Joslyn Monei Asberry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Remembering Joslyn

Joslyn Monei Asberry was three years old. She was one of five little girls in her family and was only two weeks away from celebrating her fourth birthday when she died. There is frustratingly little preserved publicly about the ordinary pieces of Joslyn’s personality—what made her laugh, what she liked to play with, or the things she loved. Instead, much of what remains is contained in records describing her death and the child protection history surrounding her family. But those records are not Joslyn. She was a little girl before she was ever the subject of a homicide investigation. She was a daughter, a sister, a niece and a child who deserved the chance to grow beyond three years old. Her family continued carrying her memory after her death; Denver Public Library’s historical collection even preserves material concerning an aunt who publicly spoke about losing her niece Joslyn. Her name was Joslyn Monei Asberry, and her life deserves to be remembered separately from the violence that ended it.

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Joslyn’s Story

During the early morning hours of February 1, 2008, Joslyn was at home in Denver with her mother’s boyfriend, Alexis “Alex” Ortiz.  Ortiz was responsible for watching Joslyn and four other children while their mother was away. At some point during that night, Ortiz violently assaulted three-year-old Joslyn.

According to the information preserved on Joslyn’s original Abuse Angels page, Joslyn suffered three blows to her head and another devastating blow to her abdomen. She was pushed or thrown with enough force that she struck a television set. The injuries inflicted upon this 28-pound little girl were catastrophic. Joslyn suffered multiple blunt-force injuries. Her optic nerve was damaged. Two ribs were broken. Her liver was lacerated.

Her body had multiple abrasions. But even after Joslyn had been gravely injured and stopped breathing,  Ortiz did not immediately call for help. According to the history preserved on your original page, he waited approximately an hour before calling 911, making two other telephone calls before finally contacting emergency services. When paramedics arrived, Joslyn was not breathing. She was transported to a Denver-area hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Denver coroner determined that Joslyn died from multiple blunt-force injuries caused by non-accidental trauma. Then came the changing explanations. Ortiz initially told Denver police that Joslyn had fallen. He later suggested that someone else might have entered the home and hurt her.

But one of Joslyn’s sisters had been sleeping in the same room. She told police that Ortiz had thrown Joslyn.

During a second interview, Ortiz finally admitted that he had pushed Joslyn, causing her to strike her head against the television. 

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The Warning Signs & System Failures

Joslyn’s death did not occur in a family completely unknown to child-protection authorities. There had already been warning signs. Approximately one year before Joslyn died, the Denver Department of Human Services became involved after belt marks were discovered on one of Joslyn’s sisters. Joslyn’s mother, Keyona Gadison, was accused of beating the child and ultimately received a year of supervised probation.Despite the abuse finding, the five girls remained in their mother’s care. Caseworkers reportedly believed Gadison had cooperated sufficiently with the investigation and was making progress as a parent. Questions were also raised about Alex Ortiz. According to the information preserved on Joslyn’s original page, Ortiz already had an extensive history with police stretching back approximately 12 years, including arrests involving assault, domestic violence and drug possession. Gadison reportedly maintained that Ortiz did not live in the home.

Then another concern surfaced. Approximately five months after the earlier investigation, a therapist reported seeing Gadison pinch one of Joslyn’s sisters during an appointment. Caseworkers investigated.

That allegation was determined to be unfounded. The children remained in the home. Then, on February 1, 2008, Joslyn was left in Ortiz’s care. She never made it to her fourth birthday. This is why I think we absolutely keep a Warning Signs & System Failures section for Joslyn. We're not speculating that authorities “could definitely have prevented” her death. We're documenting something much more concrete: The family had previously come to the attention of child-protection authorities. Abuse of another child had previously resulted in criminal consequences. Concerns involving Ortiz existed. And Joslyn ultimately died while in his care.

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Justice for Joslyn

Alexis Ortiz was arrested on the same day Joslyn died.

On February 8, 2008, the Denver District Attorney formally charged him with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death. The DA stated that Ortiz had been babysitting Joslyn and four other children when he caused the injuries that killed her. The case ultimately ended in a plea agreement.

Ortiz pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death, a felony. In exchange for his guilty plea, the first degree murder charge was dismissed. On October 2, 2009, a Denver District Court judge sentenced Ortiz to:

40 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Ortiz made a statement in court apologizing to his girlfriend’s family. 

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Person convicted: Alexis Ortiz
Relationship to Joslyn: Mother’s boyfriend
Original charges: First-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death
Conviction: Child abuse resulting in death
Sentence: 40 years in prison

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Forever Remembered

Joslyn was only three years old. She was two weeks away from another birthday.

There should have been a fourth birthday. And a fifth. There should have been first days of school, childhood friends, favorite songs and hobbies, school pictures and all the ordinary pieces of a childhood that no public record can tell us because Joslyn was never given enough time to create them. Today, so much of the surviving record of her life describes injuries, police interviews, child-protection investigations and a prison sentence.

Those details matter. The severity of what happened to Joslyn should never be hidden or softened.

But they are not all that Joslyn was. Her name was Joslyn Monei Asberry. She was a daughter. She was one of five sisters. She was a niece whose loss remained part of her family’s story. And she was a three year old little girl who deserved protection from the adults around her. Abuse Angels remembers Joslyn, tells the truth about what was done to her, and preserves the name of the little girl behind an old Denver homicide case.

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http://childfatalities.denverpost.com/#id=2&name=AsberryJoslyn