Lilian Stone Georgia mother intentionally left 3 year old son to die in hot car testify prosecutors after reviewing surveillance tape.
Lilian Stone a 25 year old College Park, Georgia mother has been accused of ‘intentionally’ leaving her toddler 3 year old son in a hot car, leading to the boy’s death.
Upon her arrest, Stone was booked on charges of malice murder, felony murder and cruelty to children in connection to the death of her 3-year-old son.
A report via the Atlanta Journal Constitution cited Fulton County Police saying surveillance footage revealing Lillian Stone’s son death wasn’t accidental.
The mom told cops she left her son, Melvin Smith, inside the vehicle around noon on Oct. 31 in South Fulton.
Authorities later received a call from a resident who saw the boy locked in the car in the woman’s driveway.
The child was rushed to a hospital in critical condition, but later died.
On the day of the child being left in the vehicle, temperatures had reached 72 degrees Fahrenheit, with experts suggesting it could have only taken an hour for the inside of the car to get to over 100 degrees.
Lilian Stone Georgia mother: Prosecutors testify surveillance tape showing the child being left for 7 hours, more than the three hours the mother claimed.
Come Tuesday, Fulton County Det. Jamie Gore testified that surveillance footage contradicted Stone’s account.
He said the video showed that she left the boy inside the hot car about four hours earlier than she claimed.
‘She wasn’t counting on, or she didn’t know, there was surveillance video,’ said prosecutor Michael Sprinkel. ‘With the inconsistencies in her statement, it does not appear this was simply an accident.’
Prior to Stone’s murder indictment November 7, friends of the mother called her a ‘great mother’, telling FOX 5 they thought the child’s death was a horrible mistake.
‘Everybody knows that’s she’s a great person, a good person,’ said a woman who identified herself as Stone’s best friend. ‘My best friend is a very great mother a great mom to her kids she loves her kids. It was a mistake it was really truly a mistake.’
To date it remains unclear if there had been any prior instances of child abuse or whether the mother had previously expressed trouble raising the boy. It wasn’t also clear if the mother was suffering from mental illness or whether she may have been on prescription medicine.
Stone remains in the Fulton County jail without bond.
