Fall River woman pleads guilty, sentenced to life in David Almond's abuse and death

FALL RIVER — The girlfriend of a man whose disabled teenage son died from abuse and starvation while in the couple’s care pleaded guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

David Almond, 14, died in 2020. At the time of his death, he was living in a small apartment on Fall River’s Green Street with his father, John Almond, Almond’s girlfriend Jaclyn Marie Coleman, his paternal grandmother, Ann Shadburn, Michael, one of his triplet brothers, and a younger half brother. Both David and the other two triplets had severe autism.

First responders who were called to the house in October of 2020 found David and Michael suffering from extreme neglect. David was unresponsive and would soon be declared dead. A medical examiner’s report listed his official cause of death as “failure to thrive due to starvation and neglect in an adolescent with autism.”

Michael and the younger brother were taken into custody of the Department of Children and Families.

Following David’s death, Almond and Coleman were charged with second degree murder along with assault and battery on a disabled person, two charges each of reckless endangerment of a child and possessing a Class A substance, in this case fentanyl. Coleman was also charged with withholding evidence from an official proceeding, with officials saying she tried to smash her cellphone during an interview with detectives on the day David died. At the time that they were indicted, they pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Almond and Coleman were both set to go on trial in June. Earlier this month, Almond changed his plea to guilty on all charges and received a life sentence with the possibility of parole in 20 years.

On Friday, Coleman, 28, appeared in Fall River Superior Court and also changed her plea to guilty.

Broader impact of David’s death

David’s death prompted scrutiny of DCF and other state and local agencies. The triplets and their younger half brother were removed from Almond and Coleman’s custody by DCF four separate times during 2016 and 2017 due to concerns about abuse and neglect, before being returned to the couple one last time in March of 2020. David and Michael were enrolled at B.M.C. Durfee High School at the time of David’s death, but were not participating in their remote classes.

An investigation and report by the state’s Office of the Child Advocate found major blind spots, complicated by the pandemic, within DCF, Fall River Public Schools, the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the child welfare agency in New York that allowed the abuse the boys were suffering to go unnoticed by authorities.

Prosecutors: Coleman worked to isolate the boys

During Friday’s hearing, Second Assistant District Attorney Silvia Rudman summarized the evidence prosecutors planned to present against Coleman. As Rudman described, David and Michael were both happy children with no physical health problems or mobility issues before they were returned to Almond and Coleman’s care in March of 2020.

Less than eight months later, when emergency workers were called to their home, both of the boys’ conditions had deteriorated drastically. Both boys, who previously had been largely independent and able to use the bathroom on their own, were wearing diapers and covered in filth. They were covered in cuts, bruises and sores. David was unresponsive, and Michael could barely talk and was unable to straighten his limbs or sit up on his own. Both boys were emaciated; David weighed just 86 pounds when he died.

“You could see every bone in his body, his entire skeleton,” Rudman said.

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Workers from DCF and the boys’ former school in Rutland, Mass. gave Coleman and Almond instructions and guidance on how to care for the boys and how to reach out if they needed assistance, but they never did so, Rudman said. Coleman presented herself as the boys’ stepmother, but used the pandemic and lies about internet access problems to avoid in-person visits from school and DCF workers.

“She went out of her way to isolate the boys from the public eye,” Rudman said.

Maria Mossaides, director of the state’s Office of the Child Advocate, testified during the hearing. At times speaking through tears, she described David as a loving boy who was “tortured” by Almond and Coleman.

“He was eager to please. He was kind,” she said.

She asked the court to imagine how David and Michael might have felt as they endured extreme abuse without the ability to understand what was happening to them or to defend themselves.

“Children do not understand why adults hate them,” she said.

She said child welfare and education agencies have made "extraordinary" efforts to implement changes based on her office’s recommendations to prevent similar situations from happening again.

“(David’s) name is spoken of in the highest level of state government,” she said.

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Coleman sentenced to life in prison

Prosecutors recommended a life sentence for Coleman with the possibility of parole after 25 years for the murder charge and 10 years for the charge of assault and battery on a disabled person.

Coleman’s defense attorney, Michael Hussey, asked Superior Court Judge Raffi Yessayan to take Coleman’s history of mental illness and trauma into account and requested that she be given the same sentence as Almond. Coleman has been diagnosed with PTSD, bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression and night terrors, conditions she received treatment for during her own time as a minor in DCF custody, Hussey said.

As he did with Almond, Yessayan sentenced Coleman to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years for the murder charge and eight to 10 years for the charge of assault and battery on a disabled person, to be served concurrently. Following input from prosecutors, he did not sentence Coleman for the charge of possessing a Class A substance or of withholding evidence, but left the possibility open to sentence her for those charges if the more serious charges are vacated or reversed, or if she commits another crime. She was sentenced to 29 months for the two charges of reckless endangerment of a child but received credit for the time she has already been incarcerated.

Speaking after the hearing, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III said he was “very pleased” with the sentences Coleman and Almond received.

“This was cold, inhuman treatment of vulnerable children,” he said. “I think justice has been served in this case.”

Shadburn, the boys’ grandmother, lived in the home where David died. Quinn declined to say why Shadburn did not face any charges or whether she was planning to testify against Almond and Coleman.

“At this point, the cases are closed. The two defendants have been sentenced to life in prison,” he said.

Michael Almeida was one of several community members and first responders who sat in the courtroom to watch the hearing. Wearing a sweatshirt that read "justice for David," he said he would have liked to see Coleman and Almond receive longer sentences, to ensure that they either died in prison or were elderly by the time they were released.

“It kind of hurts,” he said, referring to the possibility that they will be paroled in the future.

Almeida organized a vigil in David’s memory last year and worked with Rep. Carole Fiola to install a memorial grove for him.

“He didn’t have anyone to fight for him,” he said.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River woman sentenced to life in David Almond's death