REMEMBERING CHANDLER

Chandler Grafner was seven years old when he died.

He was a kindergarten student at Holm Elementary School in Denver and had a younger half brother, Dominic.

Chandler was a little boy who should have been spending his days learning to read, playing with other children and discovering the things he enjoyed.

Instead, during the final year of his life, Chandler moved through a child welfare system involving three Colorado counties.

He also tried to tell adults what was happening to him.

When school employees noticed injuries on Chandler in January 2007, Chandler told the assistant principal that Jon Phillips had put him in the shower and repeatedly slapped him in the ear.

His school reported the suspected abuse.

Chandler had spoken.

He was still returned to the home.

The months that followed took almost everything from him.

CHANDLER’S STORY

Chandler's family had been known to child protection authorities for years.

In March 2006, Chandler and his younger half brother were taken into protective custody after their mother, Christina Grafner, was arrested.

Authorities reported finding her in a vehicle while apparently under the influence of drugs. The children were not properly restrained, had no shoes and appeared thin, unkempt and neglected.

Jefferson County assumed legal custody of the boys.

On May 18, 2006, the county placed Chandler in the physical custody of Jon Phillips, a former boyfriend of Chandler's mother who had no biological relationship to him.

Sarah Berry, Jon's live in girlfriend, was later added to Chandler's child welfare case.

The placement that was supposed to provide Chandler stability became the place where he was abused.

In January 2007, employees at Holm Elementary noticed that Chandler had a bruised and swollen ear, a bump on his head and red marks on his neck.

Chandler explained what had happened.

He said Jon had put him in the shower and slapped his ear repeatedly.

The school reported the suspected abuse.

Denver child protection authorities opened an investigation.

Chandler remained in the home.

Then he disappeared from school.

In March 2007, Jon withdrew Chandler from Holm Elementary, claiming that he would be homeschooled.

There was no longer a teacher seeing Chandler every morning.

There was no assistant principal able to notice another bruise.

There was no school employee able to ask him what had happened.

Inside the apartment, Chandler was increasingly isolated.

For much of the final weeks of his life, he was confined inside a small linen closet.

The space was approximately 35 inches wide and less than 18 inches high.

He was deprived of adequate food and water.

A litter box was placed inside for him to use as a toilet.

Chandler became progressively weaker as his body consumed itself trying to survive.

On April 17, 2007, another report reached Denver Human Services.

Holm Elementary reported that Chandler had been absent from school for approximately a month.

No new abuse investigation was opened.

Chandler remained inside the apartment.

On May 6, 2007, emergency responders were finally called.

Chandler was found severely emaciated and dehydrated.

He weighed approximately 34 pounds.

He was transported for emergency medical treatment, but his body could no longer survive what had been done to it.

Chandler suffered cardiac arrest and died.

The coroner determined that starvation and dehydration caused his death.

He was seven years old.

SYSTEM FAILURES & WARNING SIGNS

Chandler's death became one of Colorado's most disturbing examples of a child dying while already under government supervision.

Over nearly three years, child protection departments in Arapahoe, Jefferson and Denver counties received information concerning Chandler and his family.

In October 2004, Christina contacted Arapahoe County authorities and expressed concern that Jon Phillips might harm Chandler.

Additional reports followed.

By March 2006, Jefferson County had removed Chandler from his mother's custody and assumed legal responsibility for him.

Two months later, the county placed him with Jon.

In January 2007, Chandler arrived at school visibly injured.

His ear was bruised and swollen.

There was a bump on his head.

There were marks on his neck.

Most importantly, Chandler explained what had happened.

He said Jon had hurt him.

The school reported it.

Child protection authorities investigated.

Chandler remained with Jon and Sarah.

Then Chandler stopped appearing at school.

When Jon withdrew him and said he would be homeschooled, Chandler lost one of the few places where adults outside the home regularly saw him.

Holm Elementary noticed.

On April 17, the school contacted Denver Human Services because Chandler had been absent for approximately a month.

That referral was dismissed without an investigation.

Nineteen days later, Chandler was dead.

The failures surrounding his case eventually reached federal court.

Chandler's estate and biological parents filed a civil rights lawsuit alleging that child welfare officials failed to protect a child who was already in government custody.

Federal appellate litigation documented the repeated involvement of multiple county agencies and the reports received before Chandler died.

His death also prompted reviews of child welfare practices in Denver and Jefferson counties.

In 2008, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter created the Child Welfare Action Committee to examine the state's child protection system. Among its eventual recommendations was the creation of a child protection ombudsman.

Chandler had already been removed from one home because adults believed he needed protection.

The government had legal custody of him.

His school saw injuries.

Chandler disclosed abuse.

His disappearance from school was reported.

Still, no one reached him before starvation did.

JUSTICE FOR CHANDLER

Jon Phillips and Sarah Berry were arrested after Chandler's death.

Prosecutors alleged that the two deliberately deprived Chandler of food and water and confined him in the closet.

Jon went to trial in 2008.

On August 12, a Denver jury found him guilty of first degree murder, child abuse resulting in death and tampering with physical evidence.

He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, along with an additional prison term.

Sarah initially faced first degree murder charges.

After Jon's conviction, she accepted a plea agreement.

She pleaded guilty to second degree murder.

On September 29, 2008, Sarah received the maximum sentence allowed under the plea agreement: 48 years in prison.

Jon Phillips

Relationship to Chandler: Caregiver

Conviction: First degree murder; child abuse resulting in death; tampering with physical evidence

Sentence: Life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 49 years

Sarah Berry

Relationship to Chandler: Caregiver

Conviction: Second degree murder

Sentence: 48 years in prison

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Chandler was seven.

That fact becomes difficult to hold onto when reading everything that followed his name.

County departments.

Investigations.

Referrals.

Court orders.

Lawsuits.

Appeals.

Policy reviews.

His death became an example used whenever Colorado discussed how its child welfare system could fail a child already in its care.

But Chandler was never supposed to become an example.

He was supposed to remain a little boy.

One of the most important things Chandler did before he died was something adults constantly tell children to do.

He told someone.

When he was hurt, Chandler spoke to people at his school.

He explained what Jon had done to him.

Adults reported it.

Later, when Chandler disappeared from the classroom, his school noticed that too.

The failure was never that Chandler did not give anyone an opportunity to help him.

He did.

Chandler should have returned to school.

He should have finished kindergarten.

He should have entered first grade and second grade and every grade that came afterward.

He should have grown alongside his younger brother.

He should have been given enough food that hunger was an ordinary feeling solved by walking into the kitchen.

He should have slept in a bed.

He should have used a bathroom.

He should never have known what it felt like to be imprisoned inside a closet.

Colorado eventually examined what went wrong.

Policies were reviewed.

Lawsuits continued for years.

Adults debated responsibility for decisions made while Chandler was alive.

None of those things could answer the one question that mattered most.

Why did nobody reach him in time?

Chandler deserved protection when he was still alive to receive it.

He deserved to be heard when he spoke.

He deserved far more than seven years.

Abuse Angels remembers Chandler Grafner.

Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.