Erin Brittany Markes Starved Her Son… Maybe.
UPDATE 5/23/08 - Erin Markes’ charge of child neglect has been dropped. Prosecutors do not feel there is evidence to warrant a neglect charge. Erin’s son Jaden remains in DCF custody for the time being pending hearings on whether the child is safer with the state or with his mother. Details at the bottom of the article.
Pensacola, FL - Erin Brittany Markes aka Erin Brittni Beckett, 19 ( Myspace ) may be a neglectful mother. Her son Jayden is in the hospital as I write with what law enforcement officers are calling the “worst case of neglect” they’ve ever seen. Jaden, 4, weighed just ten pounds and was near death when Erin Markes finally took him to the hospital last month. The severely disabled child had bedsores from not being turned and an incredibly low body temperature of 91.1 degrees. He had lost nearly half his body weight, reducing him to the size of some newborns. And the medications to control Jaden’s seizures were not in his bloodstream, indicating that he had not received his medicines in weeks.
Erin probably should never have been saddled with the care of her son in the first place. Fifteen when he was born, she was very young and apparently had little family support. Then Jayden turned out to have Lissencephaly, a disease in which the brain wrinkles are smoothed out. Lissencephaly causes severe brain damage, feeding problems, and means that a child who has it often requires total care for everything, even turning over ever hour or so to avoid skin breakdown.
In the last few months, Erin apparently left Jaden’s allegedly drug-addicted father and moved from Missouri, where Jayden was under doctors’ care, to Florida where her family lives. At that point, Erin told police, she just “wasn’t ready to be a mother”. She missed his doctor’s appointments but blamed the absences on not being told when the appointments were scheduled. She apparently stopped giving Jaden his three seizure medications, which had to be administered via feeding tube, or he stopped absorbing them entirely. Erin allegedly stopped trying to feed Jaden regularly. She even stopped turning him, according to hospital staff. Erin is accused of intentionally ignoring her child who could not complain due to his disability.
Erin was arrested on March 28 and charged with child neglect. She was held on $100,000 bond for several days and was released after obtaining legal counsel on April 2. Her attorney says that Jayden’s lissencephaly, not Erin’s neglect, is directly responsible for his deteriorated state. But medical doctors say that while Jaden’s disease process is a factor, he still was not getting adequate care at home and is gaining weight and improving in the hospital and may be released to home hospice care this week. Hospice care is for the terminally ill, so Jaden will die at some point within the next months or years, but hopefully his remaining time will be easy and pain-free.
I hadn’t planned to do this article on the front page. We’ve got a large thread on this case here in our forums already thanks to our member SoJaded, who found it at the time of Erin’s arrest. And my feeling as a former home hospice nurse for children was that Erin really had the deck stacked against her. A severely disabled child is tough for any parent, but for a fifteen year old, that’s really an awful lot to ask. I honestly felt that she had little or no support network, and that possibly she just succumbed to despair and gave up - not an excuse, but kind of an understanding. And lissencephaly is a horrible disease. Very low weights are not that unusual in children who have the disease.
But Erin’s family and supporters arrived and told us that we were mean for expecting Erin to feed her child or for expecting her family to help her. They said we didn’t understand lissencephaly, so we read up on it. We still thought Jaden should have been fed and turned, ’cause we’re crazy like that. We were told that Jaden’s bedsores were a diaper rash by a family member in another state who has not seen the child. We were asked for help in raising Erin’s bail. We were told we were judgemental and uncaring. And then the fun really began.
Jaden’s extended family member tells us that Jaden remains near death and could die at any moment. I hope that Jayden is able to recover and have a semblance of quality of life for the time he has left. When he dies, it will be interesting to see what charges, if any, are brought in connection with his death. In the meantime, Erin, please think carefully before you parent another child. Because clearly you were not ready for this one.
UPDATE 5/23/08 - The neglect charge that was brought against Erin Markes has now been dropped, just days before a scheduled hearing in the case. Prosecutors felt, after reviewing the case records, that perhaps Erin’s story held up - certainly, they say, it presented enough reasonable doubt to make a conviction unlikely. In an interesting note, there may be evidence that Jaden’s lowest weight was around twelve pounds rather than ten. Erin’s documented instances of missing multiple doctor’s appointments for her son were essentially dismissed along with the charge against her.
While statements by law enforcement say that Erin Markes was at times “attentive and proactive” in regards to her son’s care, it was noted that her “efforts had waned of late”. Erin herself told investigators she did not feel that she’d done her best caring for her son. Jaden did gain weight while in the hospital, then lost a bit, and remains in the end stages of his disease process. However, Jaden is still in DCF custody, as hearings have yet to be held to decide whether Erin’s son is safer with the state, or with his mother.
Erin’s attorney is very pleased, saying in a statement that “Erin can go back to her life.” I wish Jaden had a life to go back to. I said more than once that I’d post an update if Erin was cleared - and she was. I wish I felt better about that.
*teeheehee*
He surely can’t spell. His now-set-to-private MySpace profile reads “Rev. Saint pised at closed minded people who refuse to listen to the truth.”
