Mother of missing toddler arrested on child neglect charge
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The mother of a missing toddler has been accused of child neglect and giving false information to Jacksonville Sheriff's Office investigators.
Chief Tom Hackney announced the arrest of Lonna Lauramore, 25, late Tuesday, saying that she lied to police after her son, 21-month-old Lonzie Barton, was reported missing on July 24.
Lauramore's boyfriend, Ruben Ebron Jr., was arraigned Monday on charges of felony child neglect and giving false information to police.
Hackney said Lauramore's lies hampered the early stages of the investigation. The child's disappearance is now being investigated as a homicide, reports CBS affiliate WJAX.
Hackney also said investigators have learned that the couple got into an argument over a bruise on Lonzie's head hours before he disappeared, and she then went to work, leaving Lonzie and his 5-year-old sister with Ebron.
Police said the woman found the boy with yellow fluid coming out of his ears, and he was lethargic and was throwing up, reports the station.
"Despite getting into an argument over how it occurred without a real satisfactory explanation.... she left Lonzie and her 5-year-old in the care, custody and control of someone who may have done something to her child and went to work at Wacko's," Hackney told the station.
Police have called Ebron a suspect in the child's disappearance. Ebron, 32, initially told investigators that he had left the child in a car July 24 outside an apartment building where they lived with Lauramore, and the car was stolen with the boy still in it when he went back inside.
The car Ebron reported stolen was found with its keys inside shortly after a 911 call alerted authorities to Lonzie's disappearance.
Investigators now believe he lied about Lonzie's disappearance.
"Without a doubt, the report that he gave, that his car was taken by some unknown suspect and left by some unknown suspect is a lie and is not true," Hackney said last month.
On the night the child was reported abducted, police said Lauramore told police she didn't know Ebron after she was stopped while riding in a car with a friend. She allegedly later admitted she knew Ebron was a suspected drug dealer who kept narcotics unsecured in their home, reports the station.
Hackney said Lauramore took her son along when they rode with Ebron to buy and sell drugs, according to WJAX.
"(Lauramore) gave repeated false statements and then later admitted to investigators that she had made these false statements," Hackney said.
Lauramore was booked into jail Tuesday night. It's not known whether she has a lawyer who could be contacted for comment on her case.