Man Allegedly Kills Son to Avoid Paying Support
January 5th, 2009

A 22-year-old New Orleans man is accused of killing his toddler son because he was ordered to pay child support, The Associated Press reports. Danny Platt, who initially told police that men with guns had snatched his 2 ½ -year-old son, not only confessed but told investigators where to find the child’s body, according to Police Superintendent Warren Riley. “He had said he would kill either his wife or his child before he paid child support,” which he recently had been ordered to do, Riley said. Even though Platt had visiting rights, Riley said, he never visited little Ja’ Shawn Powell until Friday, the day he picked up the boy. Police said that they did not know the amount of the child support and that the official cause of death would be revealed after the autopsy was complete. “The mother is in a safe place,” Riley said. On Saturday, police put out a bulletin seeking three men with dreadlocks and AK-47 rifles, whom Platt said poured out of an SUV around midnight Friday and spirited his son away. “His story never really added up,” Riley said. “He was a suspect from the very beginning. …”How does an individual — because he’s ordered to pay child support to take care of a kid … believe that this is so much pressure that he would face — he would do this hideous act to his own child, or to any child, and think that is a remedy to paying child support? I mean there are some sick individuals in this society, and this gentleman is clearly one.”
TAGS: child support, Danny Platt, kills, New Orleans murder
This makes me THANKFUL to mama for not forcing my father to pay child support!
THE BEST DECISION SHE HAS EVER MADE!
What is really messed up about it is that the State of Louisiana is going has to pay their tax dollars to keep this bastard in jail. He gets free food, shelter and clothes….Basically yall are paying child support for a murderer. God bless the family.
This is a shame, no matter how our children are conceived, if you are doing the best you can to be in your child’s life and paying your part of the expenses that you child requires. No matter if your doing it on your own or being required by the courts you are a good person. But in this case, killing your child so you don’t have to pay child support this is a sick person and I hope they beat the @#$%%^out of him.
Tie him up, castrate/ penal nullificate him, put IT in his mouth, and let him bleed…. but DON’T let him die!!! He needs to live like that in prison for the rest of his days. Matter of fact, they should just go ahead and sew it on his forhead. I think this would also be a great punishment for child molesters.
Now I know how blessed I am, I’ve been so upset that my husband is paying child support because the court said so but he refuses to see his daughters. I can’t even imagine these men taking the lives of our beautiful children. It doesn’t stop we had to watch and read about Jennifer nephew being shot now this demon. He had another choice, he should have killed himself to get out of paying child support. GOD will surely handle him. May God have the glory. My prayers are with the babies mother, I don’t know you personally but I will keep you in my prayers Mother to Mother.
this is so sad!!! hope u learn to keep ur diaack in yo pants.
This is a very sad situation for everyone involved. You have to be very careful who you deal w/ as far as relationships. Just when you think you know a person you really don’t. There’s really no excuse for this kind of behavior. I work w/ mental clients and have never ran into a case like this, sounds to me like he should have been a client somewhere.
bolegg,
Are u a D@#$ fool. I don’t care who is in your business, if that man was truly a man a took care of his child, then there wouldn’t be a need for CHILD SUPPORT. I can’t believe you can honestly sit there and blame the mother for this dumb a$$ dudes behavior.
Maybe you and this person are one and the same; two DAD’S (D.umb A.$$ D.udes) get it? Or was that to high of a level for you to comprehend.
I don’t care what is ordered by a judge, what problems mom and dad are having, that doesn’t give anyone the right to take a child’s or anyones life. It’s called grow the He## up.
To the mother of this child, my heart truly goes out to you. I can’t imagine the loss of one of my beautiful children. But I do understand what you are going through. My son lost his 2 sisters, little brother and their mother to a dumb a$$ dude who wasn’t their dad. He was just a fu#$%&* monster.
But like all monsters, he was sentenced to death. I just wished it was sooner than later so I don’t still have to pay for this mans crime.
Just like our monster, this monster will get what’s coming to him as well. Just keep praying mother and GOD will see you through all things.
tarayc7
OMG! This little boy needs jesus! POINT BLANK! How can you be so selfish to kill your flesh and blood or WANT TO KILL the mother of your child because you have to pay child support? NEWS FLASH! IF YOU ARE A FATHER AND YOU GET PUT ON CHILD SUPPORT THEN YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY NOT HANDLING YOUR BUSINESS WITH YOUR CHILD/CHILDREN LIKE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO, IN THE FIRST PALCE! If you are taking care of your child and still get put on child support, then oh well! It is a mothers right to get finacial support from you to take care of the child you made with her! IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO FINACIALLY RAISE A CHILD THEN YOU NEED TO PUT YOUR %?##? ON LOCKDOWN UNTIL YOU BETTER YOURSELF AND GET A WIFE! Because unprotected sex and having a child out of wedlock could mean being finacially unstable for a minute until you get back on your feet! Then if you are an underachieving loser who just wants to smoke weed all day and lay up in some young, dumb females bed making babies with her and laying around with every other easy chick who will let your thuggish, bummy , non educated azz in her jewelbox then you are really screwed! Because two uneducated, low paying job having parents equals a child getting cheated out of having a good life! Thats what I don’t get with black boys! Not men because a real man would not trip off of having a child he would deal with it and grow up so he can handle his business for the sake of his child! Black boys want to floss, sex every female that comes their way, lay up in some foolish woman or girls house, eat her food up but soon as she gets pregnant and baby comes into the picture you think if you threaten her, sex her, give her 20 dollars here and there; she wont put you on child support! NOT! THIS WHOLE SITUATION DISGUSTS ME ! HE KILLED HIS OWN CHILD!!!! OVER SOME CHILD SUPPORT! DEADBEAT LOSER!
