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DCF Moved Zachary, Brother

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By KRISTA KLAUS

kklaus@wfla.com

Published: March 19, 2009

A Polk County deputy and her husband are questioning why the Florida Department of Children & Families took 17-month-old Zachary Johnson and his 2-year-old brother from their custody and placed them with an aunt and uncle.

That decision may have proved fatal.

The children's uncle, Matthew Wyrosdick, 32, is charged with aggravated manslaughter after Zachary died Friday from injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome, according to Lakeland police.

Wyrosdick is being held without bail at Polk County Jail.
Linda Page and her husband, Tom, who are the children's great-aunt and great-uncle, had custody of the boys briefly last summer when their parents, Eugene and Clarissa Johnson, were arrested on multiple charges ranging from grand theft to credit card fraud.

The state agency placed the boys in the Pages' four-bedroom home in Winter Haven and later moved them to the one-bedroom home of Wyrosdick and his wife, Mysti, in Lakeland, Linda Page said.

When asked whether she thought Zachary would still be alive had the children remained in her home, Page said, "I can tell you there wouldn't be a shaken baby situation."

Elizabeth Arenas, a DCF spokeswoman in Orlando, said the agency is conducting an internal review of the matter.

Tribune reporter Valerie Kalfrin contributed to this report.

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