Arkansas boy buried below floorboards was drowned in rest room by mom’s boyfriend, officers say

The Arkansas boy whose corpse was discovered buried below the floorboards of his dwelling final week died three months in the past after his mom’s boyfriend shoved his head in a bathroom bowl as “punishment” for biting the person’s finger, in line with newly filed courtroom paperwork that element the circumstances of the boy’s loss of life and the invention of his physique.

An arrest affidavit the state filed Tuesday in Lee County Circuit Court docket alleges that the boy’s mom, Ashley Rolland, 28, instructed police that her son, Blu, died Sept. 9 after an incident involving her boyfriend, Nathan Bridges, 33.

The boy’s age was not instantly clear: Arkansas State Police mentioned he was 6 years previous, however courtroom paperwork say he was born Dec. 16, 2017 — which means his physique was discovered on what would have been his fifth birthday. Blu’s paternal grandmother, Karen Rolland, 57, mentioned the boy would have turned 6 final week.

Ashley Rolland instructed police that Bridges additionally triggered her surviving 6-year-old daughter’s accidents — later recognized by medical personnel as extreme burns — by holding her below scorching water “as punishment for her conduct points,” the affidavit alleges.

Bridges declined to be interviewed, the affidavit says.

Police arrested Rolland and Bridges on Saturday, the day after they found the boy’s physique buried below the hallway of his dwelling in Moro, about 85 miles east of Little Rock, round 10:45 p.m., police mentioned.

Rolland and Bridges are accused of capital homicide, abuse of a corpse, tampering with bodily proof, endangering the welfare of a minor and battery. Rolland additionally faces two extra felony prices of allowing little one abuse.

Rolland is being held on the St. Francis County Detention Middle. Her mug shot reveals her with a black eye. A jail consultant couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.

Bridges is being held on the Lee County Sheriff’s Division, the affidavit says. He has been ordered to haven’t any contact with Rolland’s surviving little one, in line with the doc filed Monday.

Rolland and Bridges first appeared in courtroom Monday for a possible trigger listening to, courtroom data present. Each are being held with out bond and are subsequent due in courtroom Jan. 17 and have been appointed public defenders.

The Arkansas Public Defender Fee couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.

First Judicial Circuit Prosecuting Legal professional Todd Murray couldn’t instantly be reached with a query about how a lot jail time every may serve for the costs they face if they’re convicted.

A ugly discovery

Based on the affidavit, police arrived at Rolland’s residence Friday after Karen Rolland, whose son is the kids’s father, known as police after he arrived to select up the children for a court-ordered go to.

Ashley Rolland introduced out her daughter, who “had obvious accidents that had scabbed over on high of her head,” which she claimed have been attributable to an allergic response, the affidavit says.

Karen Rolland instructed NBC Information that the woman “may barely even stroll” and that her garments have been dirty in urine. Her first request, she added, was for “water and one thing to eat.”

“I instructed her that she was secure, and simply the look on her face was sheer terror,” she mentioned.

Ashley Rolland initially instructed Karen Rolland that Blu “was not on the residence,” in line with Karen Rolland and the affidavit. After she rushed her granddaughter to the hospital, Karen Rolland contacted police “to report she had data that Blu was presumably deceased,” in line with the affidavit.

When Lee County deputies arrived, Ashley Rolland’s father, Timmy Childers, 62, instructed police that his daughter had instructed him the boy was useless inside the house and described the place she had mentioned he was.

Childers couldn’t be reached for remark.

Authorities entered the house and located “newly nailed-down boards” and “disturbed earth beneath”; below the primary layer of grime, they discovered a toddler’s flip-flop, a pink and blue blanket and “the pungent odor of decay,” the affidavit says.

After a search with a warrant, authorities eliminated extra flooring and grime and found “an unidentified mass believed to be a small human physique wrapped in a number of layers of plastic luggage,” which they transferred to the Arkansas State Crime Lab.

Kermit Channell, the director of the crime lab, mentioned the health worker will launch the trigger and method of loss of life in 30 to 60 days.

Ashley Rolland appeared to present conflicting accounts of who buried the boy’s physique, in line with the affidavit.

She instructed police that she had been in one other room on the time of the alleged drowning and that when she went into the lavatory after Bridges left it, she noticed her son “struggling to breathe, and his physique was limp,” in line with the affidavit.

She alleged that Bridges “minimize a gap of their picket ground, dug a gap within the floor, and buried [Blu] below the home,” the affidavit says.

However Rebecca Fiting, whose relationship to Ashley Rolland was not instantly clear, instructed police that Ashley Rolland mentioned “Blu had come out of the lavatory together with his face/physique swelling and foaming on the mouth earlier than collapsing and dying.” She alleged that Ashley Rolland mentioned “she didn’t know what to do and had buried Blu below the floorboards,” in line with the affidavit.

An ongoing struggle for custody

Ashley Rolland’s daughter was taken to a hospital, the place workers decided she had been “severely burned,” earlier than they transferred her to a kids’s hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, the affidavit says.

Court docket data present that Karen Rolland filed a petition for guardianship of the woman in St. Francis County Court docket on Wednesday and {that a} choose granted an order for emergency non permanent guardianship.

Earlier courtroom data present that her son, Dustin Rolland, 30, and Ashley Rolland married in December 2015 and divorced in June 2021. Ashley Rolland was granted main custody and charged with coordinating the daddy’s visitation by means of Karen Rolland, courtroom data present.

Dustin Rolland reopened the custody case Sept. 14 — 5 days after Blu is believed to have died — by submitting a criticism alleging that Ashley Rolland “has failed and refused to permit visitation as ordered.” Ashley Rolland was served with the criticism on the Moro home on Sept. 27 and filed a response almost a month later, alleging her ex-husband had didn’t pay little one assist or present as much as visits sober, courtroom data present.

Dustin Rolland denied the allegations, saying he paid little one assist from the start of the custody battle and has “been attempting to struggle for my children.”

“I want I may’ve been there a very long time in the past, but it surely was her holding me again from my kids,” he mentioned. “I do not need anyone considering that this was my fault. I like my children very a lot.”

A protracted highway to restoration

A buddy of the household, Anita Widby, has arrange a GoFundMe marketing campaign to assist the surviving woman’s restoration and future; it had raised greater than $24,000 by Thursday afternoon. Karen Rolland mentioned she’s going to use the cash, partly, to pay for updates to her dwelling in Widener, about 35 miles northeast of Moro, the place the woman will stay along with her and her father.

The home wants updates to its heating, electrical energy and home windows “in order that she maintains a wholesome dwelling,” Karen Rolland mentioned.

And the woman’s restoration “goes to take lots of remedy,” she added.

On Thursday afternoon, the woman was coloring within the hospital after she managed to hobble to the lavatory on her burned and blistered ft, her grandmother mentioned.

Dustin Rolland mentioned: “She’s powerful.”