A 21-year-old Florida mother named Charisse Stinson has confessed that she left her son, Jordan Belliveau, 2, to die in the woods after initially claiming that a man kidnapped the boy.
Authorities found the child’s body Tuesday night in Largo. The woman was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and child abuse. Stinson was being held without bail at the Pinellas County Jail, and her first appearance in court was set for today.
A judge said she will be held with no bond for the murder charge and $500,000 for the aggravated child abuse charge. Stinson will be appointed a public defender.
According to the arrest affidavit, the boy had an unexplained injury to his right leg, and she struck him with the back of her hand out of frustration. According to the mother, the boy’s head hit a wall in their home after the blow.
Jordan started having seizures, and his condition did not improve on Sunday. That is when Stinson decided to take him to the wooded area and left him there. The young woman later called 911 and reported the child missing. An Ambert Alert had been issued, and the sketch of a suspect was even released.
For two days police frantically tried to locate Jordan. A third party gave the information which helped find his body. It seems that his injuries are consistent with the mother’s version of events.
Charisse Stinson, accused of killing her 2-year-old son, Jordan Belliveau, is booked into the Pinellas County Jail. pic.twitter.com/8MmHB75i3r
— Tampa Bay Times (@TB_Times) September 5, 2018
Stinson first told police that she was walking Saturday night with the little boy when a man named “Antwan” driving a white car offered them a ride.
She then said that the “Antwan” knocked her out and the next time she regained consciousness she was in Largo Central Park and Jordan was gone. Largo police Lt. Randall Chaney said the woman was “deceptive.”
He added: “Parts of her story didn’t make sense. However, we know from working missing person cases and working cases like these that sometimes people’s recollections aren’t good or they say things that maybe look inaccurate on the face.”
Police officials do not expect another person to be charged in this case. It was reported that the child had been in foster care for a while and welfare services checked on him the night before he was last seen.
Some sources say Stinson might be pregnant.
