Grandmother of 4-year-old found dead: ‘I knew he was in danger’

The paternal grandmother of 4-year-old Legend Jack — whose body was recovered on Monday from the waters behind the Vinton Welcome Center near the Texas-Louisiana border — said she had a sick feeling the boy was in danger when she last saw him Saturday night.

Dion Polk — the family member who Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Stitch Guillory said notified his office that the body recovered at the center could be her missing grandson — told the American Press on Friday that Legend had consistently been living with her since May when the boy’s mother, Aaliyah Jack, gave the boy to her.

“She gave her mother Kingtrail (Legend’s 1-year-old half-brother) and she gave me Legend and she told us she was going to live her best life,” Polk said.

Polk said Legend, one of six of her grandchildren, was loving, smart and kind. She said they loved to ride around town, take vacations, talk, play games and shoot water guns at each other.

“He had so much love in him,” she said. “He always wanted to make sure that we were OK. He’d always say, ‘Mawmaw, you OK?’ and I’d say, ‘Yes, are you OK,’ ‘Yes, Mawmaw, I’m OK. I’m just watching TV.’ He loved watching television.”

She said “Sonic” and “Spider-Man” were his favorite movies.

“When he would put on his Spider-Man shoes, he would turn into Spider-Man,” she said with a laugh. “My niece captured him on a video and the lights had gone out so her fiancé turned on the flashlight and told him, ‘Don’t be scared. You’re Spider-Man,’ so Legend started making his Spider-Man moves.”

Polk said her daughter once brought Legend to the store and told him he could pick out whatever shoes he wanted.

“He wanted some Sonic the Hedgehog ones,” she said. “Boy, he put those shoes on and he started running fast. He was just so lovable and smart, really just beyond his years.”

Polk said the morning of Saturday, July 6, Aaliyah called her asking for her to bring Legend to her so that he could attend a family funeral.

“Aaliyah kept texting me and calling me that morning to bring Legend and meet her in front of the Best Western on Prien Lake,” Polk said. “I asked her if she had a room over there and she said, ‘No, I’m just chilling in front of the Best Western.’ I told her when I got some rest I would bring Legend to her. I guess I wasn’t moving fast enough so she called Lake Charles Police.

“I talked to the detective and he told me, ‘I just talked to Aaliyah Jack and I just couldn’t understand what she was trying to say,’ ” Polk said. “I said, ‘Sir, I have Legend, he’s my grandson and she gave Legend to me. She wanted me to bring Legend to her but she has been sleeping in cars. I just don’t think he needs to be with her. You can call the hospitals where we have brought him. Every time she brings him back to us he is so severely sick.’ ”

Polk said after the detective spoke to Aaliyah’s mother, he told the pair that the boys did not need to be with Aaliyah and for the two grandmothers to communicate with each other and make a schedule for the boys to see each other while living in separate homes. He also told them they would need to meet with Department of Children and Family Services Monday morning to finalize the arrangement.

Polk said she left Legend with his maternal grandmother so he could attend the funeral.

“I left him there and I said I would pick him up when it was over,” she said. “But when I was getting him dressed, I told my daughter, ‘Something tells me not to leave Legend here.’ I do not want to leave him here. I told her, ‘I am not leaving Lake Charles. We’ll hang out in Lake Charles, but I’m not leaving Lake Charles until we pick Legend back up.’ ”

Polk said was supposed to pick up Legend at 7 p.m., but when she arrived the maternal grandmother said Aaliyah had both Legend and Kingtrail.

“I asked her how she could allow Aaliyah to take those kids after we had just talked to the detective,” Polk said. “I was so panicky and so angry at that point. I knew Legend was in danger. I knew he was.”

Polk said she found Aaliyah and the boys down the street at Aaliyah’s sister’s house.

“I saw Legend running around and I said, ‘Legend, let’s go,’ but Aaliyah grabbed him before I could get out of the car,” Polk recalled. “Legend was throwing his body on the ground, begging not to go with her, but she dragged him. She jumped in the car, threw the baby to the side, locked the doors and that was the last time I saw my grandson.”

Polk said she replays the scene over and over in her mind.

“I beat myself up, I should have jumped on that car,” she said.

Polk said she called the police that night, begging for a wellness check but was told there wasn’t much to be done since the boy was with his mother. On Monday, she called the Department of Children and Family Services.

“When I hung up the phone, that’s when I saw the news bulletin that they had found a young body in the water,” she said. “I was so out of the world, I was just out of my mind. I told my daughter I needed to call 911. I don’t know the man who answered at 911 but I thank God for him because he took it seriously. He did not mess around and he took it seriously.”

Legend’s body was recovered Monday afternoon. Kingtrail was discovered crawling along Interstate 10 Tuesday morning, nearly eight miles from the welcome center.

Polk said the last week has been horrible.

“I don’t sleep. I don’t eat. I have never in my life felt pain like this. Never. It’s like I’m outside of my body; I’m here, but I’m not here. I’m just hoping someone will wake me up and tell me it was just a dream. I was supposed to protect him. The last time I saw him he yelled out, ‘No, I don’t want to go with Aaliyah.’ He never even called his mom ‘mom’ he only called her Aaliyah.”

Jack is facing charges of one count of second-degree murder, one count cruelty to a juvenile and two counts of failure to report a missing child. Judge Tony Fazzio has set her bond at $9.1 million. She remains behind bars in Meridian, Miss., where officers discovered her awaiting a train Monday night.

“I want the people to know that Legend has a family that loved him with everything they had,” Polk said. “We love him. These grandkids are having a hard time knowing that Legend is not coming back. My son (Legend’s father) is in and out. He’s just dazed and I can’t close my eyes, because I keep seeing the look on Legend’s eyes. It was like, ‘Mawmaw, save me.’ That was the last time I saw my grandchild.”