POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida mother has been charged with murder, more than a decade after the death of her 4-year-old son, Antwan Hope.
According to Coral Springs police, Destene Simmons, 34, was arrested over the weekend in connection with the boy’s 2013 death, which had long been considered suspicious by investigators.
The case resurfaced after authorities connected Simmons to her son’s death. The tragic event occurred during an unsupervised weekend visit to Simmons’s Coral Springs apartment. The visit was allowed despite her documented history of mental illness.
“She was sick. A person can’t help it when they’re sick,” said a woman.
At the time of Hope’s death, the boy’s grandmother blamed the Department of Children and Families (DCF) for what she described as a systematic failure. She criticized the agency for permitting unsupervised visits between Simmons and her son, despite Simmons’s mental health issues and a previous attempt to harm the child.
According to prior investigations, Simmons had attempted to smother her son years before his death, which led the state to initially remove the child from her custody. However, after Simmons met certain conditions, she was granted unsupervised visitation rights, which tragically culminated in Hope’s death.
The incident prompted a DCF probe that uncovered significant failures within the agency, including the decision to allow unsupervised visits.
Simmons is currently being held without bond at the North Broward Bureau Jail in Pompano Beach.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.