REDFORD, Mich. (WXYZ) — The state wants to terminate parental rights and protect a 3-year-old boy from a mother and her boyfriend.
This case started with the discovery of the girl near death on June 25th at a motel on Telegraph Road in Redford Township. Thirty-year-old Michael Deshawn Lewis – the mother's boyfriend – and 26-year-old Steffani Jones are charged with murder and child abuse.
The mother was at work and Lewis called 911 to say 5-year-old Lyric Jones had trouble breathing. She died at the hospital from blunt force trauma.
In court documents obtained by 7 Action News, the mother said she hit her son with a belt because he drank water from a toilet. She also claimed other injures were from bug bites and falling in the shower.
The documents say their single motel room was cluttered and infested with bed bugs.
The documents also say the biological father of the 3-year-old son hasn’t seen his son since he was an infant and he can’t provide for the child because he’s on the run from police.
The case on the 3-year-old boy is set to go back to court next week. The murder case is set to be back in court on July 30.
Jones and Lewis remain in jail without bond.
