Fourth in a five-part series

Trevor Wagner was 6 when he died the summer of 2000. Several years later, the boy's case remains the worst in recent memory where the system designed to shepherd those living in violent homes failed a Utah child.

Scrutiny over Trevor Wagner's death — at the hands of his mother's boyfriend, who also had abused her — led to various efforts from stakeholders in the domestic violence arena.

Some state policies were amended in light of the Wagner case. A task force was formed.

But most experts plugged into Utah's domestic violence labyrinth today agree that holes remain in the system.

"There's room there for gaps," said Duane Betournay, new director of Utah's Division of Child and Family Services.

"Not only gaps but catastrophic gaps," he said. "In fact, it is one of those issues I am up at 4 a.m. thinking about."

It's not that there is a lack of services but rather a lack of community and social awareness that creates barriers for children, said Gina Painter, who worked with victims for seven years at the DCFS. She now works with offenders at Salt Lake County Probation Services.

Children cannot recover from exposure to domestic violence as long as their homes remain dangerous, chaotic and unstable.

"By intervening quickly to stabilize the nonabusive parent, outcomes are usually better for children," Painter said.

In a traumatic event such as a traffic accident, at least one if not both parents can help a child cope. But with domestic violence, it is unsafe to be with the offending parent, and the victimized parent might be emotionally unavailable. The child has no refuge, she said.

"So, instead of being nurtured and safe in the family environment, they are actually traumatized by it," she said.

But some victims don't want to leave. They want to stick it out. Work it out. And caseworkers can't force assistance on people.

"It's tough," said Sheri Michel-Singer, the DCFS domestic violence coordinator.

"You really want to say to the mom, 'Come on. Get in my car. Let's go to a shelter.'"

"What have you done?" Priscilla Wagner asked the man nearly seven years ago.

Bobby Yazzie San Juan kept saying he was sorry.

Priscilla Wagner covered her cold, naked son with a towel and asked the man to call for help.

Paramedics rushed Trevor Wagner to Primary Children's Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.

Earlier that Friday afternoon, Priscilla Wagner had called home from work to check on her son. She talked to her live-in boyfriend, San Juan, who said the boy wasn't yet home from school.