James Morrison used a wire hanger on a 4-year-old

**Dakota Valkyrie** · October 18th, 2009, 06:45 PM

Forsyth County Sheriff's Office deputies said they have arrested two people in connection to the death of a 4-year-old child.

They identified them as 22-year-old DebraLee Ann Matthews and her fiancee, 36-year-old James Columbus Morrison, Jr.

Matthews is the child's caregiver and is 19 months pregnant

, officials said. (I know it's a misprint, but it's funny)

Maj. F.B. Stanley of the Sheriff's Office said police were called to North Carolina Baptist Medical Center's Emergency Department at the request of medical staff regarding life threatening injuries to the child.

Doctors said the boy had a small subdural hematoma and his brain stem stopped functioning. The child died as a result of his injuries as police were conducting their investigation. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.

Relatives of the accused said the boy tripped, hit his head on a door frame and fell unconscious.

Morrison was charged with one count of murder and Matthews was charged with one count of felonious accessory after the fact.

Matthews' mother Linda Goins said the charges stemmed from Morrison telling police he had hit the boy's back with a hanger. She said Morrison told Matthews about the incident, which led to her being charged as an accomplice.

http://www.wxii12.com/news/21331680/detail.html#

"Matthews is the child's caregiver" ? I hope that's not media-code for "mother".

Her MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/QueenDebbieCakes

**skeptik** · October 18th, 2009, 06:58 PM

Could this bitch's eyes get a little closer together? I hear banjos looking at these two pigs.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · October 18th, 2009, 07:00 PM

Upon further reflection...

Don't elephants have something like an almost 2 year gestational period?

**badfish76** · October 18th, 2009, 07:05 PM

That is an insult to elephants which are matronly creatures and actually take care of their young and abandoned babies in the herd! ;)

These two should have baby killer branded on their foreheads with a hot metal clothes hanger!

**Pete Bondurant** · October 18th, 2009, 07:22 PM

Sorry....I had to do it.

**ineedanap** · October 18th, 2009, 07:46 PM

Doctors said the boy had a small subdural hematoma and his brain stem stopped functioning.

What about a beating with a hanger would cause the brain stem to stop functioning. Not that I beat my kid with a hanger or anything, just curious as to the medical aspect of it. I am thinking there was more than just a wire hanger involved. A couple of blows to the head, brain swelling, and the brain stem stopped fucntioning from that?

**Pennie** · October 18th, 2009, 08:13 PM

Originally Posted by ineedanap

What about a beating with a hanger would cause the brain stem to stop functioning. Not that I beat my kid with a hanger or anything, just curious as to the medical aspect of it. I am thinking there was more than just a wire hanger involved. A couple of blows to the head, brain swelling, and the brain stem stopped fucntioning from that?

A blow to the neck or part of the back hard enough in the right spot with a hanger could cause a brain stem injury and other types of TBI from what I know of these types of injuries.

**brokenandtwisted** · October 18th, 2009, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by ineedanap

What about a beating with a hanger would cause the brain stem to stop functioning. Not that I beat my kid with a hanger or anything, just curious as to the medical aspect of it. I am thinking there was more than just a wire hanger involved. A couple of blows to the head, brain swelling, and the brain stem stopped fucntioning from that?

Well, firstly a hematoma ('abnormal blood') is an internal bleed, internal bleeding is a bleed that occurs outside of the vascular system yet inside of the body. A subdural hematoma means 'an abnormal bleed within the dura mater'. This is a form of brain trauma. I don't know too much about the brain since it's not my field but I'll help you understand.

Basically you don't have a skull and then a brain within it. Your brain has these protective layers around it, under the skull, they are membranes. They're called meninges and there are three of them. To keep things very simple, a human brain rests in a liquid it uses for functions that also protects it from damage/infections/bacteria, and this liquid substance is within (and between) these layers. This liquid is called 'cerebrospinal fluid' - CSF.

