GRANBY, OSWEGO CO. -- It's been more than two years since 11-year-old Erin Maxwell was found murdered, and the Supervisor of the Town of Granby still wants answers.
Maxwell was killed in a home in Palermo that was filled with garbage, animals, and feces. Her stepbrother, Alan Jones, is serving a 25 year to life sentence for her murder, while her parents are doing two years each for child endangerment. But Granby Town Supervisor Ed Williamson feels teachers and administrators at the Phoenix School District did not properly report an abused child as required by law. Erin's teachers told investigators they saw her stealing and hiding food and complained her clothes smelled of cat urine.
"If the teachers ignore what's happening to that child... they buy food for her, they buy clothes for her and they watch over her, they're not responsible when they take a course which makes them responsible?" Williamson asked.
Under the Freedom of Information Law, Williamson wants the names of teachers and administrators who dealt with Erin Maxwell. His requests have been denied or deferred by the Phoenix School District, the State Office of Children and Family Services, State Education Department, and even the Governor's Office.
"I feel I'm being lied to and stonewalled" Williamson told CNY Central's Jim Kenyon.
Phoenix School Superintendent Judith Belfield said "Anything that deals with student records is confidential." She said the "Phoenix School District was exonerated from wrongdoing" and the "Cornell report has all the information he needs." That report by Cornell University examined the way Erin Maxwell's case was handled. Later a task force recommended ways to improve communications and procedures between school districts and Child Protective Services.
Williamson doesn't buy it, "It has happened again with this case in Oswego, those four children that were in that house."
Williamson is referring to the 'house of squalor' in Oswego which CNY Central exposed last month. We found that four children were living in conditions similar to what Erin Maxwell had to endure. Earlier this week we reported the father, Arthur Ball, faces sex charges including rape, which deputies said took place in the presence of sleeping children.
Oswego County Social Services Commissioner Fran Lanigan said her agency is involved in the case and assured us the children were being looked after.
