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Thomas Joseph Presley is facing murder charges


A man from Morgan County is facing murder charges for allegedly beating his girlfriend's three year-son old to death.

Authorities say Thomas "T.J." Joseph Presley, 21, initially called them about 5:10 a.m. today (02-16-12) to report that little Blake Litton had been run over by a hit-and run driver on Hwy 135 near Buttons Road in Stover. 

The Associated Press is now reporting that the mother, Jamie Miller Litton, 25, has been arrested as well.
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Inconsistencies in Presley's statements, coupled with the violent trauma to the little boy's head and torso, led to couples arrest.

Presley told Highway Patrol troopers they had stopped for a bathroom break and Blake darted into the road, where he was struck by a hit-and-run driver.

Troopers became suspicious as there were no skid marks in the road and the boy's injuries were not consistent with a hit-and-run.
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Sheriff Jim Petty says investigators determined that Presley had been to Wal-Mart with a three year-old little Faith and Blake about 1 a.m and took food to the children's mother at work.  Then sometime between 2 and 3 a.m., "The little boy misbehaved and messed in his pants and he (Presley) lost it, I guess."
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Blake Litton was beaten to death

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According to the probable cause statement, Presley told detectives he became enraged at little Blake about 2:30 a.m. and beat him with the heel of his hand and stomped on him saying, "I really beat him bad this time."  Presley said he blacked out as he beat the boy, who would have turned 4 in ten days.

Presley said he put Blake to bed and about thirty minutes later he heard a thud in the kitchen and discovered the toddler unresponsive on the floor.  Presley told cops he thought the little boy was paralyzed and knew he was "injured very badly and appeared to be gasping for breath as his eyes were rolled back in his head."

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Jamie Ann Miller Litton has been charged with murder for her toddler's death

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The sheriff says sometime between 3 and 5 a.m. Presley put the girl and the fatally injured little boy in the car and drove to Golden Age Living Center, where their mother worked.  It is there that the couple allegedly "hatched a scheme to keep the boyfriend out of jail," according the the sheriff.

According to court documents, Presley told Jamie Litton in text messages BEFORE he arrived at her place of employment that he "lost it" and beat the boy so badly he thought he was paralyzed.  He told Litton he "thought he over did it."

Litton told her supervisor that she needed to leave to take her son to the hospital and she was told she could not leave.  A co-worker corroborated Litton's claim, according to court documents.

Litton told Presley he needed to take the child to the emergency room for treatment but he said, he "couldn't because he would go to prison for the rest of his life"  When Presley showed up at her workplace Litton told investigators her little boy had a "weak pulse."   She said, "he (Presley) was crying - I was crying," but little Blake "looked peaceful in his booster seat."
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Baby Blake Litton

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Presley told investigators that as he drove Blake toward Sedalia for medical treatment he "realized he was deceased" and called 9-1-1.

At 5:15 a.m. Litton clocked out of work after telling co-workers Blake had been hit by a car.  She walked home then rode to the staged hit-and-run...never informing anyone the truth of what happened to her little boy.

The cause of Blake's death was a lacerated liver and a ruptured blood vessel in his brain.  He had bruises covering the majority of his little body.

After law enforcers told the couple they could leave with the little girl they went to a neighbors house and Litton left her little girl with Presley to go visit her mother.

Petty said, "Upon further investigation it was determined that Thomas Presley staged the hit and run to cover up an assault on the juvenile that took place at his residence at 105 Oak Park Lane in the city of Stover. "

Sheriff Petty says, "At the very least this involves a cover up that resulted in the death of a toddler that never should have happened.  I have a three year-old grandson....this has been a really hard day." 
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Presley told investigators he believed Jamie Litton was cheating on him and they were having relationship problems.

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The little girl, Faith Emma Litton, who has been placed in protective custody, had a broken wrist and bruises on her head, buttocks, legs, torso and arms when she was examined by doctors.  Doctors say she was missing a patch of hair that had started to grow back above a bruise on her head.  Her liver enzymes were elevated, "which can be an indication of blunt injury to the liver."

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Blake and his sister Faith

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When she was interviewed about what happened to her brother she said T.J. punched Blake in the mouth because he "pooped."  She said she witnessed Presley put her brother in the bathtub and " hit him with the bathtub a lot" and that Blake kept popping more while that was happening.

Presley, is facing a second-degree murder charge and is being held in the Morgan County Jail on $100,000 cash only bond.   Jamie Miller Litton has been charged with second-degree murder and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Her bond is also set at $100,000 cash only.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

This story makes my blood boil and stomach turn. How on earth can anyone get so mad that they would go to the lengths this monster did. Real pieces of work these two are, I'm glad they won't get to ever see the grass grow. I hope they enjoy seeing concrete walls for the rest of their lives, seeing it was so important to take the life of a child and cover it up with such a BS story. All the more reason certain folks should not reproduce.

