Tag Archives: Neglect

Child Abuse, Child Innocence, Indiana State Police, Murder, Sorcery, Suitcase

BOY FOUND DEAD IN SUITCASE IN INDIANA IDED; MOM AND ANOTHER WOMAN CHARGED

.jpg photo of Child found stuffed in a suitcase.Mom Wanted In Death Of 5 Yr Old Boy Found Dead In Suitcase

CHICAGO, IL  –  A boy found dead inside a suitcase in southern Indiana six months ago has been identified as a 5-year-old from Atlanta, and his mother and another woman are facing charges in his death.

.jpg photo of Child found stuffed in a suitcase.Cairo Ammar Jordan’s body was found on April 16 in Washington County, Indiana, near Louisville.

Indiana State Police said the boy had never been reported missing, slowing the investigation of the case.

His mother, 37-year-old Dejaune Ludie Anderson, of Atlanta, is wanted on an arrest warrant on a murder charge.  She also is charged with neglect of a dependent and obstruction of justice.

An autopsy found that the boy died from an electrolyte imbalance most likely due to gastroenteritis, or vomiting and diarrhea that led to dehydration, state police said in May. Investigators said the boy had died within a week prior to his body’s discovery.

Document taken from Facebook by the Child's father
Cairo Jordan did have a Good, Loving Father who Loved him very much!

“No matter what progress is made, what happens in the case, we’re still dealing with the tragic death of a precious young child,” Indiana State Police Sgt. Carey Huls said.

Huls said Anderson remains at large, and police are seeking the public’s help in finding her.  He said Anderson has traveled to numerous locations, including Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco since police began their investigation last spring after her son’s body was found.

Huls said “the physical evidence led to the suspects” in Jordan’s death.

Another woman, 40-year-old Dawn Elaine Coleman, of Shreveport, Louisiana, also is facing neglect and obstruction charges.  She was arrested on Oct. 19 in San Francisco.

Cairo was buried in June at a Salem, Indiana, cemetery about 35 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky, after a memorial service where a police chaplain called the then-unidentified child an “unknown angel.”

.jpg photo of the Child's Father and the boy found dead in a suitcase.
Cairo Jordan had a very Good Father who Loved and cared for him very much!

Huls said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation assisted Indiana authorities in contacting Jordan’s father after investigators confirmed the boy’s identity.

.jpg photo of Cairo and Vincent Jordan.
Every Child deserves to have a Loving Father who truly cares for them.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed Oct. 14 seeking the arrest warrant against Coleman, investigators found both Coleman’s and Anderson’s fingerprints on black plastic bags the boy’s body had been placed inside within the suitcase .

The affidavit contains posts that Anderson allegedly made on her Facebook account, including posts on April 11 after she was released from jail in Louisville, Kentucky, on a shoplifting charge.  In those posts, made using a vanity name, Anderson wrote: “Just got out of a jail mission” and “Yes had to do some healing and killing,” the affidavit states.

A series of earlier Facebook posts Anderson allegedly made discuss exorcism, spells and other supernatural topics, with one posted on Feb. 19 mentioning “a very powerful demonic force from within my son,” according to the affidavit.

Online court documents do not list an attorney who could speak on behalf of Coleman, who is expected to be transported to Indiana within about a month, Huls said.

Indiana’s online court records do not reflect a murder charge against Anderson, and it is unclear if she has an attorney who could speak on her behalf.

The Washington County Prosecutor’s office declined Wednesday to discuss the status of the murder charge against Anderson.

Huls said the prosecutor’s office obtained an arrest warrant on a murder charge for Anderson from a judge Tuesday based on an affidavit that would be released once Anderson is in custody.

