Inset: Jamie Drain (John J. Ferry and Sons Funeral Home), Background: Raja Drain during her arraignment after being charged with killing Jamie Drain (WVIT).
In North Carolina, a mother has been indicted for allegedly beating her 2-year-old daughter to death and trying to pass off the injuries as results from the child falling down the stairs.
Raja Drain, 28, is charged with murder and felony child abuse regarding the December death of Jamie Drain in Bertie County. Police arrested Drain in Connecticut on Monday.
Bertie County Sheriff Tyrone Ruffin reported that police responded to a call on Dec. 2 about an unresponsive child. First responders arrived and found Jamie unconscious. After conducting CPR, they took the girl to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Drain initially claimed she was in the kitchen cooking when she heard a “thud,” said Ruffin. She discovered her daughter “foaming at the mouth and shaking.”
Drain also told deputies that Jamie fell down some stairs around Thanksgiving.
“But that wasn”t the case,” Ruffin said.
The autopsy “revealed something completely different,” according to the sheriff. The medical examiner deemed Jamie’s death a homicide, citing that she died from blunt force trauma and head injuries. These injuries could not have been self-inflicted or caused by another child, but rather by an adult — and Drain was the only one present in the home, said Ruffin.
“Baby Drain had a beautiful smile,” Ruffin remarked. “I’m certain she was a joy to her family and was full of dreams. But on Dec. 2, 2024, the light of Jamie and her family was dimmed by a dark and unimaginable reality.”
Detectives needed time to put the case together, including awaiting the results of the autopsy. Once those facts were in hand, prosecutors presented their case to a grand jury, which indicted Drain. Authorities have not publicly divulged what led up to the child’s death nor what weapon, if any, was used to kill her.
Local NBC affiliate WITN reports that the Bertie County Department of Social Services had previously taken custody of Jamie following a child abuse case. The agency returned the girl to her mother not long before her death. Jamie’s death sparked a state takeover of the child welfare agency, WITN reported.
Drain traveled to Wethersfield, Connecticut, to stay with family after her daughter’s death. Cops there were initially called around 6:20 p.m. for a domestic-related incident. While investigating, they discovered she had a warrant out for her arrest from the Tar Heel State. She was arrested and, during a hearing in which she wiped away tears from her face, was ordered held on a $2 million bond, Hartford NBC affiliate WVIT reported.
She is awaiting extradition back to North Carolina.
