Since Robert Manwill’s murder in the summer of 2009, some of the biggest unanswered questions have asked how it could have happened under the scrutiny of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, and how the state could prevent such a crime from happening again.
The murder trial that convicted Daniel Ehrlick, the boyfriend of Robert’s mother Melissa Jenkins, revealed that the two adults covered up the systematic abuse Ehrlick submitted Robert to in the weeks before his death; they hid Robert from visiting social workers, including hiding him in a closet; and they lied about Robert being in the home. Jenkins pleaded guilty to aiding in the murder of her son.
Testimony and evidence from the trial revealed warning signs that state case workers failed to recognize or follow up on:
- The state got regular reports from contract agents who visited the home where Jenkins and Robert were living. A court order banned Jenkins from living with Robert’s infant brother Aidan, whom she had abused. During the last 24 days of Robert’s life, those social workers paid visits every other day to the apartment but never verified answers they received about Robert’s location or well-being.
- Weekly telephone calls and regular written reports to the Department of Health and Welfare’s case worker from social workers indicated that Robert was living with his mother in the home.
- The state’s case worker, Laura Bessey, testified that she couldn’t remember the content of those reports.
- Bessey testified that she was aware of the court order and that Melissa told her she was living in the home of Ehrlick’s father. Bessey never checked to see whether or not Jenkins really was living there.
- Bessey on three occasions consulted with Robert’s father, Charles Manwill, to arrange visits for Robert to Boise. In fact, she told Robert’s father that Robert could spend the summer on a three-month visitation with Melissa but did not discuss with Charles Manwill that Jenkins was not allowed by court order to live in the Oak Park Village apartment where Robert spent the summer.
- Bessey testified that no one had told her Robert was staying there. That would have been important to know as she worked with the family, she testified. “The department didn’t have custody of him, so basically the department didn’t have any legal rights to him,” she testified. “But it would have been nice to know.”
- State workers were aware that Jenkins had filed documents about the rent she was paying on the apartment she shared with Ehrlick, according to case notes entered as exhibits. Fourth District Judge Darla Williamson permitted the Idaho Statesman to inspect the notes and other exhibits following the trial. The case notes also show that social workers were aware of the court order prohibiting Melissa from living in the home.
- Social workers received various explanations on their visits in July when they asked why they hadn’t seen Robert lately. On July 17, Jenkins told social workers Robert had struck a horse with a 2-by-4 and his father was keeping him home in New Plymouth as punishment. According to evidence and testimony in Ehrlick’s trial, Ehrlick and Jenkins were hiding the boy in a closet and Robert likely was dead or dying when social workers visited for the final time on July 24.
INDEPENDENT REVIEW UNDER WAY
The department has commissioned an independent review of the case and of its policies, and has declined to discuss specifics of the case.
But in a statement to the Statesman, the department said it followed its “procedure and protocol” and that no employee did anything wrong.
Based on an internal review, the department already has “made improvements to strengthen our system and reduce the chance of something like this from occurring again.”
“We believe that justice was served through the courts with the responsibility for Robert’s death firmly placed where it should be — Daniel Ehrlick and Melissa Jenkins. They lied to us, the police and the public.”
The department said Bessey declined to be interviewed for this story.
COULD EHRLICK OR JENKINS BE TRUSTED?
In the two months before Robert’s death, social workers took explanations about Robert’s absence at face value. But Health and Welfare already knew Jenkins and Ehrlick had a history of being unreliable.
In 2008, Jenkins lied about how she fractured Aidan’s skull, first saying she’d bumped the baby’s head on a table while burping him. She later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor injury to a child. Doctors found evidence of an older injury to Aidan as well.
The Department of Health and Welfare had received three other referrals regarding “physical abuse and neglect” involving Jenkins’ children. No action was taken on those three referrals.
Ehrlick lied in court documents that he was Aidan’s biological father in order to get custody. State workers knew he was not. Ehrlick was prohibited by the courts from being alone with Robert’s half-sister RayLynn, who lived with her father. Ehrlick also had been convicted of burglary, battery and a drug charge and had spent four years in prison.
After her arrest for Robert’s death, Jenkins’ lawyer said Jenkins was a “compulsive liar.” Williamson said she didn’t think Jenkins was honest when she entered her guilty plea in January, and said at her sentencing she didn’t believe Jenkins was sincere. When lawyers debated letting Jenkins testify, Williamson warned Jenkins not to lie.
In June and July 2009, social workers visited the Oak Park Village apartment 24 times. They saw Robert seven times, all in June.
When social workers didn’t see Robert in July, they received six different explanations — and twice no explanation. The explanations from Ehrlick and Jenkins included:
- Robert was in the bedroom reading a book.
- Robert was taking a nap.
- Robert was at the YMCA with Ehrlick.
- Robert was at the skate park.
- Robert was swimming.
- Robert had been sent home to New Plymouth for the summer.
There is no evidence that workers ever attempted to verify those explanations.
Kathleen Kreller: 377-6418
