"A 7-year-old boy who allegedly hanged himself complained to his therapists that he was "a bad person," and "born a liar," taught to lie by his own mother, according to newly released documents.

The nearly 1,500 pages released late Friday night by state officials paint the portrait of a terribly troubled child in the foster care system -- going from home to home with a repetitive sentiment: loneliness and anger. In just seven years, Gabriel Myers seems to have experienced a life no parent would want for any child, reports CBS station WFOR-TV in Miami.

Myers, who turned 7 in January, died on April 16th when police say he hanged himself using the extendable shower-head in his foster parents' Margate home. But according to the documents obtained by the CBS, the child's troubled life began long before.

In 2003, the 7-year-old's mother, Candace Myers, was arrested by Hallandale Beach police on charges of cocaine possession and driving under the influence. But it wasn't until a similar arrest last June by the same police agency that a judge ordered the child be removed from his mother's custody. He had been found in a car with his unconscious mother, surrounded by powdered cocaine and crack cocaine.

That's when a child in the midst of losing his innocence -- and ultimately his life -- is captured on paper.

"My mom taught me how to lie. She always lied to the police, to everybody," he told a therapist after throwing scissors in school. "I lied when I was 1 year old, I lied when I was 2 years old. I was born a liar and I will always be lying," he said in another therapy session.

"[The] devil makes me lie and do all those bad things. He is bad and he makes you do bad things," the boy told the therapist.

In the documents, the child recalls being molested by another 12-year-old boy and being told to "pee in [the 12-year-old's] mouth." The records also show the child had been molesting girls and boys at school, touching them inappropriately, and threatening to kill others and himself. He repeatedly said he had no friends.

"I used to have some imaginary friends. I still have one but I haven't been talking to him a long time," Myers reportedly said.

Psychiatrists and therapists wrote that the young boy wasn't suicidal or psychotic, but from time to time, had dramatic tantrums. It was during one of those tantrums that he lost his life and, according to a DCF spokesperson reached Saturday, the circumstances surrounding that tantrum could have been a violation from the start.

According to the DCF documents, when Gabriel Myers was found dead April 16th, he was left at the Margate home with 19-year-old Miguel Gould. Gould is the son of Michael and Daver Gould, Myers' foster care parents. He was visiting from Canada, according to the DCF spokesperson.

Miguel told Margate police that he was "caring for Gabriel for the day because the boy was home sick from [school]." The child reportedly threw his bowl of soup into the trash, "so Miguel sent the child to his room," Margate police documented. While in his room, the boy began throwing toys then told Miguel Gould that "he was going to [go] into the bathroom and kill himself." Miguel Gould told police that he later called his stepmother to tell her what happened and couldn't get into the bathroom for another five to ten minutes. That's when the child was reportedly found hanged.

The problem is Miguel Gould wasn't even supposed to be left alone with the 7-year-old, according to the DCF spokesperson. He had not been officially screened by the agency.

"Kids in Distress [one of the organizations charged with overseeing Gabriel Myers] was aware that Miguel was coming to visit. They had begun background studies on him, but he was not a part of the recently signed safety contract so he should not have been left alone with Gabriel, if that's what happened," said DCF Regional Spokesperson Leslie Mann.

A REPETITIVE CYCLE

The Gould foster home was Gabriel Myers' third in less than a year. The DCF documents obtained by the I-Team show he first entered the foster care system on June 29, 2008. He was placed in a licensed home through Kids in Distress. Some days later, he was moved to the home of his aunt and uncle. He lived there for some three months until Broward Sheriff's Office (BSO) investigators received a report alleging sexual and physical abuse.

While investigators found no signs of sexual abuse, the uncle revealed he "did try corporal punishment" and hit the child with a belt. A Broward County judge issued an emergency order and moved Gabriel Myers back to the licensed home.

However, that wasn't the last move for Gabriel. In March, the foster parent thought Gabriel might be a threat to his baby and requested "expedited service" in removing the child from his home. Officials with Kids in Distress, ChildNet, and DCF moved Gabriel to the Gould home. "


I have very little to say. Empathy is all I can give. I can say this...kid...not even a teenager... didn't deserve to die but who am I (and by extension, who are you?) to decide whether this kid had it "bad enough." A seven-year old killed himself yesterday and the world keeps turning. To anybody and everybody, I feel. For you. With you. As the draping covered this kids neck, slowly suffocating him to awake in what he probably thought would be a better dimension, I wonder if this kid even remotely knew what love was. Felt like. The 7-year-old who killed himself. He killed himself and he was only 7 years old.