AVEION MALIK LEWIS - 2 yo (2010) - Roanoke VA

When the body thought to be that of 2-year-old Aveion Lewis was
found in a regional landfill, he was wrapped in packaging and tape, a
search warrant filed in Roanoke Circuit Court on Friday said.
Reported missing from his Roanoke home on Jan. 14, the toddler was
the subject of an intense search -- first for the kidnappers who his
stepfather claimed had taken him, later for his remains after
investigators determined the abduction story was false and that he had
been killed.
Aveion's stepfather, Brandon Lockett, was charged last week with
felony child neglect, obstruction of justice and improper disposal of a
body.
Remains that are believed to be Aveion's were found Wednesday in the
Smith Gap Regional Landfill in Roanoke County. Authorities had begun
searching there after determining that garbage containers from around
Aveion's home in the 2100 block of King Charles Avenue Southeast were
emptied Jan. 14 and their contents taken to the city's trash transfer
station, then moved by rail to Smith Gap.
In a search warrant filed Friday, police said searchers found a
child's body "inside of packaging that was bound with an adhesive
binding."
The warrant said police planned to search the home Aveion shared
with Lockett and Aveion's mother, Morgan Lockett.
Morgan Lockett has not been charged in the case.Specifically,
police were seeking "all packaging items. All identification items,
receipts, bar codes, and applications for membership. Any adhesive
tape. All documents pertaining to Aveion Lewis."

The search warrant return, filed later Friday afternoon, said police
collected 17 pieces of duct tape, plastic grocery store shopping bags
and a mop. Officers took swabs from a training toilet, toddler bed and
stains under the toddler bed and on a bedroom closet door. And officers
seized a variety of paperwork, including immunization records on
Aveion's siblings, and a prescription bottle for Aveion's medication
that had been filled in 2008.
Though identification of the body found at the landfill has not been
confirmed, Aveion's relatives scheduled a memorial service for Sunday
at St. Matthew Word of Life Fellowship Church in Northwest Roanoke. The
service is planned for 5 p.m. at 1422 Abbott St. N.W.

Roanoke police are searching an e-mail account linked to Brandon
Lockett for more clues in the death of Aveion Lewis, according to court
papers.

The toddler’s stepfather, Brandon Lockett, has made
statements about an “unknown” person who received Aveion’s body for
disposal, according to a search warrant filed today in Roanoke City
Circuit Court. Lockett also provided a cell phone number, the document
said.

Account information from the cell phone shows that the
user’s e-mail address is the same address police discovered on a
computer seized from Lockett’s home, the search warrant says.

That e-mail address is linked to Myspace and Facebook profiles that appear to belong to Lockett.

Police
are searching the e-mail account and hope that what they might find
will either “confirm or dispel” Lockett’s statements and identify
anyone else involved, according to the document.

Police have said that Lockett has been uncooperative, telling police many different stories about what happened to Aveion.

The
toddler went missing Jan. 14, when Lockett told police that Aveion had
been abducted by three men. Police later learned from Lockett that
Aveion was dead.

Last week, they found a small child’s body,
wrapped in tape and packaging, in a western Roanoke County landfill.
The medical examiner’s office has not yet identified the remains.

Lockett,
24, is charged with felony child neglect, improper disposal of a body,
and obstruction of justice. He is being held at the Roanoke City Jail.

Aveion’s family has scheduled a memorial for 1 p.m. Saturday at St. Matthew Word of Life Fellowship Church in Northwest Roanoke.

ROANOKE -- Court records on file in
Roanoke Circuit Court show investigators are looking for another
suspect in the Aveion Lewis case.
Police believe the toddler died sometime around Jan. 14.
Investigators say a body found in a landfill Jan. 27 was "consistent" with Aveion's body, according to court documents.
Police have charged the boy's stepfather, Brandon Lockett, with
child neglect, improper disposal of a body and obstruction of justice.
Lockett has not been charged with murder.
A new search warrant on file this morning in circuit court claimed
investigators had information Lockett had been "making statements
referring to an unknown person and cell phone number receiving Aveion
Lewis' dead body . . . for disposal."
Investigators are studying Lockett's cell phone, e-mail account and
MySpace page to see if they can find that "unknown person," according
to the search warrant.

The medical examiner's office confirmed this afternoon that the body
found Jan. 27 at Smith Gap Landfill in Roanoke County was that of
missing toddler Aveion Malik Lewis, police said.

The Roanoke
Police Department charged Brandon Lockett, the toddler's stepfather,
with felony child neglect, improper disposal of a body and obstruction
of justice after Lewis went missing in mid-January.

Police
announced this week that they were investigating an e-mail account
linked to Locket to confirm whether anyone else may have been involved
in the toddler's death.

