DETROIT – Two legal guardians have been charged after a 9-year-old Detroit boy who was allegedly locked away and abused died from untreated pneumonia.
Sherman Devaughn Jones, 46, and Sampaguita Jones, 41, both of Detroit, were charged with felony murder, torture, and involuntary manslaughter.
Prosecutors said both defendants are licensed foster-care workers who have operated a foster home since at least 2018.
Medics responded at about 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2024, to a home on Gladstone Street after reports of an unresponsive child.
The boy, identified in court documents as Owen Jones (Owen Rosario), was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead.
The medical examiner ruled the cause of death as a ‘rare pneumonia’ and concluded the death was a homicide because progressive symptoms had been ignored for an extended period.
Prosecutors allege the boy was neglected and physically abused and that the trauma from continued abuse and neglect led to his death.
An officer who responded said during the preliminary hearing that he saw “a lot of marks pretty much head to toe, all over his body, front and back,” and bruising “on the back of his head, almost like bedsores, and on his backside.”
Assistant prosecuting attorney Erin Wilmoth said previously that a family member first noticed injuries on the child in June 2023 and reported them to Child Protective Services, but CPS “failed to open an appropriate investigation.”
Wilmoth said CPS did not open an investigation until after the child died.
“The 9-year-old had scars, scratches, and bruising over his entire body, and the medical examiner noted that there were too many scars to count,” Wilmoth told the court.
Wilmoth said the child was underweight, had an extremely protruding stomach, and sustained fractures to several areas of his body, including his ribs, pelvis, an elbow, and his hands and arms.
Witnesses and prosecutors said the boy had been concealed from the public to hide the abuse: he was allegedly locked in his bedroom, not allowed to go outside, homeschooled, and not taken for regular wellness checks.
Wilmoth said the child’s mother had been trying to regain custody.
When the boy became ill with pneumonia, prosecutors said, both defendants ignored symptoms for weeks and never sought medical care.
The medical examiner found Owen’s right chest cavity was filled with pus, and his right lung was compressed.
Wilmoth described pneumonia as “extremely rare” in a child who is healthy and receives treatment and cited the medical examiner’s finding that the delay in care rendered the death a homicide.
“This child suffered, and he suffered for a long time,” Wilmoth said.
Photos taken during the search showed door sensors, doors without knobs, and cameras pointed at a child’s bedroom, which contained a crib and a twin mattress, the officer testified. Warrants were sent to DMC and Henry Ford hospitals for medical records.
Defense attorneys challenged some assertions at the preliminary hearing, including whether the responding officer was qualified to draw medical conclusions from photographs.
Dr. Bradley Norat of Children’s Hospital, who reviewed the medical records and evidence, testified at the hearing.
In a presentation of photographs and scans, Norat said, “His belly is very large, very distended,” and noted multiple linear scars across the abdomen that raised concerns about Owen possibly being hit with a flexible object such as a cord.
He said a bone survey showed multiple healing fractures, including two healing rib fractures about three weeks old, fractures to the pelvis, arm, and hand, and what he described as a painful fracture in the upper arm.
Norat said imaging “represents fluid that is around his lungs,” and that the accumulation of infection and fluid from untreated pneumonia would have caused fever, cough, lethargy, difficulty breathing, and vomiting “for weeks.”
He testified that, “this is to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that it was non-accidental trauma that caused the injuries in this case,” and said Owen likely would have survived if treated sooner.
Court testimony included that the foster parents told officers Owen had been sick for about a week and that they had given him cold medicine and herbal tea; the foster mother called 911 after he passed out while coughing, and a steam shower was attempted, according to testimony. Police said the foster parents were on scene at the hospital.
In 2019, Owen’s biological mother said she reported to police that she had been unable to regain custody of Owen after a temporary guardianship arrangement.
“In 2018, I did temporary guardianship with two of my friends who were a married couple, and I asked them for help when I lived with at my father’s house, and there was abuse towards me physically and emotionally by my father’s family members.
I asked them for help in the most vulnerable time in my life to keep my son and myself safe from abuse. In May, we sat down together and met with a Hephzibah social worker. We all signed for a year of temporary guardianship, and for this couple to help me and my son get a safe environment.
In 2019, we went to court, and these people whom I did temporary guardianship tried to file full-term guardianship once the temporary was about to expire.
These people tried every excuse in the book when I couldn’t visit, and why I couldn’t talk to my child on the phone. I have made many police reports against them for them not letting me be in contact with my son.
I have brought the police department to their homes. The system has failed him: DCFS, school system, social workers for the state of Michigan and for the state of Detroit, the police department, and the FBI.
Now they made headlines today in the news about my son’s death. Please pray for me and have this case go to trial for my young son, who didn’t deserve any abuse, neglect, or pain."
Owen’s biological mother
She told Local 4 News: “They bashed my name, made me seem like a bad mother, when all I wanted to do was be there for my son, call him, contact him, and they would sit there and ignore my phone calls, they’re not good people, and I’m honestly glad they’re locked away.”
She said the Joneses “prey on people” and portray themselves as kind and loving, “but they are not.”
“They have known Owen since birth, and they knew me for a very long time, and obviously, they did not give a s--- about children. They did not give a s--- about the safety of children,” she said.
The preliminary hearing continues on Wednesday (Oct. 8) at 9:30 a.m. Prosecutors said, depending on testimony, they could be adding an additional charge of first-degree child abuse.