The bruises on eighteen-month-old Cameron Schlitter’s face were visible enough that daycare staff noticed them within her first week. Her father, Zariah, and his girlfriend, Amy Palmer, had excuses ready: she was a brat who hit herself, she fell, she bumped into a bookshelf. But the injuries kept coming, and Cameron, once a bubbly, energetic toddler, grew withdrawn and lethargic. She woke screaming from nightmares, lost a drastic amount of weight, and began arriving at daycare with bruises that reeked of makeup, a vain attempt to hide the evidence of violence.
Amy Palmer, who resented the little girl from the start, reportedly had no patience for her. She called Cameron “the most obnoxious kid in the world. ” Early in March 2010, daycare workers saw Cameron struggling to walk and reported the abuse to child services. For reasons that remain baffling, she was allowed to stay in that home.
By March 21st, Cameron had a fever and missed daycare for the rest of the week. That afternoon, Amy called 911, claiming the child was unresponsive. Paramedics found the toddler barely breathing, her head swollen, her tiny body covered in bruises from head to toe. In the hospital, doctors discovered catastrophic brain hemorrhaging and massive swelling consistent with being violently shaken, slammed, or struck against a hard surface.
They performed emergency surgery, removing part of her skull to relieve the pressure, then placed a drain to remove excess fluid. Both attempts failed. Less than a week later, on March 28, 2010, eighteen-month-old Cameron Schlitter was pronounced dead. The autopsy revealed multiple head injuries sustained at different times, leading the medical examiner to rule her death a homicide.
Zariah and Amy both denied striking her. Zariah claimed he was too nice to hurt her and defended Amy, saying she was also incapable of violence. He said he’d been unaware of the bruises, though he later admitted seeing them and being “harsh” with his daughter. Months later, Zariah contacted investigators on his own, offering to help.
In an interview, his story changed completely. He admitted he had seen Cameron’s bruises for weeks and had been rough with her. Investigators found a tissue in their home with Cameron’s DNA and traces of the makeup used to cover her bruises. At trial, Cameron’s mother, Nicole, testified that Zariah had been physically aggressive with their daughter before they split, once angrily throwing blankets into her crib and cursing at her for crying.
She also revealed that Zariah had contacted her two days before the trial, asking her to support his version of events on the stand. In 2010, Zariah Schlitter was found guilty of child endangerment resulting in death and involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to fifty years. But in 2016, the Iowa Supreme Court granted him a new trial due to ineffective counsel. Ahead of his retrial, he entered an Alford plea to reduced charges and in 2017 was sentenced to three years’ probation, walking free after serving just four years.
Amy Palmer was not as lucky. At her 2013 trial, text messages she’d sent to co-workers were presented as evidence. In one, she wrote, “I might have killed the kid. ” Her ex-boyfriend took the stand, revealing that after a night of drinking, Amy had confessed she was going to prison for killing an eighteen-month-old child and mentioned head trauma.
Found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment, she was sentenced to the maximum allowed in Iowa: fifty years in prison without the possibility of probation. Several years later and over 12,200 miles away, another child was being failed by the system meant to protect him. Thomas J. Wright, called T.
J. , was born on September 11, 2001. By the time he was three, he had fallen from a second-story window on three separate occasions, and it wasn’t until the third incident that a caseworker was assigned. Neighbors reported hearing a child’s screams from inside the apartment, but no legal action followed.
After T. J. ’s mother was imprisoned, Rhode Island’s child welfare agency, DCYF, placed him in the care of his aunt, twenty-four-year-old Catherine Bennell, and her boyfriend, Gilbert Dastre. Catherine was unemployed and a known drug user.
The placement was a catastrophic mistake. On the night of October 29, 2004, Catherine and Gilbert left T. J. with a fifteen-year-old babysitter while they went out for drinks.
When they returned hours later, they found the babysitter asleep on the couch and a bowl of yogurt spilled on the floor. Catherine erupted in a fury. Gilbert went to T. J.
’s bedroom, and the babysitter heard several slaps followed by the child’s cries. Catherine then stormed upstairs, grabbed T. J. by his arms, and dragged him down the stairs, slamming her knee into his back with every step.
At the bottom, she threw him onto the floor so hard his face bounced off the ground. As he sobbed, she punched him repeatedly in the chest, stomach, and back, screaming, “Why did you mess up my floor? What is the matter with you? ”
The torture continued.
She poured milk over his head, shouting about wasted milk, then told the babysitter to leave. Once she did, Gilbert lifted the three-year-old into the air and hurled him across the room. He picked T. J.
up, placed him on the steps, slapped him, and sent the boy tumbling down roughly six to eight stairs before he lost consciousness. Gilbert’s cousin, who was in the car, heard the noise and ran inside to intervene. Catherine blocked him from helping T. J.
Gilbert then carried the boy’s motionless body upstairs and put him in his crib. Minutes later, when T. J. was barely breathing and his face had turned blue, Catherine finally called 911, claiming the child was sick and needed an ambulance.
Paramedics arrived to find T. J. with black eyes, blood in his mouth, and vomit covering his mattress. His left arm was broken.
Doctors described his condition as looking like he’d been in a boxing match. On October 31, 2004, two days after the attack, T. J. was removed from life support and pronounced dead.
He was three years old and weighed just thirty-two pounds. Catherine initially claimed ignorance and tried to blame the babysitter, even coercing T. J. ’s siblings to repeat her lies.
But the babysitter described the brutal attack in chilling detail. The autopsy confirmed she was telling the truth, revealing skull fractures, broken ribs, a broken arm, and a massive subdural hematoma consistent with repeated blunt force trauma. Deep bite marks on T. J.
’s tongue showed that in his final moments, the child had clenched his teeth in agony. At trial, Catherine admitted to hitting T. J. but claimed Gilbert alone delivered the fatal injuries.
Forensic evidence proved she started the violence and he continued it. Gilbert refused to testify. Prosecutors used the testimony of Gilbert’s cousin, who stated Catherine physically prevented him from helping the unconscious child, as proof of her intent to let T. J.
die. T. J. ’s biological mother supported her sister Catherine during the trial, insisting she was innocent.
The jury disagreed. Catherine Bennell was convicted of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to life plus ten years. Gilbert Dastre was convicted on the same charges and received a similar sentence. Twenty years later, in November 2024, Catherine was denied parole.
Officials later admitted they never knew Gilbert had been caught with a large quantity of drugs during a traffic stop. A state panel concluded DCYF never should have placed the children in Catherine’s custody. The agency’s negligence became a key allegation in a 2018 civil lawsuit that exposed widespread failures in Rhode Island’s foster care system. The settlement brought stricter vetting procedures, mandatory background checks, and enhanced training for caseworkers.
Cameron Schlitter and Thomas J. Wright should still be here today. Their lives were stolen by cruelty, and their cries for help were ignored by the very adults and institutions responsible for their safety.
Their stories are a grim reminder of what happens when warnings are dismissed and children are placed in the hands of dangerous people.
