LOS ANGELES—Authorities investigating an 11-year-old's suicide threat say they didn't learn key information about an abusive stepfather who answered the door at his house until after the boy hanged himself.

A story in Sunday's Los Angeles Times says the investigators lacked key information on the boy because of communication difficulties at the Department of Children and Family Services.

On June 11, the workers visited the boy's home in Montebello after he told a school counselor he wanted to kill himself. Los Angeles County records show he was found dead hours after the visit.

They did not learn until after the suicide that the stepfather who answered the door had a history of drug abuse and domestic violence and a court had barred him from living in the home.

One of the department's 2,400 tablet computers could have provided the information, but most sit unused because of a shortage of wireless cards.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

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