Toddler starved to death because he couldn't say "amen".

[Unamused Cat]

BALTIMORE (WJZ) ― A baby was starved to death because he couldn't say "Amen." That's the allegation against a cult believed to be responsible for the death of a Baltimore child, whose remains were found in a suitcase in Philadelphia.

Derek Valcourt has new details from police records that indicate what detectives believe happened to the young child.

His grandmother is keeping baby Javon's toys.

"He was such a nice, happy baby," Seeta Newton said about the boy she calls an angel.

But records obtained by our newspaper partner The Baltimore Examiner indicated the child was "viewed as a demon" by members of a cult called "One Mind Ministries."

Seeta Newton said her daughter took Javon Thompson and joined the cult more than two years ago. Acting on a tip, Baltimore City Police headed to Philadelphia last month, where they found a child's remains stuffed inside a suitcase. The odor was masked by fabric softener and blankets.

http://wjz.com/local/cult.javon.2.724234.html

http://www.examiner.com/a-1390156~Re...d=temp-popular

[JenJen1995]

I guess he wasn't a happy baby after she joined the cult and stopped being fed. I know sometimes it's senseless, but can child protective services even do anything if there is a complaint about the welfare of a child if it has to do with the "rules" of a cult being followed? I mean, those people view and treat it as a religious freedom when they start "creating and following" their rules...

[skeptical]

Can I stuff the stupid bitch that caused this into a suitcase and starve her? Huh? Can I please? Can I can I can I can I? Please please please.:D

[~Absynthe~]

At 18 months old, I am sure that his vocabulary didn't include Amen. My granddaughter is 18 months old and all she says is daddy and Duh! Poor little guy!

[JenJen1995]

Can I stuff the stupid bitch that caused this into a suitcase and starve her? Huh? Can I please? Can I can I can I can I? Please please please.

**Permission GRANTED**

[Jaded]

Thanks for the info UC. I was wondering about the identity of that child.
:(

[TheLittleFriend]

How the hell they expected the baby to say "amen"?

Crazy.

[CPL CHUD]

A couple hundred years ago and this wouldn't even be questioned.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

members of a cult called "One Mind Ministries."

Ya suppose the called it that because when they put all their brain cells together, that is all it added up to?

[ImmortalOne]

Originally Posted by CPL CHUD

A couple hundred years ago and this wouldn't even be questioned.

Hell even 125 years ago it wouldn't have been questioned. However that does not make it correct in the current day and times. Expecting an 18 month old to say "Amen" (not only are some not speaking at this age, how could they expect him to comprehend his words anyway), is utterly rediculous. "Cult" seems to be the key here. Obviously they should suffer the same death that baby did.

[Becca]

This is so stupid and pisses me off..the whole amen thing then stuffing his poor little body in a suitcase with some blankets and fabric softner??? WTF.

I just realized too Jakob turned 2 in April and can't say 'amen' but he can perfectly enunciate 'damn' and 'shit'. Heh.

[thepooh5]

Are you shitting me? An 18 month old expected to say "amen".

That mom should be killed slowly. And, for the cult members, I say find out when and where they are meeting and firebomb the whole lot of them - minus any other children that might be unfortunate enough to be in their midst.

[Lizard]

Javon's mother Ria Ramkissoon (aka "Princess Marie"), 21, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, child abuse, reckless endangerment, among others. Ria's mother is standing by her daughter.

I would like to see the people responsible for this arrested. My daughter was a victim, just like my grandson. She didn't willingly decide, 'I'm going to kill my son.' ... It's not like that. Somebody made that decision to not feed that child, and my daughter had to follow instructions.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...,1819230.story

[Hippiepoet]

Quote:
"I would like to see the people responsible for this arrested. My daughter was a victim, just like my grandson. She didn't willingly decide, 'I'm going to kill my son.' ... It's not like that. Somebody made that decision to not feed that child, and my daughter had to follow instructions."

What a horrible story. No Mamma your daughter did NOT HAVE to do that. She could of taken that child and gotten the fuck out of there. My goodness....that poor baby.

[Jaded]

Originally Posted by Lizard

Javon's mother Ria Ramkissoon (aka "Princess Marie"), 21, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, child abuse, reckless endangerment, among others. Ria's mother is standing by her daughter.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...,1819230.story

Someone needs to bitchslap momma. Can you say denial??

[petrina]

imagine their surprise when they are on the fast train to hell. those stupid poopoo heads.

[Unamused Cat]

Update: A Baltimore woman who police say is connected to a religious cult has been charged with first- degree murder in the death of her child, according to court documents obtained yesterday.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...,1597066.story

[Jaded]

4 more are being charged with murder....

Baltimore police have obtained warrants charging four more members of what authorities call a religious cult in the death of 2-year-old Javon Thompson, whose body was found in May in a suitcase in Philadelphia. The warrants bring the number of people charged in the boy's death to five.

Charged with murder in warrants were Queen Antoinette, 40, Trevia Williams, 20, Marcus Cobbs, 21, and Steven Bynum, 42. All but Bynum are in jail on other charges, and the Warrant Apprehension Task Force is looking for Bynum in the New York area, said Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the city's Police Department.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nat...,4021858.story

[Gilbrit]

Javon Thompson


Queen Antoinette


Tevia Williams

Molly McGrath, the chief operating officer of DSS, said the complaints about how Javon Thompson was treated while with 1 Mind Ministries were not specific enough to thoroughly investigate. Police said the toddler was denied food and water because he would not say amen after meals.

