Baby London Kerr was last seen ‘in the arms of her mum’s meth dealer’ before she vanished – mum Ashley Ceejay Rowland and her boyfriend Joshua Denton have since been arrested
A missing two-year-old girl was allegedly sold to a meth dealer after she suffered horrific abuse from her parents.
Baby London Kerr was allegedly beaten with a paddle and shot at with a BB gun by her parents. Mum Ashley Ceejay Rowland, 39, and her boyfriend Joshua Denton, 40, were arrested on several child abuse charges in relation to the missing child. London, from Oklahoma, was last seen in the arms of her mum’s meth dealer in 2022, before the tot vanished.
Three years after her disappearance, the baby’s mum and her boyfriend were detained by police on August 5. It comes after a boy, 5, is murdered by kidnappers because his mum couldn’t pay a £39 ransom.
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Alarm bells were raised in April 2023 when authorities were not able to located the child during a pickup order. The mother initially told police the baby was with her dad in Georgia, according to arrest reports.
The mum allegedly later told police she gave London to a man named Carlos in 2022, who she bought methamphetamine from, according to The Oaklahoman. Rowland allegedly told cops that was the last time she saw her daughter and added that the drug dealer claimed he was going to Mexico, but the mum did not give this man any of the child’s ID.
Before they abandoned the baby, the parents supposedly inflicted cruel pain and suffering on the child. Rowland’s teenage children claimed the mum and her boyfriend would shoot at London with BB guns, lock her in a closer and hit her with a wooden paddle, according to the police report.
Denton’s two teenage daughters told police the dad would pour hot sauce into the baby’s eyes and forced her to eat a hot pepper. Rowland and Denton were arrested on Tuesday on multiple charges.
Denton faces nine charges, including six counts of child abuse, one count of forcible sodomy, one count of lewd or indecent acts to a child, and one count of a pattern of criminal offenses.
Rowland has been charged with one count of enabling child abuse and was previously charges with abandonment of a child in the Oklahoma County District Court last year.
After Rowlands first arrest, police discovered she had two teenage children, who they brought in to interview.
One of them claimed Denton had also been physically abusive towards both of the teens and London, saying the boyfriend had taped one of the teenagers to a chair and beat them with a belt.
Authorities have renewed their search for London, who is due to turn six years old in September. Oklahoma City police Sgt. Dillon Quirk told KOCO-TV: “Time is of the essence, still hoping for a positive turnout in this case, and we don’t have a lot to go off of right now, which makes it extremely difficult.”
