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 their 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 that alleges negligence and failure to perform a mandatory duty. The plaintiffs are identified only as YM.D., YL.D., and L.G. and ranged in age from 1 to 5 years old when their brother disappeared. The suit alleged the DCFS was negligent in handling the child abuse allegations involving the Dewees family.
On Tuesday, Judge Upinder S. Kalra granted a motion by county attorneys to file a cross-complaint for indemnity against the Utah Division of Children and Family Services. The judge found that the motion was not prejudicial to Utah officials because trial in the case is not scheduled until July 26, 2027. Kalra also noted that the plaintiffs do not object to the cross-complaint.
The plaintiffs’ suit states the children’s mother, Roselani Gaoa, was living in Utah with all her children before she was arrested in that state for child abuse charges regarding L.G. in April 2024.
The Utah DCFS investigated Gaoa’s alleged physical abuse of L.G. and met with Yusuf Dewees, the children’s father, who denied any knowledge of the alleged mistreatment, the county attorneys stated in their court papers. Utah officials then released the three plaintiffs and Baki to Dewees and allowed him to take the minors back to California without first closing their investigation, the county attorneys allege in their court papers.
“Utah DCFS did not report any of this to L.A. County DCFS and on or about May 7, 2024, Baki Dewees was reported missing,” the county attorneys further stated in their court papers.
By May 14, 2024, Baki was presumed dead and, accordingly, the county wants to hold Utah officials liable for the harm done, the county attorneys explained in their court papers. A Utah DCFS representative declined to comment on the cross-complaint.
Dewees, 25, has pleaded not guilty plea in Antelope Valley Superior Court to one count each of murder, assault on a child causing death and child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death involving his son.
According to the suit, the DCFS permitted the biological mother of the children, Roselani Gaoa, to maintain custody over the couple’s four children “despite numerous alarming reports of abuse and cruelty toward the children.”
Before Baki’s disappearance, allegations surfaced that Gaoa had battered her 1-year-old son, ripped and cut another child’s hair and had beaten and attempted to smother her 5-year-old daughter, the suit states.
In late April 2024 and into the next month, Gaoa and Dewees “conspired” to murder the infant, who was last seen on May 3, 2024, and was reported missing four days later, according to the suit.
When asked about the his son’s whereabouts, Dewees said the boy was in Florida with his paternal grandparents while also saying that the child was adopted by a California woman and additionally abandoned at a Los Angeles hospital, according to the suit. Investigators looked for the child’s body in Antelope Valley, and the boy is now presumed to have died, according to the suit.
The DCFS “failed to investigate and intervene, despite receiving multiple child endangerment referrals concerning the children, and as a consequence, failed to comply with these mandatory duties,” the suit filed in January 2025 alleges.