Live updates: NC lawmakers grill Mecklenburg leaders over 6-year-old child’s death
Mecklenburg County officials will testify before a North Carolina House committee Thursday on the death of a Charlotte 6-year-old.
The state House Oversight Committee summoned Mecklenburg County Manager Mike Bryant to answer questions about Dominique Moody, who was found dead at her aunt’s east Charlotte home in December showing signs of abuse and malnourishment. The aunt and two other women face first-degree murder charges in the case.
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.
The situation sparked multiple investigations, and the state Department of Health and Human Services announced in late May Mecklenburg must create a corrective action plan to address issues within the county’s social services department.
The committee also callled 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 to testify before Thursday.
It’s the second time this year the Republican-controlled Oversight Committee scheduled a hearing to question Charlotte leaders. The committee brought local leaders in 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.
Follow along below for live updates as the hearing begins at 9 a.m.:
Bryant previews Thursday hearing in Raleigh
Bryant told reporters after Tuesday’s Mecklenburg County commission meeting he was “looking forward” to Thursday’s hearing.
“It gives us an opportunity to share firsthand with the House Oversight Committee the plan that we put in place in response to the recommendations from DHHS, as well as hear from them as it relates to how they can continue to partner with not just Mecklenburg County but all 100 counties in the state of North Carolina,” he said.
