Three-year-old Blake Litton was left for dead on the highway. His mother's boyfriend hatched a scheme to clean the blood from his hands. And there stood a mother bound for jail as her name churned through the national media grinder.
Within 24 hours of her son's death on Feb. 16, 2012, Jamie Litton and her boyfriend Thomas “T.J.” Presley faced second-degree murder charges.
Media from as far away as Kansas City and Springfield swarmed to a press conference held by Morgan County Sheriff Jim Petty, where details emerged that sparked outrage throughout the community.
Within two days the story of Blake’s death hit the wires nationally, reverberating across the Internet.
Media headhunter Nancy Grace issued a “call to action” to see Jamie Litton burn and slammed the Morgan County prosecutor for filing charges of murder in the 2nd degree instead of the 1st. Grace went so far as to push for the death penalty for both Jaime Litton and Presley.
Court documents indicate Jamie Litton did nothing to help her three-year-old son after Presley brought the boy, allegedly clinging to life, to the nursing home where she worked.
A probable cause statement indicates Jamie Litton was aware of the beating before Presley drove out of the parking lot with both of her children in the back seats, Blake still alive but unresponsive.
In an interview with law enforcement Litton said, “He looked peaceful in his booster seat."
It was not the first time her children had been beaten, medical examinations would later evidence. But it appeared, by far, the worst.
It is difficult, nearly impossible to understand the mother who could stand by while her child suffered beatings so violent, so horrid, they ultimately killed a healthy three-year-old boy.
But to understand the mother's action or inaction one must ask, "Who is Jamie Litton?"
Reporters at LakeExpo.com were compelled to learn more about the woman many label a monster and some call a victim.
With a judge's gag order preventing the release of information and attorneys and concrete walls blocking access to Jamie Litton herself, the story came from her parents, Jim and LaVera Miller.
Jim and LaVera doted over Jamie's every move. From her first haircut to her award-winning 4-H projects, she was the proverbial, “perfect child.”
LaVera created a chronicle of Jaime’s life in scrapbooks.
Jamie’s life in Stover began at six weeks old in the summer of 1986. The Millers adopted her after losing a child several years before.
“We wanted a child so bad,” Jim said. “After we lost our birth child, we prayed for many years before we decided to adopt.”
When Jamie came along, the Millers were ecstatic. They were finally going to have the little girl they always wanted.
“We doted over her, that’s for sure,” LaVera said.
The pictures, delicately placed in the scrapbooks, are proof of that, photos of both parents with Jamie – all with smiling faces. Literally hundreds of photos all depict a beautiful little girl living a wonderful life with parents who thought the world of her.
“She loved school and she was good at it,” Jim said. “She was in sports and on the honor roll often. We were so proud of her.”
When Jamie turned 15 years old, Jim and LaVera said things began to change.
“We don’t know what happened,” Jim said. “She just started acting different and we suddenly became the dumbest people in the world.”
The Millers said Jamie went through a period during her teen years in which she was rebellious and would not listen to anything they told her.
Jamie married her first husband at age 18 and soon after gave birth to two girls – 16 months apart. The marriage did not last long.
Shortly after the divorce, Jamie married again as a custody battle ensued over the two girls.
“They were fighting over custody a lot and one of them would call DFS (Division of Family Services) on the other,” LaVera said. “They did that back and forth, each one accusing the other of abuse.”
Eventually, the two girls ended up with their paternal great-grandparents, the Millers said.
“Jamie would get them for visits and we would spend time with them,” LaVera said. “They are beautiful little girls.”
Jamie gave birth to Blake and his younger sister while with her second husband and would retain custody after another divorce.
The Millers said everything was seemingly okay until around April 2011, when Jamie started dating Presley.
“She told us that she went to school with him,” Jim said. “We didn’t believe that because of the four-year age difference between them, but she insisted. We never really determined if that was true or not.”
Despite the Miller's attempts to steer their daughter away from Presley, Jamie defended him and stayed.
Although her parents said they never witnessed any abuse against the children, they had strong suspicions something was not right. They based their suspicions on how the children acted toward Presley.
“They didn’t want to be around him,” Jim said. “They were living in our basement and the children spent as much time up here with us as they could and when it was time for them to go downstairs, neither of them wanted to.”
Both Jim and LaVera said they watched for injuries on the children but found nothing.
Weeks before Blake died, the Millers said Jamie and Presley moved out of the family home.
“To our knowledge, they were staying with (Presley's) mom in Ivy Bend,” Jim said. The Millers said they last saw the children in early January.
“LaVera finally had the chance to speak with Blake the day before he died,” Jim said.
In a brief telephone conversation, LaVera said Blake told her that he was excited because they were moving into a new place and he was ready to start attending school.
“That was the last time I spoke to him,” she said.
The day of Blake’s death, LaVera said Jamie showed up at her house with the youngest daughter but did not tell the family what happened to Blake, at least not the truth.
“It was several hours later when we found out the truth,” LaVera said.
The Millers said they were shocked, saddened beyond words to learn what happened to Blake.
“We don’t understand it,” Jim said. “When Jamie was a little girl, we would do anything we had to do to protect her. We just don’t understand why she didn’t do the same for her babies.”
