The parents, who were married, left their four children inside their heated car in the parking lot of the hospital, which resulted in the loss of one of the children, who was a toddler. Another kid died inside the vehicle due to inadequate nourishment.
Following their guilty plea to the murder of two of their children, a married couple is going to be sentenced to serve seventy years in a state penitentiary institution of their own choosing.
Justin Rollins, 30, and Deja Rollins, 28, were in the local children’s hospital in October with their three-year-old kid, who was suffering from severe starvation and maltreatment. The youngster was also suffering from severe malnutrition. At the hospital, he passed away.
At the same time, one of his brothers — a 2-year-old — died of heat exhaustion in the Arkansas Children’s Hospital parking lot after the parents left him and his other three siblings inside and unsupervised. Their four children, ages 2, 4, 7, and 10, were all riding in the car with them.
Following receipt of an allegation of child abuse and neglect, the police went to the hospital to investigate the situation. Following that, they proceeded in search of the couple’s vehicle, despite the fact that the humiliated pair refused to provide them with the whereabouts of the vehicle, as stated by the Jacksonville Police Department.
On Friday, Judge Karen Whatley of the Sixth Judicial Circuit issued an order that the pair must each complete their lengthy sentence. This decision was made after the couple each pled guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, in addition to an extra offense. According to a news statement that was sent by the Jacksonville Police Department, the parents were hauled into custody in October 2024. This occurred after the police reacted to a claim of child abuse involving a kid who was three years old and had been transported to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital for “urgent medical treatment.”
It was eventually revealed by the police that the couple had four other children, aged two, four, seven, and ten. However, according to reports, Justin and Deja were “not cooperative in providing the location of the other children.” According to the announcement, the four children were discovered inside a vehicle that was parked in the parking area of the hospital.
“When officers arrived at ACH, security advised they received a phone call from Jacksonville Police at 12:30 p.m. informing them of four victims inside a vehicle in the parking lot,” according to a Little Rock Police press release. of first-degree domestic battery for the abuse they inflicted on their 4-year-old child, Law&Crime reported.
The sentences will be served in the order that they were handed down.
“The victims were removed from the vehicle by ACH security and taken inside the hospital, where they appeared to be suffering from heat exhaustion,” the statement said. The four victims were watched by the officers while they were being treated in the hospital.
According to the authorities, Jacksonville Police discovered a “malnourished dog” in the residence of the Rollins families. Jacksonville Animal Services was able to take possession of the dog.
Following their arrest, the Rollins were charged with five charges of first-degree domestic abuse, five counts of mistreatment of a vulnerable person, five counts of endangering the welfare of a juvenile, one act of animal cruelty, and one count of obstructing government operations. Both of them were also charged with one count of obstructing government operations.
On Monday, July 8, the couple’s kid, Jay’Dien Rollins, who was two years old and one of the four children discovered in the car, passed away in the hospital. When asked about the circumstances behind Jay’Dien’s loss, the police would not provide any information. An autopsy, on the other hand, will be carried out, according to the Little Rock police.
After the loss of the kid, the two individuals were charged with the crime of capital murder.