A mother accused of killing
her 22-month-old son and hiding his body in a Camden alley had texted a friend that she “couldn’t stand him” and recorded a video of the boy in pain in what might have been his last hours alive, an assistant prosecutor said Thursday.
Tynaizha Brown, 24, of Camden, at times wept, rocked back and forth and held her head in one unshackled hand as she sat in a wheelchair in Superior Court in Camden Thursday. At the end of the hearing, Judge Edward J. McBride Jr. ruled that she should be jailed pending trial on charges of murder, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of her three children.
She was
indicted Aug. 27, more than 10 months after Jah’vi Brown’s decomposing body was
found Oct. 11 in an alley in Camden, not far from his father’s home. Police did not know the boy’s identity until DNA test results came back in January, a month after his father reported him missing in December.
Both parents told police the other had custody of Jah’vi since the end of August, records show.
Brown’s attorney, Robin Lord, said the child’s father framed her client with fake text messages because he was also under suspicion. But Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Moran said it was Brown who used an app to make false text messages and spent months “generating of web of lies” to implicate the boy’s father.
However, she also generated circumstantial evidence with videos and internet searches, as well as Facebook messages where she said she was going to “knock his ugly ass out” and “slap the skin of his ass,” Moran said.
Moran told McBride that Brown beat all her children as punishment, but especially Jah’vi.
Moran said evidence in the case showed her frustration grew and built over the summer, leading up to the date, Aug. 23, 2018, on which she killed her son.
“Specifically, there’s a text message on this defendant’s phone on Aug. 22, 2018: ‘Jah’vi’s gonna make me get a case for real. I’m gonna knock him smooth out and call the cops on myself. I can’t stand him,’“Moran said.
Moran continued, “There are multiple videos of this defendant filming Jah’vi Brown, showing him in clear distress, showing him in pain, which this defendant narrated, mocking him. On Aug. 23, your honor, the last time Jah’vi is seen alive, there’s a video from this defendant’s phone at 3:24 p.m. of the victim on the couch — and that video geolocates to this defendant’s apartment in Bellmawr — where Jah’vi Brown is effectively immobile and appears to be in pain.”
Her phone also showed deleted internet searches including, “symptoms of broken ribs in infants,” “breathing signs of dying,” “can a concussion cause breathing to stop,” and “head injury toddler," Moran said.
The medical examiner ruled Jah’vi’s death a homicide but couldn’t specify what killed him. He had fresh broken ribs, as well as healing ones, Moran said. His body was also wrapped in the same brand of Walmart trash bags found at his mother’s house, he said.
Brown also searched for cheap flights to Florida and sent messages that she was going to flee there with her other children, Moran said.
“If she had the means, she would have fled,” he said.