Mother Charged With Murder In Child's DeathsourceGREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Greenville County Sheriff's Office said Monday that murder charges have been filed against the mother of a 7-year-old boy, who told investigators that her child was smothered by a carjacker.
VIDEO: News 4 Interview With Devon Epps' FatherVIDEO: Sheriff Steve Loftis Statement On Investigation Devon Epps died from asphyxiation due to neck compression on Aug. 12.
Greenville County Sheriff Steve Loftis said that the child's mother, Amanda Smith, was arrested and charged Monday and is jailed at the county detention center without bond.
Smith was arrested Monday at work at a restaurant on East North Street.
Loftis made the announcement Monday afternoon at a news conference outside the Greenville County Law Enforcement Center, flanked by investigators and 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail, who will prosecute the case.
Smith told Greenville County investigators in August that a man with a knife forced his way into her car on an Interstate 85 frontage road and smothered the child with a pillow in the back seat.
She gave a sketch artist a description of a man she said killed her child, but investigators came up empty in their search, following more than 60 possible leads.
But Loftis said that Smith's account of the story did not hold up under investigation and that information deputies gathered kept pointing back to her as the likely killer.
"As the investigation progressed ... we kept running into dead ends," Loftis said. "Every thing we found out kept pointing back to Amanda Smith."
Since her son's death, Smith has not spoken publicly about the case.
Devon's grandfather, Thomas Epps, said that the arrest was not a shock.
"No I'm not surprised. I knew all along she done it," Epps said. "I said in my heart I knew she done it."
A month ago, Devon's great aunt had gone on cable television to say that there were holes in the story Smith told investigators about his death.
Diane Jacques talked to CNN host Nancy Grace in September about her nephew's unsolved homicide.
"What person's going to take the time out to roll the windows up and lock the door," Jacques said. "And describing the guy as being so many feet high and 200 pounds in her car in the back seat. There's no way."
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Only God in heaven can judge, but I do ask this question:
What in the world, could Devon had possibly done that would cause his mother to kill him?
My son and I viewed Devon's pic (above) and I said Devon looks like the kind of kid you could sit on the couch, watch videos with, share a bag of micro popcorn and kick your feet up on the coffee table. My son agreed. He looks like he had a hearty laugh too :)
Why didn't she just give Devon to his dad??
Only Amanda can answer the question.
I also would be interested to know the description of the "imaginary carjacker."
Like my friend Nat says, "it'll all come out in the wash."
Devon, r.i.p.
