The mother of a 2-year-old boy whose body was found in a dumpster on Friday reportedly pushed his dead body in a stroller with his siblings after beating him to death.
Documents say that police think Jacoby Robinson Jr. died Thursday and that his mother, Diaja Smith, 23, then put his body in a dumpster near Lewis Avenue and 15th Street. Smith was caught by police late Friday night on a charge of open murder. She is also being charged with child abuse that caused serious physical harm. Jacoby’s 24-year-old father, Jacoby Robinson Sr., was first charged with child abuse, but on Monday, those charges were changed to include open murder.
Smith said Jacoby was lost from a park near Charleston Boulevard and 15th Street on June 6 around 8:30 p.m., according to records. At that point, police started looking for the child because they thought he was lost. At the time, Smith was with her other two kids, a baby and Jacoby’s twin brother.
Police say Smith lost control of her kids two years ago. In May, she got custody again. Smith told the cops that it had been over 18 months since she last saw Jacoby Robinson Sr. Robinson told the cops that he was homeless, but Smith let him into her apartment anyway.
Thursday, just after 11 p.m., police talked to Smith to try to find the boy. Records show that Smith told cops she left her house and took a bus to the park with her three kids, including Jacoby. Police searched RTC for video from the ride, but they said they couldn’t find Smith in any of the videos.
Police say Smith told them she lost sight of Jacoby while she was changing the diaper of another kid. She went to a gas station and called the cops after 30 minutes as per 8NewsNow.
Friday just before 1 a.m., police said they found Jacoby’s body in the dumper. Public records show that police said the boy’s body had “significant signs of physical injury to [his] head, torso, and buttocks.”
A brain bleed happened to Jacoby’s twin brother, who was also seriously hurt. Authorities said the child was in very bad shape when the parents were arrested. A third child was given to CPS care.
Police looked at video surveillance from around 8 p.m. from Smith’s apartment building. It showed her carrying one child and pushing two other children, including Jacoby, in a stroller. In their report, the police say that Jacoby wasn’t moving in the video, which makes them think that he was already dead.
Records show that Robinson broke into Smith’s apartment through a window while cops were getting ready to search it. On top of that, police arrested him on a no-bail warrant for a charge of injury in a domestic violence situation.
Documents say that Smith is suspected of hitting the boys with a belt and power cords. As per the records, Smith denied hitting the kids and said Jacoby had a seizure the day before he died. She also said that Jacoby had died while he was in the stroller in the video.
Documents show that Robinson told police that he had seen Smith abuse one of their children in the past. Police were told by Robinson that Smith beat Jacoby with a belt on the day he died.
Police also said they found matches in the stroller, which made them think Smith might have thought about setting her son’s body on fire.
A judge said that Robinson and Smith could not get out of jail on bail. The next court date for both of them was Tuesday. As of Monday, no one knew how the other kids were doing.