Four kids thought dead mom was sleeping

Mary Manning and Emily Richmond

Monday, April 21, 2003 | 10:59 a.m.

Family members of four children who lived for days in the house where their mother lay slain in a bedroom visited the children at Child Haven this morning and said they hoped to have them home with relatives today or Tuesday.

Metro Police were searching this morning for the live-in boyfriend of Yashama Clemons, 31, a single mother who was found dead in her home Saturday with her four children, ages 15 months to 9 years, still living there.

The children thought the woman, who had been dead for several days, was asleep, police said.

Lodia Fluellen, Clemons' grandmother, was in tears this morning as she described how anxious she was to see her great-grandchildren.

"I just want to see them this morning," she said. "I want to hold them and reassure them that grandmamma is here, and they don't have to worry no more."

Police want to question the victim's live-in boyfriend, Taiwan Allen, 29, who may be driving an older model, brown or burgundy Toyota Camry, homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said. The license plate number of the car was not known.

"It's a tragedy to me. It's a bigger tragedy for my great-grandchildren," Fluellen, a Las Vegas resident, said Sunday night.

The four children were taken to Sunrise Hospital for a checkup Saturday, then taken to Child Haven and put into county custody.

Fluellen said she had been in touch with the father of the three younger children, who lives in North Carolina but cannot afford a plane or bus ticket to come get his children.

"We just want to get the paperwork done so they can come home with me until he figures out some way to get here," she said.

The father of the oldest child had not been located, she said.

Peter Dixon, a cousin of Clemons, said he was helping his grandmother with the paperwork and they planned to meet with a social worker today and could possibly have custody of the children later this afternoon.

Otherwise, the children's custody will be determined in a hearing Tuesday, Susan Klein-Rothschild, director of the Department of Family Services, said.

Klein-Rothschild said while confidentiality laws prohibit her from discussing specifics of this case, her office works to place children with relatives as quickly as possible.

"We're not trying to be a barrier in any way," she said.

About 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, a friend of the dead woman went to the home in the 6700 block of Tiffolo Lane near Hollywood Boulevard and Carey Avenue to check on Allen, Monahan said.

The woman found her friend dead inside the house, Monahan said.

The children believed their mother had come home from her job at a group home, where she cared for disabled people, and had gone to bed as usual, Fluellen said.

The telephone was missing from the house when police arrived, Fluellen said.

Fluellen said this morning the whole family was still struggling to understand how the children could be left alone and unnoticed for four days. She had last seen them about a month ago, she said.

"I wish (the 9-year-old) had known she could call me, and I'd come right there," she said. "I hate that part, that they were alone."

The cause of death of the woman has not been determined, Monahan said.

The coroner's office is conducting an autopsy because there was evident trauma to the victim, Monahan said.

Clemons' family is scattered across the country. The news of her death was hard on her ex-husband in North Carolina and her father in California, Fluellen said.

"Her father is devastated; she was (31) years old and his only child," Fluellen said.

The grandmother said she warned Clemons not to allow Allen into her home last December when he returned after a breakup with her granddaughter.

"He had a very bad attitude," she said. "He was very mean to my granddaughter. I warned her about that. I warned her about him."

Allen was an aspiring rap musician, Fluellen said.

Clemons' sister, Amohsay Floyd, said the family first learned of the sister's death on the evening news Saturday. Another relative called to say they had seen the sister's house on TV on an earlier broadcast. Floyd and Fluellen watched a later broadcast and confirmed their fears.

Floyd said the priority for the family now is to get the children out of Child Haven and with relatives as quickly as possible.

"We're just here for the kids now."

Anyone with information about the woman's death is urged to call CrimeStoppers at 385-5555 or Metro Homicide Section at 229-3521.