Domestic Violence, Gun Videos Swirl Around Jayleah Bureau's Death Investigation

CONCORD, NH — The father of a 3-year-old girl who passed away in March has been arrested on numerous charges after investigators spoke to witnesses and combed through one of his social media accounts and discovered other alleged crimes, according to court documents. Jocarl Bureau, 22, currently incarcerated at the Merrimack County House of Corrections, was arrested at 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 19, 2016, on two counts of assault, two counts of domestic violence-simple assault, attempt to commit simple assault, and two counts of default or breach of bail conditions.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department and Concord District Court. It does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the name removal request process for NH Patch police reports.

According to police, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office and Concord Police opened an investigation into the death of 3-year-old Jayleah Bureau after EMTs were sent to Canton Circle for an unresponsive child report. Her death was deemed a homicide, due to brunt force trauma, the next day. During the process of that investigation, Concord Police learned of alleged domestic violence incidents by the girl’s father, Jocarl Bureau, against his girlfriend, Jayleah’s mother, which were unreported at the time, as well as bail violations, including videos of Bureau allegedly with a gun that were posted on Facebook.

The assault investigation

The victim, according to investigators, “did not initially disclose that she was a victim of domestic violence” at that time although they knew he was arrested in November 2013 for slapping her in the face. He was later convicted of simple assault. During an interview right after the girl’s death, the detective asked the woman how things were between the couple and she allegedly stated, “we’re good.” She reportedly stated while there were problems in the past, “I feel like he changed a lot.”

In April, she was interviewed again, and the victim alleged that Bureau was “very disrespectful with his mouth,” called her to complain while in jail, but denied that domestic violence was an issue beyond that one time.

“(He has a) short temper cause he gets mad fast,” she allegedly told the detective. “When he gets mad about something he doesn’t think … he just gets mad and starts yelling.”

The victim, who was eight months pregnant with Bureau’s second child at the time of the second interview, continued to deny being assaulted and said she would admit it if it happened, according to the affidavit.

On May 5, police interviewed her again and she alleged that Bureau’s brother, an Alabama man, “had been relaying messages to her from Jocarl from jail, telling her that Jocarl loves her and misses her,” according to an affidavit. That communication, detectives noted, would be illegal if he were out of jail on bail. Detectives alleged that there were “multiple occasions” that he had sent third party messages to her. During the "lengthy interview," the mother alleged that Bureau was “verbally abusive,” would call her names, but wasn’t physically abusive around their daughter. When they reinitiated their relationship in August 2015, she reportedly stated, he was acting normal but as time went on, “he started acting weird and would get mad at me for stupid things.” Detectives continued to interview the victim and later, she alleged that he threw a fork at her at one time during an argument, threatened to punch her mother, and called her mother names. After the interview, detectives eyed Bureau's messages on Facebook and estimated that the alleged attempted assault – the thrown fork – was made on March 10, five days before Jayleah’s death.

On June 16, detectives performed more interviews as they continued to try and find a homicide suspect in the case. One person they interviewed was a friend of the victim who stated that Bureau allegedly choked his girlfriend in January “in front of” two other girls at the home at the time. She was aware of “a rift” between the couple about the alleged incident, according to the affidavit. Detectives also interviewed one of the two girls – who was 13 at the time – who reportedly stated she heard the couple yelling at each other and saw Bureau allegedly grab his girlfriend by the throat and push her to a couch.

Five days later, the victim was interviewed again and she reportedly confirmed that Bureau allegedly grabbed her throat during an argument on Canton Circle. She also alleged that he pushed her to the floor in another incident during the early stages of the pregnancy. After the incident, Jayleah, she said, told her that it was OK and not to cry, according to the affidavit. The victim also reported another domestic violence incident outside of Concord to law enforcement, the report noted.

After detectives searched Bureau’s Facebook account again, according to the affidavit, and found a message he allegedly wrote to the victim on Jan. 2, stating that he was aggravated but apologizing for the alleged assault. In a back and forth, according to court documents, he allegedly wrote, “I won’t touch ua gain (sic). I’m sorry I lost it.” She countered, “I can’t do this any more (sic).” Bureau allegedly typed back, “I just poked u … U act like I hit you.”

Another interview with the victim was held on Sept. 14, and after that interview, detectives issued charges against Bureau at the Merrimack County House of Corrections.

Breach of bail investigation

During the course of Jayleah Bureau’s death investigation, detectives discovered two alleged breach of bail violations, according to a second affidavit.

In April 2014, Bureau was released on bail after being arrested on simple assault, reckless conduct, and criminal mischief charges. One of the stipulations of his bail was to not possess any dangerous weapons, including firearms. During a search of the Canton Circle home, detectives allegedly found a soft holster for a handgun on a shelf as well as paperwork that allegedly made “gang references,” according to the affidavit. While interviewing his girlfriend, detectives asked whether or not Bureau had access to guns and she alleged that she had seen him carrying on a number of occasions.

On his Facebook account, detectives allegedly found two videos uploaded from February of this year showing that Bureau was in possession of a handgun – that he referred to as “glizzy,” a slang term for a Glock.

“In the video, Jocarl rubs the handgun, which appears to have an extended magazine, against his face,” the reporting detective alleged, adding that he also pointed the weapon at the camera.

Other messages on Facebook allegedly corroborated that he was in possession of a handgun while out on bail, the reporting detective alleged. One message to his mother, who is parolee, was on March 12, three days before Jayleah passed away. It read, according to an affidavit, “But I got my thing with me. I don’t think u want it in Ya car.” His mother reportedly replied, “Nah I can’t have THAT in my car.”

Detectives also allegedly found other messages on Facebook in 2015 where he was communicating with friends about where he had placed or hid his “thing” in vehicles, other slang and gang terms used to describe handguns, and also comments about getting a Glock (his “Glizzy 9”) he once reportedly had in Alabama that has an optional extended magazine that can hold 33 rounds, according to court documents.

In another message from October 2015, upon returning to New Hampshire from Alabama, he allegedly told a friend that he was ducking warrants. He reportedly wrote, “Run my name. Im (sic) on that bull---- b----,” adding that he was laying low and trying to get money to get caught up with the warrants.

Bureau’s girlfriend was reportedly shown the video of him rubbing the gun against his face and she “appeared surprised” and confirmed it was him, according to the affidavit. After seeing the second video, she “expressed that the video made her mad,” and reportedly confirmed that it was taken in her car in December 2015 or January, since he was reportedly wearing a winter coat.

Previous criminal history

According to posts on Patch and other police reports, Bureau has a lengthy criminal history dating back since he was 17.

Bureau was arrested in March of this year on a Manchester Police warrant for nonappearance in court in May 2014 as well as a criminal threatening charge. He was charged again on April 13, for criminal threatening and stalking, according to police. He was convicted of criminal threatening and stalking in August. Bureau was also arrested in April 2014 for two counts of simple assault, criminal mischief, reckless conduct; place another in danger, and a warrant, after allegedly flicking grease from a frying pan at his mother and throwing a plate during an argument. Back in June 2011, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader, Bureau was arrested for disorderly conduct and assaulting a police officer while his mother was arrested for second-degree assault and reckless conduct after allegedly attempting to run over people on Mammoth Road with her vehicle after an argument.

Cops still looking for tips

Police are not commenting about the case and the NH AG's Office has not issued any follow-up statement about the case. Investigators are still seeking tips about Jayleah Bureau’s death though. Contact Det. Sgt. Sean Ford at 603-320-3728 or Lt. Timothy O’Malley at 603-230-3734 of the Concord Police Department or leave an anonymous tip with the Concord Regional Crimeline at 603-226-3100.