The last layer, closest to the skull, is called 'dura mater'. The second layer is called 'arachnoid mater' and subdural hematomas sometimes occur between these two layers, but can occur and normally do occur inside the dura mater. The separation of these two layers can lead to a subdural hematoma. The unique thing about this type of bleed is that it effects veins, not arteries, and separating this layer leads to ICP (intracranial pressure) due to cistern obliteration (brain hernia). Veins as you know carry blood toward the heart, so the bleed is outward and crushing down on the dura mater and spinal cord, therefore weighing down on the other two meninges.

Cardiac output/the blood-brain barrier effect this but it's bio/mathematical chemistry so I won't tread there, but basically an abnormal amount of blood in the brain causes pressure and pushes down on these layers, the brain itself and the spinal cord. Significant pressure within the cranium (skull cavity) can lead to brain damage and death.

The kid was whipped in the head so hard the force ripped open part of his dura mater and caused a bleed that mixed with the CSF, created ICP and in turn killed him. I am not sure how 'hitting him in the back' would allow for a subdural hematoma...but as I said neurology is not my field, so there could be a way. But I doubt it.

**skeptik** · October 18th, 2009, 09:15 PM

My head just exploded.

**brokenandtwisted** · October 18th, 2009, 09:33 PM

Originally Posted by skeptik

My head just exploded.

Clean-up on aisle four!

**TDH** · October 18th, 2009, 09:34 PM

i think i understand.....thanks for the extra info broken

**badfish76** · October 18th, 2009, 09:52 PM

My guess is that the kid probably DID fall into the door jamb trying to get away from this frakin' monster.

Set this POS free with a bullet and a gun.

**brokenandtwisted** · October 18th, 2009, 10:06 PM

Originally Posted by badfish76

My guess is that the kid probably DID fall into the door jamb trying to get away from this frakin' monster.

Set this POS free with a bullet and a gun.

It's possible...but he would have to have been running fast, and hit head-first (Newton's laws of motion blah blah blah and medical physics I never bothered studying). The act of whipping someone in the head with enough force, yeah...being a little kid it's possible to crack open his skull, cause a bleed and kill him...but as I said, he'd have to hit the door pretty hard to harm himself. Someone (an adult) attacking him seems more reasonable.

EDIT: It's the same thing with pistol whipping someone.

**Pixie** · October 18th, 2009, 10:22 PM

Originally Posted by Pete Bondurant

Sorry....I had to do it.

I am SHOCKED. No, I'm appalled. You think you know someone - and then this. What the fuck is wrong with you - PETE?

Since when do you say SORRY about posting something off color?!

**truckermo** · October 19th, 2009, 01:26 AM

I don't know about the brain, but I do know that a wire hanger beating can be beyond just awful. I saw a young boy before that had been beaten about the legs with a wire hanger by his parents, 5 months later the upper parts of his legs were still a deep purple, and looked like they may have very well been permanently marked from it all. I just know that beatings like this are no joke when it comes to the bruising. These aren't parents, I'd like to beat them myself with a hanger and see how long they hold up, sick bastards.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · October 19th, 2009, 10:44 AM

Neighbors and Major Brad Stanley with the Forsyth County Sheriff's department explain the four-year-old wasn't the couples child, but they've been caring for him as their own every since he was a baby.

http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/s...storyid=131892

The caretaker of a 4-year-old boy and her fiancee, who is a convicted sex offender, were charged Sunday in the boy's death, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office.
[...]

Authorities haven't released the boy's name or disclosed the nature of his injuries. The investigation into his death continues.

According to the state Department of Correction records, Morrison was convicted in 1999 of three counts of second-degree sexual offense with a child and two counts of second-degree rape. He spent 4½ years in prison and finished his parole in June.

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/6236915/

Someone gave a baby to an RSO?

