4-year-old died in his mother’s care amid DCF case a decade ago. Why was she arrested now?
For more than a decade, a 4-year-old boy’s death during an unsupervised visit with his troubled mother — from whom he was taken years prior after investigators discovered she had tried to smother him — was shrouded in mystery.
READ MORE: Broward mom faces murder charge a decade after her son died during an unsupervised visit
Now police believe that Destene Simmons, 34, suffocated her son Antwan Hope during the visit on June 10, 2013, according to an arrest affidavit penned by a detective in July.
Investigators even hinted at a possible motive: Simmons, who was arrested Friday and jailed without bond on a first-degree murder charge, had lost her job and was facing eviction, which would have put her at odds with the Florida Department of Children and Families.
In 2011, Simmons attempted to smother 2-year-old Antwan, placing a pillow over his face, according to the Herald’s archives. DCF failed to act — despite a June 13, 2011, report penned by Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies detailing the incident.
DCF later removed Antwan from Simmons’ care after she was committed to a mental health facility in 2011. But a few years later, on June 7, 2013, ChildNet, DCF’s private child welfare group in Broward, reunited Antwan with his mother after she met several conditions that could allow her unsupervised visitation.
The 4-year-old’s death catapulted a probe that ended with Florida’s child protection agency slammed for its failures.
A deadly visit
On June 10, 2013, Simmons made two 911 calls and requested that authorities come to her apartment, located at 9022 NW 28th Drive. She, however, refused to provide details and hung up the phone each time, according to the affidavit.
Police eventually responded to the complex, but the dispatcher had transcribed the wrong apartment number. While police were there, Simmons called 911 — and hung up — a third time.
When the authorities finally met Simmons, she said she wanted officers to check on Antwan “to make sure” he was OK, the affidavit alleges.
Inside the apartment, officers found the child in bed, with his head on a pillow and his body covered in a blue blanket, according to the document. His eyes were open, and his face was tilted toward a nearby pillow.
‘I’m not going to talk about that’
During an interview with police, Simmons said no one had visited the apartment that weekend. She also stated they had only stepped out twice: to go to the library and a park.
The night before, the document states, Simmons said she fed Antwan fettuccine alfredo, bathed him and played him a movie in bed. She also added that her son hadn’t been sick and was behaving normally.
But when detectives asked her what happened after, she said: “I’m not going to talk about that.”
Instead, Simmons divulged details about her personal life. She said she was facing eviction after recently losing her job — and hadn’t informed the case worker when they brought Antwan to the apartment, according to the affidavit.
“Due to these occurrences, Destene was not in compliance with her DCF case plan and was in jeopardy of having [her son] removed from her custody permanently,” the document states.
Why now?
The circumstances related to Simmons’ arrest Aug. 23 were murky for more than a decade. Few answers concerning Antwan’s death followed — until the affidavit was released on Monday.
Back in 2013, an autopsy didn’t conclude a cause of death, despite forensic medical experts finding “soft evidence” suggesting that Antwan was suffocated, according to the document. Medical investigators stated that a cause of death couldn’t be determined “with any medical certainty,” though they also noted that there was evidence, including blood on the boy’s lips, consistent with trauma.
A year later, Antwan’s father Antwan Hope sued ChildNet and requested another evaluation of his son’s cause of death. A second medical expert concluded that the boy had been killed, likely by suffocation.
That lawsuit was settled in 2016, and several documents remain under seal. Per the affidavit, Broward Circuit Court Judge Marc Gold barred Simmons from receiving damages after evidence pointed that she was liable for Antwan’s death.
The Broward Medical Examiner’s Office revisited the case in 2022 due to the conflicting opinion of the two forensic experts. By November 2023, the office agreed that the boy’s cause of death was homicide by suffocation.
In June, police began tracking down Simmons and eventually found her in Port St. Lucie, a city on Florida’s Treasure Coast.
Simmons’ descent into mental health issues was documented in calls to law enforcement, starting in the spring of 2011, the Herald previously reported.
At one point, Simmons’ mother said she had been “acting irrational” and she didn’t know what had happened. Her daughter, she said, “turned into a different person and does not let anyone get near Antwan.”