Anonymous said...

story: Blake Litton,Jamie miller Litton,man who staged hit and run of a toddler. (male)Thomas Joseph Presley.


This is one of many sick stories of children being abused and killed all over this country. We as a society get angry when we hear something like this but I think we need to place our energy towards the system who has control in saving the lives of these kids with tougher laws with extreme consequences for their actions all the way from parents, to any other association that these children come in contact with and this should be a public out cry in each and every state. Friends and family members who know should step up, and speak up.

Anonymous said...

(Blake Litton story) I have a 6 year old little girl that is ADHD she has a problem with wetting the bed at night while she's asleep. She can not help it at all she has no control over it... She stays hyper so much through out the day always running around non stop by the time she goes to sleep at night she is so exhausted that she never wakes up and when she wets the bed she doesn't even feel it. I have to wake her up several times in the middle of the night and get her to go to the bathroom not to mention that most of the time she is very defiant.... I also have a 4 year old little boy most of the time i never have a problem out of him. They do argue but that's normal for brother and sister especially at that age. Anyways my point is I've been through a lot with my daughter and still going through it... There's no way I would ever do anything to harm my children or any other child... The major problem with the justice system is there letting all these people get away with the murders of all these beautiful children when every single one of those people should be put under the jail.......... When one gets away with it then all of these sick people think they can.. The mother is sorry as hell for being with this guy knowing that he's beating her children. That's not a mother a mother will protect her kids and after the boyfriend killed her son she leaves her daughter with him she needs to be under the jail also she is just as guilty as he is I hope they both get the death penalty or at least while there in prison get the hell beat out of them everyday just like he did that precious little boy... CAN ANYONE ELSE SAY DEATH PENALTY??????

Anonymous said...

Revgarding the murder of Blake Litton, I was in the Laclede County jail for 5 hours June 11, 2014. I was held in the same cell as Jamie Ann Litton. She has a new boyfriend that's black. She has a solid white long sleeve shiert she loves that's her boy friend's. She told me she writes letters to pass the time. Her face looks rough; she had two small open raw wounds on her face. I asked her why she was in jail, and she told me she was set up and did not want to talk about it. We had one other cell mate and she told me she had only been in custody 24 hours. Jamie told me she'd been there a little over a year. I asked Jamie why wasn't she being bonded out of jail. Her answer was that she was poor and couldn't afford to be bonded out. She the commented that she didn't know what she was going to do when she got out of jail because she doesn't have a job nor a place to live. She was very content in the cell. I, however, vomitted three times within that five hours due to the anxiety. Jamie let me lay on her mat so I could relax. In a conversation between Jamie and our other cell mate Jamie told her, "I like pain and I like sex. I do! I like pain and I like sex!" She has been making tatoos on herself. She showede me one she made the night before andd told me of others she planned to put on herself. Nine days later I was curious enough to look her up on casenet and i was very shocked to find she is facing first degree murder charges and has no bond! She's not getting bonded out because she's poor; she's not getting out because she has no bond due to her son's murder!!!

Anonymous said...

I just spent 6 wks with this girl in jail she has no homemade tattoos.nore did she ever speak of sex.she is in pain because while she was at work tj beat her son to death.she isn't a monster she has done wrong and she knows it.jamie is and has been her whole life been a very religious person.and she does have a bond its a millon dollar bond but she does have one.so plz if your going to speak of someone at least get your facts straight.

Anonymous said...

So what happened to these two?

Kathee Baird said...

Presley's case has been moved to Cass County on a change of venue and no trial date has been set.

Litton's trial was stricken last week and will be reset sometime after March of next year.

Anonymous said...

I use to work with this girl and also knew her and her parents since she was a baby. She is screwed up in the head. She knew her kids was being beat by her boyfriend for along time and didnt do anything to protect them. The night her son died she check his pulse and breathing and told her boyfriend to just take him to the hospital and then she went back into work...any mother who really cared would have protected their children from this monster...instead she protected him...they both fantomed up the hit and run lie together. So no folks she isnt as innocent as she claims to be. I hope justice is served to them both. And i hope she feels the pain her precious blake felt everyday as she sits in her cell. I hope he also feels the pain he has dealt!

davevb said...

TJ Presly was convicted of 1st degree murder on January 28 2015.

davevb said...

Tj Presley was convicted of 1st degree murder on the 28th of Jan 2015.

Anonymous said...

congratulation TJ

Anonymous said...

the painful true crime of baby Blake. All i want to say is CONGRATULATIONS MR. T.J. you made it from second degree to 1st DEGREE MURDERER SENTENCE. Good Luck i hope ur having for the rest of your life if you can make it. And as to MOTHER DEAREST if anyone knows that movie with Joan Crawford and Betty Davis, thats all i have to say.

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