Three year old Jayden Comage died October 7, 2019 after his mother Jessica Logan, 27 at the time, contacted first responders at 3:20 A.M. to report that he wasn't breathing at their residence at 650 E Leafland Avenue in Decatur, Illinois. Jayden's body was lifeless, cold and rigid when they found him. Jayden was only 19 months of age.
Jayden was found face down with a comforter over his head.
Officers at the scene later reported that while Jessica was crying (with no tears), she showed no signs of genuine emotions.
Jessica explained to Detectives that Jayden is prescribed breathing treatments, and she gives them to him nightly before bed and in the middle of the night. She said she missed the middle of the night treatment and that she overslept by an hour for one of his treatments. She woke up at 3:00 A.M. when she found a fitted twin sheet came off the corner of the mattress and was wrapped around his head. The comforter was also pulled over his head. Jayden was cold and not breathing. She said she began CPR which didn't help. When police interviewed her again ten days later, police asked her to explain it again as to what happened that morning. During that reenactment, she said she did not use CPR on him.
Jessica explained to Detectives that he receives these treatments because he had previously been sick with pneumonia. Detectives asked her to bring them the breathing medication to view it, but she produced an empty box, and said she must have run out of the medicine. At a later point, she told them she called in for a refill days before to her doctor but had to leave a voicemail. That Doctor confirmed there was no record of Jessica's call. The Doctor said that Jayden was seen several times after that hospitalization and that he had clear lungs and did not need further breathing treatment.
The coroner did not find any markings indicating Jessica's story that he had been asphyxiated or strangled by his bed sheets the way she said she found him. There was no cause of death listed during the autopsy. The autopsy showed no signs of asphyxia with compression of the neck, not caused by blunt force trauma, pneumonia, fractures or a tumor. The coroner believes that someone must have put pressure on the back of the child's head or face. A pillow or tangled sheets couldn't have caused the trauma found on Jayden's face. Jayden's brother was not strong enough and would not have been able to have caused the trauma.
Jessica was the only adult in the residence at the time.
The cause of death was that Jayden had died as a result of asphyxia due to smothering and/or compression of the neck.
It took minutes for Jayden to die.
During their investigation police found that Jessica googled on her phone on October 6, 2019 at 8:04 AM 'how do you suffocate' the day before Jayden was found deceased.
There was a $25,000 life insurance policy for Jayden. Jessica told Detectives she got the police immediately after Jayden was born, but the insurance company reported that Jayden was 9 months old when she got it.
DCFS confirmed they had prior dealings with the family.
Jessica was charged with the murder of her child and taken to the Macon County Jail on a $1 Million Bond while awaiting trial.
After just 2 hours of deliberations by the jury, Jessica was found guilty and sentenced to 33 years with a 3 year mandatory release.
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