JA'VEON MITCHELL - 7 Months - (1/2011)/ Sentenced: Babysitter; Carolyn Miller - Titusville FL

Police said a Titusville mother has not seen her 7-month-old son since she left the baby with a sitter on Thursday.
Titusville police said they located 40-year-old Carolyn "Renee"
Miller on Monday morning. Police said the missing infant has not yet
been found.Investigators said Miller often watched JaVeon Brushan for several days at a time.
The child's mother said she has not been able to reach Miller on her cell phone, according to police.
Authorities ask anyone who may have seen Miller to call police right away.

*   *   *   *

A babysitter, who was reported missing
along with a 7-month-old baby, has been found Monday and is being
interviewed, according to the Titusville Police Department.However, the baby, Javeon Brushan, has not been found. Police said they are very concerned about Brushan 's well-being.Brushan
was reported missing, along with his babysitter, 40-year-old Carolyn
Renee Miller, on Sunday. The FBI is now assisting in the investigation.Brushan's
mother said he was last seen on Thursday, January 20. Police said that
it is not uncommon for Miller to babysit the child for days at a time.  
However, usually, she's reachable by cell phone.According to Miller's relatives, she told them she had not seen Brushan in days.Brushan's mother is also at the police station, where investigators are trying to figure out what happened to the boy.Anyone with information on Brushan's whereabouts is asked to contact the Titusville Police at 321-264-7800.

TITUSVILLE --

A babysitter is charged after police said she led them to a baby's body behind a Brevard County home.
Carolyn “Renee” Miller walked out of the Titusville Police
Department around 7:30 p.m. Monday, charged with felony child neglect
and improper disposal of human remains.
Miller had been babysitting Ja'Veon Brushan since Jan. 18.
Police said Miller told them she discovered Ja'Veon dead
after taking a nap several days ago. She said she disposed of the baby’s
body in a container.
The body was found in the backyard of a home in the 500 block of South Deleon Avenue.
Investigators said the baby was lifeless inside of a cooler, and they believe he had been there since either Thursday or Friday.
However, investigators don't know yet how the infant died.
“Don't have specifics on the condition of the body, but
detectives said there were no obvious signs of trauma,” said Lt. Todd
Hutchinson from the Titusville Police Department. “No obvious cause of
death based on a preliminary investigation of the body.”
An autopsy is planned first thing in the morning on the baby
and investigators said after that they will decide if charges should be
upgraded against Miller, or as the investigation continues, if charges
should be brought against someone else.
A Department of Children and Families spokeswoman said Miller
has a "lengthy history" with their agency. However, she emphasized DCF
did not investigate her involving this particular child.
http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/2011/january/199898/Babysitter-charged-in-missing-babys-death

Autopsy Under Way After Infant Found In Cooler

Baby Sitter Charged With Neglect

Police said Monday night that the woman who was first reported missing with the 7-month-old she was baby-sitting has been charged after the boy's body was found in a cooler.

A medical examiner in Brevard County began an autopsy on the infant early Tuesday. Police said Carolyn Miller, 40, led investigators to the body behind a home on South DeLeon Avenue. They said the body was found inside a cooler.

Miller is charged with child neglect and the improper disposal of a human body.
Miller was known to frequently baby-sit 7-month-old Javeon Brushan. Police said she apparently took the child to the DeLeon Avenue home, but nobody knew where she was, and she couldn't be reached on her cell phone.When police began looking for her Sunday, word spread, and a cousin of the baby's mother drove Miller to the Titusville Police Department.

"I spotted her and then that's when everything fell into place, and the officer came and put her in the car," a relative of the baby's mother said.

Miller told investigators she had fallen asleep Friday, and when she awoke, the child was dead. Miller said she panicked and put the body in the cooler."She's crying very bad," the relative said.

Police said Miller has been charged with felony child neglect and the improper disposal of human remains.

Brushan was last seen Thursday. The infant's 21-year-old mother said Miller often baby-sat for her for days at a time.

"What was unusual was that she couldn't reach Miller on her cell phone," Titusville Police Department Lt. Todd Hutchinson said.

Investigators said they're baffled by when the mother reported Brushan missing. "We didn't find out the baby was missing until literally (Sunday) afternoon. That's another strange twist in this case," Hutchinson said. "We weren't even notified the baby was missing until (Sunday). We immediately began investigating, tracking down relatives and friends, checking hotels, motels, trying to find out where this woman was." "It obviously concerns us that the baby wasn't reported until several days (later). It's astonishing to us. Our detectives are determined to get to the bottom of this to find out what happened," Hutchinson said.

The cause of death has not been determined.

Florida Department of Children and Families spokeswoman Carrie Hoppener said Miller has a lengthy history with the department pertaining with her children.

The infant's mother also had a history with the DCF involving another child, Hoppener said.

A baby sitter who admitted to putting a dead infant in a cooler now faces charges in the case, police say.
Titusville police said the body of Ja-Veon Brushan was found around
noon in the back yard of a home in the 500 block of South Deleon Avenue.
The autopsy was completed Tuesday, but the cause of death cannot be
determined until toxicology test results are returned.
Police said the infant was found based on interviews with the boy's
baby sitter, Carolyn Miller, who has been named as a suspect. Miller's
boyfriend lives at the home and she frequently stays there, police said.

