Hoss Wayne Benham, 1
Crystal Ballenger and Jeffrey Hugh Brown
Cullman woman, boyfriend now charged with capital murder in death of child, 1
By Erin Edgemon
AL.com
A Cullman woman and her boyfriend now face capital murder charges in the death of their child on his first birthday.
A Cullman County grand jury recently indicted Crystal Ballenger, 24, and Jeffrey Hugh Brown, 38, were indicted on charges of sexual torture, capital murder of a child, and capital murder during sexual abuse, the Cullman Times reported.
They were both originally charged with aggravated child abuse.
Hoss Wayne Benham, 1, died on March 11, 2014. According to the autopsy, the child suffered 89 injuries to his body.
Among the findings of the autopsy, the child suffered 38 injuries to the head and neck from blunt-force trauma; four injuries each to the left and right eyes; 19 to the legs and arms; six to the torso; seven to the genitalia and anus; seven burns to the right foot and four burns to the left foot.
Ballenger and Brown originally told police Hoss accidentally drowned in a bathtub, but police said the child had bruising all over his body that indicated possible abuse, the Times reported. Police said the boy's skull was fractured.
http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/in...l#incart_river
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