Detective Weber got involved in June 2022 when Jesika Jones brought her 4-year-old daughter to Cook Children's Hospital multiple times for alleged seizure disorders. The hospital became suspicious due to inconsistent patterns and normal EEG results, leading to a blood test that showed Benadryl in the child's system.
The hospital found Benadryl in the child's blood system during a blood test in March 2022, which was inconsistent with the mother's history of not giving Benadryl to the child.
The hospital placed the child in a covert video-recorded room and conducted a 24-hour turnaround blood test, which again showed Benadryl in the child's system. The video recorded Jesika taking the child into the bathroom with her purse, after which the child exhibited symptoms of Benadryl poisoning.
Jesika initially denied giving Benadryl to her child but gradually made admissions as Detective Weber presented evidence. She eventually admitted to giving three or four pills of Benadryl to the child.
Derek initially appeared protective of his children and cooperated with the investigation. He was supportive of removing Jesika from the children's lives and provided valuable information about her past behavior.
Detective Weber found that Jesika had lied about being a nurse and having leukemia. He also discovered that she had medicated all five of her children with Benadryl and other drugs, including her stepchildren from Derek's previous marriage.
Jesika's social media posts revealed her pattern of lying about her children's health and her fabricated nursing credentials. These posts provided additional evidence of her deception and pathological lying.
Detective Weber faced challenges related to the slow pace of the criminal justice system, especially post-COVID delays. He also encountered difficulties with CPS, which lacked proper training and policies for handling Munchausen by proxy cases.
Jesika was allowed to bond out twice and move to South Texas with a new boyfriend who had children. Her unsupervised behavior raised concerns, especially when she was briefly around the boyfriend's children, which could have constituted a bond violation.
This week on case files, Andrea is joined by Detective Mike Weber, a crimes against children investigator and long-time friend/contributor to the show, to discuss the Jesika Jones case. Detective Mike is called onto this case in mid-2022 after Jesika brings her 4 year old daughter into Cook Children’s Hospital multiple times for an alleged seizure disorder. As the case evolves, Mike learns just how compulsive an offender who is allowed to walk can truly be.
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