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15 YO Jazzmin Davis was Beaten And Starved To Death, Twin Brother Survives And Wins $4 Million Settlement Against CPS

15-year-old twins Jasmine "Jazzmin" Davis and her twin brother lived with their Aunt Shemeeka Davis in Antioch, California. 37-year-old Shameeka fostered the teens ever since they were 3 months old. She also has a biological daughter who was 7 at the time and 2 boys, 17 and 18. She was also just assigned as the twin's permanent legal guardian on August 27, 2008, exactly 6 days before Jazzmin died.

The twins mom and dad were drug addicts and in and out of jail. They lived in a housing project on the east side of Potrero Hill. Jazzmin tested positive for cocaine and sickle cell trait at birth. She was born breech and weighed less than 6 pounds, she almost didn't make it but she was a fighter and survived.

When Shemeeka offered to step in and take the kids for her brother everyone was happy and initially so was Shemeeka. Being 22 and now having 4 young children in the home would prove to be no easy quest. Shemeeka loved the kids but the pressure was mounting and she had no one to turn to for help. When she did request help, none was offered.

It was noted by a caseworker in 1997 that Shemeeka was "stressed out and overwhelmed due to taking care of the kids".  Shemeeka even went as far as telling the caseworker "I am struggling trying to meet my parental obligations for all my children and it's very stressful," "I could use therapy for myself" "God willing, we will all make it."

Shemeeka was getting $13,104 annually for taking care of the twins, $9,800 annually for taking care of her elderly mother, who by the way did not live with her and $1,700 a month through a Contra Costa housing authority section 8 program.

$43, 304 a year is not too bad! Some school teachers don't even make that.

Jazzmin was found dead on her urine and feces soaked un-carpeted bedroom floor on September 2, 2008 in what police described as the worst case of abuse they have seen in more than their 20 years of experience. She was beaten and starved. Her brother looked just like her, but alive. The children's grandmother was the one that called police and reported the murder. The grandmother had nothing to do with the abuse.

Shemeeka Davis was arrested and charged with murder, torture and child abuse. She is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole if she is found guilty. The death penalty is not an option since there is no PROOF that she deliberately murdered Jazzmin despite the fact she was starved and tortured for a long period of time.

Her bail was set at $1.5 million and she has pleaded not guilty.

When asked why she beat Jazzmin that particular day Shemeeka said "because she continually defies her and cut her holes in her jeans,"

Lt. Leonard Orman from Antioch Police said the twins looked like they had been tortured. "The house is pretty normal looking until you get to the bedroom where these two children spent most of their time," All the information we are getting indicates this has been going on for two years. I liken it to a prisoner of war camp," said Lt. Orman.

The twins had been beat with electrical cords all over their body's including their faces, burnt with clothes irons, had scalding water from a tea kettle poured on them, whipped with belts and at one point Jazzmin had a broken arm.

Jazzmin was covered in open infected wounds, oozing sores, deep tissue scars from head to toe, 5 of her teeth had been knocked out of her mouth and burns covered her chest and stomach.

Contra Costa County Coroner's Office released Jazzmin's autopsy report and it showed she was emaciated and malnourished, suffered severe lacerations and blunt force trauma to her head, and sustained severe injuries on the day of her death. Jazzmin at 5'7" only weighed 78 pounds.

Officers removed a bloody and broken closet rod, a belt with a padlock attached to the end, a clothes iron that police said Shemeeka would use to burn her with, carpet tack strips used to beat them, a broken lamp base, a computer and a workout weight.

Detective Santiago Castillo wrote in his report "All of these wounds appeared to be in various stages of healing." Three of the four bedroom walls, and the ceiling, were splattered with blood. Shemeeka also told Castillo "Jazzmin suffers from oppositional defiance and constantly picks at her wounds, rubbing blood on the walls throughout the house, urinates on the floors and at times will urinate in bottles pouring it on the other family members' food,"

There were no clothes hanging in the closet for the teens, the bedroom they shared was bare. The floor was soaked with urine and feces, especially the closet where they forced to spend the majority of their time. Shemeeka took the carpet out of their room.

The caseworker, Ann Marie Smith would have known this had she just done her job and inspected the home.

