Burns, broken bones, 11 warnings: The tragic death of Brayson Price

Marisa Kwiatkowski | IndyStar

Show Caption Hide Caption Father sues DCS over his 5-year-old son's death DCS had 11 reports of abuse and neglect on Brayson Price before his 2016 death. His father is suing DCS saying they failed to act.

Justin Morgan listened to his 5-year-old son chatter about how much he wanted to stay the night with his dad and how excited he was about a toy truck his grandfather was building him for Christmas.

The next day, Morgan said, he learned his sweet, energetic little boy was dead.

"I lost it," Morgan told IndyStar. "I cried. I'll admit it, I yelled and yelled and yelled. ... It was the worst day of my life."

His son Brayson Price died Nov. 23, 2016, of asphyxiation and acute drug overdose, according to Morgan Circuit Court records. The 5-year-old's death was ruled a homicide.

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Brayson's mother Meghan Price and her boyfriend Steven Ingalls Jr. are accused of conspiracy to commit murder and neglect of a dependent, court records show.

And the boy's father claims the blame doesn't stop with them. Morgan filed a lawsuit this month against the Indiana Department of Child Services, saying the state agency was complicit in his son's death.

DCS spokeswoman Noelle Russell said the agency cannot comment on pending litigation.

DCS received at least 11 reports of suspected abuse prior to Brayson's death, according to the lawsuit filed in Morgan Superior Court. At least seven adults — Morgan, a teacher, a school nurse, a bus aide, a guidance center employee, Brayson's aunt and a friend of his mother — called DCS to express concern about the little boy's safety.

But the state agency did not substantiate any of the allegations and left Brayson in his mother's care, according to the lawsuit.

"DCS' apparent obliviousness to Brayson's continued and increasing peril, and their related failure to substantiate any one of the numerous allegations of abuse made over the course of multiple years demonstrated a distressing dereliction of duty on an absurd and almost cartoonish level," the lawsuit states.

Brayson suffered a broken arm, broken femur and numerous burns and bruises in the years before his death, court records state.

An aunt called DCS and police in July 2014 after she noticed a handprint and bruises all over the little boy's body, according to the lawsuit. Brayson was 3.

In 2015, Morgan said he and another person called DCS after Brayson suffered a broken femur. Morgan, who shared custody with Price, said his son told him that Ingalls, the boyfriend, was responsible.

DCS received another report of suspected abuse in January 2016, relating to a burn on Brayson's hand.

A month later, DCS received another report. This time, someone expressed concern about a large bruise on the left side of Brayson's head above his eye. He also had a burn mark on top of his knuckle.

One month after that, in March 2016, DCS received a report that Brayson had bruises on his arms and both sides of his head.

In September 2016, a bus aide told DCS she heard Brayson's mother threaten him. Around that time, the 5-year-old had a broken arm, bruised lip and bruises on his legs, according to the lawsuit.

Price withdrew Brayson from school a month later. It was October. By November, he was dead.

When DCS investigated allegations of abuse involving Brayson, Price told officials that her son could not feel pain as other children do, due to several medical diagnoses. She also said he sometimes injured himself when acting out, DCS records state.

Brayson had been diagnosed with fragile X syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, impulse control disorder and dysphasia, according to records obtained by IndyStar.

Prior to his death, Price googled "Risperidone overdose" multiple times, according to the court transcript. Ingalls searched multiple phrases, including "beat child with fragile X abuse, I want to kill my autistic child, painful ways to die (and) most painful torture."

Ingalls told Price via text message that he hated her son, wanted to buy a ticket to see Brayson take his last breath and thought she should "kill him while he is young and do something with your life before he robs you of any chance of ever being happy or being anything other than a stay-at-home retarded caregiver," according to the June 23, 2017, hearing transcript.

When police confronted him about the texts, Ingalls responded "I guess I am just not a very good person," court records state. Ingalls claimed it was just talk.

A Morgan Superior Court jury found Ingalls guilty Wednesday of three felonies: two counts of neglect of a dependent and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, court records show. He is scheduled to be sentenced at 10 a.m. June 26.

Price's case still is pending. Her trial is scheduled to begin in June.

Morgan, the father, had his own tangle with authorities over his treatment of Brayson. He pleaded guilty in 2013 to felony intimidation and neglect of a dependent, Hendricks Superior Court records show.

Morgan said he moved to New Mexico in 2016, but continued to keep in touch with his son. He told IndyStar he was saving money to fight for custody of Brayson.

Morgan said he was horrified to learn of the number of DCS reports. He told IndyStar he didn't know about most of the reports, but a DCS official had assured him his son was safe.

"Brayson's exceedingly tragic and untimely death was not the result of a mistake or oversight or of restricted budgets or policy limitations," Morgan's attorneys, Oliver Younge and Terry Noffsinger, argued in the lawsuit. "It was entirely and proximately caused by DCS' actions and failures to act in accordance with its duty to protect children situated as Brayson was."

Morgan added: "They failed my son. They failed Brayson."

Child abuse fatalities in Indiana In recent years, dozens of Indiana children have died as a result of abuse or neglect by those who should have protected them.

Call IndyStar reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski at (317) 444-6135. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyMarisaK.