JRia “Princess Marie” Ramkissoon and her son, Javon Thompson

Baltimore, MD and Philadelphia, PA - When Javon Thompson died, he was only about 18 months old.  Sometime between December 2006 and February 2007, the toddler was killed and left in a green suitcase in a shed in Philadelphia.  Little Javon was starved to death by the members of his mother’s cult because he wouldn’t - or couldn’t - say “Amen” at mealtime prayers.  Now Javon’s mother, Ria “Princess Marie” Ramkissoon, and four other cult members are charged with his murder.    

Ria Ramkissoon, now 21, left her family and went to live with 1 Mind Ministries in December 2006, taking one-year-old Javon Thompson with her.  Ria was given the honored title “Princess Marie” in the cult, which was run by a woman calling herself “Queen Antoinette”.  Her real name is Toni Ellsberry or Toni Sloan.  Antoinette, 40, lived with Steven Bynum, 42, Trevia Williams, 21, and Marcus Cobbs, 21.    Not one of these cultish lemmings lifted a hand to save baby Javon.  Not even his own mother.

Shortly after moving in with the group, Queen Antoinette decided that Javon should say “Amen” after grace, like the other children did.  Problem was, the other children were school-aged and Javon was a toddler.   Cult members say Javon was “defiant”; more likely, he thought that bitch was crazy. So Javon didn’t say “Amen”.  Maybe because he was about fifteen months old at the time, yathink?

Queen Antoinette’s punishment for Javon not saying “Amen” was simply to withhold food and water until the next meal, when he was given a chance to say it again.  When he couldn’t or wouldn’t comply,  Javon got no food and water for that meal either.  At no time did Ria Ramkissoon pick up her baby and get the hell out of there.  At no time did anyone call for medical assistance.  The group watched baby Javon’s eyes go dark.  They watched him dehydrate and starve.  And they watched him die.

Once Javon was dead, Queen Antoinette put him in a room and told the cult members that God would resurrect the toddler.  But she was apparently unclear on the resurrection process, and Javon did not come back to life.

After a week, Antoinette had cult members undress Javon and burn his clothes.  She then put the baby’s body in a green suitcase with some fabric softener sheets and whole lotta Lysol.   Then she decided it was time for 1 Mind Ministries to move on.  So the group went to Philly for a month or so in February, 2007.  They took the suitcase containing Javon’s rotting corpse with them.  What I wanna know is, how stank were these people that nobody noticed a dead body smell coming from a suitcase?

After a month, 1 Mind got evicted from a hotel and moved in on some poor old guy in Philly.  He kicked them out after a few days, but told them they could leave some of their stuff.  Which they did.  In his shed.  For a year.  In the meantime, Ria Ramkissoon’s mother had been trying for months to take the group to court for custody of Javon. The case never got anywhere because Ria and the group kept missing court dates, and because it appears that social services agencies didn’t really take Ria’s mother seriously.  It wasn’t until after two other children were removed from the group and placed in foster care that anyone paid attention to what might have happened to little Javon.

In February 2008, a social worker notified Baltimore police that she had worked with children who said Javon had starved to death and was left in a suitcase.  In May, Baltimore homicide detectives took a run over to the shed in Philly where Javon’s coffin-slash-suitcase was stored, and child custody became a non-issue.  The baby’s body was so deteriorated that visual identification was impossible.

Also in May, Queen Antoinette, Trevia Williams, and Marcus Cobbs were arrested in New York, where the group had settled, on assault charges.  They’d gotten into a physical fight with police during a child custody hearing, although it’s not clear whether that hearing was connected to Javon’s case.

On Sunday, August 10, Ria Ramkissoon was located in a homeless shelter in Baltimore and arrested.  She has been charged with first-degree murder, child abuse, reckless endangerment and conspiracy, among other crimes, and is being held without bond.  Antoinette, Bynum, Williams and Cobbs have all been charged with murder and other crimes as well.  Antoinette, Williams and Cobbs remain in custody in New York. Steven Bynum left the group when they moved to Brooklyn and remains at large.

Unamused Cat has been following this case in our forums.

“Queen Antoinette”, L, and Trevia Williams, R