The Misery Machine - The Case of Nadine Lockwood

Episode Date: July 13, 2023

This week, Drewby and Yergy travel to the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan to discuss the horrible tale of Nadine Lockwood, a 4-year-old girl that died of starvation and neglect at the hands of her parents, Leroy Dickerson and Carla Lockwood. The little girl was forced to sleep in a dilapidated crib covered in a blanket because her horrible mother didn't want to see her face. She was referred to as a throw-away baby by her father. Much like that of Elisa Izquierdo and Nixzmary Brown, Nadine's death shined a light on the glaring holes in the NYC CPS system.  Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Join Our Facebook Group: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #themiserymachine #podcast #truecrime Source Material: https://nypost.com/2002/07/19/starved-kids-pop-im-daddy-dearest/ https://nypost.com/2002/07/12/jury-hears-tot-starve-horror/ https://nypost.com/2002/07/09/girl-confronts-starved-sisters-dad/ https://nypost.com/2015/12/15/mom-who-starved-toddler-to-death-sues-for-being-denied-parole/ https://www.city-journal.org/article/fatal-preservation https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1996/09/03/mother-let-girl-4-starve-as-she-fed-other-children/ https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deseret.com%2F1996%2F9%2F8%2F19264335%2Fstarved-girl-s-family-trod-a-troubled-path https://medium.com/@yasminscherrer/starved-to-death-what-went-wrong-in-nadine-lockwoods-family-383d2f607bb8 https://original.newsbreak.com/@mrs-h-1590066/2783164391761-nobody-knew-she-existed-except-her-parents-and-siblings-the-case-of-nadine-lockwood https://web.archive.org/web/20041020210154/http://www.cnn.com/US/9609/09/starved.girl/ https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/23/nyregion/guilty-verdict-for-father-of-dead-child.html https://alchetron.com/Nadine-Lockwood https://nycsci.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/Reports/2-97-Lockwood-Rpt.pdf https://nysdoccslookup.doccs.ny.gov/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Nadine_Lockwood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qplweYNnrjI&t=40s&ab_channel=EvilIntentions https://www.newspapers.com/image/491927874/?terms=carla%20lockwood&match=1 https://www.newspapers.com/image/492093597/?clipping_id=105453962&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjQ5MjA5MzU5NywiaWF0IjoxNjg3Mjg3MzE3LCJleHAiOjE2ODczNzM3MTd9.rYnKFqhjJ3I-pGMRVlm2vtxb6jetTnMLoovB-pVLDhA https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13955829/nadine-lockwood https://apnews.com/article/bb1c64af062c79b93fc61571ae6bb1d3 https://www.newspapers.com/image/491945836/?terms=carla%20lockwood&match=1 https://www.tiktok.com/@nadinelockwood10

Nadine Lockwood was born on September 14, 1991 to parents Carla Lockwood in Leroy Dickerson. Nadine was the fourth child born to the couple who were married in 1986. Carla had 10 children between the ages of 1 and 13 years old at the time of our story. When Nadine was born, neither Carla nor Leroy wanted anything to do with her. Carla did want to put her up for adoption, but Leroy refused. It's unclear why the father wouldn't allow Nadine to go home with parents that loved and appreciated her since he referred to his daughter as a throwaway baby. Carla wasn't much better.

She referred to Nadine as an it. She went on to state, and I quote, I didn't love Nadine. I hated her. Because of her, my kids had to sleep in a shelter. For context, Leroy wasn't always present in his children's lives. Carla blamed Nadine for the fact that Leroy was an absent father. Allegedly, she also picked on Nadine specifically because she looked the most like Leroy.

Carla struggled to put food on the table as she had been cut off from food stamps. Due to this, she had to rely on the help of social service and her neighbors. She often sent her eldest daughter, Nicole, door-to-door, asking for food and money. The Good Samaritans helped as much as possible, but never visited Carlos' apartment. Had they dropped by, they would have known that Nadine existed because Carla wasn't telling anyone that she existed. Many of her neighbors had no idea the number of children that she had. They were of the impression that Carla was a decent but overwhelmed mother. No one even knew she had been pregnant because she allegedly wasn't showing.

