Family of fatally abused 9-month-old blame father of child, CPS

Family speaks out after father is charged in baby's death

Kinsley died on June 26, 2023, after enduring over three weeks of abuse, allegedly at the hands of her own father.

WARNING: This story includes graphic details of child abuse

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The family of 9-month-old Kinsley Evans feels like they were failed by the systems in place to keep kids safe.

Kinsley died on June 26, 2023, after enduring over three weeks of abuse, allegedly at the hands of her own father in Detroit – all while her mother's family fought to get her away from the accused killer.

An autopsy showed the extent of the abuse on the baby's body.

"Fractured skull, broken ribs. Yeah, she was abused," said Asia Nelson, Kinsley's grandmother. "Trauma to the head, she got punctured with something in her knee."

The child's biological father, 24-year-old Charles Evans, was arraigned on charges of felony murder and first-degree child abuse this week.

The family places significant blame on the state health department's Child Protective Services agency.

"(CPS) never even came out," Nelson said.

9-month-old Kinsley Evans.

At the time of her death, Kinsley had been in the care of her father since Memorial Day, according to family members. His visitation was only supposed to last a couple of hours. But when the family went to retrieve her, they were rebuked.

For weeks during that time, Nelson said they did everything they could to regain custody of her. The family called Detroit police, who did a welfare check and said the baby was fine. They begged the state to listen to their concerns regarding her well-being, but no one listened.

In addition to reaching out to CPS several times, the family petitioned the courts to get Kinsley back. They even went to the Michigan Department of Corrections to report Evans for a potential probation violation. Unfortunately, their efforts were unsuccessful.

"Had you lifted her shirt you would've saw she had bruises, a puncture wound. Those are things that DPD missed and CPS would've caught if they actually came out," said Juanita Straughter, Kinsley's aunt.

After the incident initially took place, a supervisor within CPS was placed on administrative leave because of their handling of this case.

FOX 2 Detroit reached out to CPS multiple times but did not get a response on whether or not that supervisor was ever fired.

"I should've showed up with a village kicking that door in," Nelson said. "Take matters into your own hands because if you're waiting on the justice system, they cannot do anything in these matters."

The Detroit police responded to FOX 2's inquiry regarding this case with the following statement:

"The person responsible for the tragic and sad death of this child has been charged. We understand this is a time of significant emotion for those who loved this child and that the family desires resolution. Preliminarily, the facts and circumstances being reported are inconsistent with the Department’s records on this incident. However, the Department will launch an investigation into this matter to determine what took place."

The family is planning to file a civil suit.

Crime and Public Safety Detroit