Chloe Williamson says she still doesn’t know all the details that led a 15-year-old, while fleeing a Johnston residential youth home, to allegedly shove her mother with such force that the resulting injuries would take her life.
But she does know Ellipsis’ claim that Kathleen Galloway-Menke’s death May 14 was an isolated tragedy does not ring true to her.
Until April, Williamson, 25, had worked at the same all-male youth home with her 50-year-old single mother, who had a quarter-century’s experience with kids who have special needs. Williamson said she and her mother both worked directly with, and had previously been threatened by, Jovahn Mathis, a roughly 200-pound, 6-foot teen whose assaultive behavior resulted in multiple police calls to the youth home prior to the May 8 attack.
“I have dealt with a lot of aggressive kids, but I have never seen this level of violence and strength from a kid,” Williamson said.
She said Ellipsis had no security guards and no cameras and that the walkie-talkies its program staff used to communicate during crises didn’t always work. She said she believes Mathis needed a more secure environment like the State Training School at Eldora.