Trent Rhorer, executive director of San Francisco's Human Services Agency, said neither San Francisco nor Contra Costa children's services received any reports of suspected abuse. A social worker had visited Jazzmin in March 2008 and reportedly found NO evidence of abuse.

Later the head of San Francisco Health Human Services Agency told Bay Area News Group that staff violated state regulations by not requiring regular medical and school reports from Shemeeka Davis. They were only visiting the home twice a year because Shemeeka moved the kids to another city.

The caseworker reported that the children were in school and doing well at her last visit in March. She wrote in her report that she met with the kids and Jazzmin was making C's "which was good for her". Jazzmin had already been dropped from the rolls at school 5 months before that visit. She also wrote "Both children were friendly, talkative and appeared to be very health(y)."

The boy told police he always knew when Shemeeka was prepping for visit from the caseworker because she would give them more food and clothing, temporarily return carpet to their closet, and treat his scars and injuries with medicine and bleaching creams.

Even before Ann Marie Smith took the children's case in 2001 there were problems. The previous caseworker noted that Shemeeka consistently cancelled appointments, wasn't home, changed her phone numbers and moved many times without notice. That caseworker even sent a telegram to Shemeeka at one point trying to reach her. By the time the twins were 2 their visits were cut down from every month to every 6 months.

There was obviously a long history of problems with Shemeeka Davis but no one cared enough to do anything for these poor children who never asked to be born. WHY?

A neighbor said she asked Shemeeka where Jazzmin was and she was told that she was sent to live with another family member.

Jazzmin's brother filed a lawsuit on August 28, 2009 against the city and county of San Francisco and has been awarded $4 million. The lawsuit also named the child welfare agency and social worker Ann Marie Smith for not doing anything to help them when they knew what was going on in the home.

The twins told Ann Marie that they were getting "whooping's" and her response was that maybe they should behave themselves. It also claims Smith ignored "warnings and stern instructions" from a public health nurse to get long overdue physical exams for the twins.

The Antioch Unified School District has also agreed to pay as part of the same lawsuit, the amount they will pay has not been disclosed yet.  The lawsuit claims the Vice Principal "observed scars and scratches on Jazzmin's body, and that she had a black eye," but failed to ask questions or report it. It also claims the district and others knew of the abuse three years before Jazzmin died, and that school officials dropped the ball on reporting her truancy.

School records showed she last attended Antioch High School for about six weeks at the start of the 2007 year. Officials dropped her from the rolls for lack of attendance. Her brother planned to attend the high school in August 2008, but Davis refused to allow it because of his behavior, according to an investigative report after Jazzmin's death.

In May 2010, the court-appointed advocate (lawyer) for the twins, Tali Soltz, agreed to settle with Jazzmin's brother for $100,000, court records show. Tali said she met with the twins and they seemed fine. "If I had seen any signs of abuse, I would have done something about it," Soltz said in an interview. "This is a nightmare. ... Those kids mean a lot to me." She also said Shemeeka was "a con artist"

Darren Kessler, the brother's attorney, refused to comment on most aspects of the lawsuit and how Jazzmin's brother is doing. But he said it is the worst case he has ever seen. "This whole case and its outcome is ultimately about how the system, and its lack of protection, failed these kids," he said. "It should be a wake-up call for the sake of these kids and all the others in foster care." He also said the brother will need a lot of mental and medical care in the future.

The 2 day preliminary hearing began in June 2010.

Jazzmin's brother said he would often take the blame for his sister because their aunt beat her more often. He said that she started locking him in their bedroom and in the closet for up to 12 hours a day on Valentine's Day in 2009 but Jazzmin was locked in there a year earlier. Shemeeka removed all the light bulbs from the room and covered the windows so it would remain dark.

 

The boy said they were supposed to knock on the door if they had to go to the bathroom but sometimes no one came to let them out and other times they were locked in the closet so they had to use the restroom in the bedroom.

He also described a long round stick they were beat with, officer's found a 2 foot dowel rod with dried blood on one end of it during their investigation.

The brother told the court "I didn't think it was anything bad. I thought it was punishment for doing wrong," he said. "I deserved it." He is more concerned that Shameeka may not know that he still loves her.