Poor wee child. What a list of horror in today's murder thread

A memorial service for Aveion Malik Lewis was cancelled Saturday and
was not immediately rescheduled because the medical examiner's office
has not released the boy's body, his father said. "We're trying to make sure that we give him a respectful and
proper burial," said Aveion's father, James Lewis. "We want to make
sure that everyone from both families can come."
The medical examiner's office announced last week that the body
found Jan. 27 in Roanoke County's Smith Gap Regional Landfill was that
of 2-year-old Aveion. Also this week, the Roanoke Police Department
said they were combing through an e-mail account linked to Aveion's
stepfather to confirm who may have been involved in the toddler's
death.
Authorities have not announced a cause of death. The investigation
began Jan. 14, when the stepfather, Brandon Lockett, reported Aveion
had been abducted. Police have said that Lockett has given varying
accounts of what may have happened to the toddler. Lockett, 24, has
been charged with felony child neglect, improper disposal of a body and
obstruction of justice.
Lewis said he did not know when Aveion's body would be released. He
said Saturday's memorial service was cancelled because of inclement
weather and that he would later announce a new date.

A memorial service for a Roanoke toddler has been rescheduled.


The family of Aveion Lewis says the service to celebrate the
toddler's life will be held on Saturday, March 13 at the St. Matthew
Word of Life church.
Bad weather forced them to cancel multiple other weekends.
Aveion's aunt informed, the medical examiner turned the body over
to the family more than a week ago and they will bury him in a private
service.
The two-year-old was reported missing in mid-January, days later his
step-father, Brandon Lockett, admitted he had a hand in the child's
death.
Lockett could face more charges when the Roanoke Grand Jury meets on Monday.

The mother and stepfather of slain toddler
Aveion Lewis were indicted today on charges of murder and child abuse, according
to court records.

Brandon Lockett, 24, and Morgan Lockett, 23, also were charged in the grand jury's
indictment with child neglect and cruelty in the death of Aveion, 2. The child's
bound body
was found wrapped in a bag in
Smith Gap Landfill in western Roanoke County nearly two weeks after the
couple reported the boy missing on Jan. 14.

The indictment is the first
public charge that Morgan Lockett,
Aveion's mother, was involved in the child's
death. She surrendered to Roanoke police this afternoon,
after the grand jury handed up the indictment.

Police launched an intense search for the child after the
abduction report and, after they said Brandon Lockett's shifting stories led
them to believe Aveion was dead, declared the abduction story a hoax. Brandon
Lockett was charged earlier with felony child neglect, improper disposal of a
body and obstruction of justice. He is being held at the Roanoke City Jail.

In back-to-back court hearings, Aveion Lewis' mother and stepfather
wept, shook their heads and complained about accusations that they
murdered their 2-year-old son.
"How was I indicted when I wasn't even charged?" Brandon R'eal
Lockett Sr. protested during Tuesday's hearing, referring to
indictments that a Roanoke grand jury returned a day earlier and to
lesser charges filed against him in January in connection with the
toddler's death.
Lockett, 24, and his wife, Morgan Elizabeth Ward Lockett, 23, were
arraigned Tuesday in Roanoke Circuit Court on the new charges. Both are
accused of second-degree murder, child neglect and cruelty.
Charges of improper disposal of a body, child neglect and
obstructing justice filed last month against Brandon Lockett were
dropped earlier Tuesday in the city's Juvenile and Domestic Relations
Court.
In Circuit Court, Brandon Lockett raised a cuffed hand to be sworn
in, then told Judge Clifford Weckstein that he had no money or
resources. Weckstein appointed Roanoke lawyer Tom Blaylock to defend
Lockett.
Morgan Lockett's hearing followed her husband's. Uncuffed and
visibly pregnant, she sat crying and shaking her head as Weckstein read
the charges against her.
She declined to let the judge appoint a lawyer for her, saying her
family was trying to raise money for a private attorney. Weckstein said
she had a week to find her own attorney or he would appoint one.
Both Locketts were returned to the Roanoke City Jail. Weckstein said he would hold bond hearings if their attorneys requested.
The Locketts reported Aveion missing from the family's Southeast
Roanoke home on Jan. 14. They said intruders had knocked out Brandon
Lockett, bound and gagged Morgan Lockett's 4-year-old daughter, and
left a note demanding $10,000.
Morgan Lockett said she had been at her job as an assistant at Hurt Park Elementary School while this happened.
Five days later, after widespread searching by police and FBI
agents, Brandon Lockett told officers that Aveion was dead. On Jan. 27,
the day after what would have been Aveion's third birthday, his body
was found in a landfill in Western Roanoke County.
Aveion had been in foster care for more than a third of his life.
At age 14 months, Roanoke Social Services removed him from his
mother's custody after a report that he was neglected. He'd had medical
problems since birth that made it hard for him to eat, and when he was
put in foster care he weighed less than 9 pounds, according to court
records.
He doubled his weight before he was returned to the Locketts' home in September.
Investigators have said that not long before he died, Aveion's legs
were burned by a heater. He received no medical care for the burns, the
investigators said.

Morgan Elizabeth Ward Lockett will have three attorneys to defend her
against charges she murdered her 2-year-old son, Aveion Lewis, Roanoke
Circuit Court Judge Clifford Weckstein said today.

In a hearing
that lasted only minutes, Weckstein appointed Roanoke lawyer Art
Strickland and two members of his firm, Tommy Strelka and Correy
Diviney, to represent Lockett. A bond hearing to determine if the
23-year-old Roanoke woman will remain in jail until her trial was
scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday.

Lockett and her husband, Brandon
R’eal Lockett, each are charged with second-degree murder, cruelty and
child neglect in the death of Aveion, who they reported missing Jan.
14. The boy's body was discovered in a Roanoke County landfill on Jan.
27.

