The paternal grandmother of a 4-year-old boy whose body was discovered by the police marine division from a large and very choppy body of water behind the Louisiana Welcome Center last week said she had a feeling the boy was in danger before he disappeared.
Detectives were able to identify him as the son of Aaliyah N. Jack, 25, of Lake Charles, and they learned he was last seen alive on Saturday with his mom and younger brother.
Dion Polk told the American Press that the boy, Legend Jack, had been living with her since May because his mother did not have a stable place to stay and had been living in hotels and sleeping in cars. Every time she would bring the boy over, he would be extremely sick, she added.
“She gave her mother Kingtrail (Legend’s 1-year-old half-brother), and she gave me Legend, and she told us she was going to live her best life,” Polk said.
But on July 6, Jack asked her to bring the boy to her so that he could attend a family funeral, American Press reports. When she didn’t move fast enough, Polk said Jack called authorities, and police told them they needed to meet with child welfare officials to sort out a visitation plan on Monday.
Still, Polk left Legend with his maternal grandmother to attend an event, and when she returned to pick him up, Jack had taken both of the children.
“I asked her how she could allow Aaliyah to take those kids after we had just talked to the detective,” Polk said. “I was so panicky and so angry at that point. I knew Legend was in danger. I knew he was.”
The 1-year-old boy was spotted in a ditch along Interstate 10 eastbound on July 9 by an eagle-eyed trucker from Texas, who, at first glance, thought he was looking at a discarded doll. Against all odds, the baby lost on a highway for two days during Hurricane Beryl had survived, which police described as a “miracle.”
The baby endured heavy bands of rain and sudden wind gusts reaching up to 40 miles per hour as Beryl bore down on Calcasieu Parish in Louisiana.
“As I was going down the highway, I noticed an image to the right over an embankment, and I thought maybe it was a doll that someone had thrown out the window,” said Reginald Walton to KADN News 15.
“But as I was passing by, I saw it move, and I said, ‘That looked like a baby.’” The driver for DHL Supply Chain pulled over and immediately called 911.
Gary Guillory, the sheriff of Calcasieu Parish, could not hide his astonishment over the baby’s resilience in a press conference later that day.
“We look at this 1-year-old as our miracle baby because he was still alive,” said Guillory, in an emotional statement, “unbelievable. This kid spent two days out in the weather on the side of the highway. Thank God that trucker seen him… here he was crawling toward the highway, so we are so thankful for this trucker.”
The baby was rushed to the hospital and was determined to be in surprisingly good condition for what he endured “crawling around the interstate,” as Guillory put it. “He had quite a few insect bites, but he was drinking water, sitting up, so he’s in good spirits,” he added.
Before the truck driver saw the child, the Sheriff’s office had already issued a BOLO (Be On The Lookout) that was sent to law enforcement agencies, prompted by the grim discovery of his older brother’s body.
Jack was quickly located at a Mississippi train station “trying to get out of town,” according to Guillory. She was arrested on charges of failure to report a missing child — but her baby son was still unaccounted for. While police were on the lookout, the truck driver’s call came in.
Guillory said the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the case is ongoing, and more charges against Jack are possible.
“We still have a lot of work to do, but I can promise you this sheriff’s office is going to commit every resource that we have in order to bring justice.”
Police informed the 4-year-old’s father about his son’s death, adding that the parents were not “together as a couple” and the 1-year-old may have a different father.
Polk described Legend as “lovable and smart, really just beyond his years.”
“He had so much love in him,” she said. “He always wanted to make sure that we were OK. He’d always say, ‘Mawmaw, you OK?’ and I’d say, ‘Yes, are you OK,’ ‘Yes, Mawmaw, I’m OK. I’m just watching TV.’ He loved watching television.”
In the meantime, the miracle baby is in stable condition. An official cause of death for his sibling is pending an autopsy.
