Inset: Jessica M. Burke (Bay County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Bay County Law Enforcement Center (WJRT).
A 39-year-old mother in Michigan may spend the rest of her life behind bars for her role in the death of her 4-year-old son, who authorities say was starved last year and weighed only 10 pounds at the time of his death.
Jessica Marie Burke was taken into custody last week and is currently facing one count of felony first-degree child abuse in the torturous death of young Noah Burke, records reviewed by Law&Crime show. Under Michigan state law, a charge of first-degree child abuse carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Officers with the Bay City Police Department at about 4:10 a.m. on Oct. 18, 2024, responded to a residence located in the 900 block of McKinley Avenue in response to a 911 call from a woman — later identified as Burke — who told the dispatcher that she woke up to find her 4-year-old son unresponsive and not breathing, according to a report from MLive.
Emergency medical personnel responded to the address and the boy was pronounced dead later that day.
A subsequent autopsy reportedly determined that Noah’s manner of death was a homicide and the cause of death was determined to be “severe extreme calorie malnutrition and complications thereof leading to extreme emaciation and failure to thrive.”
A copy of the criminal complaint obtained by Flint Michigan ABC affiliate WJRT alleges that Burke “did knowingly or intentionally cause serious physical harm” to Noah by “starvation and malnourishment” that led to his death.
Bay County Prosecutor Michael P. Kanuszewski said the victim had special needs and weighed a mere 10 pounds when he was pronounced dead, about one-quarter of what a healthy child that age should weigh.
Other court documents obtained by WJRT explained that Noah was born with Esophageal Dysphasia, which is a “severely under developed swallow” that left him with “no ability to suck, root gag, or move his mouth.”
Kanuszewski told the station that the case was essentially a lose-lose for all involved.
“She had her hands full,” the prosecutor said of Burke. “He was not an easy child to care for, but how can anyone allow that to happen. That’s why it’s so tragic. No one wins in a case like this, regardless of the outcome.”
Burke appeared in court for her arraignment last week where a judge set a $250,000 cash-surety bond. She is currently scheduled to appear in court again on May 29.
