REMEMBERING TORREY

Torrey Elijah Brown Jr. was seven months old when his life was taken. His family remembered him as a happy baby. After his remains were finally recovered, Torrey's uncle described him as full of life, laughing and always smiling. Those are important pieces of Torrey's story. Long before hundreds of people knew his name because they were searching through a landfill for him, Torrey was someone's baby boy. He had a father who loved him. He had grandparents, uncles and other relatives who worried about him. And some of those relatives became frightened enough by things his mother was saying that they tried to get help before Torrey died. Torrey should have been approaching his first birthday. Instead, his family spent the spring of 2012 waiting for investigators to find him.

TORREY’S STORY

Torrey lived with his mother, Sharrieckia Page, in Commerce City, Colorado. By the months before his death, members of Torrey's family had become deeply concerned about Sharrieckia's behavior toward her baby. Torrey's father later recalled Sharrieckia making statements suggesting that Torrey could end up dead. Sharrieckia's grandmother, Corinthian Brown, became so alarmed by comments she heard that she contacted Child Protective Services in November 2011 because she feared for Torrey's safety. Torrey remained with his mother. On March 27, 2012, Sharrieckia killed her seven month old son. Details disclosed by prosecutors at her later sentencing revealed that Sharrieckia had placed Torrey face down in his bassinet in an attempt to silence his crying and piled blankets and laundry over him. Torrey  ied. Sharrieckia then disposed of her son's body in a dumpster at the apartment complex. Two days later, on March 29, Commerce City police began investigating Torrey's disappearance after a relative requested a welfare check. Investigators quickly came to believe that the seven month old was dead. But Torrey was nowhere to be found. Investigators learned that Sharrieckia had been seen near a dumpster at the apartment complex. If Torrey had been placed inside it, the trash had already been collected and transported to the Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site. Finding one tiny baby in an enormous landfill seemed nearly impossible. They searched anyway.

or 53 days, approximately 500 people representing 26 agencies and community organizations searched through the landfill. They worked twelve hour shifts. They searched through approximately 9,900 tons of garbage covering more than one million square feet. They refused to leave Torrey there. At the end of May, searchers finally discovered an infant's remains. DNA testing confirmed what Torrey's family had feared. They had found him. After 53 days of searching through a landfill, seven month old Torrey Brown Jr. was finally recovered.

WARNING SIGNS & SYSTEM FAILURES 

The most troubling warning in Torrey's case came months before his death. According to Torrey's great grandmother, Corinthian Brown, she contacted Child Protective Services in November 2011 because of disturbing statements Sharrieckia was making about her baby. She feared Torrey was in danger. Torrey's father also recalled threats. Among them was a warning from Sharrieckia that he should not be angry if Torrey ended up in a casket. Those statements were made while Torrey was still alive. They were not warning signs reconstructed only after his death. Members of his own family recognized the danger. At least one relative reported those concerns to the agency responsible for protecting children. Torrey nevertheless remained in his mother's care. Months later, the threat his family feared became reality. On March 27, Sharrieckia killed Torrey. His disappearance was not reported to police immediately. Authorities became involved two days later only after a relative requested that someone check on the baby. The publicly available reporting establishes that CPS received a warning concerning Torrey before his death. However, without the complete child fatality review or agency file, it would be inappropriate to claim exactly what CPS investigated, concluded or could legally have done in response. What can be said with certainty is painful enough: Someone in Torrey's family believed the threats were serious enough to call for help. Torrey was seven months old. Four months later, he was dead.

JUSTICE FOR TORREY

Prosecutors initially charged Sharrieckia Page with first degree murder and child abuse resulting in death. They did so even before Torrey's body had been recovered. In March 2013, Sharrieckia pleaded guilty to second degree murder. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed the first degree murder and child abuse resulting in death charges. On May 3, 2013, an Adams County judge sentenced her to 42 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. That conviction and sentence remain intact. In January 2025, the Colorado Court of Appeals rejected Sharrieckia's latest attempt to obtain postconviction relief. The court confirmed that she pleaded guilty to second degree murder in 2013 and received the 42 year sentence.

Sharrieckia Trinette Page

Relationship to Torrey: Mother

Conviction(s): Second degree murder

Sentence: 42 years in prison

FOREVER REMEMBERED

The search for Torrey became extraordinary. Hundreds of strangers put on protective suits and walked into a landfill day after day looking for a baby most of them had never met. They endured heat, cold, wind, rain, mud and conditions that became increasingly difficult as the weeks passed. They kept searching because Torrey mattered. But the size of that search should never overshadow the little boy they were trying to bring home. Torrey was seven months old. His uncle remembered him laughing. He remembered him smiling. He remembered a baby who was full of life. Torrey should have had a first birthday. He should have learned to walk and talk. His father and extended family should have been able to watch the smiling baby they knew become a little boy. Instead, they were left hoping that strangers searching through thousands of tons of garbage would find him. And those strangers did. They refused to let Torrey remain lost. Fifty three days after the search began, they brought him back to his family and made sure that what happened to him could not simply disappear with him. Torrey deserved protection while he was alive. He deserved dignity after his death. And he deserves to be remembered for far longer than the seven months he was given. Abuse Angels remembers Torrey Brown Jr. Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.