Agency had removed teen killed in fire
Multiple abuse, neglect complaints since 1995
The family of the two young sisters killed in a South Boston arson attack Sunday had been the subject of 12 separate child abuse and neglect investigations since 1995, and the 14-year-old girl who died cradling her toddler sister in an upstairs closet was not even supposed to be living there, state officials said yesterday.
The state Department of Social Services said it removed Acia Johnson and two siblings from the home in 2003 and placed them in the custody of grandparents. But neighbors, friends, and school officials said the children nonetheless continued to live with their mother in the house on West Sixth Street, a home that has been the scene in recent years of several violent episodes.
Even after the children were supposed to have been removed in 2003, the state received nine complaints of abuse or neglect, said Alison Goodwin, spokeswoman for the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services, which oversees DSS.
Despite the evidence of ongoing complaints, Goodwin insisted the agency had no idea that the children were still living with their mother.
"As far as DSS is concerned, the family members that had guardianship were solely responsible for the children," she said.
The health of the girls' mother, Anna Reisopou los, 34, has been improving at Boston Medical Center, where she has been hospitalized since the fire. The hospital last evening upgraded her condition from critical to serious. She was taken off a respirator but is still very ill from injuries she apparently sustained at the scene of the fire, friends and family members said.
"She's getting good care from the hospital," her brother, Nicholas Reisopoulos, said. "All we wish is for her to get better."
The investigation continued yesterday as authorities prepared to officially name arson as the cause, according to two city officials briefed on the investigation. There had been no arrests in the case last night. Fire investigators determined that someone used an accelerant to start the blaze at the front of the little, yellow row house, one of the officials said. The flammable substance burst into a wall of flames that quickly spread through the house and up into the third-floor attic, the official said. Acia Johnson and her 3-year-old sister, Sophia, were found huddled in an attic closet.
A lawyer for the children's father, who is currently serving time at the South Bay House of Correction, said Raymond Johnson has been devastated by the deaths.
"He is not doing well," the lawyer, Keith Nicholson, said.
He said Johnson has battled cocaine and alcohol addictions for 20 years and has been serving what amounts to a five-year sentence after pleading guilty earlier this year to breaking into two department stores. Nicholson said Johnson had frequently talked about his children during their discussions and worried about being incarcerated.
"He felt bad he was letting his kids down and that he wouldn't be there for them," Nicholson said.
The state began receiving reports of possible abuse or neglect of the children in 1995, Goodwin said. Most were from mandatory reporters - teachers, nurses, doctors, or police, for example - and others were from concerned citizens, she said. After the sixth investigation, DSS persuaded a judge in 2003 to remove Anna Reisopoulos's children from her home. There were three at the time: Acia Johnson; her twin brother, Raymond; and another brother, Jovan, who is now 7.
The children were placed in the custody of their grandmothers, said Goodwin, who declined to specify who was placed with whom. Among the nine more abuse or neglect complaints, involving six separate incidents, at least one involved Anna Reisopoulos's youngest child, Sophia. Goodwin said the agency did not remove Sophia from the home because the report did not warrant it.
She declined to disclose the nature of any of the abuse and neglect reports.
The Globe reported yesterday that police have been called to the South Boston home at least twice in the past year, once after the children's mother said she was assaulted by their father and when a 26-year-old woman said she was assaulted by Anna Reisopoulos. Court documents detailing the assaults and another one a few years ago are filled with descriptions of Reisopoulos getting kicked in the teeth, pulling another woman's hair, scratching a woman, and threatening a teenage boy. Another details adults spitting in each other's faces.
Friends of Reisopoulos say she tried hard to be a good mother.
"She was a stand-up person who would do anything for anyone in need," said Daniel Zyskowski, a friend and neighbor. "She was a single mother; she was an angel, and those children were innocent angels who didn't deserve to die."
Police re-opened West Sixth Street to traffic yesterday afternoon as the smell of burnt wood and melted plastic still lingered. The windows and doors to the house were boarded up, as well as windows to a house next door.
A street corner memorial for the two sisters had tripled in size from the previous day, as friends and neighbors tied helium-filled balloons to a lamppost, and placed more than a dozen stuffed animals, several bouquets of flowers, and handwritten notes.
One note read: "Acia, you were gone in a blink of an eye. You were energetic. When you loved, you loved with all your heart. You were a phenomenal person! We love you so much. Rest in peace, Sophia and CeCe."
Nicholas Reisopoulos said he has been touched by the outpouring of love for the girls. "We are very thankful," he said. Reisopoulos noted that a memorial fund has been set up at the Eastern Bank branch office on West Broadway.
Some South Boston residents said they are organizing a vigil for the two sisters tomorrow at 7 p.m.
"In Southie, people know we have our problems," said Donnie Edwin, who lives near the scene of the fire. "But we stick together."
John Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com. 