DETROIT – A judge on Wednesday denied a defense request to reduce bond for Sherman D. Jones, 46, and Sampaguita L. Jones, 41, in a case stemming from the death of a 9-year-old boy named Owen, saying details in the autopsy and witness accounts raised serious public safety concerns.
Prosecutors said the child died after prolonged abuse and neglect while in their care, citing “too many marks to count” in autopsy reports. At a preliminary hearing in Wayne County, witnesses described repeated physical assaults, malnutrition and an abrupt failure to obtain lifesaving medical care. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. LokMan Sung testified that the boy’s body showed injuries consistent with long-term, repeated trauma and that omissions in care caused his death.
“Instead of bringing him in and getting him any care whatsoever, they just let him sit there and drown on his own mucus and die,” a prosecutor said. “The fact that [Sam Jones] was bold enough to keep whacking this kid in the head, on the arms, on his body, in front of people, that just goes to show what she’s so carelessly doing behind closed doors.”
Witness testimony
Iayna Craig, who said she lived with the Jones family for about a year and considered them “mentors,” testified that she met Owen when he was 4 or 5 and last saw the family in 2024. Craig described repeatedly hearing what she called “bumping” and the child crying. She testified that Sam Jones was the one who would “physically abuse him,” while Sherman Jones would “verbally” abuse the child.
Craig told the court that the child was sometimes not allowed to sleep in his bed after the family moved to Gladstone and that she had observed “marks or bruises on Owen.”
Craig said Owen “wasn’t able to eat” on at least one occasion and that he was sent to his room after asking for food. She testified that her fiancé found him in the room, tried talking with him, and took photographs of his injuries before Sam caught her. Craig also said her fiancé heard Sam take Owen into the bathroom, heard “bumping, crying,” and that Sam turned the water on so she could not hear what was happening.
Defense attorneys challenged the reliability of Craig’s photographs and suggested they could have been altered. Sherman’s attorney also argued there was insufficient evidence directly tying Sherman to the most violent acts, urging the judge to reduce Sherman’s bond.
“The only thing the people have to stand on at this point is involuntary manslaughter,” Sam’s attorney said.
The judge declined to lower bond, pointing to the autopsy findings and witness testimony that painted a picture of concealment and prolonged abuse. The judge expressed concern about the defendants’ influence over other young people and noted that Sherman’s mother did not know where the family had been living.
“I am concerned about the safety of the public here,” the judge said, adding that “a child was covered literally from head to toe with healed or healing scars and abrasions in a number of places.”
Autopsy findings
Wayne County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. LokMan Sung testified in great detail about the child’s injuries. Dr. Sung said the body showed abrasions, new wounds, old injuries and scarring across the face, head, neck, chest, shoulders, both arms and hands, the stomach and abdomen, knees, pelvis and hips, the fronts of the legs, both feet and toes, the entire back, buttocks and back of the legs. He described internal injuries as well.
When asked whether he had counted scars, Dr. Sung said he had not, explaining that there were “too many to count.” He testified that some injuries were more recent while others were clearly old, that an arm showed bone changes consistent with chronic injury, and that even Owen’s toenails were blackened by contusions or bruises.
Dr. Sung described finding “yellow pus filling the cavity” in the child’s chest and said that when the chest was opened, there was approximately 1.2 liters of pus compressing the right lung. He said the immediate cause of death was “pneumonia with complications” -- a condition more commonly seen in older patients and told the court the child was malnourished and small for his age. The examiner said the infant’s condition and the nature of the injuries indicated that inaction by his caretakers directly contributed to the death.
Next Hearing
Only one witness, Dr. Norat, a child-abuse expert, is expected to be recalled before attorneys give closing arguments. Prosecutors said they could add an additional charge of first-degree child abuse.
The preliminary hearing is scheduled to continue on Nov. 14, 2025, at 10 a.m.
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