Brandon Lockett, Aveion’s stepfather, initially told police that intruders knocked him out and kidnapped the toddler.

The
Department of Social Services had taken Aveion from the Lockett’s
custody when he was 14 months old after a report that he’d been
neglected. He was returned to the Locketts in September after about 16
months in foster care.

A trial date for the Locketts has not been set.

Aveion Lewis' mother, Morgan Elizabeth Ward Lockett, will remain jailed
without bond as she awaits trial on charges she and her husband
murdered the 2-year-old, a Roanoke Circuit Court judge ruled today.

Judge
Clifford Weckstein denied the request for bond at a hearing today,
citing the serious nature of the charges and three other children in
the Lockett home. The other children are aged 4, almost 2 and almost 1.
Lockett, 23, also is expecting another child in May.

Lockett and
her husband, Brandon R'eal Lockett, each are charged with second-degree
murder, cruelty and child neglect in the death of Aveion, whom they
reported missing Jan. 14. Aveion's body was discovered in a Roanoke
County landfill on Jan. 27.

Brandon Lockett, 24, initially told
police that intruders knocked him out and kidnapped the toddler. Later,
he told police Aveion was dead.

The Department of Social
Services removed Aveion from the Locketts' custody when he was 14
months old, after a report that he had been neglected. He was returned
to the Locketts in September after spending about 16 months in foster
care.

Brandon and Morgan Lockett are back in court

The trial of a Roanoke man accused of killing his young step-son has been continued, but Brandon Lockett was in court Wednesday afternoon.

It was last January, Lockett was charged in the death of two-year-old Aveion Lewis.
Looking considerably slimmer - he was on hand as the judge heard motions on his case including a change of venue request.
That requested was deferred to a later date, but the testimony of a possible medical expert was put to the test.
During the testimony of Pediatric Emergency Medicine Dr. Robin Foster - we learned more about the toddler's badly decomposed body.
Foster said because of that decomposition she would have a hard time determining the exact cause of the baby's death.
"It is certainly possible with the severity of malnutrition that was evident, that it could be the cause of death. But, with the absence of the brain, I don't think you can say to a degree of medical certainty that's absolutely what the primary cause of death was," testified Dr. Robin Foster of VCU Pediatric Emergency Medicine.Dr. Foster also testified Aveion's body had several injuries on it, including old burns, bruises and a broken arm that looked like it had occurred shortly before his death.
Brandon Lockett's case is currently set to start in September.
Meanwhile, Aveion's mother, Morgan Lockett was also in court Wednesday.
She's also charged is her son's death.
Her attorneys asked that her case be continued from the current date of April 22nd.
The judge denied that request.



http://www.wdbj7.com/news/wdbj7-locketts-20110209,0,2674006.story

Year later, cause of Aveion Lewis' death unclear


A defense attorney failed to block expert testimony, centered on neglect and abuse, in the coming trial.


Aveion Lewis, the 2-year-old boy found dead last year in a landfill, clearly had been neglected and abused, Roanoke prosecutors say.
The cause of his death, however, is not so clear.
At a hearing Wednesday in Roanoke Circuit Court, prosecutors conceded they don't have medical proof of exactly what kind of injury killed the boy. But they don't need that to press murder charges against his stepfather, Brandon Lockett, and his mother, Morgan Lockett, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Sandra Workman said.
"The cause of death ultimately is for the jury to decide," Workman said. "We don't intend to invade the province of the jury by saying that Aveion died of X."
Part of the uncertainty is caused by the fact that half of the toddler's head was missing when his decomposing body was found Jan. 27, 2010, in the Roanoke County landfill, two weeks after he was reported missing from his Southeast Roanoke home.
Forensic details about the case emerged Wednesday after Brandon Lockett's attorney, assistant public defender Rachel Jackson, asked Judge Clifford Weckstein to limit or prohibit the testimony of Dr. Robin Foster, an expert witness for the commonwealth.
In a review of what her trial testimony would be, Foster talked about possible contributing factors, such as neglect and malnutrition, but could not cite an exact cause of death.
"In this particular case, we don't have a factual determination that can be made, within reasonable medical certainty, as to what the physical cause of death was," Jackson said.
After several hours of testimony and arguments, Weckstein denied the defense motion to bar Foster's testimony -- at least at this point.
"I cannot, in advance of trial, tell you what testimony will and will not be admissible," Weckstein said. But he also warned that there could be limits to what Foster is allowed to tell the jury.
"The doctor has today had free rein to testify implicitly, as she might in a civil case, basing her testimony upon things that experts in her field might rely on," Weckstein said in explaining his ruling. "She will not have that latitude, of course, at trial."
When the cases get under way -- Morgan Lockett's trial is scheduled for April; Brandon Lockett's for September -- prosecutors are expected to present more details about Aveion's injuries, which included a broken arm, and his weight loss, allegedly caused by neglect and malnutrition.
Both parents knew about Aveion's mistreatment, prosecutors contend.
The Locketts, who are jailed awaiting their trials, are both charged with first-degree murder, child neglect and cruelty.
On Jan. 14, Brandon Lockett told police that three assailants kidnapped Aveion after barging into their home. Lockett said he was beaten, and Morgan Lockett's 4-year-old girl was tied up and gagged before the kidnappers left a note demanding a ransom of $10,000.
Five days later, Lockett admitted the story was a hoax.
On Jan. 26, what would have been Aveion's third birthday, search teams began to rake through the compacted trash at Smith Gap Regional Landfill in West Roanoke County. They found the boy's body the next day, bound and wrapped in plastic.
Morgan Lockett also appeared in court briefly Wednesday. Her attorneys requested a delay of her April trial so they could explore the possibility of obtaining a psychiatric expert to testify on her behalf.
Weckstein denied the motion, noting that there have already been delays in a case that is nearly a year old.
A defendant's constitutional rights, he said, prohibit both "a rush to judgment and a plod to judgment."

