It’s become a common occurrence to read about mother’s boyfriend’s or vice versa committing crimes against children. It’s almost guaranted you can tune into any national news station and hear about a child being murdered because the step-parent didn’t want the responsibility of taking care of the child. A lot of the time it’s a live-in significant other and the couple hasn’t been together for very long before they move them right in to take the place of the absent parent.

In some cases CPS is called but not alway’s. At times, even when CPS does get involved there’s only so much they can do by law and a lot of these families slip through the proverbial crack. People are quick to judge the system but that’s not alway’s the case. Other times, CPS workers aren’t educated enough or maybe they don’t care enough to follow up on the cases that are handed down to them. I truly believe that the case worker’s go into it for the right reasons but perhaps they became so jaded or burnt out it prevented them from doing their job 100%.

Every time I read a new article about a child that’s been abused or murdered at the hands of the person that was supposed to love them, and whom the child loved and looked up to for guidance and structure my heart breaks in two. I alway’s ask myself, how do we as a society fix this? My friends and family would tell you I’m highly opinionated and outspoken when it comes to my beliefs. This is something I feel very strongly about, have spent many hours thinking about and many hours crying over. In the end, I have no answer. This is one of the worst crimes imaginable that can be committed and there will never be a way to stop it. I know that volunteering and raising awareness helps but someimes it just doesn’t seem like it’s enough.

Trenay Cheire Duchane was 12 years of age and Treshae Duchane was 9. They were the eldest of 6 other brothers and sisters. She was a happy kid that enjoyed playing with her siblings and as the oldest she would also watch them. She was bright and even earned “Student of the Month” while she attended Solano Elementary in Phoenix, AZ. She also liked to play video games like most kids her age did.

Things began to change in the last few months of Trenay and Treshae’s life. They were no longer aloud to go to school, they never left the one bedroom apartment they lived in with their dad, step-mom and baby step-sister. CPS lost track of them after they moved and closed the case. Family that suspected something was going on never said a word. They were being slowly erased from their dad and step-mom’s lives.

On November 10, 2007 at the approximate time of 4:20 p.m. Trenay and Treshae Duchane’s father Jeffrey Duchane, 34, called 9-1-1. When the the Phoenix PD officer’s arrived at the scene they immediately noticed that Trenay was deceased, and had been for a while. 9-year-old Treshae was in the corner of the bathtub trembling and cowering down. She was covered in bruises from head to toe, burns and had a broken arm so EMS transported her to the emergency room and she was admitted into the hospital. The baby was taken into the custody of CPS.

The first story Jeffrey Duchane gave the officer’s was he came home from work to find Trenae unconscious on her bedroom floor. He said she was alive and he poured water into her mouth to wake her up but that did not work. He say’s Reiko Troupe told him that she slipped and fell on the bathroom floor. When cops asked him why he didn’t call 9-1-1, he said he thought she would be fine.
When he finally decided to tell the truth he said he left for work on November 6 and left the girl’s in the care of his girlfriend, Reiko Troupe, 25. Reiko then started beating Trenay with her fists and at least 2 different objects. After Reiko was beating the girl she forced her into a tub filled with scalding water. Treshae tried to help but she was beaten for her efforts and seriously hurt in the process. When Jeffrey came home Trenay was unconscious but alive. He poured water into her mouth, trying to get her to snap out of it. She never did. Trenay died the same night on the 6th.

Instead of Jeffrey calling for help or taking his daughter to the hospital when she was alive he ate dinner and went to bed.

Treshae was shut up in the bedroom for 4 days with her dead sister’s body decomposing and she couldn’t get out.

During Treshae’s testimony she said Trenay messed the room up. Reiko Troupe commanded her into a tub of scalding water, when she heard her sister crying out she went to try and help her. Reiko Troupe then whipped Trenay with the knotted electrical cord, pushed her up against the wall and continuously punched her in the face until she passed out. When her dad, Jeffrey Duchane came home from work that evening, Trenay was either already dead or dying.

Next to her body was a notebook with the same words written over and over “I will listen to my mom”.

