Officials offer shifting stories on status of investigation into toddler's death

REGIONAL—Law enforcement officials with the Virginia Police Department and St. Louis County have offered starkly different and, at times, shifting accounts of the status of the investigation into the suspicious death of two year-old Caroline Medicine-Chavez.

For more than a year, Virginia Police Chief Dennis Benz, who led the investigation into the fatal March 21, 2012 injury of the toddler in a Virginia apartment, has maintained to Caroline’s family that the case was closed, and that no charges would be filed against the ex-boyfriend of the child’s mother.

Benz stated similarly when first contacted by the Timberjay on Oct. 18, 2013. At the time, the Timberjay was seeking access to the investigative report on the case. The newspaper requested to inspect the file to determine what steps Virginia police had taken to gather evidence into the causes of Caroline’s injury. Caroline’s mother, grandmother, and other family members told the Timberjay they are upset that no charges have been filed against Russell Johnson, the ex-boyfriend, who was alone with Caroline in the apartment at the time she apparently suffered fatal head injury.

Out of frustration, Caroline’s mother, Jennifer Medicine, wrote a letter to St. Louis County Attorney Mark Rubin on Oct. 17—nearly one year after the investigation into Caroline’s death was closed by the Virginia police— asking that the case be kept open. “I know there is a suspect in this case, but he is still walking around free.” wrote Medicine. “We feel strongly that because she was an American Indian and the suspect is an American Indian that we have not had a serious effort by law enforcement to solve this crime.” Medicine sent copies of the letter to members of the Bois Forte Tribal Council and the Timberjay.

In an Oct. 28 letter addressed to Bois Forte Tribal Chairman Kevin Leecy, Rubin responded to the letter, telling Leecy that the case “was and still is being investigated by the Virginia Police Department and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.” Because the case remains active, said Rubin, the results of the investigation so far are “confidential.”

Since receiving the letter from Medicine, Rubin wrote that he has requested the case file information and is “in the process of personally looking into the matter to determine whether our office can be of further assistance to law enforcement in resolving this matter.”

Just days earlier, however, on Oct. 24, Chief Benz noted via email that the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office had been involved in the decision not to pursue charges. “We met with the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office on several occasions and discussed the case,” wrote Benz.  “As a result of the entire investigation it was determined that a referral for any type of criminal prosecution would not be warranted based upon the complex medical issues as well as a lack of evidence to identify a suspect. Representatives from the BCA, VPD and the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office met with the family and explained the above issues with them.”

The Timberjay did seek answers from Chief Benz and County Attorney Rubin to a number of questions seeking to clarify the reasons behind the differing accounts of the investigation. Benz did not respond at all, while Rubin issued the following statement:

“As far as I am concerned, when there is a death of a child under suspicious circumstances, as is the situation here, the case remains an open investigation until the case is submitted for consideration for charges or it is determined that no charges should be requested. As you know, there is no statute of limitations for homicide. The death of the child in this matter is an open investigation and therefore all reports remain confidential under the data practices act.

“In our role as the prosecuting authority, our prosecutors have been in discussions with law enforcement on this matter over the past 18 months. Our prosecutors have also joined members of law enforcement in meetings with the family to discuss any progress or the lack thereof. The case has never been formally submitted by law enforcement to our office for review for charges or final determination.

We will continue to work closely with the Virginia Police Department and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension as they continue their investigation into this tragic case.”

Violation of data

practices law?

The differing accounts of the status of the case matters, not only to a family that believes they have yet to receive justice, but because it affects the availability of the case file to the public. Under state law, investigative data remains confidential as long as a case is active. But that same information generally becomes publicly available once the case is deemed inactive or closed.

Given the statement from Chief Benz that the case was closed, that should have made the case file public. Yet Benz has continued to deny access to the investigation report to the Timberjay, despite the newspaper’s assertions of its legal rights.

Benz initially tried to deny access because the case involved a juvenile. Yet state law provides no exception for releasing closed case files involving a juvenile victim, and the only possible suspect in the case is an adult.

When the Timberjay pressed the matter further, Benz shifted his message, claiming that the case was not “closed”, but merely inactive. When informed that even an “inactive” case was publicly accessible, Benz did not immediately respond. On Oct. 25, the Timberjay informed Benz that this reporter would visit the Virginia Police Department on Oct. 29 to review the case file.

But a department official denied access at that time, referencing an Oct. 28 letter from the county attorney, which Benz had forwarded to the Timberjay the following day, Oct. 29. That letter, from County Attorney Rubin, was the one announcing that the investigation was active and ongoing, and therefore, “confidential.”

“This is absolutely classic,” stated Minnesota Newspaper Association attorney Mark Anfinson, ‘law enforcement officials who don’t really think that the law applies to them when it’s not convenient.”

“This is frustrating,” commented Timberjay General Manager Jodi Summit. “When we have local and county law enforcement officials constantly shifting their comments on the status of a case, it undermines their credibility and suggests they are actively seeking to thwart the intent of the state’s public information laws. The public deserves better.”