Charlotte child’s abuse and death could be subject of NC House Oversight hearing
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Cunningham said records were denied and DSS cited pending litigation as the reason.
- Reps. Carla Cunningham, Allen Chesser propose 'Dominque Moody Safety Act.’
- Two House Oversight members said the next committee hearing may focus on Dominique Moody'
A bipartisan push for escalating child welfare cases is not the only General Assembly response to the death of Dominique Moody, a 6-year-old girl in Mecklenburg County who was severely abused.
Two members of the House Oversight Committee said it may have its next hearing to focus on the case. Oversight is the House arm of Gov Ops, a committee lead by Republicans who control the legislature and have been zooming in frequently on local issues this year, including the Mecklenburg County sheriff and Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Unaffiliated Rep. Carla Cunningham was joined by a few Republicans and a few Democrats to talk about the “Dominque Moody Safety Act,” a bill named for a 6-year-old girl who died after being severely abused. The bill would create a Child Welfare Case Escalation Team within the state’s social services department, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Three women were held in jail after the girl’s death in December. Records obtained by The Charlotte Observer show police visited the home five times from 2022 up to Moody’s death, including for a reported assault. Police charged the girl’s aunt and legal guardian, Tonya McKnight, and two other women in the home with felony and misdemeanor child abuse.
But prosecutors said they might file a rare and more serious charge of murder by torture if lab results justify it, the Observer reported. Dominique weighed just 27 pounds when she died while in her aunt’s custody.
Cunningham and Nash County Republican Rep. Allen Chesser both serve on Oversight. Cunningham was a Democrat until losing her primary election in March, and has since changed her party to unaffiliated. She has deflected questions about party, saying she wants to focus on “getting things done” her final session.
Asked what she thinks about the local and state response to Moody’s case, Cunningham said she isn’t sure where the failure occurred but “something definitely was missed” because of the value of 911 calls and police visits to the site over a four-year period.
“Something should have triggered,” Cunningham told The News & Observer during the news conference. “I’m not even sure that they ever entered the residence, because they would have had the evidence, and the evidence would have been shown on the back end. And then the house was burned down after her death, so it was probably more evidence in the house that someone didn’t want to be revealed.”
Chesser said “the role of DSS is to prevent trauma, future trauma, from children — to keep them safe. The fact that (Moody) died under their supervision, under their care, is statement enough to say they failed in that duty.”
Chesser said he and Cunningham have both read the case, and that he has looked other DSS failures in the state and wants to “correct the lack of oversight.”
“Every time the tragedy occurs, we look at it say, Okay, well, DHHS goes in and takes over, and now it should never happen again. We cannot continue to let that cycle play out and just say that these are isolated incidents. The Dominique Moody Act here works to correct the lack of oversight that seems systematic in our programs at this time,” Chesser said.
“I can’t wait until all this information is public,” he said.
Chesser said there could be a House Oversight hearing about the case could be as soon as this month.
Observer reporter Mary Ramsey contributed to this story.
This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Charlotte child’s abuse and death could be subject of NC House Oversight hearing."
