Photo: Fox 23 News
Both women were sentenced to 20 years in jail.
By Emily Blackwood — Written on Sep 24, 2017
In December of 2015, a 5-year-old boy of Muskogee, Oklahoma told police that his mother Rachel Jean Stevens and her girlfriend (his step-mother) Kayla Ann Jones had beaten him with a belt all over his body. They were called to the hospital in Tulsa to check on a child with "severe injuries" to determine if they were a result of child abuse by the lesbian couple.
After interviewing the boy — who had lesions on his face and seizures — officers learned that Stevens, 29, and Jones, 26, locked him in a room, bound him and put duct tape over his eyes. Then Stevens, who is the boy's mother, hit his hand with a hammer.
Jones then "kicked him so hard in the groin that it made him bleed."
Hospital staff also determine the boy was malnourished and had multiple broken bones that were in different stages of healing.
Police said the situation was appalling.
“The nature of the injuries were very severe," Muskogee County District Attorney Orvil Loge said, "but the child is doing very well now in a loving home,” Loge said. “He is a completely different child now than when this (case) first came in.”
While in the hospital, doctors said the boy suffered two strokes due to his injuries.
According to police, the child abuse went on for several months.
To add more pain to the situation, before police got involved, the lesbian couple launched a GoFundMe campaign for the boy that claimed he was picking at his face and having seizures after suffering from a fall.
Police believe the lesbian couple has been together for three years. They shared their home with the victim's twin brother and 8-year-old sister. Police don't believe either of those children were mistreated.
All of the children have been taken into custody of the Department of Human Services.
Both women pleaded no contest to child abuse and child neglect charges and were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
As a part of their plea deal, they're not to have any contact with the boy while they're in jail.
Emily Blackwood is an editor at YourTango who covers pop culture, true crime, dating, relationships and everything in between. Every Wednesday at 10:20 p.m. you can ask her any and all questions about self-love, dating, and relationships LIVE on YourTango’s Facebook page. You can follow her on Instagram (@blackw00d) and Twitter (@emztweetz).