A grandfather and grandmother are behind bars after police say they whipped their five-year-old granddaughter more than a dozen times with a belt for using the bathroom on herself.
Illinois prosecutors revealed the horrifying details surrounding the July 14 killing of 5-year-old Jada Moore. Prosecutors testified that the young girl had been subjected to beatings for more than two months and suffered severe contusions most commonly seen in car crash victims, NBC Chicago reported.
Klent Elwoods, 62, and his wife, Lisa Jones, 57, have been charged with first-degree murder in Jada’s death, which the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled a homicide caused by multiple injuries due to child abuse.
Around 11 p.m.the night of the incident, paramedics received a call from Elwoods for an “unresponsive” child.
“I was beating my little granddaughter and now she is out of it,” he reportedly told the dispatcher. Upon arrival, officers found the girl “lying on the couch completely nude.”
EMTs performed CPR on the girl before she was airlifted to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she died early Saturday, the New York Post reported.
The grandfather was quoted as telling the police that he began beating Jada after she soiled her underwear. “I was a little too rough with my grandbaby,” he allegedly said while riding in the back of the patrol car.
During an interview with police, Jones allegedly said Jada “had a history of ‘pooping’ on herself,” and that the last time she had a bathroom accident, Elwoods warned her that he would whip her with a belt if she were to soil herself again.
The grandfather allegedly made good on his threat when he discovered that night she had defecated on herself.
“Elwoods then grabbed a belt and had [Jada] bend over. Elwoods then proceeded to strike [Jada] on her buttocks between 10 and 12 times.” With each blow, the child fell on the floor, her grandmother reportedly told authorities, adding that with the last strike, the 5-year-old did not get back up.
Authorities searched the home and found a soiled pair of underwear, a belt, a notarized letter from Jada’s mom giving the grandparents custody for school and medical decisions, and a calendar with four dates marked in June allegedly indicating when Jada had previously defecated on herself.
Prosecutors also told the court that both grandparents admitted to beating Jada regularly with a belt, their bare hands, and a shoe.
An autopsy found that the little girl was covered from head to toe in “bruises, abrasions, and scars in various stages of healing.” She also had what is known as internal avulsion — or contusion — pockets in her back, buttocks, and legs, the Post reported.
“Avulsion pockets are commonly seen in car accident injuries due to the force required to cause such an injury,” prosecutors said.
“The avulsion pockets are indicative of the victim losing blood into the soft tissue and are more dangerous in children due to their overall lower volume of blood.”
Jada additionally had bleeding in the space between her brain and skull, pointing to a brain injury.
The beatings had started just a month into Jada’s stay with her grandparents, who had taken her in back in early April, promising to give the 5-year-old “a better home life” after her mother, who lives in Atlanta, had fallen on hard times, ABC 7 Chicago reported.
A judge denied the grandparent’s bond. They are scheduled to appear back in court on Aug. 2nd.
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