Insets: Aaliyah Jack (Calcasieu Parish District Attorney's Office) and Legend Jack (King's Funeral Home). Background: The pond in Vinton, Louisiana, where Legend drowned (WDSU).
A Louisiana woman who abandoned her two young sons along the highway, a decision which led to one drowning and another spending days in a ditch before he was rescued, will spend the rest of her days behind bars.
Aaliyah Jack, 28, was sentenced to life in prison plus 15 years after a jury convicted her of second-degree murder and cruelty to juveniles, according to the Calcasieu Parish District Attorney's Office.
Jack ditched her 4-year-old son, Legend Jack, at a Louisiana Welcome Center near the Louisiana-Texas border in Vinton. Authorities discovered Legend's body on July 8, 2024, in a pond in the area.
The defendant left Legend near the welcome center the previous day and later abandoned his 1-year-old brother along Interstate 10. On July 9, 2024, a trucker headed east spotted the boy in a ditch and called cops.
The 1-year-old survived two days alone amid stormy weather from Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall in Texas. Other than mosquito bites and dehydration, the boy was in good health.
"This sentence ensures that Aaliyah Jack will spend the rest of her life behind bars, held accountable for the horrific actions that took the life of an innocent child and caused unimaginable suffering to another," District Attorney Stephen Dwight said in a statement. "While no sentence can undo what happened or restore the life that was lost, we hope this outcome brings some measure of justice and closure. Our office remains committed to protecting the most vulnerable among us and pursuing accountability when innocent children are victimized."
According to a courtroom report from The Advocate, Jack was upset over a child custody agreement, so she placed the boys in her car and drove off, even as a hurricane threatened the Gulf Coast.
The jury reportedly saw a photo of Legend's body after first responders recovered him.
"To see my grandson — to see him laying on that pallet, swollen," his grandmother Dion Polk told the Advocate after the verdict. "I'm thinking to myself, 'He was yelling for you to help. You just left him. He was screaming for help.' I know he was because he was terrified of water."
Polk said she couldn't believe Jack would abandon her sons.
"You went a mile, you didn't turn around," Polk said. "You went 6 miles, you didn't turn around. You went 20 miles, you didn't turn around. You made a choice."
Jack did not appear apologetic before she learned her fate. Local NBC affiliate KPLC reported that Jack made a long, rambling statement in which she discussed spending money on an unspecified person's birthday.
As Law&Crime reported at the time, it was considered a "miracle" that the 1-year-old was able to survive along the highway.
Calcasieu Sheriff Stitch Guillory grew emotional during the press conference aired by New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU.
"We look at this 1-year-old as our miracle baby because he was still alive," Guillory said, choking back tears, later adding: "Thank God that trucker seen him."
He added that "the crazy part" was that the storm had provided cloud cover and rain, keeping the heat down.
"And we honestly feel that helped him to survive these last two days out there," Guillory said, the Louisiana Radio Network reported.
In an interview with the Acadiana Advocate, the boys' maternal grandmother Conswella Jack said she had no idea why her daughter may have harmed the boys. She said her daughter had fallen on hard times of late, and that she and other family members had stepped in to help.
Conswella Jack told the Advocate that after her daughter fled with the boys, she tried calling her over and over but to no avail. Finally, she received a text.
"She sent me a picture of a car in some bushes that kind of looked like it was wrecked. I was confused, so I called, called and called, and could not reach her," she told the Advocate.
Legend's obituary described him as an "active" little boy who loved to dance.
"He never stood still for a moment, he was always moving around," the obituary said. "He loved being outdoors playing football and baseball with his cousins."
Brandi Buchman contributed to this report
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