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Southern Indiana toddler's death ruled a homicide

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by Jacqueline McLean

Posted on October 29, 2009 at 5:16 PM

Updated Monday, Nov 2 at 2:15 PM

(WHAS11) - The death of the 2-year-old from southern Indiana who died just hours after his mother rushed him to the hospital is now being ruled a homicide. 
 

It happened in Austin, Scott County Indiana. After going to the hospital there, Jacob was rushed to Kosair Children’s Hospital, where he later died.
 

It’s always sad when a young child dies and this one is especially heartbreaking, because of the reported bruises the 2-year-old may have suffered.  
 

The final autopsy report from the coroner’s office is that little Jacob died of an inflicted closed head injury. 
 

Hours before the results came back; his grandmother told me she was confident her grandson’s death was no accident.
 

“He called me Mo-ma,” said Joyce Bowling, Jacob Lord’s grandmother. 
 

Joyce Bowling was holding her 2-year-old grandson's favorite toys.
 

“He's a feisty little thing,” she said.
 
Bowling says not for one second does she believe her grandson, Jacob Lord, who died of life-threatening injuries, accidentally hurt himself.
 

“He had bruises from head to toe. It’s awful,” said Joyce.
 
She says her 36-year-old daughter's 26-year-old boyfriend was taking care of Jacob at the time. She says the two had only been dating for a couple of months.
 

“They said he claimed he fell off a bed, but he didn't. He was covered with bruises from head to toe and scratches and there's no way falling off a bed would do that,” said Joyce.
 

As she clutched the boy’s toys in her hand she pointed to a pattern of possible abuse.
 

She says this is not the first time the boy had been hurt.
 
From what WHAS11 News could tell, no one in the family ever reported any abuse to authorities.

The grandmother says the boyfriend’s excuse for the bruises she saw was that the child had fallen out of the bed and either fell on the floor or on a toy. She says her daughter only left Jacob alone with the boyfriend a few times.   
 
 

 

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