GUILTY VA - Janyiha Whiteman, 11 months, Virginia Beach, 1 Oct 2011

[pdxmama]

Too little too late IMO.She left her with him she knew what kind of he was,too bad she did not put her baby before drugs, and a .It was her responsibility to tell them when she was arrested no one in the family would take her child.She should have had CPS take her baby ti she was released but she most likely did not want them in her business because of the life style it seems she was living.I bet she was on assistance and if she lost custody of her baby there went her check,food stamps,rental assistance.Poor baby.

I'm a mom too and it makes me sick to see children left with someone like this guy. That being said, you are jumping to a lot of conclusions about her being on assistance, etc. Show me a link and I will shut up.

I find it despicable that this mom had to fill out 3 affidavits while she was locked up to try and get the attention of authorities and have her child placed with someone else. I would hope that DHS would do a welfare check as soon as it is brought to their attention that a child is in a situation of abuse or neglect.

 

[Juno]

I am local and this story was covered again this morning (I am thankful they are still covering it). They have still not ID'd the body although they know it is her. They are waiting for DNA results and will go from there. They said the investigation will continue for some time. Poor baby.

 

[Carpooler]

Wondered if any locals had more recent information.

 

[monicadc74]

Autopsy: Body found was missing Va. Beach baby


http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/autopsy-body-found-was-missing-virginia-beach-baby

 

[Carpooler]

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/va-beach-prosecutor-man-didnt-get-help-baby

Va. Beach prosecutor: Man didn't get help for baby
By Kristin Davis
The Virginian-Pilot
© November 4, 2011

VIRGINIA BEACH

A man charged in the case of an infant reported missing last month did not try to get help for the child as she was dying, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Lawrence Ray Smith Jr., 33, later put the baby's body in a stroller, rolled her to an Oceanfront parking garage and hid her behind a wall, the prosecutor told a Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court judge at Smith's bond hearing on charges of child abuse and neglect and improper transporting and concealing of a body.

Smith led police to a badly decomposing body at the Country Inn & Suites garage Oct. 21................................................................

Such a sad case, like so many others lately.

 

[truthsleuth]

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/va-beach-prosecutor-man-didnt-get-help-baby

Va. Beach prosecutor: Man didn't get help for baby
By Kristin Davis, The Virginian-Pilot, © November 4, 2011

A man charged in the case of an infant reported missing last month did not try to get help for the child as she was dying, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Lawrence Ray Smith Jr., 33, later put the baby's body in a stroller, rolled her to an Oceanfront parking garage and hid her behind a wall, the prosecutor told a Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court judge at Smith's bond hearing on charges of child abuse and neglect and improper transporting and concealing of a body.

Smith led police to a badly decomposing body at the Country Inn & Suites garage Oct. 21. ...

Such a sad case, like so many others lately.

Good Lord, are the numbers 9-1-1 foreign to him? IF (and that's a BIG "if") Janyiha was dying, why didn't he call 911? Was he trying to hide something? And IF Janyiha dying, what exactly was she "dying" of?

This entire story just makes me so upset. She was a beautiful baby girl and he let her life just slip through his hands. Shameful.

 

[OkieGranny]

From June 2012:

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/06/va-beach-man-gets-5-years-hiding-body-baby

A Circuit Court judge on Wednesday sentenced a 33-year-old man to five years in prison, the maximum, for hiding the body of a baby girl who died in his care.

Judge H. Thomas Padrick Jr. said during the hearing that he would have put Lawrence Ray Smith Jr. away for longer if state law had allowed. If there was a "code of decency" charge, "you'd get a life sentence," Padrick said.

Smith pleaded guilty on April 3 to hiding the body of 11-month-old Janyiha Whiteman, who died around Oct. 1... Janyha's body was so badly decomposed that the medical examiner's office could not determine how she died, testified Dr. Wendy M. Gunther, assistant chief medical examiner. The remains show no sign of traumatic injury or disease, she said.