Child Abuse, Child Innocence, Heatstroke, Law Enforcement, Neglect, Physical Abuse

CHILDREN LEFT IN VEHICLE ON 101 DEGREE DAY

.jpg photo of vehicular heatstroke graphic
#HotVehicles Are Not #BabySitters

Mother arrested after children found unresponsive in hot car parked at Walmart

#HotVehicles Are Not #BabySitters   #HeatStrokeKills   #LookBeforeYouLock

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK  –  The Oklahoma City Police Department says a metro mother was arrested on 2 charges of child neglect Sunday afternoon after her children were found unconscious in the backseat of a hot car parked at a local Walmart.

According to the incident report, 39-year-old Elizabeta Babb was arrested at the Walmart Supercenter near I-240 and Santa Fe Ave. after her two 2-year-olds were rescued from a hot vehicle in the parking lot.

Police say Walmart security footage shows Babb entered the store with one of the children at 2:22 p.m. before walking back out with the child at 2:28 p.m., deposits the child back in the car and walks back into the store.

While Babb is inside the store, a witness outside crawled through the open sunroof to unlock the car and retrieve the unresponsive children.

According to the report, when roused, one child began crying while the other remained lethargic.

A Walmart security officer put the children into her security vehicle with the air conditioning running.

That security officer told officers the car was hot to the touch and even burned her while she attempted to retrieve the children.

Meanwhile, security officials inside the store were repeating the vehicle’s tag number over the intercom in efforts to have the vehicle owner walk out, but no one did.

At 2:57 p.m., Babb is seen leaving self-checkout and walking outside where her children were being examined by medics.

“When confronted, Babb stated she was only in the store about five minutes,” said the reporting officer.

DHS and OKCPD determined Babb should be arrested on scene during their investigation.

The children’s father and grandmother were contacted to take the children from the scene after their medical evaluation.

Babb now faces two counts of Child Neglect. 

Child Abuse, Child Innocence, Human Trafficking, Neglect, Parenting, TX AG

TX Attorney General HTD Puts One Away

.jpg photo of Texas Attorney General LogoPaxton’s Human Traf­fick­ing Divi­sion Announces 99-Year Sen­tence in Hunt Coun­ty Human Traf­fick­ing Trial

AUSTIN, TX  –  Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that Barbara Barrett, of Greenville, has been found guilty of Continuous Trafficking of a Child in Hunt County and received a sentence of 99 years in jail.

Barrett and her husband, Jeffery Barrett, are accused of abusing and neglecting their adopted children while forcing them to work in a puppy mill attached to their home.

Both were charged with Continuous Trafficking of Persons.  Paxton’s Human Trafficking and Transnational Organized Crime Division assisted the Hunt County District Attorney in prosecution of Barrett.

“It is heartbreaking to know this horrid abuse was happening in our state, and it is unfathomable that a person could be so heartless to abuse the foster care system and use children in need of a loving, safe home as slave labor,” Attorney General Paxton said. “There is no excuse for this evil behavior, and it will not be tolerated in our state.  We can only hope this successful prosecution will bring some degree of justice to the children that were robbed of the love and care they deserved.  I will never stop fighting against human trafficking.”

Child Innocence, Child Sex Abuse, Law Enforcement, Malnourished, Murder, Neglect

After 2015 Sexual Assault, Murder Of Jourdin A’Legacy Smith, Justice Served

.jpg photo of father of child who was murdered
Jamarkus Smith, 31, was found guilty of first-degree murder, taking indecent liberties with a child, intentional child abuse inflicting serious injury, felonious child abuse and two counts of sex offense with a child by an adult in the death of his daughter, Jourdin A’Legacy Smith.

Parents sent to prison in 2015 Fayetteville slaying, sex assault of 3-year-old daughter

Cumberland County, NC  –  A Fayetteville mother and father were sent to prison Monday for the 2015 sexual abuse and death of their malnourished 3-year-old daughter.

After a week of testimony and just over four hours of deliberation, a Cumberland County jury found Jamarkus Smith, 31, guilty of first-degree murder, taking indecent liberties with a child, intentional child abuse inflicting serious injury, felonious child abuse and two counts of sex offense with a child by an adult in the death of his daughter, Jourdin A’Legacy Smith.

