OCALA, Florida — A Florida mother faces child neglect charges after authorities say she finished getting her nails done and waited 40 minutes to call 911 while her boyfriend allegedly beat her 3-year-old daughter to death.
Jennifer Kendrick, 26, and her boyfriend Jeroen Jarrell Coombs, 32, were arrested following the February 19 death of Paisley Brown at a home in Marion County. Coombs faces murder and aggravated child abuse charges, while Kendrick is charged with two counts of child neglect. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said the case reveals a pattern of abuse that Kendrick knew about but failed to stop.
According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, Kendrick was at a nail salon when she made a FaceTime call to Coombs, who was watching her children at their home on Northeast 44th Avenue. Coombs told her that Paisley was unresponsive and showed the child on camera appearing “pale and limp” with her eyes “somewhat but barely open.” Deputies said Kendrick responded by asking what he meant and requesting to see the child, but then finished her nail appointment before leaving the salon. On her drive home around noon, she called Coombs and her mother but did not contact emergency services.
When Kendrick arrived at the home, she found Paisley “sitting in a high chair, limp,” according to the affidavit. “My baby is gone,” she yelled. “Call 911.” Coombs then called authorities, with 40 minutes passing between the initial FaceTime call and the 911 call, deputies said. Paramedics rushed Paisley to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 7:30 p.m. The child suffered bruises and ligature marks on her wrists and feet, indicating she had been restrained, according to investigators.
The investigation revealed extensive abuse of multiple children in the home. Kendrick initially denied witnessing any abuse but later admitted she “overlooked a lot for the sake of the relationship” during a Tuesday interview after receiving her Miranda rights, police said. She acknowledged that Coombs had been restraining Paisley at night with a robe tie and painter’s tape to prevent her from reaching into her diaper. The other children in the home, ages 9, 6, 4 and 1, had all lost significant weight due to Coombs’ strict eating rules, deputies noted. Another child was handcuffed at the time of Paisley’s death, and Kendrick allegedly removed the restraints before calling 911.
Coombs initially told investigators that Paisley woke up “groggy” but later confessed to causing her death when confronted about the bruising and ligature marks. He admitted to binding the child’s hands with a robe tie and legs with painter’s tape the night before, then picking her up while still restrained and dropping her on the floor, causing her to gasp for air. “He advised that he had bound her hands with a robe tie and her legs with painter’s tape to prevent her from reaching into her diaper the night before,” deputies wrote. Coombs also admitted to punching and hitting Paisley before realizing he “took it too far” and said he never called 911 because he was “scared.”
Paisley’s great-aunt Tabitha Harless, who owns the trailer where the alleged crimes occurred, arrived at the scene shortly after the incident. She told NBC affiliate WESH that Coombs was “standing there with his arms folded up doing absolutely nothing” while “nobody seemed to be in a, really, panic.” Harless performed CPR on Paisley and noticed unexplained bruises and wetness on the child’s body. One of Paisley’s older siblings told her what happened: “He said, ‘Aunt Tabby, he killed her. He punched her in the chest and he punched her in the wall,'” she told the television station.
The case has raised questions about potential failures in Florida’s child welfare system. Harless believes the children “slipped through the cracks” and were failed “not only by their parents but by society.” She added, “These children were let down, and it shouldn’t be that way. That’s why I am standing up today for Paisley and the children.” The Marion County Sheriff’s Office had responded to 402 calls in the Twin Lakes area between January 2011 and February 2012, though it was unclear if any involved this specific family. Investigators said another child at the home told deputies that Coombs had assaulted children on previous occasions.
Both Kendrick and Coombs remain in the Marion County Jail without bond. Coombs was initially charged with aggravated child abuse on February 19, with the murder charge added Wednesday. Court records show he was the only adult at the home when the fatal abuse occurred. Kendrick’s charges stem from her alleged knowledge of ongoing abuse and failure to protect the children in her care. The four surviving children have been removed from the home, though their current placement was not disclosed by authorities. No trial dates have been set for either defendant.
