An Illinois pathologist has announced the death of a Cook County toddler, who, according to family, was pushed off the Navy Pier into Lake Michigan by his mentally ill aunt after she reportedly abducted him.
On Monday, Sept. 26, the Cook County Medical Examiner released the news that 3-year-old Josiah Brown has died after suffering from cardiac arrest and severe brain damage, caused by being submerged under water for 30 minutes on Monday, Sept. 19, according to a Today.com report, around 1 p.m. on Sept. 19 in the 700 block of E. Grand Ave in Chicago, which is located close to the Navy Pier.
Brown was pronounced dead at the hospital on Sunday, Sept. 25, at 10:16 a.m.
This comes days after his aunt Victoria Morena, 34, was originally charged by prosecutors with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery of a child under the age of 13, causing permanent disability. With his death, the 34-year-old’s charges were updated to two felonies: attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery to a child.
Moreno’s representation argued her mental illness should yield mercy from the court, but Cook County Circuit Court judge Susanna Ortiz denied the request.
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Morena took Brown, affectionately called Jo Jo, and one of the family vehicles from his grandmother’s home without permission.
The family was concerned after noticing the two missing. The alarm was amplified after a relative noted the woman, who lives with a mental illness, is not allowed to drive because of the medication she is on to treat her condition and the fact that she’d reportedly taken three kids living in the home to the Navy Pier a week prior to Jo Jo’s death. The 11-year-old child, the oldest of the lot of children, was able to call home and tell other family members they were in danger and exactly where to find them, according to CBS News.
Morena reportedly first tried to take Jo Jo to the Shedd Aquarium, but was denied entry because she only had cash on her. By noon, according to prosecutors, she arrived at the Navy Pier, stopping by McDonald’s to order food for the two, and getting her nephew a Happy Meal.
After a while, she took him closer to the pier, where chains were set up to prevent civilians from getting into the water. On video, the boy is seen crawling under the chains and inching his way to the edge of the pier. Morena is watching him as he gets dangerously close to the edge of the pier. She climbs over the chain and straddles the boy before pushing him into the lake, prosecutors say. Witness testimony and a surveillance camera captured the Des Plaines native seeming to push Jo Jo into the water.
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