And a new profile (”Jayden Touched My Life”):
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=366985195
At least there’s finally a photo of the little guy.
I guess someone FINALLY took the hint…………….
She had poor Jayden at the age of 15. He was doing well, or as good as he could, for his condition until mom is 19 and finds a new boyfriend. Well, in my opinion, had this happened at the beginning - maybe she would have some scrape of an excuse. BUT, four years later, and now his health suddenly goes to hell since she has found a new boyfriend - I don’t think so. Who could even make an excuse for her?
She’s 19, WTH? She knew to call someone, anyone for assistance. She made a conscious choice NOT TO CALL anyone. Poor Jayden is expected to die anyway because of his condition. So who’s to say “when” he’ll pass. I’m with the crowd on this one - The sorry bitch wanted him gone so she could move on with her life.
And REV if we are all so wrong, explain one question: Did she know how to use a phone or not? If the answer is yes, she can work a telephone, then why in the blue hell would you or anyone else want this child returned to a woman, not a little girl, but a WOMAN who would starve and abuse this precious baby? Are you whacked worse than she is? Damn, that would be super whacked - nah way past whacked.
Solange…….why don’t you tell us how you REALLY feel?
And by the way, Rev……..I think you’re a fucking idiot too!
Hell, I’ll third that statement, just in case there remains a doubt. Rev, you are an idiot.
Rev Saint…. as the mother of a special needs child I just have to say it……. you are not only a fucking idiot but a fucking moron as well. Jayden did not deserve the lack of care or attention he got from Erin. Sounds to me like she just wanted him to go away so she could live her life happily ever after. The more you defend her the more moronic and imbecilic you sound. There should have been alot of resources available to help her, even if family was not. So take your BULLSHIT elsewhere.
My best friend’s daughter has a cancerous brain tumor. She is tube fed, on seizure meds and is non-verbal. She cannot walk or talk. My friend was 17 when she had her and they have been through so much. She has no family support. She is not just sufficient at her job as a mother, she goes above and beyond for her daughter, driven by the fact that she desperately wants her child to have some semblance of a happy, normal life. As difficult as it is to care for a child with a disability, as a mother who cares for and loves her children, I would have to hand them over to the state if I could not do it.
Am i seeing things or is this person actually asking us to give that precious baby back to his mom? *rubs eyes* nope that is what it says.
I can’t get those links to work…is it just me? is everyone else seeing the pages ok?
Nope, I can’t get the pages to work either.
myspace.com/366985195
Try that…hope it works for ya….
It worked for me!
Thanks DPmommy, it worked
You’re welcome!
Did anyone happen to catch the book this hooker listed in her interest section on her myspace page “A Child Called It” - it happens to be about a boy who was horribly neglected and abused. I remeber it being such a graphic description of the abuse endured by the author himself as a child. The very same things she has done to her own child.
At least she can read, too bad she didn’t read a book on childcare.
The boy has new bed sores that appeared after he was transferred into the custody of the state Department of Children and Families and given 24-hour nurse care.
Erin Markes was released from her court-ordered GPS monitoring and spent the night with her son this week for the first time since her neglect arrest.
It would be nice to know how his weight is.
It would be nice to know how his weight is. I’ve gotten some mail calling us “gossip hounds”, among other things, and castigating us for not rushing to Erin’s defense. But honestly, her defense seems to be malabsorption. Which I can totally buy, IF he’s not gained weight via feeding tube in the hospital. Oddly, nobody wants to tell me what Jayden’s weight is doing.
I’ve been told that Erin’s case is under review and that we should be hearing within a few weeks that all charges against Erin have been dropped. If that’s the case, I’ll update to say so.
In Erin’s radio interview, she says that Jayden’s seizure meds “blocked him up” and he couldn’t absorb his formula - but there was no trace of any of Jayden’s meds in his system at all - even his blood levels were at zero and there didn’t seem to be any massive intestinal impaction. With all the different stories we’ve gotten from Erin supporters, at this point I’m gonna wait for something verifiable. Soon as I get that, I’ll change the story to indicate that her charges have been dropped.
As of right now, Erin’s next court date is May 7, and there is no indication on the Santa Rosa County court records website that they have dropped the neglect charge.
Erin’s interview: http://weartv.com/players/news/top_stories/vid_2804.shtml
In the interview she says, “My son decided to cry all night and sleep all day.”
Yeah. I’m sure. Conscious decision making on his part.
As if doing it the other way around would have been better? Couldn’t she sleep all day and stay up all night too?
I am waiting for more to come out but parts of this make no sense to me at all.
IMPQUEEN do you have an update on the child?
No, I don’t. I’ve heard from people telling me what a great mom Erin is, but nobody telling me how Jayden is doing. It’s almost like he only exists to exonerate his mother - it’s weird. Of course, that could be because most of the people who want to tell me how great Erin is aren’t actually there, I don’t know.
Erin is scheduled for arraignment on May 7, so if the charges against her are going to be dropped, that should be happening pretty quickly.
The only new thing I can find on Jayden is that doctors say his condition is “good”.
I can only hope that this little guy will be comfortable and well cared for in the last days of his long struggle.
i hope so too.