It's been more than two years since five-year-old Heaven Woods was pronounced dead at the Monroe County Hospital. Police say when she died, her left arm and five ribs were broken. Her mother, Amanda Hendrickson, is serving a life sentence in prison for the crime. For the first time, Heaven's father, Anthony Woods, sat down with Claire Davis to tell us his side of the story.
Anthony Woods says he'll never forget that phone call on May 20th, 2014. It's a nightmare no parent should ever have to go through. “It’s like trying to wake yourself up. Still, to this day, trying to wake yourself up from the dream,” said Woods.
He was living in Atlanta when he found out his 5-year-old daughter Heaven Woods was found unconscious at a home in Forsyth. She died hours later. “'We just lost Heaven.' I was like, 'What do you mean?,'” he said. “I mean, the first thing that I felt was like, immediately, get up there and figure out what's going on,” said Woods.
An autopsy found that Heaven died from a blunt force trauma to the abdomen. “By the time I got up there, Amanda's mom was already trying to do the burial and all this other stuff. I was like, 'I'm not worrying about that right now. One, I need to find out where is Heaven's body. Two, I need to talk to someone else other than you to find out what's going on,'” said Woods.
It hadn't sunk in yet, but he says he had a gut feeling his ex-girlfriend and Heaven's mother, Amanda Hendrickson, was involved. “I was trying to figure out how to take it, but at the same time, my thing was like, 'Where is Amanda?,'” said Woods.
Just hours after Heaven died, Hendrickson and her boyfriend, Roderick Buckner, were charged in connection with her death. In March of this year, Hendrickson was sentenced to life in prison. Buckner pleaded guilty and is also serving a life sentence. “I feel as though that wasn't enough because everyone was responsible for Heaven's death,” said Woods.
Woods says the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services didn't do enough to keep Heaven out of harm's way. Records show the agency was called 9 times before the 5-year-old's death. Several of those calls involved complaints that she or other children in her home were being injured or abused. In 2014, DFACS Director Bobby Cagle told 13WMAZ that the agency's caseworkers carry a heavy burden and that turnover was high. “She'd been investigated right there and then, all of a sudden, y'all don't look into it. Y'all let it go,” said Woods.
Woods says he only saw Heaven part-time, every few months, but he says if he had full custody, maybe she would still be alive today. “Blame everything on me. Because it's just like everything I try to see in the right steps to do in the right order and correctly I was still getting bashed, I was still getting pushed down,” said Woods.
Now that Hendrickson and Buckner are in prison and the case is closed, Woods says he hopes to start healing. “She was my first Valentine. Every holiday. The ones I didn’t get to see, at least I don’t have anyone stopping me now,” said Woods.
If you have any concerns about a child please call the Georgia Division of Families and Children at 1-855-422-4453.