A 21-year-old mother in Texas faces manslaughter and child injury charges after allegedly placing her eight-month-old son in scalding bath water.
The infant died two weeks later from thermal injuries.
Jatoria Renae Cleamons of Texarkana, Texas, remains at large despite an arrest warrant issued on 13 Jun 2025.
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Mother Confessed to Scalding Incident Two Weeks Before Death
Cleamons told authorities she became frustrated with her son because he had defecated in his diaper. She admitted to placing the baby in scalding hot water two weeks before his death.
At the time of the incident, Cleamons and her son were staying with relatives in Hooks. The small northeast Texas town sits approximately 15 miles west of Texarkana.
Officers and deputies with the Bowie County Sheriff’s Office responded to the initial medic assist call on 4 Feb 2025. They discovered medical personnel already attempting to perform CPR on the eight-month-old infant.
Justice of the Peace Jay Wommack ordered the child’s body to be sent to the Southwest Institute of Forensics for autopsy after he was pronounced dead. The autopsy results listed thermal injuries from scalding hot water as the cause of death.
The manner of death was officially ruled a homicide.
Investigation Spans Four Months Before Arrest Warrant Is Issued
A coordinated investigative effort by the Hooks Police Department, Bowie County District Attorney’s Office and Texarkana Police Department was conducted following the infant’s death.
Despite the baby’s death in early February, authorities waited until 13 Jun 2025 to issue an arrest warrant.
The Hooks Police Department has yet to explain the delay in pursuing charges.
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Cleamons faces charges of injury to a child and manslaughter. Police confirmed to the Texarkana Gazette that she had not been apprehended as of 16 Jun 2025.
Social media claims of her arrest on Saturday have been proven unfounded. The suspect remains at large.
Police have appealed to the public for assistance in locating Cleamons. The case adds to a series of recent incidents across the United States involving harm to children.
In Washington state, authorities continue their search for Travis Decker, who is accused of murdering his three young daughters during a planned visitation.
Ohio prosecutors recently convicted a mother and her girlfriend in the brutal killing of a young boy whose body was found wrapped in an attic.
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In May 2025, a two-year-old was allegedly thrown into the Bronx River in New York by his father.
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