Mother seeks answers more than three years after 5-year-old son’s death

By Amy Coveno

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    MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (WMUR) — On Christmas Eve 2019, a 5-year-old boy died in Laconia. More than three years later, no charges have been filed, and no suspect has been publicly identified.

After Dennis Vaughan died, the attorney general’s office announced an investigation, and an autopsy found that he died from blunt force trauma to his head in a homicide.

His grieving mother, Danielle Vaughan, has now filed a lawsuit against the Division of Children, Youth and Families. She said records show that she, a school and neighbors were sounding an alarm that was ignored for months.

“When they put him in my arms, I looked at him, and he had this birthmark on his head,” Vaughan said. “And it was the only place that grew hair.”

Vaughan called her son “Boo” from the moment she laid eyes on him in 2014. Drug addiction put DCYF in their lives in 2016, and all four of Vaughan’s children were removed. She said she was on a single-minded mission to get them back.

“I tried to prove myself. I wanted my kids back,” she said. “And then, a year passed.”

She said the foster home wasn’t working. According to Vaughan, DCYF tried to terminate her parental rights, but the judge overruled. Instead, with Vaughan’s consent, the court granted guardianship of the four children to her mother, Sherry Connor, in Laconia.

As Vaughan later alleged in her lawsuit, that’s when the reports started, from the school, from the neighbors and from her.

Connor has never been identified as a suspect in the open investigation of Boo’s death.

“Every single time I saw them, they were covered in bruises, and they were unexplainable bruises,” Vaughan said.

Reports made before boy’s death Nurses and teachers are often the first to report suspected abuse and neglect to DCYF. Vaughan and her lawyer shared confidential school records with News 9 Investigates about Boo detailing allegations consistent with her lawsuit against the state.

Nine reports were made to DCYF from September to December 2019: vomiting, scabs on his head, and bruises on his head, neck and arms.

Nine days before Boo died, an internal email from the school about DCYF was written “so everything is fully documented, as I was concerned they are not taking my reports and calls seriously.”

The state’s answer to the lawsuit filed in Superior Court states: “Each report was investigated, (child protective service worker) assigned, numerous home visits occurred, interviews with the children, reporters, police, and witnesses, resources were identified and offered.”

“How can this organization that takes kids away from people for the very same thing put them in a situation that’s even worse than what they ever encountered before?” Vaughan said.

The calls to the police were stacking up as well, according to the lawsuit. Neighbors reported screaming children. A DCYF case worker asked for backup before she went to the home.

Many calls from Vaughan were made, pleading for a welfare check.

On Christmas Eve 2019, a 911 call was made about an unresponsive child at Blueberry Lane. Vaughan said she remembers getting the news when a Laconia detective showed up at her job that night.

“I’m like, ‘No, is there something wrong with my kids?'” she said. “And they start crying. He’s like, ‘Please, just come with me for a minute.'”

Lawsuit seeks answers Boo’s death certificate lists the manner of death as a homicide. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and neck. The place of injury was the boy’s home on Blueberry Lane.

No arrests have been made, and Vaughan said there has been no information from the attorney general’s office other than that it’s an open, ongoing investigation. In the lawsuit, the state denies that it or its employees failed to properly investigate

Boo was killed within days of the alleged killing of Harmony Montgomery, a 5-year-old Manchester girl whose case attracted national attention when police said she hadn’t been seen in two years.

Vaughan said no officials are speaking up for her son the way they did for Harmony. She has posted signs all over Laconia in an effort to hold someone accountable for the boy’s death.

Gov. Chris Sununu was asked about the three-year-old murder case and recent lawsuit on March 8 during a press conference.

“We were contacted, I think it was his mom that originally contacted us, and obviously, we sent our sympathies and condolences. It was just a horrible situation,” Sununu said. “There is a pending lawsuit, so there is only so much the attorney general’s office or our office can really say about it while it’s pending.”

Vaughan said she’s leveraging the system before the law says it’s too late, suing DCYF for damages. She filed in December, days before the statute of limitations ran out.

In 75 pages, the lawsuit details her heartache and frustration, along with 27 reports to DCYF starting in 2017. Most were from professional reporters: teachers, nurses and police.

The reports culminate in the final months of Boo’s life with a flurry of calls from Vaughan to DCYF begging the agency to take action to protect her children.

“Here these people are, saying that, ‘You’re not fit enough to take care of your kids, and we’re going to take them from you, but we’re going to protect them, and we’re going to do what you should have done,'” Vaughan said.

The attorney general’s office and police have never publicly identified a suspect, but Vaughan’s lawsuit states that the emergency motion filed by DCYF on the day Boo died refers to Connor as the “primary suspect.” In response, the state does not refute it.

Connor now lives out of state. News 9’s calls and Facebook messages were not returned.

Vaughan was awarded full custody of her surviving sons and daughter in 2020, but she said she will not rest until she gets justice for Boo.

With pending lawsuit, officials won’t comment It has been more than three years since Boo died, and there are still no answers. The last person to have legal custody of Boo was Connor.

Not a single state agency will comment on Connor’s status in the case. The Department of Health and Human Services referred News 9 to the attorney general’s office, citing active litigation.

The attorney general’s spokesperson would not offer comment other than to say it’s an active and open investigation, and the office will not comment on open investigations.

The Office of the Child Advocate told News 9 there is a system mapping review but could not confirm if Boo’s case was selected for that review.

In a follow-up with the governor’s office asking whether more changes are needed at DCYF in the wake of another child homicide in New Hampshire, the office said the governor couldn’t comment further.

There is a state child fatality review committee that examines nonaccidental child deaths, but only after the case is closed, so Boo’s death has not been looked at.

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