Tot found dead: Investigation by CPS closed one year ago

Eric Leake

Friday, July 1, 2005 | 9:56 a.m.

Metro Police are investigating the circumstances that led to the death of 2-year-old Adacelli Louise Snyder.

The girl was found dead Wednesday in her family's mobile home, a year after Child Protective Services closed their investigation into the safety conditions of the home.

"It's truly devastating to everyone who works at this agency," Susan-Klein Rothschild, director of Clark County Family Services, said. "It's always hard when a child dies, but when it's a child in a situation where there could be concern about safety makes it even more difficult."

Police said Adacelli's mother, Charlene Snyder, 28, called 911 about 1:45 p.m. after she found the child unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at the home.

The cause of the child's death has yet to be determined.

Investigators are continuing their work and waiting for a determination on the cause and manner of the girl's death from the coroner's office, Lt. Brad Simpson of Metro's abuse and neglect section said.

Police have placed Snyder's three other children into protective custody due to indications of possible neglect in the household,

Child protective services began working with the family in July 2003 after receiving a complaint about the conditions in the home, Klein-Rothschild said.

Social workers found the mobile home unsafe and, over the course of a year, worked intensely with the mother, providing services and helping her make the home safe.

Adacelli was diagnosed with cerebral palsy during the time that child protective services was working with the family, and social workers helped the girl get medical care, officials said.

When the case was closed in June 2004, conditions had improved significantly and workers determined no further involvement was needed, officials said.

Reached at her home Thursday in the Acacia Mobile Home Park on Walnut Road near Lake Mead Boulevard, Snyder offered little comment.

"Everybody wants to be left alone," she said. "I'm still grieving."

Snyder's aunt, Laura Dunlap, 49, lives near Miami and said she heard of Adacelli's death through family.

"I'm devastated," she said. "It's a very sad case. Very, very sad."

"I love Charlene, but I know she's never been competent," Dunlap said. "She can't be well to allow this to happen. You can't sit and watch your 2-year-old child die."

Leslie Cooper, 21, said she is Snyder's niece and recounted visiting Snyder two years ago and finding a house filled with food and trash.

"It was very much child neglect," Cooper said. "It's just very sad because the kids are the ones suffering for it."

She said the family tried to get Snyder to take better care of her children.

"Everybody's given her chance after chance to get a life built up for her and her kids, and she keeps failing to do so," Cooper said.

"When you have somebody as stubborn as Charlene, there's not much you can do. She'll put up a fight and make everything look OK when it's not."

Cooper said there are family members who may be willing to care for the children.

"I don't feel that she should have custody," Cooper said. "I want those kids to have something better."

Marcella Pinkston, 44, a caregiver for the elderly, lives a few homes away from Snyder. She said she wondered about Snyder's family because she rarely saw them.

Pinkston said she visited Snyder's home once looking for a friend and was shocked by what she found.

"The house was enough to gag you," she said. "I know what urine and defecation smell like. I could smell it very strongly at the door. I backed away."