The mother of the boys found near the Vinton Welcome Center - one dead, one alive but crawling in a ditch near Interstate 10 - has been booked with murder.
Aaliyah N. Jack, 25, of Lake Charles, originally was arrested on a two counts failure to report a missing child, after law enforcement found her about to board a train in Meridian, Mississippi. Today, she was booked with cruelty to a juvenile and second-degree murder, Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's deputies say. Her bond is set at $9.1 million.
The dramatic story began Monday afternoon, when deputies were called to the Vinton Welcome Center and found a four-year-old boy dead, floating in the water behind the building.
At first they had no identification on the child, but after a press release went out a relative of the children called deputies to say the child had last been seen with his mother and his one-year-old brother.
A few hours after that, Jack was arrested in Mississippi. That's when law enforcement learned the one-year-old wasn't with her, and so they mobilized to comb the area near the Welcome Center for the other little boy. Just as the marine squad was about to search the water for a body a call came in to 911 - it was a trucker, who had spotted a baby crawling toward the highway as he traveled down I-10.
Sheriff Gary "Stitch" Guillory described that baby - who seemed OK other than some bug bites - as "our miracle baby." To read about that press conference, click here.
“Although we have upgraded charges on Jack, our detectives still have a lot of work to do,” the sheriff said. “The investigation will continue while we wait for the autopsy results of the victim. We are asking anyone who may have any information related to this case to call CPSO lead Detective Willie Fontenot at 491-3605.”
