Within months, the year-old was dead. By the time John Almond called for help on October 21, , it was too late. John told the dispatcher he had just woken up, David was not moving, and he thought he was dead. First responders found David barely breathing, starved, beaten, and covered in feces. He was rushed to Charlton Memorial Hospital where he later died. Investigator photos obtained by the I-Team show some of the filthy conditions in the one-bedroom Fall River apartment where David was living with one of his triplet brothers, his father, his dad's girlfriend, her mother, and their baby.
Nobody would have allowed the size of the apartment let alone what was happening in there," Boy Dawes said. Police charged John and his live-in girlfriend, Jaclyn Coleman with David's death, the couple eventually pleaded guilty. Boy says he believes if John had not been using drugs, "I don't think this would have happened. The couple who has 10 grandchildren says they have forgiven John so they can go on with their lives.
Linda and Boy Dawes point the finger at the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families or DCF for reuniting the boys with their father who had a long-documented history of abuse and neglect. Linda tells the I-Team, "I don't know why he wanted his kids. I can only guess. He certainly didn't take care of them we would have. Just one phone call. The brothers were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as toddlers. Removed from their parents years ago, the triplets had been in the custody of DCF and were doing well in a congregate care setting.
Their grandparents had no input on DCF's decision to send them back to John. Boy says, "They have never contacted us and if they would have contacted us, this would not have happened.
We had no rights. After David's death, the grandparents thought the boys would go home with them, instead they say DCF kept custody and separated the brothers in different group homes. Linda tells the I-Team, the two brothers only see each other when they come up from South Carolina to visit once a month.
