Judge Lets Los Angeles County File a Complaint Against Utah Officials in a Child Death Case
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that county attorneys, defending a lawsuit brought by the siblings of a 3-week-old Palmdale baby who disappeared in 2024 and is presumed dead, may file a cross-complaint for indemnity against Utah child care officials.
A judge ruled that attorneys for Los Angeles County, on behalf of the Department of Children and Family Services, can file a cross-complaint against Utah child care officials as part of the county's defense of a lawsuit filed on behalf of the minor siblings of a 3-week-old baby reported missing from a Palmdale home in 2024. The missing boy, Baki Dewees, is presumed dead, according to the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, which alleges negligence and failure to perform a mandatory duty by the county department in handling child abuse allegations involving the family. The plaintiffs, identified only by initials, ranged in age from 1 to 5 when their brother disappeared.
On Tuesday, Judge Upinder S. Kalra granted the county's motion to file a cross-complaint for indemnity against the Utah Division of Children and Family Services, finding the motion was not prejudicial because trial is not scheduled until July 26, 2027, and noting the plaintiffs do not object. In their court papers, county attorneys stated that the children's mother, Roselani Gaoa, was living in Utah with all her children before her April 2024 arrest there on child abuse charges, that Utah officials investigated, released the children to their father, Yusuf Dewees, and allowed him to take them back to California without closing their investigation, and that Utah did not report any of this to Los Angeles County. Baki was reported missing on or about May 7, 2024, and was presumed dead by May 14, the county said. A Utah DCFS representative declined to comment on the cross-complaint.
Yusuf Dewees, 25, has pleaded not guilty in Antelope Valley Superior Court to one count each of murder, assault on a child causing death and child abuse under circumstances likely to cause great bodily injury or death involving his son. The siblings' lawsuit, filed in January 2025, alleges the county department permitted Gaoa to maintain custody of the four children despite numerous reports of abuse, and failed to investigate and intervene despite receiving multiple child endangerment referrals.
