May 18, 2020
By News Director Jared Atha
An Elk City woman is wanted after being charged with enabling child abuse, after her son died due to alleged abuse in January.
Her boyfriend, 24-year-old Troy Justice Jones, is accused of killing the child and was charged with first-degree murder – child abuse.
According to a probable cause affidavit, 23-year-old Paige Lavon Taylor received the felony charge, along with an outstanding warrant, on Friday after court documents revealed that the woman allowed Jones around her two children despite an agreement that was reached between her and the children’s father to not let the youth around the boyfriend.
The investigation stemmed from an incident that occurred on October 1, 2020 when a dog would attack Taylor’s 5-year-old child. Authorities say the attack would leave permanent scaring on the child. In the report, Taylor would tell investigators that she did not know whose dog it was, and that she had limited knowledge of the incident. However it was revealed that authorities believed that Jones’ dog was the culprit.
The affidavit went on to say that on December 19, 2020 a referral from the Child Abuse Hotline was worked by DHS Child Protective Services. During the course of investigating that case, authorities would find bruising to the back, buttocks, and legs of the mother’s 2-year-old boy that is suspected to have happened on the day the referral was made.
DHS would implement a safety plan for the children that included the agreement between Taylor and the father to keep the children away from Jones.
However on the evening of January 20, the 2-year-old boy was rushed to a nearby hospital with what doctors would later describe injuries caused by abuse.
The affidavit for Taylor would state the acts by the mother ultimately ended in the death of the 2-year-old, and the protecting of the dog that had attacked the 5-year-old.
Bond for Taylor has been set at $100,000. A court date is pending Taylor’s arrest.
