Police Report Reveals Details On Afton’s Death

A police report from the night of April 15 is shedding more light on the death of 6-year-old Afton Allison.

Anthony Blake Viles, Afton’s father, and Afton were arguing in Viles’ kitchen about Afton’s schoolwork and behavior, and that Viles walked away to avoid a fight, the report said.

But as Viles walked away, he said something to the effect of, “I can’t wait until you’re old enough to take me on,” the report said.

When Viles walked back into the kitchen, Afton was holding a knife, according to the police report.

It was with one swift movement in Viles’ home in a trailer park off of South 5th Avenue that Viles lifted his open palm to Afton’s face and “popped” him in the forehead, the report said.

Afton toppled backward, and his head slammed against the floor. He didn’t cry. he didn’t move. He just lay there with his eyes open, staring at the ceiling, the report said.

When officers asked him how hard he hit Afton, Viles just kept repeating, “I hit him hard,” the report said.

Viles splashed some cold water on Afton’s face, but the boy didn’t respond.

Viles then called his fiance, Misty Lucero. The report indicates that Lucero is Afton’s step-mother. They are not biologically related. The report said she was at work, and Viles told her to come home, that there had been an emergency.

When she did, Lucero told police that she found Viles sitting on the floor with an unresponsive Afton, the report said.

Viles asked to see his biological daughter, who doesn’t live with him, and kept repeating, “I’m going to prison,” the report said.

Nearly two hours passed before Viles and Lucero took Afton to the hospital.

Doctors did CAT scans on Afton’s brain and found bruises covering his entire torso from chest to knees. His buttocks were also covered in bruises, doctors told police in the report. The report said that Lucero told police that Viles spanked Afton every day, and when he did, the boy whimpered.

The question remains: Why was Afton taken from foster care and placed with the man who police accused of killing him?

A simple search for Viles in the Idaho Repository shows that he has a laundry list of charges against him, but Washington Child Protective Services said they could find only a DUI. CPS did check out Viles, but on a national database, the National Crime Information Center, which is controlled by the FBI.

Washington CPS background checker Chris Parvin said Idaho and Washington are two of seven states involved in the Western Identification Network. He said there is a breakdown between the state and national systems.

“What we have found is that when we do background checks from other states, we’re finding not all the information is being received through those background checks,” Parvin said.

Parvin said CPS is working hard with the other states in the network to better figure out how to integrate all of the information.

While social workers thought they could use more time to check out Viles, they really didn’t have reason to delay court proceedings, Parvin said. In Viles, the judge saw an enthusiastic father who was showing up to court hearings when Afton’s mother, Jessica Wrigley, wasn’t. He was a biological father who was writing letters to Afton and who was willing to take his son.

“The judge went ahead and ordered the boy to live with his father. So, regardless of whether we could have taken more time or anything, this was ultimately a decision of the court,” said Sherry Hill with CPS.

Hill said social workers really didn’t have any concerning behavior to present that would prevent the court from granting Viles custody. But, she said, now everyone is questioning what they could have done.

“The workers that were really close with this case, they’re just still devastated, and a lot of it comes from the fact that they just did not see this coming,” Parvin said.

During the 30-day trial period that started on Jan. 30, CPS said social workers heard only good things from Afton’s school, Indian Hills.

There are many situations where parents and children who have never met are successfully reunited, Parvin and Hill said.