Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Incident occurred outside Reardan
REARDAN - A Spokane man remains in Lincoln County Jail after being arrested and charged in connection with the death of a baby.
Jordan Russell Mills-Jay, 29, is being held on $150,000 bail; he was booked into jail Monday night, June 26.
Mills-Jay was charged on alternative charges of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter Wednesday, June 28 after allegedly shaking a 5-month-old boy to death, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and Prosecuting Attorney Adam Walser.
"What that means is a jury could theoretically find him guilty of either murder or manslaughter," Walser said.
He made an initial court appearance in Lincoln County District Court on Tuesday, June 27. Presiding Judge Dan B. Johnson said he believed there was probable cause to hold Mills-Jay on $150,000 bail/bond as requested by Walser.
Walser said Mills-Jay was a flight risk, while public defender Dave Hearrean said Mills-Jay's lack of criminal history indicated the opposite.
"As of now, (Mills-Jay) is innocent," Hearrean said.
Ten family members of Mills-Jay were in the courtroom and appeared upset with the bond.
"My brother would never, ever put his hand on any child, let alone his own," brother Matthew Mills said. "He takes care of so many children... He would never do something like this."
Records show Mills-Jay was arrested by Spokane police on the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office's probable cause statement connecting him to the death of the 5-month-old boy, the Sheriff's Office reported.
According to authorities, medical staff at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane informed the Sheriff's Office of suspicious injuries to the boy, who had been airlifted to the hospital from the boy's Reardan-area home on Euclid Road Monday, June 5.
The baby died at the hospital Wednesday, June 21, officials said. Autopsy reports are pending, but injuries were consistent with shaken baby syndrome.
A Sacred Heart Hospital doctor said the baby was likely 12-18 inches off the ground when Mills-Jay let go of him in frustration after the baby wouldn't feed in the early morning hours of June 5, records allege.
The doctor called the brain injuries suffered by the baby "totally abuse," according to records.
Mills-Jay is listed as the baby's father on its birth certificate, but reports also say the biological father is unknown.
The baby's mother, Kayla Anthony, was asleep in a bedroom with two other children that night, police records claim.
Anthony was arrested, cited and released on a fourth-degree assault charge by the Reardan Police Department Saturday, June 3, according to records. Said incident reportedly occurred during Mule Days at the SpeedTrap Tap House.
This is the second murder case in the past 12 months in Lincoln County after no such cases for 20 years.
Charles Bergman of Moses Lake was convicted of killing his wife Theresa Bergman near Sprague earlier this year.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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