Lakewood – All that Christina Grafner has left of her son Chandler is in a small Broncos duffel bag.
There’s a birth certificate with blue footprints an inch long, a tube of toothpaste Chandler used to squirt his brother, and a Ninja Turtle plastic cup that he guarded for himself.
Grafner, 28, cried and hugged her 16-year-old niece, who lives with her, as the possessions kindled emotions that have kept her pacing and awake since Tuesday, when she learned her 7-year-old son had died.
Jon Phillips, 26, and Sarah Berry, 21, have been charged with murder in connection with the May 6 death of Chandler. Prosecutors accuse the couple of the “malnourishment and mistreatment of the child.”
A court granted Phillips custody of Chandler and his half brother in January, even though he is not Chandler’s biological father. Phillips and Christina Grafner are the parents of Chandler’s brother, who has been placed in foster care.
Grafner insists she tried to do her best for Chandler, whom she had not seen in more than a year. “I never put a hand to either of my kids,” she said.
Brimming with rage, Grafner cursed repeatedly during a 2 1/2-hour interview Friday.
“I’m going out of my head,” she said.
Grafner blames police for overreacting when she was arrested on suspicion of child abuse and neglect, leading to her losing custody of her boys.
And she blames the court system, which she says awarded custody of her boys to Phillips without notifying her. She was not present at the January custody hearing.
Child abuse and neglect charges against Grafner – reported Thursday by The Denver Post – were for incidents that were not her fault, she said.
In September 2005, firefighters said they found Chandler and a 3-year-old friend wandering a street in Centennial. Grafner pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child abuse and was sentenced to probation, court records show.
Grafner said she had hired a babysitter to watch her kids while she slept after working as a bartender until 4 a.m. Chandler climbed over a fence and got away, she said.
In March 2006, a Wheat Ridge police officer found Grafner stopped in the middle of a road in a truck with her two barefoot kids. The officer reported one boy had very thin arms and decayed teeth, and that the boys said they hadn’t eaten in three days. Police also found a type of pipe often used for smoking drugs in the truck.
Grafner said the boys had always been thin after they were born prematurely. Grafner also said no drugs were found in her truck; she said friends who use drugs may have left paraphernalia in the car.
“I’m not the crackhead that everyone thinks,” she said.
Grafner said Phillips was in the federal witness-protection program after having testified against a relative in a criminal case. She offered no proof for that claim.
Grafner said her mission now is to regain custody of her other son: “I’ve got one son to bury and one son to raise.”
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
