Couple Gets 5 Years for Starving Death of Infant

Photo: Markisha Jones and Gene Edwards

Written by Scott Viau

A former Barrington couple was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for their role in the starving death of one of their twin babies.

Markisha Jones, 20 and Gene Edwards, 23, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment in their daughter’s death, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Their little girl, Mya G. Edwards, was just 7 months old when she died of starvation. The couple, who resided in Barrington at the time of their arrest, had one other child, Mia, who was also starved to the brink of death but made a recovery after she was rushed to the hospital.

At the couple’s sentencing Monday, Cook County Judge Bridget J. Hughes heard testimony about the circumstances surrounding Mya’s death, as well as the childhoods of her parents, according to the Daily Herald.

Public defenders Caroline Glennon and David McMahon said the parents had limited opportunities and resources, but Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Gerber said both were high school graduates who had been “deemed bright enough not to squander the breaks they’d been given.”

Raising two babies isn’t easy, and the couple reportedly argued over parental responsibilities and how many parenting classes they should attend. That’s when they moved to Barrington, where their access to subsidized baby formula and other necessities via the WIC program was limited, according to the Daily Herald.

The couple was financially strapped and lacked transportation, defense attorneys argued, noting they had sold their vehicle to pay for rent.

While Judge Hughes recognized that at one point the couple intended to feed their baby, the loss of human life demanded a sentence more than just probation.

“It was a human life. Mya Edwards was a human being,” Hughes said, as reported by the Daily Herald. “Probation is not appropriate in that society lost a precious human life.”

The twin girls born to Jones and Edwards in May 2013 spent much of their time in a “dungeon-like basement,” sharing a crib as they wasted away, starved for nutrition and attention, according to Cook County prosecutors.

Edwards and Jones met in Bolingbrook, where they had graduated from Bolingbrook High School. They moved to Barrington with their newborn daughters.

Five months after the birth, the parents stopped feeding the babies formula, instead mixing cereal and baby food with water. The basement of the rented Barrington apartment where little Mia and Mya spent their days and nights was warmed only with a space heater.

Meanwhile, their dad spent much time upstairs playing video games with his cousin, prosecutors told a judge.

It was Gene who noticed Mya wasn’t breathing on Jan. 8, 2014 — just after lunchtime — and called paramedics, who tried to revive the 7-month-old malnourished baby on the dining room table.

But they were unable to breathe life back into her skinny little body. Mya died on the dining room table.

Mia was rushed to Good Shepherd Hospital, but her health was so deteriorated the infant immediately was transferred to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, prosecutors said.

The Department of Children and Family Services subsequently took custody of Mia. She’s now in a foster home.

While in jail, Jones gave birth to a son and he is being raised by her mother. Both Edward and Jones received credit for 556 days served in the Cook County Jail.