Photo: Fulton County District Attorney’s Office
A Georgia daycare provider will spend the rest of her life behind bars for beating an 11-month-old to death three days before his first birthday.
On Friday, Maria Owens, 51, was convicted of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and cruelty to children in the first degree for the 2011 death of 11-month-old Jaylen Kelly. Owens was sentenced to life in prison, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Officeannounced in a press release.
On June 1, 2011, Jaylen’s parents left him and his 3-year-old sister in the care of Owens. That morning, the Kellys informed Owens, who ran the unlicensed daycare out of her Fairburn home, that they would no longer need her service.
Maria Owens.Fulton County Sheriff’s Office
Instead, they told her, they planned on enrolling Jaylen and his sister in a more structured daycare. The Kellys were Owens’s only customers at the time and she was going through a divorce, according to prosecutors.
An hour later, Owens called 911 and said Jaylen was not breathing. He was rushed to a local hospital and later flown to a children’s hospital in Atlanta, where he eventually succumbed to his injuries.
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In 2013, Owens was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and felony murder. However, a judge vacated the murder conviction, sentencing Owens to 10 years, but that decision was appealed.
“The family members of Jaylen Kelly were very upset when Mrs. Owens was not put in jail,” District Attorney Paul Howardtold WJCL.
Howard was able to successfully retry Owens; this time she was convicted of murder and sentenced to life.
“It means a great deal to us,” Howard said following Friday’s hearing,according to WJCL. “This child’s body was slammed down into what the medical examiner believes was either the side of the bathtub or the child was slammed down onto the floor.”
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go tohttp://www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
