On the afternoon of July 18, police and paramedics rushed to a residence on Station Street in northeast Indianapolis for a welfare check on a three-month-old girl named Jaymalyn. When officers arrived on scene, the infant was transported to a local hospital in critical condition, leading to an investigation.
Curtis Jenkins, the 24-year-old father of the infant, told officers his daughter likely overheated while they were driving in a car without a properly working air conditioner.
Jaymalyn had been staying with her grandmother for a week and a half so her mother, Jayla Cox, could settle into a new job, according to the probable cause affidavit. For the first time, Jenkins was alone with the baby when he picked it up from her grandmother’s residence, with Cox not present. Jaymalyn’s grandmother told officers she recorded a video of the infant to prove she was healthy when she left.
The father told law enforcement that he dialed 911 after noticing his baby was having trouble breathing. He insisted that he had tried to give her water, but her condition worsened.
Without wasting any more time, emergency responders rushed the infant to Riley Hospital for Children in critical condition. Despite everyone’s best efforts and receiving medical care, she died three days later, on July 21.
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Following the infant’s death, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department arrested Jenkins the same day on a preliminary charge of murder. He is currently held in custody in Indiana.
Jenkins’ ‘hot car’ claim didn’t add up either, as doctors found severe injuries that told a different story. According to medical professionals who treated the infant, she suffered three separate brain bleeds, retinal hemorrhages, broken ribs, and a spinal bleed, inconsistent with the overheating claim.
According to court documents, Jenkins denied causing any harm during an interview with law enforcement and told investigators he “did not know what happened” to his daughter.
“(Jenkins reportedly said) that if he found out who put their hands on his baby, he would murder them,” the documents revealed. “He stated that he would never put his hands on his (children) and that he would never hurt them.”
According to apartment complex security cameras, after picking up the child, Jenkins was seen taking Jaymalyn inside, mocking her crying, and saying, “Yeah, I’m torturing you.”
After his fiancée left with their one-year-old, footage recorded loud thuds, smacking sounds, and Jaymalyn crying in severe pain while Jenkins repeatedly yelled at her to “shut up.”
After a while, Jenkins panicked and could be heard saying, “Oh, s*it,” before dialing 911 and claiming the baby was struggling to breathe because of the heat, IndyStar reported.
The baby’s mother shared that the loss deeply devastated her family. “The loss that I’m going through impacted me and my family heavily, but all we want is justice for Jaymalyn,” she said.
Disclaimer: The Inquisitr could not independently confirm the facts of this incident and is reporting based on the information available within the public record.
