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‘They Failed My Son’: Michigan Mother Says CPS, Law Enforcement Ignored Red Flags Before 6-Year-Old’s Murder

Caledonia, Mich. — In an emotional plea before lawmakers, Brandi Morey-Pols shared how she tried in vain to save her 6-year-old son, Rowan, from the man she says was visibly spiraling. Instead, she said, every system designed to protect children — law enforcement, Child Protective Services (CPS), and the courts — failed catastrophically.

Rowan was found murdered in a suspected murder-suicide involving his father, Michael Winchell, in August 2023. Days before Rowan’s 7th birthday, deputies from the Isabella County Sheriff’s Office discovered his lifeless body after repeated pleas from his mother went unanswered for more than two days.

“I experienced a life-altering event nine months ago today,” Morey-Pols told lawmakers. “Since that moment, I have wondered what excuse a mother should accept when her child has been missing for 52 hours.”

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Instead of answers, Morey-Pols said she was met with apathy. “It’s a civil matter,” she recalled being told by multiple deputies. “We’ve done two wellness checks…we can’t do an Amber Alert because it’s a custody matter.” One sheriff even reportedly yelled at a dispatcher, frustrated that she kept calling. “Do you want to talk to my supervisor? Shut up. I’m sure he’s fine,” the mother recalled the deputy saying.

Rowan was not fine.

According to Isabella County investigators and reporting from WWMT and 9&10 News, deputies believe Rowan was killed by his father, who then took his own life. Brandi Morey-Pols said that it wasn’t even Isabella County law enforcement who delivered the news — Kent County sheriffs did.

“They weren’t even the ones that found my son,” she said. “They sent Kent County sheriffs to deliver their bad news.”

‘I Told Them. Over and Over Again.’
Morey-Pols testified that Judge Eric Jaynes, the same judge who signed the original custody order in 2020, denied her emergency motion to get Rowan back even after she presented evidence that the child was still alive. “Why did I need another motion for him to sign when he signed our original order?” she asked. “And he denied it.”

But it wasn’t just the court. According to Morey-Pols, CPS caseworkers dismissed her reports of neglect and abuse. The child’s father, she said, shaved Rowan’s head bald repeatedly — sometimes before family events and milestones — and denied the boy food and access to preschool. Rowan allegedly told his mother he lived off toast and that his father slept all day.

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“He started self-harming,” Morey-Pols said. “He threw his head into a metal table at dinner. He bruised himself at the pool. I was beside myself.”

Still, CPS closed the case, reportedly telling her that there was “nothing there.” One caseworker allegedly told her, “He can take care of his hygiene the way he sees fit on his parenting time.”

Morey-Pols was incredulous. “If he was a little girl getting his head shaved, you’d care,” she remembered saying. “And she closed it anyway.”

A System That ‘Did Nothing’
The mother testified that despite repeated calls to law enforcement, probation officers, CPS, and court referees, no one intervened — even after she warned them that her ex, a convicted felon, had weapons and was abusing prescription drugs.

“He was a felon who hit two cars doing 120 miles per hour and blew a .39. He broke his back and hip and suffered a head injury. After that, he was on Vicodin, Norco, morphine, and fentanyl,” Morey-Pols said.

She believes this was key information that CPS ignored. “I told CPS. I told Foxx (the court referee). I told Isabella County sheriffs. He was on drugs,” she said. “They did nothing.”

When deputies finally responded, the damage was done. Rowan was dead. “They had to cut into the little body I made,” she said, sobbing. “They didn’t even reach out to us. We got the autopsy report from a friend who called in a favor.”

‘No Faith Left’
After the tragedy, Morey-Pols said not a single person from CPS or the courts reached out to her — only sheriff’s deputies on the day of the death. And to this day, Judge Jaynes remains on the bench.

“There should be no wait time for children,” she said. “Eliminate that completely. And bypass the judge.”

She is now pushing for “Rowan’s Act,” a legislative reform package she hopes will force courts, law enforcement, and CPS to take high-conflict custody cases more seriously. Her suggestions include:

Mandatory mental health evaluations for both parents in contested custody cases.

Oversight of prescription drug use, particularly opioids and mood-altering medications.

Mandatory parental communication apps.

Stronger consequences for ignoring signs of emotional abuse.

“There’s not enough emphasis on mental and emotional abuse — but it almost always leads to physical abuse and death,” she warned.

A Voice for Rowan
Brandi Morey-Pols described Rowan as bright and bubbly, someone who needed “mommy’s back tickles to fall asleep” and who loved to name the moles on his body with his mother.

“I only remembered a few,” she said. “But he didn’t know that — he’d always ask, ‘What’s this one’s name?’ And I’d make one up.”

Now, Rowan’s voice is gone. But his mother’s remains.

“I did everything I was supposed to do,” she said. “And they still failed him.”

00:31:43
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Michigan Dem. Lawmaker chops head off chicken while bragging about effort to ‘slay Republicans’

Michigan state Rep. Mai Xiong regularly lectures her online critics about how mean words and loaded language lead to “political violence against public officials.”

The Warren Democrat also likes to create videos about how she works to “slay Republicans,” she describes as “MAGA extremists” and “monsters,” while relentlessly promoting herself on X and TikTok.

“I respect and know that being an elected official means hearing many different kinds of opinions. I expect criticism – but this kind of hateful rhetoric is not debate,” Xiong recently posted to X in response to online attacks. “It’s is [sic] harmful, dangerous, and not only fuels political violence, it’s verbal abuse. This behavior must stop.” Click here to read more.

