Kansas pays $1M in boy’s murder

The mom of a 7-year-old boy who was killed by his father and then fed to pigs in 2015 received $1 million from the state of Kansas to settle a lawsuit that accused child welfare officials of failing to intervene.

The settlement was made public Wednesday following the 2017 lawsuit brought by little Adrian Jones’ mother, maternal grandmother and adult sister.

Authorities said Adrian’s father Michael Jones and his stepmother Heather Jones, of Kansas City, brutally beat and tortured the boy for years before his death.

Michael, 53, and Heather, 38, copped to first-degree murder and are serving 25years-to-life in prison.

“This has been a long journey for Adrian’s family,” family lawyer Matt Birch said. “The most important thing for the family was to hopefully make a change and make this less likely to happen in the future.”

Adrian’s mother, Dianna Pearce, lost custody of the boy years before, and Michael was granted full custody by Kansas child welfare authorities, according to reports.

The suit was filed in both Kansas and Missouri against Kansas’ Department of Children and Families and 10 employees of Missouri’s Department of Social Services for failing to intervene and because they “chose to act like disinterested bystanders.” The Missouri suit was settled for an undisclosed amount in 2020.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and leaders in the state legislature approved the settlement Tuesday.

Adrian was beaten and locked in a shower naked for months while he was recorded on video. His remains were found in a pigsty outside of his home in November 2015 after cops received a domestic violence call.

The Kansas Department of Children and Families had received reports of his abuse but hadn’t had any contact with the three for nearly four years before the child’s death, according to agency records.