Provo woman arrested for child homicide

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Provo Police arrested a woman Oct. 3 on charges of child abuse homicide after an autopsy verified that her 1-year-old son had died of a non-accidental head injury.

Police were called to the home of Brianna Brown, where her boyfriend, Joshua Harding, also lived, on Nov. 27, 2012. Upon arrival police found that Brown’s son, Paxton Stokes, was not breathing. Paxton was later pronounced dead at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.

According to a Provo Police press release, “The defendant (Brown) and Harding, her boyfriend, were the only adults who were with Paxton during the time frame in which the blows causing Paxton’s death could have happened.”

Harding was also arrested on Oct. 3 and is being charged with child homicide.

After their investigation, Provo Police believe Harding committed the homicide. However, the county’s attorney office believed there was enough evidence to arrest Brown as well. Brown is being charged with child homicide because she knowingly allowed the abuse to occur within her home.

“The child’s mother has to bear the burden of justice the same way because she knew about it and allowed it to occur,” said Lt. Mathew Siufanua of the Provo Police. “We have to be able to protect our children and report these type of abuses.  Hypothetically, we could have prevented all of this from happening if Briana would have called us.”

Because of the nature of the investigation, it took over 10 months for police to arrest Brown and Harding.

“Most child abuse is internal,” Siufanua said. “The autopsy took six months to come to us. That is what took the most time.”

Lt. Siufanua said a court date should be set later today.

“The first stage is the investigation,” Siufanua said. “We have now submitted all of our paperwork, and the ball is in the prosecutor’s court.”

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