A 20-year-old Texas woman who started a GoFundMe page to raise money to cover the infant’s funeral costs has been charged with the child’s murder
Angel Lynn Marie Varner, of Amarillo, is charged with the murder of her 7-month-old son Jackson Knight Blackmon.
Autopsy Revealed Child Died of Blunt Force Trauma
She appears to have started the GoFundMe page the day before she was arrested. According to a report from KFDA, police responded to a duplex in Amarillo on Monday and found Jackson dead in the home. An autopsy concluded that the baby died from blunt force trauma, court records show.
Varner later admitted to the police that she pressed on Jackson’s stomach until he stopped crying and then threw him on the floor.
The same day Jackson died, Varner announced his death in a public Facebook post on a page that was dedicated to Jackson. “My poor baby…. He’s no longer with us… I don’t know the details… But he’s gone….” she wrote in the post, alongside a photo of Jackson.
Varner Started GoFundMe to Pay for Jackson’s Funeral
Varner then made a second public post Tuesday on the Facebook page, saying that she was raising money through GoFundMe to pay for Jackson’s funeral.
“My baby is gone… He passed yesterday between 3am-11am… I have started a go fund me for his funeral costs… We plan on cremation…”read the post, which also included a link to the GoFundMe page and a barcode that allows donors to scan and donate. The page has since been taken down by GoFundMe.
A GoFundMe spokesperson told KVII that the fundraiser had been removed from the platform, all donors have been refunded, and the organizer did not receive any of the money raised. Jail records from the Potter County Sheriff’s Office show that Varner was arrested Wednesday and charged with murder.
