HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) – A Hampton, Virginia woman now faces murder charges after authorities say her two-year-old child was tortured prior to being murdered.
Two-year-old Noah Tomlin was reported missing by his mother last June.
Julia Tomlin claimed she put her son down for bed and when she went to check on him he was not there.
Authorities conducted an exhaustive search in his community and at landfills.
The child was found dead inside a steam plant more than a week after his mother reported him missing.
Authorities now say the child died from multiple blunt force trauma injuries and was so severely abused that his bones stopped growing.
An arrest warrant has been issued for his mother for murder charges.
Hampton Commonwealth Attorney Anton Bell stated, “These are the type of injuries that you will find that will literally stop the growth of bones due to either some severe disease such as cancer or some type of abuse or even severe malnutrition. So, his abuse was of such a nature that um, literally his bones stopped growing and there was evidence of that.”
Authorities say they know how the child’s body ended up at the steam plant, but they are not releasing that information.
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