A teen mom in Memphis clearly wasn’t ready for the job of motherhood when her 2-year-old proved to be too much of a chore for her to have to deal with, so she resorted to an unheard of form of punishment. When her deplorable parenting tactic was found out, she was charged, but as the investigation progressed, so did her list of offenses.
Raven Campbell, 19, just wanted some peace and quiet from her misbehaving son, Jermyle, who was likely acting up just to get some much-needed attention from his mother. It’s unknown what he was doing that landed him in trouble, but Campbell felt like she needed to impose a punishment on him. She didn’t give him a simple swat on the behind to correct his actions or take away his favorite toy. What she did instead was worse than cruel and unusual.
The mom marched her son to the bedroom for time out, where she placed him under a massive mattress, then left him there for a staggering 30 minutes. As anyone who has flipped or moved a mattress knows, they’re incredibly heavy and often takes two people to lift. Little Jermyle was no match for the heavy item, and when Campbell returned to relieve him of his punishment, he was found unconscious and not breathing.
Not long after Jermyle arrived at the hospital, he lost his fight to stay alive and died Saturday. That’s when the mother’s fate went from bad to worse, as she was hit with first degree murder on Monday, in addition to her original charges, WMC Action Newsreported.
In the course of the investigation after the child’s death, it was discovered that authorities had tried to remove the boy from the home twice the year before, but they were unsuccessful both times. The reason for the failure of those efforts was not indicated, but far too often kids trapped in horrible homes will suffer the consequences before anything is actually done about it.