When a child dies: Three case studies

Xzayvion Riley

The 8-year-old Baton Rouge boy died June 12 of ‘overwhelming infection’ from a ruptured bowel caused by a blow to his stomach. The autopsy showed 60 external signs of recent and old trauma on his body. State law allowed, because the boy is dead, the Department of Children and Family Services to acknowledge that the child protection agency had an open case involving Xzayvion.

Read: Law shields child abuse death cases

Courtney LeBlanc

The 12-year-old Denham Springs girl was kidnapped from her home by her stepfather, a convicted sex offender, forced to commit a sex act in Mississippi, then murdered in East Baton Rouge Parish in 2002. Gerald J. Bordelon, 47, was executed for the crime on Jan. 7, 2010. Her mother, Jennifer Bordelon, assured Louisiana officials he was not living in the home.

Mya George

The 3-year-old Port Allen girl was beaten to death in 2003 by her step-grandfather, Jessie White, now serving a life sentence. Many details of the state child protection agency’s attempts to protect her were unknown to the public until the trial in the civil lawsuit filed by her father against the state. In 2007, the state dedicated the 8th floor of the Iberville Building to Mya and all other child abuse victims.