The Death of Terrell Peterson
On January 15, 1998, 5 year-old Terrell Peterson died in a Atlanta Children’s Hospital of cardiac arrest. His death was the result of longtime abuse at the hands of his foster parent and care-takers, Terri Lynn and Pharina Peterson and Fran Peterson. They were his half-siblings grandmother and aunts.
At the time of his death Terrell was malnourished, covered in burns, cuts and bruises and he had ligature marks on his wrists from where he was tied up for a long period of time.
Terrell was born to an addict mother with drugs in his system, as a baby there are documented complaints from friends and neighbors that his mother was neglecting him and his siblings.
Terrell and his siblings were removed from his mothers care and placed with his half-siblings grandmother, Fran Peterson. He was supposed to be under the care of the Department of Family and Children Services. The system failed him. He was supposed to have monthly visits with case-workers, that never happened. After he was put under the Peterson’s care the department had little to no contact with the child.
Terrell was tied up and hardly fed, he would hunt through trash cans to find food. He was often hospitalized for injuries related to abuse.
During one hospital visit, Terrell stated that the daughter of his guardian, Pharina Peterson, hit him. He was diagnosed with Battered child syndrome. She was arrested for assault and was due to be tried. However, the case-worker failed to take him to court, so the charges were dismissed and Terrell was returned to Peterson. His case-worker attempted to cover up her failings, by faking a report that said the court found no evidence of a crime and that he was ‘safe’ so the case was dismissed.
After the court date, Terrell came to school with burns on both his feet. The burns were so bad that he needed skin grafts onto the soles of his feet. It’s believed that the injuries was punishment for reporting previous abuse. Even after these injuries were documented, there were no visits or investigation from Children’s Services. Terrell died a year later.
After his death there were multiple internal investigations launched by Fulton County Department of Family and Children Services that noted there were severe failures by the department. Still, the department tried to cover up these findings, which were not reported to the public. A year after his death, a whistleblower passed Terrell’s file to a reporter who exposed the department for their failings, not just to Terrell, but to an estimated 800 children who died while in their care from 1995-1998.
Terri Lynn and Pharina Peterson were tried and sentenced to life in prison for Terrell’s murder. The officials complicit in the cover-up were never punished.
Above is the only known photograph of Terrell taken when he was hospitalized for abuse related injuries.
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