Inset left: Joshua Cajigas (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department). Inset right: Mellie Jackson (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department). Background: The area of the 7400 block of Waterfront Drive in Indianapolis, Indiana (Google Maps).
In Indiana, two individuals have been apprehended for allegedly neglecting a 3-year-old girl and physically abusing her due to her being “disrespectful” and for bedwetting.
Joshua Cajigas, 24, and Mellie Jackson, 22, both face charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in catastrophic injury. Additionally, Cajigas has been charged with domestic battery causing serious injury and battery resulting in serious injury, according to the police report.
Cajigas is identified as the child’s father, while Jackson is his girlfriend, as reported by Fox affiliate WXIN. Allegedly, the Indiana man admitted to physically punishing his daughter; however, on the incident day, Aug. 7, he claimed ignorance about the cause of her head injury.
When Indianapolis Metropolitan police officers arrived at a residence on the 7400 block of Waterfront Drive around 6 p.m., the toddler was found to be “stiff, unresponsive, and emaciated.” They were responding to a report that “a child had fallen and was unresponsive,” the police department reported.
Moreover, the child was “covered in bruises” and soaking wet, with Cajigas allegedly describing her condition as “limp, like a rag doll,” as stated by NBC affiliate WTHR. Emergency personnel transported the child to a nearby hospital, where she was in critical condition, suffering from a brain bleed and having a high likelihood of death.
Indiana Department of Child Services workers arrived at the scene and, along with other departments, investigated how the child was hurt. The arrests of the two adults followed.
According to the girl’s biological mother, authorities were made aware of Cajigas’ alleged abusive behavior well before this recent arrest. She reportedly claimed she warned the court system that the child was being abused under his care before she lost custody of the child in May.
“I tried to tell them this is what I saw and what I’m noticing and they kept ignoring me,” Lexus Burnette told WXIN. “They could have protected her, and they didn’t. … Instead, they tormented her.”
Both Cajigas and Jackson allegedly told officers a dresser had fallen on top of the child – but he later admitted to forcing the girl to do “discipline drills” because she “tends to be disrespectful” and “also pees the bed multiple times a night, and that’s also why she is disciplined,” according to court records.
The suspects have a jury trial scheduled for Oct. 14.