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/276544

Murder trial delayed for mother of slain toddler Aveion Lewis




By Mike Gangloff
Morgan Lockett, the mother of
slain Roanoke toddler Aveion Lewis, won't stand trial on a murder charge
until October, a month after her husband is scheduled to be tried.

Roanoke Circuit Court Judge Clifford Weckstein agreed to delay the
trial, which had been scheduled to begin next week, after a closed-door
session with prosecution and defense attorneys today.

The delay gives both sides time to go through an estimated 12,000 pages
of evidence that investigators have accumulated about the death of
Aveion, 2, whose emaciated body was found in a Roanoke County landfill
in January 2010.

"There was so much to cover," said defense attorney Art Strickland of
Roanoke, one of three lawyers representing Morgan Lockett, after the
hearing.

Morgan Lockett and her husband, Brandon Lockett, are jailed on charges
of first-degree murder, child neglect and cruelty. Brandon Lockett
initially reported that Aveion was kidnapped, then after almost a week
of searching, told officers that the boy had died before police were
called. After another week, searchers found Aveion's body.

Defense attorneys have tried repeatedly to delay Morgan Lockett's trial,
which had been scheduled to start Monday. Weckstein rejected earlier
requests, but agreed today after the prosecution did not object,
Strickland said.

Commonwealth's Attorney Don Caldwell and Assistant Commonwealth's
Attorney Sandra Workman said after the closed-door session that the
postponement was jointly requested by the prosecution and defense.

Strickland said the delay will give a defense medical expert more time
to review findings about Aveion's life and death. Specifically, the
expert will take a further look at the "date of injuries" that
prosecutors and police have said Aveion suffered. When his body was
found, he had burns on his legs and a broken arm, all apparently
sustained in the weeks before his death and left untreated.

Brandon Lockett has said that what prosecutors are calling a burn was
actually a rash that he and Morgan had tried to treat. He said the
parents knew nothing about a broken arm.

Aveion had a very low weight during much of his life, and at 14 months
old was placed with foster parents by the Department of Social Services.
Under the foster parents care, he regained a normal weight, then lost
much of it after being returned to the Locketts in March 2009,
prosecutors have said.

Correy Diviney, who works with Strickland and also represents Morgan
Lockett, said after the hearing that "the degree of malnourishment" is
another area the defense's medical expert is reviewing.

Brandon Lockett's trial is scheduled to start Sept. 6. Morgan Lockett's new trial date is Oct. 11.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/282473

New witness at Aveion Lewis crime scene, police warrant reveals


Monday, May 02, 2011
A search warrant filed in Roanoke Circuit Court today names a witness in the investigation of toddler Aveion Lewis' death last year.

Public mention of an additional adult present on the day Aveion disappeared is a new angle in a case that has so far revolved around the neglect and abuse Aveion allegedly received from his stepfather, Brandon Lockett, 25, and mother, Morgan Lockett, 24.

The Locketts are charged with first-degree murder, child neglect and cruelty. Brandon Lockett is scheduled for trial in September, Morgan Lockett in October.

According to the warrant, Dorniki Renee Turner, 33, called police on Jan. 18, 2010. That was four days after 2-year-old Aveion's stepfather reported that he had been kidnapped. The call also followed a frantic search for the missing boy. On Jan. 19, Brandon Lockett told police that Aveion was not kidnapped and was dead, according to police.

Police interviewed Turner on Jan. 18, 2010, then again on Jan. 29, two days after Aveion's body was found in a Roanoke County landfill, the warrant said. She was interviewed a third time in November, the warrant said.

"Dorniki Turner has confirmed she was in the location of the crime on and or around the time of the incident," the warrant said.

Turner is not charged in the case.

Turner, known as "D," told police about "certain and specific places to search and what evidence to look for," the warrant said. She knew details of the case that were not public knowledge, the warrant said. A witness, referred to in the warrant as V1 due to the person's age, said someone called "D" was involved in the events of Jan. 14, 2010, the warrant said.

The warrant seeks to allow investigators to collect DNA samples from Turner.

Conditions in the Lockett household, where there were four other children besides Aveion, all younger than 4, have emerged piecemeal in court hearings and search warrants. Investigators have said that in the days and weeks before Aveion died, he suffered a broken arm and burns to his legs that were left untreated.

Prosecutors and police have pointed to the boy's very low weight as a sign of poor treatment. He weighed 9 pounds when he was 14 months old, and the Department of Social Services placed him with foster parents. Cared for by the foster parents, Aveion's weight rose to a normal 30 pounds. He shed much of that after returning to the Locketts' home on March 31, 2009, prosecutors said.

