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Mother let girl, 4, starve as she fed other children

 
Published Sept. 3, 1996|Updated Sept. 16, 2005

Four-year-old Nadine Lockwood spent most of her short life on a foam rubber mattress in a rickety crib that was shoved in the corner of a tiny, dark bedroom.

Many neighbors said Monday that while they knew the family's other children, they did not even know Nadine existed _ until after she died Saturday, apparently starved to death, her arms and legs as thin as sticks.

Authorities said the little girl's mother told them she had not fed Nadine regularly for a year and did not seek medical help even when she realized the girl was dying.

According to prosecutors, Carla Lockwood said she took care of the other six children in her custody but withheld food and medical care because she didn't want or love Nadine.

Lockwood, 32, was arraigned Monday on charges of second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child. She was ordered held without bail pending a court appearance today.

Trash littered the dank three-bedroom apartment Monday, spoiled food and empty bottles jammed the refrigerator, and a powerful stench made the air almost unbreathable.

A few neighbors did know of the little girl. "She looked like a starving Ethiopian kid," Catherine McDaniel told the New York Post.

Some neighbors reportedly had called child welfare officials to tell them about Nadine's maltreatment.

Nonetheless, Children's Services Administration Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said it appeared that his agency had closed its files on the family. He said the family's last contact with the child welfare authorities was on May 25, 1995.

McDaniel said Lockwood singled out Nadine for neglect, feeding the others in her custody "while that baby was in the crib with a chicken bone. The little girl was in there chewing on a bone."

Police were called Saturday by Nadine's father, Leroy Dickerson, who reportedly did not live with the family and had not seen the girl for several months, Scoppetta said.

Dickerson said Lockwood took out her frustrations over their splintered marriage and the demands of raising seven children on Nadine.

"Detectives told me that Carla picked on Nadine because she looked the most like me," he told the Daily News. "She was the throwaway baby."

Autopsy results were not yet available, said Chief Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch.

Most neighbors were not aware that Lockwood had more than six children.

"Nobody knew that baby," said Ester Ortiz.

However, one neighbor, Leslie Forbes, told the Post she had been calling child welfare authorities regularly since Nadine's birth. "It was horrible, nothing got done," she said.

McDaniel said that authorities did show up but apparently never saw Nadine.

Scoppetta said Nadine and one of her siblings had tested positive for drugs at birth.

Neighbors said they often saw Lockwood's other children, ages 1 to 14 years, around the building and many thought Lockwood was a good mother.

But others also said Lockwood's oldest child, Nicole, 14, frequently went from door to door asking for food or money.