A ten-year-old boy from Alabama pretended to be dead when his mother attempted to drown him in a bathtub.
The boy told his mother, Ashley Elizabeth Jones, 34, that he wanted to live with his father.
The boy told police that his mother doused him with bleach.
According to the court documents, the child claimed that he had gone to take a bath and wash off the bleach, when his mother followed him into the bathroom, “jumped into the tub with him, and proceeded to grab his face, shoving it under water” for about 45 seconds, the affidavit alleges.
To survive, the child told investigators that he stilled his body, pretending to “play dead,” per the affidavit.
Afterward, his mother allegedly locked him in a closet for three hours, per the court documents.
The boy called his father and asked him to pick him up that Sunday, the father told authorities, per the court documents.
The father told investigators that his son sounded “distressed” and had run out of the house to meet him, carrying “only his Xbox and clothing.”
The father then told his son that they needed to check in with his mother before an unscheduled pick-up, per the affidavit, which notes that the child begged him not to before revealing the alleged abuse, which the father then reported to authorities.
Ala. Mom Allegedly Tried to Drown Son, 10, in Bathtub. To Survive, He 'Played Dead': Docs
The mother, Ashley Elizabeth Jones, allegedly threw bleach on her son and then followed him to the bathtub when he tried to wash it off.
people.com