In a jail interview earlier this year, Brandon Lockett maintained his and his wife's innocence and said his stepson's low weight was tied to a health condition.

Morgan Lockett's attorneys have said at hearings that she was so dominated by an abusive husband that she was not capable of independently forming the intent to kill required for a first-degree murder conviction.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/285234

Aveion Lewis's blood found on pillow, towel, bedroom floor



Published: May 05, 2011
10 On Your Side uncovered new details in the Aveion Lewis murder investigation.

DNA lab test results reveal a forensic analyst matched the boy's DNA to blood found on a pillow, a towel, a white T-shirt, and on a bedroom floor.
Investigators believe the two-year-old died in early January 2010.
Police found his body on January 28th, 2010 wrapped in a plastic bag in a landfill.
The bag was bound with duct tape.

The boy's step father, Brandon Lockett, and his mother, Morgan Lockett, are charged with his murder.

The DNA lab test results, on file in Roanoke Circuit Court, claim the forensic analyst also matched Aveion's DNA to a knot on a plastic bag and to three locations in the "handle" area of a Sam's Club bag.
The items tested appear to have come from the landfill where the boy was found, a dumpster near the Locketts' home, and inside the Locketts' townhouse at Jamestown Place in Roanoke.

There is no mention in the files of either Morgan or Brandon Lockett of any results from evidence testing matching their DNA.
Brandon Lockett's trial is scheduled to begin in mid-September.
Morgan Lockett's trial is right now set for October.
http://www2.wsls.com/news/2011/may/05/aveion-lewiss-blood-found-pillow-towel-bedroom-flo-ar-1019862/

Brandon Lockett pleads no contest in Aveion Lewis case
Lockett pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and felony child neglect charges
2:41 p.m. EDT, August 30, 2011

ROANOKE, Va.—
Brandon Lockett pleaded no contest Tuesday afternoon in connection with the murder of Aveion Lewis.

Lockett pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and felony child neglect charges. Prosecutors agreed to drop the first-degree murder and child endangerment charges.
Brandon Lockett will be sentenced in November

-----
http://www.wdbj7.com/news/wdbj7-brandon-lockett-expected-to-enter-plea-in-aveion-lewis-case-20110830,0,6405805.story

Lockett guilty in brutal abuse, murder of toddler Aveion Lewis
Evidence showed the 2-year-old had lost a quarter of his body weight and had suffered an untreated broken arm in the last month of his life.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Brandon R'eal Lockett Sr. has been found guilty of second-degree murder and child abuse and neglect in Roanoke Circuit Court after pleading no contest to the charges this afternoon.

Lockett faces a up to 50 years in prison when he is sentenced in November in the January 2010 death of his stepson, toddler Aveion Lewis -- 40 years is the maximum penalty on the murder charge, 10 years for the abuse and neglect.

He had been charged with first-degree murder, but prosecutors dismissed the charge as part of a plea agreement.

Judge Clifford Weckstein pronounced Lockett guilty after hearing more than an hour's worth of prosecution evidence from Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Sandra Workman.

Among the details Workman listed for the court:

-- An examination Aveion Lewis' body showed he had "no fat whatsoever," no food in his body and weighed less than 20 pounds, a significant decrease from his previous examination weight of 28 pounds. "Such a weight loss was sufficient to cause death," Workman told the court.

-- Further examination of Aveion's body revealed a broken arm that occurred sometime during the last month of his life but went untreated. His remains also showed untreated second-degree burns on his legs; bruises that appeared to have come from being grabbed; a circular burn on his hand; and cuts that should've been treated with stitches but weren't.

-- Workman said the father of a babysitter who worked for the Locketts before Aveion's death was called to their house by his daughter because she was concerned with the boy's condition. The father told investigators the untreated second-degree burns on the back of Aveion's legs looked "like Freddy Krueger." Workman said Aveion slept on an uncovered mattress that was soaked with urine.

-- Investigators discovered a "practice ransom note" under the sofa at the Lockett residence.

Lockett will be sentenced Nov. 29, following a pre-sentencing report and a victim impact statement. He was scheduled to go on trial next week for murder, child abuse and neglect. Workman said Lockett had made the decision to plead earlier today, but declined to discuss the case prior to sentencing.

Lockett has been behind bars for more than a year, since January 2010, when he told investigators his stepson had been abducted by home invaders. A desperate, highly publicized hunt for Aveion began and lasted for nearly two weeks. Aveion's body eventually was found wrapped in plastic and tape in the Smith Gap Regional Landfill in Roanoke County.

