Trevaughn Lee Glenn Stribling-Jackson (Venango County Jail)
A 24-year-old Pennsylvania man has been arrested for allegedly killing his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son, burning the toddler’s groin and beating him to death before stuffing his body in a canvas air mattress bag that he hid in the basement of the home.
Trevaughn Lee Glenn Stribling-Jackson was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with one count each of criminal homicide, aggravated assault, concealment of the whereabouts of a child, and abuse of a corpse in the death of young Keaton Morrison, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
The victim’s mother, 22-year-old Caleigh Gladfelter, was also arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child because authorities say she was aware that Stribling-Jackson had been physically abusing her son.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by Explore Venango, Gladfelter went to the Oil City Police Department on Wednesday and reported her son missing. The child was described as a 2-year-old boy who lived with her and her boyfriend, later identified as Stribling-Jackson — at a home in the 600 block of North Street in Oil City, Pennsylvania.
The mother told police she last saw her son before she left for work at about 2:30 p.m. on Monday and that when she returned, the boy wasn’t there. She said Stribling-Jackson acted suspiciously and then claimed the boy was with other family members who lived in Erie, Pennsylvania. She also noted that when she came home, Stribling-Jackson was doing laundry, which she said he rarely did, and she noticed what she thought was blood on the box spring beneath the air mattress.
Gladfelter also told police Stribling-Jackson had struck her son and bruised his rib cage.
During a search of the home on Wednesday, police discovered the little boy stuffed in a bag for an Intex air mattress. The bag had been shoved under a makeshift table in the basement. Medics reportedly observed blunt force trauma injuries to his head and neck and what appeared to be a burn mark on his inner groin.
In an interview with police, Stribling-Jackson allegedly denied knowing anything about Keaton’s whereabouts or his death. He also denied saying the boy was staying with his family in Erie, Explore Venango reported.
In interviews with Erie ABC affiliate WJET, several neighbors reportedly said the news about the toddler’s death was tragic but not shocking given what they know about his mother.
“She’s always had different transient guys there,” a neighbor identified as Sadat Vay told the station. “People living in and out of there all the time, so they’ve never been treated like neighbors because they never speak to anybody or what have you.”
Another neighbor said “traffic and drugs” had been a constant at the house.
Stribling-Jackson appeared before a judge on Thursday who ordered him held without bond. He is set to appear in court again on Jan. 3.
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