AMITE, La. (TCN) — Deputies arrested a 31-year-old man they allege fatally stabbed three family members, including two boys under age 10.
On Jan. 9 just after 4:30 p.m., St. Helena Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call in Amite and found a woman, her son, and her nephew deceased from apparent stab wounds. Officials arrested Ryant Jones and took him into custody on three counts of first-degree murder. Sheriff Clay Chutz called the incident a “horrible tragedy.”
WBRZ-TV identified the victims as 40-year-old Rhonda Powell; her 10-year-old son Braylon Powell; and Jones’ 1-year-old son Hayden Madison. Jones and Madison were reportedly staying with Powell when the stabbings occurred.
According to WBRZ, Jones suffers from schizophrenia, and on Jan. 8, he reportedly made comments about hearing voices. The family took him for treatment and doctors gave him a pill rather than his usual injection. Jones’ relatives reportedly asked the hospital to admit him because of his aggressive actions, but the hospital declined.
Jones’ cousin, Deondra Robertson-Warner, told WAFB-TV her family members “pleaded” with the doctors to give Jones the shot that typically works for him. His family members also “didn’t think it was a good idea to send him home.”
Robertson-Warner shared, “No one in that home survived because the mental health system failed him. Had he been committed, he would be where he needed to be today and my other family members would be alive. That baby would be alive, those babies would be alive, my cousin would be alive today, and my aunt wouldn’t be trying to have the strength to bury three members of her family and wonder what will happen to the other one.”