Mom filmed wrapping her crying 1-year-old’s ‘entire body’ in ‘blankets and duct tape,’ and blamed baby’s near suffocation on eating ‘shellfish’
A 28-year-old mother from Indiana will spend more than a decade in prison for physically abusing her 13-month-old son and nearly killing him by wrapping him in blankets and duct tape.
Judge Carrie K. Stiller of Floyd County Superior Court sentenced Jessica Meade to 16 years in a state correctional facility earlier this month after she pleaded guilty to one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, according to authorities.
Records show that in exchange for Meade pleading guilty, prosecutors agreed to drop an additional felony charge of aggravated assault posing a substantial risk of death that had been filed against him. Stiller gave Meade credit for 370 days already served and prohibited her from contacting the victim.
“It is a terrible tragedy when a parent, who is the one person who is supposed to protect their child from the hardships of the world, is responsible for the abuse,” said Deputy Prosecutor Kristin Perdue.
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Meade’s boyfriend, Ethan J.T. Coleman, 28, was also arrested and charged with neglect of a dependent and aggravated battery in connection with the incident, according to records. He has been detained on a $100,000 cash bond since his arrest last year.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained officers from the New Albany Police Department responded to a residence in the 1000 block of Spring Street around 3:26 p.m. on September 24, 2023, in reference to an unconscious 1-year-old boy who was “possibly not breathing.”
When deputies arrived, emergency medical personnel informed them that the victim and his mother, Jessica Meade, were already en route to Baptist Floyd Hospital.
The paramedics also stated that when they arrived at the scene, they discovered Meade with the victim, who “had aspirated” and was “pale and barely breathing.”
One of the officers offered to drive Meade’s six-year-old daughter and Coleman to the hospital. Coleman allegedly claimed on the way that he fed the victim “shellfish” during dinner and that the toddler had an allergic reaction.
Coleman stated that they placed the child down for a nap and discovered about five or ten minutes later that the victim “had vomited and appeared to be choking.”
According to the affidavit, the victim’s doctors stated that he “went approximately 15-20 minutes with little or no oxygen,” resulting in “brain stem death and will remain in a vegetative state.”
On September 29, 2023, a Department of Child Services caseworker informed investigators that Meade and Coleman had told “four different stories” about how they discovered the victim wasn’t breathing.
The caseworker also stated that she was shown a video of Coleman and Meade wrapping [the victim] in layers of blankets and duct tape.
The timestamp indicated that the footage began at approximately 9:08 a.m. on September 24, more than six hours before Meade and Coleman called 911.
The video allegedly shows the victim “crying loudly” as Coleman enters the room with several blankets and instructs Meade’s 6-year-old daughter to “roll over on the couch and look away.” Meade then places the toddler on a blanket spread out on the floor.
While holding the victim down by the arms, Coleman is shown “wrapping [the victim’s] entire body and face up with several blankets” and even “putting his hand over [the victim’s] face on top of the blankets,” according to police. Several additional blankets were allegedly wrapped around the victim.
“Meade brings more blankets to Coleman to continue wrapping [the victim’s] entire body up and more muffled cries,” according to the paperwork. “Coleman repeatedly lays his body on [the victim], while Meade stands by and watches.
Meade then pulls out what appears to be a roll of duct tape and hands it to Coleman, and you can still hear [the victim’s] muffled cries. Coleman duct tapes the blankets around the victim’s body. Coleman sits on the floor with [the victim] and holds him until no more cries are heard.”
According to a press release from the prosecutor’s office, authorities obtained a tape “showcasing Meade wrapping the child in layers of blankets and duct tape.”
Coleman is scheduled to appear at a pretrial conference on November 25, 2024. His trial before Judge Stiller is scheduled to begin on March 17, 2025.
