DA: Baby abused more than once
Published: 01/03/2008
DA: Baby abused more than once
By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
SALEM - On the afternoon of Nov. 18, Jennifer Ward was on the phone with Robert Anderson, the father of their nearly 9-month-old daughter, Jocelyn.
Ward was irritated and frustrated, complaining that the baby was always getting underfoot, according to prosecutors, who have a tape of that call.
Anderson was in no position to help, having been sent back to state prison after testing positive for drugs. But he could hear the child cooing and making normal baby sounds in the background, he would later tell investigators.
It was sometime between that call (around 4:30 p.m.) and midnight, prosecutors say, that Jennifer Ward violently shook Jocelyn, slammed her head against something, then put her to bed.
By the time a friend showed up at around midnight, the baby's brain was so swollen it had lost all of its ridges and no longer looked like a brain, prosecutor Kate MacDougall said. And that was only the beginning of her injuries.
There was bleeding in both of her eyes.
Her skull was fractured in the area of her forehead.
Her arms and belly were bruised. She had fractures to her shoulders, elbow, left forearm and vertebrae in her back - the result, MacDougall said, of being slammed down on her backside.
According to prosecutors, the injuries were the result of at least three attacks on the baby by a mother who had, just a few months earlier, been deemed fit to care for the child by the Department of Social Services, despite a history of drug use.
Ward had denied using drugs during her pregnancy, insisting that she was using only methadone and had in the past used prescription painkillers. But a test done after the birth showed cocaine, benzodiazepam (a tranquilizer) and marijuana in her system.
An autopsy has raised the possibility that the baby suffered other, earlier injuries, including fractured ribs and legs, MacDougall said, and the investigation is ongoing.
Salem Superior Court Judge Howard Whitehead yesterday granted MacDougall's request that Ward be held without bail until her trial on first-degree murder charges. She will remain at Framingham State Prison.
Whitehead said prosecutors appear to have a "strong case" and that Ward's history of drug use and some psychological issues made her an unsuitable candidate for bail.
Born with cocaine
Jocelyn Mae Ward Anderson overcame a lot in her short life. She was born on Feb. 22, two months premature, 33 weeks into her mother's pregnancy, and weighing less than 4 pounds.
At birth, she tested positive for cocaine. Despite that, the Department of Social Services let Ward and Anderson take the child home, according to a summary of facts filed by MacDougall yesterday.
At the time, Anderson was on parole and random drug tests were a requirement of his freedom. He had been testing clean, MacDougall said, so with the promise that Ward would complete a drug treatment program, Jocelyn was sent home with her parents on March 5.
Just weeks later, on March 29, the DSS received a report alleging that both parents were using drugs. DSS put the child in the home of Anderson's mother in Lynn, where she spent the next several months, apparently thriving.
"Jocelyn was a happy, healthy baby who quickly recovered from the circumstances of her birth," MacDougall wrote. By summer, Jocelyn had caught up and was meeting all of the developmental markers for her age, the prosecutor said.
An obituary said family members nicknamed the baby "Buddha."
An evaluation concluded that Jocelyn would not require further services from an early intervention program.
And while Anderson was now back in prison, because the drug use in March was a violation of his parole, by July 18 DSS decided that Ward was ready to handle the responsibility of parenthood, as she had completed several drug treatment programs, according to prosecutors.
Ward and the baby spent most of the fall living in Kennebunk, Maine, with Ward's parents, but on Nov. 18, Ward drove with the baby from Maine to her new apartment at 30 Keyes Drive in Peabody, an apartment complex across from the Northshore Mall.
Ward loaned her car to one of Anderson's cousins, Latasha Anderson, that afternoon. Latasha Anderson would later tell investigators that Jocelyn was "her normal, happy self."
Two hours later, Robert Anderson said he heard his little daughter making normal sounds in the background.
Crying all night
Hours later, around midnight, Josef Ferrini, a friend of Ward, showed up to spend the night.
He told investigators that Jocelyn's crying sounded louder than normal. He went to check on her and noticed that while crying, she did not appear to be awake.
Ward came out of a bathroom and told Ferrini that "she's been doing that all night." Ferrini noticed "discoloration" on the baby's forehead and carried her downstairs. Moments after he placed the baby on Ward's chest, the baby began projectile vomiting, though she still appeared to be asleep. After cleaning the baby and themselves, they put the baby in her crib, where she vomited again.
Then she went "completely limp," Ferrini would tell investigators.
Ferrini urged Ward to bring the child to the hospital, as Ward continued to try to wake her. At some point, Ward called her mother, and the two women got into an argument on the phone, MacDougall said. Finally, just before 2 a.m., Ferrini and Ward brought the baby to the Lahey Clinic, a hospital that is just behind the Northshore Mall.
The baby was transferred to Children's Hospital Boston, where "it was clear from the beginning that Jocelyn would not survive," MacDougall said.
As doctors performed "extraordinary medical intervention," DSS and the state police began an investigation. Ward "refused to cooperate with the investigations conducted by either agency."
Anderson was brought from the state prison in Concord to see his daughter one last time, MacDougall said, and then, on Nov. 21, she was declared brain-dead.
DSS spokesman Richard Nangle refused to answer questions about the specific facts of the case or the agency's decision to return custody to Ward.
Nangle said in an e-mail last night that DSS "worked extensively with the mother, both before and after she completed her drug and parenting programs, and before and after the court's decisions."
Those decisions by the Lynn Juvenile Court to return custody to the mother were made, Nangle has previously said, with the assent of DSS.
Drug use continued
After the death of their baby, Anderson and Ward maintained contact by phone. Like all of their other calls, this one was taped by prison officials - who tape all phone calls inmates make from the prison. Ward told him that she was staying with her parents in Maine, but she would be leaving for a vacation in Florida, where, her lawyer confirmed, the family had gone.
She also expressed suicidal thoughts to Anderson.
MacDougall pointed out that Ward's use of prescription drugs appears to have continued after her daughter's death. During her arrest, police found six Percocet tablets on her.
Defense lawyer Thomas Barrett suggested that Ward be released to stay with her parents, saying they would be willing to move back to Massachusetts and Ward would wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. He argued that it would be "difficult to defend such a serious and complex matter" if Ward remained in custody.
Under the state's bail law, suspects charged with first degree murder are not presumed to be entitled to bail.
Ward's father attended yesterday's hearing and, like his daughter, showed no visible reaction as MacDougall read the details of his granddaughter's injuries.
Anderson's mother and grandmother (the child's great-grandmother) both wept during the hearing.
Ward is due back in court on Jan. 31