DSS caretaker charged in child's February death

CAYCE, SC (WIS) - The Department of Social Services-appointed caretaker of a nine-month-old boy is being charged months after deputies say she taped a pacifier into the child's mouth, killing him.

SLED arrested 30-year-old Angela Deniece Dukes at around 6:30pm Wednesday and charged her with unlawful conduct towards a child.

Dukes had been given custody of Curtis Williams on February 7, after Williams' mother, Katrina Jivers, was arrested for smoking pot with Williams and Jivers' two-year-old daughter in the room.

Both kids were taken into DSS custody. Cayce police say cocaine was found in the 2-year-old daughter's system. The son, Williams, tested posted for marijuana.

Williams died less than 24 hours after Dukes took custody.

SLED officials say Dukes taped a pacifier into the child's mouth, which obstructed his breathing and resulted in his death.

Coroner Gary Watts tells WIS News 10 he reported Williams' death as possibly suspicious, and that's what began the investigation.

At the time of the child's death, Jivers' family claimed there was more to the story than Jivers' drug use.

"Instead of saying, 'hey we made a mistake,' they're trying to stick her with something to cover themselves, cover their tracks," said Jivers' uncle, Rossevelt Jivers.

We talked to the grandmother of the baby, who saw him in the hospital before DSS took him. She says the family has been suspicious of what happened ever since.

"There was nothing wrong with him. There wasn't any thing wrong with him, so you wouldn't expect to hear something like that, but it was the most heartbreaking thing I ever heard," says Shirley Jivers.

Cayce police insisted they followed protocol at the time, but so far they've made no statement concerning the newest developments.

There's also been no response from the Department of Social Services, who placed the child in Dukes' care.

Shirley Jivers says she isn't receiving this news easily, knowing her other granddaughter, the two-year-old, is still in DSS custody herself.

She says Katrina Jivers is also receiving this news, and that she bonded out of jail about a month ago.

Officials say Dukes, who is a neonatal nurse at a local hospital, is at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing. It wasn't immediately clear if she had an attorney.