Renee C. Terrell

In 2006, Renee Terrell's son, Saige, was removed by the local child protective service in in Henderson, Kentucky when he was just 16 days old due to reports of neglect. Ms. Terrell was allowed to have supervised visits with Saige.

In the late afternoon 16 October 2006 (Monday) social worker Boni Frederick of Morganfield, Kentucky and Saige arrived at Renee Terrell's home. Hours later, when Boni failed to return to her office, police went to investigate. Authorities discovered that Boni (67 at the time of death) was beaten to death with bare hands and Saige was missing. There was no sign of either Renee Terrell (33 in 2006) or of her boyfriend, Christopher Luttrell.

Ms. Frederick worked with the Department of Health and Family Services for 15 years. Her duty was transporting children to and from family visits and doctor appointments. Investigators believe the couple stole Boni's car, a 2000 white Daewoo Nubia station wagon with Kentucky license plates: 675-DRV. Boni Frederick's credit cards are also missing. Someone had beaten Boni to death with their bare hands. Arrest warrant was in effect for the couple and the safe return of 10-month-old Saige shortly after.

According to an autopsy report, Frederick was beaten to death. She suffered multiple blunt and sharp-force injuries. Frederick was supposed to be at the mother's home from 9 to 11 a.m. to supervise the visit.

It is common for a social worker to travel alone, but if a worker is concerned about safety, he or she can request an escort by a police officer or another social worker. Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher ordered flags at all state office buildings to be lowered to half-staff in memory of Frederick. Flags remained at half-staff through sunset on the day of Frederick's funeral.

Renee Terrell is described as 5-foot-5, 240 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She wears glasses. Christopher Wayne Luttrell is 6-foot-2, 150 pounds, with blue eyes and tattoos on his arms. Police said Luttrell is wanted in Louisville, Kentucky, for a parole violation.

A surveillance tape from a gas station in Smithboro has recorded the vehicle wanted and the case of missing 10 month old Saige Terrell. A credit card purchase indicated that those wanted, Renee Terrell and Renee Terrell’s boyfriend, Christopher Wayne Luttrell were at this location. On October 19, 2006, they were caught after a 3-day nationwide manhunt in Godfrey, a village in Madison County, Illinois. The baby was unharmed.

In July 2008, 24-year-old Christopher Luttrell pleaded guilty to the murder of Boni Frederick, a social service aide. A month later, Renee Terrell also pleaded guilty to murder, robbery, kidnapping and theft over $300 in connection with the death of Frederick of Morganfield. On August 25, 2008, they were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Sandy Travis, Frederick's daughter, said after the sentencing hearing in August 2008:

Travis said she's not sure where to go from here, but she plans to work with the Boni Frederick Bill (see below), hopefully raising more money for safer working conditions for Kentucky's social workers.

After the killing of Boni Frederick, social workers immediately lobbied for more funding and power alleging that they do not get enough protection while doing their jobs. Martyrizing social workers gives them a perfect excuse to get more money, power and, above all, sympathy from the people.

Five months after the death of Boni Frederick, the Kentucky state government subsequently passed a bill called Boni Frederick Bill (2007 House Bill 362) in March 2007 with no politician opposing in both the House and the Senate to enhance the safety of state social workers. Essentially, this gave social workers more power, money and resources. Politicians do not seem to realize that this tragedy could be prevented if children are not removed from their parents. Such notorious activities will most certainly expose social workers to danger. It is natural that a mother grizzly bear will attack if her cubs are taken away. She will not stop charging even if an elephant gun is pointing at her. Furthermore, many social workers often provoke parents during supervised visits. Some of them do so to induce crimes to justify their involvement and child removal decision. This could easily cause parents to act out of character.

This case suggests the following:

State-sponsored child removal provokes parents to commit more crimes, creating more tragedies, hence self-fulfilling social worker's prophecy of abusive parents.
Killing social workers is not only illegal but will also martyrize them and give an excuse for the child protection industry to demand more money and power. Be mindful that killing a few social workers, however bad they may be, will not solve the problem. We condemn violence and threats of violence against any person.
Sandy Travis, Frederick's daughter does not seem to realize that it is the "child protection" system that, partially at the very least, cost the life of her mother. It inevitably puts parents and "child protection" workers on a collision course. Many workers are accustomed to play god and/or to provoke parents who are already distressed by the removal of their children. This further agitates the adversarial relationship.
State-sponsored child removal creates more problems than it solves. In this case, to protect an infant from alleged neglect, society suddenly has more two convicted murderers.
Taxpayers are indirectly victimized as they always bear the financial burden of problems arising from child removal. The costs include but not limit to the cost of removal (running foster homes, legal costs, salaries of social workers, visitation supervised workers, ... etc.), psychological assessment and counseling, expensive court time, police overtime to escort social workers to conduct their hideous child removal activities, damages parents may claim in the future for abuse or wrongful death of their removed children, social costs (higher crime rate, drug addiction, ... etc.) of an increasing number of problematic teenagers and adults when removed children grow older.
Politicians are gullible to be lobbied by special interests in the child protection industry to grant more statutory power and fundings.

PAPA People Assisting Parents Association © 2007

Renee C. Terrell, Henderson, Kentucky, U.S.A. (16 October 2006)

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