Maine lawmakers have ordered an investigation into the circumstances around the abuse a 10-year-old Bangor boy faced before he was murdered.
Braxtyn Smith died Feb. 18, 2024, in Bangor after experiencing about two years of abuse. His father, Joshua Smith, pleaded guilty to depraved indifference murder. His mother, Jem Bean, and grandmother, Mistie Latourette, both pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
The Legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability will investigate the circumstances of Braxtyn Smith’s death, including mandatory reporting and if homeschooling was a factor. It will also include a look at what, if any, knowledge the Maine Department of Health and Human Services had about the boy’s family.
The Government Oversight Committee voted to start that investigation during a meeting Wednesday. It came after Sen. Jeff Timberlake, R-Androscoggin, sent a letter to DHHS asking if the department was involved with Braxtyn’s family. The department said it could not respond until after all the sentencings are over.
“They want to hide behind the iron curtain,” Timberlake said.
Smith is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 22. Bean and Latourette were sentenced this summer to 25 years in prison with all but 10 years suspended.
After the sentencing, DHHS should have a memo ready to hand over that will at least contain a public accounting of any involvement with Braxtyn’s family, OPEGA Director Peter Schleck said.
Timberlake wanted OPEGA to be directed to start the investigation as soon as possible. When asked if it should wait until after the sentencing, he said, “Hell no.”
“I think it’s time, whether they give me their version of the answer or we get OPEGA’s version,” Timberlake said. “I won’t lie, I don’t know that I have a lot of trust that they would tell me what I really want to know.”
Basic questions, like if DHHS had reports of potential abuse to Braxtyn, need to be answered, Sen. Brad Farrin, R-Somerset, said,
“For them to continue to hide behind confidentiality when a child is dead, three adults have been found guilty, two of them already sentenced and we can’t get simple answers to questions is damn frustrating,” Farrin said.
OPEGA is also going to look at the double homicide in Chelsea, allegedly committed by a teenager in foster care, Schleck said. The agency cannot investigate until the criminal case is done.
The abuse inflicted on Braxtyn wasn’t noticed for two years because the boy was homeschooled by Bean and Latourette, Assistant Attorney General Leane Robbin said during Smith’s guilty plea.
A 15-page document released in March 2024 outlined the horrific abuse Smith, Bean and Latourette allegedly inflicted on Braxtyn. The adults described to police how the boy was zip-tied to chairs and to his parents, forced to dig through the trash for food, and called insulting names, according to the affidavit for probable cause compiled by the Bangor Police Department.