Foster Home Death in Fairview Hts. Reveals Troubling Past, Records Show

The Troubling Background of a Foster Care Caseworker

The caseworker assigned to monitor the Illinois foster child Mackenzi Felmlee, who died in May 2024, had a troubling past. Court documents reveal that this individual, Kurtavia White, had a history of arrests and multiple orders of protection filed against her by eight women for alleged threats, harassment, and abuse.

White was previously employed by Lutheran Child and Family Services, a contractor of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). A decade before Mackenzi’s death, she was arrested for her involvement in a violent incident at a metro-east strip club. This incident left a dancer with eight staples in her head, and White was also accused of retaliating by posting nude photos of the victim on social media.

Mackenzi, who was 18 years old at the time of her death, was found unconscious and struggling to breathe at the bottom of the stairs in her Fairview Heights foster home on May 11, 2024. A search warrant application signed by a Fairview Heights police detective in the investigation into Mackenzi’s death alleged that White failed to properly document home visits with the teen.

"It was discovered through the records that case worker Kurtavia White was copying and pasting notes for home visits, which does not appear to have correctly documented the visits," an affidavit read that was signed June 23, 2024, prior to the arrest of Mackenzi's foster mother, Shemeka Williams, and Williams' mother, Cornelia Reid.

Williams and Reid were indicted on charges of first-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, aggravated domestic battery, intimidation, unlawful restraint, and domestic battery in connection with Mackenzi's death. White has not been charged or arrested in relation to Mackenzi's death and could not be reached for comment.

A New Job After the Tragedy

By late last year, following Mackenzi's death, White had a new job: The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services hired her as a child welfare specialist with an annual salary of $75,000, state comptroller records show. Despite the allegations against her, DCFS did not provide immediate comment on the matter.

Lutheran Child and Family Services, which is a contractor of DCFS, declined to provide comment for this story. White’s past included multiple accusations from women in St. Clair and Madison counties in southern Illinois. These women claimed she threatened them, bullied them online, and filed false reports with police and child services. One woman alleged that a false report filed by White led to her child, who suffered from sickle cell anemia, being removed from her custody.

In 2020, White was charged with violating an order of protection by attempting to initiate a fight with the same woman. The case was later dropped after a series of court continuances. White was the subject of 11 requests for orders of protection by eight women in the area. In one 2015 case, a woman working as a dancer claimed White attacked her at the metro-east strip club Bottoms Up, leading to White being charged with three felonies.

Although no court record exists, a Belleville News-Democrat police blotter dated Dec. 22, 2015, reported on White's arrest. Illinois law allows certain convictions to be sealed or expunged under specific conditions.

New Details Emerge

As the investigation into Mackenzi’s death continues, new details have come to light. Police Chief Steve Johnson said he could not comment on specifics, citing the ongoing investigation, but emphasized the importance of bringing justice for the young girl.

Search warrants revealed disturbing new information about the morning Mackenzi was found unconscious and not breathing at the bottom of a staircase at her foster home around 2:30 a.m. on May 11. When officers arrived, they observed visible bruises and abrasions on her body.

Her foster mother, Shemeka Williams, claimed she found Mackenzi unresponsive in bed and tried, with Reid's help, to carry her downstairs to take her to the hospital. Williams told police Mackenzi threw herself down the stairs. However, police later uncovered two disturbing videos taken on Williams' phone before the 911 call showing Mackenzi moaning in pain at the bottom of the stairs and appearing unable to move.

In one video that police said was recorded by Williams' 15-year-old biological daughter, Williams can be seen mocking Mackenzi, suggesting she was pretending to be injured. Williams pulls Mackenzi upright by her shirt, only for her to slump back down. Blood is visible on the tile floor. The video ends with Williams laughing and saying, "It was hurting them damn legs."

Police said another video recorded about 30 minutes before police arrived shows Mackenzi lying on her right side with her mouth wrapped around the metal railing of the steps. "Mackenzi appears to be biting the metal railing while she is moaning," Fairview Heights Detective Hannah Millington wrote in her affidavit.

