Prosecutors say the 5-year-old was found in a trash bag weeks before a grand jury returned murder and evidence charges.

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — An Escambia County grand jury has indicted a 36-year-old woman on first-degree murder and tampering with evidence charges after her 5-year-old son was found dead in a trash bag along the waterline of Perdido Bay in February, prosecutors said.

The indictment turns a case that began as a shoreline recovery into one of the county’s most closely watched child-death prosecutions. Authorities say Jalynda Karie Smith’s son, Ja’Kaiden Smith, was discovered Feb. 6 near Lillian Highway, and later investigative records described the child as severely malnourished and dehydrated. Smith remains jailed without bond, and her next scheduled court date is May 19.

The case unfolded over two days in early February. On Feb. 5, family members reported concern after they had not heard from Smith and her son for several days. The next morning, deputies were called to the 9500 block of Lillian Highway near San Sebastian Circle. Sheriff Chip Simmons said a relative had raised concerns about the boy, and by about 10:15 a.m. deputies recovered a child’s body from Perdido Bay in a black trash bag. Investigators later identified him as Ja’Kaiden. In court records cited after the arrest, authorities said the child had been wrapped in blankets and towels before being placed in the bag. Simmons said in the first days of the investigation that deputies were still waiting for the medical examiner’s findings on the exact cause of death.

As detectives worked backward, the case widened beyond the shoreline. Investigators said Smith’s mother had told law enforcement that the silence from her daughter was unusual and that Smith’s phone was disconnected. Authorities later said Smith’s sister received a Feb. 6 text from an unknown number and an email asking her to move the conversation to Telegram and not tell their mother or police. According to the arrest narrative described in later reports, the sister asked about Ja’Kaiden and was told, “I came in the house and he was not breathing.” The sister then went to Smith’s apartment, where sheets were missing from the bed and the unit was described as extremely cold. Neighbors told the sister they had not seen Smith in several days, which investigators said was unusual.

The medical and documentary details gave prosecutors the outline of a homicide case. Investigative papers said Ja’Kaiden, who was autistic and nonverbal, weighed 20 pounds when he was found. A pediatrician told investigators that the boy had weighed 30 pounds in December 2025, and that losing one-third of his body weight in less than two months was deeply alarming. Authorities said the autopsy found severe malnourishment and dehydration and did not note other injuries. The arrest papers, as described in published reports, said the child’s arms and legs appeared to be skin draped over bone and that his rib cage was visible. Prosecutors have not publicly laid out a trial timeline, and no plea was immediately apparent in the public reporting available Sunday.

The charging path also changed over time. Smith was first booked in February on a charge of aggravated negligent manslaughter of a child. On March 26, the First Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office announced that an Escambia County grand jury had indicted her on first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. The office said Assistant State Attorney Erin Ambrose is prosecuting the case on behalf of State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden, and the sheriff’s office continues to handle the investigation. Tampering with evidence suggests prosecutors intend to focus not only on the child’s death but also on what they say happened afterward, including the handling and disposal of the body.

The case has also shaken the apartment community where Ja’Kaiden lived. A week after the recovery, residents planned a candlelight vigil near the Moorings Apartments on Old Spanish Trail Road. Local coverage described neighbors gathering with candles and balloons to remember the boy. One resident said she was devastated. That response did not change the legal posture of the case, but it underscored how the investigation had spread from a bay shoreline to an apartment complex, a family circle and then the courthouse, where the next public marker is expected to come in May.

Smith remained in the Escambia County Jail without bond as of the latest official announcement, with a docket day set for May 19.

Author note: Last updated April 19, 2026.