Starving Vancouver teen visited by child welfare worker just days before his death, court records show

By Noelle Crombie | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Seven days before a Vancouver teen died of starvation late last year, Washington child welfare authorities received a report from the boy’s aunt who alleged that her sister was withholding food from her children and that the boy was a “walking skeleton.”

The report prompted a state worker to visit the home of Felicia Adams, 52, and Jesse Franks, 56, the following day to check on Karreon Walker-Franks and his two younger brothers.

Karreon apparently remained in Adams’ care even after one of his brothers confided to the state worker that on the same day as the home visit he saw their mother strike Karreon with a cane, punishment he said she had doled out before because the boy had vomited.

Within a week, 15-year-old Karreon was dead. He weighed about 65 pounds.

Court records allege that Adams routinely refused to feed the boy and ordered his teachers not to give him food. He only sporadically attended online classes, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Clark County Superior Court. It is unclear from the court records what role Frank played in Karreon’s care.

Karreon was autistic, developmentally disabled, incontinent, non-verbal and partially blind, according to the affidavit.

Court documents show that the isolation of the coronavirus pandemic and closure of his school as a result likely compounded the circumstances that led to Karreon’s death.

Adams, also known as Felicia Adams-Franks, adopted the boy and his two younger brothers in 2012. She is their aunt.

She is now the subject of a Vancouver police investigation into Karreon’s death.

Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said no arrests have been made in the case. Kapp said the other boys in Adams’ care were removed by state officials one day after their oldest brother’s death. They are now 13 and 15.

The warrant sought Adams’ financial records, which show she lost tens of thousands of dollars at the nearby Ilani casino along Interstate 5 over the last four years. She was seen there hours after Karreon’s death.

The search warrant affidavit, signed by Vancouver Detective Zachary Ripp, details the grim circumstances of Karreon’s life and death.

On Nov. 27, Adams brought the boy to the emergency room at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, where he was pronounced dead 14 minutes later. Pneumonia was listed as his cause of death.