Jackleen Mullen gets decades for 4-year-old's death

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Jackleen Elizabeth Mullen (York County Sheriff’s Office)

A 26-year-old mother in South Carolina will serve multiple decades behind bars for killing her disabled 4-year-old daughter, who was found beaten to death and stuffed in the drawer of a dresser shared by the mother and the mother’s then-boyfriend three years ago.

State Circuit Court Judge Eugene C. Griffith, Jr. on Tuesday ordered Jackleen Elizabeth Mullen to serve a sentence of 30 years in a state correctional facility for the horrific slaying of young India Heavenly Lacey Martin, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

Judge Griffith handed down the sentence after a jury in York County found Mullen guilty of one count of homicide by child abuse. Mullen was also convicted on one count of aiding and abetting homicide by child abuse in her daughter’s death and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but Judge Griffith ordered the sentences to be served concurrently, meaning at the same time.

However, the jury found that Mullen was not guilty of one count of murder that could have resulted in her being sentenced to life in prison.

Mullen, who is required by state law to serve at least 85% of her sentence, was also credited with just over three years of time served as she awaited her trial, meaning the earliest she will be eligible for release will be about 22 years from the guilty verdict.

Mullens’ then-boyfriend Audrevious Williams is also facing a charge of homicide by child abuse, aiding and abetting homicide by child abuse. He testified against Mullens during her trial.

Audrevious Williams (York County Sheriff’s Office)

According to a report from the Times Herald-Record, Mullen’s daughter had special needs and was unable to talk and could not walk without assistance. A medical examiner determined that her cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

When the little girl was first reported missing, police reportedly went to the home where Mullen and Williams lived with India to question them about the child’s whereabouts. Mullen reportedly lied to investigators, telling them her daughter was staying with a relative named Cindy in North Carolina when the little girl’s body had actually already been stuffed into the upstairs dresser drawer.

Police discovered India’s body inside the dresser drawer in May 2020.

Police-worn body camera footage played during the trial showed the interaction between an officer and Mullen before India’s body was found, according to a report from Charlotte, North Carolina, NBC affiliate WCNC.

“You want to go to jail for murder,” the officer reportedly asked Mullen in the footage. “Where’s that child? She’s dead, and we know it.”

“My kid’s not dead,” Mullen replied in the footage, adding, “My kid is at Cindy’s house.”

Prosecutors also emphasized that Mullen came to police headquarters and admitted her guilt in a separate forgery case while still lying about the fact that her daughter was dead, the Herald-Record reported.

“While her child was dead in her house, Ms. Mullen came down here to the Moss Justice Center and pleaded guilty to that forgery,” deputy solicitor of the 16th Circuit Solicitor’s Office John Anthony reportedly told the court before Mullen’s sentencing.