DETROIT (WXYZ) — Six months before Zemar King was found buried in a shallow grave, the 9-year-old Detroit boy told Children’s Protective Services that his mother choked him, beat him with a belt and wanted to kill him.
The startling revelations raise significant questions about what CPS officials did—and did not do—in response to startling disclosures made by the child and others.
Earlier this month, Wayne County’s prosecutor charged Brandee Pierce with killing King, saying that the cause of death was smothering and neck compression.
His body was found in January after a neighbor reported seeing what appeared to be a foot sticking out of the ground.
A trail of complaints
By law, records from Children’s Protective Services are guarded closely, even after a child dies. But internal CPS documents obtained by 7 News Detroit show that state employees had been warned repeatedly—and for years—that Zemar King was in danger.
At least four times, records show Brandee Pierce was the subject of CPS complaints. The first came in 2015 after she admitted to marijuana and alcohol use during her first trimester. It happened, she said, before she decided to keep Zemar.
In 2019, CPS was called again after Zemar was found alone in the lobby of an apartment building. Only 4 years old, he told police he “did not know where he belonged,” and that his mother told him to stay in the lobby “while she went to the store.”
Pierce’s cousin later showed up, saying Zemar and his mom were staying with her. CPS—police said—denied the complaint.
Two years later, CPS was called again when, on a warm day in May, surveillance video showed Pierce leaving Zemar in her car while she went to a doctor’s appointment.
In the 78-degree heat, the 5-year-old was left in the locked vehicle for more than 90 minutes, according to police records, and found “alone and crying.” Pierce later said that Zemar was a “heavy sleeper,” and said the doctor’s office wouldn’t let her come to her appointment.
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Frank Vandervort is a law professor at the University of Michigan and a longtime child welfare advocate who reviewed the internal CPS records for 7 News Detroit.
“It’s the pattern,” Vandervort said. “Here is a mom again where she’s repeatedly reported by different people in the community.”
Vandervort said Pierce's pattern of behavior, and the disclosure that she was receiving mental health services “on an almost daily basis,” should have been a red flag for CPS.
“That suggests to me a very severe level of mental health need,” he said. “I’m troubled by that, and it raises more questions than it answers for us.”
The Macomb County prosecutor would deny a warrant request for child abuse, writing that there was “insufficient evidence” and noting that “CPS working w/ mom”.
CPS closed the case after performing a home visit that, according to records, found no safety hazards, enough food and suitable sleeping arrangements.
'Critical' warnings
CPS received the fourth and final complaint naming Brandee Pierce in April of 2024. This time, Pierce came to the emergency room at a Plymouth hospital, saying she was anxious and depressed.
Pierce told CPS “she had a breakdown and felt herself going into a panic attack” and was “questioning whether she should give up custody of one of (her) children.”
She’d been evicted from a motel, she said, her car was repossessed and she was “completely out of funds.” Once she left the hospital, Pierce said she and her kids would be sleeping on the street.
Vandervort called the warnings “critical.”
“This is a family with no place to live,” he said. “She tells the case worker I can’t sleep in my car, which suggests to me she’s been sleeping in her car at some points.”
But what Zemar King told CPS was most alarming of all.
He had not been to school in over a year, he said, and doesn’t always have food to eat. King reported that his mother disciplines him by "whooping him with a belt," that she has "choked him with her hands" and that she wants "to kill him."
“Any rational, normal person walking out on the street hearing this would be completely alarmed by what they’re hearing,” said Vandervort. “They would take action. They would call the police if they heard this and saw this.”
But what CPS did, according to internal records, was close the case. The investigation found “no preponderance of evidence of physical neglect.” Pierce was provided with pamphlets connecting her with community services and a note was added to follow up on her mental health appointments.
The family was placed at COTS, a homeless shelter.
Six months later, after Zemar reported that his mother choked and wanted to kill him, prosecutors say she did.
Related video: Wayne County prosecutor announces charges against mom who allegedly killed 9-year-old son
In announcing charges earlier this month, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said investigators concluded that Pierce killed Zemar in October, burying him in the backyard of a rental property where they once lived.
“It is alleged she purchased a shovel. She bound him by tying his hands and feet together ... she then put him in this hole and covered him with dirt,” Worthy said.
Pierce was arrested in Georgia after police received a call that a toddler—Pierce’s other child—was found alone in a locked car while temperatures were in the low 40s.
Also in the vehicle, police found human feces and a deflated air mattress.
A spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on this story, citing privacy laws, but said the department “is heartbroken over the death of Zemar King and extends its sympathies to his family and friends during this extraordinarily difficult time. MDHHS is deeply committed to ensuring the health and safety of all children which includes protecting confidential information.”
The spokeswoman would not say whether any CPS employees involved in the previous complaints against Pierce were under investigation or faced any discipline.
“It’s just a train wreck that’s going to happen,” Vandervort said. “You just see it coming. And they don’t do anything about it.”
If you’d like to help the family of Zemar King as they raise funds for the 9-year-old’s funeral, you can provide a donation through a GoFundMe that relatives have organized.
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.