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Utah couple charged in death of toddler

Posted at 12:45 PM, May 29, 2015
and last updated 2015-05-29 14:45:26-04

LAYTON, Utah — A Utah mother and her boyfriend have been formally charged in connection with the death of 2-year-old James Sieger Jr.

Joshua Scott Schoenenberger, 34, has been charged with aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and child abuse, a second-degree felony.

The boy’s mother, 23-year-old Jasmine Ruth Bridgeman, has been charged with obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.

Police were notified after the toddler was brought to a Davis County hospital on the morning of May 9. The boy was unresponsive and covered in bruises when he arrived at the hospital.

“Certainly the injuries looked like the result of abuse and the biological mother and her boyfriend were the ones who brought the child in and their stories were not matching up or making sense with what we were seeing,” said Layton police Lt. Travis Lyman in an interview earlier this month.

Doctors were able to gain a pulse before the child was flown to Primary Children’s Hospital in extremely critical condition. Doctors performed several emergency surgeries on James, but he died on May 11.

According to court documents, James was abused during attempts at potty training.

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