A mother and her former boyfriend have been indicted in the 2015 homicide of a one-year-old boy.
Officials with Metro Nashville Police said 26-year-old Miranda Alexis Hunt and 27-year-old Wayne D. Jones were arrested Tuesday night more than a year after Hayden Messiah Eldridge died.
The boy was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center by ambulance on January 21, 2015 after relatives said he’d had an allergic reaction to shrimp.
Hayden's father said he never believed that's what actually happened.
"I didn't think it was the shrimp," Hakeem Eldridge said. "I knew it wasn't the shrimp at all."
Turns out, police said doctors found a brain injury and retinal hemorrhaging, which the medical examiner would later determine was caused by blunt force trauma.
In the hours following his son's death, Hayden's father kept a promise to his son, who would donate his organs to three patients across the country.
"I promised him at the hospital, even though I never got to see him open his eyes, that I would let the world know about my son and what a hero he is to 3 more individuals," said Eldridge.
Still, the news Wednesday of the arrests did bring any relief.
"I don't want to say I'm happy, because it's more than one life lost over some ignorance," Eldridge said.
While it has been 13 months since the boy was pronounced dead, his father has been busy preserving his memory. He started selling wristbands and even set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the funeral. His home in north Nashville is filled with pictures and blankets, all to remind him of his son.
"Everything I've been doing for 2015 has been focused on Hayden," he said. 'How I move. How I think. Everything."
During the investigation, a Youth Services Detective also reportedly found a pattern of abuse.
Hunt was taken into custody in a parking lot at Gallatin Pike and Hart Lane. She was indicted on 1st degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated child neglect and aggravated child endangerment.
Jones was also indicted on charges of 1st degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect. He was jailed in Mississippi and awaiting extradition to Nashville.
