Cops: Lake Co. woman killed child hours before giving birth

A 35-year-old Zion woman is charged with two counts of first-degree murder after killing a 5-year-old child hours before giving birth to another child in a separate hospital, Zion police said.

Yolanda L. Jones told police she "snapped" and beat the 5-year-old over two days before carrying the child's limp body into Midwest Regional Medical Center in Zion, Police Chief Wayne Brooks said.

Jones was living with five children at the Sheridan Motel in the 3400 block of Sheridan Road, Brook said.

The dead 5-year-old - whose name was not released - was not her child, but the child of her unidentified boyfriend, Brook said. She was not married to the father, but had three other children with him and was pregnant with the fourth.

Jones was the "caretaker" of the 5-year-old, and was watching the child in the motel without the father, Brooks said.

Before the beating, Brooks said, Jones became upset because the child had wet his bed and was unruly. Brooks said Jones "snapped" at some point during the Labor Day weekend, and spent two days hitting the boy "with a belt, and had banged his head off the bath tub and floor."

On Monday, Sept. 6, Jones brought the boy's body into Midwest Regional Medical Center, claiming to the hospital staff the boy fell while running in the parking lot at the motel, Brooks said.

However, Brooks said, the child already had been dead "for many hours" and had extensive bruising all over his body, specifically on top of his head.

While talking with the staff at Midwest Medical Center, Jones went into labor, Brooks said. She was taken to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, where she gave birth. While Jones was giving birth, Brooks said, the death of the child was investigated and Jones' other children were interviewed.

The Lake County coroner's office conducted an autopsy and determined the child suffered severe, nonaccidental blunt-force trauma to the head and brain, Brooks said.

Detectives also viewed several days of surveillance video from the entrance and parking lot of the motel, where it showed the child was dead hours before being brought to the medical center, Brooks said.

After being released from the hospital, where she spent three days in the intensive care unit due to complications while giving birth, Jones was taken into custody. During questioning, Brooks said, Jones admitted to the beating and her motives.

She is held on $3 million bond in Lake County jail. Brooks said police had no contact with her before this arrest.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has taken all children into custody, including the newborn, Brooks said.

He added the remaining children did not have any signs of physical abuse.

DCFS did not return telephone calls seeking comment on the case.