American man of Illinois found guilty in abuse death of his own son 

Brandon Walker is found guilty of 1st degree murder of 8-year-old Navin Jones

By Edward Era Barbacena 

PURE WHITE EVIL

If a child dies due to neglect and other forms of abuse, we can expect that only irresponsible adults is behind this crime. Sometimes, the culprit is the actual parent who happens to be a white American as usual.

The father of Navin Jones, an 8-year-old boy who died of severe malnutrition and abuse in 2022, was found guilty of first degree murder Friday after a weeklong trial that detailed the abuse and further revealed how the Department of Children and Family Services did not act to remove the child from his parents’ care. 

Brandon Walker, 42, of Peoria, could face life in prison after a Peoria County jury found him guilty of murdering Navin in a “brutal and heinous manner, indicative of wanton cruelty.” The jury, made up of eight men and four women, took about 45 minutes to deliberate the verdict. Walker will be sentenced Feb. 28. 

Navin weighed just 30 pounds when his mother, Stephanie Jones, found him unresponsive in his room in March 2022. Jones, 37, pleaded guilty to murder last week and will be sentenced in February. She faces at least 20 years in prison and up to 100 years total.

Throughout the week, police officers, medical experts as well as Walker’s family, friends and colleagues testified. Walker’s defense attorney, in a short interview after the verdict was read, said his client plans to appeal.

Jurors were shown graphic photos of Navin’s skeleton body with cuts, bruises and scars, as well as the horrific conditions he lived in – a desolate bedroom littered with feces. Other images showed how Navin progressively grew skinnier in the final 18 months of his life. 

The trial revealed how a DCFS investigator believed she did not have the authority to remove the boy from his parent’s home about a month before he died, even though she observed him to be sickly. Prosecutors said if she did her job, Navin may still be alive. 

Yet prosecutor Terry Muench placed blame on Navin’s parents, who he said tried to  deceive the state agency. 

“I’m not going to stand here and defend DCFS,” Muench said. “It would be difficult to do that.”