Antioch police Officer Blair Benzler, who was the first witness called to testify in the preliminary hearing. During the days that followed, Jazzmin's brother was interviewed several times at a child interview center. According to Benzler, the teen told investigators that Shemeeka was mad at Jazzmin because she thought Jazzmin went into her room the night before.

Jazzmin allegedly had a history of sneaking out of her room, destroying Shemeeka's things, damaging the house and cutting the hair of Shemeeka's daughter. She was whipping Jazzmin with an electrical cord when Jazzmin's brother went into the bathroom to take a bath.

 

When he came back out and looked into the bedroom to check on his twin she was naked.  Shameeka was attempting to revive her and was putting ice on her chest. She was wailing and telling the brother "I'm so sorry,"  "I know you don't love me. You guys are my babies and they are going to take you away. ... You got to help me. I don't want her to die. I'll never do it again. Just don't die, don't die."

Benzler said he asked the youngest of the children who all lived in the home, she said sometimes her dad, her mom and her 3 brothers. Officer's asked why she didn't mention Jazzmin and her response was that "she didn't remember her."

Detective Dianne Freier's testified in Shemeeka's preliminary hearing that Jazzmin would hallucinate about eating when she hadn't eaten," "(Her twin brother) would tell her, 'No, you haven't eaten. You have to eat.' "

"What did I do," Jazzmin cried in the hour of her death, after Davis whipped her nearly a dozen times with an electrical cord, dressed her in a plastic garbage bag and was preparing to pour hot water on her, according to her brother.

"He said he only knew the difference between night and day when the sunlight came under the door," Freier said, wiping tears from her eyes.

"He said he had a blanket, but Jazzmin wasn't allowed to have a blanket," Freier said. "He would share with Jazzmin, but he had to do it secretly. He said Jazzmin was mostly nude in the closet. He would cover her, then uncover her if he heard Shemeeka coming."

Elizabeth Barker, an attorney for Shemeeka Davis, said her client is "100 percent innocent."

Shameeka Davis will be in court in March to begin her trial.

As you can see in Jazzmin's picture she is wearing a long-sleeve turtleneck sweater. This photo was a school picture taken in the summer. Before Jazzmin was forced to quit school her classmates said she always appeared at school with fresh bruises, scratches and cuts.

Treyanna said she knew Jazzmin was being abused as early as 2005. In notes passed in class, Jazzmin said her foster mother beat her. She hid her abuse with baggy pants and turtlenecks, even in Antioch's heat. She explained the scratches that could be seen on her neck as cat scratches. It was really from getting beat with tack strip. Once, she came to school with a black eye, said Treyanna.

"I think other people noticed but I think they tried to buy her lies. "Jazzmin begged her friends not to tell, saying she had been beat in the past for telling another adult. It's a promise they now wish they had broken.

When Jazzmin didn't start at Antioch High in fall 2007, Treyanna questioned Jazzmin's brother, who was still in school. He said she had changed schools. "I was suspicious but I didn't want to intrude," Treyanna said.

When I first started looking into this story my first instinct was that Shemeeka Davis was an egocentric, insatiable woman who never cared about the twins. I still believe that's how this case ended, however, in the beginning I don't think she started out with that intent.

It's clear from reports that she asked for help, she knew she was in over her head yet the people that were in a position to help and should have helped failed not only those children but failed her also. It doesn't make what she has done any less of a crime and she absolutely deserves everything she gets in my opinion BUT she was not the only murderer in this case. Every person that had a hand in this case and did nothing has Jazzmin's blood on their hands. It's sad that they will only pay monetarily for what they have done. No amount of money will bring Jazzmin back to her brother or heal the mental anguish that he may never be able to heal from.  I hope every time they climb into their nice comfortable beds at night and close their eyes they see Jazzmin.

About the Author

Unforgotten Angels started out as Facebook group that I founded to raise awareness of child abuse/child sexual after learning about a case of little girl named Audrina Claire Hepburn. Audrina was beat to death by someone in her home. I was so disturbed after learning about all of the details that I knew I could no longer close my eyes and look the other way. As a writer I know this is my calling...

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