A judge in Arkansas sentenced a mother to 40 years in prison following the death of her son.
Ashley Rolland, 30, pleaded guilty to two counts of permitting abuse of a minor in Lee County Circuit Court two years after her boyfriend killed her son by drowning the boy in a toilet, according to a copy of her plea agreement obtained by Inside Edition Digital.
Officers discovered the body of 5-year-old Blu Rolland buried under the floorboards of his home onDec. 16, 2022, the day of his sixth birthday.
Rolland had been facing charges of capital murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and battery in the first degree as well, but prosecutors moved to nolle prosequi in exchange for her guilty plea on the two counts of permitting abuse.
The first count is related to the death of her son, while the second is for injuries her then-6-year-old daughter sustained at the hands of Nathan Bridges, Rolland's boyfriend.
Bridges, 34, pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in court last month He also entered an additional guilty plea to a charge of first-degree battery for an incident involving the victim's older sister.
The judge sentenced him to 60 years in prison.
A criminal complaint obtained by Inside Edition Digital says that authorities learned about Blu's death after the boy's grandmother contacted the Lee County Sheriff's Office and requested a welfare check for Blu and his sister.
Rolland then turned over her 6-year-old daughter to deputies but said Blu was not home at that time, according to the complaint.
Blu's sister had severe scab wounds on her head that her mother claimed were caused by an allergic reaction, but doctors determined the child had been severely burned, according to the complaint.
The children's grandfather then called deputies to say that he learned his grandson might be buried under the floorboards inside the home, according to the complaint.
"Deputies located where Blu was reported to be and found newly nailed-down boards. Deputies removed the boards and found disturbed earth underneath. Deputies removed the top layer of the Earth and found a child's flip-flop shoes and a red and blue blanket," the complaint says.
Those inside the house then had to exit the residence because of the "pungent odor of decay," the complaint says.
Authorities said Rolland soon confessed to police that Blu had bitten Bridges' finger when he put it in the boy's mouth so he took him into the bathroom and drowned him in the toilet, according to the complaint. Rolland said that she did nothing to stop this and came into the bathroom afterward to find Blu "struggling to breathe" and his body limp, according to the complaint.
Bridges then buried the boy in the floor and covered him up with some dirt and new floorboards, authorities said Rolland told them.
Her daughter had been severely burned when Bridges held her under steaming hot water in the bathtub, according to the complaint
Both of Rolland's parents appeared at her hearing where prosecutors had them read victim impact statements on behalf of their late grandson, according to the court record
Lawyers for Rolland and Bridges did not respond to requests for comment.
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