Grandmother gets 28 years in death of Gerren Isgrigg, boy dubbed ‘Wylie’s Angel’

Body of boy found in Wylie near lake

April 16, 2010, 9:41AM

WYLIE, Texas — Wylie police are trying to identify the body of a preschool-age boy found in a grassy area near Lavon Lake.

A worker mowing around a pond discovered the body. Autopsy results were pending Friday.

Detective Venece Perepiczka (vuh-NEES' per-PETCH'-kuh) says no missing child reports match information about the youngster. Investigators believe the boy, likely between the ages of 3 and 5, might have been a special needs child.

Perepiczka says the property where the body was found Thursday is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Wylie is about 20 miles northeast of Dallas.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6961725.html

It is odd that no missing child reports match this child.

That is odd. Hopefully they will be able to figure out who it is.

Oh, this is so sad. Special needs, he must have just been recently left there if they know that much already. Unless he had physical deformities that were immediately noticeable.

Here is a composite of the boy....


SAD! Childs body found dumped in Wylie Texas

April 17, 2010
by Salone

A dead child found dumped in a rural area near Lavon Lake on Thursday had suffered severe medical problems while he was alive, police said.

According to investigators, the child, approximately 6 years old, is very small for his age. In fact, his tiny frame led investigators to initially believe he was about 3 years old.

The child is 39 inches tall and weighs about 28 pounds, they said.

It was not clear exactly what medical issues the child had, but there is evidence that the he used a feeding tube to survive, according to investigators.

Police also issued a composite of the child, which they created by taking a photo of the deceased and digitally enhancing it to demonstrate how the boy would have looked while living.

This is the first time authorities in North Texas have publicly utilized such technology, they said.

Officials hope the unusual image will help them identify the child.

The boy’s body was first discovered by groundskeepers at bout 9 a.m. Thursday.

It is not clear if child was clothed but it’s possible that he was at least barefooted.

Autopsy results will reveal exactly how the child died and also shed light on the extent of his medical condition.

http://top10queen.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/sad-childs-body-found-dumped-in-wylie-texas/

Police Release Sketch Of Unidentified Deceased Boy
Apr 16, 2010 12:11 pm US/Central



Police are asking for the public's help to identify a boy found dead near Lavon Lake on Thursday morning.

A worker found the boy's body near East Fork Park just after 9 a.m. Thursday. Police released a composite sketch of the boy on Friday, which can be seen at right.

After conducting an autopsy, the Collin County Medical Examiner determined that the boy was a white male. He was about six years old with brown hair and brown eyes. Officials say the boy was about 39" tall and weighed about 28 pounds.

The medical examiner says it appears that the boy had significant medical needs, and showed signs of being fed through a feeding tube. The M.E. has not been able to determine a cause of death yet.

"We need to get this child identified, that's our main concern right now," said Venice Perepiczka, with the Wylie Police Department. "Home daycare providers, parents, grandparents, anyone who might know this child is to contact us and help identify this child."

Police say it appeared the child had been dead no more than 24 hours and they don't know how the body got to the park.

Investigators say there are no reports of missing children from the area that match the boy. If you have any information about this child, police ask you to call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1.800.843.5678.

http://cbs11tv.com/local/unidentified.boy.body.2.1637504.html

Who could be so cruel to a sick child? Hopefully, medical personnel will recognize this child if no one else does. If he's been tube fed, there are doctors and nurses that know this child.

'Wylie's Angel' ID'd; Grandmother Held on Murder Charge
12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, April 24, 2010
By VALERIE WIGGLESWORTH / The Dallas Morning News

After eight days, he has a name: Gerren Joseph Isgrigg.

Late Friday, Wylie police investigators confirmed the identity of the 6-year-old whose body was found by a mowing crew April 15 near a Collin County pond.

Gerren's maternal grandmother and primary caregiver, 63-year-old Darlene Phillips, was arrested after 10 p.m. on a murder charge. Her bail was set at $500,000.

"We're going straight on that she murdered Gerren by her actions," Wylie Detective Venece Perepiczka said. "This was a very unfortunate circumstance. Gerren was not taken care of well."

Police said the boy's parents are separated. The father lives in California and the mother in Oklahoma. Their names were not released. Police didn't say where the grandmother and Gerren lived.

Police said a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's hotline led to the identification of Gerren, whose story has left its mark on the hearts of thousands around the world.

Investigators said they were looking into what happened in the final days before Gerren's death. Autopsy results are pending, but police have said there were no obvious injuries.more...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-bodyfound_24met.ART.State.Edition2.4c511da.html

Boy Found Near Wylie Pond Was Blind and Deaf, Had Fractured Family Life
10:58 PM CDT on Saturday, April 24, 2010
By VALERIE WIGGLESWORTH and TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News



Exactly how Gerren Isgrigg's frail body ended up near a Collin County pond on April 15 is still a mystery. But a clearer picture is emerging of the fractured family life that followed the 6-year-old to his death.

His maternal grandmother and primary caretaker sits in the Collin County Jail facing a murder charge. His maternal grandfather thought the boy, who was blind and deaf, had been left with social workers. And Gerren's paternal family believed he was living with his mother, who got sole custody of the boy after a 2006 divorce.

