Semaj Crosby Settlement: $6.4 Million For Her Family

JOLIET, IL — Next week marks the five-year anniversary of the death of Joliet toddler Sema'j Crosby, whose body was found under a couch in her family's rental home in Preston Heights. On Thursday in Chicago, a lawsuit settlement of $6.4 million was announced against a contractor for the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services.

The settlement will go to the family of the little girl, according to several Chicago news media outlets. The little girl's death was ruled a homicide, and the crime remains unsolved at the Will County Sheriff's Office of Mike Kelley.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported the case against DCFS was filed in Cook County back in April 2019 and the lawsuit alleged that Children’s Home & Aid failed to report the “unsanitary and unsafe conditions,” conduct background checks on the residents and coordinate about the multiple allegations of abuse and neglect, among other claims.

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According to the Fox Channel 32 report, the multi-million dollar settlement has been awarded to Crosby’s four siblings and to her father, James Crosby, who was incarcerated at the time of her disappearance and death.

"I do think the money will help them at age 18, but even beforehand if they don't have certain things. Like I said, maybe this affords them to go to a private school," attorney Jay Paul Deratany told the Chicago TV station.

Sema'j was pronounced dead at 1:27 a.m. on April 27, 2017, inside her Preston Heights residence, 309 Louis Road, in Joliet Township. The house no longer stands. It was burned to the ground as the result of an arson that also remains unsolved.

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Several months later, after mounting pressure from social justice advocates, Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil announced that the manner of her death was being classified as asphyxia.

"Additionally, based on the unusual circumstances surrounding her disappearance and the subsequent discovery of her decomposing body under the couch in her own home, the multiple previous contacts by the (Illinois) Department of Children and Family Services, the suspicious fire at the residence and lack of cooperation from the witnesses, the manner of death of this 17-month-old Sema'j L. Crosby is currently classified as homicide," O'Neil stated in his September 2017 news release.