Police said Miller told them that several days ago, she fell asleep,
and when she awoke, Ja-Veon was dead. Police said she told them she put
his body in a small container and placed it outside. Police said they
believe the infant died on Thursday or Friday.
Miller was arrested and charged with child neglect and improper disposal of human remains.
At her first appearance on Tuesday, a judge issued a bond of $100,000
on the neglect charge and $50,000 on the improper disposal of human
remains charge. Miller declared indigency and has been appointed a
public defender.
The baby's mother, Janelle Richardson, 21, said she left Ja-Veon with Miller on Thursday.
The pair was reported missing Sunday by the child's mother after she
was unable to reach the baby sitter by phone, police said.
Miller was found around 10 a.m. Monday at the Gibson's Apartments.
Police said when they first asked Miller about Ja-Veon, she denied
knowing anything, but then admitted what happened.
Miller's sister, Lisa Madden, said her sister loved Ja-Veon like her own son.
"I don't know what my sister was going through. I don't even know if she did it," Madden said.
Richardson said Miller stopped by Thursday to pick up diapers and
milk, but she did not have Ja-Veon, telling Richardson she left the
infant with her boyfriend.
Over the weekend, Richardson's attempts to reach Miller were unsuccessful, so she called police.
Richardson told Titusville investigators it isn't unusual for the
baby sitter to watch the infant for days at a time. She told Local 6 she
did not call police until Sunday because Miller has never gone missing
before.
The Department of Children and families said they have a history of
involvement with Miller regarding her own children, as well as with
Richardson regarding another child who lives with relatives. Agents are
working with police to determine the safety of Miller's child.

http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=170939&catid=250

Ja-Veon Brushan

Titusville tot's death ruled undetermined as babysitter faces new charge

1:46 PM, Mar. 30, 2011



Last month, Brevard County prosecutors added the formal charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child against Carolyn Miller, 30, who admitted to detectives that the toddler died while in her care. If convicted on the new charge, Miller could face up to 30 years in state prison. / File photo


The ruling means authorities are unsure of exactly what caused the death of Ja'Veon Mitchell, despite a series of forensic tests on the child's body, which was found Jan. 24 in a cooler behind a home in Titusville. /File photo

Brevard County medical examiners have ruled the death for a 7-month-old toddler as undetermined as his Titusville babysitter faces a bond hearing on a new aggravated manslaughter charge.

The ruling means authorities are unsure of exactly what caused the death of Ja'Veon Mitchell, despite a series of forensic tests on the child's body, which was found Jan. 24 in a cooler behind a home in Titusville.

Last month, Brevard County prosecutors added the formal charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child against Carolyn Miller, 30, who admitted to detectives that the toddler died while in her care. If convicted on the new charge, Miller could face up to 30 years in state prison.

Miller was already charged with child neglect and improper disposal of a dead body.

"There's absolutely no reason why this child should have died. It's under suspicious circumstances at best," said Assistant State Attorney Julia Lynch, top prosecutor for child abuse and sex crimes.

"We know that this child was not properly supervised in the care of (Miller.)"

Miller remains jailed and will have a bond hearing Thursday at the courthouse in Titusville before Circuit Court Judge John Griesbaum. Miller’s court-appointed attorney with the Public Defender’s Office did not return calls.

The death was an active homicide case for Titusville police, who said Miller admitted that she woke up to find the baby dead while he was in her custody.

Miller also told police that she became scared and put the body in a cooler and hid the remains behind her boyfriend’s home on Deleon Avenue.

Miller was watching the toddler while Ja’Veon’s mother celebrated her 21st birthday, friends and family members said. Police said the mother, Janelle Richardson, grew increasingly worried after several days when she could not reach Miller, a longtime family friend.

Richardson then went to police to report the child and babysitter missing. Miller was taken into custody and led police to the child’s body.

Carolyn Renee Miller, Caretaker Who Stuffed Baby's Body In Cooler, Was Paid In Crack Cocaine

Posted: 10/21/2013 10:14 am EDT  
Updated: 10/21/2013 10:14 am EDT

She was paid in crack cocaine to watch a baby.

Carolyn Renee Miller, 42, who pleaded no contest to aggravated manslaughter of a child and improper disposal of a human body, was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison Oct. 18. The charges stemmed from the 2011 death of a baby who was left in the Florida woman's care.

Miller told investigators that she awoke to find the child, Ja'Veon Mitchell, was dead, WESH reported. In a panic, she stuffed the boy's body into a cooler and hid it behind her boyfriend's home.

Authorities listed Ja’veon’s official cause of death as unknown, but prosecutors said that the Brevard County Medical Examiner was "leaning more towards a homicide on the case or a neglect on the case as a cause of the child’s death," according to The Ledger.

According to Florida Today, Miller received a relatively low sentence compared to what she could have received under the law. At her sentencing, a judge weighed whether Miller's mental state should mitigate her sentence. The defense had argued that Miller suffered from "PTSD and trauma from a tough upbringing and bad relationships."

Prosecutors said a judge noted that Miller had been paid in crack cocaine to watch Ja'Veon Mitchell and that her actions could have been influenced by use of the drug, according to NBC Miami.

The child's mother was not prosecuted. Florida Today reported that none of the victim's family attended the hearing Friday.

Unfortunately, this is not the first criminal case involving a child in a cooler. In September, a Louisiana woman was arrested after she allegedly put her baby in an ice chest, and sat by while the child screamed from within.

In May, a Washington state man faced attempted murder charges after he allegedly put his child in a freezer in order to stop the baby girl from crying.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/21/carolyn-renee-miller-baby-cooler-crack_n_4135665.html