Aveion's mother, Morgan Lockett, also has been charged with murder, abuse and neglect in the case and has a trial scheduled for October.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/297440

Barring any last minute changes, Morgan Lockett's murder trial will begin tomorrow morning.
Lockett is charged with first degree murder and felony child abuse in the death of her young son, Aveion Lewis.
Morgan Lockett's husband, and the boy's step father, Brandon Lockett, reported him missing in January 2010.
Investigators later found his body in a landfill.
Brandon Lockett pleaded no contest to his role in the murder back on August 30th.
He'll be sentenced later this year.
Morgan Lockett's trial is expected to last at least two weeks.
It will be a jury trial.
The judge in the case decided to call a larger jury pool than normal.
The judge anticipates the case's extensive media coverage to make it more difficult to seat the 12 member jury panel along with two alternates.
The trial is set to begin at 9:30 a.m.
http://www2.wsls.com/news/2011/oct/10/morgan-lockett-trial-begin-tuesday-morning-ar-1373727/

Morgan Lockett trial: Jury seated, opening statements begin

By: SCOTT LEAMON
Published: October 11, 2011

Jurors in the Morgan Lockett murder trial listened to opening statements Tuesday afternoon, then the case adjourned until Wednesday morning.

Lockett is on trial for several alleged crimes involving the death of her two-year-old son, Aveion Lewis, including first degree murder.

In its opening statement, prosecutors outlined how they plan to prove their case, that Lockett was an unfit mother who intentionally starved her son to death.

Lockett's defense team countered in its opening remarks by claiming investigators still don't know exactly what killed little Aveion Lewis.

It became clear Morgan Lockett's defense team plans to put her husband, and the boy's step father, Brandon Lockett, on trial.

Brandon Lockett pleaded no contest to his role in the alleged murder on August 30th.

He'll be sentenced later this year.

Morgan Lockett's defense attorneys told jurors that her husband abused and manipulated her into failing to properly care for Aveion Lewis.

Defense attorneys also claimed it was Brandon Lockett who came up with the phony Aveion kidnapping story that made so many headlines in mid-January 2010.

The trial resumes at 9:30 a.m.

http://www2.wsls.com/news/2011/oct/11/morgan-lockett-trial-jury-seated-opening-statement-ar-1376410/

Jury hears police interview recording in Lockett trial
By: SCOTT LEAMON
Published: October 12, 2011
Updated: October 12, 2011 - 6:36 PM

6:30 p.m.

Morgan Lockett sat seemingly unfazed during the morning session of her first degree murder trial.

Lockett showed little emotion as jurors listened to an interview police recorded in late February 2010, a few days before her arrest.

In the interview, two detectives can be heard asking Lockett dozens of questions about the overall health of her two-year-old son, Aveion Lewis.

After a lunch break however, tears began streaming down Lockett's face.

Jurors heard a detective ask her point blank if she threw her son's body in the trash.

Police found Aveion Lewis's body a few weeks after he was reported missing.

Investigators recovered the body in a landfill.

Lockett can be heard crying, then telling investigators she did not put Aveion's body in the trash.

Lockett claimed to have nothing to do with the murder.

Police also confronted Lockett about Aveion's many missed doctor's appointments, a broken arm left untreated, and several cigarette burns found on his body.

Lockett claimed on the tape either not to remember or that she didn't know what investigators were talking about.

Investigators also asked Lockett about Aveion's weight loss before his death.

Investigators believe he weighed around 14 pounds at the time of his death.

Prosecutors told jurors earlier this week that, at the time Aveion was returned to the Locketts after a near year long stay in foster care, he weighed almost 30 pounds.

On the tape, Lockett said her son looked like a "stuffed sausage" after his stay in foster care, but she was satisfied with his size since it was proof he could gain weight.

The trial resumes Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m.

Original post:

The jury in the Morgan Lockett case spent much of the morning listening to a police recording of an interview between Lockett and a pair of Roanoke city police detectives dating back to late February 2010.

Local attorney Richard Lawrence was representing Lockett at that time on other matters.

Lawrence was with Lockett during the interview.

On the recording, Lockett can be heard reacting with surprise as investigators told her an autopsy report found her son, Aveion Lewis, suffered from a broken arm and cigarette burns at some point in time before his death.

Both the arm and the burns had either healed or were healing when Aveion died, according to prior courtroom testimony.

The tape is more than one hour long.

The jury broke for lunch a few minutes after noon and will hear the rest of the tape when the trial reconvenes at 1:30 p.m.

10 On Your Side's Scott Leamon is in the courtroom and will have more beginning on WSLS 10 On Your Side at 5 p.m.

http://www2.wsls.com/news/2011/oct/12/3/jury-hears-police-interview-recording-lockett-tria-ar-1378582/

Second day of trial filled with voice of slain child's mom, Morgan Lockett
Jurors hear the woman accused of killing her 2-year-old say she feared he was overweight.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Morgan Lockett told investigators she feared 2-year-old Aveion Lewis was overweight when her son was returned to her after nearly a year in foster care, according to a recorded police interview played for jurors in her murder trial Thursday.

"I was scared my son was obese," Lockett said, likening his pudgy physique to a sausage, but adding, "I was fine with that because that meant he could gain weight."

Born prematurely, Aveion was treated by doctors for "failure to thrive" and was taken from his mother by social services over health concerns. He gained 20 pounds during 11 months with a foster family, plumping up to 30 to 40 pounds. When his body was discovered nine months later, he was down to 18 pounds, prosecutors have said. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Sandra Workman said such a dramatic weight loss was significant enough to cause starvation.

The audio recording of Lockett came on the second day of her murder and child abuse trial in Roanoke Circuit Court and was the first time jurors had heard her voice. In -conversation with detectives, she sometimes laughed and joked, but as the questioning intensified, she frequently raised her voice in anger.

