IL - Benjamin Sargent, 5 mos, dies of extreme neglect, Peoria, 12 Feb 2008

[wildTrose]

Do you think he even knew the baby was in the house? yes I know it would have been crying...but if he was drunk out of his mind or stoned....or had the tv blaring it might be possible for him to not know....I think he is still to blame as is the mother but those comments kinda makes you think he didnt realize it.

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

I dont know WildTrose, but to me it doens't really matter either. (and im not saying you think it does, just stating how upset this whole case makes me!)

People go about having children, then don't have the money/love/time for them and the ONLY ones who suffer are the children.

Ill never ever understand

 

[DawnTCB]

Father found guilty

They tried to make him out to be a tired and over-worked grieving father, but no one bought it. The judge "deliberated" only ten minutes.

That's one down, one to go, Benjamin.

 

[Lovejac]

I almost wish I had never clicked on this thread! I am at a loss for words.

This isn't neglect it is torture, IMO.

 

[Recovering-Lurker]

I almost wish I had never clicked on this thread! I am at a loss for words.

This isn't neglect it is torture, IMO.

Oh my... me too Lovejac. I am crying. I had not heard about this. That poor, sweet, baby boy.

 

[January.]

Father found guilty

They tried to make him out to be a tired and over-worked grieving father, but no one bought it. The judge "deliberated" only ten minutes.

That's one down, one to go, Benjamin.

GOOD! Now onto the "mother". This case has been haunting me for so long. Justice is coming, Benjamin!

 

[Kat]

Thank you for the update. My focus had been on other children lately but I still remember this child and pray that justice is swift.

 

[Mendara]

I don't understand how family could be on the phone with James and KNOW THAT HE WAS DRUNK and that his wife was not home and NEVER feel the need to go check on BEN!!! If my brother inlaw called me and told he was drunk - i don't care if he said he would never hurt my nephew - I wowuld run over there and get him.

I wish I never read this story because now my heart hurts and I hate this entire family of fools.

 

[nervous_nellie]

im from peoria, unfortunately these are fine examples of the "crack lifestyle" that seems to be all the rage right now. prison is too good for either of these losers they shoud be put down like any other animal that attacks a human...that poor, poor baby. this is the stuffs of nightmares.

 

[AmyinTheHam]

Ugh this is just horrible. I have read a good deal of this but might have missed, did they say how long poor Ben had been dead when 911 was called?

 

[DawnTCB]

I wish we had a little more information about this, actually. The article I linked above said he is last meal was likely four days before he was found dead, and he had not been bathed or had his diaper changed in several more days than that.

From the original story it seems we were told the timeline went like this:

Day 0: Grandma drops him off at the house in his carseat without making contact with anyone who lived there in the home- maybe in a new snowsuit.
Day 1: Garage tenant (who only went through the house to get to their apartment in the garage and all parties agreed they never hung out in the house) moves the baby and carseat to the crib because the baby was crying.
Day 7: "Mother" said she checked on him and put a bottle in the carseat before leaving town
Day 8: Baby is found dead in the snowsuit, in the carseat, in the crib.

Since we can disregard anything the "Mother" says, I always felt like somehow the baby got dropped off and then moved to the crib without the "Father" knowing he was in the home. Then, when a drunken drugged stupor ends a week later, a really bad surprise.

Now I am wondering , if someone actually fed him on day 4, someone knew he was there. Someone saw him sitting in a snowsuit, in a carseat, in a crib, in 4 day old diapers, gave him a bottle AND. WALKED. AWAY.

This is far more heinous than I can get my head around.

And somehow, I need to know what happened. Who was it who fed little Ben without picking him up or making any sort of feeble attempt to clean off the horrible stench and mess from his little body? Who gave him that bottle and then walked away? Ugh.

