School alerted Nash County to girl's beating before Christmas, but county failed to remove her from home where she died

WRAL News has learned that the state will not investigate how the Nash County Department of Social Services handled the abuse case of Christal Lane, an eight-year-old girl who was allegedly murdered by her grandmother.

Posted 9:10 p.m. Feb 10, 2023 — Updated 11:18 p.m. Feb 10, 2023

Keenan Willard

, WRAL Eastern NC reporter

NASHVILLE, N.C. — WRAL News has learned that the state will not investigate how the Nash County Department of Social Services handled the abuse case of Christal Lane, an 8-year-old girl who was allegedly murdered by her grandmother.

A previous WRAL News investigation found that 72-year-old Patricia Ricks was reported to Nash DSS for brutally beating her granddaughter back in December 2022, but no action was taken to remove the girl from her home.

Ricks is charged with felony child abuse and first-degree murder after the Nash County Sheriff’s Office says she beat Lane to death on Tuesday at their home in Nashville, where Ricks had custody of the girl and her four siblings.

On Thursday, WRAL News found that Ricks had been reported to Nash DSS for child abuse months earlier, when her granddaughter showed up to school so badly beaten that she was “nearly unrecognizable” according to a staff member.

A spokesperson for Nash County Public Schools told WRAL News staff reported the suspected abuse to Nash DSS on December 19, and that DSS investigated for several weeks afterward.

WRAL Investigation finds grandmother accused of murdering granddaughter was reported for child abuse months earlier

During the investigation, Lane and her siblings weren’t removed from their grandmother’s custody.

Lane died two months later of severe blunt force trauma to her head and body. Investigators with the Nash County Sheriff’s Office said they found multiple items that were used as weapons in the fatal abuse.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services oversees county DSS offices. On Friday, WRAL News asked NCDHHS if it would investigate Nash County’s handling of the case, and what action could be taken as a result of an investigation. The department quickly responded saying it does not investigate local DSS offices.

“In North Carolina, we have a county-administered child welfare system,” a spokesperson for NCDHHS responded in a statement. “This means state law gives local departments of social services the authority and responsibility to administer child welfare services for their county.”

“As the supervising and oversight agency, NCDHHS provides technical assistance, policy expertise and other resources to support local DSS’ administration of child welfare services,” the statement continued.

WRAL News asked if any other state agency has the authority to investigate Nash DSS’s handling of the case. A spokesperson for NC DHHS said Health and Human Services is the sole overseeing agency.

On Friday, WRAL News also learned the Nash school district’s handling of the abuse case has come under investigation.

The Nash County School Board’s publicly stated policy is that cases of suspected child abuse are required to be reported to law enforcement, saying such reports are mandated by state law.

Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone told WRAL News that his office is looking into whether the initial suspected abuse of Christal Lane was reported to them in December.

WRAL News reached out to Nash County Public Schools to ask if the district or Coopers Elementary School reported the December abuse case to the Nash Sheriff’s office.

“At this time, the district is not able to comment further in order to preserve the integrity of this ongoing investigation,” a spokesperson for NCPS replied. “Nash County Public Schools is cooperating fully with law enforcement as it conducts its investigation into this terrible tragedy.”

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