HOLBROOK, AZ — Arizona's Department of Child Safety is disputing the number of times that school officials say they called the agency to report allegations of abuse against the father of Rebekah Baptiste.
The 10-year-old girl, according to records, was found by police in Holbrook bruised, not breathing, and appearing malnourished. She died on July 30 after being transported to Phoenix Children's hospital.
Baptiste's father, Richard Baptiste, 32, and his girlfriend, Anicia Woods, 29, have been charged in the girl's murder.
Before moving to northeastern Arizona, the Baptiste family was living in Phoenix. Several sources tell ABC15 that Rebekah's dad had regained custody of her and two siblings after all the kids had been in foster care.
Rebekah and her siblings attended Empower College Prep.
School officials say they made reports to DCS regarding abuse and neglect by the parents of Rebekah Baptiste 12 times, specifically on:
- January 22, 2025
- January 16, 2025
- January 15, 2025
- November 16, 2024
- October 31, 2024
- October 30, 2024
- September 16, 2024
- September 13, 2024
- February 13, 2024
- December 13, 2023
- November 3, 2023
- November 2, 2023
A DCS spokesperson told ABC15 that their records showed Empower School called the hotline five times in the past year, and of those calls, just one of the allegations met statutory report criteria.
"The other four times the Department was not able to investigate the allegations because they did not meet the statutory threshold for abuse or neglect," DCS spokesperson Darren DaRonco said in an email Wednesday.
A communication meets report criteria when the reporting source alleges the following:
- victim is currently under the age of 18;
- victim has been physically, emotionally, or sexually abused, neglected, abandoned, or exploited by a parent, guardian, custodian, or adult member of the victim's household;
- victim is a resident of or present in Arizona, and
- the identity or current location of the child victim, the child victim's family, or the person suspected of abuse or neglect is known or can be reasonably ascertained.
"We cannot explain why DCS is missing records of our calls," said Brian Holman, Empower's Executive Director. "Our staff was told four times that the report was assigned to the same DCS Supervisor for further investigation. She only visited the school once to further investigate."
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Empower also provided details, including the identification numbers, of the DCS intake workers, and school officials said on eight reports that they were told the report would be marked as "information only."
"At no time was our staff ever informed that our reports did not meet the statutory threshold for abuse or neglect," Holman said. "Rather, we were promised a follow-up that never occurred, even though each of the 12 reports included clear and observable signs of abuse, neglect, and ongoing harm of a young girl and her two younger brothers."
Holman said the signs of abuse included visible physical markings, consistent reports of food deprivation, evidence of unreasonable punishment, and repeated indicators of both physical and emotional neglect.
See previous ABC15 coverage of Rebekah Babtiste's murder as more details surrounding the death investigation were uncovered in the player below.
In addition to reports from the school, Holman said outside agencies have shared with them that they made at least 20 additional reports to DCS to protect Rebekah and her siblings.
"We take every call to our hotline seriously, but we only have the authority to initiate an investigation if the call meets statutory report criteria," DaRonco said. "Rebekah deserved love, safety and a chance to thrive. There are no words that will make sense of the pain she endured or her life that was tragically cut short."
According to Empower, the school resource officers also investigated abuse allegations. ABC15 has reached out to the Phoenix Police Department to ask about any investigations involving Rebekah and her family.
According to DCS, the department’s Safety Analysis Review Team will be conducting a thorough review of the Baptiste case.
"The goal is to identify and understand any systemic barriers that may have influenced the outcome, and to implement data-driven systemic changes to prevent such tragedies in the future," DaRonco said. "The Department will continue to be transparent and release information related to this case and our involvement with the family as we are legally permitted to do so."