**truckermo** · October 19th, 2009, 11:05 AM

Exactly what I was thinking, what in the world was an RSO doing getting a baby to care for? And why the hell does that Bitch have rat looking eyes, good grief???! I have a 2 1/2 year old adopted daughter from foster care, she can about kill me and wear me out any given day of the week, but I couldn't imagine laying one finger on her in harm. You can bet too if I ever move toward marriage and a husband, if he values his penis, arms, legs, balls, and life, he better never consider harming her either. I don't understand how people can be so very heartless to anyone, most especially these little ones. Add to it when you get these little ones that already lost their parents before they even really got a start in life, they already got a major kick in the gut straight out of the gate, then some sick bastard has to come along and finish them off. I have to believe hell has a hotter fire for them than any others. Just pitiful.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · October 20th, 2009, 09:09 AM

Isaih Cordona

**MadeaBecBec** · October 20th, 2009, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by Dakota Valkyrie

Isaih Cordona

James Columbus Morrison Jr., 36, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Emerson Isiah Cardona.

Autopsy results have not released.

Stanley said that the boy's mother gave custody of the child to Matthews about a year ago, although he said that investigators have not found any evidence that there was a legal transaction to transfer custody.

The mother could not be reached for comment.

Stanley said he did not know how long Matthews and Morrison had been seeing each other, but that Morrison -- a registered sex offender who must tell authorities his whereabouts -- had lived in the home since June 23.

Morrison was convicted in December 1999 of a second-degree sex offense. Stanley said that the victim in the case was a 6-year-old girl.

Morrison was released in June 2004.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2...-crime-record/

4 years old!! Surely, Debralee Anne, knew about his conviction and still put this child in danger, all for the penis!! Disgusting!

Emerson Isiah Cardona, So Sorry Sweet Baby, Rest in Gods arms, now, child.... *sigh*

**skeptik** · October 20th, 2009, 12:38 PM

He was given to her? My word, I can't even give a dog away.

**LocalCelebrity** · October 20th, 2009, 12:44 PM

Am I the only person that thinks James looks like he might have a vagina?

**Dakota Valkyrie** · October 11th, 2012, 09:59 AM

Murder charges dropped against sex offender

A convicted sex offender who was initially charged with killing a 4-year-old boy in 2009 pleaded guilty today to felony child abuse, and prosecutors dropped the murder charge because they could not prove that his actions led to the child’s death.

James Columbus Morrison Jr., 39, of 230 Fieldcreek Court, in Winston-Salem, pleaded guilty in Forsyth Superior Court to felony child abuse resulting in serious physical injury in connection to Emerson Isiah Cardona. No sexual abuse was alleged. The child was not Morrison’s biological child. The child’s mother had given custody of Emerson to Morrison’s fiancé, Debralee Matthews, though there was no legal transaction.
[...]

Emerson died at about 3 a.m. Oct. 18, 2009 from blunt force trauma to the head. Assistant District Attorney Belinda Foster said Morrison admitted to beating the child with a coat hanger on the morning of Oct. 17, 2009, but those injuries would not have led to the child’s death. And the child didn’t show any symptoms of severe head injury throughout the day.

Then about 3:30 p.m. that day, Morrison was outside the couple’s house with several other people. Matthews and Emerson had gone inside, and a few minutes later, Matthews called out to Morrison, Foster said. The boy complained that he had hit his head and then started losing consciousness. Morrison called an ambulance to take the child to the emergency room at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Foster and Rabil consulted with Dr. Donald Jason, Forsyth County’s medical examiner, and medical experts that Rabil hired. Jason and the experts concluded that Morrison beating the child with the coat hanger would not have caused the child’s death. What caused the child’s death, they said, was a head injury that the child suffered that afternoon, when Morrison was not in the house.

Foster said that Jason had been on the fence about how to rule the death but ultimately determined that the death was a homicide partly because investigators told him that Morrison had confessed to killing Emerson. That wasn’t true, however, Foster said in court.

As a result, Foster agreed to drop the first-degree murder charge against Morrison.

Judge Gary Gavenus of Forsyth Superior Court sentenced Morrison to 34 months to 50 months in prison.

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2012...th-ar-2683049/