Raelynn And Payton Keyes
In just three short years, Raelynn and Payton Keyes had brought so much joy and happiness to their parents and so many others. In one interview, their mother, Skye, described them as " A Burst Of Life " , and they could and would make anyone smile. They were described as " prissy little tomboys ", just precious. Happy go lucky little angels who were attached to their mom and dad and loved running around playing with their older brother.
This story is very close to my heart because I have lived a lot of this myself. People go through things, but that doesn't mean they are bad people. Their sons and the twins went into foster care about a year and a half before this tragedy. The friday before they passed away, Mrs. Keyes said was the last time she saw her daughters alive.
September 29, 2019
Claudette Foster and the children she was caring for in foster care were spending the weekend at the home of her boyfriend, Sam Edwards, on September 29, 2019. Even though she was told the children weren't allowed to be at that home overnight, nor was Mr. Edwards allowed to keep the children alone, Ms. Foster often brought them there on weekends with her. And, also Mr. Edwards often babysat the twins. Also, their daycare said Mr. Edwards would usually be the one to drop them off and pick them up each day.
On that Sunday morning of the 29th, Raelynn and Payton, age 3, wandered away from the home of Mr. Edwards while Ms. Foster was taking a nap and the children were unattended. After a few hours went by, and she woke up, she noticed the twins were not there. Mr. Edwards and Ms. Foster, along with multiple neighbors searched for a couple hours nonstop trying to find them. After 3 hours of searching, 3 year old Payton and Raelynn Keyes were discovered dead and trapped in a car behind Mr. Edward's home. The police viewed the neighbor's surveillance camera to pinpoint the twin's last steps, and made a determination that it was around 10AM. The hot Georgia temperature outside was 92 degrees F and inside the car the twins died in it was 130 degrees F . The Medical Examiner did determine cause of death for both little girls was a heat stroke.
After a thorough investigation, on October 14, 2019 roughly 2 weeks after the twins died, Hinesville Police Department arrested 59 year old Claudette Foster, and charged her with 2 counts each of 2nd degree murder and cruelty to children. Then roughly 2 months after her arrest Mr. Sam Edwards was arrested and charged with the same exact charges.
Situations and Circumstances
Ms. Foster had broken multiple rules as a foster parent. Mr. and Mrs. Keyes, and other biological family members to the twins had complained over and over about Mr. Edwards having the children alone so much, even though he had never been approved as a caretaker or babysitter through DFCS. Also, his home had never been inspected as a place the children could stay over night, yet he babysat them often as I stated earlier he was the main person taking them and picking them up at daycare. They spent almost every weekend at his home and even some during the week.
A few weeks after Ms. Foster began caring for the Keyes children, she actually was pulled over for swerving lanes and arrested for DUI. Now the children were not with her, Thank God, but they were with Mr. Edwards, again after being told they couldn't be.
Before and after the twins died, multiple complaints came in about Ms. Foster's drinking habit. I am currently looking into a more in depth investigation that she may have suffered a drinking addiction for many years. Nothing in my investigation has come up that is a solid lead yet, but I will keep all of you informed through this post.
Earlier I said some of the same things happened with me. My children didn't die in foster care. They were actually mentally abused and even after those same foster people adopted them, they got a lot of money and benefits for them, yet neglected all of the children's needs. My case was also with Georgia. I was very young with no money and a drug addiction I have since overcame. My children are adults now and back in my life, it is still an adjustment for us all. I honestly feel for any parent and child going through this. These are children, and Ms. Foster got so many warnings and chances to be the kind of foster parent these kids needed, and children's needs should come with a zero tolerance policy. There shouldn't be more than one chance. I mean before you actually take a child in, you are given training classes. If you see you cannot protect and show love to a child, then don't do it. I have noticed money is an incentive. And the many benefits.
I do know the Keyes family won a lawsuit, but no amount of money can replace those beautiful twin girls. I'm almost certain they would rather have their daughters any any dollar amount.
I will follow up with this case as the court for these two comes around. And I'm looking into other cases as well involving Georgia DFCS. If I can help anyone out there or just bring light to what you may be going through with DFCS and you honestly feel something is wrong, please email me directly
d_ornelas@hotmail.com
470-817-1003
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