Judge grants dead infant’s parents bond

Published 10:15 pm Thursday, December 4, 2008

A juvenile court judge on Thursday granted a bond of $5,000 each to two parents accused of felony abuse and neglect.

Linwood Jones Jr., 24, and Shawntay D. Jones, 25, were charged with three counts each of felony abuse and neglect of children after their 11-month-old daughter was found dead in their home Monday.

Judge Robert Brewbaker ruled, as a condition of the bond, that neither parent is to have any contact with the other two children, ages 3 and 4, except at the child’s funeral, said Jim Grandfield, who is representing the mother in the case.

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Suffolk Fire and Rescue was called to the residence, in the 600 block of Third Avenue, Monday afternoon on a report of an unresponsive child. Paramedics reported that they found the girl on the living room floor, she was cold to the touch, and rigor mortis already had begun in her arms and legs.

Parents and other relatives were screaming when they arrived, but nobody was attempting to resuscitate the child, according to the search warrant filed in the case.

Paramedics also observed a possible burn mark in the child’s right ear, as well as trash and food covering the kitchen floor and other parts of the house, and general disarray throughout, according to the search warrant.

Police officers served the search warrant about three hours after the emergency call. They seized a child’s sippy-cup, a flat Winnie the Pooh crib sheet, a bottle of liquid medicine, a bottle of infant Tylenol drops and two family portraits.

The parents had last checked on the child at 7 a.m. Monday morning, more than eight hours before she was found dead, according to police. Officers found that the home had vomit on the floor, little heat, no running water and feces standing in the toilet.

Trash was strewn about the front yard of the home on Tuesday, including a soiled diaper. A reporter observed workers from Bestway Rent-To-Own removing a freezer and a large flat-screen television from the home. The men said they had been called and told to pick up the items.