Missing toddler found dead in trash can, Louisiana cops say. Now mom faces charges
The search for a missing Louisiana boy came to a heartbreaking end after authorities say his body was dumped in a trash can.
Ezekiel Harry, 2, was believed to have been kidnapped hours before his remains were found on Daspit Street in West Houma on Tuesday, July 12, the Houma Police Department said. Investigators discovered his body just before 6 p.m.
Ezekiel’s mom, 28-year-old Maya Jones, and her live-in boyfriend, 37-year-old Jermaine Robinson, were arrested in connection with the toddler’s disappearance, police wrote in a news release. Neither have been formally charged but face multiple offenses, including first-degree murder.
Jones initially told authorities that someone in a gray truck snatched her 2-year-old and fled while she walked along Bayou Terrebonne with her children around noon Tuesday. Police determined her story “was inaccurate,” however, and suspected foul play was involved.
“Houma Police learned the mother ... left walking from her residence on Cadiere Street with the 2-year-old Ezekiel Harry and her other three children between the ages of 5 and 10 yrs old,” the release said. “Once arriving near the area of Bayou Terrebonne, adjacent from Mahler Street, Maya Jones went to nearby residences stating her kid was abducted.”
Jones and Robinson were both booked into the Terrebonne Parish Jail where they remain held as of Wednesday, July 13, online records show.
Houma is about 60 miles southwest of downtown New Orleans.
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 10:09 AM with the headline "Missing toddler found dead in trash can, Louisiana cops say. Now mom faces charges."