Atlanta police launch internal investigation into handling of 4-year-old who starved to death

ATLANTA - Atlanta police are investigating why, despite three requests from child welfare authorities, no officer ever checked on a family living in squalor.

Two weeks before Christmas, one of the children died of starvation, described by a detective on Thursday as "just pure bone" at the time of her death.

Her father, Rodney McWeay, faces multiple felony charges in the death of his daughter and alleged abuse of her siblings. The FOX 5 I-Team has been asking questions about the case and this week obtained the state Division of Family and Children Services’ file, as well as 911 call logs and recordings from Atlanta police.

"It appears to me that a bunch of different systems here failed," said Tom Rawlings, an attorney, former juvenile court judge and director of DFCS from 2018 to 2021. "This is one of the more troubling situations I’ve reviewed."

The records reveal that for months leading up to 4-year-old Treasure McWeay’s death, DFCS workers sought assistance from police in finding the children, but got little help. Rodney McWeay, 31, did not have legal custody of his three children, DFCS said. He is accused of traveling to Maryland in July and kidnapping them from their mother, returning them to the same duplex DFCS had removed them from less than two weeks earlier.

Arrest affidavits described Treasure and her brothers, ages 3 and 5, living in a house of horrors inside their lower-level unit on Renfrew Court. The children allegedly watched their father beat their mother and 8-year-old half-sister, before their mother left the home with her older children. The affidavits say McWeay kept the three younger children separated and locked in their rooms, with surveillance cameras aimed at their beds and no access to food, water or bathrooms. The only food inside – some expired eggs and expired milk.

"Officers were dispatched to the home, but it does not appear officers had contact with Mr. McWeay or the children during these calls," Atlanta police told the I-Team in an emailed statement. "In an effort to ensure these calls were handled properly, the Atlanta Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards has initiated an investigation into these calls."

In Fulton County Magistrate Court on Thursday, a detective said that in one case, Atlanta police didn’t respond to a call from DFCS at all. According to Summer Benton, of the homicide division, it happened eleven days after the alleged kidnapping.

"What happens after someone calls in for a wellness check?" defense attorney Samantha Beck asked.

"An officer would go out to check on the children," the detective said.

"Did an officer go out?"

"No."

After the hearing Thursday, Judge Ashley Drake added a malice murder charge against McWeay, who already faces 14 other felonies, including kidnapping and child cruelty. The judge also ordered him to be held without bond.

According to the arrest affidavits, Treasure’s autopsy found her "extremely malnourished and dehydrated," weighing just 24 pounds – about what a 2-year-old should weigh – with only a teaspoon of liquid in her stomach. In her final days, she couldn’t stand up or sit up alone, the detective testified Thursday.

"She was extremely emaciated," Det. Benton said. "Just pure bone."

Rawlings, the former DFCS director, said child protective services could have done more. After allegedly taking the children, McWeay managed to keep caseworkers at bay by not answering his door.

Rawlings questioned why DFCS didn't seek an order of access from a juvenile court judge, which he likened to a search warrant for a child.

"Nobody really pushed the issue, and as a result, this child died," Rawlings said.

In written answers to questions from the FOX 5 I-Team, DFCS said Thursday that it tried the juvenile court route once before, with no success.

"We did not engage the juvenile court to remove the children in summer 2023 because when we did previously in June 2022, our request was denied due to a lack of current evidence," DFCS said.

"When we received the report alleging that the father fled Maryland with the children, we alerted law enforcement so they could attempt another welfare check but were told the reporter would have to make the request themself because there was no evidence the children were in Georgia," DFCS said.

DFCS told FOX 5 it is also investigating how it handled the McWeay case.

Treasure’s death came as a shock to daycare operator Wanda Polnitz, who had reported McWeay to DFCS in June. Before she heard the news that one of the children died, she thought they were all safe with their mother in Maryland.

Polnitz said she met Rodney through a friend of her daughter. At first, she thought of him as a single father struggling to raise three small children alone. She had a friend who needed a place to live, and the friend agreed to be the children's live-in nanny.

But that friend – who spoke to the I-Team by phone and asked that her name not be used – said she only lasted three nights there. And she told Wanda to call child protective services.

"I called Children and Family Services and told them I was very concerned," Polnitz said. "The first thing that came to mind is … he’s going to kill those children. He wasn’t going to kill them physically. He was going to not feed them, like he was doing. He was going to let them starve."

Det. Benton said in court Thursday that McWeay held jobs with U-Haul and Six Flags. Polnitz’ friend said when she tried to feed the children, McWeay became angry.

"It wasn’t that (he didn’t) have the money to feed them or the means to feed them," Polnitz said. "He just didn’t feed them, just didn’t give them water."

Wanda's call brought DFCS and police to the house June 25.  According to records, DFCS noted the children seemed hungry, as well as mold on the walls, the stench of urine, and exposed wiring. DFCS notes said, "The home is deplorable," and, "The children cry until they are too weak to continue."

The father wasn't charged, though. DFCS decided to place the children with their mother, who, according to records, had fled to Maryland following domestic violence.

Within a few weeks, McWeay went to Maryland and took the children back. According to a DFCS case manager’s account in a 911 call, he pushed the mother out of her car, then drove off with the children and left the car at a train station.

Records reviewed by the I-Team show that for months, caseworkers tried to contact McWeay, but he didn’t answer his phone or come to the door.

One of DFCS’s requests to police for a welfare check came a day before Halloween, when a case manager wanted an officer to meet her at the home. But 911 records show it took police more than an hour and a half to arrive. By then, the DFCS worker had left, and the police got no answer at the door.

In November, a caller from DFCS told police she knew someone was home.

"I did go out to the residence this morning," she said in a 911 recording. "Someone opened the door, answered the door, and then closed the door."

Atlanta police went to the house, but not until nearly five hours later, past midnight. A note in 911 records says an officer was "unable to make entry."

The Georgia Office of the Child Advocate is also investigating the case.

The FOX 5 I-Team was unable to reach the children's mother for this story, and Rodney McWeay's mother said the family had no comment.