time, the caller said that Evan was having accidents because he was afraid to walk past the adults’ bedroom to go to the bathroom, the records say.

The mother’s boyfriend had pulled her through the house by her hair, the caller reported. The boyfriend had bragged to someone that “he has taken them to the brink of death and brought them back using CPR,” the caller said. The boyfriend bragged about choking a child, documents said.

The adults were using methamphetamine, the caller said. They kept drugs in a baggie in a red backpack that the boyfriend kept on his person, the caller said.

The caller complained that several people had made reports to DCF and nothing had been done about it. Welfare checks had been requested, but Evan’s mother wouldn’t answer the door or allow law enforcement to enter the home, according to documents.

The state turned the records over to Brewer’s family about 4 p.m. Friday and to The Wichita Eagle shortly before 5 p.m. on Friday.

Carlo Brewer, the boy’s father, has been trying to get copies of the documents since the boy’s body was discovered. The family is seeking more documents.

This story was originally published March 2, 2018 at 7:49 PM with the headline "State mishandled report of abuse before Evan Brewer was killed, records show."