A GoFundMe has been launched to help with the burial of a toddler girl who police say died at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend.
Raylean Richardson, 18 months old, was taken by ambulance to DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa about 3 a.m. Friday after she reportedly stopped breathing. Efforts to revive her failed, and she was pronounced dead at the hospital.
“We are truly going to miss our Raylean,” her aunt Takiya Richardson wrote in the GoFundMe. “She was taken from us so soon.”
Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit Capt. Jack Kennedy said the preliminary autopsy showed extensive injuries to Raylean. He did not elaborate.
The girl’s mother and her live-in boyfriend, Joseph Earl Jenkins, were then interviewed by police. The day-long probe included not only interviews with the mother and Jenkins, but also search warrants at their home at Hay Court apartments, other interviews and medical consults.
Friday evening, investigators obtained a capital murder warrant for the 28-year-old Jenkins. He is being held without bond.
Kennedy said multiple agencies helped in the investigation including the Tuscaloosa Police Department Criminal Investigations Division, the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Mortuary Transport Unit, DCH, the Tuscaloosa County Department of Human Resources, ADFS, and the Tuscaloosa County District Attorney’s Office.
Donations to the GoFundMe can be made here.
Richardson told AL.com that Raylean loved to tell everybody “Hey,” and loved her food.
“She was so sweet,’’ she said. “We are devastated.”