Louisville, Ky. — A Jefferson County grand jury has indicted three former staff members of Brooklawn, a Louisville psychiatric residential treatment facility for foster children, on manslaughter charges in the July 2022 death of a 7-year-old boy in state custody who died after being held face-down in a restraint, Louisville Public Media reported. The indictments came nearly four years after the coroner ruled the death a homicide.
Deborah Francis, Jillian Parks and Amanda Whitlow were indicted July 15, 2026. WAVE reported each faces one count of complicity to second-degree manslaughter, a felony that carries five to ten years. All three are presumed innocent.
What investigators found
The boy died July 17, 2022. According to Louisville Public Media, two staffers held him in a restraint, one holding his legs straight out and another pushing against his back until his nose almost touched the floor. They held him until he vomited and lost consciousness. The Jefferson County coroner’s office ruled the cause positional asphyxia, Law&Crime reported.
A 122-page report by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services found two staff members were caring for nine children that morning, below the required ratio of one staffer to three children, according to Law&Crime. The state’s investigation found the boy had wet his pants, threatened to throw a water bottle at a staff member and was fighting the hold.
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Records obtained by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting showed that in his final hours the boy was publicly shamed, verbally abused and left alone in his room for nearly six hours. Whitlow testified that Francis said earlier that day she “was going to hold [him] and make him throw up,” according to Louisville Public Media.
Four years without charges
All three staffers were suspended within days of the death, and Francis and Parks were fired about a month later. In 2023 the boy’s estate settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Uspiritus-Brooklawn. The employees later refused to testify at a deposition, Law&Crime reported.
A spokesperson for the Jefferson Commonwealth’s Attorney told Louisville Public Media that a court rule limited what could be disclosed about the delay in charging.
Four years is a ridiculously long amount of time.
Former state Rep. Attica Scott, to Louisville Public Media
John Myers, a child abuse expert at UC Law San Francisco, told the outlet that criminal charges against caretakers in such cases are rare.
Court status
None of the three defendants appeared at their first scheduled arraignment on July 20. WAVE reported that two had been arrested out of state and one had an active warrant, and that the next hearing was set for July 27. Pleas had not been reported.
Restraint deaths inside facilities paid to treat foster children rarely lead to charges, and the agencies that place children there almost never answer for the staffing and oversight failures their own investigators document. The state knew the facility was understaffed that morning; that finding came after the boy was dead. FAN tracks these cases as part of its work on foster care system problems.
Key facts
- A 7-year-old in state custody died July 17, 2022, after a face-down restraint at Brooklawn in Louisville.
- The coroner ruled positional asphyxia and classified the death a homicide.
- Deborah Francis, Jillian Parks and Amanda Whitlow were indicted July 15, 2026, on manslaughter-related charges.
- A state report found two staff caring for nine children that morning, below the required 1-to-3 ratio.
- The boy’s estate settled a wrongful death suit with Uspiritus-Brooklawn in 2023.
- The case is in Jefferson County; defendants are presumed innocent.
Sources
- Louisville Public Media (KyCIR) — Four years later, three indicted for Ja’Ceon Terry’s death in Louisville foster care (2026-07-16)
- WAVE — Hearing rescheduled for suspects in Brooklawn manslaughter case (2026-07-20)
- Law&Crime — Foster care staff held boy, 7, down for minutes on end as he cried: Authorities (2026-07-21)
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