Osceola County Sheriff’s investigators say a St. Cloud woman admitted to choking her teenage son to death on a bed at her home south of the city Monday morning.
Jasmin Kennedy, 37, has been charged with domestic battery by strangulation, child neglect and aggravated child abuse. Jail records show she's being held on no bond. (UPDATE: Tuesday, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office added an additional charge of Premeditated First Degree Murder.)
Court records show that she has no prior record in Osceola County — not even a traffic ticket.
More charges may come after the Medical Examiner’s office confirms the cause of death, Sheriff Marcos Lopez said, calling it “a tragedy”.
He said she spontaneously stated she killed her son, who has not been identified by name, to a member of the Osceola County Fire Rescue team responding to the scene, and to a Sheriff’s investigator also on scene — that she choked her son on a bed.
“She is cooperating .., she did not say why, just admitting to doing it. We’re still interviewing her,” Lopez said.
Investigators say Kennedy lived at the home off Crosley Avenue, east of Canoe Creek Road and just south of Deer Run Road, with her grandmother and another of her biological children, a 5-year-old. Lopez did say there was a call for service to that address in January, which he said had nothing to do with harming any of the children.
The investigation has been taking place since around 7:30 a.m. Monday, when Sheriff’s deputies were called to the home and the child was discovered face up in a bed, confirmed with no vitals and deceased.
“It’s always a tragedy when someone so young is taken, regardless how it happens,” Lopez said. “Hearing about it this morning was like getting hit with a brick. It’s a sad day, hopefully her family gets justice.”
