BELL, Fla. — 9 Investigates uncovered shocking new details in the case of a murder-suicide where a man killed his adult daughter and six grandchildren before killing himself.
Channel 9 now knows the state of Florida was aware of problems with the Spirit family as far back as 2006, and the Department of Children and Families investigated the family 18 times.
As recent as May 2013, at least two of the grandchildren told investigators that they were afraid of their grandfather, Don Spirit, the man who eventually murdered his daughter and all six of his grandchildren.
The details of the investigations were released as part of the DCF's critical incident rapid response team preliminary report.
In the report, DCF documents frequent visits by its own staff as well as sheriff's deputies. It also shows a pattern of neglect.
One of the children, Brandon, broke his arm and when he was taken for an X-ray, it was discovered he already had a healing fracture in the same arm.
In addition to repeated cases of head lice, two of the children suffered such dental problems that the report said it rose to the level of medical neglect.
DCF investigators said Sarah, the children's mother, would leave the children with relatives and not return for days, but when the mother was unwilling to engage in parenting services, the case was closed.
DCF has developed a new action plan and will re-train all of its employees that were involved in the case. The department said each incident was seen as a snapshot instead of a pattern.