JABRIA PHILLIPS - 1 yo (1/2014) - / Charged: Mother and Stepfather; Shankia Evans and Deonte Evans - St. Louis MO

St. Louis Police: Toddler died of “blunt force trauma”

Posted on: 6:09 am, February 11, 2014
updated on: 12:34pm, February 11, 2014
by Kim Hudson

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – St. Louis City police investigators are now calling the death of a toddler a homicide.  Authorities say the little girl’s death was caused by “blunt force trauma.”

Jabria Phillips was just one year old.

St. Louis Fire Captain Garon Mosby said medics rushed to an apartment on Rowan Avenue and Ridge Avenue in West St. Louis. He said the department got a call for help around 3:30 a.m. and found Phillips had no heartbeat.  Medics performed CPR before turning the child over to doctors, who pronounced her dead.

Police are now calling the toddler’s death a homicide.

Brenda Baker, Phillips’ grandmother who live in Detroit,  said she found out about her granddaughter’s death on FOX2now.com after a friend called about news crews at the home.  Baker says Jabria was just like her father who died last year.

“The Energizer Bunny has nothing on her,” she said, breaking down into tears. “[Jabria] was very energetic. Every time I saw her smile, I saw my son smile. Now, I don’t even have that.”

St. Louis Police were tight-lipped about the investigation.  But, detectives from the department’s Homicide and Child Abuse divisions are now investigating.

A police Crime Lab technician took bags of evidence from the home.  Other officers escorted two civilians in and out of the home.

Some in the community had not heard of the death until four hours later.  Two children who lived next door headed out to school, but not before an officer lifted the crime-scene tape.

http://fox2now.com/2014/02/11/police-investigating-childs-death/

Autopsy: 1-year-old St. Louis girl died of blunt force trauma

by Brendan Marks / KMOV.com Staff
Posted on February 11, 2014 at 6:06 AM
Updated today at 12:23 PM

(KMOV.com) – Authorities say an autopsy has revealed a child found unresponsive in a north St. Louis home on Tuesday died of blunt force trauma.

Homicide and child abuse detectives are now investigating the death of 1-year-old Jabria Phillips, who appeared lifeless when discovered by officers responding to a sick call at a home in the 1400 block of Rowan Ave. around 3:30 a.m.

She was transported to the hospital, where she later died.

According to police, the girl had been displaying signs of illness throughout the day and evening Monday.

Additional details were not immediately available.

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Homicide-detectives-called-to-investigate-death-of-2-year-old-girl-244859741.html

Stepdad beat toddler for 'stealing' piece of cake, St. Louis police say

UPDATED at 8:31 p.m. with charges and more details about case.

Deonte Evans, 23, in a mugshot provided by police.

St. LOUIS • A man has been charged with murder in the death of his toddler stepdaughter, saying he beat the girl for climbing on a counter and "stealing" a piece of cake.

Deonte L. Evans, 23, of the 1400 block of Rowan Avenue, was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder, child abuse, and armed criminal action for the death of the girl, Jabria Phillips, who was 23 months old. She died Tuesday morning of blunt force trauma.

Evans' wife and the girls' mother, Shanika M. Evans, 23, was charged with first-degree child endangerment. Court documents say she knew Evans had hit the baby but didn't do anything to tell medical authorities until early the next day when she was rushed to a hospital.

Police were called to the girl's home in the 1400 block of Rowan Avenue at about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday for a "sick case."

Police were told that the girl appeared lifeless and had been showing signs of illness the day and night before, police say.

Jabria was taken to St. Louis Children's Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

According to court documents, Deonte Evans told police he hit the girl after she took the cake, and most of the blows he gave were to her torso. An autopsy showed that the fatal blows were to the girl's torso, which caused multiple injuries to her internal organs.

The autopsy also showed the girl had healing fractures to about seven ribs and the fractures appeared to be about two or three weeks old. Deonte Evans told police that two or three weeks ago he hit the girl with one “swift and powerful” open hand to the torso, court documents say.

Deonte Evans' criminal history includes 2009 charges for second-degree assault and resisting arrest.

