NC legislature will hold hearing on death of Charlotte 6-year-old Dominique Moody
North Carolina legislators are calling on Mecklenburg County leadership to answer their questions about the death of a 6-year-old girl.
The state House Oversight Committee sent a letter to Mecklenburg County Manager Mike Bryant on Tuesday summoning him to testify in Raleigh about the death of Dominique Moody, according to a copy shared on social media by committee co-chairman Brenden Jones. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Estella Patterson, Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden, interim DSS Director Leticia Loadholt and state Health and Human Services Division Director Lisa Cauley have also been called to testify, Jones said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The committee previously sought records in the case.
Moody was found dead in her aunt’s home in east Charlotte in December weighing just 27 pounds and showing signs of abuse and neglect, the Observer reported previously. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police and the county’s Social Services department received reports about Moody’s home before she died, the Observer and other news outlets found.
Tuesday’s letter cited a North Carolina Health and Human Services notice sent to the county last week ordering Mecklenburg to develop a corrective action plan for the Department of Social Services following an investigation that found “systemic” issues.
“Simply put, Mecklenburg County failed Dominique Moody,” the Tuesday letter signed by the Oversight Committee’s three chairmen said. “... The public deserves to know how a child as vulnerable as Dominique could come to the attention of Mecklenburg County DSS and still die in such unspeakable conditions.”
The committee reposted Jones’ letter on its social media, adding that a hearing is scheduled for June 4.
Spokespeople for Mecklenburg County did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the hearing.
A group of high-profile attorneys led by Ben Crump — known for representing the families of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin and Breonna Taylor — said in March they were also looking into the Moody case. A bipartisan group of state lawmakers also introduced legislation named for Moody that would establish a new statewide team to review some of the state’s most serious child welfare cases.
The Republican-controlled Oversight Committee brought other Charlotte-area leaders in for a hearing earlier this year on safety in the city in the aftermath of the fatal stabbing of Iryna Zarutska on the LYNX Blue Line light rail.
