[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
A 6-year-old Arkansas boy’s body was found buried underneath the floorboard of his home, but police are having a hard time figuring out what happened — because the story is continually changing…
According to an affidavit obtained by ABC News, on Friday the body of Blu Rolland (pictured above) was found wrapped in “multiple layers plastic bags” and stuffed crudely under “newly nailed down floorboards” in his family’s Moro home. According to reports he had been dead for 15 weeks before the discovery of his body… which took place on his sixth birthday. Gut-wrenching.
Blu’s father, Dustin Rolland, had become worried about the boy after he repeatedly missed scheduled custody visits. Even more concerning were his sister’s injuries — she was covered in severe burns, her hair “chopped off, she is malnourished, cracked ribs, and many many burns on her body in various stages of healing” when he saw her. Dustin filed a complaint with police for being “refused to allow visitation as ordered” in September, not realizing his son had already been dead for five days. But it was Blu’s grandmother, Karen Rolland, who finally made the call to police after seeing her granddaughter was soaked in urine, “could barely even walk”, and asked for “water and something to eat” via NBC.
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When police made the discovery of Blu’s body buried under the floor. Taking into account his sister’s condition, they quickly became suspicious of his mother Ashley Rolland (pictured above) — but she was even quicker to blame her boyfriend Nathan Bridges for the death of the child.
Both Rolland and Bridges were arrested and booked into St. Francis County Detention Center the day after the gruesome discovery. According to the affidavit, the mother told police her boyfriend had killed her son as “punishment” for biting his finger. She alleges Bridges shoved the poor boy’s head in a toilet and held it there. She claimed this kind of abuse was not unusual as he’d also caused her daughter’s burns by holding her body under hot water. However, this time it went too far, and the child drowned. Ashley says all this happened while she was in another room, and when she returned to the bathroom she saw Blu “struggling to breathe, and his body was limp”.
She then said Bridges “cut a hole in their wooden floor, dug a hole in the ground, and buried [Blu] under the house”. Just sickening — but it turns out it could very well be a false confession.
A witness, Rebecca Fiting, came forward claiming the mother of the boy told her “Blu had come out of the bathroom with his face/body swelling and foaming at the mouth before collapsing and dying” before adding “she did not know what to do and had buried Blu under the floorboards”. So who buried him? Did she change her story for the cops to make herself seem less culpable??
In the end it may not matter much. She was there for all of it, so she’s at fault in the eyes of the law. Rolland and Bridges are both charged with capital murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, endangering the welfare of a minor and battery. Rolland also faces two more felony charges of permitting child abuse. They’re being held in custody without bond and are due back in court on January 17.
Dustin spoke to NBC and expressed his regret for the situation:
“I wish I could’ve been there a long time ago, but it was her holding me back from my children. I don’t want anybody thinking that this was my fault. I love my kids very much.”
Karen also set up a GoFundMe to help cover final expenses for her grandson and medical bills for her granddaughter. If you’d like to donate, you can find the link HERE.
Our hearts are with Blu’s loved ones. May he rest in peace. We especially send light and healing to his poor sister, who lost not just a brother but a childhood.
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
[Image via St. Francis County Detention Center/GoFundMe]
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