Mother of missing Madera boy was investigated for a child’s death in 2015, lawyer says
Story update: Parents of Madera boy who went missing arrested on suspicion of murder, police say
Original story:
The mother of 2-year-old Thaddeus Sran, whose body police believe they found Thursday morning, was cleared from an investigation into a 2015 death of an infant daughter, her attorney acknowledged in an interview with The Bee.
Attorney Roger T. Nuttall, who represents the boy’s parents Briseida G. Sran and Sukhjinder Sran, told The Bee he also represented Briseida on the prior case.
Nuttall provided few details of the 2015 allegations.
He described the 2015 case as “a tragic death of a child who had very serious medical issues.”
“No charges were filed, and we were able to show, frankly, that there was no reason for them to be held liable for anything, and in fact, they were able to reunite with the family,” he told The Bee on Thursday. “That was a baby that was premature, and she was at Valley Children’s for several months before she came home. She was in a rather very fragile condition.”
Nuttall said he was able to point out to prosecutors the child’s condition, and they couldn’t establish any wrongdoing by the parents.
“It was one of those crib deaths,” he said.
The couple was able to keep their other children. Madera County Child Protective Services was involved in the investigation, Nuttall said.
“It was a very, very awful time for them,” he said. “The mother, who I represented, I think she was with the child every day at Valley Children’s,” he said.
After that case was over, Nuttall said, he didn’t remain in touch with the family and only heard of Thaddeus’ case last week.
A government source in Madera County, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the case, said the family also was investigated in 2019 in connection with Thaddeus. Details of the investigation were not immediately clear.
The case was closed in January and Thaddeus was allowed to remain with his parents, the source confirmed.
Nuttall said he hadn’t heard of the recent allegations of abuse.
Madera Police Department Lt. Josiah Arnold, earlier this week, told The Bee he couldn’t go into detail about CPS cases at this time.
“I can’t comment on CPS cases other than to say we are aware of prior incidents involving this family, and are reviewing those cases,” he said. “In a case like this we look at every piece of information we have and evaluate everything for relevance.”
Deborah Martinez, director of the Madera County Department of Social Services, didn’t return requests for comment this week.
Scott Murray, a spokesman with the California Department of Social Services, said without a court order, records of child abuse or neglect, including confirmation of the existence of a case are not public.
Parents ‘not ruled out’ as suspects in Madera case
Thaddeus was reported missing from his parents’ home in Madera earlier this month. He was born prematurely and had a feeding tube. He was non-verbal and had recently learned to walk, but had special needs and would crawl to get around.
A day after police announced Thaddeus’ parents had stopped cooperating with the investigation, Madera Police Chief Dino Lawson told reporters that detectives located human remains they believed to be that of the boy.
Lawson, during a news conference on Thursday, said the couple’s other children had been taken into the custody of Child Protective Services.
The Bee requested an interview with the parents, but Nuttall said he was having difficulty getting a hold of them. He said soon after he sent a statement to the media about the parents denying they had stopped cooperating with police, he got a call from the father.
Nuttall said Sukhjinder told him police wanted to talk to him, and he advised him to cooperate. Nuttall believes police were going to inform the couple of the found remains but hadn’t been able to get a hold of them since.
Nuttall said the parents have denied any involvement in the boy’s disappearance.
During the news conference, Lawson was asked if the parents were deemed suspects at this time.
“Everything is on the table, nobody’s been ruled out at this point, and that’s how we are going to continue to handle this case,” he said.
Lawson declined to comment on any cause of death.
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 9:32 AM.
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