Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 31, 1995 TAG: 9508310082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HILLSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Stephen Wayne "Bones" Cole, 19, said he and the child were horseplaying when the boy fell backward and struck his head on a cabinet door. He said there were no apparent ill effects.
In addition to murder, Cole is charged with felony child abuse and neglect.
The funeral for Joshua Charles Walker Blevins was held Wednesday in Galax. His mother, LaDonna Jean Worrell Blevins, 22, also charged with felony child abuse and neglect, was allowed to attend with a police escort.
Hillsville police and rescue squad members found Josh dead Sunday afternoon in the apartment shared by Blevins and Cole.
An autopsy showed the toddler died from a skull fracture.
Authorities said Cole has given investigators a statement, but they would not provide details.
Authorities searched for Cole for several hours Monday in the wooded area around his mother's house. According to his older sister, Christy Cole, he later returned to the house and allowed her to telephone police so he could give himself up.
"I wish I was psychic. I wish there was some way in my mind I could go and see what happened that night," said his mother, Linda Cole. "I can't help but believe it was an accident. And I'll go to my grave believing it."
She spoke by telephone to her son, who is in the Carroll County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bond. Blevins is being held in lieu of $50,000 bond.
"There's no punishment on this Earth that's great enough for anyone who kills a child," she said. "And, if Stephen did that, there's no punishment on Earth that's great enough for him. I wasn't there that night. I don't know what happened. But whatever it was, I know it was an accident."
Christy Cole said she and Blevins went out with a group of people Saturday night after Blevins got off work at a pizza restaurant. She said they left Blevins at her apartment about 3 a.m. Sunday.
She said Blevins later told her that she slept until 9 a.m. Sunday, when she got up to change a diaper and give medicine to her 8-month-old daughter, Heather. She said she did not want to disturb Josh, who often slept until 1 p.m. when he was up late.
Christy Cole said Blevins told her she did not awaken again until after 4 p.m., and was surprised that Josh was not up. She went into his room and said, "Hey, buddy, wake up," but found him unresponsive.
He was dead when Hillsville police and rescue squad personnel arrived.
Linda and Christy Cole said Stephen Cole helped care for both of Blevins' children. And Christy Cole said her brother often took care of her son, also 21/2 years old. "My brother watched him for me more than I have let anybody watch him," she said.
She said her brother recently took care of Josh for three weeks when Blevins was staying at the hospital with her daughter, who was battling an infection.
Stephen Cole completed a 22-month jail term last year for stealing a vehicle and joy riding. His family is worried that earlier scrape with the law will make people think he is capable of violence. But "murder is a helluva lot different than stealing a car," Christy Cole said.
"The thing I'm trying to get across to people is that he's not a monster. He's just an ordinary 19-year-old boy," his mother said. "He feels like he's hung before he's tried. He feels like he doesn't have a chance."
by CNB