A woman from Florida is set to face trial this week after being accused of fatally neglecting and abusing her young son over an extended period. At one point, she reportedly attributed some of his injuries to a duck.

Erica Beth Dotson, 31, is charged with premeditated first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, aggravated child abuse, and child neglect causing significant harm, as per the records from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.

On July 11, 2021, authorities were alerted to a “child not breathing” incident in an apartment located on Lago Circle in West Melbourne, a city approximately 70 miles southeast of Orlando.

Upon arrival, officers met Dotson at the stairs, where she held the body of her 3-year-old son, Jameson Nance. An autopsy revealed that the child had suffered from “battered child syndrome” for an extended duration, with multiple injuries occurring weeks prior to his death. These included a broken tooth embedded in his gums, a cut on his jaw, a fractured rib and arm, a ruptured esophagus, and seven stab wounds—some fresh and some healing—on his head, as detailed in an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by Law&Crime.

But some of the abuse Jameson endured was also clear to first responders who met his mother on the second-floor landing that day.

“The Patrol Supervisor immediately recognized that the child was deceased, as indicated by the presence of rigor mortis,” stated the affidavit. “The child exhibited significant bruising, facial swelling, and clear signs of trauma.”

Dotson claimed in her statement to investigators that she had awoken at around 5:15 a.m., “snuggled” with her son, and left for work about an hour later. The affidavit detailed that she conversed with her boyfriend, Joshua Andrew Manns, 29, via phone around 6 p.m., discussing matters unrelated to her son. Nevertheless, an hour later, Manns allegedly advised Dotson over the phone not to drive because Jameson was in poor condition.

“Over the next several minutes Manns provided a story to [redacted] eventually explaining the child was dead or likely dead having drowned,” the affidavit reads. “Upon learning that Manns had not called 911 or for help in another manner, she herself called 911 as she was frantically driving to the apartment. She arrived only moments before police and found the child on the bathroom floor.”

Eventually, and by the time law enforcement arrived, Manns had left the apartment; he was eventually arrested in Orlando.

Meanwhile, a dispatcher thought to contact the adult who had overseen the boy’s final moments in an effort to give him instructions on how to perform CPR – but by then Manns was already on the lam, police claim. Despite his absence, the boyfriend allegedly left a note saying he had personally suffered a seizure and passed out while giving Jameson a bath. When he woke up, Manns allegedly claimed, the boy was floating in the water, dead. The note insisted Manns performed CPR but “nothing worked,” according to the affidavit.

“Investigators made observations about the apartment that there were empty bottles of children’s Tylenol and dosing cups all over the apartment, as well as rags wrapped around bags of water as if they had been frozen and used as cold compresses,” the affidavit goes on. “The observations led the investigators to believe that the child may have been receiving treatment at home, rather than being taken to a clinic, doctor or hospital.”

The medical examiner determined Jameson died from cardiac arrest. The affidavit notes that “no evidence of drowning” was found.

As it turned out, Sunshine State authorities had been apprised of at least some of Jameson’s treatment well before he died.

In February 2019, the Florida Department of Children and Family Services (DCF) investigated after the boy broke his leg in an “unwitnessed event,” according to the affidavit.

Sometime later, the boy’s biological father filed a petition to establish paternity and secure access to his son — a legal process that was still ongoing when Jameson died, the affidavit explains.

Then, in March 2021, Jameson broke his leg again. And, again, child welfare agents investigated. This time, the adults in the boy’s life claimed he had fallen off a curb. This claim was disputed by the medical examiner after Jameson’s death. The second broken leg led DCF authorities to learn of several “suspicious” incidents in the child’s life – including “injuries to his face” which were discovered the last day he ever attended day care, according to law enforcement.

“The story was that the family had been spending time by the pond and the child fell, rolled into or near the water and was attacked by a duck,” the affidavit continues.

Law enforcement also drew attention to the way Dotson and Manns discussed punishing Jameson in a series of text messages.

From the affidavit at length:

[E]pisodes were frequent, with Manns complaining that the child victim was not using the toilet; this would lead to punishment of the child and Manns would complain that the child would hit Josh (6′ tall, 200 lbs), head-butt him and bite him. This would cause for more punishment of the child with [redacted] being aware and [redacted] texting her support of Josh when dealing with [redacted] such as “Love you, appreciate you always dealing with him for me.” Another time after Manns had texted her that “he’s in big trouble” “he (victim) was losing it, going crazy,” with [redacted] texting during this episode “F’him,” “he’s being a jerk, put him to bed, no fun today” at 1:00 pm. While many of their text messages ended with “I love you” to each other, during the texts the child victim was referred to as a “jerk” or “sorry he’s being suc[h] a d—.”

Specifically, prosecutors claim Manns had long abused Jameson while Dotson knew and did nothing to stop it. Their trials were severed by a judge in June.

The mother’s trial begins on Wednesday.