Mother indicted on murder and abuse charges of infant son

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - (May 20, 2024) A Murfreesboro mother has been indicted by a Rutherford County Grand Jury and now faces murder and abuse charges in the April 2023 death of her four-week-old son.

Jalani Patton, 25, was indicted on felony first-degree murder and the aggravated child abuse charges of her infant son. Patton was arrested on Wednesday, May 16 on sealed indictments.

The investigation, headed by Murfreesboro Police Department Criminal Investigations Division Special Victim Unit Detective Emily Speed, began April 22 of last year, after officers were dispatched to Ashwood Cove Apartments on N. Tennessee Blvd. in reference to an unresponsive infant. The mother claimed the baby fell off her bed and hit his head. He died at the hospital.

The medical examiner performed an autopsy who determined the cause of death was from blunt force head trauma, ruling it a homicide.

Patton is being held in the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center on $250,000 bond. A court date has been set June 25 in Rutherford County Circuit Court.

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