In Maryland, Renee Bowman, a 43-year-old woman from Lusby, faces attempted first- and second-degree murder, assault and child abuse charges. Calvert County Sheriff’s Department visited the home of Ms. Bowman for complaints of child abuse. New stories report that the complaint of child abuse arose after the seven year old daughter was found by neighbors when she jumped out of the second story window of the family home. The seven-year-old girl’s injuries were so significant that attempted murder charges may be pursued against Ms. Bowman. In addition, Calvert County Sherriff’s investigators unexpectedly discovered the bodies of two children in Ms. Bowman’s freezer at the time of their investigation into allegations of child abuse inflicted on the seven-year-old girl. The two deceased children have been identified as Jasmine Nicole Bowman, 9-years-old, and Minnet Bowman, 11 years-old. There is an on-going investigation into the cause and time of their deaths. Investigators suspect the two deceased children have been dead since November 2007. This time correlates with the time Ms. Bowman moved her family 60 miles away from their previous residence.
Remember approximately four million children are abused annually. Less than half of those cases get reported. Approximately two thousand children die from abuse and neglect each year (http://www.childdeathreview.org/causesCAN.htm). There are approximately two deaths per 100,000 children (http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/CMP/CMP-conque.htm). Infants make up almost half of these deaths. Most non-accidental head trauma victims are under one year of age, but may be as old as four years of age. Approximately 1,300 children experience near-fatal and fatal head trauma annually. (http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/CM_Data_Sheet.pdf) According to CPS databases, for every one thousand children between the ages of 0 – 1 year-olds, 24 of them are maltreated. And for every one thousand children between the ages of 1 – 3 year-olds, 14 of them are maltreated. According to the CDC, non-CPS studies approximately 4,600 per 100,000 children are maltreated. It is estimated that one out of seven children experiences some kind of abuse between the ages of 2 and 17 years of age.