Neighbor Esther Ortiz was quoted as saying, Nobody knew that baby. Leroy was a former Marine and worked periodically as a security guard. Carla was a drug addict known to CPS, but no serious action had ever been brought against her, even though some of her children had tested positive for hard drug exposure at birth. CPS had begun a neglect proceeding against her, but closed the case six months later when she started attending a drug treatment program. Carla didn't have the most fantastic upbringing either.

Growing up in Belize, she became the victim of CA and M. essay. However, despite Leroy's misgivings, Carla would take him back occasionally. He'd conveniently show up around the time when Carla would receive money from the state and then take off again, all the while producing more children with Carla that he had no plans to take care of. The family lived in a filthy three-bedroom apartment in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Their unit had recently been renovated, but this did not stop Carla from trashing it. There was garbage strewn about the dank apartment as well spoiled food and empty bottles jammed in the refrigerator. There was a powerful stench that made the air almost unbreatvable. The family shared their

cramped home with an infestation of roaches and rats. This was not the type of place for children. Sadly, Nadine's siblings all had to share one filthy mattress. The school-age children were also educationally deprived. For over a year, Carla did not enroll her children even though they were above the legal age for compulsory education. When she finally did, Carla continued to hold them out of school for days. At the time of our story, Carla's eldest daughter, Nicole, missed close to 600 days of school. In addition, the children lacked immunizations and frequently missed physical examinations and doctor's appointments. This part was a huge problem as one of the children had a brain tumor. Nadine spent most of her short life on a ripped foam rubber mattress in a yellowing crib that was

haphazardly shoved into a tiny, dark bedroom corner. Carla had placed a folded bed sheet over the back of the crib to cover the side that was not against the wall so that nobody could see the little girl. Allegedly, Nadine would peek out from behind the sheet and watch her siblings play. Her only source of entertainment was a copy of Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham. She spent days without food, water, or medical care. A few days before she finally succumbed to maltreatment, Nadine cried from hunger and was given an old turkey sandwich with cheese. Carla threw the food into her crib and didn't bother to help her starving daughter eat.

When she struggled to hold the sandwich, she was also scolded for it. It's not because she didn't want to, she just couldn't. In recent months, Nadine had been unable to walk, stand, or sit up. On August 31st of 1996, the day she died, Carla held a cup of milk to her lips and attempted to force feed the little girl. The milk just came out of her nose and mouth as her eyes stared straight ahead unmoving. The four-year-old died in a filthy apartment of malnutrition and dehydration. that was a direct result of starvation,

which had been going on for at least one year. Nadine's siblings watched in horror and were forced to keep quiet about the situation in their derelict home out of fear of being put in the same position. They lied to other relatives who knew of Nadian's existence, claiming that she was visiting family in the South. Even Leroy knew of Nadian's suffering,

but never stepped in to save his little girl. After the milk incident, Carla finally decided to read, reach out for help. She didn't call 911. She called Leroy. At the time of our story, Nadine was only two weeks away from her fifth birthday. She was the size of a four-month-old baby girl. She weighed only 15 and a half pounds. You could see Nadine's ribs. Most of her hair had fallen out. Her arms and legs were as thin as sticks. Underneath the rickety crib where Nadine was held prisoner was a pile of dirty diapers and used tampons that had attracted swarms of flies.

Only after Carla suggests that they dump their daughter's body inside a plastic bag in the garbage, did Leroy decide to call the police. Carla Lockwood was arrested and charged with second-degree homicide and endangering the welfare of a child. According to authorities, Carla told them she had not fed Nading regularly for a year and did not seek medical help even when she realized that her daughter was dying. She said she took care of the other six children in her custody, but withheld food and medical care because she didn't love Nadine.

