RALEIGH, N.C. (WBTV) — Meeting Dominique Moody’s great-uncle in the North Carolina General Assembly building earlier this month was a more joyful meeting than when we met a few months ago.
Our first meeting came in early January at J. Vernon Peterson’s funeral home in Fayetteville, where his team prepared Dominique Moody’s body for her funeral and laid her to rest.
“The system has blood on its hands,” Peterson said at the time.
Peterson’s words were in reaction to a WBTV investigation into records that showed the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services had opened five investigations into reports of abuse and neglect at Dominique’s home, but closed each of them without substantiation.
Dominique died in December 2025, tortured and abused and far below the acceptable weight of a child her age. Three women, including her guardians, face murder charges in her death.
As of May 2026, after months of reporting on this case, five North Carolina lawmakers from both parties have filed a bill in Dominique’s name.
Peterson was recognized this month by the North Carolina General Assembly for his advocacy for the niece he’d never met. When he sat down with WBTV in Raleigh after that moment, his words held deep meaning.
“Because of her, other children are going to live. Other children are going to survive,” Peterson said.
Bill comes after extensive WBTV investigation
At Dominique Moody’s funeral, Democratic state Rep. Mike Colvin told WBTV that he believed legislation was needed to address the gaps that reporting had uncovered.
He was one of four initial lawmakers to put their name on a bill in Dominique Moody’s name a few months later, a bill that has now added numerous additional sponsors and appears primed to continue moving through the General Assembly this summer.
“I commend you for remaining attentive to this story and to the case of Dominique Moody,” Colvin said.
State Rep. Allen Chesser (R-Nash County) sits on the House Select Committee on Oversight and Reform. He has helped lead an ongoing probe into both Mecklenburg County Department of Social Service and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
“I’ve taken a vested interest in any time there’s a child fatality in the state, especially when it’s in foster care or DSS custody,” Chesser said, noting a child’s death in foster care in his county that greatly impacted him just before he came into elected office.
Chesser personally visited the Mecklenburg County DSS to review their files on Dominique Moody, a visit he said went well – until later, when county manager Mike Bryant shut down communications with his office. (The county has not commented on that visit, the ongoing probe, or the legislation.)
“Did Mecklenburg County fail Dominique Moody?” WBTV asked Chesser.
“I think the evidence is overwhelming that they failed,” Chesser said. “Their single duty for DSS in this is to protect and preserve life and to end the trauma that the children are experiencing. The end result of her death is evidence enough that they failed in that.”
What the bill would actually do
State House Bill 1144 would create a child welfare case escalation team under the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
The team would get involved in decision-making for children at a regional level when a child had an extensive history of reports or other complicating factors.
Right now, counties hold that authority alone.
“I think that would give some relief. I know they’re under pressure to perform,” said Rep. Carla Cunningham, who previously represented Mecklenburg County as a Democrat and is now unaffiliated.
The bill would require counties to escalate cases to this new regional team when presented with Child Protective Services reports for children with one of the following:
- Extensive child welfare history.
- Three or more reports to CPS in a 12-month time period.
- Past foster care history.
- Three or more substantiated findings involving the family that demonstrate pattern of neglect.
- Repeated reports of medical neglect.
The bill would also introduce other elements of state oversight to county social services departments across North Carolina, and would appropriate more than a half-million dollars to create the team.
The regional team would consist of one person per five state regions, alongside a supervisor. If there’s a disagreement between the county and the regional team about whether a case should be screened in or out, Cunningham said the regional team would take the lead.
“I don’t think it takes away from their independence. I think they can still do what they need to do, perform their job duties and be in line with the guidelines that are required,” Cunningham said.
Chesser cautioned against seeing the bill as a fix, and instead believes it’s a step in the right direction.
“A common factor that we see in these investigations is a lack of oversight and a lack of review in some of the decision making that’s occurring at the county level,” he said.
WBTV previously reported how the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services closed five investigations into Dominique Moody’s home before her death, without substantiating abuse or neglect. The reporting also uncovered nearly 50 calls for service placed to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department involving the home.
Under the proposed legislation, Dominique’s case likely would have met multiple criteria for escalation to the state team.
A spokesperson for the state Department of Health and Human Services said they were committed to collaborating with the General Assembly on the legislation.
“We take seriously our role in supporting and protecting children and families in North Carolina,” a spokesperson wrote.
The Oversight Committee’s probe: stalled
Rep. Chesser is helping lead a probe into how social services and police responded to Dominique’s home. The release of records requested in that probe has been blocked by a Mecklenburg County judge due to the case’s ongoing murder charges.
Chesser said they were looking into their legal options, and that the judge’s order was “slightly misguided.”
“I think that the judge is doing what he thinks is appropriate and that is protecting the prosecution and the rights of the suspect in this case,” Chesser said. “But the inadvertent effect of that is going to be the delay in us being able to figure out what the root cause was and address that through legislation.”
“Do you think that’s where the story ends?” WBTV asked.
“No,” Chesser said. “I can tell you that I do not believe that’s where the story is going to end. When the public gets access to some of the information I have access to, there’s going to be a cry for answers … I believe the real story is worse than what’s publicly available at this time,” Chesser said.
Cunningham acknowledges that transparency from the DSS in Dominique’s case has been an issue.
“People get scared and then they go in protection mode,” Cunningham said. “They know something is coming, they just don’t know what.”
WBTV has tried to file requests for information about DSS actions at Dominique’s home before her death.
The agency has refused to release it, citing District Attorney Spencer Merriweather’s advice.
Merriweather told WBTV in an interview that his decision to advise against release was rooted in protecting the ongoing criminal cases, where prosecutors’ actions are scrutinized by judges, defense attorneys and jurors.
“I have no question in my mind as to what comes first. And for this prosecutor, it’s that case, until otherwise notified by a judge,” Merriweather said.
What happens next
The bill has cleared an initial floor vote, been sent to committee, and added numerous sponsors on both sides of the aisle. Those include most of Mecklenburg County’s House representatives since it was filed in the General Assembly on April 30, 2026.
“I think this is one thing that partisanship doesn’t play a role in,” Chesser said.
The bill could give children a chance that Dominique never had.
“There’s nothing we can do for Dominique, but for the other children of North Carolina, we’re on the way there,” Peterson said.
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