The only reason Jeffrey Duchane ever bothered to dial 9-1-1 was because Trenay was starting to stink the place up.

Marlene Peterson, the apartment manager says she saw Treshae being brought out of the apartment after the cops intervened. She said, “Her eyes were all beat up and her body was totally beaten,” Peterson said of the 9-year-old.”

CPS was involved with this family in 2005 and again in 2006. They were investigating reports of neglect while the girl’s still lived with their mother Keisha. CPS couldn’t find enough evidence to warrant a claim but they did help with clothes, bus tickets, furniture and rent money. By August of 2006 the burden of having to feed, cloth, shelter and take care of so many children was to hard to handle for Keisha so she asked Trenay and Treshae’s father if they could stay with him. He was the girl’s father, there was no reason in her mind that she shouldn’t be able to trust him. Or was there?
Reiko Troupe had her own CPS file, except she was the victim. CPS was called twice to protect her but there wasn’t enough evidence and they closed both cases. Not having enough evidence happens a lot, doesn’t it? In 2006 CPS was called on her as an adult. She had just given birth to a meth-addicted baby. Once again, not enough evidence but they happily set her up with Family Builders to help with depression, substance abuse and parenting classes. Why would she need these classes if there was no evidence of neglect of drug abuse? Hmmm. The icing on the cake for CPS was they wrote in her file that she was a very “attentive and affectionate mother.”

Within the first two weeks of the girls moving into their dad and step-mom’s apartment they broke off all contact with Family Builders. After a month of not hearing from Troupe, Family Builder’s sent her file back to CPS stating that she had not met any of her goals. CPS stated that all contact numbers had been disconnected so a letter was sent out that gave Troupe until October 14, 2006 to contact them or further actions would be taken concerning the kids. 3 days later CPS closed the case, leaving those children there to die.

Troupe and Duchane still lived in the same apartment and the girl’s were still enrolled at Solano Elementary until November, 2006. The school nor CPS bothered to ever check.

Treshae said the beatings didn’t start until after they moved. They were beat with fists, a knotted electrical cord, bitten all over, burnt with irons and scalding hot water. They had bruises from head to toe and beaten every single day. Treshae’s left arm was broken and when it healed, without medical care, it was deformed. No one ever said anything. Her daddy told her to “stop being a baby” the day she broke it. She was 8, not a baby but certainly not an adult. Even an adult would have cried out in pain.

School records showed the girl’s were alway’s absent until Solano school finally dropped them off the records. Jean Richards, a spokeswoman for the school said someone would have went by the house before taking them out of school. Well, if they did why did they not report the abuse? These girl’s were constantly battered, I find it hard to believe that if someone out of the blue just dropped by the house, Troupe and Duchane would not have had time to cover their abuse up. I’ll tell you why. No one ever went out there. The school reports that the judge released did not show anyone going out to the girl’s apartment to see why they had not been in school. Sadly, there is no law that mandates schools to find out why kids suddenly drop off the face of the earth. If there was maybe a few more kids would be saved.

In fact, in the spring Trenay went to school with TWO black eyes, during the same time Treshae was dropped from the school for to many absences. Jean Richards said they would have called CPS if they suspected abuse. CPS never came for these little girl’s though because they were never called. That was the last time either of the girl’s ever went to school because Reiko Troupe was getting paranoid. She shouldn’t have been, the school never gave a damn, it was clear that another system failed Trenay and Treshae.

Jeffrey Duchane was arrested and was given a $100,000 bond. He was charged with 2 counts of child abuse. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to natural life in prison without the possibility of parole plus an additional 7 years.
Reiko Troupe’s bond was set at $500,000. She pleaded guilty and was charged with 2 counts of child abuse and 1 count of pre-meditated first-degree murder and was sentenced to natural life in prison.
County Attorney Andrew Thomas said “These guilty pleas will hopefully honor the memory of Trenay. We felt it was important not only to hold the step-mother accountable but also the father, who let his daughter slowly die of her injuries”

Press Release http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2.pdf (exert below)
Author: M. Stone, Unforgotten Angels