WEST HAVEN, Weber County — A cafeteria worker at the school where Gavin Peterson once attended said she and others saw some disturbing signs in the years and months before the boy died from severe malnutrition.

The 12-year-old's father, Shane Peterson, 46, stepmother, Nichole Scott, 50, and brother Tyler Peterson, 21, are facing child abuse homicide and other charges in connection with his death earlier this month.

Jan Davis said she and other cafeteria workers at Kanesville Elementary School in West Haven grew concerned about Gavin a few years ago.

"He was small for his age, quite thin. They kept his hair buzzed and he often missed school," she said.

Davis said she became acquainted with Gavin during the 2021-22 school year and into the 2022-23 school year.

"He would come and get a drink of water and then he would casually take his cup and throw it in the trash that was there where they dump their trays. And then you would see him digging through the garbage," Davis said. "At that point, if the little kid is hungry, I'm going to buy his lunch ticket."

Davis said she and a co-worker started paying for Gavin's lunch, despite being "advised" by school officials not to do so because the school wanted to encourage families in hardship to fill out a form for reduced or free lunch.

Their efforts were abruptly halted when Gavin's stepmother, Scott, found out, according to Davis.

"She was really upset and we were to stop paying for his school lunches. Because if she 'wanted him to have school lunch, she'd pay for it,'" Davis said, adding that Scott was furious and confronted school administrators. "When she found out there was money in his account and he was eating school lunch she said, 'No more.'"

Shortly after the incident, Davis said Gavin came to school with a chipped tooth.

"You try to convince yourself that he had fallen and chipped his tooth but that was another red flag, I think," Davis said.

By the following 2022-23 school year, Davis said she noticed Gavin, then in fifth grade, was stealing lunches from other children.

"This is what I feel the most guilty about," she said. "Other kids' boxes or sack lunches were disappearing and I just believe that he was so hungry that he was stealing other people's food."

Davis said she, and even school children, would share food with Gavin.

Over the course of several months, Davis said she and other cafeteria workers made multiple calls to school officials and the Utah Division of Child and Family Services to report their concerns.

"First we went through the channels. The head lunch lady knew what was going on. She said the principal had to take care of it. We reported it to the principal," Davis said, adding that later they also called DCFS directly.

Related:

Charges filed in West Haven boy's death; school district had reported family to DCFS

Three members of a West Haven family are facing formal criminal charges in the death of a 12-year-old boy who suffered from severe malnutrition.

"We as lunch ladies and mothers didn't feel like enough was being done and so we called and reported it to social services. We called and reported it two different times," she said.

"I think school was a safe haven for him … but I just don't think we did enough for him," Davis said.

"If he's eating out of a garbage can, does he have an eating disorder or is he starving? We didn't know. When he missed so much school, was he truly sick, or were they just not sending him to school? I just don't understand when he missed so much school why wasn't anyone checking."

Davis said she personally called DCFS to follow up on their complaints and whether any action was taken by social workers.

"I was told I would never know what was going on because of the family situation and the child situation," Davis said of being unable to receive updates on the case because it involved a child.

By August 2023, Gavin stopped attending school for his sixth-grade year.

"The stepmother had pulled him out of school to homeschool him," Davis said. "I honestly was hoping that social services had removed him from the home and that was just the excuse they had given us at the school."

The Weber School District declined to answer specific questions, but pointed to a previous statement released on July 19, in which they confirmed that Gavin stopped attending school in August.

In its statement, the school district also confirmed that multiple complaints had been filed by school employees.

"Prior to the student being withdrawn from the district, multiple complaints were filed by school employees with the Utah Division of Child and Family Services related to suspected abuse and neglect of this child," the school district's statement said.

The next time Davis heard news of Gavin was through reports of his death.

On July 9, deputies were called to the Peterson home where they found Gavin on the bathroom floor after being "ill for several days, experiencing vomiting, and was now not breathing," according to an arrest report.

Gavin was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead and doctors reported that his body "showed malnutrition to the point the child's internal organs had shut down completely," a police booking affidavit states.

"I was heartbroken. I should've done more, but I shouldn't do more just for him. I should do more for other children out there that are falling between the cracks and that is why I am here today," Davis said.

Davis said she was immediately suspicious of foul play following news of his death on July 9.

"It seemed like a long time before we heard news about the arrest," Davis said. "I honestly kept thinking in the back of my mind that the stepmother and dad had gotten away with murder."

The parents were arrested July 17. In addition to child abuse homicide, a first-degree felony, Shane Peterson, Nichole Scott and Tyler Peterson are each charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony. Both Tyler Peterson and Scott also face additional charges of obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony. Scott was charged with two counts and Peterson with one.

Shane Peterson and Scott were also each charged with child endangerment, a third-degree felony. Scott is facing an additional charge of drug possession, a class A misdemeanor.

"I just hope their time comes and they pay for the crime that they have committed to this little boy," Davis said.

However, Davis is also questioning DCFS's response and whether enough was done by school and state officials to help the child.

"The system is broken, not only (DCFS), but I feel like the school system is broken. I feel like someone should have followed up on his homeschooling, done a home check on him just to find out what was going on."

A community vigil was held for Gavin Tuesday night at the church located at 2333 South and 2700 West in West Haven.

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