Father’s 911 call in Christmas Eve death of infant son: ‘He’s beyond help’

In a frantic 911 call, Jerry Allen said he found his son face down in squalor on Christmas Eve.

The 7-month-old boy, named Jerry Allen Jr., lay dead on a couch amid trash, animal feces and a raw hamburger in a Lincoln County home, according to arrest warrants. His young sisters were unsupervised and naked.

And their mother, police say, lay asleep nearby, allegedly high on prescription pills.

It’s still unclear how the infant died or if anyone will be charged in his death.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office has charged the children’s mother, 30-year-old Stephanie Amber Tillman, with three counts each of misdemeanor child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile by a parent. A judge on Monday reduced her bond from $100,000 to $10,000 since her charges are misdemeanors.

Results of a scheduled autopsy were not yet public, and the only insight into the family’s home life came from a neighbor who said he had called police in April when he found Tillman’s daughters wandering the road, alone and naked.

Police said they visited the home then, and recommended new locks for the doors.

Late Dec. 24, when he returned home from work, Jerry Allen told authorities he found his son dead, lying face down on the living room couch, according to a 911 call that was made about 11:25 p.m. His voice cracking, Allen, 32, told the operator, “I don’t know what to do.”

He identified Tillman as his girlfriend, and said the home was a wreck and he didn’t know why. “I’ve been at work all day,” he said.

He also found the couple’s two daughters, ages 4 and 3, naked but unharmed, according to a Lincoln County Sheriff’s news release. Police documents vary on the girls’ ages. Arrest warrants list them as being 2 and 3 years old.

As Allen waited for paramedics, the operator asked if anyone helped his baby. Allen’s response, his voice shaky: “He’s beyond help.”

Scott Hudson, Tillman’s court-appointed attorney, said he had spoken to her Monday but would not elaborate on what they discussed. Tillman, who appears bloodied and bruised in her jail booking photo, told deputies she had been assaulted two days before her son’s death, according to Larry Seagle, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson.

Seagle said on Monday that no report was filed in connection with an alleged assault.

Hudson declined to comment about the cause of Tillman’s injuries, saying it would be part of his own investigation into the case. He noted that Tillman has been charged only with misdemeanors. “If they thought she was responsible for anyone’s death,” the charges would reflect that, Hudson said.

The two uninjured children were taken into custody by the Department of Social Services, which then placed them with family members.

Jerry Allen’s relatives reached by phone declined to comment Monday evening, saying emotions were high and relatives were grieving. Family members set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for funeral expenses. By Monday night, they had raised nearly $600 of their $3,000 goal.

Littered with filth

The Temple Lane home where baby Jerry died is near the back of a narrow dirt road in rural Lincoln County, just a few feet north of the border with Gaston County.

On Monday, outside the vinyl-sided house with a blue cross on the front door, four dogs scurried in the yard, barking and occasionally growling. Several lawnmowers were parked nearby, along with a small, plastic children’s slide on the other side of the house.

Lincoln County Sheriff’s investigators said the inside of the home was filthy – “human and animal waste and garbage.”

Neighbors said they didn’t know much about the couple who lived there with their three children.

But Christmas Eve, one neighbor said, wasn’t the first time police had been called to the home.

Justin Kee, who lives nearby, said he called authorities in April when he spotted the family’s two young daughters wandering down the road alone. They were not wearing clothes and he called police, he said.

A deputy who responded to the scene spoke with Tillman, who said the children got out of the house while she was asleep, Seagle said. The door had been closed with a chain lock, which the children pulled, eventually breaking the frame away from the wall, he said.

Authorities notified Allen, who arrived to fix the door before the deputy left the scene. The officer advised the parents to consider other types of locks, and even an alarm for the door.

No charges were filed.

This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 7:29 PM with the headline "Father’s 911 call in Christmas Eve death of infant son: ‘He’s beyond help’."