Newnan Woman Sentenced to 40 Years After Child Claws Through Wall to Escape Abuse

An 11-year-old Newnan boy who had been locked inside a bedroom closet clawed his way through the sheetrock, then jumped from a second-story window to escape years of abuse, according to prosecutors.

More than three years after that July 2023 escape, Chloe Jackson-Jones, 42, of Newnan, pleaded guilty September 30 in Coweta County Superior Court to aggravated assault-strangulation, two counts of false imprisonment, and 17 counts of first-degree cruelty to children.

Superior Court Judge Markette Baker accepted the negotiated plea agreement and sentenced Jackson-Jones to 40 years in prison followed by 20 years of probation, according to the Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.

The boy, who is now 14, had been adopted by Jackson-Jones approximately four years before her arrest. Prosecutors said he is now living in a stable home, making all A’s in school, and gave a victim-impact statement during Jackson-Jones’ sentencing.

The case was prosecuted by Jillian Brasfield, deputy chief assistant district attorney of Crimes Against Children, following an investigation by the Newnan Police Department.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, Newnan police officers, Georgia Division of Family and Children Services employees, Coweta Juvenile Court employees, and members of the boy’s adoptive family attended the plea hearing.

The escape that exposed the abuse

The investigation began in the early evening of July 5, 2023.

According to the District Attorney’s Office’s account of the evidence it was prepared to present at trial, the malnourished 11-year-old was locked inside a bedroom closet when he began clawing through the sheetrock.

After breaking through the wall, the boy made his way out of the room and decided to jump from the second-story window to escape, prosecutors said.

A neighborhood resident later saw the boy walking down the street and called 911. The resident asked if he could help and offered to take the child to Taco Bell after the boy explained that he was hungry.

Despite being 11 years old, the boy weighed 61 pounds, according to prosecutors.

Newnan police officers and investigators immediately opened an investigation, and the child was taken into DFACS custody.

Investigators determined Jackson-Jones had adopted the boy in May 2019, when he was 8 years old.

According to prosecutors, investigators found evidence of abusive behavior early in the placement, but said the abuse became systematic in 2020. That was also when Jackson-Jones removed the child from public school for virtual schooling.

After more than a year of virtual school, prosecutors said Jackson-Jones further isolated the boy under the guise of homeschooling him.

Prosecutors describe years of abuse

The District Attorney’s Office said investigators recovered photographs and videos from Jackson-Jones’ phone documenting abuse also described by the child.

Prosecutors said the evidence included denying the boy food, forcing him to sit nude in stress positions for hours, stomping on his genitals, putting him in ice baths, tying his wrists and ankles to chairs, locking him inside a closet, and strangling him until he lost consciousness.

Each of the 17 first-degree cruelty to children counts to which Jackson-Jones pleaded guilty involved a different act of abuse, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Jackson-Jones also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault by strangulation and two counts of false imprisonment.

Because Jackson-Jones entered a guilty plea, prosecutors did not have to present that evidence to a jury, and the child did not have to testify at trial about what happened to him.

The District Attorney’s Office said sparing the child from having to recount the abuse at trial was one factor considered in negotiating the 40-year prison sentence.

DA says office wanted harsher punishment

Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Herb Cranford said his office would have sought a life sentence if the law allowed that punishment for the crimes committed.

The District Attorney’s Office also considered the difference between the negotiated sentence and a life sentence with the possibility of parole. According to prosecutors, a life-with-parole sentence would have made Jackson-Jones eligible for parole after serving 30 years.

The plea agreement instead calls for Jackson-Jones to serve 40 years in prison followed by 20 years of probation.

“The punishment proscribed by law is too good for this Defendant,” the District Attorney’s Office stated in announcing the sentence, “and it is the desire of this Office that she serve every day of the next 40 years.”

The boy’s circumstances have changed significantly since his escape, according to prosecutors. Now 14, he is living in a stable home and making all A’s in school.

During sentencing, he also addressed the court through a victim-impact statement.

The District Attorney’s Office described that statement as “compelling” but did not release its contents.