Wednesday, July 1, 2009

10:00am Update

Tameika Loudermilk re-takes the stand for cross examination from the defense.

Prosecutors say she witnessed her, then boyfriend, Jonell Lloyd abuse 18-month old Chavira Brown. Defense attorneys say the witness is not credible because she changed her story when talking to police.

Defense Attorney, Alice Osborne, is taking Ms. Loudermilk back through the testimony she provided jurors.

Ms. Loudermilk says she witnessed Jonell Lloyd hit the baby with a belt, choke the baby, and says at one point she thought the baby was dead. When asked if she ever tried to do anything to stop the "abuse," she said no.

Ms. Loudermilk also testifies that it was her understanding if she cooperated with the state, it would help her get her kids back.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

5:00pm Update

Tameika Loudermilk takes the stand late Tuesday. Prosecutors say she witnessed Jonell Lloyd beat and abuse 18-month-old Chavira Brown the day she died.

Loudermilk quietly recounted for jurors how at times during the day she saw Lloyd wake the baby from a sound sleep to spank her with a belt because she had wet herself. At another point, she described seeing Lloyd choke the child. Later, she saw him carry the baby to another room and believed the baby may have been dead.

Loudermilk says this made her scared of Jonell, and that "he was mean." She said he had been mean to her, too. Loudermilk says she spent most of the day in her room with her own child, frightened of Lloyd.

Loudermilk says she saw Lloyd in the kitchen getting trash bags, but didn't see Chavira again after watching him carry her to another room.

Loudermilk told jurors Lloyd said to her, "You don't know Chavira, and you haven't seen her." Pressed by prosecutors, Loudermilk said she took a pair of Lloyd's jeans left on the living room floor, put them in a plastic bag, and placed them in her room. Loudermilk said she did this because Lloyd called her after he left the house and threatened to hurt her if she didn't do as he said.

Loudermilk said she also saw Lloyd standing on a chair under the roof access to the attic, but that she did not see him go into the attic.

When police arrived, Loudermilk first told investigators she had not seen Lloyd in months. When she was taken to police headquarters for questioning, she never said anything about the abuse she had witnessed earlier that day.

Her story changed, though, when she visited with a detective she knew and prosecutors say made her feel more comfortable. The detective had worked a previous case involving Loudermilk and Lloyd. In that case, Lloyd had shot Loudermilk in the foot.

After speaking with the detective, Loudermilk's information helped lead police back to Lloyd and the home where they found Brown's body in the attic.

Chief Dep. District Attorney Kim Parker shows jurors a slideshow of photos taken inside Lloyd's home. The entrance to the attic was near the rear of the house. Lloyd raised pit bulls, and in the back room there is dog feces clearly visible on the floor.

Parker then showed Loudermilk a belt, which she identified as the one she saw Lloyd use to hit Brown. She also showed Loudermilk a box of trash bags which Loudermilk says she saw Lloyd pull two trash bags from.

Loudermilk's testimony will continue Wednesday morning when Lloyd's defense attorney, Alice Osburn, will have a chance to ask questions. Osburn told jurors during opening statements that Loudermilk's testimony was not credible because of her dramatic change of story to police.

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3:00pm Update

Michael Burris is the next witness after LaDonta Alford. Burris and Lloyd were acquaintances about two months before the death of Chavira Brown. Burris and Lloyd met through one of Burris' cousins.

Burris was at Lloyd's home the day of Brown's disappearance. He saw Brown in the house. Burris says she was on the couch. He had never seen the child before that day.

Burris said the child was awake, and Jonell was "really good with his kids."

Burris said he and Lloyd went out to sit and talk in a car. Burris later told police that during this time, Lloyd complained that Brown's mother and relatives weren't treating the child well and that she wasn't developing as quickly as she should. Burris said Lloyd complained briefly about the child's lack of potty training.

Burris said he saw Lloyd again later in the day with a bandage on his hand. Burris said Lloyd was running from police for what Burris thought was a drug raid. Burris said he wasn't aware of what was going on with Lloyd's missing daughter until police came to talk to him.

Additional online updates may be delayed this afternoon because of upcoming news deadlines. Look for the latest on this story tonight on KAKE News at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00.

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2:00pm Update

LaDonta Alford takes the stand after the lunch recess. Alford was a sitter for Chavira Brown, and a friend of Jessica Jackson. Jackson often called Alford her Auntie, and lived in her home.

Alford said the Sunday before Brown's death, she was unable to babysit. Jackson was at work, and told Alford to take the baby to Jonell Lloyd's home. Brown stayed with Lloyd for several days.

On July 31, Lloyd called Alford and asked her to call police and report the baby was missing. Alford said she told Lloyd she was first going to call Jackson and tell her that her daughter was missing.

Alford said when police began looking for Brown, they came to speak with her. She was one of the people, along with Jackson and Tameika Loudersmilk, who were taken to police headquarters for questioning.

Alford said when she first dropped Brown off at Lloyd's home, Lloyd seem caught off guard that he would have to watch the baby. But after a few minutes, Alford said he was fine with it.

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Noon Update

Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent about twenty minutes this morning outlining their cases to jurors. Jonell Lloyd, 24, is charged with first degree premeditated murder in the death of 18-month-old Chavira Brown.

Prosecutors say Lloyd beat the child for soiling her diapers. They say he then stuffed her body in trash bags and hid her in the attack.

But Brown wasn't dead, prosecutors told jurors this morning. A coroner is expected to testify she lived several hours in the attic before slowly suffocating to death in the trash bags.

Assistant District Attorney Matt Dwyer told jurors her body was found beaten and bruised, covered in maggots, still in her soiled diaper.

But defense attorneys argue the only person who claims to have seen Lloyd beating Brown was Tameika Loudermilk, Lloyd's girlfriend and mother to another of his children. Alice Osburn, Lloyd's attorney, says Loudermilk is not a credible witness because her stories have changed.

At first, Loudermilk denied she saw anything. But when pressed, defense attorneys say she told police to check the home's attic. Loudermilk is expected to testify during trial.

Osburn also says Lloyd ran from police and hid for several days because he was afraid of being caught with drugs and sent back to prison for violating his parole. Lloyd claims he had no knowledge of what happened to Brown.

One of the first witnesses for the prosecution was Jessica Jackson, Chavira Brown's mother and former girlfriend of Jonell Lloyd. She tearfully recounted to jurors how she learned that her daughter was missing.

Look for additional updates to this story throughout the day on KAKE News and KAKE.com.

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9:00am Update

Trial begins today in the case of a father accused of killing his 18-month-old daughter, then hiding her body in the attic of his home.

Jonell Lloyd is charged with first degree murder and child abuse in the death of little Chavira Brown.

Police say Lloyd called the child's mother around 8:00 in the evening on July 31st, 2008, to say the girl had disappeared from Grove Park. The mother called 911 and police quickly began searching the area.

However, detectives said given the child's age, it didn't seem feasible she could have wandered very far on her own. After getting a warrant to search Lloyd's home, police say they discovered the missing child's body in the attic.

Trial in the case is expected to last through the week. Stay with KAKE News and KAKE.com for updates.