The story was so disturbing, so brutal and so heinous, that it took me until today to write about Sharon Jones and her daughter Cecila McDonald, charged with a forced abortion so vicious it almost defies description.
According to Dallas police, in early 2013 the two women, along with two other relatives, “took matters into their own hands” when they learned their then 14-year-old niece was pregnant as the result of a rape by a family member.
Julie Fancher and Tristan Hallman of the Dallas Morning News reported last week that
Deputy Chief Gil Garza said the foursome committed a “very tragic and disturbing” attack against the young teen. They are alleged to have beaten her for hours at Jones’ Pleasant Grove home to induce an abortion.
Then, police said, they tried to burn the stillborn baby on a charcoal grill to cover it up.
The girl said nothing until a woman who had witnessed part of the assault took the girl, now 16, to a police station on May 22.
Last Tuesday Jones, Jones’ son, McDonald, and McDonald’s husband “were charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, a first-degree felony,” the newspaper reported. “Bail for all four is set at $150,000.”
Bail for Robert Joseph Cayald was set at $25,000. He is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. The unidentified girl said that Cayald raped her in August 2012. She told police she didn’t tell anyone because she “was embarrassed.”
According to the affidavit, somewhere between January and March 2013, the girl’s relatives found out she was pregnant. The affidavit says they “became very nervous,” worried Child Protective Services would take their children away. Fancher and Hallman reported
CPS spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said Wednesday that the girl had a brother, now 15, and a sister, now 14. McDonald also had four children, who are now ages 3, 6, 7 and 9. The victim and the other six children are now in the care of CPS.
The girl moved out of the home after she recovered from the attack. She is now in CPS’s custody.
Why the adult witness waited two years to come forward with the girl remains a mystery. “Why now?” Garza said. “Why is she participating when she had the opportunity to do something about it at the time?”
The assault on the young girl is almost incomprehensible vicious.
Suffice it to say the assault took place over six hours and only ended when the girl began to bleed heavily. Her baby was stillborn about two hours later.
The attempt to destroy the baby’s body failed. According to Fancher and Hallman
Two days later, Sharon Jones paid Cedric [Jones Jr.] $25 to “take care of the rest of it,” according to an affidavit. He is alleged to have put the body in a plastic bag and stashed it away. Police have not found the baby’s body.
The family never sought medical care for the girl but gave her iron pills because of her blood loss, police said.
Daniel Miller is responsible for nearly all of National Right to Life News' political writing.
With the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, Daniel Miller developed a deep obsession with U.S. politics that has never let go of the political scientist. Whether it's the election of Joe Biden, the midterm elections in Congress, the abortion rights debate in the Supreme Court or the mudslinging in the primaries - Daniel Miller is happy to stay up late for you.
Daniel was born and raised in New York. After living in China, working for a news agency and another stint at a major news network, he now lives in Arizona with his two daughters.