I just want to say that IT is SO SAD and I feel for the mother of lil ja’shawn and Im a single parent my self and My baby dad hates to pay child support and now im scared to even let my baby daddy take my son,,,,
ALL my prayers go out to the family
BASTARD THAT’S WHAT HE IS. THERE’S ONLY ONE PLACE FOR HIM. THAT BABY DIDN’T ASK TO BE IN THIS WORLD. SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST SICK. THEY SHOULD MAKE HIM SULFER BEHIND BARS. WHEN HE GOES TO PRISON HE WILL PAY. THE BASTARD DON’T DESERVE A TRAIL. I PRAY FOR THE CHILD’S MOTHER.
That child is innocent and he should have been a man and supported the child, uprotected or not the child was here and that was that. Take care of your children, don’t wait on the system to order you to take care of child(ren) that you know you created. STAND UP AND BE RESPONSIBLE.
It’s so sad that men are no longer owning up to their responsibilities. Children do not ask to be here and mothers don’t expect to raise them alone. Men who have minds such as this man has is a disgrace to himself, other men, and society. Had he been taking on his responsibilities from the beginning he wouldn’t have had to worry about child support. What pisses me off is that he took a child’s life who was innocent and knew nothing about what was going on. On top of all that he had to give a description of black males with dreads (the typical description in which society view black males of when it comes to criminal activity) as the alleged suspects. Although there are some good men in the world this individual clearly isn’t one. Any man who lays down and makes a child and refuses to take on his responsibility should be ordered to pay child support. NEWS FLASH for those who do!!!!!! Child support by all means do not take care of a child. Children need a stable place to stay which comes with utility bills, food to eat, clothes on their back, medication when they get sick, doctors bills, school supplies, and anything else needed to have a normal life as a child. In my eyes nothing means more than spending time with the child. Men need to learn how to bond with their children. Women should not have to take on the responsibility of playing the mother and the father role. My solution as a mother who has a child who has a dead beat father is to take out child support and do your best to raise your child as a single mother. 99% of the time the father will be delinquent regardless of the order and the state puts little effort into fathers who don’t have a work history to enforce the order and a tremendous amount of effort into those who maintain their jobs. I also would like to add that we as women should start evaluating who we lay down with and use protection until we are married or wait until we are in a long term relationship where trust and understanding is built before we decide to lay down and have kids. I myself made irresponsible choices when i was younger and i’m now paying the price. This is not to knock the mother of this lil boy it’s just to enlighten women on who we are and what we allow ourselves to become a part of. Finally before i close i would like to send my condolences to the mother of JaShaun. Got tends to work in mysterious ways and i can assure you that your child is in a better place. I’m sure you will find it hard to think positive but you have millions of prayers going up for you and your family as you go through your tough times. God Bless!!!
somebody done lied to me! I refuse to believe that a black man killed his seed over child support…black man been duckin child support and other bill collectors successfully for centuries…why start kilin now (prpbably got that from them poor white trash in my trailer park) he could of just quit is job and keep movin til the kid was 18 like david’s daddy did.
This sick son of a %$$*@ is a disgrace to all African American men. Society alone already has there feelings on black men taking care of their children and for him to do something so stupid makes all black men look like dawgs. Its sick and I wish i could give him a piece of my mind because he makes it hard for my husband who takes damn good care of our children but gets looked at and frowned upon because he’s black. I hope that sick bastard gets what he deserves.
So PLEASE ladies, can we start practicing what we preach from this point forward. This man is a disgrace, a demon; and there are more like him. There are some who don’t pay child support, some who don’t pay nor spend time with their kids, some who pay child support faithfully with no problem, some who pay faithfully but grimmace about having to do so, and some who pay/don’t pay and have had thoughts about doing what this man did. Trust, he’s NOT the only one that’s thought about killing their flesh and blood, their own creation, to get out of paying SUPPORT for THEIR OWN; and he’s not the only one that’s done it either.
Let’s think about it ladies, let’s get it together. Men too, women pay child support too.
Please hang him by his balls.I hope those guys in prision really treat him like the big man his thinks he is.
I’m glad that he DID get caught and my prayer goes out to the family and i’m so so sorry the baby had to die.
CONDOMS ARE CHEAPER THEN CHILD SUPPORT, USE THEM!
THINK WITH YOU HEAD AND NOT THE HEAD OF YOUR LITTLE $%*@!
You know women and men do some strange things when it comes to their kids. Forexample :my ex-boyfriends baby mama, told him as long as he dates me he can’t see his kids, how fair is that? Better yet how ignorant? Unfortunately they all are around the same age as this young man. (80 Babies) Children are a gift from GOD and to use them as pawns to get the ex mate to do what you want will only
back fire on the person that would do such. I left my kids father when my daughter was only 3 weeks old, he went to prison for 2 years. When he was released the only thing I expected from him was to spend quality time with his children and to provide financial support, we both agreed to do what was best for our children. I love my kids father too much to use the kids as pawns to hurt him and in the end it will only hurt the kids. LOVE doesn’t make you hurt someone ,anger and ignorance do. I will keep the childs mother and father in my prayers. Young people learn from this. Especially my ex’s baby mother.
All i have to say is JESUS!!! My prayers go out to the mother and family of the baby. Rest in sweet peace Ja’Shawn, for im sure your with the Lord. For those of you who are reading this comment and are not saved and filled with the Holy Ghost…GET IT!!! These perilous times are soon to come to an end yal, let’s get right while its still daylight out. God bless America. PLEASE!!!