JEREMY BRADFORD - 4 yo (2010) - South Roxana (MO border, nr St Louis) IL

Authorities charged a mother and her boyfriend in the death of her 4 year old child in South Roxana, Illinois. Jeremy Bradford, 4, was pronounced dead at an Alton hospital Saturday. Police said autopsy results showed he had been viciously beaten a day earlier. Authorities charged Sean Starwalt, 33, with first degree murder. Police said it was the first murder case in the town's history.
"[Starwalt] repeatedly struck Jeremiah Bradford who's under the age of 12, about the head, chest, abdomen, knowing that such acts caused a strong probability of death or great bodily harm to Jeremy Bradford," said South Roxana Police Lieutenant, Bob Coles, reading from a court document.
"The forensics is really what pinpointed and helped us secure the warrants on them through what we uncovered in the autopsy [Monday]," he said.
Jeremiah's mother, Patricia Cage, 34, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child, for allegedly not doing enough to help her son upon seeing his injuries Friday.
Starwalt allegedly beat the boy Friday while Cage was away from their apartment in the 600 block of Central Park Place. Police said the two stuck to an explanation that Jeremiah had fallen jumping on furniture, causing his injuries.
"As the pathologist said if [they[ would have sought medical attention immediately, he would still be alive today," Coles said.
Sadly, Jeremiah died a year after his father, Gerald Bradford, died from an illness. Gerald Bradford's family said they treated Cage like a sister; she told them at the hospital that he had fallen.
"It's sad. It's sad," said Jeremiah's uncle, Neal Brown. "No 4 year old boy needs to be treated like that. For the mother, to takes sides for the boyfriend, and not comfort her child … she doesn't need to be a parent."
"You're going to let some boyfriend come in, a boyfriend? And do this to him?" said Beverly Bradford, Jeremiah's great aunt. "And you're going to stand by? I wish I could get my hand on her. I wish I could get my hand on her."
Cage's relatives who came to town from their home in Arkansas upon learning of Jeremiah's death said police had it all wrong about her.
They said she believed what Starwalt told her, that it was an accident. They said she called a doctor Friday about the injuries and then insisted her son go to a hospital when his condition seemed to worsen Saturday.
"She didn't know. They're accusing her .. that she knew. She didn't know," said her brother, Charles Cage. "She thought it was an accident just like we all did. When we got the autopsy report, that's when she found out. That's my sister. My sister loves her kids. We're all about our family…the minute she found out about it [the beating] she (was) hysterical."
"My daughter is innocent," said Cage's mother, Bernadette Culp. "She doesn't deserve to be in there [jail]. She has another baby. She needs to be with her baby."
Police said this was the first report of any problems at the home.
Cage and Starwalt are in the Madison County Jail. Cage's bond is set at $150,000. Starwalt's being held without bond.

WTF is wrong with these women? She should be charged with murder also.

All these SOBs seem to prefer beating and torture as the method to murder these poor tiny children.

Jury told boy's life could have been saved

February 16, 2011 9:00 PM

EDWARDSVILLE — Two people implicated in the homicidal death of a 4-year-old boy might have saved the victim’s life had they taken him to a hospital as they said they were going to do, a coroner’s jury was told Wednesday.

Accused murderer Sean Starwalt, 33, of the 600 block of Central Park Place, South Roxana, told a friend of the victim’s mother that he was going to take Jeremiah Bradford to a hospital on Sept. 24, the night he allegedly beat the child.

The Madison County coroner’s jury ruled Jeremiah’s death a homicide. The cause was blunt trauma.3

The victim’s mother, Patricia Cage, who lived with Starwalt, told authorities she left the boy alone with Starwalt for awhile, and when she returned, the boy appeared sick. Starwalt told her the child had fallen from a couch.

A friend also looked at Jeremiah and urged Cage to get the boy checked by a doctor. The women were about to drive the boy to the hospital when Starwalt intervened and said he would take the child.

Cage, 34, who is charged with endangering the life of a child, went with Starwalt on Sept. 24, allegedly to seek medical help, but they decided to stop at a McDonald’s restaurant, then return home and simply observe the child.

An autopsy showed the child died of "massive blows to the chest and head."

Detective Bob Coles of the South Roxana Police Department testified Wednesday he was told by hospital personnel that there is no way a fall from a couch could have caused such injuries.

Under questioning from Coroner Steve Nonn, Coles testified that a doctor who examined the victim also noted that the boy’s life might have been saved had he been seen on Sept. 24.

Cage told police the boy continued to deteriorate on Sept. 25, so she called the hospital about 8:30 a.m. and reported he was vomiting. They mentioned it could be the flu, but she then told them about the "fall."

Hospital staff members then told her to bring the child to the hospital immediately, and she and Starwalt then drove to
the hospital.

