4-year-old boy found dead in Atlanta; mother’s friend arrested, police say.
A woman was arrested Tuesday in east Georgia after Atlanta police found a 4-year-old boy dead while conducting a wellness check at a southwest Atlanta residence, officials said.
Jasmaine Smoak, 32, was taken into custody by the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office after Atlanta police used license plate reader technology to track her to Washington, about 110 miles east of Atlanta and roughly 50 miles northwest of Augusta.
She faces charges of second-degree cruelty to children and concealing the death of another, according to Atlanta police.
Smoak “is not related to the child but is a friend of the child’s mother,” an Atlanta police spokesperson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution by email.
The child’s name has not been released, and officials have not provided the cause of death. The boy’s body was found when Atlanta police responded to the 3500 block of Cardinal Drive, just west of I-285 and south of Campbellton Road, around 7:20 p.m. Monday and forced entry.
Early Monday morning, Fulton County Medical Examiner Investigator Denedra Rogers told the AJC via email the child had “not yet been positively identified.”
Atlanta police spokesperson Lt. Christapher Butler told reporters shortly after midnight that officers were “still investigating the circumstances that surround the death.” He said they were, at that point, still trying to track down any of the child’s family members.
Butler said at the time it was “too early” to say if foul play is involved.
After Smoak’s arrest, Wilkes County Sheriff Darrell Powers said in a post to social media that his agency and investigators with Atlanta police worked through the night to locate the suspect.
”Most importantly, their efforts have removed this individual from the community, preventing the possibility of further harm to innocent children while allowing the judicial process to move forward," he said in the post.
— This is a developing story. Please check back with ajc.com for updates.