This murder has haunted me for many months. Baby Ben has my daughter's eyes and I would have loved to have raised him, as I am sure so many other people would have. I would have given him a chance at life and the fact that one of these two "parents" could have seen him in this state and walked away....:furious:

 

[EmMomma]

I wish they would punish these "parents" by putting them in a straightjacket, strapped to a chair, in an 80 degree room...then, they could shut the door and LOCK IT.

This makes me physically ill. This was not murder, it was torture.
RIP, dear Ben.

 

[AmyinTheHam]

I wish we had a little more information about this, actually. The article I linked above said he is last meal was likely four days before he was found dead, and he had not been bathed or had his diaper changed in several more days than that.

From the original story it seems we were told the timeline went like this:

Day 0: Grandma drops him off at the house in his carseat without making contact with anyone who lived there in the home- maybe in a new snowsuit.
Day 1: Garage tenant (who only went through the house to get to their apartment in the garage and all parties agreed they never hung out in the house) moves the baby and carseat to the crib because the baby was crying.
Day 7: "Mother" said she checked on him and put a bottle in the carseat before leaving town
Day 8: Baby is found dead in the snowsuit, in the carseat, in the crib.

Since we can disregard anything the "Mother" says, I always felt like somehow the baby got dropped off and then moved to the crib without the "Father" knowing he was in the home. Then, when a drunken drugged stupor ends a week later, a really bad surprise.

Now I am wondering , if someone actually fed him on day 4, someone knew he was there. Someone saw him sitting in a snowsuit, in a carseat, in a crib, in 4 day old diapers, gave him a bottle AND. WALKED. AWAY.

This is far more heinous than I can get my head around.

And somehow, I need to know what happened. Who was it who fed little Ben without picking him up or making any sort of feeble attempt to clean off the horrible stench and mess from his little body? Who gave him that bottle and then walked away? Ugh.

This murder has haunted me for many months. Baby Ben has my daughter's eyes and I would have loved to have raised him, as I am sure so many other people would have. I would have given him a chance at life and the fact that one of these two "parents" could have seen him in this state and walked away....:furious:

I agree, to me the charges they face should be based on how much this poor child suffered... I hope the court knows at least, even if we do not.

 

[shgrbkr]

I clicked on this to just check it out, but ended up reading the entire thread. I know in my brain that there are people capable of this sort of thing in the world, but when I hear and read about it actually happening, I'm blown away that these kinds of people exist. Why do they even have children in the first place? IDK, there are so many questions, so many comments one can say. I hope that both the sperm and egg donors get the entire 100 year sentence. It's just sickening.

 

[dreamweaver]

This is what a tragedy really is. I have a great granddaughter who is 9 months old. I cannot imagine ...no.. I will not imagine what he went through in those 8 days.

RIP Baby Benjamin.

 

[Otise]

Children weren't put on this earth to pay the ultimate price for evil! Poor precious Angel. My mind won't even go to imagining the H*** he went through. My heart wouldn't be able to take it.

 

[Lovejac]

update

http://www.kmov.com/topstories/stories/kmov-illinois-news-090429-dirty-diaper-death.160d746.html

Denton says the skin on the Benjamin Sargent's back and bottom had begun to decay, causing the infection that made him lapse into a coma and die.

 

[Chezhire]

Sick,sick,sick. Heartwrenching. I hope that the coma set in quickly, which would have eased his pain and suffering.
:furious:
May these two get justice quickly - and I'd like to see the whole 100 years given.
Poor little Ben. RIP.

 

[Mendara]

There are still family members out thre trying to protect these parents. I think all of these people should pay, including the grandma who dropped him off to an empty house, the sister an brother in law who knew the mother was gone and the father was home drunkf or several days, the garage people and anyone else who suspected and didn't do a damn thing. This case makes me so angry! I would have taken him for myself!

 

[MomofBoys]

James Sargent was convicted. and of the two he was the one I was worried about, 1DM conviction-wise. Sounded like they were pushing hard for insanity/decreased culpability.

Tracey should be easy.

I wanted death for these two deperately, but I'll have to be content with a century's worth of beatings, scorn, and maybe worse.