Disabled Rock Hill girl found dead in dresser. Mom in prison - now boyfriend is too
.jpg "Jackleen Elizabeth Mullen, left; Audrevious Jarrell Williams, right.")
Even at 4-years-old, India Heavenly Lacey Martin could not talk or walk unaided — and she needed a feeding tube.
But when police did a welfare check on the little girl May 26, 2020 at the Rock Hill home her mother lived with a boyfriend, they made a gruesome discovery.
Officers found India’s body hidden in a dresser drawer in the bedroom Jackleen Mullen and Audrevious Jarrell Williams shared.
Mullen lied to police at the time and said India was with relatives in North Carolina near Charlotte. A search of the house ended with police finding India’s body.
A disabled child, India had been beaten, police and prosecutors said.
Now both Mullen and Williams are in South Carolina prisons connected to India’s death.
Judge Eugene Griffith sentenced Williams, 31, Thursday afternoon in a hearing in Greenwood County. Williams pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the child abuse or neglect that killed India.
Rock Hill police Detective Robert Smith said in Thursday’s hearing about India: “This little girl died one of the most miserable deaths a child has ever had.”
Williams’ guilty plea comes after Griffith sentenced Mullen to 30 years in November 2023 after a York County jury found her guilty of homicide by child abuse.
Williams is not India Martin’s father. He lived with Mullen at the time of India’s death. Prosecutors said both Mullen and Williams were India’s caregivers.
In 2023, Judge Griffith sentenced Mullen to 30 years after a York County jury convicted her of homicide by child abuse.
Officials held Thursday’s hearing in Greenwood County because Griffith, of Newberry, was the judge who sentenced Mullen in 2023.
Over 4 years to end the case
Both Mullen and Williams were charged in 2020 with murder and homicide by child abuse. Williams testified for prosecutors in the 2023 trial against Mullen. The jury found Mullen guilty of homicide by child abuse but not guilty of murder.
Murder and homicide by child abuse are different charges under S.C. law. Abuse homicide entails when someone “causes the death of a child under the age of 11 while committing child abuse or neglect, and the death occurs under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to human life.”
Murder is a killing with malice aforethought.
The murder charge against Williams was dismissed as part of Thursday’s plea to the aiding and abetting child abuse or neglect charge, prosecutors said. Aiding and abetting carries a mandatory sentence of 10 to 20 years.
Prosecutors John Anthony and Erin Joyner — who convicted Mullen in 2023 — asked Judge Griffith for a sentence against Williams at the top of the 20 year maximum. They said India’s death was “senseless and avoidable.”
“We are gratified that both cases have come to a conclusion and our prayers are with those who loved India,” Joyner and Anthony told The Herald after court.
Williams’ lawyer, Geoff Dunn of Rock Hill, said Williams “took responsibility for his role in this tragic case.”
“I am glad the court gave Mr. Williams a sentence that balanced the need to hold him accountable with the hope of a second chance,” Dunn said.
Williams gets credit against his 12-year sentence for 931 days he spent in the York County jail before his case was finished.
Mullen, now 28 years old, remains at Leath Correctional Institution for women in Greenwood County on her 30-year sentence. She is not eligible for parole. Her scheduled release date is July 2047.
This story was originally published January 31, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
