PALATKA, Fla. – A state investigation released Friday into the July 27 strangulation into the strangulation of a 4-year-old by an an older boy gives more insight into the events that led up to the boy's death.
Putnam County deputies said Brayden Trahern was killed by an 11-year-old boy who lived in the house but wasn't related. The 4-year-old's death was ruled a homicide.
The 11-year-old was arrested, but has not been charged as an adult. News4Jax is not releasing his name.
The 19-page report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Bryden's mother, Kyra Trahern, is in a romantic relationship with the mother of the 11-year-old. The two women met at a domestic violence shelter in late 2014 and moved in together.
FULL REPORT: DCF inquiry into death of Drayden Trahern
The DCF report said the 11-year-old had previously endured several types of abuse by other people in his mother's life and had acted out violently and sexually in the past. He was placed in a juvenile facility in South Florida in December after an investigation of abuse in the Trahern home. He was released back into the Trahern home in late June.
On July 14, a child protection investigator said the boy was receiving inadequate supervision in the home and recommended another visit to the home. That was the last contact DCF had with the family before Brayden was found unresponsive on July 27.
The DCF investigation found the Putnam County child protection investigators never fully identified the safety threats to the children living in the Trahern home faced. Investigators noted the 11-year-old boy's sexually deviant behavior escalated after he returned from his six months of treatment.
DCF Secretary Mike Carroll wrote, in part:
"Although state law prevents us from releasing many details of this report due to the age of the alleged perpetrator, it is clear that both families involved were stuck in a multigenerational cycle of abuse and neglect. It is our job to try and pull families like these out of this cycle, and we have learned from this incident that we have more improvements to make in our process."
The DCF said two other children living in the home were removed after Brayden's death and are in the care of a family friend.
The 11-year-old remains in custody at a juvenile facility while prosecutors determine if they'll charge him as an adult.