She outright said that she wished she never had her. After her arrest, her remaining children were placed in the care of CPS. While in custody, Carla complained of pains and was taken to the hospital, where she was found pregnant with twins. Those twins were thankfully taken from her. They were later placed up for adoption. At trial, Carla Lockwood was found guilty of second-degree homicide and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. Although Carla

managed to keep Nadine's existence a secret from most of the world, one neighbor did know about Nadine and tried to do something about it. According to neighbor Catherine McDaniel, and this is in her own words, Nadine looked like a starving Ethiopian kid. She stated that Carla singled out Nadine for neglect. Although Carla fed her siblings, according to Catherine, quote, that baby was in the crib with a chicken bone. The little girl was in there chewing on a bone, end quote. When Catherine reported what she had witnessed, the police did show up, but there was nothing done about it. Another neighbor, Leslie Forbes, claimed to have contacted CPS regularly since Nadine's birth. But again, nothing was done. According to

Children's Service Administration Commissioner Nicholas Skopeta, his agency had closed its files on the family. The Lockwood family's last contact with the Child Welfare Authorities was on May 25, 1995. According to Dr. Yvonne Molevsky, who performed Nadine's autopsy, the little girl was encrusted with dirt. Her scalp was balding, and her eyes were sunken. She received so little nutrition that her body was reduced to digesting its vital organs. Dr. Charles Hirsch, the city's medical examiner, classified the little girl's death as a homicide. Nadine's funeral was held at Trumbo's funeral chapel on St. Nicholas Street in Harlem. She was laid to rest at the Forest Green Park Cemetery in Morganville, New Jersey.

Although her service was private, crowds from all over the country who were moved by the little girl's story gathered outside. The onlookers scolded Leroy Dickerson, who was in attendance, with some demanding that he leave. The angry mob called him names. Others hoped the father would burn in hell. According to one bystander, the father is just as guilty as the mother is. At Leroy's trial in 2002,

three of Nadine's siblings testified against their father. Nicole, who was 13 at the time of her sister's death, broke down in tears. She cried, he should just admit it. I blocked all of this out. Now I have to remember everything. However, Leroy insisted that he was an involved, fun-loving dad. He said, and I quote,

I like to play with my kids. I'm a kid at heart myself. I wanted them to know their dad was a friend, not just a father, end quote. He claimed he provided Nadine with nutritional supplements during visits and even said he watched her wolf-down steak and shrimp scampy. By playing, Leroy was doing something pretty messed up with Nadine. On one occasion, the father threw the little girl in the kid, the air so hard that she hit the ceiling, cutting her back. Another time when Nadine cried,

Leroy said he'd give the little girl something to cry about. He placed her in a plastic bag and swung her around the room. When the bag ultimately broke, little Nadine was sent flying into a dresser. This caused a bloody gash above her eyebrow, and Leroy never bothered to seek medical attention. Leroy was sentenced 25 years to life in prison for second-degree homicide. He's currently serving his time in Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, New York, will be eligible for parole in August of 2023. In 2015, Carla Lockwood sued the New York State Department of Corrections for denying her parole 19 years into her 15 to life sentence. She stated she overcame her coke addiction and severe depression that drove her, in her words, to commit this crime.

At the time of the lawsuit, Carla had already been denied by the parole board three times. According to sources, the parole board focused on the emotional outrage that Nadine's death invoked instead of the legal standard required for Carla's release. However, despite all of this, she was finally released on June 22, 2017. She is still living as a free woman to this day. Another troubling aspect of this case is that many publications haven't done their research and share pictures claiming to be that of Carla and Nadine but aren't. An image shared with some frequency is that of a white woman thought to be Carla.

As we know, the Carla in our story is black. The woman in the picture is from Illinois and has nothing to do with this case. Someone literally just looked her up on Facebook and stole her pictures. I'm sure she'd appreciate her pictures not being shared, so we're not going to share them either. There is also a picture of a toddler that's been widely publicized that's supposed to be Nadine, but isn't. The little girl in the picture looks to be about two to three years old and appears to not be the same ethnicity as Carla and Leroy. Based on my research, the toddler in the picture is now a teenager in Alaska who shares the same name. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of Nadine.

Much like Alisa Iskirdo and Nix Mary Brown, Nadine was failed by CPS in New York City. Many before her slipped through the cracks, and sadly, many came after her. Many children out there hidden behind closed doors, just like Nadine, need our help. And this is why we do what we do. If you see something, please say something. Keep saying something. Don't stop.