PORTAGE, Mich. (WXMI) — Doctors told Jennifer Lawson that she was too old to have kids, but Jacob Flowers came along as her "miracle baby," only to be taken away from her too soon. Now, Lawson is waiting for justice.
"In that three months that we're waiting for the autopsy, he's just out living his life, like nothing ever happened. And that was really getting to us," Lawson told FOX 17, WXYZ's Grand Rapids sister station.
"I dropped him off December 15. Went to work, got the phone call that he was headed to the hospital," she said.
As a single mom with a full-time job, she needed a babysitter. She said she thought she found a good sitter until she found herself rushing to Bronson Hospital.
"I had texted her and asked her if anybody hit him in the head or anything because the way it found out it was a hematoma. And she just kept saying, no, no, no. Turns out, she left him with the boyfriend and something happened then," she recalled.
According to court documents, Jacob was dropped off at Malia Willis and Brandon Sullivan's home for a "regular scheduled babysitting session." However, Lawson made it clear to FOX 17 that Willis was the only one who was supposed to be watching Jacob.
"When we met with them, both of them seemed attentive, both of them seemed OK. But it still wasn't, oh, yeah, this dude can watch my kid," she said.
According to court documents, in the first round of police interviews, Sullivan told detectives he was home with Willis and their two children when Jacob "got sick." He also said the toddler looked like he was seizing and then vomited on the floor in the living room. Sullivan added that it looked like the boy was struggling to breathe and was becoming lethargic.
Willis told detectives she tried calling Lawson and at least two other emergency contacts before calling 911.
"I just thought OK, he got sick or whatever, he's thrown up. It's just going to be the night and I'll go back to work tomorrow, he'll be fine. And because we knew nothing, we didn't know he was unconscious. We didn't know any of that at the time," Lawson told FOX 17.
According to the probable cause affidavit, investigators say Willis and Sullivan both lied to them about Willis being home when Jacob got sick. Willis allegedly left the boy with Sullivan for roughly two hours while she went to run errands.
When Sullivan was interviewed again, he told detectives it was "botched CPR" as the cause of Jacob's injury, but autopsy reports the cause of death was blunt force head trauma. Sullivan is facing charges of felony murder and first-degree child abuse.
"I feel like I can breathe better now knowing that he's locked up and won't see his kids, won't live his life like nothing ever happened again because he took my life from me," Lawson said.
She also added that if there's one message she can relay to parents, it's to know thoroughly who is watching your kids.
