'Disingenuous' mother sentenced to 100 years for murder of 8-year-old son Navin Jones

A Peoria woman accused of starving her son to death was given a century-long prison sentence Thursday, five months after taking a guilty plea on first-degree murder charges.

Stephanie Jones, 37, was sentenced to 100 years in prison by Circuit Judge John Vespa, who said that she had no prospect for rehabilitation. He said her claims of mental health issues were "disingenuous" and an attempt to pass off blame for the conditions that killed her 8-year-old son Navin in March 2022.

Jones pleaded guilty last December to first-degree murder charges in Navin's death, just days before her husband, Brandon Walker, stood trial for the same homicide. Walker was found guilty after a week-long trial and was given a life sentence in February.

Navin was found dead on March 29, 2022, after he was found unresponsive, lying in a room covered in urine and fecal matter at his home in the 1700 block of North Gale Avenue. When officers found him, he weighed only 38 pounds and prosecutors alleged that Jones and Walker deliberately withheld food and medicine from the child.

From 2013 to 2023: A timeline of events leading up to Navin Jones' death, his parents' trials

Navin and his older brother were placed in the custody of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services shortly after his birth in 2013, after he tested positive for opiates. Eventually, Walker's mother, Laura Walker, won custody of the boys and took care of them for several years until 2021, when the couple refused to return the boys to her after she left for a family visit in Florida.

She contacted both Peoria police and DCFS to report the stand-off and the poor conditions in which the children were staying. Walker refused to return the children to his mother and eventually took the children out of state.

An anonymous tip in February 2022 allowed DCFS to reopen an investigation into Jones and Walker after it had been dropped in November 2021. It was alleged Jones physically abused Navin and locked him in the home's basement when she didn't want to deal with him. The tip also alleged the home was dirty and the children were not in attendance at any school.

DCFS investigators later visited with the two children. While they claimed to be unharmed, Navin appeared to be thinner and smaller than a typical 8-year-old boy. He said he did not want to return to his grandmother's home and the mother and father said they tried to get short-term guardianship to allow him to see a doctor and enroll him in school.

However, when Navin was found five weeks after the visit by DCFS, the paperwork to allow the short-term guardianship had not been processed, even though Laura Walker had signed off on the agreement, not wanting anything to do with the family.

The couple was arrested just one day after Navin was found and charged with first-degree murder, eventually being indicted on six counts each. During Stephanie Jones' sentencing, Assistant State's Attorney Donna Cruz said Jones' actions showed "wanton cruelty" with some of the most "brutal and heinous" behavior she had seen from a defendant.

Cruz cited Jones' inability to feed Navin, tying him up in a basement and not providing medical attention as among the reasons why Vespa should impose the maximum 100-year sentence against her.

In addition, Navin's older brother provided an impact statement — through family attorney Ann Bartolo — that said Stephanie Jones and Brandon Walker lied and said Laura Walker had died and made him and his brother feel like they had done something wrong when they hadn't. He said his parents were the worst people he knew and that Navin was the best brother he could ever ask for.

More: Navin Jones' father given life in prison for child's 2022 murder

Defense attorney Jonathan McEldowney, representing Jones, said that her mental health issues prevented her from being the kind of parent she wanted to be towards Navin and his older brother. He provided the court with a psychiatric evaluation conducted earlier this year that stated Jones had a kind of dissociative disorder and frequently disconnected herself from her children's lives as a result.

Vespa rejected this argument, agreeing with Cruz on the "heinous" nature of the crimes and feeling that McEldowney's argument was a "sham." Vespa said Jones wanted to blame someone else for the crimes and frequently called her a liar from the bench.

'Good riddance to them': Navin Jones' father found guilty of murdering 8-year-old

Jones also provided a statement before her sentence was handed down, saying that she begged for forgiveness from her now-deceased son and her surviving child. She also said that she was in a bad place mentally and didn't want the elder child to blame himself in any way.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Navin Jones case: Mother given 100 years for 'heinous' death of son