A Tucson mother and her boyfriend have been arrested on suspicion of child abuse and murder after investigators determined the death of her 11-year-old son in November was the result of neglect, authorities say.
Ariel Lea Horn, 33, and Charles Jackson McClellan, Jr., 29, were arrested May 1 in the death of the boy, who was not identified Wednesday in a news release from the Tucson Police Department.Â
In November, officers found the boy while answering an emergency call about an unresponsive child at a house in the 900 block of East Limberlost Drive, just east of North First Avenue, the release said.
The boy had numerous medial issues and was fully dependent on Horn and McClellan for care, the release said.
The boy was dead when police arrived and his cause of death was deemed "unknown" until an autopsy and investigation. "According to an autopsy report, the child was found with extensive lesions throughout his lower body and ultimately developed sepsis. The sores on the childâs body were attributed to not receiving proper medical attention and neglect by his mother and her boyfriend," the release said.
Detectives also found that "extensive fentanyl use was occurring in the home." Three of the boy's siblings also lived there, the release said.
Horn and McClellan were booked into the Pima County jail and were each being held on a $1 million bond.
