On Sunday, police arrested a married couple. The couple is accused of capital crimes, among other things. According to the authorities, the two of them abused their children. Their two-year-old son was found dead a day earlier in an overheated car in the parking lot of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
While responding to a child abuse case on Sunday, Jacksonville police made contact with 29-year-old Justin Rollins and 27-year-old Deja Rollins at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, where their 3-year-old child was receiving urgent medical treatment, according to a Jacksonville police news release.
Little Rock police arrived at about 12:42 p.m., shortly after Jacksonville officers alerted hospital security that four other children – ages 2, 4, 7 and 10 – were in a car in the parking lot, authorities said. When officers found the children, they appeared to be suffering from heat exhaustion, a Little Rock police news release said.
The two-year-old boy succumbed to his injuries on Monday. The press release did not say anything about the condition of the other children.
The parents did not cooperate in the search for the four children, who were eventually found in the car, according to the Jacksonville police press release. Authorities also found a severely neglected dog in their Jacksonville home and handed the animal over to Jacksonville Animal Services.
Both parents are charged with capital crimes, five counts of first-degree domestic violence, neglect of a vulnerable person and endangering the welfare of a child, and one count each of cruelty to animals and obstruction of governmental operations. Both were being held Tuesday in the Pulaski County Jail without bail, according to an online inmate roster.
