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State did not investigate complaints about living conditions of child who later starved to death
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GONZALES — Before 5-year-old Marley Perrilloux died of starvation last month, Louisiana officials had received complaints about his and his siblings' living conditions, but did not act on them, WBRZ learned Friday.
The boy's parents, Marlon Perrilloux, 33, and Raynisa Young, 27, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to murder charges in connection with their son's death.
The state Department of Child and Family Services told WBRZ it had previously received three reports regarding other members of the same household, but they "were not accepted for investigation."
After executing a search warrant, detectives initially said conditions inside the family's home were barely livable.
Ascension Sheriff's Office Director of Communications Donovan Jackson told WBRZ deputies found trash, food debris and drugs inside the home.
The parents were arrested after the 5-year-old was found unresponsive in his father's presence at a Gonzales gas station on Jan. 1. Detectives said the child weighed 19 pounds when he died. That's about half of normal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
District Attorney for the 23rd JDC Ricky Babin said the child abuse cases his office handles have grown more severe in nature of the years.
"I've seen some pretty bad beating cases, pretty bad injury cases, broken bones and things like that, but not exactly like this," Babin said.
State Senator Regina Barrow called Marley Perrilloux's death an epic failure on the part of DCFS. Last month, a task force met with members wanting to know no alarm had sounded regarding the children's conditions.
"That baby should not have died," she said. "The state has to own the failure of this system."
Jackson said it is possible Marley Perrilloux never went outside or was seen by anyone but his family.
"There were other kids and there were calls that were made that were not followed up on," Barrow said.
Sen. Barrow said she cannot get an answer from DCFS as to why there was no site visit.
"There are some administrative things that I think are happening, as well as maybe probably some personnel things that are happening as I have spoken with some of the workers," Sen. Barrow said. "I think we need a complete overhaul of that department."
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