By JESSICA SAVAGE
The Lufkin Daily News

Saturday, August 02, 2008

The mother of a murdered Lufkin toddler said she feels the system failed to protect her son in the weeks leading up to his severe injuries.

Ian Wesley Landers, 2, died Sept. 21, 2007 in a Houston hospital after suffering blunt force head trauma that left him on life support in a vegetative state. The case is still under investigation and no arrests have been made.

Landers' mother, Tonya, said Child Protective Services did not do enough to protect her son while it was investigating a report of abuse on Aug. 14 — just over two weeks before he was admitted to the hospital unconscious with a serious head wound.

"I feel like the system failed my son," she said in a phone interview Thursday. "They are there for child protection and they spend a lot of time ... I know they've been very busy with other cases. But then they have a child who is visibly being abused and they send him back into the home."

CPS spokeswoman Shari Pulliam said the department had been investigating an allegation of abuse after Ian returned home with injuries to his head from a visit at his father's residence. While the investigation was being conducted, CPS reached a verbal agreement with Ian's father, Scott Landers, and his girlfriend, Samantha Wideman, that they were not to be around Ian unless supervised, Pulliam said.

CPS learned on Sept. 1 that Ian had been life-flighted to Houston for life-threatening injuries.

An autopsy report stated Ian was brought to Memorial Health System of East Texas in Lufkin unconscious and with head trauma. He was then flown to a hospital in Houston where he later died after being removed from life support.

The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Ian's death a homicide last month and released the autopsy report to The Lufkin Daily News earlier this week through an open records request. The report showed Ian had multiple injuries at different stages of healing on his body, and had suffered severe brain bruising from the head trauma.

The CPS spokeswoman said it is believed Ian was injured by "certain caregivers."

"Although this is still under investigation by law enforcement," she added.

Hudson Police Department and the Angelina County Sheriff's Office are investigating the case.

In an interview earlier this month, the Hudson police chief said the case is complex and involves a timeline of events leading up to the boy's injuries, which investigators are trying to narrow. Anyone who had contact with the boy during that time is considered a suspect, Burns said.

"No one has been ruled out," he said.

Pulliam said the Aug. 14 allegation was investigated by CPS and it was determined the boy's injuries on that day were a result of neglectful supervision. The department was unable to determine physical abuse.

"The fact that Ian was placed in a situation in which he did not have the maturity to care for himself indicates lack of supervision," Pulliam said. "Also since it is believed that Ian was in the care of these caregivers at the time he received his fatal injury it could suggest that they were responsible."

Attorney Ryan Deaton, who represents Scott Landers, said there are problems with the autopsy report.

"I still think it's an accident. If it was homicide, then there were other people including the natural mother who had the opportunity to have done that," Deaton said.

He declined to comment further about specifics of the autopsy he thought had problems.

However, Deaton said that Wideman had passed a voluntary polygraph test taken around the time the allegations arose and she was questioned about harming the boy.

Ian's mother said she hopes investigators will use the autopsy report to help solve the case. The report has given her son a voice in a case in which no one is saying much about the pending investigation, she said.

"The only person talking about what happened to my son is my son," she said.

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Emphasis added by H4K Editor