Matthew Higa, 23, is being held on $1 million bail after being charged with the second-degree murder of Cyrus Belt, who would have turned 2 in February.

There have been no conclusive reports on how Cyrus ended up in Higa's hands, but in the more than 185 pages of child-welfare documents released by the DHS yesterday there is a report that on Thursday Cyrus' grandfather verbalized to police "I think he (the child) went walking with a neighbor."

He allegedly made the comments when police went back to the grandfather's home after a child — Cyrus — had been hit by multiple cars on the freeway.

The documents show that earlier in the day Cyrus had been returned to the grandfather's home after he was found wandering by police. No known calls were made at that time to Child Welfare Services regarding a wandering child, the documents show.

The child-welfare documents extend well beyond Cyrus and his murder, however, detailing six years of child-welfare issues with Cyrus' mother, Nancy Chanco, and her struggles with a history of drug abuse and domestic violence with at least three different men.

Welfare officials blacked out several lines of the documents that included names, addresses and other pertinent information.

According to documents from February 2006, Chanco told welfare officials she had relapsed on crystal methamphetamine, or ice, when she was approximately five to six months pregnant with Cyrus.

The records also detail alleged child neglect and abuse cases with her other two children, and several times brought into question her parenting ability. However, documents also showed that she had been trying to clean up and get a better place to live for her and her family.

On May 18, 2006, narrative of a social worker who visited Chanco's home said her room was usually clean and neat whenever the FSA visited. That same narrative said Cyrus appeared healthy, although he suffered from colic, and it also stated Chanco "is an attractive and intelligent woman. She was last employed as a surgical technician with a dental surgeon and still hopes to return to the same job sometime in the near future." That report also commended Chanco for knowing child-safety issues, citing an example of knowing that sleeping with Cyrus could be dangerous because he could fall off the bed or she could roll over on him.

Lillian Koller, director of the DHS, released the following statement last night regarding Cyrus' death, the investigation and the release of the family records:

The senseless death of toddler Cyrus Belt last Thursday is an unfathomable tragedy.

Everyone in Hawaii is shocked by this loss and is seeking answers as to how this could have happened.

As Director of the Department of Human Services, I am personally investigating this case.

Therefore, over the last few days I have instructed my staff to examine each and every record in our child welfare system related to this incident.

Because our department is committed to being completely transparent, we are making public, by posting on our website all our records that are permitted under Federal and State laws.

These records reveal everything documented by the Department's child welfare services agency, from 2002 to 2008, relating to Cyrus' mother.

Our intention in making these records public is not to blame anyone for their action or inaction. Rather, we hope to collectively determine if there was anything that could have been done to save the life of this child.

I stand ready to make any necessary changes for the safety of Hawaii's children.

Lillian Koller

Director, Department of Human Services