Here is your first look at 6-month-old Bentley Reeves, the Martinez child who died overnight while sleeping in bed with his mother and his mother’s boyfriend.
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Authorities are filing meth and marijuana charges against mother Lexis Russell and Jacob Harris while they investigate the circumstances of the death at the mobile home at 4222 Wheeler Road, authorities said.
An incident report says the couple fell asleep with the child at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, and the mother woke up at 4:30 am. And found the baby wasn’t breathing. She screamed and woke up the boyfriend, who tried CPR unsuccessfully.
This morning, The Jail Report spoke to the child’s grandmother – Lill Reeves –, who said her son Jeremy Reeves is the child’s father. She said he was working out of town this week at Auburn University, and Ms. Reeves called him to tell him his son had died. He just arrived home at lunchtime Wednesday and is taking the death hard, she said.
Ms. Reeves described Bentley as a “beautiful, happy baby.” She called him “Bent Bent,” a child who entered this world on New Year’s Eve and was just starting to roll around this month. The child’s grandmother also described a dysfunctional family where drugs and short relationships were common.
Jeremy Reeves had a baby with Lexis Russell six years ago, and then they broke up and Lexis had a baby with another man. Then Jeremy got back together with her and they had Bentley, but they had recently broken up again and she got together with Jacob Harris.
Ms. Reeves said she is not surprised the mother is facing drug charges because they suspected she recently started having a relapse.
“We found out she was having (drug) problems again. And we hadn’t had a chance to talk to her,” she said.
Jeremy Reeves tried to talk to her about it before he left for work out of town.
“He tried to get her to straighten up and take care of the baby,” Ms. Reeves said.
According to Ms. Reeves, Lexis called her early this morning about the child not breathing, and she rushed over there while investigators were working the case. She said Lexis told her she wished she had put the baby in the crib, but she was waiting for her 2-year-old son to go to bed and fell asleep.
Sheriff’s officials say they found marijuana, meth and Spice in the bedroom, where the baby was sleeping. That led to the drug charges against the mother and her boyfriend.