Toddler Found in Bag in Creek, Mom in Jail

She's accused of letting the boy be spanked to the point of bleeding
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 1, 2015 2:00 AM CST
Mom in Jail After Cops Find Toddler in Bag in Ohio Creek
Dainesha Stevens, mother of Cameron Beckford, is seen in an undated photo provided by the Franklin County, Ohio, Sheriff's Office.   (AP Photo/Franklin County, Ohio, Sheriff's Office)

Mounted police have found the body of missing 14-month-old Cameron Beckford in a bag in Big Walnut Creek near Columbus, Ohio, after his mother allegedly lied about having left the boy on a doorstep because she couldn't care for him. Dainesha Stevens, 24, is thought to have fled an abusive situation in Maryland with her son and 6-year-old daughter by bus two weeks earlier, but was arrested Tuesday for failing to protect her son "by allowing an individual to violently spank him numerous times on several occasions," according to a police document filed yesterday. The spanking removed several layers of skin and caused the boy to bleed, reports AP.

The man Stevens was staying with, Kurt Flood, is also in custody, though on an unrelated probation violation resulting from a felony weapons charge. "It was not what she expected when she came to town," her attorney Mark Collins said. Stevens called 911 on Monday—"her way of asking for help," Collins said—but lied about someone taking her daughter, who was soon found safe. An autopsy is being done today, reports the Columbus Dispatch. As police consider additional charges against Stevens and Flood, Stevens is on suicide watch. (Earlier this year, a pregnant mother of three drove into the ocean speaking of demons.)

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