A mother joined her fiance in Cobb County jail over the weekend on a murder charge for the beating death of their 21-month-old son.
Records show a grand jury re-indicted the case on Feb. 1 to add new charges against Chantelle Driver, including four felony murder counts.
Her fiance, Shomari Holmes Jr., faces those counts and a malice murder charge.
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A police warrant said Driver admitted to seeing Holmes hit the child on Feb. 4, 2017.
Holmes, 21 at the time, told investigators during an interview recorded on video that he punched the child’s head and ribs, according to the warrant.
The boy died two days after Valentine's Day at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, where he was on life support for a week, police said.
Credit: Cobb County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Cobb County Sheriff's Office
Driver, was 22 years old in February 2017 when she was originally charged with misdemeanors, child cruelty and deprivation, based on police saying she didn’t call 911.
At the time of the boy’s death, Driver told police her 21-month-old son “was acting lethargic and scared for the last week,” according to the warrant.
A spokeswoman for the Cobb district attorney’s office declined to comment on why Driver was charged with felony murder now. Grand jury proceedings are not available to the public.
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Driver’s address was listed as being in Marietta at the time of the boy’s death but jail records now indicate she lives on Wexford Trail in College Park.
Holmes is also accused of using a belt to beat the back and legs of a three-year-old girl and biting her forearm.
Jail records show that Holmes has a tattoo on his stomach that reads “Family comes first” and another on his hip that says “Forceful.”
They are both being held without bond.
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