.jpg photo of mother of child who was murdered
Octavia Bennett-Smith, 32, a former Fort Bragg Army sergeant, pleaded guilty in December 2019.

Jourdin’s mother and Smith’s wife, Octavia Bennett-Smith, 32, a former Fort Bragg Army sergeant, pleaded guilty in December 2019.

Testimony in Smith’s trial began July 19, with closing arguments on Friday.

Following the jury verdict, Smith professed his innocence when he addressed the court before sentencing.

“I showed them I was innocent,” he said.  “They know I’m innocent, and you know I’m innocent.  Everybody here knows.  How is that right?  At what point is the legal system about justice?”

No statements were made on behalf of Jourdin before Judge Claire Hill sentenced Smith to life imprisonment for the murder and a combined 25 to 35 years for the other charges. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for life.

Smith’s attorney, Kris Poppe, said his client plans to appeal the verdict.

As Smith was escorted from the courtroom Monday, he turned to two women in the gallery who appeared to be there on his behalf and said, “I didn’t do it.”

“I know you didn’t baby,” one of the women said.  “He didn’t do that.  I don’t care what nobody says.  He didn’t do it.”

According to the child’s autopsy report, the cause of death was pneumonia in the setting of malnutrition, neglect and sexual abuse.   She weighed just 28 pounds at the time of her death, and her body and genitals were riddled with lacerations and contusions, the report said.

Bennett-Smith’s sentencing came some 30 minutes after her husband’s.

Her defense attorney, Antonio Gerald, called Jourdin’s death a tragedy.

Gerald said that Bennett-Smith accepted responsibility for her role in Jourdin’s death and “agreed to testify and assist in any way to help bring justice for Jourdin.”

Bennett-Smith did not speak during the hearing but cried as she was sentenced to a minimum term 10 years, five months, and a maximum of 13 years, six months for the second-degree murder charge.

The judge declined Gerald’s request for a consolidated sentence and instead stacked the sentence for the other charges.

For the child abuse and sexual assault charges, she received a consecutive minimum sentence of four years, four months, and a maximum of more than 10 years in prison.  She will be required to register as a sex offender for 30 years after release.

The judge also recommended a psychological evaluation for Bennett-Smith.

Gerald said that the court heard during her testimony at Smith’s trial that she was also a victim of assault as a child.

“These are not excuses for her actions of what she has pled guilty to, but only to shed some light as to what may have led her to be in this courtroom today,” he said.

Child Abuse, Indifference, Law Enforcement, Mental Abuse, Neglect, Physical Abuse

TN Couple Plead Not Guilty At Arraignment

.jpg photo of man charged in felony abuse of 6 children
Randall Ridenour, 54, of Harriman, Tennessee,

East Tennessee couple charged with
aggravated Child Abuse, assault of
six children

HARRIMAN, TN  –  A couple in Harriman, Tennessee face a slew of aggravated abuse charges of six children, according to a grand jury indictment.

.jpg photo of man charged in felony abuse of 6 children
Michelle Ridenour, 48, of Harriman, Tennessee,

Randall Ridenour, 54, and Michelle Ridenour, 48, of Harriman have been charged with 17 counts of aggravated child abuse, seven counts of aggravated child neglect and five counts of aggravated assault.

The two plead not guilty in an arraignment hearing on Monday, October 26.

The alleged abuses involve six children, ages 6-14, and occurred between Jan. 1, 2018, and June 13 of this year.

According to the list of charges in the indictment, the victims sustained severe bruising from being whipped by a belt.

The charges also allege the couple knowingly treated and neglected the victims, “in such a manner as to inflict injury, and the abuse was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel or involved the infliction of torture to the victim.”

The five counts of aggravated assault listed involve both strangulation or attempted strangulation and the use or display of a deadly weapon, according to court documents.

They are set to appear in court on Friday, Dec. 18.