The trial's first witness, police Detective H.L. Willoughby, with the juvenile crime squad, testified that Lockett gave the interview on Feb. 26, 2010, about a month after Aveion's body was found in a Roanoke County landfill, and soon after his autopsy.

Judge Clifford Weckstein told jurors to overlook detectives' statements and consider only Lockett's responses as evidence.

In the recording, Lockett also said she was unaware of her young son's broken arm, scars across his buttocks or burns on his legs - including a wound investigators said appeared to have come from a lit cigarette, according to the interview.

"I knew he had hurt his arm, but I didn't know it was broken or fractured," Morgan Lockett told police on the recording. She said Aveion had fallen from a swing set but said she saw no injury.

"He just wouldn't use it for a couple of days," Lockett said. "He cried at first, but after that he didn't cry."

An investigator said on the recording that Aveion's arm "was broken midshaft, a spiral fracture," indicating abuse.

Lockett also answered questions about burns on the backs of Aveion's legs, which had disturbed his baby sitter. Willoughby told Lockett the baby sitter's father had asked Aveion whether the second-degree burns were hurting him and said the child answered, "Yes."

"Aveion says 'yes' to everything," Lockett said on the recording.

After Aveion's death, his stepfather, Brandon Lockett, told police the child had been kidnapped, a ruse he maintained for days.

On cross-examination by defense lawyer Correy Diviney, Willoughby testified that when she went to the Lockett home to investigate the kidnapping, Morgan Lockett appeared unconcerned.

"There was no emotion coming from her at all," Willoughby said.

"Is there some specific way a woman is supposed to react when their child has been abducted?" Diviney asked.

The detective said that although it was her first kidnapping call, Morgan Lockett's "focus was on Brandon."

Willoughby testified that a police officer put the couple in a patrol car, alone together, and activated the cruiser's dashboard camera to record their voices without telling them.

Morgan Lockett later volunteered to police to get her husband to reveal what he'd done with the body and offered to take a polygraph test, Willoughby testified.

She didn't take the polygraph because of her pregnancy, the detective said.

The third witness Wednesday, Roanoke police Lt. Todd Clingenpeel, described the search that ensued after Aveion was reported missing.

Clingenpeel said 120 searchers from 22 organizations turned out for the wintertime hunt that spanned six days before it was finally halted by a winter storm warning.

The trial is to resume today.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/299624

Testimony on condition of slain toddler’s bedroom brings juror to tears
By Neil Harvey | The Roanoke Times


Morgan Lockett sits with defense lawyer Thomas Strelka as prosecutors present evidence in court today.


Three days into Morgan Lockett’s trial for first-degree murder and child abuse, prosecutors delved deeper into evidence found in and around the Locketts’ residence in southeast Roanoke.

The exhibits entered today were collected in early 2010, not long after Lockett’s husband, Brandon Lockett, told police their 2-year-old son Aveion was the victim of a kidnapping for ransom. Brandon Lockett admitted days later that the kidnapping had been a hoax and that Aveion was dead and his body disposed of.

Investigators today showed jurors a child’s small mattress that was marked with red stains and was missing a large section of its vinyl cover on the side that faced up.

“There was an overpowering urine smell in the room,” FBI analyst Glen Dale McGaha testified. “My feet stuck to the floor.”

McGaha said Aveion’s bed was bare when they entered the room, with no pillow, no sheet and no covers. The bed frame also had red stains on it and other investigators testified that there were red stains on the floor of the bedroom, beside a toy police car.

One of the jurors dabbed at her eyes with a tissue after the mattress was shown.

Other evidence introduced today in Roanoke Circuit Court:

– A pillow found in a nearby Dumpster that was similar to one in Aveion’s bedroom.

– The electrical cord and bandana that was used to bind and blindfold Morgan Lockett’s older daughter during the fake kidnapping.

– Several stained items of clothing that were found in the Lockett’s laundry room.



FBI evidence analyst Glen Dale McGaha presents a child-sized mattress, marked with red stains and missing a section of its vinyl cover on the top-facing side.

Two-year-old Aveion Lewis' body was found wrapped in plastic and tape in a Roanoke County landfill in early 2010.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/299648

Jurors hear that Aveion Lewis was thin, neglected
Aveion Lewis was undersized and his living conditions were unclean, witnesses said.
A photo taken of Aveion Lewis after he was removed from his mother's care shows him in a state that a social services worker said resembled "something you would see on TV from Ethiopia."

A photo of Aveion only a few months after he was removed from his mother's care shows a more robust child.

Prosecution evidence presented Thursday in Morgan Lockett's murder and child abuse trial came from two distinct periods in her son's short life: the months leading to social services' removal of toddler Aveion Lewis from his mother's care in 2008, and the investigation that began soon after he died in 2010, before his third birthday.

Marty Harmon, a social services worker, told jurors in Roanoke Circuit Court she went to the Lockett home after a caseworker raised concerns in May 2008.

"I was startled by his size," Harmon said of Aveion, 15 months old at the time but weighing just 8 pounds. "He looked like a child you'd see on TV from Ethiopia."

Tanya Holmes, a case manager for Child Health Investment Partnership of Roanoke Valley, a health care provider for low-income families, testified that she notified social services after becoming disturbed by her visits to the Lockett home over the previous year.

