Brazoria County has not sent children to Daystar since '04
DA noted home's deadly history of restraints, decided risk too great
By TERRI LANGFORD
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Nov. 9, 2010, 10:53PM
DAYSTAR DEATHS: Four restraint-related deaths have occurred at Daystar Residential Inc. since 1993.
• 1993: Dawn Perry, 16, dies of an apparent restraint applied at what was then called Behavior Training Research.
• 2001: Stephanie Duffield, 16, dies at Shiloh Residential Treatment Center after restraints are applied.
• 2002: Latasha Bush, 15, dies at Daystar after restraints are applied.
• June 2002: Daystar placed on probation.
• June 2010: Houston Chronicle/The Texas Tribune report that Daystar staffers encouraged girls to fight one another for a snack.
• Nov. 1, 2010: State notifies Daystar officials they again will be placed on probation.
• Nov. 5, 2010: Michael Keith Owens, 16, dies after restraint is applied at Daystar.
Source: Houston Chronicle research and news reports
The history of restraint deaths at Daystar Residential Inc. so troubled Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne that she would not allow troubled children to be placed at the Manvel home — and hasn't since at least 2004.
"I won't take the risk," Yenne told the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday, a day after law enforcement revealed that Michael Keith Owens, 16, died Friday while a restraint was applied by a Daystar staffer.
Owens' death on Nov. 5, inside a closet of a bedroom he shared with an autistic teen, is the fourth restraint death to occur at Daystar or its sister facilities at the same address in Manvel since 16-year-old Dawn Perry died in 1993.
Stephanie Duffield, 16, died in 2001. Her family settled with Daystar for an undisclosed amount.
Latasha Bush, 15, died in 2002. Her death, which was ruled a homicide, resulted in a court settlement with Daystar.
Owens' death came four days after the facility was notified it was to be placed on probation by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, following a state-appointed monitor's report and the agency's own recent findings.
A preliminary investigation reveals Owens died of asphyxiation, although an autopsy has not been completed.
But it was the last two girls' deaths, nearly a decade ago, that forced Yenne to take a stand, she said.
"We have a great concern about restraint holds as they have occurred in the past," Yenne wrote in a July 7, 2004, notice to Brazoria, Harris and Galveston counties' court personnel. "This has fallen on deaf ears but we are not going to be a party to a future disaster. Any orders of transfer to our county, we will not handle in this regard because this situation is that severe."
Her office, which handles both criminal juvenile matters and placements of abused children who may need the intense supervision Daystar offers, put the state on notice years ago, she said.
Staff training a concern
DFPS had no comment on Yenne's policy regarding Daystar, one of 80 residential treatment facilities that house some of the most troubled children in state foster care, outside of a psychiatric hospital.
Since September 2006, Daystar has received about $15.3 million in taxpayer funds, including $321,000 since Sept. 1.
This summer, the Chronicle and Texas Tribune revealed that Daystar staffers forced developmentally disabled girls to fight one another for a snack in 2008. It was one of 250 confirmed abuse incidents that occurred at residential treatment centers.
A state monitor, assigned to live at the facility for 90 days, left in September but not before reporting to the state that the reliance on restraints at Daystar was problematic.
Yenne concedes that the children placed at Daystar are difficult, but she is concerned about how well the home's staff is trained to handle the most difficult situations.
"I really worry about how they're being trained," the district attorney said.
Sheriff wants to see video
Brazoria County Sheriff's Investigator Ronnie Falks said his office has asked for video taken from cameras inside Owens' living quarters to be subpoenaed. There are no cameras inside children's bedrooms, but there are cameras in the hallways or common areas, he said.
Falks said Owens, a large teen at 5-foot-6 and 230 pounds, was diagnosed with a mood disorder and lived in a room with an autistic teen. His bedroom was located in a double-wide trailer, where he lived with six other children, some with mental deficiencies, and two adults.
On Tuesday, the Chronicle reached Daystar Executive Director Call Salls, who referred questions to the facility's attorney, John Carsey.
"I don't have any comment for you," Salls said before taking a message for Carsey, who was in Manvel at the facility .
Salls, who did not fully hang up the phone, then told Carsey, who was in the same room, that the news organization had called and wanted him to call back. They did not appear to realize the Chronicle was still waiting on the phone.
Crisis response defended
The conversation between Salls and Carsey then switched to a discussion of the videotape of Owens' final and fatal struggle with a Daystar employee.
"I think we've determined what the video shows. It is now a good video. It shows things happening as they should be," Carsey told Salls.
But Carsey acknowledges the limitation of the video camera, which, according to Brazoria County investigators, is in the hallway of the double-wide trailer Owens and six other Daystar residents called home.
"We're never, ever going to see what happened in the room," Carsey told Salls.
Late Wednesday, Carsey elaborated in an e-mail about what he meant.
"My statement about the video is based on the fact that it shows very professional and responsible actions by the Daystar staffers in a crisis situation," he wrote. "The incident was reported as soon as it happened and emergency personnel were on the scene within 10 minutes. The hallway camera just shows the staff and emergency workers entering and exiting the room at varying times."
terri.langford@chron.com