ALLEGAN, MI (WHTC) – The staff of Child Protective Services in Allegan County is being criticized by the State Office of the Ombudsman after they were tipped off that there might be problems in one household where the children were subsequently murdered.
The natural father of Emma McComber filed a petition to gain custody of his daughter after she was threatened by her mother’s new boyfriend, Corey LaValley.
Last March, LaValley shot the young girl, her half-brother, and their mother Debra Shepard to death and then set their mobile home on fire to cover his tracks. He has since been convicted. The Ombudsman report says CPS never followed up on the tip, and it should have.
Corey LaValley was sentenced February after pleading no contest to second-degree murder charges in January and will spend at least the next next 55 years in prison.
