LEX 18 has been following the death of a 20-month-old whose body was found in a Lexington apartment earlier this month, and now the toddler's family is speaking out.
20-month-old Joshua Bowen was found dead in an apartment at Lakeside Manor Apartments in Lexington. Bowen's mother, 27-year-old Brianna Johnson, and 22-year-old Kyle Guindon, Johnson's boyfriend, were both charged with criminal abuse. Guindon was also charged with domestic violence assault.
"Every adult that should have put eyes on him failed him," claims Jennifer Laudermilk, Joshua Bowen's grandmother. "Every time that we got him, he was so wet that it would come through his clothes. I would have to wash his clothes and give him baths and things like that."
Laudermilk says she suspected abuse a year ago. Laudermilk's husband first made the phone call to report it last year in August.
"She didn't keep his bottles washed out. He wasn't shown a lot of attention. I'm not really sure she wanted to be a mom. Or maybe it was just too hard or something I don't know, I don't really know what the problem was," questions Laudermilk.
That's when Laudermilk and her husband decided to take matters into their own hands and get Joshua help.
"I reached out to CPS multiple times and asked for help and I was just told there would be no investigation," said Laudermilk. "I want to report it again. And I kept telling them everything that was going on and they seemed to be more concerned with, 'well when was the last time you saw any of this stuff?'"
On Saturday, July 6, Laudermilk recalls being at home when her husband walked through the door with the worst news possible; Joshua was dead.
"It crushed my heart. My husband came in and told me and it crushed my heart," Laudermilk recalls the horrific moment she fell to the ground, screaming. "I kept saying 'no, no, no, no, no.' It just— it just broke my heart. It broke my heart, and I just, I didn't want to accept it. I didn't want to accept it as being real."
Jennifer describes Joshua as a gentle and quiet baby boy. He wasn't even the crying type.
"If you talked to him, he would just coo and he would smile and he was so sweet. He was just a very sweet baby. He was sweet and he just wanted somebody to love him and be kind to him," Laudermilk describes through her tears. "He wanted to matter, and he mattered to me. He mattered to us."
Laudermilk wasn't the only person to report the suspected abuse to CPS and the police department. Neighbors and other family members tell me they did as well.
"And it makes me mad that nobody did anything to help him because we tried. We tried to get him help. And I don't understand why they wouldn't help," said Laudermilk.
The biggest message Laudermilk wants to get across is to never forget Joshua, never forget his story and always fight for the innocent.
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