PERTH AMBOY, NJ – Months after they were first contacted about a missing girl who had not been seen by extended family members, New Jersey’s Division of Child Protection and Permanency finally showed up at Monique Durham’s home for a welfare check.
When state social services arrived, they confirmed what a concerned party feared back when they filed an abuse and neglect report, one of Durham’s two twin daughters was missing and dead.
NJ DCP&P was contacted twice about the missing girl. Once in November of 2021 and a second time in February of 2022. But it wasn’t until June 1st of this year that the agency realized something was not right and reported the missing girl of two years to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Durham told investigators her daughter was with a relative in North Carolina, but prosecutors quickly figured out she had lied. Instead, it was revealed that the girl was beaten by Durham’s boyfriend and she died. Durham then disposed of the two-year-old girl’s body and the couple went on with life as normal.
She even continued to collect child support from the child’s father for two years after she knew her girl was killed by her boyfriend.
This week, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone, Edison Police Chief Thomas Bryan, and Perth Amboy Police Chief Lawrence Cattano announced today that a 29-year-old Perth Amboy man has been charged with killing his girlfriend’s daughter. In addition, the mother of the child was charged with endangering the welfare of a child as well.
“On Tuesday, July 26, 2022, the Edison Police Department was contacted by the Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCP&P), in order to conduct a welfare check of Monique Durham’s twin 5-year-old daughters,” the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Officer said in a statement. “As a result of communicating with the twins’ mother, Ms. Durham, local law enforcement referred the matter to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and a joint investigation was commenced. As a result of that joint investigation, it was determined that one of the 5-year-old girls was missing.”
Prosecutor Ciccone said it was further determined that no family or friends had seen the child since 2019.
“As the investigation continued, it was determined that Monique Durham’s boyfriend, Matthew Chiles, 29, of Perth Amboy, engaged in conduct resulting in the missing child’s death in 2019, and illegally disposed of the child’s remains,” Cicconi said.
Chiles has been charged with two counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, one count of second-degree desecration of human remains, and one count of first-degree murder.
Durham has been charged with two counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and one count of third-degree theft. Durham and Chiles are currently being housed at the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Center pending a detention hearing.
Chiles’ son from another woman, when interviewed by investigators said he last saw his sister laying motionless in her bed after she was beaten by her parents. It was that boy’s mother who began questioning the whereabouts of the young girl initially.
“My son told me the last memory he has of his little sister was she was getting a spanking by her parents, and after they spanked her, they put her in the bed,” the mother said in an interview with investigators, “My son said he was looking through the door, and she was unresponsive.”
A day later, the children in the home were told the young girl had been adopted overnight, forbidding the children to speak about her.
“He would say that she’s adopted, but Monique would get mad at me,” the boy’s mother said. “She just had a nasty attitude because I asked her where was. She was very upset, and I don’t know why.”
The mom reported the missing girl after her son said he missed her after she had been away for three years without seeing her.