A brawl involving more than 100 people broke out during a funeral for a one-year-old baby boy in Wisconsin.
An argument between the family members and mourners of Christopher Thomas Jr. over who was responsible for the child’s death, escalated into a wild melee on Wednesday with mourners throwing chairs and knocking over flower arrangements.
Several people grabbed hold of the casket to keep it from being turned over.
Christopher was beaten to death while in foster care. His foster mother, Crystal P. Keith, is charged with his death. Keith is also charged with torturing Christopher’s 2-year-old sister who remains hospitalized.
Keith is married to the brother of the baby’s father.
Christopher was taken from his biological mother by child protective services and placed in foster care back in March.
During the emotional service, mourners set upon the child’s biological father, Christopher Thomas, 22, who suffered a gash to his face during the fight and was taken away by ambulance.
The boy and his 2-year-old sister had been in several foster homes since they were taken from their mother, Candace Glover, 23, who also attended the funeral.
This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 8:34 am and filed under Crime, Dearly departed, Law and order . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed or Trackback from your own site. This site is Gravatar enabled. Sign up to upload your own avatar.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Wow … this is crazyy, need to know the facts before I comment. May this baby rest in peace and the sister recover.
I concur with you Iyonah …. this is straight craziness .. Poor Babies … Poor Babies ….
so sad.
going to the journal sentinel website to see what i can find (milwaukee paper). brb.
so sad.
going to the journal sentinel website to see what i can find (milwaukee paper). brb.
http://www.dreamindemon.com/2008/11/18/crystal-keith-killed-christopher/
I seen this on the news last night. I heard the lil boy was 10 months, not a year old. Either way, its sad that a child is gone for whatever the cause or reason.
I hate when ppl fight at funerals. No respect for the dead, the family or the building (church or funeral home).
go to dreamindemondotcom. scroll down to crystal keith.
who is a sight to behold btw. special place in hell for her big ole fat neck roll having self. even her lips are fat. you did this to a BABY? monster.
rest in peace lil man. prayers out to his sister.
NEGROS!!
Morning Fam. I don’t understand why people take kids in to beat them. This is just so sad. That poor baby did not deserve any of this.
where’s the casket? didn’t look like a funeral to me, especially with cameras and ish there too. I guess. How do you know you’re ghetto? when you fight AT the funeral. yall couldn’t wait til we got to the cemetery?
That’s what I am saying shunda … the baby didn’t deserve this at all.
So sad =[
We are our own worst enemy…
They need to do pscyhoanalysis on potential parents. Some women/men or childbearing age do not deserve to be parents.
I hate this…
I’m calling Jesus and telling on these heathens…
@iyonah
and the sad thing about it is this happens a lot in foster homes. My ex grew up in a foster home and the stories he tells are just horrible. A lot of the foster parents are just in it for the check they get from the government.
Exactly Shunda … I know of those foster family stories to. Today’s society I pray for as a whole - my people have to do and be better.
Exactly Shunda … I know of those foster family stories to. Today’s society I pray for as a whole - my people have to do and be better.
Why,why, why! What is wrong w/people? Where were all these concerned family members when the children were being bounced from one foster care home to the next?
17cjlessie Says:
Why,why, why! What is wrong w/people? Where were all these concerned family members when the children were being bounced from one foster care home to the next?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bingo. We black folks always say “we take care of our own” why were these kids 10 months and two in different foster homes at such young ages? The mother was young (23) but she was not 12 so I will not even excuse her age for reproducing and losing custody of her kids.
wow! how sad. this is truly upsetting. society as a whole, needs to do more to protect these innocent babies. those kids have been through so much.
I don’t see a video - its a black area for me.
That’s ridiculous. It looks like those children didn’t stand a chance with this trifling a$$ family. I hope the daughter survives and gets a good foster home when she is out of the hospital. Something has to be done about the ignorance that often accompanies poverty in this country. The cycle has to stop somewhere.
kwallace577 that website: dreamindemondotcom incredible/depressing! When I’m not so emotional I’ll be sure to check it out the entire site in detail. I did see that FAT B#tch Crystal Keith! I wish she was the one attacked at that funeral!
Why does it matter if the judge made mistakes if the prosecution has more than a handful of eyewitnesses to keep your a$$ in jail. . .SERVE YOUR TIME AND SHUT UP!
opps wrong post^^^ what I meant to say was. . .OMG, what were they fighting for now? They should’ve been fighting to keep them kids in their family instead of foster care!
Damn fools!
Oh my word, I just read the story on Dreamin Demon and this is just one tragedy on top of another. Sadly, this good for nothing family who would cause a ruckus in a funeral home that provided it’s services for free for this child are likely able to get financial damages from the state for their neglect of these children. That crazy woman actually stuck a brush down that baby’s throat in addition to break his and his sisters limbs and not treating the injuries among many other heinous abusive acts.
yep @bird. yep. i didn’t want to comment until i read more like iyonah said… and i found the dreamin demon story. like i said her fat self is a MONSTER and we ALL know what happens to women like this when they get to general population.
good for her.
I’ll say this: I don’t know what’s happening and havent’ read the case, but I would have HUGE problem with the father being at the funeral if my kid was at the brother of the father’s house when he died.
the foster system is becoming more neglicient more and more. I wonder how many kids are being abused in the foster system……lawd have mercy. May that child rest in peace, and hope the lil girl recovers.
starr Says:
the foster system is becoming more neglicient more and more. I wonder how many kids are being abused in the foster system……lawd have mercy. May that child rest in peace, and hope the lil girl recovers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The percentage of kids being abused in foster care is minimal vs those in their parents homes however, Crystal and her husband were not just foster parents they were family.
The problem with foster care is that they are a quick fix. Case workers are trained/taught to keep the family together at whatever cost. Kids do die more by the hands of their parents than foster.
@ Anna
You could be right but he abuse in the foster care system is covered up. One story I remember a lot is that of Rilya(sp) Wilson in Cleveland. The case worker had not shown up to see her in a year. She is still missing.
shunda Says:
@ Anna
You could be right but he abuse in the foster care system is covered up. One story I remember a lot is that of Rilya(sp) Wilson in Cleveland. The case worker had not shown up to see her in a year. She is still missing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The percentage of abuse by foster kids is 12/1000 but that is of those who report it and also share a data base. Also aren’t there still some kids missing from the System in Flordia?
@ Anna
Yes there are some still missing in Florida. I just know that my ex was abused groing up in a foster home. It led to him having very poor relationship skills (part of the reason I am divorced). It is not only the foster parents but a lot of the kids have some issues. My baby sitter growing up was a foster parent and she lost he license because the son she adopted molested 2 of the boys she had.
34shunda Says:
@ Anna
Yes there are some still missing in Florida. I just know that my ex was abused groing up in a foster home. It led to him having very poor relationship skills (part of the reason I am divorced). It is not only the foster parents but a lot of the kids have some issues. My baby sitter growing up was a foster parent and she lost he license because the son she adopted molested 2 of the boys she had.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know ppl who did it just for the check. You have to have more than space in your home and heart, but take the time to get the kids psych help. There was an older couple here who fostered a preteen who a couple years later killed his foster mom. I was kind of surprised because they were a black family. Black kids are less likely to kill their parents. My daughter went to school with two kids who were dating, the girls mom did not like her bf. She plotted for him to kill her mom so they could get the ins. money and live in the house together. He stabbed her brother to where he was in the hospital for awhile. Mom was unharmed. The kids got “Life”. (black family).
This is just sad. I hate stories like this.