State in talks with expert to lead foster child death investigation
State officials are negotiating a contract with child welfare expert Mike Capello to conduct an independent investigation of a Clark County foster child who was killed while in care.
Sixteen-month-old Michell Momox-Caselis died in an apparent murder-suicide involving her foster father Oct. 12.
State officials declined to provide background information on Capello, a former director of the Washoe County Social Services Department, until the contract is negotiated. He couldn’t be reached for comment.
“We anticipate a contract will be finalized within the next two weeks,” Mary Woods, spokeswoman for the Nevada Health and Human Services Department, said last week.
Capello led the Northern Nevada department from 2000 to 2009, a time when Washoe and Clark child welfare systems faced serious issues and a statewide review of child fatalities was taking place under the scrutiny of a blue-ribbon panel.
He was a consultant for Health and Human Services until his retirement in 2009, according to documents submitted to the Washoe County Commission.
In 2007, Mike Willden, then Health and Human Services director, and retired Supreme Court Justice Deborah Agosti, chairwoman of that blue-ribbon panel, praised Washoe County’s child welfare system as a “model for the state,” according to a Washoe County news release.
Washoe staff made substantial changes to child welfare policy and practices, according to Capello in the news release.
A 2009 resolution of appreciation from Washoe County commissioners said Capello had worked in its Social Services Department in various roles since 1983 and improved services for families.
The Nevada Child and Family Services Division has requested case files and information on Michell from the Clark County Family Services Department for the review, which Capello would conduct.
The toddler’s body was found Oct. 12 after her foster father, Joaquin Juarez-Paez, 37, of Las Vegas was found dead in his car in front of the Oasis Vinings apartment complex at 6100 Carmen Blvd., near North Jones Boulevard and Vegas Drive, shortly after 8 a.m., according to Las Vegas police.
When responding officers sent Juarez-Paez’s wife inside for the car keys, she found Michell dead in her crib.
A second foster child, a 9-month-old baby not related to Michell, was found unharmed, police said.
Maria Charles, grandmother of the 9-month-old, got legal custody of the baby last week.
She said the baby, who has special needs stemming from a premature birth, is gaining weight and has “flourished” under her care.
“There was definitely negligence where he was,” she said Tuesday. “Everybody had their suspicions. I really hope … they start checking before they put these kids into homes like that.”
Contact Yesenia Amaro at yamaro@reviewjournal.com or 702-3873-0440. Find her on Twitter:@YeseniaAmaro.
