Three-year-old’s death linked to blunt force trauma; drugs found during search

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A three-year-old is dead, and tonight we’re learning more about what happened. Last week, Jaronn McAllister II was pronounced dead at Brunswick Novant Medical Center. Search warrants obtained by WWAY paint a picture of chaos leading up to a police chase through Brunswick County.

According to a search warrant, a preliminary autopsy says McAllister was killed by internal bleeding of the liver due to blunt force trauma. But how did the three-year-old receive his injuries? The affidavit explains the situation that may have led up to the child’s death.

Candice Young told investigators that Montey Murray was babysitting her son, Jaronn, Febuary 29th while she was at work. The warrant says Murray and another man, Jessie Holt, were at Young’s apartment in Shallotte that night, watching the boy. Murray said he went to bed and Jaronn was fine, then woke up the next morning and found the boy laying on the living room floor, hot to the touch. Holt says Jaronn was up throughout the night but he never knew he was sick.

According to the warrant, after Murray tried to cool Jaronn down with a damp washcloth and a cool bath, he said he needed to borrow a car to take the child to the hospital. A neighbor drove them to Brunswick Novant. The warrant says during the drive, Murray said “if you pump his stomach he will be OK.”

Fifteen minutes after Jaronn arrived at the hospital, he was pronounced dead. That’s when Murray left, reportedly punching walls on his way out, and later led police on a chase.

A number of items were collected from the Shallotte apartment during the search. The most notable: two plastic bags full of white powder, two bottles of prescription drugs, a wash cloth covered in vomit, and five bags of marijuana, found in the little boy’s room, as well as multiple blood samples collected around the apartment.

An official autopsy and toxicology report could take up to eight weeks to get back from the state. Jaronn’s funeral is scheduled for Thursday at 2 p.m. at New Hope Free Will Baptist Church in Leland.

Murray is still in jail under $1 million secured bond.