'I don’t want to go with mommy': 7-yr-old Julissia Batties' heartbreaking last words before murder
A chilling audio has revealed how deceased Julissia Batties cried and begged her grandmother not to send her for a court-ordered weekend visit with her mother Navasia Jones. The Bronx girl tragically died under mysterious circumstances in her mom's apartment last August.
New York Post revealed that in the audio, Batties repeatedly told her grandma Yolanda Davis, "I don’t want to go with mommy." Davis was also Batties' foster parent. In another recording, Batties is asked what the police can do, to which she replied, "Help me out.”
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Nevertheless, Batties was sent to visit her mother, who lost custody of her daughter at birth, as well as four sons, due to negligence and physical abuse. Despite the objections of her grandmother and the court-appointed lawyer, she was sent to live with her mother by the city Administration for Children’s Services. The little girl was found dead less than two months later. According to her mother, she hit her head against a desk when she fell.
Later, Jones' eldest son, 17, told police that he hit his half-sister in the face eight times. However, officials determined that this did not kill the girl. At one point, Batties began throwing up, eventually passing out. Jones reportedly called 911 and she was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where she died. The city Medical Examiner confirmed that the cause of her death was “blunt force abdominal trauma.”
Batties' death was ruled a homicide but no arrests have been made by the NYPD yet. An investigation is still underway. Julius Batties, the girl's father, is furious that no one has been charged yet. He said that detectives keep telling him, “Just wait, we’re working on this.”
Batties was born at Kings County Hospital into the care of ACS, which is the agency charged with protecting the city’s most vulnerable kids. As per a court-ordered report, there was evidence of “parental drug and alcohol abuse", and that there was domestic violence between the girl's mom and the father of three of her sons from a previous relationship. A city-appointed social worker said that Jones' children had cuts, bruises and welts on their bodies. Records revealed that she blew smoke in the children’s faces even though she was aware that one of her sons suffered from asthma.
Batties was placed in the care of her paternal grandmother, but in 2017, three years later, when Batties was only 3, she was removed from Davis' care after she reportedly let her son enter the home to visit his daughter. When Davis sought a hearing by the state Office of Children and Family Services, it found the removal “incorrect". Subsequently, a re-evaluation was called for.
In 2018, ACS returned Batties to Davis. However, it allowed supervised visits with her parents at an agency office. Psychological reports in 2019 and early 2020 found that Batties was at ease with her father, but seemed sad and withdrawn with her mother.
“I don’t want to go to mom,” she had said during a therapy session. Despite these observations, ACS did not stop expanding Jones' visitation with the girl at her apartment in NYCHA’s Mitchel Houses. With time, Batties became so distressed when she was scheduled to visit her mom that Davis started recording her. She gave the tapes to the police after Batties died.
In one audio, Batties weeps "Noooo!" after Davis tells her, "Why you crying, punky? You have to see Mommy.” “Why? Why (what) happened?” Davis asks, to which Batties replies, "I don’t wanna go."
In one of the recordings, Batties says that her three older brothers “keep fighting” and beat up a younger sibling. “They make him bleed,” she said. When Davis asked, “What do they do?”, the girl says, "Something bad."
Davis reported then-5-year-old Batties' fear to SCO Family of Services, the ACS-contracted agency overseeing her foster care. “A child shouldn’t feel that way about her mom. Something ain’t right,” Davis told a caseworker in a recorded phone call.
The caseworker said that she had informed the same to supervisors, including the fact that Jones called Batties "bi**h" to her face, but they refused to act. “They probably want to close the case," the caseworker said. “The child is scared to death of her!” Davis then insisted.
After Batties was sent to her mother and subsequently killed last year, ACS officials said the agency “conducted a comprehensive review” of its foster-care practices in the girl's case, and needed the contractor, SCO, to “immediately implement corrective actions.” “The death of Julissia was a terrible tragedy,” a spokeswoman said. “We take every opportunity to continuously review our work and identify opportunities for strengthening our policies and practices.”