Gaps in system put families in jeopardy

Two weeks before he died, Trevor moved with his mother and another sibling into the YWCA's domestic violence shelter.

Priscilla Wagner had a protective order against San Juan. She said later that San Juan had abused her over a two-year period and that he had repeatedly threatened to hurt her and the children if she ever attempted to leave or tell anyone.

The three stayed a week. But on Aug. 15, Wagner didn't return to the shelter for the night, which is against the rules.

YWCA asked the family to leave, despite allegations from several sources that San Juan had abused the children. The Wagners returned to their Salt Lake apartment at 800 South and 200 East.

Three days later, Trevor was dead.

In later testimony, Wagner said she and the boys left the shelter that night to celebrate Trevor's sixth birthday. She said they went to the apartment they shared with San Juan, and he prevented them from leaving until the next day, court documents state.

Wagner said when she was unable to return to the shelter, she felt San Juan's apartment was the only option.

In later scrutiny of the shelter's actions, staff said they usually help a family find a safe place to live before they are released.

"We would never turn a woman away to her abuser or back to the streets," YWCA program director Jennifer Mackenzie said at the time.

"I can assure you that when Priscilla and Trevor Wagner left our shelter on Aug. 16, we had reason to believe that they were returning to a safe environment and that they were not in any imminent threat of harm," YWCA executive director Anne Burkholder said in statement that summer.

Shelter officials said confidentiality prevented them from talking too openly about the case, but that Wagner may have told the YWCA she had a safe place to go.

San Juan apparently had told Wagner he was moving out of the apartment. But he hadn't.

Trevor's death raised red flags about the coordination between state officials and others in domestic violence cases. Critics said a breakdown in communication between a DCFS caseworker and staff at the YWCA left the door open for tragedy.

DCFS was aware that the Wagner family was living at the shelter but was apparently not notified when the Wagners moved out, division spokeswoman Carol Sisco said at the time.

Robin Arnold-Williams, then head of the Utah Department of Human Services, said she would convene a task force to discuss the need for other changes in the way the network of shelters, state agencies, school districts, courts and police departments work together on domestic violence and child abuse cases.

The most thorough review of facts in Trevor's death came in a DCFS fatality review report.