A Warrenville woman and her live-in boyfriend have both been charged in connection to the homicide of her young child last month.
Derek Matthew Roberson, 30, and Amanda Leigh Bryan, 29, were charged in the June 24 death of 4-year-old Mason B. Bryan.
Roberson, 30, of Main Drive in Aiken, was arrested Sunday and is charged with homicide by child abuse, as he was acting as the caregiver for the victim in the case, according to a statement provided by the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office.
The charge carries 20 years to life, according to an arrest warrant provided to the Aiken Standard on Thursday.
Amanda Bryan, of Wheeler Circle in Warrenville, was arrested at 2 p.m. Wednesday and charged with unlawful neglect of a child, the statement said.
Both were taken to the Aiken County detention center.
Bryan has since been released on bail, according to Capt. Eric Abdullah with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office.
An official at the jail said a judge issued a $10,000 bond for Bryan. She was released from the jail on Wednesday.
According to an arrest warrant for Roberson, the suspect, while acting as caregiver to the child, “did cause non accidental trauma which led to acute physical injuries causing the child’s death.”
The warrant states Roberson did inflict blunt force trauma to the child’s head, resulting in “Anoxic Encephalopathy leading to the child’s death.”
According to an arrest warrant for Bryan, the mother did “knowingly and willfully” place her child at an “unreasonable risk of harm affecting the child’s life, physical or mental health or safety.”
The warrant states Bryan failed to protect her child after admitting she observed “multiple visible injuries and signs of physical manifestations consistent with abuse and delayed seeking medical care for the injuries which were inflicted upon the child” while in the care of Roberson, leading to the child’s death.
Mason Bryan died June 24 at Children’s Hospital of Georgia in Augusta after suffering from severe head trauma, according to a statement released Wednesday by Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton.
Carlton determined the manner of death as a homicide.
The child had suffered multiple head and body trauma from both new and old injuries, Carlton said in the statement.
According to his obituary in the Aiken Standard, Mason Bryan “was born with autism, which made it difficult for him to communicate.”
Upon completion of the autopsy in Newberry, it was determined that the child’s injuries were allegedly inflicted by the live-in boyfriend and the child’s mother, Carlton said in the statement.
The Aiken County Sheriff’s Office charged the couple after gathering information, processing evidence and evaluating leads in the case, according to the statement.
Investigators began their investigation into the death of Mason Bryan after a deputy responded to Aiken Regional Medical Centers on June 22 in reference to a case of possible child abuse after a toddler was brought to the hospital from the mother’s Wheeler Circle home with severe head trauma, according to an Aiken County Sheriff’s Office incident report dated June 22.
Deputies met with the mother of the victim who claimed her boyfriend called her at work and told her to return home because her child was unresponsive, according to the report.
The mother said her boyfriend told her he heard a loud thump while at the house, and then found the boy laying on the floor, according to the report.
The child was brought to Aiken Regional Medical Centers for emergency care, and was stabilized, Carlton said in the statement.
The child was later put on life support and taken to the Augusta hospital, where on June 24, it was determined that the child was “brain dead,” according to Carlton’s statement.
The child was pronounced dead by Dr. Mary Sherman, of Children’s Hospital, Carlton said in the statement.
According to the Sheriff’s Office report, investigators were at the Augusta hospital when they saw the mother’s boyfriend arrive at the hospital, but he fled the scene once investigators tried approaching him.
Deputies did not pursue the man at the time as they felt unsafe with multiple pedestrians in the parking lot, according to the Sheriff’s Office report.
Another Warrenville woman, 22, told deputies the mother’s boyfriend was driving her car that she had loaned to the child’s mother, but had not given permission to the boyfriend, who was not licensed to drive, to use it, the report said.
The S.C. State Law Enforcement Division assisted the Sheriff’s Office in the investigation.
According to jail records, Roberson was previously charged in 2010 with criminal domestic violence and in 2014 with third-degree assault and battery.
Roberson’s first court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 9, according to court records.
Court information for Amanda Bryan was not available by press time.
Mason Bryan’s funeral was held June 30 at St. John’s United Methodist Church, and he was buried at Bethany Cemetery, according to his obituary.
He is survived by his baby brother, the obituary states.
Capt. Eric Abdullah, with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office, said Mason’s brother has since been placed into a protective custody, but couldn’t confirm with whom.
Abdullah also could not confirm whether the Sheriff’s Office or the Department of Social Services has previously been called to the victim’s home prior to the incident.
Memorial contributions made in Mason’s name can be directed to St. John’s United Methodist Church Chapel, 104 Newberry St.
Tripp Girardeau is the crime and courts reporter with the Aiken Standard.
