Jonell K Lloyd, suspect in baby's death was fugitive

Wichita, Kansas

A corrections official says that had Jonell K. Lloyd been caught before the girl's death, "odds are he would have gone to prison" based on probation violations and his record.

BY TIM POTTER

The Wichita Eagle

For nine months before Jonell K. Lloyd was arrested and charged with murdering 17-month-old Chavira Brown, he was a fugitive.

Since early November 2007, Lloyd, 23, had been wanted for not returning to a Wichita residential center where he was serving part of his probation for aggravated battery and criminal possession of a firearm.

Sedgwick County deputies responsible for pursuing fugitives tried several times to locate Lloyd, a sheriff's official said.

Had Lloyd been caught before the girl's death, "odds are he would have gone to prison" based on his probation violations and his criminal record, said Mark Masterson, director of the Sedgwick County Department of Corrections, which was supervising him.

On Aug. 1, police found Chavira's body in the attic of a house in the 1500 block of North Green -- the same area where deputies said they had looked for Lloyd several times. He had been living there for about the past six months, said his 21-year-old girlfriend, Temeika Loudermilk, who was renting the house.

It sits about 3 miles from the residential center he fled.

Lloyd was convicted of shooting Loudermilk in her foot in January 2007, in the aggravated battery case. But they reconciled and were living together, she said, even though the court had said he was to have no contact with her.

Loudermilk said they have a 9-month-old son and that she is pregnant with his child.

Loudermilk said Lloyd considered Chavira to be his daughter. But Chavira's great-grandmother, Louellen Cummings, said Lloyd was not the baby's father. Police said last week that they had not confirmed whether Lloyd was the girl's father.

Cummings said she didn't know why her 17-year-old granddaughter took Chavira to stay with Lloyd a few days before her death.

In the charges against Lloyd, authorities allege that he committed first-degree murder and child abuse and "did... intentionally torture, cruelly beat, shake" the 17-month-old.

Lloyd's attorney couldn't be reached for comment.

Lloyd's criminal record

Court records show Lloyd has a criminal record dating back to when he was a juvenile.
In 2003, he was charged with and later convicted of criminal damage to property. A court document said he used fire or an explosive to damage a building on East Central. He served time at Norton Correctional Facility.

In 2007, after being convicted of aggravated battery and criminal possession of a firearm, he received 24 months of probation.

As a part of his probation, he was required to live in a residential center at Central and St. Francis, said Masterson, the Sedgwick County corrections director. Lloyd was admitted to the residential center on Aug. 28, 2007.

He was required to complete the residential program before he could live in the community. He was to remain under intensive supervision, which involves regular contact with a probation officer and close monitoring, Masterson said.

But in early November 2007, Lloyd didn't return to the center, and probation officials hadn't seen him since then, Masterson said. A warrant was issued Nov. 6, 2007.

At the time he became a fugitive, Lloyd also violated probation by leaving his job at a restaurant to see Loudermilk while she was in labor at a hospital. It constituted a probation violation because the court said Lloyd was to have no contact with his girlfriend, Masterson said.

Had Lloyd been caught before the homicide, probation officials would have recommended to the court that Lloyd be sent to prison, and most likely a judge would have granted the request, Masterson said. He said he couldn't say how long Lloyd might have stayed in prison.

Efforts to catch him

In late November 2007, the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office featured Lloyd as its "felon of the day" on its Web site, appealing to the public for help finding him, said sheriff's Capt. Michael Stover. He said deputies never received any tips.

In December, authorities charged Lloyd with aggravated escape from custody because he "absconded" from the residential center and became a fugitive.

Records show that warrant-section deputies made at least seven checks at addresses where Lloyd might have been staying, Stover said.

"I know there was several attempts at a North Green address," Stover said.
The last attempt by deputies to locate Lloyd, before he became a homicide suspect, occurred in May, Stover said.

Currently, the sheriff's warrant section has five deputies and a supervisor focusing on a little more than 12,000 arrest warrants, of which about 1,700 are felony warrants, Stover said. Some fugitives are wanted on multiple warrants.

"You go after the ones you have good information on," he said. "Some people become very adept at hiding."

The day Chavira died

Three days before Chavira's death, the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services filed a court petition against Lloyd saying he is the father of Loudermilk's son, born in 2007. SRS said he was liable for child support of $1,106 and for birth and medical expenses of $6,460.

On the same day that SRS filed the paternity petition, Chavira's 17-year-old mother brought her to stay with Lloyd, Loudermilk said. He seldom took care of the girl, she said.

Chavira's mother asked Lloyd to watch her for about a week while she underwent and recovered from minor surgery, police said.

Around 4 to 5 p.m. on July 31, the day police say Chavira died, Loudermilk said she saw Lloyd carry the girl to the back of the house.

"She wasn't like moving or anything; he was holding her," Loudermilk said. She said she couldn't tell whether Chavira was injured. Earlier that day, she said she saw Lloyd spank Chavira -- hard -- on her bottom "because she wet herself."

Police have said they think Lloyd killed her between 4 and 6 p.m. and hid her body in the attic.
Loudermilk said she had stayed in her room with her son most of the day. Police have said she is not a suspect in the girl's death.

The state's child welfare agency said it had not received any reports of abuse or neglect involving Chavira before her death.

Three days after the girl's death, police said Lloyd surrendered "without incident" at a home in the 5200 block of East Morris.

Loudermilk said police took her 9-month-old son; police call it protective custody.

SRS spokeswoman Michelle Ponce said she couldn't comment on the boy's status, but said generally that children are taken into protective custody when authorities think they are at "imminent risk of harm."

'Kids are precious'

Cummings, Chavira's great-grandmother, said she wanted to thank police for working quickly on the case.

Chavira "was a very happy baby," Cummings said. "She never did a lot of crying or anything."
Less than a week before Chavira's death, the toddler spent a day with Cummings.
"That's the last time I seen her," Cummings said.

"Those kids are precious. They depend on us."

She said Chavira's mother is "grieving real bad.... I don't think it has hit her yet, I mean completely hit her."