A Rock Hill mother was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the death of her daughter who was disabled, Rock Hill Herald reported.
Her crime of child abuse
Last week Tuesday, a jury found Jackleen Mullen guilty of homicide by child abuse for the death of her four-year-old daughter, India Martin, in May of 2020.
Prosecutors say Mullen killed her daughter and hid her body in a dresser drawer.
Mullen will have to serve at least 22 years before she is eligible for release.
Health conditions of her daughter
Her daughter, India Heavenly Lacey Martin, had special needs and was unable to talk and could not walk without assistance.
When she was reported missing, police went to the house where Mullen and her boyfriend, Audrevious Williams, lived with India to question them about the child’s whereabouts in May 2020.
Authorities said that Mullen lied about her daughter’s whereabouts and that she was visiting a relative’s house, the Rock Hill Herald reports.
What footage shows
Body cam footage shows the police ask: ‘You want to go to jail for murder. Where’s that child? She’s dead and we know it.’
‘My kid’s not dead,’ Mullen replied in the video, ‘My kid is at Cindy’s house.’
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Cause of death
But further investigation revealed that India’s body had been stuffed into a dresser drawer in their bedroom.
A medical examiner determined that her cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
Police later said the mother ‘showed no emotion’ during the investigation or when the child’s body was discovered.
