The father of Missouri teen Kaylee Gain ruefully admitted that the road that led her to a fight with a school rival was paved with parental shortcomings.
In March, a viral video showed Maurnice DeClue and Gain fighting, with DeClue getting the better of the punches and then slamming Gain’s head into the pavement. DeClue is facing an assault charge and a hearing to determine if the 15-year-old will be tried as an adult for her battle with the 16-year-old Gain.
Clinton Gain said he and Kaylee’s mother, April Nordstrom, had drug addition issues during their daughter’s childhood, according to the New York Post.
Kaylee Gain’s guilt-ridden father admits her childhood was affected by drugs and family dysfunction https://t.co/CPOrikCmn3 pic.twitter.com/oDQ6xso8Yh
— New York Post (@nypost) April 11, 2024
Then came a separation when Gain was 5 years old, leaving her and a younger brother living with their mom as she dealt with addiction issues, Clinton Gain said.
That did not work out too well, leading to the children spending two years with the grandparents when Gain was 8 years old.
Two years later, Clinton Gain said he was off drugs, married Gain’s stepmother, Jamie Gain, and was able to have the children with him.
“She was just a normal kid,” he said. “We tried to give them some stability and structure.”
“She was just a little girl,” she said. “She played with Barbies, with dolls.”
After five years with her father, she wanted to live with Nordstrom.
“She was becoming a young woman,” he said. “She said she needed her mother, and April was in a good place by that time. She was working. She was doing OK.”
Although Nordstrom did not speak to the Post, Clinton Gain said problems soon emerged in the form of fights at school.
“We don’t know who started things, if it was her or other people,” Jamie Gain said. “But there were problems.”
Clinton Gain said he tried learning the root cause of the problems, with little success.
"She just didn’t have the structure anymore,” Clinton Gain said. “The things we tried to tell her weren’t reinforced with her mother. There weren’t these issues until a few years ago.”
Clinton Gain said he wanted his daughter to return to live with him, but she resisted. Then came the March 8 fight that left Gain in a coma for two weeks.
“When I first got to the hospital, I was worried and concerned. But when I found out this was from a fight, I got angry because I felt like this could have been prevented,” he said.
When Gain's long hospital stay is over, he said she will live with him.
“I have a lot of guilt that I didn’t bring her back sooner,” he said.
Gain said that the fight followed a long series of texted insults between the two girls, according to the New York Post.
Last week, a judge ruled that a certification hearing will be held on May 10 to determine whether DeClue will be tried as an adult, according to USA Today.