Jeremiah apparently stopped breathing on the way to the hospital, so Cage dialed 911.

Paramedics arrived at Illinois Routes 3 and 143 in Wood River and found bystanders and police trying to resuscitate the boy. His lips were blue, and there were bruises all over his body.

Jeremiah then was taken to Alton Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:41 a.m.

Hospital staff members also reported several bruises on the victim’s neck, throat, chest and lower extremities.

Starwalt is being held without bond at the Madison County Jail in Edwardsville on charges of first-degree murder.

He allegedly struck the boy repeatedly about the head, chest and abdomen, knowing the beating created a strong probability of death or great bodily harm.

Cage remains held in lieu of $100,000 bail. The charges accuse her of "willfully permitting the life of Jeremiah to be endangered, knowing that he had been the victim of physical abuse by Starwalt and did not seek medical attention for the injuries he sustained, as the acts were the proximate cause of death."

South Roxana mom indicted in son's homicide

April 28, 2011 9:46 PM
EDWARDSVILLE - A grand jury
Thursday indicted Patricia Cage, the mother of a South Roxana toddler,
on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of her 4-year-old son
last September.
Cage was indicted after authorities developed evidence that she was
accountable for the actions of her live-in boyfriend in connection with
the death of Jeremiah Bradford.
"Based on evidence we had and some new evidence, it was decided that
her involvement rose to the level of accountability," Assistant Madison
County State's Attorney Ali Summers said.
Summers and Assistant State's Attorney Chris Hoell presented the evidence to the grand jury Thursday.
"They presented the new evidence to the grand jury on the theory that
Cage's failure to protect Jeremiah from abuse and her refusal to seek
medical attention that night amounts to first-degree murder by
accountability," a spokeswoman for Madison County State's Attorney Tom
Gibbons said.
Illinois case law places particular emphasis on the responsibility of
the parents in such cases. The law provides that parents are
accountable for the actions of others if they fail to protect their
children and seek medical helped when necessary.
Cage, 34, was charged by prosecutors last September with child endangerment in Jeremiah's death.
Her boyfriend, Sean Starwalt, 33, was charged in September with
first-degree murder. They were living in the 600 block of Central Park
Place when they were charged.
Cage and Starwalt remain in custody at the Madison County Jail in
Edwardsville. Cage will be tried after Starwalt, who is scheduled for
trial in late June, Gibbons said.
Each of the defendants could get prison sentences ranging from 20 to 60 years if convicted of first-degree murder.
The charge against Starwalt claimed he "repeatedly struck Jeremiah
about the head, chest and abdomen, knowing such acts created a strong
probability of death or great bodily harm."
Now, Cage is charged with the same thing, along with the child
endangerment charge. The grand jury also charged Cage with endangering
the life of a child. That charge will supersede the original charged
filed by the State's Attorney's Office.
A police officer testified before a Madison County coroner's jury in
February that a doctor at an Alton hospital told him the child might
have lived had he been brought to the hospital immediately after the
alleged beating.
Cage told police last Sept. 25 that she left the child alone with Starwalt, and that when she returned, the boy looked sick.
Starwalt told Cage the child had fallen from a couch, but testimony
during the inquest was that the injuries were far too severe to have
been caused by a fall from a couch.
Detective Bob Coles of the South Roxana Police Department said last
February that a friend urged Cage to take Jeremiah to a hospital and
volunteered to go with her, but Starwalt intervened and said he would
take the child. He and Cage started to drive to a hospital but decided
to stop at a McDonald's restaurant, then turned around and went back
home.
The child's condition continued to deteriorate, so the two defendants
then set off again for the hospital. The child stopped breathing during
the trip, and paramedics were called to Illinois Routes 3 and 143,
where they attempted to revive the toddler.
Jeremiah later was pronounced dead at Alton Memorial Hospital.
http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/cage-53314-murder-son.html

Ill. man gets 38 years in boy's beating death

EDWARDSVILLE (AP) - A southwestern Illinois man has been ordered to spend 38 years in prison for his role in the fatal beating of his girlfriend's 4-year-old son.
Thirty-four-year-old Sean Starwalt was sentenced Thursday in Madison County, where he pleaded guilty in September to first-degree murder.
Authorities say Starwalt hit Jeremiah Bradford in the head, chest and abdomen in South Roxana in September 2010.
The boy's mother, 35-year-old Patricia Cage, also is charged with first-degree murder. Authorities contend Cage failed to protect her son from the abuse and didn't seek medical attention for his injuries until it was too late.
Cage has pleaded not guilty and remains jailed in Edwardsville, awaiting trial.


Read more: http://thesouthern.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/ill-man-gets-years-in-boy-s-beating-death/article_296f8e10-1201-11e1-83e4-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1e4vmutAV