Bail set at $150,000 for Stockton Springs woman charged with murder of 3-year-old son

Jun. 25—BELFAST — A Stockton Springs woman was ordered held on $150,000 bail on Friday and barred from any contact with children under age 14 during her in initial appearances on charges in the death of her 3-year-old son.

Jessica Williams, who also goes by the name Jessica Trefethen, was arrested on Wednesday, three days after her son, Maddox Williams, was pronounced dead at a Belfast hospital. The 35-year-old has been been charged with depraved indifference murder in connection with her son's death.

An autopsy revealed Maddox had multiple bruises and abrasions — some partially healed — as well as missing teeth, internal bleeding in his abdomen and a fractured spine. During the brief hearing in Waldo County Superior Court, Williams quietly responded "yes" to Superior Court Justice Robert Murray's questions about whether she understood the charges against her and whether she wanted a court-appointed attorney.

Murray set bail at $150,000 cash with no surety and ordered that Williams have no contact with children under age 14 as well as more than a half-dozen individuals. Williams, who was dressed in an orange Waldo County Jail outfit and wearing a blue surgical mask, did not make any other comments.

A grand jury will hear the evidence against Williams at a later date.

According to the criminal complaint filed with the court, Williams and her mother, Sherry Johnson, brought Maddox to Waldo County General Hospital on Sunday afternoon. Johnson told police that the 3-year-old boy was conscious and talking on the way to the hospital but stopped breathing around the time that they pulled into the parking lot.

Hospital crews reportedly attempted to resuscitate Maddox for about an hour before declaring him dead.

But investigators with the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit were unable to find or speak with Williams for three days after multiple people, including her mother, allegedly told them they did not know her location. It wasn't until Wednesday, June 23 that Sherry Johnson acknowledged, after initially denying it, that Williams was inside her Stockton Springs home, according to the complaint.

In statements to police at her mother's home, Williams said Maddox was outside playing that day when her daughter came in to say "he had been knocked down by a puppy." The boy complained of an upset stomach, his mother said, and only picked at a snack. After calling her mother, the pair agreed to take him to the hospital.

Asked about the extent of Maddox's injuries, Williams "stated she had no idea how he would have received them," according to the state police document.

"Jessica stated that Maddox did have a lot of bruises because he bruised very easily and her kids play wild and crazy," Detective Hugh Landry wrote. "Jessica stated Maddox did fall from the trampoline several days ago. She tried to run and catch him but did not make it in time. Jessica stated he landed on grass and was not bleeding anywhere and seemed fine."

The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Maddox later told police that the boy's injuries "were too severe to be caused by kids playing, falling from a trampoline, or being knocked down by a puppy."

After being placed under arrest, Williams reportedly agreed to answer police questions, according to the complaint.

"We asked Jessica to further explain Maddox's injuries because the medical examiner said that his injuries were not consistent with her explanation as to how they occurred," Landry wrote in the document. "Jessica stated 'Let's do this' and walked toward (my) car. There was no further conversation on the ride to Belfast."

Maddox's father is currently incarcerated, according to the court record. Williams has at least three other children, ages 8, 4 and 2 and the father, identified as Jason Trefethen, who lives on a camper on the same property as Williams. But bail conditions prohibit Trefethen from entering Williams' residence or having any contact with her except to facility child care or to pick up the children.

This is the second child death in the small, Penobscot Bay town of Stockton Springs in less than 3 1/2 years.

In February 2018, 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy was found dead in the condominium where her mother and stepfather were living. An autopsy showed that Kennedy had been severely abused for months, with the state's chief medical examiner later testified in court that the girl's heart simply "gave out" from injuries, stress and infection after months of abuse.

Kennedy's mother, Sharon Kennedy, was found guilty of depraved indifference murder and sentenced to 48 years in prison. Her former husband, Julio Carrillo, is serving a 55-year sentence after pleading guilty to murder.

The investigation into Marissa Kennedy's death and subsequent trials revealed massive failures in the state's child welfare programs and that multiple people — including child protection services workers, police and medical professionals — had failed to piece together the abuse.

Speaking to reporters in Belfast after Williams' initial appearance, assistant attorney general Leane Zainea declined to discuss the specifics of the case. Zainea also prosecuted the cases against Marissa Kennedy's mother and stepfather.

"I'm not sure you can ever compare the death of a child with the death of another child because each and every one is different and involves the life of someone who is a very young innocent," Zainea said.

The complaint filed against Williams also suggests that the Maine Department of Health and Human Services was involved with the mother and Maddox. Williams' sister told police that she had temporary guardianship of Maddox after his father was arrested in March of this year but that DHHS "returned Maddox" to her mother a day later.