Rowan is near Page and Goodfellow boulevards.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/toddler-girl-s-stepfather-charged-with-murder/article_08f240e7-3636-51be-8bb5-ec13db92c224.html

Mother, step-father charged in connection of toddler death


Posted on: 6:09 am, February 11, 2014, by Kim Hudson, updated on: 09:10pm, February 11, 2014


ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – A mother and her husband are charged in connection with the death of her 23-month-old child.

Deonte Evans is charged with second degree murder of Jabria Phillips, accused of beating his step daugther.

The mother, Shanika Evans, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child.

St. Louis Fire Captain Garon Mosby said medics rushed to an apartment on Rowan Avenue and Ridge Avenue in West St. Louis. He said the department got a call for help around 3:30 a.m. and found Phillips had no heartbeat.  Medics performed CPR before turning the child over to doctors, who pronounced her dead.

Police are now calling the toddler’s death a homicide.

Brenda Baker, Phillips’ grandmother who live in Detroit,  said she found out about her granddaughter’s death on FOX2now.com after a friend called about news crews at the home.  Baker says Jabria was just like her father who died last year.

“The Energizer Bunny has nothing on her,” she said, breaking down into tears. “[Jabria] was very energetic. Every time I saw her smile, I saw my son smile. Now, I don’t even have that.”

St. Louis Police were tight-lipped about the investigation.  But, detectives from the department’s Homicide and Child Abuse divisions are now investigating.

A police Crime Lab technician took bags of evidence from the home.  Other officers escorted two civilians in and out of the home.

Some in the community had not heard of the death until four hours later.  Two children who lived next door headed out to school, but not before an officer lifted the crime-scene tape.


http://fox2now.com/2014/02/11/police-investigating-childs-death/

Grandmother says she tried to get custody of murdered toddler


Posted on: 5:55 am, February 12, 2014, by Vera Culley and Jeff Bernthal, updated on: 09:43pm, February 12, 2014



ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – Just days away from her second birthday, a toddler is found dead in her home. Her mother and step-father have been charged and her paternal grandmother claims she tried to get custody of the child.

Police arrested Deonte and Shanika Evan, both 23, on Tuesday after the coroner determined that Jabria Phillips had died due to blunt force trauma.

Deonte, the step-father, is charged with Second Degree Murder and Child Abuse.  Jabria’s mother, Shanika, is charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child.

Medics found 23-month-old Jabria in an apartment near Dr. Martin Luther King and Goodfellow in north St. Louis early Tuesday morning.  She had no pulse. Doctors later pronounced her dead.

Police say Deonte hit the child repeatedly. Shanika’s mother, Shelia Elam, says her daughter has been falsely accused.

“Whatever happened, believe me it was an accident and my daughter wouldn’t harm her child. She wouldn’t murder her child,” Elam said.

Brenda Baker, the Jabria’s paternal grandmother who lives in Detroit says she’s been trying to get custody of the little girl for weeks.

Barker showed us a Michigan court document indicating she had temporary custody of the child. Baker said when she showed the document to officers they turned her away.

“I went to the police station and asked them to go with me to go get my granddaughter, and I showed them my paperwork.  It was on a Sunday.  But they told me that anybody can make that paper up,” Baker said.

St. Louis police are looking into Brenda’s claim that she was turned away.

http://fox2now.com/2014/02/12/grandmother-says-she-tried-to-get-custody-of-murdered-toddler/

Mother faces murder charges in the beating death of toddler

POSTED 5:12 PM, JULY 8, 2014
UPDATED AT 06:05PM, JULY 8, 2014
BY STAFF WRITER

(KTVI) – A St. Louis woman now faces murder charges in the beating death of her 23-month old daughter.

The Circuit Attorney’s Office Upgraded charges against Shankia Evans from child endangerment to second degree murder. Prosecutors say Evans’ husband, Deonte Evans, beat Jabria Phillips to death in February because he said she climbed on the counter and stole a piece of cake.

Read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Stepdad beat toddler for ‘stealing’ piece of cake, St. Louis police say

http://fox2now.com/2014/07/08/mother-faces-murder-charges-in-the-beating-death-of-toddler/