CHARLOTTE, N.C.-- Mecklenburg’s Department of Social Services received a complaint in September regarding the Chapman family -- where four members died in a recent murder-suicide spree -- but decided not to open a case on the family.
The agency said Thursday that workers weren’t able to take the case and provide protective services because the complaint “did not meet the legal definition of abuse, neglect or dependency,” according to an agency spokesman.
Authorities believe Kenneth Jermaine Chapman, 33, suffocated his wife, 35-year-old Nateesha Ward Chapman, more than two weeks ago in a Charlotte apartment where the family formerly lived.
Within a day of her killing, police say Chapman also killed two children: his wife’s daughter, 13-year-old Na’Jhae Parker, and the couple’s own daughter, 1-year-old Nakyiah Jael Chapman. Chapman fatally shot himself late Monday when police arrived to investigate a missing person report. Two other children survived.
Following the murders, DSS filed a petition with Mecklenburg County Juvenile Court and obtained protective custody of the surviving children, ages 10 and 2.
DSS officials didn’t respond immediately to questions about what the September complaint entailed and whether the agency has reviewed the screening process since the crimes.
