Records: ER staff suspected abuse in death of 3-year-old foster child
KAMUELA, HAWAII (HawaiiNewsNow) - Emergency room staff at a Big Island hospital suspected abuse in the death of a 3-year-old boy who died last year in foster care, medical records show.
Fabian Garcia died in July, and the Hawaii County medical examiner determined it was due to blunt force trauma to the head.
But after a seven-month investigation, the medical examiner stopped short of saying the boy had been murdered.
Jeffrey Foster, the attorney for Fabian's biological parents, is calling on anyone who might know about the toddler's death to call police.
Foster provided Hawaii News Now a portion of Fabian's hospital records, which show ER staff suspected abuse.
A diagram included in the records shows injuries on much of the toddler's body:
"I've never encountered a situation where we've seen this much damage to the body of a child," Foster said.
Fabian's biological parents also had concerns their son was being mistreated at his foster home.
A photograph of the little boy was snapped during a supervised visit at the Kona Aquatic Center on July 17.
The image shows Fabian with a bruise on his forehead.
Eight days later, the toddler was rushed to the ER after his foster parents said they found him face down in bed in a pool of vomit.
"We need to provide answers to this family," Foster said. "The bruising it's horrific. We want to know what happened in that house. We want to know what happened to Fabian."
HNN asked the state Department of Human Services if it had received complaints about the foster family involved in this case, and whether they're still fostering children.
A spokesperson cited privacy laws for refusing to answer the questions.
Meanwhile, Foster is asking anyone with information to come forward.
"We do have several tips. We have our experts looking into the medical reports," Foster said. "But what we want at this time -- we want anyone who has information about Fabian, about the house where he was living and the people inside the house."
The attorney said Fabian's parents want to share their story, but have been ordered not to speak publicly by a family court judge.
The parents' other children were returned to them by the state after the toddler's death.
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