In law enforcement they say one of the hardest things to investigate is the death of a young child. Easily images of nieces and nephews, sons and daughters come to mind bringing the life and dreams of spirited youth to the investigators imagination. Innocence so cruelly snuffed out. Sorrow as thick as the earth’s crust surrounding those who loved and cared for the child, swallowing up those with heart and humanity and spitting them into a world of darkness and evil intent.
Young Kayla Allen was once one of those spirited children whose life spread to those around her like a soft breeze through sheer lace-covered curtains moving gently around an open window, a contagious laugh, a beaming smile. She was made of pixie-dust and fairy-tale feathers.
Kayla’s life ended tragically and mysteriously. The mystery isn’t so much about what happened but how it happened. No one is talking much except her blood relatives. No one is saying much at all.
When Kayla was born to her young mother she entered a world full of love. She was her mother’s little baby and more than anything Kayla’s mother, Nicole, wanted to care for her best she could. Unfortunately the circumstances surrounding Nicole’s life made that desire hard to fulfill.
Nicole soon made the difficult decision to give her child to her brother and his wife early on because Nicole found it impossible to raise her all alone and begin her career in the Marine Corps. Boot camp makes no accommodations for small, little children.
So Nicole’s brother and wife begin to care for little Kayla. Raising her as their own child. Kayla is still in the “family” so-to-speak, still getting cards at Christmas from her Grandma and others who love her. Still being seen and loved by those kinfolk.
Kayla’s life is fairly uneventful. Raised in a house with other children, going to school, swimming, dancing, running barefoot in the yard chasing fireflies in the quiet community of Richlands, North Carolina. For all intent and purpose a seemingly normal kid in a normal family.
Soon the custody is official and papers were signed, all rights had been transferred from Nicole to her brother and his wife. Little by little the family begins a downward spiral. Separation and divorce, arguments and violence, things began to crumble. Harsh discipline becomes more of a norm in Kayla’s life rather than a rare moment of ill tempered, poor judgment.
Kayla stays at home with her uncle’s ex-wife, her “mom-aunt”, the woman who helped to raise her, her legal guardian, Carolyn Langford-Ochoa-Allen. (Now remarried and her last name is currently Futrell) It is uncertain how Kayla lived from this point. We will never know how many fireflies she caught on those grassy lawns after the family broke up.
What we do know is that Kayla’s grandmother became aware of some serious bruises on Kayla’s small underweight body. The bruises were serious enough to cause her grandmother to take Kayla from North Carolina to Michigan where the grandmother resided.
Taking a child without permission is kidnapping, even if it is done so by a family member and even if the family member is doing it in goodwill.
In June 2002 charges were filed against the grandmother, Kayla was returned back to the home she was taken from and so began the sorrowful events that make up this mystery. Even though the police report in Michigan recorded Kayla’s testimony of abuse she was still sent back into that home.
Kayla’s aunt, Heather Baker, wanted to adopt Kayla. Heather had already been a foster parent in the past and had proven herself to be a fit and caring mother, yet she was unable to gain custody away from Ms. Futrell.
Time passes, mostly with arguments in courts, with judges, attorneys and the Department of Social Services about Kayla and Kayla’s rights. The struggle wore on the little girl and she took solace best she could. Children are like that. Adaptive and flexible. Adults are demanding and rigid, each side wanting Kayla.
By the summer of 2003, about a year from the time Kayla was brought back down to North Carolina from Michigan, Kayla’s “mom-aunt” Carolyn Langford-Ochoa-Allen-Futrell begins the final process for adopting Kayla. The adoption supposedly goes through in June of 2003.
Kayla spends her summer on vacation and enjoying herself best she can in her isolated world. Not too much is known about this period of her life except that on August 24th, 2003 she was dead.
Less than 2 months short of her 8th birthday, Kayla is sent to bed because it has been reported that Kayla was feeling ill and feverish. Soon after putting her down, she was discovered unconscious, with blood on her face, lips, and pillow where she had vomited up some of the contents of her stomach. Kayla supposedly drank a poisonous cocktail of water and a powerful commercial grade insecticide. Atroban, the insecticide, is to be diluted to one part Atroban per 1,600 parts of water or one ounce per 12.5 gallons. prior to use on livestock. This is the recommended dosage for use on livestock., not children. If my math is correct converting milliliters to ounces, Kayla consumed more than 3 ounces (two shot glasses full) of the poison. Enough to soak, not spritz but soak, 25 head of cattle if diluted and used per specifications.
Some of the reports vary in exact detail but the autopsy of little Kayla revealed troubling circumstances. First the “cocktail” was in a generic plastic water bottle hidden under Kayla’s pillow. Second the amount, of this vile tasting petroleum based product, was doubtfully swallowed voluntarily because of the instinctive gag reflex action anytime something so sinister enters ones mouth. That and the fact that even when the substance is touched with the bare skin it burns and can cause blisters. This product is extremely dangerous and is only available in specialty farmer’s supply stores and catalogues. It is not something the general public is even aware of due to its potential for environmental toxicity. Thirdly, with the knowledge of the gag reflex and the burning once the product is introduced to the skin why would Kayla not cry out for help if she did this herself by some sort of accident? Instead we are asked to believe she hid the bottle and quietly went to sleep, dying with out a noticeable fuss.
This is where the train gets going around the track a little too fast. Not only is Kayla dead but on November 21, 2003, Kayla’s grandmother in Michigan, the one who was charged with kidnapping, committed suicide. She had promised to Kayla she would never let anything bad ever happen to her again. She was so convinced that Kayla’s life was in danger back a year prior that she risked her own freedom to rescue her granddaughter from the home Kayla ultimately died in. Kayla’s grandmother felt she failed little Kayla, not knowing it was the system that failed.
The Onslow County Department of Social Services leads the state with children dying while on their watch. Repeated failures in the system have sent children back to abusive homes to later be found murdered. Kayla’s death has not even been included in those numbers yet because she has not been officially listed as a victim of a homicide.
How are we to believe this was anything other than a homicide?
So now we want to know who did it right? Who killed Kayla? Was it intentional? Why was it done? Will they do it again to another person someday? And are they going to get away with it?
A segment of a community in Jacksonville, North Carolina is beginning to lose patience with the District Attorneys Office. Faithfully the aunt Heather, birth mother Nicole as well as friends of Kayla’s and sympathizers post in the local newspaper’s internet forum various suppositions and theories, as well as offer support to each other’s activism on Kayla’s behalf.
Hopefully this mystery will soon be solved but in the meantime people are demanding answers and cling to visions of a spirited little blond haired girl chasing fireflies on a warm summer evening, barefoot and giggling, innocent and with a future full of promise.
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