The story was chilling and heartbreaking: A 3-year-old boy was found dead in a Southern Maryland park, his mother pushing him on the swing.
More than a month after Ji’Aire Donnell Lee’s death, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office revealed more terrible details: Ji’Aire was alive when his mother put him on the swing. He stayed on it for almost two days.
A medical examiner’s office has ruled that Ji’Aire’s death was a homicide. He died due to hypothermia and dehydration during his long time on the swing, the sheriff’s office said Tuesday. The autopsy report will be sent to the Charles County state’s attorney’s office, which will decide whether to file charges against Ji’Aire’s mother, Romechia Simms.
Kristen Ayers in the state’s attorney’s office said that prosecutors have not yet received the autopsy report, so they cannot say whether they will bring charges against Simms.
Ji’Aire was dead whenpolice found his mother pushing himin Wills Memorial Park on the morning of May 22. At the time, police were unsure when and how Ji’Aire died.
On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office said that their investigation revealed that Simms, 24, arrived at the park in La Plata with her son on May 20 at about 11:15 a.m.
Simms, who had experienced a previous mental breakdown, stayed in the park for nearly 44 hours, pushing Ji’Aire on the swing. Early in the morning on May 22, someone who had spotted the mother and son at the park the day before called police to say that it was unusual that they were still there.
At 6:55 a.m., after a night in which the temperature fell to 51 degrees, police found the dead child and his mother in the park.
[She’d recovered from a breakdown, she said. Then her son was found dead.]
The police account differs from the timeline previously offered to the Post by Simms’ mother, Vontasha Simms, who was living with her daughter and grandson at a motel in LaPlata, Md.
Vontasha said Ji’Aire, a chubby-cheeked preschooler nicknamed “Sumo,” had gone to the Dollar Store and Burger King with his mother on May 21st before leaving for the park that evening.
When they didn’t come back, Vontasha said she grew worried and called her daughter at 12:30 a.m. on May 22. Romechia assured her mother that they were on their way home.
Diane Richardson, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office, said Vontasha’s account was incorrect. The mother and son spent two nights in the park.
“It’s definitely Wednesday. That we know for a fact,” Richardson said. “There were witnesses there. There’s no indication that she left.”
Vontasha Simms could not be reached for comment Tuesday. She said last month that her daughter suffers from depression and bipolar disorder. Romechia was hospitalized after her son was found dead, but released in time for his funeral.
[Mother wipes away tears at funeral for boy found dead on park swing]
Romechia had been hospitalized twice before her son’s death for erratic behavior. In an interview last month, Ji’Aire’s father, James “Donnell” Lee, said she thought someone was trying to kill him in February. Not long ago after that, she jumped out of a moving cab with their son in tow.
Lee, who could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, said he found his ex-girlfriend and child on the side of Branch Avenue after midnight. “He was walking with no socks, jacket open in his pajamas. She left her diaper bag two blocks away,” Lee said.
[Was the custody decision before Ji’Aire’s death a case of dad discrimination?]
Just weeks before Ji’Aire was found dead, Lee, 29, petitioned for custody of Ji’Aire in D.C. Superior Court, writing that he was “concerned for my child’s safety and well being.” In her written response, Romechia Simms acknowledged that she’d had a breakdown but said that she’d recovered. “I am now in a much better productive space,” she wrote in April and also stated, “I have done everything in my power since moving from D.C. to ensure that my son has the best life that he can have.”
On May 11, Lee and Simms appeared before D.C. Superior Court Judge Peter A. Krauthamer.
According to a transcript of the hearing, Lee did not reiterate his fears about his son’s safety.
The judge asked, “So is there a reason why you two shouldn’t share this child? Is someone unfit here?” And Lee responded, “There’s no one unfit.”
Simms received custody on weekdays and Lee on weekends. Eleven days later, Ji’Aire was dead.
Ian Shapira and Petula Dvorak contributed reporting.
