A Pennsylvania man has been arrested for killing his girlfriend’s toddler son and hiding the boy’s body in a canvas bag in the basement of the home where the couple lived.
Police in Oil City identified the suspect as 24-year-old Trevaughn Stribling-Jackson, according to The Derrick. A criminal complaint said the investigation began on Wednesday when Stribling-Jackson’s girlfriend came to the police station and reported her 2-year-old son missing.
She said she left for work at about 2:30 p.m. on Monday, leaving the boy in Stribling-Jackson’s care. When she returned late Monday night, the boy was missing and her boyfriend told her he’d given the child to a cousin in Erie, but refused to give her the name or contact information.
She also told police that sher boyfriend was doing laundry when she got home, something he never did, and that a canvas bag for an air mattress was missing. Additionally, she said she saw what appeared to be blood on the box spring beneath the air mattress.
The woman told police she tried unsuccessfully multiple times to get the Stribling-Jackson to tell her where her son was and that she was concerned because she knew he would hit the boy. Recently, she said, she found bruises on the boy’s ribcage, but the piece of utter and complete shit told her the child fell down the stairs.
Police obtained a search warrant and went to the home where the couple lived. There, they found the missing air mattress bag under a makeshift table and inside was the missing toddler. Emergency personnel were called to the scene, but the boy was pronounced dead.
According to the complaint, the child had injuries to his head and face and a suspected burn on his groin.
Stribling-Jackson told police he had no idea where the boy was, that he didn’t send the boy to a cousin in Erie, and that he never told anyone he did so, the complaint says.
He was charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, concealment of the whereabouts of a child, and abuse of a corpe. He was arraigned Thursday morning and ordered held without bond because he is a flight risk who “will not comply with bail conditions.”
He is due in court for a preliminary hearing on January 3, 2024.
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[Featured image: Trevaughn Stribling-Jackson/police handout]