Holmes told jurors Lockett was "very affectionate and loving" with her older daughter, Gabrielle Lewis, but said, "With Aveion, it was like she didn't bond with him."

Holmes said that from 2007 into 2008, Lockett missed health care appointments, left Aveion for extended periods in an Exersaucer baby seat that didn't allow his feet to touch the ground, and put water and applesauce in his baby bottle instead of formula. She said the toddler stayed skinny and became increasingly lethargic.

Lisa Uherick, an emergency room pediatric physician with Carilion Clinic, testified that when social services brought Aveion from his home to the hospital, "his head was proportionally larger than his body."

Aveion was put into foster care late that night, Uherick told the court.

"He was unable to sit up on his own," recalled Jeffrey Yopp, a Roanoke County firefighter who, with his wife, Michelle, fostered Aveion for almost a year afterward. "When he would cry, it was almost like a whimper. He didn't like to be touched."

Yopp testified he and his wife bottle-fed Aveion with formula every two hours. In the weeks that followed, the toddler was able to sit up, then crawl, then walk. He became energetic and outgoing, shouting, "Hey!" to strangers as he was wheeled through stores on shopping trips, Yopp said.

When Aveion was taken to visit his mother and stepfather every other week, Yopp testified, both Brandon Lockett and Morgan Lockett told him the child "looked fat."

Social services returned Aveion to his mother on April 1, 2009.
The following month, Morgan Lockett stopped allowing visits from CHIP representatives, Holmes testified.

Prosecutors on Thursday also delved deeper into evidence found in and around the Lockett home in southeast Roanoke in January 2010.

The evidence was collected not long after Brandon Lockett told police Aveion was the victim of a kidnapping for ransom. Brandon Lockett admitted, days afterward, that the kidnapping had been a hoax and that Aveion was dead and his body disposed of.

Investigators showed jurors the child's small mattress taken from Aveion's bedroom. It was marked with red stains and a large section was torn from its top side.

"There was an overpowering urine smell in the room," FBI analyst Glen Dale McGaha testified. "My feet stuck to the floor."

McGaha said Aveion's bed was bare when they entered the room, with no pillow, no sheet and no covers. The bed frame had red stains on it and other investigators testified that there were red stains on the floor, beside a toy police car.

One of the jurors dabbed at her eyes with a tissue after the mattress was shown.

Other evidence included:

- A pillow found in a nearby Dumpster that was similar to one in Aveion's bedroom.

- The electrical cord and bandanna that was used to bind and blindfold Morgan Lockett's older daughter, Gabrielle, during the fake kidnapping.

- Several stained items of clothing that were found in the Locketts' laundry room.

The trial is scheduled to resume today.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/299690

Neighbors of Morgan Lockett tell jurors of seeing alleged abuse

By: SCOTT LEAMON
Published: October 14, 2011

7:10 p.m.

Several of Morgan Lockett's neighbors told the jury they saw what might have been considered child abuse in the months before Aveion Lewis's death.

Lockett is charged with first degree murder, and several other alleged crimes, in the death of her two-year-old son, Aveion.

Two neighbors told jurors how they spotted what looked like untreated burns on Aveion Lewis's feet.

Earlier in the Friday session, the jury heard from a therapist and a doctor who said Aveion's weight and overall health looked good in the days following a juvenile and domestic relations court judge's decision to grant the Locketts full custody of Aveion in the fall of 2009.

Investigators believe the boy died some time in mid January 2010.

A Radford University forensic anthropology professor told the judge that she thought Aveion suffered a broken arm about one to four weeks before his death.

But the jury never heard the professor's opinion because the judge said she couldn't testify to her theory since she was not a medical doctor.

The trial resumes Monday morning at 9 a.m.

1:20 p.m.

Following its morning break, the jury heard more of that interview between Lockett and two police detectives.

It became clear about midway through the tape that investigators had gotten Brandon Lockett to admit Aveion was dead.

The detectives can be heard on the tape asking Morgan Lockett several times if she knew where Brandon put the body or helped him.

Morgan Lockett was adamant she had nothing to do with the disappearance.

"I promise you I would not jeopardize my kids," Lockett told investigators.

She added "Aveion was fine before I left the house."

Morgan Lockett said she felt "betrayed" by Brandon Lockett, saying she thought she "knew him."

A detective asked Morgan Lockett who protected Aveion from Brandon Lockett.

"I did," Morgan Lockett said. "I did..."

Original post:

The jury is listening to another audiotape of an interview between Morgan Lockett and two Roanoke city police detectives.

Prosecutors said this particular interview took place on January 20, 2010, one day after police told Lockett they believed her son, Aveion Lewis, was dead.

It also took place about one week before investigators recovered Aveion's body.

Lockett can be heard describing to detectives Aveion's eating habits. She also told them how she was attempting to potty train her two-year-old son.

This tape has so far been a lot more cordial than the first tape prosecutors played for the jury.

That tape ended with Morgan Lockett crying and shouting at investigators. The tape was from late February 2010, not long before a grand jury indicted Lockett for Aveion's alleged murder.

http://www2.wsls.com/news/2011/oct/14/5/jury-hears-another-morgan-lockett-interview-tape-d-ar-1384009/