MILWAUKEE — A Wisconsin woman has been charged with first-degree reckless homicide after her young daughter was found dead in their Milwaukee home.
Henrietta Rogers was charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the death of her 10-year-old daughter, Jada Clay, WTMJ reported.
According to the criminal complaint, Clay’s sister told police Clay and her mother began fighting because the 10-year-old wouldn’t let her mother put braids in her hair, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The fight allegedly continued the next morning, and the Journal Sentinel reported that Clay’s sister said she could hear her mother pleading with the child to allow her hair to be braided.
The older sister told police she “heard a loud bang come from inside the bathroom and rushed to see what was happening,” WITI reported. When the sister got to the bathroom, she told police, she saw her mother on the bathroom floor with her back toward the wall, holding a mirror that had fallen off the bedroom wall. She told police she saw her little sister on the floor lying toward her mother’s legs and feet, but that she didn’t see any injuries on her sister at the time, WITI reported.
Prosecutors say Clay’s sister then helped Clay into her bedroom and told her to get ready for school, while Rogers left the home saying she was going to get gas, WTMJ reported. When Rogers didn’t come home in time to take the kids to school, Clay’s sister decided to walk, but told police Clay refused to walk with her, WTMJ reported.
After school ended, Clay’s sister called Rogers to pick her up, but did not get a response, so she called Clay’s brother, WTMJ reported. The two ran errands and came home to find Clay’s body, WTMJ reported.
The two told police the girl was face down on the floor of her room and her body was cold to the touch, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. They told police the entrance to their duplex was locked, and the door to their unit was ajar, but there were no signs of forced entry, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Only Rogers and Clay’s sister have keys, the paper reported.
Police found Rogers at a nearby park, where she was “visibly upset,” WITI reported. Officers told Rogers her daughter had been found injured, but Rogers refused to give permission for them to search her home, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The paper also reported Rogers was found with notes saying, “I love you Jada” and “I’ve never done nothing to go to jail.”
The medical examiner said the preliminary cause of death for Clay is asphyxia.