A Gwinnett County judge declined to set bond Thursday for a mother accused of starving her 15-year-old daughter and keeping her locked in a room reeking of human waste.
Jade Marie Jacobs remains in the Gwinnett County jail charged with cruelty to children in the first degree and false imprisonment. She must be indicted within 90 days or granted a bond.
Meanwhile, police continue to look for the girl’s stepfather, William Anthony Brown, who is facing the same charges. An attorney who said he represented Brown has told police that he has told his client that there is an arrest warrant against him .
According to a 911 call Jacobs made on Aug. 1 to summon help and testimony from a police investigator in the case, the authorities learned of the teenager when paramedics got to the Lawrenceville house and then took her to Scottish Rite Hospital. (Original reports were that Jacobs to the child to the hospital herself).
Jacobs told the 911 operator that she had been trying to place her daughter in a program suitable for her autism and mental health issues but nothing had come through. In the meanwhile, the mother said, the girl was becoming more aggressive towards three other children in the house. Jacobs told the operator that her daughter would cut herself and engaged in other self destructive practices.
“Right now I don’t know how much more I can deal with that,” Jacobs said on the recording.
Jacobs told the operator that she called 911 on the advice of her daughter’s psychiatrist.
The 15-year-old and her three younger sisters, who police say showed no sign of abuse, are in the custody of state Department of Family and Children Services, the assistant district attorney who handed the preliminary hearing Thursday confirmed.
Brian Dorminy of the Gwinnett County Police Department testified that the teenager was kept in a small room about the size of an office cubicle. He said there was a “2-foot-by-2-foot exercise mat” on the floor and the only light in the room was florescent. He said urine and feces stained her shirts and pants.
“She had multiple bruises all over her body,” Dorminy said. “Some of the bruises resembled bedsores that … possibly could be an indication she had been restrained or confined to a small area.”
Dorminy also said the girl said her mother had given her a black eye.
The other girls in the house told police their oldest sister was isolated a a closet in the basement bedroom of her 13-year-old sister because “the girl was violent against them.”
There was no lock on the door but dumbbell had been propped up to keep it closed, Dorminy said.
Jacobs told the medical staff at Scottish Rite her daughter’s wounds were from fighting with a sister; and she said her daughter routinely refused to eat which blamed for the low weight. A detective testified the girl quickly ate the two hamburgers and personal pan pizza offered her.
Jacobs’ attorney disputed suggestions the details of the case showed the mother was unconcerned about her daughter’s well being.
“She had tried to get help and was at wit’s end,” Sexton said. “(In) the last call she made, she had sought medical treatment from a psychiatrist.”
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