Post by Milisha on Dec 11, 2008 14:03:33 GMT -5
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ARLINGTON -- Ebony Thorne smoked a joint at 10 p.m. Tuesday; two hours later she took two Tylenol PMs and fell asleep, an arrest warrant affidavit says.
The 24-year-old mother of four woke about 5 a.m. Wednesday to a loud "thump" and her son Joshua's cries. She figured that the toddler, who would have turned 2 this month, had fallen from the top stairs in her split-level apartment, dropping about eight feet to the first floor, according to the affidavit.
By early afternoon, the child was pronounced dead. Police arrested Thorne on Wednesday evening on suspicion of injury to a child.
She remained in the Arlington Jail on Thursday; bail was set at $25,000.
Thorne wasn't supposed to be alone with her children. She hadn't had custody of them for several years, a Child Protective Services spokeswoman said. Thorne's three youngest children lived with her mother in Fort Worth, and a court order stipulated that the children not be with Thorne unsupervised.
Thorne's four children -- a 5-year-old girl, a 3-year-old boy, Joshua and a 10-month-old girl -- were being cared for by family members because of "drug use in the home on the part of the parents that contributed to neglectful supervision issues," CPS spokeswoman Marissa Gonzalessaid.
But despite the order, Thorne had kept the three youngest children at her residence since Friday. She told police she had fallen asleep with Joshua, her 3-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter in the living room of her east Arlington apartment.
That's why Thorne didn't want to call 911 when she noticed that Joshua's head was swelling and blood was coming out of his nose and mouth, the affidavit says.
She was sleepy and so was Joshua, Thorne told police. So she held a Popsicle to his head and popped another one in his mouth to calm him, according to the affidavit. Already, the boy was having trouble standing up and wanted to lie down -- signs of a possible brain injury, the affidavit states.
About 11:30 a.m., Joshua's father came home and found the boy unresponsive on the couch, police spokeswoman Christy Gilfour said.
The father woke up Thorne, called the children's maternal grandmother, who drove to Arlington from Fort Worth and then called 911 at about 12:45 p.m.
Joshua was pronounced dead at 12:52 p.m. at his mother's apartment in the 300 block of Hollandale Circle, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner.
Investigators found him with black eyes; small human bite marks on his left arm, chest and face; unknown contusions on his nose; swelling on the left side of the back of his head; and dried blood on his nose and mouth, the affidavit states.
Thorne told police that the bite marks were caused by her 3-year-old son several days ago.
Police also found what appeared to be feces on the wall in the stairwell, possible bloodstains on a pillow on the living room couch and on a towel in the upstairs hall, and what appeared to be remains of a marijuana cigarette under the couch in an ashtray, the affidavit says.
Gonzales said Thorne's two youngest children have been placed in foster care. The 5-year-old lives with her paternal grandparents.
Police are awaiting autopsy results from the medical examiner's office while they investigate, Gilfour said.
Cynthia Neff, 817-548-5421
cneff@star-telegram.com