These are believed to be the final images taken of Mackenzi alive.

A Drastic Change

Mackenzi turned 18 years old on July 13, 2023—almost a year before her death. Although Mackenzi technically had aged out of foster care, she remained in specialized foster care for youth with emotional and behavioral needs, according to DCFS.

Police said photos recovered from Williams' phone show a stark transformation in Mackenzi's condition—from a happy, healthy 15-year-old who was an honor student to an emaciated and fearful young woman three years later. In later photos, she appears depressed, thin, and unkempt.

Police also discovered videos of Williams yelling at Mackenzi, forcing her to wear soiled underwear on her face and making her stand for long periods. One photo from May 1, shortly before her death, shows Mackenzi with a swollen, bruised face.

"Mackenzi's appearance shows a drastic change from April 2020 to show significant weight loss and lack of hygiene," the affidavit stated.

There were other pictures and videos, too, police said, including Williams yelling at Mackenzi, forcing her to stand against a wall, wearing a feces-soiled diaper on her face.

In text messages on May 3, 2024, Williams tells Reid, "I'm not getting in trouble for her and all the bruises on her. I have (my daughter) to think about, I would be in trouble."

Other videos showed Mackenzi being beaten with a belt and begging not to be hurt.

White, who was not identified in the report, visited the home just two days before Mackenzi's death, according to an inspector general report regarding Mackenzi's case. Under DCFS policies, White should have visited Mackenzi three times a month—at least once in her foster home.

Dr. Gershom Norfleet, the forensic pathologist who performed Mackenzi's autopsy, documented extensive bruising, including on both thighs, breasts, and a deep cut on her shin. He also found a 2-centimeter blood clot in her lungs, likely, he surmised, caused by trauma and worsened by poor nutrition and immobility.

Despite Williams' claims of bulimia, Norfleet found no signs of tooth erosion common in the disease. At the time of Mackenzi's autopsy, she weighed just 90 pounds.

Another doctor consulted by police, a hematologist, confirmed the blood clot could have been treated with medication—if Mackenzi had received medical attention sooner. Instead, police believe Williams and Reid waited more than an hour after finding her unresponsive, spending that time recording her final moments.

As part of their investigation, Fairview Heights police also interviewed other foster children who had lived with Williams, reviewed DCFS reports, and uncovered prior incidents of abuse to foster children, including beatings with belts and being forced to stay outside.

These allegations of abuse and neglect against Reid and Williams go back a decade, according to prosecutors. All were unfounded.

No Timeline Provided

The troubling allegations against the caseworker revealed in court filings related to Mackenzi's death comes just weeks after DCFS refused to release a timeline of the case, stating they would not release details until after Williams' and Reid's trial, which could take years.

Under a 1997 Illinois law, DCFS is required to produce a report to the legislature on every child who is a ward of the state who dies or sustains serious injury. The Departmental Report on Death or Serious Life-Threatening Injury is supposed to contain details on what happened and recommendations for administrative or policy changes.

Although the agency does provide a quarterly report of anonymous children and whether they were seriously injured or died, it does not contain findings and recommendations. In the three-month quarter in which Mackenzi died, there were more than 200 children in the report.

Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert criticized the lack of transparency, calling it "mind boggling." He questioned why White was hired by DCFS amid an ongoing police investigation in a foster child's death.

Golbert noted that the 1997 law was intended to bring more transparency and accountability. "This case is the very reason for the law," he said.

While caseworker criminal accountability in child death cases is rare, there is precedent: in 2024, former DCFS worker Carlos Acosta was sentenced to six months in jail for mishandling the case of 5-year-old A.J. Freund in McHenry County.

Acosta was convicted of two counts of child endangerment after being accused of failing to protect A.J. before his death in 2019, despite evidence of repeated abuse and neglect by his parents. This was the first time child endangerment charges against a state welfare caseworker were successfully brought in Illinois.