Case Update: Amari Boone’s Foster Fathers FINALLY Arrested!: Suffer the Little Children

At long last, we have arrests in connection with the April 2020 murder of three-year-old Amari Boone, whose story can be read here. I also covered Amari’s case on episode 12 of Suffer the Little Children Podcast.

Amari was admitted to Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas on April 10, 2020 and died of his injuries two days later on Easter Sunday. He was in the custody of his foster parents, Deondrick Raymon Foley and Joseph Michael Delancy, at the time of his injuries.

At the time of his death, Amari and his 19-month-old brother were wards of the state of Texas.

Despite constant hounding of the Fort Worth Police Department and the Tarrant County District Attorney by multiple parties, no arrests were made for months, and frustrations were extremely high.

However, justice for Amari is finally coming, because on Friday, January 22, 2021, both of his foster parents were arrested and booked into the Tarrant County Jail.

Deon Foley was charged with seven felony counts of injury to a child with intent. On the Tarrant County Jail website, his bond for each count is listed as $15,000, but it is unclear if each count has a separate bond. His booking photo is not yet available.

Joseph Michael Delancy Jr's mugshot — Joseph Delancy’s booking photo.
*(Tarrant County Jail website)*

Joseph Delancy currently faces a single felony charge of injury to a child with intent, for which the possible penalty is up to two years in prison. His bond has been set at $5,000.

Obviously, this is nowhere near enough; one or both of these men need to face stiffer charges in Amari’s death. At the very least, this is the beginning of justice for Amari. No further information is currently available. I have reached out to the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office and the Fort Worth Police Department for a statement, but I have not yet received a response.

The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office replied to my request by saying the offense occurred in Fort Worth, so they do not have any details about the arrests.

This is HUGE news, and I’ll be sure to update the blog as soon as receive further information.

Click here for my ongoing coverage of Amari’s story.