Autopsy reveals 3-year-old girl died of pneumonia from severe malnourishment, parents charged with murder
Autopsy reveals 3-year-old girl died of pneumonia from severe malnourishment, parents charged with murder
An autopsy found a three-year-old girl died from pneumonia because she was so severely malnourished – and weighed just seven more pounds than she did two years ago.
Jourdin Smith’s death in December was ruled a homicide by the state’s medical examiner’s office.
Her parents, Fort Bragg soldier Octavia Bennett-Smith, 27, and Jamarkus Smith, 26, both of Fayetteville, North Carolina, were charged with first-degree murder on Friday.
The autopsy report said Jourdin likely would have survived if she’d been properly fed and brought in for medical care.
It also said the child weighed just seven more pounds than she did when she visited a doctor two years ago.
It also noted she had cuts and bruises on most of her body and injuries consistent with sexual abuse.
Her parents were initially charged with felony child abuse after police arrived at their home on December 1 last year and found the girl unresponsive, ABC11 reports.
Smith was also charged with two counts of indecent liberties with a child and two counts of statutory sex offense.
After his initial arrest, he was held at Cumberland County Detention Center on a $3million bond.
He is now being held without bail, as is Bennett-Smith.
Police are now also investigating the death of another of the couple’s children.
The baby reportedly died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in February 2014.
