The parents and grandmother have been charged in the death of a 10-year-old child earlier this month in Maine.
According to the Bangor Daily News, the child was brought to a hospital on the morning of February 18 with life-threatening injuries. Hospital staff notified police and the Department of Health and Human Services, but the child died overnight.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide, but details on the child’s injuries have not been released.
Bangor Police arrested 33-year-old Joshua Smith and 35-year-old Jem Bean, the 10-year-old’s parents, and Smith’s mother, Mistie Latourette, 56. They have been charged with depraved indifference murder.
Bean is an administrative employee for the Department of Health and Human Services at Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Hospital in Bangor, according to DHHS spokesperson Lindsay Hammes, who said she has no role in patient care or Child Protective Services.
Hammes did not say if DHHS had investigated the family in the past.
“The death of a child is a tragedy and the charges in this case are deeply disturbing,” she said. “The department will continue to do all it can to support the pursuit of justice in cases of violence against children.”
Police said the investigation is ongoing and provided no additional details.
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[Featured image: Joshua Smith and Jem Bean/Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office]