"We cannot find any record to show that we could have intervened before Javon died," McGrath said. She said records show that DSS received one call in May 2006 - eight months before Javon died - but the caller gave a bad address. The second call came in April of this year, the same month Javon's body was found stuffed in a suitcase in Philadelphia.

But Javon's grandmother, Seeta Khadan-Newton, said she called DSS at least four times between April and December of 2006.

"I spoke to people who would not give me the time of day," she said yesterday. "They bluntly said to me during one call that they needed proof. They said they could not go out. They said I am probably just making it up, and it is just hearsay."
Khadan-Newton had concerns about her daughter and grandson for years and said she thinks the death could have been avoided had officials in Baltimore listened to her two years ago when she said first raised an alarm about the group.

"It crushed me because I knew my little baby was in danger and I was reaching out and nobody was concerned about a baby in danger," she said, adding that the people she spoke with would not even take her name or address.

McGrath, the head of the city's department of social services, said the conditions Khadan-Newton described to reporters - such as Javon surrounded by marijuana use and not getting medical attention - would have met her agency's threshold for acting. She said each phone call to her agency should prompt a record to be created.

Citing confidentiality rules, McGrath would not say who made the two calls for which there are records. But she did say that neither of those calls were made by Khadan-Newton.

There were other warnings as well. In Oct. 2006, Tiffany Smith was expelled from the group and later returned with city police to get her two children out of the ministry's East Baltimore rowhouse. Police arrested four members of the group, charging them with pushing an officer.

Smith also said she checked herself into a local hospital after retrieving her children and was interviewed there by a Social Services caseworker. She said that during this interview she told the caseworker about the other children in the rowhouse.

McGrath said her agency is still researching this incident and couldn't comment on it yesterday.

Story Here

This sickens and saddens me that the death of Javon Thompson could have been prevented.

[Abroad]

Originally Posted by JenJen1995

Can I stuff the stupid bitch that caused this into a suitcase and starve her? Huh? Can I please? Can I can I can I can I? Please please please.

**Permission GRANTED**

Amen!

[michelle]

Originally Posted by thepooh5

Are you shitting me? An 18 month old expected to say "amen".

That mom should be killed slowly. And, for the cult members, I say find out when and where they are meeting and firebomb the whole lot of them - minus any other children that might be unfortunate enough to be in their midst.

My pooh! Hello. Missed ya. *kisses*

Kid probably couldn't talk cause he was weak from not being fed.

[impqueen]

I'll get the pics of Javon and "Antoinette" up in the Javon article from the front page. Thanks for the update!

[moonlilly1981]

I am from Maryland. This story was big when it hit. I will keep everyone updated when ever I know something.

[Gilbrit]

Originally Posted by moonlilly1981

I am from Maryland. This story was big when it hit. I will keep everyone updated when ever I know something.

Thanks Moonlilly that would be great.
I haven't heard another peep out of this story since it broke.

[crickett]

Originally Posted by Gilbrit

Thanks Moonlilly that would be great.
I haven't heard another peep out of this story since it broke.

The mother (if you can call her that), Ria Ramkissoon (aka Princess Marie)was FINALLY charged with Murder 1 on August 8,2008 (or 8/10/08 depending on source)
www.mahalo.com/Ria_Ramkissoon
5 cult members were Arraigned for Murder 1 on 10/8/2008 and the trial is scheduled for January 28, 2009
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news...eged_cult.html

[Envy]

My only question: If granny was so fucking worried about her grandson, why the hell didn't she just go in take him? i'm pretty sure her daughter, with her simple mind, would have followed quite easily. My grandmother would have killed to get me out of there alive. Whats their excuse?

[silvahalo68]

I remember this story...it broke my heart. An innocent baby dragged in to this stupid cult shit...it is unbelievable. To end up dead in a suitcase...discarded, meaningless.

Video with grandmother commenting and video of baby Javon...beautiful child.

Rest In Peace Baby Javon

Sleep with the angels baby Javon...

[silvahalo68]

Rest in peace sweet angel.

[Nellymed]

First off her daughter could walk, talk, and obviously eat, all the baby could do was rely on his mother to care for him, and that mindless, selfish, ignorant bitch didnt not try to feed him or seek help. Then when the babies dies she doesnt call the police, her mother, or anyone. I hope the mom gets smacked around in jail a lot maybe then she'll learn how to think on her own.

[Unamused Cat]

Update:

BALTIMORE — A former religious cult member pleaded guilty Monday to starving her 1-year-old son to death after making an unusual deal with prosecutors: If the child is resurrected, her plea will be withdrawn.

Ria Ramkissoon, 22, also agreed to testify against four other members of the now-defunct religious group known as 1 Mind Ministries. All four are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Javon Thompson.

According to a statement of facts, the cult members stopped feeding the boy when he refused to say "Amen" after a meal. After Javon died, Ramkissoon sat next to his decomposing body and prayed for his resurrection.

Ramkissoon's attorney, Steven D. Silverman, said Ramkissoon believes the resurrection will occur. She agreed to plead guilty only after prosecutors said they would drop the charges if the child comes back to life, Silverman said.

"This is something that she absolutely insisted upon, and this is indicative of the fact that she is still brainwashed, still a victim of this cult," he said. "Until she's deprogrammed, she's not going to think any differently."

Baltimore Circuit Judge Timothy J. Doory assured Ramkissoon that the plea would indeed be withdrawn if the child is resurrected.

Ramkissoon pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse resulting in death. She will remain in custody until she testifies against her co-defendants and will receive a suspended 20-year sentence and serve five years probation. Sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 11. By then, Ramkissoon would have spent about a year behind bars.

As part of her probation, Ramkissoon must submit to treatment, including sessions with an expert on cult behavior.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,511651,00.html