Troubled Family Life Emerges During Investigation Of 11 Year Old Girl That Attempted To Burn Mother To Death CLEARWATER - As authorities continue to sift through the family history of an 11-year-old girl accused of plotting to kill her mother by burning her alive, court records show that trouble brewed in the household long before the girl was even born.
Nancy Broadhead, the girl’s mother, struggled with alcohol addiction and neglected her son Zachary, who was about 2 years old at the time, according to a paternity suit filed in 1995.
During a custody battle for Zachary, father John F. Busby told authorities Broadhead was constantly drunk and let their son wander through her Clearwater neighborhood unattended, court records show.
Broadhead accused Busby of being a deadbeat father with a history of alcohol and drug abuse, the documents state.
A guardian ad litem appointed to the case said Busby has had problems in the past but overcame his addictions while Broadhead had a drinking problem. The guardian ad litem, who called Zachary a bright, polite child, recommended that Busby get custody and Broadhead receive counseling.
In September 1996, a judge upheld that recommendation and added Broadhead should not be left alone with the child, court documents state.
Broadhead has also been accused in the past of abusing or neglecting her daughter, according to court records.
She was charged in July 2002 with driving under the influence of alcohol with her then 4-year-old daughter in the car. Her blood alcohol level was reported as higher than 0.25 percent.
Florida law presumes impairment at 0.08.
After pleading guilty to driving under the influence and child neglect, she was sentenced to 18 months of probation and ordered to attend parenting classes and multiple-offender DUI school, records state. Adjudication of guilt was withheld.
Then, in 2005, two other cases were brought, one charging her with domestic battery and the other involving a charge of child abuse. The child abuse complaint states that Broadhead was intoxicated and “began beating her child repeatedly with her hands.” When Broadhead’s live-in boyfriend tried to stop her, he was also battered, the complaint states.
The child told authorities that her “mother repeatedly hits her, and as a result, [she] is in fear of continued living conditions.”
Broadhead declined to speak today with reporters.
Ault and girlfriend Samantha Broadhead, 11, were charged Tuesday with attempted homicide and arson resulting in injury.
Samantha Broadhead is undergoing psychiatric assessment under the state’s Baker Act and didn’t make an initial appearance.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Children and Families said the agency has an “extensive family history” of cases involving the girl and Ault, but no open cases.
http://hoodhollywood.com/blog/2009/12/30/troubled-family-life-emerges-during-investigation-of-11-year-old-girl-that-attempted-to-burn-mother-to-death/
Well, thanks for posting this informative article. It seems that the child was living in hell from a very young age. Not that it excuses what she tried to do, but it certainly goes a long way to shine a light on why things seemed to come to a head in such coldblooded manner.