The state has tentatively agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a lawsuit over the mysterious death of a 3-year-old boy in state foster custody in 2017 on the Big Island.

Fabian Garett-Garcia died on July 25, 2017, and his caregivers told authorities he was injured by accident when he fell on his face from a 3-foot-high bench while wearing virtual reality goggles at the foster home in Waimea.

Hawaii County’s medical examiner ruled the boy died from blunt force trauma to the head, and a Big Island grand jury indicted foster parent Chasity Alcosiba-McKenzie on a charge of second-degree murder in the case in 2019.

Kona Circuit Court Judge Wendy DeWeese found Alcosiba-McKenzie not guilty of that charge in 2021 after a bench trial, ruling the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Fabian’s biological parents Sherri-Ann Garett and Juben Garcia sued the state and Catholic Charities in 2019 over Fabian’s death, alleging the state Department of Human Services failed to properly monitor and supervise the foster home where Fabian and his two younger siblings had been placed.

The lawsuit alleged that in the months leading up to Fabian’s death, DHS employees and workers with Catholic Charities saw “obvious injuries” on Fabian and “were notified of suspected child abuse occurring in the McKenzie residence on nearly a dozen separate occasions.”

The lawsuit also alleged the state “formally acknowledged having received such notifications from Fabian’s mother.”

The lawsuit dragged on for five years, and court records show DHS was accused of withholding or destroying evidence in the case in a filing last December that sought court sanctions against the state.

According to that filing, a DHS social worker reported pictures were taken of one of the Garett-Garcia children who had “an unusual amount of bruising on both sides of his body, down by his testicles and around lower stomach and rib cage.”

The filing alleged that contrary to court discovery rules, “these photographs have not been produced by DHS. The text messages between social workers have not been produced. Any text messages by and between social workers and resource care givers regarding these injuries have not been produced.”

A jury trial in the civil case had been scheduled for July 9 before DeWeese, but the proposed $750,000 settlement was submitted to lawmakers for their consideration last month.

Catholic Charities, which trains foster families and provides other services related to foster care, has already settled the lawsuit by Fabian’s parents, according to Jeffrey Foster, the Kona lawyer representing the parents. The terms of that settlement are confidential, he said.

Foster said in a written statement that “the Garett-Garcia family extends their gratitude and aloha for the support of their family, friends and Hawaii Island community over the past 7 years.

“The settlements reached in the lawsuit for the death of their son represent much more than a dollar amount to the parents of Fabian Garett-Garcia. The settlements represent a seven-year fight for justice.”

The statement added that the legal fight “exposed troubling staffing shortages in West Hawaii, as well as dangerous gaps in policies and procedures that put the health and safety of children involved in the foster care system at risk.”

“We are hopeful that the agencies responsible for overseeing foster care in Hawaii will use the information and shortcomings uncovered in this case to make long overdue changes to the child welfare system,” the statement said.

The Attorney General’s Office said in a written statement Wednesday that “settlement was in the best interest of all parties and the public to bring this case to a resolution.”