"We’re still in shock and disbelief," said Linda Isgrigg, Gerren’s paternal grandmother in Arizona. "All they would have had to do was bring him here. … I could have been there every day to see that he was taken care of."

Gerren’s severe medical problems began shortly after his birth in September 2003. He required around-the-clock care and a special diet provided through a feeding tube. He couldn’t do anything for himself.

"All he could do was lay there," Isgrigg said.

Police have said the actions of his maternal grandmother, Darlene Phillips, led to Gerren’s death, but they declined to elaborate. Phillips, 63, is being held on $500,000 bail.

"Little Gerren was not taken care of well, and it ended up to his murder," Wylie Detective Venece Perepiczka said in announcing the arrest late Friday.

The investigation is ongoing, the detective added, as the task force that has been working nonstop since Gerren was found tries to determine what happened.

Patrick Phillips said he and his wife were asked by their daughter, Nyki Phillips, to take Gerren for a couple of weeks. Those weeks turned into years.

"My wife doted on that boy," Patrick Phillips said from the motel in The Colony where he and his wife had been living recently. "They're making her out to be a murderer. It's heart-wrenching."

Nyki Phillips, who police say lives in Oklahoma, couldn't be reached for comment.

Patrick Phillips said he doesn't know what happened to Gerren. He told WFAA-TV that his wife said she left Gerren with a social worker.

Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for Child Protective Services, said her agency had no contact with the family.

Records show Darlene Phillips was a caregiver at one time for an assisted-living center in Arizona that may have been owned by relatives. It was unclear whether she had any medical training.

Gerren's body was discovered at the edge of a parking lot just after 9 a.m. by a mowing crew on federal land. Small for his age, he measured 39 inches tall and just 28 pounds.

He remained unidentified for more than a week as investigators with the Wylie Police Department and the Collin County Child Abuse Task Force searched for clues to his past.

A computer-enhanced image of Gerren was plastered on the news and on fliers all over the community south of Lavon Lake. A Facebook page dubbed "Wylie's Angel" took the little boy's story global in hopes that someone would recognize him.

A tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's hotline gave police the break they needed to track down family. Investigators contacted Gerren's father in California early Friday. Jerry Isgrigg provided a DNA sample that confirmed Gerren's identity.

Linda Isgrigg said her son was making regular child support payments to his ex-wife and thought Gerren was still living with her. He was the couple's only child together. She believed the marriage ended over Gerren's medical problems.

Her son saw Gerren when he could, she said, but it was infrequent because he was in the military.

A staff sergeant in the Marines, Jerry Isgrigg recently returned from a brief tour in Korea, Linda Isgrigg said. He served in the Persian Gulf War, left the military for about a decade, then re-enlisted and served in the Iraq war. He is stationed at the Marine base in Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Jerry Isgrigg was at his parents' home in Arizona on Saturday and making plans to come to Texas, his mother said. He declined to comment.

Linda Isgrigg said she didn't know when her son last saw Gerren, but she knew that it had been a while.

"He was always concerned" about Gerren's well-being, she said.

Isgrigg said that at one point Gerren was staying at the Truman Smith Children's Care Center in Gladewater, Texas, but she wasn't sure for how long. Officials at the nursing home declined to comment, citing health-care privacy laws.

"I called one day to check to see how he was, and they said that he wasn't there," Isgrigg said. "I said let me talk to the nurse, and they said that he wasn't there anymore, that she [his mother] came and got him."

Isgrigg said she last saw Gerren about two years ago.

"I don't understand why didn't they just contact somebody and say, ‘I can't handle this. Will you please take him?' Or call his dad," Linda Isgrigg said. "These children do not have a voice."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/042410dnmetwyliesangel.27903b5a7.html

Two years since the father has seen him? I don't mean to sound cold & heartless but come on! I'm sure I would be worried after TWO DAMNED YEARS TOO!

IMO, his family (the fathers) is trying to make it sound like the father deserves some sort of medal, just because he's in the Military. Some "big man" that went to war. Whipdeefreakindoo!

Well, I'm sorry...NOT IN MY EYES. His being in the Military make me see the following...the father evidently didn't want bothered. His family either. The father has access to FREE LAWYERS & FREE MEDICAL for all family members & much more. There is NO REASON that child had to die.

How horribly sad. RIP little one.

This is heartbreaking....a child that nobody wanted to take proper care of, He had an absentee mother who wasn't mothering but collected child-support. He had an absentee father who failed to follow through on the welfare of his son. Absentee grandparents, and neglectful grandparents. Blame the whole damn bunch of them for collectively failing to seek reputable sources for info assuring that the needs of this poor child were met.

Grandmother gets 28 years in death of Gerren Isgrigg, boy dubbed ‘Wylie’s Angel’

By VALERIE WIGGLESWORTH

Published: Jun 1, 2011 12:10 PM

The woman who abandoned her disabled grandson near a Collin County pond in April 2010 was sentenced Wednesday to 28 years in prison.

Read more:
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/collin-county/headlines/20110601-grandmother-gets-28-years-in-death-of-gerren-isgrigg-boy-dubbed-wylies-angel.ece