Da'JON MARCEL ROUNDTREE - 2 yo -(2010) Grimesland (SE of Greenville) NC

A Grimesland-area toddler is dead, and Pitt County
sheriff’s investigators are charging his mother and her
boyfriend in connection with the incident, Sheriff Mac Manning said.
Pitt County sheriff’s deputies found the body of the
boy, who was 2 years 4 months old, mid-morning Tuesday after
receiving a telephone call from the sheriff’s office in
Caroline County, Va., Manning said. Virginia deputies called local
authorities and told them they needed to check on the child’s welfare.
When local deputies arrived at 657 Moores Lane, Grimesland, and
entered the empty residence they found the toddler’s
lifeless body wrapped in a blanket and on a bed, Manning said. It
appears the child had been dead since late Friday or early Saturday morning, he said.
Preliminary observations by the medical examiner in Pitt County
indicate that the child sustained injuries prior to death.
Additional details were not available.
Manning did not release the child’s name.
Deputies were traveling to Caroline County on Tuesday to serve
arrest warrants charging the child’s mother, Denise Garcia, 32, with
one count of felony child abuse and Stephen Lamont Foreman, 29,
with one count of murder and one count of felony child abuse, Manning said.
Foreman is Garcia’s boyfriend, Manning said, but it is
unknown if he is the dead boy’s father.
Foreman and Garcia are in the custody of the Caroline County
Sheriff’s Office. Manning would not say why the couple
was in the custody of that sheriff’s office or how
deputies in that county learned about the toddler.
Manning said it appears at least two other minor children lived
with the couple. Investigators with Pitt County’s
Department of Social Services are working with social services in
Virginia to place the other children in protective custody, Manning said.
At least one of the children was with the couple when Caroline
County deputies took them into custody, Manning said. It was
unclear Tuesday night where the other child is.

Proceedings continued Wednesday in a Virginia court to return a
man and woman wanted in the death of the woman’s 2-year-old son, officials said.
Da’Jon Marcel Roundtree, born Feb. 23, 2008, was found
dead in a mobile home on Moores Lane in Grimesland after the
suspects told deputies in Caroline County, Va., where to check on
the child on Tuesday, according to Pitt County Sheriff Mac Manning.
Steven Lamont Foreman, 29, and Denise Ereana Garcia, 32, were
detained in Bowling Green, Va., after Pitt County deputies
discovered the child’s body in the trailer, Manning said.
The couple had gone to the Caroline County sheriff Tuesday
morning and asked to speak to a magistrate, saying they wished to
report a child’s death, Manning said.
Garcia told detectives in Bowling Green that she awoke Saturday
morning to find her son cold to the touch and apparently dead, a
Caroline County sheriff’s spokewoman said in a press release.
She told the detectives she and Foreman left the child at the
Grimesland residence and traveled north, stopping to sleep in their
car. On Tuesday morning, they decided they needed to speak with law
enforcement and stopped at the Caroline County Sheriff’s
Office, the spokeswoman said.
Two detectives were dispatched to the home in Grimesland at 9:33
a.m. and discovered the dead child inside. Foreman and Garcia were
then detained in Virginia, he said.
Preliminary examination by the medical examiner in Pitt County
revealed that the child had sustained injuries prior to his death,
Manning said. The precise cause of death had not been determined by
Wednesday afternoon, an official said.
Pitt County detectives were in Caroline County Wednesday with
two warrants, one charging Foreman with murder and felony child
abuse, the other charging Garcia with felony child abuse. The two
also were charged with being fugitives from justice from North Carolina.
They were being held at the Pamunkey Regional Jail and
extradition hearings to return them to Pitt County were ongoing in
Caroline County, Sheriff A.A. “Tony” Lippa said.
The deceased child is believed to be Garcia’s but not
Foreman’s, Manning said. Another of Garcia’s
children, a 4-year-old girl, was believed to be living with her and
Foreman at the Grimesland residence and was with the couple when
they went to the Caroline County sheriff, Manning said. Information
provided earlier about a third child was incorrect.
A Pitt County Social Services worker went to Virginia, picked up
the girl and returned her to Pitt County, where she is believed to
be in the care of a grandparent supervised by Social Services, Manning said.
Court records indicate that Garcia has other children, the
sheriff said. She was convicted and given probation in 2005 for two
misdemeanor school attendance violations in 2004 and again in 2005.
Foreman has prior convictions dating between 1998-2007,
including common law robbery, communicating threats, simple assault
and driving while intoxicated, Department of Correction records showed.
Garcia and Foreman are not married, Manning said. They were not
living at the Grimesland home together very long before the alleged
homicide occurred, he said.
Patrons at the Express Food Mart at Moores Lane and N.C. 33 in
Grimesland said they had often seen Garcia and Foreman at the store.
“They always seemed comfortable talking with other
people, but mostly stuck to themselves,” said regular
customer Justin Cummings. “I’d see him with the
kids all the time. He was polite to everyone and acted in a very
fatherly way with the children, holding their hands and making sure
they behaved.”

According the Medical Examiner's Office, Da'Jon Roundtree died from
"non-accidental" head trauma. They are calling his death a homicide.
The date of the injury is listed as July 2, 2010 in the PM hours. The
boy's date of death is listed as July 3, 2010. The description of the
head injury is "struck repeatedly by other."
Steven Lamont and Denise Garcia are charged in connection with the
toddler's death. They arrived back in Pitt County Thursday afternoon
after turning themselves into Caroline County, VA Sheriff's Department
Tuesday.
Lamont & Garcia are scheduled for their first court appearance in
Pitt County, Friday morning.

A couple from the east has been indicted on murder and child abuse charges in connection with the death of a toddler.



A Pitt County grand jury indicted both Steven Foreman and Denise Garcia on Monday with one count of first-degree murder and one count of felony child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury.Back in July, Garcia's son, 2-year-old Da'jon Roundtree, was found dead inside a mobile home on Moore's Lane in Grimesland.Preliminary autopsy results were able to show that the toddler was struck multiple times.Shortly after the investigation began, Pitt County District Attorney Clark Everett told Nine On Your Side that his office was investigating to determine if the death penalty will be sought.

Grimesland Couple Plead Guilty In Death Of Toddler
A mother has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the death of her son, while her boyfriend has agreed to a guilty plea of second degree murder.
Posted: 4:47 PM Feb 8, 2011


A mother has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the death of her son, while her boyfriend has agreed to a guilty plea of second degree murder.
Denise Garcia and Steven Foreman made the pleas this afternoon during a hearing at the Pitt County Detention Center.
The child, 2-year-old Da'Jon Roundtree, was found dead July 3rd in the couple's Grimesland mobile home.
The two reported the boy's death to authorities in Caroline County, VA. Deputies found the boy wrapped in a blanket in the couple's Grimesland trailer. An autopsy says Da'jon died from a non-accidental head injury.
Judge Russell Duke sentenced Foreman to serve between 12 and 15 years in prison, while Garcia was sentenced to serve between 16 and 20 months in prison.

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http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Grimesland_Couple_Plead_Guilty_In_Death_Of_Toddler_115593374.html

these 2 need to be horse-whipped and sterilized! i know 2 year olds can b a challenge but just walk into another room or step outside 4 a few minutes until u have calmed down. i have had a 2 year old so i know from experience that there is no need to lose ur cool. mine used to try himself and when he realized that i was upset, he would come to me and tell me to "mamax" (his word for relax) how could i b upset after something like that??? it worked everytime!