 

Gov. Whitmer Offers COVID Vaccine ‘Solution’ But There’s No Problem

LANSING, Mich. – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced an executive directive on Wednesday which instructs “state agencies to identify and remove any barriers to accessing COVID-19 vaccines.”

Gov. Whitmer wrote in a press release, “Today’s executive directive ensures Michiganders can get the COVID-19 vaccine.”

However, are there any barriers in Michigan when it comes to accessing vaccines? The short answer: no.

Whitmer appears to be trying to correlate a supposed lack of access to the COVID-19 vaccine to recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) marketing authorizations to high-risk groups. In addition, the vaccines still “are available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors.” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made the distinction last month. Click here to read more.

 

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According to the 2024 assessment by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 12th graders tested in reading and math have shown a continuing decline since 1992. This report follows a 2020 study by the Department of Education that found that 54% of U.S. adults—130 million people—read at or below a sixth-grade level.

This year, 19-year-old Aleysha Ortiz sued the Hartford Board of Education, charging that, although she graduated with honors from Hartford Public High School in 2024, she cannot read or write. And Ivy League schools like Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton are reportedly no longer assigning whole books to students because reading an entire book is too difficult. Click here to read more.

 

The FBI’s ‘Arctic Frost’ Effort to Freeze the Right

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In the aftermath of the 2020 election, the FBI launched a probe of nearly 100 Republican and conservative groups, including Turning Point USA, the organization co-founded in 2012 by the late Charlie Kirk.

We know this thanks to two Republican senators — Iowa’s Chuck Grassley and Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson. Earlier this week, they published a tranche of files related to the probe, codenamed “Arctic Frost,” which was begun in April 2022 before being turned over to Special Counsel Jack Smith in November of that year.

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But with Congress returning from August recess, watchdogs warn that similar language could soon reappear. This time, it may be tucked into one of the many looming appropriations or rescissions packages scheduled for debate in September.

Earlier this summer, the Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee successfully struck provisions that would have authorized federal bureaucrats to unilaterally revoke the tax-exempt status of any religious organization that is found to be “politically subversive” – a vague accusation that would almost certainly have chilled free speech at churches, pro-life ministries, and community-based charities. Click here to read more.

 

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“Does the COVID vaccine reduce the rate of death for children under 18?” the Kentucky senator asked at a hearing Wednesday of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

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“That’s ridiculous. Answer: No, it doesn’t. And there is no statistical evidence, but it does reduce the death rate. These are statistics. We’ve looked at it. When they approved it, they had this discussion at the vaccine committee that we’ve been talking about. During the discussion, they acknowledged that there was no proof of reduction in hospitalization or in death,” Paul said. Click here to read more.

 

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“Democracy is people power. But fascists want one leader or a small group of elites to have all the power. And that is what’s happening in the United States right now — with billionaire Trump having enabled his shadow governing partner Elon Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, to act as his co-president.”

Click here to read more.

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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, now in her seventh year in office, is blaming Republican leaders in the nation’s capital for her state’s economic troubles.

“With Republicans in Washington creating more economic uncertainty, good-paying jobs are on the chopping block,” Whitmer tweeted Aug. 6. “That’s why we need to keep fixing the damn roads and supporting tens of thousands of good-paying jobs here in Michigan. Let’s get it done.”

When Whitmer took office in January 2019, Michigan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.2%, slightly above the national average of 4.0%, as measured by the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As July 2025, those number were 5.3% and 4.2.%, respectively.

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ABC reporter calls Charlie Kirk assassin's text messages with transgender partner 'very touching'

ABC News correspondent Matt Gutman is under fire for putting a spotlight on what he called the "very touching" text messages Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin sent to his transgender partner.

After the press conference announcing the murder charges against 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, Gutman marveled at "such specific text messages" that were unearthed about the murder weapon.

"But, also, it was very touching in a way that many of us didn't expect," Gutman said. "A very intimate portrait into this relationship between the suspect’s roommate and the suspect himself, with him repeatedly calling his roommate, who is transitioning, calling him ‘my love.’ And ‘I want to protect you, my love.' Click here to read more.

 

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DETROIT – Officially, when the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was signed in March 2021, the Joe Biden White House cited the necessity of the $1.9 trillion spending bill.

The act “provides funding for critical resources to strengthen the backbone of our country, while also responding to the public health and economic crisis the Nation faces as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Instead, municipalities across the state have used ARPA money to fund projects that are unrelated to the pandemic.

Five years later, COVID-19 is an afterthought. However, the city of Detroit authorized $2.19 million of ARPA money to spend on the Adams Butzel Complex recreational building. The project is expected to be completed by March 2026, according to documents the city released this week. Click here to read more.

 

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The man accused of stabbing a Ukrainian refugee to death aboard a North Carolina train has a lengthy criminal history — and so do several members of his family, according to law enforcement records.

Decarlos Brown, Jr., 34, was identified as the suspect who killed 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska. He was initially charged with first-degree murder in connection to the deadly attack, which occurred on a train in August.

Brown also has a total of 14 prior arrests. Click here to read more.

 

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The family of a now 14-year-old girl claim she met a user on Roblox when she was 11-years-old who claimed to be 15, but was actually a man targeting the young girl for exploitation.

The lawsuit claims Roblox’s age verification and safety protocols were ineffective in stopping the alleged predator from grooming the young girl, and eventually attempting to meet up with her even after he was arrested and warned not to have any contact with her after manipulating her into sending him sexually explicit images through Discord. Click here to read more.

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