The honk of his mother’s car horn meant food, if only for a day. It was a signal to Jennifer Wood’s four children, ages 18, 11, 3 and 1, that they needed to come outside and pick up the starchy dishes she was leaving behind.
Wood, 37, had quit her job at 7-Eleven in January and had begun leaving home for two to three days at a time, eldest son Alvondo Williams Jr. told the Los Angeles Times. Once she was gone for a week, traveling to Las Vegas while her kids were left with little to nothing to eat.
On April 23, the day after Wood, 37, got back from Vegas, 11-year-old James called 911 after fighting with his mother. It wasn’t the first time the California Department of Children and Family Services was made aware of Jennifer Wood, but the situations before were not nearly as dire. And they would only get worse, an investigation by The Los Angeles Times uncovered.
Williams was eventually kicked out of the house by his mother, leaving James, who is autistic and was diagnosed with a learning disorder, to care for his 1-year-old and 3-year-old sisters.
On July 1, the youngest sibling, Thyri, was found dead, “malnourished” with “sunken eyes,” a detective told the DCFS. A postmortem exam by the county corner found signs of dehydration, “poor diet” and possible neglect.
James said he had resorted to feeding his baby sister jelly and French fries, according to a DCFS report. There were no other options. He had texted his mother three times asking for money to buy milk for Thyri. By the time she finally sent it, it was too late. James found the baby in her crib, her head tilted back, eyes wide open, arm stiff.
The 11-year-old had tried to sound the alarm back in April when he told an Los Angeles police officer about his mother’s week in Vegas, adding there was “very little food in the home,” according to a report the police made to DCFS.
A social worker came to the family’s apartment later in the afternoon. Wood said she had only been gone for a few days. James, according to the DFCS report, called her a liar and stormed out of the home.
No investigation was opened.
The agency would be back at the home in two weeks. On May 6, following the advice of his grandmother, Williams told a Canoga Park High School counselor about his mother’s absences and the lack of food in the home. He staved off hunger by drinking lots of water.
School officials sent him home with a cooler filled with bread, milk, sandwich meat and cereal. The school counselor then called the Los Angeles DFCS hotline to report possible neglect in a home with “more condiments than food, the Times reports.
A police officer was sent to the apartment, arriving just after Williams had returned home with the bags of food. Williams was holding “a bag of food,” and there was canned food and peanut butter in the cupboard, the officer reported.
While he was there, Wood stopped by with some macaroni and cheese and chicken. She left before the officer could speak with her.
The following day, Williams had returned with more food from his school almost at the exact same time a social worker stopped by. He noted that the refrigerator and freezer were “stocked” with “plenty of food.”
That same day, the social worker met with Wood. She told him her eldest son was “being ridiculous” and had a bad attitude.
That night, she kicked Williams out of the apartment. The school counselor whom he first confided in kept close tabs, and when she learned Williams was living in a homeless shelter, she called the DFCS hotline again to tell them an 11-year-old had been left to take care of an infant and toddler.
But this time there would be no visit. A social worker’s attempt to speak with the Canoga Park High counselor was “unsuccessful.” Wood’s false claim that her roommate and a family friend helped care for the children was never checked out.
“If there’s a lack of food in the home, and there’s a 1-year-old, that’s extremely dangerous,” said former DCFS director Bobby Cagle, who left the agency in 2021. “You can’t just take the word of a parent.”
The DFCS investigation concluded on May 22. The social worker assigned to the case wrote that the allegation of neglect was “inconclusive.” He described Thyri as “happy.” The case was closed.
“The mother practices appropriate parenting skills, as well as providing adequate food, clothing, medical care and supervision for the children,” the social worker wrote in his final report.
When police arrived after James had called 911 about his sister they encountered horrific conditions. Thyri had been dead for 18 hours and had a bruise on her forehead and severe diaper rash. Her crib was saturated with urine.
Trash cans were overflowing, the floor was covered in cat droppings and the refrigerator, empty.
Wood was arrested on July 11 on suspicion of child neglect. She has not been charged with any crime, but all of her children have been removed from her custody.
Williams and 3-year-old Penelope live with relatives in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. James is in foster care.
