VERSAILLES, Mo. – The Morgan County couple charged in the beating death of three-year-old Blake Litton are scheduled to face the courts for a preliminary hearing on July 18.
The hearings were scheduled Wednesday by Judge Kevin Schehr.
Jamie Litton, Blake’s mother, is scheduled to appear at 9 a.m. and Thomas “TJ” Presley is scheduled to appear at 1 p.m., both on July 18.
Litton, 26, and Presley, 21, were each charged with second-degree murder after Blake died on Feb. 16 and preliminary autopsy results indicated his death was a result of child abuse.
In the early hours of Feb. 16, Presley called 911 to report a hit-and-run accident and reported to authorities that a car on Highway 135 in Stover had hit Blake. Upon arriving at Bothwell Hospital in Sedalia, medical professionals immediately reported that his injuries were not consistent with a hit-and-run accident.
A short investigation resulted in Presley and Litton’s arrest.
According to probable cause statements filed with the court, Blake Litton was alive when Presley drove him to Litton’s place of employment, the Golden Age Nursing Home in Stover, at approximately 5 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 17, after he sustained multiple injuries from a severe beating.
Litton’s second-degree murder charge stems, in part, from not seeking medical care for her child at the nursing home and did not immediately call 911. She is also charged with child endangerment after she allowed Presley to drive away with Blake and his younger sister.
During a later interview with law enforcement, Litton said she and Presley were crying in the parking lot, but Blake was “peaceful” in his booster seat. Litton said she screamed Blake’s name but he did not respond and claimed that when she initially took his pulse on his left arm she obtained a radial pulse reading of 62, according to the probable cause statement.
She later told investigators she was unable to obtain a pulse and admitted the pulse she mentioned previously might have been her own.
Litton told investigators she had received a text message from Presley before he arrived at her workplace advising her that he “lost it” and thought he had beat Blake to the point of being paralyzed and that he was in “bad shape.”
According to investigators, Litton said she told Presley to take the child to the emergency room, but Presley said he could not take him there because he would go to prison for the rest of his life.
During the interview, Litton told authorities she tried to get off work by explaining that there was an issue with her son but was unable to leave the nursing home. She later admitted that she did not disclose the cause of the injuries to her son when asking to leave work.
Surveillance video from the nursing home shows a dark colored SUV pulled into the parking lot at about 5 a.m. and a person was walking around the vehicle. It pulled out of the lot three minutes later, according to the probable cause statement.
Litton told investigators she thought Presley was taking the child to the emergency room and she returned to work.
Litton told investigators the next text message she received from Presley stated that a car had struck Blake.
Litton clocked out of work at 5:15 a.m. and walked to the couple’s home. She arrived at the scene of the falsified accident where she spoke with law enforcement, but did not mention anything regarding the true nature of the child’s injuries.
Once told she could leave, Litton rode with Presley and the three-year-old girl to a neighbor’s home where she left Presley with the child and went to visit her mother.
According to the probable cause statement, injuries found during the initial autopsy included a lacerated liver and ruptured blood vessel in his brain, visible bruises and lacerations to the head, neck, torso, buttocks, legs and arms.
In a forensic interview at Child Safe in Sedalia on Friday, the three-year-old sister of the victim stated she observed “T.J.” “punch” Blake in the mouth because he “pooped.” After Blake was punched, the girl witnessed Presley putting Blake into the bathtub and stated that he “hit him with the bathtub a lot.”
In Presley’s probable cause statement, investigators said he admitted to beating Blake at the residence. Investigators report that Presley said at about 2:30 a.m. he became enraged with the child and struck him more times than he could remember with an open hand and kicked the child several times.
“I really beat him bad this time,” Presley said to investigators.
Presley said he lost control and blacked out as he beat the child, but later placed the toddler in bed and thought he was going to be fine.
However, 30 minutes later, Presley said he heard a loud noise in the kitchen and found the child unresponsive on the floor. At that point, Presley said he knew the child was injured badly and appeared to be gasping for breath as his eyes rolled back in his head.
Presley told investigators he thought the child was paralyzed.
At this point, Presley said he loaded Blake and his three-year-old sister into the SUV and drove them to Litton at the nursing home where he informed her that he beat the child badly and felt he over did it.
Presley said he left the nursing home and started to drive to Sedalia to seek medical attention for the child and realized the child was deceased and instead called EMS and falsified the hit-and-run story.
During a press conference the next afternoon, Sheriff Jim Petty said the three-year-old girl had been placed with grandparents after receiving medical treatment.
The day of the incident, as part of the investigation, a forensic nursing team examined the girl at Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach, Mo.
The team reported a broken wrist and bruising discovered on her head, torso, legs, buttocks and arms.
The medical team also found a patch of hair stubble or re-growth visible from a healing hematoma (a mass of clotted blood that forms in a tissue or organ as a result of a broken blood vessel). The child’s liver enzymes also were elevated indicating a blunt injury to the liver.
During the examination, the child indicated to medical personnel that “daddy” caused the injuries.
It is believed that some of the injuries were up to two weeks old.
Court documents in the case have been sealed and officials are under a “gag” order and are not allowed to speak with the media regarding Litton or Presley.
Both Litton and Presley remain in custody in lieu of bond.
