Macon mom, boyfriend charged with murder in infant boy’s space heater burning death

A 5-month-old boy died early Tuesday apparently from burns from a space heater at his home on Bishop Road, and his mother and her boyfriend are charged with murder.

Jalicia Aquanetta Kent, 28, and Quantious Trenard Hodges, 30, both of Macon, were initially questioned by sheriff’s investigators and then arrested and charged in the death, according to a sheriff’s office news release.

Imir Kent was pronounced dead on the scene shortly after 7 a.m., said Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones.

“It was reported that Kent’s 5-month old son was placed in front of a space heater at approximately 10:00 p.m. on March 9, 2020 and was never checked on by either subject,” a sheriff’s official said in an email Tuesday afternoon.

The baby was found in a bedroom where he reportedly had been left unattended in a car seat.

“The mother was in another bedroom and supposedly the baby got out of the car seat onto an electric heater,” Jones said authorities were initially told.

The baby suffered multiple burns all over his body, Jones said.

“What a horrible tragedy,” Jones said.

An autopsy is expected at a Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab.

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office and the Division of Family and Children Services are also investigating.

The baby was found unresponsive near the space heater by the mother’s boyfriend, according to a Bibb County Sheriff’s Office news release.

Three adults were at the home: the boys’ mother, her boyfriend, and his brother, Quantain Hodges. All live at the residence and were taken into the sheriff’s office for questioning Tuesday morning, the release said. Quantain Hodges was released Tuesday afternoon.

Anyone with any information is urged to contact the Bibb Sheriff’s Office at 478-751-7500, or call Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 1-877-68CRIME.

This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 9:10 AM.