Illinois Peoria authorities say Brandon Walker, 40, and Stephanie Jones, 35, have been charged with first-degree murder. Their bond is set at $ 1 million each and they could face life in prison. Peoria police said in a March 30 statement that police were called to a home the previous day and found Navin Jones, eight, “not responding and … not breathing.” In a subsequent briefing, the department said that “detectives were able to identify” Jones and Walker “as suspects in this investigation”. After interviewing the parents, “they were arrested because they endangered the life or health of a child that resulted in the death of the child,” police said. “On Wednesday, March 30, 2022, Peoria County Medical Examiner ruled that the preliminary cause of death was bodily abuse and neglect,” the department added. Records show that the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) dealt with the family until the day Navin died, the WCBU reported. Navin’s grandmother was given legal custody of his eight-year-old and 12-year-old brother in April 2017. But both children recently lived with their parents. DFCS helped them receive temporary custody in February and March. Police reports said Navin was “extremely malnourished with a skeletal appearance”. He had several bruises, scratches, abrasions and scars on his body. Both of his wrists also appeared to be suffering from ligation injuries. Peoria County Medical Examiner Jamie Hardwood ruled the death was homicide and said it was one of the worst cases of abuse he had ever seen. Prosecutor Dave Kenny told a hearing Thursday that the abuse appeared to be continuing and that the last time Navin appeared at least somewhat healthy was in October. Stephanie Jones and Brandon Walker were arrested after their 8-year-old son Navin was found dead weighing just 30 kilograms. (Peoria Police Department) Navin was placed in state custody in December 2013 after being born with drugs in his system. Records show that DCFS knew Jones before the children were born. She gave birth in 2006 to a child who died three months later. Walker was not the father. The DCFS found that the death was “appropriate because of the circumstances surrounding the signs of unsafe sleep” – meaning that reliable evidence suggests that abuse has occurred. Navin’s older brother, Walker’s father, was born prematurely in January 2010. A court granted custody of the child to the DCFS because of “marked concerns about a previous child death” and because Jones “may be living with individuals”. who were found incompetent “. The custody was returned to the parents in January 2012. When Navin was born in December 2013, they were both transferred to state care, where they remained until their paternal grandparents took over custody in 2017. The grandmother, who is not named in the DCFS records, left the children with their parents between July 10 and August 1 last year to travel to Florida for a “family emergency.” When he returned, the parents “refused to return” the children. The grandmother called both the Peoria Police Department and the DCFS hotline to report the circumstances. A Peoria police report from Aug. 17 states that the grandmother said she “ended up dealing with it and was just going to go back to court and put the children in foster care.” But on Aug. 19, he reported to a police station in Washington state trying to get the children back and called for a “complete welfare check.” DCFS records state that they tried several times to find the children between August and October. Walker told Child Protective Services (CPS) Aug. 24 that he was away from home and that he “had no plans to return to Illinois.” [or] delivering the children to DCFS ”. On Oct. 14, he told DCFS that the family had moved to Florida and would not return to Illinois. On February 14 this year, an anonymous answering machine on the DCFS hotline claimed that Navin and his brother were in Peoria, did not go to school, and that they were “often dirty.” The good man also said that his older brother went to work with Walker every day, that Navin’s eyes were “black and blue”, that he had a problem because he “got up in the middle of the night and ate chicken that Stephanie had cooked for them.” Dogs “. The good man added that Walker “talks” to his older brother and “calls him by name”, and that Jones would lock Navin in the basement when he “wants to take a nap or not want to deal with him”. During a CPS visit on February 22, both children “denied being hurt” and “being locked up or harmed”. The CPS said Navin looked “sick” and was thin and petite. Although he did not have black eyes, he had “selection marks” on his hands, the WCBU said. Jones claimed that Navin “eats all the time but does not gain weight”. The researcher said that she would help the parents to receive “short-term custody” of the children, “in order to remove any obstacles” in the medical care. Both children were assessed as safe. An Illinois Lutheran Social Services official told the CPS Feb. 23 that they had spoken to Jones about concerns that Navin was playing with feces. The next day, the CPS told the Peoria Police Department that both parents “denied any wrongdoing” following allegations of human trafficking. The grandmother signed documents to grant short-term custody to her parents on March 14 and again on March 29 – the day Navin died. According to police, Navin had signs of ligation, ulcers and his bedroom contained piles of sheets soaked in urine. When he arrived at the hospital, he weighed 38 kilograms and had a body temperature of 72 degrees (22.2 C). The trial of Walker and Jones is set for April 28 in Peoria County Court. While initially represented by a attorney general, Walker stated that he intends to hire a defense attorney. Navin’s funeral was to be held Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Morton with burial in Swan Lake Memorial Gardens in Peoria, according to his obituary in the Journal Star.
