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Posted on Fri, Jan. 30, 2004

Toddler starves to death
Coroner says 17-month-old Canton boy found dead in crib is worst case he's seen
By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer




Juanita Johnson-Millender is charged with involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.


Calling it the worst such case he had ever seen, a pathologist for the Stark County Coroner's Office said Thursday a 17-month-old Canton boy discovered dead in his crib Wednesday night died of starvation.

Findings of the autopsy showed that the child, identified by police as Joshua Rumph, weighed only 10 pounds, 4 ounces, Chief Deputy Coroner P.S.S. Murthy said.

He said Joshua, who lived with his mother in an apartment in the 800 block of Alan Page Drive Southeast, was ``extremely emaciated, extremely thin and has virtually no body fat. All the bony prominences are visible.''

Murthy, who performed the autopsy, said the preliminary cause of death was ruled as ``a severe case of malnourishment.''

Joshua's mother, identified by Canton police as 19-year-old Juanita Johnson-Millender, was arrested on felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.

She was being held in the Stark County Jail Thursday in lieu of a $500,000 cash bond, Canton Police Sgt. Jack Angelo said.

When the child was found in his crib Wednesday by Canton Fire Department paramedics, Murthy said Joshua was wearing a little housecoat and some clothes underneath it.

``The clothing was soaked with urine, and the child had extremely severe diaper rash. It's what appears to be an extreme case of neglect,'' Murthy said.

Stark County Family Court Administrator Richard DeHeer said Joshua's 2-year-old brother, identified by police as Jeremiah Rumph, was taken from the mother and placed into the temporary custody of the Job and Family Services Department after a hearing Thursday before Judge John Hoffman.

Citing court records, DeHeer said Jeremiah was ``found to have a scratch on his face, a black eye and a bump on his forehead.''

In addition to placing Jeremiah in a foster home, Hoffman also issued an order prohibiting the mother and grandmother -- identified as Madeline Rumph, 42 -- from any contact with Jeremiah, DeHeer said.

He said records showed the court had one previous report about the mother, but there was no arrest and no details because the case was dismissed.

Joshua was born Aug. 24, 2002, according to police records.

In his long career in pathology, the past 10 ½ years as chief deputy to Stark County Coroner James R. Pritchard and five years before that with the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office, Murthy said flatly: ``I have not come across such a severe case of malnourishment.''

Murthy said he checked with a well-known area pediatrician about the normal weight for a 17-month-old boy and was told that it should be 26 to 28 pounds.

Angelo said the boy's father, identified as Jamarr Rumph, was living in Florida. He said detectives have not been able to locate him.

Detectives who responded to the call at the Alan Page Drive apartment, DeHeer said, were ``unable to locate any baby food or cereal, appropriate for this child's age, in the home.''

DeHeer said court records showed the following circumstances before police arrived at the apartment:

Johnson-Millender, the mother, called a friend at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. She and her friend watched television while Jeremiah played with one of his friends.

The mother's friend called a relative, who arrived at the apartment at 4:30 p.m., and the relative called 911 at 4:50.

DeHeer said there was no immediate identification on Johnson-Millender's friend.

He said the next hearing in Jeremiah's custody case was scheduled for 1 p.m. Feb. 25.

Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Dennis E. Barr said he could not comment on the case.

He said the maximum prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, is 10 years. The maximum penalty for felony child endangering, he said, is five years in prison.


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