SANFORD - An autopsy showed that 2-year-old Anthony Jesy "A.J." Cabral probably was dead in his crib Saturday night when his mother arrived home from work about 9:30 p.m., ate supper and then went into the garage to drink rum with her boyfriend.
Elma "Tracey" Goldrine did not realize her son was dead until almost 12 hours later, according to reports released Tuesday by the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.
Goldrine's boyfriend, Jason Lenz, 34, who is accused of first-degree homicide and aggravated child abuse in the boy's death, appeared before a Seminole County judge Tuesday and was ordered held without bail.
The autopsy showed A.J. died between 8 and 9 p.m. Saturday of a head injury that "would have resulted in his death within minutes after the trauma," sheriff's Investigator EvaMarie Blatchford wrote in an arrest affidavit.
The boy's skull was fractured, but other injuries on his back and inside his mouth may have occurred separately from the fatal blow, the autopsy showed.
Lenz was alone with the boy at the home on Kerwood Circle near Oviedo when the injuries occurred, deputies said.
Goldrine, 25, has since revealed earlier injuries suffered by her son while in the care of Lenz, sheriff's spokeswoman Kim Cannaday said. Those injuries were never investigated by the agency's Child Protective Services division because they were not reported, she said.
Goldrine was dropped off at work about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, accompanied in the car by Lenz, his mother, Peggy Lenz, and the boy. The boyfriend then stayed at home with A.J. while Peggy Lenz went out with friends before driving Goldrine home.
Goldrine said she never checked on her son before going to bed and that when she was going to wake him at 10 a.m. Sunday, Jason Lenz told her to "let him sleep a little longer." A half-hour later, Goldrine found him unresponsive and screamed for her boyfriend and his mother. When she asked Peggy Lenz whether her son was OK, the woman told her, "No, Anthony is gone," according to the report. Goldrine said she ran out of the house screaming.
Jason Lenz gave conflicting versions of events when interviewed by investigators.
The first time, he told the officers that the boy had a headache, so he gave him a children's pain reliever, put him to bed and then checked on him twice, according to the report. But in a later interview, Lenz told the investigators he was carrying the boy and tripped over something, and that the boy then fell out of his arms onto the carpeted floor.
Seminole County Judge Carmine Bravo found probable cause to support the charges of first-degree homicide and aggravated child abuse, as well as an unrelated probation-violation count against Lenz. Bravo set arraignment for March 3.
Lenz spoke only twice during the brief appearance at the Seminole County Jail, first to tell Bravo he has "private counsel" and the other time to answer "yes" when asked by Bravo whether he also had his own attorney for the probation-violation charge.
Court records show Lenz was arrested in July on charges of possession of methamphetamine, resisting an officer with violence and battery on a law-enforcement officer. An additional charge of possessing drug paraphernalia was dropped by prosecutors in November. He is scheduled for trial on the other charges Feb. 9.
The probation-violation charge stems from a 2008 DUI arrest.
During a search of the house, a mirror with a white substance on it that tested positive for cocaine was found under the headboard of a bed in the bedroom used by Lenz and Goldrine, according to the report. Other items of drug paraphernalia also were found and cited in the probation-violation charge, investigators said.
Investigators said they found something else in the bedroom: two pamphlets on how to discipline your child.